Why do Don and Ra talk about a lenticular galaxy when our galaxy is spiral?

[Monica]

What I have found in my personal experience is that when my mind wants to reject something out of hand or I have a knee-jerk negative emotional reaction, it is usually a sign that I am bumping up against some programming. Typically, but not in all cases, if I "push through" to the other side I find something valuable.

Agreed! In many cases that is true. Just the process of choosing to be open to something we previously weren't open to, can be very beneficial.

At the same time, if we look at something without a strong emotional charge, and simply discern it to be not in alignment with our core principles, ie. it doesn't resonate, then it's reasonable and acceptable to reject it.

I looked at the Cassiopean info with an open mind, and found a number of reasons why it wasn't acceptable to me. That is my personal opinion. If others find it useful, then that's fine. We don't all resonate to the same things. Sometimes it's a knee-jerk reaction due to some biases, but other times it might simply be that the material isn't appropriate for us, for whatever reason. What I mean is, if the info doesn't resonate with us, that doesn't necessarily mean we didn't look at it with an open mind, or that we necessarily have 'issues' or 'blockages' about it.

Some people read channeled material and just zoom in on the replies. Which, again, is fine. My study of channeled material takes the entire thing in context, and also considers the development of channeling techniques over time.

That sounds like a good way to approach it! There is such a huge amount of channeled info out there, though, that we can't possibly do that with all of them. Sometimes we need to just briefly scan them, to see if we even want to study them in more depth at all. There's simply not enough time to study all of them in depth, so we have to have some way of deciding which ones to pursue.

So, for example, even if Ra was coming from a higher level than Q'uo is, the appearance of Q'uo represents an evolution of the channeling process. Q'uo makes sure to put in the disclaimer at the beginning of each session, where Ra does not. The C's represent the evolution of a certain element of conversation in the contact which is not present in other channelings. This again, represents an evolution of process, even if Ra is the wiser of the two contacts, and even if the group is totally off their rockers.

That's an interesting idea, but I'd have to say I don't think it was the case. I think it's more likely that they were simply different kinds of contacts, with different objectives. Also, it must be kept in mind that the Ra contact was a trance channeling, whereas the others aren't, so that is an important consideration.

[Also, it seems to be easily overlooked that Ra, Q'uo, the C's, and whomever else is being channeled must know each other.]

Ha, undoubtedly!

That doesn't automatically validate any particular source, though, because the channels still all color/distort the info with their own biases, and in some cases, the entity they think they're channeling isn't even who they're channeling. Discernment is always the key.

Yes, of course I keep in mind the group dynamics in terms of the credibility of the information offered- including L/L Research. Some folks would rather ignore the uncomfortable facts that Don killed himself, and that Carla has debilitating health conditions, as if it is possible to divorce the group from the material. Others seem to have some kind of idea that death and sickness is some kind of noble suffering or "price" that is paid for a "pure" contact such as Ra. This is a bit twisted, in my opinion. I do not view these outcomes in any way necessary, and think it is tragic that things went down that way. If I ever develop the ability to jump timelines at will, one of my first experiments will be to see what happened on the timeline that Don did not commit suicide.

I understand your points, and I agree that sometimes events are just tragic, and attempts to accept those events end up going too far, to the point of painting them as optimal, when they really weren't optimal. In this case, it's a very sticky situation, because we all love the person involved, and this tragedy wasn't something we read about on the news, but someone in an intimate relationship with her. So we must temper our interest in analyzing the situation for the purpose of learning from it, with our respect for Carla's and Jim's private lives. This might explain why there isn't a whole lot of talk about it.

I do understand your greater point, and would like to address that in a generic sense. I'm reminded of my Christian friends whose only consolation after losing a family member was, "It must have been God's will" which really doesn't cut it for me. But that is where they're at. They don't have the same tools (such as understanding karma, reincarnation, free will, etc.) that we have.

Ra being Ra, obviously knew what could have been done to stop the negative contact. But they didn't offer the information. Why? Because the group didn't ask.

Don did indeed ask. I remember Ra responded with, "you could end the contact" which wasn't acceptable to the group.

Maybe there was an element missing, the presence of which would have resulted in a different outcome. AND seeing as how we are possibly on the precipice of a major leap forward in our own consciousness, it might BEHOOVE us to consider the possibility that "love and light" is not the whole story. For example, I have noticed Q'uo to be using the word "power" more often as of late...

Agreed. Power is energy and not good or bad. It all depends on how it is used. Q'uo has told us many times that we have no concept of just how powerful we really are.

The group, bless their hearts, were doing the best they knew. BUT- it was based on a certain assumption, the premises of which were taken as sacrosant and never questioned. It kind of reminds me of episodes of Intervention when the addict is in a religious family, and they just keep praying and praying to Jesus to heal their child instead of getting them the help they actually need.

They are so hopelessly lost in their "faith" in Jesus as Savior that they are in total denial of the simple fact that their prayers are not working. Yet rather than question their methodology, they just dig their heels in and pray harder and harder. Meanwhile, the addict slips further into oblivion.

That commonly occurs. Carla and Jim would surely be the first to admit that there is always something to learn from any situation, and what happened is no different. At the same time, none of us can really say what they could have or should have done differently, because we weren't in their shoes. All we can do is learn from others' experiences and try to apply those lessons in our own lives. Our opinions about the choices of others don't really matter, really.