These notes are assembled from a large number of books relating to the subject of channelling in specific, and psi phenomena in general. Rather than weight the text with notes for every comment, I have appended the sources as well as a recommended reading list at the end. I STRONGLY urge any person interested in channelling, either because they are already doing it, wish to do it, or know someone who is doing it, to obtain and read all of these books. As important as reading about channelling is, what is even more important is to have a broad knowledge base on many subjects so that when information is presented, one has a standard by which to judge the truthfulness of the source. Most channeled information of recent times fails this criteria abysmally.
” I will call this higher part of the universe by the name of God. We and God have business with each other; and in opening ourselves to his influence our deepest destiny is fulfilled.” William James.
Today we are faced with insurmountable global problems that, in spite of the “New Consciousness” and “New Age” movements, get worse by the day. Many people are searching for a deeper meaning in their lives. The Bible prophesied that in the latter days God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. And similar prophecies appear in other religious writings, which make one tend to think that this is a “thread of truth” through all teachings. Many people believe that channelling, through its connection to what many believe to be a spiritual source, and by its processes of intuitive insight and creative flow, can provide the very lifeblood of the new and helpful for us, if we will only allow it
“A human being can be, according to his own desire, unaware of life forces passing through him in which he is immersed, but he can also voluntarily incorporate himself with them… The sensation of being in this spiritual blood stream pouring on earth is not to be expressed in words… it has always been inadequately screened by the word ‘God.'” Stuart Edward White.
“…the human spirit encounters the [imaginal] form and the two meet, the one through giving ear and the other through casting… the constitution becomes excited and inflamed. In the two lights the native heat of the constitution is strengthened and its magnitude is increased. This is what is called a “state.” It is the most intense that might be…
[I]f [the one who experiences the state] is given information, he must place it next to [reasoned and reflective knowledge], if it conforms to them, he sees it as an address that is true and as a bestowal of honor.
If it does not conform to reasoned and reflective knowledge, he must know that it is not divine self-disclosure but a satanic tenuity. Most often this sort of thing occurs for the people who hear from God in the ‘creatures.’
[What the Shaykh means by “hearing God in the “creatures” is an interesting question. What is clear is what follows his comment that a Satanic “tenuity” that is expressed in people who “hear from God in the “creatures,” is a VERY dangerous practice.]
So preserve yourselves, my brothers, from the calamities of this place, for distinguishing it is extremely difficult! Souls find it SWEET, and then, within it they are duped, since they become completely enamored of it.
… The experience of unveiling opens up an infinite expanse of previously unseen realities to the heart of the spiritual traveler. One of the major tasks is to navigate the dangers and pitfalls faced by the soul when it meets the unknown.
The realm into which the adept first enters is, after all, the World of Imagination, whose by-ways never end. It is the domain of the satans and other deceiving forces. One might say that unveiling opens the door to direct experience of the myriad worlds of Samsara. The traveler needs to keep a CLEAR HEAD during the journeys and not be misled by the swirling forces which lie just beyond the horizons of stability and balance.
The law which governs the inward realm as much as it governs the outward realm, provides an indispensable framework for entering into the imaginal world. Without it the traveler will be thrown about by every blast of deceiving wind.
…. Nowadays, most people interested in the spirituality of the East desire the ‘experiences.’ They may SAY that what they are after is intimate communion with God. Those familiar with the standards and norms of the spiritual experience set down by disciplined paths like Sufism are usually appalled at the way Westerners seize upon any apparition from the domain outside of normal consciousness as a manifestation of the ‘spiritual.’ In fact, there are innumerable realms in the unseen world, some of them far more dangerous than the worst jungles of the visible world.
No person familiar with the teachings of Sufism would dare lay himself open to such forces without the guidance of a shaykh who has himself traveled the path, faced the dangers and overcome them….
The true Masters have passed beyond the properties of the “states”, always keeping a cool head no matter what they may experience. The masters travel “within” the stations which are acquired permanently and have none of the instability and fleeting nature of the states.” (Shaykh Ibn al-Arabi, quoted and discussed by William Chittick in “The Sufi Path of Knowledge”; SUNY, 1989)
Who am I? This is the central question of existence. If you don’t answer it, you will never be able to distinguish between what your essential self wants and what other people manipulate you to want – including so-called “channeled” sources. If you don’t know who you are, you cannot know what you are or why you are.
The most traditional answer to this question is that you are a creature, a creation of God, a creation that is flawed in vital ways, conceived and born in original sin, and therefore you are someone who must constantly struggle to overcome this flaw by appeasing God.
The means of appeasing God are many and varied according to which doctrine one follows, but they generally mean that you must obey the rules laid down by that god, through approved prophets, lest you be damned.
This idea, however is responsible for much of the guilt experienced at a very deep level and leads to low self-esteem and the expectation of failure, and can be traced as the root cause of many, if not ALL, of the world’s problems because, guilt and low self-esteem turned inside out leads to the rigid, conceited arrogance of being one of the chosen.
Interestingly, neither of these views encourages a person to think about or question who they are, or about anything for that matter, because the answer has already been given to them from a higher source. [See our article on Discernment for an example.]
And, what is even more disturbing is that this source that has given the answers which create all this guilt and appeasement behavior, is also the very source of the “verification” that it is the one true source!! This is true no matter which doctrine you follow. Each claims to be the one true source and that all others are not, or, at the very least, only partly correct.
Many believers feel that whatever is revealed to them must come directly via the “Spirit of Truth.” Yet, there are innumerable versions of doctrine dispensed, one would think, by this very same “Spirit of Truth.” I don’t think that anyone of them would argue the concept that “God is not the author of confusion.” And, since there exists such diversity of beliefs around the globe, we may conclude that either somebody is right, excluding all others, or that nobody is right, including all. And, if this is the case, the only path that can possibly save us from this confusion is KNOWLEDGE.
Scientific materialism has its own answer: that you are a meaningless byproduct of mindless evolution; an accident in an accidental universe. This view is that the entire universe is totally material, governed only by fixed physical laws and blind chance.
It just happened that way.
The right atoms came together under the right conditions so that the chemical reaction we call life formed and eventually evolved into human beings. There is no meaning to this accident. This leads to the philosophy which goes something like this: don’t worry too much about other people, as they are just meaningless mixtures of chemicals just like you.
In this context, it doesn’t really matter if you think about who you really are because any conclusions you may come to are just subjective fancies of no particular value in the physical world.
[Regarding those who espouse this view, see our article on Organic Portals which indicates that, for them, this view IS correct: they are merely “matter” and will return to the primal soup upon death.
If you have been conditioned to believe that who you are is meaningless or inherently bad or sinful, you probably will not be able to examine the insights offered through the phenomenon of channelling. You are probably stuck in the a priori argument that the Bible, (or other “received truth”) is the final word of God. You have been so conditioned to this that you cannot even hear the very words of that same document when it says:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy – telling forth the divine cousels – and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Yes, and on My menservants also and on My maidservants in those days I will pour out of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy – telling forth the divine counsels and predicting future events pertaining especially to God’s kingdom. And I will show wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth beneath…”
And, especially if the channeled information is different than the traditional interpretations, you might not welcome the stimulation that the phenomena of channelling gives to the question “who am I?”
But, you have to ask yourself, if the information already received by the “standard Christianity,” was the ultimate and final answer, why would there be any need for God to inspire further prophecy and knowledge of the “divine counsels?” Remember, we are not talking about what is already told or interpreted. We are talking about New Knowledge; New Visions; New Interpretations!
At the same time, overenthusiastic acceptance of any channeled material that comes down the pike can be just as much a defense against thinking as overenthusiastic rejection of channelling.
One must always keep in mind the warning about “False Prophets!”
The subject of channeling is fraught with possibilities of deception and misunderstanding.
Once again, we find the answer to be KNOWLEDGE which can help us to evaluate the material delivered by any given source. The more knowledge we have, the more defense we have against being led astray by lies and obfuscations and even lies sandwiched between truths.
Another question that must be asked: If “channels” are, in fact, in touch with something like Universal Mind or with more evolved beings who exist on other levels of reality, why aren’t more of the channels “healthy, wealthy, and wise?”
Why do we often see an apparent lack of personal enlightenment and achievement among channels and their followers?
Why does much of the material contain intellectual limitations, grammatical incompetencies, and historical and scientific inaccuracies?
We must look at these issues carefully in our attempts to determine what is or is not Truth. KNOWLEDGE, again!
In every other sphere of historical enquiry, new material is acknowledged. It may be disputed. Attempts may be made to suppress it. Alternatively, it may be digested and assimilated. But at least people know what has already been discovered, what has already been said twenty or fifty or seventy years ago. There is some species of genuine advance, whereby old discoveries and contentions, and a corpus of knowledge comes into being. Revolutionary theories may be accepted or discarded, but cognizance is at least taken of them and of what preceded them. A context exists. Cumulative contributions by successive generations of researchers create an increased and increasing understanding.
Thus do we acquire our knowledge of history in general, as well as of specific epochs and events. Thus do we acquire a coherent image of such figures as King Arthur, Robin Hood or Jeanne d’Arc. These images are constantly growing, constantly mutating, constantly being augmented by new material as it becomes available.
But, it seems that, for religion, this is simply NOT the case!
Yet, the advances in, for example, Biblical Scholarship are so amazing, that it is incomprehensible how the practicing Christian is as ignorant as his predecessors of centuries ago; and that he “subscribes essentially to the same simplistic accounts he heard when he himself was a child.”
Why should this be?
Why should biblical scholarship, which is pertinent to so many lives, be thus immune to evolution and development?
Why should the great mass of believing Christians in fact know less about the figure they worship than about historical figures of far less relevance? […]
Each contribution in the field of biblical research is like a footprint in sand. Each is covered almost immediately and, so far as the general public is concerned, leaves virtually no trace.
Anyone in the ministry, anyone training for the ministry, is, as a matter of course, confronted with the latest developments in biblical research. Any seminarian today will learn at least something of the Dead Sea Scrolls, of the Nag Hammadi Scrolls, of the history and evolution of New Testament studies, of the more controversial statements made by both theologians and historians.
Yet, this knowledge has NOT been passed on to the [masses of believers.] […]
The overall effect is precisely the same as if there were an organised conspiracy of silence among churchmen.
(Baigent, Leigh, Lincoln; “The Messianic Legacy,” Dell, 1986)
And, surely one would think that if people like Henry Lyons and Jimmy Swaggert, Jim and Tammy Baker, REALLY believed what they are preaching, they would conduct their lives a LOT differently from the very beginning. It is TOO easy to get up and cry and apologize and claim that one has “begged God for forgiveness” in order to keep the flow of cash coming, than to tell the believers that there REALLY ISN’T ANYTHING TO BELIEVE IN — except, of course, to believe in the self and the obtaining of knowledge.
The Mosaic doctrine arose from the Prophet Moses, who might be seen as a channel for Yahweh. Because of the message “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” the concept of one God gained the unqualified respect and allegiance of an increasing number of people.
We have to wonder about this in a number of ways: Was Yahweh a being among many other beings of equal power and ability?
Are there other Yahweh type beings transmitting information which has been rejected because it did not come through this context?
And, since the affairs on our planet have tended to be rather dismal throughout history, perhaps this Yahweh/Jehovah is NOT the best choice!
This question is CRUCIALLY important in the present time due to the astonishing number of persons claiming to have interacted with beings with seeming “supernatural” powers, against whom the old “formulas” of religion simply DO NOT WORK! Anybody who claims that you can “rebuke” beings of “darkness” in the name of Jesus, or whoever, has NOT been paying attention!
False prophets came to mean channels who falsely claimed to mediate the voice of the one God, Yahweh.
Perhaps some of them were genuine channels whose sources were beings other than the authorized one God, who, we must add, was authorized by himself, which immediately makes his authenticity questionable in any context!
Among the Jews, anything other than the word of the one God became suspect under the new system. In the Bible, a recurring theme arose of tension between many individuals capable of channelling and the chosen few who claimed that they alone spoke the word of the Lord God of Israel.
The assortment of Other gods, spirit guides, higher selves, and discarnate humans that served the channels who were not prophets of this One True God, were called familiar spirits; the channels were deemed wizards, witches, and worse. And, a student of ancient times discovers that the world was NOT a wounded, dissolute society in desperate need of a Messiah at the time of the coming of Jesus.
In fact, it should be noted that the imposition of Christianity as the “primary” religion of the West, was also the beginning of the Dark Ages!
By their fruits you shall know them!
In this respect we must remember what Jesus said when accused of driving out demons with the help of Satan:
“Any kingdom that is divided against itself is being brought to desolation and laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will last or continue to stand. And if Satan drives out Satan, he has become divided against himself and disunited; how then will his kingdom last or continue to stand? …But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you… therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy – that is, every evil, abusive, injurious speaking or indignation against sacred things – can be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not and cannot be forgiven… either make the tree sound and its fruit sound, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten; for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit.”
Today a large percentage of the word’s population calls itself Christian and the church’s views have changed little with regard to the channelling phenomenon: if a reported occurrence is not a certifiable contact from God or his chosen ones, which means that what is said must be in line with the particular doctrine of whoever is making the judgment, then it is seen as most likely a contact with lower spirits whose trustworthiness is contested. Generally the trustworthiness is contested because of differences in doctrine, rather than the “fruits” of the work or teaching.
Yet, we have to look at the divisiveness of Christianity, itself, as well as its divisiveness from all other religions. Christianity is a religion that claims salvation based upon a single point of doctrine, that Jesus of Nazareth was born God incarnate, and is the ONLY way to salvation, rather than the clearly stated “fruits” explicated by Jesus himself.
This doctrine has been at the root of more pain and suffering than any other idea in recorded history.
And, most Christians do not know that this idea was “cooked up” by the early church fathers and the Emperor Constantine, who, in fact, did NOT subscribe to the idea himself, and that 80 percent of the leaders of the early Christian church did NOT vote for this concept to become doctrine. Thus, we have “Sunday” as the day of worship, because it made Constantine happy, and he was a follower of the cult of Sol, Christmas was rescheduled to December 25th, because that was the “birthday of Sol,” while Jesus was reported to have been born on January 6th, the “resurrection” ceremonies follow almost precisely the Eleusinian rites of Spring, and the cross itself, an old representation of the male phallus is revered by Christians who would be aghast to know that they are worshipping a generative principle that is directly related to sexual activity, and a whole HOST of other “pagan” underpinnings to the so-called “Christian” path that are completely unknown to the average adherent of this particular doctrine.
Throughout history the major religions have tried to monopolize the channelling of “the one truth.” But, it has never been done as effectively as what has happened through the often brutal imposition of Christianity.
Pope Leo X is reported to have said in the sixteenth century: “It has served us well, this myth of Christ.” More broadly, there has always been a parallel struggle over who will decide what to make of the phenomenon of channelling in general, whether it be a priest calling it the word of God or a scientist calling it a hallucination or wish fulfillment.
Those who take on the role of authority to try to decide for others what is really going on with channels may find themselves in company with those who accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan. We should weigh carefully the criteria used for deciding whether someone is communicating with a nonphysical being or with God, if only because of the presence of competing schools of interpretation and judgment.
In Jesus’ case, according to doctrine, nothing came through an intermediary; the channel and the source were one. Yet to read Jesus’ words sometimes gives the feeling that he was sent to earth to channel guidance from “home” or from a “parent” spirit.
This was hotly contested in the “Nestorian Heresy” which brought about the break-up of the Roman Catholic Church from the Eastern Orthodox Church.
We should take note of the fact that the fruit of this issue was divisive!
Channeled spirit information was tacitly accepted by the apostle John who wrote:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether thy are of God;’ because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
Obviously there was a lot of “spirit” information coming through!
Some people are satisfied that the messages could come only from who they claim to come from: the purported sources, others dismiss them all as fraud, or as having been manufactured by the channel’s own unconscious, or as having been received paranormally from the minds of other people.
Many people find channeled messages to be relatively useless: vague and facile psychobabble, permutations and paraphrasings of stereotypical material already in the public domain.
Many others, however, report that their day to day lives are definitely enhanced by channeled information and guidance.
Purported “Space Brothers” have told us through a hundred different channels that some of them reside on planets in the same frequency domain as ourselves, the one we call physical..
In the majority of cases, however, the aliens claim to come from vibratory domains finer than ours, usually from the etheric level between the physical and the supposed astral plane of deceased human spirits. They say they have the technology to transform their vibratory rate in order to enter our perceptual range, giving us occasional close encounters with UFOs, but when channelling, they claim to be communicating to earthly channels from their own native vibrational level.
The necessary approach is to narrow down and differentiate between the material that could not be coming from the unconscious mind of the channel or from the minds of others to the channel from that which MUST, necessarily, be from a “higher source.”
While serious research in this area was done between the 1860s and 1930s, virtually none has been conducted since – other than the research of the Cassiopaea Experiment.
However, there SHOULD be some criteria, such as that used by the Catholic Churce to distinguish between “possession” and psychosis.
In general, though, how do you tell a good entity from a bad entity?
I think that it has to do with empowerment. If the entity is trying to get you to follow it or is trying to get you to give up your power to it, to some vague “savior” who is going to rescue you or others, or is just downloading information that is essentially useless or obscure, then you ought to beware.
Good entities intend to put themselves out of business! Jesus said: “These things I do, ye shall do also, and greater things than these!”
But, is the information of Jesus, or any other channel, from God or other transcendental beings?
Without recourse to objective proof that God or Godlike beings are actually at work through human channels, the burden of proof must rest on the content of the material.
Some have accused channeling of giving simplistic answers, a touch of magic and the esoteric. Like a drug addiction, you have to come back for more. Well, that seems to describe religion in general where multiplied millions of people come back every week for another fix. What does this say about the mental state of the prevailing consensus reality?
Armand Dimele, clinician, says:
“…most channeling being done is through the pathological need of the person doing the channeling. Some of the sources may be slightly inspired by transcendental subjects or material, but the line through which it comes is particularly narcissistic and borderline pathological. At the other extreme, there definitely is a transcendental domain which can be accessed through a ‘crack in the cosmic egg.”
Psychiatrist Ralph B. Allison says:
“The mind and the brain are not the same. The brain is a structure. The mind is the energy that inhabits the structure. Obviously it can be elsewhere. “I’m in the business of helping people, and I could care less where the information comes from. Does it work?” His conclusion from decades of experience with clients: “The human mind can do anything. It can create the whole kit and kaboodle. Don’t knock it.”
Some of the most eminent scientists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries chose to investigate channeling and related phenomena. Dr. J.B. Rhine tried to make this study more “scientific.” Paranormal abilities came to be subdivided and classified. This led to the idea that the mind of the channel may roam other realms in order to telepathically find the right knowledge or nuance of personality to pass for the alleged source. This other realm may include the entire evolutionary mental envelope surrounding the earth. Or perhaps it includes Jung’s collective unconscious or the ancients’ Akashic records.
The adherence of parapsychologists to this “Grand ESP” explanation for channeling seems to display an inability to make the conceptual leap to the possibility of nonphysical intelligent beings. Even paranormal debunker Marcello Truzzi is moved to comment that “Grand ESP isn’t any less extraordinary than the thing it is trying to explain away – channeling.”
Much of channeling literature is predicated upon an extradimensional universe, one that allows messages to be sent from other levels of reality to ours. The recent multidimensional unification theories of physics seem to lend some credence to such a possibility.
Retired IBM senior research scientist Marcel Vogel has studied the use of crystals as conductors, tuners, condensers, and amplifiers of subtle energy fields, perhaps even beyond the known electromagnetic spectrum. Research with crystals has shown that quartz is preferable to glass for working with subtle energies, since glass is known to block frequencies higher than visible light, such as the ultraviolet range. Vogel and others appear to have discovered that crystals can mediate mental energy as well. Vogel claims to be able to focus his intention into and through crystals, causing them to resonate, hum and glow in the process.
But, in the case of channeling, who or where could the transmissions come from?
The unconscious part of the mind is seen as a repository of perceptions, memories, and representations not readily available to conscious awareness. It is capable of certain internal flexibility of combinatory play among its components. According to one theory, this play accounts for our dreams, imagination, creativity, and other subjective activity. And it would certainly account for anything falling under the auspices of channeling. All of these explanations need nothing external to the unconscious mind to account for channeling.
Jung wrote that the psyche is not an indivisible unity. Within this divided whole, the ego complex forms the center characteristic of our psyche. The appearance of communication from nonphysical spirits could be accounted for by these complexes, which become repressed and separated from normal waking consciousness. These complexes might project themselves in a form he said which is experienced by the individual as separate from himself.
Andrija Puharich investigated the idea of human beings as finely tuned “biocosmic resonators” capable of accessing information beyond the self. According to Puharich, electromagnetic oscillations outside of human systems can resonantly entrain parts of our brains to their frequencies or to lower harmonics of them. We become most capable of coupling with these entraining frequencies at ranges of the upper theta wave and lower alpha-wave region, specifically at 7.8 hertz. At this frequency we are also coupled with the natural electromagnetic resonance of the earth’s ionosphere, called the “Schumann resonance.”
Parts of the brain generate impulses at specific frequencies “based on the predominant neurotransmitters secreted”. Puharich suggests that once the resonance of 7.2 to 8 hertz has been reached, it may be modulated by superimposing other information on it. The lower part of the 8 to 12 hertz window has been shown to be the primary brain wave generated during meditative states and channeling. Psychics generate brain waves in the 8 hertz range while attempting to produce certain psi phenomena. They do this particularly in the left hemisphere of the brain which is associated with language and analytical skills rather than with visual or conceptual and/or emotional aspects, which may indicate that MOST supposed “psychic” information may be merely “good guesses,” or clever analysis – or even the effects of a “mind control program.”
It seems that, for genuine, HIGH level contact, some other resonance must be sought.
However, research does seem to show that telepaths activate the parasympathetic aspect of the autonomic nervous system often by the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This activation of receptivity is called being in a state of cholinergia, which, after a time, COULD lead to permanent alterations in the neurological structures and even could turn certain genes on or off.
Could channeling be a case of information modulation of the 8 hertz region in the channel’s brain by electromagnetic oscillations transmitted from an outside source?
Could the outside source be nonphysical? And, if so, what is the nature of the source?
Is it possible that “channeled” material that is “heard” as a voice is merely the picking up of signals which stimulate pre-coded thought sequences?
Could such information have a more “human” or prosaic source? We should certainly consider the idea that truly HIGHER source information MUST come via conceptual or image related modes rather than verbal or auditory.
There is one problem with information transfer via modulation of extremely low frequency carrier waves in the 8 hertz region. The modulation frequency, the actual information configuration, should usually be much lower than that of the wave system that carries it in order to get reasonable fidelity or reproduction. So we may be talking about operations at much lower frequencies than the range measured in EEGs and commonly accepted as accompanying behavior, perception, and cognition. The real activity may lie below the range of the EEG. And this means that the most valid of channeled information would, of necessity, be generally unavailable to conscious perception.
Research shows that certain frequencies of electromagnetic energy can be transmitted in a “wireless” manner to the individual human brain, evoking predictable sensations, perceptions, or other subjective experiences.
Thus, we return again to the “content” of the material as being the ONLY criteria by which we can determine the nature of the source.
Are channels pathological? Would they be diagnosed by a professional psychologist as mentally ill?
Most of us would agree that people who channel are abnormal, since abnormality merely implies falling outside the mainstream. Channels seem to be deviant in the statistical sense, but except for the fact that they may pose a threat to the belief systems of others, there is little evidence that they are pathological or dangerous to themselves or others.
Professionals use two criteria to establish the existence of mental disorder: a painful symptom or impairment in functioning. During unconscious channelling the channel is disabled with regard to interacting with external reality. The channel suffers from a recurring disability every time channelling takes place, a disability no less incapacitating than, say, an epileptic seizure. During this time the channel is unable to relate to the outside world in any other way. This should indicate to us that channels who “go unconscious” spontaneously or otherwise are, in fact, suffering a pathological condition, and, therefore, there is some question as to the motive or intent of the source.
There is evidence that more channels suffer discomfort than readily admit. It is unusual, though for someone who channels to suffer real impairment. Yet, since the acclimatization to becoming a channel can take time, there can be periods of early disability that are compensated by later enabling. Generally, though, this is NOT the case.
Delusion is defined as “false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality and firmly sustained in spite of what everyone else believes and in spite of what constitutes incontrovertible proof to the contrary.”
Unfortunately, the above definition can be applied to MOST channelers, their material, and their followers if, and that’s a big if, they do not submit their material to criticism and research.
Many channels say they feel bewildered or embarrassed by the responsibility placed on them. Most do not believe they chose their channeling gifts; rather they feel they were chosen by their sources. That, right there is a HUGE red flag warning!
Schizophrenia: “Bizarre delusions; somatic, grandiose, religious, or other delusions; auditory hallucinations; disturbances in perception, thought disorders; disturbance in the sense of self.”
Factitious behavior: Psychotic symptoms produced unconsciously, in pursuit of a goal that is recognizable with an understanding of a person’s circumstances. This person does not know that they have created the “channeling behavior” to compensate for a childhood sense of inferiority that has been long repressed.
Depersonalization and Dissociation: An alteration in the perception or experience of the self. A part of the self becomes alienated from the rest and is perceived as “other.” Or a sudden, temporary alteration in the normal integrated consciousness.
Multiple Personality: 97 percent of all known MPD cases have a history of childhood trauma, usually a combination of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Many channels also appear to have a background of neglect or abuse. Yet 75 percent of MPD personalities are under 12 years old, while virtually no reported channeled sources are children (except for a young boy in South Carolina who began preaching the “gospel” at the age of 4, as well as the famed Fatima Messages). Also, MPDs have numerous alters while channels usually only have one source. By refusing to recognize the internal realm of non-physical spirit, Western science remains at a loss to explain either of these phenomena.
Then there is what psychiatrist Hans Bender calls “mediumistic psychosis.”
He studied patients diagnosed as schizophrenic who, before their illness, had practiced some form of opening of the self to the “possessing” entity, for greater or lesser periods of time. Hearing voices, receiving “other” thoughts and sensations of being controlled by another were the primary warning signals. Some of the incidents involving malignant entities led to suicide and murder attempts. Also, spontaneous, or unintentional, channeling seems to be a form of possession or obsession.
William James wrote in 1909:
“The refusal of modern ‘enlightenment’ to treat ‘possession’ as a hypothesis to be spoken of as even possible, in spite of the massive human tradition based on concrete human experience in its favor, has always seemed to me a curious example of the power of fashion in things ‘scientific.’ That the demon theory […] will have its innings again is to my mind absolutely certain. One has to be ‘scientific’ indeed to be blind and ignorant enough to suspect no such possibility.”
Professor Hyslop, a friend of William James, admitted to Jung that, all things considered, all these metapsychic phenomena could be explained better by the hypothesis of spirits than by the qualities and peculiarities of the unconscious. Jung said “I have to admit that the spirit hypothesis yields better results in practice than any other.”
Freud explained channelling-like phenomena in terms of wish fulfillment and the reemergence of material repressed into the unconscious.
[Regarding Freud, we might suggest that his theories belong more to the realm of the Organic Portal.]
In all cases of repression and transformation, Freud said, the analyst would need to learn to read, by way of the cryptic text of behavior, the underlying meaning or intent that was seeking a symbolic means of expressing itself. Repressed material might present itself as a different self.
This may be true in many instances but SOME cases do not fit this view easily, because the content channeled CANNOT be explained as part of the individual’s repressed psychic material in any of the ways acceptable to the psychoanalytical view.
If such personal unconscious material can only consist of fantasy productions, innate instinctual drives, or perceptions and memories derived from interaction with external reality, then much channeled material cannot be explained.
One would have to say either that those unconscious forces have true universal and transpersonal qualities to them; or that the ego’s interface with external reality somehow includes extrasensory or nonphysical means. In either case, we have tampered with the basic closed system assumption held by Freud.
Much of the channeled material speaks of a remarkably similar theme: We are one. We need to recognize, reclaim, and reunite with our God source, our underlying deeper identity. We have blocked and repressed the love continually welling up from within — our true Eros nature — and we have blocked its flow to us from all living creation: the Eros of God. Eros has been transformed through evolution, the speculation concludes, and is foreshadowed in the experiences and teachings of the channels, psychics, mystics, visionaries, and selfless lovers. Again, this speaks more directly to the reality of the Organic Portal – a soul pool – than to the reality of the Creative Principle of “Unity in Diversity.”]
So, in all of this miasma of material that seems to cast a rather gloomy pall on the subject, what is a person to do?
How does one KNOW?
And, that is the key. KNOWLEDGE.
The first requirement for anyone who wishes to channel anything should be a rather extensive knowledge base with which to evaluate every step of the process.
Naturally, this should include a LOT of research into the subject of channeling itself. Channeling without KNOWLEDGE is like trying to do brain surgery without having attended medical school – in fact, it could be a LOT more dangerous!
So, I am NOT going to make any suggestions about what a person should do in order to be able to channel.
My advice would be to forget it. Possibly only one in ten thousand has both the constitution as well as the knowledge acquisition skills.
Concentrate on learning in the accepted, 3rd density fashion of reading, researching, asking questions and, for goodness sake, THINKING!
A lot of people want to take up channeling or follow a particular channel because it saves them from the arduous task of using their brain.
Yet, the Cassiopaeans have repeatedly taught that increase of knowledge, USING the brain, is the single most important thing a human being can do. This is because of the changes in the brain that can occur with the activity of increased neurotransmitters which results from thinking.
It has been suggested by research that most psychic abilities are “genetic” and passed down in families. Well, those may be merely a particular genetic anomaly that is within a certain bloodline. But, to acquire TRUE psychic powers and abilities, one must unlock the DNA potential – and this is done by increasing the electrical activity of the brain which changes the neurotransmitters.
So, the key really IS KNOWLEDGE in a most literal and dramatic sense. So, seek to KNOW, and you will Know the Truth that will set you FREE!
List of HIGHLY Recommended Reading Resources:
Allison, R. Minds in Many Pieces; New York: Rawson, Wade, 1980
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd Edition; Washington, D.C: 1987
Auerbach, Loyd, Reincarnation, Channelling and Possession: A Parapsychologist’s Handbook; New York: Warner, 1003
Auerbach, Loyd, ESP, Hauntings and Poltergeists: A Parapsychologist’s Handbook; New York: Warner, 1986
Baldwin, William, Spirit Releasement Therapy: A Technique Manual; VA, Human Potential Foundation Press
Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research. New York: Paragon House, 1991
Broughton, Richard. Parapsychology: The Controversial Science; New York: Ballantine Books, 1991
Chittick, William. The Sufi Path of Knowledge; New York: SUNY, 1989
Edge, Hoyt L., Robert L. Morris, Joseph H. Rush, and John A Palmer. Foundations of Parapsychology: New York: Methuen, Inc., 1986
Fiore, Edith. The Unquiet Dead: A Psychologist Treats Spirit Possession; New York: Ballantine Books, 1987
Flew, Anthony. (editor) Readings In the Philosophical Problems Of Parapsychology; Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1987
Fodor, Nandor. The Haunted Mind; New York: Garrett Publications, 1959
Fortune, Dion. Psychic Self-Defence; Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK: The Aquarian Press, 1987
Garrett, Eileen J. Many Voices: The Autobiography Of A Medium; New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1968
Gittelson, Bernard. Intangible Evidence; New York: Fireside Books, 1987
Grattan-Guinness, Ivor (editor). Psychical Research: A Guide to Its History, Principles, and Practices; Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK: TheAquarian Press, 1982
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. Harpers Encyclopedia Of Mystical and Paranormal Experience; San Francisco: Harper San Francisco/ HarperCollins Publishers, 1991
Gurney, Edmund, F.W.H. Myers, and Frank Podmore. Mrs. Henry Sidgwick (editor) Phantasms Of The Living; new York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1918
Hastings, Arthur. With The Tongues Of men And Angels: A study Of Channelling; Fort Worth, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1991
Hines, Terence. Pseudoscience And The Paranormal: A Critical Examination of the Evidence; Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1988
Hort, Barbara E. Unholy Hungers:Encountering the Psychic Vampire in Ourselves and Others; Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc, 1996
Irwin, Harvey J. An Introduction To Parapsychology; Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1989
Jahn, Robert G., and Brenda J. Dunne. Margins Of Reality: The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World; New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1987
Kardec, Allen. The Book On Mediums; York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1989
Klimo, Jon. Channelling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources; Los Angeles: JeremyP. Tarcher, 1987
Martin, Malachi, Hostage To The Devil; new York: Perrenial Library/Harper and Row, 1976
Mishlove, Jeffrey. Psi Development Systems; New York: Ballantine Books, 1988
Mitchell, Edgar D., and others. John White (editor). Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science; New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1874
Mitchell, Janet Lee. Conscious Evolution; New York: Ballantine Books, 1989
Oesterreich, T.K. Possession: Demoniacal And Other; New Hyde park, NY: University Books, 1966
Owen, Iris M., with Margaret Sparrow. Conjuring Up Philip: An Adventure in Psychokinesis: New York: Harper and Row, 1976
Peck, M. Scott, The Road Less Traveled; New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978
____________ People of the Lie; New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993
Rhine, Louisa E. The Invisible Picture; Jefferson,NC: McFarland, 1981
Roberts, Jane. Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity Of The Soul; New York: Bantam Books, 1974
__________ The Seth Material; New York: Bantam Books, 1976
Rogo, D. Scott. Psychic Breakthroughs Today; Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK: The Aquarian Press, 1987
____________ Mind Over Matter: The Case For Psychokinesis. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK: The Aquarian Press, 1986
____________Parapsychology: A Century Of Inquiry; New York: Dutton, 1977
Roll, William G. The Poltergeist, new edition. Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, 1972. Metuchen, NJ: Scarcrow Press, 1976
Sugrue, Thomas. There Is A River: The Story Of Edgar Cayce; New York: henry Holt and Company, 1942
Tart, Charles (editor) Altered States Of Consciousness; San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1990
Whitton, Joel. Life Between Life
This is only a partial list of the works we explored before beginning our “experiment in superluminal communication.” There are many others that I have not listed because the volumes are no longer in my possession, though I specifically included Dr. Joel Whitton’s book, even though I cannot source it. It is a very important one. “The Ghost of Flight 401” was also full of valuable information and I would recommend it as well.
These books represent many opinions and levels of research and will certainly help to prepare the experimenter for the many vagaries of investigations into the spirit world.
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