Stalking the Wild Pendulum, by Itzhak Bentov
Reprinted by kind permission from PS-Magazine.com
Stalking the Wild Pendulum: On the Mechanics of Consciousness
Itzhak Bentov was born in Czechoslovakia and moved to America, he became an inventor and specialized in the creation of new medical instrumentation. He died shortly after writing this book in a flying accident. None of which prepares the reader for the model of the universe which Bentov proposes. This is a fascinating book and will be of interest to all who study psychic matters and are interesting in a “model” of reality which reflects their own experiences.
Bentov says: “I am attempting in this book to build a model of the universe that will satisfy the need for a comprehensive picture of ‘what our existence is all about.’ In other words, a holistic model that encompasses not only the physical, observable universe that is our immediate environment and the distant universe observed by our astronomers but also other ‘realities’ as well.” Referring to psychic phenomena, he says that he will try to explain the underlying mechanisms and explain how they may work.
Bentov adds that the general underlying principle in all psychic phenomena is an altered state of consciousness. He says that these altered states allow us to function in realities that are normally not available to us, in our waking state of consciousness. Bentov says that when taken together all these realities form a large hologram of interacting fields. He notes that the theory of relativity emphasizes that no matter what we observe, we always do so relative to a frame of reference that may differ from someone else’s, that we must compare our frames of reference in order to get meaningful measurements and results about events that we observe. He says that our reality is a vibratory reality, and there is nothing static in it, that our senses can only appreciate the differences in vibrations. He claims that the electrostatic fields around our bodies can, during meditation resonate with the electrostatic fields of our planet.
Bentov also claims that ‘tangible reality’ exists for us only as long as there is movement; and that when the movement stops, matter and solid reality become diffuse and disappear. Regarding time, he claims that in our reality objective and subjective space-time normally coincide, but that under altered states of consciousness these become separated, allowing us to be clairvoyant.
Bentov then describes the quantity and quality of consciousness; he sees all consciousness as evolving to the ‘absolute’ which is the source of all consciousness. Matter, being made of quanta of energy, is the vibrating, changing component of pure consciousness. The absolute is fixed, manifest, and invisible. Ours, then, is a vibratory reality — from sub-nuclear to atomic, to molecular to macro-levels — everything is producing “sound.” Realities are relative, dependent on the position and state of the observer.
Bentov says that we all know the human reality, but most of us do not know that human consciousness can be taught to expand and learn how to interact with the whole spectrum of realities. He says that he hopes to show that realities are states of consciousness. He describes a set of bodies (astral, mental and casual) made of higher harmonics than the physical body which interpenetrate our physical body, and which allows us to interact on different levels of consciousness.
Bentov also says that our brains do not produce thoughts, but are devices for amplifying thoughts. He says that our soul or psyche acts as a bridge between the material body and the spirit, we also have a higher self which is the spiritual us, and that all higher selves are connected and are in constant communication. Bentov also describes a model of the universe as a closed universe that forms an elongated hollow torus. He says that human psyches form an interference pattern with psyches of all other consciousness in the universe. Our physical bodies are four-dimensional electromagnetic holograms, which change in time and they are the end products and the result of the interactions of our subtle, non-physical ‘information bodies’.
Bentov concludes by saying that the goal of the creator is the evolution of consciousness, that she uses the opposing forces of good and evil to stimulate evolution. This is an unusual and interesting book, one that you will need to read a couple of times to completely grasp, but one which will help to make sense of our confusion with the world we inhabit.
This article first appeared in PS-Magazine.com, published with permission.