Introduction (excerpt from Second Thunder)

(From Second Thunder by MSI)

The Vision of the Source Universe

DANCE WITH ME, CHILDREN OF THIS LATTER AGE.
DANCE WITH ME AS I SING OF THE ONE.

This is an invitation to share my vision.

Other worlds lie just beneath the surface of our rational minds.

In one, infinite yet unconscious forces interact mindlessly in chaotic patterns, creating and destroying as if randomly, by accident.

In another, gods and heroes struggle against manifest evil in the all but hopeless quest to save their worlds from destruction.

In yet another, every moment without exception unfolds in perfect harmony with the will of the Creator-Of-All-That-Is.

The experience of alternate universes is more often than not repressed in our modern age. This is tragic, for repression leads to confusion, to distorted perception, to fear.

There is nothing in life to fear. Para, the Source Universe which has given rise to all others, floats throughout Eternity as a radiant golden sphere, bathed in the azure flames of the infinite Light and unending love of the omnipotent One. That Universe is perfect. And since it is the Source of all other created universes, all must also be perfect. Apple trees create only apples. Love creates only love. Perfection creates only perfection. It is only identification with the projected dream-worlds that leads to suffering.

Even then, it is dream-suffering. Only our age-old yet moment-by-moment decision keeps us bound to our individual dream-creations.

This can end at any moment: Para surrounds, underlies and permeates every particle of the dream worlds. Because this is true, anyone anywhere at any time can experience the One Ascendant Reality. It can be found anywhere, but is most easily discovered inside your heart. It is the essence of every good thing: life, consciousness, joy, love.

The experience of Para results in a state of consciousness named by various Earth traditions: salvation, nirvana, enlightenment, infinite Awareness, satori, Cosmic Consciousness, Eternal Freedom, praying without ceasing, the peace which passes all understanding, Perpetual Consciousness. The name is supremely unimportant; the content of this experience is everything.

Whatever we choose to call it, no suffering of any kind is possible in this state. Life is lived in permanent joy, in infinite love, in unbroken contact with the Source.

In an instant of frozen time, no longer than the gap between two heartbeats, a being fully and permanently in contact with the Source Universe shared his vision with me. This was a free gift, a wordless joining of his infinite mind with mine.

In the years that have passed since that magical, suspended instant, I have only begun to appreciate what this means to my life, to remember that which I long ago knew fully well but then forgot. I am an Unbounded Being. Living in a human body, I experience the infinite Ascendant continually. The Thunder books are an attempt to explain this state of consciousness, to describe the Reality of the wonder of this experience.

Words are finite, limited tools, most loved by longing minds. They will forever fall short of the experience of Truth. Truth is lived and can be shared; the best words can do is point the finger of understanding at it. Words can say, “The Moon is there.” They do not and cannot give the experience of the Moon. At their best, they will inspire one to seek the experience they describe.

Seeking the Black Ishayas records a series of visions and experiences I had while studying with the Ishayas. The total elapsed time was only several days, but the total vision time was of many years.

The experiences flowing through me were far removed in space and time from the reality of this world. They were of a series of other lifetimes that uncannily paralleled the outer occurrences among my friends, particularly Edg and Sharon, at and around the Ishayas’ monastery.

During this period, I fought a life and death struggle with my ego. It nearly mastered me on four separate occasions — not coincidentally, after the instruction in the Second Sphere Solar Technique, the Lunar Technique, the Earth Technique and the Second Cognition. The visions inspired by learning each of these techniques coincided exactly with changes in my personal life that were intense and, in one case, as terrible as I could have ever dreamed possible: the loss of Sharon.

If I had known from the beginning how much I would give up to gain enlightenment would I have continued on? Probably not. Only in hindsight do I see the beauty inherent in my personal tragedy.

Everyone’s path is different. The incredible ease with which some grow under the Ishayas’ care never ceases to amaze me. I look at my life and it seems I have always chosen the hardest possible path — and yet I know there was no other choice for me. And there are others who have suffered much more greatly.

Whatever it takes. That is the only attitude that is real, the only attitude that works, the only attitude that assists one to reach the goal. Whatever I have to do in order to realize enlightenment, that I will do. This was the viewpoint I adopted in the Himalayas, and the only one that could have carried me through my trials to the end.

For those who seek enlightenment, no other frame of mind can be substituted for this one. No other frame of mind will succeed. One must be willing to give up everything — every belief, every judgment, every attachment — then only can there be progress. For it is exactly where one digs in one’s heels and says, “So far and no farther” that the ego draws the battleline.

It is not possessions, it is attachments which cause trouble. What must be given up? Nothing. What must one be willing to give up? Everything. When one is ready to be free from everything, life begins in earnest. The dawning of the True Light is never far behind.

The Thunder series describes the opening of the consciousness of the human race to ever deeper and subtler experiences of enlightenment. There exists a collective consciousness of humanity that underlies and permeates all of our beliefs and experiences. This collective identity is responsible for most of our world-views and individual experiences of reality. To change this collective belief system is typically quite slow, as it takes continual effort on the part of many over a long period of time.

In this and the subsequent books, the collective consciousness of humanity is personified and individualized as Lord Gana, a semi-divine prince who lived far before recorded history. Since Gana is the representative of all humanity, his struggles to master his own beliefs and judgments have the effect of transforming everyone else. At times aware of his universal status, at times ignorant of it, Gana moves through various life-experiences in the attempt to master the lower aspects of his nature and rise to complete consciousness. This continues with ever-greater complexity as his understanding of the connection of the individual to the Universe unfolds.

Gana does not work alone. He is never long without divine inspiration — which most often takes the form of an unusual master of form transmutation, the Vidyadhara Airavata, also known as Heramann. Airavata is quite old and quite wise, the last of the ancient Vidyadharas, an intelligent race that was prevalent before the descent of our current human species. Usually unaware of his subtle and Eternal connection to the underlying essence of the incarnations of Gana, Heramann is nevertheless often drawn to assist him in his growth.

The omnipotent Power of the upward current of the Laws of Nature is also always present to support Gana; but he is not often aware of this. This force is personified as his feminine aspect, Almira. Almira is the second half of Gana’s soul, ever conscious; she is the Goddess, always in divine communion with the One; she is the Earth Mother, the Source of all Good for humanity, the personified Holy Spirit.

Gana is also ever watched, protected and guided by the incarnate wisdom of higher consciousness, portrayed in the Thunder books as his seven Teachers Vasuki, Mordom, Rodavi, who was later reborn as Joab, Vaga, Atri, Brihas, and Matri. Their relationship to Gana is one of gentle guidance and discipline.

All the other characters in this History are either manifestations of partial aspects of Gana’s infinite mind or else are his creations. Some of these creations are positive and represent the creative forces of nature: his children and the peoples he attempts to save from destruction and guide to higher levels of understanding. And some of these creations are negative, the destructive forces of nature personified and given form by Gana’s incomplete understanding of life: the Emperor Valin and Valin’s agents and minions, the Asurs and Rakshasas. In both cases, although having independent form and life, all his creations remain rooted in Gana’s mind.

Thus the rest of the Thunder series is a history of humanity’s age-old attempts to achieve a stable and upwardly directed civilization. They stand also as a description of an individual’s journey to enlightenment through numerous births.

Either reading is correct, for we are continually creating our own world. We project our beliefs and judgments outward; these return to us as our experiences of others, of history, of life, of matter. Each of us dreams our own world — this means that each of us is ultimately responsible for our own creation. And therefore, each of us can change any of the rules governing our world at any time, resulting in a completely different world-view and a completely different world. Full realization of this simple fact is an acceptable definition of enlightenment. It is the Ishayas’ hope that learning of the different levels of reality woven into this work will assist others to rise more quickly to the recognition of their primary authority in their own worlds. Then the healing of this Earth will be the sooner accomplished.