Ruben Bailey – Page 31 – Penny For My Thought ©

May 28, 2008

The Griffin's Magic Mirror

In this dream I am with a being from another solar system aboard his space craft. He is looking through a magic mirror. I become lucid and realize this mirror is the instrument he uses to see the truth and all that lies within the hidden realms. Knowing this is my chance to look through the mirror for myself, I walk up to him getting close enough to grab the mirror away from him. In a moment when he is unsuspecting, I quickly reach for it snatching it out of his hand.

My question for the mirror is, “Do extraterrestrial intelligences walk the Earth?” I look through the mirror at my present surroundings. I can see the many aliens hidden within the spacecraft. Seeing beyond what is in front of me, I can now see the surface of the earth and all those aliens currently present who are invisible to the human eye. These aliens vibrate at a higher frequency and therefore go undetected. They are 8 to 9 feet tall, walk upright and wear green hooded cloaks to further hide their image. They are powerful creatures with hammerheads not unlike the griffin.

The griffin,[1] is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Griffins are normally known for guarding treasure.[2] In antiquity it was a symbol of divine power and a guardian of the divine.[3]

Most contemporary illustrations give the griffin the forelegs of an eagle, with an eagle’s legs and talons, although in some older illustrations it has a lion’s forelimbs; it generally has a lion’s hindquarters. Its eagle’s head is conventionally given prominent ears; these are sometimes described as the lion’s ears, but are often elongated (more like a horse’s), and are sometimes feathered.

Infrequently, a griffin is portrayed without wings (or a wingless eagle-headed lion is identified as a griffin); in 15th-century and later heraldry such a beast may be called a male griffin, an alce or a keythong. In heraldry, a griffin always has aquiline forelimbs; the beast with leonine forelimbs is distinguished as the opinicus.

Oddly enough I just realized this dream ties into yesterday’s dream / vision “The Spider’s Probe” where I awoke to find the man on my bed with long bony fingers and big knuckles not unlike the talons on the griffin.

May 27, 2008

The Spider's Probe

I laid down to begin my meditation. Mystified by the beautiful colored lights within my mind’s eye I completely forgot where I was. Feeling the presence of someone beside me, I came back to reality. Realizing where I was I opened my eyes. There beside me kneeling on my bed was a transparent man. He was not human. He had long fingers with large bony knuckles and thick claw like fingernails that reminded me of the feet of a large bird like that of an ostrich. He did not frighten me nor intimidate me. He simply sat there observing me.

Above my face was swirling some form of robotic arm as if my meditation was being monitored by his kind. To let him know I wasn’t afraid I held out my right hand and wiggled my fingers at him in a scary gesture. I assumed the sight of my fingers would be just as foreign and frightening to him as his fingers once were to me. There wasn’t any reason for me to fear him. He simply sat there observing me as his probe spun a few inches in front of my face. I closed my eyes again and returned to my meditation. After about 15 or 20 minutes I allowed myself to drift off to sleep.

During the night, I had a dream. In the dream there is a man who wants me to carry out his business; his agenda. I however do not want to participate in his plot because by doing so I feel it places myself in legal jeopardy. Since I refuse to cooperate, he devises a strategy that will pull me into reacting and into the conflict at hand. It would force me to take action; to become involved thereby initiating his sequence of events.

I became lucid just as he is setting into motion the events that would naturally cause the desired reaction in me. Now lucid, I am consciously aware of his motives. What he set in motion violates my sovereignty and therefore I am forced to confront him. Now fully lucid, I walk over to him knowing he is concealing his true identity. I grab at his face to pull his mask off.

In that moment I awoke from the dream. I now had a transparent yellow spider about 3 feet long and 2 ½ feet wide crawling over me. I could also see my aura around me which seemed to have been invigorated by my renewed awareness. My aura was acting as a force field to shield me from the foreign invasion thereby protecting my sovereignty. Feeling protected, I starred the spider in the eyes as it backed off knowing I was fully aware of its presence. Afraid of me now it circled around and retreated until it disappeared.

May 23, 2008

Documentary is Now on YouTube

I’m so excited. The video documentary I did for public broadcasting of my near death experience and subsequent dreams and altered states of awareness is now on You Tube in it’s entirety.

http://www.youtube.com/RubenBailey

Thanks to Shortpants Productions I was given a copy of the taping which I promptly converted to Window Media format to compress it and slice it into 19 chapters and posted all of them on You Tube. Even I was surprised when I saw the video for the first time myself. It had me at the edge of my seat. I don’t know where the words came from to fill a total running time of 1hr:41min:20sec but in my opionion it was flawless. It transitioned beautifully. It introduces my book which I published last year.

I wanted to share the link with everyone so you can see it and share it with any of your friends who might be interested. I believe we as Lightworkers have the responsibility of creating the web of light by linking to each other across our global Internet to spread our message. I hope it will help raise awareness of the power of dreams to help us transcend our physical realty and bring us to an awakened state of consciousness.

I’m going to see how I can get the DVD which is (unsliced and not compressed) duplicated to give away and pass around.

I used the Arecibo Message as my backdrop because as with dreams it too uses symbols to relay a message out into the unknown vastness of space. And just like the Areciebo Reply I too feel like someone intelligence out there has received my message and is actively trying to communicate with me through my dreams by they celestial beings, ascended beings from other dimensions or extraterrrestrials. There is no doubt my messages have been received and are being answered.

Also see PBS Link to Documentary on right under Pages

May 18, 2008

You're Mona!

This afternoon at 3pm I was very tired and decided to lie down for a couple hours to take a nap. As is customary, I began my nap with a meditation. I quickly lost myself in the meditation and suddenly found myself across from a tall young man seated comfortable in a sofa. The man wore military fatigues and had a garrison cap resting on his knee. He was apparently preparing to go answer a call to service. He was telling me about the honor it is to serve his country. In the back of my mind I remembered that I was in the middle of a meditation. Alert now I paid very close attention to what he was sharing with me. In parting he said the best part of being away from home would be returning home to his wife. At that moment a woman walked through a nearby corridor and into the room. The gentleman stood up and leaned forward to kiss his wife goodbye.

I found it odd that he felt the need to display his affection in my presence. As she leaned in to receive the kiss, my attention was instantly drawn to the woman. Without thinking, I immediately stood up in the vision and walked over to her. Something about her was very familiar to me. I knew her. It then hit me and I blurted out to her, “You’re Mona.” I leaped at the chance to bring something concrete back with me from the other side so I moved in closer with determination within inches of her face. “You’re Mona,” I said. I was shocked at my sudden reaction. I had never seen her before but a part of me deep in my core knew exactly who she was.

Surprised she backed away puzzled saying, “What do you mean?” From her words, I knew she also knew exactly who I was. This was as much of a surprise to her, as seeing her for the first time was to me. With emphasis I looked deep into her eyes and replied, “I know who you are, you’re Mona.” The deeper I looked into her eyes the more I recognized my own eyes in hers. Her eyes were mine. Our foreheads pressed against each other. As her image faded all I could see were the pupils of her eyes reflecting my third eye.

I ended my meditation and opened my eyes in utter amazement. I quickly reached for my voice recorder but it was not in its usual position on the end table. “I must have left it down stairs,” I thought to myself. I then began to replay the events in my head to commit them to long term memory. All of the sudden details of the man’s life came flowing back like a damn that had given way. Many details poured in. What a time to forget my voice recorder down stairs. I knew everything about the man’s life.

Frustrated and simply too tired to get up I reveled in this new awareness deciding not to interrupt the flow to go look for it. I decided to simply trust that I would remember later everything that had been poured into my waking consciousness. I looked at my alarm clock. Thirty minutes had passed since I first laid down to meditate. I rolled over and quickly fell asleep.

Some time later I had a false awakening where I woke up thinking it was time to get back to my household chores but for some reason I could not get up. Looking around the room everything looked as it should. I then reached over to look at my alarm clock but noticed I could not see my arm yet I felt its movement. I knew I was having a false awakening. I also knew for me false awakenings are the perfect opportunity to trigger an out of body experience. To confirm, I moved my hands in front of my face and could not see them. I then tried gently to roll myself out of my body, but I couldn’t. No matter how hard I tried I could not detach myself from my body. I remained calm, knowing I’ve been able to do this before. Once again I tried to will my body out. I rolled slightly to my side and swung my legs to the left. I was able to sit up. I then calmly stood. I was free. I had done it I was free from my body. I waled over to the foot of my bed to look across at a mirror I have hanging in my bedroom. No reflection. I could not see myself in the light of the afternoon sun that shown through my window. I looked down at my body to see streams of energy flowing down through me creating what looked like a long flowing robe of many colors. I moved in slow motion like a man on the moon. My etheric body seemed to glide gracefully with ease.

I thought to myself, “You’ve done it, you’ve done it.” I then heard another little voice in my head say, “what if you have died. What if you can’t find your way back.” At that point I really didn’t care. The voices could say whatever they wanted, I simply didn’t care. I was where I wanted to be. If I had died in my sleep I was happy to finally be free. It was beautiful I danced around the room experiencing what it was like to be pure essence. I was in no hurry to go back. I danced and danced and danced. As I twirled, I caught a glimpse of my left hand through the mirror protruding from underneath my covers. I paused to look at my hand through the mirror. I then saw another hand gently caressing my hand and forearm. Was it possibly my right hand? Was my body moving? I then moved in closer to the mirror. No it was a hand very distinct from mine with very long bony fingers and long nails.

“Who is messing with my body? I guess it’s time to go back.” I then closed my eyes and willed myself back. I instantly found myself back in my body underneath the covers. I could feel the weight of someone on my body but I could not see anyone. I still was in the false awakening because I could not see my own hand either yet I knew we were both very much present, but who was this other person? I struggled to move but couldn’t. I was locked in my body once again. The struggle woke me up. Yes I was now back.

I immediately sat up to run downstairs to retrieve my voice recorder. I looked over at my nightstand and there on the opposite side of my nightstand was my wallet and the voice recorder. It had been there all along just not where it normally is; within easy reach.

I quickly recorded all the details. To my misfortune I could no longer remember any details of the man’s life other than the year 1926 and the name Eric. He was a corporal.

I did my normal research first keying off the name Mona. I wondered if the name had any meaning or significance. The only thing I could fine was the Mona Lisa. At first I discounted it until I scrolled down the page to find where they focused on the hands of the Mona Lisa. Just as in my dream it the Mona Lisa has rather large hands and it looks like one hand is caressing the other. Another interesting fact that I didn’t know about the Mona Lisa is the pyramid. I’m planning a trip to Egypt? I couldn’t help but wonder if the dream was encouraging me to go.

I then moved on to the military man. He was a corporal. Looking up the word, I was surprised to find a very spiritual meaning of the word

from the doctrine that the bread of the Eucharist becomes or represents the body of Christ

Leonardo used a pyramid design to place the woman simply and calmly in the space of the painting. Her folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face glow in the same light that models her hands. The light gives the variety of living surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles.

May 14, 2008

The Twilight Zone

A strange thing happened to me last night as I was lying in bed meditating. As usual I began to see the wonderfully colorful lights pan back and forth in my minds eye. I then saw children approach floating in the void space within my mind. They asked if they could approach me. I mentally agreed allowing them to come near to me. The closer they came the deeper I went into trance. I was however fully conscious and aware of everything that was happening. They said they had brought me something that I had been longing for. One of them preceded to hand me an etheric substance which he held in the palm of his right hand that I can only describe as some form of etheric plasma. It was a very dense luminescent blue color. It was similar to the substance that gathers to form spirit energy but this was highly concentrated. He asked me to hold out my hand to receive the gift of spirit. He then placed it in the palm of my left hand. In awe I examined it carefully massaging it gracefully with my fingers to feel its consistency. This was the purest form I had ever seen; like soap suds it clung to my hand. This gift of spirit was virgin in the sense that it had never been used to manifest any form before. This was the substance with which creation unfolds.

The children sat around me as we all watched with great intent. I lost myself in the awe of the moment. I then turned to my partner and told him to turn and look at what was in my hand, but he was fast asleep lying next to me. Wanting him to share in this moment with me, I nudged him with my right elbow being careful not to take my eyes off this precious gift which I held in my hand. In that same moment I felt something suddenly hit the left side of my nose. Startled but still within the trance I realized I don’t have a partner so who is this person lying next to me? I then opened my eyes to figure out what had hit my face.

I opened my eyes and literally had to back away from a green probe that hung suspended within an inch of the bridge of my nose. It looked like a robotic arm of some sort. It too was etheric and luminescent. The length of the arm formed a tunnel a vortex through which I could see multi colored light streaming toward me. I quickly closed my eyes again and found myself back in the trance from which I had just come out of. My partner to my right who I know doesn’t exist in real life was still lying next to me. I then considered this mystery carefully and noticed my arm and elbow, with which I had just bumped my partner to get his attention, was hovering just above the bridge of where his nose would be.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone moment.

May 14, 2008

Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

By ARIEL DAVID
Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican’s chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Funes said. “Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a brother,’ and ‘sister,’ why should we not talk about an ‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation.”

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion “doesn’t contradict our faith” because aliens would still be God’s creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom, he said.

The interview, headlined “The extraterrestrial is my brother,” covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

The Bible “is not a science book,” Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most “reasonable” explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.

But he said he continues to believe that “God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance.”

Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo’s persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has “caused wounds.”

In 1633 the astronomer was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

“The church has somehow recognized its mistakes,” he said. “Maybe it could have done it better, but now it’s time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration.”

Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from “tragic mutual incomprehension.”

The Vatican Observatory has been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world’s best.

The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has a summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson

Original AP Story

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May 12, 2008

First Form Sea-Monkeys

Last night I must have been awoken 5 or 6 times by spirits. It was getting to the point of irritation. Each time it was someone different trying to get my attention and each time they took me on long drawn out dreams to show me things from their worlds. I was completely lucid during all of these experiences. At one point, I thought I had integrated myself so fully into their world that I would not be able to come back. Several times I opened my eyes in the middle of it to test if I could come back which I did. I would quickly close my eye to resume the experience. So much happened I couldn’t begin to record it all. I somehow knew this night would be primarily for my personal experience.

By morning I was so tired from their incessant prodding that I became abrasive and cocky from their irritation. I remember one woman was a green reptilian humanoid who woke me up and asked me to accompany her on a journey. I agreed since I really didn’t have a choice. She led me down a corridor. As she walked, I trailed close behind her. When she wasn’t looking I made an abrupt turn and walked through a doorway leaving her behind. I entered a back stage kind of realm where apparently life itself is orchestrated. I saw how life’s events are put formed; the cause of our experiences.

I became curious about the basic life forms present here. I challenged them with questions and comments on the things they were telling me. I did not accept anything at face value. I was extremely contentious. I’m not sure where I acquired my knowledge but I knew what they were talking about as I seemed to be calling up knowledge from within me. Our banter volleyed quick and pointed.

Each time I encountered someone in my dream I would touch them to feel their spirit against my hand. If I awoke I touched them again to see if their consistency had changed in the waking state. I wanted to know what they were made of. They bore three distinct forms: those that I could see and touch and feel as having a solid form, those that were etheric where I was able to pass my hand through them, and those that simply did not exist yet I somehow was aware of their presence.

I then became curious about my form. To test which of the three forms I possessed, I walked out on a ledge. I prepared to step off the ledge which is something I knew I could not do in real life. As this act defied the dream, the moment I stepped out off the ledge I became etheric. In so doing, I immediately became aware of my form. Somehow I was aware of every aspect of my Self and every aspect was aware of me. This new awareness was recursive. At that moment, I became Self aware in the truest sense of the word. My form was a wispy etheric blue with spikes on my back, neck and head. These wispy spikes were created by the flow of fluid air that was continuously passing through me. I then saw others able to move in and out of form seamlessly connecting to one another. There was no point at which my form began or ended. There was no delineation between me and another. Every aspect was independent and yet representing the whole. It was so amazing to see. Form comprised a myriad of color, vibration and tone that was fluid and ever changing. Form is a substance from which any expression is possible.

I then sat with a supreme being. He was a tall bearded man who wore red and blue. I asked him what I needed to know or bring back with me from this experience. He told me, “You will not be able to see.” I assumed he meant that I had experienced so much of this other reality for so long this night that was now blinded by the light of truth. Even this I challenged by saying to him, “It is not with the eyes that I see but with the heart.” He then turned and looked at those present saying, “He has learned a great deal.”

The thing that struck me the most about the experience was my question and answer. That evening I began my search for a suitable image to go along with the dream experience. I had simply been too busy at work this day to devote any time to the task. Nothing I found seemed to resonate with the dream. I looked for anything related to see, sea or blindness but nothing seemed appropriate. Frustrated I gave up on the dream, I decided this dream was far too complicated and would simply have to go unwritten. It was beyond my comprehension with far too much to bring back and decipher. I also not going to create a post without an image.

Frustrated I gave my mind a break and began poking around the internet aimlessly. I zoned out for a few moments and without knowing it I found myself keying in a search for Sea-Monkeys. For some reason, unknown to me I had actually keyed in a searched specifically for Sea-Monkey’s. “Why Sea-Monkeys,” I thought to myself? I remember being an avid Sea-Monkey hobbyist when I was little but why not today as an adult. As a kid I was forever ordering more supplies through my comic book catalogs. I remember often zoning out watching my Sea-Monkey’s for hours on end wondering what it would be like to be a Sea-Monkey. Their lives seemed so care free. Watching them had a calming affect on me. Even the smell of their food packets was now fresh in my mind.

On the Sea-Monkey website I read the company’s mission statement:

Our mission is to raise the planet’s Kindness Quotient and Sea-Monkeys® are the catalyst. Raise just one Sea-Monkey® family and you will be a believer… a nice & kind one!

What a wonderful mission statement. No wonder they had a calming effect on me. I looked up from my computer and swimming across my room was a sea of Sea-Monkeys.

Happy Joyous and Free were these. They were larger than life about 18 inches by 6 inches. These were blue in color. They were of the first form mentioned. Somehow I knew they were the First Form.

May 6, 2008

Idealism: I Think therefore I Am

Last night I had a dream where I am visiting my nephew who is a student in college. He has most of his days free able to enjoy the campus. He shows me around campus. The campus is on the edge of the sea. The water is tropical, shallow and crystal clear such that I can clearly see the sand at my feet. There are many boulders and rock formations in the shallow sea that protrude above the surface of the water.

We are standing in the shallow waters where we have a clear line of sight down a water way that leads to where I come from; my point of origin 3000 miles away. I know this to be the path I need to take in order to return home. As I stand there with him, we marvel at the majestic beauty that is this place.  As I am standing there I realize I am standing atop of an old ruin. I am standing on a pillar; the leg of a man; a stone statue that once stood here.  All that remains is the stone from his ankle down to his shoe of both his right and left leg which now form two pillars. I stand upon the stone that is his left leg to admire his shoes. In looking closely at his shoes I notice he wore tennis shoes.

In a moment of clarity, I become lucid. I suddenly know where I stand. With a new awareness, I realize they had idealized his tennis shoes.  Looking out upon the horizon, I realize the magnitude of where I stand.

As I stand upon the pillar of his left leg, the ruin around me now begins to rematerialize as it once was before the day of its destruction. From the sea arose an arch to my right that is covered in seaweed. I know that by standing on the ruin of his leg I bring the life force back to this man because these were my tennis shoes. Now awestruck with this revelation, I know I must return home with the news. In the strait, a staircase appears. I run up the stairs to the top but when I reach the top there is no place else to go. I turn back, knowing I will have to return home the hard way and travel through the campus to the other side. Running back toward the campus of the university, I arrive at a wooden gate that is secured with a pad lock. The moment I stand in front of the gate the pad lock releases and the gate swings open.

I pass though the gate and enter the campus courtyard. Standing in the center of the courtyard I look back and see a demon standing on the inside of the now open gate. This demon had allowed me in. The demon then run toward me. My initial reaction is to flee but a part of me knows I must confront this demon head on once and for all. I circle the courtyard and turn myself around to take up my stand. Like a bull in a ring, I lower my eyebrows in a determined frown. I charge the demon head on. Surprised by my action the demon turns to retreat to a corner.    Head to head I corner him and open my eyes to awake from the dream.

At the foot of my bed was standing a sea faring man who wore a sailor’s hat. In his left hand he held a shoe; heel facing me. He was shaking like a wet dog. He was offering me the shoe as he repeatedly ran his index finger along the ankle of the shoe.

I immediately grabbed my voice recorder to record the details of the dream. I knew the dream had great importance to me. When I got to the part about the tennis shoes I became stuck unable to place a word to the feeling I had felt surrounding the shoes. As if to help me, the sailor placed the words so clearly in my mind. They came like a refreshing sea breeze that I could literally feel. “They idealized his shoes.”

I thought that’s an odd way to describe it. It wouldn’t have been my choice of words but I knew those words were true to the dream. He then held out the shoe. I reached over to receive the shoe and held it in my hand. Sitting in my bed, my alarm clock sounded as the sailor disappeared leaving behind the etheric blue shoe in my hand. I reached over to snooze the alarm. I put the shoe under my covers and laid there in amazement.

On the way to work someone traveling on the Metro with a suitcase bumped my ankle removing my shoe. I stopped to fix my shoe thinking, “that’s a strange coincidence.” At work I searched Wikipedia for a suitable image to convey the imagery of the dream. The water way reminded me of the Straits of Gibraltar. I knew nothing of Gibraltar other than the fact that there was a water way so I looked it up. This led me to the Rock of Gibralter. Come to find out the Rock of Gibraltar is also known as the Pillars of Hercules. I was beside myself. Here this dream turned out to be a continuation of yesterdays dream. .

I knew there was definitely something very profound here. The synchronicity gave me the assurance that what I experienced is in fact real. I then decided to look up the meaning of idealize which was an oddly placed word conveyed by the dream. I felt it had some significance that I need to investigate. As I followed this clue, I was lead to the term idealism. I was surprised to find the word has a lot to do with metaphysics and God.

Idealism is the doctrine that ideas, or thought, make up either the whole or an indispensable aspect of any full reality, so that a world of material objects containing no thought either could not exist as it is experienced, or would not be fully “real.” Idealism is often contrasted with materialism, both belonging to the class of monist as opposed to dualist or pluralist ontologies.

In Eastern thought, as reflected in Hindu idealism, the concept of idealism takes on the meaning of higher consciousness, essentially the living consciousness of an all-pervading God, as the basis of all phenomena. A type of Asian idealism is Buddhist idealism.

Plato
Main article: Platonic idealism
In common discussion, Plato is often referred to as an “idealist”, because of his doctrine of the “Forms,” which are certainly “ideals,” in a broad sense. But Plato doesn’t describe the Forms as being in any mind. Instead, he regularly describes them as having their own, independent existence.[1] So it seems clear that Plato is not, at any rate, a “subjective” idealist, like Berkeley.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is sometimes interpreted as drawing attention to the problem of knowing “external objects”–the problem that concerned Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, and other modern philosophers. But the Forms that the Cave-dwellers are ignorant of aren’t “external” to them in the way that material objects are for these modern thinkers. The Forms are the true realities, but they aren’t spatially outside us, as material objects are. So the issue that Plato’s allegory addresses–which is, roughly, how can we know what is truly real (and truly good)?–is quite different from the modern issue of our knowledge of the “external world.”

However, even if Plato doesn’t share the specific concerns of modern philosophy, and of George Berkeley, in particular, Plato could still be a non-subjective idealist. He could believe that matter has no independent existence, or that full “reality” (as distinct from mere existence) is achieved only through thought. Bernard Williams and Myles Burnyeat have maintained that Greek philosophers never conceived of idealism as an option, because they lacked Descartes’s conception of an independently existing mind.[2] But Williams and Burnyeat didn’t consider the possibility that Plato could have held an idealism like Kant’s, which argues from the nature of knowledge to the nature of the objects of knowledge, or like Hegel’s, which denies that matter is fully “real”–without (in either case) reducing material objects to ideas in a mind or minds. Moreover, Plato’s theory of the separation of soul and body could be seen as an earlier, rougher form of Cartesian dualism.

The German Neo-Kantian scholar, Paul Natorp, argued in his Plato’s Theory of Ideas. An Introduction to Idealism (first published in 1903)[3] that Plato was a non-subjective, “transcendental” idealist, somewhat like Kant, and Natorp’s thesis has received support from some recent scholars.[4]

Descartes
Writing about Descartes, Schopenhauer claimed, “… he was the first to bring to our consciousness the problem whereon all philosophy has since mainly turned, namely that of the ideal and the real. This is the question concerning what in our knowledge is objective and what subjective, and hence what eventually is to be ascribed by us to things different from us and what is to be attributed to ourselves.” (Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. I, “Sketch of a History of the Doctrine of the Ideal and the Real”) According to Descartes, we really know only what is in our own consciousnesses. We are immediately and directly aware of only our own states of mind. The whole external world is merely an idea or picture in our minds. Therefore, it is possible to doubt the reality of the external world as consisting of real objects. “I think, therefore I am” is the only assertion that can’t be doubted. This is because self-consciousness and thinking are the only things that are unconditionally experienced for certain as being real. In this way, Descartes posed the issue of epistemological idealism, which is awareness of the difference between the world as an ideational mental picture and the world as a system of external objects.

Does this mean I’m Hercules…or possibly a divine hero? I think…therefore I Am. In keeping humble, I interpret it as my potential is herculean and if I exercize it, I can be a hero in my own right. There is something so compelling in all this that makes me feel I’m onto something. I get the feeling that if I stay on course I will do or discover something in the course of my life that can have the potential to change human history.

May 5, 2008

Dawning the Face of God

Last night while I was deep in mediation lying in bed, I saw in my mind’s eye what looked like a woman. She was on top of me, somehow within me, occupying the same physical space that my body occupies. As she raised her body out of mine, she delivered a deep tongue kiss. It caught me completely off guard. “Too late to refuse that one,” I thought to myself. To play with the vision, I kissed her back. I then observed her unusual features as she blushed and backed away. She was humanoid, with friendly lizard like qualities. Her tongue was thick and long and her jaw bird like. Her colors were saphire blue and emerald green. She reminded me of the Geico Gecko. Slowly her image faded and I drifted off to sleep.

My dreams were one struggle after another. So much happened that I can’t even begin to recount all the events. The last thing I remember happened toward the early morning hours. I was watching these reptilian humanoids perform a procedure on me. I could see my anesthetized body below on a table. They had my jaw unlocked and my mouth wide open as if I had swallowed something. Something began to come out of my mouth. I felt very uncomfortable as if I was in labor. Something from deep within me was coming out. I then realized it was the lizard’s tongue that I had swallowed. I began to squirm as the anesthetic began to wear off. I struggled to bring it up from deep within my esophagus. With one large and forceful cough I regurgitated and expelled the lizard tongue.

I immediately opened my eyes and awoke from the dream. Above my bed was floating the image of a gigantic Herculean man. He had a huge frame and was very muscular. His hair was a radiant white. He had rosy checks and a thick white beard and mustache. I could tell he was a man of great wisdom. He clearly saw me too. He tried to tell me that he is what they had extricated from within me. He kept patting himself on the chest, saying, “I am, I am.” I laid there confused somewhat angry that I’ve been choked up for so long with this huge man inside me.

I studied his features carefully. Still angry, I grabbed my voice recorder and recorded the details of what I had experienced. Choked with anger, I felt it difficult to describe what had just happened to me. I did the best I could and set the voice recorder back down. The man was still hovering over my bed, trying desperately to get my attention back. I simply refused to give it to him. I rolled on my side and returned to my sleep. Finding it difficult to sleep, I decided to meditate so I rolled on my back.

I quickly fell into a vision, where I saw two great birds the white condor and the black condor struggling with each other; their etheric bodies melding into one and emerging as two. Over and over this process continued. After a few minutes my alarm clock sounded. I opened my eyes and reached over to snooze it. When I looked back, I noticed the white bearded man was still above my bed. Now he had my attention. I connected with him telepathically and realized the struggle would continue until I devoted all my attention to him. But who was this man? He answered, “Do you not recognize me?” He did look familiar. He reminded me a little bit of Santa Clause. Then I remembered. This man had visited me before. “Spirituality is a treasure to live for all humanity, to overcome a notion, in a time when spirits rejoice. Where ever you go you pull the universe with you.” Oh my….I knew who this man was……but why was he dawning my face? His face was my face at the end of my life.

When I got to work I searched Wikipedia for a picture to use for my post that would come close to describing the man from this morning but nothing seemed to fit. I tried Hercules, Giants, Gigantes, Jack and the Beanstalk, but nothing seemed to fit. I finally came across Heracles. The minute I saw his statue I said…”That’s him.” I didn’t even know who Heracles was. Come to find out he is also know as Hercules. I had thought they were different people but come to find out he is one and the same. I did find the meaning of his name interesting.

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles (“glory of Hera“, or “Glorious through Hera,” Alcides (original name) was a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, nephew of Amphitryon[1] and great-grandson (and half-brother) of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among his characteristic attributes.

I also looked up Hera in Heracles and to my astonishment it resembled my dream of swallowing and regurgitating.

In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera, (Greek Ήρα, or Here (Ήρη in Ionic and Homer) was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage. Her equivalent in Roman mythology was Juno. The cow and later the peacock were sacred to her. Hera was born of Cronus and Rhea and was swallowed by her father after birth due to a prophecy that one of Cronus’s children would take over his throne. Zeus was not swallowed because of a plan hatched by Rhea and Gaia. Rhea wrapped a stone into baby clothes and gave that to Cronus. Zeus was then moved to a cave on Crete. Rhea later gave Cronus an herb which she told him could make him completely invincible. The herb actually made him regurgitate the five other Olympians: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, as well as the previously ingested stone. When Zeus grew older, he banished Cronus to Tartarus, the deepest chasm in the underworld, because the Titans were immortal and could not be killed.

Now do I look like Hercules? Maybe there is a little resemblance.

May 1, 2008

The Spire at Angeles Crest

Thomas Circle 1943 I had a dream that I was staying up in Angeles Crest in the Angeles National Forest. I want to visit the nearby area so I set off on a pilgrimage down the Crest where I remembered as a child there being an observatory which sat atop a spire. I want to once again see the view of the city below from this observation point. This is where I was born. As I set off on the path I notice the many novelty shops along the way. I meet a vendor along the road who is wearing a poncho. He is an indigenous Shaman. I admire his poncho and ask him where he acquired it. He tells me there is a thrift store along the way to the spire. I make a note to myself to pick up a poncho for myself on my way back. He then gives me a phone to use in the event I get lost.I arrive at the spire in no time. The heights from this point are incredibly overwhelming. I feel the rush of feelings and emotions rise from the illusion screen below me. The illusion screen is like an IMAX theatre screen on which life itself is played out. Even though I know it to be an illusion, I can not help but feel the rush of emotions produced by the illusion. It is a kaleidoscope of emotion. It feels euphoric. It takes everything within my power to keep from being swept away. I want to head back but the many waves of emotion cause me to become disoriented. I can no longer remember which road I came down. I ask for help but no one seems to be able to offer assistance. I finally decide to descend the spire into the illusion to get my bearings straight. Once within the illusion, I become aware of the church choir room that sits off to the side of the church. I recognize it as the place where I used to perform. This room is hidden and those who perform here are never given any recognition for the value they bring to the church.

I walk outside the church and find myself out on a traffic circle. I recognize it to be Thomas Circle. It is the place where I was baptized as an adult. From this vantage point I can clearly see the overpass and the road that will lead me back up to Angeles Crest.

It is getting late and I know they normally close of the pass off at dusk. I therefore begin to make my way back by climbing the spire. I remember that I have a phone that the Shaman gave me. I telephone him to let him know to please keep the pass open for me. I’m standing waiting for the phone to connect to the other side. The call goes through. The spire phone beside me begins to ring. I answer it saying, “Hello”, while at the same time my call is answered by the Shaman. Trying to do two things at once now I tell the Shaman my request. At the same time on the spire phone I hear the Shaman say “Hello”, followed by my request. I realize I have both ends of the same phone line one in each hand. Confused I then ask the Shaman, which phone should I bring back? He replies…”Bring back the original phone.” I then look at myself and realize I’m wearing a poncho.

I looked up Thomas Circle on Wikipedia and found:

A statue of General George Henry Thomas by John Quincy Adams Ward was erected in Thomas Circle in 1879. The circle is considered to mark the boundary between the downtown section of 14th Street and the emerging uptown 14th Street neighborhood.