The akashic records (akasha is a Sanskrit word meaning "sky", "space" or "aether") is a term used in theosophy (and Anthroposophy) to describe a compendium of mystical knowledge encoded in a non-physical plane of existence. These records are described to contain all knowledge of human experience and the history of the cosmos. They are metaphorically described as a library and other analogues commonly found in discourse on the subject include a "universal computer" and the "Mind of God". Descriptions of the records assert that they are constantly updated and that they can be accessed through astral projection. The concept originated in the theosophical movements of the 19th century, and remains prevalent in New Age discourse.
Specific accounts
In his books "Journey of Souls" & "Destiny of Souls, Evidence of Life between Lives", Michael Newton, a hypnotherapist who has worked with subjects in deep states, has many accounts of the Akashic Record, or Book of Life. Souls prior to being incarnated go to a 'library' and view the pages associated with the life they are considering. The pages are not necessarily sequential. Although there may be definitive way points along the course of our lives, our free will can change paths, events and outcomes. As the soul prepares for a life with the intent of learning a particular lesson or satisfying a karmic debt (Sanskrit for 'come back'), the soul will also choose a family and a body that will help them with the lessons for this incarnation. For many, some of those images survive "birth amnesia" and then become our intuition that serves us during our lives.
C.W. Leadbeater, who claimed to be clairvoyant, conducted research into the akashic record which he said he inspected at the Theosophical Society headquarters in Adyar (Tamil Nadu), India during the summer of 1910 and recorded the results in his book Man: How, Whence, and Whither? The book records the history of Atlantis and other civilizations and even the future society of Earth in the 27th century.[1]
The akashic record is referred to by Edgar Cayce, who stated that each person is held to account after life and "confronted" with their personal akashic record of what they have or have not done in life in a karmic sense. The idea is comparable to the biblical Book of Life which is consulted to see whether or not the dead are admitted to heaven.
Ervin Laszlo in his books Science and the Akashic Field and Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos brings the latest new science of the A-Field and its function as the source of all manifestation and interconnectedness, flowing out and in via the Vacuum field or zero-point energy, which he equates with akasha—cosmic mind, universal consciousness, and the field that unifies all things.
Jane Roberts in the Seth books describes a different version of a similar idea when Seth asserts that the fundamental stuff of the universe is ideas and consciousness, and that an idea once conceived exists forever. Seth argued that all ideas and knowledge are in principle accessible by "direct cognition". Direct cognition shares semantic congruency with intuition and allows for the possibility of direct knowing without time elapsing and without knowledge needing to be transferred e.g. in speech or text. This is similar to what Robert Monroe refers to as rotes in his out-of-body book trilogy.
Robert L. DeMelo in his theoretical physics ebook The General Principles of Reality A takes yet another different approach deducing through implicit logic the potential existence of an infinite knowing universal consciousness of which we are all apart of essentially contributing to its own existence. His logical deduction compares the common properties between space and time and applies them to consciousness. He concludes in his ebook by referring to this infinite consciousness as God.
According to Max Heindel's Rosicrucian writings, the Memory of Nature (akashic records) may be read in three different inner worlds. In the reflecting ether of the etheric region there are pictures of all that has happened in the world - at least several hundred years back, or much more in some cases - and they appear almost as the pictures on a screen, with the difference that the scene shifts backward. The Memory of Nature may be read, in an entirely different manner covering the essence of a whole life or event, in a higher world, in the highest subdivision of the Region of Concrete Thought of the World of Thought, and, last, it may be read in the World of Life Spirit, covering events from the earliest dawn of our present manifestation, but only to spiritual adepts or spiritual entities and through grace is access to the records granted.
The Urantia Book asserts validity and reality of these "living records" in several accounts. In Paper 25 is found the statement: "The recording angels of the inhabited planets are the source of all individual records. Throughout the universes other recorders function regarding both formal records and living records. From Urantia to Paradise, both recordings are encountered: in a local universe, more of the written records and less of the living; on Paradise, more of the living and less of the formal; on Uversa, both are equally available."
And in Paper 25:
"The Memory of Mercy is a living trial balance, a current statement of your account with the supernatural forces of the realms. These are the living records of mercy ministration which are read into the testimony of the courts of Uversa when each individual's right to unending life comes up for adjudication, when "thrones are cast up and the Ancients of Days are seated. The broadcasts of Uversa issue and come forth from before them; thousands upon thousands minister to them, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before them. The judgment is set, and the books are opened." And the books which are opened on such a momentous occasion are the living records of the tertiary seconaphim of the superuniverses. The formal records are on file to corroborate the testimony of the Memories of Mercy if they are required. "
In The Law of One, Book I, a book purported to contain conversations with a channeled "social memory complex" known to humans as "Ra," when the questioner asks where Edgar Cayce received his information, the answer received is, "We have explained before that the intelligent infinity is brought into intelligent energy from eighth density or octave. The one sound vibratory complex called Edgar used this gateway to view the present, which is not the continuum you experience but the potential social memory complex of this planetary sphere. The term your peoples have used for this is the "Akashic Record" or the "Hall of Records."[2]
Future Life Reading: There was a woman named Helen Stewart Wambach, Ph.D. (1925-1985) who lived in Concord, California who claimed to be able to read the Akashic Record and to be able to hypnotize people into experiencing their possible future lives in various alternate universes. [3]
In Thiaoouba Prophecy, the author is abducted by supreme alien beings, that in one part of the book guides him through the Akashic record. The synonym they are using is psychosphere. According to the author, the Akashic record is like a "vibratory cocoon, which turns at a speed seven times that of light. This cocoon acts as a blotter, as it were, absorbing (and remembering) absolutely every event occurring on the planet. The contents of this cocoon are inaccessible to us on Earth - we have no way of ‘reading the land.’"
Evidence
So far, the only presented evidence of akashic records has been the claims of those who purport to gather information from them. These claims cannot be empirically tested, and thus is not deemed a serious matter of scientific inquiry.[4] Neither the Christian nor Vedic/Hindu traditions generally recognize their scriptures and beliefs as being rooted in the akashic record, though specific groups or individuals may subscribe to such a belief[citation needed]. However in Islamic belief, under the concept of Qadar, there is a notation of so called "the Book of Decree", or "Al-Lawh Al-Mahfud" which is also defined as a preserved tablet that holds the records of all the events that ever happened and also that are going to happen. (See:Predestination in Islam)
In popular culture
- In season two of the television series Eureka, director of Global Dynamics Allison Blake discovers that through a freak accident, her son Kevin is able to access and control what they refer to as the "Akashic Field."
- In the New Age science fiction novel 2150 AD by Thea Alexander (1971), in 2150 AD society is ordered according to a philosophy called the Macro-Philosophy and they have supercomputers with video screens that can access the akashic records.[5]
- In Digimon, Wisemon has an attack called Laplace's Demon that allowed him to rewrite the past and future by editing the akashic records.[6]
- In Mechanicum, the Forge Master Zeth attempts to construct an "Akashic Reader," using a set of psykers to access the Akashic Record in the warp.
- In the Charmed episode "They're Everywhere", the plot revolves around demons wanting to find the knowledge contained in the Akashic records.
- In various media by Type-Moon the ultimate goal of the magi of the Mage's Association is to find a path to obtain the Akashic Records. Also, a supernatural ability used by the main characters in Type-Moon's Kara no Kyoukai and Tsukihime, called "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception" allow the user to see the Akashic record of the predetermined "death" of a person or object in the form of lines and cut the object in pieces by tracing the line with a cutting tool of any size and/or sharpness.
- In .hack//Link, the story revolves around the struggle to control the Akashic records of "The World", the MMORPG inside the fiction. It features rewriting several previous series' character's memories so that they act as their stories began, not as they ended.
- In Kingdom Hearts II there is a weapon called the Akashic Record, which appears as a book with a handle, wielded like a shield.
- In Outlaw Star, the Galactic Leyline is a place sought after by the protagonists that is supposedly a vast treasure. When found, it turns out to be a 'universal library' created by an advanced but now-extinct race that possessed an unsurpassed knowledge of science, technology, and reality. For those who know how to use it, the Galactic Leyline can be thought of as a "God Machine" because of its advanced knowledge and understanding of the universe, as well as its ability to alter fate as if it were a physical law.
- In Persona 4, the Midnight Channel/Realm is the collective thoughts of the people of Inaba. It is affected by them, and often people inside create their own realms as shadows inadvertently. Typically, without the help of the protagonist, anyone who enters the Midnight Realm dies from their inability to accept themselves. There is also a physical skill called "Akasha Arts" that can be used in combat.
See also
References
- ^ Besant, Annie and Leadbeater, C.W. Man: How, Whence, and Whither? Adyar, India:1913 Theosophical Publishing House On page vii of the Introduction, it is stated that the information in the book is a result of Leadbeater’s inspection of the akashic record.
- ^ Elkins, Rueckert, McCarty: The Ra Material: An Ancient Astronaut Speaks, p. 141. The Donning Company, 1984.
- ^ Future-life progression, also called future progression or future-life progression hypnosis, is a variation of past-life therapy developed by Helen Stewart Wambach, Ph.D. (1925-1985), author of Recalling Past Lives (Harper & Row, 1978) and Life Before Life (Bantam Books, 1979), and provided by Chet B. Snow, Ph.D. Future-life progression is a means, it is claimed, of viewing one's future and the potential lives of future incarnations of oneself. Skeptic’s Dictionary of New Age Theories:
- ^ http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Akashic%20records.html
- ^ Alexander, Thea 2150 AD New York:1976 edition Mass-market paperback Warner Books
- ^ The Ultimate Digimon Encyclopedia. http://shiningevo.ultimatedigimon.com/encyclopedia/digimon/ancient_wisemon.html
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