Best new thought books according to redditors
We found 254 Reddit comments discussing the best new thought books. We ranked the 79 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 254 Reddit comments discussing the best new thought books. We ranked the 79 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
It's a variant of one of the "Lightning Glyphs of Jupiter", developed by Jason Miller of Strategic Sorcery, which he popularized in his Financial Sorcery book. This specific glyph is for money-drawing. I can't tell what the squiggle is that leads into the circle and is coming out of the upper left part of it, but the general glyph is unmistakable.
So here are my thoughts in response to yours. This is just my 2 cents and you can take it or leave it. Have you ever tried to have your own experience? You mentioned that you read stories, watch videos, visit websites, and look at pictures to try and find evidence of the paranormal. This is all fine and good, but these are other people's experiences. I guess you would have to ask yourself, at what point would you accept someone else's experience as truth or proof of the paranormal?
When we analyze, ponder, or humor the experiences of others in these areas the scrutiny is high. There is almost always room for doubt. Take this video for example. In it, a Qi Gong master demonstrates some amazing abilities that he attributes to 'Chi' or life force. These scientists can only measure what they know, and what is physical. At one point one of the scientists says "As a scientist I can't measure 'Chi'. It's not measurable. It is not anything that I can quantify." Think about this problem. How can science prove the paranormal when it cannot even measure or quantify it? The scientific method has it's limits. When it comes to the paranormal you can only indirectly measure. You can observe influences, but you cannot directly measure the force or power behind the influence, if that makes sense...
There are ways of having a safe and personal first-hand experience with something paranormal. If you've read my posts on here before I like to reference Controlled Remote Viewing (CRV) and Past Life Regressions (PLRs). The International Remote Viewing Association website has tons of peer reviewed scientific articles and papers on the subject of Remote Viewing. What better way demonstrate that consciousness is non-local? The cool thing is that you can learn Remote Viewing for yourself if you are willing to commit the time. Money isn't really an issue since there are free courses on youtube and cheap books on Amazon to teach it. I have some bad news for you though. Remote Viewing has been public knowledge since it was declassified back in 1995 and the world still has not woken up or changed. It doesn't have to stay that way though. The trick is to not worry about what others think or believe. Work on what YOU think and believe and you can change the world, one mind at a time. People still say Remote Viewing is fake or a scam or cold war propaganda. They can believe whatever helps them sleep at night. Meanwhile I am learning how to do it and am having success. It is harder than it looks, so it will take time and dedication, but you should have enough success with your first real attempt that it will show you something is truly possible with it.
Past Life Regressions are the same way. You can find a hypnotherapist trained and certified to perform a regression session in your area and have your own experience if you so desire. They will usually have an audio recorder or let you bring your own so you can keep the whole experience for playback later. I found myself wondering and doubting on the subject after reading some books on PLRs. There was no substitute for having my own personal experience so I would know what it was like to sit in the chair and have that vivid experience. Is it all fantasy or is it a meaningful memory that truly fits you and your personal circumstances in life? You can decide for yourself, but not until you go through with it and have the experience. Otherwise it is just an academic exercise.
Skepticism is healthy so don't lose that. Always ask questions and do your own thinking. Skepticism is only healthy until the point where you close your mind to new information. At that point even the truth cannot get in. Some people are so open minded that they will believe anything. You need to find balance between the two, and it can be difficult at times. Stay the course, and stay thirsty for not just knowledge but experience. It is by far the best teacher! :) Thanks for reading.
Patrick Dunn wrote the clearest, most no-nonsense explanation of the relationship between science and magic that I've read. Note that when he says "the scientist" and "the mage," he is aware he's making broad generalizations. As a linguistics professor, he wears both hats.
>For the past few centuries, Western culture has learned to perceive reality empirically - that is, fundamental beliefs rely on conclusions solely derived from observation. This approach is known as the scientific method. This systematic method is something of an anomaly in human history, though it has allowed us to make advancements far beyond the dreams of our ancestors. In the past hundred years alone we've split an atom, traveled to the moon, turned gold into lead, found treatments for countless diseases, and cracked the human genome. The scientific method is useful for understanding reality, and the mage would do well to understand and be able to employ it as necessary.
>The scientific method assumes the laws of reality are more or less constant. The mage, on the other hand, follows Heraclitus' maxim: "One cannot step in the same river twice." Scientists often recognize some truth in this maxim. But if reality is not more or less constant, the scientific method is a moot practice. Obviously, the world in many ways does remain constant over a period of time - the sun will probably come up tomorrow and we can safely assume that all the oxygen atoms in the atmosphere won't suddenly condense over London, causing the rest of the world to suffocate. The assumption of constancy is what leads scientists to expect they can make future predictions based on repetitive results. And for the most part they can.
>Even science recognizes, however, that some things are not subject to this method. One cannot, for example, repeat a work of art in the same way one can repeat an experiment. The repetition of an experiment results in the accumulation of evidence, which either proves or disproves the validity of a hypothesis. The repetition of a work of art does not prove anything about the art - it's just a copy. Like art, magic is not subject to scientifically controlled repetition, because it deals with the subtle states of self, mind, and holistic reality at the moment of the act of magic. Sorcery is utterly untestable, which is fine. It doesn't have to be.
>Unlike scientists, mages approach reality intuitively rather than empirically. A scientist observes a phenomenon, makes a hypothesis about it, and then gathers data to support or disprove that hypothesis. A mage, on the other hand, observes the symbol systems interacting to make up our world. A mage may have many hypotheses, and feel no need to gather data to prove any of them. A mage perceives the world not as a constant interaction of immutable laws - although often and in many ways it is - but as an ever-changing interaction of arbitrary and constantly shifting symbols. Each symbol, each fundamental building block of reality, connects to some other symbol - or more likely a series of symbols - themselves connecting to others, and so on. The scientist tries to understand and systemize the world; the mage simply tries to experience it.
>An astute and well-educated reader might insist that atoms, or perhaps energy - not symbols - are the fundamental substance of existence. I will discuss symbols more fully in the next chapter, but let me further clarify here. Energy makes up all the matter we perceive in the universe, but our reality does not merely consist of matter. In fact, if you list the things that most impact your reality, I suspect immaterial, even abstract, symbols - love, money, health - appear most frequently. Even the significance of matter itself is often more symbolic than material. The little pewter wizard on top of my computer does not simply remind me of lead and tin; to me, it is a gift from a family member, a little joke on myself, and an object that manages to fall and bruise my toe every time I move my computer.
--Postmodern Magic
Our soul is experiencing life/illusion through our body/mind complex and learning and evolving from it.
Regardless if you believe in reincarnation or not it makes sense that if you are a soul that never dies, then we would be learning and growing awareness after each life time and adding that to our bank of experiences.
That's why empathy and compassion should be strived for. Because when you hurt someone else you really only hurt yourself because we are all apart of source and thus we are all one.
Dolores Cannon has a great book on this.
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Waves-Volunteers-New-Earth/dp/1886940150
Great book on the subject
Remote Viewing: The Complete User's Manual for Coordinate Remote Viewing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1604074361/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_y90QybYZ3249M
There are a few parallels here to what I refer to as astral parasites, and Robert Bruce calls Negs, Castaneda referred to as Flyers, and the Gnostics termed Archons. While I recognize that the universe does indeed have a 'circle of life' pattern to it with everything feeding on everything else at lower levels of reality (at higher levels, one thing becomes every other thing and it's all Oneness anyway), I don't believe that I SHOULD be contributing to particular entities which have become (or have chosen to become) disconnected from the Light/Source etc. (This guy has an interesting take on the nature and motives of such entities. Just found it tonight while looking for a link discussing Castaneda's Flyers.)
Personally, I would not invite such beings into your area or have further dealings with them. In any shamanic studies I've undertaken, insects that feed on me have always been bad things to avoid or stamp out (often being the astral form of a physical disease/virus). The part of your description that sent off 'alarm bells' for me was how you described it as a "robot with no mind, just a job to feed". That's EXACTLY how all astral parasites I've encountered have been. They're like insects - they feel nothing, care nothing, only feed. If they do communicate, they'll say whatever it takes to get you to feel bad and submit so they can feed off your guilt, depression, anger, fear etc. They will laugh and tell you how weak and pathetic you are in an attempt to dominate and cause submission. You have to ignore that, remain calm, and continue to fight back without allowing emotions to distract or sabotage your efforts. It may be a shark's nature to feed on meat, but I will NOT be on the menu today, thanks.
Prior to engaging in hallucinogenic activities, you should probably be using a banishing ritual/ceremony or similar to ensure that unwanted outside influences are cleared away and kept out, and your preferred focus and direction for the trip are maintained. Because I began my training in a ceremonial style, I use the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram as my default method for beginning and ending every working unless the symbolism/energies raised by it aren't as compatible with the working at hand, in which case I'll switch to a different symbol set and use a variation of the Hammer Rite (Runes) or similar (this is basically just a modified LBRP anyway - same format).
I encourage you to read Robert Bruce's material regarding how Negs operate and how to get rid of them. Then compare with Castaneda's works (which are very entertaining reads and provide food for thought, even if they aren't 'authentic Mexican sorcery' as advertised - many of the methods still work pretty well).
Edit: This excerpt from Mike Harner's The Way of the Shaman might also interest you.
Do skip church. I think I went back to church once when I got scared, and another time when a group of assholes shangahaid me through AA. Both times I had to start over from scratch. Your instincts about big box religion are correct, and you should listen to them.
Don't dismiss, well...alternatives to materialism, we'll say, out of hand. A lot of them are BS, sure. And a lot of them that look like BS on the surface have more to them than you'd imagine, if you can get past the scam artists pimping them off for profit.
I personally think, for those who become atheist, you have to push through to the ends of atheism to become a gnostic- and I don't mean Christian Gnostic, I mean that in the generic sense. I had to, there's no shame in it. Don't take things on faith, but do incorporate experience and introspection into your worldview.
Apart from that, if you want to test reality's edges out to see if it's actually the way they explain it to school children, try something like astral projection til it happens. Or some other type of magic. I'd stay away from "black" magic until you find your feet, though. You can certainly go that route if you want, but...I'd get a feel for things first.
Here's a book, Postmodern Magic. If you feel inclined to get it, do the exercises and keep a journal. It's not the only introductory book, but it's a nice one. A free intro to Chaos Magic can be found here, Oven-Ready Chaos by Phil Hine. Both of those are kinda in the Chaos vein of things, but look around, there's plenty of other systems to work in. Druidry, Wicca, Traditional Witchcraft, Shamanism, Hermeticism...blah blah, try stuff til something sticks.
https://www.amazon.com/Neville-Goddard-Complete-Reader/dp/099109140X
Glad you asked. Listed below are what I consider to be the classics which follow closely with Neville's teachings.
​
​
I think most people here are confusing alternate reality/ethereal/astral entities with physical aliens from other planets. The difference being that humans can relatively easily contact alternate reality entities as we can enter their realms where space/time are not limiting. We've been doing this since the time of the earliest humans have walked on Earth. Wherein, physical aliens from other planets, we can't visit them as we lack the technology (faster than light physical travel and/or teleportation machines). That said, some advanced techniques of Astral travel allow objective human consciousness (but not physical body) to travel infinite distances and witness physical realities without needing to be physically present... Well I should mention there's claims of spiritual masters able to physically materialize anywhere but I digress...
If you want to contact alternate reality type entities, then you may want to pickup some books on "magick" and specifically magical evocation. One of the better books might be "The practice of magical evocation" by Franz Bardon. Warning though, this is not for neophytes, and you're playing with fire if you start playing with this stuff. Much like people to play with Weegee boards, then endup having their houses and lives haunted. Read a lot and understand WTF you are getting into before actually doing anything. You can fulfil your curiosity by learning. Don't jump into the car and drive down the highway before you take lessons from experts in a parking lot.
A safer way to contact and interact with ethereal entities is through Astral Projection. I suggest reading "Astral Dynamics" by Robert Bruce
Lastly, if you want to contact real live physical aliens, (and why in the world would you want to do this since many seem to have a habit of doing ungodly things with humans), then you may want to start by visiting the UFO hotspots of the world. You can google around for that. There's definitely some. Then after that perhaps consider Greer's CS5 protocols to make contact in those hotspots - though I have a feeling he's mostly making contact with Ethereal entities not physical aliens.
Good luck, and stay safe!
PS. Stay away from all drugs, unless you really know what you are doing. Staying sane is the only way to have objective experiences. Taking drugs leads to easy experiences but most are going to be highly subjective like a dream where everything is made up by your mind, not an actual reality - though your brain will interpret it as such - then you become insane, or at minimum start believing in things that your own mind created. You'd be losing your mind as you let the crazy out ;-)
Relatedly, Dolores Cannon's "The Three Waves of Volunteers and the New Earth" (2011) is incredibly informative for this group. I believe her last book published before she passed. Highly recommended!
Hum,this is strange,I'm pretty her favorite book is that .
I am saying that when you have fears, then you are only going to see what you fear in others.
As for "higher" or "lower" you are doing yourself a disservice with this view. There is only "different" and it is not good or bad. Our experience is different from that of a dogs or a cow or an alien. We may create judgements but they are always based on incomplete knowledge and beliefs.
As for "helping us" - some would say that exactly that is happening from "aliens incarnating into human bodies". But this also is not quite true. We are not human, we are spirit experiencing a human body. We may be living upon the earth now, but that may not have always been the case. For more you may want to take a look at some of the Dolores Cannon books, example: The three waves of volunteers
When I was stationed at Fort Meade I had an interesting experience while standing in formation for an inspection. I saw a woman in another formation across the room from my formation and in my imagination I saw her take one step forward, sway back and forth a little bit then fall flat on her face on the concrete. I was struck by the vividness and violence of the vision and wondered why I would imagine such a horrible thing. Then, only a few seconds later I saw her take that step forward in real life. My reflexes kicked in and I sprinted across the room at full speed. I remember thinking that I hoped no one else got between us because at the speed I was traveling the collision would be brutal. Luckily no one did, I reached her as she began swaying and caught her as she started to fall. Me and a chief pulled her off to the side unharmed.
I think it is entirely possible that my subconscious picked up on some infinitely small clue from her body language and my imagination filled in the rest. But the similarity between what I saw in my mind and what actually happened a few seconds later was uncanny. It's the kind of thing that might lead some people to wonder if there could be some other unseen mechanisms of perception at work. Interestingly enough, Fort Meade is the base where they conducted the remote viewing experiments for 20 years where military men would sit in rooms and try to draw pictures of military installations on the other side of the planet. There is a pretty detailed book on the history of the remote viewing program. Remote Viewers by Jim Schnabel So... is that sort of thing really possible or just a silly waste of tax dollars? I'm not going to waste my breath trying to argue one side of that argument or the other because I think it is too easy for any of us to just believe what we want to believe. I say that if you find the idea curious or entertaining then you might want to do the research, conduct the experiments yourself and make up your own mind. That's what I call being a scientist.
Other books that provide more of a "how to do it" approach:
Remote Viewing Secrets by Joseph McMoneagle
Remote Viewing by David Morehouse
Learn Remote Viewing DVDs
That's what all the cool people were saying a few years back.
I believe that's also the direction we need to be going in our conscious evolution. Stop "playing the victim" and pretending life is "happening to" us (rather than something we're doing.)
I've always liked the world-view of The Seth Books by Jane Roberts which continue to be borne-out by physicists.
One guy even did a book called: Bridging Science and Spirit: Common Elements in David Bohm's Physics, the Perennial Philosophy and Seth
I'd recommend checking out general "energy work" stuff. This book is one of the best I've ever found:
https://www.amazon.com/Astral-Dynamics-Out-Body-Experiences/dp/1571746161/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=astral+dynamics&qid=1572989589&sr=8-1
Unfortunately, I haven't done any of these yet. I'm still learning but have been on the verge of having my first astral projection, which I believe is close.
If you do a bunch of searches within this subreddit, you'll see plenty of people writing about their experiences and such, traveling to other locations on earth, going to different planets, etc.
There is one author/APer, Edgar Cayce, also known as the sleeping prophet. He allegedly observed Jesus on several different occassions during his APs. He also made some prophecies about the future as well. What they are and what he claimed I'm not sure yet. I haven't started reading any of his books yet but I'll get there eventually.
I'm currently reading Robert Bruce's book, "Astral Dynamics," which helps you learn his methods. Just recently trying out his suggested light trance work, I believe I was on the verge of having my first ever astral sight. Sadly, I got distracted by the loss of my meditation music and that my closed eyelids were getting brighter even though my room was as dark as I could make it for 11:30 am. If you're curious about learning, I highly recommend the book.
I mentioned above I'm still learning but I've only been at it for about 2+ months now. I believe I've picked it up rather quickly but I tend to do that with anything. My initial process of trying to AP was very chaotic with no focus. I found a YouTuber I like that helped me understand the process, in a scientific method. Picking up the above book by Bruce has truly expanded my understanding. It's not hard to do but just like anything, it takes intent, commitment, patience, and practice. You can check the majority of my comments by clicking my name to see the links that I lead most people back too.
Any other questions, I'd be extremely happy to answer! :)
I'd like to recommend a book if you're interested.
It's Patrick Dunn's "Postmodern Magic: The Art of Magic in the Information Age". He presents a wide number of trans-paradigmatic exercises and "rituals" that I think would be very approachable in this instance.
I highly recommend you The Complete Reader from Amazon. It has 10 books
Neville Goddard: The Complete Reader https://www.amazon.com/dp/099109140X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_WM-lDbNQWKMR2
"Students are no longer being admitted to this program as of April 7, 2015."
One day from the publication of this book just discussed here on holofractal as 'new'.
This one.
It varies--I did it to get my income up to a certain place, and started seeing small changes toward that overall goal within a month, though it'll likely take much longer (and more focused practice) for me to reach that ultimate goal. I did it to get the right apartment, and ended up (through a serious of serendipitous-seeming "coincidences") getting a great deal on a place that is FAR better than what I should be able to afford within a couple of weeks. I've seen results for some smaller things within days or even hours. And sometimes, to be perfectly honest, it just doesn't work. The subconscious is powerful, and sometimes what you think you want isn't what you actually want, your goal is too big or small for your current "vibration" (or whatever you want to call it), or...some other reason. I don't claim to fully understand any of it. I just know that it's worked consistently and, at times, improbably enough for me to believe it.
If you have a few bucks to spend on a book, I highly recommend this one, which quite honestly changed my life. It's got tons of practical, concrete exercises to help with jumping, and makes a lot of the underlying principles much clearer than anything I've found while wandering the interwebs: https://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Universes-Self-Frederick-Dodson/dp/1546841431/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8F6HFZJKRQZZ8YRYRXX5
93 - I suppose that's why it's available in convenient book-form.
Biocentrism. It's a really interesting look at how the universe is shaped by consciousness and the scientific search for the meaning of life http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1935251740?pc_redir=1396332448&robot_redir=1
If you are scared of the mirror method, why not read one of these books and try their methods instead to jump dimensions,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1532814658?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title
Reality Transurfing by vadim zeland
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0615872034
moving through Parallel worlds to achieve your dreams , by Kevin L michel
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1546841431
Parallel universes of self by Frederick dodson
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1533007012
Dissolve the problem by shifting physical reality, by Richard dotts
Check out Biocentrism by Dr. Robert Lanza. His entire life's work is a theory that amounts to this - that the physical world as we know it is derived from biological experience; in essence, we are all rendering our personal video game within a server that manages the bigger picture. It's really, really compelling.
His answer is that the tree in the forest doesn't exist in the first place, so there's nothing there to make a sound if no one is rendering it. He actually uses that example several times in the book.
After some unique meditative experience and a couple rabbit holes thanks to r/conspiracy I've been practicing, so I am by no means a seasoned astralnaut. I'm reading the following right now and it's been very helpful. I've had some mediocre success but the symptoms I've experienced align with what I've been reading. /r/AstralProjection is a great place to start.
Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences by Robert Bruce
I find her book a bit dated and limited. Robert Bruce's material has served me much better. Wish I'd had his book 20 years ago!
I thought this was a question for r/occult or r/alchemy, but I see you tied it into Druids. There hasn't been much activity there from the revivalists that I've seen, but if you're more intk the hkstory like me, the evidence shows that the Druids, like most ancient prjests, lracticed a kind of proto-alchemy, judging from all of the support that they were herbalists and Pliny's claim that they brewed mistletoe into a tincture. The wlrd "potion" as I've seen isn't really used in the alchemical literature. The drinks are tinctures (extracts, usually in alcohol), elixirs, and teas.
I've never thought much of it, but come to think of it, because the alchemical tradition is rooted in the Hermetically dominated western esoteric tradition, all of the symbols are limited tk such (4-5 classical elements, the planets, etc.), so making a Druidic alchemical tradition would hopefully do away with those in favor of Celtic ones. Could ogham be used that way? Then again, the proto-alchemy probably wasn't practiced with symbols in the same way.
As to what actually became chemistry, I don't know the full story, but to summarize, all or most of the practices of manipulating the physical substances (e.g. distillation techniques) were adapted into chemistry and metallurgy, while the meaning and theory attached to such were discarded.
If you're interested in taking this up as a hobby I highly reccomend
Robert Allen Bartlett's Real Alchemy. He gets into how to make the famous Philosopher's Stone towards the end, but IMO that's bogus as we would know about that discovery. It's best used in a practical sense for making offerings. I've only made one elixir, but maybe I should get back into it sometime.
How into energy manipulation are you? Your question about the weight of words made me want to mention models of magick based on information.
check out this book
http://www.amazon.com/Postmodern-Magic-Art-Information-Age/dp/0738706639
If you're interested, pick up a copy of Astral Dynamics. I find a lot the metaphysics advocated for highly speculative and to be taken with a few grains of salt, but the exercises have been very effective, at least for me. It's also a fantastic primer for the sorts of experiences you are likely to have across a broad range.
These are not fast questions, haha.
>What do you think is on the other side of the black hole?
Theoretically, if the black hole is part of a pair that were created from entangled subatomic particles, then they would be connected by an Einstein-Rosen bridge, and (again, theoretically) if you were to allow yourself to be sucked into one of them you'd emerge wherever the other one happens to exist. This could be in another galaxy, or yeah, some people think it's possible you could end up in another universe.
>Is there a lot of universes?
Theoretical physicists (particularly those working in string theory) are starting to think that yes, there are. Brian Greene and Michio Kaku have written reasonably accessible books on this theory, if you're interested.
>what about aliens?
Of course. It is highly unlikely that in a universe filled with billions of galaxies, each of which contains hundreds of millions of stars, only one of them would have a planet in its orbit that is capable of sustaining life. Robert Lanza hypothesizes that, in fact, the universe is biocentric - that life and consciousness are not mere accidents, but what the structure of the universe is based around. This, too, would suggest that life cannot then be confined to one planet.
>What happens to the infj emotion after their death? Are you thinking of reincarnation?
Not reincarnation exactly, no. My beliefs are pantheistic in a way that isn't really compatible with reincarnation in the traditional sense. My concept of "God" is, essentially, "the combined energy of the universe". Part of this energy is used to power my body and mind; what some might call a soul. But my "soul" isn't a discrete entity; it is made of energy, which is fungible. So, when I die, that energy (and therefore, I) will return to "everything". Of course, it will then be used to power other things... perhaps another life form, perhaps a star, or wind, or electricity. But it won't be the "same" energy - just as, if you pour a cup of water into the ocean and then fill another cup from it, it won't be the "same" water. It comes from the same source, but the individual molecules are probably going to be different. But I do think our thoughts and memories remain, as a sort of... resonance, let's say. They become part of everything, too. When people talk about remembering past lives, most likely they are accessing these resonating memories. But, not because your soul has moved into their body - rather, because you, and they, are part of the same whole.
Which, I guess, might sound like quibbling - it's not that different from reincarnation, not really. It's just that one view sees every soul as separate, and the other does not.
>For instance, fire brings change, water brings healing, you have probably heard of those connections before.
Have a look at the origins of the elemental theory, and their changing use in practical Alchemy from 600 C.E. to 1600 C.E. There are a couple good beginning books on the topic - this one, this one, and this one - will totally deepen your understanding of the principles.
You might be interested in surfing around Princeton's Consciousness-Related Physical Phenomena research. I'm about halfway through the book "Consciousness and the Source of Reality". I also just finished reading "Biocentrism" and now I'm working on "Beyond Biocentrism" as well. It is all related.
Then, if you're really brave, (because personally, I find it really difficult to process), you could check out The Fractal Holographic Universe.
Lots of goodies in all of this material.
Mathematicians and physicists routinely work with much higher dimensions than the four dimensions of space-time. String theorists are undecided as to how many dimensions there are to reality, some believe there are 10 or 11, but some believe there are as many as 26.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory#Number_of_dimensions
http://superstringtheory.com/basics/basic5.html
wiki:
An intriguing feature of string theory is that it predicts extra dimensions. In classical string theory the number of dimensions is not fixed by any consistency criterion. However, in order to make a consistent quantum theory, string theory is required to live in a spacetime of the so-called "critical dimension": we must have 26 spacetime dimensions for the bosonic string and 10 for the superstring. This is necessary to ensure the vanishing of the conformal anomaly of the worldsheet conformal field theory. Modern understanding indicates that there exist less-trivial ways of satisfying this criterion. Cosmological solutions exist in a wider variety of dimensionalities, and these different dimensions are related by dynamical transitions. The dimensions are more precisely different values of the "effective central charge", a count of degrees of freedom that reduces to dimensionality in weakly curved regimes.
wiki:
One such theory is the 11-dimensional M-theory, which requires spacetime to have eleven dimensions, as opposed to the usual three spatial dimensions and the fourth dimension of time. The original string theories from the 1980s describe special cases of M-theory where the eleventh dimension is a very small circle or a line, and if these formulations are considered as fundamental, then string theory requires ten dimensions. But the theory also describes universes like ours, with four observable spacetime dimensions, as well as universes with up to 10 flat space dimensions, and also cases where the position in some of the dimensions is not described by a real number, but by a completely different type of mathematical quantity. So the notion of spacetime dimension is not fixed in string theory: it is best thought of as different in different circumstances.
I will try to explain why entities of higher dimensions are likely to exist, logically.
To a 10th or 26th dimensional being, our simplistic concept of time and our whole material reality, would be fantastically insignificant.
In nature, there exist various spectra of energies which can be described on a continuum between positive and negative. It would seem logical that these spectrum of energies exist in higher dimensions.
"God" represents the supreme, infinite source of positive energy in the universe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum
http://www.debate.org/debates/Philosophy-Determinism-Accurately-Describes-Reality/1/
If humans are able to have consciousness as a result of being physical beings then it would seem logical that there would be higher forms of consciousness that exist within the universe on the macro level.
The human experience is simply the viewport of a 5th dimensional being/entity into the 4th dimensional realm of spacetime...
God exists consciously at every dimension. God is a manefestation of consciousness which exists in higher dimensions.
Humans today are now aware of aspects of reality that were once unknowable prior to the development of sufficiently advanced technology which enables us to detect things that we are not able to sense using our 5 senses. Some examples are various energies that exist outside of the range of our vision, such as UV light, infrared light, radio waves, magnetism, neutrinos, etc.
Humans have been historically ignorant regarding so many things that exist in nature simply because they lacked the technology to be aware of their existence. It is therefore illogical to refuse to believe that something exists, even though the majority of people on our planet claim to be able to detect or sense the presence of a higher plane of reality, which is known as the spiritual realm. It is simply willful ignorance to refuse to acknowledge as truth, what the vast majority of people claim to believe very strongly in, which is that their own natural senses are informing them that there is more to reality than "meets the eye". Materialists therefore are like blind people who refuse to accept that sighted people are able to actually see colors. It is impossible for a sighted person to describe a rainbow to a person who has been blind since birth. A blind person who refuses to accept that sighted people are able to actually "see" colors, is simply being stubbornly ignorant. In the same sense as spiritual people are able to sense the spiritual realm, while materialists refuse to accept it's existence. It seems logical that there remain many aspects of reality that we are still unaware of and unable to detect using our existing level of technology, but that we may be able to sense using hidden capabilities within our brains.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_spiritual_realms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality
(I Corinthians 2:12-16) "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 'For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ."
So you see, I now understand that not everybody has the capacity to understand the spiritual aspect of reality. Perhaps eventually we'll have the technology to prove its existence. Just as we weren't able to detect neutrinos until very recently. We knew that they should exist, but we couldn't detect them with scientific instrumentation due to the fact that they are almost not even a part of our physical reality. I believe that there are higher dimensions to reality that are detectable only by the human brain. Hidden deep within our neurophysiology lies advanced technology that humans have thus far found elusive and unable to replicate. By the way, as a theistic evolutionist, I believe in evolution. So if it's possible that the only possible means of detecting this spiritual realm is through the human experience or qualia, then it is not reasonable to expect to be able to detect any scientific proof of such a realm, until such time that we have achieved the necessary level of technology. I believe that with the advent of quantum computers we will obtain the understanding to tap into this spiritual realm. Please read the following document for more information:
AWAKENING TO THE FIELD OF CONSCIOUSNESS (PDF)
Also see: http://www.amazon.com/Science-Akashic-Field-Integral-Everything/dp/1594770425
Humans are rapidly approaching the technological singularity. I believe that we will soon have the technology to comprehend, scientifically, the experience of being fully conscious in higher dimensions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
A 26th dimensional being, such as God, could have created all of the known universe and made the only way we could possibly sense his presence through our own human brain, our own inner voice, that is where I believe God exists, right there along with our own consciousness, in our mind. And if God wanted to make reality in such a way that scientific instruments could not detect him or the spiritual realm, then that would have been trivial, just like when he set the speed of light constant, or any of the other fundamental constants in nature, even the dimension of time itself, which we don't even know if it's really a constant velocity or not. Time could be speeding up in another dimension and we would never be able to know it scientifically except for having a feeling in our mind.
The "reason to believe in" God, is because all you have to do is close your eyes and try to sense another presence, in your mind, along with yours. Anything that is positive and wonderful, such as Love, joy, beauty, etc, all of that is God. All of the positive energy in the universe is attributable to some aspect of God, "the light".
Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
So if you focus your mind on the supreme source of positive energy in the universe, then your whole life will be transformed and no matter what happens in your life, you will be able to find peace and happiness. That is the whole reason why people believe in God and the Holy Spirit. Because it's all positive, there is nothing bad about it. Even if you don't believe in it at first, having such a positive continual thought process about life will become a mode of thinking that you won't ever want to let go of.
the best technical how to book is by David Morehouse
​
https://www.amazon.com/Remote-Viewing-Complete-Manual-Coordinate/dp/1604074361/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=david+morehouse&qid=1567632950&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Yes, but it's because you believe in them that they work. You could use anything you can think of in the moment to help boost your confidence and your energy if you needed to. Whatever you choose, practice it regularly throughout the day so it's there clearly in your mind when you need it. Just like practicing with a sword to prepare for combat.
Don't practice in the bad vibes room until you have had time to purify it. There are many ways to do this and you will feel safe and comfortable. But until then, use your regular room. If you have any doubt, it will come back to you in the form of fear. Remember in vampire movies when a vampire will take the cross out of the hand of someone trying to use it to protect themselves and crush it because their faith is weak? Same thing.
Whatever you use, from whatever tradition or something you created yourself, it just needs to be something strong and positive. Think of Professor Lupin teaching Harry to use the Patronus charm (Read Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl for inspiration.) It could be imagining a golden dragon but if you believe in it - it will work. There is nothing out there that can really harm you but you can become afraid which ruins the experience. Fear is what kills the experience so this is a means of working to alleviate your fear.
Saying "go away" does work. Robert Bruce has a whole book on Psychic Self Defense as it relates to AP.
Ophiel recommends practicing the Kabablistic cross not only for protection but to help energize your astral body in his book The Art and Practice of...
Also try this, as soon as you are in the astral, imagine a wave of energy at the top of your head and move it down to your feet and back up again. Do this slowly at first and then faster. Two or three seconds from top of the head to feet, then one second, then pulsing. It helps invigorate you and ward off negativity. It also helps remove any negative energy blocks from yourself that might be causing the fear or apprehension during your practice. You can do this any time actually. (Edits: fixed link and elaborated)
Everyone on this thread please concisder reading this book: The Three Waves of Volunteers and the New Earth https://www.amazon.com/dp/1886940150/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_--9MybS2S5K4M
The Neurobiology of We is a great book about the neuroscience of human interaction and how it shapes our lives. Not addiction specific but I found it incredibly useful in understanding the basic science behind WHY people behave the way they do and how addiction arises.
Secret Life, by David M. Jacobs, if you believe in the ET abduction phenomenon :
​
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Firsthand-Documented-Abductions/dp/0671797204
​
It's just scary.
This is a very detailed working out of a kind of stoicism/epicureanism. I appreciate the thought you've put into this. Some books I've enjoyed on stoicism and philosophy of life:
Thought-provoking books that challenge naturalism from a secular perspective:
I personally am a big fan of Israel Regardie's One Year Manual. In part because it places some focus on body work, an area where many occult users neglect (aside from some who do yoga). Don't be afraid to combine techniques too. I think between this and the Magick of Aleister Crowley previously recommended you can develop a good training regimen. Just remember to make haste slowly and give yourself plenty of time to let the techniques to sink into your mind.
I'll be brief here for anyone else reading, but I'll also PM you.
I can't advise on real tangible help, it sounds as though you've tried those avenues so since you're posting in this subreddit:
Read Practical Psychic Self-Defense by Robert Bruce.
If what you're dealing with is esoteric in nature, that's the most direct and pragmatic way to find a solution.
There is actually a whole theory about this;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe/dp/1935251740/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
I've read all of his too. :D
You can find most of his books online here, http://www.thepowerofawareness.org/, but you're better of buying "Neville Goddard: The Complete Reader" which is a hard copy, and I think it includes everything that's on the aforementioned site, https://www.amazon.com/Neville-Goddard-Complete-David-Allen/dp/099109140X/
You really should read this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Science-Akashic-Field-Integral-Everything/dp/1594770425
I have experienced exactly what you described, so I know what you mean.
Also, lately a lot of people have been labeling me as crazy, insane, etc.. for other reasons. The problem is most people are living under so many complex layers upon layers of denial. Don't doubt yourself. You are not normal, you are special because you see reality more clearly than most (normal) other people do, but you are not crazy, I have to remind myself of this constantly because everyone around me wants me to believe that I am the crazy one, but I think that people are so ignorant in general and closed minded. I just lost a good friend today who I have known for over 15 years, since high school. He couldn't handle the truth, he would rather live in a state of denial and ignorance. It's sad, it's a shame, but it's his loss because I was always a far better friend to him than he was to me. I have been losing a lot of friends lately and people have been distancing themselves from me, but it's OK, I need to shed them from my consciousness because they can't possibly understand things the way that I do and they probably never will. I am meeting new people all the time though.. synchronicity is wonderful!
Check this out:
http://www.anandavala.info/TASTMOTNOR/The%20Akashic%20Field.html
"The Practical Psychic Self-Defense Handbook"
He's clearly tried to make measurable what is difficult to measure and, when at an impasse, throw out old superstition advice and jargon, resetting perspective. He's seems to be one of the few that just tries to focus and relay what "just works", often going through retrospectives like "I tried this, it had this effect, so I then tried to approach it this way and it had these results."
That kind of meticulousness is vital in these field(s); it's so hard to make measurable with what seems to have a constant impasse to find (repeatable) measurements. The title of the book still makes me cringe a little, but I think that's my own cultural baggage more than anything and he's one of the few authors on these topic(s) that doesn't set off my "BS o' Meter".
His insights are invaluable and his thinking is sound, IMHO.
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Psychic-Self-Defense-Handbook/dp/1571746390
If you want to further your understanding of the universe you should read this and this. 2 of the most mind altering books I've read.
There is good old John Chang, in the Magus of Java books. While John Chang is an interesting dude, don't expect anything practical from the books.
Chronicles of Tao is fiction, but an entertaining story. His writing is esoterically accurate in that he draws from other teachers. For example, the different planes described in Astral Dynamics are things he sees while in deep meditation. This absolutely blew my mind at the time until I read a little more about the guy who the books is about. Now I've come to the conclusion that he draws from other authors and teachers.
The author Hua Ching Ni writes a lot of books. He has an acupuncture school in Los Angeles called Yo San University. Some of his stuff is pretty esoteric, but not much practical instruction.
It's definitely worth it to learn some TCM theory.
I honestly haven't come across any good qigong books. I took a class with one of this guy's students, it had a good breadth of standard stances. The book would probably make a good introduction. I'm pretty sure that book is available online somewhere if you are willing to violate copyright laws.
I read a pdf of this book on Taoist Sorcery. It gave some insight to some of the esoteric spirit petitioning crazyness. A lot of ritual and burning of yellow paper.
Other than that it is a lot of meeting different teachers, learning their practices, then going home and working on that stuff. You shouldn't need to keep paying someone in order to keep practicing.
Robert Allen Bartlett, author of Real Alchemy and The way of the Crucible did an interview in which he discusses the history and basic teachings of alchemy that you may find useful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD3BkmTjvDU
with Regards to the Akashic Field I think this book is right up your alley.
A good read by an actual scientist too...
http://www.amazon.com/Science-Akashic-Field-Integral-Everything/dp/1594770425
Agreed! Even though the books are online for free, I do prefer reading paperbooks. I purchased this complete works and I've loved it! It's from the same people who put up the Neville lectures on YouTube.
I recently picked up Beyond Biocentrism after reading this article on Aeon. I discovered the book Biocentrism after purchasing Beyond, now I'm wondering if I need to read Biocentrism first. Good to hear that others here have read and enjoyed the material, seems like it's worth a read.
I heard an interview with Dolores Cannon, several years ago about this subject. This book is an interesting read :)
Three Waves of Volunteers
Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything by Ervin Laszlo
Why don't you just try this
your question sent me off on doing some research and I found this one which seems to be very highly regarded: http://www.amazon.com/Real-Alchemy-Primer-Practical/dp/0892541504/ref=cm_wl_cp_al_pt
Hey man, I read a really interesting book which talks about this whole conscious-centric where there exists no objective reality. We could very well be the centre of the universe. Do your research on the author before reading the book if you want. The book's called Biocentrism by Robert Lanza. Have an open mind and maybe, just maybe, your view of the world could be wrong. It's worth seeing an in-depth perspective of the other side, one which makes a lot of scientifically proven claims (it's not a pseudo-science-y kind of book). Anyways, yeah it's up to you. Just putting it out there.
> Now this is just not true. It does give evidence for a case that there were prophets who had "guidance from the True God". If you were to actually live back then and you heard them warn people about stuff and then that stuff happening, that would definitely be evidence, right? Now tell me please. How exactly is not a piece of pottery, which has writing about the prophets and that they warned about stuff, and that the stuff actually happened after the time we think the pottery is from, not evidence that at least one prophet had 'guidance from the True God" i.e. is a real prophet. Isn't the definition of a real prophet that the stuff actually happens? What would you accept to be an evidence for a real prophet? Of course one time hit makes nobody a real prophet, but this was about evidence.
Incorrect. It provides evidence that people believed in seers and prophets, not that the seers and prophets actually had supernatural powers or that there were any gods involved. The fact that thousands of people have testified to seeing alien spacecraft or support the testimony of alien abductees doesn't mean that aliens actually visited us. The evidence doesn't support it.
In this case what it means is that the Lachish Ostraca and its contemporary books of the Bible were most likely written in the same time period, like this and this.
> Let's challenge this! Have you ever loved anyone? Can you reproduce it, or prove it in any objectional way to me? If not, by your own words, surely you have only deluded yourself.
Yes, I can. I can demonstrate it by clear patterns of behavior that can be observed. I can verify it by the way that behavior is reciprocated. Sure, it's possible that I'm deluding myself but according to the commonly accepted definition of "love" my observations can be confirmed. It may be that future information will invalidate those observations, but for now I can say with high confidence that I've been in love and I'm not just deluding myself.
> Also, yes I can reproduce me becoming christian. By preaching and helping others become christian.
Your self-identification as a Christian is not in question here. The issue of whether or not you're worshiping a fictional entity is.
> Examining both points of view is not to actually believe in something. EDIT: It is being without bias.
If you accept a hypothesis without confirming it, then you're introducing bias. If you reject any hypothesis that has no evidence to support it, then you are avoiding bias. That's how science works. Assume nothing is true without evidence to support it. Once you have evidence, test your assumptions further.
> I'm not going to argue that. Thus I'm not going to try to change your mind. Thus, my point stands.
Actually, you demonstrate my point: your beliefs are not falsifiable. They are irrational, because you won't allow for the possibility that you might be wrong, just as in the hypothetical situation where there's an invisible, ethereal dragon floating in my garage I come up with endless excuses to explain why the dragon can't be observed.
> You mean that you have considered that you would be willing to follow Jesus even when that could easily mean losing all respect from people, losing friends, job, family, money, health and/or your life for it? For that was what it means to follow Jesus.
Yes. I used to preach this stuff, until I couldn't maintain the cognitive dissonance any further. What I was taught to believe, and was conveying to others, didn't match reality until I stepped down from the pulpit.
> If you mean that, your experiment indeed is without clear conclusion. If you don't you should maybe consider how you go around gathering the evidence.
That is, in fact, what I mean. I am continuing to study and gather evidence. Thus far, I've seen no evidence that supports any mystical belief as anything other than wishful thinking and confirmation bias.
This same man wrote a book on Biocentrism which will blow your mind.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Biocentrism-Bob-Berman-Robert-Lanza/dp/1935251740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462720932&sr=1-1&keywords=biocentrism
if a camera was there and you didn't watch it later, then yes it would be inanimate... but as soon as it has been watched by a viewer, then it is no longer inanimate
src (not quoted, but deduced): Biocentrism
You might actually benefit by not having too much money to throw at books for now. I was working at a used book warehouse when I first got into the occult, which resulted in me buying way too many books than I have time to read. By only purchasing one book at a time, you will be able to focus your studies rather than split your attention.
Based on the reading list in the FAQ, I'd recommend getting something that is in the tradition you are most interested in. Of the paths I know about, I'd recommend Phil Hine's Condensed Chaos for chaos magic and Modern Magick by Don Michael Kraig for Hermetic magic.
Going off the list, Postmodern Magic by Patrick Dunn and The New Hermetics by Jason Newcomb are both excellent crash courses in general occultism with a contemporary twist.
And as others have suggested, get free resources from the internet.
As for the left/right-hand dichotomy, it all comes down to how you want to go about improving yourself though magic. The "right-hand path" leads to unity with divinity, while the "left-hand path" aims to become equal with divinity. Things like black clothing, horned gods or white crystals and angels are just window dressing.
It is important that you remember that you do not need to worry about following one path over the other. They are not roads that diverge in a wood and you must choose when one to take for the rest of your life. "Path" is actually a very poor choice of words for this idea. Think of them as modes, or focuses, for your magical life. You can shift from one mode to the other as needed. Just be sure that you are using symbols that make sense for your world view. Having a focus in Shito spiritualism and then suddenly flipping to goetic demon summoning for one night might not yield effective results.
Wicca is a form of occultism. As an established religion it does not foster the level of free-thinking that many contemporary occultists would like, but it still much more occult than most religions out there. As for mono- and polytheistic occultism, nearly every pantheon has it's own form of mysticism, including the Judeo-Christian religion.
For those interested, here's the relevant book:
http://www.amazon.com/Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe/dp/1935251740/ref=la_B004NDEASI_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408994278&sr=1-1
It's also available on iTunes as an audiobook, which I found interesting for the most part. And I think you'll see more of what the article title implied was in the article.
for your consideration
So interesting! I had exactly the same thought the other day and meditated on it. My interpretation is that our physical senses help us perceive what is inside us (the physical world). It is the past, the distillation of causality through our bodies, and that our intellectual, emotional and spiritual senses (brain, heart and soul) help us perceive what is outside of us, it is the future and the space of "free form causality". Almost as if the role of our selves (body + soul) was to convert free-form causality into reality like plants convert mud, energy and CO2 into physical structures (the plants themselves).
There is an interesting book on the topic by the guy who cloned the first embryos http://www.amazon.com/Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe/dp/1935251740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415340655&sr=8-1&keywords=biocentrism and a section on this in Pickover's book here: http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Wonderland-Visual-Adventures-Fractal/dp/031212774X
Not my book. I do own it as well as the other 2 monotheistic books though so that I don't sound like an idiot when discussing them.
​
I suggest you read https://www.amazon.com/Three-Waves-Volunteers-New-Earth/dp/1886940150 It's very interesting.
Not sure if it's been posted here, but you might find Biocentrism by Robert Lanza interesting. There is a sequel to it as well but I have not had the chance to read it.
Sounds consistent with my favorite book:
[Bridging Science and Spirit: Common Elements in David Bohm's Physics, the Perennial Philosophy and Seth] (http://www.amazon.com/Bridging-Science-Spirit-Perennial-Philosophy/dp/1889964077)
Sorry, I don't. A decent-ish library should be able to get them for you, at least in the US.
If you want academic and/or like brains, Allan Schore is your guy. Dan Siegel addresses a lot of the same stuff, but is way more accessible. The Neurobiolgy of We comes to mind for him, if you like audiobooks. He also did Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology which is kind of misleading @500+ pages. But you can just pick through whatever sections interest you & it will still make sense.
I know of this book https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Psychic-Self-Defense-Handbook/dp/1571746390 which I have never read but will
For an explanation for why Scientology "works," I urge you to read Postmodern Magic.
After which, I hope you'll see why it's important to audit yourself rather than be audited. This is a first step.
https://www.amazon.com/Astral-Dynamics-Out-Body-Experiences/dp/1571746161
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exploring-World-Dreams-Stephen-LaBerge/dp/034537410X
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Dreaming-Carlos-Castaneda/dp/006092554X
I haven’t mediated regularly in a long time. I do it now for helping me calm myself when I need to. I think some of my experiences freaked me out a little bit. But buzzing in the ears (and ringing) is common and is said to be associated with exiting the body- this is very accurate in my experience, although ear ringing is also associated with passing out. I recommend you read this book for guidance on astral travel as it’s the best one I’ve found. It talks about the trance phase and gives excellent techniques. I only ever did once, maybe twice- but I had many lucid dreams around this time as well. I say maybe twice because one time it seemed to go wrong and one time it seemed to go right. I asked for guidance and protection the time it went right.
heres a way to experience other dimensions.
It describes a lot of different techniques you can use to induce your own out of body experience along with a lot of other things you can do with your astral body.
​
​
https://www.amazon.com/Astral-Dynamics-Out-Body-Experiences/dp/1571746161/ref=sr_1_1/144-3013289-5983700?ie=UTF8&qid=1537768574&sr=8-1&keywords=astral+dynamics+robert+bruce&dpID=51rNaBMGpvL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
​
​
Along with /u/FeelsGood2FeelGood's suggestion, I recommend Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza because it also explains some of the mechanics behind LOA in scientific and biological means which gives you a better picture of it all.
Also anything by Neville Goddard. The Complete Reader has most of his books in one.
Personally, if you are interested in practicing magick, I have found Dr. Israel Regardie's The One Year Manual to be excellent.
However, the book's exercises come out of the Golden Dawn tradtion, while I am a Thelemite, or a practioner of the philosophy Thelema. In our tradition, Dr. David Shoemaker's Living Thelema has been recommended to me.
For more on Thelema, check this out
Robert Bruce has a good book on practical psychic self-defense. Dion Fortune's book on the subject is an old classic. Or you can trying getting an appointment with Simon Parkes.
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Psychic-Self-Defense-Handbook/dp/1571746390
https://www.simonparkes.org/jinndemonic-possession
I don't have a link for download, I bought the book on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Psychic-Self-Defense-Handbook-Survival-ebook/dp/B00CUU6K9I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8) for my Kindle and I'm thinking if I should return it.
I will try to be more specific editing my thread. Thanks!
>edit: anyone have a good book about experiences with entity contact?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671797204/
This one was mentioned on the show some time back, I've wishlisted it but have not read it.
Edit: just bought a 0.01$ used copy heh.
You can find it on Amazon here
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Psychic-Self-Defense-Handbook/dp/1571746390
There's an affirmation that the author encourages to use frequently :
"I am loved and I am worthy. I am safe and I am free. I am powerfully protected. I am master of my body and ruler of my mind."
I've been attacked in every imaginable way through the years. I call on my higher self and stay grounded in my power. I've commanded entities to banish themselves from my presence and they obey. You have to take control of yourself and become the alpha and the master. Revoke any permission you may have given them. Stand in your power!
Uhmm, no, sorry but Psychic Phenomena has been proven in laboratory settings. Hell even Quantum Physics is starting to acknowledge the relationship between mind and matter, just look up the Observer Effect.
A close family member calling you out of the blue, somehow "sensing" or "knowing" that youre contemplating suicide isn't a "coincidence".
https://www.amazon.com/Entangled-Minds-Extrasensory-Experiences-Quantum/dp/1416516778
This is precisely what is wrong with this world. We are psychic beings by nature, but because of the selfishness of a handful of fear oriented "Elites" who've decided that they need to have more perceived material wealth than others and privilege and prestige have done everything within their power to chemically and culturally lobotomize this out of us (via Sodium Fluoride, Vaccines, and primary "education" and media enculturation, and now GMO foods).
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=14949
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/08/22/fluoride-affects-consciousness-will-act/
To make matters worse (or to have a poster child to spread the fear oriented, hopeless gospel of the "Elites") we had the emergence of Mechanistic Reductionistic Science via Rene Decarte and this related nonsense that if a million monkeys typed on keyboards randomly for a million years eventually the entire works of Shakespeare will be produced.
No. Sorry. Divine Intelligence is a part of it. Reincarnation is real. ET's are real. Having to karmically deal with suicide, which I believe is the point of this life for me (to deal with the karma of suicide via a time out, possibly as a ghost) is a real potential consequence of said act.
https://www.amazon.com/Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe/dp/1935251740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479113035&sr=1-1&keywords=biocentrism+by+robert+lanza
https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Truth-Forbidden-Steven-Greer/dp/0967323827
So yeah, this really irks me when I hear people chalk up psychic experience to random happenstance.
They then invariably go on to claim that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of interactions of bio-chemistry within our nervous system.
What a crock.
I personally prefer the idea that the human brain is a filter that allows us to function in this exquisitely compelling virtual reality experience (as both Albert Einstein and more recently where we incarnate ad infinitum to learn and grow as spiritual beings.
If we were to see the glory of all of existence without said filter we would be overwhelmed and incapable of functioning in this plane.
Back to psychic phenomena, I mean please explain away a few dreams I've had where weeks later I was doing exactly what I was in the dream I had a few weeks earlier, or all of those moments knowing that something specific was going to happen moments before it happened, or hey, how about this one, which most everyone has, knowing someone is going to call you, sometimes to the point where you look at your phone, think of that person, and then your phone rings. Or how about all of the dogs that know their owners are coming home (Rupert Sheldrake).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKHUaNAxsTg
https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-That-Their-Owners-Coming/dp/0609600923/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=
Mainstream Science has become the new high priesthood tasked with perpetuating the current [failed] paradigm, the Status Quo, the current order (any coincidence here between the Elites poisoning and literally brainwashing you and paying people large sums of money to confirm the idea that youre just having this one finite life experience on this little lonely rock floating in space and then that's it? Sounds like a great way to bring out the worst in people, to create a world seething with conflict as everyone "has just this one life so I better fucking get mine, even if I have to step on your head to do so" all of which benefits the "Elites"), just as the Catholic Church was tasked with doing the same in the 16th century and locked away Galileo under house arrest for daring to suggest that our planet occupied a helio-centric orbit around the parent star and not the other way around. Now it's the same thing all over again with Quantum Physics and the dawning realization that mind and matter are related, that we can influence others through intent and prayer, and that we are likely eternal spiritual entities occupying temporary host bodies for: boredom, entertainment, lessons, pick one or all of the above. (our actual psychic potential is far more extensive, to include, yes, telekinesis via yogic lore etc. and astral projection, remote viewing, hell the CIA was paying remote viewers in the 1980's at Stanford Research Institute to spy on the Russian's and they wouldn't have paid millions of dollars without first ascertaining the effectiveness! I can't make this up, look up Project Stargate, I'm tired of posting links).
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/there-is-growing-evidence-that-our-universe-is-a-giant-hologram
https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Souls-Studies-Between-Lives/dp/1567184855
My $ .02. Sorry if I offended anyone here.
Hold the door open for me, I'm right behind you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq69-MI9TA0
"Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one" - Albert Einstein
>Again, it is not their historicity that is important - you said yourself that doctrine isn't any more true because it is older and I agreed.
Well, let's distinguish age from accuracy. By "historicity," I mean the degree of verifiable reliability of a text. Something can be old but still be reliable. However, the gospels do not appear to be a reliable record. Only an old one.
>The "proof" you seek will most likely never come to you if you are approaching it from this angle. This is not something you "think about" for a while and then "get". It is something you live, and then experience. I mean this in a very practical sense.
I look at it like this. Claims of miraculous events are made about a man. He walks on water, raises the dead, casts out evil spirits, converts water to wine, multiplies fish and bread enough to feed a small army. He's purported to have said that he's the son of God. And not in the colloquial way they used back then, that we were all "sons of God" or "children of God." And not even in the way that the regional kings used. He's purported to have said that he's the direct issue of the creator of the universe. Half man, half deity, and no one comes to his dad but through him.
If this person was standing in front of me right now, saying these things, I'd back away slowly and keep my hand on my wallet. If other people were saying these things for decades, in an oral tradition where facts get mixed up and the storytellers embellish, and it's getting translated from Aramaic to ancient Greek in the process, I think I'd have even less reason to believe their claims. I don't think it's a bad angle to say, "I'm not so sure about that" until shown otherwise. What I live and experience never crosses over into a realm where such claims become compelling.
And I do actively explore the possibility of the supernatural. I just don't do it from a theistic perspective. While theistic perspectives of this phenomenon do exist, they are decidedly outnumbered by non-theistic experiences of people who have no particular implulse towards challenging or doubting the claims of any religion. Of course, I readily admit that their claims are just as potentially suspect as those of a theist. But these are claims that I can actually test.
@flyinglotus:
>2012-02-28 06:54:21 UTC
>If astral projecting is something you're curious about, this is something I suggest you read. amazon.com
----
[^[Mistake?]](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=TweetPoster&subject=Error%20Report&message=http://reddit.com/30n01i%0A%0APlease leave above link unaltered.)
^[Suggestion]
^[FAQ]
^[Code]
^[Issues]
For starters, I'd recommend the following to get a taste of the issues we have to wrestle with when thinking about resurrection:
Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes - here is an author who is almost immediately dismissed by the status quo of Christianity as being a crazy man. But in this book, he has been incredibly thorough in presenting evidence for his thesis. I know he writes other books where he speaks more generally, and I think that conservatives tend to seize this as an opportunity to attack without actually addressing the things he brings up in books like this one. Also by the same author, and related to this topic, you should check out:
The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic
Resurrection: Myth or Reality?
Related to Paul, you should read:
The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon
There are three books by this duo, and they are all fantastic - very thorough, meticulous, and yet easy to read and understand. Related to this topic, you'd want to read:
The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem
Another great book to understand where the debates lie in Jesus scholarship would be:
The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions
These are really "get your feet wet" books. But really, one of the biggest problems with theology these days, I feel, is that it is all too often done without even an attempt to connect with science. We think we can argue "the Bible says" and stop there - as if that implies "so therefore this is what we have to believe". This is generally how scholars like N.T. Wright operate - they spend all kinds of effort laying out what the language says, but never really get into the questions of whether these things are tenable with today's knowledge of science, whether or not Paul actually might not have been the author of such things, whether there are contradictions between the gospels (or some of the writings attributed to Paul), etc. With scholars like Wright, it's just assumed that everything which was said was reliable and came from the actual people we have long said it came from - we never have to think about problems like science and historical methodology.
But if you really want to understand the problems surrounding resurrection, I think you need to study what science has to say about consciousness. A few books that come to mind off the top of my head:
The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind
Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness
And if you're really up for some fun with science and the question of eternity:
Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
The Self-Aware Universe
Please note: I don't think any of these books close the questions. They provide possibilities, for sure, and do so in a way that thoroughly wrestles with the evidence, logical problems, etc. But no one can prove or disprove afterlife, it seems. However, there are certainly many afterlife theories which simply do not work with modern science - literal bodily resurrection being one of them (if we're all going to be resurrected into physical bodies, how is our limited earth that is already stretched to the point of breaking going to support all those resurrected beings?).
If anyone wants to know what this guys getting at read the book Biocentrism by Robert Lanza. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1935251740?pc_redir=1411497125&robot_redir=1
I never said God is a requirement. I do believe in a concept of God, and that's my choice. If you wish to find better arguments for the existence of some form of God than "these Scriptures say", I would suggest one of the following:
The Self-Aware Universe
Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
From Science to God: A Physicist's Journey into the Mystery of Consciousness
By the way, none of those proselytize a particular form of religion. They simply argue from science to a panentheistic form of God.
>I didn't even imply that, speaking of intellectual shortcomings. Furthermore, I could just snipe back and say your intellectual shortcomings are quite obvious if you don't recognize pragmatism as bullshit. Can we not do this?
>I'd have much more respect for you if you bothered tackling what I actually said.
>So instead of wasting our time pointlessly going back and forth like that, I'll just repeat what I said and see if you deal with it this time.
>1) I said that most everyone understands "truth" to have a particular meaning, and if you use "true" to mean something else, you're going to mislead and confuse people. That is entirely independent of whether or not pragmatism has any merit.
Everyone once thought the Earth was flat. Just because something is widely accepted doesn't mean it's right (or true)
>2) I said there are other words you could use that mean the same thing you're trying to say, but are not going to needlessly confuse people.
I agree that saying knowledge is much easier to understand. Jordan is just using the lingo that pragmatic philosophers use
>3) Peterson should have acknowledged that and used another word. "When I say "true" I mean X, but I realize that's confusing, so instead I'll say it like this."
See question #2
>4) Peterson's refusal to do so shows he has an ulterior motive. This is, I believe, being able to say some religious belief that has no evidence is true.
Again he is going off of a previously formed philosophy. He never once every says Religion is historical fact, or true. Only that it is useful. I explain it more below.
>4a) This is a bastardization of pragmatism.
No it isn't. You guys keep getng stuck on this one word and not the actual views Jordan is presenting.
If you expand your understanding to something other than Material Realism, we could actually have a decent conversation. His argument is that you can't form an ought to be from an is. Science cannot answer it all, and Mythology is just as important to forming a usable truth (I would call it something like "necassary knowledge" but I understand why JP uses truth, as in science sometimes provides, or could provide, insufficient truths)
Biocentrism and Beyond Biocentrism, both by Dr. Robert Lanza, are good books if you're looking for an opposing view from Material Realism.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1935251740/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
^_^
Summer reading my friend
Sorry, the book of science is closed.
Sounds a bit like Friedman's book:
Bridging Science and Spirit: Common Elements in David Bohm's Physics, the Perennial Philosophy and Seth which helps explain The Seth Books
OR the recent work of Dr. Robert Lanza, whose credentials are much more impressive that Neil DeGrasse Tyson any day of the week.
Of course most would say he's speculating beyond his field, but I can guarantee, he's smarter than YOU, Mr. self-appointed-gaurdian-of-science-who-is also-a-fat-boring-virgin-gamer