Why Rush To "Save The World"?

In the news this week, I saw the following article that made me sit up and read it a little more...

Teen medium made suicide pact with friends 

 
Tue, Sep 08, 2009,  AsiaOne

[Photo: Ku Witaya (right), 16, told the group of friends, which includes Sia Chan Hong (right), that they had to die to become 'slayers' to kill demons threatening the world; The boys wrote words like 'goodbye' and 'last day on earth' in their diaries.]

A 16-YEAR-OLD self-professed Taoist medium, Thai-Chinese Ku Witaya, convinced his friends as well as his younger brother to enter into a suicide pact, based on his theory that the world was ending.

Of all his six friends whom Witaya had spoken to, only one - Sia Chan Hong - carried out the suicide act with him by jumping off the ninth floor of Block 667, Jalan Damai in the Bedok Reservoir area.

The other five friends backed out when they saw Chan Hong, 16, moaning at the foot of the block. He died three hours later in the hospital.

This incident occurred last year Aug 23 at around 5.20am in the morning.

In Lianhe Wanbao's report, it was revealed on Monday morning at a joint coroner's inquiry into the deaths of the two Tampines Secondary School students, that Witaya carried out Taoist rituals at home every Friday while his friends, including Chan Hong, would visit him at his house.

Witaya also believed that he could speak to deities.

One week before the joint suicide, Witaya spoke to his friends about a "Third World War" and preached about sacrificing themselves in order to "rid the world of demons".

According to the Chinese evening dailies report, the eight boys met at around 2am that fateful night and agreed on the suicide pact. One of them backed out.

After which, seven of them headed to Witaya's home and agreed to jump from the 13th floor but seeing that the entrance to the rooftop was locked, they decided to jump from his bedroom window.

The Straits Times reported that Chan Hong was "a little afraid" and Witaya had to calm him down before the two went back to the ledge. Moments later, they jumped from the window holding hands.

State Counsel Ang Feng Qian asked what the group thought of the joint suicide idea. A witness, aged 16, testified that they were "passionate" about it. He also revealed that Chang Hong had been the most passionate and Witaya was unwavering.

The witness mentioned that they had diaries belonging to the teens hidden in a riser outside Witaya's flat and that another witness, a 17-year-old boy, and Witaya's brother had penned farewell letters, wrote The Straits Times.

Shin Min Daily reported that Witaya was introduced to Taoism by his grandmother, Madam Goh Lim Choo, 62, who was formerly a medium.

He had wanted to quit school but was advised by his father to complete his O levels first.

A representative from the Taoist Federation told the media that Taoism valued life and that Taoists would not engage in such activities that would harm themselves or others.

The spokesperson also revealed that Witaya nor his "group" was registered with the federation and that they did not know about his activities.

I really hate reading articles like this, it makes gamers look bad because someone is going to try to pin the cause of the suicide on some game instead of looking hard and long at the psychological state of a distraught young person who certainly seems to not have gotten much help from the people he should have gotten it from.

Secondly, it makes people who do talk to spirits look like possible asylum candidates. :( 

I wonder if any of Witaya's relatives ever said anything to him like... "Take this whole mediumship slowly..." and "16 is too young to be a medium..." :P This sort of reminds me of the time I read about how the Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI) mentioned in their article how they had gotten the services of a bomoh to help them out with finding ghosts at the ruins of the Japanese shrine at MacRitchie... the bomoh in question was also a young person... if I remember correctly either in his late teens or early young adult years... early 20+ 

Now, I have nothing against young people doing witchcraft or dabbling in the occult, but I DO think teens to early 20s is a little TOO YOUNG to be an actual practitioner offering services to clientele. 

It's not just a matter of being inexperienced and screwing up some spiritual stuff big time... I do think a little life experience and maturity is needed before one can actually practice without being caught up in possible legal ramifications or client problems. And really, how many people do you think would actually seek the services of someone in their teens??? Honestly, do you expect a pimply youth to chase spirits from your house or give you a reading to pinpoint deeply personal issues?

Although most people would say "NO" to the abovementioned questions, sadly I have seen quite a number of people seek advice from the proverbal pimply youth-practitioner... haiz... I guess pimply youths don't charge as much or like to give it away free... without thinking about the possible karmic ramifications :P

I think the teenage and early young adult years are a time of exploration and well, trying out stuff.... sure you and your friends might cast circles, use the ouija board or even summon up a few... "demons".... but in the end, most mistakes made during those years can be fixed... some problems... with a little bit of work and effort.... however, as F once said to me, no problem or mistake is truly something you cannot walk away from... (that means you can walk away from it... turn your life around) .... except for well... getting pregnant and being a mother... then she said you will end up spending like 20 odd years of your life worrying about your kid.... well, that's the voice of experience since F is like 60+ and a mother.

It's a time for young people who are trying to decide if they should embrace alternative spirituality to learn as much as possible... improve their skills... question everything... It certainly is not a time to become a practitioner and give people advice... when you yourself are looking for those answers or trying to decide if being a "holistic" practitioner is what you want to be for the rest of your life :(

In my own journey... I have unfortunately met quite a lot of young people who have discovered the really nasty way that they really weren't ready for what lies out there...

Quite early in my own journey into this path, Wolfy and I went to a meeting at the holistic centre which at that time was located opposite to this very prominant malay burial site. After the meeting, we had a chance to talk to some of the people who were there, and I saw this lady in her 40s who seemed to be a little tired and listless. I decided to talk to her simply because well, she wasn't talking to anyone else and it seemed, no one else wanted to talk to me.

As it turned out, said 40ish lady was a "healer" who was recently attacked by some entities and "recuperating". I was curious as to why she chose to be a healer and so proceeded to ask her about her previous career and stuff... I mean, I assume a 40ish lady would have worked at something else before being a healer... it was a natural assumption, few people get into the holistic business at the get-go. 

I was lucky when asking her in that I didn't say ... ".. worked for many years in the non-holistic field???" ... why? Well, as it turned out, this 40ish lady was actually 20! The reason she looked older than me.... I mean at that time I was like 10+ years older than her... was that her work as a "healer" had taken its toll on her.

She was originally studying in Australia and was supposed to finish up her degree, but at around 17, she got into some kind of energy "healing". I guess she must have been "successful" at her first few attempts because she then decided to stop studying and become a healer full time.

Who the heck decides at 20 that they want to become a energy "healer" for the rest of their lives anyway? Most people at that age are still trying to find themselves. :( 

Anyways, I suggested it might be a good idea to put the healing thing on hold for a bit and try to finish her studies.... well, that was when she told me her story...

Apparently, she had tried to "heal" some woman who was influenced by some spirit and who had "dark energies". Although she didn't give all the details, I got the impression that she had tried to "heal" said woman without her consent. The woman was clearly unwilling to be "healed" by her...

Well, this young "healer" received a tremendous backlash from the unwilling patient and eventually even had some entity following her... according to her at least. All I could tell at that time was that she was completely drained by ... well... whatever... it could be really some entity or just the entire confrontation with the woman. 

I often tell this story as a sort of morality tale... in many areas... The young often think that they can take on anything... most also have an exeggerated view of their own abilities. Hey, its natural, I went through that phase myself... :P  

Unfortunately, some also end up thinking that they might be special because they are able to contact certain entities who might claim to be spirit guides or even "angels". And some even believe that well, they have a "special destiny"..... maybe because some "powerful" spirits deign to speak to them or those same entities spin a beautiful lie about how they are powerful persons here to "save the world".

Spirits are sometimes the biggest liars around... I think I have said that before... and humans are capable of the biggest delusions.


Well, just think about it.... if you are like some teen and you receive some message that says "hey you have a special destiny to "save the world" " would you seriously believe that? Well, to be honest, if somebody said that to me when I was a teen I would believe that person .... yeah... I was stupid like that.... but think about it now, you are a young person with limited knowledge, having limited abilities, and trying to figure out who you are.... Do you SERIOUSLY think that well, some important entity would tell you that you have a "special destiny" to "save the world"?????

I mean, why not wait till you were a little older? Why not just tell you, "hey man, why not learn this and this.. it might be useful in the future...." if an entity were truly wise, won't they know how to phase advice so it doesn't sound like..."you have a great destiny!"

One of the biggest lessons I learned as an adult was that... well, for the most part, we are mostly BIG ASS NOBODIES! Work and working in the adult world in a job which you need to take to help you pay your bills teaches you that lesson real fast. I'm sure if the teen medium in question had finished his studies and started working as an adult, he would soon feel the cutting edge of reality sink in... and might even drop the entire idea of being a medium for being some corporate guy.

IF.... IF being a medium is truly part of who he is, I am sure that, he would somehow find his way back to it again... but this time more sober and a lot wiser.

And who the heck wants to be a medium anyway! Low pay. Low status career option in Singapore. Might cause injuries that result in scarring. And often associated with the local hoodlum scene....:( Certainly a friend in this scene and a student researcher from the local university mentioned to me that it is not uncommon to hear from certain chinese mediums that this path was in a way imposed upon them by spirits and often not of their chosing.

The biggest issue that young people have to grapple with is well.... finding out who they are and especially for some.... what their real power is... I mean, power isn't always the ability to do some silly hocus pocus shit... it could just as well be the ability to organise stuff, make sales, attract people, convince others to do stuff that you want... using your own glibness... 

I think that for some young people at least, they get into this whole spiritual stuff to fill up that void they are feeling... that sense of powerlessness.... thinking that by waving a wand they can make all their problems go away. :( Unfortunately, popular media is rife with images of easy "power".... Harry Potter waving his wand and creating changes to reality without effort..... I wonder what happened to the days when it used to take like 20 years for a young person to study to become ... a druid... for instance....haiz.....

Maybe people should watch less TV and read more... that might help... I hope...

"So I Guess You Must Hate Hermes... Right?"

"So I guess you must hate Hermes... right?... Why?"

Amazingly, I was asked this question by a friend who runs a place that attracts and hosts New Age events. When the comment came out, well, my mouth rounded into an "O" and I said, "On the contrary I DON'T hate Hermes..."

This very strange conversation came about because apparently, my big mouth has given me a reputation as a skeptic and a hater of channellers.

It's not true, I don't hate real channellers. I don't even hate the fake ones, or the ones that THINK they are channelling something from the spirit world. In fact, I am always on the lookout for psychics, witches, shamans and magicians who really have the powers they are supposed to have. And yes, I DO compliment and encourage the ones whom I feel have real talent. It is simply that I find myself unable to swallow or agree with something that I feel is a blatent lie or a huge self-deception.

I think that I am a pretty judgemental person... but that judgemental nature has also allowed me to see past a great deal of deception. In the past, I would not hesitate to challenge a blatent charlatan. I think I have toned down a lot these days. BUT, I still have a big mouth, what can I say, the ol' leopard can't really change those spots.

I don't really have a problem with the traditional spirit mediums that are a part of culture in Singapore, sure, not all of them get possessed by the gods all the time, and certainly, when the gods do fail to "show" there is some trickery on their part. (When I was much younger, I had the opportunity to hear the testamony of a "tang ki" who admitted that on occasion when the appropriate god failed to make an appearance, he was forced to resort to acting. ) However, the mediums in question do actually get possessed by the spirits often enough so that their credibility is intact. Also, they perform traditional feats of strength or endurance (slashing oneself does come to mind, as well as sitting on a chair of nails, all done without injury to the "tang ki" in question) to show a kind of rough proof that they have really been "ridden upon" by the gods.

I do question however the modern phenomena of "channelling". I mean, WHAT IS IT? Does the channeller actually get possessed by the spirit in question? Is the channeller actually conscious when possession happens? Or is the channel merely a clairvoyant and/or clairaudient middleman in the world of spirits and does not get possessed at all? I think that some places in the West at least, there is a distinction made between channelling and trance-mediumship. The former usually doesn't entail possession but the latter certainly does.

The problem with Singapore is that there isn't that kind of distinction and as a result, there is a great deal of variety in how "channelling" is conducted. The range of what a channeller does locally runs the gamut from what appears to be a very mild case of a "full possession" (I use very because I have never witnessed any of the non-traditional channellers do even a small percentage of the feats that the traditional "tang ki" does) to someone who is obviously completely conscious, and speaks and sounds exactly like himself/herself in terms of speech and tone even when he or she is "channelling" some highly evolved being.

This has led me to question the modern New Age channeller.

1. Without the traditional shows of "proof" of the gods' presence, how DO we know that the the channeller is really channelling some entity?

2. Noticeably, even the "tang ki"s admit that the spirits don't always show up when requested through prayer and ritual. How is it that most channellers can seemingly "command" the presence of the being in question whenever they are asked?

I mean, consider this seriously. Do you honestly think that the Archangel Michael has the time to come over and answer questions whenever he is called? For that matter, does he even deal with pretty human concerns. I'd think with the level of power he is at, he won't see or communicate with humans very often.

3. What is the standard proceedure behind "channelling"?

Considering what is required of the channeller... one would think that some kind of psychic ability is involved. Even if the channeller isn't functioning as a trance medium, based on what people expect from channelling, a channeller ought to have some kind of clairvoyance and/or clairaudience so that they can most importantly HEAR what the being in question is trying to convey to them.

With regards to Question 3, I once asked a channeller (and yes, by coincidence it was someone chanelling Lord Hermes) what is it that he sees or hears when Hermes communicates with him. Well, the answer was a real shocker.

Apparently, the channel has never physically seen or heard from "Lord Hermes". So then I asked, JUST HOW does he know Hermes is communicating with him? How does the "Lord Hermes" he is channelling actually answer questions posed to him? It took a bit of questioning, but I found out that the channel actually sees flashes of images in his mind when focusing on my questions.

AH HA! I was onto something. I went around to a few more channels and asked them about their communication with their patron being. Apparently, quite a lot of them have never actually seen or heard with their physical vision and hearing, the being they are channelling. So how were they getting their messages? Well, through what is known as the "Mind's Eye Vision".

Here I have to digress a little and talk a bit about what I feel the definition of "psychic ability" is. I am of the opinion that INTUITION is something that everyone has. Some people have a lot of it, some don't. And some people aren't even aware it exists. However, with some training, most people can make use of their intuition at a level that helps them in their daily life. Most often intuition comes as a sort of gut feeling or a sense of something, with some training in visualisation and meditation, I do think a normal human being will at some point be able to see images through the "Mind's Eye Vision". That is, images flash around in their mind when their intuition is put to work.

However, I feel that INTUITION is very different from ACTUAL PSYCHIC ABILITY. And I notice that not everyone has psychic abilities. Just like not everyone is a gifted pianist or ballerina. So what are these psychic abilities? From what I notice in my daily experience, the most readily identified psychic abilities are: Clairvoyance, Clairsentience, Clairaudience, Psychometry and Mediumship. I also notice that these gifts tend to run in families or blood relation. For instance, most "tang ki"s also have family members who are doing the same thing or something similar.

The "Mind's Eye Vision" is NOT a psychic ability. As the person only sees ... whatever he or she sees... in the mind. For those of you who might be feeling disappointed by what you are reading, don't underestimate the power of the "Mind's Eye Vision" and normal human intuition. Think about this... do you know that a study was conducted by some airlines that showed that before a plane crashes there is a significantly higher number of passenger cancellations and transfers from that same plane compared to normal flights? How do these people know when NOT to take the flight?

Back to channellers...

Soooooo, if most channellers I am likely to meet in Singapore are only receiving the messages through the "Mind's Eye Vision"... How does anyone know where those messages come from eh?

Unfortunately, after meeting that channeller, I met other channellers who also channelled "Lord Hermes"... sheesh... for one guy, he sure does get around. What if 2 people channel him at the same time at different locations? Who does he go to? I guess I made some unflattering comments to my friend about the whole idea of channelling Hermes and somehow I got the image of being a Hermes-hater.

Anyways, I really really doubt that the historical Hermes Trismegistus that I know is actually being channelled by anyone, and I certainly don't think he is any kind of ascended master, no matter what kind of sage people today say he was in the distant past. That's right... our perceptions of him today are based on modern interpretations. The actual ancient Egyptian view of Hermes Trismegistus is that he is a god... Hermes is really a latter Greek syncretism of the ancient Egyptian god Thoth and Mercury/Hermes. And NO, there is no historical evidence that Thoth was ever an ancient Atlantian sage or priest. Now, Plato is the recognised historical source of the Atlantis legend and he never mentioned Thoth or Hermes Trismegistus in his writing. The philosopher DOES hint at ancient records that were kept in secret in Egypt for 9000 years, but that factoid does not make a link to Thoth in any way. And NO, I did not see the word Hermes or Thoth anywhere in those damnable books when I had to read them in the university.

However, it is interesting to note that historically and in certain traditional belief systems there seems to be a link between Thoth/Hermes Trismegistus and the very human Enoch (in the Bible and Torah) or Idris (in the Islamic texts). Something which I am currently exploring. Therefore I am inclined to believe that the original Thoth might really be human. In the same way I think that Osirius, Isis and Set were based on actual historical people. And I might add in the case of Osirius and Isis, some scholars make a really good case for their being based off actual historical people and events.

Before you go off saying ... "Like how can people become gods..." well think about Kwan Gong, Chinese god of warfare, he was a real historical person whom people deitified after his death. And in a more recent example a friend of mine travelling around visited a Chinese temple in Malaysia. Among the standard images of Chinese gods, he saw the statue of a man in a suit with a cane in hand. Amused by this, he asked a local who the deity was. Well, as it turned out, the man in the suit was a well-known and loved local philantropist who had passed on. But in the world of ancestor worship and traditional Chinese belief, he was turned into some kind of god.

And if you are boiling mad after reading this, please do note, I do not hate channellers and I do think that there are some out there who truly possess psychic gifts. I was fortunate enough in this lifetime to meet someone who does communicate with spirits and who convinced me that she was actually listening to answers given to her by unseen entities. However, she is currently the ONLY professional psychic I have met thus far who has convinced me of her gifts.

As for Hermes Trismegistus/Thoth... I can only say that I deeply respect what the man stands for. That is why I am determined to uncover the truth about him and his knowledge. I am not content to accept the "Lord Hermes" that is sometimes channelled as the actual historical person that has ascended. If Hermes Trismegistus / Thoth is indeed a master of science, physics, magic and mathematics, as Egyptian tradition claims, I would expect nothing less from him than the highest levels of academic excellence and enlightened wisdom. Sadly, I have never heard THAT LEVEL of knowledge and wisdom from the mouth of any mortal person alive today.