script.js

const books = [
    {
        book_id: "3",
        book_title: "Build Your Own Database Driven Web Site Using PHP ",
        book_subtitle: "Learning PHP & MySQL Has Never Been So Easy!",
        book_edition: "4",
        author_id: "25",
        publisher_id: "8",
        category_id: "1",
        publication_year: "2009",
        book_isbn: "2147483647",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780980576818",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780980576818.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-05-08",
        book_notes: "This is a very good book which features a project to build a jokes management system using procedural PHP 5 and MySQL 5.\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>\"Build Your Own Database Driven Web Site Using PHP & MySQL\" is a practical hands-on guide to learning all the tools, principles, and techniques needed to build a fully functional database driven web site using PHP & MySQL. This book covers everything from installing PHP and MySQL on Windows, Linux, and Mac computers through to building a live, web-based content management system.</p>\r\n<p>I think the title has been changed with a new edition - \"PHP & MySQL: Novice to Ninja\".</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Kevin Yank",
        publisher: "Sams Publishing",
        category: "Computing"
    },
    {
        book_id: "4",
        book_title: "Goddesses in Everywoman",
        book_subtitle: "Powerful Archetypes in Womens Lives",
        book_edition: "20th ",
        author_id: "2",
        publisher_id: "13",
        category_id: "1",
        publication_year: "2004",
        book_isbn: "2147483647",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780060572846",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780060572846.jpg",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: "I am halfway through this book. However, I may have to re-read it from the beginning so I can make some notes on it.\r\n<p>I came across this author as a result of reading \"The Hero with an African Face\" by Dr. Clyde Ford\". </p>\r\n<p>Already read her book \"Gods in Everyman\" and will be returning to it so I can document the note-taking process properly. </p>\r\n<p>From the blurb: </p>\r\n<p>Myths are fascinating stories that become even more intriguing when we realize that they can reveal intimate truths about ourselves and others. Esteemed Jungian analyst Jean Shinoda Bolen brings the Greek pantheon to life as our inner archetypes and applies the power of myth to our personal lives. Once we understand the natural progression from myth to archetype to personal psychology, and realize that positive gifts and negative tendencies are qualities associated with a particular goddess within, we gain powerful insights. </p> \r\n<p>Depending on which goddess is more active within, one woman might be more committed to achieving professional success, while another more fulfilled as a wife and mother. Twenty years after its first publication, <i>Goddesses in Everywoman</i> continues to be deeply relevant, and with this twentieth anniversary edition, this classic volume will continue to be celebrated. </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Jean Shinoda Bolen",
        publisher: "Shamballa Publications, Inc",
        category: "Self-Help/Psychology"
    },
    {
        book_id: "5",
        book_title: "Shambhala",
        book_subtitle: "The Sacred Path of the Warrior",
        book_edition: "",
        author_id: "26",
        publisher_id: "13",
        category_id: "3",
        publication_year: "1984",
        book_isbn: "1590300416",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/1590300416",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/1590300416.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-07-07",
        book_notes: "<p>This book was recommended reading by Dr. Symeon Rodger, author of \"The 5 Pillars of Life\".</p>\r\n<p>I don't know how this book came to be in my library. I don't recall ever buying it. Yet here it was, an old hardback version.</p>\r\n<p>Having read it at least once, I have yet to make my notes on it.</p>\r\n",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Chogyam Trungpa",
        publisher: "Shamballa Publications, Inc",
        category: "Philosophy"
    },
    {
        book_id: "6",
        book_title: "Flatland",
        book_subtitle: "A Romance of Many Dimensions",
        book_edition: "",
        author_id: "27",
        publisher_id: "9",
        category_id: "12",
        publication_year: "1984",
        book_isbn: "451522907",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/0451522907",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0451522907.jpg",
        date_read: "2025-05-07",
        book_notes: "When I first ventured towards getting a Masters degree in Interactive Multimedia in the UK, this book was recommended reading at the University of Westminster, London. I bought it. However, I never managed to finish it. Many years later, I came across another mention of it by the late A.R. Bordon of the now defunct(?) Life Physics Group-California (LPG-C).\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>With wry humor and penetrating satire, \"Flatland\" takes us on a mind-expanding journey into a different world to give us a new vision of our own.</p>\r\n<p>A. Square, the slightly befuddled narrator, is born into a place which is limited to two dimensions - irrevocably flat - and peopled by a hierarchy of geometrical forms.</p>\r\n<p>In a Gulliver-like tour of his bizarre homeland, A. Square spins a fascinating tale of domestic drama and political turmoil, from sex among consenting adults to the intentional subjugation of Flatland females.</p>\r\n<p>He tells of visits to Lineland, the world of one dimension, and Pointland, the world of no dimension.</p>\r\n<p>But when A. Square dares to speak openly of a third, even a fourth dimension, his tragic tale climaxes a brilliant parody of Victorian society.</p>\r\n<p>An underground favorite since its publication in England in 1884, \"Flatland\" is as prophetic a science-fiction classic as the works of H.G. Wells, introducing aspects of relativity and hyperspace years before Einstein's famous theories, and it does so with a wonderful, enduring enchantment.</p>\r\n<p>My notes:</p>\r\n<p>Looks like we are still dealing with it.</p>\r\n<p>Could Source be playing with us, as It continually enjoys misapprehending Itself?</p>\r\n<p>If it could be conceived in this way, perhaps It is wanting to know the answer to the question: what is it like to be ignorant?</p>\r\n<p>All of our attempts, then, at defining and explaining the material/physical world in order to assign some kind of 'truth' to it is bound to fall short - continuously.</p>\r\n<p>Of all the sciences, perhaps physicists are closer to being able to explain it than anyone else..?</p>\r\n<p>And, maybe, all attempts at suppression of knowledge in our world are included (without discrimination) by Source as It seeks an answer to Its own question.</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Edwin A. Abbott",
        publisher: "Signet Classic",
        category: "Satire/Humor"
    },
    {
        book_id: "7",
        book_title: "Java Programming",
        book_subtitle: "",
        book_edition: "4",
        author_id: "28",
        publisher_id: "2",
        category_id: "1",
        publication_year: "2008",
        book_isbn: "2147483647",
        book_url: null,
        book_cover_image: "",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: "I am currently working my way through this book for learning Java.",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Joyce Farrell",
        publisher: "Thomson Course Technology",
        category: "Computing"
    },
    {
        book_id: "8",
        book_title: "The Web Designer's Handbook Volume 3",
        book_subtitle: "Inspiration from todays best web design trends, themes, and styles",
        book_edition: "3",
        author_id: "11",
        publisher_id: "2",
        category_id: "1",
        publication_year: "2013",
        book_isbn: "2147483647",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9781440323966\r\n",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781440323966.jpg",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: "This is more of a resource book when I need ideas for good web design. Many years ago, in my second lecturing position in the UK, I learnt to my utter embarrassment, that I did not have good design skills. While I am now very grateful for frameworks such as Bootstrap and Trongate, I continue to work  on core fundamentals in this area.",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Masaru Emoto",
        publisher: "Thomson Course Technology",
        category: "Computing"
    },
    {
        book_id: "9",
        book_title: "The Inner Teachings of Taoism",
        book_subtitle: "",
        book_edition: "",
        author_id: "1",
        publisher_id: "13",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "1986",
        book_isbn: "2147483647",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9781570627101\r\n",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781570627101.jpg",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: "Thomas Cleary is the translator of this work. The author is actually Chang Po-Tuan. This text is a distilled version of the classic Understanding Reality by the same author. ",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Thomas Cleary",
        publisher: "Shamballa Publications, Inc",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "10",
        book_title: "The Gnostic Paul",
        book_subtitle: "Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters",
        book_edition: "",
        author_id: "30",
        publisher_id: "10",
        category_id: "5",
        publication_year: "1992",
        book_isbn: "2147483647",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9781563380396\r\n",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781563380396.jpg",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: "Elaine Pagels is one of my favorite authors in this field, having come across her work at the main Gnosis website (gnosis.org). I have already read this book at least once. However, in the interests of sticking to the plan to take notes (rather than doing reviews), I will be re-reading the book at some point.\r\n<p>From the blurb: </p>\r\n<p>In this landmark work, Elaine Pagels demonstrates how evidence from gnostic sources may challenge the long-established assumptions that Paul writes his letters to combat \"gnostic opponents\" and to repudiate their claims to secret wisdom. Drawing upon evidence from a variety of gnostic sources, including the Nag Hammadi documents, Pagels demonstrates how gnostic writers not only failed to grasp the whole point of Paul's writings, but dared to claim his letters as a primary source for their anthropology, Christology, and sacramental theology. </p>\r\n<p>Besides offering new insight into controversies over Paul in the second century, this analysis of gnostic exegesis suggests a new perspective for Pauline study, challenging students to recognize the presuppositions - hermeneutical and theological - involved in their own reading of Paul's letters. </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Elaine Pagels",
        publisher: "Trinity Press International",
        category: "Religion"
    },
    {
        book_id: "11",
        book_title: "The Silva Mind Control Method",
        book_subtitle: "The Revolutionary Program by the Founder of the World's Most Famous Mind Control Course",
        book_edition: "",
        author_id: "4",
        publisher_id: "16",
        category_id: "2",
        publication_year: "1978",
        book_isbn: "671452843",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/0671452843\r\n",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0671452843.jpg",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: null,
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: null,
        publisher: "Pocket Books",
        category: "Self-Help/Psychology"
    },
    {
        book_id: "14",
        book_title: "The Hidden Messages in Water",
        book_subtitle: "",
        book_edition: "",
        author_id: "11",
        publisher_id: "19",
        category_id: "14",
        publication_year: "2004",
        book_isbn: "1582701148",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/1582701148\r\n",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/1582701148.jpg",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: "I heard about this book from an instructor on the Silva Life System course. The images are quite stunning.",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Masaru Emoto",
        publisher: "Beyond Words Publishing",
        category: "Science/Health"
    },
    {
        book_id: "15",
        book_title: "Think and Grow Rich",
        book_subtitle: "",
        book_edition: "",
        author_id: "8",
        publisher_id: "20",
        category_id: "2",
        publication_year: "1983",
        book_isbn: "449214923",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/isbn/0449214923\r\n",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0449214923.jpg",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: "From the blurb:\r\n<p>Read yourself into a fortune</p>\r\n<p>This book contains money-making secrets that can change your life. </p>\r\n<p><b>Think and Grow Rich</b>, based on the author's famed \"Law of Success\", represents the distilled wisdom of distinguished men of great wealth and achievement. </p>\r\n<p>Andrew Carnegie's magic formula for success was the direct inspiration for this book. Carnegie demonstrated its soundness when his coaching brought fortunes to those young men to whom he had disclosed his secret. </p>\r\n<p>This book will teach you that secret - and the secrets of other great men like him. It will show you not only <b>what to do</b> but <b>how to do it</b>. </p>\r\n<p>If you learn and apply the simple basic techniques revealed here, you will have mastered the secret of true and lasting success. </p>\r\n<p><b>And you may have whatever you want in life</b>. </p>\r\n",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Napoleon Hill",
        publisher: "Ballantine Books",
        category: "Self-Help/Psychology"
    },
    {
        book_id: "17",
        book_title: "Better and Better Every Day",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: "",
        author_id: "6",
        publisher_id: "22",
        category_id: "2",
        publication_year: "1961",
        book_isbn: "0",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18342756W/Better_and_better_every_day?edition=key:/books/OL5818006M",
        book_cover_image: "",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: null,
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: null,
        publisher: "Unwin Books",
        category: "Self-Help/Psychology"
    },
    {
        book_id: "18",
        book_title: "How To Win Friends and Influence People",
        book_subtitle: "",
        book_edition: "",
        author_id: "9",
        publisher_id: "16",
        category_id: "2",
        publication_year: "1982",
        book_isbn: "2147483647",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL39887026W/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People_by_Dale_Carnegie?edition=key:/books/OL54317458M",
        book_cover_image: "",
        date_read: "0000-00-00",
        book_notes: "Not really sure why I bought this book and read it through - twice. I may go through it again just to have a date on record for having read it...",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Dale Carnegie",
        publisher: "Pocket Books",
        category: "Self-Help/Psychology"
    },
    {
        book_id: "19",
        book_title: "Inside Zhan Zhuang",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: "1",
        author_id: "32",
        publisher_id: "24",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "2012",
        book_isbn: "9780988317888",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL22063212W/Inside_Zhan_Zhuang?edition=",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780988317888.jpg",
        date_read: "2023-12-31",
        book_notes: "<p>I first happened upon the practice of Zhan Zhuang through a Channel Four (UK) program hosted by Master Lam Kam-Chueng. Spotted the videos on YouTube&trade; last year. Mark Cohen's book has lots of practical insights. Learning about the WHY is giving me a good reason to continue my practice.</p>\r\n<p>Cohen has written a follow-up book entitled \"Deeper Into Zhan Zhuang\".</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Michael Buhr",
        publisher: "Independently Published",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "20",
        book_title: "Secrets of the Pelvis for Martial Arts",
        book_subtitle: "A practical Guide for Improving Your Wujifa, Taiji, Zingyi, Bagua and Every Day Life",
        book_edition: "1",
        author_id: "32",
        publisher_id: "24",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "2013",
        book_isbn: "9781492149996",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL41039583W/Secrets_of_the_Pelvis_for_Martial_Arts",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781492149996.jpg",
        date_read: "2023-12-31",
        book_notes: "<p>From the blurb on the back of the book jacket:</p>\r\n<p>Discover what you are avoiding in your martial arts practice!</p>\r\n<p>Relax your waist and hips. Move from the center(dan-tian or hara). Sink your qi. Round the crotch. Open your Huiyin point. How often have you heard these key body movement principles? Too often to count, right?</p>\r\n<p>And how often have you heard detailed methods to help you achieve these results? To develop ever deepening levels of understanding, feeling, relaxation, and connection through your pelvis? Almost never, right?</p>\r\n<p>Due to the \"private\" nature of this area of the body, few, if any, martial art teachers publicly discuss this subject. And so the pelvic area remains the most difficult area of the body for many practitioners to understand, feel, relax, and open.</p>\r\n<p>\"Secrets of the Pelvis for Martial Arts\" is the first step-by-step guide dedicated to helping martial artists discover and understand their pelvis area. Based on the author's personal experience, and weaving together insights, practical tips, and a wide range of excerpts and references taken from martial arts, qigong, and other clinical books and articles, \"Secrets of the Pelvis for Martial Arts\" offers a functional path for higher level martial arts development.</p>\r\n<p>My notes: I have since come across references to this area in Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming's Qigong Pathway series, as well as a book on Dream Yoga by Tenzin Wangyal Pinpoche.</p>\r\n<p>I am also intrigued that even the scientists of the now-defunct Life Physics Group-California (LPG-C) make mention of this area as part of a practice they refer to as 'Light-Encoding Object Matrix' (LEOM).</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Michael Buhr",
        publisher: "Independently Published",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "21",
        book_title: "Food Combining Made Easy",
        book_subtitle: "The Fundamental Guide explaining how the proper combining of foods can help to maintain and perpetuate one's optimum health.",
        book_edition: "2",
        author_id: "33",
        publisher_id: "25",
        category_id: "14",
        publication_year: "1982",
        book_isbn: "0960694803",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL27892332W/Food_Combining_Made_Easy",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0960694803.jpg",
        date_read: "2023-10-29",
        book_notes: "<p>I came across this book in a bibliography of one of Daniel Reid's books and was reading it during a three-day fast. The last time I heard about this way of eating (he says it is not a diet - I would agree with that) was on British TV. I think I recalled it being pushed by celebrities. Haven't heard anything of it since, until now.</p>\r\n<p>A quote from Chapter Ten: Remedying Indigestion:</p>\r\n<p>Indigestion is the forerunner, not the cause, of many of man's more serious ills.</p>\r\n<p>This recalls the words of the late Taoist adept and teacher Charles Belyea/Liu Ming who emphasized the importance of not overeating.</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Herbert M. Shelton",
        publisher: "Willow Publishing, Inc",
        category: "Science/Health"
    },
    {
        book_id: "22",
        book_title: "Angels and Aliens",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "34",
        publisher_id: "20",
        category_id: "16",
        publication_year: "1993",
        book_isbn: "9780449908372",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7569011M/Angels_and_Aliens",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780449908372.jpg",
        date_read: "2023-08-05",
        book_notes: "<p>This book was included in a suggested reading list into metahistory by American mythologist and author John Lamb Lash.</p>\r\n<p>His summary of the book, taken from an archived version of his website metahistory.org (currently under reconstruction) is as follows:</p>\r\n<p><em>An original and far-ranging treatment of the UFO/ET question, demonstrating how beliefs about extraterrestrial intervention contain all the elements of a full-blown religious system. A deep study of the symbolic and psychological dimensions of the UFO phenomenon, this book explores the boundaries between what is real and what is imagined, and it shows how often beliefs determine where those boundaries are located. </em></p>\r\n<p><em>The theme of the intervention of an alien or extraterrestrial species into human affairs occurs in Sumerian texts that date from 3400 BCE. The belief that aliens \"seeded\" humanity on earth and brought technology from their world has been revived since 1947 when the Roswell crash was alleged to occur. This belief is almost always coupled with the assumption that humanity is incapable of advancing solely by its own potential. (Image to go here: Cover of Fate Magazine, September 1992) </em></p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Keith Thompson",
        publisher: "Ballantine Books",
        category: "Metahistory"
    },
    {
        book_id: "23",
        book_title: "The Revolt of the Angels",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "7",
        publisher_id: "21",
        category_id: "12",
        publication_year: "1914",
        book_isbn: "9780486794976",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20684973W/The_Revolt_of_the_Angels",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780486794976.jpg",
        date_read: "2023-07-23",
        book_notes: "<p>First published in 1914, with the Dover Edition coming out in 2015.</p>\r\n<p>For me, the joke of the book lies in the final chapter. Satan, in planning another revolt against God, is recalling a dream in which in which he sees events taking place in what you might call a reversal. In this case, God becomes Satan, as Satan becomes God. Something similar to the law of unintended consequences.</p>\r\n<p>I just had to get this book after reading a quote from it in the Matins section of June Singer's \"A Gnostic Book of Hours\".</p>\r\n<p><em>The God of old is dispossessed of his terrestrial empire, and every thinking being on this globe disdains him or knows him not. But what matter that men should no longer be submissive to Ialdabaoth, if the spirit of Ialdabaoth is still in them; if they, like him, are jealous, violent, quarrelsome, and greedy, and the foes of art and beauty? What matter that they have rejected the ferocious ? It is in ourselves and in ourselves alone that we must attack and destroy Ialdabaoth. </em></p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Anatole France",
        publisher: "Dover Publications, Inc",
        category: "Satire/Humor"
    },
    {
        book_id: "24",
        book_title: "Androgyny: The Opposites Within",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: "2",
        author_id: "22",
        publisher_id: "26",
        category_id: "2",
        publication_year: "1989",
        book_isbn: "9780938434306",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8416805M/Androgyny",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780938434306.jpg",
        date_read: "2023-03-14",
        book_notes: "<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>From yin and yang to Apollo and Dionysus to \"left spin\" and \"right spin\", humanity has always been aware of a fundamental duality in the universe. In \"Androgyny\", June Singer posits that this duality is a function of the eternal interplay of opposing psychic energies in every individual throughout history, now appearing as a specifically sexual confusion, now as psychological disturbances generated by the absence of inner psychic wholeness. </p>\r\n<p>Drawing on anthropological, historical, literary, and sociological information, as well as on case studies from her own analytic practice, Singer is able to interpret many aspects of human existence-sex, love, alchemy, astrology, the history of consciousness-in light of the interaction of \"male\" and \"female\" principles in every individual, as well as on the collective to which he belongs. Perhaps the most incisive and far-reaching analysis of androgyny that has ever been available, \"Androgyny\" is of vital interest to anyone concerned with the problem of gender and gender relations in contemporary society. </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "June Singer",
        publisher: "Sigo Press",
        category: "Self-Help/Psychology"
    },
    {
        book_id: "25",
        book_title: "Opening the Dragon Gate",
        book_subtitle: "The Making of a Modern Taoist Wizard",
        book_edition: "2",
        author_id: "35",
        publisher_id: "27",
        category_id: "17",
        publication_year: "1998",
        book_isbn: "9780804831857",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7930858M/Opening_the_Dragon_Gate",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780804831857.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-07-03",
        book_notes: "<p>I was switched on to this book by Dr. Symeon Rodger, author of \"The 5 Pillars of Life\". It was translated from the original Chinese by Thomas Cleary in 1996.</p>\r\n<p>From the Open Library:</p>\r\n<p><em>\"Opening the Dragon Gate\" is the authorized biography of Wang Liping (1949- ), a modern Taoist wizard. It is the true story of how a young boy becomes heir to a tradition of esoteric knowledge and practice accumulated and refined over eleven centuries. As told to his students Chen Kaiguo and Zheng Shunchao, the story tells of Liping's arduous fifteen-year apprenticeship with the masters, during which time he enters an ancient realm and learns the true source of health, healing, and long life. </em></p>\r\n\r\n<p><em>A compelling story of the making of a modern wizard, this book reveals never-before-available information about Taoist principles and procedures, people and places. Wang Liping imparts his knowledge on esoteric exercises, alchemical elixirs, mysteries of Man and Nature, and the secrets of inner transformation, making this a mystical and extraordinary book. </em></p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Chan Kaiguo and Zheng Shunchao",
        publisher: "Tuttle Publishing",
        category: "Biography"
    },
    {
        book_id: "26",
        book_title: "Destiny of Souls",
        book_subtitle: "New Case Studies of Life Between Lives",
        book_edition: "1",
        author_id: "36",
        publisher_id: "28",
        category_id: "18",
        publication_year: "2000",
        book_isbn: "1567184995",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3478410W/Destiny_of_souls",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/1567184995.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-07-07",
        book_notes: "<p>I spotted this book in the Wes Penre Papers (online).</p>\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>Enter the Heart of the spirit world</p>\r\n<p>In <i>Destiny of Souls</i>, 67 people just like you recall their life between lives through Dr. Newton's personal work in spiritual hypnotherapy. Based on his groundbreaking research into the afterlife, this book is designed both for first-time ventures into the subject and for readers of Dr. Newton's best-selling first volume, <i>Journey of Souls</i>...</p>\r\n<p>My thoughts: I do have some reservations about the Between Lives Area (BLA). It is almost like I cannot take this place seriously. From what I am reading of Newton's books, the place is like a spiritual Disneyland. That is, up to chapter 7, where there seems to be some more serious elements to consider. I am convinced that this is only one part of the spirit world. It is not ALL of it. It is certainly NOT the Dao, even if it is a manifestation of It.</p>\r\n<p>There are some similarities between Dr. Newton's research and the work of the now defunct Life Physics Group-California (LPG-C). Also, there are echoes of how Asians see the whole idea of divinity (for lack of a better word).</p>\r\n<p>The Gnostics refer to the Mother/Father (Barbelo?)</p>\r\n<p>Chinese Taoist thought calls it heaven/Earth, or yin/yang. The Asian way of thinking is very different to that of the West. Where we take life so seriously and view it in terms of dualisms and preferences, in the East, where there is no concept of a Supreme Being, they see divinity at play. It doesn't take itself seriously, if we could conceive it in those terms.</p>\r\n<p>You even get that sense of playfulness in the BLA.</p>\r\n<p>This is similar to the outcomes of the LPG-C, where the team gnosively understood what they called the Unum to be conducting an experiment and that ALL of life is included in that.</p>\r\n<p>This Unum's metafunction/wish/desire is to know Itself and to achieve a most perfect unity.</p>\r\n<p>That is going to take forever...</p>\r\n<p>Would this also sound like the Gnostic Sophia (wisdom)?</p>\r\n<p>According to the Gnostic myth, She would not have been born fully wise and all-knowing (as opposed to the Greek Athena being born from the head of Zeus); she would have the potential to become wise and all-knowing.</p>\r\n<p>Surely this flies in the face of Christian dogma that insists on an all-knowing, all-powerful God.</p>\r\n<p>By the way, you will find that, regardless of belief/unbelief, we all go to the same place.</p>\r\n<p>The traditional Taoist view is, perhaps, different. While the view is that Heaven (<i>Tian qi</i>) seems to take delight in misapprehending Itself, there is no room for re-incarnation...</p>\r\n<p>All this self-improvement described in Newton's books. You will never get there?</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Michael Newton",
        publisher: "Llewellyn Publications",
        category: "New-Age/Paranormal"
    },
    {
        book_id: "27",
        book_title: "A Lineage of Dragons",
        book_subtitle: "The mysterious qigong master who was Bruce Lee's uncle and main teacher",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "37",
        publisher_id: "24",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "2019",
        book_isbn: "9781096086772",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL41004415M/Lineage_of_Dragons",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781096086772.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-06-01",
        book_notes: "<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>A true account of the hidden Taoist spiritual practices, and about the powerful qigong master and Taoist immortal who was Bruce Lee's uncle, mentor, and main kung fu teacher. It describes the nei kung he used to become one of the most powerful. This book describes the secret Taoist spiritual path of the warrior wizard, a rare and powerful physical, emotional, and spiritual cultivation system, and the amazing things I experienced as I progressed along the Way. </p>\r\n<p>A true story about dragons from the spirit realm and their association with Bruce Lee and an ancient lineage of Chinese wizards who are students of real Nei Kung, which is the spiritual and power cultivation aspect of qigong. It also describes some of the other amazing students of this master. </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Steve Gray",
        publisher: "Independently Published",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "28",
        book_title: "Genesis of the Grail Kings",
        book_subtitle: "The explosive story of genetic cloning and the ancient bloodline of Jesus",
        book_edition: "1",
        author_id: "38",
        publisher_id: "29",
        category_id: "16",
        publication_year: "2001",
        book_isbn: "9780553811940",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL37749888M/Genesis_of_the_Grail_kings",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780553811940.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-05-10",
        book_notes: "<p>There are some who say that chasing Grail lore is a waste of time. Is it?</p>\r\n<p>For now, that question will remain, for me, unanswered.</p> \r\n<p>Although each of his books is self-contained, I just could not resist getting all of them. Besides, he does expand on some point in each and every book, not to mention an entire book on Freemasonry, based on his own personal experience.</p>\r\n<p>While the category of the book indicates \"History/New-Age\", I am more inclined to place this book under the <em>Metahistory</em> category.</p>\r\n<p>Given the front matter mention that Fair Winds Press published the paperback version in 2002 in the US, with Gardner holding the copyright in 2001, I am making an assumption that the hardback version came out in 2001.</p>\r\n<p>Of course, I might be wrong. It was first published in the UK by Transworld Publishers Ltd., in 1999.</p>\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p><em>From beneath the wind-swept sands of ancient Mesopotamia comes the documented legacy of the creation chamber of the heavenly Anunnaki. Here is the story of the clinical cloning of Adam and Eve, which predates Bible scripture by more than 2000 years.</em></p>\r\n<p>Reading his books contains echoes of works by other writers such as Zecharia Sitchin and Barbara Thiering.</p>\r\n<p>After reading this book, I ordered the \"Bloodlines of the Holy Grail\". I want to compare these works with \"The Book of J\", \"Who Wrote the Bible?\", and the works of Barabra Thiering, amongst others.</p>\r\n<p>I have been pondering for some time now whether I wish to revisit/revise dispensationalism. Having read Gardner's book, I am now unsure as to how I might go about it, if at all.</p>\r\n<p>The question I am asking myself in all of this is: why did I believe what I came to believe as a former Pentecostal Christian? And - with where I am now - does it really matter?</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Laurence Gardner",
        publisher: "Fair Winds Press",
        category: "Metahistory"
    },
    {
        book_id: "29",
        book_title: "Bloodline of the Holy Grail",
        book_subtitle: "The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "38",
        publisher_id: "30",
        category_id: "16",
        publication_year: "2003",
        book_isbn: "9781862047709",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8012927M/The_Illustrated_Bloodline_of_the_Holy_Grail",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781862047709.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-05-22",
        book_notes: "<p>I am somewhat puzzled:</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>was Columbus slandered for his association with the Stuarts/Stewarts?</li>\r\n<li>how does one justify slavery, especially in terms of its mistreatment of fellow human beings, when one professes to uphold humanistic principles as embedded within Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry? Or were these systems made scapegoats by their opponents?</li>\r\n<li>were the Stewarts also made scapegoats in this regard?</li>\r\n<li>Hitler's alleged association with the Vatican. What was that meeting really about?</li>\r\n</ul>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Laurence Gardner",
        publisher: "Barnes and Noble Books",
        category: "Metahistory"
    },
    {
        book_id: "30",
        book_title: "The Cosmic War",
        book_subtitle: "Interplanetary Warfare, Modern Physics and Ancient Texts",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "39",
        publisher_id: "31",
        category_id: "19",
        publication_year: "2007",
        book_isbn: "9781931882750",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4898333W/The_Cosmic_War",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781931882750.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-04-30",
        book_notes: "<p>For the moment, I have placed this book under the \"Exopolitics\" category, although it could also go under Metahistory.</p>\r\n<p>This is an example of what you do not see in Dr. Michael Newton's books. Was Farrell just making it up? I don't think so...I seem to recall a case where a Life Between Lives (LBL) client was embodied in a different form on another planet before she was assigned to Earth. She had encountered some difficulties on that planet...I don't recall. I need to double-check that and update this entry...</p>\r\n<p>I am also bearing in mind that ethical concerns between client and hypnotherapist may be the reason we don't see more of these cases. Also given the nature of things, such as our xenophobia, paranoia, our insatiable appetite for the exotic, our tendency to be duplicitous...</p> \r\n<p>Anyhow, at some point, I will go through Farrell's book again and make notes. Right now it seems that there is an ongoing search for a technology that gives hegemonic power to whoever is in possession of it, namely, the Tablets of Destinies.</p>\r\n<p>Perhaps they found it a long time ago?</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Joseph P. Farrell",
        publisher: "Adventures Unlimited Press",
        category: "Exopolitics"
    },
    {
        book_id: "31",
        book_title: "Gaia",
        book_subtitle: "The Practical Science of Planetary Medicine",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "40",
        publisher_id: "32",
        category_id: "16",
        publication_year: "1991",
        book_isbn: "9780195216745",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4136227W/Gaia_the_practical_science_of_planetary_medicine",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780195216745.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-01-06",
        book_notes: "<p>This is another text recommended by American mythologist John Lamb Lash as suggested reading into metahistorical themes.</p>\r\n<p>For now, I am placing it under the \"Science/Health\" category. I also need to check the edition I have.</p>\r\n<p>Here is his summary of the book from the Web Archive:</p>\r\n<p><em>...James Lovelock, co-author of the \"Gaia Hypothesis\", propos(es) that the earth is a dynamic entity able to control its own life processes. Here is a new story about the life of the earth, which might change our view of the human presence in the natural world. Through his vivid description of the geophysiology of the planet, Lovelock reformulates the master theme of <b>Sacred Nature</b> in the context of <b>Technology</b>. The debate over Gaia introduces a new scientific paradigm that challenges many religious and scientific beliefs.</em></p>\r\n<p><em>The Gaia Hypothesis reintroduces in rigorous scientific language the belief common to indigenous peoples and some esoteric traditions, such as alchemy: namely, that the earth is a living intelligence. Gaia is Sophia (Wisdom), who imparts to humanity the moral and practical knowledge necessary for its survival. In this role, the earth-wisdom is invariably represented as a woman. (Image to go here: 18th Century alchemical manual, \"Sapientia veterum philosophorum\")</em></p>\r\n<p>I think I spotted somewhere that Lash himself is/was a Taoist adept, though I am not sure what lineage he studied with. </p>\r\n<p>Speaking of Taoist adepts, I recall a recording of the late Euro-American teacher Liu Ming (1947-2015) describing Gaia as (possibly) an \"earth god in drag\"! He also mentioned being invited to a roundtable discussion on Taoism and Ecology at Yale University in 1998. At this event, he caused quite a stir when he declared that environmentalism is Christianity in a new missionary form, and that it could only be thought up by white people. </p>\r\n<p>That got me thinking: what other movements might be included in modern salvationist approaches to life? </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "James Lovelock",
        publisher: "Oxford University Press, USA",
        category: "Metahistory"
    },
    {
        book_id: "32",
        book_title: "Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark",
        book_subtitle: "Amazing Revelations of the Incredible Power of Gold",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "38",
        publisher_id: "30",
        category_id: "5",
        publication_year: "2003",
        book_isbn: "0760775982",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL34579916W/Lost_Secrets_of_the_Sacred_Ark",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0760775982.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-06-05",
        book_notes: "<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>The secret of the Ark of the Covenant is as compelling a mystery as the quest for the Holy Grail. What is it? Why is it? And, indeed, where is it? </p>\r\n<p>Stretching back through history to the tombs of pharonic Egypt, \"Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark\" is Laurence Gardner's controversial and intriguing study of the Ark's significance, casting penetrating new light on the mystery of its miraculous powers and potential. Gardner traces the Ark's adventurous course from Sinai to Jerusalem and beyond, examining tales of its past function, its present resting place, its importance for the future and its stunning power to transmute gold into an anti-gravitational state - knowledge secretly being used today. </p>\r\n<p>Kinda makes you wonder about that story (from Sitchin's translation of Sumerian texts) about Anunnaki coming here to mine gold to ship back to their planet and creating workers to do it for them. Things that make you go 'Hmmm...'</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Laurence Gardner",
        publisher: "Barnes and Noble Books",
        category: "Religion"
    },
    {
        book_id: "33",
        book_title: "The Occult Anatomy of Man",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "41",
        publisher_id: "33",
        category_id: "5",
        publication_year: "1986",
        book_isbn: "0893143383",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8567226W/The_Occult_Anatomy_of_Man",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0893143383.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-06-13",
        book_notes: "<p>No notes yet...</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Manly P. Hall",
        publisher: "Philosophical Research Society Inc.,U.S.",
        category: "Religion"
    },
    {
        book_id: "34",
        book_title: "Journey of Souls",
        book_subtitle: "Case studies of life between lives",
        book_edition: "1",
        author_id: "36",
        publisher_id: "28",
        category_id: "18",
        publication_year: "1994",
        book_isbn: "1567184855",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3478411W/Journey_of_souls",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/1567184855.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-06-20",
        book_notes: "<p>I became aware of this book as a result of reading about it at ET Researcher Wes Penre's website. I must admit, I was hooked! </p>\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>Now considered a classic in the field, this remarkable book was the first to fully explore the mystery of life between lives. <i>Journey of Souls</i> presents the first-hand accounts of twenty-nine people placed in a \"superconscious\" state of awareness using Dr. Michael Newton's groundbreaking techniques. This unique approach allowed Dr. Newton to reach his subjects' hidden memories of life in the spirit world after physical death. While in deep hypnosis, the subjects movingly describe what happened to them between lives. They reveal graphic details about what the spirit world is really like, where we go and what we do as souls, and why we come back in certain bodies. </p>\r\n<p>Through the extraordinary stories in this book, you will learn the specifics about:</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>How it feels to die</li>\r\n<li>What you see and feel right after death</li>\r\n<li>When and where you learn to recognize soul mates on earth</li>\r\n<li>Different levels of soul: beginning, intermediate, and advanced</li>\r\n<li>What happens to \"disturbed\" souls</li>\r\n<li>The purpose of life and the manifestation of a \"creator\"</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<b>My notes:</b>\r\n<p>I think there seemed to be an area of disagreement between Wes Penre and the Managing Scientist of the now-defunct Life Physics Group-California, the late A.R. Bordon. </p>\r\n<p>As a result of frequent revisits to Bordon's book \"Ultimate Thought\", and comparing it with works from other fields, including quantum physics, Eastern and Gnostic thought, and traditional Taoist cosmology, I think I have a better grasp of what is going on here. </p>\r\n<p>On the other hand, I am OK with being uncertain, with having to say, \"I don't know\"... <p>\r\n<p>Chances are, if we have done any kind of astral travelling (whether aware or not), we may have visited this space, also known as the \"astral realm\", at some time or other. </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Michael Newton",
        publisher: "Llewellyn Publications",
        category: "New-Age/Paranormal"
    },
    {
        book_id: "35",
        book_title: "Christianity and Eros",
        book_subtitle: "Essays on the Theme of Sexual Love",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "42",
        publisher_id: "34",
        category_id: "5",
        publication_year: "1995",
        book_isbn: "9789607120106",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2723370W/Christianity_and_Eros",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9789607120106.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-08-25",
        book_notes: "I found this book at the Open Library. It was mentioned in the bibliography of Dr. Symeon's book \"The 5 Pillars of Life\". <p>Additional notes to be added.</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Philip Sherrard",
        publisher: "Denise Harvey",
        category: "Religion"
    },
    {
        book_id: "36",
        book_title: "The Shadow of Solomon",
        book_subtitle: "The Lost Secret of the Freemasons Revealed",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "38",
        publisher_id: "35",
        category_id: "7",
        publication_year: "2005",
        book_isbn: "9780007207602",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9218872M/The_Shadow_of_Solomon",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780007207602.jpg",
        date_read: "2025-02-19",
        book_notes: "From the blurb\r\n<p>If you are a Da Vinci Code obsessive, a Freemason yourself, or fascinated by what secrets lie behind this mysterious and influential fraternity, here is a book you must read.</p>\r\n\r\n<p>What ancient history lies behind the creation of Freemasonry - a lost secret so powerful that the brotherhood itself has been on a quest to find it for 300 years? \"The Shadow of Solomon\" is the definitive insider's account of the startling truth behind Masonic history, and the centuries-long search that the fraternity has undertaken to find its own lost secrets.</p>\r\n<p>My thoughts:</p>\r\n<p>Is anything really and truly lost?</p> Perhaps we only think so because we view/perceive the material universe as being solid.</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Laurence Gardner",
        publisher: "Harper Element",
        category: "History"
    },
    {
        book_id: "37",
        book_title: "The Grail Enigma",
        book_subtitle: "The Hidden Heirs of Jesus and Mary Magdalene",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "38",
        publisher_id: "35",
        category_id: "16",
        publication_year: "2008",
        book_isbn: "9780007266944",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL21437542W/Grail_Enigma",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780007266944.jpg",
        date_read: "2025-02-02",
        book_notes: "From the blurb:\r\n<p>Laurence Gardner's investigation into the descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene broke new ground in his bestselling \"Bloodline of the Holy Grail\". Now he brings his search to its fascinating conclusion.</p>\r\n<p>\"The Grail Enigma\" reveals centuries of previously inaccessible archives that show the truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene's offspring - that their legacy was eradicated from official biblical history but survived through the secret of the Grail.</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Laurence Gardner",
        publisher: "Harper Element",
        category: "Metahistory"
    },
    {
        book_id: "38",
        book_title: "Realm of the Ring Lords",
        book_subtitle: "The Myth and Magic of the Grail Quest",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "38",
        publisher_id: "29",
        category_id: "7",
        publication_year: "2002",
        book_isbn: "1931412944",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL646331W/Realm_of_the_Ring_Lords",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/1931412944.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-06-27",
        book_notes: "From the blurb/jacket:\r\n<p>The magical history of the Ring Lords, alluded to J.R.R. Tolkein's \"The Lord of the Rings\", has been largely consigned to legend and half-remembered battles between good and evil. Shrouded in supernatural enigma, its legacy lives on in fascinating tales of fairies, elves, witches and vampires.</p>\r\n<p>The most popular Grail stories relate to Arthurian tales of Guinevere's golden Ring and the great iron-clad Ring of Camelot - the Knights of the Round Table. When this Ring was broken, the land fell into chaos and the forces of darkness reigned over the earth, starlight and forest.</p>\r\n<p>Why do we sense deeper truths behind the mysteries of the Ring and the Grail? Why have their common enchantments been distorted and hidden?</p>\r\n<p>The ancient guardians of our culture have never featured positively in academic teachings, for they were the Shining Ones: the real progenitors of our heritage. Instead, their reality was quashed from the earliest days of Inquisitional suppression and the literal diminution of their figures caused a parallel diminishing of their history. In truth, however, the sovereign legacy of our culture comes from a place and time that might just as well be called Middle-earth as by any other name. It lingers beyond the twilight portal in the long distant Realm of the Ring Lords.",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Laurence Gardner",
        publisher: "Fair Winds Press",
        category: "History"
    },
    {
        book_id: "39",
        book_title: "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep\r\n",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: "1",
        author_id: "42",
        publisher_id: "36",
        category_id: "5",
        publication_year: "1998",
        book_isbn: "1559391014",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1899674W/The_Tibetan_yogas_of_dream_and_sleep",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/1559391014.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-06-26",
        book_notes: "From the blurb:\r\n<p>This book gives detailed instructions for dream yoga, including foundational practices done during the day. In the Tibetan tradition, the ability to dream lucidly is not an end in itself, rather it provides an additional context in which one can engage in advanced and effective practices to achieve liberation.</p>\r\n<p>My notes:</p>\r\n<p>I came across this book in Dr. Symeon Rodger's book \"The 5 Pillars of Life\".</p>\r\n<p>This is an ancient religious practice that works to break down the duality of existence. In short, both sleeping world and waking world become one. At least, that is how I understand it. It also helps us to see the material world for what it really is. You might call it an elaborate hologram.</p>\r\n<p>The research of the late A.R. Bordon of the now defunct Life Physics Group-California(LPG-C), along with other modern physicists have confirmed this.</p>\r\n<p>Our world is not solid...</p>\r\n<p>I think I read somewhere that the Australian Aborigines say that there is a dream dreaming us.</p>\r\n<p>Or was it the South African bushmen?</p>\r\n<p>There is a new edition of this book, published by Shambhala Publications in 2022 with the subtitle \"Practices for Awakening\".</p>\r\n<p>Foreword by The Dalai Lama.</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Philip Sherrard",
        publisher: "Snow Lion Publications",
        category: "Religion"
    },
    {
        book_id: "40",
        book_title: "Seven Taoist Masters",
        book_subtitle: "A folk novel of China",
        book_edition: "1",
        author_id: "44",
        publisher_id: "13",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "1990",
        book_isbn: "0877735441",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19196226W/Seven_Taoist_masters",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0877735441.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-04-24",
        book_notes: "This is another book that was mentioned in Dr. Symeon Rodger's book \"The 5 Pillars of Life\".\r\n<p>Although it is a novel, there are echoes of traditional Taoist teaching and attitudes throughout.</p>\r\n<p>For example, Sun Pu-erh is mentioned in Rodger's book as an example of women of extraordinary achievement when it comes to self-transformation traditions.</p>\r\n<p>The barriers she had to overcome to even be accepted by the teacher included having to deal with her own preconceived notions of what the spiritual path entailed.</p>\r\n<p>Many of us may never be able to cultivate the Way because we are 'too smart'.</p>\r\n<p>Smart? Or is it fear-based ignorance masquerading as knowledge?</p>\r\n<p>Even Jesus said that we have to become as little children (i.e. innocent) before we could ever enter the kingdom of heaven.</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Eva Wong",
        publisher: "Shamballa Publications, Inc",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "41",
        book_title: "Memories of the Afterlife",
        book_subtitle: "Life between lives stories of personal transformation",
        book_edition: "1",
        author_id: "36",
        publisher_id: "28",
        category_id: "18",
        publication_year: "2009",
        book_isbn: "9780738715278",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18582117W/Memories_of_the_afterlife",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780738715278.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-06-23",
        book_notes: "From the blurb:\r\n<p>What if you could remember your soul's true purpose?</p>\r\n<p>Dr. Michael Newton, best selling author of \"Journey of Souls\" and \"Destiny of Souls\", returns with a series of case studies that highlight the profound impact of spiritual regression on people's everyday lives.</p>\r\n<p>My notes:</p>\r\n<p>I often wonder why the Eastern scriptures tell us that we must escape the wheel of reincarnation.</p>\r\n<p>I think there is some mention of transcending this system.</p>\r\n<p>What did they mean by that?</p>\r\n<p>Perhaps I got it wrong.</p>\r\n<p>In any case, it looks like we have a system that is rooted in a belief - a Western one - that we have an immortal soul.</p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Michael Newton",
        publisher: "Llewellyn Publications",
        category: "New-Age/Paranormal"
    },
    {
        book_id: "42",
        book_title: "Practical Taoism",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "1",
        publisher_id: "13",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "1996",
        book_isbn: "1570622000",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18239899W/Practical_Taoism",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/1570622000.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-11-17",
        book_notes: "This is another book from the bibliography of \"The 5 Pillars of Life\" by Dr. Symeon Rodger.\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>This extraordinary collection of teachings and commentaries illuminates the many profound mysteries of inner alchemy, one of the most important dimensions of the Taoist tradition. </p> <p>The science of inner alchemy consists of meditation practices that enable the individual to have a more intimate, energizing, and inspiring relationship with life. Although these techniques are described in the sourcebooks of ancient Taoism, they are often couched in cryptic symbolic language, making it difficult for today's seekers to put these teachings into practice. </p>\r\n<p>Some classical Taoist writers, however, did adopt a more explicit manner of expression. \"Practical Taoism\" is a collection of writings from these more accessible commentaries on the traditional alchemical texts, compiled by a seventh-generation master of the Northern Branch of the Complete Reality School of Taoism known as the Preserver of Truth. </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Thomas Cleary",
        publisher: "Shamballa Publications, Inc",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "43",
        book_title: "Taoist Meditation",
        book_subtitle: "Methods for Cultivating a Healthy Mind and Body",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "1",
        publisher_id: "13",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "2000",
        book_isbn: "9781570625671",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18664690W/Taoist_meditation",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781570625671.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-11-16",
        book_notes: "Another book referenced by Dr. Symeon Rodger in his book \"The 5 Pillars of Life\".\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>The ancient meditation techniques of Taoism encompass a wide range of practices that aim to cultivate a healthy body as well as an enlightened mind. </p>\r\n<p>These selections from classic Taoist texts represent the entire range of meditation techniques and practices, from sitting meditation to inner alchemy. Most of these writings appear here in English for the first time. </p>\r\n<p>\"Taoist Meditation\" contains selections from:</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><i>Anthology on the Cultivation of Realization. </i> A Ming-dynasty text on the development of the natural, social and spiritual elements in human life. </li>\r\n<li><i>Treatise on Sitting Forgetting:</i> A tang-dynasty text on meditation practice. </li>\r\n<li><i>Sayings of Master Danyeng:</i> The wisdom of a Taoist wizard and representative of the Complete Reality School. </li>\r\n<li><i>Secret Writings on the Mechanism of Nature:</i> An anthology taken from 163 Taoist sources, including ancient works on wisdom and spiritual alchemy, along with admonitions and teachings of the great Taoist luminaries. </li>\r\n<li><i>Zhang Sanfeng's Taiji Alchemy Secrets:</i> A treatise on the inner meditation practice that are the proper foundation of Tai Chi.</li>\r\n<li><i>Secret Records of Understanding the Way:</i> A rare and remarkable collections of talks by an anonymous Taoist master of the late Qing dynasty - traditional teachings with a strikingly modern bent. </li>\r\n</ul>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Thomas Cleary",
        publisher: "Shamballa Publications, Inc",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "44",
        book_title: "Wholeness and the Implicate Order",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "45",
        publisher_id: "37",
        category_id: "20",
        publication_year: "2005",
        book_isbn: "9781134438723",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL35520070M/Wholeness_and_the_Implicate_Order",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781134438723.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-11-19",
        book_notes: "This book is one of the key texts of the literature review in \"Ultimate Thought\" by A.R. Bordon. Bordon was lead scientist of the Life Physics Group-California, a group that conducted a series of gnosive experiments into the workings of Nature. \r\n<p>Referred to as \"clairvoyance on demand\", this series of experiments was supported by a technology custom-developed for this purpose.</p>\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>In his classic work, <i>Wholeness and the Implicate Order</i>, David Bohm develops a theory of quantum physics which treats the totlity of existence, including matter and consciousness, as an unbroken whole.</p>\r\n<p>David Bohm presents a rational and scientific theory which explains cosmology and the nature of reality; written clearly, and without the use of technical jargon, it is essential reading for those interested in physics, philosophy, psychology and the connection between consciousness and matter. </p>",
        date_added: "2025-05-10 16:14:47",
        author: "David Bohm",
        publisher: "Routledge",
        category: "Physics"
    },
    {
        book_id: "45",
        book_title: "Ultimate Thought",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "46",
        publisher_id: "38",
        category_id: "21",
        publication_year: "2010",
        book_isbn: "9780557654598",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL29004253W/Ultimate_Thought",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780557654598.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-12-30",
        book_notes: "I must have read this book at least twice, before I decided to make a note of dates as a result of completing the <i>BookNotes</i> project.\r\n<p>This book was researched extensively by ET/exopolitics researcher Wes Penre.</p>\r\n<p>Penre also mentions in his papers (online) detailed conversations he had with Bordon before the latter's death. </p>\r\n<p>Given where I am now, I have so much I would like to add after going through this book so many times. </p>\r\n<p>That will come soon...</p>",
        date_added: "2025-05-10 16:56:12",
        author: "A.R. Bordon",
        publisher: "Lulu Press, Inc",
        category: "Metaphysics"
    },
    {
        book_id: "46",
        book_title: "Dragon's Play",
        book_subtitle: "A new Taoist transmission of the complete experience of human life",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "47",
        publisher_id: "39",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "1991",
        book_isbn: "0962930814",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4136195W/Dragon%27s_play",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0962930814.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-12-30",
        book_notes: "I cannot recall ever seeing this book in my library. I don't recall ever buying it. Somehow, when we were moving to our new home some years ago, and I was packing books away, I looked at the title and just put it with the others without thinking.\r\n<p>Last year, I was walking by the bookcase, and the book seemed to shout at me. </p>\r\n<p>At the time, I was going through the system of self-transformation as expressed in Dr. Symeon's book <i>The 5 Pillars of Life.</i> A process I had begun in 2022. </p>\r\n<p>It would take some time before I realized that it really IS great to be human (despite all the shit - LOL), and I did not need to make an apology for it. </p>\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p><i>Dragon's Play</i> is an entertaining story with a vast and classical purpose. Through the medium of a simple, beautifully-illustrated folk tale, this book offers a new presentation of the Taoist view of life, highlighting twelve central facets of human experience. </p> \r\n<p>It shows how life unfolds within the wondrous, nurturing embrace of Nature, like a Dragon at play. </p>\r\n<p>My notes:</p>\r\n<p>I had read the novel <i>Journey to the West</i>, so I had an idea of the background to the presentation of the journey as outlined in <i>Dragon's Play.</i></p>\r\n<p>However, it would take a deeper dive into the cosmology underpinning Traditional Chinese Medicine (as opposed to modern TCM), for me to get much of the subtlety referred to in the book. </p>\r\n<p>The emphasis Belyea (Chinese name: Liu Ming) places on the human relationship to Nature echoes the findings of the Bordon team of the Life Physics Group-California. It is quite refreshing. </p> <p>This is so in contrast to our tendencies to \r\n<ul>\r\n<li>fix our lives, </li> \r\n<li>fight against evil (real or imagined - both amount to the same thing) - whether in us or in the external environment, </li>\r\n<li>or to transcend ourselves through some sort of transformation, including spiritual enlightenment. </li>\r\n</ul></p>\r\n",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Charles Belyea and Steven Tainer",
        publisher: "Great Circle Lifeworks",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "47",
        book_title: "Vitality, Energy and Spirit",
        book_subtitle: "A Taoist Sourcebook",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "1",
        publisher_id: "13",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "1991",
        book_isbn: "0877735190",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL23095906W/Vitality_energy_spirit",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0877735190.jpg",
        date_read: "2024-11-30",
        book_notes: null,
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Thomas Cleary",
        publisher: "Shamballa Publications, Inc",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "48",
        book_title: "Science, Order and Creativity",
        book_subtitle: "A Dramatic New Look at the Creative Roots of Science and Life",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "45",
        publisher_id: "18",
        category_id: "3",
        publication_year: "1987",
        book_isbn: "0553344498",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1244241W/Science_order_and_creativity",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0553344498.jpg",
        date_read: "2025-03-31",
        book_notes: null,
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "David Bohm",
        publisher: "Bantam Books",
        category: "Philosophy"
    },
    {
        book_id: "49",
        book_title: "The Origin of God",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "38",
        publisher_id: "40",
        category_id: "5",
        publication_year: "2010",
        book_isbn: "0956735703",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL27468063W/The_Origin_of_God",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0956735703.jpg",
        date_read: "2025-07-05",
        book_notes: "I had bought this book with the intention of reading and studying it alongside other books to do with Gnosticism, The Kabbalah, and traditional Taoist Cosmology. This is the book I wish had when I was in the Pentecostal church. Everything in due time, huh?\r\n<p>From the blurb:</p>\r\n<p>If the Bible had never been written, would we know about God from any more original source?</p>\r\n<p>If there was nothing before God created everything, then where was God before that? Where did he come from?</p>\r\n<p>From where precisely did the Israelites of that era glean their knowledge of events and characters from thousands of years before - events, which following the brief account of God's earthly creation, begin in the Book of Genesis with the story of Adam and Eve?</p>\r\n<p>Is there an intelligent, supernatural entity in the universe - or is the concept just an abiding superstition?</p>\r\n<p><i>The Origin of God</i> seeks to uncover and evaluate God's original identity, as opposed to religiously-motivated portrayals of Him. As it follows the course of His story into biblical scripture, we discover a strategy of pure literary evolution.</p>\r\n<p>My notes:</p>\r\n<b>Chapter Two - Gateway of the Lord</b>\r\n<p>The Elohim (Shining Ones) were the traditional gods of Canaan. This is the word which is translated \"God\" in the first verse of Genesis. In biblical exegesis, and depending on who you read, the word is either masculine plural, or feminine plural. I am personally inclined to think of it as a synthesis.</p>\r\n<p>However, in the ancient Hebrew, \"God\" is apparently not a noun; it is a verb (see \"A Cultural and Linguistic Excavation of the Bible\" by Jeff A. Benner).</p>\r\n<p>In the Canaanite tradition, the principal deity of the Elohim was El Elyon...the headwaters location where El Elyon would hold court, was a temple north of Damascus dedicated to his son Baal and known as Baalbek.</p>\r\n<p>The whole \"I am a jealous god\" thing makes you think that what we are dealing with here is a family affair. The father is jealous of the attention his son and/or wife/consort is getting. Getting ahead of myself here...</p>\r\n<p>In the ancient Taoist cosmology, the nature of earth gods/spirits (esp.) is aggression, typified through domination and undermining (which might include manipulation - promises of protection, etc. - and divide-and-rule tactics; also simulation). </p>\r\n<p>They do not hang around to be worshiped, however. </p>\r\n<p>El Shaddai is not God Almighty - it is <i>Shining Lord of the Mountain</i>. </p>\r\n<p>The masculine principle came from the mountains during the Iron Age (see \"Myth of the Goddess\" by Baring and Cashman, for example). </p>\r\n<b>Chapter Three - Heritage of the Patriarch</b>\r\n<p>As regards kingship from heaven, there is an equivalent idea of the connection of Chinese Emperors with Heaven in ancient Chinese thought.</p>\r\n<P>Not to mention the later idea being propagated in Rome.</p>\r\n<p>The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses was the supreme Canaanite deity El Elyon. The high priest Melchizedek was the priest of El Elyon. </p>\r\n<b>Chapter Four - Gods and Goddesses</b>\r\n<p>The Tower of Babel incident looks like another family affair in disguise. Within the story is conceivably a puzzle that has been subject to a nonsensical interpretation. The tower in question was a ziggurat to El's nephew Marduk. Sitchin reckons it was a spaceport, and that the word 'name' (shem) is a rocket. </p>\r\n<p>In the story of \"Jacob's Ladder\"...</p>\r\n<p>Bethel, as rendered in the names of some churches (esp.) today is rendered in the original as Beth-El. Recall that El here is El Elyon, a Canaanite god, one of the Elohim (Shining Ones).</p>\r\n<p>Israel's own name which may have been given to him by transfer from the personage that he wrestled with is Isra-El (Soldier of El). Again, a reference to the Canaanite deity.</p>\r\n<p>What family affair?</p>\r\n<p>Gardner identifies the 'holy family' as a foursome (not a threesome as portrayed today in Christianity), comprising: </p>\r\n<ul><li>El (father),</li> <li>Ashtoreth (mother),</li> <li>Baal (son),</li> and <li>Anath (daughter).</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p>He further cites the work of Semitic scholar Dr. Raphael Patai, who asserts that the letters YHWH was \"originally, a consonantal reference to the four members of the godly family\", Y = father, H = mother, W= son, H = daughter.</p>\r\n<p>Seems the daughter is missing today. Or is she? She is the Queen of Heaven under various guises today (e.g., Mary, Isis, The Lady of the Nine Heavens[?], Oya). </p>\r\n<p>The mother and daughter were combined into one entity within the mystical tradition of the Kabbalah. This entity, known as the Shekinah, is the same one who descended upon the Tabernacle as soon as it was completed. The Shekinah is Yahweh's consort. Later portrayals of the Shekinah would refer to it as the Holy Spirit in Christianity (esp., Pentecostal) and the Sophia (Wisdom) of the Gnostic tradition. </p>\r\n<p>The feminine is not absent from the Bible. You just need to know where - and how - to look. She might even be conceived as the yin to Yahweh's yang. See, for example, Proverbs 24:29. Far from being subordinate to Yahweh, she is his equal. See Proverbs 8:29-30. She is not a distinct, separate psychological entity either! </p>\r\n<p>As in Yahweh's \"feminine side\", I mean...even if he does have one...</p>\r\n<p>When the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., the Shekinah apparently left and never returned. This has echoes of Taoist alchemy of what can happen when the man (yang) and wife (yin) are separated. </p>\r\n<p>The modern approach to reading Genesis makes El Elyon out to be a freak who created the world without a wife...</p>\r\n<p>If Adam appeared around 3,900 B.C., that puts him in the Bronze Age. However, there is evidence to suggest that humans had been around much longer than that and had implemented sophisticated agricultural systems. Some of these going as far back as 9,500 B.C. Perhaps, he was a different kind of man? His appearance does, more or less, coincide with the sudden appearance of the Sumerians around that time, an event which continues to baffle scholars. </p>\r\n<p>Back up! What's with the so-called \"God Code\" (as per author Gregg Braden) then? </p>\r\n<b>Chapter Five - In the Beginning</b>\r\n<p>Neanderthal man existed before 70,000 B.C. Cro-Magnon man ('thinking man') appears around 35,000 B.C. </p>\r\n<p>Intelligent Design, a concept noted by Gardner as \"purposeful intervention in a natural process\", is not a new form of science, given today's advances in genetic engineering. The Tibetan Lama Tuesday Lobsang Rampa (deceased) makes reference in his books to the \"Gardeners of the Earth\" (note the plural) who were always making improvements to their creations, particularly, humankind. </p>\r\n<p>The 6-day reference in the book of Genesis might be correlated to an event celebrated every new year in Babylon which the 6th century Israelite captives would have witnessed. The Enuma Elish, also referred to as the Epic of Creation, is a document that was written on 6 tablets, with the seventh one dedicated to celebration. This document would have been read aloud by the priest. </p>\r\n<p>It is rather intriguing that Zechariah Sitchin of <i>Earth Chronicles</i> fame would refer to the Enuma Elish as a forgery. That is, one which seeks to elevate Marduk's status in the eyes of the people. </p>\r\n<p>I guess they all do it, huh?</p>\r\n<p>The God of Genesis is the Sumerian Enlil, president of the Grand Assembly (also referred to Psalm 82:1 as the Congregation of the Mighty). </p>\r\n<b>Chapter Six - The Eden Project</b>\r\n<p>The Chronicles of Kharsag, a text some 2,250 years before the Bible, cites a pronouncement by Enki's sister-wife Nin-kharsag about the setting up of irrigation. The text is the oldest known pre-biblical text to identify Kharsag as the location of Eden. Kharsag is also identified as the \"garden of the lord\". An Eden...</p>\r\n<p>Nin-kharsag was the designated Gabri-El (Governor) of the Garden. </p>\r\n<p>When the enclosures were devastated by storms, fires, and storms in about 6,500 B.C., the Eden project was re-established in the southern Eridu delta plains of Sumer. The project would be overseen by Enki and Nin-kharsag, with the Enlil locating himself in Nippur. </p>\r\n<b>Chapter Seven - Dawn of the Earthlings</b>\r\n<p>Two creation stories in Genesis. One ends with the sabbath day of rest, the other with what is commonly referred to as the institution of marriage - an anomaly because there are no parents in the Genesis story. Unless, perhaps, Enki and Nin-kharsag are the parents?</p>\r\n<p>Both endings become institutionalized and enshrined in laws. </p>\r\n<p>Adam is a generic term which refers to both man and woman. </p>\r\n<p>Adam is made, not from the earth, but is of the earth. This suggests he is an earthling.  In relation to what? In any case, we are not glorified mud-balls, as some would have us believe. </p>\r\n<p>When they needed assistance with Eridu after floods had wrecked the place, Enki's mother tells him to create a worker, whereupon Enki replies that such a person exists - possibly Cro-Magnon man - and that they could stamp the image of the gods on him. The \"God Code\"? </p>\r\n<p>After several attempts within the Creation Chamber (called <i>Bit Shimti</i>: House of Shimti), the experiment is a success. The word \"shimti\" is a composite denoting breath-wind-life. </p>\r\n<p>Gardner mentions tensions between Enki and Enlil which have to do with rights of succession. I do wonder - are we still dealing with this feud? And what is the real significance, if any, about the \"God Code\", said to be within our DNA?</p>\r\n<p>The whole 'original sin' idea may very well be a projection of guilt-ridden Hebrew writers on to the original texts as a way of reframing their plight.</p>\r\n<p>The source from which the writers drew mentions a 'bread of life' which Enki tells the newly created Adam (Adapa) that he is not to eat of this bread, referring to it is the 'bread of death'. When Adapa is offered this bread, of course he refuses, thus missing out on the prospect of immortality.</p>\r\n<p>Enki, in popular mythology, is an archetype of the Trickster. Is this part of Enki's 'war' with his brother?</p>\r\n<p>Adapa: first priest-king, of royal seed by virtue of Nin-kharsag his mother and Enki his father. </p>\r\n<p>Eve is not taken from Adam's side. There are no original accounts to support the translation. She is Nin-kharsag's surrogate daughter. The mother gives her the title Nin-ti (Lady of Life). This is how Eve becomes 'the mother of all living'. The word mistranslated (deliberately [?]) as 'rib' comes from 'ti'. </p>\r\n<p>Nakedness is a reference to subordinate status. This is also still practiced somewhat today in BDSM where slaves serve their masters/mistresses in the nude. Yes, I am stretching the allusion quite a bit as it may not have any correlation whatsoever - LOL </p>\r\n<p>The god (Elohim, not sure if this particular one is the Enlil) makes clothes of skins (as Enki made for the Adam) for them as an acknowledgement of their true status. They had, after all, \"become like one of (the gods)\". </p>\r\n<p>See also Chapter 9, Myths at the Beginning and End of Creation, in The Hero with the African Face, for the tale of two Adams according to the Fang of Gabon. </p>\r\n<b>Chapter Eight - Rise of the Guardians</b>\r\n<p>The Genesis account of concerning Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden achieves one thing - it sets up women to be tarnished as temptresses by a patriarchal structure (underpinned by aggressive earth/mountain spirits) intent on maintaining dominance. </p>\r\n<p>By the way, if everything God made, including every creeping thing, was good, where did the serpent come from? </p>\r\n<p>What we have is a mistranslation which takes a word NHSH (meaning [enlightened] wise ones), adds vowels to it to get NAHASH (meaning serpent). The serpent is acknowledged as being on of the gods. He said that the man has \"become one of us\". </p>\r\n<p>Enlil's goal was to keep the Adam in ignorance while he toiled in the garden. Enki, in his ongoing feud with his brother, decided that his creations should be educated. </p>\r\n<p>Nothing new here, huh? </p>\r\n<p>African Americans dragged from their homeland to be slaves in another country, to come under the boundary of an aggressive spirit, and be denied an education. That is, until Brown vs the Board of Education. </p>\r\n<p>By the way, it was Adam who was given the command not to eat, not Eve. According to the Genesis account, she had yet to be created. Her response to the serpent does not tell us who told her what to say (which included additional information about not touching the tree). Someone is putting words in her mouth. We CANNOT be absolutely certain that this is Adam's doing. To declare certainty about anything in the Bible is to reveal our arrogance which is really a way to hide our ignorance. </p>\r\n<p>The mention of the Tree of Life cannot be ignored. Despite the rather convoluted tale, the image has been 'borrowed' from a text that is at least 2,000 years older than the book of Genesis. </p>\r\n<p>The Tree of Life in the <i>Chronicles of Kharsag</i> is symbolic of the maintenance of the bloodlines of these 'gods', popularly known in ET lore as Annunaki (also referred to as Anannage, as per Gardner). It is not just about how humans lost out on immortality as is generally the common interpretation. </p>\r\n<p>The notion that God is everlasting is a scribal device of the 6th Century BC era. Aside from this, we will find that the 'gods' are not eternal, immortal, invisible, etc...</p>\r\n<p>There are many Creation myths that predate Christianity (and Islam) and the Book of Genesis.</p>\r\n<p>The Haggadah (part of the rabbinical Midrash) mentions the creation of certain things before Heaven and Earth. One of these is the Torah, which becomes God's female source of inspiration. The Bible calls her Wisdom.</p>\r\n<p>Very similar to the Chinese concept of One producing Two, Two producing Three, etc.</p>\r\n<p>Also the Gnostic texts that mention the creation (or is it emanation?) of the feminine Barbelo before anything else comes into existence.</p>\r\n<p>Something from nothing (NO THING)? Really? </p>\r\n<p>The book of Enoch mentions a curious entity that God refers to is explaining his creative secrets:</p>\r\n<p><blockquote>I commanded the great Idiol (huh?) to come forth, having a great stone in his belly. And I spoke to him: 'Burst asunder Idiol, and let the visible be born from you'. And he burst asunder. A great stone came out of him, bearing all creation which I wished to create. </blockquote></p>\r\n<p>This recalls the African myth of the Creation Stone which smashes the pantheon. </p>\r\n<p>The 6th-centry BC exiled Israelites in re-inventing themselves and their scriptures through mythologizations, misidentified the 'watchers' of Genesis 6:1-4 (also as mentioned in Daniel and the Book of Enoch) with heavenly angels who had fallen from grace. </p>\r\n<p>If we put Zechariah Sitchin's works aside, we note that historical accounts tell us that the masculine principle came (possibly) from the North (heaven, mountains) during the Iron Age. We might even call the them sons of the gods (elohim), not sons of God as in the English translation. They were not giants as probably misconstrued from works by writers such as Josephus. He never referred to them as giants. He merely said that their strength resembled those that the Greeks would call giants. </p>\r\n<p>This is not to discount the archaeological finds of bones of giants. It might be that we are conflating different historical accounts and thus muddying the waters. Intentionally or not. </p>\r\n<p>The story of Cain and Abel is another myth that deserves another look. Given the status of Adam and Eve, it is perhaps not surprising the their sons might indeed be royals. Through the matrilineal line, Cain is the elder son with the right to kingly inheritance. The word used as 'rising up above' his brother in the English translation is correct, though not to kill his brother. Abel is merely 'shattered' by Cain's reaction. Cain's reaction to being rejected is to withdraw Abel's bloodright to fraternal protection. Hence the Lord's response...</p>\r\n<p>The mark of Cain as the oldest recorded grant of arms on sovereign history? Hmmm...interesting...</p>\r\n<p>Bearing in mind that Adam and Eve were the first of a kind, it is possible to explain the question as to how Cain managed to get a wife. Gardner notes, too, that as regards dynastic succession, a man could not be king without a queen, and the queen had to be of royal blood. So, then, who was Cain's queen?</p>\r\n<p>Besides Adam having daughters independently of Eve (Genesis 5:4), the Book of Jubilees (mentioned in the Old Testament [I think], though not included in the Canon) identified Cain's wife as Awan. Who, then is her mother? That would be Lilith who was the great grand-daughter of Enki and Ninlil. </p>\r\n<p>It's a (royal) family affair...</p>\r\n<p>Enoch is the son of Cain and Awan. </p>\r\n<p>It seems that in detailing the genealogy from Adam to Noah, that the Cainite line was sidelined by the writers to give the Sethian line precedence. We may have bought into the idea that the line of Seth is real, when it may be a fantasy created by the writers as part of their mythologizations.  Even if the Sethian line were significant and real, the line of Cain - the senior line as per the rules of dynastic succession via the mother - is apparently of much greater importance. <p>\r\n<p>Note that Abraham is descended from King Ur-Nammu, whose own heritage is Cainite, not Sethian. Seth may/may not exist. Or perhaps the reason for creating a spurious line is so the writers could have the means by which they could create another character - Noah? </p>\r\n<p>Apparently, the English Parliament would do something similar in more recent history...</p>\r\n<p>Classic earth spirit aggression, typified by domination and undermining...</p>\r\n<b>Chapter Nine - Annals of the Deluge</b>\r\n<p>So Noah is a fictional character taken from much older text, for example, \"The Epic of Gilgamesh\". His borrowed/usurped counterpart in these texts is Ziusudra (Uta-Napishtim). </p>\r\n<p>The fiction would also include his three 'sons'. </p>\r\n<p>Contrary to our tales of animals to be taken onto the ship, these texts refer to the 'seed of every living thing' (i.e., genetic material). This makes more sense. Yes, a few animals were taken on to the boat. However, they would serve as food. </p>\r\n<p>As for the notion of a global flood, this does not appear to be the case. This is a flood that was a local event. I think Sitchin's translation mentions the coincidental passing through of the Annunaki's planet Nibiru which would impact planet Earth in a much more significant way. </p>\r\n<p>In any case, the Grand Assembly (Congregation of the Mighty) votes (with Enki and Nin-kharsag dissenting, and why would they not dissent?) to the wiping out of the humans. </p>\r\n<p>It is not because humans were wicked as portrayed in the Genesis account. In the original sources, it appears to be because Enlil considered humans to be a nuisance. Talk about being petty. </p>\r\n<p>Enlil is the God of Genesis. </p>\r\n<p>It was directly after the flood that the work of <i>in vitro</i> fertilization would take place, and this leads to the creation of Adam and Eve. This puts the flood story in its proper context. </p>\r\n<p>This would also throw the whole theory of dispensationalism with its neat and tidy divisions into disarray! </p>\r\n<p>Gardner argues that the quite lengthy stories of Noah and his sons was a diversionary tactic on the part of the writers to make it easy for the reader to forget that they had encountered duplicity/duplicitousness regarding the two different family listings from Adam to Lamech. The Hebrew Anchor Bible tells us that the line cannot be divorced from the Sumerian King List. </p>\r\n<p>The Bible mentions Lamech (father of the Amalekites) as though he had no status. He is identified as King Akalem of Ur. </p>\r\n<p>The name 'Cain' (Quain) is quite likely a craft distinction, than a name, meaning 'smith' or 'metalworker'. </p>\r\n<p>The surrogate women 'who had survived the deluge' would  would be involved in the clinical process for producing the new humans, according to the Atrahasis Epic. </p>\r\n<b>Chapter Ten - Into Canaan</b>\r\n<p>Noah's curse on an absent grandson (Canaan) does not make sense. The tactic of white supremacists to stain people of color with this myth aside, the story seems to be a pretext by the 6th century Israelite exiles to provide some kind of \"proof\" that Canaan is Abraham's property. Bear in mind, that Noah, as a biblical character, does not exist. That would also make the three 'sons' also a fabrication. </p>\r\n<p>I think we have seen this ruse in more recent times. With white America, for example,...which just goes to show it doesn't have the monopoly on mythologizing its own history in the quest for domination. </p>\r\n<p>It is quite intriguing that the same El-Shaddai of the so-called Hebrews was the same El-Elyon of the Canaanites. The writers were possibly implying that they were of better use to the same god than the Canaanites. </p>\r\n<p>Given the custom of girls in those times to be married off to men before they could bear children it is highly unlikely that Sarah, for example, would be literally barren, thus making Isaac's birth seem like a miracle. This is also the case with Rebecca and Rachel. What is going on with Sarah and Hagar apparently has legal precedence in the Law Code of Hamurabbi which takes it cue from the Law Code of Ur-Nammu, Abraham's ancestor. </p>\r\n<p>Herodutus, in the recording of his visit to Egypt in 450 BC, confirms that circumcision was originally performed only in Egypt. </p>\r\n<p>Who is Isaac, really? </p>\r\n<p>He is the son of a pharoah, Senusret I, who actually married Sarah when Abraham had said to him that she was his sister. Sarah was with this pharoah for two years. The text where the pharoah challenges Abraham to explain himself is not to be taken as read. The Hebrew Bible says that the pharoah took Sarah to be his wife, not 'might have taken her'. </p>\r\n<p>Which begs the question about God's covenant with Isaac. Not to mention the near-sacrifice incident on Mount Moriah. What are the 6th century writers attempting here? </p>\r\n<p>Perhaps the philosopher Kierkegaard is not too far off the mark when he suggests that an act of pre-meditated murder is taking place. </p>\r\n<p>If Isaac is Egyptian, that might also explain the whole circumcision thing as it was a distinctly Egyptian practice. </p>\r\n<p>The story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is another attempt by the 6th century writers to portray their idea of God as someone who punishes the wicked when his laws are not followed to the letter.</p>\r\n<p>How can sin be imputed when there is no law?</p>\r\n<p>It would appear that, rather than being punished for lewdness and wickedness, Sodom and Gomorrah was a well-known city of great wisdom. It is mentioned in two Nag Hammadi texts: <i>The Paraphrase of Shem</i> and the <i>Gospel of the Egyptians</i>. Its mention in Revelation 11.18 is a reference to the tribal order of East Manasseh and its location somewhere in Qumran.</p>\r\n<b>Chapter 11: Strategy of Succession</b>\r\n<p>The covenant with Isaac is not fulfilled in his lifetime, he did not inherit the lands promised, nor did his descendants. </p>\r\n<p>The camels in the Genesis account where Eliezer is sent to get a wife for Isaac are not camels (a mistranslation), but donkeys. </p>\r\n<p>The red, 'hairy' Esau recalls the hairy Enkidu from the <i>Epic of Gilgamesh</i>. </p>\r\n<p>What is the birthright that Esau allegedly sold to Jacob? The \"Book of J\" is an older text in which this tale is told, and it was meant, apparently, to be a joke. </p>\r\n<p>We do not know the precise nature of the birthright which was supposedly sold. Another possible source of the story is the Mesopotamian Nuzi Tablets in which a man traded his birthright for three groves of sheep. </p>\r\n<p>Esau's descendants don't appear to be worse off anyhow...</p>\r\n<p>This appears to be another manipulative ploy on the part of the Genesis scribes to skew the generational records in order to favor their patriarchal stance. </p>\r\n<p>Where did Abimelech come from, since there were Philistines (Palestinians) in Canaan until Moses' time which would be many years later? </p>\r\n<p>Why would Rebekah contrive to have Jacob receive the patriarchal blessing instead of the older son? The matriarchal line is always through the eldest son. </p>\r\n<p>So, by the time we read of Jacob's dream at Beth-El, Isaac has no inheritance through no fault of his own and Jacob gets it all although this, too, is a non-event? Really? What gives? How far can the myth be stretched? </p>\r\n<p>The story of Dinah's rape in Genesis 34 and the subsequent destruction by Hamor and Shechem has no supporting historical evidence outside of the Genesis account. Hmmm... </p>\r\n<p>The coat of many colors is a royal garment, and is not a coat of different colors. Why would Jacob give this coat to Joseph? Is this another diversionary tactic on the part of the Genesis writers seeking to sidestep Reuben the eldest son in order to focus on Joseph (a non-entity, and later on Pharez, the younger of the widowed Tamar's sons by Judah her father? </p>\r\n<p>The tale regarding how Joseph ends up in Egypt is a rather convoluted one because there are two accounts by two different writers. This is with respect to who opted to protect him; and who pulled him out of a pit and sold him. </p>\r\n<b>Chapter 12: Yahweh the Ineffable </b>\r\n<p>The biblical Joseph - who does not exist - is another cleverly manipulated character which the writers linked to a historical \"Joseph\" (Yusuf, the Grand Vizier). The original source for this character is separate from him by at least 400 years. Yusuf is the father of a pharoah, had kingly status, was a prominent State official and a powerful military leader. </p>\r\n<p>His wife Tjuyu (Asenath) held high significance in her own right, being the daughter of Poti-phera (yes, that guy - Potiphar). Note that she is the wife of this Yusuf. Gardner identifies the Egyptian aspect of the Bible's two-part covenant prophecy, and notes that the attempted 'rape' of Potiphar's 'wife' is a spurious account inserted by the Hebrew writers. </p>\r\n<p>The biblical Joseph himself had no tribe...while it is possible that he is descended from the historical Yusuf, he is NOT the historical Yusuf. It is also likely, that even if he did exist, he was never in Egypt or went there. </p>\r\n<p>This is not the only document to conveniently skip over 400 years of history in order to focus on a family history (real and/or imagined). I noted in \"The Mystery of Bellicena Villca\", a novel by Nimrod de Rosario (pseudonym of Luis Felipe Moyano [1946-1996]), that 400 years of African American history had been conveniently skipped over in the interest of focusing on a family history (real or imagined). </p>\r\n<p>He was the Founder of the Esoteric Secret Society Order of Tyrodal Knights of Argentina. </p>\r\n<p>Back to the Old Testament...</p>\r\n<p>It is quite intriguing that in the 600 years from Abraham to Moses, we see things like:</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>fraternal disputes over succession with the eldest son in each case being consistently sidelined by the Hebrew writers</li>\r\n<li>the sudden (or gradual) disappearance of God from the scene, which suggests the Book was never really about him; much of his activity being quite destructive. This would be attributed to the fact that the writers had run out of appropriate source material...hmmm</li>\r\n<li>the fate of the women from Eve to Tamar, and the </li>\r\n<li>impressive strains of the family descended from Cain, Ishmael and Esau, although their individual stories have been ignored (compared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p>As regards the plagues of Egypt and the Exodus, the timing in the Old Testament is out of synch with the scientific evidence.</p>\r\n<p>There was a volcanic eruption and earthquake which would account for darkness in the skies (according to the <i>Nature</i> scientific journal), and this event was dated to 1624 BC. The original document (the <i>Ipuwer Papyrus</i>) that describes the cataclysmic events, records them as having taken place some 300 years BEFORE the time of Moses.</p>\r\n<p>The name Jehovah, which came about in 1518 through the efforts of the Christian interpreters of the Lutheran Reformation, must be considered against the backdrop of anti-Semitism which was highly prevalent in Western Europe. Funny (?) that we are still using this provocative terminology today. It seems that it was an attempt to get around the name of God (YHVH) which was said to be 'unutterable'. The name doesn't have any original context, and, thus, doesn't really mean anything...</p>\r\n<p>The Ras Shamra tablets recording a god that was very much materially present, noted that existence in 1400 BC. After this time it seems he has disappeared. The writers then would have no source material wherewith to continue the tradition. Thus god/Yahweh/YHVH is moved into the realm of spirit. </p>\r\n<p>Even later on, in John 4:24, we are told</p>\r\n<p><blockquote>\"God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth\".</blockquote></p>\r\n<p>The word for 'God' in the Old Testament, remember, is the plural Elohim (Shining Ones) and is mentioned more than 2,500 times. </p>\r\n<p>Morphing and shape-shifting on the part of earth spirits? Earth spirits, in traditional Taoist cosmologies, are characterized by dominance and undermining. </p>\r\n<p>Towards the end of this chapter, Gardner reminds us that the Anannage (Annunaki) was 'heritably dynastic'. Thus the names we come across in the Bible such as El, El-Shaddai, and El-Elyon, are not names, but titles that would be handed down to successors. Much like His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. The closest thing we may have in the USA to denote dynastic succession is the adding of Sr., or Jr., to one's name. Usually the sons. </p>\r\n<p>What does this mean in terms of the timeframe of events? It means that the El who walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam would not be the same El who sat with Abraham and argued with him while visiting him. Both events also point to a 'god' who is very much material/flesh-and-blood. The Book of J also supports this notion. </p>\r\n<p>So, given that there is no record of a god from 1400 BC onwards, how does the idea of his existence (real or imagined) persist to the present day? Since there is no historical evidence, it must a superstitious belief. </p>\r\n<p>It does answer a personal question as to why I could not connect to this god. The answer is simply because there was nothing to connect to. This may have been (partially, if not wholly) the reason I sank into a deep depression during my teenage years. The best 'connection' we would have as compound beings is to 'earth/other spirits' which could very easily satisfy our hunger for some deity and for supernatural/mystical experiences. Our continued persistence (because we cannot get enough) in our desires to connect with these spirits unwittingly places us at a disadvantage because they will eat away at our intelligence until we are all heart. </p>\r\n<p>We are not allowed to think for ourselves. It is part of the dominance and undermining. </p>\r\n<p>There is nothing really morbid about this, or good/evil about this. This is all part of Nature, if we can embrace Her without having preferences. </p>\r\n<b>Chapter 13: The Moses Revelation</b>\r\n<p>The mythical tale of Moses in the Bulrushes was taken from an earlier <i>Legend of Sharru-kin</i>, who became Sargon, King of Akkad. This Moses (from a word meaning 'heir') was linked in modern times to Amenhotep IV who changed his name to Akhenaten. This person attempted to enforce a monotheism on Egypt. He was forced to abdicate in the face of plots against his life. </p>\r\n<p>Monotheism is a misnomer. It is really polytheism in disguise.</p>\r\n<p>The introduction of Aaron with its puzzling aftermath makes for interesting reading. Also the link between Aaron and the historical Smenkh-kara-on and Ireland (Eire-land) through Aaron's daughter Scota who married a Black Sea Prince. I think the princess Scota has something to do with Scotland's origins too?</p>\r\n<p>After 600 years of being absent from the story of the children of Israel, this god shows up in a burning bush, voice-only. We are now entering into a realm of <i>belief</i>, rather than historical fact. </p>\r\n<p>I am reminded of a question posed by American mythologist John Lamb Lash: if your belief was insane and inhumane, how would you know? </p>\r\n<p>You would probably not know, because it is the nature of earth spirits (many reside in mountains and caves), to encourage you to use your heart rather than your head. </p>\r\n<p>Have you noticed in the last two or so decades at least, we have seen a dumbing down of society whereby folks are asked to express how they feel, think with their hearts and not their heads (intellect/reason)? </p>\r\n<p>We tend to blame the media and other organizations for this dumbing-down process. Perhaps they are simply reflecting what already exists?</p>\r\n<b>Chapter 14: No Other God</b>\r\n<p>The Israelite exodus from Egypt took place during the year of Rameses I's death, the first year of Pharoah Set I (c.1335 BC). </p>\r\n<p>There is no historical evidence that any pharoah died in such a dramatic way as described in the Book of Exodus. The Israelites did not cross the Red Sea. They apparently crossed the Sea of Reeds, a swampy marshland. </p>\r\n<p>Miriam's importance is suppressed in the narrative. Nonetheless, she is called 'the prophetess'. She is also referenced as a leader of the Israelites, along with Moses and Aaron. </p>\r\n<p>As to who she really was, Gardner identifies her as Akhenaten's second wife and half-sister, Khiba. She was the daughter of Amenhotep III and a Mesopotamian princess called Gilukhiba. The etymology of her name is to be found in Meryamen (meaning <i>Beloved of Amen</i>). She was styled as the 'Royal Favorite'. </p>\r\n<p>Recall how Mary, the mother of Jesus, is greeted in the New Testament?</p>\r\n<p>So what's really going on at Sinai?</p>\r\n<p>In commanding the Israelites that they were to \"have no other gods before me\", Yaouai is actually acknowledging the existence of other gods. To read this as saying he is referring to himself to the one and only God in existence is to demonstrate gross ignorance. </p>\r\n<p>Family affair...</p>\r\n<p>The world in which we live is densely populated with all kinds of beings. </p>\r\n<p>The miraculous account of a god descending on Mount Sinai does not add up when you consider that there was an already functioning temple, a designated holy place at Mount Horeb in Sinai. The temple complex, discovered by Sir WM Flinders Petrie in 1904 housed a sizeable workshop.</p>\r\n<p>Given the discovery of a workshop, the whole idea of smoke going up like smoke going out of a furnace makes sense. This implies that the space was not some barren, uninhabitable space in the middle of nowhere. </p>\r\n<p>Hyping up the deity...</p>\r\n<b>Chapter 15: God On Our Side</b>\r\n<p>The justification for murdering others in the name of a god as taken from texts scattered throughout the Book of Deuteronomy is typical of earth spirits. Since earth spirits do not operate in a vacuum, it is better to say people who are possessed of earth spirits. These earth spirits feed on human intelligence and devour a person's humanity until it is all gone. </p>\r\n<p>The Book of Deuteronomy appears to be an anomalous book that has been included in the Old Testament as part of the mythologization project of the biblical writers. </p>\r\n<p>Why are the broken tablets on which God's testimony was written not preserved for posterity? </p>\r\n<p>Did Yahweh really give the Ten Commandments to Moses? Apparently, he got them from his father-in-law, Lord Jethro (the Lord of the Mountain/El-Shaddai) as mentioned in The Book of Jasher.</p>\r\n<p>The original source of the Ten Commandments is the Egyptian Book of the Dead which contains the 'Negative Confessions' uttered by the Pharoahs. </p>\r\n<p>Aaron's project of making the golden calf is possibly linked to the Goddess of the Mount Horeb temple complex in Sinah where the Israelites were camping. Portrayed as a nursing mother with cow's horns, it is said that each morning she gave birth to a golden calf. </p>\r\n<p>Is this where the British derogatory term for women as 'old cows' comes from? Is it derogatory? Or an unwitting nod to the Goddess Hathor as acknowledging the feminine principle? </p>\r\n<p>God's response to not getting the credit for granting the people water when Moses struck the rock seems to be a bit over-the-top. It would appear that mountain gods have big egos. Why are Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, dealt with so harshly, and so sudden? Is there something else going on here? </p>\r\n<p>It is quite possible that they never left the Horeb temple complex.</p>\r\n<p>Writers seeking to distance themselves from their Egyptian past? </p>\r\n<p>There is no historical evidence outside of the story that the wanderings of Israel took 40 years. Could the number be being used in an occult/hidden way? </p>\r\n<p>The number is deemed significant because it defined the term of a royal generation (explained in the \"Dead Sea Scrolls\"). It was an indication of the period between the royal father's maturity and his son's inheritance. This seems to be how it is being used in both the Old and New Testaments. </p>\r\n<p>The Ark of the Covenant is a rather interesting object. What are cherubim doing on it?</p>\r\n<p>It is, apparently, a weapon of mass destruction.</p>\r\n<b>Chapter 16: The Conquest</b>\r\n<p>If there were Hebrews (referred to as Canaanites) already in the land of Canaan during the Egyptian reins of Seti I and Rameses II, long before the Israelites left Egypt, what is the deal with Yahweh telling them to wipe them all out in order to claim the land? </p>\r\n<p>Thou shalt not covet...</p>\r\n<p>Sounds like the whole thing is being mythologized by the writers. A bit like white America with its 'manifest destiny'. </p>\r\n<p>Both the Philistines (Palestinians) and the Egyptian-born Israelites were what you might call unwelcome guests/invaders. How does that all fit in with  what is happening in that area today? Both groups came out of Mesopotamia (Iraq). </p>\r\n<p>Bear in mind that the El-Shaddai of the Abraham story and the El of the Canaanites are one and the same. There is no evidence that the god had switched sides to show preference to a different set of people. This can only be put down to a fantasy created by the writers. </p>\r\n<b>Chapter 20: Between the Testaments</b>\r\n<p>Before the looting of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar (about 596 BC), the Ark of the Covenant is hidden away.</p>\r\n<p>The Israelite exiles return to Jerusalem, though under Persian (Iranian) command. The Old Testament comes to an end. Then there is another period of some 400 years before the New Testament begins.</p>\r\n<p>Lots of military activity...Israel's fight for independence under the Maccabees. The story of the Maccabees is crucial to gaining a better understanding of the history of Israel, despite the related books (1st and 2nd Maccabees) being excluded from the final Hebrew canon. </p>\r\n<p>They are mentioned in the writings of Flavius Josephus, himself a Hasmonean. </p>\r\n<p>Jerusalem priests collaborating with the invader to destroy their own culture...a kind of meritorious manumission? </p>\r\n<p>The fight for independence had necessitated fighting on the Sabbath. The ultra-pious Hasidim, who had strongly objected to this, would later leave the city to form their own community (at Qumran) when the House of Hasmon took the throne, thus setting up their own dynasty. </p>\r\n<p>A lot of intrigue between Democrats and Republicans - in Rome. </p>\r\n<p>Herod becomes the puppet-king of Judea after marrying the only Hasmonean heiress Mariamme. </p>\r\n<p>Within the Qumran community there were various groups. In terms of their differences:</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Pharisees and Sadducees both opposed to Maccabees. Both were regulated in the Hebrew tradition. However, although the Sadducees had a more modern outlook, they were considered to be non-spiritual. The Pharisees observed ancient Hebrew laws.</li>\r\n<li>The Essenes were adept in the healing arts and influenced by Hellenic mysticism. They were noted by Josephus as being more affectionate to each other compared to the other groups. Josephus also noted that they lived like the Pythagoreans. You might also say they knew how to party - the love (agape) feasts.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p>There is no historical evidence of Herod's so-called slaughter of the babies, not even from his enemies. History records him as being a very competent ruler. If there is any basis for the story, it just means that the story in the Book of Matthew cannot be taken at face value. That is, it may have another meaning. </p>\r\n<b>Chapter 21: The Image of God</b>\r\n<p>It appears that we have the Essenes to thank for the idea/notion/definition of a god of love. Bear in mind that they had been heavily influenced by Greek culture, one which was saturated with abstract ideas. The Greeks had five words for love. We are still dealing with the Greek-influenced notion of \"God\" as an abstract idea.</p>\r\n<p>Jesus' own message and behavior, then, would be based on the ideas of the Essenes as referenced in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Whether he existed or not is an ongoing debate.</p>\r\n<p>Does God have a split personality? </p>\r\n<p>In the Old Testament, the people are told that God is not obliged to forgive anyone. He is a jealous god and he does not forgive. The annual day of Atonement may well be a fruitless exercise, the importance of ritual notwithstanding. There is no guarantee of forgiveness (unless people repent - and hand over their humanness). </p>\r\n<p>Bear in mind that we are dealing with a family who dwelt bodily on the earth. As of 1400 BC they are no longer around to speak for themselves...so what is the practice of worship about? It is to ensure the priestly sects maintain control. </p>\r\n<p>The attribute of being forgiving is what would set apart the god of the new testament in the Essene-Nazarene theology from the god of the old. The concept of receiving everlasting life was also a part of this imagined forgiveness. </p>\r\n<p>The Gnostic Marcion asserted that they were two completely different entities.</p>\r\n<p>Two completely different ideas.</p>\r\n<p>We are already immortal; we don't need everlasting life/immortality from any god. John 3:16 is, therefore, redundant. </p>\r\n<p>The following commandments, actually 14 in all (including the Ten) had been blatantly broken: </p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Thou shalt not kill (the later commandment to kill to lay claim to Canaan would involve the wiping out of children and animals!)</li>\r\n<li>Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p>Both of these relate to their fellow-Israelites whom they killed and whose property they coveted. </p>\r\n<p>Jesus' message of love came from some Old Testament references, though he expanded on them to include the need to embrace Gentiles and enemies. The Pharisees and Sadducees rejected this approach as they considered themselves to be God's special people. </p>\r\n<p>However, you cannot account for human behavior...</p>\r\n<b>Chapter 22: A Matter of Belief</b>\r\n<p>The Old Testament is not a book about God; it is about a people's relationship to him as they re-imagine themselves within a patriarchal structure, and which structure was being socially re/constructed.</p>\r\n<p>The Bible does not in any way prove the existence of God, and it does not even attempt to do so. </p>\r\n<p>Apart from atheists who would say without hesitation that God does not exist, there is another way of addressing the question. Those of us who live in an environment where there is strong religious motivation/domination, our response is somewhat similar to the New-Age reactionary approach which is to say that God exists though not in the way he is understood or taught, or uses some abstract term like 'the universe', 'Source', etc. We regard ourselves as 'spiritual, not religious'. </p>\r\n<p>Replacement theory?</p>\r\n<p>Are we just hedging our bets? Or is there something else going on? </p>\r\n<p>There is an ancient pre-religious Taoist cosmology that acknowledges the role of different types of spirits. One type is earth spirits who are typified by domination and undermining. Within the undermining aspect, we could add manipulation and shape-shifting (morphing). </p>\r\n<p>People who are possessed of these spirits may consider that they are really serving \"God\" and are very vocal and open with expressing their beliefs in any company and presume that their views are self-evident truths and, therefore, cannot be challenged. Those who challenge them are often shouted down (a demonstration of 'might is right') and accused of being disrespectful and/or blasphemous. The modern slur is 'woke'. If there are blasphemy laws are in place, it is not really to protect \"God\"; it is protect a group's abstract ideas and notions of \"God\". </p>\r\n<p>God - if he/she/it exists - needs NO protection. </p>\r\n<p>It does not matter for such people that their beliefs might be insane and inhumane. They will even kill for the sake of these abstract ideas. Whatever happened to 'love thy neighbor'? </p>\r\n<p>This can be attributed to the dominance of earth spirits. </p>\r\n<p>The undermining approach might be demonstrated in the attitude 'love the sinner, hate the sin', which is really a claim to moral superiority which stems from spiritual pride. </p>\r\n<p>The flip side to all this is the possibility of the oppressed becoming the oppressor. Take, for example, so-called 'cancel culture' (real, \"orchestrated\", or imagined). </p>\r\n<p>Perhaps the Chinese have a more practical and humane approach to questions such as: is there a God? is there any material truth? Answers to such questions can include \"I don't know\". We in the West are not good at dealing with unanswerable questions in this way. Our approach is to simply shut down any further discussion rather than leaving things open.</p>\r\n<p>Our imagined identities are wrapped up within our belief systems. </p>\r\n<p>The undermining taking place within Western Christianity cannot be blamed on science, the media, or even capitalism. It is largely to do with the Church being stuck in what Freud termed the 'anal phase'. Another point of reference might be Paul's distress with the Corinthian Church where he expressed his longing to feed them with meat. Instead, they were babies still drinking milk.</p>\r\n<p>The Church, for the most part, has yet to grow up if She is to remain valid.</p>\r\n<p>When you have groups of ('religious'/'spiritual') people alleging that their enemies are hiding something and that is why they need power (whether supernatural, political, intuitive, etc.), we leave ourselves open to another set of spirits (as per the ancient Taoist cosmology): metal spirits which are characterized by mental illness. And they will certainly feed our longing and desire. </p>\r\n<p>These groups of spirits are good at simulation and will grant us gifts, including the miraculous and supernatural. However, nothing comes for free; we have to give up something. That something is usually our human intelligence with its powers of reasoning and the ability to think for ourselves. </p>\r\n<p>We might wish to include ET research groups here...Bear in mind that we are all ETs...even if we have the appearance of a form (i.e., a 'physical' body).</p>\r\n<p>Much research by such groups has delved into exposing the existence (real or imagined) of the Archons (from the Gnostic cosmology).</p>\r\n<p>Could it be that this is one explanation for people to come out with books like \"The Healing Codes of the Biological Apocalypse\" (Horowitz and Barber)? The secret societies were apparently hiding something from us...</p>\r\n<p>This anti-secret society attitude is strongly puritanical, imported from England/Europe in the 1600s.</p>\r\n<p>Looks like the debt (if it might be construed as such) is being repaid with the 'woke' phenomenon.</p>\r\n<p>Ever since \"The Secret\", we have seen use of the words \"what they don't want you to know\" in a wide variety of publications, online and offline. Or \"the truth about...\"</p>\r\n<p>The release by the Trump administration of classified documents is, perhaps, a part of this trend. Were we ever satisfied with the result of this action? Or are we demanding yet more?</p>\r\n<p>As an aside, Horowitz and Barber do ask a very valid question: why did we need another version of the Bible when there were already some good versions in existence? </p>\r\n<p>A possible reason would be the strong anti-secret society sentiment from the Roman Catholic (and Protestant?) Church.</p>\r\n<p>Only about a century before the Authorized King James Version of the Bible was published, one of their own (?) was burnt at the stake for asserting that the universe was alive? </p>\r\n<p>Actually, this idea comes from the ancient cosmologies and are being proven today - as if they need to be - by modern (quantum) physics. </p>\r\n<p>I have often wondered at the high incidence of mental illness within Pentecostal Christianity...also within the African American and Jamaican communities, whether or not there is a religious (esp., ultra-pious) affiliation. </p>\r\n<p>As to any debates about the existence of God, there will be those who would counter with that line in the Psalms (14:1): the fool hath said in his heart there is no god. </p>\r\n<p>Question: Do you understand the TRUE nature of THE FOOL? </p>\r\n<p>The funny thing about all of this is that Nature/Tian qi (Heaven qi) appears to be contemplating itself and there are no restrictions as to this what it is contemplating. The desire/wish/metafunction of the Unum, as identified by the now-defunct Life Physics Group-California is: I want to know myself and achieve a most perfect unity (I am paraphrasing here by personalizing).</p>\r\n<p>There doesn't appear to be any restrictions on what (or how) it desires to know. Or on what it might be like to not know (the opposite)...</p>\r\n<p>There is nothing good or evil about any of this. It is just the way of Nature. </p>\r\n<p>Why can't we just live and let live? </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Laurence Gardner",
        publisher: "dash house publishing UK",
        category: "Religion"
    },
    {
        book_id: "50",
        book_title: "Revelation of the Devil",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "38",
        publisher_id: "40",
        category_id: "7",
        publication_year: "2012",
        book_isbn: "0956735746",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL21163397W/Revelation_of_the_Devil?edition=key:/books/OL28651516M",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0956735746.jpg",
        date_read: "2025-09-10",
        book_notes: null,
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Laurence Gardner",
        publisher: "dash house publishing UK",
        category: "History"
    },
    {
        book_id: "51",
        book_title: "I Ching, The Oracle",
        book_subtitle: "A Practical Guide to The Book of Changes",
        book_edition: "2",
        author_id: "48",
        publisher_id: "41",
        category_id: "11",
        publication_year: "2023",
        book_isbn: "9781623178734",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL27936547W/Book_on_I_Ching?edition=key:/books/OL38181943M",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781623178734.jpg",
        date_read: "2025-10-01",
        book_notes: "As with other I Ching translations (except, perhaps, the one by Alfred Huang), I have read all of the hexagrams from 1 to 64 to get a feel for the book.\r\n<p>After going through several of these books, I have decided on sticking with this one, along with one or two others that are similar in tone, although I have not completed all of the practicums. Given the nature of many of these, and where I find myself at this point of my life, I am adopting approaches that would be considered unorthodox and non-traditional. </p>\r\n<p>Additional note on the front cover: </p>\r\n<p>An updated translation annotated with cultural and historical references, restoring the \"I Ching\" to its shamanic traditions</p>\r\n<p>From the blurb at the back: </p>\r\n<p>Benebell Wen's profound new translation of the \"I Ching\" brings the power and mysticism of \"The Book of Changes\" to contemporary readers. </p>\r\n<p>Through in-depth annotations, cultural and historical references, and mystical practices, Wen amplifies the wisdom - both profound and practical - of the 3,000-year-old text. She includes aspects of the \"I Ching\" that have never been translated into English, offering fresh perspectives on a classic work. </p>\r\n<p>Rooted in her experience and knowledge as a Taiwanese-American occultist and Buddhist with deep family ties to Taoist mysticism, Wen's groundbreaking translation is accompanied by a critical analysis of earlier \"I Ching\" translations. </p>\r\n<p>Readers will learn how to: </p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Situate the \"I Ching\" within its historical and cultural context</li>\r\n<li>Interpret the hexagrams and utilize various divination methods, such as yarrow stalks, coin toss, cowrie shells, and rice grains</li>\r\n<li>Work with the \"I Ching\" for personal guidance and intuitive wisdom</li>\r\n<li>Understand correspondences of Taoist mystical tradition with other schools of metaphysics, including shamanism, faith healing, and soul retrieval</li>\r\n<li>Approach \"The Book of Changes\" as a grimoire and attain a foundational understanding of the eight trigrams and Wu Xing five alchemical phases</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p>Whether you're new to the \"I Ching\" or an experienced occultist, \"I Ching, The Oracle\" will deepen your understanding of esoteric Taoism. Highlighting the two main schools of interpretation - Image and Number AND Meanings and Principles - and exploring Taoist cosmology, mysticism, ritual practice, and the shamanic origins of the \"I Ching\", Wen provides you with everything you need to apply the \"I Ching\" for life guidance, spiritual cultivation, and ancestral connection. </p>\r\n<b>My Notes: </b>\r\n<p>I checked her out both at her website at https://benebellwen.com/ and her YouTube<sup>TM</sup> channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/BenebellWen before getting this book. Somehow, I found my way to her YouTube channel as a result of wanting to know more about Taoist cosmology and shamanism, two subjects I am currently \"studying\" with the late teacher Liu Ming of the Da Yuan Circle. </p>\r\n<p>As a disclaimer, I would not call myself a shaman by any stretch of the imagination. I think you have to be called to be one. I am not... </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Benebell Wen",
        publisher: "North Atlantic Books",
        category: "Taoism"
    },
    {
        book_id: "53",
        book_title: "The God Code",
        book_subtitle: "The Secret to our Past, the Promise of our Future",
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "49",
        publisher_id: "42",
        category_id: "22",
        publication_year: "2004",
        book_isbn: "9781401902995",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8198175W/The_God_Code?edition=key:/books/OL8369312M",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9781401902995.jpg",
        date_read: "2025-09-17",
        book_notes: "I was born to parents who were Oneness Pentecostals. I formally adopted the religion at age 12 and stayed with it for about eighteen years. Somehow, though, I never really felt that I connected with this \"God\" I was supposed to be serving. This despite having some unusual experiences. \r\n<p>Today, I am learning that such experiences are not really \"proofs\" of anything. They are not really a key part of Cultivating the Way. Besides, the name \"God\" comes with a lot of baggage that I wanted to distance myself from. </p>\r\n<p>In the meantime, I have learned to acknowledge my past, rather than seeking to abandon it because I am looking for something better or higher. </p>\r\n<p>Well, I had to start somewhere... </p>\r\n<p>Having read this book, I still have questions, although I am OK with \"I don't know\"...erm...sometimes... </p>\r\n<p>I mean, why \"brand\" us as if we were property? What or from whom do we need protection, if at all? I am asking these questions having read books such as \"The Origin of God\" where author Laurence Gardner cites the work of Dr. Raphael Patai, a Hebrew scholar who asserts that the letters YHVH are a reference to a \"holy family\". This family is not the one we have been taught about within our churches. </p>\r\n<p>Other texts, such as those by Zecharia Sitchin, suggest that humans were genetically engineered in a \"creation chamber\". The ancient original texts from which these stories come - such as those that we find in the Book of Genesis - make for some quite intriguing reading. </p>\r\n<p>An example includes the spreading of pandemics in an attempt at population control...nothing new under the sun. </p>\r\n<p>Perhaps these books just muddy the water instead of providing clarity. Is it really THAT important? </p>\r\n<p>Then, again, it may not be about protecting us from anyone. It may be a way of taking ownership and giving thanks to (the) One from whom all things come (as per Gnostic texts and their portrayals of emanations). </p>\r\n<b>From the blurb: </b>\r\n<p>What would it mean to discover an ancient language - a literal message - hidden within the DNA of life itself> What we once believed about our past is about to change... </p>\r\n<p>A coded message has been found within the molecules of life, deep within the DNA in each cell of our bodies. Through a remarkable discovery linking biblical alphabets to our genetic code, the \"language of life\" may now be read as the ancient letters of a timeless message. Regardless of race, religion, heritage, or lifestyle, the message is the same in each cell in every man, woman, and child, past and present. </p>\r\n<p>With nearly one-third of the world's nations currently embroiled in armed conflict, such proof of a universal bond offers compelling evidence that we are greater than any beliefs that have separated us in the past. Through this newfound expression of unity, we find a place to embark on the road to peace when our differences seem insurmountable. </p>\r\n<p>In this uniquely fascinating work, Gregg Braden shares the life-changing discovery that led him from a successful career in aerospace and defense to an extensive 12-year study of the most sacred and honored traditions of mankind. </p>\r\n<p>Braden's extensive global research and controversial findings enables us to decipher the coded message of our cells from the day of our origins; experience that message as a universal principle of unity that makes war based on our differences obsolete; see the recently revealed fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, validating the text discovered in our cells; discover tangible and unprecedented evidence that we are part of a greater existence; and learn how the message in our DNA becomes the foundation to resolve conflict. </p>\r\n<p>Braden offers a method and a reason to believe that peace is possible within families and between nations! </p>\r\n<b>My notes: </b>\r\n<p>The work of A.R. Bordon and the Life Physics Group-California (LPG-C) team might be useful here...their gnosive research unveiled a \"creator\". Bordon was at great pains to emphasize that this \"creator\" is not what creationists would glibly call \"God\". To throw a further spanner in those works, they found that this entity was, in fact, itself a created entity! </p>\r\n<p>This now begs the question: who or what put this Unum (as they referred to it) here? </p>\r\n<p>In the Kabbalah Tree of Life, there is a sphere referred to as \"Wisdom\". This sphere does not seem to have a reference to a divine name attached to it as the other nine. </p>\r\n<p>The Bordon team found that the metafunction/desire/wish of the Unum (I call this a singularity; and it may not be the only one [maybe nine more?]) was to know Itself and achieve 'a most perfect unity'. </p>\r\n<p>Could this Singularity be our Gnostic 'Sophia' (wisdom)? She does not come into existence fully formed, that is, all-knowing, all-wise. However, she does have the potential for completeness. </p>\r\n<p>Do note that, try as they might as they engaged in what they termed \"clairvoyance on demand\" through the use of a specially created technology, they were UNABLE to go outside of this Unum. Yet they sensed that what might be outside is what some call the Void/Emptiness/Nothingness. </p>\r\n<p>I also look at the work of the late Dr. Michael Newton and ask myself: Given what we are currently dealing with on this planet, are we dealing with an experiment within an experiment? </p>\r\n<p>Or might the Singularity be misapprehending itself, and pondering the question: what is it like to be ignorant? </p>\r\n<p>Questions, questions, and more questions... </p>\r\n<p>There is a recording where Braden and Kabbalist musician Jonathan Goldman both sing the Divine Name, that is, the five vowels. Not the consonants. Quite riveting. </p>\r\n<p>The vowels are among the first things we hear when we are in the womb. </p>\r\n<p>They are also typical of shamanic singing/chanting, glossalalia (\"speaking in tongues\"), etc. </p>\r\n<p>Goldman's other track \"Holy Harmony\" includes the YHVH tetragrammaton, as well as a middle letter Shin. This letter looks like the Chinese 'shen' which is usually translated as 'spirit'. It has a similar meaning. However, it appears to be much closer to 'countenance'. The way the East thinks of countenance is NOT the same way we think of it in the West. </p>\r\n<p>An example might be taken from the anime \"XXXHolic\", where Watanuki Kimihiro returns to the wish-granting shop where he works part-time, very happy about an encounter with a girl he fancies at his school. Yet the witch Yuko tells him that his 'countenance is poor'...go figure that one out! LOL </p>\r\n<p>Five is an important number is Taoist metaphysics. </p>\r\n<p>From \"The Inner Teachings of Taoism\" (Verse 16, pp.24-25, trans. Thomas Cleary): </p>\r\n<cite>Heaven and earth share the liquid of reality<br />\r\nSun and Moon contain the vitality of reality<br />\r\nWhen you understand the foundation of water and fire<br />\r\n<strong>The world is in your body</strong></cite> (bold emphasis is mine)",
        date_added: "2025-10-09 17:22:14",
        author: "Gregg Braden",
        publisher: "Hay House",
        category: "Spirituality"
    },
    {
        book_id: "54",
        book_title: "Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse",
        book_subtitle: null,
        book_edition: null,
        author_id: "50",
        publisher_id: "43",
        category_id: "14",
        publication_year: "1999",
        book_isbn: "9780923550394",
        book_url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL22112372W/Healing_codes_for_the_biological_apocalypse?edition=key:/books/OL8355690M",
        book_cover_image: "https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780923550394.jpg",
        date_read: "2025-09-14",
        book_notes: "<b>From the inside jacket (front and back): </b>\r\n<p>One half of the world's current population should soon be dead according to government officials, authoritative projections, and religious scholars alike. Will you, your family, and friends be among the survivors of the deceased? </p>\r\n<p>This book details the gravest challenge and most thrilling opportunity the world has seen in at least two millennia. It is a history-making work, based on divine revelations, that returns the most precious spiritual knowledge, power and \"healing codes\" to humanity. It offers new hope for the loving masses to survive the worldwide plagues, famine, and weather changes that are now at hand. In perfect time for these cataclysmic events, \"Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse\" presents an urgent, monumental, and inspired work that will be hailed for generations to come. </p>\r\n<p>This extraordinary investigation begins with several divine revelations to Dr. Joseph Puleo - one of the world's leading naturopathic physicians. \"Joey\" is shown mathematical formulas - codes underlying creation and destruction - hidden within the King James Bible. Included are the musical frequencies for spiritual evolution and world healing. Realizing the urgent need to communicate this knowledge to people around the world, Joey prayed for divine assistance and a meeting with Dr. Leonard Horowitz - author of critically acclaimed bestselling book \"Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola - nature, Accident or Intentional?\" </p>\r\n<p>At the same time, \"Len\" had been praying and searching for the \"Achilles heal\" (My note: is that a typo or a play on the word 'heal'?) of the military-medical-industrialists who had delivered AIDS, cancers, and epidemics of immune-system disorders around the world through contaminated blood and vaccines. </p>\r\n<p>Their prayers were answered when they teamed up to investigate 2000 years of religious and political persecution and the latest technologies being used to enslave, coerce, and even kill billions of unsuspecting people around the world. </p>\r\n<p>This book explores the latest biological weapons being used for genocide and the electromagnetic technologies actively unleashing their ungodly terror. Fungal infections that resist antibiotic treatments, and \"mad cow disease\" prions are a central focus. </p>\r\n<p>Prions, the investigators discover, are crystal-like structures that appear to be spreading through fungal infected grains. This best explains the brewing epidemics of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans frequently misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's. </p>\r\n<p>The authors advance the likelihood that these human prion epidemics are not an accident. these infectious crystals, like silicone \"biochips\", may provide an electromagnetic frequency receiver (my note: say what???) and internal energy transmitter to enslave and sicken humanity and control world populations. </p>\r\n<p>This book strikes a critical blow to the heart of humanity's greatest nemesis - the secret cabal that has waged ceaseless wars, famines, plagues and propaganda campaigns against Earth's people. It also offers the greatest hope for humanity to spiritually evolve, and reveals the gathering critical mass of \"144,000\" people required to establish world peace. Let the singing and the greatest healing of all time begin! </p>\r\n<b>My notes: </b>\r\n<p>Oh my... </p>\r\n<p>I guess a title with the word \"apocalypse\" would go down well, wouldn't it? Given that its original meaning has nothing to do with catastrophism. </p>\r\n<p>When I started reading the book, I was somewhat dismayed to come across the first line of the Preface which declared that God created the heaven and earth in six days. Later, the authors would question whether this had anything to do with the use of sound. They did warn us readers that what they were about to say would not go down well with everyone (New-Agers and Christians included). </p>\r\n<p>At some point, I felt rather nauseated, especially as I read about the visits from \"divine beings\". I decided that I would put the book down, take a detour, and return to finish it. I think that process took at least a month... </p>\r\n<p>Books like \"Healing Codes\" I don't like to read (or maybe I do). They tend to promote disquiet and dis-ease. And I don't consider myself as one of the love-and-light brigades! Quite challenging when you want to be still and have a calm mind. However, I promised myself that I would. I am skimming through the conspiracy theory stuff since I am, more or less, familiar with it. There must be some good in it... </p>\r\n<p>After all, it seemed someone got targeted... </p>\r\n<p>I think I found it. My Dad was an herbalist. Didn't go to doctors. Made his own tonics which were quite well known in his circle. Today, although I am not as accomplished as he was, I have adopted some practices. I have also learned that having a dualistic mindset (esp., good/bad) can be very counterproductive to Cultivating the Way. </p>\r\n<p>After 'finishing' with \"Healing Codes\", I began reading Gregg Braden's \"The God Code\". Yet, I have questions. For example, did the Horowitz-Puleo team (\"Healing Codes\") miss a trick here? If this name was so important, how is it that the messenger did not reveal this to a Jewish man? The YHVH of the Old Testament and the YHVH of the Kabbalah appear to be two completely different entities. Or are they? Also, if carbon is what makes the human body solid, why is it said that we only appear to have a body, that we are an embodiment? This might also be in line with the findings of the LPG-C team. That nothing is solid. This is all a hologram. If this is indeed so, why are we so hung up and staying emotionally attached to our physical bodies? </p>\r\n<p>It may have something to do with our fear of death. </p>\r\n<p>I say 'finishing' because much of the research I was already familiar with, having come across it in subscriptions to evangelical newsletters in the 1980s, plus listening to lectures about \"The 13 Bloodlines\". Not to mention going through Wes Penre's website on the Illuminati some years back. So, quite a bit of it would be (for me) outdated. So, I skipped this to read the more interesting bits. Like the chapter on the King James Authorized Version of the Bible. Not to mention the \"meat and potatoes\" of the book, the Codes themselves. </p>\r\n<p>Here, the authors do raise a valid point: why did we need another version of the Bible, when we had perfectly good versions prior to the Authorized version? Bear in mind that the \"Healing Codes\" was published in 1999... </p>\r\n<p>I figured that the secret socieities themselves had come under intense scrutiny by the Roman Catholic Church which targeted many well-known figures for a charge which could be levelled at anyone in the event that all else failed - heresy. </p>\r\n<p>Some years before this version was published, we had Giordono Buono claiming that the universe was alive. </p>\r\n<p>Over 400 years later, and the Life Physics Group would prove it, and share their experiences of it. </p>\r\n<p>Some years before, in 1559, Copernicus' work on the heliocentric principle would be placed on the Index of Forbidden Books in an attitude shift on the part of the Church. </p>\r\n<p>I personally think they went after Laurence Gardner, for example, simply because he was a 33-degree Master Mason. </p>\r\n<p>Gardner began publishing his works from 2001. </p>\r\n<p>Barbara Thiering (deceased), whom Gardner sometimes referenced in his books, first published her radical interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, called \"Jesus the Man\", in 1992. </p>\r\n<p>I wonder if they did see that book. You couldn't have missed it. It was big news at the time. </p>\r\n<p>In the traditional Taoist cosmology you have different types of spirits. One particular set that I learned about from the late Taoist and Buddhist monk Liu Ming (1947-2015) are \"metal spirits\". These show up when we are suspicious of others holding back on us. We allege that these others are \"hiding something from us; therefore, we need power\" (whatever that power might be). </p>\r\n<p>And, by the way, they do \"possess\" us. We in the West don't think that we can be possessed. What it eventually boils down to is how we use words, which usually carry similar meanings, even though we might be on opposite sides of the same coin. </p>\r\n<p>Nothing good or bad about this - it just is. Your belief or disbelief does not have any effect; this is the 'alive' cosmology we are talking about. It does not need your permission or say so to carry out any of its operations. </p>\r\n<p>Then I come across this fantastic claim that it would take 144,000 people singing the Solfeggio tones to bring in a \"seventh dispensation\" (my note) of peace. Multiply that number by 3% and you might get the total population that would have to be around at the time. Bordon's research noted this percentage in their work...I think... </p>\r\n<p>Not sure I did the math correctly... </p>\r\n<p>As an aside, I note that the number layout on my keyboard has this coincidental arrangement: 741-852-963. It simply leapt out at me. Not sure it means anything. It only means what we might want it to... </p>\r\n<p>When it comes to visits from \"divine beings\" and \"divine revelations\", just because they are referred to as \"divine\" does not mean they are altruistic. It doesn't matter if they are so-called angels or demons, gods, goddesses, etc., they all operate from what we might call \"imperatives\" (read: ulterior motives). There is nothing innately good or bad/evil about that. That dualistic set up is in our own minds. And they do take advantage of this. They have been around a very long time. </p>\r\n<p>You have to remember that the 'satans' in the Book of Enoch shared secrets with humans that were considered 'worthless' and yet they paid for it! WTF!!! </p>\r\n<p>Did I miss something? </p>\r\n<p>Based on a reading of The Book of Enoch, what would you consider to be the stuff that is most likely to make billions today? </p>\r\n<p>Has this happened in a previous universe? Yes, I said 'previous universe'. I think there is only one universe within this Singularity/Unum and within it are multi(ple)-verses. Call them \"planes of existence\", \"mansions\", \"dimensions\"...Researchers found parts of a previous universe in this one. Apparently, that one was terminated via an agreement. Hmmm... </p>\r\n<p>So, when you call for help from \"divine beings\" you had better know what you are getting yourself into...you usually have to give up something. Even if that giving up is not made explicit. </p>\r\n<p>I think that thing you have to give up is your humanity... </p>\r\n<p>That would be because we have debased it. </p>\r\n<p>It is somewhat similar to something Benjamin Franklin said: if we are giving away our freedom, we do not deserve to have it. </p>\r\n<p>He was \"one of them\", wasn't he? </p>\r\n<p>In any case, I find the whole approach to deciphering the codes from the Book of Numbers as well as from Psalm 119 almost amateurish. We would say that there is absolutely nothing \"scientific\" in the approach Joey was instructed to use. Highly subjective. Has no place in \"scientific research\". However, he did think that the whole thing needed to be clear and simple. </p>\r\n<p>I doubt if even modern science can be totally objective. Our so-called objectivity is a social construct erected for massaging our egos. As much as we would like to think we are, we are not rational human beings. In fact, it is paradoxical that our level of irrationality (and neurosis) increases the more rational we think we are. </p>\r\n<p>I am, nonetheless, keeping the book as a reference book for the purposes of testing and experimentation. You see, when we were in Jamaica, we grew plants like aloe vera. Occasionally, we were be commanded to go out, cut a piece of it, mix the mucilaginous part of it in warm water and drink it. </p>\r\n<p>Aloe vera is mentioned in the Bible, particularly with reference to the death of Jesus. Why would you bring a healing herb to a dead man, when the Bible says (and we believe it) that he \"gave up the ghost\". By the way, it does not add the phrase \"and he died\"... </p>\r\n<p>One thing I did test was the so-called \"Devil's Tone\". As I understand this, it refers to the combination of the 741Hz and 528Hz frequencies. In the book (and on at least one website, I note that it reportedly produced fear [didn't say of what]) it is referred to as possibly being destructive. </p>\r\n<p>Given the nature of the Singularity with its Yin and Yang, this is not surprising. In Taoist thought, you have the Wu Xing (Five Phases) with their creative/destructive interactions. It is to be noted that this system is NOT the same as the Greek system of Elements. Nothing is solid... </p>\r\n<p>In any case, nothing happened. I have tried playing them one after the other and in combination. Nothing... </p>\r\n<p>No doubt, there are some combinations that have destructive effects. I have yet to discover them. </p>\r\n<p>Just might kill me before I can note anything! </p>\r\n<p>Some centuries ago, I think the Roman Catholic Church referred to the ninth chord as the \"Devil's Chord\". This beautiful sound? Really? </p>\r\n<p>I think when we hear words like this we are somehow being set up, consciously or not, to believe what is being told of us. See my notes on Laurence Gardner's last book \"Revelation of the Devil\". </p>\r\n<p>Our dualistic approach to music might also be hampering us. </p>\r\n<p>To refer to a musical piece as \"holy\" implies that anything else is \"unholy\", therefore \"destructive\". </p>\r\n<p>If we can get past our dualistic mindsets, we will find that life and death are the same thing. So are good and evil and all of the other dualities we can think of. </p>\r\n<p>Perhaps this is the real meaning behind the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. </p>",
        date_added: "2025-04-24 05:00:00",
        author: "Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz and Dr. Joseph S. Puleo",
        publisher: "Tetrahedron Publishing Group",
        category: "Science/Health"
    }
]

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