CONTENTS

For February, 1971

THE PROBLEMS OF SIMPLICITY   ………             2

THE SKEPTIC AND YOU   ……….             3

THE MOUNTAIN PEOPLE OF VIETNAM   ……             6

TRAINING THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND   ……             7

FLAG OF EARTH   ……             9

CONSIDER THE CONCEPT   …..             9

World report   …………..             9

poet’s corner   ………….             12

UFOS INTERNATIONAL   ………..             14

book reviews   ……             15

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING   ……………             16

bulletin board   ………..             17

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT   ….             19

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THE STAFF

EDITOR ……. Dr. DANIEL W. FRY

asst. editor ……………   kerttu campbell

circulation manager ……..  edna basmajian

staff artist …………..  gus tanasale

 

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UNDERSTANDING

VOLUME XVI                              FEBRUARY, 1971                                     NUMBER 2

Dedicated to the propagation of a better understanding among all the peoples of the earth, and of those who are not of earth.

THE PROBLEMS OF SIMPLICITY

During the past few months approximately one thousand copies of the Area of Mutual Agreement have been mailed to a representative cross-section of the people of the world. A planned attempt has been made to reach as many countries, and as many different levels and facets of society as possible.

Each copy of the proposal was accompanied by an urgent request for the opinion of the reader, no matter what that opinion might be. A few replies are beginning to come in, but it will be at least another month before we can begin to analyze the full results of the test.

While it is true that a one thousand person sample is a very- small one by- which to judge world reaction, efforts have been made to keep the sample as representative as possible, and we hope to be able to draw a few reasonably accurate conclusions when all of the data is in.

There are a number of important questions to which we need answers before we can launch a full scale effort to bring this proposal to the attention of the world. Some of these questions are as follows:

1. What percentage of the people, at all levels of society, actually have any genuine interest in their own future, or in the future of the world?

2. What percentage will bother even to read a paper which offers proposed approaches to the problems of mankind?

3. What percentage,

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having read such a paper, will be willing to invest a 5 cent postcard and 5 minutes of their time in forwarding their opinion to the sponsors?

4. What percentage of those who read the proposal will be able to consider it as it is written, without reading into it extrapolations from their own ideas, concepts or habits of thought, and then judging it on the basis of those extrapolations. it was realized from the beginning that this very human propensity would prove to be one of the most formidable obstacles to the evaluation of the proposal, but the returns which have come in to date seem to indicate that it is an even greater problem than we had thought. Very few people, regardless of their intelligence or degree of education, seem to be able to think in simple basic terms. No matter how precisely a simple concept is stated, the mind will automatically race ahead to some relatively complex extrapolation, and then attempt to judge the simple on the basis of the complex.

Most of those who sent in opinions on the proposal make it obvious by their remarks that they are judging it on the basis of a solution to world problems, whereas the proposal clearly states that it is not in itself a solution to any world problem, but only a proposal to create, for the first time in world history, a tool with which a number of world problems might successfully be approached.

One of our readers suggested that it might be better to concentrate upon the areas of disagreement in order to, as he put it, “pound out agreements for the sake of international harmony, or at least reason-ably peaceful co-existence.” The only reply to this suggestion is the obvious one, that there are, and have been thousands of organizations, economic, political and military, who have, for several thousand of years, been attempting to ‘pound out’ such agreements. The hammers used in the pounding process have been, in the order of their application: 1. Economic pressure, 2. Political authority, 3. Artillery shells and bombs. Yet the process has never been very successful, simply because true international agreements can only be reached on the tenth floor of a social structure, and ours unfortunately, has never had a first floor, or even a foundation! (Any blacksmith can testify that it is difficult to shape steel by pounding upon an anvil of sand.) Let us therefore first build a foundation and a first floor from those things upon which we already agree, so that we may have a solid and mutual reference point from which to tackle those problems upon which we disagree!

FEBRUARY, 1971                      3

THE SKEPTIC AND YOU

HAVE you ever found yourself engaged in a friendly discussion with someone and suddenly find this nice sane person has gone off on a tangent, talking about something that is so alien to your own life pattern that you felt bored, frightened, or perhaps felt the other fellow was terribly foolish? If so, you have experienced essentially what happens inside the skeptic who is abruptly exposed to an impromptu speech by the UFO enthusiast.

For years the government sources have announced to the world that flying saucers do not exist. If you happen to see one sometime, you are either hallucinating or in desperate need of an eye checkup. Add to this the reports of little green men, little blue men, or giants in chrome garb, etc. Top this off with the very- natural fear that descends upon humans faced with the Unknown and you have a fairly good idea of what is flooding through the mind of the skeptic as he listens to anyone talk about UFOs and visitors from space.

We ARE essentially in a world of unbelievers, so we proceed from this point. Perhaps the most important first step is to re-evaluate our own attitudes. We must not look upon the skeptic with contempt, hostility, or as if he were Personal Enemy No. 1. If for no other reason, anger cuts off the creative thought process, so that whatever we say from there on the situation will go steadily downhill. People are not really lacking in understanding, ignorant, nor skeptical out of pure perversity.

Those who do scoff at any new idea usually do so because they can-not grasp the new concept involved or find the concept so terrifying that it seems better not to think about it at all. So first give thanks to the Creator that you were granted a more flexible mind and try to pass this blessing on to others.

One method of approaching people on am• new subject is to relate it to what they already consider a natural part of their lives. We can, for instance, relate our space accomplishments with that of what we know about UFOs. That we have actually gone to the moon has lost some of its luster now that it is old news. It is a fact so simply- stated that many miss its true importance as a tool in creating understanding. A few generations back people were bouncing around the countryside by horse and carriage, the first automobile still just a vague glimmer

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in the distance. Think of that for a moment and let its true significance grow in your consciousness. In one brief flash of earth time we have gone from horseback to spaceship. Consider then what wonders await us in the next brief span of human history!’ Very probably man will have solved the problems of interplanetary travel within this next century. Heart transplants and other medical miracles will become as commonplace as the very basic medicines are today. With many wonders already accomplished in a world still divided against itself, the discoveries of the next hundred years will truly seem miraculous. And existing, as we do, in a universe containing countless planets, it should not be surprising that somewhere among those vast orbs lives a civilization much older than our own. Certainly those -who with a head start on us will have solved all, or at least a good percentage, of the problems that still face us.

By using this type of information creatively we can help those with lesser understanding to progress. It is the combination of the small victories each of us wins in expanding the understanding of others that will ultimately decide whether our world survives or is destroyed. We should never permit ourselves to fall into the habit of thinking we are unimportant in the world scheme. Everything we do or say in life has a chain reaction. The next time you feel unimportant or that your efforts are futile, remember that every world leader today was, during his childhood and adult life, exposed to other humans just like yourself in many ways.

When we accept the opportunity to grow ourselves and pass on some bit of understanding that we acquire in the effort, we are helping to form the experiences of other people. Some of those people will someday- be in positions of responsibility where they can do even more to change the world. Anything that each of us can do to help enlarge the scope of another person’s thinking will ultimately result in a happier race of people. Happy, creative, enlightened people, living constructive lives, are not likely to feel it necessary to drop a bomb on a neighboring nation because it disagrees with something said.

It seems a lot to expect our apparently puny efforts to result in any substantial change in the world. But every journey has to start with the first step. At the end of our journey stands the vision of the united human family we will become. Once having accomplished that united front it is only reasonable that we shall pool our intellectual and spiritual

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resources to reach out into that vast universe before us. We will go eagerly forward to learn what we can about this amazing galaxy. If we should find somewhere a planet showing definite signs of inhabitants, could we possibly- pass it by without interest? Surely not; our curiosity would be immediately stimulated. If nothing else, we would want to know if this race of people were anything like ourselves and what kind of environment their planet possessed. It should not, there-fore, surprise us then that other beings from other planets should be just as curious about us.

These are the thoughts we must strive to pass on to others, each in our own way. Sometimes it is not possible to discuss such subjects with certain people who are simply- too narrow in their thinking to even consider the subject. We can then try to help that person open the thought process by introducing some other new viewpoint, idea, or subject not so seemingly unconventional. Anything we do to lift the horizons of another will bring that person one step closer to the point where ideas such as UFO visitation are not so painful to contemplate. This will eventually take us many steps away from the reaction of mass panic that might very well take place if alien contact became a reality to everyone today.

–Georgia Balluck

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THE MOUNTAIN PEOPLE OF VIETNAM

HIGH in the mountains of North and South Viet Nam there lives a race of small, sturdy people who would like nothing more than to be left alone to drink their rice whiskey and pray for their ancestors to come and dwell in jars.

In a country which is torn between political ideologies and North-South hatreds, it is a little known fact that the North and South Vietnamese agree on one thing: these mountain people are an inferior race, hardly considered human.

The conflict between the North and South Vietnamese has been going on much longer than the 25-year conflict with the communists. The conflict is thousands of years old, dating back as far as the two dynasties which once ruled the land of the Nam Viets (The People with the Big Feet). All through the years of internal strife and united

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defense against recurring invasions from China, the Vietnamese have never accepted the Montagnard in any greater esteem than the Negro was accepted in the United States during the Civil War.

It was once considered great sport for South Vietnamese fighter pilots to bomb and strafe Montagnard villages with what ammunition they had left after bombing missions. The North Vietnamese have always taken the Montagnard’s food and raped their women without so much as the pretense of malting repayment. U. S. Special Forces people befriended the Montagnard, lived with him and learned his ways, but then the young men of fighting age were exploited as soldiers to assist the Green Berets.

The Montagnards have survived as a race only because they inhabit the lands that no one really wants. They live in the high mountains, on the sides of steep slopes and grow their crops. The terrain is so rough and steep that the legs on these people have developed to a degree that is twice normal size. They spend their entire lives climbing up and down their mountain-top home planting their crops and hunting the sparse game, usually wild boar, with cross-bows. The powerful cross-bows are made of wood with vines for bow strings-it takes a strong man to cock one, but only a feather touch to send a bamboo arrow flying 200 feet to imbed itself four inches deep into a tree trunk.

Villages are built on stilts and one must squat upon entering a hut. Palm fronds are woven and tied together to provide a shelter which is strong enough to withstand the Monsoon rains. The Montagnards use their defecation to fertilize their crops and grow corn, melons, beans, sugar-cane, hot peppers and rice, which they use in making rice whiskey.

Rice whiskey is kept in large jars, and the villagers believe that the spirits of their ancestors will return to dwell in these jars if they are honored in ceremonies, where much whiskey is consumed, and many prayers are said.

The Montagnard has little use for money but lie enjoys trading. A cross-bow may be had for a few cans of “C” rations, or a copper brace-let can be had for an act of friendship or brotherhood.

The mountain people of Viet Nam are generally a happy people. Blessed with a carefree attitude and an innocence of politics, they are cursed with the fact that they are what they are, a race despised by

FEBRUARY, 1971                      7

both sides and in constant danger of being preyed upon by both their North and South Vietnamese neighbors.

These people really don’t ask much from life, nothing more than to be left alone to drink their rice whiskey and pray- for their ancestors to come and dwell in their jars.

–J. D. Wilson

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TRAINING THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND

(To Help in Creative Effort)

Not long ago I heard Pamala Travers remark on television: “I didn’t write the Mary Poppin story; I listened and took down what I heard.” This is a common experience to authors, artists, inventors and all others engaged in creative effort.

Take James Barrie, for instance. He was so aware of the help his subconscious mind was to him that he gave it a name.

“I am a canny, practical sort of man,” he would say. “It’s McConnachie that writes the plays.”

Louis Bromfield, author of many novels, stated: “One of the most helpful discoveries I made long ago is that there is a part of the mind that works while you sleep. Often I wake in the morning to find that a problem of technique or plot has been completely solved while I slept.”

My own introduction to the mysteries of the subconscious mind began when, having read “The ‘Magic of Believing,” I was so impressed by it that I acted on suggestions given in it. I proceeded to give my subconscious mind a command just before turning out the lights. I also acted on the suggestion that I should keep a reminder of what I wanted the subconscious to do at night, in plain sight during the day.

I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to publish a book! So, every night, I ordered my subconscious mind to give me ideas on which to work. As for a visual reminder, I wrote the letters “I W T P H on a slip of paper which I placed in my- medicine cabinet, and therefore saw every time I brushed my teeth! The cryptic letters stood for: “I want to publish a book.”

Eventually I named my- subconscious mind “Jeeves” after the famous Wodehouse butler who was such a valuable servant to his rather stupid master. “Jeeves” kept me very- busy. I would usually wake up at 5 A. M. with a sentence in my mind. Reaching for a handy pencil I

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would write this down, for if I didn’t, it would vanish when I resumed sleeping. Later, after breakfast, I would look at what I had written and say: “All right, Jeeves, I’m ready to take dictation.”

The sentence which I had scribbled down at dawn usually turned out to be the closing line of a story-in-verse. I would begin to write and every word would flow quickly and easily to that last line.

My stories were published in Jack and Jill, Child Life, Wee Wisdom, and other juvenile magazines. Other than stories for children, I some-times wrote for religious magazines: Weekly Unity, Together, Ideals, etc.

Once in a while, having sent out a story, my jealous conscious mind would change a few lines, and I would send a second version. Invariably the first version was the one that got published. In fact, Adelaide Field of Child Life once wrote me NOT to change things!

She phoned me one time to ask if I would write a story-in-verse about Johnny Appleseed. I told her I had the funny little feeling which meant that Jeeves was interested. However, I knew very little about Johnny Appleseed and, therefore, went to a nearby library to read up on this famous character. That night I told Jeeves to turn what I’d read into something satisfactory for Child Life. The next morning a poem came sliding down my pencil like a fireman down a greased pole. I went to the phone, called Mrs. Field, and read it to her. She liked it – but she had one injunction for me:

“Promise me you won’t change it!”

Through the years I have read much on the subject of the subconscious mind. The human brain is an awesome invention of our Creator. We pride ourselves on the electric computer-but no computer, no matter how intricate and efficient, can compare to the mechanism of man’s brain. In the book “Psycho-cybernetics” by Maxwell Maltz, there is a paragraph that declares: “At least ten billion electronic cells would be needed to build a facsimile of man’s brain. These cells would occupy about a million and a half cubic feet, and several additional millions of cubic feet would be needed for the “nerves” or wiring. Power required to operate it would be one billion watts.”

Sometimes when I furnish the pencil for what Jeeves dictates to me I have the feeling that I am in touch with something very mysterious, something outside myself. “There is one mind common to all men,” said Emerson. In any event, I am grateful that such an efficient

FEBRUARY, 1971                      7

and tireless servant as Jeeves is willing to work for me without benefit of salary except the wages of my thanks. As long as he continues to occupy his present headquarters (and I do mean head) I shall be busy- and happy … but never, I hope, thankrupt.

– Ernestine Cobern Beyer

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FLAG OF EARTH

The home of the Flag of Earth, and where it was first flown in 1970 by its creator, James W. Cadle, is the middle of a corn field near Champaign, Illinois.

The colors of the flag come from nature-the yellow of the sun, the blue of the earth as it appears from a distance, the single white moon, and the black void of space. It is the only flag on earth that stands only for the soil on which man walks-the Peruvian farmer as well as the London banker.

The Flag embodies the assumptions that whatever problems presently are facing earth, mankind can and will solve them. There is nothing that mankind cannot do-no goals to which he cannot aspire and eventually conquer.

According to Mr. Cadle, this Flag is for all nations and a Flag for no nation. Its anthem is:

All the sound of the earth and all the silence of earth.

All the wealth of earth and all the poverty- of earth.

All the life of earth and all the death of earth.

All the past of earth. All the future of earth.

He further states: There will be years to come in which those who live on the earth must also live for the earth. There will be years to come when mankind will learn of those that are not of the earth. There will be years to come.

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CONSIDER THE CONCEPT

What we see today in tire piling up of crisis on crisis is not a fore-cast of doom. It is the birth pangs of a new world in which we are making the physical transition from man to mankind.

–Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg

Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission

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World report

Oil Eaters

(Times Magazine, Dec. 21, 1970, “Environment.”)

Scientists are trying to make use of the long-known fact that some bacteria “eat” oil. Can this be applied to oil spills at sea? The most promising results have come from a small, modestly financed firm in Springfield, Va. Going beyond most other re-searchers. Bioteknika International, Inc. has produced a special microbe “cocktail” that seems to break down oil into carbon dioxide, water, sugars and proteins-all of which enhance marine life.

The “cocktail” is one man’s response to the “Torrey Canyon” spill off England in 1967. Appalled by the damage (31.5 million) and the inadequate methods used to deal with it, microbiologist Edward N. Azarowicz sought organisms that can eat all the chemicals in oil.

He found 19 kinds of land-based microbes that lie calls “oil-eager eaters.” He mixes these with one species of sea microbe, plus special proteins to give the bacteria a “running start” on crude oil. Tested on experimental oil spills in the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River, the bugs devoured 100 sq. ft. layers of oil in four days. Cost: between $1.00 and $2.00 per gallon of oil-about half the cost of using less effective  detergents.

In a few months Bioteknika will start making freeze-dried pellets of the basic bacterial cocktail (different kinds of oil need slightly different mixtures). The product can be flown to the site of an oil spill and simply dropped onto it. Once the microbes hit the water, they return to voracious life. When all the oil is gone, they quickly starve to death. Their remains then become safe food for other forms of life.

Sighting Report from Camp Verde

About 7:05 P.M., November 5, 1970, Tommy Nader and several graduates of Camp Verde High School were returning from a deer hunt. They were travelling the Cedar Mountain Road, about ten miles East of Camp Verde, when they saw a VERY brilliant light in the sky, West of them.

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The light appeared to be coming toward them, was surrounded by fog, mist or dust. As the light faded slowly, the dust (?) gradually dissipated, but turned to a very brilliant blue color which lasted for a full 15 minutes.

Mr. Nader said, “I hope others saw it.”

“Those who saw the above had a good view from Cedar Mountain. These men are used to the every day appearance of the heavens and out-of-doors, so you can’t fool them about seeing something extra in the sky,” commented the Understanding subscriber who sent us this report.

Unusual Object Seen

(Smith County Pioneer, Smith Center, Kansas, November 26, 1970)

Was it a flying saucer that a Consolidated Freight truck driver, and later several others, saw Monday morning?

The truck driver contacted Eldon Gilbert, police officer, about 7 a.m. Monday. “Do you have an airport?” he asked.

Gilbert told him there was one.

“Do you have any experimental planes? the driver then asked. Gilbert told him no.

Then the driver told his story. Coming south out of Franklin he saw an object he thought was over that city about 5:45 a. m. Near the state line, he said, the object dived at his truck and almost blinded him with its brightness, then took off. The driver said he awakened his co-driver so he could watch it too.

It was still visible when he arrived at Smith Center and lie pointed it out to Gilbert. Later, when Gilbert reported it. to the Pioneer, about 7:30, it could still be seen, a bright speck far to the southeast.

Was it a flying saucer? If not, what was it” . It was enough to shake the truck driver up a bit and cause him to do a little research. Some-thing was there; that is certain.

Are Ghosts Real?

(The Post and Times-Star, Cincinnati, Ohio, Oct. 28, 1970)

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) : Growing numbers of university researchers are seriously intrigued with notions that ghosts are real and walking on water is possible.

These researchers were given status last December when the Parapsychologist Assn. was admitted to membership in the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science.

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In the last few years the number of accredited scientists doing some kind of psychical research in the United States has grown from a small number to 750, according to Dr. Thelma Moss, a psychologist at UCLA.

Yet many of the researchers fear the implications of their work, it was agreed at a recent symposium, discussing the state of the science at the University of California Extension, San Francisco.

“Extrasensory perception-if it really exists-would be like an atomic bomb,” says Dr. Moss. “What can be used for good, can also be used for evil.”

“To put it bluntly, what we are talking about could be the death ray,” says Dr. Charles Tart of the University of California, Davis. “Maybe we have this capacity. This is something we don’t like to face.”

“In fact, if you offered these researchers a pill called telepathy, nobody would take it. Would you like to know every thought of the people around you?”

Ghost hunting, says Dr. Moss, is too frustrating to be fun. “When you set up your equipment, nothing happens. When you take your equipment away, all hell breaks loose.” Besides, she says ghosts are harmless.

In the rarest of psychic episodes, people claim the ability to leave their bodies and travel. Such a young lady, fastened to a couch in Dr. Tart’s UC laboratory, was able to report a five digit number out of sight-at the top of the room.

A main argument against psychic theories is that if a miracle contradicts physical law, the miracle should be ignored because the known evidence for the law is overwhelming.

But the drawback of the arguments, says one researcher, is “it abolished the possibility of scientific progress.”

The psychic researchers think the arrival on campus of youth influenced by the psychedelic generation will greatly intensify interest in their subject.

Old Remedy for Cancer

(Otago Daily News, N. Z., Oct. 12, 1970. Credit: Apollo Verein, Box 27, Otahuhu, N. Z.)

WASHINGTON – An ancient Polynesian and Australian remedy for human cancer-extracts of tropical sea worms-has proved highly

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effective in protecting mice against an experimentally induced tumor, a team of Honolulu researchers has found.

Part of the research was prompted by a tip from an elderly Hawaiian woman, Zealie Sherwood, who told them about the reputed cancer fighting powers of one of the worms, they said.

Researchers said tentacles of the Hawaiian sea worm-called “lanice conchilega” were gathered for anti-tumor study at the suggestion of Mrs. Sherwood.

“According to her,” they wrote, “cancer patients had shown clinical improvement after drinking an infusion of cooked tentacles daily for several weeks.”

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poet’s corner

A VISION

“For I dipt into the Future
Far as human eye could see

Saw the vision of the world
And all the wonders that would be

Saw the heavens fill with commerce
Argosies of magic sails

Pilots of the purple twilight
Dropping down with costly bales.”

Alfred Tennyson-1842

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FULFILLMENT

I am of your distant future
Standing where your eye could see,

Riding visions of the world
And the wonders that would be

Looking down from out those heavens
Awed by God’s great Fantasy –

I am one among those chosen,
Living now where you should be.

Am I worthy, am I able
To take up where you left off

To transcend this worldly thinking
Though contemporaries scoff,

Build upon your apt predictions,
Amplify your dreams come true,

Place my feet upon your shoulders,
Reach beyond those heavens blue?

Am I just another traveler
Looking down with vision blurred

Or was I put here as a teacher
To interpret His great word

For those men who follow later,
Gifted more than you or I,

Sailors for the One Creator
Pilots in His purple sky?

May I reach a little farther,
Peek beneath Miss Future’s veil,

Lead the younger to consider
What may lie beyond the pale,

Leave a shoulder for my brother,
Help to span that chasm breached

And let him touch those stars out yonder
For which man has always reached.

-L. D. “Pat” Code-1964

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UFOS INTERNATIONAL

Argentina, South America

(La Razon, August 1970)

Ballia Blanca. Unidentified flying objects have again become the topic of conversation of this town.

Mr. Hector Luis Brev, a professional photographer at the local municipality, affirms having seen one of those objects in full daylight. It happened right in the center of the town, at the intersection of Brown and Espana streets. The object was at an altitude of about 400 m. He described it as ovoidal, emitting a very strong light that hurt the eyes. Brev was walking with his camera in hand and took a photograph of the object. He says he is ready to submit it to the authorities so that they can appreciate what he has captured.

Recently in the early morning hours and from various points a great many people could observe a multicolored vision of fantastic characteristics. It could also be observed in various other places of that region.

(El Liberal, Balcare, August 22, 1970)

Coronel Vidal. Mr. Hector Esteban Llamas, 25 years old, and his employee Hectoo Aluman, 32 years old, were busy with their farm tasks at about 4:45 a.m., when they saw an oblongated yellow object similar to a fire ball. The sighting lasted two minutes and the UFO crossed the sky in a south-northerly direction, emitting very strong rays of light and flashes. There are already four witnesses to this phenomenon. Will there by any more?

Mystery Lights in New Zealand

(Otago Daily Times, N. Z., Sept. 25, 1970)

Two mysterious coloured lights were seen by several people over the St. Clair area last night.

The two lights, flashing yellow and white alternatively, were seen about 10:30 over Larnachs Castle.

The lights were seen to rotate in small circles before disappearing. They were later seen over the St. Clair area.

The director of the Beverley-Begg Observatory, Mr. A. J. Doig, said nothing he knows of could fit the description.

Credi t-Apollo Verein

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book reviews

DREAMS: YOUR MAGIC MIRROR, With interpretations of Edgar Cayce, by Elsie Sechrist, published by Cowles Education Corp., New York City. $5.95 hardbound; 95 cents paperback.

Who has not dreamt and wondered? Who has not suffered the fright of a seemingly “real” experience, then returned to the everyday world, limp and with a sense of uneasiness as to what the “dream” may portend? As students of two worlds-reality and illusion-recognize the authenticity of Edgar Cayce’s records, a study of Dreams: Your Magic Mirror will provide trustworthy guidance through the world of dreaming-sleep. Possibly the charting of the seas of the subconscious as presented in this book will enable each reader to understand and know himself better on the physical level, where often he seems to move and have his being without rhyme or reason.

One excerpt from the Cayce readings-“Sleep is that period when the soul takes stock of what it has acted upon, from one rest period to another. . . . The soul either abhors what it has passed through, or it enters into the joy of the Lord.” Here is to be found the key to whether our dreams are happy and rewarding or frightening and given as warnings, when the dream is based upon past events. To understand this is to live each day so that during sleep our subconscious-ness can reap rewards of the loving, Christ-like thoughts and actions of daily physical life.

Precognitive dreams are probably not as prevalent as those based upon our past, and without interpretation they are often ignored, unless presented in such a way that immediate acceptance and activity are urged — such as in a dream suggesting an accident or other event that can be challenged and even averted.

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One very interesting chapter in Dreams: Your Magic Mirror is that in which it is said that most of the people we meet in our dreams are ourselves in many disguises–and that “gives one furiously to think” if recent dreams have brought forward unpleasant characters that we would prefer not to meet during daylight hours. Do you dream of ghosts? According to Edgar Cayce’s readings ghosts are the fears and thoughts entertained by the mind-let Light suffuse your mind and the ghosts cannot appear.

If you have read many books about Dreams and the interpretations of this phenomenon, without finding adequate keys to the understanding of this state of consciousness, you will appreciate the many chapters which explain the forms and activities met while you are active in the sleep-state-and the index will lead you to the interpretation of interest at any time. Your reviewer feels this is the most important offering in Dreams by Mrs. Sechrist-through using this book you can interpret your own dreams, considering each item as it appeared, then weaving the various bits and pieces into a composite picture that can be helpful.

As each person moves through the present life-time, accumulating wisdom, (we hope!) through experience, endeavoring to move forward and upward on the spiral of spiritual evolution, there are many guide-posts along the way, there are many avenues to explore that offer intellectual instruction, there are many friends who offer helping hands when these are needed, there are books and other materials available for study-let Edgar Cayce, through this presentation of Elsie Sechrist, offer you invaluable guidance, friendship, plus opportunity for study in this particular phase of your spiritual development. Let this book be your personal magic mirror for self-evaluation.

And may all your dreams be pleasant ones!

–Dorothy low

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WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

Kindness

(Friendly Letter Service, Mt. Shasta, California)

The FREEDOM of Kindness

It is a basic spiritual law that we must not interfere in any way with an individual working out his own pattern-lend a helping hand only when asked. The only real help that we can offer anyone is to

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drop a word here and there, or state a truth which would cause him to wake up to the fact that it is up to him to put forth the effort for Self-knowledge.

People do many things that on the surface are motivated by kind-ness, but do not have kind effects. Are parents kind, who do every-thing for their children, requiring nothing in return? Is it kind to rescue one’s relative from his financial errors again and again, and not let him learn what those errors were? Is it kind of children to decide that parents are too old to be independent, when what they want most, is to live their own lives as long as possible? If a friend is having an experience, however painful, that will teach him a valuable lesson, should we do anything to take away that lesson? The greater wisdom would seem to be to stand quietly by with understanding and compassion.

The WARMTH of Kindness

When we receive kind treatment from someone, one of its greatest values has nothing to do with the gift or the favor bestowed; it is the knowledge that someone else cares. In this busy world where we are buffeted about by many forces, a simple kindness may make the difference between keeping one’s faith in the goodness of men or descending into cynicism and despair. Friendship is the best of all gifts.

Many people make a practice of doing small favors for strangers they meet on the road, or their neighbors. With each favor goes the request, “Pass it on to someone else who needs it.” The best thing we can pass on, is the idea of doing as many kind things for others as we can.

The STRENGTH of Kindness

A kind person is sensitive to others, their moods, their needs; he is aware of something in addition to his own moods and needs. His world is a bigger place than that of an ego-centered person. If he is willing to part with things in the interest of helping those who need it, is he not evaluating in his own heart the relative worth of people and things? When he favors people, he is doing something vitally important for himself, because this is a quality he can take with him into the next world, as he cannot take his worldly possessions.

The REASON for Kindness

Imagine life on a desert island, absolutely alone. Assuming you could survive, what would be the lessons learned from that life? Endurance

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perhaps, and self-sufficiency, but all things that come from contacts with other people would be missing. So in our spiritual climb we unfold our awareness through our contact with the spiritual pat-terns of other people. In a way, we climb to Heaven on the shoulders of our peers. In order to balance our books, so to speak, we should give human sympathy and assistance wherever we can.

That which we give away comes back to us a thousand fold.

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bulletin board

June Understanding Convention

The Understanding Program Committee is busy contacting speakers and entertainers for the forthcoming Understanding Convention, to be held at the International Cultural Center of Understanding on June 18, 19 and 20.

Speakers proposed include Rev. Kingdon Brown, Jay Fair, Heather Buckley, Damien Simpson, Rev. Keith Reinhard, and June and Ron Ormand, to name but a few.

Singer Jerry Register and Organist Dr. Irma Glenn have already confirmed their participation in the Convention Program.

As we plan for another wonderful gathering we hope that you are also planning to share with us another inspirational experience.

Aletheia Convention

Jack Schwarz, Founder of Aletheia, has announced that the organization will mark its 13th Anniversary with a Convention to be held

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June 27, 28 and 29, also at the International Cultural Center of Understanding in Merlin.

The theme of the Convention will be: Man’s Relationship kith Medicine, Law and Metaphysics. Further details in forthcoming bulletins. Why not extend your vacation to include both Conventions in Merlin? Do use the Understanding Libraries!

Air Force Academy UFO Teachings

For those interested in the recently publicized statements relative to the U. S. Air Force Academy teachings on UFOS, copies of the chapters (old and revised) of the Academy texts are available from: Department of the Air Force, U. S. Air Force Academy, Colo. 80840.

New Officers for Merlin Unit I

Congratulations to the newly chosen officers of Merlin Unit 1 of Understanding!

President: Dr. D.W. Fry; Vice-President and Program Chairman Mrs. Tahahlita Fry; Secretary and Membership Chairman: Mrs. Clara Bonner; Treasurer: Miss Hope E. Hiner; Publicity: Mrs, Rose Davis and Mrs. Ardee Bridges; Hospitality, Mrs. Charlotte Kipp; Librarian Mrs. Ruth Lewis, and Custodian for the ICCU Building: John Nunez.

The Business Session was followed by an animated discussion of Dr. Fry’s “Area of Mutual Agreement in the Social Sciences.”

Flash! New Unit Formed!

Just at Press Time, early January, notice was received that a New Unit had been formed-San Jose-Unit 80.

Our wishes for success go to Ray and Becki Chenoweth and the new charter members of the Understanding family.

If you live in the San Jose area and wish to join the Unit, or just to be notified of the Unit’s public lecture program, please get in touch with the Chenoweth’s at P. 0. Box 3051, Sta. D,, San Jose, Calif. 94116.

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Memberships in Understanding

Understanding, Inc. is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the propagation of a better understanding among all the peoples of the earth so that they may live in harmony and be better prepared psychologically and sociologically for the space age.

Several types of membership are available to those who wish to support our endeavors either with dollars or with time and service, or both.

The Associate Membership is Two Dollars per year; the Contributing Membership, Ten Dollars per year, including the Understanding magazine; Sustaining Membership, Twenty-Five Dollars per year, including subscription; and Life Membership, Five Hundred Dollars, including subscription to Understanding magazine.

Welcome to the Understanding family!

UNDERSTANDING, INC.

P.O. Box 206, Merlin, Oregon 97532.