• ITC

• Cosmology

• Predictions

• Worldview

• Standard Vocabulary

• Standard Cosmology

• Formation of Electronic Phenomena

• Predictions

• Spiritualism 101

Worldview is a most powerful thing. It is the perspective from which each of us forms an opinion of our surroundings, and thus it is the mold in which we form our local reality. Everything in our experience is measured against this seemingly solid, absolute yardstick of judgment, even as this worldview evolves with our gathering maturity. Those of us who believe many metaphysical concepts are valid, and who have worked to incorporate them into our way of living, know that spiritual maturity grows within us as our worldview becomes more aligned with reality. This is not the reality of our world we seek to understand, but the greater reality that embraces this world and extends beyond our physical knowing.

Perhaps you know people who work with metaphysical concepts without apology and with little doubt in their validity. I expect these people express ideas that seem contradictory to you. For instance, they may express an absolute belief in life after death. Yet when asked for their proof, explain that they have faith in the immortality of Self. Have you decided they are deluded?

This is an important point I hope to clarify with a brief meditation to focus your recollection. After you have finished reading this and the next paragraph, I would like you to close your eyes and relax while you take a deep breath. Remember to hold this breath and feel the oxygen infuse your body with new energy. Slowly exhale, and then take another deep breath and allow your body to settle upon itself. Feel your neck muscles relaxing, your back curving to fit the chair. Allow the air to escape from your lungs, and as your eyelids relax, feel the energy of your breath go to that place in your head that seems to be the center of your relaxation. Relax.

Now I would like you to remember when you have heard someone express what you considered irrational New Age thinking. Perhaps you can remember someone say that Spirit came to them, or that they would send someone healing light. Can you remember something like this? Can you sense the sincerity in their voice? They believed what they said, didn't they? Did you notice that they spoke with the same sincerity others express when they say that they will pray for someone? Can you remember? Can you hear them and sense their sincerity? When you have finished, take another deep breath and sit up in your chair. Stretch and be active for a moment so that you will be alert.

The purpose of this exercise is to help illustrate that a substantial portion of Humankind believes in and successfully applies what I will describe here as metaphysical concepts. While they are widely held concepts, there is little organization to them as a community resource. What people know, they have haphazardly learned through reading and from collectives such as their church or New Age focused gatherings. Can you see the paradox in this? If these concepts are valid, then they are fundamental to human existence. Yet there has been little effort to codify the concepts into an ordered system or to help people find ways to apply them to improve their lot.

By the way, if you practice meditation, you will have recognized this exercise as a brief guided meditation. I asked you to participate in the exercise so that you might sense the potential of meditation, even as you encountered the ambiguity inherent in the terminology. Concepts, such as "center of relaxation" or "sensing," when referring to guided imagery, are intangibles that require you to accept your understanding of their meaning as a matter of faith. Most people arrive at this acceptance with the help of role models, and eventually, by learning to behave as if they understand the concepts. This exercise illustrates the central difficulty of codifying metaphysical terms. That is, it is very difficult to describe abstract terms without a vocabulary derived from shared experience.

A Standard Vocabulary

The study of metaphysics is assuming the mantle of an organized science. To be sure, it is not a hard science . . . yet. You will see though, that it has great potential to become a profound, practical discipline capable of guiding Humankind into a new era of personal understanding. Yes, this is a grandiose claim, but how else would you describe an area of study concerned with the nature of reality? Before this grand potential can be realized; however, considerable effort is required to bring metaphysics out of the darkness of esoterica and into the light of popular wisdom.

Contrary to appearances, metaphysics is not about religion even though it has inherited most of its vocabulary from religion based systems of belief. For this reason, central to the usefulness of metaphysics as a tool for enhancing human potential is the codification of acceptable terms and concepts. My work in describing a metaphysical cosmology, which I refer to as the Standard Cosmology, has shown this normalization of terms to be very important. This is especially true when professionals, who have been trained in the scientific method, are asked to speak to religious or New Age audiences. At issue is the diversity of worldviews. A person of science avoids words that are imbued with emotional meaning, while a person of religion will deliberately use such words. New Agers tend to select words that convey immediacy, making it seem as if nature were a sentient friend. Scientists tend to shun this view as escapism. The objective then, is to select words with meanings that can be agreed to by everyone, at least within the context of the Standard Cosmology.

My approach has been to define terms as they are first used and then to faithfully apply those terms in the context of their definition. A good example of conditional meaning in the Standard Cosmology is the name given the Prime Creator. Names for the Prime Creator, such as "First Cause" or "Creator Intelligence" are more acceptable to pragmatists, while religious leaders prefer "God" or "Infinite Intelligence." "Prime Creator" is used in the Standard Cosmology for any reference to the first cause of our reality. This term is less charged with religious connotation, and helps to keep the reader's focus on important principles, rather than the deity.

Another example is the word "spirit." This word is used in so many ways within religious and New Age communities, but discussions about spirit are often reduced to confusing generalities involving vague references to unseen forces. True, a person who is well based in these cultures can generally capture the intended meaning from context. So yes, communication may be accomplished, but not to the degree necessary for codification. In the Standard Cosmology, "Spirit" with a capital "S" is reserved for an aspect of the Prime Creator believed to be responsible for the operation of Natural Law. When healing energy or energy from the Prime Creator is intended, I ask the religious community to conditionally accept the term "etheric energy" as a general concept, just as I ask the scientific community to conditionally accept the possibility that such energy may exist. "Spiritual" is used as a reference to things concerned with the Prime Creator.

You may think it naive of me to believe I can convince my readers to consider these concepts with an open mind by simply asking them to suspending judgment. My answer is to remind you that this is routinely done in science. In my experience, people of widely differing worldviews are open to consider most metaphysical concepts. It is the context in which these concepts are presented that causes the problems. Once the vocabulary has been normalized and the demand for blind faith removed, disagreements tend to dissolve into simple differences in style. Consider meditation. It has religious origins, yet it has been embraced by the western world as a tool for improving health and for communion with the Self.

At the very core of any worldview is a system of belief. In a religious context, this system of belief is codified in church doctrine. In the scientific community, it is codified in models, laws, hypothesis and the like. In metaphysics, this system of belief is codified in a cosmology that includes a genesis, an explanation of the relationship between Self and the Prime Creator, and a system of Natural Law which seeks to explain the operation of reality.

The cosmology I propose here is intended to provide the foundation for a change in worldview without requiring a change in belief system. It is a hypothesis, and as such, it is a model intended to represent what is understood about reality. As you know, hypothetical models may be used to refine an initial understanding of reality, through iterative testing, to see how well the hypothesis predicts the operation of reality. Some may mistake hypothetical reality for truth, but that is not what is intended. Likewise, some may refuse to accept the possibility that a hypothesis may accurately describe reality and never make the logical leap from conjecture to application. Hypothesis is a tool that can lead to better understanding of reality. I ask you to neither accept the Standard Cosmology as truth, nor reject it as impossible. Above all, have fun with it and imagine . . . what if?

I will begin with a summary of the essential elements of the cosmology followed by a creation story intended to establish the initial condition of our reality. After that, I will focus on some of the more important elements of the cosmology, including a listing of Principles of Natural Law. Finally, I will discuss implications of the Standard Cosmology and suggest ways in which it may be tested.

• There is a prime creator entity.

• The Prime Creator exists in a reality that has evolved as the spiritual maturity of its citizens has evolved.

• Reality is continuous beyond the physical.

• Reality exists as a dynamic response to the operation of Natural Law on etheric energy.

• Creation of reality continues.

• The Prime Creator extended an aspect of Itself as a creator entity, known here as Self, with the instinct to fulfill a specific purpose and self-determination in how to proceed.

• Self's purpose is to experience the operation of Natural Law, understand the implications, and return to its creator entity with that comprehension.

• Self differentiates the nature of etheric energy according to its worldview, and emanate that energy into its environment.

• The Prime Creator extended an aspect of Itself as a formative entity, known here as Spirit, with the instinct to fulfill a specific purpose and self-determination in how to proceed.

• Spirit exists to operate Natural Law in the formation of reality based on images held by Self.

Local reality is a component of a greater reality that has been imagined by one or more creator aspects wishing to understand the operation of Natural Law. As an aspect of a creator entity, Self is a member of a group awareness or hierarchy, to which it will eventually return with a unique understanding of the operation of Natural Law.

Self must enter into a symbiotic relationship with a physical body to exist in the Physical Plane. Between the physical body and Self's creator entity are other bodies associated with the intervening planes of existence of this locale. These bodies are linked through vortices that channel energy to the lower planes. Self's point of view is associated with its lowest frequency body. In the case of a person currently living in the Physical Plane, his point of view is associated with his physical body.

As Self forms an image in its awareness, it gathers etheric energy to that image. Self's intention or expectation for that image to become reality focuses this energy. This focused energy empowers Spirit, which is necessary to manifest the image as a component of reality. Spirit maintains these components as long as Self's attention remains focused on them.

Predictions

Please refer to the Predictions page for more discussion about the predicted consequences of the Standard Cosmology.

• The specific purpose for our existence is to experience the operation of Natural Law. If we do not initially understand its operation, we will continue to have experiences that offer further opportunities for understanding.

• We seldom understand the implications of experiences we have in a lifetime. Therefore, we, as Self, must continue beyond an individual lifetime to understand the Principles of Natural Law. (By the way, imperfect understanding of these principles is the basis of Karma.)

• Our ability to modify local reality depends on our ability to focus attention, our clarity of visualization, our understanding of Natural Law, and our compliance with Natural Law.

• We initially enter into this local reality with the collective understanding of Natural Law held by our creator entity, but with a certain naiveté concerning the specific aspects of Natural Law we are to experience. Therefore, individuals among us will exhibit varying degrees of spiritual maturity that bears little relationship to their physical maturity.

• There is a difference in the nature of reality between our place of awareness and that of our creator entity. Communications must be possible across that difference.

• A veil of forgetfulness must exist to cloud our recollection of nonphysical experience. Such a veil assures our complete involvement with physical experiences. It must require a high degree of spiritual maturity to bridged this veil.

• Physical death, which is transition out of the Physical Plane, will not automatically end Self's involvement with physical reality. Interaction between a discarnate Self and physical reality should be expected for some time after transition.

• We must understand the unique operation of Natural Law in this local reality before we may return to our creator entity. Therefore, there should be cooperation amongst our fellow physical and nonphysical aspects that aids in our pursuit of spiritual maturity.

So there you have the basic Standard Cosmology hypothesis. Reality is complex, and for a model of reality to be of any use, it must necessarily address many abstract subjects. With this in mind, I will now attempt to give you a context for this hypothesis by telling you the following story. As you consider this story, remember that it has been synthesized from many systems of belief. This is information about reality beyond the veil. As nonphysical information, these original beliefs must have been given to Humankind by nonphysical entities, either directly through purposeful mediumship or indirectly through dreams and visions. Thus, I must remind you of the need for discernment. Use this story as a window through which you may glean the basic organization and purpose of our existence as proposed in this hypothesis.

Whatever the truth may be, whatever may lay hidden beyond, its meaning in our lives must be inferred from its influence on our behavior. The one certainty we have is that there is more to reality than that which we sense with our physical selves. Is there a nonphysical reality? What if there is?

Formation of Electronic Phenomena
(Extracted from an email)
Any good hypothesis should have a "so what" that at least suggests possible experiments, even if they are not logistically or economically practical. With that said, we are finding that some of these experiments prove contradicting theories. For instance, some of the early experimenters set up a pair of microphones in a stereo recorder and muffled one so that it could not detect ambient noise. Since the EVP was detected on the channel with the microphone that was not muffled, they concluded that EVP was acoustical in nature. That is, that the voice was being impressed on the ambient noise before being transduced by the microphone.
The evidence we are seeing today argues that the microphone is only useful to transduce noise, and as I will explain in a moment, the actual formation of the voice occurs within the electronic circuit. Thus the same test results can be used as part of a "proof" for two contending theories.

First, I suspect that the entities will communicate wherever they think we are listening. Since I view it as an intelligent effort to communicate with me, I expect them to do so on my audio equipment at normal frequencies. They do. For instance, it is necessary for them to talk to us on the normal side of the sound track. While we accept that the entities sometimes communicate on the reverse of a sound track, we find that it is too difficult to reliably distinguish between EVP and naturally occurring vocalizations.

(By the way, if you have not come up to speed with this yet, the term, "EVP," was coined to describe recorded voice phenomena. When researchers began experiencing other forms of obviously related phenomena, one of our German friends, Dr. Ernst Senkowski coined the term, "Instrumental Transcommunication or ITC. ITC includes EVP, but since "EVP" is part of the AA-EVP's name, the terms will have to coexist for a while longer.)

Some of the very best examples of these phenomena were recorded in the early days of EVP/ITC. Ignoring the possibility that the entities or the experimenter's personal mediumship were coincidentally very powerful, the common factors were vacuum tubes rather than transistors, and when transistors were involved, such as in computer contacts, germanium semiconducting devices were common while today, germanium is no longer used.

We have little experimental evidence of this, but there appears to be a decrease in the quantity and quality of EVP as the vacuum tube based reel-to-reel recorder was essentially pushed off of the market by the less expensive bipolar transistor based cassette recorders. The use of germanium also diminished during this time. There has been an accompanying resurgence in quality and quantity of EVP as the (probably) Field Effect Transistor (FET) based digital note taker (IC recorder) has pushed aside the cassette recorders.

In one evaluation, the reel-to-reel recorder and the IC recorder rated far higher than the average cassette recorder in tests that compared quality  and quantity of recorded EVP. Other than that, we really only have observations to tell us that the IC recorder is an improvement; however, you have a much higher probability of recording an EVP using an (old and cheep) IC recorder than you do using a cassette recorder of any quality. (As the IC recorders evolve into quality music recorders as well, they require more and more external noise to be effective for EVP.)

As I remember my training in device modeling, the vacuum tube and the FET have very similar electrical characteristic models and both are different from the bipolar transistor model. The main ingredient of what was understood about FETs back in the 70s is that the FET depended on more of a plasma field in the active region of the crystal lattice than the bipolar. We know that the vacuum tube is essentially a plasma device.

The entities communicating with the Scole Group wanted them to build a device dependent on a block of germanium immersed in a weak counter rotating magnetic field.

All of these "hints" seem to argue that the active region of the electronic circuit--the transistor junctions and the regions between plates in vacuum tubes--are the point of injection of the phenomena. The information also suggests that vacuum tubes, electronics containing germanium and FET circuits are better choices. Thus, an old Commodore computer may be a good place to begin for the text form of ITC. Alternatively, an FET amplifier stage in the recording circuit that has been engineered with germanium might prove to be the foundation of an important psi detector.

Now, turning our attention to sound and optical energy, we know that physical energy that is highly chaotic is important as a raw material for the formation of phenomenal voices and images. I think of the ideal energy as having numerous optional stable states with energy wells that are not too deep. The energy should have instability in phase as well as an amplitude.

In metaphysics, we have been told over the millennia that an entity must be energetically in agreement with the aspect of reality it will inhabit. That is the Principle of Agreement. What it indicates for EVP is that the thoughts of the communicating entity, which are nonphysical, must be "embodied" if it is to exist in the physical aspect of reality. I believe that, as in mental mediumship, there is a mind-to-mind exchange of information in the etheric between the communicating entity and the experimenter's etheric Self. The experimenter is entangled with his or her physical body so that the Self's nonphysical images (resulting in thoughts and words) can be transformed or embodied into the physical. Thus, it seems that the actual mechanism by which nonphysical influences are able to be energetically in agreement with the physical is via entities already in the flesh. Naturally, the actual injection of the information as an EVP is via a telekinetic influence of the experimenter under the direction of the communicating entity. A similar model can be found in automatic writing.

Of course, this is a theory.

In physical science, we see that order will emerge from chaotic energy through the process of stochastic resonance. The communications industry has been experimenting with this little-known physical phenomena to amplify very weak signals, thus extending the distance before a signal regenerator is required in transmission systems. In effect, a very weak signal will act as a nexus when heterodyned with a much stronger chaotic, broadband signal to produce an "emergent" signal in the noise that resembles the weak signal. However, the emergent signal is composed of the noise components, not necessarily the components of the weak signal. this would analyze as a "thickening" of the noise, as has been detected by Paolo Presi (http://www.laboratorio.too.it).

So, to complete the circuit began above as an etheric mind-to-mind exchange of information, the telekinetic influence brought by the experimenter is a weak psi signal. If plasma fields are sensitive to psi energy, whatever it is, then the combination of chaotic, option-rich energy, plasma-intensive active regions in the circuit and a weak psi signal can produce large scale phenomena, such as phenomenal voices and images.

Okay, so that is my thinking. It is testable in a number of areas. For instance, analysis of the effectiveness of individual component types in a test bed should be possible, given enough experiments are conducted. The problem, of course, is finding a way to standardize the experimenter's ability to collect EVP. It is this difficulty that causes us to depend on collected anecdotal evidence. That and time and funding.

There is nothing I have written here that should be taken as "the final word" about these phenomena. Everything is open for discussion and revision.

Back to FAQ

Contact Tom Butler