The brilliant blogger Red Pill Junkie wrote an article for mysteriousuniverse.org that alerted me to an interview on the podcast “Tangentially Speaking” with James Fadiman, who was one of the early psychedelic researchers alongside Leary and Alpert and is the godfather of the modern “microdosing”movement. Here he is talking about addiction and other cultures’ versions of entities:

I looked at that and thought, “we have a very well-established truth that if you cut your hand open, it is opportunistic for various bacteria and viruses to get in there, and they don’t have any desire to help you. They simply are going to eat as much and as fast as they can, and should you die from that they will swear they didn’t intend it.”   And I thought, “what if mental illness was like a wound?” Let’s say you have a trauma –some sexual terrible thing– and you are hurt. But the wound is open, and then the spirits that feed off of trauma –or depression, or what the body does with alcohol, or what the physical changes are with porn– infect you. And then you go to therapy, you go to meetings and you take anti-depressants, and all that helps you. But the wound is really open because the beings feasting on it are keeping it open.  Then –let’s skip Western medicine here– you go to a shaman, and the shaman says: ‘My spiritual allies and I can see that you are being eaten by anger demons. And I am going to help them leave you, because I can help them both get out and go to some better place.’… So I’m really looking at going back to what Pasteur discovered –which is you make an opening in the physical level, physical things come and they can harm you, but your system is designed to keep them out– and I’m now beginning to see that the mental system may have the same set of problems.   

…if we lined up 1000 cultures, 850 of them would say: “Yes, there are these spirits from the upper worlds and the lower worlds, and they interact with human beings, and some of them like to help you –just as human beings like to help others– and some of them really just want to harm you, because that’s their nature.” 

https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/03/when-pasteur-meets-sabina-exploring-the-shamanic-interpretations-for-addiction-and-other-illnesses/

Now combine that with this quote from Alex Tsakiris’ Skeptiko podcast interview with Gordon White:

“But I’ll tell you that, having spoken to a number of demons, they will flat out say, “Yeah, we’re trolling people. They think they’re talking to the Galactic Federation, that’s us, motherf*#ker!”

Colorful language aside, I don’t think Gordon was being flippant. His information, direct from his ongoing communication with non-physical intelligences, tells him that these non-physical intelligences are taking advantage of the too trusting nature of channelers, but for what purpose?  Just for giggles? Or possibly something more sinister considering how much is invested in this channeled information. Wrestling with that, I posted a comment on the Mysterious Universe site and RPJ (as he is known to the cool kids in the back of the lunch room) responded:

I think I agree with Gordon's remarks. I once coined the term 'Trollien' to depict non-human entities that like to pick on us. Mind you, I'm not even sure we should believe them when they call themselves 'demons'. That may be like some lowclass street thug calling himself a 'gangster' just to give himself airs and impress people. Like 'alien', 'demon' is a very loaded term in the Western world.

I think “trollian” is a brilliant concept. It jibes perfectly with the opportunistic aspect that Fadiman referenced, plus it diminishes their power. But here are 2 of my favorite writer/researchers, and both fully accept “non-human entities that like to pick on us.” Double plus, it throws this back to discernment, or the lack of it in the channelling community. And in the past lives community. Every time I talk about my work I have to answer questions about “Why are there so many Cleopatras out there?” I remind them that they didn’t appear on my watch or in my work. But I am feeling the need to update my favorite quote from Mary LaBay “Just because you’re dead, doesn’t mean you’re smart.”-

Just because you’re a Pleadian or on the Galactic Council doesn’t mean you’re smart.

I am merely advocating for discernment and not dismissing the entire channelling movement. (Some of my best friends and favorite people are channels!) But questioning the motives of the source of this information is rarely done and sorely needed. My criticism of many beginner Akashic Records readers is the inability to get past the filter of their own belief systems. Then Gordon White and Red Pill Junkie advocate for at least considering the motivations of these non-physical consciousnesses that choose to interact with physical beings. I propose that it is our duty, if we truly want to advance our awareness, to look behind the curtain at the wizards giving us directions and examine our relationship to these consciousnesses. The questions that need to be asked are:

-who are these non-physical consciousnesses that are communicating with me?

- why are these non-physical consciousnesses talking through my physical being?

-what is my relation to them if any?

-and since I see this physical world through the lens of a past lives perspective, can this be unfinished business playing out in detail in the physical body in our present timeline? UFO researcher and writer Robbie Graham described this perfectly: 

“…One should always be cautious and dispassionate whenever that voice from within insists: I’m special.’”

Maybe we should be even more cautious when that voice manifests from without.