Sunday, March 6, 2011

Limitless Mind, By Russell Targ


Title: Limitless Mind
Author: Russell Targ
Publisher: New World Library
Release Date: 2004
ISBN: 1-57731-413-1
Amazon link : http://www.amazon.com
Genre: (and sub-genre) Remote Viewing, Psychic Awareness, Self Awareness, Transformation,Distance Healing, Healing Prayer
Age Group: Adult

This is not a book for those who are looking for a step by step self improvement or how to influence others while gaining personal power. This book is a scientific examination of personal enlightenment and self awareness. But even more importantly it is also a book on how to attain a pathway of self awareness we innately possess but daily obstruct.
Targ is a scientist first and foremost. Unfortunately not until very end of the book does he allow his scientist facade to slowly drop and his compassionate side bubbles to the surface when he shares the experiences of his daughter Elizabeth Targ. She died from cancer close to the time he wrote this book.

This book has enormous amounts of information concerning physics. Targ’s background includes working in traditional aviation but he left this structured working environment to pursue a very nontraditional path which is remote reviewing and extrasensory perception. In 1972 he co-founded with Dr. Hal Puthoff the Stanford Research Institute program to investigate remote viewing and other psychic phenomena. His educational as well as his traditional employment credentials are impeccable.

He states, “As our personal knowledge egos are diminished by advances in scientific knowledge, however, our concept of who we are is greatly enhanced.”
His introduces the idea of Dzogchen (great perfection). He shares that with the understanding of trading fear and suffering of contemporary conditioned awareness for peace and freedom -- we may be able to obtain a timeless existence. The expanded awareness is not about self improvement it is about self realizing. He continually weaves and unravels material from the east and mysticism in the book.
Targ throughout the book says all people have psychic abilities. Once the person discovers who they really are then the journey begins. Remote viewing is just one of the ways to investigate how to expand your abilities. Through this discovery the person will then find the process of the flow of loving awareness. The underlying theme of the book in Targ’s words simply is “…loving awareness is available to us whenever we are quiet and peaceful.”

Targ is adamant that psychic abilities are natural and may be obtained by anyone who is of a mind to practice. He documents numerous experiments and studies. For example, with remote viewing the viewer was able to give a description prior to the site being chosen. Of course, the majority of the studies and experiments were conducted with experienced viewers. Targ does not cover up the fact he used mostly gifted or practiced viewers and he seemed to focus primarily on their more positive and interesting results.

"Limitless Mind," describes the content of the book and the feeling produced as well. The conclusions he reaches seem obvious and scientific. Targ pulls the reader along the pathway explaining how the ultimate goal for each human being is within reach. That each person has the innate PSI ability arrive at his or her goal.
He refers to many people two of which who are very well known and accessible - Edgar Cayce and The Dali Lama. Both of these men also were healers. One of the areas that I found very intriguing was the concept of Distant Healing. Targ explores the diverse ways healing can take place simply with the efforts of the mind.

Targ does give a step by step process for remote viewing but it is the practice that will enable the person to accomplish the ability. The book gave me an abundance of ideas and concepts to sift through. I very much enjoyed the scientific approach to an area of my life that did not have this sense of explanation.