Vice did an article in 2021 about how the CIA used this program to train their operatives to be more successful: https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k9qag/how-to-escape-the-confines-of-time-and-space-according-to-the-cia
I listened to some of these for a while years ago and really do like the gateway affirmation which is below:
“I am more than my physical body. Because I am more than physical matter, I can perceive that which is greater than the physical world.
Therefore, I deeply desire to: to expand, to experience, to know, to understand, to control, and to use such greater energies and energy systems as may be beneficial and constructive to me and to those who follow me.
Also, I deeply desire the help and cooperation, the assistance, the understanding of those individuals whose wisdom, development and experience are equal or greater than my own.
I ask for their guidance and protection from any influence or any source that might provide me with less than my stated desires.”
It does make me wonder what “protection” might be needed from “any influence or any source.” The origins of what we might call jinns or demons perhaps?
This YouTube video gives an interesting perspective from a skeptic turned believer after using the tapes for a year:
The more I look into the ”consciousness is fundamental” perspective and the “absolute unbounded oneness” or “abiding non-duality” worldviews, the more I’m open to stuff like this being “real” though I do think it has limitations, kind of like error correcting codes in software of physics rules programmed into a software simulation.
“What you must learn is that these rules are no different than the rules of a computer system. Some of them can be bent. Others can be broken.” - Morpheus in the Matrix
I didn’t stick with the tapes for very long myself. Though I do have a deep desire to know “what is”, there’s a sense that working really hard to break out of this human experience is counterproductive to why I find myself here now having this human experience. At the same time, there’s part of me that thinks these “super powers” may actually be a forgotten part of what the human experience is “normally” supposed to include, but hasn’t for many thousands of years now. Esoteric knowledge interests me for sure, but I also have a deep sense of “Todo es Perfecto” in that this experience is already as it is meant to be, suffering and bliss and everything in between. I can’t explain that to others as it’s more of a personal understanding, but with it comes the idea that if I could change anything, would I? If things are already perfect, a change, a strongly intentioned manifestation, if you will, may make things less ideal, striving instead of effortless action. Now, of course, if everything truly is perfect, then even attempts to change things gets folded into that perfection also. I can’t pretend to fully understand the holographic fractal projection that is our universe in this way, but it does feel like breaking a perfectly good window in order to give new business to the window maker is a dumb idea.
To those who find this stuff interesting, I’m glad you found me, and I’m happy to discuss this type of stuff any time. I try to keep a “beginner’s mind” so as to not judge too quickly while at the same time not using categorizing or restrictive labels and identifications for myself as someone “who believes this stuff” or not. I see myself currently as an explorer, but a passive one. Admiring the unfolding as it happens.
That affirmation seems positive, and I think it is good to affirm things to ourselves to focus our thoughts where we want them to be.
If I was going to use it, I'd make a few changes to something more in line with my current understanding of the world.
“I have a physical body. That body has sense organs and a brain to process their inputs. I can perceive some things about the physical world.
Therefore, I deeply desire: to expand, to experience, to know, to understand, to control, and to use my perceptive and cognitive abilities as may be beneficial and constructive to me and to those who follow me.
Also, I deeply desire the help and cooperation, the assistance, the understanding of those individuals whose wisdom, development and experience are equal or greater than my own.
I ask for their guidance and protection from any influence or any source that might provide me with less than my stated desires.”
I think the "individuals" mentioned are other people in the physical world with sense organs and a brain where consciousness is a naturally emergent property. These other people can guide and protect me to some degree, and I can guide and protect others to some degree.
Regarding the video, The gentleman seemed to be using the gateway system for a full year until one day he happened to have the same thoughts as his gf. I think that's well within the realm of normal probability. Then he talks about a guy who met his gf after he had a motorcycle accident. After such trauma you'll be affected and possibly be more authentic and less socially reserved, you may want to talk about what just happened. We don't know how long after the accident he met the girl or how many other girls he talked to in the interim. And its a third-party story we're hearing. I don't see why asking the universe to manifest something, and it did, is the most probable interpretation of what happened. I think it might be an attribution error. It just happened. Things happen all the time whether we ask the universe or a god for them, and things happen that people are asking the universe or a god not to happen.
But who really knows. I keep an open mind but I'm a skeptic along the lines of a James Randi or a Michael Shermer who has a good YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@skepticmagazine. For me, it's all self talk, there's nothing in the universe listening and talking to us, other than other people. Positive self talk is very important and affirmations are a great way to get us into a productive mindset so I do them myself.
Your post is somewhat on the same topic of Brains which I just posted about. I was happy to see your post and to think about what you presented here. It's great to learn differing points of view and Hive is a great place for that.
Have a nice day! :)