Hi Bets..I think you're on the right track my opinion. the essay you read that there is no time or space is what ACIM (A Course in Miracles) says in that we are in a movie of physicality; or shall we say all is appearing to be solid with the 5 senses to tell us this; while to my observation and experiences, we are spirits navigating a physical realm. ACIM says not only is time and space an allusion, all is allusion and especially is our self image an allusion.
nobody will understand this at once. it takes a full year to do the student handbook of 365 lessons. and most people don't get it until they read the text book over and over. example: I've been a student of ACIM since 1986. thats how long it takes me but not complaining. also I don't mean to tell anyone to choose this path as all paths will lead to the same destination my opinion and I sense you are well on the path of your own.
the chakras are interesting when they open are they not? I see you are aware of these energy portals and they are associated with kundalini rising whereby higher knowledge flows in as an energy. we are energy ourselves so we are not separated from higher knowledge. I too receive energy when reading something whether I shall continue reading it or not. the body resonates to truth...is this not strange to you? it is to me..it's relatively new to me. I'd say the solar plexes, the heart, the throat and head chakras I can receive energy through. its always very pleasant.

I don't see it as an addiction. smoking cigs is an addiction, being a seeker after truth and knowledge and discerning your truth upon the body is not an addiction..its more of a pathway.
I have not read Swedenbourg because of Don's presentation or interpretation of him, I am turned off. yet I would not say that anyone's interpretation of anyone else is 100% on. in regards to feeling solid flesh as a spirit, during a retrieval, this can be done. I have done it. it lends a lot of reality to the situation, I can say that much!!  but for the most case you can get beyond needing to utilize the solid feel of the body to confirm something is real or not.

I should tell u what happened..I was retrieving Cami and touched or moved into her leg, we were sitting so close out there..as I did so I was asking about her family..she was all alone. suddenly I almost lost my line of questioning, my objective to retrieve her from her confusion; as I stopped to ponder on her solid state of being..her leg was warm and it was flesh. this made the retrieval real to me, and I had asked for my physical senses to be involved and a guide agreed we could do that. i quickly took my focus off her leg and the retrieval went really well.

but you are not a bimbo!!! get out!!! I love your presence here. what you seem to be undergoing is a transformation process...it may take years as it does me, so don't pick on Betson...I like her!

thinking of you dear. alysia

Hi Betson,
>>>Are there dangers to such an addiction?<<<
When I have read fastly interesting spiritual books there is a saturation point, where I'm "full" so to say. I then stop reading and look around me. This is like phasing back, or awake from literature. When this read had been blessing, this phasing back can be uncomfortable, I usually think then: "See, now you've read of all those miracles and enlightenments and you're sitting still in your kitchen and are not enlightened at all." That's the point where I decide not to go to the next nice book to phase into another fascinating literature world, but to see what I can reach on my own of what I found such delighting in my literature. That's I guess the point Dave talked about, "more", where learning can turn into consumption and entertainment. Digestion should take place, otherwise it can all become more and more shallow with time, like drugs usually do. It's the same with my mind-journeys, there are times I'm very active, and then I feel like all is getting more and more meaningless. This is probably the overload point, where I passed the border of learning vs consumption, and then I should reread my journey-notes to work about what I had got. It's so easy to make entertainment out of those journeys, but there is a point where it doesnt' work any longer this way. That's my experiences.

>>>How will I ever become spiritually literate if my motivation doesn't include seeking more scientific explanations of what is happening?<<<
Some years ago I had to choose if I should write a dissertation to get promoted to a doctor's degree. I decided no. One of the reasons for my decision was I regularly become overly emotional when reading philosophical literature. Mostly it was because I found it just silly and not philosophic at all. So I had to write a fundamental negative critique. I realized, that is not the psychological shape one should be in when becoming a scientist who must read and write tons of scripts. I never again wanted to read texts which I'm not interested in, which makes me upset and wasting my time writing critiques about it. As scientist you should stay pretty cool. But I am not cool enough regarding my literature.
In spiritual issues, I see no science like natural science. The ways of verification and falsification of natural science simply are not applieable in most cases of spiritual matters. So, there is no "scientific explanation" of spiritual things like there is of objects of natural science. Therefore, it seems to me to read what you're interested in and to leave aside which says nothing to you is the right way. For spiritual learning it's essential to develop a feeling of what's the personal own way. Spiritual systems only should have a helping function, and not be taken as scientific knowledge. So my opinion is: You have your radar and it's good to follow it. To be very literate in spiritual things makes not a spiritual fulfilled life. And...you can't read it all anyway!

Spooky