The Higher Self and transcendent experience, including OBEs

[TraineeHuman]

Interesting how many members have experienced the lowest level of enlightenment at least. These members could presumably benefit from discussion or material regarding how to increase their level of conscious contact with the Divine Mind. And there's so much about the Divine Mind that can be pointed at for hopefully the benefit of such people -- even though the Divine Mind defies words and description all that much more than the HM does. By the way, folks, although I'm using the word "Mind", don't forget this is Consciousness. In many ways it's more like feeling than thinking, or even more like sensation than thinking. But it's all about knowing (via greater unknowing) -- or I should say experiencing, or being (fully, or more fully). Words words words.

On the other hand, as I've just recently said, anyone who hasn't reached that level of enlightenment and believes they know or understand "God" or "Source" or "the Divine Mind" is, unfortunately, deluding themselves and experiencing nothing more than their HM, I regret to say. This is perhaps a most unfortunate byproduct of the fact that mainstream Christianity -- that instrument of twisting the truth -- speaks of "God" and indeed of "Jesus" as if these were beings anyone is in direct daily contact and perhaps direct daily communication with, provided only that the person professes to have faith in certain dogmas. By contrast, Judaism went through a period of a number of centuries where it was forbidden to talk of "God" by any name -- except to refer to "what cannot be named". A much more honest attitude, and much closer to the truth.

Before I say more about the Divine Mind, I'd like to clarify several points about the descent of the HM. Firstly, the HM (initially) communicates only through a point just to the right of the center of your chest -- very close to the thymus gland. (I suspect it's to the right slightly to ensure that you can distinguish its energy from that of the physical heart.) Once the HM enters permanently and starts to descend, the brain becomes for it only a passive instrument that's silent except when relaying the HM's messages. The brain is a center -- the most dominant center -- of the physical consciousness only. As the Eckankar master says in the videos, intellectuals find it harder to learn to astral travel successfully. That's because the physical brain is what's ultimately responsible for a person's identifying with their physical body or body-consciousness.

If you manage to somehow watch the flow of physical (electromagnetic) energy through your body while you're meditating, I believe you'll notice that it comes down from the oversoul and into the top of your body and down the front of the body, then does a U-turn and travels up your spine to the oversoul area again, and then comes down just to the right of center, from the top of your head and down the surface of your lips and chin and thence to your chest, stopping just to the right of center, level with the physical heart. If you can feel that last downward flow at all, you'll notice the energy is much subtler and feels much nicer. If you can feel that, you simply concentrate on it and thereby you listen to your HM -- as powessy, for example, is now doing. With that "voice" the physical limitations to your mind gradually get removed. Not only that, but more and more you see things, and people, just as they are.

One final thing, for now, about the descent of the HM. Usually it descends in the order: crown chakra, third eye, heart chakra, and so on. But that's not always the case. If it first starts to be stable in, say, the solar plexus center, that will cause certain problems. But that's rare, so I won't go into it now.

And of course for anyone whose HM hasn't begun to descend yet, you still access your HM during each day for moments at least -- whenever you are "just" looking to see what is.

[powessy]

TraineeHuman
I have no idea of HM or all the other stuff that you have found labels for. I just know what he has told me and I am learning what he feels I'm ready for, its as easy as that. Let me ask you should I follow your advice and learn these things or listen to him and allow him to show me in his own way. Powessy has started to show me how to remote view while awake and has refused to talk to me on the ring till I learn these other skills he says that I must first let go of some scars that are still plaguing me so that I can see clearer. I need to learn patience and I need to learn to use the gifts he has given me. I can now imagine anything that I think about but these skills I have just started to try. for example when I try to imagine who you are I see four different girls your age 36 and your name starts with I think a K or it is kay the three girls I seen one is with short blond fluffy hair kind of frizzed, the second was a dark haired girl short rides bike and had sunglasses, the third was a long haired woman with her hair in a pony tail I saw her with a dark haired man walking out of her house, each view was in a climate that didn't require a coat. none of this may be correct but I am going to keep following his advice. You have no idea what he has told me so far so please don't presume that you know what I am going through. I am A person of reason and take nothing for granite. I am atheist and have always been atheist and still am. When you have had all the walls in your life torn down and watch as he sorts through your memories as they flash before your eyes then you can find A label for it, but till then keep thinking the way you do. I didn't ask for this I wasn't even looking for it, I have cried harder in the last month then I have in my whole life every time I feel him I wonder if he is ashamed of me or if he judges me for the simple life I live but love. I have not chosen this and I tear up even now writing this, He always assures me that I have lead the life that I was intended to live and there is a reason. I am a loner I don't acquaint with people nor do I find anything in common with anyone but the members of my family they are my life. I hope that I haven't offended anyone, I was only looking for someone that may be able to help me better understand what I am going through, I will keep looking. Thanks for all the advice TraineeHuman I will look up and read some of the stuff that you have mentioned though I do not feel it will shed light on this problem for you have made it to complicated, it should just flow. You see I could have done all that you have said and still have never meet him, but it was me acknowledging him and seeing him that was all it took none of all that other stuff. look inside of yourself and perhaps you will find what you seek and if you ask her and tell her you are ready she may just grant you your guide for she is source.

[Kalamos]

..........

[TraineeHuman]

Posted by powessy (here)
TraineeHuman
I have no idea of HM or all the other stuff that you have found labels for. I just know what he has told me and I am learning what he feels I'm ready for, its as easy as that. Let me ask you should I follow your advice and learn these things or listen to him and allow him to show me in his own way. Powessy has started to show me how to remote view while awake and has refused to talk to me on the ring till I learn these other skills he says that I must first let go of some scars that are still plaguing me so that I can see clearer. I need to learn patience and I need to learn to use the gifts he has given me. I can now imagine anything that I think about but these skills I have just started to try. for example when I try to imagine who you are I see four different girls your age 36 and your name starts with I think a K or it is kay the three girls I seen one is with short blond fluffy hair kind of frizzed, the second was a dark haired girl short rides bike and had sunglasses, the third was a long haired woman with her hair in a pony tail I saw her with a dark haired man walking out of her house, each view was in a climate that didn't require a coat. none of this may be correct but I am going to keep following his advice. You have no idea what he has told me so far so please don't presume that you know what I am going through. I am A person of reason and take nothing for granite. I am atheist and have always been atheist and still am. When you have had all the walls in your life torn down and watch as he sorts through your memories as they flash before your eyes then you can find A label for it, but till then keep thinking the way you do. I didn't ask for this I wasn't even looking for it, I have cried harder in the last month then I have in my whole life every time I feel him I wonder if he is ashamed of me or if he judges me for the simple life I live but love. I have not chosen this and I tear up even now writing this, He always assures me that I have lead the life that I was intended to live and there is a reason. I am a loner I don't acquaint with people nor do I find anything in common with anyone but the members of my family they are my life. I hope that I haven't offended anyone, I was only looking for someone that may be able to help me better understand what I am going through, I will keep looking. Thanks for all the advice TraineeHuman I will look up and read some of the stuff that you have mentioned though I do not feel it will shed light on this problem for you have made it to complicated, it should just flow. You see I could have done all that you have said and still have never meet him, but it was me acknowledging him and seeing him that was all it took none of all that other stuff. look inside of yourself and perhaps you will find what you seek and if you ask her and tell her you are ready she may just grant you your guide for she is source.

If you're able to hear the "voice" of Powessy, that's all you need. As long as you manage to not stop listening to Powessy. By the way, what I mean by "the HM" is, in your case, exactly the same thing as Powessy. You're right -- you don't need to listen to or figure out anything I say, but just to Powessy.

And even if maybe you don't sometimes hear Powessy's "voice" clearly, I find that quite often it's only necessary to know it's better for you to "go left" instead of "go right". Just simple choices like that.

My own version of Powessy eventually, after many years, brought me to where I experience great joy most of the time in the most ordinary things. These are things which others find boring or hard work or unpleasant. My wish for you is that Powessy will eventually lead you to similarly experiencing joy nearly all the time, all day every day. And there are steps beyond that stage too.

My age is 63, not 36. Sounds like you got the "6" and the "3" right but put them in the wrong order. My name doesn't start with a K. Don't worry. Keep working at developing the accuracy of your intuition. I don't know who the people are that you described. I assume they must be guides of mine. But I get so many different guides, and they seem to change quite often. I also have three guardian angels, and they don't change. They come from your "fifth" dimension, and are at a higher level than most guides.

By the way, I'm absolutely sure Powessy isn't ashamed of you.

Also, I happen to know for a fact that the highest spirituality is not the having of the highest level experiences but, after all those highest experiences, in coming back into the ordinary world of work and relationship and still not losing your simplicity and making everything that you got from those high spiritual experiences practical.

[Rolci]

Can anyone tell me the difference between lucid dreaming and astral projection? Thanks

[TraineeHuman]

Roki, astral projection is usually used as a synonym for astral travel (though I see it as something a little broader than that). When people talk of astral projection they mean conscious astral projection. "Conscious" and "lucid" really mean exactly the same thing.

When we're dreaming we're astral projecting, but often not consciously. Usually people talk of a dream as "lucid" if the dreamer "wakes up", i.e. becomes conscious they are in a dream, without physically waking up. Usually lucid dreaming is accompanied by the ability to alter parts of the dream itself. One becomes the scriptwriter instead of just one of the central actors. In fact, usually one becomes both simultaneously. One can also often consciously move to a higher level, or do other strange things.

[Joe Akulis]

Powessey, (or maybe I should call you TraineePowessey? :-)

Please don't leave. For those of us following this thread, like me, who don't have the benefit of the kinds of personal experiences that you have had, it's people like you who are the reason I joined Avalon.

Even though it can be difficult for each of us to compare and contrast all the things we are learning, I wish you would continue to stay around and converse with us about things you are going through. It's my suspicion that more and more people are going to be facing this kind of expansion of ourselves and our abilities and experiences in the future, and I personally feel greatly benefitted by having a place where I can learn from other people who are already going through it. Hearing about what else is out there from just one person may help, or it may confuse. But once you've heard about what's out there from a thousand different people who all come from a thousand different places, THAT's when it all starts to make sense, for me anyway.

Seeker

One word of advice to all on this thread, however: Take care not to just assume that personal details about any of us are okay to share in a forum post, without getting permission from that person first by sending them a private message and asking permission. I like to read about people who can remote view, because it's something I hope to be able to do some day too. But I would definitely be upset if someone just remote viewed me and posted what they saw in a forum thread without even asking me if it was okay first.

Much love to all.

[Jake]

Powessy, T.H. Has made great effort in trying to keep this particular discussion within the context of what he has learned from his experiences. I have experienced the humility of many of these truths.

If I am to try and explain to others, what my subjective experiences are,, I will be forced to come up with labels. Behind the labels are meanings, and behind them, truth. A truth that can only be experienced. Communion with 'higher self' is set in the eye of the beholder, no?

There several threads here at Avalon that attempt to shed light on the Out of Body phenomenon. I certainly do not find myself agreeing with everything everyone says in this discussion,, but I read every single post. And I am enlightened by T.H. and the wisdom put forth in this discussion. I, too, have a strong, passionate, unending fascination with my natural ability to 'project' into the 'astral'. Part of my overall vision is that we learn from each other. And, of course, ourselves.

Obviously, we can gain from your experiences. I would love to hear more. Maybe you should start a discussion that would be able to fully highlight your own wisdom and passion for truth.

I hereby challenge you to help us to understand more about your experiences...

Peace to you,,
Jake.

[TraineeHuman]

Once an individual has achieved the initial stage of enlightenment, they can for the first time see what I've called glimpses of the Divine Mind. How this works is that the individual briefly sees or experiences true Oneness now and then, or for hours. Experiencing the Oneness fully. That's what it is in a nutshell. And how does one do that? I'd like to turn that question over to all those of you who have already reached that level.

Usually, in my observations, that initial level of enlightenment happens at close to the same time as the opening of the third eye, and also, alternatively, of the first kundalini experience where one feels the energy (coming from the center of the earth and Gaia) rise to the crown chakra, above the head. So, I believe a number of you are there, and of these at least some have also probably worked sufficiently, or close to it, at disempowering the ego. To anyone who fits that description, I'd like to challenge you to begin exploring and tasting absolute Oneness. Just reach for it.

Oneness is a little like your shadow, in the sense that it's nothing like what you ever imagined, and it continues to surprise you in a similar way even as you do manage to begin to explore it.

I'd like to invite you to share anything about this. For me personally, Oneness has usually felt like a white hole. I mean a white hole as physicists use that term. That's the reverse side of a black hole, and it's where new things get created at the most astonishing pace. In some ways for me it's also often felt like a black hole too, in that it's so riveting it demands the center of your attention. I don't mean a physical white hole or black hole, of course. But something that's a true absolute. Something so huge and powerful that whatever you add to it just gets integrated into it. And blissfully wonderful too.

[Kalamos]

..........

[soleil]

i had a dream last night, i was aware and there the entire time, slightly dream state but it was not lucid....amazing. my recall this morning, as though, this event actually happened. colours, faces, feelings. i even felt, physically, in the dream moment, my lips go numb. i felt water go cold. i just was surrounded by amazing friends that i dont know. i hope my dream recall and awareness keeps improving. im going to keep at it, till i am lucid and conscious to obe.

i remember it so well it seems linear like things happened in sequence

[soleil]

Posted by TraineeHuman (here)
Once an individual has achieved the initial stage of enlightenment, they can for the first time see what I've called glimpses of the Divine Mind. How this works is that the individual briefly sees or experiences true Oneness now and then, or for hours. Experiencing the Oneness fully. That's what it is in a nutshell. And how does one do that? I'd like to turn that question over to all those of you who have already reached that level.

Usually, in my observations, that initial level of enlightenment happens at close to the same time as the opening of the third eye, and also, alternatively, of the first kundalini experience where one feels the energy (coming from the center of the earth and Gaia) rise to the crown chakra, above the head. So, I believe a number of you are there, and of these at least some have also probably worked sufficiently, or close to it, at disempowering the ego. To anyone who fits that description, I'd like to challenge you to begin exploring and tasting absolute Oneness. Just reach for it.

Oneness is a little like your shadow, in the sense that it's nothing like what you ever imagined, and it continues to surprise you in a similar way even as you do manage to begin to explore it.

I'd like to invite you to share anything about this. For me personally, Oneness has usually felt like a white hole. I mean a white hole as physicists use that term. That's the reverse side of a black hole, and it's where new things get created at the most astonishing pace. In some ways for me it's also often felt like a black hole too, in that it's so riveting it demands the center of your attention. I don't mean a physical white hole or black hole, of course. But something that's a true absolute. Something so huge and powerful that whatever you add to it just gets integrated into it. And blissfully wonderful too.

i have learned to know my inner self well enough to just know many things. my best results for what i need, or lost and need to find, have always come from my intuition. i also trust what i do, and am doing. i do receive insights alot, as i listen alot.

my hm is not afraid to say it like it is....one meditation recently was a loud knowing of "get over yourself!", well it worked.

[powessy]

The vision may not be of who you are now but perhaps who you once were or wish you still were I am sorry if I posted information about you incorrectly, I am working at it harder know and as far as you and your guides go they are from the here and so she must have great belief in you. My awakening was supposed to happen years ago but an event occurred that was unforeseeable to me and him, we are now together. over the next few days the hidden will seek you in your dreams they are your souls and will ascend within you, you shall feel a moment of calmness and meet an unfamiliar face be assured this friend will be with you always. I apologize again for any misunderstanding. Those of you with more experience will realize the change immediately others will take time but it is a gift from her.

[TraineeHuman]

sway, I agree with powessy that you seem to be in touch with some positive and helpful guides. In the astral one often needs to be wary of deceptive beings trying to pose as being attractive or positive when underneath their disguise they're something very different. But you don't need to worry about that in this case.

I also agree with powessy that the "get over yourself" insight meant you were clearing away some stuck energy from the past -- which is what the ego is made of anyway. I guess I would "label" what you were doing as some form of self-psychotherapy rather than meditation -- although some types of meditation can certainly be both at the same time. But whatever you did there. I'd keep on doing more of the same.

You do seem to have a gift for what can be called mediumship -- in a broader sense than that of communicating with the dead. I'm sure you would be good at seeing other people's guides. I used to be a natural medium, but for most of my life I've tried to avoid cultivating that particular skill, actually. Just a preference.

[TraineeHuman]

Posted by Calamus (here)
(the beginning of) Enlightenment is the liberating realization that you've been thoroughly enslaved and likely still are.

(it doesn't 'feel' good)

Oneness: all consciousness perceives itself in all forms at once. The forms lose their glamour. a hoPe that the glamour becomes steady in the light of oneness, at least for glamour's sake.

Enlightenment -- particularly at its initial level (for lack of a better label) -- is the realization or experience that Thou art That -- that in reality you literally are everything. Further levels beyond the initial one are to do with more and more fully somehow integrating that realization with one's life of having a physical body and mind and feelings -- that is, with life as we know it. And also with eventually all the time seeing and feeling oneness everywhere, penetrating all.

"The" beginning of enlightenment? There are many beginnings that may lead to enlightenment. As long as they're a beginning of the process where the butterfly sees it isn't just its cocoon.


I did once know someone who was badly tortured in Chile, years ago. He was tortured purely because all the educated men in the country got tortured at that time, apparently. And to survive the psychological scars of that, he had found himself experiencing enlightenment as the only way to resolve his problem of having been personally devastated and violated.

The ego is in many ways the antithesis, the opposite, of Oneness. In their "advanced" or esoteric forms, all the ancient Asian meditation traditions were mostly preoccupied with psychotherapy. That's because, as I've mentioned earlier in this thread, enlightenment won't free you of the ego. If you don't work very very hard and long at disempowering the ego, then if you're enlightened you'll be a menace. I guess you may even eventually become one of the demonic or archontic beings. Still powerful, and in that sense freed, but a slave to the now powerful ego.

True Oneness implies an extraordinary kind of inner balance. If one is in Oneness, what would there be to be discontented about? There would first and foremost be room for positivity, for profound joy in being all existences at once. Only against that background of extraordinary expanded being could any discontent exist. Such a consciousness could not be enslaved in spirit, I believe, even if it spent its entire physical life behind bars, or in some dead-end job, or some extraordinarily stressful life situation -- like extreme poverty, perhaps.

Living in Oneness means not only seeing from the point of view of Oneness but also from the point of view of all the infinitely many manynesses too. Plus taking delight in them and transforming them somewhat through the power of the Light of Oneness.

Now isn't that worth psychologically dying for, may I ask? That would mean dying to everything you had held to be known to you. That costs nothing less than everything. Dying even to the very notion of being a "self" -- because you never ever were one. You are sure "something", in the sense of being. Only, you're much greater. You really are infinity. But to realize that, you have to have the courage to throw away all that's finite -- at least to do that for one blessed moment. That's when enlightenment happens. Only then. You have to stop trying to scoop up the infinite ocean in a bucket. You have to just try being the ocean.

[soleil]

Posted by TraineeHuman (here)
sway, I agree with powessy that you seem to be in touch with some positive and helpful guides. In the astral one often needs to be wary of deceptive beings trying to pose as being attractive or positive when underneath their disguise they're something very different. But you don't need to worry about that in this case.

I also agree with powessy that the "get over yourself" insight meant you were clearing away some stuck energy from the past -- which is what the ego is made of anyway. I guess I would "label" what you were doing as some form of self-psychotherapy rather than meditation -- although some types of meditation can certainly be both at the same time. But whatever you did there. I'd keep on doing more of the same.

You do seem to have a gift for what can be called mediumship -- in a broader sense than that of communicating with the dead. I'm sure you would be good at seeing other people's guides. I used to be a natural medium, but for most of my life I've tried to avoid cultivating that particular skill, actually. Just a preference.

i didnt fully describe my dream...so perhaps the guide scenerio could be the case. it was like a "party" at my house. i was going to bed (in dream) and thought how tired was i, but there were things about to happen, that i didnt want to sleep through. so i must have gotten out of bed, and my fiance stayed there. i proceeded to welcome friends, ex colleagues, and friends that i dont know. the friends that i dont know were mainly males, with one female that stood out. i recall saying to her, girlfriends can be back stabbers, and that i hoped she was a good friend. i also, recall explaining to ex colleagues WHY. i quit my job. i said, i can make money anywhere, i dont need to do it at a downtown, multi national company. i can do it living in the country too. mostly i was walking around, being befriended by a few people, mostly they were good looking males, my age joining me for conversation, or for the moment. those are the good feelings, of friends that i dont know. i spent much of the dream, looking for my fiance who was "surfing on the coast". it was a sort of beach party at my house, althought irl there's no beach, but theres one 10mins from here. and a lake beach at that, so no oceans here. i recall one of the males close by said thats where he was. the feeling these people gave me were - very "comfortable to be around" them, but still a feeling of "getting to know you again", with a bit of i "wish they are always around and never leave".

a small other part, (happened in between walking around the party)i was walking around and walked into an office. it looked like one ive worked in, but not exactly. there was a girl there that i used to,work with(she was getting a new keycard) i assumed it was a promotion, but imdidnt want to stay i just kept walking through. the girl is someone that we used to be tight good friends, but i went granola and irl she must not have been ready to,stop clubbing.

the part where my lips went numb, was because i smoked something and it was also quite rainbow and glittery, it made my lips go numb.




last night i dreamt of ....

my grandpa (rip). i think i wrote here before, how he last appeared to me in a dream right after he died, saying it would be the last time i hear his voice. this time, i saw him as how i remembered him, and i remember realizing the feeling, its grandpa! and realizing that he never comes to me. so i go up to him to,ask for help;which is weird bc i probably would have wanted a hug first...he was helping me find my car. which i used to "get there".... he said a few things i wish i COULD remember, but i cant....maybe something like, it is gone, broke down, somone too, it, etc...i dont know.
i also dreamt of my step dad, who was walking in the same parking lot i suppose it was. (hes alive) who i dont talk to. we were amicable in the dream, he was happy to see me, and i felt sorry for my behaviour(for irl- hes an ass and i had to stand up for my self, and help my mom realize she needed to leave him).

i also recall trying to text message someone that called themselves, the "main lane", but on my phone it said danny. i dont know a danny, or a "lane" so this i dont know how to interpret, if at all.

and i stepped into class again, it was like an advanced photography course. i got up to go register, bc i always need to register (lol). i woke up shortly after that. that was all from last night. (so 2 dreams in this post)




i am not sure if it was meditation or maybe a deeper part of me, (or guide?) that tells it to me like it is. i was having a hard time adjusting to a life change and my (get over yourself) was in my perspective to let go of what i think i want, and enjoy what happens.

[soleil]

Posted by powessy (here)
The vision may not be of who you are now but perhaps who you once were or wish you still were I am sorry if I posted information about you incorrectly, I am working at it harder know and as far as you and your guides go they are from the here and so she must have great belief in you. My awakening was supposed to happen years ago but an event occurred that was unforeseeable to me and him, we are now together. over the next few days the hidden will seek you in your dreams they are your souls and will ascend within you, you shall feel a moment of calmness and meet an unfamiliar face be assured this friend will be with you always. I apologize again for any misunderstanding. Those of you with more experience will realize the change immediately others will take time but it is a gift from her.

can you explain more? im quite intrigued. i hope my dream can give you more insight.

[Kalamos]

..........

[TraineeHuman]

The afterlife is one subject regarding which there has been little mention in this thread so far, apart from Seeker Joe's references to Bruce Moen's work regarding the somewhat lower levels where every religion under the sun has its own pseudo-"heaven". The afterlife is a huge and important area in itself, for serious people. It has a huge effect on the quality of our next life that comes after our stay there.

I believe there has also, to say the least, been gigantic misunderstanding by quite a few individuals on the Forum over the years, and elsewhere. All the misunderstanding I have in mind has been from individuals who in the end completely and utterly failed or fail in some way to understand or see the difference between the personality on the one hand and the soul or Higher Mind/Self on the other. You are not your personality, your identity. Your personality is just your astral (emotional) body (or sheath) plus your mental body. These do eventually die (usually only after centuries, but they stay kind of frozen and don't evolve for all that time, but at least they eventually separate off from you even if you didn't know you had a HM). Of course they don't deserve respect from any aware being in the afterlife, and so may get "very badly mistreated". Of course you should ideally separate from them at the time of your physical body's death, though few do. These bodies are far easier to identify or "see" than the HM, which is formless, and therefore impossible to pin down or capture. So many people acquire the clairvoyant skill to identify these non-physical bodies, but lack the skill to actually see the HM in itself. This is also complicated by the fact that after death the HM is hampered a little by the strong attachment most people retain to their personality and their insistence to be blind to the fact that they are their HM and not their personality, even though this is quite counterproductive to the HM's own journey. But let's take this slowly, from the top.

When we die we (normally) disconnect from the physical body and are then in our emotional/magnetic body. That disconnection is majorly traumatic for significantly many (something like 25% of people). If you can meditate, it won't be traumatic or difficult for you. Rather, it will be joyful and peaceful. If you can astral travel, or almost astral travel, even a little, then that will also make things immediately comfortable and pleasant for you at this time. Whether the disconnection is positive for you or negative, though, unfortunately you may be like the majority of people and identify your emotional body as the "you" that has passed through death. It isn't the real you at all, though.

We recognize that our physical bodies need exercise. But equally, both of our two after-death bodies need their own kind of exercise -- ironically, so as to make it easier for us (our HM) to shed them more quickly. Meditation enables you to be both "in" and "above" at the same time, even after death. The "above" position enables you to witness whatever's really happening -- to see it from the outside and to see the big picture. When you can see both from the outside and from the inside, that's awareness -- awareness of what you're doing and where you're at. I know it sounds like a contradiction, but as we know the HM has no trouble at all seeing and holding both sides of a contradiction.

With your consciousness (i.e. the formless, and rather invisible, HM) now relieved of the big burden of maintaining a physical body, now it will be much easier for you to astral travel at this time -- and all the more so if you've had any success or partial success at it while you were still with a physical body. In that world, learning to astral travel will be the equivalent of learning to walk and talk was in the physical.

It will be useful at that time if during your physical stay you did plenty of "energy work": psychotherapy, self-facing, defusing of the ego's impulses, plus a general ability to move energy around such as taking it in or giving it out, holding it very steady, and being able in a very general way to "read" the energies in someone else's nervous system any time.

All of the above will certainly make it easier for you to see yourself as separate from, and let go of, your emotional body soon after death. Believe me, you don't want to cling to that emotional body like a security blanket as some (under 10%) do. Those particular individuals may and often do then get reborn still carrying their core baggage with them into their next physical lifetime. That's a tough ride for anyone. Must be lots of horror stories around souls being "recycled" or "kept in prison until rebirth" around that one! So, what you want to do is shed your emotional body ASAP. Then the horror stories certainly won't apply to you. I repeat: the horror stories aren't a picture of what the majority of afterlifers experience.

At this point -- with your emotional body shed -- you'll be there with your mental body, which many at that point unfortunately assume to be their new "self" at this point in their afterlife journey. In this thread I've already made the suggestion that anyone who learns to astral travel a little should learn to mental travel instead. But even if you haven't learnt any OB travel, the education system, despite all the dumbing down, will have given you plenty of mental flexibility and "exercise". It sure still helps, though, if you have learnt to concentrate strongly and to meditate.

Many, many people still have trouble letting go of their mental body, of dying to it at this point. That's because it's the last part of their personality. Many, many people get reincarnated with part of this body still there -- because they haven't learned to let go of that. Lifetime after lifetime, repeating and repeating but slowly making progress.

At some points in this thread I've rather laboriously emphasized the significance of learning to cultivate and stay with and bear silence in your meditation. One reason I've done this was so that hopefully after death you will already have some skill at leaving your personality -- "your" whole identity -- behind, forever. Another reason of course is that "silence" actually isn't nothing. There's no such thing as nothing, in point of fact. But if you truly aim to be silent than you'll stop doing whatever you have been doing so far, leaving the space clear for something deeper to emerge. Something you maybe had never realized was a deeper part of whatever makes "I".

At different times and stages it will become clear that that "silence" is not nothing by any means, but something very conscious, very intelligent. There are various levels to this. At different levels the silence can indeed appear to be "nothing" for a certain period. For example, in the initial experience of enlightenment it seems it's usual to get a glimpse of Source as being extraordinarily (seemingly) passive and "beyond". It's even common for people to jump to the conclusion then that the highest part of whatever they deeply are is "nothing". And indeed, it is nothing that they ever imagined or probably until now understood they were like. Still, it is not nothing. It is existence, fuller existence. To some it can also be "the silence that says far more than any non-silence ever could".

Some may assert that to be concerned with the afterlife -- which is in one's future or past -- is to fail to live in the present. I claim, on the contrary, that the dead and the afterlife are all right here, in the present moment, just in other dimensions. The problem is that what someone is aware of as being in the current moment is usually only a tiny fraction of what is actually there. And that to concentrate entirely on that tiny portion is actually to fail to be aware of the true present moment.

There are many other things to say about the afterlife that we have been misinformed about or received very partial, and therefore very distorted and sometimes quite paranoid information about. Many of these can only be understood properly if one understands certain features of astral travel, meditation, awareness, and the Higher Mind.

[Gekko]

Hello, and thanks for the thread. I admit I've only read pieces here and there, but I wanted to share a lucid dream which I had a few nights ago. Possibly the very first I've had in which I was able to "test" myself and attempt to get my bearings.

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I'm walking through some kind of Russian mill town which is situated near the base of a volcano. The sky is very dark, covered by layers of rapidly moving clouds. I'm heading back to a commune of some sort where I have been staying a few nights.

I stop and look up at the volcano. The peak is covered in snow and I notice the beginnings of a sunrise, purple tinged with pink amid swirling smoke and darkness. A few times I see the sun poke out from behind the clouds, still veiled in black smoke rising. The words come to mind: "lavender sunrise". I vaguely make out a series of flags and cell phone towers dotting the peak, with blinking red lights. They're swaying in a violent wind. I am partly in awe of the sight, and partly uneasy considering the possibility of an avalanche.

When I reach the place where I'm staying/living, the dream becomes somewhat lucid. I'm not totally aware of my waking identity, but there is the understanding that this isn't "reality". I ask the people there questions (I don't remember what those first questions were) but they are reluctant to give me answers. I walk into an adjacent room where I see a closed door and a boiler on the far side of the room. Testing myself, I swing the door I had just passed through partly closed, blocking my view, and imagine that the boiler won't be there when I look again. When I look, the boiler has disappeared.

Excited, I walk back into the main room, and as I do, I become aware of a nagging sensation in my REAL (waking) leg. I have a vague understanding that if I move the leg I would wake up and the dream would end. Since I already dreamed of this place many times during the night, I feel it important to ask them what its meaning was and why I'm here. Again, they seem reluctant but just as they're about to answer, my leg moves and I wake up.

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I find it fascinating that lucid dreaming (or this dream, at least) seems to occur in a delicate intermediate space between waking and deep sleep. Similar to what I experience as hypnagogia, but deeper in the sense of having imagery and characters, rather than the symbolic internal dialogue which usually happens.