Revisiting The Material - Introduction

[Aion]

Well, now that I have been allowed to return by the almighty internet devas, here is where I left off...... *DEEP BREATH*

So I have finally felt drawn to reread the whole Law of One from front to back again (yes, I knew it would happen eventually) and I've decided I'm going to share my considerations all along the way in the sessions forum (which I'll admit was my idea to create). My intention is to infuse this forum with a massive shot of "seeking energy" which follows the upwards spiraling light towards the Creator. You are all more than welcome to join me as I go through this journey, and even read along. May my cup overflow in to yours, and yours back in to mine. In this water may we find the Creator and reflected there the Light of the Divine Unity.

I am starting here with the Intro because A. I forgot to get it included in the session sections and B. it is a good way to create this invitation. Also C. there is some mindblowing foreshadowing I see here and I think it will help pique the curiosity of those who might follow along.

Warning: This is gonna be a long one.

Since it is massive I will not post the whole intro here but you can read it easily here, as well as the rest of the material: https://www.lawofone.info/Intro

I am going to put out some things that really stand out to me though. The focus will vary but I tend to like to pull out things that might indicate the "inner workings" that are taking place, purely speculatively, of course. However, like Don, I have some hypotheses to examine.

Since our experimental work began, and even before we officially formed a research group, there was considerable confusion about the nature of our research. I would like to state that I consider my point of view to be purely scientific. Many readers of this material have used as a basis for its evaluation a previously assumed philosophical bias which has ranged from what I would call objectively scientific to subjectively theological. It is not the purpose of our research group to attempt to do anything other than make experimental data available. Each reader will undoubtedly reach his own unique conclusion about the meaning of this body of data.

So Don takes the lead of course, this is the second paragraph. I think this is a great glimpse at Don's attitude behind pursuing this whole line of experimentation. Some might say this reflects his leaning towards wisdom, but personally I don't think being scientific necessarily always means that.

It seems to me that the presently accepted scientific paradigm is less than adequate. It is my opinion that our present natural philosophy is a very special case of a much more general case yet to be unveiled. It is my hope that our research is in the direction of this discovery. After assimilating several million words of alleged extraterrestrial communication, it is also my opinion that this book and the subsequent volumes of the Ra material contain the most useful information that I have discovered. As a result of all of this delving into the rather confusing subjects of UFOlogy and parapsychology, I, of course, have formed my current opinion of how things “really are.” This opinion may change at any time as I become aware of future information. This book is not intended to be a treatise of my opinion, so I will not attempt to defend its validity. The following is the best guess I can make about what we think we are doing. Only time will tell as to the accuracy of this guess.

Our research group uses what I prefer to call “tuned trance telepathy” to communicate with an extraterrestrial race called Ra. We use the English language because it is known by Ra. In fact, Ra knows more of it than I do.

I think these passages here actually really highlight the humility that Don possessed. He seems to me like someone who was meticulous, careful and tried to consider all sides to any situation. Yet his willingness to change positions if the truth called for it shows he wasn't merely serving his own desire to feel knowledgeable, but was seeking actual truth, regardless of his comfort with it. That being said, this possibly could have lent to a tendency to want to control things.

This is further shown by the fact that his part of the intro is quite short and he quickly passes it off to Carla, keeping his professional tone of course.

UFOlogy is a large subject. A reasonable amount of background material would swell this introduction to book length. Therefore, the remainder of this introduction does not attempt to cover every portion of this diverse and growing field of study but is instead an accounting of some of the pertinent parts of our research from our beginnings to the present day and the Ra contact. I’ve asked my long-time research associate, Carla L. Rueckert, to tell our story.

This already shows the teamwork that was a part of this contact. Carla, of course, had an enourmous heart and you can see the loving expression she shows towards Don in her intro, clearly inspired by his efforts. Right away you can see some of Carla's passions and motivation for interest in what Don was doing.

Carla L. Rueckert: I first met Don Elkins in 1962. To me he was a fascinating character, an unusual combination of a college professor and psychic researcher. He had done well over 200 hypnotic age regressions, probing past the birth experience and investigating the possibility that reincarnation might not be just possible but the way things really are.

"Life beyond death" or the "other side" very much seems to be a theme at the heart of this contact for Carla at times.

This is just sort of an interesting factoid but I missed this bit before.

In 1962 I joined an experiment that Don had created in order to start to test a hypothesis which he had developed with the help of Harold Price, an engineer for Ford Motor Company. Price had acquainted Don with some information which Don found quite interesting. Its source was allegedly extraterrestrial.

Very interesting, but that shows a bit of where Don got the start it seems.

Jumping back, there is one part here that actually made me tear up and was the first of a foreshadowing I saw of later events.

Don’s hypothesis was that this phenomenon might be reproducible; so, he invited a dozen of his engineering students to join in an experiment with the objective of achieving some sort of telepathic contact with a source similar to that of the Detroit group’s. I was the thirteenth member, having become interested in the project through a friend of mine.

Thirteen. The Tarot card of Death. The Transformation of the Body archetype. The number of the Moon cycles and of the Divine Feminine. This is a very significant number and in some way it immediately struck me as foreshadowing the tragic end of the contact. It ended where it began, with the Transformation of the Body.

This is a good time to put the quote from the material about this.

81.13 Questioner: [We have] already discussed the Significator, so I will skip to number thirteen. Transformation of Body is called Death, for with death the body is transformed to a higher-vibration body for additional learning. Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. This is correct and may be seen to be additionally correct in that each moment and certainly each diurnal period of the bodily incarnation offers death and rebirth to one which is attempting to use the catalyst which is offered it.

This... leaves a lot to be considered in light of the end of the material and honestly I think I'll leave that with you to ponder on, dear reader.
The number is echoed again a couple paragraphs later.

In January of 1970 I left my position as school librarian of a thirteen-grade private school here in Louisville and went to work for Don full time.

We see that there was an individual who 'got the ball rolling' as it were with the initial experimental group.

The nature of the experiment changed drastically when the group was visited by a contactee from Detroit. The contactee sat down with the group and almost immediately was contacted apparently by telepathic impression saying: “Why don’t you speak the thoughts that are on your minds? We are attempting to use you as instruments of communication, but you are all blocked through fear that you will not be speaking the proper words.” Through this instrument, Walter Rogers of Detroit, Michigan, the group was instructed to refrain from analysis, to speak the thoughts and to analyze the communication only after it had been completed.

I like this guy, he knows what's up.

However, looks like Carla was a slow burn.

By the time a year had passed, all in the group except me were able to receive transmissions.

Moving on though, we see some more of the motivation that lead towards the seeking of Ra.

During this period, Don worked on many peripheral areas of UFO research, always trying to “put the puzzle pieces together.” One of the great puzzle pieces for us was the question of how UFOs could materialize and dematerialize.

Materialization was something I had researched extensively so I definitely vibe with this curiosity.

Then, we see this moment of utter humanity.

He was looking for a materialization manifestation, not one he could prove to anyone else, but one which he, himself, could believe.

I think Don was incredibly inspired by the world and universe he saw around him, one who was yearning to understand, not to prove, but to feel.

However, this also explains a big reason why Don was so very pre-occupied with 'transient' material as Ra put it. I think it was ultimately difficult for him to move beyond a material view of the universe.
He was also maybe not always the most tactful with his words, as we can see here.

Don has always said that one of my assets as a research associate is my great gullibility. Almost anyone can play a joke on me because I do not catch on quickly. I have a way of taking things as they come and accepting them at face value and only afterwards analyzing what has occurred. This gullibility is a vital factor in obtaining good results in paranormal research. A desire for proof will inevitably lead to null results and voided experiments. An open mind, one willing to be gullible, leads its possessor to a kind of subjective and personal certainty which does not equal proof as it cannot be systematically reproduced in others. However, this subjective knowing is a central part of the spiritual evolution to which Ra speaks so compellingly in this volume and which we have researched for many years now.

We can see both Don's almost sharp but likely endeared honesty, but which Carla takes so gracefully that of course it becomes washed in her love.

I think this is an incredibly powerful statement and shows that Carla was certainly not lacking in her own wisdom. This innocence she expresses is often seen reflected in the Fool card.
It is also seen as one of the very keys to effective magical working. The willingness to believe.

Then there is Carla's first breakthrough.

The seance began, as do all the seances I have attended, with the repetition of the Lord’s Prayer and the singing of hymns such as “Rock of Ages” and “I Walked in the Garden.” There were approximately twenty-six people in this bare room, sitting on straight chairs in an oval circle. Reverend Tingley had retired behind a simple curtain and was also seated on a folding chair. Of the occurrences of the first seance, perhaps the most interesting to me was the appearance of a rather solid ghost known as “Sister.” She wished to speak to me and to thank me for helping Don. Since I had never had a close friend that was a nun, I was quite puzzled. It was not until much later, when Don was flying us home, that he jogged my memory, and I realized that his mother, who had died before I met her, was known in the family as “Sister.”

Fascinatingly the number thirteen is here doubled to twenty-six, and so death becomes life again. I think in many ways Carla's real ability was to be able to make contact with the 'other side', and eventually travel in to it psychically.

Both in that seance, and in the following seance, when Don and I were called up, we could see the ghost-like figures of the materialized spirits quite clearly. I, with impaired night vision, could still make out features, but Don could see even the strands of hair on each entity.

This is fascinating because if Don, an incredibly scientific man, literally saw ectoplasmic entities he sure took it pretty dang cooly, eh?

However, we start to see a bit of Don's control start to appear after this.

In 1974 Don decided that it was time for me to become a more serious student of the art of channeling. He argued that twelve years of sitting and listening to inspirational messages were enough, and that it was time for me to take some responsibility for those “cosmic sermonettes,” as Brad Steiger has called them, that I so enjoyed. We began a series of daily meetings designed to work intensively on my mental tuning. Many of those who were coming to our meditations on Sunday nights heard about the daily meetings and also came, and within three months we generated about a dozen new telepathic receivers.

This is a curious thing cause it sounds like she wasn't really in to the idea but kind of went along with it because she felt compelled to. That seems a tad manipulative on Don's part, but also showing what I think was his immense admiration for and genuine belief in Carla.

Following this Carla starts to get in to the details of the synchronicities surrounding their book The Crucifixion of Esmerelda Sweetwater and how it seems to reflect the work of Andrija Puharich, even as far as describing his house. This part of the intro seems to be about setting the stage for why the contact come to fruitition.

She then starts to talk about UFOlogy and we can see that its something she was also fascinated by and curious to understand. However, we start to see the "counter-intuitive" nature of exploring metaphysical phenomenon scientifically.

One of the most familiar aspects of close encounters is the experience that our witness had of seemingly understanding what aliens were thinking and feeling without any speech having taken place. Telepathic communication has long been the subject of much experimentation and, although there is much interesting research, there has never been a definitive study proving good telepathic communication. Consequently, the field of research into telepathy is still definitely a fringe area of psychic research. However, anyone who has ever known that the phone was going to ring, or has experienced the knowledge of what someone was going to say before it was said, has experienced at least a mild example of telepathy. Don states that telepathic experiments between himself and Uri Geller have been totally successful. However, since they were deliberately not performed under rigorous scientific control, they could not be included in any orthodox report. It is, in fact, our opinion that the rigorous controls have a dampening effect on the outcome of any experiment of this type.

And a little bit of eye-rolling about that...

We still tend to insert the word “alleged” before the words “telepathic communications from extraterrestrials” because we know full well that there is no way of proving this basic concept. However, the phenomenon certainly exists—millions of words in our own files and many millions of words in other groups’ files attest to this fact.

"Well I'm not saying it's real, but it's definitely real."

Carla shares a number of UFO stories throughout the intro and they are worth examining if you have read later in the material about the different forms of such contacts.
She also talks quite a bit about Uri Geller and metalbending, and I didn't realize before that he and Don had done experimentation together.

This is near the end of her part here:

Nevertheless, the link is there quite plainly. John Taylor, professor of mathematics at Kings College, London, offered his book, Superminds, to make his careful experimentations on metal-bending available to the world. Taylor used only children, about fifty of them, and for a great portion of his experiment he used metal and plastic objects sealed in glass cylinders which had been closed by a glass blower, so that the children could not actually touch the objects without breaking the glass.

Under this controlled circumstance the children were still able to bend and break multitudinous objects. As you read The Ra Material you will begin to discover why it is mostly children that are able to do these things, and what the ability to do this has to do with the rest of the UFO message.

I think this point also reflects on Carla's innocence and perhaps natural ability to stay in touch with her inner child.

After this she turns it back over to Don to give more 'scientific' explanations.

We see here that Don has definitely done his research (and reached similar conclusions as I).

A persistent question when considering psychic demonstrations is: how does the paranormal event happen? The answer may well lie in the area of occult theory, which is concerned with the existence of various “planes.”

After death an individual finds himself at one of these levels of existence spoken of in connection with occult philosophy, the level of being dependent on the spiritual nature or development of the person at the time of his death. The cliché that covers this theory is a heavenly “birds of a feather flock together.” When a ghost materializes into our reality, it is from one of these levels that he usually comes for his Earthly visit. In general, it is theorized that a planet is a sort of spiritual distillery, with reincarnation taking place into the physical world until the individual is sufficiently developed in the spiritual sense that he can reach the higher planes of existence, and is no longer in need of this planet’s developmental lessons.

This exploration of the planes as a possible source of materializing UFO vehicles is what drew Don in to this avenue of inquiry.
He gives this great analogy.

Many of the UFO reports display ample evidence that the object sighted has its origin in one of these other realities or densities, just as do the materialized ghosts. I would like to emphasize that this does not in any way imply their unreality; rather, it displaces the UFOs’ reality from ours. I’m saying the equivalent of: Channel 4 on the TV is equivalent to but displaced from Channel 3 on the same TV.

I very much appreciate that Don was a true scientist rather than being a follower of 'scientism'.

Senior scientists would be the first to agree that there is no such thing as an absolute scientific explanation of anything. Science is, rather, a method or tool of prediction, relating one or more observations to each other. In physics, this is usually done through the language of mathematics. Our scientific learning is a learning by observation and analysis of this observation. In the sense of penetrating the fundamental essences of things, we really do not understand anything at all.

To a person unfamiliar with the inner workings of modern science, it may seem that modern man has his environment nicely under control and totally figured out. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is a nice bit here talking about lightspeed.

These calculations are made using the assumption that light has a speed. This may be an erroneous assumption in the face of new theory, but its apparent speed is a useful measuring tool, so we use it anyway.

I think it shows the practical attitude with which Don approached these things.

Much of this next section is Don building up a background of scientific ideas and you can really see a bit of the structure of Don's mind here.
Then, we see our first approach to unity.

A mathematical representation of an action at a distance effect is called a field, such as a gravitational or electric field. It was Albert Einstein’s foremost hope to find a single relation which would express the effect of both electric and gravitational phenomena; in fact, a theory which would unify the whole of physics, a unified field theory. Einstein believed that this was a creation of total order and that all physical phenomena were evolved from a single source.

It is also pretty interesting that Don uses the word 'creation' which seems sort of unscientific.

This moves in to a discussion on time and Dewey Larson's Reciprocal Theory, well worth checking out for anyone who wants to see the kind of physics Don was working with. There is nowadays a Reciprocal Theory 2 which is a continuous of Dewey Larson's work by his colleagues who have continued to advance the theory and actually engage in more experimentation and mathematical proofing.

The contactees were suggesting that time was not what we think it is. Larson suggests the same thing. The UFOs were said to move in time as we move in space. This would be entirely normal in Larson’s time-space portion of the universe.

We can see why Don was so in to these ideas.

Despite his claims of being "purely scientific", I think Don had a bit of a mystical streak going on.

With controlled, repeatable experiments like those conducted by Taylor and by the Stanford Research Institute in the United States, we begin to have good solid data available for study. Gradually we are moving into a position from which we can begin to create a science of “magic,” for that which has been called magic through the ages is now being performed at an ever-increasing rate, primarily by children. In the future, we may even find this “magic” added to the curriculum of the sciences at universities. In point of fact, the present disciplines of chemistry, physics, etc., are still basically “magic” to us, since we are still in the position of having no ultimate explanation of causality.

I just love this whole paragraph here. I can see the air quotes. He wants so badly for it to not be magic, for there to be a more scientific way of describing these things. Yet, none-the-less, he passionately pursues the study of metaphysics and magic. It's amazing through the material to watch Don turn his mind in different directions and to see him develop over time a sort of faith.

After this it goes back to Carla.

She brings it back to her focus on the idea of reincarnation.

If life after death is posited as a probability, one may also posit life before birth. Any mother who has more than one child will testify to the undoubted fact that each child comes into his life or incarnation already equipped with a personality which cannot be explained by environment or heredity. After all the factors of both have been accounted for, there remains a unique personality with which the child seems to have been born. Each child has certain fears which are not explainable in terms of the fears of the parents. A child, for instance, may be terrified of a thunderstorm. The rest of the family may be perfectly comfortable during such a storm. Another child may be extraordinarily gifted at the playing of an instrument when neither parent nor any relative as far back as the parents can remember had musical ability.

This brings us back to the serious consideration of reincarnation. According to the alleged UFO contact messages, reincarnation is one of the most important concepts to be grasped, for through it the universe functions in order to advance the evolution of mankind. This evolution is seen to be not only physical but also metaphysical, not only of the body but also of the spirit, and incarnations are seen in this system of philosophy to be opportunities for an individual to continue his evolution through numerous and varied experience

We can see here a bit of what she is leaning in to with this idea. We see that the idea of not being purely physical, of existing beyond this single form, is central to the philosophy that lead to the contact with Ra. In a way, their willingness to believe was the key.

In that I think we can find the utter awe with which they saw the universe.

When we attempt to consider our relationship with the universe, we begin to see that there is a great deal more in heaven and earth than has been dreamt of in most philosophies. It is an unbelievably gigantic universe, and if we have a true relationship to it we must, ourselves, be more than, or other than, our daily lives seem to encompass. In The Ra Material a good deal of information is discussed concerning our true relationship with the universe, but it is good to realize that we do have a long tradition of work upon what may perhaps most simply be called the magical personality.

Afterall, what is the experience of a UFO but wonder, amazement? Of course, for some it is fear.

It is some sense of the wholeness or organic nature of the universe which best informs the student of the UFOs’ purposes in being here. They have been here, by many accounts, for thousands of years; at least UFOs have been mentioned, along with many other strange sights, in the annals of all early histories including the Bible.

According to an entity called Hatonn who has spoken with our group and several others for many years, the purpose in being here of at least some of the UFOs that are seen in our skies at this time is much like the purpose that we might have in sending aid to a disaster-stricken or extremely impoverished country. It is a desire to be of service.

Hatonn speaks of our desire to seek something outside the physical illusion. What he talks about so persuasively is something that is often referred to by members of what Ra calls the Confederation of Planets in the Service of the Infinite Creator as “the original thought.” This is another term for our word, “love,” but implies a great deal more. It implies a unity that is so great that we do not see each other simply as close friends, or brothers and sisters, but, ideally, as the Creator; and, as we see each other and ourselves as the Creator, we see one being. This concept is at the very heart of telepathy and Hatonn talks about this concept and the original thought in general

Sympathetic vibrations.

Also, there are some quotes from Hatonn, and I like their one-pointedness. Reminds me of my own "boring" reminders to see the Creator everywhere at all times.

My friends, it may seem to you that a thought of a nature other than one of love and brotherhood might be a thought generated not of our Creator. This is not possible, my friends. All thought that is generated is generated by the Creator. All things that are generated are generated by the Creator. He is all things and is in all places, and all of the consciousness and all of the thought that exists is the thought of our Creator. His infinite number of parts all have free will, and all may generate in any way they choose. All of His parts communicate with all of the creation, in His entire and infinite sense.

Just sayin'.

We find, my friends, that man upon planet Earth in his experiences and experiments has become isolated in his thinking and has divorced it from that to which we are accustomed in the vast reaches of creation which we have experienced.

And then we see here the very heart of Carla's philosophy I believe.

The creation of the Father, then, as Hatonn calls it, has a very simple nature, a nature in which love is the essence of all things and of all their functions.

I like that Carla uses this section to quote Hatonn a bunch because I feel like that again shows humility and what Alan Watts might call the "delegation of authority" that is at the heart of universal cooperation.

This part stands out.

The reason for the illusion, my friends, is one that man on Earth has generated. He has generated it out of desire. This illusion is useful. It is very useful for those who would wish to evolve at a very rapid rate by experiencing it and by using it while within it. Many of us who are now circling your planet would desire to have the opportunity that you have, the opportunity to be within the illusion and then, through the generation of understanding, use the potentials of the illusion. This is a way of gaining progress spiritually and has been sought out by many of our brothers.

Amazing how many people talk about how horrible it is, even referring to the planet as a prison or mental asylum. Yet, apparently, it is the hot place to be!

Come on down to Earth and get your catalyst on!

Appreciably, Carla is the first one to actually offer practical thoughts.

As you have by now become aware, meditation is always suggested as the best means of attaining understanding, of progressing spiritually, and of understanding the nature of the illusion and the purpose for which you are experiencing it. Each person is involved in an illusion or game in which we may, if we wish, use our consciousness in meditation in such a way as to create a more rapid growth in personal evolution. But how do we bring ourselves to the point at which this process, which often seems very difficult, is grasped and begun?

Desire, my friends, is the key to what you receive. If you desire it, you shall receive it. This was the Creator’s plan, a plan in which all of His parts would receive exactly what they desire. My friends, often in the illusion which you now experience it seems that you do not acquire what you desire. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case in many, many instances. It is a paradox, it seems, that such a statement should be made and that such apparent results of desire are manifested, and yet we state, without exception, that man receives exactly what he desires. Perhaps, my friends, you do not understand desire. Perhaps this understanding is not within the intellectual mind. Perhaps it will be necessary to spend time in meditation to become aware of your real desire. For, my friends, there is much, much more of you and of the creation than you presently appreciate with your intellectual abilities in your present illusion.

But desire is bad, no? Maybe not so. That is a very distinct view which comes especially from Buddhism, but it is not a universal viewpoint. Rather, it is the key to the will.

The Confederation messages concentrate a great deal upon the concept of seeking and of desire, feeling that the will of each entity is absolutely central to each entity’s quest for evolution. In fact, they say, free will is at the foundation of the universe. Each entity is conceived not only as being part of one unity but also as being a totally unique part of that unity. Each person’s free will is quite paramount and the Confederation’s concern is always to avoid infringement upon the free will of any person. Their method of contacting man on Earth takes its form from a deep concern for this free will:

It's interesting how desire and seeking are correlated with Will here. Both the reaching and that which is reached toward.

Actually this whole section I feel like Carla and I are buds, she's doing exactly what I do. Says a bit, gives a quote, says a bit more, gives a quote.
No wonder we vibed well the one opportunity I had to meet her.

This is a large section essentially touting the importance of meditation and its role in the process of spiritual evolution. There is some recapitulation but moreso this seems like an opportunity to give an overview of the Confederation and the lessons Carla felt were central to their messages. Reincarnation, meditation, love, and unity are the running themes of course.

She then proceeds to talk about the possibilities of traumatic earth changes and the 'harvest'. She equates this with a Judgement Day but from a God within rather than a God without.

This whole section of the intro is basically a recap on a number of the basic concepts found in the material such as Wanderers so I am not going to quote too much here and rather save such discussions for the actual sessions.

Then we start to see some of the physical challenges that Carla was faced with.

The work I did in early 1976 was to be my last. I had had a condition called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis with several complications, one being SLE, commonly known as lupus, since I was thirteen when my kidneys had failed. In 1956, the advanced techniques that are available now to those whose kidneys fail were not available. In fact, it was considered a miracle that I survived, but survive I did with the loss of approximately half of each kidney.

I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to have had a productive and active physical life for so long with the odds going so far against me. Even now, with the help of exercise, diet, friends, and faith, I feel most blessed. But my activities are limited.

This however was actually the reason for them to inquire with Ra about healing methods.

The research that Don and I had done up to that point brought us across the knowledge of a highly unusual type of healing, and it was in part my disability which caused us to put ourselves so wholeheartedly into an examination of that type of healing.

In some way I feel like this was a pre-programmed catalyst that actually helped Don to move towards being more positive and service-to-others. There's no doubt he was protective and cared for Carla.

She then describes some of her experiences with psychic surgeons, especially one notable experience.

In the most interesting case in which I took part, the healer was told that I had arthritis. He scanned my body with the help of his assistant. Then he opened the abdominal cavity and with a very liquid sounding action pulled gently, but firmly, at what seemed to be organs rather than joints. It was not unpleasant but, to me, the patient, it was puzzling, as I had no arthritis in my organs. He then removed what seemed to be three rather small, long pieces of bloody material at the center of which was a small piece of hard material. This done, he removed his left hand. The “incision” vanished without a scar or trace of any kind. The two men, in this case, mopped up what had become a fairly considerable amount of blood, rinsed their hands, and then took baby oil and worked it over the abdominal skin, massaging in silence.

When I asked what the healer was doing working in the abdominal area the interpreter relayed my request, and relayed back the information that the scanning had produced the knowledge of three cysts upon my right ovary, and the misplacement or dropping of both ovaries which had occurred through years of very active life. The pulling had been to reposition the ovaries so that I would not be in discomfort during menstruation. The removal of the cysts had had the same purpose.

Quite a fascinating experience. Carla then continues on with some more history until.. enter Jim.

In 1978 James Allen McCarty heard about our group, first from a number of people who had meditated at our Sunday night meetings and had gone on to form a “light center” and nature preserve in Marion County, Kentucky, and then from a two-hour, call-in radio show that Don and I had done in Lexington, Kentucky. He came up with many people from the Marion County meditation group to experience our meditations. After two meditations the group as a whole stopped coming, but Jim made the 140-mile round trip almost weekly, beginning in the spring of 1980. Jim had, for many years, been searching for some method of aiding humanity. Born in 1947, and equipped with degrees in business and education, he had studied, in addition, alternative methods for teaching consciousness expansion. Some of this time was spent working with inner-city children, but he began to find a very strong desire to discover a clearer idea of what it was he was seeking.

This leads to much admiration and also a very human admission that despite all this effort and focus, they didn't quite exactly know what their direction was.

Don and I were endlessly grateful for McCarty’s aid. His abilities were extraordinary. He had a grasp of the metaphysical material going back to his college days and he had read extensively through all the intervening years, so he came to this work very informed of our areas of study. He was able to take up the physical part of the research, filing, making notes, transcribing tapes, and carrying on the correspondence that had sorely lapsed since my disability. Jim, always thorough, sold his land. L/L Research merged with the Rock Creek Research and Development Laboratories, keeping our old partnership name for our publishing arm, purchased a new typewriter— Jim’s fingers, strengthened by six and one-half years of homesteading, overmatched my old electric typewriter—and we settled down to do … what? We didn’t know.

However, with the addition of Jim, it was finally for things to get 'started'. The chord came together and they started to sing to the stars together.

We discussed doing a new book, updating what we had learned in Secrets of the UFO and had blank paper ready to be filled. Jim had begun to do back research in our voluminous files. Three weeks after he came, the Ra contact began.

During all the years that I had been channeling I had always channeled consciously, using my free will to clothe telepathic concepts in my own language. In 1980 a longtime friend and meditation group member, Elaine Flaherty, died a tragically young death. She had had juvenile diabetes and had died in her thirties. I had sat with her for many days in the hospital before she finally left her body, and she had told me several times that she wanted to make sure that her husband, Tom, was made aware that she was all right after her death, for she knew that she was likely to die. She had told Tom, also a longtime meditation group member as well. After her funeral Tom came to me and asked if I would attempt to get in touch with Elaine. Having been through all too many seances and not having a great deal of personal commitment to the type of communication that one was likely to get from one’s physically dead relatives, I was at first reluctant to attempt such “mediumship.” However, these were my good friends and I could not say no. Tom, Don, and Elaine’s and Tom’s son, Mike, gathered with me for the first attempt. After some moments of consciously offering myself for the contact with Elaine, I became unaware of the passing of time, and when I awakened Tom had what sounded like Elaine’s voice on tape speaking through me. That was my first experience with trance. I did not know, and to this day do not know, how it occurred. Tom asked once more if I would do this and again I went into what seemed to be a very deep trance, remembering nothing and hearing what sounded like Elaine’s voice on tape after the session. Don stated that if he had heard me from the next room without seeing me he would have been certain it was Elaine.

Almost like a stroke of luck Carla makes this breakthrough in to trance for the first time. Perhaps showing an ability she developed in previous lifetimes.

It seems like this is what opened the door so to speak for Ra to enter the field.

This work was extremely draining to me and I asked Tom to accept the fact that I really did not wish to continue being this type of medium. Tom agreed, saying that he had what Elaine had promised and was satisfied. However only a few days later, while working with an advanced meditation student, Leonard Cecil, I received a new contact, one which I had never had before. As I do in all cases I challenged this entity in the name of Christ, demanding that it leave if it did not come as a messenger of Christ-consciousness. It remained, so I opened myself to its channel. Again I went almost immediately into trance and the entity, which called itself Ra, began its series of contacts with us. This contact is ongoing, fascinating, and, to me, a source of some disquiet.

I like here the honesty she expressed that ultimately the whole experience was a tad unsettling. No doubt. I have had direct experience with a few deep trance channelers and it is weird to be a questioner or observer, nevermind being the vessel.

However, lots of times Carla displays her very softening sense of humour, one I reflect in my own way too.

What concerns me perhaps more than anything else is that someone who reads this material will consider this human being that I am to have some sort of wisdom that Ra certainly has but that I certainly do not. If this work impresses you, I can only ask that you please make a sharp differentiation in your mind between the words and the “medium” through which the words come. You would not, for instance, expect the water pipe to be responsible for the quality of the water which runs through it. Certainly all of us in the research group try, through meditation and daily life, to prepare ourselves as best we can for these sessions. Nevertheless, what comes through our group stands on its own and cannot be said to reflect on the wisdom or so-called spiritual advancement of any of its members. As our popular philosophy has it, “We are all bozos on this bus.”

Quite. Ain't that the frickin' truth.

The intro ends with a brief bit by Jim, who in my experience of meeting him was short with words but direct with intent and spoke with his actions. Notably, most of his explanation her is about the practical aspects of maintaining the contact and how they learned to care for Carla.

Jim's bit here seems the most "professional" in its tone, which makes sense given his business background. We see that he too is driven by his awe.

Participating in this communication with Ra has been most inspiring for each of us because of the blend of eloquence and simplicity which characterizes Ra’s responses. The information contained in The Ra Material has been most helpful to us in increasing our knowledge of the mystery of the creation and our evolution through it. We hope that it might also be useful to you.

And so I hope that taking this journey will be useful for you readers as well. Until next time.

/exhale

[Diana]

Great idea Aion. I have also started a reread but got stalled a while ago, so I like the idea of following along. There is so much just in this OP you have covered that I am going to take some time to consider it before responding.

I would point out that the introduction you are referencing is in the original printing of the the Ra Material, but not, that I can find, in the new two-volume set (I have both).

[hounsic]

Look forward to following along!

[Scah]

Thank you, Aion,  for injecting this massive shot of seeking and sharing your thoughts on the material.
I am inspired to follow along with your revisiting.

Here are some of my favorite parts of the "Introduction"

This gullibility is a vital factor in obtaining good results in paranormal research. A desire for proof will inevitably lead to null results and voided experiments. An open mind, one willing to be gullible, leads its possessor to a kind of subjective and personal certainty which does not equal proof as it cannot be systematically reproduced in others. However, this subjective knowing is a central part of the spiritual evolution to which Ra speaks so compellingly in this volume and which we have researched for many years now.

I find so much wisdom in this paragraph. Carla's "gullibility" attitude reminded me that, when possible, this is the best attitude to have towards all interactions and things within this third density illusion.

In other words, our forest of scientific knowledge and explanations is made up of trees about which we understand nothing except their effect, their existence. To a person unfamiliar with the inner workings of modern science, it may seem that modern man has his environment nicely under control and totally figured out. Nothing could be further from the truth. The leaders of science who are researching the frontiers of modern theory argue among themselves continually. As soon as a theory begins to receive wide acceptance as being a valid representation of physical laws, someone finds a discrepancy, and the theory has to be either modified or abandoned entirely.

This paragraph from Don help me realize that humility is the key to maintain open mindedness in all things.

Although the people who had received these communications knew nothing of the problems of modern physics, they were getting information which apparently was quite central to physical theory: first, they suggested that the problem with our science was that it did not recognize enough dimensions. Second, they stated that light does not move; light is. Larson’s theory posits six dimensions instead of the customary four, and finds the pure field, which Einstein believed would represent matter, to move outward from all points in space at unit velocity, or the velocity of light. Photons are created due to a vibratory displacement in space-time, the fabric of the field. Furthermore, the contactees were saying that consciousness creates vibration, this vibration being light. The vibratory displacements of space-time in Larson’s theory are the first physical manifestation, which is the photon or light. According to the UFO contactees, the UFOs lower their vibrations in order to enter our skies. The entire physical universe postulated by Larson is dependent on the rate of vibration and quantized rotations of the pure field of space-time.

This is almost like talking about magical working in the third density with modern scientific language.

Magic is, of course, a much misused term and is mostly understood as being the art of prestidigitation, or illusion. When one sees a magician, one accepts the fact that one is seeing very skillfully performed illusions.
However, there is a study of the so-called magical personality which suggests that there is a thread which runs through our daily lives which we can grasp; and, using that thread, remove ourselves from time to time into a framework of reference points in which we see reality as being that of the spiritual body, that personality which exists from incarnation to incarnation and indeed “since before the world was.” By working upon this magical personality, by interiorizing experience, by accepting responsibility for all that occurs, by carefully analyzing our reactions to all that occurs, and by eventually coming to balance our reactions to all that occurs so that our actions in our environment are generated within the self and are no longer simple reactions to outward stimulus, we strengthen the so-called magical personality until we are able to have some small claim to “the art of causing changes in consciousness at will.” This is the classic definition of magic. Each time that a person sustains an unfortunate situation and reacts to it by not giving anger for anger or sadness for sadness but instead offering compassion and comfort where none was expected, we strengthen that thread of inner strength within us and we become more and more associated with a life that is closely related to the organic evolution of the universe.

Magical working in the third density in Carla's words. It's just so beautifully put.

Keep uppermost in your mind that the illusion that you experience is an illusion, that it is surrounding you for the purpose of teaching you. It can only teach you if you become aware of its teachings. It is said that “He worked His wonders in mysterious ways.” This way may seem mysterious; however, it is the way of spiritual evolvement. There are many souls experiencing the illusion in which you find yourself; however, there are few using this illusion to grow. They are not doing this other than at a subliminal level because they have not availed themselves through their seeking to a knowledge of the possibility of doing this.
Once an individual has become aware of the possibility of using the illusion in which he finds himself in your physical world for the progression of spiritual growth, it is necessary that he take the next step and use his knowledge to express, regardless of the potentials which affect him, the love and understanding of his Creator.

I just love this whole paragraph. It almost reads like a quick summary of the central ideas of major religious  philosophies.

It must be realized from within. It cannot be impressed from without. We are attempting to stimulate those of your peoples who would be stimulated to seeking this truth that is within them. We have been required by our understanding of our Creator’s principle to remain in hiding, for we cannot serve one individual and at the same time do a disservice to his neighbor by proving within his own mind that we exist, for many of those of planet Earth at this time do not desire to believe in or have proof of our existence. For this reason we find it necessary to speak to those who seek through channels such as this one. We find it necessary to give to those who seek that which they seek in such a way that they, for themselves, may appraise its value and accept or reject, on their own terms, those thoughts that we bring, and understand the reality of the creation in which all of us exist.

This is probably my favorite quote of the "Introduction". It highlights the importance of the desire to seek and the faith that one need to have in one self's choice to seek. To me, this is the very definition of Faith.

Skipped for avoiding crowding up already crowded post

Everything Jim wrote in the introduction showed the harmony within the group during the contact. I was so soothing to me reading his description of the intricate process and the effort they put for the contact. It was a very nice insight to the working required.

[Dtris]

Thanks Aion. I am glad you went over this in the Introduction. It is easy to overlook this for the material itself.

Regarding Don and science.
I think Don had some very unique experiences which he could not rationally discount. I have encountered many "intellectuals" who seem so enamored with proof and studies that personal experience is viewed as being completely irrelevant. It might be my own bias but I believe Don was rational enough to realize just because an experience did not fit in a paradigm, it also did not make the experience invalid. Thus he sought to build a paradigm which could encompass the extraordinary experiences he and others had been through.

Regarding Hatonn.
I highly recommend going back to the archives and starting from the beginning. The earlier material is what laid the ground work for Ra and after reading the earlier material you can find places where Ra assumes the group is familiar with the earlier material. Hatonn does repeatedly go back to seeking, desire, and meditation. Which I personally needed to read that message and hear it from my teachers many times before I started doing the work.

[Louisabell]

Wow, that was a great read Aion.

As I read through it struck me how Don, while very wisdom focused, was also so very honest and frank. It’s made me appreciate him so much more. I also didn’t fully appreciate, during my first read-through of the Introduction, how hard Carla had worked on the skill of channelling, and how Don had facilitated that.

I also never really considered how the personal biases of Don may have influenced the answers received by Ra. I suppose I assumed that Ra knew that these questions would have been eventually circulated to a great many others, but this was never predetermined by Ra at the time. It was always up to the channelling group as to how they would share this information.

2.1 Ra: I am Ra ... However, if it be your desire to share our communications with others we have the distortion towards a perception that this would be most helpful in regularizing and crystallizing your own patterns of vibration upon the levels of experience which you call the life.

It also makes me think how the below quote may have been in reference to Don’s personal way of seeking (which I’m sure is similar to many of us on here on Earth).

3.9 … Ra: I am Ra … You are precisely correct in your understanding of the congruency of faith and intelligent infinity; however, one is a spiritual term, the other more acceptable perhaps to the conceptual framework distortions of those who seek with measure and pen.

A mathematical representation of an action at a distance effect is called a field, such as a gravitational or electric field. It was Albert Einstein’s foremost hope to find a single relation which would express the effect of both electric and gravitational phenomena; in fact, a theory which would unify the whole of physics, a unified field theory. Einstein believed that this was a creation of total order and that all physical phenomena were evolved from a single source.

That kind of reminds me of the known phenomena of the accelerating inflation of the universe. People often erroneously believe that the Big Bang happened somewhere in the “centre” of the universe. Actually the Big Bang is still occuring in every unit of space in every square inch of the universe, and it is speeding up as well ... Almost like there is one infinite engine driving the whole universe, the same engine in which all energy springs forth from.  

Amazing how many people talk about how horrible it is, even referring to the planet as a prison or mental asylum. Yet, apparently, it is the hot place to be!

Yes. Sometimes it’s painful, but … it’s just so gloriously painful! When one can get in touch with the eternal fruits within, then one can see how this illusion provides in abundance.

Thanks for sharing this!

[confusedseeker]

Great thread