However, I would still face the same situation because one’s level of ignorance increases exponentially with accumulated knowledge. For example, when one acquires a bit of new information, there are many new questions that are generated by it, and each new piece of information breeds five or ten new questions. These questions pile up at a much faster rate than does the accumulated information. The more one knows, therefore, the greater his level of ignorance. This effect does seem to justify my decision to publish this information now.
Much of this information has come through intuitive insight, which is no justification, of course, for omitting a rational support for this material.
Therefore, it becomes possible that the attitude of the experimenter must also influence the outcome of any particular experiment. Now this is serious business, for unless we are able to account for and describe what consciousness is, it will always put an experiment in doubt. So the problem is: What is consciousness?
After Chapter 4 things become pretty outrageous because I rush into places where even angels fear to tread. (I consider angels to be a fairly timid, unenterprising bunch.)
I will, for example, handle reincarnation as a matter of fact, completely disregarding the great controversy that rages over the subject.
This shows how life organizes random minerals into a very stable structure and maintains this order for a long period of time. (This is negative entropy.)
During a (human) lifetime, we organize a lot of information on many levels.
No organized energy is ever lost. An experiment showing the independence of the psyche from the physical body is described in Chapter 4.
When the psyche, after having been without a physical body for a while (the period after death), decides that it needs additional pieces of information obtainable only through the physical body, it will acquire one and continue to associate with the new body until it wears out and dies.
(Knowledge, consciousness, and the experimenter’s role in reality)
By sound we mean here any random acoustical disturbance that may be composed of many different frequencies. A note, on the other hand, is a sound of a single frequency.
The purpose of this example is to show how, in principle, even our smallest, most insignificant actions will be broadcast far and wide and thus influence something or someone—whether that something or someone is aware of it or not.
When a structure is in resonance (which means that it vibrates at a frequency that is natural to it and is most easily sustained by it), it implies the presence of a standing wave.
It may occur to us that a crystalline structure may be seen as representing sound interacting in a volume. Is it possible that the orderly pattern of atoms in matter is the result of the interaction of some kind of “sound waves” in matter?
Each cell in our bodies carries all the information required to make an additional copy of our bodies.
As this beam encounters a flying insect, some of this sound will be reflected back to the bat (Fig. 12). He picks up this echo, or we can call it the working beam, and compares it to his original squeak or chirp. There will be a difference between the two (called the Doppler effect), and this difference tells the bat how far away the insect is and how fast it is flying, relative to him. As the bat successfully closes in on the insect, the difference between the two frequencies—the emitted frequency and the echo—diminishes. When it becomes very small, the bat opens its mouth and swallows the echo.
Knowledge moves in an ever-expanding upward spiral, which allows us to see from the higher turns of the spiral our previous knowledge in a broader perspective.
(Resonance, vibration, and the crystalline nature of matter)
The absolute is thus a state in which contrasting concepts become reconciled and fused. Movement and rest fuse into one. Ours, then, is a vibratory reality—from subnuclear to atomic, to molecular, to macrolevels. Everything is oscillating between two states of rest. Everything is producing “sound.”
More on individuation In a way, all these minor gods or Nature spirits rely on the energy they get from others to keep themselves powerful.
That one has no physical body and is “dead” does not change one’s personality or intelligence. These will attack the unsuspecting tourist; therefore, the protection of an experienced teacher is required before attempting forays into the unknown. Going unprotected would be the equivalent of entering blindfolded some tough neighborhood in a large city. One would get mugged, beaten, and robbed within the first few minutes of the experiment.
That is why this reality is called the intuitive level. Here knowledge comes in a nonlinear way. Before, we had to learn a subject by stringing together pieces of information one at a time.
(Non-linear knowing, astral navigation, and the psyche after death)
Thus, the kundalini is a great stress-relieving system. It will not allow the further accumulation of stress in the body. Once the full circuit is operating smoothly, stresses will be eliminated from the system as rapidly as they build up, so that no permanent accumulation of stress is possible.
When this happens, there is naturally a lot of excitement about these developments. It is best then for such a person to keep a calm, balanced attitude about all the goings on and not to be over-distracted by these occurrences. A steady routine in daily life is important. This will tend to counterbalance the more exciting events that may occur in or out of meditation.