Reflections Upon Metaphor, Allegory, and Equivalence

"WHAT WOULD LIFE BE IF WE HAD NO COURAGE TO ATTEMPT ANYTHING?"-van Gogh
"SUCCESS IS ACHIEVED BY THOSE WHO TRY AND ASK" - W, Clement Stone

Some of the most beautiful and “soul(energy being)/psyche(spirit being)” stirring music ever generated by Man was, is, and forever will illuminate and occupy that position.

To keep this initial point narrow, take, for example, Handel's Messiah, Celine Dion's (or Mariah Carey's) rendition of, O Holy Night or So This is Christmas. Is there any relevance to when or where it was first heard by an individual? What about its theme? My experience regarding say, religious themes, is that it matters not whether one first heard and was able to “feel” it in a “church,” or out. It is the "feeling" of it that most interests me. There are times when a particular piece strikes one with greater force than other times. I have observed these variations with Mariah Carey and Celine Dion renditions of O Holy Night as a test for several many years, during which tumultuous changes were occurring in my life and orientation.

My conclusion is that, in my case, context is relatively immaterial. Thus,it is unnecessary for me to consider whether the words (or their message) embraced by that music are integral to it, nor to debate whether they simply become metaphorical if one say, leaves the religious fold (though is 'spiritual,' which I believe is fundamental to the "feeling.)" Though relevant, words and message seem to impede neither the music, nor its resonance with the human soul/spirit citing, for example, Celine Dion's rendition of, My Heart Will Go On, or Broken Wings' Broken Wings, as examples capable of generating the same resonance (“feeling”) among my favorites. The most touching music, of course, varies from one individual to the other.

Inherent and at issue is the superb degree of "inspiration" which generated it, and the degree it imparts upon the listener. I once equated the intense feeling with the "Holy spirit." Now, I am open to greater flexibility AND interest as to the source from whence that "feeling" comes, and by what name it is characterized.

If one is unable to “feel” the “holy spirit,” an entirely different set of questions arise. When I was in the temporal “center” of my sojourn within the Christian faiths, I was thoroughly perplexed by Freud's (using him as a “type” “soul”) apparently honest admission to a friend of his who was very sensitive to its reality that he had NEVER felt it, yet, perhaps as an act of charity, refrained from deeming it "delusional," seemed astonishing to me, for I, like his friend, had from my inception been KEENLY sensitive.

This is an incredibly rich area of consideration and discussion. It poses questions of great depth and intensity. I am very interested in what I have termed (For Freud), a TYPE soul. It introduces to me a concept not yet penetrated, nor fully (if at all) understood. I also, throughout my life, have encountered many individuals who reported their inability to "sense" that connection, some of the finest (ie, GOOD/Good-hearted/compassionate/caring/charitable), yet they did not report the powerful rush of emanation. Always, my deepest thought was WHY?

That connection has power. I have felt it from my youth. I also think it's link to TEARING(as in weeping/crying), momentary inability to BREATHE(particularly, in my case, to inhale), the inability to SPEAK(as in "binding of the tongue"), and most powerful of all, immersion in what I personally would describe as ONE, an intense sense and radiance of LOVE(in EXACTLY that sense-love is NOT a metaphor in this particular context, and EXCLUDES sexual relevance, which within this context is a SUB-category of ONE; thus, portraying ONE/love in the list below as ONE(love) should NOT be taken as a cue or indicator that my putting it thus reduces the love aspect. The significance of ONE is the reason.

I was in three non-LDS Christian churches between ages 8-26, then in the LDS between ages 26-52;

Beginning at age 8 (not a beginning in the normal sense, but as pertains to memory/recollection), I felt exactly the SAME "spirit, chest/heart centered radiation, link to tearing, overwhelming sense of love/grasping, and the desire to remain in that state forever.

The wanting to be forever bound excludes sexuality, because the "grasping" is NOT for the body; it is for the "SOUL" for the group wherein it occurs. It may be a small group, ranging from, say, a chapel, to all Mankind; the "range" seems initially linked to the whereabouts of the physical body, but as the intensity arising within the chest extends outward, it seems to envelop and add to the ONE-ness of all it encounters, with UNITY (spiritual/soul) the object of that radiation/frequency).

The ONE/love is NOT church/religion/philosophy-based. Because ONE/love is intimately bound to and inclusive of COMPASSION, ONE/love can initiate radiation/frequency at such moments and be initiated BY, for example, a touching moment in a movie/book/ETC. I have felt it both while IN and OUT of ANY religious construct/context. However, because ONE is love-bound, it occurs with much greater frequency within church/"God"/religious contexts.

Separating ONE from sexuality is because it has no sexual aspects. The intensity of sexual orgasm is BODY(physical)-CENTERED. Notwithstanding its intensity, its RANGE, as far as I am aware, includes TWO physical entities.

This explosive/expanding/IRRESISTABLE radiation of ONE is SOUL(energy being)-CENTERED. To me, its RANGE seems to be zero to infinity? In my experience, which likely differs from many others, it begins from a chest/heart-centered POINT."

So it's one of those "behind the veil" "background programs" I like to keep running, to wit: Let your Reticular Activating System keep the link open between:

1) The conscious mind,
2) The subconscious,
3) The "Field"(source from whence the ONE seems, or "feels" it is coming or emanating). (See Note 3,McTaggart)

EVERYTHING, from the smallest atomic particle to atoms, molecules, physical matter, organic matter(including every component thereof) has a FREQUENCY, as far as I have been able to determine, extending beyond physical matter frequency, of which science has been long and increasingly aware. ALL seems to have a unique frequency. ALL also seems to have POLARITY, from the "smallest" to the "largest." ("Opposition in ALL things" is a satisfactory working method of explanation); this introduces POLARITY.

POLARITY also has a RANGE, but, like ONE and FREQUENCY, the range seems to be INFINITE. Thus, its RANGE extends from, for example, the QUARK, which is composed of two parts with OPPOSITE spins, i.e., POLARITY. to, for example, HUMANS, i.e., male/female, with OPPOSITE physical features at the point of contact, and "sexual" polarity (See my comment on Monroe in the comment section at the bottom of this post).

To avoid introducing confusion to this point-that of "GAYNESS," I refer you to my post which comments upon an article I was referred to on the ldsphilosopher.com site relating to metaphor. Based upon my CURRENT thinking about this issue, which could and likely will change as I encountere other information, there is less, if any, confusion. The response to LDSphilosopher.com comment, though merely representative, presents a concept that, to a degree, represents my "understanding" at present. I do not assert it as fact, but a means of eliminating confusion. I welcome the comments of others on this phenomenon.

POLARITY and FREQUENCY, then, combined, have characteristics not unlike a MATRIX of CONSTRUCT, and perhaps, CONTEXT. More on both later.

Another concept is how the aspects of BEING relate to the organic body. As a starting point, let us pose the following as a working model:

A=ENERGY Being
[Zero Mass]

B=SPIRIT Being
[Low Density Mass]

C=ORGANIC Being
[Newtonian Mass]

C-Beginning with the Organic being, the one we see with the organic eye, it's weight is determined by a simple set of scales.

B-Regarding the Spirit being, thirty-odd years ago, I encountered a newspaper article about a doctor in Europe who wanted to determine the "weight" of the "soul." He worked with terminal patients in a hospital. I kept that article more than thirty years, until it became misplaced. His approach was rather unique. Because he worked with terminal patients, he placed a sensitive scale beneath each of the bedposts and took careful measurements at regular intervals as the death of each was anticipated. [If any of my readers are aware of that article, and can help me locate it, I would very much appreciate it.]

After an unspecified period of time, he determined that, at the moment of death, the combined weight of the patient and his bed dropped (instantaneously) by about 0.75 ounces. I have no idea how accurate his scales were, how plausible his methods were, or his analysis. But it struck me at the time that it was a reasonable experiment. I suspect that equally or more ingenious methods must surely have been attempted by others, perhaps using animals, but have not undertaken the research. I relate this account more as a thought-provoking example of a claim of very low density mass, not for the "soul" as I currently conceptualize it, but of the Spirit body with which it is connected.

Remarkably, another physician, Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Haverhill, Massachusetts, duplicated this experiment in 1907 and ALSO arrived at an instantaneous drop of "three-fourths of an ounce." [see this account at http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp on the first page of the discussion.]

These coincident results prove nothing and are anecdotal, but certainly merit reflection. It seems apparent that eventually, rigorously structured and scientifically verifiable results will be obtained. Also see the trailers for an intriguing movie, "21 Grams" at http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0315733/

Monroe maintained that the spirit body responds to gravity, but much more slowly. His raised spirit body (which he termed, the "second" body) arm, when relaxed, dropped back to his side, but more slowly than a feather might fall. He also claimed that the second body could be "stretched" out by an act of will. The most illustrative example was, lying on a sofa, with his arm over the side, he could push his hand through the floor, feel sawdust and a nail between the floor and the ceiling below (He was upstairs), then, momentarily he felt the floor of the downstairs, pushed through it, then into the ground below until he felt (ground)water. These, of course, are his assertions alone, but provide an illustration of the differing characteristics of the Spirit body. He also learned, so he claimed, that the spirit body, while OBE was constantly connected with the physical, however distant it might be, but those distances were earth-bound. Merely thinking of, for instance, moving his big toe, would cause the immediate return of the Spirit body to the Physical.

Many individuals with amputated appendages, like the arm, have claimed that it still seems to be there. They just cannot do anything with it. More on this also.

It seems unlikely that Kirlian photography photographs the spirit aura, though a leaf with a piece torn off appears as the entire leaf(see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirlian_photography) but is likely due to reuse of the same glass plate for before and after shots. Aura photography differs, as no contact is made with the object being photographed. Like Kirlian photography however, it suffers from the same inability to produce duplicatable results in the scientific sense (See, http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-05/i-files.html).

To summarize, where the weight of the soul - spirit body - or photgraphs of its aura are possible to obtain is dubious at best, although two photographs following Lincoln's assassination do show him behind the person being photographed. In a photograph of Mary, he appeared behind her with his hands on her shoulders ( image URLs are: http://www.google.com/images?q=tbn:kx8kpk9AC_jyAM::www.surnateum.org/English/surnateum/collection/hauntics/image002.jpg - and with Mary: http://www.google.com/images?q=tbn:y-2P4CYbPa1euM::www.hauntedamericatours.com/toptenhaunted/toptenhauntedhouses/images/LINCOLNS-GHOST-AND-MARY-TOD.jpg)

A-Regarding the Energy being, it has been asserted to me massless, travel at the speed of thought, innumerable multiples of the speed of light, and is the actual "YOU."

Each "YOU" has a unique frequency. Interestingly, in remote viewing experiments, as reported in "Tracks in the Psychic Wilderness," by Dale E. Graff other sources, if a viewer is familiar with another individual, and has been in his presence, he can detect his location by his frequency, and if both are concentrating at the same time, the viewer can draw or "see" what the subject is focusing on.

An enormous amount of data claimed to support the characteristics of A and B are available, but for the moment, I am merely establishing a schematic. We will develop each of these as we go forward for the purpose of determining how much is actually known, and where the frontiers of science are on these issues.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

This keyword, or "concept-word," list, though very limited and only introductory in nature, provides a schematic of how I intend to make concept-specific comments over time:

1) The conscious mind,
2) The subconscious,
3) The "Field"
4) TYPE soul
5) ONE/love
6) Polarity
7) Frequency
8) CAN Type soul
9) CANNOT Type soul
10)Fear Factor
11)YOU
12)Spirit body

Note that these are in no particular order, as that seems to have little importance. However, by assigning NUMBERS to each, additions to this forum can be reduced in complexity, making me and others interested this area or related concepts more able to direct attention to a single subject or area of interest by merely replacing the concept words with their numerological equivalent after the list is converted to links.(Or, if preferred, using the KEY WORD (concept words)).

This will also make it possible to more easily integrate the material with other links and sources. Here are some examples; I will add more later:

4,If Freud is a type that CANNOT sense the Holy spirit/radiation/frequency, then requisite also is a "Type" soul that CAN sense. Note that CAN and CANNOT are opposites in polarity, like + and - within the context of electrical charges and current flow. Since I know myself better than anyone else, I use MYSELF as the "Type" soul that CAN. Others should use themselves, as their experience may differ markedly. So, where MYSELF occurs, they should equate it with themselves. I am anxious to see how variable the experiences of others are from my own.

6,Robert Monroe, if correct as he reported it, encountered SEXUAL POLARITY while OBE(out of "physical" body). So intense was/is this principle while OBE, that it was virtually irresistible. He detected the presence of what seemed to be "female" entities. On approach he experienced what he could only interpret was an "orgasmic"-like reaction, except that, unlike that experienced between male and female in the physical, it was instantaneous and total, more like touching the positive and negative wires in an electrical circuit together. It seemed like the release of a "charge" to him, as for a short time following the "release," no "charge" was present. By these experiences, it appeared to him that the physical release/exchange was an IN-body reflection of the underlying "energy being?"/"spirit body?" exchange.

ABOUT Monroe:

My encounter with Monroe began when my sister, Norella, gave me a book which she had found very intriguing, and as Norella and I are the kind of person who, regardless of our present "context" or "orientation," are nevertheless perpetually in a state of OPEN MINDEDNESS, she asked that I read it and give her my thoughts/tentative or or suggestive conclusions. The book was "Journeys Out of the Body." This reading was gratuitous at the time, because it appeared to address a subject which, to me (given my "orientation" at time), appeared both ludicrous and mystical. Nevertheless, I read it, because refusing to read something because of its area of discussion was/is/has always seemed equivalent to an act of personal "Book Burning," every instance of which has set mankind back, sometimes gravely.

For example, the burning of the Library of Alexandria, one of the largest accumulations of ancient works ever accumulated, by a religious mob set the advance of knowledge back as much as 1,000 years (My opinion only). So read JOURNEYS I did. As so often happens, I encountered in his report a phenomenon that I as well had begun experiencing in EXACTLY the same manner HE reported, in my early teens. It always occurred after an exhaustive day, at the boundary of Sleep and Wakefulness, while I was still awake. It began with an intense, powerful, low-frequency VIBRATION/hum that ALWAYS originated from BEHIND. When it occurred, two elements were ALWAYS present:

a) total paralysis(the inability to move my (physical) body, and
b) a FEAR, so overwhelming and intense that it equated with IMMINENT, CERTAIN DEATH.

Due to my Christian orientation as really a child at that time, I thought it must be, because of the FEAR FACTOR, the DEVIL, coming to destroy me because I was a servant of GOD. The only recourse at that moment, which somehow, I seemed to know, was rapidly TURNING("Flipping") and FACING the source of the terror.

It required an "insurmountable" effort, the focus of all the energy and courage I could muster as a terrified child, to attempt escape from imminent death/oblivian with which I was threatened. But somehow, I did it, and SUDDENLY, the vibration, the paralysis, and the fear VANISHED. I had, I thought, escaped from Satan's or one of his emissaries' attempt to destroy me.

As Monroe did not appear to be lying (I had experienced the same phenomena in the same order, and escaped them in the same manner), and because he was just an engineer reporting what had occurred during his initial experience and all that followed, I was not only willing to read on, but thought perhaps, I might gain some understanding of MY terrifying encounters with SOMETHING. It had happened to me repeatedly also, but (luckily) far less often than it had to him.

I truly believe that, had I not experienced the same phenomenon, I probably would have UTTERLY rejected both Monroe and JOURNEYS . . . My "orientation" would not have allowed me to seriously consider him, because of the IMPLICATIONS of all he eventually, by agonizingly slow and terrifyingly uncertain steps, eventually learned/discovered/suspected. Frankly, it would have been beyond me, and unnecessary at best. I think only those who have experienced the same, or who had an entirely different orientation than mine at the time, could. However, because, though I might withhold certain things from others to avoid being considered lunatic fringe/wierd/insane/etc., I kept it from the knowledge of all except my father (to whom it had never occurred) best friend and research associate, Troy Smith, my wife for almost a quarter of a century, and my children. Monroe, not at all surprisingly, had done the same. He thought initially, and believed, he must be insane or somehow otherwise mentally damaged. Other than his wife and physician, he withheld it also. This later extended to a number of psychiatrists as the experiences continued and contained such incomprehensible and terrifying elements, until one suggested that he might be experiencing OBEs, the BOUNDARY CONDITIONS of the phenomenon, something Monroe had never heard of. The particular psychiatrist, to whom he had been referred by another, had worked with a number of other individuals plagued by the same phenomenon. This, it turned out, was like a lifebuoy to Monroe, and permitted him to objectively consider all that followed.

So, although I CANNOT proclaim with CERTAINTY, ALL that Monroe experienced is "True/factual/properly interpreted" anymore than he, which he consistently emphasized, I DO know and can agree that his description of the phenomenon itself IS true/factual/correctly interpreted because of personal experience. I will develop this further later.

3,Lynn McTaggart's THE FIELD, was recommended to me by My sister, Norella, a constant provider of new ideas, last year. I had heard the zero point "field" mentioned for around five years, but had never specifically discussed it with friends or colleagues. As I was bedridden, recovering from a bout of resistant pneumonia brought back from the Philippines, I had plenty of time on my hands. There will be many further occurrences of "the field" in this and other forums and posts. The following from the Prologue gives a simple summary of what the field is. I am as yet uncertain about my position regarding various aspects and claims made, but have significant interest in most of it's features, and the possibility that it might be the source from which ONE, discussed earlier in this forum, arises. I'd appreciate my reader's views on the field:

“For a number of decades, respected scientists in a variety of disciplines have been carrying out well-designed experiments whose results fly in the face of current biology and physics. Together, these studies offer us copious information about the central, organizing force governing our bodies and the rest of the cosmos.
What they have discovered is nothing less than astonishing. At our most fundamental level, we are not a chemical reaction, but an energetic charge. Human beings and all living things are a coalescence of energy in a field of energy connected to every other living thing in the world. This pulsating energy field is the central engine of our being and our consciousness, the alpha and the omega of our existence.
There is no “me' and “not me” duality to our bodies in relationship to the universe, but one underlying energy field. This field is responsible for our mind's highest functions, the information source guiding the growth of our bodies. It is our brain, our heart, and our memory-indeed a blueprint of the world for all time.” [Lynn McTarrgart, THE FIELD. Prologue, 2002; Harper Perennial]