The Higher Self and transcendent experience, including OBEs

[Finefeather]

Hi All
I thought today that it might be useful and of some value if I rounded off my little 'sad' story in my last post, by relating my OB introduction and some of my work. Please just read it as a story because I have no way of proving anything to anyone...all I know now is that it was all a series of events which was planned to help me get back on my life path.

During the early days when I was still in a confused state I was always interested in UFO and anything mystical...I was a great daydreamer and a loner in many respects. I had an uncle who was a really huge guy, but he had a heart of gold, and he helped me in many ways. He died and shortly after that my Aunt arrived with a box full of books and documents which he wanted me to have apparently. I payed little attention to these but one sort of jumped out at me...it was a book by Lobsang Rampa, called 'You Forever'...you can still read this here if your are interested. http://www.lobsangrampa.org/data/You_Forever.pdf

I read this book in a few hours and started doing what he wrote and soon had my first OBE. I used to travel around the house, hover over the house and could see the sky view, like we can today in google...great fun
I used to have bets with my stepbrother that I could tell him the registration numbers of the cars outside our house without leaving my room and I had him scratching his head many times...I never told him ever what I was doing

I became quite good at it and then I moved to another house and was alone for a few months. One night when I was about to sleep I lay down in my bed and was doing my usual relaxing as a precursor to OB when suddenly I felt the top of my head been rubbed...well that is what it felt like...and I almost jumped out of my body and stood next to my bed looking at my body. I looked around the room and lying on the other single bed next to mine was a wolf with her cubs...she looked at me and I instantly recognized her as the wolf I had raised in another life as a Sioux Indian. She has over the years followed me around in the Astral and many a night I can feel her climb onto my bed....a truly wonderful and warm experience.

Then I went to visit my sister in another city and on the same night I arrived I had a major experience which changed my life. I stepped out of my body and moved to another room and in front of me I was met by the most beautiful Being I had ever met. It was one of the Masters, who I will avoid naming now, but he presented in a deep blue robe with gold edging and I was so struck down by the sight that I immediately got to my knees to kind of worship him...thinking at the time this must be God He then said to me in a clear voice...”Ray...you know you don't have to do that”...I mean how was I supposed to know

This kind of made me think and I soon realised that he had come to get me started on my mission in this life. In a very short time I was lead to a few books I needed to read and was also taken to great halls of learning in the higher realms, where I was given the opportunity to remember much of the knowledge I have today. This happened all the time for about 10 years...This was in the 70s and 80s. I never ever saw this Master again but I know that I am part of the group which he is leading. We mainly concentrate on Christ Consciousness teaching, which is the science of the awakening of the Soul/HS in man. There are may of us...so please do not get the impression that I am anything special...I am a brother of All and we are ALL, ONE, from a higher point of view.

We do not use the term 'Higher Self' but rather we use terms like 'The Soul' or the “Higher Triad” but please do not think it matters one bit...it is just a name. The term Higher Triad is probably the most accurate IMO because it comes from the Trinity which all life has emerged from.
The Higher Triad, or Soul, or Higher Self, is actually the first step down from the Monad from which we come. This Monad is what people have referred to as ones 'Source'...it is the highest aspect of our individuality...anything higher than that becomes a merging into the Planetary and Solar Logos...and it does not end there.

Finally I could just mention that I do Astral rescue work...were I assist those who are stuck or overwhelmed by some negative thought aspect or even Beings who have latched onto some of us to feed off our energies. There is a large band of these servers and we get the call from the HS of those in some form of trouble either in the emotional state or mental state.

In all of my years of being involved in my work, I have met few that are not able to be successfully rescued from the difficulties some of us get ourselves involved in...some are serious and some are quite comical...but all are loved and helped when the call is put out. The HS is aware of every little move we make and it often leaves it's personality/ego offspring to it's own devices. We are all...as human physical beings...in fact just another 'sensor' for the HS to gain the knowledge and experience of a physical reality...this should alert you to the fact that it is possible...and I am not trying to instil fear here...to completely break from our 'HS' and 'Source'...this is rare and disastrous if it occurs...and is the truth behind the attitudes and going on of those in this world who end up in institutions and high powered 'evil' positions where power and money and cruelty is evident.

The continued quest to unveil the HS in our lives is the goal of our life...we are trying to achieve full consciousness in a physical reality...and when I use the word 'we' I am referring to us as Spiritual Beings not us as human beings.

Sorry this was a bit long

Take care and love to all
Ray

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Finefeather (here)
The continued quest to unveil the HS in our lives is the goal of our life...we are trying to achieve full consciousness in a physical reality...and when I use the word 'we' I am referring to us as Spiritual Beings not us as human beings.

Take care and love to all
Ray

Thank you, Ray. I need a new phrase for, “You are Beautiful!”.

Love,
Paula

[soleil]

Posted by TraineeHuman (here)
The way to “hear” the HS is by looking, not by thinking.

Admittedly, you need to get the ego calmed down at the time – which you can largely do by grounding yourself properly and being quiet and calm beforehand. The ego will still probably manage to inject something into what you “get” from the HS, but over all at least the initial impressions you get will mostly be accurate and true.

For quite a few years I used to have spiritual teachers insisting that I already knew the answers to most questions I was asking. Yet I could clearly see I didn’t know that I knew. Then it dawned on me that when the HS gives information it does it out of the blue, in the sense that you open your mouth and the right words just come out. You can’t grasp at what the HS is going to say. It’s much too slippery, too unpindownable for that.

We’re taught that imagination leads to fantasy. But provided the ego has been quieted, whatever we imagine will actually be (part of) the truth, truth we often might never be able to reach through using our intellect. Imagination involves direct “looking”, not thinking.

It seems as though the HS may use pictures or symbols to communicate to us in our dreams. But strictly speaking, what the HS does is just to point, and then we fill in the details.

i have noticed that my HS (intuition) usually prompts a 'do' image or thought. or to say simply, i'll get the feeling to simply go do something. and that my ego, usually prompts a 'want' thought. it may not even be something that i want, but i'll simply all of a sudden have an urge or want of something. then from there i decide where to go, as sometimes the want thought isnt a bad one. i mean, its all about living in the moment now.

[edit] to share a book: As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,"
As a man thinketh by James Allen, its not about OBE FYI.

[another edit] my fiance and i were talking this morning, and i was telling him about a effective meditation method i had done (off side, which was to think in whispers, and my HS would/could be more noticeable, what can i say this was a experiment i came up with) and i had also mentioned that i obviously am not just sitting and meditating somewhere quietly; i meditiate in the midst of chaos, at work, at home, doing housework, while driving etc. as we share our experiences and we brainstorm and remind each other of important things.

basically i was saying to him, if i cannot do it (meditate) while in the middle of chaos then what is the point? because i could obviously live my life day in and day out waiting for the perfect "time" and "place". and he said, to remember what Buddha said (in short and paraphrased by me), "life is suffering, and desire is also suffering". if i desire for a spot to meditate quietly, i am deluding myself. as we are here now, and we can meditate anywhere we stand/sit. for it is us that place these limitations on ourselves. i wanted to share this for those who are waiting for 'the right place and time' to reflect and meditate. because every moment, is a good moment, to accrue your meditation time.

[TraineeHuman]

Posted by teradactyl (here)
... to share a book: As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,"
As a man thinketh by James Allen, its not about OBE FYI.

my fiance and i were talking this morning, and i was telling him about a effective meditation method i had done (off side, which was to think in whispers, and my HS would/could be more noticeable, what can i say this was a experiment i came up with) and i had also mentioned that i obviously am not just sitting and meditating somewhere quietly; i meditiate in the midst of chaos, at work, at home, doing housework, while driving etc. as we share our experiences and we brainstorm and remind each other of important things.

basically i was saying to him, if i cannot do it (meditate) while in the middle of chaos then what is the point? because i could obviously live my life day in and day out waiting for the perfect "time" and "place". and he said, to remember what Buddha said (in short and paraphrased by me), "life is suffering, and desire is also suffering". if i desire for a spot to meditate quietly, i am deluding myself. as we are here now, and we can meditate anywhere we stand/sit. for it is us that place these limitations on ourselves. i wanted to share this for those who are waiting for 'the right place and time' to reflect and meditate. because every moment, is a good moment, to accrue your meditation time.

Great post, teradactyl, as was Ray’s. Everything in your post was relevant to the next post I was planning to write, i.e. this post. So I guess you must have read my mind a little – so you were tuning in to something that was OB to yourself.

I wanted to say something about simply deciding to see everything in a positive way.

If you can really do this, without using some kind of harsh force on yourself, then eventually the ego will have no option but to transform into something constructive.

And soon enough your HS will automatically always be there too. Always.

Unfortunately, we can divide humanity into two groups. One group firmly holds the belief deep inside them (for now) that existence is a problem, life is a problem. (I’d argue that what the Buddha meant by saying that life is suffering was that that was the life most people knew, but that we need to get beyond that. I understand the Buddha reincarnated as J. Krishnamurti, whose metaphysical positions on everything seemed to be identical to the Buddha’s though he never read any of the writings. And he certainly made this point -- about being free of suffering, except for sometimes when it was necessary suffering helping us to evolve quickly -- very clearly.)

The second group contains the people who have discovered that life is not a problem, the universe is not a problem. They’re not optimists, but people who’ve discovered the true, deeper reality. There’s one such individual who I’ve received a few PMs from in the past week. He is the member known as “mr white”, and he makes posts in the Secret of the Soul thread. I found it very interesting to note how he’s never seemed to lose sight of that “ultimately there’s no problem” attitude. Although he seems very much a “natural” at travel in formless dimensions and contacting his HS, he was slowed down significantly for some time by what he now identifies as various blocks due to the ego. But I’ve been impressed by the way he’s almost never phrased anything as a “problem”.

I try to live in a similar way myself. I’ve discovered that it makes the ego dissolve all over the place. If somebody tries to insult you or degrade you or be irritating, then if possible you just “make their words non-exist”. Unless, that is, I’m forced to respond in some way. And if I am, I seek to respond only with a solution, not a problem. It’s a matter of outcreating negativity, or counter-creating something better so the rubbish “reality” has to kind of slink away.

So yes, teradactyl, being able to have a meditative attitude in the middle of chaos and noise is what it’s all about. That’s the true essence of meditation. Bring it on. Great work! That’s bringing inner stillness, inner peace, which is strong enough to stay true to the deeper reality. That’s getting the Force, which is the HS, to be there with you.

P.S. Just noticed that, in another piece of syncronicity, the book by Lobsang Rampa that Ray has kindly given us a link to begins with the following sentence:

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

By the way, you might also like to check out The Book of Jacob. I don't have a complete copy at present, but if you PM Jake, I'm sure he'll be happy to email you a copy, as I know he's a generous person. His book has some good instructions on energy work that are different from anything covered in this thread so far, but I would recommend that everyone should try them out.

[TraineeHuman]

I’d like to clarify one thing, which I had until recently assumed to be obvious. If you get an answer from your HS to a question that you ask it, such as in the exercise from post #24, the last thing you should then do is to try to analyze in detail “what the answer means”. Instead, what you do is accept the answer you got as true, accept it in silence. Sometimes you’ll need great patience, because it may take some time for the answer to make any sense. But as I’ve said a number of times, the way to the HS is the practice of stillness. I didn’t mean analysis.

Something similar applies to listening to your dreams. Unfortunately, many (most?) members seem to have no understanding of how to look at (not think about) the meaning of what they get shown in a dream. So they proceed into a lengthy conceptual analysis, or literary analysis, or whatever. The one thing that is guaranteed to give them what is basically wrong “information”.

I’m not saying the intellect is a bad thing. Nor am I denying that a well-developed intellect is a powerful tool for determining what the real truth might be, given a collection of facts or information. But the trouble is, if a person is only beginning to listen to their HS, in that particular situation the ego will still largely have control of the intellect.

Instead, if it doesn’t “click” for you what the HS is trying to tell you, often you may need to just wear it and have patience and wait till you get shown the answer. And you’ll probably need to spend more time in stillness, or holding stillness steady while you go about your life.

Also, I appreciate that on the Forum the way to get closer to unearthing the truth is by skilful analysis and research. And on a Forum all we have is words and concepts anyway – well, and whatever’s behind them that these point to. But folks, please, please don’t undo your good work on the truly “advanced” task of getting into communication with your HS – which a significant number of you have by some miracle been doing – by bringing in any analysis.

[TraineeHuman]

Posted by teradactyl (here)
i have noticed that my HS (intuition) usually prompts a 'do' image or thought. or to say simply, i'll get the feeling to simply go do something. and that my ego, usually prompts a 'want' thought. it may not even be something that i want, but i'll simply all of a sudden have an urge or want of something. then from there i decide where to go, as sometimes the want thought isnt a bad one. i mean, its all about living in the moment now.

That's awfully insightful and intelligent, teradactyl.
I consider that getting as close as possible to freedom from unhappiness as you can is true liberation on an individual level; and similarly, creating as much freedom from unhappiness as you can for others, if and when you can, on a total level. A few years ago -- after quite a journey -- I got to the point where I just let go of most of my wants and expectations. At the risk of sounding conceited or deluded, I can truly say that that brought most forms of unhappiness to an end for me, on an individual level. So, if you're up for it, go ahead and do what you can to stop wanting and expecting. (You still need some things -- some amount of food, money, exercise, human contact. But that's different from wanting "more, and more", which is the wanting I'm mainly talking about.) Anyway, it took me years to get there, but sure, that'll help you get away from the ego's influence. It's kind of like John Lennon's song Imagine. Imagine not living as a slave to wants, so that what your life is about then becomes something quite different from that ...

[soleil]

Posted by TraineeHuman (here)
That's awfully insightful and intelligent, teradactyl.

first, i can say that my ego is getting involved, when i felt regret for posting the above, for the fear of appearing like i really 'having no clue' to the main posters here or readers. but i let it go, and i'm happily surprised to be on the right track, based on your feedback.

Posted by TraineeHuman (here)
So, if you're up for it, go ahead and do what you can to stop wanting and expecting. (You still need some things -- some amount of food, money, exercise, human contact. But that's different from wanting "more, and more", which is the wanting I'm mainly talking about.) Anyway, it took me years to get there, but sure, that'll help you get away from the ego's influence. It's kind of like John Lennon's song Imagine. Imagine not living as a slave to wants, so that what your life is about then becomes something quite different from that ...

at the risk of boring you, i would like to share, that you are on to something with this. the past 2 yrs my family has been paying down debt and not spending anything. last summer, my pay was being garnished (i entered backwards-land) so we couldnt spend anything or go anywhere to do anything "fun".

we had spent $400 for our whole summer last summer for "entertainment"...which was essentially a camping trip up north with my cousin and her fiance. to add to our non spending -nov 2011 WE cut off cable, and in spring 2012, WE cancelled our internet.

its been 54-55wks of not having any internet at home, and i am always reminded as my ipad keeps popping up an alert that its been "this" long since i backed it up. also, i can only come to PA at work.

we've "saved" so much money/paid off so much debt... and saved so much time, and brain cells. now we only spend money on essentials (gas, car insurance, car payment, food and rent. and on weekends we buy a dvd or two or three to watch during the week, for when we put the baby to bed.)

i know i was put in this situation due to circumstance, i was lazy in life, things caught up with me, i had to literally pay for them. it was also the path i had to take to get HERE.

this time last year i had no idea what any of this "stuff" was. (as mentioned before), and now i cant get enough of it. and my book to read list is so huge, i have to time block myself and limit myself to reading one at a time, instead of 5 at a time or 10!

anyways, i have been that hermit thing the past 1-2 yrs, my wants are so low, i barely have any. (funny story, i TRIED to spend money at a store on my bday and spent $35! i tried!) and i end up giving vague ideas of things i want...new books on amazon or organic heirloom seeds, thats basically all i want these days.. hehe.

(ah i hate these personal posts of mine, but what can i say, i'm comfortable with who i am)

[OOO]

Nice posts teradactyl. Just so you don't feel bad I'll share mine.
I was stuck nine years in an abusive relationship, victim mode
And two small kids.
My wants were not material, but emotional. I desired love.
It took a lot of struggle and ripping to evict myself out of
Victimhood and maintain a modicum of a healthy relationship.
Its astounding to see oneself grow out of 'wants'.
Truly liberating. I am eagerly expecting more growth.

[AwakeInADream]

I was convinced that I'd left my body this morning, because I was awake when the whole thing started but I think I fell asleep at the last moment and so ended up getting out of my body into the bedroom of a house I lived in 20 years ago. I didn't notice at the time because I thought I still lived there, and while it didn't feel quite as real as when I got my hands out last time, I did believe I was really out of body.

At the start I was laying down, conscious but sleepy, and I started to hear a whooshing sound at the upper part of the back of my head, and I felt it vibrating and buzzing too. The last time this happened I got scared, but I promised myself that the next time I would be braver, but still I felt a little fear, I decided to proceed anyway, determined to make the most of the opportunity. I only seem to get the fear when I get these sensations in the back of my head, I guess because I can't just turn around and see whats going on there. So I figured I would feel better if the higher self was with me. I could hear sounds coming in through the back of my head, so I asked "HS are you there?". I asked twice to no reply, but the third time I asked I heard a very loud screeching electronic kind of sound that lasted for about a minute. I expected a voice at the least, but this kind of freaked me out. Was this some kind of joke HS was playing on me? I don't think I was calm enough to connect properly with HS, and in a way the noise reflected how I felt at the time, as if my mild fear had become manifest. Then it started to fade as I fell asleep.

Next thing I wake up and look at my hand and I notice that my hand is see-through. So I think great! I'm out! I'm going to make the most of this! My hand was different this time though because last time my hand looked exactly the same as my physical hand, only faded out, transparent, but this time my hand was invisible except for a shimmering outline/coating that seemed to reflect light as it moved. It was like it was 'cloaked' as in the 'Star Trek' or 'The Predator' films. So I looked then at my feet and they are out too. This was great, but still I thought that it wasn't as real as it could be. I got completely out of my body then and started to walk across the room. I found movement a little slow and difficult, and the room started to grow dim. I headed towards a mirror so I could look at myself, but when I looked I didn't see anything. Next thing I woke up again, but it was a false awakening, I looked at my hand again and it was still cloaked. I got up out of bed again and started towards the mirror, but the vibrancy was fading even more. Then I woke up for real.

It was only upon waking for real that I realized that the room I had been in was my bedroom from 20 years ago. I looked around the room I was in now and it seemed to take a while for me to remember, not just where I was, but who I was. This process of remembering who I am upon waking has happened to me before, and in extreme cases it can take a few minutes for me to remember fully who I am in this life. It starts out I draw a blank. Total amnesia. Then I seem to have a mini life review, in chronological order. I think 'Do I still live at home with Mum and Dad?', 'Do I live in this house? That house?', 'Am I late for school? College? Work?', 'Which town am I in?'. Then I'm up to date. This sort of thing scares me a little because I wonder what would happen if I wake up one morning and the memories don't come back at all? I also wonder who am I before all my memories come back? Who is the dreamer?

Has anyone else had this sort of memory loss upon first waking?

That's why I sometimes feel like the one who dreams is living a completely separate life from me, and maybe has a completely different personality. I'm not sure that the dreamer is the HS though, perhaps the dreamer stands somewhere between me and the HS? More evolved than me(in some ways), but not as evolved as HS?

Anyway, I think that if I hadn't fallen asleep at the last minute, I definitely would have been out. In the real world. Next time for sure.

Actually, thinking about it, maybe my bedroom just looks different in the astral? Maybe I really was out? Doubt only crept up after the fact.

P.S. That was a great post (#563) Tearadactly! It really felt like your HS was talking.
I really need to spend less time thinking and more time doing, to apply the inner work to the outer world. I like the idea of 'thinking in whispers' too. There is an insomnia cure in NLP where you change your inner dialogue into a really slow tired sounding yawning voice, and this changes your consciousness to make you sleepy. Inversely, increasing the speed of your inner voice can give you an energy boost too.

P.P.S Finefeather How did you know just how much I needed that particular book? My Dad told me about one of his books when I was a child, 'The Third Eye', but I'd totally forgotten about Tuesday Lobsang Rampa, until now (I can still hear his voice saying that name, how unusual it sounded to me then). So that one book was all it took for you? It does feel kind of special...

[TraineeHuman]

Posted by AwakeInADream (here)
I was convinced that I'd left my body this morning, because I was awake when the whole thing started but I think I fell asleep at the last moment and so ended up getting out of my body into the bedroom of a house I lived in 20 years ago.

I’ve had the experience of waking up in my own bed and initially not knowing where I was. I’ve experienced that quite a few times over the years. In itself it just means that your attention has been so strongly absorbed with something in a higher dimension, your concentration stayed with what felt more important even though your physical body was waking up. Surely that’s a good sign regarding your current skill level at astral traveling?

Although the technology to make our physical bodies travel to some other physical time isn’t available to most of us mortals, our consciousness certainly has the ability to time-travel. This will usually be in a partial way only, though, in the sense of bringing up a detailed memory or scenery from the past. I’ve seen how the scenery in my city looked at different time periods. The easiest time to “catch” – which I’ve seen half a dozen times -- is from 1788 when the First Fleet arrived and moored itself here in Sydney Harbour. I suspect it’s so easy to “recall” that scene because it was soon followed by the attempted genocide of the Aboriginal people in Australia, and so had major traumatic significance for those people. The consciousness seems to instinctively travel back to scenes of the past in our individual memory or the collective memory which were traumatic, with the purpose of trying to partially heal them.

At the start ... I figured I would feel better if the higher self was with me. I could hear sounds coming in through the back of my head, so I asked "HS are you there?". I asked twice to no reply, but the third time I asked I heard a very loud screeching electronic kind of sound that lasted for about a minute. I expected a voice at the least, but this kind of freaked me out. Was this some kind of joke HS was playing on me?

It’s possible for your mind to hear what sounds like a physical human voice that does capture the meaning of whatever your HS wants to communicate at a certain time. But that’s unusual.

I have heard the sound of the silver cord, apparently its sound in 4D. That sounds electronic and quite high-pitched. It's not the sound of your HS, though I guess it’s the sound of your connection to your 4D body – if you like, I suppose you could say it’s the sound of that higher body.

I sometimes feel like the one who dreams is living a completely separate life from me, and maybe has a completely different personality. I'm not sure that the dreamer is the HS though, perhaps the dreamer stands somewhere between me and the HS? More evolved than me(in some ways), but not as evolved as HS?

I would say the HS is the director of each dream and also "story boards" an outline of the scene(s) in the dream, in which you -- and different parts of your psyche -- then agree to perform, often with some friends or others in your life performing in your dream as well.

There's no "middle man" between your HS and you, although I guess parts of your psyche can act somewhat independently of each other.

Anyway, congratulations on a full 4D experience. I don't think it matters one bit that you "walked" in your astral body rather than flying.

[AwakeInADream]

Thanks TH! Is the silver chord attached to the upper back part of your head? Or the Crown?

I saw a stream of white light come out of my Crown in meditation a while back, I didn't really think about it then, but I must have been slightly out of my body to have seen the top of my head. I placed two different Hebrew names of God into the stream, and I could actually feel the difference in vibration between the names of 'Jehovah' and 'I am'. The later seem very powerful, the former more gentle and friendly.

I don't do the Hebrew God names meditation any more (even though I got results), because I don't want to fall into delusion by injecting 2nd hand beliefs into my experience. I want to find out for myself what is really there. I think in a way that Religion is too powerful to mess with in meditation, too loaded to give any unbiased truth.

[TraineeHuman]

The silver cord is attached to the solar plexus only, as far as I know. It seems to be made of Light, probably in part from a much higher dimension, but also partly electromagnetic.

I remember what happened when I was conceived. While I was existing ever so serenely in a formless dimension, some guardian angels (which are like CEOs in the afterlife) reminded me I’d agreed to go to somewhere in 5D and view some “movies”. These movies were packed full of details of potential parents for me, and I was required to choose one of these pairs. Immediately the guardian angels gave me some “energy” to take into myself, like some kind of thick drink like a broth or a milkshake, so to speak. This immediately corded me to both of my parents-to-be: the silver cord appeared, cording me to an ovum of my mother’s. Eventually, gradually, the silver cord pulled me into 4D and the time when my parents conceived me, and I found myself stuck there.

Incidentally, I understand (according to some of the most highly regarded scholars) the Sumerians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Assyrians and others knew Jhvh primarily by the name of Satan or Sataneal. Not a good name to call on ever, as far as I'm concerned.

[TraineeHuman]

If you’ve really, tangibly experienced your HS, what, in a nutshell, did it permanently leave you with, in the beginning stages? I’m still hoping to hear more answers to that question from some of you. The reason why I’d like to hear them is because I believe these would give people some solid indicators of what sorts of things they will likely be experiencing if they’re on track. (Indicators. Not “goals” or things to make “affirmations” about. Not concepts to be analysed in detail, other than for practical implications.)

We’ve already seen at least one such answer, primarily from teradactyl. I guess the way I would try to put it is that some real experience of the power of the HS leaves you with the ability to feel and hold an exquisite stillness in spite of, and in the middle of, the distractions of a busy family or a busy workplace. You are left with such a strong capacity for peace that that peace somehow swallows up all the chaos and all the effects of having many of your “buttons” pressed.

And each five minutes that the Force is so completely victorious over all miserableness while you are at the workplace or resolving any family disagreements or wherever, something strange happens. Another small chunk of your ego, your baggage gets burnt to a crisp and ceases to exist. It’s also been mentioned how this unhitches you more and more from being a puppet of any of your wants.

To me a relevant notion here is the wu wei – “non-reaction”, or ”non-resistance” of Taoism. There are Taoist and Zen poems that celebrate this notion by saying, for instance, that the truly wise person walks through a pond of water without creating even the slightest ripple. So, the wise person is so hugely at peace inwardly as to be able to accept everything everyone says or does entirely on their terms, and yet creates new things that are so positive and inspiring and effective that everyone agrees to them also.

[AwakeInADream]

From my experience of HS I have gained an inner confidence (not merely optimism) that everything is going to work out just fine, even if the world at large seems to indicate otherwise (hopelessness even). The feeling the aliveness exercise has become an instant transformation for me now that I can do anywhere and at any time, which makes me realize that I don't need the strength to overcome problems, I just need to change my perspective so I can see that there are no problems. Just being, feels pretty good to me. I'm sure that with a little determination I will be able to make this a permanent change, I just need to remember to keep connecting. It's darn silly for a man to keep forgetting how good he really feels isn't it? If you really examine it, out of a full day of needless mind chatter, how many of those thoughts were really necessary for your functioning? I would say very few, and as such that, simply being is of much more benefit than thinking ever could be. Thinking seems to cause suffering/forgetfulness. Peace is already there, we only need to observe it.

[TraineeHuman]

Posted by AwakeInADream (here)
From my experience of HS I have gained an inner confidence (not merely optimism) that everything is going to work out just fine, even if the world at large seems to indicate otherwise (hopelessness even). The feeling the aliveness exercise has become an instant transformation for me now that I can do anywhere and at any time, which makes me realize that I don't need the strength to overcome problems, I just need to change my perspective so I can see that there are no problems. Just being, feels pretty good to me. I'm sure that with a little determination I will be able to make this a permanent change, I just need to remember to keep connecting. It's darn silly for a man to keep forgetting how good he really feels isn't it? If you really examine it, out of a full day of needless mind chatter, how many of those thoughts were really necessary for your functioning? I would say very few, and as such that, simply being is of much more benefit than thinking ever could be. Thinking seems to cause suffering/forgetfulness. Peace is already there, we only need to observe it.

Awake, it’s great that the “feeling the aliveness” exercise is enabling you to experience the fact that what some would call an optimistic view of the deeper and truer and more accurate nature of reality is the glorious truth.

I take it that by doing the “feeling the aliveness” exercise constantly or very often, you are directly experiencing this fact. And so, your post suggests you’ve by now concluded it’s a fact because you’ve so frequently observed that it seems to be so.

That should be quite a turning point in your life, I’d assume -- at least once you've been able to make it into that "permanent change" you speak of.

But I’d like to ask: can you go deeper with the “feeling the aliveness” exercise?

I happen to know, from my own experience, that there’s much more to discover (to make a huge understatement). And this does point straight towards one of the most common collections of things people experience when they start bringing the HS in for longer periods. And it’s a different collection than that of experiencing the collection that includes the “peace that wipes away pain and ego” aspect that I’m saying teradactyl seems to be onto.

But I feel I need you to find this by direct experience, and not by trying to figure out what the “right answer” could be. This isn’t science. This is the art of discovery based on the certainty of direct experience.

[soleil]

hi everyone, this past friday night i had had quite a 'dream'. although now since reading lobsang rampa's book 'you forever' - dream is just a name for something else. anyways, i dreamt i was in a basement, it might have been just any ordinary basement where my mother in law was collecting some 'junk'. while IRL, this is just some random basement, and not really her stuff, it was purely dream created. in the dusty boxes there were old books, similar to what i'd call a grimoire, or books of shadows'. there was a wooden knife, similar to an athame, it was old and soft and shiny like its been handled and through that it shines like shilac, red wood, dirty of the years, i can still picture it.

anyways, i was standing there looking through these things, and then to my right and behind me appeared this demonic person. red/black outfit, rotten or pussy blisters on face, i think it was. anyways he appeared and i was afraid, and then i was not - as all this thing did was stand there, LOOKING scary; thats it. i screamed as you do in 'dreams', there wasnt much of a sound. so i screamed to myself, to send love to this hideous thing and so i did, i wasnt sure what that really 'feels' like, but my intention was there, so that is what i have to go by. and then after this, i dared scream/shout to go to my HS, and i closed my eyes, and i appeared in the same basement, beside my daughter. i felt safe, and i knew i was still in my dream. i didnt come to lucidity, i dont think so, because i fell back asleep after that/woke up.

i do want to add, that this night the power was out at our house so we had to sleep on the couch in my mother in law's house until the power came back on at home - so i was not sleeping at home when i had this dream, and it happened right before i woke up for the day. her house is up for sale right now so she is going through her basement. my mother in law is someone who is deeply and thoroughly (born again) christian. hardly someone i could imagine with all those things. i could imagine me having them (either in this life or in past ones), not her lol.

[wolfgaze]

Looking for some advice/feedback from your more experienced OBE'ers. I have been reading Robert Bruce's 'Astral Dynamics' & William Buhlman's 'The Secret Of The Soul'. I had to take a temporary break from reading both books as it does not make much sense to continue onto the later chapters without having had a first-hand outer-body-experience upon which to explore those later chapters.

I will just try and provide as much detail about what I know and what I have experienced in hopes that it will add clarity:

I am not an experienced meditator. Early last year I had my awakening experience (shift in consciousness) culminate and it was after that experience that I actually began to take a serious interest in meditating and finally felt I had the peace of mind to enjoy it (I know that sounds quite backwards lol). Energetically my body feels to be in solid shape and free of blockages. I feel that I have freed myself of the subconscious fear of leaving the body, as I've been sincerely intent on experiencing this phenomena for awhile now after briefly experiencing this state in my dreams. I have experimented with spoken affirmations as well to try and ensure there are no subconscious barriers holding me back. I meditate with headphones and binaural stimulation, lately I have been using tracks to induce the theta brain wave state. Mostly when I meditate I will get to the point where I am incredibly relaxed and focused on my inner vision or mind's eye and begin to experience the vibrant violet/indgo/blue visualizations and shapes being formed but I have never had any experiences beyond that (besides falling asleep haha).

There is something I can induce and experience when I begin to meditate and I'm not sure what is going on, if it's beneficial to this OBE endeavor, or if anyone else can relate. When I close my eyes and concentrate my energy on inducing this experience, I immediately begin to experience this 'whirring' or 'roaring' type sensation in my head - it sounds like I've got a wind tunnel running through my ears. Well this feels like a spiraling, vortex type sensation that causes a vibration in my head which inevitably gets directed and sent throughout my body. I believe I am controlling where the sensation goes through my conscious direction/intent.

Anyway, this sensation started off last year as a very gentle spiraling sensation during meditation. When I first experienced it my head would begin to wobble in a circular fashion and not long after I experienced intense vibrations throughout my body that caused me to lurch up in bed & I pulled muscles in my chest and neck area lol. Robert Bruce in his book (Astral Dynamics) talks about how the vibrations/sensations during meditation can be quite intense in the beginning but how the body becomes more acclimated with more experience. This is what happened. The spiraling/vortex/vibrating sensation became more refined and my body became more acclimated to it. Now I can experience it without much physical movement of my body's limbs but my muscles to still tense up a little bit.

Basically I don't know what the function/use/purpose is of inducing this sensation. I think I have found that it increases DMT production in my brain/head/pineal gland as I will experience a boost in those violet/blue/indigo visualizations when I induce this 'effect' during meditation. I surmised that those visualizations are connected to DMT because I experience the same visuals when I wake up in the morning and remain half-asleep with my eyes closed (I see the same blue shapes as I do during meditation). The issue is that vibrating/spiraling sensation causes physical strain in my body and brings my awareness back to my body. I have not been able to experience it without my awareness returning to my physical body. There have been instances where I have keept the sensation going to the extent that I experience this 'snap' or 'click' sensation somewhere in my head region. I don't know what that noise is. I have read in one of the OBE books about a 'click' that OBE'ers have reported but I don't know if what I am experiencing is analogous and I certainly have not had an OBE from doing that yet.

Does anyone have any feedback on my explanation of this sensation and whether or not it's relevant to the process of trying to induce an OBE? When I bring about this sensation I tend to visualize a tornado or spiraling vortex of energy inside me and I picture this energy being directed upwardly through my head region. I've had a mild intuition that this sensation might be related to leaving the body but thus far my experiences have not shed any light on this.

The last couple times I have tried to induce an OBE I have been experimenting with the 'rope climbing' technique. Often times I find that in the act of visualizing, I disrupt the pace of my breathing and this interuption inevitably causes me to bring my focus/attention back to my body again. However 2 nights ago I guess I was getting into it fairly well and my arms began to feel extremely heavy, and then I want to say I experienced a sensation similar to what I have described above - just an intensitifcation of energy but again, it caused my body to strain and and brought my attention back to my body without culminating in any further experience. I feel like the 'rope climbing' visualization ultimateley brought about a similar sensation/experience as the one I can induce fairly quickly by creating those vibrations and subsequent spiraling sensation in my head.

Now I have downloaded the PDF file that someone recommended to me here but I have not read through it yet. After reading 2/3rds of the way through a handful of books on this subject matter I am a little bit reluctant to keep feeding myself more material and new perspectives on this with the concern that I will be overthinking the process as opposed to letting it develop naturally and focusing on practicing. I plan to keep working at this until I make it happen. I know 5-6 days of attempts is not nearly enough so I will continue trying this for at least 2 months and will continue with spoken affirmations both before meditation and before sleep at night.

Just looking for some feedback/advice if anyone can relate to what I have shared above. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to include as much details as possible about what I have experienced thus far. Thanks for taking the time to read this. : )

[Finefeather]

Hi wolfgaze
Intense vibration and sound is experienced by many when they first start OBE. What you need to remember is...first, the sound is in your head and is not loud...as in like your hi-fi set at full go...although it can sound like that...if it was...your mother would be rushing into your room

This sound is loud in your head because of tension in your auditory canal...this is also the reason our physical body may sometimes vibrate quite major. You are just too tense and maybe quite apprehensive of what's going to happen next. You have to totally just surrender. The process that is taking place here is an attempted decoupling of your somatic nervous system. The vibration we experience is similar to what you get when you get a treatment of acupuncture with electrodes...only with a faster rate of vibration.

This condition can be very hard to avoid sometimes and different people have different sensation...the thing is to know that you are not dying At this fringe point we could even be half out of our bodies and this is when we can experience the famous sleep paralysis we read about.

You just need to continue with small steps until you build up the confidence to release and let go. The worse thing that is going to happen...if you do not just fall asleep...is you will fight yourself out of it and be quite drained in your body for a while.
Take care
Ray

[wolfgaze]

Thanks for the constructive feedback Ray.... You are right in that I need to keep plugging away at this as my experiences will continue to adapt & change the more that I practice & explore (much in the way the nature of those vibrations changed for me).

One thing I forgot to mention is that I have metal hardware that is fused to my spine from a surgery I had 10+ years ago. I was reading in the Astral Dynamics book that foreign metal objects (outside or inside of the body) can interfere with the OBE process - however Robert Bruce seemed to suggest that the longer the object was present with an individual and their energy field, the less of an impediment it was. I would hope this would not provide to be a stumbling block for me but I decided that consciously I'm not going to think of it as one because just subscribing to that notion/thought could act as the impediment.

A relative of mine knows that I'm exploring this and is very open-minded about it as well. Our little inside joke is that I'm supposed to pay a visit to her kitchen and then later describe to her what she's got hanging up on her refridgerator as a means of verifying that I was there, LOL. Another thing I've done is selected a random card from a deck of playing cards and placed it face up (without looking at it of course) on the top of a bookshelf in my living room. My goal is when I experience my first OBE to move to the ceiling so that I can view the number & suit of the card and bring that information back to my body when I return. Being able to do so and then later verify this by retrieving the card would be an important affirmation of the experience/process for me.

[Finefeather]

Posted by wolfgaze (here)
One thing I forgot to mention is that I have metal hardware that is fused to my spine from a surgery I had 10+ years ago. I was reading in the Astral Dynamics book that foreign metal objects (outside or inside of the body) can interfere with the OBE process

Hi wolfgaze
Just a quick post...packing to go to a game park...will be back in a week.

This metal in your body will not prevent you from an OBE. You can be as sick as a dog...on crutches...metal plates in your head...in a wheelchair...you name it...it will not prevent OB.

Any metal or man made device cannot prevent OB because the matter from which it is made...is of a physical nature...and all OB takes place in higher bodies...you can walk through walls and cars when OB...you are not a physical Being...you are a Spiritual Being.

You will usually exit your body in the astral/emotional body and as you progress you will even do 'OB' from the astral body. You may have heard of people who say they were dreaming and then woke up in their dream and then only really woke up. OB does not take place in the same body for all people...all the time. When you 'enter' higher realms, than say the astral, you start dropping even these bodies.

Remember I am wording this to make the idea more easily understandable...you don't drop bodies along the way like you do when you are taking off your clothing...it is the awareness that becomes higher...and the surroundings also change...although you have not moved an inch from these lower bodies...it can also go from a light space to a dark dingy space depending on where your mind is focused in your usual state in your physical life. Everything happens in the same space you are in.

Take care
Ray