Padre Pio: The True Story

I was talking to one of my Catholic co-workers about Padre Pio’s miracles and he ended up giving me a book called Padre Pio: the true story. 

It is so far pretty dry as it goes into Padre Pio’s parents life to start with.  I first read about Pio in a book called Holographic Universe, by Mike Talbot.  Talbot talked about Pio’s stigmata and ability to bi-locate.  Bi-location is something that his followers experience.  For example they claim that he actually appears before them and guides them through a tough time even when Pio himself has no knowlege of the event.  This is some that Faqir Chand and other Indian mystics and followers experience.  Although this is easily explained away by skeptics, I believe such a widespread phenomenon deserves some attention.

But so far I haven’t gotten to his miracles in the book.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (entrainment 2.0?)

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is the next step in the evolution of entrainment.  Instead of using sounds to influence brainwaves, it uses noninvasive electromagnetism. 

Sound entrainment has been used to coax brainwaves into a certain pattern. 

If a tuning fork designed to produce a frequency of 440 Hz is struck (causing it to oscillate) and then brought into the vicinity of another 440 Hz tuning fork, the second tuning fork will begin to oscillate. The first tuning fork is said to have entrained the second or caused it to resonate. The physics of entrainment apply to biosystems as well. Of interest here are the electromagnetic brain waves. — Science of Binaural Beats Brainwave Entrainment

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is the application of variable magnetic fields to the brain — Open-rTMS 

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is a VERY effective way to induce states of consciousness:

BBC article on Dr. Persinger’s TMS helmet 

How does Dr Persinger induce artificially religious experiences in his patients?

Dr Persinger has designed a helmet that produces a very weak rotating magnetic field of between ten nanotesla and one microtesla over the temporal lobes of the brain. This is placed on the subject’s head and they are placed in a quiet chamber while blindfolded. So that there is no risk of ’suggestion’, the only information that the subjects are given is that they are going in for a relaxation experiment. Neither the subject nor the experimenter carrying out the test has any idea of the true purpose of the experiment. In addition to this, the experiment is also run with the field switched both off and on. This procedure Dr Persinger claims will induce an experience in over 80% of test subjects.

What sort of experiences do subjects report?

This is very dependent on the belief system of the individual subjects [ADDED Wilber-Combs Lattice]. Dr Persinger talks about his subjects feeling a ’sensed presence’ - feeling that somebody was in the chamber with them. Subjects who are strongly religious are likely to interpret this presence as god. Whereas, atheists may also report a ’sensed presence’ but attribute the phenomena to a trick of brain chemistry, perhaps comparable to when they have taken drugs in the past.

TMS is so effective that “Among more sensitive individuals, tests show that their skin will turn red if they believe a hot nickel has been placed on their hand. That’s a powerful psychosomatic effect of the brain on the body. Suppose we could make it more precise?” — This is Your Brain on God, Wired.  

TMS is currently in the hands of reductionists who believe that ALL mystical experiences can be summed up by electromagnetic disturbances.  Mass sightings up UFOs and other strange phenomenon are simply chemicals in our brains being influenced by electromagnetism.  

Perhaps inducing certain electromagnetic frequencies allows our biominds to access a perspective of reality we would not have otherwise been privy too without years of meditation.  Like devices that allow us to see infrared (frequencies that are beyond our normal domain of visible light), perhaps getting to certain states of consciousness allow us to “see” things we are normally oblivious too.    

Science and religion used to fully subscribe to a flat earth the was the center of a static universe.  We have found the complete opposite to be true.  Modern mainstream scientists now agree that we are likely the only sentient life and there are no subtle spiritual type energies and all spiritual experiences are completely the product of the human brain.  All of that seems just as ridiculous as a ”flatworld” theory.  A neo-atheistic reductionism is fine as belief systems and religions go, but what I don’t like is how science marginalizes anyone outside of their mainstream belief structure. 

I love science but its champions seem to have fallen prey to a dogma that is similar in close minded stagnancy to that of some religious denominations.       

TMS links:

BioMag - TMS reasearch

This is your Brain on God, Wired. 7-11-1999

God Helmet, Shakti

 

Religions Affects on Altered States on Consciousness

I have been studying religions and mystical experiences for years seeking “truth”.

The pinnacle of what I have come across so far is Ken Wilber’s Integral Spirituality. Although I don’t yet fully “grok” his stuff on metaphysics, his ideas on religions, science and states of consciousness are GROUND BREAKING!

For one thing he has what is known as the Wilber-Combs Lattice

The Wilber-Combs Lattice is a matrix that maps states of consciousness with types of religious belief.

I’ve written a little blurb about this on my post “What is an Empirical Spiritualist”
I have been in several religions, faiths and/or societies (but currently hold no allegiance to any one organization). I have had experiences with almost all. Each of these experiences have been colored by the culture, beliefs, dogma of the organization I was in at the time.

Here are some examples of religions that influenced by spiritual experience:

Christian - as a penecostal I was worshiping Jesus surrounded by some of the praising, shouting congregation and I felt an energy bolt going through my body. A penecostal might call this the holy ghost (aka Holy Spirit).

Eckankar - I was in a state of great peace and saw/felt a blue light shine down on me. Eckist call this one part of the “Light and Sound of God” (aka Holy Spirit)

Integral Spirituality - After a session with a Zen Buddhist Genpo Roshi conducting what is called a Big Mind exercise I felt a profound (overwhelming) oneness with anything I looked at.

Each experience has been shaped and interpreted by the culture/religion/faith I was apart of at the time. This in NO WAY INVALIDATES the phenomenon. It did happen. They were very real and in some cases have changed the course of my life.

The religion/culture/society in which I live gives me the language to explain what has happened and simultaneously shapes the experience.  Sometimes the language is to crude to give an effective account.  I believe that many times the original message gets “lost in translation”.  Many religions have been founded and shaped on these crude interpretations of real experiences.

The source of the phenomenon is a different kind of discussion. While we might agree that the phenomenon happend in the brain (or perhaps merely recorded there) from the ‘mind’ we may disagree on whether the source was from subtle energies and/or spirit. We can only theorize and assume what the source of my phenomenon is.  And we can only prove the orgins to ourselves as we can not share PHYSICAL evidence of anything happening with electroencophalographs and other tools used to measure the activity of the brain. Those tools are too crude to tell us anything beyond the brain. Whatever we believe the hows and whys are, it is very important to realize the context to which these phenomenon occur. For example, if I was scitzoprenic and my dog was telling me to kill my landlord, that experience may be real to me, but the phenomenon occuring is dangerous and more than likely pathological.  The best way to make a clear judgment  on  any interpretation is to look at all (or as many as possible) sides: physical history, cultural background, stage and state of consciousness.  All are important factors in examining an inner experience.  AQAL is a perfect map for such an examination.
Language/Semantics/culture/religion and their contextual meaning shape not only altered states of consciousness but “normal” states as well. As in a dream, we construct the meaning as well as the happenings of the experience consciously, subconsciously and/or unconsciously.

I suspect that our perspective is completely relative to our constantly shifting meaning. Ego, states of consciousness, and stages of conscious experiences do have some level of reality and so they do deserve our attetion and management but the only *absolute is Being, Here, NOW. All else is real ONLY relative to something else. The “suchness” of the moment is really all there is.

*The only absolute is being, here now (nowness, the suchness of this single moment - or perhaps the only absolute is NO-absolute or as Wilber says the combination of Form & Emptiness - nondual).

The Secret is Fake: talking to Mr. Kjerulf

 

 My response to Alexander Kjerulf on the Secret:

Hi Alexander,

Good stuff.  I love theSecret and I’ve referred to many people.  But you makes some good points.

1. No proof that famous historical people knew the secret:  I guess this depends on context.  Many of the famous people eluded to on the site [thesecret.tv] are world class go-getters (especially in their prime).  But did they know the “law of attraction” by that name… I doubt it.

2. No proof that the Law of Attraction was kept secret (conspiracy):  I kind of saw that bit as a dramatization put in the Secret. 

Although one might argue that the Holy Roman Church [et al] annihilated many sects that actively practiced the Law of Attraction (i.e. Rosicrucians.. if you look closely you will see this name flashed in the title sequence of the secret BTW..  The Rosicrucians -occult,societies, gnostics, heretics and others- that practiced the Law of Attraction a.k.a “magic, thought forms, visualization” or anything that did not conform was destroyed… this purification was done by Nazi Germany, the Holy Roman Empire, and other nationalistic empires that wanted complete control.  Many churches go out of their way to discredit to this day.) 

3-5. The Secret is Pseudo Science:  As I’ve said in a previous post, I won’t even pretend to understand what quantum physics has to do with mysticism, but I do have pretty strong oppinion about the dogmatic even religious steps that science seems to have taken.

Apparently, the belief in pseudo science is on the rise in the U.S. http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070218_ap_us_science.html
This includes UFOs, psi, astrology, mind over matter and many others.
The scientific incrowd throw them ALL out wholesale.  There is such a stigma in the “accepted” scientific community that even an honest open minded question into the POSSIBILITY of the above areas deemed pseudo science can be career ending.  Personal experience and phenomenology are also thrown out so that one is supposed to question their own sanity prior to believing their own eyes. 

I often ask myself, who has a monopoly on reality?  Science or Religion?  Neither, of course.  Both are simply measurements and guides on life and reality but somehow people have completely reversed this.  Somehow, we have become the mere measurements of science and the puppets of religion with human perspective and life as a passing anomaly or a sin to be cleansed.

So do I believe that the human mind can influence the physical reality?  I believe that an awakend mind is the most power force in the world.  Able to split atoms, influence others, attain deeper understanding of the environment and more importantly, able to make up its own damn mind.

Mystical Experience and Interpretation (the W-C Lattice at a glance)

“I am an empirical spiritualist because the only way one can know truth is by experience. Observing with our eyes, sensing with our intuition, feeling with our emotions: these are all necessary parts of discerning truth. We must trust them. That is how God communicates with us, by providing emotional, visual and intuitive information qued to the empirical experiences of nature.” — Center for Unhindered Living

This is similar to how I feel about how to attain “truth”.  Some would immediately discount things like “out of body experiences” and even lucid dreams as having little or no value and then call themselves “scientists”.  A real scientist looks for proof prior to making hasty assumptions about what is and is not probable/possible. 

On the other hand, I don’t instantly believe or agree with everything I hear preached in the pulpit  or claimed in books.  I like to experience things for myself (if possible) prior to making an assumption.

Jesus, Buddha and other enlightened beings actually had direct contact and experience.  Their teachings have been taken and interpreted by the masses and the results have been social stability at best and subversive population and resource control and manipulation at worse.

The problem with Direct Experience: Interpretation 

Because interpretation plays such a huge part in how we use what we know, I don’t believe that even direct experience is a “cure all” for the current human condition.  Anyone can have a phenomenological experience, and their interpretation of that experience will be based on their current psychological-sociological (and unfortunately pathological) stage. 

 

How a person interprets those experiences can be seen in the Wilber-Combs Lattice:

The lattice shows the spiritual/religious belief level (or type of belief) a person can have ranging from Archaic to Integral (this is taken from James Fowler’s research on stages of faith).  The top of the W-C Lattice shows the type of phenomenological experience a person can have.

A person at an Archaic level can have a phenomenological experience (i.e. feel a holy presence, feel one with all things ect), however their interpretation of the experience will be much difference than someone at say and Integral level.  A person on the lower end of the W-C Lattice might come away from an experience of oneness and suddenly think that they are a Messiah or even God. 

So a person such as Vernon Wayne Howell (a.k.a David Koresh), may have indeed had visions, however the interpretation is determined by the psychological make up of the individual.  Vernon’s beliefs and vision (an alleged phenomenological experience he had while on a trip to Israel) guided him to take control of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, break a bunch of federal laws and get subsequently killed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) when the Branch Davidian compound was raided. 

*There are many variables that can be considered which led up to the terrible tragedy that took the lives of 70+ victims (including children), and I won’t disrespect these people by claiming that faith and religion had everything to do with their deaths.  For one, there were alot of mistakes made by the U.S. government.

From a different Perspective

When ever we have experiences it is imperative that we keep them in context.  Merely keeping all phenomenological experiences in perspective (this doesn’t at all mean ignoring them or devaluing them) we can have the wisdom on how to act.  Having perspective means acknowledging biases, assumptions and psychological/physical make up that come from our social upbringing and genetics.  Unfortunately, this is a big hurdle for many religious traditions as they claim exclusive rights to all truth and perspectives leaving no room for evaluation and questions. 

Pathological disorders and phenomenological experiences are a whole different ball game.  The truly ignorant would put both in the same category (very 18th century “lets lobotomize and shock everyone until they think like us” kind of dogma).

The Metaphor of the Nautilus @ Beyond Religion

The Metaphor of the Nautilus

[from “about us” page of Beyond Religion]

Oliver Wendell Holmes, a century and a half ago, saw the metaphorical significance of the chambered home of the Nautilus. These fascinating seashells are spiral in shape and consist of a series of ever-larger chambers in each of which the sea creature lives for a season until it outgrows that particular space. The Nautilus then enlarges its shell by the addition of a new chamber suitable for the next stage of its life.     image from Bert Martin Fine Art Photography Holmes wrote, in a poem entitled The Chambered Nautilus, “Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul….Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!”

more at Beyond Religion

The spiral is one of the most fundamental and beautiful parts of evolution:

Here it is in the development of the the human psyche: Spiral Dynamics (the name is indicative of the evolutionary, sequential growth the a persons “world views”.

It can be seen in everything from DNA to the formation of galaxies.  

 

Ken Wilber is O.k.

Ken Wilber had a Grand Mal Seisure in December and is now recovering. 

Ken Wilber is America’s (and perhaps the worlds) greatest philosopher.  His is perhaps the most important vision in the world as he has dedicated his life to an integral paradigm that allows religion and science to co-exist not only in theory but in practice.

Ken Wilber is a recepticle delivering one the most important messages that humanity has ever needed.  I am so happy this man is here with us.

When you look at the dilema that both heartless flat Western science and mindless world religions have gotten humanity in, it is very clear something needs to be done.

Regardless of how you feel about either science or religion it is fair to say that most humans rely heavily on one and/or the other.  They have been at each others throats for centuries now.  Religion one the first round by trying (unsucessfully) to abort science before it could fully develop, get out of the womb and walk on its own.  Science is now a big mean teenager and is beating the TAR out of is old prudist relative, religion.

Some Atheist believe (no pun intended) that religion is pure superstitious ignorance that is the primary cause of all human suffering.  Prominent scientists such as biologist Richard Dawkins are very outspoken against religion:

“This final scientific enlightenment will deal an overdue death blow to religion and other juvenile superstitions.” guardian uk

With events like the destruction of the World Trade Center and other suicide bombings around the world being inspired by religious fundamentalist, people like Richard Dawkins are being heard; though, the acts of a few fundamentalist should not at all reflect all religious people in every part of the globe as the new breed of Atheist seems to be saying.

In some cases I agree with their arguement.  Humans have used religions to do bad things.  However, the same can definitely be said about science.  Both are used to justify and implement the unjustifiable, but I guess that is entirely dependent on your perspective of “just”.

Regardless of the agressive stance of the new athiests, the fact remains that religion remains the primary method of human development all over the world.  And in that way it is still necessary.  I don’t believe that the “God” of religions (dogma & belief) can be replaced with the ”God” of science (empirical evidence & rationality). 

I don’t believe either of their Gods can explain everything.  And they definitely can not acurately perceive everything because their perspective is most of the time completely biased about EVERYTHING. 

Which brings me back to Ken Wilber and his Integral team.  The integral paradigm that they are introducing includes all the strengths of religion and science and none of the weaknesses.  Whether you are an atheist or a tele-evangalist you should be able to appreciate the importance of allowing people the freedom to be peacefully stupid in one big stupid family.

Ken.. thank you for living another day.  I love you (but not in a homosexual way.. although I think that you have a great ass ;). 

 

Spiritual Beliefs: Ideology making Global Jihad

Ken Wilber said something on an Integral Naked audio (think it was one of Integral political talks he did on the many faces of terrorism) I think it is the heart of why so many religious fundamentalist end up wanting to strap bombs to their chests, kill thousand of people with poisons or wipe out whole nations with nuclear bombs:

“… Ideology is a poor substitute for kindness and decency.  At the end of the day, its our actions, not our beliefs, that define who we are and what we are.”

When religion and dogma replace God the meaning begins to decay (as Bauldrillard talks about in his book, Simulacra & Simulation.

Spiritual Beliefs

At work my co-workers and I had a big discussion about God and the nature of reality.  John is a Christian, Mike is Rosicrusian and although I too am studying the Rosicrusian text I don’t consider myself partial to anyone belief.  I actually study any and all religions, philosophies, science and mystical and occult phenomenon because I think they all tell a little bit of truth about something that can not really be explained rationally.

Each of us had a spiritual belief of sorts.  John wasn’t pushy about christianity although he did mentioned his spiritual belief of having Jesus as a way to talk to God.  I believe any of us can have the same access to God that Jesus did.  He did say: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

But it is just a belief.

What Bruce Lee Taught me about Religions

“Don’t think…FEEL. It is like a finger pointing to the moon. Do not concentrate on the
finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory…you understand?”

I have gotten so caught up in forms, organizations and dogma that I lost track of what these forms were pointing to.  So I’ve given up those trappings and in that way I’ve returned to my early childhood of just listening and feeling the truth within.

My Religious & Spiritual Journey

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