A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions

From Abracadabra to Zombies

reader comments: The Silva Method

19 Apr 2012
Hi!

I'm glad that Wikapedia had your link for the Silva Method..... I have a friend who has been UE for over a year...we are both in our mid 50's...I have always had very strong natural Psychic and Clairvoyant abilities..ever since a child, but didn't really start understanding it until my 40's. It comes naturally to me, I don't force anything, I don't subscribe to any "mind programs", it's just there. I am not scared of it either. I don't question it, as it's just a part of me. I just let it flow and accept, and it is never wrong. My friend on the other had is so lost that she's grabbing at straws and "trying" everything that she Goggles or hears about. She told me about this Silva Method and I read it and think it's just yet another money grubbing, preying on lost souls, weird mind program. It's a free country, people have every right to set up shop and try to sell their snake oil - which I feel Silva is. Yes, we all have the capabilities to be "tapped in"...it just depends on how deep you want to "see", "hear", "listen" and understand about yourself. We ALL have intuition, it just depends on how much we "LISTEN" to it! Some of the things that his program say are down right dangerous and scary for someone who is either desperate or weak or both! Thank you for your sight!
Julie

reply: I'm speechless.

__________

Oct 11 2003
While searching for information about the Silva method online I unfortunately came across your self-absorbed, narrow-minded excuse for a website. This is your right however, so my complaint is not so much that your website exists, but some of your opinions on The Silva Method. Allow me to nitpick a bit:

reply: Of course, especially since you asked so politely. Pick all the nits you please.

[You write:]

"Actually, alpha waves increase in meditation and under hypnosis, indicating lack of focus or visual stimulation, not some higher brain activity...Beta waves are evidence of concentration and heightened mental activity. If they are too extreme, they can be indicative of stress. But no one in his or her right mind should want to eliminate beta waves, unless you are trying to relax or go to sleep, in which case you would want fewer beta waves and more alpha waves if you want to relax and more delta waves if you want to sleep."

Were you aware that Beta is a learned level of consciousness?

reply: No. I don't even know what "learned level of consciousness" means.

Beta may be very logic oriented, but it is also very self absorbed, and the only level of consciousness in which it is possible to act out malicious behavior.

reply: Even if true, this nit is uninteresting and of no significance. You might as well note that only people who are awake can be malicious. Now there's a scoop!

People may wonder why animals have a 'sixth sense', but because they never learn Beta, they are always at a more intuitive level than humans. (Instincts most would call it)

reply: Maybe you wonder why animals have a sixth sense or are intuitive. I don't because I don't believe either claim is true. Sharks are able to detect electromagnetic fields via a special sense, but I doubt if that is what you have in mind. Animals learn from experience and some are certainly smarter than some humans.

By the way, is it because animals never learn Beta that some of them are so vicious and some are not?

It is entirely possible to access lower levels of consciousness while in an awake state. And these levels of consciousness are not to be used at all points of the day, just when it is useful or helpful. It has been studied by many sleep experts that while very few things are remembered from Alpha, Theta, or Delta while sleeping, this does not mean information is not received and stored in the subconscious and possibly accessed later. Deja Vu could stem from this, as well as many other mental phenomena.

reply: Thanks for the tip.

Beta is narrow-minded because it is logical, but not everything in life is logical, if it were we'd know why we're here. If everything was supposed to be cut and dry, we'd already have all the answers. But we don't, and despite whatever skepticism you may have, you cannot deny that life can be a bitch, and you aren't any closer to knowing why than Silva was.

reply: Your point is?

[You write]

"It also connects us with higher intelligence, so that we can get the guidance and help that we need. It is his claim that he found a gateway to the subconscious, the psychic and to a "higher intelligence" (which he also refers to as "Christ consciousness") that sets the Silva Method apart from other self-help programs such as Landmark Forum or Neuro-linguistic Programming. The claim to be teaching a way to get connected to that "higher intelligence" is what led some critics to think that the method is actually a religious movement."

I am sure that Silva has been misunderstood and misinterpreted, as all people trying to explain anything 'paranormal' are. The higher intelligence isn't some omnipotent being, it's the knowledge that is locked away in the subconscious of every human being. Even you should be aware that people, even brilliant people only use about 10% or less of their full brain power at any given time. What would happen if you were to use the other 90% or to figure out how?

reply: See suburban myth number one.

Nothing Silva has 'discovered' is new. It is in existence, plain and simple. Each human brain has a subconscious. The subconscious is generally not accessed in awake states. The subconscious is able to be accessed during awake states. Doing so would naturally lead to knowledge that the active conscious brain did not have. May I say DUH.

reply: Please do.

I do not put my faith 100% into any one thing, to do so would lead to disappointment; however, I do not refuse to believe any one thing, as this would only lead to me becoming a completely arrogant asshole.

reply: We certainly wouldn't want that to happen.

I find skeptics amusing. Who are you to say what is real and what is not? Who are you to say what really goes on in the Universe and what doesn't? Have you seen every aspect of life, the universe, and everything? (No not the popular Douglas Adams book) Just as you can be a skeptic about everything in the world that sounds a little queer, do you forget to be a skeptic about the more insane possibility that nothing weird ever happens, and that there is a strict explanation for everything no matter what?

reply: I'm glad we amuse you, but you might not be so amused if you read us accurately and actually understood what we are saying. I'll give you a hint: Your caricature isn't even close.

You cannot deny that Silva's course has had a high success rate, and it isn't because it gives people faith in god, or aliens, or voodoo monkeys or any of that other crap most self help groups spout off.

reply: Sure I can. What I can't deny is that he had a lot of satisfied customers, but that is another matter.

Silva is about self-confidence, trusting instincts, and learning how to control your own life in very simple ways. If you have ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecies you should understand that a person who thinks well of himself would logically be more emotionally stable, thus being better off in life than a depressed self loathing person.

reply: Believe it or not but there are other alternatives besides the two you mention. Anyway, I certainly don't deny that none of those satisfied customers weren't better off after Silva than before. Read my entry carefully and you'll see that my critique is of the claims he makes, not of the effects he had on customers.

It is generally evident upon meeting a person for the first time what type of person they really are, and no one likes self-loathing people because if they don't like themselves there must be a damn good reason.

reply: Sometimes you don't even have to meet someone to find it evident what type of person she really is.

Silva betters people's lives because it puts faith in themselves, and if you think that having self-esteem and practicing meditation is something to be skeptical about then you're more assinine [sic?] than any conspiracy theory you debunk on a regular basis.

Alana Howard

reply: Thank you for your insights and for helping me see the light.

The Silva Method

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