Author Michael Talbot, who has popularized the concept of the “holographic universe,” explains how many researchers now believe that the miraculous appearances of Virgin Mary are “hologram-like projections” created by the collective beliefs of the human race. These observations echo the yogic idea that ghosts are hallucinatory creations of a concentrated and fearful mind. These “ectoplasmic creations ‘ are so “real” that they can even be photographed. And, in fact, Talbot writes that photographic reproductions of many of these apparitions do exist.
Consequently people believe that they christian mysticism are manifestations of the Virgin Mary Herself. Talbot also reports that many scientists now believe that a large percentage of UFO sightings and abductions are holographic creations of our subconscious minds. As psychologist Carl Gustav Jung claimed, these extraterrestrial sightings are elves and dragons in modern disguise.
So if the human mind can create such “holographic” visions in outer space, so to speak, it must also be capable of creating them in inner space, within the mind itself, and then communicate with them as if the visions or voices are real and are coming from somewhere or someone else. Some channelers’ experiences, for example, may therefore be explained as hologram-like visions within the mind.
Thus channeling experiences may not simply originate from an outside source. They can also be caused by mental pictures that are brought up from the subconscious or super-conscious mind and reflected onto the conscious mind-even when the visions are conceived to be of something external. The messages the channeler hears are only the echo of his or her own voice, a subtle psychic self-deception.
Mystical Imagery
The use of religious deities may help shed some light on the process of channeling. The ancient religious Gods and Goddesses, such as Kali or Ganesha, arose in part through a process of giving external form to abstract ideas.
A mystic may have conceived of a certain idea or reached a certain state of mind, and to make that concept better understood psychologically, an image was invented. When that mythological or psychological image becomes part of the social culture, it shapes people’s collective psychology or mythology.
Thus people start worshipping these images, and through their worship they may gain certain psycho-spiritual experiences. They may also dogmatically believe that these Gods and Goddesses are “real.”
Whether mental images are channeled or have originated from a religious archetype, these experiences are still “authentic” in a psychic sense. These images or voices becomes a portal into God’s Cosmic Mind, so to speak, via our own deeper unconscious. Hence, we can receive knowledge we normally are not able to access with our conscious mind.
In the words of mystic Paul Brunton: “Mystical experiences do happen and only the materialist, who will not trouble to investigate, dares deny their occurrence. But when each mystic tells of seeing only that God or that savior or that Guide whom he already worship or honors, the thoughtful scientific inquirer naturally and rightly becomes suspicious.”
In other words, a Christian may see Mother Mary or Jesus or pictures of the orthodox heaven, a Hindu may see Kali or Shiva. If the heart yearns intensely for the impersonal Brahma or God, but-whether through environmental suggestion or historical tradition-associates this goal with a particular mental image, there will undoubtedly be an unconscious projection of the image into one’s mystical experiences.
Meditative images are also consciously used in yoga, for example, to focus the mind in order to yield a certain spiritual result. These images are tools and keys by which the aspirant opens the door to higher states of consciousness. They are not those states, nor do they exist outside the mind. They are bridges and portals to carry us along on a transcendental journey to deeper parts of ourselves.
Ultimately, the doors open so wide that our mind becomes one with That Mind, the Mind of God.
So, the goal of all truly authentic spiritual quests appears to be to form a personal relationship between ourselves and Cosmic Consciousness, or God.
The whole universe is soaked in God Consciousness. Indeed, according to both yogis and quantum physicists, there appears to be nothing but Consciousness. Hence all things can be communed with as if they are conscious, even rocks and deities, even emotions and visions, because everything is a manifestation of that Ultimate Consciousness.