The Christian View of PR? - Forum for PhotoReading, Paraliminals, Spring Forest Qigong, and your quest for improvement

I don't mean to be controversial, but there are "Christians" who feel that the PR system evokes a negative spiritual effect on the "Christian" who PhotoReads. I'd like to hear from believers and non-believers alike what your view is.

Also, is getting into state "hypnosis"? If it is, is it bad? Some views would be appreciated! Thanks!

Do a search of the forum

re photoreading the bible.

Hypnosis? You control the photoreading process. You are more likely to be hypnotised watching TV.

Alex

[This message has been edited by AlexK (edited December 05, 2002).]

quote:
Originally posted by AlexK:
Hypnosis? You control the photoreading process. You are more likely to be hypnotised watching TV.

Ba ha ha! You know, there's always that possbility that you're being hypnotized to say that you're not hypnotized, and that it doesn't hypnotize. Imagine THAT scenario!

I don't know why religious or occultic issues have come up in the past, or even why they're occuring now about PhotoReading. Some Christians claim that the mental mindset and attitude can "veer thoughts in the wrong direction," but most of those people who say that have a closed mind. It's not about the direction in which your thoughts are lead, as long as you're seeking curiousity about how to expand your knowledge. I mean - why commit the SIN that you'll become intelligent?

I am Christian myself, and I have been PhotoReading for a year and 2 months. My intellect and even outlook on life has only gotten better and better. Many experienced PhotoReaders have reported that their way of thinking changes...and it's for the better! No, it has no negative spiritual effects. It's a READING PROGRAM for Christ's sake! (If you find that joke I just made not funny, or offensive, I'm sorry.)

PhotoReading is a simple system for processing printed information that uses the mind in a revolutionary way allowing for better comprehension and an increase in speed.

-youngprer

It's just a program to better reading and thinking, it isn't occultic or satanic.

quote:
Originally posted by jonah:
It's just a program to better reading and thinking, it isn't occultic or satanic.

Which is, to be short what I was saying, yes. lol I just elaborated...

quote:
Originally posted by jonah:
It's just a program to better reading and thinking, it isn't occultic or satanic.

Does this mean I have to get rid of my Osiris statue???

Actually, in all seriousness, I'm a Christian, and seen many benefits of Photoreading. You can get a lot more from the Bible by Photoreading, and think about how much your biblical intelligence will improve by Photoreading the bible once a day?

The problem is too many times people see something different, and try to brand it as part of the occult, or satanism.

If you really want to give up something that is part of the occult, then you can start by giving up Christmas traditions that have their roots firmly grounded in paganism, and maybe ask some of the local churches to remove the church steeple from on top of their building as that is symbolism from the paganistic traditions of worshiping fertility Gods. I'll let you figure out what it's supposed to be.

If you don't believe it, than you are more than you can do the research. It's fascinating, but frightening at the same time.

Take care,

Matt

Hey guys, thanks for all your replies! I really appreciate it! AlexK told me to do a search on PhRing the Bible and, I thought, I'd give a whirl on past posts concerning christian thought.

In all actuality, I am the one who gets kinda nervous at some of the relaxation techniques and what not. However, I really appreciated THEGOALIE's note on this program. "The problem is too many times people see something different, and try to brand it as part of the occult, or satanism." It's totally true, too. Because it's different from the norm... Even people who are just so used to regular reading everything freak out about it, calling it "the tool for the procrastinitive..." Sure! As long as it helps us to do better, whatever. I love the crutch!!!

New posts appreciated!

Thx

Jeff

As a non-practicing Satanist, I have some unique views on the subject. Ever notice how everything "Satanic" is usually upside-down? Notice how one is encouraged to PhotoRead holding books upside-down?

Actually, I am a non-practicing Satanist, and I would recommend getting some product literature for CenterPoint. ALL meditative techniques, and it can be argued that PhotoReading is a meditative technique, will force the user to come face-to-face with their inner demons... their Shadow self.

I see myself as a spiritual being, but not connected to a specific religion, as I see them as limiting.

If I have understood Christianity, they see each person as *separate* here on Earth. The "I" stands alone, unless it is reborn, and then is connected to God. And God alone.

What I find while doing techniques like PR/meditation/visualization and so forth, is that my intuition widens quite amazingly; "answers" pop up from "nowhere". Coincidences occur. Strangers walk up to me and tells me just what I wanted to know, even if I had not asked. Or I answer their question purely from my gut feeling, and only later find out I was right.

Many times:
I do not feel any separation from the world around me; I feel connected with everything/nothing.

I feel I/we are so much *more* here and now ; NOT after death, but NOW!

Is all this coming from a God?? But what then when I am not part of that religion?
How can that be? I have not confessed to my sins to any Christian God.

***
Somehow I think this crashes a little with part of the Christianity; it makes the ego, I, a little blurry ... and that would upset a few rules, I shouldn�t wonder.

And so some fight whenever they see people might achieve the same peace/wholeness through other means.

Not sacrifice.

****
But there are many ways to Rome.
Whatever Rome is.
****

I think Photoreading taps into that place in ourselves where we have soooo much more abilities; we are limited because of the limiting ideas we have been given since we were born; through school ( just look at what ideas white man were taught about race just a centennial ago); through religion ( most of the religions claim that they are the only ones to hold the *whole* answer, so you are asked to block your curiosity about other ways of *seeing* ...); surroundings/peers/family.and so on.

The more you trust what is already in you ( like a perfect memory ) the better you are to make your own judgement.

Or so I believe!

****
ops. I got a little carried away. Had a heavy exam today; mind kinda rambled on.

But I meant this seriously. Hopefully it made a little sense anyway and contributed positively to the debate.

Kaiden--
While we may not agree on Philosophy/Religion, I hope you do not take any offence to my posts--past, present, or future.
I have a question, is your version of Satanism like Anton LeVey's? Just curious.

quote:
Originally posted by jonah:
I have a question, is your version of Satanism like Anton LeVey's? Just curious.

I don't want to get too far off topic. You can mail me at admin@lylyth.org, and we can continue discussing my "religion" via E-Mail.

I use quotes because, dispite the delectable creature sucking on my ear-lobes, I am not a practicing Satanist.

quote:
Originally posted by laughing-heart:
I see myself as a spiritual being, but not connected to a specific religion, as I see them as limiting.
If I have understood Christianity, they see each person as *separate* here on Earth. The "I" stands alone, unless it is reborn, and then is connected to God. And God alone.
What I find while doing techniques like PR/meditation/visualization and so forth, is that my intuition widens quite amazingly; "answers" pop up from "nowhere". Coincidences occur. Strangers walk up to me and tells me just what I wanted to know, even if I had not asked. Or I answer their question purely from my gut feeling, and only later find out I was right.
Many times:
I do not feel any separation from the world around me; I feel connected with everything/nothing.
I feel I/we are so much *more* here and now ; NOT after death, but NOW!
Is all this coming from a God?? But what then when I am not part of that religion?
How can that be? I have not confessed to my sins to any Christian God.
***
Somehow I think this crashes a little with part of the Christianity; it makes the ego, I, a little blurry ... and that would upset a few rules, I shouldn�t wonder.
And so some fight whenever they see people might achieve the same peace/wholeness through other means.
Not sacrifice.
****
But there are many ways to Rome.
Whatever Rome is.
****
I think Photoreading taps into that place in ourselves where we have soooo much more abilities; we are limited because of the limiting ideas we have been given since we were born; through school ( just look at what ideas white man were taught about race just a centennial ago); through religion ( most of the religions claim that they are the only ones to hold the *whole* answer, so you are asked to block your curiosity about other ways of *seeing* ...); surroundings/peers/family.and so on.
The more you trust what is already in you ( like a perfect memory ) the better you are to make your own judgement.
Or so I believe!
****
ops. I got a little carried away. Had a heavy exam today; mind kinda rambled on.
But I meant this seriously. Hopefully it made a little sense anyway and contributed positively to the debate.

Hey Laughing - Heart! very interesting. It seems you and i are in the same boat. Have you ever (photo)read a book called, "Conversations With God"? if you havn't then you must!

As for Your belief that we aer NOT seperate and how christians and others always seem to have this as the source of depression, it's exactly what is written in CWG and even Einstein himself said "A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest -a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. "

It would be interesting to experiment with PhotoReading books that promote a very specific philosophical stance, and see how this changes the reader. Assuming that these books are available from the public library, I would be willing to see how a selection of ten Christian books effect me. If anyone would be willing to reciprocate, I will be more than happy to provide a list of ten Satanic books. To make things easier, let's keep it non-fiction on both sides.

The question on hand is, does PhotoReading create the possibility for an unwanted behavioral/perceptual change?

Give that direct learning works. I'd say yes. Which is why I remain selective of what I read whether photoreading or regular reading.

Alex

I do not think it would. Here's my reasoning:

1. A person needs to affirm what they want out of the book (i.e. I want to learn Windows)
2. If I PRed a book on say, Jack the Ripper I would not expect to go on a killing spree because I did not affirm it and what I did not affirm my mind would filter.

Hope this makes sense.

My experience tells me otherwise. I had photoread a number of web pages seeking information about something else and discovered that I gained a lot more knowledge from those pages (and was applying it before I realised).

No affirmations were stated by me... I was just searching particular information from web pages. I am also witnessing something in someone that tells me that it is quite possible to develop a murderous streak if you consistently read material along that line. While one book may not make a difference a whole stack of them over a period of time probably will.

Where you look is where you are heading

Alex

[This message has been edited by AlexK (edited December 08, 2002).]

My mother is a true-crime buff, and a devout Jew. I'll admit that I've only known her since the time I was born, but somehow the idea that her learning PhotoReading without changing the nature of the materials she reads would turn her into a killer is... interesting. I could see her developing the perceptual frameworks of a detective or profiler. I believe that her skills at empathy both are enhanced by and naturally draw her to true crime books.

This is mainly directed at the_saxophonist. For a more broader understanding.

I'm also one who would call myself a Christian and I find it very interesting that so many Christians are drawn to Photoreading. I would like to clear up a few things.

"Come let us reason together..." - Isaiah 1:18

I see mainly two types of christians, hypocritical and sometimes lunatic "christians" with closed minds. And there are those who just seem to be unstopable. Strong willed but humble people who's words match their actions, they know what they believe and they know why they believe it.

I get weird looks from some of my Christian friends when I tell them I practice Karate. (I'm still aching all over from my grading the other day. ) They tell me stuff about how the meditation in Karate conflicts with my Christian beliefs; and for a little while I was worried.

The problem is that friction is happening between two people's world views. Like Karate the technology of Photoreading is not occultic. I don't sacrifice a baby on an altar and call upon the energies of Satan to throw a Shotokan reverse punch, but the people who developed Karate had a different belief system which echos through the presentation of their technology. And it's the same with Photoreading. As a wise Christian once tolded me. "Eat the meat, and spit out the bones."

I find that there is a lot of confusion on the subject of meditation. In many religions there are practices refered to as meditation. And in Judeo-christianity there is a practice "to meditate". The word meditate is mentioned in the Bible several times, for example (Joshua 1:8). However this meditation I believe is different from the Hindu, New Age meditation practices. (Actually the New Age should really be called the Old Age because it's an really old religion that goes way back. Like all religions except Judaism and Christianity it can be traced back to ancient Babylon, but that's another rabbit trail.)

Here's an analogy. People are computers:
Computers are made up of software and hardware. The software you use to run programs (walking, running etc...) are called operating systems. Only one operating system may run at a time (forgive me if I'm wrong on this).

As a Christian I believe that there are some practices under the title of "meditation" which are dangerous, involving putting your self into an state where your a vulnerable to manipulation by other software. A state in which you switch off your operating system which can lead to another alien operating system working in it's place.
I believe this for some very good reasons. Which I will not get into here.

I believe that some of the "meditation" in Hinduism and New Age does this.

A guy called Rabi Maharaj wrote a book called "The Death of a Guru" detailing how he was a brahman that his father was a Guru and his grandfather was a high-priest in Hinduism. He's now a Christian and says that the state where demons can enter your mind is when you totally switch off and think about absolutley nothing. However in photoreading you state your purpose and focus on relaxing. You can hear Rabi Maharaj speak on this topic here
http://www.khouse.org/misslerreport/personal/19970804-119.html
or you can read his story here http://www.leaderu.com/wri/pages/maharaj.html
The meditation if that's what you want to call it in photoreading puts you in a relaxed state of "alertness" you are in control. There's nothing wrong with relaxtion, this alpha state the you put yourself in is something that everyone uses in their daily life. The deepest you will go in photoreading is a deep alpha state (I think) which is perfectly fine since when we go to sleep we go into a much deeper delta state. Also the meditation in Karate is a relaxing sort of thing.

The Neuro Lingistic Programming in photoreading also made me feel worried because it has been portrayed a lot to be part of New Age. Like the theory of Evolution is portrayed to be part of Science. Apparently the NLP Model fits the Biblical stance alot better that the New Age stance. http://www.neurosemantics.com/Christian/NewAge.htm

Preconcious processing is also mentioned in the Bible but that's another topic I won't bore you with.

Well I hope I haven't offended anyone. I find it encouraging that I can communicate with intelligent people like yourselves (Christian and non-Christian) your all really cool!

Thankyou for your valuable time.

Hornet.

P.S. For those of you who want to know more about what Christians believe and why we believe the things that we believe I would invite to listen to a presentation from the Steeling The Mind of America Conference 1998 http://www.khouse.org/conferences/steeling/peretti_98.html (Don't click the video it dosen't work. Also you need Real Player.)

the_saxophonist: hey. I wondered also if the relaxation techniques would be bad for me or make me depend on God less. But Photoreading is just a tool and can be used to greatly improve your understanding of God, what he has done, and what he will do. It depends how you approach photoreading or really anything; if you put your trust in it and depend on it rather than putting your trust in and depending on God then it is a problem. But you can use it as a great tool and I heartily recommend that everyone learns photoreading and tries to better learn how to use the amazing brain that God has given us. I use photoreading particuarly for my theological studies and I could not accomplish what I want to without it. I always use it for schoolwork for which photoreading is great. So go ahead and use it. Btw, try reading Calvins "Institutes of the Christian Religion". I think you will find that it will greatly help you in your walk with God. :-)

I'd like to address the meditation or hypnosis issue. Some Christians meditate to bring themselves closer to god or the bible. Similarly, some occultists meditate on gem stones to become closer to them. See how I can compare two entirely different groups doing exactly the same thing? I was once taught how to meditate at church camp a few years ago and the meditation was to simply think about absolutely nothing and they had us practice this for about 15 minutes. Now that I'm an occultist I can't even count how many times I've come across the technique of thinking about nothing. It's all in the same.
Hypnosis is just altering your state of consciousness. But some Christians say altering your state of consciousness is evil because you open yourself up to demons, but children even alter their states of consciousness by spinning in circles and getting dizzy by doing this are they opening themselves up to demons? Don't answer that it's a rhetorical question

. Also when you sleep, assuming you do, your brain goes into many different states, so by this logic by going to sleep you'd be opening yourself up to demons.*chuckles* They are simple misunderstandings. That's a great question.

Adam

When the Bible says to meditate it doesn't mean meditate in general. It says to meditate on the Scriptures (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2; Psalm 77:12; Psalm 119:23, 48, 78, and 148; Psalm 143:5; 1 Timothy 4:15 and 16).

Whether a person wants to be filled with the Holy Spirit or with other spirits, it is always a CONSCIOUS CHOICE. Spirits are like people. You receive the one you call on.

Photoreading is a way to think faster. You already think. How can it be satanic to do what you already do, faster? Why give satan credit for you having a brain and wanting to use it? Did satan invent thinking? NO.

I think personally some 'call themselves' christians (aka the fundamentalists) use the whole devil possesed acusation to scare other believers into following their own opinions instead of following the Word. As always, learn more about what you're getting yourself into and PRAY ABOUT IT. THAT (as ALWAYS) is where you should get your answers from, in your prayer closet, NOT from the BIASED opinions of other men.

quote:
Originally posted by x:
How can it be satanic to do what you already do, faster? Why give satan credit for you having a brain and wanting to use it? Did satan invent thinking? NO.

The Temple of Set would argue with you. They see Set/
Satan as self-reflective awareness, or at least the source of it.

"Satan" is a proper noun, by the way.

First, I would like to thank all the participants. This is the most fascinating discussion about religion I've ever participated in. By keeping this on application, rather than theology, I'm learning more and arguing less.

All right, what I think may be scaring some people away is what the presense, and use of, the Other-Than-Conscious mind means to some Christians. Those who see the mind as "soul" would have a hard time dealing with the existance of a part of their soul which isn't DIRECTLY accessable. The only options seem to be to deny it exists, or to say that this is where Sin lurks, and to allow the other-than-conscious mind to influence the conscious mind is to invite Sin into your life.

However, there are two other ways to look at this problem. The first, and I do not hold this view, is dualism. In dualism, we see seperate "soul" from "brain." Thus, affirmations work through a process of the soul telling the brain what to do. Certainly, NLP and hypnosis do tend to seperate consciousness from "brain."

The other solution is trinitarianism which I do advocate. This is the view expounded by Huna. In this view, there are actually three "selves" to an individual. The one you see most as "you" is your middle self. This self has access to reasoning, discernment, direction and awareness. This self is the most human aspect of you. Below this self lies the "lower self," which has a certain cunning even if it doesn't have the smarts of the middle self. This self also has all the memories, although it can present them to the middle self. It also controls the body and the "aka body" or Etheric Double. Above both these selves is the "High Self," which is the spiritual aspect of yourself. This is the part of you that could be said to be already in heaven. Huna prayer works through the method of using your connection between the middle and low selves to present a unified prayer to the high self. This CAN fit into a Christian "in God's Image" view of the way the human mind/soul works, and Max Freedom Long does explain this in his works on Huna. I see the high-self not so much as a "self" as it is a "source." Of course, this is a theological distinction that only makes a difference in that their are a finite number of sources (less than 20). Either way, the Kahunas saw the High Self as essentially less-than-knowable, although the High Self could communicate with the Divine and have some knowing of it.

I hope I made some sense. It's hard for me to talk about spiritual things, as I feel spirituality with my other-than-conscious mind. I'm a celebrant, not a theologist.

quote:
Originally posted by Kaiden:
The Temple of Set would argue with you. They see Set/Satan as self-reflective awareness, or at least the source of it.

Set philosophy (as well as Christianity) deals with our conscious mind's decisions regarding our personal conduct, decisions which form only a small subset of the thinking process proper. Therefore I repeat myself: Satan did not invent thinking. Maybe cerain thoughts, but not the thinking process proper, which is far larger than conscious thought alone.

Another thing neither Christians nor Satanists want to admit is that not every thought has bias; not everything is 'for' or 'against'. Many of our conscious thoughts and decisions are neutral and only have the relative judgmental value placed on them later by our own (or other peoples') personal belief systems.

In Taoism, to do the appropriate action at the right time is the highest good; to ignore universal physics principles in favour of following our own ego or will to power is the incorrect/evil way. This idea is of eastern origin so it supersedes many westernized Christian/Satanist arguments because it follows a different premise.

But I digress. Back to the topic at hand.

[This message has been edited by x (edited December 11, 2002).]

Hey guys! A quick note of thanks for the on-going (and hopefully continuing) discussion...

I've not been around to read the post, but look at 'em go! Wow! I went back to do a search on past topics on Religion and PhotoReading, and I'm really impressed with the verbal conduct of you all! Thank you for making this discussion a most enjoyable experience for me!

Thanks to all the religious/non-religious sides being represented. I really appreciate the openness of minds, and the firmness of your decisions to believe what you each individually believe. It has sure helped me see my faith in a different view, and has made me even stronger in my beliefs.

Hope to create more controversial subjects in the future!!!

the_saxophonist (Jeff)

quote:
1 Thessalonians 5:21 "Test everything. Hold on to the good."

Christians are in many ways the people most easily scared that I have met (I'm a christian myself). In many forums I have stated what the Bible says (quoted above) and many christians immediately argue with me against testing some things. I have being doing Holosync meditation for more than a year and I have seen only benefits. By not thinking anything, we do not open our minds to demons. For many of you, christians, you know that as christians you have the Holy Ghost living in yourself, a demon can have a very hard time trying to slip inside you while meditating. Could a demon enter a place inhabited by God? I think not.

This is my opinion in this; by doing meditation you are not being unfaithful to God. At least, the Holosyng program does not require that you begin believing a new religion or believe on new gods or speaking to "spiritual guides". So I think that at least Holosync is perfectly suitable for everyone. So is photoreading and many other things.

About christians focusing in the "I" only, I have my reservations about this.

quote:
John 17:11 "I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one."

"so that they may be one as we are one", what does that mean? I think that the possibility (I'm not saying that this is this way) of all humans being linked together is real and the Bible does not provide anything to contradict it, all to the contrary, it says that we (christians) should be one as The Father and The Son are one. There are some other things that have led me to think about this as a real possibility, but I'll not mention them. As for being linked to all things, I don't have any opinion on this, maybe, maybe not, I don't know.

I don't mean to offend anyone here. I'm just stating my opinion. Take care.

I am a devout Christian, but meditation and photoreading don't scare me. But then, I've also studied psychology in university, and been through years of therapy, read dozens of self-help books, and in general tried to fix myself (and very successfully, too, I might add.) I've used all sorts of tools to help me improve my life, including naturopathy, homeopathy, healing touch, educational kinesiology, holosync. My attitude is that if it works and it feels comfortable, use it. If it doesn't feel comfortable, don't. To state the obvious, if it doesn't feel comfortable, it ain't gonna work anyway, so why bother.

As far as the other-than-conscious versus conscious versus whatever other labels you can come up with, as far as I'm concerned, they're all a part of me, of my character, of my essense, of my soul. But then, I'm also that person who has started giving names to her inner selves (Freddie the Sabateur, for example - and yes, I have entire conversations with him.) I don't see this as sacrilegious - I see this as a healthy way of solving problems. But I also think that God is kind, loving, compassionate, and has a great sense of humour.

Having said that, all sorts of people have blocks about all sorts of things. Sure, I'll throw some Christians into one general category of having blocks of type A, and perhaps this group of people have blocks of type B, and so on and so forth. It doesn't really matter how you label it, we all have them - they just look a little different to people who don't have them, because, not having experienced that specific type of block, they don't necessarily understand it.

I think that it doesn't matter how you label it or how you view it - just go with what works for you, and you'll wind up going where you need to go. If your intent is to become a better person, however that has meaning for you, if you work at it with whatever methods you choose, you will become a better person, and isn't that what counts?

Okay, so this is perhaps a little (!) off topic, but somewhat related.

Having said all of the above, I've tried photoreading, and I'm still doing it every now and then, but it hasn't been dramatically successful yet - I think it has been moderately successful, but I haven't used it consistently enough, and realistically, I have a few other blocks I need to deal with that I think will help make photoreading a lot more successful.

I know many fundamentalists who balk at everything psychological, but when a member does not respond to the Churchianity methods they usually send the victim to a shrink. Regarding altered states, you can't avoid them. The brain cranks out alpha every second or two. Every time yoiu close your eyes, your in alpha. If you fall asleep in church your in theta, so you might as well sin on the side of progress. Some of the dimbbest people I know are preachers. Just rambling.

Sorry I hit the "i"instead of the "u".

I've revised my stance after PhotoReading and partially activating "Jesus Among the Other Gods." Because I had a certain investment in prooving that PhotoReading was "safe," I ignored "NOPS" and did my best to dismiss my feelings of disgust that the experience invoked. Because I didn't acknowledge this at a conscious level, or even attempt to find out exactly what it was within the text that disgusted me, the emotion festered within me, and turned inward. I became openly hostile as the night waxed on.

[This message has been edited by Kaiden (edited January 05, 2003).]

Ignore this.

[This message has been edited by Hornet (edited December 17, 2002).]

A comment concerning Christianity and PhotoReading. Remember there was a time when the average Joe was not allowed to read the Bible. Literacy was the domain of the clerics. Priests (and I assume monks and nuns) were the only ones who had access to the Gospels.

The issue of average Joe reading the Bible for himself was one of the primary wedges that split the Protestants away from the Catholic church.(The advent of printing was a big help here :-). Literacy itself certainly had an impact on the way that people thought and I suppose you could say that literacy is also a devil's tool. For that matter, so is speech. If the serpent hadn't spoken into Eve's ear we might all be in Eden today (althought I suspect mankind would have done something else to get it bounced out into the woeful world