Doug Dillon's Blog, page 176

The Evolution of God – A Book Review

Author – Robert Wright

Little, Brown and Company 567 p.

Author Robert Wright is an articulate writer and very insightful. In this well balanced book, he does a very scholarly, in-depth job of tracing the concept of a supreme being from early shamanism to the world religions of today. He ably demonstrates how religions evolve over time, as does their concept of God. In the process, he shows how God becomes a reflection of particular groups of people at any given time in history.

Wright continues to pull no punches by also showing how powerful and sometimes good-intentioned forces have manipulated religious writings to advance a particular concept of God. Even so he stresses the value of religion as an important moral force in world history. God, he suggests, may well exist, but not the God as defined by any one religious group.

True to his scholarly approach, Wright provides excellent documentation of his work at the book’s end with an appendix, a note on translations, a solid bibliography, and a detailed index.

Click here to find this book online.

The Evolution of God

A Book Review

Author – Robert Wright

Little, Brown and Company 567 p.

Author Robert Wright is an articulate writer and very insightful. In this well balanced book, he does a very scholarly, in-depth job of tracing the concept of a supreme being from early shamanism to the world religions of today. He ably demonstrates how religions evolve over time, as does their concept of God. In the process, he shows how God becomes a reflection of particular groups of people at any given time in history.

Wright continues to pull no punches by also showing how powerful and sometimes good-intentioned forces have manipulated religious writings to advance a particular concept of God. Even so he stresses the value of religion as an important moral force in world history. God, he suggests, may well exist, but not the God as defined by any one religious group.

True to his scholarly approach, Wright provides excellent documentation of his work at the book’s end with an appendix, a note on translations, a solid bibliography, and a detailed index.

Click here to find this book online.

Your Natural Paranormal Heritage: Part 13, Verbalizing Contact with Another Realm

These are the initial helpful steps you can take right now if you wish to uncover your natural, paranormal birthright. Since you already have innate understandings, abilities, and connections in this arena, what you will read about here is nothing more than initial handholds leading you on a journey of self-rediscovery. In the end, YOU are your best teacher.

This information is adapted from the nonfiction book my wife Barbara and I wrote many years ago titled, An Explosion of Being: An American Family’s Journey into the Psychic. What you have here is just part of a series. The rest of the postings are located under the blog category titled, “Guidance”. Click here, however, if you would like to access ALL of the articles on this subject in one posting.

Hope you find this beneficial.

If you have had reasonable success with one or more of the other methods of contact, then a verbalization of contact by you is a possibility. Proceed, as usual, through your preparation sequence, but stop within whatever psychic construct you use as a meeting ground. Here, your call for contact will stay centered, and you will say something like, “I’m ready for words or concepts to flow through me verbally.”

While making this call, keep in mind your successes with other methods. You may see words or feel impressions or sense ideas. Whatever happens, unless it’s frightening in some way, try to verbalize it. Just let it flow of its own accord and worry about the contents later.

Here is where a partner can be of immense value as a support, a booster of your own psychic power, and as a recorder. If this isn’t possible, at least have a tape recorder running, so that the messages aren’t lost. Unless you have unusual recall abilities, you will forget a great deal of what comes through.

In the beginning, keep your sessions short, say five or ten minutes, expanding those limits only after positively evaluating your source and its effect on you. As we were told through such early communications of our own, “Choose your source as carefully as your mate.”

If this method seems to work well for you, and you wish to continue it, we suggest strongly that if you don’t have a partner in this exploration, get one. If you so desire, it is possible for this verbalization to naturally blend into a trance communication where your awareness is dimmed. Under these circumstances, time can have little meaning, and you may remember almost nothing of what transpires. Here is where the definite security, guidance and even instant evaluation of a partner can prove absolutely necessary.

In the development of trance communications, the variety of levels of contact and styles of delivery can have wide ranges. The main thing is that you and your partner proceed only when you feel at ease and evaluation results appear satisfactory. If any part of what you are doing doesn’t feel right for any reason, slow down, back up, or stop entirely.

Look at what’s happening and only continue at a comfortable pace. Keep in mind though that movement from one level of trance communication to another may be uncomfortable simply because you are learning to utilize newer and better modes of psychic bonding with your source.

 

Go to the blog category titled, “Guidance” for additional postings like this one.

Click here for the ALL of the steps to Your Natural Paranormal Heritage on one posting.

Click on our book, An Explosion of Being, to find it online.

Paranormal Experiences: Dream Communications

The following paranormal dream event I had a number of years ago comes directly from the book my wife Barbara and I wrote titled, An Explosion of Being.

I awoke in the middle of the night, almost capturing all of a very colorful and active dream. As I edged back into sleep, suddenly, I was facing what appeared to be the muted colors of several very symmetrical, molecular-type structures. Each looked much like the patterns visible through a child’s kaleidoscope. The contrast to the previous dream’s color and fast-paced action was surprising, especially since there was no movement or sound of any kind. Still close to consciousness, I woke myself, vaguely sensing that something important was happening. But tiredness won out. As the last drops of awareness faded back into sleep, the kaleidoscope images flickered briefly into view.

This phenomena recurred randomly during other nights over the next several years. Each time, the encounter began in the dream state, flowing over, eventually, into a waking consciousness.

This repetitious event never varied and was consistently monotonous. But, the continual reappearance and visual clarity of those images seemed to be forming a comfort based on familiarity. No, it was more than that. It was almost as if I had always known the meaning of those structures and was slowly uncovering that knowledge, layer by layer.

In May of that year, Nicole was still young enough to take afternoon naps. One rainy Sunday, as a dutiful father, I stretched out with her to insure drowsiness. Soon, according to Barb anyway, I was snoring while Nicole happily played with her stuffed animals. In that short span of slumber, I again encountered those familiar geometric shapes. This occurrence, in itself, isn’t noteworthy except for its direct connection to a later, more important event.

What happened during the early morning hours after I went to sleep that same night was so forceful, I had to get out of bed and enter that experience in my dream journal:

May 26, 1980 2:50 AM

“Got to sleep about midnight. Extensive dreaming. In one particular dream, Nikki was calling me. She needed help or assistance of some kind. Soon, she ran to me and threw her arms around my neck.

“At this point, I awakened. I could hear thunder and raindrops beginning to fall on the plants outside the window. Realized that our storm from the evening before was returning. Didn’t open my eyes, but when I was about to, a voice in my mind said, ‘Just relax and enjoy the storm in a different way.’ Immediately, my body calmed with an unusual thoroughness. I, or the essence of me, was almost detached from that relaxed flesh. My mind then became filled with visions of beautiful patterns of color. These patterns would ebb and flow, brighten and change. How wonderful! I was maintaining full consciousness and prolonging a view of something that I had seen only in snatches during previous dream conditions (the geometrical, molecular structures).

“The color patterns then changed to a magnificent panorama of textured greens, containing minute particles of varied color.Vibrations seemingly emanated from each particle. The whole mass appeared to shift and rotate. The depth of this sight began to fluctuate as I sensed that now, I was seeing the ‘true’ sense of color, and perhaps the core of the children’s book I was writing for Nicole.

“Suddenly, my mind was partially filled with a finely textured white light. It gave me a feeling of warmth and expanded my internal perceptions to a much greater degree. I had the distinct sensation of some sort of intelligence trying to contact me. Chills ran up and down my body as I then responded by reaching out for more communication through my mind.

“The patterns of color returned, but there was a noticeable difference. They were tighter, almost spherical in shape, with much finer color hues. The words came to me, ‘you must begin to fully understand these things if you are to grow and progress.’ With that statement, the spheres of patterned texture actually pulsated outward toward me and seemed to penetrate my being with the understanding.

“My consciousness of the thunder returned. As a gentle, long rumble bounced in the distance, thoughts of the children’s books for Nicole sprang to mind. Then, I truly understood this pulsating communication I was experiencing was related to all of the books Barb and I would ever write.

“I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. 2:15 A.M. Lightning was flashing through the window. I thought of Nikki. Before going to bed, she opened her curtains to watch the storm and made me promise to keep the curtains in our room open for us to do the same. I wondered if she, in some way, had helped to awaken me with the original dream so that I would have this experience and see the lightning as well.

For some reason, seemingly apart from my consciousness, I sent her this mental message: ‘I saw the lightning as you wanted, and I do remember the old days.’ Old days? What the hell was that and where did it come from? When Nicole and I took a nap yesterday afternoon, I had seen the patterns of color. Was there a communication between Nikki and me at that time as well? Was there some sort of reincarnational link between us?

“It’s been over a half hour since I’ve been up. The compulsion to record this material and imprint it on my conscious mind is incredible. I still have chills.”

Sharing those notes with Barb the next day reminded me of the brilliant clarity of that experience, but beyond the recorded words was a depth of feeling that I found very difficult to describe. Something penetrated my being during those early morning hours in a way that I could sense but not explain. It was almost a physical realization captured within my cells, but unable to translate itself to the world. Direct contact was the one inescapable conclusion that kept filtering out of my feelings but contact with what, or whom? The geometric forms and those vibrant colors felt so alive. When they swirled towards me, I was literally engulfed by physical sensation, non-verbal communication, love and warmth.

Neither Barb nor I was able to precisely define the nature of my contact. It did seem to be a natural outgrowth of our other communication with alternate realities, however, so we left it at that. For the next couple of years, I would awaken during the night from time to time to see the now familiar visions, then drift back to sleep in the midst of a very comforting, but indistinct exchange. It tended to become a random ritual, bringing with it,each time, a very peaceful sense of ease.

 

Your Natural Paranormal Heritage: Part 12, Contacting Others Realms Through Writing

These are the initial helpful steps you can take right now if you wish to uncover your natural, paranormal birthright. Since you already have innate understandings, abilities, and connections in this arena, what you will read about here is nothing more than initial handholds leading you on a journey of self-rediscovery. In the end, YOU are your best teacher.

This information is adapted from the nonfiction book my wife Barbara and I wrote many years ago titled, An Explosion of Being: An American Family’s Journey into the Psychic. What you have here is just part of a series. The rest of the postings are located under the blog category titled, “Guidance”. Click here, however, if you would like to access ALL of the articles on this subject in one posting.

Hope you find this beneficial.

Stream of Consciousness Writing

Sit down in a quiet place with pen and paper. Go through the preparation sequence for direct communication. Then, without any conscious structuring of a topic or theme, write whatever words flow into your mind. Just relax and let it flow for a page or two. Then stop, take a little time to carefully read what has been written. You might be amazed. Use your evaluative criteria and see how this material fares.

This method, if it meets a reasonable number of criteria for Evaluation of Direct Contact, provides excellent initial linkage with perhaps just the next higher level of your own being. It often will give you great insights into yourself, providing you with a solid framework upon which you can grow into the deeper levels of contact, if you so desire.

Automatic Writing

In this method, again, sit in a quiet place with pen and paper. Implement the preparation sequence. As opposed to “Stream of Consciousness” writing, however, completely clear your mind and don’t allow words into your consciousness. With pen in hand, rest it on the paper against a flat surface and say to yourself, “I will allow communications to flow through my hand, apart from my conscious mind.” Then wait. The pen may eventually move, seemingly of its own free will, producing lines, scratches, a scrawl, letters, words, sentences or pictures.

As with the Ouija board, your subconscious is controlling the movement of your hand through involuntary muscle contractions, but upon evaluation you may find that the primary connection came from a much higher level. The method of deciphering this information is similar to the one you use with the Ouija, but the added complexity of the unfamiliar handwriting that might emerge may take a little getting used to.

 

Go to the blog category titled, “Guidance” for additional postings like this one.

Click here for the ALL of the steps to Your Natural Paranormal Heritage on one posting.

Click on our book, An Explosion of Being, to find it online.

 

 

Your Natural Paranormal Heritage: Part 11, Ouija Boards

These are the initial helpful steps you can take right now if you wish to uncover your natural, paranormal birthright. Since you already have innate understandings, abilities, and connections in this arena, what you will read about here is nothing more than initial handholds leading you on a journey of self-rediscovery. In the end, YOU are your best teacher.

This information is adapted from the nonfiction book my wife Barbara and I wrote many years ago titled, An Explosion of Being: An American Family’s Journey into the Psychic. What you have here is just part of a series. The rest of the postings are located under the blog category titled, “Guidance”. Click here, however, if you would like to access ALL of the articles on this subject in one posting.

Hope you find this beneficial.

The Ouija is a simple device and can be found in most toy stores. It can be a valid but slow method of communication regardless of the fact that many people view it as a game. It works, because the psychic power of two individuals is unified, linking with alternate realities through subconscious muscle control of the pointer. It is sometimes a feared device, because the light mood in which Ouijas often are approached can result in the flow of subconscious or lower level entity communications.

Record keeping and the deciphering of messages takes time. The easiest method is to have three people involved so that one individual can write each letter as it is indicated while the other two manipulate the pointer.

Whatever you do, don’t rely on your memory; it just doesn’t work. If only two of you are working the board, remember two or three letters, then stop and record these in your notebook and go on. After several lines of letters have been delivered, search out words, divide them with slash marks and add logical punctuation. If they make sense, continue.

If not, try again some other time but give it a fair chance.

 

Go to the blog category titled, “Guidance” for additional postings like this one.

Click here for the ALL of the steps to Your Natural Paranormal Heritage on one posting.

Click on our book, An Explosion of Being, to find it online.

 

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – A Meditative Journey into Nature and the Self

A Book Review

Author – Annie Dillard

Won the Pulitzer Prize

Perennial Classics, 288 p.

Yes, this book won the Pulitzer Prize quite a few years ago. Just based on that, you know you will like it, right? Even so, I’m going to tell you why it has been of value to me.

You see, besides being a writer, I’m also a meditator in the Buddhist Vipassana tradition. Being very “mindful” of my thoughts and the world around me, even when not meditating, is an integral part of that practice.

One evening while talking with my meditation teacher, he recommended I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, both from the perspective of a writer and also as a dedicated practitioner of meditation. Intrigued, I got a copy. Glad I did.

Annie Dillard is one hell of a writer, of that there is no doubt. Start there. I can only hope that in some lifetime I can write with such depth, feeling and clarity.

Speaking to the reader directly, Dillard delivers an unflinching narrative about her isolated existence during one entire year of her life. At her home in the mountains of Virginia, she launched a quest to understand the mysteries of life, violent death, God and all of existence. Yup, a very tall order by a very determined and clear-eyed woman.

When I think about what Dillard accomplished, I see it as a yearlong meditation retreat of the most “mindful” sort. Yes, she studied books during that year but mostly she peered into the complexities and patterns she found in the natural world around her. But really, during all that time up there in the mountains under the sun, moon and stars, she was also probing her own essence. As a reader, I thoroughly identified with her journey and you just might do the same.

The book is one of self discovery but also one of cosmic proportions. What a writer and what a fascinating human being.

Click here to find this book online.

St. Augustine Book Signing: Featuring the Paranormal & the Historical

Come join me so we can chat about the paranormal and the history of America’s Oldest City, St. Augustine, Florida.

 

 

When?  Friday, September 7, 2012 (During St. Augustine’s First Friday Art Walk)

Time?  5:30 – 8:00 PM

Where? Anastasia Books, 81C King Street (Downtown, behind the Zorayda Castle)

 

 

 

 

I’ll have copies of Sliding Beneath the Surface available for young adults and adult young at heart. Sliding is Book I of The St. Augustine Trilogy. 

This book is a haunting, multicultural coming-of-age tale set in contemporary St. Augustine. It dips deeply into the Second Seminole War, one of Florida ‘s,and St. Augustine’s, most difficult periods.

 

For adults and mature young adults, I’m making available copies of An Explosion of Being: An American Family’s Journey into the Psychic.  A true-life exploration of the paranormal over a number of years, my wife Barbara and I wrote this in order to provide guidance to others following a similar path.

 

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine, FL Ceremony: End of the Florida Indian Wars

In 1842, soon after the end of the Second Seminole War, the U.S. Army brought the remains of over 1300 soldiers from across Florida to St. Augustine for interment. Those remains now lie under three coquina pyramids in the St. Augustine National Cemetery.

On August 18, 2012, The West Point Society of North Florida commemorated the ending of the Florida Indian Wars. This event occurred in St. Augustine at the Florida National Guard Headquarters housed in the old St. Francis Barracks as well as in the National Cemetery. Joining  the Society, and participating, were members of the Seminole Wars Foundation.

This event celebrated the anniversary of the end of hostilities with the Seminole and Miccosukee Indians, and remembered the Native Americans, soldiers, and West Point Graduates who perished in the Florida Indian Wars.

On that day, reenactors from the Seminole Wars Foundation set up an historical encampment and fired a 6-pounder cannon–a replica of the one used by Major Dade’s forces at the start of the Second Seminole War. After speeches at the encampment location, a procession lead by costumed soldiers walked to the cemetery. After a brief ceremony at the burial site, a uniformed bugler blew taps.

After the ceremonies, a luncheon was held at the Officers’ Club in the St. Francis Barracks. The speaker at that time was Robert Thrower, Tribal Preservation Officer for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and a descendant of Major David Moniac, USMA, 1822. His excellent talk titled, “Between Two Worlds”, gave those attending lunch some fascinating viewpoints from the Native American perspective.

For a photo gallery of this event, click here.

The following are some links to the organizations mentioned above:

The West Point Society of North Florida

The Seminole Wars Foundation

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians

The St. Augustine National Cemetery

These are some other links relating to the Second Seminole War

Photo Galleries

Dade Battlefield Park

Dade Battle Encampments

Dade Battle: Reenactment, Part I

Dade Battle: Reenactment, Part II

Fort Christmas, FL

Postings

Florida History: The Dade Battle, Part I

Florida History: The Dade Battle Part, II

Florida History: The Dade Battle Part, III

Florida History: The Dade Battle, Part IV

Florida History: Fort Christmas, FL

The FL Indian Wars Ceremony Photo Gallery – St. Augustine, August 18, 2012

Encampment,








Visiting a campsite








Military life








Back in the day








Back in the day








6 pounder cannon








Calm before firing








Preparations








At the ready








Loading-up








Fire!








The mists of time








Corps of Eng., spkr.








Frank Laumer speaks








Down Marine St.








On to cemetery








St. Aug. Ntl. Cem.








FL Indian Wars site








Ceremony site








Bugler at the ready








The ceremony








Ghosts of the past








Taps








Laying the wreath








Old Glory








The O Club








FL Ntl. Guard HQ








Lunch, O. Club








Rbrt. Thrower, spkr.