Carol Thomas
Apr 1, 2016 | Romance, 1st pages
Chapter 1
Having finally got her girls to bed, Abby slouched on the sofa with her laptop. The computer had become a distraction, perhaps even an obsession. In her spare moments at work and in the evenings when the children slept, when she should have been doing so many other things, Abby was on the Internet.
She knew the routine off by heart – typing in their names singularly, their names together, her name with variations on the spelling, her name and Washington (the place ‘it’ happened), their joint names and Washington. Simon Turner and Helen Herne were now so familiar to Abby’s search terms that her computer was automatically putting them in for her after she typed the first letters. She wasn’t quite sure what she hoped to find. She didn’t know and didn’t stop to think it through. She was fired by an obsession to find anything that would help her understand, to see who it was who had changed her life forever.
Googling, scrolling through countless pages of images and searching… Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, even MySpace. Abby lurked on them all. And the irony was, she didn’t actually know what the woman looked like so she was never really going to find her. Abby knew, in the sea of Helen Hernes she had stalked via the Internet, she could have been staring right at her face but she wouldn’t have known it. The searches were utterly, irrefutably, mind-blowingly pointless. She knew it but she couldn’t stop!
Aware she was driving herself steadily crazy with the futility of it all, Abby threw her head back and growled. Staring back at the screen, she had an idea. A different search. Same theme.
Chad Morton
Dec 9, 2015 | 1st pages, Fantasy
PROLOGUE
There was a time when the universe was forever dark and forever cold.
Eons before Lord Atum graced the cosmos with stars and before the mighty Ra took command of your sun we were all as one in the comfort of NUN.
Lord Atum would say, “From nothing came everything and from everything will come nothing.” What a foolish thought. NUN could hardly be thought of as nothing; NUN gave life to us all, on planes of existence too numerous to mention. With life growing and thriving throughout boundless dimensions, how could Lord Atum continue to refer to NUN as nothing?
I have struggled over the eons to understand how such limitless power can be trapped in such a limited mind but then again, The Great One has never been known for his creativity. That fortunate gift fell to me. I am Lord Seth, a champion of life and a true servant of NUN. I was one of the first to rise from the all encompassing everything into a single sentient being with a singular destiny. That is what has separated me from my former whole.
There were others before me, Lord Atum of course being the first, and there were others after me. Yet and still, there are none like me, and I suspect there never shall be.
Alexander De Foe
Sep 9, 2015 | 1st pages, Self Help
Moments of expanded human consciousness have captivated the hearts and minds of philosophers throughout millennia.
Despite how we might see the world through certain philosophies and scientific theories about the nature of consciousness, there is something alluring about the direct experience of self-consciousness. Experiences in which we transcend the personal self and connect with broader states of awareness are therefore well worth exploring.
There comes a point in human experience in which the reliance on external theories, whether philosophical or scientific, becomes redundant. At such a point, the direct unfiltered experience of life is paramount – it is here that we endeavor to expand our consciousness threshold from a practical, approachable stance.
Before the Age of Reason, profound states of self-transcendence were associated with religious experiences of divination. In modern times, such states tend to be studied within psychological science. Yet, aside from examining the theories and models behind consciousness, it’s critical that we learn to make sense of transcendence as it pertains to us in a direct fashion.
In this book, I endeavor to take a refreshing approach to consciousness, a hands-on perspective, if you will. I introduce several explorations and self-awareness techniques that encourage readers to arrive at new practical understandings in their own lives. Philosophical frameworks, no matter how well thought out and articulate, can also serve as barriers to direct conscious experience, leading us into an intellectualization of consciousness.
For example, the attainment of higher states in theological accounts tends to be considered in terms of particular rituals, lessons, and dogmas, rather than through direct spiritual experience. This divide between doctrine and experience can be noted in most religions, and more often than not, this divide separates us from the heart of spiritual experience.
Threads of distinction between higher and lower (or broad and narrow) experiences of consciousness run through most religious and ontological theories. In all religions, we can look to a central doctrine, and then we can also discover the direct experience of spiritual transcendence from which that doctrine was born. In science, like religion, we also have definitions of consciousness: Altered and baseline, normal and abnormal, healthy and 3 pathological, and so forth.
These definitions, again, refer to a mere theoretical understanding. For each definition, there is also a corresponding firsthand experience. Such definitions have echoed through the epochs, and at the heart of each one remains the lingering question of self. How does human conscious experience translate into the procedural construction of an individual self, a distinct identity, a personality-level existence? Scientists and religious leaders alike have struggled with the question of self-consciousness through the ages, resorting to their respective devices – observation and faith.
Yet, at the heart of it, human beings can encounter and experience a soul essence at the personal level, a consciousness that appears to be ever-present. There is a certain sacredness of experience here that is accessible to all, and this is well worth engaging with. All encounters with consciousness are, in a manner, encounters with transcendence, as our consciousness is never fixed nor stagnant. It is never definable to a singular instant, it is ever-flowing, everevolving.
It is rather the intellectual mind that attempts to define consciousness to certain parameters or limits. Once we recognize our conscious experience for what it is, the canvas of life itself takes on quite a different appearance. In fact, people who report self-transcendence experiences tend to talk about a drastic change in their worldview. A broader experience of self-consciousness comes about.
Some refer to a newfound awareness, an Awareness (with a capital ‘A’), as Igor Kufayev put it. This awareness is the recognition of the broader-self, the all-self. Rather than consolidating theories of consciousness in this book, I would like to instead encourage you to reflect on your personal experience of self-consciousness.
What is the nature of consciousness? In this book I’m not going to ask you about what a local religious leader tells you regarding this question, or the answer that a neuroscience professor might provide. Instead, I am going to ask you to take a more courageous approach: To look within your own heart for the answers.
The personal experiences that led me to write this book were not grounded in religion nor science, but rather in practical observation on the nature of existence and self, and thus, I would like to encourage you to take a similar empirical approach here.
Oct 19, 2014 | 1st pages, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Thriller
NASA headquarters: February 11, 2032: 9:15 AM
Commander Benson drives his vehicle into the parking lot of NASA headquarters. The radio in his car is playing Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Bad Moon Rising while he finds an empty spot to park his vehicle. The song comes to its conclusion before he turns off the ignition key and then proceeds inside the building where he meets up with Lieutenant Commander Bishop.
“Good morning Commander Benson, how are you today?”
“Yes Lieutenant Commander Bishop. I did not sleep too well last night. You know the mission and the recent developments.”
“I understand Commander. There has been some interesting debate about that distortion in space behind the moon. How long has it been there now? ”
“About two weeks if I'm not mistaken Bishop. There has been some speculation about investigating the distortion more closely when we launch on April 4, and then proceed to Mars after our brief stay over at the ISS. It is an interesting phenomenon that we are all very excited about, and yet it is a little fore boding. We have never encountered anything like this before so we all want to make sure everything is running smoothly when we pass close to the moon on our way to Mars to document it. We will have a better view of the distortion when we get to the ISS. Commander Smyth may have some more detailed information on this phenomenon.”
“I agree sir.”
Female voice on intercom: “Commander Benson requested to the board room, Commander Benson to the board room.”
“Excuse me Lieutenant Commander…” Commander Benson proceeds to the boardroom where he meets the Base of Operations, General Holden. Commander Benson salutes.
“Good morning General, if I may.”
“Yes Commander have a seat, we have an interesting development about that distortion behind the moon. There is something very intriguing, something new that you need to know.”
“What is it General?”
The General alerts Bensons’ attention to a video monitor on the wall. He clicks the remote that brings up the image of the moon and zooms in to a small object to the far left as it slowly creeps toward the center.
“That’s very interesting General. What is that? It looks like a small asteroid or satellite of some kind, any ideas where it came from?”
“At this point in time Commander we have ruled out that it is a spy satellite. All the major powers on Earth deny any responsibility for it by anyone on the planet. It's trajectory around the moon appears to be under some form of propulsion. We have detected traces of an ion trail in its wake that is beyond our technology. We suspect it has something to do with the distortion behind the moon.”
“It appears to be collecting data from our own satellites in orbit around Earth. At this point, we do not have any idea as to its purpose other than data collection. We are very concerned about the security of the mission. We are keeping up to date with the data the ISS is providing us to augment our resources to this unusual phenomenon.”
“What kind of data is the object interested in General? Is there anything specific like for instance, secure information about NASA, NORAD and the Pentagon or any other sensitive material that could compromise the security of our operations or our country?”
“No Commander. The kind of information the object is after has nothing to do with our secured and encrypted information. It is just after general stuff like our history, the environment, even the plant and animal life on our planet. None of the information it appears to be after, classified in any way. It is just general information regarding our planets history and resources.”
“Well General my question is, are we going to proceed with the fly by around the moon to investigate this on our way to Mars after we refuel at the International Space Station?”
“Very good question Commander, it does not appear to be proving any kind of a threat but this does however raise some serious questions about our present plans. We would not want this latest mission to Mars come to any kind of danger or security threat. What is especially concerning is its identity. We have reason to believe… it is of alien origin.”
“Alien! This is astounding! The object must have something to do with the distortion. Do you believe that they have any reason to contact us? We are obviously under some kind of covert surveillance. Maybe they want to know more about us before they make first contact. For instance like some form of prime directive?”
“It's possible Commander but we do not have enough data to determine its intent. Friend or foe it remains to be in question. There has not been any indication on being hostile. This is however the biggest event since the Roswell affair. The distortion in space could be a rift, a wormhole from some other origin in the universe or an alternate universe. It could also be a quantum singularity. The possibilities are endless. Until any further developments take place we are going to proceed with the launch as planned. Until then we may have more information on this until the launch takes place. We get periodic updates from SETI, ISS and the Hubble images.”
“I agree General. This just makes it all that more intriguing though. I am to assume that this will be treated as top secret?”
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