Channeling

Channeling is as old as mankind and exists because we have questions concerning our lives and life in general. In olden days, that word was not used when you visited the oracle of Delphi or the prophet in the woods. But there always existed people who were very good at answering questions in a way that was meaningful and accurate.

The term "Channeling" surfaced in the 18th century in the occult medium circles of England with people such as Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Leadbeater and General Olcott. (This later lead to the founding of the Theosophical Society. One of the prime goals for the TS then became the facilitating of a vehicle for the Maitreya Buddha. Krishnamurti was chosen for the job, but later he rebelled and severed his ties with the TS because of his growing insights into the dysfuntional, neurotic patterns of the TS and the people who groomed him to be a worldteacher. In a strange and contradicting fashion, Krishnamurti actually did benefit from the training he received. Nevertheless, he refused to be the vehicle and rather became his own enlightened boss ....buddha....)

It was during that time that the obsession with "bringing through the messages of the masters" developed. As the ego hijacked and corrupted the phenomenon, a hierarchy was created, with people who were (or appeared to be) most proficient at "bringing through divine messages" at the top of that hierarchy.

This capacity of bringing through "divine information" slowly became subject to unconscious, neurotic worship. A new type of priest was born. And, as with all priests, there existed a great range of purity and integrity, or absence thereof. Even a good medium could have a bad day.

Then on such a day, rather than saying "I am not getting anything" --- the medium would succumb to the pressure of the surrounding expectations and speak from a personal bank of information and also mimick the outer expression (change of voice and body movements) of channeling another entity, since by now those gestures were well known and could easily duplicated.

This craze continued to develop and has now become a big part of contemporary New Age Spirituality. Whereas in olden traditions there existed the longing to come face-to-face with The Divine Beloved (Sufi Term) or to find the Nature of Reality (Buddhist term), we now find groups immersed in the hypnotizing thrill of "being in the presence of divine information" not realizing that their otherwise boring and uneventful lives continue without the slightest trace of transformation (this would require a huge amount of personal effort and discipline.)

Divine Information is not Divine Transformation, necessarily. Divine Information must have the keys, which, if applied can bring Divine Transformation/Awakening. If these keys are missing, we are merely entertained.

In that case, bring along the popcorn.