Hello from Lynda Dahl!

I imagine many of you who reach this bulletin board know me from my books, my days as a radio host, my speaking engagements, or conference talks. And, of course, if you’re readers of the Seth/Jane Roberts material, you probably know me as president of nonprofit Seth Network International (sethnet.org). It’s a pleasure to catch up with you once again, this time in cyberspace!

Through any of the above-mentioned venues, you would also have come to know Stan Ulkowski, my very much loved life partner, since he shared intimately in those ventures. I’m deeply sorry to say Stan chose to leave this reality in 1999, moving on, I’m sure, to further adventures in consciousness. Since he died, I’ve reorganized my life substantially. I closed our publishing company, took Seth Network into inactive status, canceled our radio show, and closed other business-related ventures. For the first time in my life, I’m an "independent," free of business ties and "outside" responsibilities, and open to developing myself in new ways. And, boy, am I looking forward to it!

If you know me at all, you know how intimately I listen to my inner self’s guidance. Early in 2000 the words, "the book of fallacies" popped into my mind. Nice sound, intriguing thought, but so what? The phrase meant nothing to me. However, when the same words returned a month or so later, I paid more attention. The upshot was that my daughter, Cathleen Kaelyn, and I decided to collaborate on a book, Cat as my research and creative partner, and I as the writer. The title--big surprise--became THE BOOK OF FALLACIES: A LITTLE PRIMER OF NEW THOUGHT.

To help promote FALLACIES, NewWorldView, a company dedicated to the exploration of conscious creation, has scheduled a one-day seminar tour of 15 cities, in which I’ll be a half-day speaker. The other speaker is Dr. Fred Alan Wolf (see Fred’s bulletin board here, also). Moment Point Press has published our tour dates and cities on this web site, and if you wish further information, go to newworldview.com. Also, I’ll be a speaker and participant in a conference in San Diego in April, called "Keys to a Fulfilling Life." Again, check out the NewWorldView web site for more information.

I do hope to see you on the road, so to speak! And, meanwhile, I offer you the following excerpt from chapter one of Cat’s and my new book.

From THE BOOK OF FALLACIES:
Panning for Magic

World views don’t turn on a dime. They don’t turn at all unless contrary ideas bloom in the current garden of thought. And, boy, if there’s one thing most of us dislike it’s contrarians, whether in the form of people or ideas. Contrarians say that there are alternative ways of viewing the world--and who needs it? The status quo is just fine, thank you very much.

Or is it? If your personal status quo is one in which you experience a life of toil, broken relationships, constant illnesses, or financial difficulty, and if it brings you a glow of satisfaction, then put this book down and simply enjoy the heck out of your life, because it clearly suits you. But, if you have questions or concerns about the status of your ongoing existence, then it’s time to dip into the pot of contrarian ideas and find those that possibly make more sense the more they’re contemplated. Not that new ideas should be bought carte blanche, but perhaps they can be explored with less hesitation knowing that the tried and true are there to fall back on if the new becomes too wacky.

Don’t forget, we’re panning for magic. We’re looking for the elusive something that makes sense of life, that promises a better way, that by nature leads to a lighter heart, a spring in our step, a smile more often than tears. We’re looking for the calm underlying our thoughts, a generous peace of mind, a knowing that all is well, all is manageable, all is meaningful, and all is possible. And, yes, we’re looking for material well-being, as well.

We’re panning for magic, the kind honed of intelligent ideas and touched with veracity. We’re not looking for fluff--sweetness and light won’t work for very long. What we seek is sustainable through time, something our children and our children’s children can count on to help them create intensely fulfilling lives. We’re looking for concrete information that we can work with, that ignites our thoughts and fires our imagination, and can lead to whatever we desire. So we must pan for magic in some out-of-the-ordinary places. After all, if it were where we’ve looked before, we would have found it by now.

So, in this book we’re going to address certain fallacies--ideas that many of us believe are the facts of our reality. And we’re going to counter these fallacies with new thoughts--ideas that must be in place if we’re to experience true magic as a normal part of our days. Of course, we can’t cover every fallacy or present every new thought that would help lead us to a completely new worldview, not by a long shot. We’re simply panning for thoughts that, as the book progresses, will show themselves to have practical application. But rest assured, we will build the platform from which, eventually, we’ll experience personal magic.

Nothing explains the wonders of the universe better than a story. That’s where theory’s rubber meets the road. That’s where we start to grasp the meaning of the words, "You create your own reality." And that’s where the implications behind the words spin our heads with possibilities. So, I’m going to tell you some stories. In each chapter I’ll tell two tales straight from my life. The inference in the tales may or may not reflect the batch of fallacies being discussed in that given chapter--perhaps the significance of a story, or its roots in metaphysics, will reveal itself at some other point in the book. But by the end of FALLACIES, all of the stories will make sense to you, and the nuggets of magic found within each will become apparent.

So, without further ado, on to our first illuminating tale of the universe . . .

Twinkle, Twinkle Shooting Star

On a balmy summer evening Stan was reading in bed, and I wandered out to the deck to enjoy the cool air. The star field blanketed the night sky, capturing my attention. What would happen, I thought, if I tried to consciously create a shooting star? I studied the sky, immersed in the stars and my thoughts. How easy is creation? I wondered. If I ask playfully, yet with intent, for a shooting star, can I work in concert with the universe to manifest my desire? What the heck, I thought, I’ll give it a go.

After fifteen minutes or so, visits from perhaps five of our kitties also enjoying the evening, and no wondrous display in the heavens, I decided to call it quits. As I entered the house, I thought, Okay, universe, last chance for tonight. I turned around to give a final salute to the star field . . . and a shooting star crossed my line of vision

A couple of weeks later, I tried it again. And the same thing happened. Stan was driving south to Oregon at the time, so I called him on his cell phone, told him what had occurred, and suggested he give it a try. Twenty minutes later, he called back--he’d created his shooting star, too.

Fallacy 1: God is dead.

NEW THOUGHT . . . It’s true our world reflects dire circumstances and our private lives can hit more walls than seem fair, but that’s not because a source greater than ourselves has opted out. Perhaps the seeming lack of caring by our "creator" can be explained by reassessing the nature of the reality we call home to determine what truly makes it function. But be prepared--along the way we will be forced to redefine our present concept of "God," or the emerging picture won’t hold together.

Fallacy 2: Consciousness is a by-product of the brain.

NEW THOUGHT . . . The brain is a by-product of consciousness--and so is everything else. Consciousness is all that is. It is primary. And because it’s primary, it’s in a unique position: Nothing happens outside of it. From it springs all secondary constructions--planets, bodies, events, everything.

So where does consciousness reside? Everywhere. It’s primary, how can it not? Everything inside and outside of physical reality must emerge from the stuff of consciousness, yet stay contained within it. And that, of course, begins our new definition of God.

Fallacy 3: Life discontinues at death.

NEW THOUGHT . . . Consciousness, or "awareized" energy, can’t just disappear as though it never existed. It can and does change form, but it can’t annihilate itself. And why would it want to? What would be the point?

When the consciousness that encompasses all that is--or, if you prefer, All That Is--created individualized consciousness from itself, each unit of consciousness found itself still held within the whole, still a part of All That Is, but with a curious perception of separation. That perception eventually led the consciousness which became human to define death as "the end of living." But if consciousness is seen as a discrete part of All That Is, the belief that active, vibrant life does not continue after death is illogical. Surely All That Is has a better plan than to consistently and systematically destroy itself!

What All That Is wants more than anything is to experience. That’s how it expands. So it recycles its multidimensional creations, moving them out of one context and into another. As consciousness which chose, this time around, the physical world in which to develop, we may move on after death into new lives in physicality. Or we could choose to try other venues outside of time and space. But no matter what multidimensional plans are put into action, rest assured there are other plans.