Divine Talk Show Hosts: What is the truth behind Channeling?
by Roar Bjonnes
Separating true mystical experience from our own mental projections
is not always easy.
Welcome to the channeling zone. The TV screen yields an image of a fancy
hotel ballroom somewhere in California. A famous channeler sits on a large
wicker throne. She is dressed in a long white gown and graciously moves
her slender fingers with polished nails while she speaks. She is obviously
in some kind of trance while answering questions from the audience, many
of whom are Hollywood celebrities. She then walks down through the audience
while talking to people at random, giving advice, cracking jokes, all the
while conversing with a voice seemingly not her own.
From Los Angeles to New York City to Europe and beyond, these kinds
of channeled seances have become an increasingly popular New Age phenomenon.
Some of the channelers are rich and famous and draw large audiences, others
have smaller yet extremely devoted followers. But they all claim to speak
on behalf of bodiless spirits—wise men and women from earth or from other
planets. One is speaking on behalf of Jesus, another is claiming to channel
a well known Indian guru, and yet others amplify the voices of various
personalities who, they claim, lived thousands of years ago.
These channelers—who converse so effortlessly with angels, aliens, "ascended
masters" and gurus—are dismissed as charlatans by intellectuals and are
cursed by Christians as being the couriers of the Devil, others fear that
the phenomenon signals the precursor of another dark age of irrationality.
But the reality is probably more mundane: channeling has deep roots in
the Western notions of individualism and self-perfection. Having abandoned
mainstream religions for their lack of mysticism, joy, freedom of inquiry
and celebration, many are today seeking spiritual solace in an improvisational
realm of spirits and a potpourri of psychological and religious ideas.
Other traits of those flocking to the channeling zone are: deep distrust
for authority, morality and tradition, fear of the future, and, somewhat
ironically, an unquestioning passion for anything out of the ordinary.
About 20 physicists, sociologists, and psychologists recently convened
to study the famous channeler described above. She claims to receive messages
from a 35,000 year old being dressed in flowing garments of light. Through
biofeedback and an array of rigorous psychological tests, the panel of
experts concluded that she did not fake her experiences, and that something
"unusual" occurs when she enters her trance. But when determining the exact
source of her information, their opinions differed greatly.
Does the channeled being exist in a metaphysical realm apart from her
mind? Is he a mythical figure of her own imagination? Is he a manifestation
of her higher self or consciousness? Or is the channeler simply schizophrenic?
The most compelling conclusion came from best-selling author and Jungian
analyst Thomas Moore. He determined that her "channeling was not part of
her [conscious] mind, not multiple personality disorder, but... coming
from the super-conscious mind."
The Yogic Mind
Let us analyze this statement from the perspective of yoga. In yoga psychology,
the mind consists of five basic layers, which are as follows:
-
Conscious mind. This mental stage has three functions: a) sensing external
stimuli from the outside world through the sensory organs, b) having desires
on the basis of those stimuli, c) acting to materialize those desires.
-
Subconscious or subtle mind. This mental stage has four functions: a) memory,
b) contemplation, c) experience of pleasure and pain, d) dreaming.
-
Supramental or first layer of what psychologist Moore called the super-conscious
mind. This part of the mind has the capacity to transcend time, space and
person and see into past, present, and future. It is the layer of deep
intuition. In Jungian psychology, this is the collective unconscious or
super-conscious mind.
-
Subliminal mind or the second layer of the super-conscious mind. In this
stage discrimination and non-attachment are experienced, and one can discern
between eternal truth and the "passing show" of the material world.
-
Subtle causal mind or third layer of the super-conscious mind. Also termed
the "golden" layer as it signifies a state of pure bliss; only a thin veil
separates the individual and infinite consciousness.
How and Where Channeling Takes Place
Using this ancient model of yogic psychology, we can establish that channeling
takes place between the second or third layer and, if genuine wisdom is
received, mostly in the third.
Why did psychologist Thomas Moore conclude that the channeler contacts
her super-conscious mind and not a disembodied entity? Simply because it
does not appear to be possible, neither psychologically nor spiritually.
The mind, after dissociation from the physical body at death, until the
time of rebirth is a "bodiless mind". For the performance of action and
the perception of pleasure and pain, organs are necessary. In this state
of "bodiless mind", the conscious and subconscious portions of mind are
inactive and there is no experience of pleasure and pain. Since the bodiless
mind can experience or do nothing until its rebirth, attempts to contact
or influence these bodiless minds would be futile. Thus, according to yoga,
there is no heaven and hell and during death the mind is in a state of
limbo. While in this void, it waits until it is time to be reborn in an
environment in which the momentum of its past lives can be expressed.
The Holographic Mind
But if death is an expressionless sleep, when the mind is completely
detached from the body, then how do we explain so-called near death experiences
(NDE's)?
While a person in a NDE may be clinically dead, his or her mind is still
functioning as it maintains a "weak connection" or parallelism with the
body. In this unconscious state, literally between life and death, a person
may have many dreamlike experiences. People who leave their bodies after
being diagnosed as clinically dead, have—after returning back to life—reported
seeing and communicating with "higher beings of light" or "vast libraries
of knowledge." But when these experiences have been analyzed, the libraries
they have seen can better be described as pictorial representations of
Cosmic Knowledge. These libraries or higher beings do not really exist,
rather they represent the way an individual translates the incoming knowledge
or wisdom from Cosmic Mind in a "holographic" fashion. In other words,
the libraries were "literally built out of knowledge."
University of London physicist David Bohm, one of the world's most respected
quantum physicists, and Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, one of
the architects of our modern understanding of the brain, believe that the
universe itself may be a giant hologram, quite literally a kind of image
or construct created, at least in part, by the human mind. Yes, only in
part by the human mind, because Cosmic Mind is the real creator of the
universe, and the human mind interprets or experiences what Cosmic Mind
creates. Consequently, one can assert that the cause of internal visions
and voices are of two kinds: (1) Psychic projections by an individual,
or (2) an individual's mental response to the cosmic intelligence of Cosmic
Mind.
Author Michael Talbot, who has popularized the concept of the "holographic
universe," explains how many researchers now believe that the miraculous
appearances of Virgin Mary are "hologram-like projections" created by the
collective beliefs of the human race. These observations echo the yogic
idea that ghosts are hallucinatory creations of a concentrated and fearful
mind. These "ectoplasmic creations ' are so "real" that they can even be
photographed. And, in fact, Talbot writes that photographic reproductions
of many of these apparitions do exist. Consequently people believe that
they are manifestations of the Virgin Mary Herself. Talbot also reports
that many scientists now believe that a large percentage of UFO sightings
and abductions are holographic creations of our subconscious minds. As
psychologist Carl Gustav Jung claimed, these extraterrestrial sightings
are elves and dragons in modern disguise. So if the human mind can create
such "holographic" visions in outer space, so to speak, it must also be
capable of creating them in inner space, within the mind itself, and then
communicate with them as if the visions or voices are real and are coming
from somewhere or someone else. Some channelers' experiences may therefore
be explained as hologram-like visions within the mind.
Dreams
In a sense, all spiritual people are more or less channeling Cosmic Mind
or God. But when we try to communicate our experiences and our insights,
most of us are either speechless or at least humble enough to speak with
our own, individual and interpretative voice. Most of us do not speak on
behalf of Ramtha, Michael, St. Germaine, Hitler, or Aunt Bessie, nor on
behalf of God or Brahma. We take full responsibility for our own statements,
and we interpret our visions just like a dreamer does. So why do not channelers
do the same?
Yes, why does a channeler insist he or she is contacting a "real" outside
source, or is being talked to by a "real" someone else? Simply because
they are deceived to believe they are talking to someone else. Our mind,
unless saturated with the non-dual state of bliss, is in a perpetual state
of dualism, a feeling of "subject" and "object," "I" and "that". Consequently,
when the mind is seeing or hearing something which appears to have entered
its own silent domain, it seems to have been created by something "other
than I," something originating from an external source.
Paul Brunton, an eloquent observer of spiritual phenomena, and in particular
mediumship, channeling, and the occult, says that "the mystic is too close
to his experience, too enthralled with its wonder, to notice how far he
is himself contributing a genuine... or even a fictitious element to it,
or to comprehend that it is the act of meditation itself... The nugget
of inspirational gold is hidden within a fantasy created by his own desires
and emotions, by his strong wishful thinking. It is a more refined version
of the old story of making God partly but not wholly in man's image."
Thus channeling experiences do not really originate from an outside
source. They are caused by mental pictures that are brought up from the
subconscious or super-conscious mind and reflected onto the conscious mind—even
when the visions are conceived to be of something external. The messages
he or she hears are only the echo of his or her own voice, a subtle psychic
self-deception.
If a channeler believes that the source is foreign, that it belongs
to someone who lived 35,000 years ago, then that internal, mythical image
becomes, when told to others, a mythology, a socially accepted fantasy.
The more people believe in this fantasy, the more real it becomes to both
the channeler and his or her clients. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
which of course mutually benefits both parties.
To yield to the temptations of these psychic expressions—whether it
is a voice, an image, a vision, or a command—is not the goal of meditation.
A yogi will attempt to pierce through this layer with the help of his or
her inner discrimination and detachment in order to reach a higher realm
of super-consciousness. But that is not always the case. The channeling
frenzy, or the popular adventures in the channeling zone, confirms the
difficulty many have in cultivating spiritual qualities as opposed to psychic
ones. It is easy for many to yield to the temptations of having extraordinary,
psychic experiences rather than to follow the perennial advise of all authentic,
spiritual teachers: to nurture sustained spiritual transcendence, humbleness,
service-mindedness, love, and moral integrity.
Mystical Imagery
The use of religious deities may help shed some light on the process of
channeling. The ancient religious Gods and Goddesses, such as Kali or Ganesha,
arose through a process of giving external form to abstract ideas. A mystic
may have conceived of a certain idea or reached a certain state of mind,
and to make that concept better understood psychologically, an image was
invented. When that mythological or psychological image becomes part of
the social culture, it shapes people's collective psychology or mythology.
Thus people start worshipping these images, and through their worship they
may gain certain psycho-spiritual experiences, or they may dogmatically
believe that these Gods and Goddesses are "real."
Whether mental images are channeled or have originated from a religious
archetype, these experiences are still "authentic" in a psychic sense.
But the images or voices do not belong to a person's soul who existed in
a human body a few or many thousand years ago. Even though the channeled
image may transmit deep wisdom about spiritual matters, or knowledge about
a client's personality or past, the source of the material is the channeler
or the religious person's own mind.
In the words of Paul Brunton: "Mystical experiences do happen and only
the materialist, who will not trouble to investigate, dares deny their
occurrence. But when each mystic tells of seeing only that God or that
savior or that Guide whom he already worship or honors, the thoughtful
scientific inquirer naturally and rightly becomes suspicious."
In other words, a Christian may see Mother Mary or Jesus or pictures
of the orthodox heaven, a Hindu may see Kali or Shiva. If the heart yearns
intensely for the impersonal Brahma or God, but—whether through environmental
suggestion or historical tradition—associates this goal with a particular
mental image, there will undoubtedly be an unconscious projection of the
image into one's mystical experiences.
Meditative images are also consciously used in yoga, for example, to
focus the mind in order to yield a certain spiritual result. But these
images are tools and keys by which the aspirant opens the door to higher
states of consciousness. They are not those states, nor do they exist outside
the mind. They are to be reverently embraced in the heart and mind of the
meditator as bridges to reach a transcendental state of mind.
The goal of all truly authentic spiritual paths, is to establish a personal
relationship between ourselves and Cosmic Consciousness or God. Because
the whole universe is soaked in Consciousness, indeed there is nothing
but Consciousness. Hence all things can be communed with as if they are
conscious, even emotions and visions, because everything is a manifestation
of that Ultimate Consciousness. This communion is thus a means of becoming
one with one's own innermost self—not, as in channeling, to establish a
dualistic relationship to some disembodied entity said to exist outside
of oneself. Because ultimately, nothing exists outside or apart from our
own true nature—nothing is apart from our own enlightened Self. Because
that enlightened Self is nothing but Infinite Consciousness or God.
Piercing the Cloud of Mystical Visions
It is of course quite likely that channelers hear voices, even a voice
that resembles someone else's. But according to yoga, what seems real to
the mind, is only a proximation or metaphor of the ultimate, spiritual
truth. To receive information of past or present, the mind may need a vehicle,
a voice or an image. The fact that such a vehicle is being witnessed by
the mind does not mean that it comes from somewhere else than within that
individual mind itself. In that sense, channeling is a form of self-deception
or internal apparition.
The spoken voice the channeler hears is only a metaphorical vehicle
used to produce the desired result, namely to receive messages from the
unconscious or super-conscious mind. Hence we have entered a subtle and
powerful but deceptive mental universe, in which the channeler hears a
voice resembling another personality (a relative, a guru, God, Jesus, etc.)
and automatically believes that the voice originates from that "real" personality.
But as Paul Brunton explains: During channeling "there are both an impersonal
and a personal" aspect of the messages. "The first is derived from his
higher self, which is often mistaken for God [or Guru]. The second is derived
from his own characteristic mentality, whose contribution is seldom recognized
or admitted. The essential idea comes from a higher source but the words
expressing it do not."
Hence the words in the channeler's mind are the audible echoes of his
or her own mental panorama. These Divine Talk Show Hosts are simply hearing
their own "lower" or "higher" mind speaking to itself.
Roar Bjonnes has practiced Tantra Yoga
for the past 23 years. His writings have appeared in dozens of newspapers
and periodicals in the United States and Europe, including Dagbladet, Samtiden,
Resurgence, Magical Blend, and Yoga Journal (forthcoming).This article
was published in New Renaissance magazine Vol. 8, No. 2
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