Part 5. This video was produced because of my republication of the following historically important book: THE PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM. Scientifically Explained and Exposed BY THE REV. ASA MAHAN, D.D., 1875.
The main point of the book was to show that Spiritualism or the claim that people were contacting the dead was false and that the phenomena that appeared when people were not faking was found to be real and explained by the mundane theory. There were four theories to explain the unusual phenomena which are addressed in this book: 1. The Humbug Theory which claimed everything was deceptive. 2. The Witchcraft or Demonic Theory which claimed this was by the agency of devils. 3. Spiritualism which claimed this was by the agency of departed spirits. 4. The Mundane Theory which claimed this was real phenomena not dependent upon demonic or departed spirit agency.
Mahan proved the fourth point while going over the various phenomena and relations pertaining to it. A lot of evidence is presented from credible sources and persons who, like Mahan, were initially holding to the first theory. As one of the greatest philosophers of all time, Mahan attempted to develop this into a real science while making very careful distinctions.
It was my purpose to stress those and similar distinctions, as well as share some of my personal experiences relating to this phenomena in this video.
I initially held the Humbug theory and later the demonic theory early in life and was more than a little perplexed with what I had experienced early on. I received little help from anyone about these experiences. I share some of these experiences along with my related experiences while practicing Hapkido and Aikido martial arts. I also share less dramatic and more common experiences people have in family relations. Finally, I end the talk with how this relates to God's providential relationship with people, specifically in answer to prayer.
I do not wish to be understood as promoting occultic practices, hypnotism, or putting oneself into trances, but rather that we should always maintain self-control and healthy relationships (not manipulative) with others. Nevertheless, this phenomena is real and cannot be ignored just because we do not understand everything about it or do not want to deal with it. It essentially pertains to what we understand as Willpower, which we constantly experience in our control over our bodies with our minds. The same ability to control our bodies can more or less be extended to affect or control other material objects (including other people's bodies). It also can result in people reading other people's thoughts and both sharing the same feelings in real time, whether the thoughts be real or of one's imagination. Under some circumstances someone can be controlled by another in such relations while they are completely unaware for the time. This would be similar to The Manchurian Candidate or demon possession.
I found that the object of Aikido was to learn to control the ki or this force for the purpose of harmony, and that the only way that the techniques properly worked was by using this force beyond one's only body. Any regular reactionary tension recognized by the aggressor makes the technique impossible to execute effectively. Mechanically speaking, when properly executed the attacker experiences a response like a dead weight that shows zero resistance, and the aikidoist goes with the flow while slightly redirecting the unsuspecting attacker as desired and while maintaining a centered balance. The student eventually realizes that they are learning to sense the intention of the attacker and thus their responses to strikes from them can be executed before they have time to see or hear movement from them (which I experienced when sparring and when blindfolded in testing). But before this is understood the student learns to execute many techniques with no force applied and what amounts to an extension of this mind over body force while they essentially become one with the attacker in relation to this force. The attacker is always off-balanced while the defender is always balanced, so when they are so joined the aikidoist can drop them to the ground as effortlessly as they can drop themselves.
Some books and links mentioned in these videos are:
Nature and the supernatural, as together constituting the one system of God.
Video of dojo where I did Aikido in Idaho
1957 video and interview of Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba
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