The Last Magician

In the West the 'Corpuscular' or the atomic model of our reality was not proposed by scientists till the late 1600's, probably starting with Newton but not conclusively proved until the work of Einstein.
One of Newtons most famous observations is: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This has been illustrated in the Chinese Tai chi symbol (Yin/Yang), the Indian concept of karma, and the concepts of matter and anti matter, also proposed in the expansion and contraction of the universe.

Expansion can only occur as a separation between opposites. This is the original concept without which it is not possible for anything to exist. Substances are formed by the balance of their opposites. There is no up without down, no heat without cold and no night without day.
Isaac Newton was born in 1624 and was six years old at the beginning of the thirty years war between Catholics and Protestants. In 1663 fifteen years after the wars end in a time of plague and the recent invention of the steam engine, the Royal Society of science was founded. Its moto is that, no one has the right to swear a person to obedience blind, (Latin, 'Nullus in Verba'). This was a sign of the times in that it reflected the protest against the dominance of the Catholic church who demanded 'blind faith'.
Note: (The definition of 'Propaganda' is; - Originally a section of the Roman Catholic Church; founded in 1622; charged with the spreading of Catholicism: The practice of propagating tenets.)

Newton’s enormous contribution to our scientific understanding of the Universe led to him becoming the president of the Society, and helped us to return from the dark age of ignorance. What is perhaps less known is that Newton’s main emphasis of discovery was alchemy and rediscovering the occult wisdom of the ancients.
In 1942 the economist John Maynard Keynes after studying Newton’s Alchemical works said “Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians.”

Newton’s work defined so many of the laws of nature that it lead to our view of reality being called the 'Newtonian Universe'. Today Quantum science has shown that Newtons work was incomplete, though this fact was not lost on Newton himself. For example: Although Newton defined many of the characteristics of gravity, (the existence of which, still remains a mystery today), he maintained it was the work of God.
Newtons contemporary of the time, Laplace presented his 'Exposition of the World System' to Napoleon, saying that he had no need of a hypothesis which would need to mention a creator. After Newtons reading of the work, he noted the absence of explanation of the 'gravitational and harmonious movement of the planets' and labelled Laplace's theory 'a perpetual miracle'.

What does it mean that Newton studied Alchemy, was he trying to turn lead into gold?

How many people are represented in this picture?
Is it a picture of a man on a horse with someone laying on the ground or the profile of an old man?
In fact it is both, it represents the duality of life.
The ego exists but does not exclude the larger whole.

The Mental Environment

(Both of these central circles are exactly the same size.)

The central book of Conventional (or Behavioural) Psychology is 'The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders',and is published by the American Psychiatric Association. Although it contains descriptions of many varied abnormal mental conditions, nowhere does it describe what mental health actually is. Thus mental health is left to be considered the absence of disease.

Abraham Maslow belongs to a later school of 'Humanistic Psychology' who believe that to fully understand the human condition we should not only look at “...the darker meaner half of the individual. We must deal with the questions of value, individuality, consciousness, purpose, ethics and the higher reaches of human nature”, and that looking only at sickness would produce only a sick philosophy.
Consequently by studying people such as; Einstein, William James, Eleanor Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson, Maslow added new levels of conscious experience to the scale above and beyond the 'ordinary'. These he named 'Self Actualisation' and 'Transcendence'.
'Self Actualisation' means to bring yourself fully into Universe, I.e. to be fully achieving your potential.
'Transcendence' or Transpersonal Psychology is similar to the Eastern concept of Enlightenment and is achieved through 'peak experiences' which transcend the self. These peak experiences are described as 'The most desirable of human experience, with feelings of oneness with everything, no limits of time or space and the experience of which change and strengthen the individual'. However it is also said that the concept of peak experience can only be fully understood by those who have had such experiences themselves.

Maslow gives eight pieces of advice to attain Self Actualisation which are;

1- Experience things fully and selflessly – concentrating on the 'here and now' using Zen mindfulness therapy.
2- Life is an ongoing process of choice between safety and growth – choose growth more often
3- Let the self emerge – when in doubt be honest and take responsibility.
4- Listen to your own tastes and be prepared to be unpopular.
5- Use your intelligence, with commitment.
6- Make peak experiences more likely by being able to full fill your natural talents.
7-Find out what is good and bad for you – identify your false defences and give them up.
8- Know thy self.
Note; The ancient inscription at the Greek Temple of Apollo, Delphi simply reads; “Know Thyself”.

Maslow's pyramid of the 'Human Hierarchy of Needs' illustrates the progression of mental health related to human necessities. The lowest or base level is 1; and it is explained that if the needs of any level are not met then our mental health will drop to the associated disorders of that level until these necessities are again met.

1- Physiological needs – Breathing, food, sleep etc.
2- Safety – Security of body, family, health etc.
3- Friendship, family and sexual intimacy.
4- Self esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others and by others.
5- Creativity, morality, challenge, lack of prejudice etc.
6- Self Actualisation – achieving your potential
7- Transcendence of self.

Today
If you walk through any street in any town you are walking through the mental environment. Everything you see is the product of, or has been manipulated by the human imagination. This for the most part forms our day to day reality of our life.
There are two worlds in which we live; there is what is actually happening and there is what we think is happening. Hopefully the two are usually the same but it doesn't always become apparent when they aren't. This can lead to unnecessary hardship in our lives and even long term ill health. If our perception becomes warped we can not achieve our potential and in extreme cases even become a danger to ourselves and others.

Our minds work through a system of filters. To effectively concentrate on something we filter out the mass of information which is not relevant and distracting. What we are left with is known as the conscious and the information filtered out is held in the subconscious. Daydreaming can be an example where we have chosen to filter out everything and focus only on our imagination.
Even if the sub-conscious sees the whole picture the conscious only sees what it has chosen to see. This is why, while under hypnosis people can recall details they were not previously aware of. By taking advantage of, the habits we have in this thought process, stage magicians can sneak something like an elephant on stage without you even noticing it.

We all look out of our own window
In the same way that two people can visit the same place but bring back completely different photographs, so each of us can perceive drastically different worlds. Our own worlds are however linked and greatly influenced by other people. We spend most of our time thinking about other people; whether at work, socially or in the media. We tend to make friends with those who's perception of the world is similar to our own, but also spend a large part of our time discussing and trying to understand those who seem to live in different worlds entirely. “I mean, what were they thinking?” or “What planet are they on?” are common modern phrases.
If a person is in a room full of people who all tell them it is four O clock while their own watch tells them it is six, then the chances are they will reset their watch to the majority time regardless whether it is correct. In the same way much of how we perceive the modern world is based on what is described to us by other people. This is usually helpful to society because we cant all be everywhere at the same time. But the saying 'History is written by the victors' is a useful reminder that the true reality is not always clear black and white but 'relative' as described by Einstein.

Our parents, school and the media teach us many things about how to interpret our reality. These experiences save us valuable time from generation to generation, time which we can then devote to new discoveries and thus move forward as a species. However some complex concepts colour each of our mental environments and can be passed between us without our conscious awareness.

Our concept of self is known in psychology as the 'ego'. In common language ego is a word often used in place of ‘Egomania’ - I.e. abnormal self obsession. The belief that we are separate and so ultimately alone can lead to fluctuation between severe introversion and lack of confidence or delusional overconfidence. This condition has been described as bipolar disorder or previously as manic depression.
We define ourselves by what we do not know and by what we are not aware of. I stop where the unknown begins. But consider, though we can not move or feel our hair, we do not consider it separate, so why is the ground we walk on or the air we breathe separate?
Ego does not have to be a problem, it is a natural by-product of human thought. Each one of us has unique characteristics which make us who we are, and it can be difficult to be confident and express our creativity without being in touch with who we are, but to see only this single perspective can prevent us from achieving our full potential.

The Importance of Breath

In Egypt Atum's netter is closely associated with the blue lotus (or water Lilly) which symbolises both 'emergence to the surface' and also 'smell or breath to the nostrils'. Atum is a key figure in the story of original sin. Here the netter Atum is represented in human form identified by the blue lotus symbol on his head.


We often assume that air is just the space between one thing and another rather than the ocean of invisible elements which it contains. We are constantly surrounded by this ocean of air and draw it into ourselves where it permeates all of our body and forms part of us.
At an atomic level air is full of waves of energy such as: Radio, Electrical and magnetic currents etc. Our conscious registers only very few of these and usually only if they reach high enough levels that could become a danger to us.

-Democritus (400 BC)
”By convention there is colour,by convention sweetness, by convention bitterness,but in reality there are atoms and space.”

If you took four atoms out of the air in front of you, one from some stone dust, One from some water vapour, and the other two from wood and metal dust, they would all share something in common. Apart from having the characteristics of the element which they come from they each have a Proton (+) and an electron (-) and also a Neutron (with no charge). In Taoism the proton represents (yang energy +) the electron (yin energy -), and the Neutron (Wu Neutral). In ancient Egypt the equivalent were (Ba +) and (Ka -) & Neutral known as (Nun).
The particles in an atom are not still. The electron is constantly spinning around the centre of the atom (called the nucleus). An atom that carries an electrical charge is called an ion. One peculiarity of this tiny world is that although protons and neutrons behave like small particles. The electron is more similar to a beam of light that surrounds the nucleus like a cloud.

The Hawthorn Effect - (Quantum physics)
‘When recording the reactions of subatomic particles it was observed that the results were not consistent due to the apparent effect of the observers influence on the particles due to their expectations. Thus the observer has to be included in the parameters of the experiment.’

“In meditation one learns to focus and direct energies
which are usually squandered in the
mundane perceptions of the five senses.”
- Chen Man-ching (Grand master Tai ji chuan)

The frequency at which the electron interacts with the proton can be due to the level of heat energy present. The kind of energy that can be released by splitting an atom is a useful example of the power of polar opposites as is described in Tai chi theory.
Through Tai Chi and Chi Kung practice the meridians and channels of our body are strengthened and intensified for our benefit. In Chi development the first two energies to observe are water (our body is 90% water) and fire (energy of the electron.)

As we breathe, we absorb these atoms and their energy which adds to the energetic waves flows (meridians) already in our body. These meridians exist in the body in the same way that consistent currents such as the ‘North Atlantic Drift’ exist within the ocean or how the magnetic forces of the Earth flow through the North and South Pole. These energy flows do not just flow like water following the path of least resistance but are influenced by the expectation of consciousness. The Chi arts are the culmination of what has been learnt about our ability to influence and cultivate these energies within ourselves, and at the higher levels also influence these energies in one another.


A common symptom of poor health is a lack of energy. If our energy is low we probably look first to food or sleep, maybe we even recognize our high need of water consumption but do we consider the effect of our consciousness on our physical health and our constant need to consume the air around us?
Experiment: Take a breath then fully exhale, hold your nose and close your mouth. Try to fight your habit to inhale again for as long as you can. You should notice your body begin to get hot, you may even begin to sweat. You may even notice your abdomen begin to jump. Without exercise your body has already raised the metabolism and you probably feel a little more awake than you did before. The practices detailed in this book strengthens the metabolism making recovery from the inevitable effects of life faster.


Our body exists in balance with the Universe that contains us. Though remarkably resistant our body will only function within certain environmental conditions such as those of our planet. Even on Earth if we are not careful it is easy to exceed the body’s limitations. In fact there are so many things out of our control that could have gone wrong up to this point, that it is a miracle that we are here at all.
A large part of this miracle that keeps us alive is the immune system. It represents our strength i.e. our resilience to the negative effects of any of the causes of diseases. The entire mind body and soul is a part of that defence system and at a base level the immune system is made strong by our overall energetic condition.
Disease is caused by those energies that interfere with the harmony of the bodies energies.

There are two main causes of disease;-

1 - External Environment – The weather, Food, Pollution, viruses,
Bacteria etc.
2 - Internal Environment – Lifestyle, birth condition, mental
health, emotion and exhaustion etc.

Our body functions through the constant process of change. We fill then empty. We get hot in exercise then cold in rest, weak then strong, awake then asleep, and so on. The processes of change are like waves within us. These can also be described as pulses or rhythms. Like the climate of the Earth*2 there is microcosm within macrocosm like progressive winters and summers moving toward or away from ice ages. Our first conscious control of these rhythms begins with our breath. The rhythms of our body are influenced by the patterns of our breathing some directly and others indirectly. This is known as our internal movement.

Mental and physical health cannot exist without each other, they are co-dependent. Our decisions are governed by our perception, which in turn is effected by our internal values and so these values effect the quality of our life.
There is a very close connection between our consciousness, our breath and the energy of the atoms which construct everything in our life. Before we can unlock the potential within us with regard to directing and harmonising with these energies we must first identify the deepest aspects of our consciousness, those not dependant on our mundane perceptions.

The Race for Survival

The phrase “Survival of the Fittest” was not as many people think, the creation of Charles Darwin. The phrase was quite literally coined by the economist Herbert Spencer after reading Charles Darwin's 'Origin of the Species'.
In his book 'Principles of Biology (1864),' Herbert said; “This survival of the fittest, which I have sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr Darwin has called 'Natural Selection', or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life”.

This powerful twist on words was used to connect our very survival to the gathering of wealth and the separation of races (not species), the implied message is 'survival of the wealthiest and most military'. It is said that Nazism and Eugenics was a result of this perverse justification of greed. There are of course many species, but only in fact one human race.
Darwin was a student of nature, and there is only one thing that is separate from nature, that being; 'human nature'. Money is a human concept designed to avoid the desperate necessities of life in the wild, through the collective planning and organisation of resources.

So what does separate 'human nature' from 'nature'?
Simply that we can talk, and so communicate concepts of the effects of our actions on nature. This itself depends on the first concept communicated being; – 'Our survival, does not depend on being the fittest if we can cooperate'. Thus we chose not to be subject to nature by taking an objective view.
There is concern in the world that the explosive growth of our obviously fit population has become a threat the Earth's ability to sustain us. Thus we need to compete even more vigorously for the dwindling resources. This appears to reaffirm a return to the base condition of nature, that of conflict, mistrust and separation. It is even suggested by some self proclaimed enlightened minds that 'war' is a natural and inevitable method of culling the population.
It is plain however, for anyone who wishes to see, that the poor areas of the world have the largest population growth, and that wealth attracts the most potential mates. Thus the wealthy have the most sex and yet the poor have the most children. The Earth is easily capable of feeding every person alive today, except for bad management of available land. Perhaps a more natural contraception would be a looser grip on wealth and education?

For our ancestors to rise to a position of cultivating nature rather than being subject to it, an understanding was essential of the five elements which do determine survival;

1) Air (fire),
2) Water,
3) Food (earth),
4) Shelter (wood),
and; the 5th which is where our problems start.
5) is cooperation itself (Metal).

Whether this is the cooperation of man with a tool, the cooperation of two substances to create a third, or two or more people working together. This element is often debated or even overlooked completely, but it is what gave us power over nature. This element is the home of human magic (creativity). It is the human mind and the element which we have a responsibility to embrace and master. To fear it and suppress awareness of it can lead to grave side effects. It is simply Quintessential. (Quint – being Latin for 'five' and essential – meaning 'essence or element')
Modern humans coexisted with Neanderthals on Earth for at least ninety thousand years. For a long time we assumed they died out because they were some kind of sub-standard branch of humanity.

In 1921 H.G Wells described Neanderthal – “Hairy or grisly, with a big face like a mask , great brow ridges and no forehead, clutching an enormous flint, and running like a baboon with his head forward, not like a man, with his head up, he must have been a fearsome creature for our forefathers to come upon…”
Then in 1957 anatomists William Straus and A.J.E Cave re-examined the La Chapelle fossil and realized Neanderthal man did not walk stooped with bent knees on the outside of his feet, these were the remains of an old Neandertal man, who had been suffering from advanced arthritis until his death. He had been lowered into a prepared trench by companions or family, and during his life, he would have needed to have been cared for long after his arthritis-racked body could no longer fend for itself. Since then we have found that Neandertal was generally larger than modern human in both, physical strength and brain size.

The only substantial difference between the two branches of humanity was simply 'art'. Archaeologists found cave paintings and burial remains of ‘double wise man’ (Homo Sapien) in France that dated back 35,000 years. Still today tribes people believe it is essential to perform rituals of creative visualisation before hunting. This art illustrates our ability to create through the imagination of our minds eye and today nearly all of our environmental surroundings are the product of this ability.
If we were able to show a mobile phone to a someone of five hundred years ago they probably would have said it was magic. With each generation we progressively cocoon ourselves from the forces of nature that gave birth to us, but have we yet seen the full potential of our magic in the environment we are manipulating?

There is a great misconception in the modern world regarding the potential of 'magic'. Magic has become synonymous with illusion and trickery. No longer is it a natural attribute of modern human since it was redefined by the Catholic Encyclopaedia as;
‘The art of performing actions beyond the power of man and with aid of powers other than the divine’. And condemned it as ‘a grievous sin against the virtue of religion, because all magical performances, if undertaken seriously, are based on the expectation of interference by demons or lost souls’. Thus human magic was regulated and restricted to acceptable boundaries of understanding and exploration.
The ignorance and superstition of our dark ages led to the unjust execution and torcher of many innocents for no other reason than fear of the unknown. The modern term ‘magic’ originally comes from the Greek ‘magos’ which denoted priests and seers from the East, notably Persia, India, Babylon and Egypt. For example in the Greek Gospel of Mathew, the 'Magi from the east' who follow the star of Bethlehem.

Hidden Potential

“The story of the Human Race is the story of men and women selling themselves short”
- Abraham Maslow (Psychologist).

In the three and a half centuries since the plague Adam Smith’s model for the Industrial revolution has improved standards of health and education by utilizing the resources of the Earth. But in the modern era it’s clear we have now conquered the Earth, so much so, that we are now just beating it to death.

Civilization is the result of our understanding and manipulation of nature. However, we ourselves are also part of nature. We are born, we grow older and we die and our bodies function according to the same laws of the universe as everything in nature. So when we look in the mirror, we are also looking at nature. Omnipresent, nature is the reality of our existence.
The power of nature is as great as the entire universe, because it is itself the processes which created and sustain the substance of everything we know. By elimination there can only be one other force which exist, and that is consciousness. Modern scientific research has currently evolved to a point of studying our own conscious influence at subatomic and molecular levels. By understanding our influence at this level we should begin to be able to understand the potential of our ability in our larger everyday world.

The Hawthorn Effect - (Quantum physics)
‘When recording the reactions of subatomic particles it was observed that the results were not consistent due to the apparent effect of the observers influence on the particles due to their expectations. Thus the observer has to be included in the parameters of the experiment.’

My question is; - Do we have a fate, or a destiny? By this I mean, is life just somthing that happens to us, or are we missing the point of our potential?

Until recent discoveries such as Einstein’s Condensate winning the Nobel Prize in 2001 which have been making ‘holism’ the cutting edge of Quantum science, the public view has been somewhat pessimistic to the likelihood of us having any free will at all. This has been because of our method of analysis being based on breaking things down into separate systems. This is known as the causal or deterministic philosophy.

Freewill has been the central issue of mankind throughout all cultures of the world. Modern science (Einstein) has taught us that everything in the Universe at a base level is a form of energy. Through history mind power has always been talked about in terms of Energy because the meaningful experiences of our life are best summarized by wide characteristics and whether they are positive or negative to us. In China the energy of life is known as 'Chi', in India 'Prana', in ancient Egypt as 'Heka' and in old England it used to be called 'Weyrd' and the practices for developing our influence of energy and our general understanding of our place within it, are known as 'Chi Kung' – (I.e. Energy Practice), 'Yoga', 'The Horian Way', and the 'Way of Weyrd' respectively.

The key in all these arts is our 'state of mind', in short before we can meaningfully understand our effects outside of ourselves we need to understand our own inner controls and motivations.
Our desires all share something in common, whether we desire to be rich, famous, super fit or even in love, they are all expressions of how we would like to feel. It is difficult to achieve our goals if we feel bad or negative. Our feelings are a vital part of our consciousness and they drive us like the wind in our sails.

Many of today’s illnesses are caused by lifestyles of depression and stress. In the U.S. the antidepressant drug Prozac is so common that is has been nicknamed vitamin P.
The popular medical view is that depression is caused by an unnatural chemical imbalance in the brain of low serotonin levels. However this is only a symptom. If we are not happy then we are enduring, which is natural, but to have the strength to endure we need a reason, or an understanding. In short the cause of long term depression is itself our need to understand. This is the human condition, the search for Enlightenment, the proverbial Holy Grail.
In our heart most of us abhor the suffering we see in the world, but also feel powerless to do anything about it. We each look for an enemy, a target to put things right but there is no single ‘Dr Evil’ planning to take over the world. There are just bad ideas running wild and unnoticed through each and every one of us. There are two main reasons that we have allowed these bad ideas to go unnoticed. The first is the belief that there is no God and so the Universe is out of control consequently it can’t be our responsibility. The second is that God exists, but is a separate entity from us, and so what happens is his responsibility. There is however an alternative.