Theos-Talk Archives (December 1998 Message tl00019)

In a message dated 12/21/98 7:06:51 PM Central Standard Time,
bartl@sprynet.com writes:

<< It could have been real. It also could have been set up in case an
 effect was needed. We do not know if the professor mentioned any other
 effects, or if this was the only one he mentioned. If the former, he
 would most certainly have forgotten the ones that did not take place.
 That form of selective memory is a standard tool in a professional
 magician's arsenal. Very often, the description of a magician's trick
 truly is impossible, because the magician works hard to make the key as
 unnoticeable as possible.
  >>

And it could have been both real and sleight of hand.  The study of both are
part of an authentic tradition, and, the manifestation of real paranormal
phenomena is often, on purpose for a variety of reasons, acompanied by sleight
of hand.  Why?  Well one reason is that siddhis do not work right unless the
mind is purified and set in order.  There is a study of how real Siddhis
manifest given various states of impure mind.  And actually, ultimately, all
siddhis are impure to the extent that in its ultimate state the mind is those
powers at root.  But the study of sleight of hand was by far the more
important study.  It was a study in self-knowledge.  That is, it was a study
of the sleeping mind's weakness for constant distraction, mis-directed
attention, and suggestibility.  Many forget that another meaning of maya is to
be hypnotized.  Without some stable measure of moral presence (dhyana as
permanent state of wakefulness or samadhi in some traditions) of the I that is
no longer evasively taken by the world, the ordinary mind is an on-going
process of self-distraction, mis-attention, mis-perception, and
suggestibility.  To study sleight of hand is to come to a knowledge of the
many ways the mind can deceive itself in suggestibility.  The early
difficulties in meditation are the same study conducted from another interior
line.  Ultimately, it is the preliminary line of self-encounter in facing the
many emotional and ethically problematic ways we evade self and others in
personal relationships.

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