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God-Given Power or New Age Danger? (Part Two)1
Some have heralded the practice of visualization as one of "two important ‘new’ concepts in 20th century American life" (the other important concept being meditation).2 According to its New Age advocates, visualization, which combines mental concentration with directed imagery, is a powerful tool for achieving personal and corporate goals and changing physical, psychological, and spiritual reality. In Part One of this series we examined the nature, influence,
and varieties of visualization, as well as the reasons people
use it. In this concluding installment we will consider the world
view commonly associated with visualization, dangers inherent
in its practice, its occult aspects, and the question of whether
Christian visualization can be a safe and biblical practice. Because the practice of visualization can be adapted to almost any philosophy and uniquely colored by it, there is no well-defined world view we could present that would always be representative. But if we restrict our discussion to the popular and occult types of visualization (as opposed to the academic and Christian types — see the chart in Part One), while recognizing the very real potential for cross-fertilization between the various types, we can see the emergence of a broad outline. Some principal components include the following:
Andrew Wiehl observes in his Creative Visualization, "In all the Universe there is but one power, the power within yourself."3 Shakti Gawain in her later book by the same title claims we are linked to "divine omnipresence and omnipotence" and that our "higher self" is "the God-like being who dwells within you."4 Because of this, "there is no separation between us and God" in that we are "divine expressions" of God, the creative principle.5 In the words of other proponents, "Imagination...empowers [us] to tap the endless and unborn potentials of universal mind,"6 and, "Visualization allows a person to travel into the mind to a space where the possibilities of matter, time and space are unlimited."7 When used in an occult program, visualization techniques can thus become seemingly powerful instruments for securing New Age goals: "At a practical level, visualization has an uncanny ability to improve the quality of our lives. It does this through its power to heal the body and spirit, to reconstruct the past and to reveal our hidden truths....The most dramatic visualizations touch the deepest part of ourselves — our essence, our core, and allow us to experience connections beyond ourselves, what some describe as cosmic consciousness."8 Indeed, the visualization process itself may tend to alter the person’s world view. As noted in Part One, Dr. Mike Samuels is an authority on the subject. He discusses the mechanics and implications of the process:
The world view of visualization just discussed is obviously not Christian. The Bible denies that people are one essence with God or the universe because it declares that only God has eternality — for He "alone is immortal" (1 Tim. 6:16) — and only He is an infinite being. Thus the one and only God (John 17:3) who existed from eternity (Ps. 90:2) created the entire material and spiritual universe, including humanity, from nothing. God did not emanate something of Himself in the process of creation so that everything in creation partakes in the nature of God. To the contrary, as the following Scriptures declare, God created the universe merely by speaking it into existence: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1); "The universe was formed at God’s command" (Heb. 11:3); "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made...For he spoke, and it came to be" (Ps. 33:6, 9). People are not a part of God. Their minds do not have the
"infinite" powers attributed to them by visualization
philosophy, nor are they a source of true spiritual wisdom apart
from spiritual regeneration or rebirth (Prov. 28:26; Jer. 17:9;
Mark 7:20-23; James 3:14-17). Furthermore, visualization has
no power to initiate contact with God or gain knowledge of Him.
Biblically, those who wish to personally know the one true God
must come to Him by faith through the true Jesus Christ (John
17:2-3; Col. 1:15-20; 2:9; Heb. 11:6; 1 Pet. 2:24) — not
by trust in their own inner vision, a spirit guide masquerading
as Christ, or by an alleged mystical union with some abstract
impersonal concept of the divine. It should be recognized that when the mind is manipulated into novel states of consciousness, there is always a potential for spiritual deception and danger. This is true regardless of a person’s motive or environment (i.e., the spiritual context in which he or she is operating). The number of well-meaning people who have embarked on a visualization program for physical health, psychological understanding, or spiritual advancement and ended up involved in the occult is not small. Books on visualization carry numerous anecdotes of how even the well-intentioned and seemingly nonoccult use of visualization catapulted people into the New Age movement, psychic development, and/or spirit contact. Visualization allegedly has the capacity to place the mind into a certain brain wave pattern conducive to the development of psychic abilities.10 If this is true (and our research leads us to think that it is), how do we view the practice of visualization in Christian psychotherapy? What about visualization techniques practiced in education in general, or among children?11 Prominent educator Jack Canfield states, "When students are participating in a guided imagery experience they are in an altered state of consciousness."12 To what degree does a belief that is conditioned or manipulated by visualization affect our behavior and our world view? What are the long-term effects of visualization itself, irrespective of the environment in which it occurs? How neutral is a systematic program of repeated visualization exercises? Experts in both the theory and practice of visualization warn of its potential dangers. For example, H. V. Guenther and leading Tibetan Buddhist guru, Chogyam Trungpa, assert in The Dawn of Tantra: "Certainly practicing visualization without the proper understanding is extremely destructive....Tantric scriptures abound with warnings about using visualization."13 Practicing occultist J. H. Brennan, whose Astral Doorways cites visualization as an "excellent doorway," still warns that to mix certain things — such as yoga postures and visualization techniques — without knowing exactly what one is doing "is asking for psychosis."14 As noted, many people have embarked on a visualization program
and converted to occultism as a result. This poses another danger
of the practice because, as we have documented elsewhere, occultism
is hazardous to people physically, emotionally, and spiritually.15 Coauthor Weldon became interested in evaluating the practice of visualization a number of years ago. While examining the latest New Age trends at a local metaphysical book shop, a large bright yellow text with a colorful caduceus caught his eye. The Well Body Book16 was a holistic health home medical handbook. (It was right next to The Well Cat Book and The Well Dog Book.) He began thumbing through the book and noticed that it stressed visualization exercises. In fact, the ability to visualize was said to be necessary "for understanding many parts of the book."17 In the acknowledgments, coauthor Mike Samuels, M.D., gave thanks to "Rolling Thunder," a well-known native American shaman, "who taught me about healing," as well as to "Braxius, my imaginary doctor." However, it turns out "Braxius" is the personal spirit guide of Samuels and, therefore, not what a Christian would call imaginary. The story of their meeting is found in Samuels’s coauthored book, Spirit Guides: Access to Inner Worlds,18 a text that utilizes visualization techniques to encounter spirits. To date, The Well Body Book and Spirit Guides: Access to Inner Worlds have sold over half-a-million copies. The authors have received a "large number" of letters "from readers who have begun to use spirit guides in their [own] lives."19 Visualization was the basic method used to contact the spirit world. This is why the relationship between visualization and the occult is our greatest concern. If visualization can lead to spirit contact, it should concern everyone. As we will later document, in spiritistic writings the spirits themselves often recommend visualization practices as important components for securing occult goals, including spirit contact. In the following section we will examine the occult potential of visualization by showing: (1) the role of visualization in developing psychic abilities; (2) the use of visualization in occult ritual; and (3) the relationship between visualization and spiritism.
Parapsychologist Milan Rzyl observes that "the ability to visualize sharply is central to good psychic performance."23 Thus, for example, psychic Jack Schwarz utilizes visualization and creative imagery in a meditative context to develop and use his psychic powers.24 According to Samuels and Samuels, "The receptive visualization state is a state in which a person can receive extrasensory perceptions of another person’s mind (telepathy), of objects or events (clairvoyance), of future events (precognition), and of psychic diagnosis."25
In magic ritual we see the full power of visualization: directed
imagery, meditation, force of will, and certainly faith. But
what many do not realize is that although visualization can be
used deliberately in magic ritual for spirit contact and spirit
possession, the very same things can be encountered in normal
visualization practice or even through purely make-believe fantasy
rituals. The story of "Philip," the "imaginary" spirit, is illustrative.29 A group of psychic investigators and parapsychologists with the Toronto Society for Psychical Research came together to see if they could create the physical phenomena found in a seance and produce a materialized spirit through their "collective mental power [i.e., imagination and visualization] alone." They named him "Philip," giving him an imaginary past, personality, and so forth. They eventually succeeded — quite beyond their expectations — and remain puzzled to this day. Indeed, they have been awed over the subsequent events. What entered their parlor was not an imaginary spirit, but a genuine, living spirit being with its own personality and power — certainly not part of the group’s "collective" mind or energy. Incredibly, however, the group continued to believe that this independent spirit entity and the phenomena it produced were merely the result of their own "imaginative powers." One result of this experiment — as knowledge of it spread through articles, a book, and a film — was to camouflage spiritistic phenomena in the guise of human potential. "Philip groups" began all over the world, attempting to duplicate the phenomena of the Toronto group. Thus "the most important feature of this book is the fact that it specifies the method by which the physical PK [psychokinesis] force can be generated by ordinary people and thus made available for study."30 The only problem was that the contacted "imaginary" spirits "act with their own personalities and idiosyncrasies and not as though they were a part of your subconscious mind."31 Therefore, many "Philip groups" ended up in actual spirit-contact and necromancy. Not surprisingly, then, in modern channeled (spiritistic) literature, the spirits actively endorse visualization, recommending specific exercises for learning how to contact them and become a channel:
Even cancer therapists O. Carl Simonton and Stephanie Matthews-Simonton, who utilize visualization in a professional setting for cancer therapy, accept this theme of using "imaginary" spirit guides for supposed healing processes. An examination of their book Getting Well Again indicates that they are encouraging nothing less than a form of spiritism. Consider another illustration of how visualization can be used to contact the spirit world. In Mind Games: The Guide to Inner Space, leading consciousness explorers Robert Masters and Jean Houston tell others how to utilize visualization and trance to develop psychic awareness and monistic consciousness, and then to raise and contact what they term a "Group Spirit." This is all done as a means to advance the cause of psychic development. Participants actually offer "obeisance" to a materialized spirit masquerading in the form of the collective group consciousness of the "players."33 Yet, as in the case of "Philip," this "mental" entity is described as "an entity with an independent existence of its own"34 and as "an actual, intelligent being, conscious and powerful."35 In truth, the participants in such exercises hold a seance under another name.36 The process described by Masters and Houston is little different from the visualization process described by magician Conway earlier in which magic ritual is used to conjure the spirit that possesses the magician. Further, the purpose is also similar — inspiration and guidance from the entity (the reader may recall that Jean Houston was recently in the national news for directing Hillary Clinton to engage in "imaginary" consultations with Eleanor Roosevelt and other deceased entities):
Jack Canfield also recommends spiritism under another name. He encourages teachers to assist their students to perform a guided imagery exercise developed by Paula Klimek, who is with the Center for Holistic Education. This occult exercise is to be used by students as early as the sixth grade: "It is a very powerful experience which can help students become aware of their essential nature, their highest potential, their unique gift to the world, and their life purpose."38 But this exercise deliberately attempts to have children contact and develop a relationship with their "special guide":
Another example of visualization-induced spiritism can be found in Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization:
The above process is similar to those found in many other practices, for example, using the imagination to create "imaginary advisors" in New Age seminars such as est (The Forum), Mind Psi Biotics, or Silva Mind Control. Various cults and humanistic or fringe psycho-therapies that have reached millions of people do the same. From a biblical perspective there is little reason to doubt
that visualization techniques can and do result in the contact
of genuine spirit beings, however they may be redefined as part
of the human imagination or "nervous system."41
Until recent times, visualization had been relegated to occultists
and shamans. But now, medical doctors, athletes, teachers, artists,
businesspersons, and even clergy are employing new, updated forms
of visualization. Unfortunately, because many psychologists,
physicians, and others have little understanding of the mechanics
of spiritual deception, they have unknowingly allowed themselves
to become pawns in a battle whose players are invisible to them. A number of variables may affect the specific outcome of visualization techniques. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen, neither good motives nor a neutral environment are a sufficient safeguard against spiritual deception or other potential dangers. However, the context of visualization (whether the therapist’s office, personal meditation, magic ritual, etc.) and the content of visualization (i.e., the world view into which the practices are structured) are important for determining the relative potential for alignment with the occult. Certainly, any claim to benevolence is ruled out when visualization is used to develop psychic abilities, enter altered states of consciousness, or magically control the environment, or is used for channeling or other forms of spirit contact. While some of the seemingly innocuous visualization techniques in certain forms of psychotherapy are undoubtedly not the same as visualization programs in the world of the occult, there are still unanswered questions about the possible impact of long-term visualization practices. For example, in education and in Christian or secular psychotherapy, do we know the consequences of sustained visualization practice among children or patients? Can we be sure that long-term visualization practice will never open the door to the experience of so-called "higher consciousness"? Is there such a thing as neutral visualization in the long-term? When people consecrate themselves into an intensive program of visualization, do they really understand where this may lead? Practices that initially seem innocuous, such as Transcendental Meditation (TM), nevertheless, in the final analysis, can have considerable impact on a person physiologically, emotionally, and spiritually.42 We might ask how a simple sound, a mantra repeated 15 minutes twice a day, could produce such dramatic changes as those brought about by TM. But we could ask the same thing of a simple visualization technique. Perhaps there is more going on here than meets the eye. Perhaps spiritistic influence is a greater possibility than is usually supposed. Consider someone using visualization to induce astral projection.
What factors actualize the event? Intent? Occult environment?
Psychophysical changes induced by visualization conducive to
trance? The spirits? (Indeed, it is the spirits themselves who
often claim to induce and, to a degree, control out-of-body experiences.43)
What are the parameters of the psychophysiology of visualization?
Where do they end, and where does spiritual deception begin?
Many Christians have used some form of visualization. They argue that in rejecting visualization, the church is ignoring aspects of the creative imagination that are really legitimate. The comments of researcher Stanley Dokupil are perhaps relevant:
Obviously, we cannot recommend the kinds of visualization we have been discussing in this article. The spiritual risks are too clear. So if the church is going to accept some aspects of the practice of visualization, it will need to sort out the godly uses of the imagination from occult varieties. Otherwise, how does a Christian therapist using an "inner Jesus" as a guide, friend, and advisor ensure his or her client against spiritism? What safeguards can be provided to ensure that imagination will not lead to unanticipated reality and that a spiritistic Jesus will not appear? Spiritistic Jesuses appear all over the place in the occult, from dictating occult texts such as A Course in Miracles to direct appearances in the temples of the Mormon Church and to various occultists.45 Is the "Jesus" who manifests inwardly in inner healing to guide, comfort, or erase bad memories an entity who must appear at the beck and call of the emotionally needy? If so, how is this different from the familiar spirit of the channeler? Apart from the occult, how much power does visualization really have? If people were gods-in-embryo with divine energy at their disposal, and if their thoughts actually did create reality, then visualization should create literal miracles — but this is not the case. Given biblical teaching, visualization is mostly impotent and would seem only marginally useful at best even in its allegedly "neutral" or "Christian" therapeutic aspects. In other words, isn’t it true that living in harmony with God’s ordering of the world and obeying His moral standards are vastly more important to physical and spiritual health than are manipulation of mental pictures through visualization — even in a Christian context? Another issue to face is where the Christian should be deriving his or her personal identity. Is our self-image to be determined from our creative imagination or from the Word of God? Do the popular visualization techniques applied in a Christian context really conform to reality? Belief can certainly affect our behavior but such belief must be based either upon reality or something possible. New Age and much Christian positive confession imaging do not count as true what is true; they only imagine and visualize as true what one wants to be true but really is not true — and, if people are honest, what continues not to be true.46 If visualization truly puts us in contact with our inner being, our subconscious, what can we expect to accomplish but perhaps the welling up of that reality that Jesus spoke of? "What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’" (Mark 7:20-23). Perhaps this is the reason why many authorities have warned about the psychological danger resulting from using visualization to explore the unconscious. But New Age theorists and most visualizing church members must regard the biblical doctrine of human depravity as anathema. To find the "divine" within, with its suggestion of universalism, the words of Christ must be ignored or reinterpreted. Therefore, is the visualization program that seeks to remold human depravity into divinity really based on reality? Whose reality? If a Christian has been forgiven, regenerated, justified, joined to Christ, adopted, and positionally sanctified, how important is a spiritual program of visualization? These doctrines are spiritual realities and facts one need only understand and accept to integrate.47 While the imagination might help a Christian to see such realities as personally true, this perception is not something that needs to be attained through a daily program of visualization. God has promised Christians many things — that He will finish the work He began in us (Phil. 1:6), that our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16; 3:18), that we will stand before Him blameless, perfect in body, soul, and spirit — for "the one who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thess. 5:24). Christians are to be renewed daily by the Holy Spirit, prayer, and the Word of God. They are not to be renewed by a transpersonal psychology using Eastern metaphysics or inner work through visualization. The power of the Word of God to build a truly integrated person in those whom it "renews" makes modern visualization pale by contrast. Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Where then is the spiritual power of visualization? Will an hour a day of our busy lives be better spent in visualization or in prayer? Will an hour a day be better spent on the therapist’s couch talking to an imaginary "inner Jesus" or in the Word of God hearing from the real Jesus? And what of our children? Will secular or New Age visualization methods in the classroom finally be in their best interests? In our culture, visualization practices are here to stay.
This underscores the necessity for Christians to bring a thoroughgoing,
biblical critique to this occult method. 1This article is excerpted with minor changes from
the authors’ Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs (Harvest
House, 1996), used with permission.
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