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"I am the Dog Star, that is why I'm so serious." "You mean the Evening Star, don't you," said Mr. Ferguson. But I'm just kidding of course. None of that stuff will work. It's just art, what someone who's writing a make-believe fantasy would put in a book because it sounds poetic. It makes a wizard into a literary character that can live in the pages of print forever. It has no real power because there is no person there. And a wizard's a person, not literature. So. . . let's just say that flying is a state of knowing who you are and wizardry is a state of knowing who you are. And if you know who you are, you can do anything. You probably don't believe–and most people don't believe –that simply by knowing your right side says "I'm alive" and your left side says "I'm dying"–and by reversing sides–you can fly. But that's all right. You just don't know who you are. So don't worry. How do you become a wizard? Well, there are many steps to this and many different ways to do this and many different ways to be a wizard. Each side of your body, as I said, has its own distinct personality. First, you must discover each personality. Then, you must learn how to go into another kind of trance state. In the trance state, you must look at yourself in a mirror and you will see your Higher Self. You will then learn your Higher Self's name, or names--you will have two of them, one corresponding to each side of your body. The Higher Self names are the names that you and others call you by when you are in that state of being called "wizardry." But that's not all. You might say that a wizard is a man who learns how to become a woman for short periods of time, or a woman who learns how to become a man. And this personality of the opposite sex will also have a name. But you must never tell this name to anyone. But how do I discover the personalities of my right and left sides and how do I go into a trance and how do I find my feminine personality? I CAN TELL YOU WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO BUT I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW TO DO IT. You will have to find that out yourself. But, to continue, once you learn how to become a wizard, you must learn how to tap into the universal energy. And once you can tap into it, you can do those wizardy things like affecting the outcome of sporting games, healing, making spells. Of course, all that I'm telling you is not like any sort of way that you learn at school. There are no "steps" to becoming a wizard, like, first I discover my right and left sides, second I discover my name, third I learn how to direct the power. All steps are simultaneous and really amount to different ways of saying the same thing. There are many different ways to tap into the universal energy, The Natural Rhythm of the Universe, The Great Goddess–whatever name we wish to use–and directing that energy. I personally use three: dancing, which is my most powerful means, trance states, and talking with animals. You can talk with animals? Of course. Animals come to me all the time to talk. But our communication is much deeper than what is usually regarded as language. And brain size has nothing to do with it. I can communicate with ants as well as dogs or chimps. Talking with animals is much the same as healing. It is my healing power which attracts animals to me. They know that I will not hurt them and, in fact, I will make them stronger and well. So they come to me. But sometimes I do things to initiate conversation like making a sharp sound or talking to them in words. But it is the energy that I am able to put out which attracts them. In order to communicate with animals, as opposed to just attracting them to me, I must enter a trance state and, through it, enter the reality in which the animal lives. You must become the animal. Then you will discover that we are all one. In other words, animals, with greater ease than humans, can enter the OTHER REALITY because that reality is wordless. Just then a hawk landed on a pinnacle of the canyon wall way above them. See that hawk there? Focus your concentration on it. Look at it and allow no thought to enter your mind. Just concentrate on the hawk and imagine some energy going between you and it. All right. For the next few minutes, Tommy focused his attention on the hawk while the Wizard of Iydd sat quietly. The hawk sat quietly. But, finally, Tommy's mind wandered for an instant and he began to think of what the Wizard of Iydd had been talking about. At that instant, when his mind shifted from the hawk to something else, the hawk suddenly spread its wings and flew away. It appeared to Tommy, at any rate, that the two events happened at the same moment and he had a definite feeling that they were connected, that there had been an invisible link between himself and the hawk that was suddenly broken. See, that's what I mean, said the Wizard of Iydd. You have just experienced the first step in learning to talk to animals. So, there was some kind of link between the hawk's mind and mine–or between my mind and everything else's? Yes, between your mind and the "minds" of all plants and animals. But that isn't really accurate, to talk about "minds," since when you are in a trance state, you aren't you and a hawk isn't a hawk and a rose isn't a rose. So, if you aren't you, how could you possibly have your mind? But what am I then and what was the hawk? You were "both the same" and that's why you can communicate. And a link isn't a link. Both the same? Both the same what? Both the same anything. It doesn't matter what you imagine it to be. Look, do you know that clear jelly on the inside of jelly beans? That's what you both were. You were both the clear jelly in jelly beans. And the same thing happens with people too, say, if you are watching a basketball game. When you are in a trance and look at it, you see "something that's really going on." Something that's really going on? What do you mean? Well, this "something" isn't anything specific that you can put your finger on. You just see the game in a way that you wouldn't see it if you weren't in a trance. Somehow, the game is all clear, what is really happening, what these people are really doing. Sometimes it's psychological so that you can see the actuality of the human interactions. Sometimes it is more physical so that you can see clearly the patterns of movement of the players. And then, when you can see this, you can easily tell who is going to win. Now, what you see has nothing to do with how sports announcers or coaches see the game. They aren't wizards and they aren't in a trance state so they don't know "what is really going on." Now, here comes the amazing part, or at least what non-wizards will think amazing. When you see this "something that's really going on"–and, say, you would like to have team A win–you can affect this "something that's really going on" so that team A benefits. I can't tell you how to do this because I don't know. All I know is this: you go into a trance state, want team A to win and merge with the pattern of "something that's really going on." And it works! I know, it all sounds crazy, huh? Well, wizards like to act "crazy"–but I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll tell you about "crazy" in a little while. Let me see if I can say this in another way that makes more sense. The best players are wizards too even if they don't know it. And all well trained players–I'm assuming that both of these teams are well trained–can be wizards and play extremely well when they are at their best moments. What does this mean: for a player to be a wizard? It means that he plays with the power of love. That is, he acts "crazy;" he plays all out. The team or person who wins a sports contest is the one who sees it as a game and plays with heart, rather than seeing it as a war and playing with mind. When people become afraid of losing, they lose for sure. So, you could say that what I do as a wizard is to go inside these people and open up this power of love within them so they play their hearts out. We communicate a certain truth and they win. That's all there is to it. A few years ago, I was at a Cincinnati Reds ball game in late April. I was sitting in the 13th row just behind the Red's batting circle. Junior Griffey was taking his warmup swings. Junior was in his second year after his trade from Seattle and was in a horrible slump. Had only one or two homers for the year. I watched his swing and then yelled out sing-songy-like: "Junyah, Junyah! Git in your groove Junyah!" When he got up to the plate, he watched the first two pitches and then lined the third pitch over the wall. Then he hit a second home run in that game. What had I done? What did I do? I saw by his swing that he had forgotten "who he was." And, when I said that to him, he remembered – and knew once again. It was a coming together of energy for an instant moment in time. And is that how you heal too? Yes, healing is much the same thing–but different. It doesn't take place in the physical plane either but, in this case, I am more active. The universal energy–this Natural Rhythm of the Universe –I become it for a moment. I fuse with it so that I am it, or it is me, or whatever; I no longer exist. Then this energy flows out of my body and hands into the sick and diseased parts. The person's energy is changed and he begins to see how he is making himself sick. To "become it" is to enter a state of love. And entering a state of love can be thought of as a definite feeling that you feel in your body, primarily in your face and mouth but also in your chest and abdomen, but all over. Love is a feeling and you can learn to feel it as it will flow naturally out of the N.R.U. into you. The N.R.U.? Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you we wizards call the Natural Rhythm of the Universe the N.R.U. It's much shorter and, by using just the initials, it frees our minds from getting hung up on just one concept. The N.R.U. is also, for example, the love energy coming from Our Mother, the Earth. The concept of pure process: endless creation and destruction. It's also the spirit of God that ignites all things. And since I'm talking about "rhythm," I might as well tell you about dancing which, in my case, is the most powerful means of entering a trance state. What I would call dancing isn't what most people would call dancing. Most people use it as a social tool. A few use it as a therapeutic tool to change negative energies in parts of their bodies. And a few can really dance. That is, they can really contact the music and express it in themselves physically. I attempt to go beyond that and fuse with the music. When this happens, I am in a trance state. And I am no longer dancing to the music. I am dancing to the N.R.U. This is the state of love that you feel in your body as you dance which channels the energy through you for healing. Now here is another way to describe this state which is very useful to wizards. A wizard, when he or she is being a wizard, is in touch with the True Story. He is able to see that every person's life is just a story that he or she is living out–and seeing that is the same as the feeling that you feel in your face and all over. It's the same as love. Now we get to an important part. You should remember this. In our society, in our world culture, the True Story is now in opposition to THE FALSE STORY. What's the True Story? Think of a story that expresses our deepest and strongest desires and longings as human beings and you've got it: the True Story. This Story is about birth, death, love, sex, and violence. The False Story is about products—you know, what they show you on television. The idea behind the False Story is to rob human beings of their deepest human feelings. This is very important to the success of the False Story. It either wants to eliminate feelings altogether or express superficial human feelings. Why? Because those who control media, and thus how our planet thinks and feels, know that if they allowed human beings to really get in touch with those most basic human desires, those human beings would find those desires much more interesting and important to their lives than products. They know that if the True Story were told, it would decrease sales which would have an adverse effect upon our economy and business. And no one in his right mind wants that! Even if they show you the True Story on television, which is rare, they interrupt with product messages every 10 or 15 minutes. These become of equal importance and the intensity of the Story feelings are diluted. So, as long as we have businessmen, economists, and politicians controlling our national and international media, we will have to be fed the False Story. No matter how degrading it is, it's economically necessary. You may have a hard time understanding what I mean by the True Story. As I said, it's a feeling and if you haven't had this feeling, you can't know what I mean by it very well. Maybe I can describe it another way: it's perfection. It's the feeling that one has if one imagines a perfect place: heaven, utopia, a perfect day, a primordial tribe and so forth. Now, if you keep this feeling and look at someone when you are in a trance, you can see their perfection, their True Story. And that Story is about birth, death, love, sex, and violence. That is all our True Story is about. We fool ourselves with "Literature" and explanations. The True Story lies beneath all our imagined stories, all the problems we create with our heads that we mistake for our lives. It is about our perfection. What do you mean? Do you mean that life doesn't have a purpose? No, I didn't say that. There is nothing the matter with fooling ourselves. After all, if we didn't pretend to be someone, say, a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher, who would we be? And nothing would get accomplished. I am just saying this: when you look at someone and go into a trance and see their True Story, what do you see? What is that "true story?" You see the person's death. That's what their life is all about anyway, what makes them different yet so much the same as everyone else. How this particular person is going to whittle away the years and die. Each one of us, for our own particular reasons, chooses the way we die–and it is not hard to see if you are a wizard, even in young children because we start to die from the moment we breathe. And each person's death is sitting there beside them, smiling, nodding, saying "yes, that's what you think you are doing with your life but you don't really know me, do you?" Oh yes, each one's death is there waiting. And a wizard, like a giant wad of gum, snaps it up in a second. To see someone's True Story takes a lot of energy; it's not something to do willy-nilly. You have to ration yourself. To do it, and to do all wizardry, you have to become for a time non-human--be in that Other Reality–where you aren't a part of the story. You've got to become the Story ITSELF. Then, from this perspective of separation, you can look down on the parts. The Story ITSELF is a timeless spot of understanding. Sort of like standing on the outside and watching a moving merry-go-round ride. The music, the colored animals, the people enjoying their ride. And everyone has that chance: to pay their 25 cents and get their particular ride in life. We all take the ride, but not too many stand on the side lines too and know what goes on. But a wizard knows. Everything and nothing happens to a wizard, because he sees too much. But why birth, death, love, sex, and violence? Again, you must experience this feeling to understand what I mean: the glorious moment that is being alive. You feel life's inner urge to continue, to procreate, and you feel the sorrow, the dying and wearing out, that is necessary for life to happen. Birth is our urge for creation. Death is the explanation of man's purpose to himself. Love is the force that makes human pain, suffering, and death tolerable. Sex is the desire for creation that is death. And violence is the energy, God's gift, that is necessary for the process to continue. Birth is violence; death is violence; love is violence; sex is violence. That's what a wizard sees. The True Story died many years ago for many reasons we needn't go into. That is the reason I sometimes feel very little hope for this planet. To no longer remember the True Story is in some way to be insane. And our insanity will destroy us. Most of the time however, I believe the supremacy of the False Story is a temporary condition. The spiritual longing is too important within us to go unnoticed for long. Eventually, history will right itself and the True Story will re-emerge but in a new artistic form. * * * What do you mean that we are insane? I thought insane people were in hospitals. "Insane" is a term that's usually used to describe a sickness in which a person can't distinguish his fantasies from reality. But there is another less used meaning of the term: an illness that isn't as severe but much more important because it's so widespread. In this meaning, "insane" is a person who can't see reality. He lives in a fantasy world but because these fantasies are either much milder or, as is oftener the case, also the fantasies of everyone else around him, no one realizes they're fantasies. In fact, what are fantasies are regarded as "normal." But what is reality? That's the key question. I would say it is this--and I limit my definition of reality in this way: I am talking about the reality of being a living human being. Earth, this planet, and all forms of life upon it, are governed by a principle of cyclical time: birth, life, death, and rebirth. This may not be an accurate description of the universe as a whole, as physicists understand it, but it is a very important one to human beings. Why? Because when we recognize this principle of cyclical time, it gives us a feeling of unity and harmony with the earth. We look around us at the earth, we see the changing seasons of the year, and we say: "yes, another season passes and I grow older too." Thus, we understand the earth and our lives as they should be understood –not with our rationality, our sciences, our incessant analysis, but with our hearts. Thoughts from our hearts are always stronger than thoughts from our minds. Thoughts from our minds lead us into argument and dissension. Thoughts from our hearts lead us into harmony and unity. There is nothing the matter with our minds–except when they go insane and can no longer make connection with our hearts. If you have understood what I've meant by the True Story, you can see that's exactly what it's about: cyclical time. About what we can know with our hearts–which gives us the power of wizards–that our minds can never tell us. Oh, many argue against the heart, those who condemn the "excesses of romanticism." But romantics in the past had to build their dreams upon a base of Christian, rational western civilization usually in a very formalized prose. Their truth was distorted by the civilization in which they lived and the conventions of language. Can you imagine what Thoreau's experience of nature would have been like if he could have written in modern prose and if he had had the knowledge of psychology and the religions of the Redman, the Aborigines, and Bronze and Stone Age Europeans that we now have? Or if he had had the actual contacts with Hindus and Buddhists–and thus knowledge of techniques--that we have? In western civilization, knowledge almost always has been seen as something external to oneself: either a rational construct or external observation. We have viewed the intuitive with suspicion but we shouldn't. The danger isn't the intuition itself but the thoughts that follow out of it. All true religious knowledge begins with the heart, an experience of oneness and unity. And the government of our country is based upon intuition for it says: "we hold these truths to be self-evident." Yet, when the intuitive experience itself passes, the mind takes hold and unity ends. Each person and group brings their own interpretation and soon we are back again to dissension and argument. So, in the future, we need a new kind of interaction among people, in our governments, in our organizations, in our homes. Argument must end. Dissension must end. Rather, we must begin all discussions with a GROUP MEDITATION: how we are all connected to the earth and one. Then we must allow our remarks to each other to come out of this feeling and see how we can agree instead of disagree. Arguing is merely lack of respect for other people. But, how did I get talking about that? I was trying to tell you how insane we are, how cyclical time is the reality of the earth and how far out of touch human beings have become with reality. I mean–in a way that affects their living. It's not a part of our spiritual beliefs, which is where the notion of cyclical time belongs. And now we've walled ourselves off in urban environments that are disconnected from the earth. We've substituted the all-night, incandescent time of megalopolises for cyclical time, and plastic and steel foliage for the seasons of the year. Yes, we need to start expressing that the human race is insane. What do we care about a few mixed-up souls in an institution? But if we begin using this term correctly--labeling all the areas of modern existence that are out of synch--we make known where the real sickness lies. We need to start saying things like: "freeways are insane," "the President is insane," "The New York Times is insane," "television is insane," "supermarkets are insane," "our legal code is insane," "computers are insane," etc. Or things like: "the way I get up in the morning is insane," "the food I eat is insane," "the way I do my job is insane," on and on. We need to use this term in a really meaningful way instead of thinking that the loonies are the ones locked up. We are lying to ourselves in a very self-destructive way. The first step in making meaningful changes in society isn't social or political. It isn't "those other guys" who are doing wrong things and need to be replaced. No, our sickness is much deeper than that. It's admitting to ourselves and making apparent to everyone that we are insane. And that starts with finding the language for it. Then we can begin to change things, then we can start to act "crazy." Well, if you are a wizard, why don't you use magic to change all this? That would be real magic power. Oh, my friend, I don't think you understand magic at all. It's not as simple as waving a magic wand. Well, what about a dark curse that would banish all insanity forever? Responsible wizards never make curses for two reasons. First, because they can see people's True Stories, they psychologically understand their "evilness" and therefore wish them no evil in return. Second, wizards know that once a dark power is unleashed, it goes its own way. Once black magic is directed against one person, that person will destroy two others, on and on. To destroy an evil with evil only brings about a more repressive tyranny. On the other hand, the goodness or badness of a spell, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. You send positive energy towards someone and how he receives it and how it affects him depends upon him. All spells are curses to "evil" people. Well, how about a positive spell then? Say, a spell to change the world, get rid of wars, end hunger. Yes. Good. Many people in many different ways are attempting to "transform" this world, make it a better place. But, as far as I'm concerned, most of them are really trying to subject their particular form of insanity upon it. No, if that's the way the world is going to go, I'm not that interested. I would rather just devote my energy to perfecting my power. Life on this planet may end in 50 years or 5000. Some days I feel the first is right, some days, the second. The Goddess of Destruction does Her work as She sees fit. So let it happen. It's alright with me. HOWEVER--and now we are just conjecturing, imagina-tionwise--I COULD ACCEPT A TRUE TRANSFORMATION. Unfortunately, that's beyond the comprehension of almost everybody because we would have to tinker with the borders of sanity. We would have to accept a new, a "crazy" reality. What do you mean by a "crazy" reality? A "crazy" reality is really the only sane reality. The only way in which this world will ever be sane is when everyone on it feels–and expresses in living–a oneness with the earth. This means accepting our own personal deaths. This is what the True Story comes down to. Any other scheme is, of course, insanity. But this truly sane world has never existed and may never exist. Why must people accept their own personal deaths? Right now, we hide death in our society, ignore it, brush it under the rug, rather than tapping its life-energy giving properties. And lately some people claim that science and medicine eventually will extend life indefinitely or at least to a point at which it seems indefinite. At this time, this is not the case and I doubt it ever will be. We should know the limitations of science by now, from over 3 centuries of experience: how each advance contains its own little kicker, its own germ of evil. So why do we continue to believe that science in the future is going to bring some magnificent utopia? If and when it happens, that's the time to deal with it but, for now, we can say that all living things must die. Because we can't accept this–and society can't really hide it when it happens to us–we try to acquire power over death. We attempt to stave off death for as long as possible with possessions. We're afraid that if we don't have enough money, we won't be able to buy food, or have proper shelter in the winter, or good medical attention if we get sick. Most of this anxiety is a fantasy about the future, that our savings will run out, which is usually just another insanity. So, the more savings we're able to accumulate, the safer we are and the closer we come to some inexhaustible horn of plenty. Of course, some will always have more than others –that is the nature of life on this planet. Most all have this desire for greater ease and comfort–so who wouldn't want a warmer and larger house? And we all can't live in the same spot. I'm not speaking about a natural competitiveness but an irrational fear. The fear that makes us hoard more than we need and forget the need of those who have too little. A fear that keeps us from knowing when we have enough. The more secure we feel about death, the less we need. A Buddhist monk can survive on water and a stone. To accept death is to let go of some of this fear, to trust God and Goddess of Plenty Who made this planet and Who therefore rule our lives and deaths. One very poisonous result of our insane avoidance of death is how we kill and destroy life without sensitivity and awareness. A chant that wizards use goes: THE ENDLESS CYCLE OF DEATH AND LIFE This phrase unites us to the endless process, to our existences, and to the other plants and animals who give their lives so that we may live. To live, we must kill other living things, from the germs that attack our bodies, to the weeds that crowd out our food plants, and those plants and animals we eat for nourishment. We are indebted to them, just as they are indebted to us because, someday, we too shall die and nourish them so that life and the earth can continue. By not accepting, or believing in, our own personal deaths, we have lost touch with an important feeling: the feeling of the preciousness of creation. Consequently we destroy this planet without awareness, and even kill other human beings without sensitivity. So, in the end, we can only choose to die naturally, or to die insanely. Dying naturally means to be in harmony with the earth and the universe. To realize the great tragedy of life: that the marvelous urge within all living matter to increase and fructify and thus join into the glorious dance can only mean extinction. And thus we come to cherish the limitedness of our time, the preciousness of each moment of our lives and, by extension, the preciousness of all life. This makes our deaths natural. It honors the cycles of the earth, and we die slowly, usually, just at the right moment. Dying insanely is to be out of touch with reality and to allow all of the neurotic, ignorant beliefs of our technology-dominant social system to control our thoughts and minds. Our social system has lost the knowledge of the preciousness of each moment, and thus we die poorly: prematurely and of some human-induced disease like cancer, or heart failure, or environmental poisoning. Yes, environmental poisoning, and all of these diseases of modern, urban man, are insane. Many speak of "ecology" and "saving the environment." But that only means to save ourselves. And that will never happen until we learn to die naturally. * * * Well, how can this sane-"crazy" world be brought about? Ahh. . . now we get to the heart of the matter, what this little discussion is all about. Changing forms or flying or affecting sport games, that's nothing. The wizard's chief gift, what makes all his other powers possible and what makes them small potatoes, is his inborn ability to see the True Story. Wizards, like fancy center fielders, are born, not made. Many people can develop a psychic ability because everyone has that. And many, even, can discipline themselves through meditation, yoga and so forth to achieve a fine control over their minds, bodies, and lives. But wizards are scarce, rare. It's something, a blessing and a curse, that certain people are born with, and they couldn't get rid of it if they wanted to--believe me, a lot of them would like to. Well, what's so special about a wizard? Just what I said, the gift of seeing. Some people are born who just don't fit into the world. They're separate, not part of it. And this distance lets them see it. Being a wizard is most difficult when you're young and growing up. You don't know who you are and it all seems strange. Of course, wizards are born knowing who they are but society quickly exercises this knowledge out of them. Then they have to go through the slow and painful process of discovering what they knew in the first place. That's why you had to go through all these travels to reach me. If you think back over it, from the time you became a television set–and all the events that happened to you and the things you've seen and heard–you will see a progression further and further out. I'm sorry I had to make it so "literary" but unfortunately that's all I know. It was necessary to bring you through these stages to prepare you to meet me. You must understand who and what a wizard is. At any one time in history, there are between 1300 and 130,000 wizards alive on the planet. This is part of the universal plan. Wizards are necessary for the continuation of the species because they are the carriers of fresh vitality and energy. Since, over the years, only a few wizards ever make it to carry out their chosen duties, Our Mother Earth makes an excess of them, just as a plant lays many seeds just to produce a handful of new plants. Some wizards die in childhood of birth defects, etc., some commit suicide, some end up in mental institutions, some go to prison. Most just give up looking for themselves, take a normal, steady job, and forget it. In the 1950s and '60s, a movement began which changed things. It's been called by many names: The Human Growth (or Potential) Movement, Humanistic Psychology, Higher Consciousness, The New Age, and so forth. I'll call it The Human Growth Movement from now on. Basically it's a belief that the continued evolution of our species no longer depends upon Darwinian genetic mutation but upon our own ability to fully develop the powers inherent in our minds. This Movement changed things in two ways: first, it legitimized the "search for self" on a grand scale. And second, it gave some legitimacy to psychic abilities, made them scientific and observable rather than weird and kooky. Now, if someone is born a wizard, he has more support from society to develop him or herself than has existed since the 17th century and the coming of science. This means that something miraculous is about to take place. At the present time, there are 99,955 wizards alive on the planet. The reason the number is very close to the maximum is we have come to the year 2000, a very important milestone in human history, and that calls for a lot of wizard power. Also, since we now encourage the types of self-knowledge that include wizardry, we soon shall have an unprecedented number of fully mature and active wizards on our hands. No one wizard can transform this planet to a "crazy" reality but when this large number of wizards join together and form a psychic circle of energy around this old globe, anything is possible. * * * I know, that sounds strange and flaky, sort of like those old-timey patent medicine ads of the 1880s: "You too can develop baffling powers of the human mind locked in the tombs of the Pharaohs . . . " But that's exactly the point that needs to be made about the trance state, one that hasn't been investigated very much in psychic research. As I tried to show you with the hawk, not only is the trance state a means of entering Another Reality, it's a means of communicating that Reality to other beings. When I first started studying wizardry, I came upon this discovery in a strange way. One day, I was practicing trances in my living room and my dog was lying in front of me. When I went into a trance, the dog would close its eyes and when I came out of it, the dog would open its eyes and look at me. Then I began seeing the same sorts of things with people. For example, you will almost always go into a deeper trance when you do it in a group than when you do it alone. You will also find that if you're around a really spiritual person, their energy alone can send you into a trance. Now, this part is going to sound even stranger! Remember, we're talking about the future. If we wish to bring about this sane-"crazy" reality, we are going to have to redefine art and artists. Art has always been a means of spiritually moving great numbers of people. One day, artists will become wizards and wizards will become artists. That is, artists will once again tell the True Story and their methods will incorporate the psychic powers that only wizards know. Wizard-artists from all countries of the earth will form a world-wide network and envelop the planet in energy. A network is the strongest form of organization because there are infinite sources rather than a central one. Not only will the network be psychic, of the mind, wizard-artists will manifest the psychic state into the material plane in two ways. They will create a new kind of art object called a 'psychic art object' and they will do something else. They will make regular art objects, as before, but now these art objects will be direct extensions of the artist's mind. They will be solidified forms of mind. What's a psychic art object? This is difficult to explain. It's somewhere between a solid, physical object and pure thought transmission, or mind--partly felt and partly hallucinated. Or what we now call "hallucinated." It will be more palpable than a hallucination. And what is a solidified form of mind? All art is mind extension of its artist. But wizard-artists will do this consciously. They will invoke a spell as they make it so that their power is in the object. A piece of art will be a fetish. Electronic media such as television, laser images and recorded music are mind extensions by nature. Don't ask me why, exactly. There's just something built into electronic equipment that, as the computer nuts say, "interfaces" with the human nervous system of neurons and synapses. So these media have a powerful ability to alter consciousness because they plug directly into our minds. Because of this, we must be very careful in selecting the images which are seen by the public. At present, commercial purposes determine what is seen. No wonder we're insane. This psychic-ization of art has a number of advantages. Not only is it many times more powerful because it directly affects our physiology, it will affect us anywhere–not just in a gallery or theatre. And if artists begin to have some recognition in planetary culture, they may be able to create an environment in which all are affected. What do you mean by "an environment?" Well, it might begin with music and video or laser images that are ubiquitous, available in all public places. Then artists might begin designing living spaces for humans that are in harmony with the earth. And one day, perhaps, all the physical world that is man-made could be art: our buildings and houses, our social customs and spiritual rituals, our business and service institutions, even our laws and government. The man-made physical world, art, will be in harmony as much as possible with the world of nature and the universe. Art will be man's new spiritual belief system and wizard-artists will be its new spiritual practitioners. Unfortunately, now, our spiritual practices are pretty much separated from our secular lives and the urban environments that encase us. This must be changed. But aren't you suggesting the worst kind of dictatorship, mind control, the end of personal freedom? No, I think it will be the beginning, and I'll tell you why. Thomas Jefferson gave our country a democratic idealism. He believed if all men were educated, they'd have the information and mentality to rule themselves. So, we have a system of public education unthinkable in Europe 3 centuries ago. But mass education has never been very successful. Universities evolved into big state bureaucracies that mainly function as vocational schools, and to do the government's research. Culturally and politically, they became the breeding ground of frat and sorority life centered around a large athletic budget. But education was never the crux of the problem. Level of consciousness was. Art and wizardry can raise consciousness and consciousness is what gives people the ability to make moral decisions thoughtfully whatever their IQ tests say. Of course, idealistic plans never work as we expect them to--but that's an expectation itself that can perhaps be built into the system. Also, everything can be abused. There's no free gravy in this lunch line. Psychic power can be abused--there are people out there who want to use it for their own gain. But if a person is truly powerful, that is, a real wizard who is in tune with the N.R.U., he will influence others for love. And that's one way to say what love is: LOVE IS A DESIRE FOR PERSONAL FREEDOM FOR EVERYONE. You see, what I mean by controlling people's minds is to make them believe in love, freedom for everyone. And, thus, all people, everywhere, to greater and lesser degrees, as their consciousness grows, will themselves be artists. THEY WILL HAVE THE DESIRE AND THE POWER TO CONTROL PEOPLE'S MINDS JUST THE WAY THAT THEY ARE BEING CONTROLLED. FOR LOVE. Love has gotten a bad rap over the years and it's something many people treat with cynicism. But love's the only alternative if we wish to have a "crazy" reality. There is mushy love and tough love. The 1960s was a time of mushy love. Tough love is what we need now. No wizard with his head in the sky and both feet on the ground expects it to be easy. He doesn't expect to be greeted with instant applause and approbation. What he attempts is a tough job that requires working with all kinds of groups and people. He isn't starry-eyed. Art calls for careful action and planning. One of the big limitations of the Human Growth Movement was its lack of social action. It was too individual-centered. Forty years ago, before this Movement began, our smartest people were social reformers. "Humans are products of their environments," they said. "Change societies and you will change people," they said. Now, the idea of human perfectability has shifted. Human Growth thinkers talk about "altering individual consciousness" and how it's our "attachments" that make us label certain conditions as good or bad. Or they say, "you can't change the human condition; you can only change yourself." Although the social reformers were wrong by over-simplifying psychology, the pendulum now has swung too far the other way. We need to recognize the influence of our environments upon our behavior. That's the reason the basis for art is a Story. A story is social. A story holds a group of people together with an identity even if that group covers the whole world. Well, if it's a story, what is the story anyway? Tell me the story. And, if it's so important, there must be more to its name "True Story" than just its opposition to a false story. Very good question. I must not keep this a secret anymore. Everyone must know the Story. It's called the True Story because it is a story that everyone knows in their hearts to be true. But first, before I tell you the Story, let me finish what I was saying here. The Human Growth Movement tries to make higher consciousness individuals but, in so doing, often forms tightly knit groups that are segregated from society as a whole. Often these groups become so separated, they develop paranoia. Again, that is an advantage of artists and art. Artists function within the whole of a culture and their energy is directed outwards in their works. Art is meant to be experienced by everyone. But there's even a more fundamental difficulty with Human Growth principles. The ultimate form of higher consciousness is enlightenment. Enlightenment is to experience perfect wholeness and unity. Yet, one's mind is joined to all other minds. Can any person who has achieved a high level of consciousness believe that he or she will possibly be enlightened when any other single individual on this planet isn't? This is something all seeking people should think seriously about. In fact, I've made it into a maxim for wizard-artists: A PERSON IS NO MORE ENLIGHTENED I tell you these things so that someday you may be an artist and do it right. As an artist, you must first develop your consciousness so that you can contact the N.R.U. at will. Then you must recognize your role in society, your responsibility to your fellow man. Then you must assume the place of power that you should have in society and create objects for the good of society. It's not enough to be enlightened and it's not enough to be a social reformer. You must try to be both. Until the universal energy flows through you and freely from you out into society, humankind will be neurotic and sick. And you think that I can do this? Yes, you and many others like you. But I'm not a wizard... You'd be surprised who is a wizard ... and who isn't. Poet Robert Graves once made a test for future wizards7 and I think it fits you. You are a good baseball player but just because you are a good player doesn't mean that you play the game as if you were a part of it. You aren't fooling anybody. How did you know that? And you are needed because there are many other "non-players" who are ready to take over the world if you're not and they aren't nearly as suited for it as you. You mean it's a contest? Of course, but it always has been. Between the devil and god in us all: "good 'n evil," freedom and slavery, science and dance. Many groups in the Human Growth Movement teach "submission" to a teacher or guru. That isn't for you. You want to teach people to see their own power, not give it to you. But why science and dance? Right now the Human Growth Movement's pretty much dominated by scientists: psychologists and physicists. But "interspace exploration" is too important to leave to them. All you have to do is take a look at what science has done to the external world and our relationship to it. This certainly should make us want to ask ourselves if we want to put our future and our psyches in the hands of these guys? Oh, science is very seductive. Just look at how much easier computer technology has made all of our lives--as it creates the Big Brother Police State. And science has such a grip on our minds that most of our imaginings about the future are called "Science Fiction." Now scientists come clothed in new space-age garb. They tell us the truth about the physical universe, the world of energy and matter: how they are but messengers of the philosophical concepts of Eastern religious thought such as Buddhism and Taoism. But these messengers leave out a most important part of the message: compassion. Just read some of their books if you don't believe me.8 And then read about Buddhism. Compassion isn't found in rational laws of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Compassion comes from an insightful emotional experience based in benevolence: either that Goddess and God are benevolent and/or that man is essentially good. The True Story, just what I've been telling you. Where do you find that in the "New Physics?" Science is amoral, a whore. It works for whoever pays the bill. Oh, I admit that scientists mean well and their zeal for knowledge might be called good... . Pure scientists seek something which they might call "truth," but their truth isn't moral truth. It's physical truth. So, then, whichever moral truth dominates a society controls its science: capitalism, fascism, democracy, Christianity, and so forth. Even worse, we have created a fraudulent morality of science. We extol "progress," "technology," "the information age" as if these had moral value in themselves. Are we really going to leave something as important as the exploration of "interspace" to them after seeing how they've screwed up in the past? Scientists have only changed compared to past scientists--they are still scientists. They still use clinical, de-humanized language like "interspace." Again, check-out their books and note the abstracted sterility of their words. The psyche, as it used to be called and perhaps may be called again, should be the territory of poets and poet-words. Are we going to allow our impartial observing minds to dominate our feelings, or shall our feelings--that is, our deepest human emotions of love, compassion, oneness with the earth and nature–direct our rationality–and language? I have nothing against science as long as we see it as the tool that it is and recognize who's bossing what. That's why I'm President and Grand-dance-master of the Dancing Scientists of America. Dance, music, when it's genuine and not some self-promotion scam to make a buck, can only be moral. It can only lead us into harmony with the Natural Rhythm of the Universe–and that music is in harmony with other people and the earth. Remember, never trust a scientist whom you can't tickle because the N.R.U. is laughter. Life isn't meant to be taken seriously--sincerely, yes, not seriously. Your time is running out so you might as well enjoy while you can. Enjoyment, that's the purpose of life. That's why God planned it and the Goddess created it, for us to enjoy: this brief moment before we return to be with our Ever-shining Mother.
Sorry, the exciting conclusion to Chapter 12 can only be bestowed upon those who anti-up for the book. Sorry, that's the way the universe's working today. |