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April 29, 2018 — Nick Redfern with Michael Allen


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
This was a fascinating episode, as we look at the paranormal and the frontiers of reality, how an urban legend became a frightening reality.

This was a subject that also formed part of our discussion with Michael Allen and Greg Bishop on this weekend's episode of the After The Paracast podcast, an exclusive feature of The Paracast+.

For more details on our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio
 
I've read about yogis who are able to materialize thing from out of the astral plane.


The "astral plane" is a remnant of an old cosmology/metaphysics that assumed that the there were 5 elementals--earth, air, fire water....and the aether (star stuff)

Modern astrophysics has confirmed that everything comes from "star stuff" or the elements forged through stellar nucleosynthesis from a kind of one thing (protons, neutrons, ... ) in combination.

So the astral plane...what is it?

:)
 
The "astral plane" is a remnant of an old cosmology/metaphysics that assumed that the there were 5 elementals--earth, air, fire water....and the aether (star stuff)

Modern astrophysics has confirmed that everything comes from "star stuff" or the elements forged through stellar nucleosynthesis from a kind of one thing (protons, neutrons, ... ) in combination.

So the astral plane...what is it?
I think it's mistaken to argue against his use of a specific term when it's the phenomenon itself that's in question.

I've also read some compelling accounts of...I don't what to call it...perhaps "intentional manifestation of transient objects" in a number of intriguing metaphysics books, including iirc Paramahansa Yogananda's highly regarded book "Autobiography of a Yogi." Apparently some enlightened avatars throughout history have been able to seemingly create small objects out of thin air, which soon after disintegrate or evaporate akin to fine ash. I have no idea how that could be possible; perhaps it's some physical process that we don't yet understand, or perhaps instead it's some kind of hypnotic suggestion. But I've read and personally heard some apparently very sincere accounts of astonishing feats by such people, which frankly beggar the imagination.

All I know for sure is that this state of consciousness that we're in right now is roughly halfway between the sleeping dream state, and a state of fully awakened consciousness, and I'm reluctant to assign the limitations of this state of awareness to that one. Because if you consider all of the capabilities that we have at our disposal in this state of half-waking slumber, compared to the limited capabilities of the average sleepwalker, then what we can do in this state of consciousness seems downright miraculous. [If anyone wants to argue against the idea that we're only half-awake right now, I would suggest that the endless internal monologue of thought that we're all experiencing falls into the same category as dreaming - it's a largely unconscious stream of predominantly chaotic ideation and memory that's only tacitly within our conscious control, and one which we can't stop and start with conscious will. By all accounts, awakened avatars are not afflicted with this unstoppable internal monologue and in lieu of this constant distraction, they're capable of perceiving an unvarnished view of reality that remains beyond our reach at this moment.]
 
Nick is well spoken and a good guest.

Slenderman is an interesting phenomenon but I don’t see it as paranormal. If deep obsession and the intense concentration of thought could create actual physical manifestations then someone please explain to me why Playmate centerfolds haven’t been spontaneously popping into teenage boy’s bedroom’s all over the place? What does the SFPD really have to deal with running around town the day after ComiCon – partially transparent supervillains?

If I am skeptical of tulpas it did occur to me that a placebo effect is something very similar; the manifestation of physical symptoms based on perception not chemistry. Power of positive thinking. I don’t think anyone is disputing that it exists, it’s just that it isn’t as exciting as a creepy Friar Tuck.

Synchronicities. Yup. Stupid, often sound utterly inane when you actually speak of them out loud but despite my skepticism I experience them. I feel as if there is something ever so slightly out of reach, like if I could just turn around fast enough I’d catch a glimpse of ... something. Apply complicated terminology or dismiss the phenomenon outright, sometimes it catches me off guard and I can’t help but shake my head.
 
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Modern astrophysics has confirmed that everything comes from "star stuff" or the elements forged through stellar nucleosynthesis from a kind of one thing (protons, neutrons, ... ) in combination.

Really? Are you saying they now have a stellar-genesis explanation for:
Dark matter . . . ???
Dark energy . . . ???

And even if these postulated "dark" aspects of the universe are never proven, the very postulations show that astrophysical observations still have a ways to go to find a comprehensive explanation about the universe.

As far as the physics or metaphysics of the ancients, a while back I read some quantum physicist who noted that earth, water, air, fire do correspond to the material states of solid, liquid, gas, plasma. The ancients doubtless were NOT aware of such a correspondence, but it does seem to be a somewhat serendipitous "synchrony" that their main guesses at the substances of reality would align with the states of matter.

As far as Nick's ideas about Slenderman, I got the impression that Nick was leaving the door open to various possibilities. He mentioned that there were reports of encounters with slender entities in times past. The impression I got was that Nick may be entertaining the possibility that the entity behind those encounters may have unconsciously impressed the modern internet creator of "Slenderman" to devise his character accordingly. Alternatively, if there are intelligent agents external to mankind that interact and influence people, then perhaps those entities simply take the appearance of any popularly described entity that is convenient for their mischievious, tricksterish, of malevolent activities. This all would depend on the possibility of such entities that can influence humans, especially mentally.
 
Really? Are you saying they now have a stellar-genesis explanation for:
Dark matter . . . ???
Dark energy . . . ???

And even if these postulated "dark" aspects of the universe are never proven, the very postulations show that astrophysical observations still have a ways to go to find a comprehensive explanation about the universe.

As far as the physics or metaphysics of the ancients, a while back I read some quantum physicist who noted that earth, water, air, fire do correspond to the material states of solid, liquid, gas, plasma. The ancients doubtless were NOT aware of such a correspondence, but it does seem to be a somewhat serendipitous "synchrony" that their main guesses at the substances of reality would align with the states of matter.

As far as Nick's ideas about Slenderman, I got the impression that Nick was leaving the door open to various possibilities. He mentioned that there were reports of encounters with slender entities in times past. The impression I got was that Nick may be entertaining the possibility that the entity behind those encounters may have unconsciously impressed the modern internet creator of "Slenderman" to devise his character accordingly. Alternatively, if there are intelligent agents external to mankind that interact and influence people, then perhaps those entities simply take the appearance of any popularly described entity that is convenient for their mischievious, tricksterish, of malevolent activities. This all would depend on the possibility of such entities that can influence humans, especially mentally.

Well...perhaps not everything
Stellar nucleosynthesis - Wikipedia

"Dark Energy" evidently is just a term in the Einstein Field Equations (formerly known as the "Cosmological Constant") that represents the "negative energy" generated by large clumps of space between large clumps of matter (in the normal sense above) where we have enough "pull" (think of rubber bands stretching) to create a situation of negative "pressure" which in turn causes the overall gravitational field of the entire ensemble to "reverse its sign and become repulsive."

"Dark Matter" is probably just a name for our own ignorance regarding the leftovers of big bang nucleosynthesis.

So two items on the list -- one clearly derivative...

Still ... perhaps not "everything" -- we shouldn't split hairs.

 
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