Creativity

I am so happy to be thinking about creativity again.  Seriously.  My dreams brought me back to it.

One night several weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with this thought in my head: "If you don't help Larry Moss and Kelly Cheatle promote their Airigami Balloon Adventure, your career will be ruined."  And when my dreams give me messages, I listen. This one was firm and clear and accompanied with some intense insomnia.  So I got up, went to my computer, and began collecting email addresses for school leaders in the school systems in the five counties surrounding Rochester.  And I drafted an email to them about Journey on the Genesee.  And I promised to do more if I was needed.  I listen to my dreams, for they are the deepest truth I know.

I handed out a lot of bookmarks.  I talked about it where ever I went.  I help them back up the media attention they received.  I'm sad to say that only about 20% of the emails I sent out (using MailChimp) were opened.  I'm not sure how else to measure my impact.  But a lot of people attended the event, anyway. 45,000 people, I think.

A different kind of dream then redirected my attention - a dream of achievement.  A dear old friend posted this on Facebook: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2015/03/creative-genius-driven-by-distraction.html and I gotta say it really turned my head.  I don't remember telling Ryan about my past aspirations to academically study the phenomenon of creativity.  I remember Lorraine offering me a lot of really great advice on how to achieve that dream in the best way possible. I remember Billy Lictor responding to my aspiration by saying he was going to go a PhD in philosophy.  I don't remember telling Lisa,  but she remembers me telling her about it, and reminded me when I wasn't expecting it.  It was exciting to realize that the American Journal of Play might be a outstanding source of inspiration in my work toward the goal.  But I don't remember telling Ryan.  We had fallen out of contact when the dream was fresh, and I gave the dream little thought until he delivered that without even a comment. Sometimes I suspect that powerful forces are at work behind the scenes.  More than once I've suspected that lazy smart guy to be slightly magic.  It seems my friends won't let me forget that dream, which ten years ago, was the biggest dream I could fathom for myself.

Ah, the article.  It isn't even an article.  It is a citation to a journal that I do not have access to.  Basically it says "Science wants to let you know that creative people think differently!" I must read it, and learn more about their measurements.

Then, on a rare morning with a few minutes entirely to myself, I visited Henrietta Public Library.  Sometimes the new nonfiction section at this library seems to have stalked my life and displays at least one book aimed at each of my present interests.  This was one of those days.  I passed over perhaps five books that I might have selected to read if it were not for Elizabeth Gilbert's book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.  Sometimes a book hits you at just the right time, and the impact is gorgeously big and beautiful.  I'm not sure yet if this book serves that need for me, but it did do one thing that has been silently nagging at me.  It got me think in such a way that forced me to write.  This was sorely needed.  I once considered myself a person that must write in order to understand things properly.  In all the turmoil I've weathered these past eight years, I have gotten away from that because I neglected to put words to paper.  I failed to allow my thoughts to take form.  Forgive me if I'm rusty.  My children have taken precedence.

I used to write obsessively.  Constantly.  It was my meditation.  I think lately ideas have been packed in my mind so tightly I'm not even sure how to let them out.  I'm like a joke can of mixed nuts that actually has spring snakes bound up inside.  All the ideas come out at once the moment I try to pry off the lid.  There is much work to be done.

The thing I love best about the book so far is that Gilbert might understand the many aspects to accessing information through thought forms for creative purposes, better than many spiritual students subscribing to the belief that thoughts are things.  (For more on thoughts as physical objects, check out mike Dooley http://www.tut.com/)  She says that in order to be a proper channel, to be selected by an idea as the person to make an actual thing here in our physical world, based on a concept in the spiritual world, we must prove our selves as creators to be hard working and ready to offer our life over to the manifesting of the great big beautiful idea.  Yes.  I haven't created much in recent years because I haven't been in a position to put in the hours needed to give great ideas the life they deserve.  I have been busy creating a foundation for my children's lives, studying libraryland for what it is, and also floundering around like a fish out of water because I've been living in poverty.  And these tangents are valuable because they have given me more than enough material from which I may draw creative ideas to communicate.

Much more to follow.  Stay tuned.

!

PS http://www.organizingcreativity.com/

Advocacy Through Narrative.

Today, I find it completely necessary to look into the action of finding value in one's self as a support person.  This is an integral part of library advocacy, and also very beneficial to non-tangibles, like feelings of self-worth in the face of obstacles, and understanding the elements of successful community building.  When we consider important tangible tasks, such as allocating funds, creating budgets, offering achievement awards in recognition of accomplishments, or defining accomplishments, et cetera, we must have something on which to base decisions and value judgements. Two types of evidence support an argument: statistical and narrative.

It is my understanding that funding in library land seems to rely too heavily on quantifiable measurements.  How many people walked through the door of the library each day?  How many items circulated?  How many reference questions were addressed?  How many times did the phone ring, and how many times was it answered?  How many items were overdue, and how much money was lost or raised based on items lost and fines created and then paid or not paid? These are all useful measures, I am sure, but in my heart I know that there must be more to understanding the value of supporting others than by these quantifiable measures. Studies have shown that well employed narratives can be even more effective in persuasion than statistics.  (http://zengerfolkman.com/stories-vs-data-which-one-is-more-effective/)

Sharing a touching story about an individual visiting the library with a problem, building a relationship with a librarian, and then resolving the problem (and others) more fully than they imagined possible, is an essential tool.  Librarians are charged with the task of helping both rescue individuals struggling in poverty, and also uplifting those precious people leading our community with outstanding achievements. Librarians are true catalysts for the continued existence of the American dream, even as some argue it is no longer possible.  Librarians find ways to prove these nay-sayers wrong, and the credit for the achievements rarely lands on their names because they are facilitators. Librarians are essential community members.  Yet, many towns and cities have fallen into wrongly thinking that librarians are an unnecessary expense, and libraries will be replaced by a massive robot  known as the Internet.

I adore narrative in another way that is worth mentioning.  It can serve as an outstanding source  of unexpected inspiration.  Sometimes, when I am reading fiction, I discover characters or events begin to remind me of people I know, or circumstances that exist in real life.  The fiction narrative begins to truly come alive for me.  I find I am inspired to think about things in a new way.  My perspective freshens.  I develop ideas.  Sometimes the likenesses are not quite clear cut.  A character reminds me of both myself and another person with whom I feel conflict or perhaps a person I don't know well.  Again, my perspective shifts.  I must stop reading and think carefully.  What meaning might I gather from these budding seeds this narrative has planted in my own consciousness?  How will I allow my understanding of true life to change?  Sometimes the ideas that grow are weeds, and sometimes they are beautiful blossoms.  I must take care to think critically about insights gathered from fiction narratives, as it is a powerful tool in deepening my understanding of life.

As a librarian, I wonder if I might help others by offering narratives that might be inspiring sources of information leading to a valuable shift in thinking.  On a good day, it is intuitively easy.  The resource I need to describe the idea I want to communicate comes to mind instantly.  Other times, people may be oblivious or even hostile to opening their minds to resources that facilitate new thinking.  It's a mixed bag.  I find it easiest to play with picture books, or comics, because the short, digestible length and and multiple pathways to meaning allows both words and visual images to create a quick, strong hook.  Sometimes I really love it when others find narratives that hook me, and other times I really wish this person and their narrative would just go away.  Far away.


Normally, we carry stories around inside us like they are some sort of secret, or they are filed away deep in an archive and irrelevant to the day's activities. Life is easier to live without constantly looking backwards.  But it is important to stop and take time to reflect.  We are all on a quest to explore our world, to sharpen our skills, to be entertained, to grow our neural network actively or passively.  There are consistent themes that serve as pathways to greater wisdom, visible across time and space.  Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung wrote about universal archetypes, and what joy it is to find aspects of ourselves in these stories. How I love discovering these themes and using them to deepen my understanding of life.  We must remember to be gentle with each other as we grow our minds together, because this is the beautifully vulnerable nature of building intelligence.  Sometimes we discover we need to make changes in ourselves.  And that can be scary. It requires work.

Reflecting on daily life may be useful source material for advocacy purposes.  We are all members of communities, and we must all work to support each other.  It is unsettling, but the majority of us are undervalued and disempowered. The current social order requires it. No one wants to see the massive upheaval that is necessary to make the changes that are needed to restore the planet to its proper balance.  But changes are coming, so we best prepare.  Wouldn't it be great if we could find more and better ways to advocate for ourselves and each other and things that matter by utilizing the powerful emotional force inherent within narrative?  


Examples of stories that show me myself and others often arise unexpectedly as literature containing information enters my life in an entirely haphazard, unorganized manner.  That's the way it is for a librarian without an actual library or book budget. You had better believe that my life has been quite a story.  And that story may never be told.  It seems counter-productive to stop the day to day flow of work and life, the act of endlessly supporting my family and online community, to reflect upon the way I offer value by being a volunteer Internet librarian between jobs and a single mother of two.  I am humbled by my incredible, interesting collection of friends, contrasted against my own apperntly terrible failure of a life. 

Online, I watch my social network grow, and we all build knowledge and become together. There is much amusement to be had, and high aspirations to reach, and dreams to explore.  Yet, in my own life I fear I've dug a deep, deep hole rather than aspired to reach a towering summit. A blog is a uesful tool to make note of my professional achievements.  I am told it is important that I take time specifically to write about the mile markers I encounter on my journey.  Some days are so rich with discoveries, I am a loss for words.  Ideas are beautifully abundant, and I imagine my Online friends take these things I offer and use them in powerful ways .  Other days are quieter, and I wait and wonder what great idea will find its way to me next? How I can notice the treasures before me right away, so that I may identify where the information needs to go so it may serve the best and highest purpose?

It’s tempting to talk a lot about myself, my story, and my life achievements in this blog entry.  I want to resist that urge. It feels self-indulgent.  It might be like wallowing in my inadequacies, or bragging about natural good fortune.  It might be like reliving things that I would rather keep to myself and allow to stay in the past.  Even as the years have pressed on, and the challenges of my journey have grown into a mountain whose summit has yet to appear before me, I don’t think that telling my own story will serve the best purpose.  Plus, there parts of my story that really hurt.  And then there is that time I was subbing at Arnett branch and the new page asked me questions about myself until I answered then he acted as if I was busted and in trouble for talking about my own life while I was working.  It sometimes seems as if I am living in a novel that is only partially created without a formula or a map of the plot.  There is so much meaning in each experience, but I'm not sure how to organize them or allow them to provide their best value to others.  Talking about my own experiences feels self-indulgent and wrong. Yet, people need inspiration, and courage, and love, and when I see others find a piece of their puzzle in my story, I find my life has created the meaning I’ve been seeking.  I am supporting others by having lived these challenges.

I can't explain how many times I've asked myself how to better improve my journey.  I have searched myself endlessly, thought I'd found my internal limits, and then another seeming impossible challenge would present itself. And then another.  The endless message seems to be that librarians aren't innovating enough!  I'm not innovating enough!?  How can I possibly earn professional achievements without being granted paid opportunities to work toward them? I live in a Facebook void!  The way out is slavery, I mean volunteer work. That's what I must do?  Might I offer my colleagues my life story as if it were a novel that brings tears to eyes from time to time? I fear they don't even care.  They are detached and self-interested.  We are all too humiliated to share.  We have been shamed by our communities, by Amazon, and by Google.  And our value persists.  Because all those people that thought libraries would become irrelevant were dead wrong.  And in many communities, libraries budgets have been gutted and everyone suffers.

I've worked a bit, but nothing that meets the needs of my family.  The bosses mostly just want to pass me around as a sub, and the amount of frustration that my family suffers from a lack of financial stability and a variable schedule is detrimental to my children and myself.

Here I sit, bleeding at the altar of my desk before a cheap computer and social media.  Sacrificed to those that have played games with peoples’ lives siphoning wages and personal security away from people that make a positive, valuable impact on the lives of others in order to line their own pockets or finance innovation that may or may not enjoy success.  Libraries are tried and true institutions that add value to communities. They are just as essential to the intellectual health of a community as a public school.  They serve everyone.

I have so many stories to tell, and in all honesty, I’m scared to tell them.  The stories of my ideas, the stories of my contributions, the stories of my successes, and the stories of my failures will all leave me feeling exposed to greater pain and greater frustration. I know that I have suffered enough.  I think people will use me as step stool, then forget about the person they’ve just stepped on to reach their own selfish goal.  The goal being a part time job without benefits!  I love it when people reach goals.  But I do not want to be walked over.  

How might I measure the impact of my activities in supporting my community through research and informal encouragement? It just so happens I have a real strength in understanding problems.  I can break things apart into manageable pieces then are then simpler to solve, but I'm also able to take a great deal of other ideas into account as I conceptualize solutions.  I am a creative thinker.  I do feel called to community work and serving through leadership, but developing the librarian skills and experience necessary to form that strong foundation of accomplishments to cite as evidence for my qualifications to lead, is, in essence, the greatest barrier to my long term success.  I’m climbing a sheer cliff with few foot holds. 

There must be a way to communicate the value I offer my patrons as I donate endless hours following hundreds of unorganized Facebook feeds and friends.  I offer people solutions.  Social networking is amazing and powerful.  But it doesn't fit on a resume. My friends, please share your thoughts?

You chose how technology shapes your world view

Futurists have often talked about how the current era would be marked by instability.  Technological change being the only constant.  And that those able to evolve would become kings, and those to stagnate would have no choice but to perish.  I wondered how much of this toxic climate was created by the rhetoric of those in power, and how much of it was true because of the genuine shift that was occurring beneath us at the informational bases. True, the manner in which information consumption occurred for most people had shifted as the oceans of published information became, in a sense, radioactive and glowing, as the opportunity to publish anything became a force encouraging people to publish EVERYTHING, and as the very nature of the lives of the “haves” refocused toward integrating electronic equipment as a primary focus of our very thought patterns.  It is true that many people became completely reliant on external devices for their daily functioning, and having the right apps in life can make the difference between professional success and failure.  And professional failure led to a perceived devolution in which individuals might be forced to live like animals, growing their own food or residing in over-priced, dimly lit cages, I mean apartments.  And I somehow had always known that the social state was predestined.  Maybe it was all predicted in the book of Revelations, which I had little interest in studying anymore, or that the circular nature of time provided a knowing in the very fabric of the universe that this point approaching a major cultural drop off had in fact occurred many times before, and that we were just another layer of pigment smeared across a canvas.  Same story.  Different eon.  I felt certain that these massive destabilizing changes were nothing new.  And this understanding did absolutely nothing to lessen the logistical challenges of each day.

It never failed to amaze me the degree to which subtle word choice wields power.  Small details in how things are presented created massive shifts in tone that lead to an entirely different effect on the reader.  That being said, I claimed no expertise in presenting ideas, rather I was a deep seeker into depths of meaning that words provided.  And the things I was drawn to read were mostly a complete waste of time.  Facebook posts and book reviews dominated, probably because I found that I wanted the experience of existing on the very pulse of the flow of information.  I wanted to be a part of that super highway of idea exchange. I wanted to be like a fiber optic cable, ready to efficiently move ideas where they needed to go.  

That interest was so strong, it was far too easy to become lost in it. The human mind, simply a biological step away from that of a robot.  A heartbeat, capable of existing beyond human death because most of the life essence had been funneled into the devices that directed the details creating existence.  "I could become the human mind of a robot, perhaps a beautiful young woman version of Stephen Hawking, if that could even be a thing," I imagined.  Astounding.  Incredible.  My mind reeled in search of the right words to describe the awesome, infinite power in this opportunity.  And at the same time, I was disgusted by the thought.  What a life it would be, living inside the Internet.  Like perhaps it could be something different than sitting at a desk reading.   

Was this, or was it not damaging to me and my children?  It may have a had powerful enough energy drive to prevent us from experiencing the physical lifeblood of being a biological human. It may have pulled us in to its intoxicating trance with a technological power I could only attribute to an other worldly intelligent design.  We were removed from the land. We were removed from the slowly growing exposure to toxins that we had created to poison the land in an effort to force beautiful, sweet, nature to submit to our all powerful will.  It stopped me from venturing into the sunlight with wide eyes and enjoying the texture of soil.  It prevented my mind from focusing on my children, who mattered most, and even discouraged my eyes from meeting those of another human being.  The Internet connected me and disconnected me at the same time.  In infested society like a highly addictive drug.

*****

I had this research interest in…  I guess I will call it meditation.  Meditating is powerful because it creates the opportunity to stop the flow of information into our minds from the physical world around us, and rather shine a light on the flow of information within us. We learn to see our thoughts, discover where they originate, and direct them to best create an internal world in which we may flourish.  If done long enough, we learn a great deal about our own ability to experience the power of intuition, read the energy fields of various aspects of our environment, heal earthly problems, communicate with spiritual beings, understand dream symbols, read the synchronicities and bad luck streaks in our lives, communicate with non-human animals, and access a powerful source of information that often reminds me the vast expanse of the Internet without the necessity of a device. Because as creatures living on the planet Earth, these skills and more are readily available to us if we chose to cultivate our minds in that way.

Some people I know have made extensive comments about the destruction of our planet through environmental degradation.  We all find it so easy to deny, or perhaps feel completely powerless to stop the problem.  It doesn’t really affect my life today, so why should I change?  The Internet experience is flooded with information about these things.  However we no longer live in the era of television.  In the era of television, viewers passively received information that in a sense programmed people to employ certain beliefs and opinions imposed upon them by the powerful leaders able to purchase broadcast time.  

In this Internet era, we are offered the beautiful, expansive opportunity, if we are willing to open enough to thinking critically, to see things as they truly are and not how they are presented to us by marketing experts. 

It is psychologically very difficult to change fixed worldviews and opinions.  Those with agile minds, willing to perceive issues from multiple angles will be the best suited for the future.  Big money has shifted away from television marketing, attempted unsuccessfully to conquer the Internet, but has found a nice comfortable bed in the field of education.  Technology is the driving force for developments in the field of education, and these changes will be hugely significant in the next century in terms of how people think, how able we are to get past environmental challenges, and how future generations will spend money.  Young, malleable minds are easy to shape, and very difficult to change once they have formed certain thinking tracks.  So we must carefully think about the use of technology.  Do the innovations drive from the top of society down, or from the bottom up, as in people have a need and something is discovered to meet that need? 

That’s a lot to digest.  Rather than overwhelm my readership, I will stop there for today.

Understanding the challenges of thought forms

I am currently reading The Science of Meditation by H. Saraydarian.  While there are 350 pages of great information, I'd like to focus for a time on thought forms.  Now, I understand that those of you who are not inclined to believe in things that you cannot see, touch, smell, hear, and taste may not find this particular blog entry in harmony with your way of thinking.  That’s fine. Go do something else with your time now.

If you are open minded and still with me, HI!!!  Thought forms.  There seems to be a suggestion among deeply spiritual thinkers and metaphysicists that Thoughts are Things.  I’ve heard about this enough times, and from enough directions that I am curious and need to know more.  What does that mean? I’m skeptical, because how can something be a thing if it’s… not a thing?  Not tangible?  Only exists for one person?  It doesn’t make sense in my cultural background.  Fortunately it does make sense to Hindus, and the language barrier is manageable. 

So they say it possible to create an object by thinking.  It doesn’t happen every time, and some people are unable to do it because of their level of Spiritual development. Hmm. A thought form is like a cloud or a bubble that has a shape, a color, density, velocity, and other characteristics.  It is implied that it may be possible to observe or measure, but I have yet to find a thought form scientist beyond the depth of information in this book.  Thought forms can combine with other thought forms, or other thoughts.  They can die.  They can pop or dissipate.  They can get really big and control the thinking of mobs of people.  It is said they have an electrical charge and that there are a great many in existence. Groups of thought forms, or “Clouds of Knowable Things” serve as storehouses of ideas, and can provide great wisdom and beauty to those that know how to access them.  Great thinkers contribute to them through visualizations, the creation of new knowledge, and working with the right spirit guides.  These storehouses are accessed telepathically.  Thought forms are understood telepathically, which seems to inhibit their study by a Western scientific approach, even though telepathy has been scientifically studied with well documented results for over hundred years and is proven to exist.

Lower strata thought forms have great destructive power.  They feed on greed, hatred, jealousy, and feelings of separateness.  The information contained within are easily available, and considered dangerous.  They can control or possess people, or magnify problems with thinking distortions.  Targets can be one or more people up to a very large group of people led to falsely define collective reality.  They can direct your focus. These thought forms are especially dangerous to people who allow their thinking to polarize, known to me as "black and white thinking" (no shades of grey) or "us vs. them mentality."  Any thinking distortions are weak points.

There is advice about how to overcome the effects of negative thought forms and of course it involves meditating on specific beneficial themes. Serendipitously, the day I selected a theme for myself I to study, I listened to a powerful sermon by a spiritual leader that I felt was in conflict with my present lesson.  This, to me, was validation because I was immediately tested.   I found it interesting when the book pointed out that highly powerful esoteric and occult knowledge was carefully guarded by ancient brotherhoods and religious sects until inductees had passed an intense battery of personality tests.  The reason being that great damage can be caused by knowledge falling into the wrong hands. Any weakness in a teacher is magnified through all that person's students.  Thus the value of spiritual lessons is measured by the number of lessons successfully completed rather than the specific content of the lesson. I tend to have faith that guides guard occult knowledge and skills based on a soul's level of development, but the chapter on evil scared me a bit in some of the beginning knowledge that has become available to individuals with malicious intent.  It is a major power struggle in the physical plane these days.

The process of creating thought forms is not available to all people, but the author gives clues that in advanced meditation, light can come together in the mental plane to take on a physical form. These happen around basic structures created by normal thinking, with the assistance of the Solar Angel, our great Teachers, or with our own minds if we are highly evolved. Regular thoughts provide blueprints for thought forms that may be built to meet the needs of individual personalities.  Sometimes thought forms are built on these blueprints that do not resemble the original thoughts at all, but rather combine with a very different thought energy to form a crystallized structure.  This frequently happens when lower emotions, desires, and selfish aims cause the original thoughts to degenerate.  Proper meditation time the quality of the substance used to create forms, and allows them to enjoy more beautiful harmonies and correspondences. Noticing distorted thought forms that have crystallized on your own blue prints may be a clue to carefully consider the seeds of your original thoughts and the true motivation behind the thoughts.

It is completely necessary to observe our own thoughts, and be very discriminating about the thoughts we allow into our mental sphere.  It becomes possible to determine the sources for thoughts.  We must guard our minds because of the potential for harm, especially while in meditation.   “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” It is possible to destroy unwanted thought forms that act as hindrances.  

In my own life, this all makes a lot of sense to me in the context of quitting smoking, or learning remaining calm in very stressful or infuriating circumstances.  “That is why a disciple is a man who can destroy those thought forms that prevent the inflow of more light, or free action, free radiation of light, love, and power.”  The book goes on to discuss specifically how occult meditation can carry on the destruction of a few types of unwanted thought forms. 

Thought forms are attached to their creator by etheric threads that may be made of various substances with various characteristics and link to various energy centers in the body and its energy field. It is possible, through meditation, to trace these threads back and understand their source. Some people believe that it these etheric threads are significantly attached to natural earth processes, explaining primitive beliefs about human thought problems causing natural disasters like earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.  This author insists it is true that our thinking cannot be separated from nature, and that the only true path to the science of species survival is through meditation.  People must learn to discriminate thoughts sourced from the lower mental planes from those coming from various sources, from those originating from one’s own soul, from his Ashram, and from his Master.  (My own spiritual cultural tradition speaks of guides, God, formerly alive people, and maybe aliens?) Once the source has been determined, they can be reshaped according to need. These are considered beginning level thinking activities because dharma (duty) is to serve the will of the Solar Angel.  

“The man reaches the highest state of thinking at the Fourth Initiation. After that thinking is the manipulation of atmic and buddhic energies through straight knowledge or intuitive perception in order to create in line with the divine Purpose and formulate it into the Plan to further the goal of evolution upon higher and higher planes. And this is what we learn to do in meditation [ibid].”

Thought forms are crystallized, materialized forms sourcing from a thinker. In any thought form, it possible to find part of the original thought, which is called the life principle of the thought form. The thought form exists because of this originating principle.  When the life principle is withdrawn, the thought form is a corpse in the mental sea until it breaks down over time, until it dissapates.   

Metaphysicists encourage us to look to outer space and the behavior of planets and stars to help visually understand the behaviors of thought forms.   Mediation can be dangerous for people that carelessly create thought forms without trying to find the seed of the thought, symbol, or idea, especially when it is repeated many times over time.  Late night TV commercials for pharmaceuticals endlessly repeating worry me here. This pattern can cause very real obstacles on our spiritual paths, forming a hard shell of energy around us, preventing the healthy flow of energy that allows us to live our best possible lives. 

To “slay the slayer” is to prevent ourselves from forming crystals in our minds, allowing dead thought forms to live within us, or to allow ourselves to coexist with many illusions.  A free thinker does not exist with dead thought forms, prejudice, superstitions, dogmas, or doctrine.  [S]he is able to shape and reshape thoughts and communication methods as needed with ease.  This is science.

Meditation is a flight toward infinity, cultivating an open mind. There are many possible missteps when beginning to understand the astral world.  Our minds have associate many, many false truths. It is worth the effort to learn to meditate well, for the rewards are great.

Wrong meditation:

• Obsession or fanaticism solidifies a false path, preventing evolution and it also kills creativity. 
• Meditation on surface level without searching for the seed thought.
• Using the seed thought to verify things already known, or twisting information to prove something.
• Focusing on a seed thought with the intent of serving selfish motives, or for attacking or controlling others.
• Seeking justification of your own line of thinking, doctrine, or dogma. (Not scientific.  We seek truth or reality, not create it.)

I hope this helps.  The book is 350 pages long, so there is plenty more to consider.  I was also very fascinated by the chapter on evil, and the detailed description of characteristics of various levels of spiritual development. For example, individuals studying the emotional body often experiences great challenges with their physical body in life, and those studying the mental body have the great challenges in life with their emotions!  Interesting stuff.