Book Review: The Spontaneous Healing of Belief

Every so often on the path it becomes useful to read a book that expands your beliefs about what is possible. We need something that confirms that we're on the right path, and that there's some cool stuff along the way. The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits by Gregg Braden is that kind of book.

The first point made by the book, and this is something I've believed for years, is that the advances made by science in quantum physics and string theory haven't been assimilated into the rest of science or our beliefs about science. While quantum physics has discovered an underlying unity in the universe, the rest of science is still stuck in the Newtonian paradigm of matter as little bowling balls called atoms, and that everything is either those bowling balls or some type of energy. The word "Newtonian" always gives me an ironic feeling when I read it because Newton was an alchemist and astrologer and I'm not sure what he would have thought of the paradigm that bears his name.

There are also some nice examples in the book of events that are impossible according to mainstream science. My personal favorite is a hand print embedded in a stone cave wall in Tibet. There's also a story about prehistoric climate-controlled condominiums in New Mexico. You've probably heard of stories of people lifting cars in urgent situations. This is normally explained by adrenaline, but that explanation seems rather hollow when you think about a non-athlete lifting over 20 times their body weight.

A key concept of the book is the fractal nature of the universe. I don't know if Mr. Braden is familiar with the Correspondence Principle ("As above, so below"), but it's definitely fractal. The key characteristic of fractals is that they look the same on a large scale as they do on a small scale, and that's the essence of the Correspondence Principle.

Another key concept is that the underlying unity of the universe responds to belief and emotion on our part. There's a great part at then end of the book about prayer as a means of accomplishing that, including a unique interpretation of the Lord's Prayer.

I recommend this book to all who are on the path, but especially beginners and fundamentalist materialists.

Next Steps on the Hermetic Path

So you've read a couple of books and want to know what to do next. The next thing is detailed study of the four major fields of hermetism: qabalah, astrology, tarot and alchemy. Studying these four fields together will help your progress as the four are interdependent. You'll see that for yourself as you progress. Ritual magic is optional at this stage, and ceremonial magic is right out.

If you're reading Kabbalah, Magic & the Great Work of Self Transformation: A Complete Course and like the program given, you should follow it, at least for now. The important thing is to not hurry; there's a lot of information, and it takes time for it to sink in.

For the rest of you, the first book I recommend you read at this point is Kabbalistic Handbook for the Practicing Magician. The book gives very good basic information about Qabalah, but more importantly, it will give you an effective study method. And study you will, if you choose this path. This book recommends studying A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life and The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism as qabalah books to read first, and I agree with this recommendation.

A good place to start with tarot is Tarot Awareness -- Exploring the Spiritual Path, or Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners if you can't get a copy of Tarot Awareness. For astrology, start with Astrology for Yourself: How to Understand And Interpret Your Own Birth Chart or Astrology for the Light Side of the Brain. Finally, for alchemy, start with The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy.

At this point you may also want to consider group work. There are many choices here, but I recommend B.O.T.A.

Just so you know what you've gotten yourself into, I was looking at a tarot book (I forget which one) and saw a statement comparing learning tarot to learning chess. There's only a few basic concepts, but years are needed for mastery. The other fields of hermetism have the same characteristic. But at least you'll have something to do for a while.

On Redistribution and Scarcity

You may have seen an email about Nancy Pelosi proposing a tax on windfall profits that would also affect retirement accounts. According to the snopes.com account, Ms. Pelosi didn't propose the tax, but billionaire Warren Buffet did, which is even worse because he rarely sells stock and therefore wouldn't be affected by the tax. The Democrats, however, are talking about merging 401K accounts into the Social Security system. Here's a quote from that article:

Should Sen. Barack Obama win the presidency, congressional Democrats might have stronger support for their “spreading the wealth” agenda. On Oct. 27, the American Thinker posted a video of an interview with Obama on public radio station WBEZ-FM from 2001.

In the interview, Obama said, “The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society.” The Constitution says only what “the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you,” and Obama added that the Warren Court wasn’t that radical.

Now the idea of redistribution implies scarcity. There's only a limited amount of resources, so if some have more than they need, others won't have enough. Interestingly enough, the idea of redistribution is also implied by protectionism. We need to keep out imports because there's only so many jobs. Scarcity, in fact, is at the core of the science of economics.

Given how central the concept of scarcity has become, it seems to me that we should be asking two questions about it: 1) Is it helpful? and more importantly, 2) is it true?

Let's talk first about whether the belief in scarcity is helpful. If there's just enough to go around, or not enough to go around, it becomes very easy to have the attitude: I'm going to get mine, and... you already know how the sentence ends. This attitude lurks under the surface of protectionism: let's keep our jobs here (don't people in other places deserve jobs too?). It's also behind redistributionism and socialism: they have more than their fair share (even if they have it because they've saved it?). I suggest to you that it's this attitude, and not any lack of government oversight, that turns economies into "dog eat dog" and "law of the jungle."

Next, is it true? It's well known that we grow enough food here in America to feed the world, and we even grow enough corn that some of it can be used as fuel. But that's not what I'm getting at here. What determines the amount of available resources more than anything is what counts as a resource. 200 years ago, petroleum wasn't a resource because we didn't know what to do with it. 100 years ago, coal tar wasn't a resource for the same reason. So it's really what we know that is the primary factor in the amount of resources. Well, what we know has no upper limit. Think about it.

What If? The Movie - Clip 3

Here's another clip from the upcoming What If? movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTro62t9VSs

This clip talks about reports from other cultures about people with longer-than-normal life spans.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the "What If?" questions turned out to be: What if aging was actually caused by what's in our minds?

"What If?" The Movie - Clip 1

I was recently sent a clip from a new movie called What If? The Movie. The clip shows Dr. Bruce Lipton explaining epigenetics:

What If? Epigenetics Description

I've read Dr. Lipton's book, The Biology of Belief. His part in the movie should be very interesting. My only complaint is that the clip is short (about 20 seconds).

I'm told there are 3 more clips coming. Stay tuned.

A Recovering Materialist Thanksgiving

If you're like most people I know, you'll spend your Thanksgiving doing one or more of the following things: watching one or more of the parades; watching one or more of the football games; eating dinner with the family. Some of us will also take some time to be thankful for the things we have: our families, homes, health, that sort of thing.

Those of us who are recovering materialists will take this one step further. Both the hermetic and mystic traditions affirm that we both have and are more than we know, even more than we can imagine. Maybe we can't be thankful for these things because we don't know what they are, but rest assured that there's a part of us that knows exactly, and is infinitely thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Book Review: Cloud upon the Sanctuary

Did you ever have the feeling that someone "up there" was looking out for you? Or in the alternative, do you agree with the Matrix guys who think we're being farmed like sheep? And is there really any difference? Either way, we're being monitored by beings much smarter (or more powerful) than us for reasons we can't determine. But enough paranoia. Let's look at the positive side of this idea.

Cloud upon the Sanctuary by Karl von Eckartshausen is a classic work of hermeticism based on the idea that there is a body of knowledge being held in escrow for us, to be released when we're ready for it. In the meantime, symbols pointing to that knowledge are spread throughout the world's cultures and religions.

When will we be ready? Those of us who realize that there's more to the world than can be measured by our scientific instruments, and that there's more to religion than rules and rituals, have already started the journey. Contact with people who have more information, either directly or through books, is inevitable at that point.

Will this book help you get ready? Probably not, at least not by itself. But it does point to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and sometimes knowing the pot is there can be helpful.

Recovering Materialist Politics

After a recent argument with a couple of friends over why I wasn't voting for Obama (or anyone else), I started thinking about my political philosophy, and the fact that it hadn't been updated to reflect what I've learned in the past few years. The first concept that comes to mind is the Taoist idea that people who are living right don't need laws. An obvious corollary is that if everyone is living right, laws become irrelevant. I'm sure there are other applicable ideas, and if you happen to think of any, please leave a comment.

Now, why am I not voting for Obama? The same reason I didn't vote for Clinton or either of the Bushes. I won't vote for anyone unless I know their philosophy and agree with it. The "lesser of two evils" or "at least it's a step in the right direction" will happen just as well without my help. At least 30 percent of the population will think it's the wrong direction anyway.

Thinking about the argument raised an important question: how do we deal with others who we think have suboptimal beliefs or behaviors? This seems to me to be the central question in politics. A possible answer is the use of force, and if you're in favor of laws against "victimless crimes" or mandatory anything, this is your answer. Another answer is that we leave them alone and insulate ourselves from the results or their beliefs or actions as best we can; this is the Libertarian philosophy in a nutshell. A third answer is the use of persuasion. Can you think of any others? Again, please leave comments.

The Bright Spot of the 2008 Recession

I have good news tonight. Because of the recession, people are cutting back on unnecessary purchases. They are bringing lunches to work more. They are holding on to their cars and houses longer. No, I haven't lost it. This really is good news, for the economy and for ourselves.

First, the economy. Growth based on consumer spending driven by easy credit is not sustainable. We've now found this out the hard way. Sustainable growth is driven by productivity improvements and new products. Both of those things need savings and investment. We'll save now, because we know we have to. Consumer spending will come back after this happens, and the economy will be stronger than before the recession because it will have a solid base.

More important than the economy, however, is the effect the cutback will have on ourselves. We're being forced to prioritize, to decide which things are more important to us to have. This re-evaluation is actually part of the first step toward recovery from materialism (admit there's a problem).

Book Review: Human Devolution

Science is supposed to work on the basis of developing a provisional theory which is modified or re-done as further information becomes available. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen. Initial hypotheses often become set in stone, and any evidence to the contrary is swept under the rug until it starts to spill out from under the edges. Need examples? Human Devolution by Michael A. Cremo has them. The book is devoted to a single important proposition: that the fundamentalist materialist view of us, the world, and how we got here is incomplete at best.

The first part of the book is an overview of evidence given in Forbidden Archeology that the timeline of man's development given by traditional evolutionists doesn't match the time periods given by archeology. Evidence of man, including fossils, has been found in deposits thought to predate humans, by millions of years in some instances. The second part of the book provides evidence against the materialist view of man as being merely "a bag of chemicals." As you might expect, this section gives plenty of examples of documented paranormal phenomena, including levitation and telekinesis. Myths from various cultures about the origins of man are also covered.

This book is a helpful, if long, antidote against fundamentalist materialism.

What is Materialism?

Dictionary.com lists the primary definition of materialism as follows:

preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects, comforts, and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.

I would like to offer for the purposes of this blog and the Materialists Anonymous Google Group the following definition:

The belief that the physical universe as we know it is the most important (or only) thing there is.

Why this definition? Because it also covers religious materialists of the type who think that what you put in your mouth or what you do with certain body parts is more important that what you put in your mind and heart. It also covers the belief that the physical universe is not all there is, but that we don't have any access to or contact with anywhere else until after death. This is really just the other side of the materialist coin.

If the physical world as we know it is not all that exists, what else is there? Well, that little phrase "as we know it" holds the answer. Are there places and events the scientists don't know about because the places can't be detected by our instruments, and the math doesn't work for the events? Or, even worse, stuff that we don't even bother to look for because we're not expecting to find anything? Phenomena that perfectly sane people will swear to have experienced that don't fit into our scientific models? I'm going to say yes to all of the above, even though I can't prove it according to established scientific method. That's now how science works in practice anyway. New phenomena are either ignored until the weight of evidence becomes overwhelming (like asteroids), or the new thing discovered and the justification either provided later or assumed not to be necessary once the occurrence is considered to be common knowledge.

So what's the answer? Let's find out what we can on our own for now. The scientists will catch up. Or not.

Book Review: Alice in Quantumland

Quantum physics is the swan song of fundamentalist materialism. Given that quantum physics started about a hundred years ago, fundamentalist materialism is a walking corpse and has been for some time. Just to be clear, by fundamentalist materialism I refer to the belief that the universe consists of a lot of particles that behave basically like little billiard balls, and electromagnetic energy, and gravity. That's all. Nothing else. Even life, according to this paradigm, is simply a result of particular combinations of the billiard balls.

The mortal weakness of this paradigm, however, is the central assumption that the billiard balls and associated forces behave deterministically. That is, if you were able to know the position and momentum at a certain point in time of each of the billiard balls, you can predict the position and momentum of any of them at any point in time in the future (given a sufficiently powerful computer). Quantum physics says quite flatly that this assumption is incorrect. For this reason we as recovering materialists should all devote some time to learning at least the basics of quantum physics.

Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics by Robert Gilmore is a good place to start. The format of the book is exactly what you would expect given the title. The content will be more surprising. Neils Bohr once said: "Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it." So if you don't know anything about quantum physics, prepare to be amazed.

In this book you'll find the standard double-slit experiment, the multiple-worlds theory, quarks, and Schrodinger's cat. The best part of the book in my opinion is the explanation of the measurement problem. The measurement problem is this: each subatomic particles could be in a variety of different states and positions before a measurement is made. The measurement instruments consist of more subatomic particles with the same properties, as does the brain of the person making the measurement. However, once a measurement is made, there is just one set of definite properties. So at what point does a collection of probabilities collapse into a single measurement?

The book doesn't cover the new string theory, but all of the basics of quantum physics are there. Pick up a copy if the subject interests you.

Read Some Science Fiction Today

For a recovering materialist, the most important thing is getting rid of what I like to call "the baggage": a collection of beliefs that no longer work for us. The worst of these beliefs concern limitation: the things we think we could never do; both things we could never do because they are "impossible" and things that we could never do because they are beneath us. Science fiction and fantasy novels can be used to help expand our conceptions of what is possible.

Good science fiction says "What if?" It shows us worlds that we think are impossible given current knowledge of the laws of nature. It shows us parts of ourselves that we didn't know we had. It invokes myths and archetypes that echo in the depths of our minds.

A good novel will induce you to identify with the main character. This is a good thing. A good novel also creates a picture of its world inside your head. This is also a good thing, because the picture will involve the above-mentioned myths and archetypes. These myths and archetypes refer to things that are a part of all of us, but mostly unrecognized. The references in the novels will lay the foundation for future mystic and/or hermetic work. The symbols are in your head now, and when you learn the meaning of them later, the meaning will seem familiar to you.

So don't feel bad if you're over 30 and still reading Harry Potter. It may be that you need some magic in your life. Getting the germ of an idea in your head that magic is possible will prepare you to find the real thing.

Are We Ready for Obama?

I have noticed in the liberals I have known a firm belief that everything would be fine if only we could get the right people into office. From what I've heard and read about Barack Obama, he seems to be one of the "right people." When Obama won the nomination, my first thought was that the liberals would finally get their wish, but that it wouldn't work. The current system is too firmly entrenched for one person to change it, assuming he actually tries to do what he says he will do, which would be a first.

What I believe now is that electing Obama will work if we work. I'll explain shortly, but first I have to cover a couple of terms that may not be familiar to everyone: microcosm and macrocosm. A good literal interpretation would be that microcosm means "small universe" and macrocosm means "large universe." Now to the point: America's current situation, with the economy, war, environment, and so forth, is a macrocosm. The situations of individual Americans are corresponding microcosms. I use the word "corresponding" because the doctrine of correspondence ("As above, so below") is one of the basic tenets of hermeticism. Simply put, in order to fix our country, we also have to fix ourselves.

As an example, let's talk about the economy. You can blame greedy speculators if you want, but the major cause of our economic problems is that the government has been spending more than it gets for years. This has caused a drop in the dollar's value, and a corresponding increase in oil and other prices. This corresponds to the main problem of many Americans (including myself): we are in debt up to our eyeballs. Both problems must be addressed in order to fix the economy.

I think you get the point, and I'm starting to sound preachy, so I'll stop. The bottom line is that if Obama wins, he's going to need lots of help. We can help him by doing the right thing for ourselves. I'll get off the soapbox now. Thanks for listening.

Book Review: The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

I read anything I can written by Alan Watts; I recommend that you do the same. The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are is a good place to start. He has also written very good books about Zen and the Tao. "The Book" is an excellent introduction to the issues we face as recovering materialists.

The first chapter of the book reads like a mission statement: if there was a book for young people containing what they needed to know to lead fulfilling lives, what would be in the book? The answer relates to our first step: it is that our perception of the world is incorrect. We are not just separate personalities; we are also connected at a very deep level.

Let's talk about personality. The word comes from the Latin word "persona," meaning "mask." Our personalities are like masks that we wear when we interact with others. They are not us, except on a superficial level. The third chapter of the book, entitled "How to be a Genuine Fake," deals with this issue, and the paradox of being a "real person," which implies that one can make something real out of what is essentially an act!

This book would be a good start for all recovering materialists, especially those who have chosen the mystic path.

Materialists Anonymous: Not Just Another 12 Steps

As you may have noticed, we now have a Google group.

Materialists Anonymous may sound like just another 12-step program to you, but it's not. For one thing, we only have 7 steps. The most important difference, however, is that in our journey to go beyond the materialist paradigm, we will be empowered to address other problems we have that would normally be addressed by a 12-step program. The most bothersome of our addictions are all about material things. The rest are about emotions that are largely a result of the materialist paradigm. More on this later.

This program that we are creating is not just about getting past a particular addiction. It is about changing our lives, and eventually getting past all of our addictions.

Step 7: Share the Wealth

The revised step 7 is as follows:

Having perceived the world differently, we strove to spread the message to materialists everywhere, and to improve our lives with the knowledge gained.

If you're on the right track, something about your life or the way you look at your life will change. This change will be readily apparent both to you, and to people who know you. Your friends and family may not be able to identify exactly what is different, but they will notice. Some of them will be curious and ask you about it. So tell them. Don't violate any secrecy oaths, or try to talk a fundamentalist out of it, but discreetly share some of what you've learned with those who express interest.

If your life hasn't changed, are you applying what you've learned?

Step 6: Get to Work

Step 6 is as follows:

We sought through meditation and study to experience God and perceive our world differently.

The eastern traditions say that we are actually already enlightened; we just don't realize it. Realization of enlightenment is just taking that last step. However, the baggage must be dropped first, and getting to a point where we're ready to drop the baggage is what takes the time and work.

For this step, read everything relevant that you can get your hands on. Take some time to think about what you've read, and how it relates to your daily life.

As I mentioned, there are two main paths: mystic and hermetic. Both have the same long-term goal, but the short-term emphasis is different. For the hermetic path, joining a mystery school may be helpful. For the mystic path, I don't think you can do any better than A Course in Miracles. My recommendation is that you try both, and continue with whichever one you like best, or do both.

Book Review: A Guide for the Perplexed

Some of you may need a little help with the first step (admit there's a problem). Others may need help with how to go about finding the something else I keep talking about. A Guide for the Perplexed by E. F. Schumacher addresses both issues.

The first chapter establishes that yes, there is a problem. The map of the universe that most of us use omits things by design that are actually important. The example used in the book is of maps of cities in Soviet Russia which intentionally left out churches. The maps used by scientists (but not quantum physicists) tend to leave out anything that can't be measured by instruments and any phenomena that can't be duplicated.

The second chapter details a major thing that's missing on most scientists' maps: that there are readily apparent differences between inanimate matter, plants, animals, and people. Everyone knows this to be true, but some of the scientists will say that the differences are "epiphenomena." For example, a biologist may reduce life to chemical activity, or a psychologist may say that consciousness is an illusory phenomenon arising from neural activity.

The main part of the book deals with what the author calls "four fields of knowledge." The fields of knowledge are the answers to four questions:

1. What's in my inner world?


2. What's in other people's inner worlds?


3. How do I look to the outside world?


4. How does the outside world look to me?

The author says that these four questions must be dealt with in order, because the answer to each is necessary to get to the answer to the next. Reading the book and coming up with your own answers to the four questions may help you find the something else. Give it a try.

Step 5: Throw out Things That Don't Fit

I'm restating step 5 as follows:

We discarded any beliefs and practices that did not fit into our developing new belief system, and worked on correcting any deficiencies resulting from those beliefs and practices.

This is because step 5 is not simply a matter of fixing what you broke because you didn't know any better. You must also fix your beliefs and any practices that stem from those beliefs, so that hopefully you don't break anything else. One of the side effects of materialism is selfishness. A side effect of the dualistic version of materialism is self-righteousness. Short-term thinking, greed, envy, pretty much all of the seven deadly sins are also side effects.

Why are all these things side effects of materialism? Materialism implies separation between people, but belief in a something else bigger than us but not separate from us implies an underlying unity. If your belief implies separation, you'll be more inclined to treat others as objects; hence greed, lust, envy. If your belief is of the dualistic type, the people you treat as objects will include those who don't believe the same things you do; hence religious wars and other forms of self-righteousness.

Let's have some examples. You may decide that popularity isn't as important as you thought it was, and concentrate on having a few close friends instead. You may decide that getting the 4,000 square foot house isn't so important. You may find an appreciation of the simpler things, like watching the sun rise.

Now, let's talk about fixing what's broken. Selfishness, greed, shortsightedness, apathy and the like wreck careers. They wreck marriages. They wreck your life. This is where correcting the deficiencies comes in.

Stay tuned for the next step.