Listening to the Silences

In Chapter 6, describing the events of Christmas 1979, I wrote of an intense and searching "examination" and catechism within my mind conducted by "someone" whose right to cross-examine I did not question. I also wrote that much of the exchange was too personal to discuss or describe, and that even now, nearly twenty-five years later, I look at it "sideways with half an eye".

Relevant to my very act of writing this book was the declaration made to me at the time and within my mind, that I "would stand up in public and describe the reality of spiritual intrusion and access into the very being of individuals." At the time that that happened I was feeling extremely vulnerable and denied fervently that I would even contemplate such an action. Not only, I declared, would I expose myself to ridicule, but I anticipated that I would be thought to be mentally unbalanced.

Well, nearly twenty-five years later, I think that you will agree with me that I have, in fact, done it. I could not be more public in my declaration, in my assertion that there is spiritual access to the minds and bodies of individuals, some of whom are made mentally ill by the invasion.

Having done my part, all that remains is that you should do yours. If you work in the field of mental health or are a caregiver, I cannot exhort you any more than I have already. Likewise, if you are someone who is suffering from the effects of the intrusions, I beg of you to assess whether what I have recorded has any parallel in your experiences, and try to apply the knowledge in your own struggle towards recovery. Knowing the cause is half the answer and I hope that you will have found the means within my book to discover the other half.

At the outset, in the evening of the day that the intrusion first entered my body and mind, the pendulum whirled vigorously and, on settling, spelled out - "We've Won! We've Won!". I wrote that, at the time, I didn't know who had won, nor what had been won. With the completion of the book, I feel that in my turn I can write with justification - "I've won! I've won" - although my victory will not be complete until there is widespread and general acceptance of what I assert.

As I have written, I have tried to acknowledge the influence and the part played by a very wide range of people as they have entered the narrative. I have named some, but there are many more - far too many to record, for at every stage I have learned something from virtually everyone whom I have encountered. Unacknowledged by name so far are my parents Louie and Tom, and my brother Bruce, three to whom I owe so much.

From contact with so many individuals I have been able to watch in action the practical application of a wide range of beliefs and philosophies, and been able to learn much in consequence. I have not been "converted" or drawn specifically to any sufficiently to do more than refine my own. I have always tried to look beyond the verbiage, entrenched "theology" and rhetoric, and to try to find the simple and original core belief of each.

Out of them all came one declaration by the Buddha that crystallises with its rationality much of my own philosophy, and equally it embodies a philosophy that many might want to adopt, whatever their rôle in life.

The Buddha wrote:

DO NOT BELIEVE...

Do not believe in what you have heard.

Do not believe in the traditions because they have been handed down for generations.

Do not believe in anything because it is rumoured or spoken by many.

Do not believe merely because a written statement of some old sage is produced.

Do not believe in conjectures.

Do not believe in that as truth to which you have become attached by habit.

Do not believe merely the authority of your teachers and elders.

After observation and analysis, where it agrees with reason and is conducive to the goods and gains of one and all, then accept it, practice it and live up to it.

Go to next chapter: loose-ends.htm

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