NOT The issue, Drew, but one issue for sure - as this process has been going on since the dawn of time, i.e. people claiming to have special insight into the origins and movements of consciousness; soul; spirt; psyche; packaging it, finding (transforming persons into =) 'believers' and then charging for it -many times over and sometimes at the cost of the believer's life. The claim to special insight for the individual may be tempered and supported by a genuine feeling of knowing, and a great variety of other self-validating insights/delusions; however these issues usually boil down to how the psyche deals with the subject/object relationship, and with death -i.e. see Earnest Becker's The Denial of Death which focuses on his argument that the primary directive of culture is too support a populations death-denying illusions, Religion and superstition (i.e. those conduits proclaiming insight into the movements of spirit and consciousness) being an integral player in this meta-process of transference and countertransference.
No, I think the real issue is you don't seem to understand how your words and actions correlate to a number of people on the forum getting the impression that you're trying to sell yourself (which can happen at the very same time you effort to promote a belief), as opposed to engage in legitimate inquiry. And if you feel I am overstating my perception of the what the general consensus here is, well then I am willing to take repsonsiblity for the impression I was left with, because it certainly seems this way to me.
How in the hell could I have gotten that impression?
Or maybe you're right Drew, the subject matter is just too intense. Umm, yeah. Anyone want to take the baton and run with that notion?
Actually Chunyi Lin's book is called
Born A Healer because his message is that everyone has these healing abilities. I've read Becker's book but the subject matter here is non-western philosophy. Chunyi Lin says you don't have to believe anything -- just do the practices. Actually in terms of logic, consciousness is based on inference -- you
infer consciousness as the source of the I-thought. Which again means no belief is necessary. So everyone has an I-thought. Logically a person can ask where does it come from. This can be done by repeating I-I-I -- not as a meaningless mantra but as a means to pursue the source of the I-thought. The I-thought is the foundation for all other language. Even Noam Chomsky says that if humans didn't have I-language then humans could develop the perception skills of other animals -- i.e. electric fish with their "quasi telepathy" as science calls it -- or rats detecting x-rays, etc. Yeah my book does go into more details -- again the 720 plus references I have which is solid evidence I'm focused on learning from other peoples' work.
So the Western New Age scene -- and any evangelical religion -- is based on belief, on breaking someone's will be making them repeat specific phrases, etc. Qigong is a mind-body practice as a technique and, again, I've traced this technique back to the Bushmen Khoisan -- the original human culture for 90% of human history, 100,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE. The results are a permanent psycho-physiological transformation. It has nothing to do with words which the Buddhists call "conceptual consciousness" -- the 6th level of consciousness. Words are important, of course, but the
intention behind the words is what counts.
If theparacast has any other topic with three "gold standard" peer-reviewed, randomized controlled science studies documenting its existence -- be it UFOs, ghosts, etc. I would love to hear about it. haha. Science has proven paranormal powers through qigong research -- the reason no one hears about this is because qigong is too intense.
Oh and I hope people relish the irony that if I refer to my book or my blog it's only because on theparacast forum I received
ad hominem attacks ad naseum -- there were about half a dozen claims I was trying to sell something -- 1 pm asking if I was going to --
in the future -- ask for a solicitation, 1 "peddling" claim, 1 infomercial claim, 1 "hard sell" claim, 1 "pay the price of admission" claim. Then there was the
ad hominem attack against the Mayo Clinic, i.e. because it's prestigious therefore it's just name dropping and therefore the peer-reviewed, randomized controlled research is not valid. haha. Actually the contrary standard applies as I pointed out. Then there was the
ad hominem attack against the testimonials of those healed by qigong: They must be paid actors. Again the local news covered their stories, they give full names, etc. There's no evidence that they're paid actors -- so it's an accusation without any evidence.
Now all that is fine and dandy -- if people want to rely on ad hominems -- by all means. Except of course if you're moderating a thread you would normally step in a say "no ad hominems" --- but not on theparacast! Oh no. The ad hominems were encouraged and practiced by the moderators.
So the irony of claiming that if I refer to my book or blog I'm promoting myself is too much to relish. First of all the internet should be an open free exchange of information -- that's not "promoting" -- the book, factually, has, again hundreds of scholarly references referring to
other people's work. This can be confirmed by a free download. So it makes theparacast look like a cult when people freak out if someone refers to a book or blog that is outside the framework of theparacast forums. Secondly besides the ad hominems if there's insinuations that I should not be allowed to post information on the forum -- of which there were several on the thread -- then obviously my blog enables a backup for further discussion of the topic at hand. So if I'm not allowed to present the evidence on theparacast forum and then I refer people to my blog -- and then it's claimed that if I refer to my blog I'm "promoting" myself -- that is hilariously myopic.
If people want to hide out on theparacast forum, pretending that
three gold-standard peer-reviewed randomized controlled studies proving paranormal powers exist are not real -- are a figment of
my imagination -- then go right ahead and all I can do is enjoy the hilarity of it all.
