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The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers,
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Sometimes a right item . . . Part 2
by Phil Spickler
17 Nov 1998

Dear Friends,

Through startling and special dispensation, to my joy and amazement, 
I am being allowed to continue this fantasy, for (I hope) our mutual 
benefit and most important of all our amusement.   So please accept 
the following drivel in the sense that it is intended, namely, just 
for fun, or, just for the heck of it.

As the curtain rises, we return to the scene called the central theme.

Let's examine the notion of the Ascension Experience, which is one of 
the centerpieces of Knowledgism, which holds that it, Knowledgism, 
has the answer to what happens to people after they have Ascension 
Experiences and then end up going back down the tubes.  I would 
suggest that by now the people who have accepted that idea and done 
the things in Knowledgism that were purported to give them the stable 
reconstruction of those Ascension Experiences have found that this 
too did not last.  I should like to suggest at this point that the 
problem essentially lies in not determining exactly who or what had 
the Ascension Experience in the first place, and making the fatal 
assumption that there was one "I" or single-unit being that had that 
experience and that somehow that made it true for the entire 
composite of which that being was part.

There is a pitfall or trap of the Western world's modes of thinking, 
which is to say, positing or postulating one side of the coin and 
leaving out or forgetting the other side.  This failure to get the 
other side and in so doing make contact with that which is the source 
of both sides, but which is neither in itself, causes all kinds of 
problems in attempting to put together a theory or a system that's 
supposed to have big answers in it.  For example, if you really want 
to get corny, and postulate the notion of an eternal "I" and pretend 
that that isn't just one more identity, you darn well better 
postulate its opposite -- the not-I, or no-I, or non-I.  This will 
make it a lot easier to see that both sides are identities and allow 
us to make direct contact with that which is the source of both. 
This being the case, when you start taking the composite apart or 
separating it into its various components, along the way it's 
possible that one of the things that will require confronting, so 
that you won't spend the next 256 billion years working on this job 
(heh, heh, heh), in other words the short cut of all short cuts, is 
to simply find the area that claims to be the "I" or self that has 
this great big case that requires handling.and take a look at that 
which might consider that it was a self or an "I" with a case.  What 
I'm getting at here is that instead of running all the billions of 
things that compose the composite which is supposed to be this "I's" 
case, why not just take on that "I" and handle it. Just sort of get 
outside of it as a real awareness of awareness, not as something or 
anyone in particular, and with plenty of acknowledgment and lots of 
admiration and a ton and a half of life essence poured into it, give 
this "I" enough of what it really needs so that it can really let go 
and go free once and for all, and not have to consider itself 
eternally stuck in the notion of being "itself."

Does take awhile to get used to the idea that's maybe been jammed up 
for so long, and all the misfortunes that this construction is 
supposed to have suffered, and the endless case that it seems to have 
that it has to get rid of in order to be what it really is, but by 
gosh when it is not taken so seriously, and handled just the way you 
would any other composite identity or personality or valence, when it 
all comes apart and gets real happy again and stops being that which 
had so much "case," well, at this point words fail someone, and no 
attempt at describing the indescribable will take place.

If you do, after hearing all these great possibilities, wish to 
pursue past Ascension Experiences, it is suggested that you take the 
following track in attempting to navigate this area, namely, find out 
who or what claims to have had the experience, and with the best 
imaginable auditing tech, help that area to the recovery of a greater 
freedom in the same way you would any other identity.  It is then 
suggested that you spend a fair amount of time doing the same thing 
for anyone else who claims to have had that particular experience, 
and when that's all cleaned up and all bright and shiny, you can go 
looking for anything or any something-else for whom in some way, 
shape or form that experience did *not* indicate or others for whom 
the result was not obtained, or in general anyone connected to that 
experience who does not report benefit from its occurrence; areas, in 
fact, that may have been keyed in by it, or felt directly harmed by 
it, etc., etc., etc.  In doing so, you will be directly addressing 
the real cause of the great tumble that occurs after each Ascension 
Experience -- it's of course failing to perceive that there are all 
these areas now suffering the terrible effects of wrong item, wrong 
indication and other negative possibilities that undermines the hope 
of maintaining the ascension state.  But not to worry: in any case, 
you're still dealing with good old identities, no more, no less, and 
you can fix them all up if you want to, by bringing the beacon of 
perfect acknowledgment and auditing tech to bear, handle all that 
until it's free and clear, and proceed to do this off-the-wall 
procedure with anyone or anything that claims to have had, or did 
have, a big blow-out experience which seemed to end in free-fall to 
the other extreme.

Bottom line is, as long as we don't settle for the one-sided notion 
of being an "I", immortal or otherwise, with a particular case, we 
shall not get stuck in the embarrassing position of having to run out 
the whole universe in order to make that construction feel good.  By 
now, those reading this could be laughing hysterically with relief. 
But remember, there are undoubtedly just as many for whom it won't 
indicate, who will get all sourpuss -- and that's pretty darn funny 
too!

Now although it may have sounded to someone(s) as though I am 
preaching this gospel from high on Mt. Sinai, and indeed, one of my 
favorite set of valences is Jehovah imparting the wisdom of the ages 
to Moses, etc., etc., etc., please don't fail to laugh at any tinge 
of that which may have crept into this great revelation.  I also 
apologize before, during and after this to Alan C. Walter and 
Knowledgists everywhere for whom this polemic of mine may indicate as 
a new form of anathema. (I sure hope your dictionary is right at your 
side if some of these $6 words pass you by (just kidding).)

Anyway, the fond hope is that there is one other nothingness out 
there to whom this notion may indicate, but if not, I shall simply 
eat an extra- large portion of alfalfa and regain my lack of 
perspective as I enter another long winter's sleep, guarded in my 
dreams by the sweet-tempered sheep that stand timidly at the entrance 
of my humble cave.

Good morning and good night, peace be with you -- Phil