The New Paradigm
vol. I, Number 13

Dear Friends,

During the past week I have had quite a cascade of information brought to my attention by various means, and as much of it relates in one way or another to the "new paradigm" we are discussing here, I feel it appropriate to pass some of it on to you. But not before taking the opportunity to rant about it myself.

I'm sure you've noticed, if you've spent much time surfing the Net, that you can run into just about anything out there, and it's not always easy to reach a determination as to whether to believe it or not. In fact, if you think about it, how do you know what and what not to believe about anything?

For instance, in 1865 James Clerk Maxwell measured the speed of light; and in 1905 Albert Einstein proved to the satisfaction of just about everybody that no material object in the universe can move through space at a greater rate than the speed of light. Right? These are historical facts, yes? You can look them up in any encyclopedia or physics text book, and it'll tell you.

But: how do you know it's true? Have you personally measured the speed of light, or determined by your own experience that nothing in the universe can move faster?

Or take another example. At 10:56 Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S., 20 July 1969 Neil Armstrong, followed shortly thereafter by Edwin Aldrin Jr. were the first humans to leave their footprints in the soil of an extraterrestrial planetary body, the Earth's Moon, on the margin of Mere Tranquilitatis. Another historical fact. You may remember, as I do, seeing it all on television that memorable July day so many years ago.

But I have always been puzzled by one particular aspect of the Apollo lunar landings of the '60s and early '70s: Earth's gravity is (allegedly) 6.25 that of the Moon, and it had always been anticipated that an athlete who could clear, say, a five-foot (1.5m) hurdle on Earth, ought to be able to jump over a 31-foot (9.4m) hurdle on the Moon. Now Armstrong and Aldren were not billed as athletes, although they had to have been in top physical shape; and they were weighted down with bulky space suits and heavy life support back-packs. But if, so weighted down, they could still jump, say, six inches on Earth, should they not have been able to jump 37.5 inches on the Moon, or about a meter up in the "air?" I haven't reviewed the tapes exhaustively, but I do not recall seeing anything purported to have taken place on the Moon which could not have been filmed in Earth-normal gravity.

Now there's a fellow named William Cooper, whose URL I'll give you below, who claims the whole Apollo Program was an elaborate hoax, and the lunar excursions which received so much television publicity all around the Earth were filmed on a lunar mockup at Disney Studios. Isn't that a hoot! Or is it? The chilling realization, for me, is that it's not much of a joke. The credibility of the U.S. Government, with its "black budgets," "secret bases" such as "Area 51" at Groom Lake in Nevada, fraudulent fiscal policies, and on and on, is such that the disclosure of a fraudulent Apollo Program would come as no particular surprise. The fact is, I do not know whether Humans have ever walked on the Moon. Do you?

Such thoughts may be seriously disconcerting. I find them so; but they may also be necessary in order to come to terms with the "paradigm shift" we talk about here, and in which I hope we are participating as well. You may find it helpful to read an essay I wrote on another occasion on "Knowledge."

The point is, if what you "know" comes from any authoritative source, such as books (holy, scholarly or fictional), television, magazines, newspapers, Web sites, university courses, research reports, sermons, the revelations of trance mediums, etc. it is not knowledge, but belief. Now there's nothing "wrong" with holding beliefs. We could hardly function without them; but if we hope to progress, I should think it would be a good idea to reserve an ample margin for the eventuality that our beliefs may turn out to be mistaken. The same goes for our accepted sources of information: nobody can check out everything that comes to shim's attention; you'll just have to take somebody else's word for quite a large fraction of what you decide to believe. But unless it comes from the deep well of your own "inner knowing," there is always the possibility that your belief, whatever it is, may be mistaken.

Now this in itself can be fairly disorienting, for we may easily enough talk ourselves into such a state of confusion that we really don't know what to believe. It's not a pleasant state of mind to be in, let me tell you. But as discussed in tnp #4, and also at the URL listed above, there is at least one item of pure, certain, undeniable knowledge you have in your possession at all times: for you know that you exist. It may not seem like much, but this small fragment of certified knowledge, which does not come to you from any external source, is inseverably linked to every fact and reality throughout the entire Realm of Being. There is nothing in the "length and breadth of the universe" you cannot, potentially, know with the same certainty you know you exist right now; for as discussed in tnp #11 your true Self (as distinguished from your ego-identity) is boundless in extent and overlaps with every Self in existence.

Another thing: this existence you know is yours - has no opposite; cannot possibly have an opposite. What is the "opposite" of existence? "Non-existence?" What on Earth or elsewhere is that? Does "non-existence" exist? If so, what's it like? What color is it? What does it smell like? "Non-existence" must be a label that applies only to what it names; and its synonym is "death." So this is another item you may add to your store of certain knowledge: if you exist you can never "non-exist;" and if by "death" you mean "non-existence," then you can never "die." If, on the other hand, by "death" you mean "change," then you "die" every moment: either way, "Death, where is thy sting?"

Now if "death" is the parent of fear, the conclusion must be that there is nothing to fear; for everything we fear is a "miniature death," is it not? We fear various adverse circumstances and eventualities which seem to threaten to bring us nearer to "death," and would "do us in" if not checked or prevented; such as illness, accident, fire, war, insolvency, storm, disgrace, plunder, tyranny, famine, UFO abduction, conspiracy, social chaos...etc. All things we fear turn out upon examination to be states of mind with no actual substance to them at all; for they are all gradations and shades of that dark shadow we call "death;" which either "non-exists" or is such a constant companion as to be inconsequential: i.e. "change." To fear change is to fear Life, not "death." If we could integrate this realization into the very fabric of our being, would we not emerge totally fearless in the face of any eventuality? So it seems to me.

I am going to point you now to some places on the Internet which deal with numerous potentially fearful, yet highly interesting matters; such as UFOs, global and even interstellar conspiracies, alien intervention in human affairs, covert government intervention in human affairs, secret projects, impending Earth changes.... Are these things "for real?" Numerous sober and serious-minded individuals seem to think so; but what does that mean to you and to me? If we are fearful - i.e. still believe in "death" and its derivatives - we may find some of these disclosures quite frightening. In which case we may be better off not exposing ourselves to them at all. Or we may dismiss them as so much noise from the emotionally unhinged. Or we may accept what we read uncritically and imbibe it as our own revised belief. Or any number of further alternatives....

At www.execpc.com/vjentpr/drunvalo.html [When checked 11/3/01, this URL was found to be no longer active.] are a series of pages devoted to an individual by the name of Drunvalo Melchizedek, who claims, or has had it claimed of him, that he is a "walk in" personality from the thirteenth dimension who has come to help the human population of Earth make the transition now in progress on our Planet. He arrived in his present situation by a rather circuitous route, which included transit of a galactic star-gate in the Orion Nebula, a sojourn on a fourth-dimensional planet in the Pleiades, a visit to the third planet in the Serius B System where he learned the history of Earth from his association with a female Orca whale. He made landfall in our Solar System on the planet Venus, where he made contact with the Hathor race, the most advanced species in the Solar System. In the Earth year 1850 he was born as a female of the Taos tribe in New Mexico, U.S.A., where he remained until 1890, when he assumed a sixth dimensional disembodied identity; and entered his current body 10 April 1972.

There is an interesting excerpt here from Bob Frissell's book, "Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are" drawn from a seminar hosted by Drunvalo, giving a rendition of human and non-human history on planet Earth that is at considerable variance with, but infinitely more interesting than "conventional" history.

And there is an interesting interview by Val Valerian of Leading Edge Research with Drunvalo Melchizedek, in which he, Drunvalo, makes the comment that the "elite" of the "secret government" have already come to the conclusion that their long-standing endeavor to enslave the Earth won't work, and their only hope of success lies in participating in the unity of purpose emobdied in the emerging Oneness, or Christ-consciousness that is arising through an enormously accelerated evolutionary process now in progress throughout the Human Race. I thought that was good news, as it corresponds quite well with what I think ought to happen.

Leading Edge International Research Group, led, I gather, by a person by the name of Valdamar Valerian, has accumulated a vast library of "off the grid" information, much of which is highly thought provoking, some elevating, and much that is disturbing. The scope of the material on site and for sale corresponds very closely with many of my own "new paradigm" interests and seems to confirm many of my intuitive surmises. Yet there is that about much of the material which engenders fear and unease; hence my ambivalence. A man by the name of Alex Collier is featured, who claims to have been in extensive contact with extraterrestrials from Andromeda for many years, and through whom many provocative revelations have come.... Anyway, I'm sure you will find much of interest at Leading Edge.

Harvest Trust [When checked 11/3/01, this URL was found to belong to a commercial site not related to the discussion here.] was evidently founded by one William Cooper, who also covers some of the ground addressed by Leading Edge; but Cooper claims the ET phenomenology is an elaborate hoax to further the purposes of the looming "New World Order." Some of these revelations are indeed chilling, and I find myself withdrawing more and trusting less, in response to the thought forms that come to me through these channels; which isn't the direction in which I am endeavoring to go. "Warning," cautions Cooper, "Listen to everyone...read everything...believe absolutely nothing unless you can prove it in your own research."

Well, most of this stuff is frankly over my head. I don't know what to make of it at all. If somebody claims to have come from the 13th dimension, whatever that means, via Orion, the Pleiades, Serius B, Venus, Taos...who am I to say yea or nay? If he has something affirmative and elevating to say, I'll listen; for whether he comes from the antipodes of the universe, or the antipodes of the human mind, he exists and is therefore closer to me than my own skin.

My ultimate fall-back position in considering all these many things, for whatever it's worth to you, is that I know that I exist, and therefore that nothing can really threaten me. There may be forces of Light and forces of Dark "out there" engaged in Cosmic Combat over the fate of the Earth and the destiny of Man; or there may be Earthly conspiracies afoot among global bankers and financiers dedicated to establishing a global tyranny and a "New World Order" in which nobody on Earth may lift hand or foot without the oversight and approval of the global aristocracy. But in the final analysis, there's no "out there" out there: it's all "in here," for my Self, and your Self, extend to the ends of the universe and include everything that exists; and their totality adds up to a positive, affirmative Oneness that has no opposite. If we see forces of Light and Dark in seemingly mortal contention over the fate of Humanity, or the Earth, or the Solar System, or the Galaxy, the real turmoil is entirely within ourselves; and it must be entirely within our power to resolve it to our absolute satisfaction, right here, right now.

Don't you think so? If not, then maybe the mounting stresses in the contemporary world are really a Good Thing: for they motivate us all to search within and without, with desperation and determination, to find a way to live in peace and harmony with ourselves, and with one another. The "old paradigm" plainly doesn't work, and the stresses engendered by its catastrophic failure are rapidly mounting. "Shifting paradigms" is evidently no picnic; but the stresses will continue to mount for each of us until we do.

Anyway, it's nice to find reassurance that, whatever happens, the story can't help but have a "happy ending" (well, there can be no "endings," but you know what I mean) for everybody. There's just no other way, for the Totality is a Positive-One: not zero; not negative; Positive; affirmative; happy; prosperous; successful; wise; good. That is the final implication of the Positive Cosmic Fact that you (and I) exist.

Thanks to Sue Fowler, Yuji Shimono and Mark Gardner for bringing some of the above information to my attention at this time.

Love & Light,

-- Harmon
J. Harmon Grahn