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January, 2000
Because all things are comprised of
energy at a sub-atomic level – in other
words, even what we traditionally think of as matter is only an arrangement of
energetic particles – it stands
to reason that we are part of that same universal energy. According to the laws of physics, energy can
neither be created nor destroyed; it can only change form. And when considered in that light, it
becomes obvious that the molecules of which we ourselves are comprised have
been here since before time began and will be here past time’s end. As energy.
We have within us
the entire scope of eternity itself, the very blueprint of Reality,
right down to a molecular level. We
have always been here and always will be.
And yet, there is awareness of our
mortality, the knowledge that all we have experienced as individuals unique unto
ourselves, all we have known, is
transient, lost to oblivion at the moment of death. This is why religions exist – not to ultimately save us, which
is altogether impossible in the manner in which salvation has come
to be defined by religious dogma – but to comfort us with belief systems which rely on
faith alone. That is not what
this path is about. This is
about taking eternal life into our own hands.
It’s about learning to see
how we have been programmed to
think of ourselves as impotent handfuls of chemicals, and even more important,
it is about breaking free of all programs so that we might
finally confront and embrace our unlimited human potential.
 We are sentient beings. And we have within ourselves the key to
claim our rightful place as citizens of eternity instead of prisoners of dust.
The trick is gaining the ability to
permanently embed or attach our individual consciousness (which is also a synapse of
energy) into the eternal electromagnetic, energetic structure of the universe at large so that all the
experiences and knowledge of the individual Self are not lost to Death
(whatever that might ultimately be). Or, put another way, the trick is to
attach our consciousness to something eternal as opposed to having it
perish because it is presently attached to organic matter -
and that eternal "something" might be called the shaman's double - the energy
body perfected to its highest state of
cohesion.
With consciousness cohesive and intact beyond the
physical body, the perspective which we currently recognize as Self can become
eternal, immortal, and enabled to act on the level of what man has
traditionally called “beings of light” or, more accurately, beings of energy
– yet beings of energy with the ability to function as pure consciousness, or
by donning a body, or in a multitude of other ways we cannot even begin to
imagine until we begin to expand our perceptions.
At a certain point of evolution, there would be no limits, and that is
the freedom toward which quantum shamans are striving.
Would we have a physical body? Of course, if that was our intent at the
time, for through the expansion of our perceptual tools, we can learn how to
utilize consciousness itself (Will) to
arrange energy as matter – for example, just as ancient legends speak of beings
who can seemingly appear or disappear at will, we would have the ability to be
“physical” or “non-local”, entirely at our own choosing. Would we exist as pure energy? We already do at a molecular level; the only
difference is how we perceive ourselves and how those evolving perceptions
might aid us in our own self-willed transformation.
Whereas our molecules have indeed always
been here, our consciousness is seemingly exclusive, and it is the survival of
that unique point-of-view, that cosmically irreplaceable “I Am,” which
satisfies the definition of eternal life.
Some people are content being what they call “part of the big picture”. They are satisfied existing at a molecular
level, coming and going through molecular life-and-death cycles as a tree, a
bird, a mountain stream, where there is no continuity of individual
consciousness, no single point of view into eternity, but only an endless
and entirely random exchange of molecules from one form into another.
Personally, I am not satisfied with this,
for it does not appear to represent the complete potential available to us
through evolution; and it is my contention that the entire purpose of mortal life is to fully
embrace our own unique point-of-view and inhabit it into infinity. In this manner, we become eternally
conscious – immortal beings of indestructible energy – which, by definition, is
the attainment of eternal life. It has taken 10 billion
years of evolution for the molecules to come together in precisely this
fashion which you recognize in your own mirror, and for consciousness to develop in exactly the
manner you know as your Self. So it's been a birthing process requiring 10
billion years! I don't want to lose that and have to start over again at
the molecular level!
We are here - right now - for a reason, and that reason is to begin to
engage the path of our own self-willed evolution.
Based on personal experience (not faith or belief), I have come to know that sentient beings – evolved humans – exist
among us right now, both as physical and non-physical entities, depending
entirely on their own will. Should they
choose to be in physical form, you could not distinguish them from anyone
else. Should they choose to be
non-local (an individual consciousness extending into infinity and eternity
simultaneously), you could most likely not perceive them at all unless it was their
intention. They are immortal
(indestructible), and they are eternal (not governed or restricted by linear
time). They are not aliens nor demons
nor phantasms. They are us, evolved to
our highest potential.
It is my intent to facilitate other
seekers in this direction by revealing how my own personal path has led me to
this deep and unshakable Knowledge. I
will not ask you to believe anything.
I will not ask you to have faith in anything. In fact, I strongly urge you to
take the journey for yourself, knowing in advance that it will be the hardest
thing you will ever do and fully understanding that most who do embark
on the path seldom see it through, mainly because it requires a commitment to the Self and to the Truth that
becomes far too real and scary the further one goes. But for those who do make that commitment and overcome
their fears, it is a journey of exploration that will open your eyes
profoundly. You will never see the world the same again.
And you can live
forever.
So let me jump straight into the middle of things. If you get to the end of this introduction
and feel I’m wasting your time, turn off the computer, have a chuckle or two at
what are surely the ravings of a madwoman, and feel safe and confident in the
knowledge that your personal reality is intact and secure. On the other hand, if you choose to read
further – and I hope you will – know in advance that it is my intention to destroy
your world of comfortable illusions and false security just as mine has been destroyed – not
because it will make you unhappy or give me pleasure, but because it
will make you free of the programs and misconceptions which imprison us all.
But first… there
is the matter of words.
For example, to many people who might pride themselves on their open-mindedness and intellect, the statement on
our opening page which reads “immortality itself is within our grasp” could cause them to put a book aside, believing it to be only a work of
fiction – yet when I refer to
immortals
and our own potential immortality
throughout this endeavor, I ask you to remember that this is a concept meant to embody all at once the
ideas of immortality-through-transformation, the hidden side of the human soul,
the potential evolution of homo sapien
into homo immortalis – an old idea and myth evolving into a new
idea and myth just as the word “ghost” might be used to describe a deceased
entity (the traditional definition), or how it has come to be used in certain
branches of analytical psychology and metaphysics as “the ghost inside the
machine” – the living spirit that
animates our human bodies. That the
word has certain baggage is irrelevant – for part of this journey also involves learning to see beyond the
limits of language.
Indeed, language is the first barrier
that keeps us from embracing our rightful evolution, for as long as we see only
the words and fail to look at whatever concept lies beyond, we have trapped
ourselves in the prison of our ancestors and will remain there until we
die.
As long as we blindly accept the
words, “All things die,” for example, we are merely machines acting out the
programming of our species without making any genuine, individual attempt to
evolve beyond reality as it exists to our present perceptions.
Ultimately, we must each determine for
ourselves the validity or falseness of every “absolute” with which we have been
programmed – yes, literally programmed – since birth. Perhaps we will come to discover that all things die. Or – just perhaps – we might discover that
this is every bit as much a misinterpretation of the world as it once was to
believe “The earth is flat.” Words. They have been our prison for centuries, but
if we are impeccable, they can also become our ultimate freedom.
So in many ways, this is a book about language. If we
cannot get beyond the words, if we cannot open ourselves to ideas, we cannot learn. We cannot grow. We cannot evolve.
It would be easier for me to embrace the possibility of an evolved, transformed human being than to embrace the idea
that we merely continue our earthly existence as spirits in heaven. So the idea of self-willed transformation is far more palatable
than the idea of passive salvation,
and for that reason alone, my allies and my double,
Orlando,
would choose
that imagery as the vehicle with which to communicate with me.
One thing that
has become crystal clear to me in the course of this journey is that we all
have a certain
mindset that is natural to us. It is the point of view from which we assemble our ideas about
the world. In some people, perhaps it
is a mindset which tells them that any
attempt to meddle into the affairs of the soul are not only dangerous to our
mental health, but sinful in the eyes of “god”. Another person’s mindset might simply be that The Real World is
all there is, so any attempts to meddle into the affairs of the soul and its potential
evolution are pointless because, according to their mindset, the soul is nothing more than a series of electrical
synapses and chemical reactions in the brain and evolution is a process
occurring over millions of years strictly as a matter of mutation and natural
selection.
Still another person’s mindset might
be that
magic is only a
science not yet understood. In many
ways, that is the mindset needed to even attempt this journey. And
remember, the word "magick" is not the same to all people. I do not
refer to rituals and spell-casting when I use that word, nor even to the Wiccan
idea of The Craft. Instead, magick is a word we use for things not
immediately understood on an intellectual level, just as the act of turning on a
light in a room would have been seen as "sorcery" by someone living in
the 15th century.
Mindset
determines how we go through our lives and, ultimately, whether or not we are
open to transformation within ourselves.
And, not surprisingly, each of us is capable of moving from one mindset
to another almost at will, if we allow ourselves to do so. For example, though I was raised to be
practical, down to Earth, extremely logical and even stubbornly rooted in
“reality”, I have come to see that changing how I look at something can change my entire reality.
If I only
look at things through the eyes of metaphysics,
perhaps I stand to lose a certain objectivity with regards to what is considered
sane in
the eyes of my fellow human beings – within the confines of our agreed-upon
world. On the other hand,
if I choose to only look at
metaphysical and spiritual matters through the eyes of logic, I can always find explanations for anything
that might seem out of kilter with The Real World. But if I am willing to let go of that stubborn mindset – which is
no more “real” than any other, for it represents only a subjective point of
view of the perceiver – and look at the same concepts through the eyes of the
mystic , I discover that by changing my mindset, I have opened entire new
worlds to exploration. By automatically
believing science can explain everything - and worse, by adopting
the common delusion that it already has - we close ourselves off to all but the known
world.
Did I say
delusion and science in the same sentence?
Did I feel a few spines stiffen with the mere
suggestion that perhaps science is no more “true” in the big picture than tales
of faerie folk dancing in circles of magick mushrooms on a
moonlight night sometime in late October?
Science is essentially nothing more than the definition we currently hold in our minds to form our
world view. But never forget that
rational science once proved that the flat Earth was the center of the
universe.
Science has been used to
“prove” whatever man needs it to prove, and it is limited not only by the
technology available to it, but by the perceptions of the scientists
themselves, as has been discovered by quantum mechanics in recent years. The
world reacts and changes on a molecular level in response to the observer! So, in reality, pure science can never really exist for the simple reason that it
is dependent upon the scientist – and that scientist has a point of view, a
mindset, which will determine the direction of his research and influence the
nature of his findings, even if only slightly.
To think of science as absolute, therefore, is as delusional as the
notion that a man could jump off a building and fly. In fact, I predict we will
perfect that feat of “magick” before
science will discover the so-called seat of the soul, the ghost inside the
machine.
So this
journey is
also about mindset. Look at it wholly
through the eyes of a down to earth, everyday-reality point of view, and you will
have to conclude that the events I am going to describe are not only unlikely
but impossible. Look at it through the
eyes of established religious beliefs, and you will automatically conclude that
I am a sinner in league with the devil.
But look at it through the eyes of wonder and you will perhaps discover
that the world is not the absolute we have been taught to believe. There really is magick in the world despite
everything we’ve been taught. And in
spite of our best attempts to believe otherwise, it peeks out from time to
time, a mischievous muse leading us to follow.
What is
magic?
It is the force within us that enables
a 110 lb. woman to lift a 5000 lb. tractor trailer off an infant. It is the undefined component that has made it possible
for a woman in Florida to be visited by her son in California, only to later
discover that he never left Los Angeles – yet she knows intimately what he said
to her during his “visit” and he can confirm her statements as fact, even
though neither he nor anyone else ever told her. It is the force that enables a man who falls in love to go into
an abrupt remission from terminal cancer.
It is the premonition which causes a woman to cancel a plane flight and
later discover the aircraft she would have been on crashed into the ocean. It is the ghost inside the
machine. It is us.
Magic
is the Realization
that we aren’t at the mercy of deities or technology for our
salvation from the abyss. We are
capable of choosing our own immortal evolution and our own transformation if – if
– we are willing to experiment with a new mindset which has the potential to
transcend all the programming we have spent a lifetime accumulating.
It is not an easy
task nor an easy journey. There are no
exercises at the end of each chapter, no mantras or affirmations that will
substitute for doing the work of self-exploration and self-transformation – and
it is a life-long undertaking. This is not a guide to any single destination,
but my personal travelogue of my quest into the unknown.
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