Comment

Comment by Dr Howard A. Jones on April 26, 2015 at 2:47am

Hello Lee: To take up a couple of points you have made on my responses -

"If communion with the Divine involved e.m. fields, they could be detected in meditative states - which is not the case."

I can see on reflection that this was far too sweeping a generalization. I had in mind at the time I wrote that the various experiments involving telepathy or clairvoyance, and the rigorous tests conducted under laboratory conditions on Uri Geller - in a Faraday cage. These do not produce any kind of e.m. energy. But I have read of lights and sounds being produced in trance and other apports and apparitions so e.m. effects are clearly involved here. I expressed myself badly.

The statements in Karen's article that I was not in sympathy with were:

'this electrical vibration and energy that we sometimes call God creates spiritual experiences and mediumship'.

and from Edgar Cayce: 'electricity is the vibration and ultimate energy we call God'.

These seem to me to represent a category mistake. Electricity is a 'physical' thing, that is, it is of the material world (as far as any subatomic particles can be called 'material'!!). God is pure spirit, of the ethereal world, a (w)holy other world. To my mind, the two cannot be equated.

'Evolution of Consciousness' - you suggest 'growth' rather than 'evolution'.

'Growth' is defined as an increase in size or strength, etc. 'Evolution' represents a change in form or development that 'growth' does not convey.

The medieval mind was considered to be the 'mind of God' in the sense of George Berkeley - all our ideas were those put in the human mind by God. Or going even further back to Plato, they were concepts that reflected the pure eternal, concepts of the world of Forms or Ideas.

Then came Newton and the idea of a mechanistic world was born. Rather than just a 'group mind' originating from God manipulating His puppets, Man could now think as an individual.

And so on until the 20th century quantum physics where we are now confronted with the idea that our material world isn't really material at al but comprises force fields holding everything together.

And the source and origin of those fields is Spirit. That to me is without question 'evolution' and not merely 'growth'.

I hope we shall continue our discussions!

With all good wishes, Howard

Comment by Tom Butler on April 25, 2015 at 12:00pm

A Reference Point

In healing intention, I was trained to sense a mental "block" as a thickening of the aura when I passed my hand over and near the body. At another time, when I was trained to sense problems in the field as a different temperature ... usually warmer, I found that to be equally effective.

This idea that the field presents itself to my senses in different ways depending on my expectation is probably better described as I perceive a problem area as I expect it to appear.

Two more Reference Points

There is a newness effect in Electronic Voice Phenomena in which a person tends to be more successful collecting the paranormal voices when using a new technique or device. Not long after, the person returns to an average competency, presumably after the newness has worn off.

Two people can record at the same time in the same place, say a dark closet. The one who is fearful of such things tends to record scary EVP such as "Get out!" and "I hate you." The other who is comfortable in the dark and understands that there is nothing to fear, records messages giving names and accounts of the past.

These suggests that the person is part of the circuit through which the information and influence must pass.

Two More Reference Point

In physical mediumship circles--seances--it is understood that the sitters are part of the circuit in that they provide some of the ... not energy, really, so lets us say intention field.

A similar effect is seen in church services as the singing is not to raise the spirituality of the service but to bring the congregation into a more coherent contact field for trans-etheric influences.

Finally, Rupert Sheldrake's Hypothesis of Informative Causation is useful in modeling the human aura. If you review the concept of morphic fields, you will see that a physical organism is a nested hierarchy of organizing fields orchestrated by a perceptual process which is entirely etheric (Supporting "Nature's Habit" ).

I know that there is a Kundalini effect because I have experienced some aspects of one, I also know that there is a human aura which is not the RF artifact of bioelectric processes. It seems that here is a certain ideoplastic component to all of these. The task for me, anyway, is to figure out the best way to model these things.

Good to talk about these concepts.

Tom

Comment by Lee Lawrence on April 25, 2015 at 8:20am

Howard,

You too have an excellent website.  Thank you for sharing your thoughts with the public.

There are two comments you made on which I would like to share a slightly different perspective.

"If communion with the Divine involved e.m. fields, they could be detected in meditative states - which is not the case."

These fields can be detected in meditative states.  There are many layers to these fields as they are in octaves of consciousness, each with a different frequency.  An individual functioning at a lower frequency of consciousness can only perceive a higher level of consciousness as "Light."   The higher level of consciousness can perceive as physical much that we consider etheric at the lower level.  

Between the octaves of consciousness are  barriers to prevent lower consciousness from entering the higher realms.  The bardo referred to in the Tibetan tradition is one of those barriers.  When a lower frequency soul enters this barrier the perceived reality creates fear in the being which results in their inability to continue through.  That is, unless a higher consciousness being shines the Light of Loving Energy upon them that casts out fear, allowing the soul to traverse the barrier.  This is the "Light" many NDE people see when they let go of their physical body.

Your statement is true if a person does not know how to meditate as their perception of reality never changes.

My second comment involves the title of your book, "Evolution of Consciousness."  There really is no such thing. It is a natural, predictable growth of consciousness along a developmental path, but not evolution.

Is it evolution when an acorn grows to become a huge acorn?  No, except maybe from the perspective of the acorn with its limited experience who knows not what lie ahead.  Humans are seeds of consciousness planted here on earth to grow. Everything is unfolding exactly as it is supposed to. 

Comment by Dr Howard A. Jones on April 25, 2015 at 8:07am

Hi Lee. I too am a scientist which is why for the last 30 years I have been writing books and articles that try to provide a rational underpinning for spiritual and psychic phenomena. I have initial and research degrees in physical sciences and mathematics and ten years of postgraduate research in medical sciences.

Yes, a face-to-face discussion would be great - but I'm a long way from NC!! I'm located in the far west of South Wales, UK, in a small country village. I'm also disabled now so I won't be coming to any ASCS meetings unfortunately. So all my communication will have to be through the Internet.

But I agree essentially with what you said in response to my comment. I think the cosmic energy field that produces the energy for chakras and spiritual healing, for telepathy and clairvoyance, is capable of generating both physical and spiritual effects and both of these can be measured wit subjects under the right conditions.

With all good wishes, Howard

Comment by Lee Lawrence on April 25, 2015 at 7:55am

Tom, excellent website.

You have put a lot of thought and effort into your work.  Thank you for sharing it.

I would love to sit and discuss this topic with you.  Not sure where you are located.  I'm in Chapel Hill NC where the 2015 ASCSI conference is being held.

Hopefully our paths will cross in the near future.

namaste'

Lee

Comment by Lee Lawrence on April 25, 2015 at 7:45am

Dr. Jones,

What is etheric to some people is physical and tangible to others.  I am a scientist and perceive these fields around the body as physical.  I've demonstrated this many times in detail by not only reading the contents of the field but also by removing or changing attributes in the field.

I do not consider this intuition, but solid sensory perception just as x-rays evaluate bones.  Memories of life experiences are stored, processed and retrieved from this field in very specific systems.  Just as the physical body is understood through examination of its anatomy & physiology, the soul or spirit field has its own anatomy & physiology which is somewhat complex.

It is easy to demonstrate this in a controlled scientific setting with measurable, repeatable results that can be obtained while bypassing the stimulation of the critical senses, thus removing the biased variable of perception from the results.

This field is not generated by the physical body.  This field creates the physical body.  It is not the aura, but it is what creates the aura.  I have been studying it in detail for over twenty five years and have found the origins and perceptual programming events that govern the manifestation of many physical illnesses, personality development, the epigenetic effect on DNA transcription, the unfolding of the biological clock, and the consciousness patterns that create many mental illnesses. It is a rather complex field, way beyond what any of the energy medicine or sacred texts reveal.

This field continues to exist even when the physical body is destroyed.  It provides the energy and persona that many perceive as ghosts or spirits.  

I will admit, the more I learn about this field the more questions I have that are unanswered.  It's a very humbling learning process.

namaste'

Lee

PS  While reality is constantly changing, it is not the only factor.  More importantly,  the frequency of consciousness that one utilizes to observe and perceive their reality causes the reality to appear to change when in actuality, it is the perceiver that is changing.  This is the variable that Einstein missed and the reason that he had to assume the speed of light as a constant.  A huge error in his famous formula.

Comment by Dr Howard A. Jones on April 25, 2015 at 2:47am

I think Karen's article on body fields in this month's Searchlight is relevant to our discussions - as are several articles on your website. I doubt however that the Divine can be thought of as in any way equivalent to or synonymous with e.m. fields, as suggested by Karen. The Divine surely is closer to what you call the etheric field,  or what I have called Communal Spirit, or what science now calls the quantum or zero point field. If communion with the Divine involved e.m. fields, they could be detected in meditative states - which is not the case. The body's e.m. fields, concentrated in the heart and in the brain and spinal cord are surely quite separate from - though unquestionably interact with, possibly through the chakras - the spiritual/etheric/cosmic field. Although chakras and chi have no place in orthodox science, the successful use of acupressure and acupuncture points (and healing through chakras) for a couple of thousand years by eastern practitioners indicates clearly that there are aspects of body fields that western medicine has yet to explore and understand.

Comment by Tom Butler on April 22, 2015 at 12:01pm

I did look at your website. It is well done.

We appear to approach the same concepts from a different perspective and that might require that we are mindful to normalize our meanings a little to find common ground.

I have been attempting to understand the differences amongst how like-minded people approach these subjects. I think, very often, people are probably saying the same things, but in very different words.

For instance, one person I encountered recently said that he explained all of these concepts in a "fact-based science fiction novel." My first reaction was that fact and novel should should not be used in the same sentence. My second reaction was that it is a waste of time to learn of something about which no effort has been made to ground it in objective terms.

There is a similar problem with speaking in terms of spirit as opposed to speaking in terms of intentionality and psi field. Both are usually intended in the same way, but one must spend a lot of time watching for faith underpinnings usually associated with spirit. At the same time, one must also watch evidence-based dialog for selective conclusions. That is what I am seeing more of from anomalous psychology.

The skeptics I encountered amongst Wikipedia editors very quickly attacked when I used terms that even sounded like they were faith-based. That taught me to establish a vocabulary that is mostly faith-neutral, define the terms and attempt to be consistent.

The Glossary of Terms I use is the result. By treating the cosmology I work with as a system that is mostly bound by that vocabulary, the essays may seem complex, but are consistent. It does require the reader to do the work of learning the cosmology for it to make sense.

Perhaps the glossary will help normalize our terminology.

Comment by Dr Howard A. Jones on April 21, 2015 at 2:26am

I shall look at your website in the next few days when I surface from current commitments. You can find details of my books, including synopses and reviews, on my website www.spiritofoneness.co.uk. If there is any book that interests you particularly, I would be happy to send you a complimentary copy. I have sent copies of my latest book, Evolution of Consciousness, to Donna and Karen.

Comment by Tom Butler on April 20, 2015 at 5:40pm

Hi Howard,

I would be interested in a discussion about science and metaphysics. As I try to keep up with my obligations while proofing a book, reading a new book would probably take me months.

Do you have any place on the internet that describes your point of view? Mine is roughed out at http://ethericstudies.org/concepts/cosmology.htm 

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