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AumNaturel
Canada
687 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 17 2013 : 5:16:43 PM
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Contactee Initiation, Experiencer Support, and Collaborations
Introduction
The general presentation of this topic gears towards those who already have at least some familiarity with phenomena that defy classification, involving contactees, experiencers, and others who are attracted to it for whatever reason. An overlap or extension of interest in spiritual practice and greater possibilities is just that, an extension, and not necessarily a sign of any number of negative personal or group attributes.
Parsimony, Dependency, Unique Approaches
The lengthy introductory headings help introduce a topic that’s hard to discuss or even think about. The topic itself is fragmented, and contains vastly diverging perspectives as it is. Dependency at present is on ‘outside experts’ as opposed to first-hand experience and collaboration. Ideally this would serve in the effort to reclaim one’s self-sufficiency, level the field, and so partake in a more equal distribution of insight to everyone’s benefit. The personal and unique way of acquiring insight by whatever means are available is significant since it calls into being one’s whole self, demanding self-sufficiency, -reliance, and -initiative. Finally, the barriers of what’s valid or invalid, and what constitute barriers to begin with, can and do undermine one’s inner potential in all endeavours, not only this. What is presented may appear scattered and overly-condensed so that more can emerge through dialogue, and the contributions and insights of others here.
Self-Reflection, Stereotypes
It is a common saying now that what you say about another says more about you than it does about the other if anything. Another is stereotypes should be held lightly, abandoned gladly. It goes without saying, if the subject rouses nothing positive, heed the sign for what it is.
Are Any of These Phenomena Real?
No, none of them are put forth under the assumption they are in whatever way one may wish to qualify ‘real,’ and nothing is presented against this null hypothesis, even if the material itself or its mention here seems that way. There are other places for such discussions, valuable as they may be at their respective locations.
Personal Support and Validation
Unfortunately, seeking direct support for an experience, a potential memory of one, or interpretation about certain personal events are all beyond the scope and means of this discussion. Any literature mentions the great difficulty in finding support and grounding experiences. But I believe fostering a supportive environment represents a first step.
Intuitive Inquiry
This is shared as an exercise in “intuitive inquiry” akin to philosophical or critical thinking, and anything contained can be regarded as such as there is no intention to lead one to think otherwise. One of the perspectives claims that the subject itself, and mere mention of it, opens doorways best left closed, to you or those around you in ways that defy what one is capable of assuming responsibility over. I take no stance on this and consider the subject as simply unknown, leaving all further considerations and responsibilities at the reader’s discretion.
An Exercise about What’s Not Real, and Who’s Left to Discuss What- Topic Focus as Presented
The focus here is on the intersection between spirituality, practical aspects, and supernormal phenomena with respect to other intelligences, or lack thereof. Not finding something, or finding a dead end, is still significant, since a search was still performed on an area that would otherwise remain uncharted. Anther principle applies: ‘absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.’ On first look, if the topics seem unrelated to each other, this does not automatically make everything here off-topic and an idle waste of time (or worse…). Through collaboration among spiritual practitioners, experiencers, and contactees, and through study, a connection may emerge, no matter what quality that may take. There is only one way to find out, and this is why it is introduced here for those who already work with many doors open - with careful consideration, not wild abandon or neglect.
Courtesy, Empathy, Benefit of Doubt
The approach I’d like to make clear from the outset is that it is not necessary to believe x or y, disbelieve z, or any other combination of convoluted mutually exclusive categories of theory or personal conviction in order to extend courtesy, empathy, and the benefit of doubt to whoever may contribute, especially to those speaking from personal experience.
Experiencers, Mutual Understanding within Given Limitations
This is a two-way street, so that those who are neither contactees nor experiencers to date have those same privileges extended to them, meaning the shortcomings of translation of experiences not shared between people is not interpreted as a sign of suspicion, lack of caring, or denial. The term experiencer can be broadened here to include any supernormal/paranormal event one suspects to be related to some intelligence outside oneself.
The Unknown
The general direction of this topic has been revised countless times, so much so that I have taken this as a sign that the only certainty, contradictory as it may sound, is uncertainty about anything, indicating that nothing here can be accepted at face value. The basic elements, the personal accounts and corroborations, and the various hypotheses and theories, ignoring physical evidence, must be considered as constructs independent of each other or of the actual picture, whatever that may be. As uncomfortable as it may be to leave the matter as an unknown, it is the only option I can see in order to avoid biasing one’s perception or influencing one’s experience and observation. The relevance becomes obvious when considering the territory in question defies the standard objective-subjective distinction solely because of the presence of ‘the other,’ which operates both from outside and within one’s self, as well as seemingly in complete disregard for the objective world’s limitations. Interjective has been a term I’ve heard to try and conceptualize this modus operandi (I had no idea what this term meant, but it sprung from memory one morning).
Legends, Models, and Alterations
“The question is made easier (or more difficult, depending on one's point of view) by the fact that in the realms of consciousness and of existence to which abductees travel during their experiences the distinction between the literal and the metaphoric, or the objective and the subjective, seems to lose its power.” (John E. Mack, AHEWA, p. 97).
Stated differently, these basic elements, comprised of the accounts and ongoing dialogues or relationships, at present or spanning all the way back to petroglyphs, myths and legends (Jacques Vallée; Mack), collectively make up the phenomena now held together by various theories as models. On the one hand, through my brief and limited search, some of these have remarkable internal consistencies at the elemental level, making up patterns on which the models depend. On the other, the models themselves vary widely, or mould with time into something that may stand in contradiction with itself or with other models. Popular opinions are also divided when it comes to what this change represents. Two examples below:
“…note carefully the chameleon-like character of the secondary attributes of the sightings: the shapes of the objects, the appearances of their occupants, and their reported statements vary as a function of the cultural environment into which they are projected.” (Vallée, DACAC)
“These effects are traumatic and disturbing, but they can also be transforming, leading to significant personal change and spiritual growth” (Mack, p. 29). “I believe that this feature of the phenomenon has either been neglected or has been viewed as incompatible…” (p. 31).
Positives, Negatives, Challenges, and Empowerment
To elaborate on the growth and transformation aspect, it includes spontaneous healings of various medical conditions, past-life and other metaphysical insights, changes in one’s sense of identity or dual identities, mystical experiences, healing hands, dreams of prophecy, enhanced physical strength, increased empathic and ecological sensitivity, pairing of relationships, synchronicity, group resonance and new energetic sensations, telepathy, channeling, connection to animal spirits or totems, dream guidance, exercise of supernormal skills in altered states, acquisition of valued or lost items, motivation towards productive endeavours, expansion in worldviews, adoption of spiritual practices, inspiration of new technologies and spiritual techniques, and so on (Vallée, Mack, Robert A. Monroe, Gina Lake, Budd Hopkins & Carol Rainey, Lisette Larkins, Klaus J. Joehle, Barbara Marciniak, Rick Strassman, Rosalind A. McKnight).
As for the trauma and disturbing effects, which seem to intertwine with the positive aspects, if complied in a similar list and weighted, would make the latter seem completely insignificant. Karla Turner made this much clear. So why not write off the whole ordeal on this basis alone? Many do, or they try to educate others about the negative aspects. Turner was an experiencer, as well as a researcher who did just that, which in itself carries a lot more weight compared to others who report on it from a comfortable distance. Montalk is another author who also considers the negative elements, though balanced by a greater cross-section of material that includes the positive, though with considerable emphasis on channeled teachings, and cosmic-conspirational interpretations (that are outside the scope of this discussion).
Considering many experiencers have had no prior awareness of the subject, or indications of having any prior-life arrangements (sometimes, but not always) given their otherwise down-to-earth lifestyles, ignoring the subject while perhaps keeping some doors closed or repressed out of memory may not be an effective approach. As it is said, knowledge is power, and how it is used determines whether it binds or liberates.
Consciousness and Its Interacting Associates
“The illusion of time and space would be merely a side effect of consciousness as it traverses associations. In such a theory, apparently paranormal phenomena like remote viewing and precognition would be expected, even common, and UFOs would lose much of their bizarre quality. These phenomena would be natural aspects of the reality of human consciousness” (Vallée, DACAC).
The quote may be limited by an anthropocentric viewpoint but this is only in reference to the theory Vallée calls on and not to the statement itself. Consciousness is certainly not limited to the human form. Animals possess it too, along with mysterious behaviours and human-animal intuitive or subconscious entanglements that betray outdated concepts of what qualifies as its higher manifestations and potentials. The greater realms and spectrum of beings endowed with varying levels of awareness, humans, animals, more dense (insects, plants, minerals, crystals) or more subtle as is the focus here, appear to each share a role in the model of consciousness as per Vallée’s referenced theory, and to be endlessly more varied and ‘colorful’ between and amongst one another.
Gurus, Sages and Higher Beings
As much as I’d like this to be solely about ‘Gurus, Sages, and Higher Beings,’ their higher nature and residency at the so-called 5th and higher densities or dimensions seems intersected by other ‘in-between realms’ beneath, perhaps as deeply entangled in samsara/maya as other human struggles within ordinary space and time. An unfortunate consequence of anthropocentrism, of regarding the human form as the sole pinnacle of evolutionary potential, is xenophobia, with the loss as a disconnection from positive forces and higher beings, whether from fear or actual misdirection of the in-between realms, or suppression by doubt and denial. The higher beings must reflect universal spiritual principles not limited to the human experience or otherwise bent in any way by other forms of life by their so-called ‘difference in origin and character’: unconditional love, honesty, integrity, transparency, respect for personal agency and self-initiative, sensitivity to one’s and everyone’s path, to name a few.
Practical Considerations
Is it necessary or fruitful to deliberately open doors indiscriminately, invoke unknown forces, or deal with permissions or agreements done in uncertain terms that also lack consistency? Can the extraction of anything practical and positive really just be about the law of attraction, of overcoming the ‘fear paradigm,’ of internalizing the ‘ontological shock,’ of initiating or enduring some ritual-rite-of-passage? Valuable as these hypotheses may be, are they backed by any level of discernment, or fallibility? Can these explain some of the mystery without appealing to apologetics or ‘story telling at epic scales’? Are the gifts representative of inner progress?
Contactee Initiation
“Seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all will be added to you.” Inquiry of any sort helps to reveal what was previously hidden. In this case, it is that whatever higher guiding force exists would already be operating in unseen ways that may become more obvious, and effective, if engaged with consciously as opposed to only subconsciously. I imagine this to include listening to the subconscious and the guru within, dream work, excursions in trance or beyond the body, noticing synchronicities, engaging one’s subtle senses, and of course the array of spiritual practices that facilitates any of this to begin with. ‘Initiation’ then is recognition of what has always been true, and experiencing would include anything from the apparently mundane events to those considered out of this world. On the other hand, there might be scenarios where no contact is ever made, and so there is no experience to even be aware of, but that is probably the exception than the rule, and not as it appears now, where contact is reserved for a certain narrow spectrum of intelligences.
Unwritten Laws and Principles by Inductive Reasoning
From reading different accounts, there appear to be some checks and balances, even if they are not inviolate. One that can be hinted at from the outset is of a larger balance of forces, acting to quell any one expression from dominating. Another would be that of consequences, similar to karma, where any disruptive interference would result in repercussions to the ultimate perpetrators proportionate in magnitude to the final results of the disruption. The crossing between this and the higher density also seems limited, whether by the use of scarce resources of whatever sort, and by incurring undesirable side-effect from stepping below one’s native ground. Upward mobility or interaction with higher densities seems to impart positive effects, though even this has its exceptions. Higher densities supersede and overrule interactions in lower orders and appeals to them can be made.
Categories of Non-Physical Intelligences
Strassman’s research participants stumbled upon contact with entities completely by surprise. They seemed to behave autonomously, with complete disregard or immunity from the participant’s own intentions. They were also described with some level of internal consistency between different participants. Other seasoned entheogenic psychonauts not related to this research group commented that they simply lacked sufficient experience, and that control over the phenomena is possible even if more difficult. If that did represent contact with something outside one’s self, it matches a pattern of other encounters characterized by skilled and deliberate application of remote control that knows no barriers, be it over physical, including biological, systems in all of their complexities, subtle-astral, and mental; it seems limited only by the ‘unwritten laws and dimensional principles’ theorized earlier.
Concluding Remarks and Further Considerations
As explained in the introduction, those who gravitate towards the subject do so from various angles. I’ve outlined it here as an exercise in intuition and critical thinking at a metalogical level to borrow Vallée’s term that describes the mode of operation that transects rationality, aesthetics, mythology, ethics, the objective-subjective, conceptual-abstract, among other elements left to further discussion. It also came up as an emerging realization that so much of the literature relevant to spiritual practice has at least some origin in other intelligences. The inevitable step that follows was to consider the nature of this ‘other’ origin contributing in order to have some reference point with which to tackle such material, and as outlined in Contactee Initiation, ways of reclaiming what has always been available at the level of the individual.
“Far from finding it satisfying, I react to this observation [the spiritual component of the phenomena] with a mixture of awe and humility before the very dimensions of the problem we are attempting to describe with limited human understanding, with scientific resources that have not been tempered by the fiery tricksters of the underworld or brushed by the inspired guidance of the wings of archangels.” – Jaques Vallée |
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Contactee Initiation, Support, and Collaborations
