INTRODUCTION BY XANTH (Ryan) I‟ve compiled all of Franks posts (whatever is left on the Astral Pulse forums as some 600 posts are lost to the ages) into this single PDF for easy viewing. I read through all his posts using the forum and it was quite cumbersome to figure out how to scroll through them all in a logical manner. I do want to point out that posts 1252 – 1215 (in the middle of the PDF) are out of order for some unknown reason. They belong, mostly, in the front of the book. So when you get to them, please keep that in mind. I have kept all of the links so you can still reference back to the entire thread which is being discussed to provide yourself with some extra context. All links take you directly to their corresponding threads on the Astral Pulse forum. You‟ll only have access if you have a live internet connection. That‟s about it for now… Personally speaking, this collection has helped me more in the past few weeks than all of my readings over the past 10 years. So you can imagine how elated I am to share this with you. Thanks! Ryan ******************************** 2580 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Dynamics Part 2 on: March 24, 2002, 09:15:08 IMO I feel the book is not for beginners. It starts off too complex and seems to get simpler about half-way through. I found it very informative, certainly, and a darned good book. But I feel beginners would have a hard time with it. Cheers, Frank 2579 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / spontaneous obe question on: March 24, 2002, 09:38:52 Spontaneous obe's are very difficult to control... precisely because they occur spontaneously. If you are waking to vibrations, chances are, your projected body has left you. In other words, you ARE out! You probably just don't realise it. Problem is, you can never be sure where your projected body is going to end up. Your sense of awareness is still in the physical so it is only natural to think, right, let's try some technique to "get out". The technique will fail because your projected body is already out. That's where the Mind-Split phenomenon fools you. What usually happens is you drift off for a moment, the projected body returns, and the whole experience just becomes a dream. Yours, Frank 2578 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / More on stilling the mind and success on: March 24, 2002, 11:41:02 No, I don't like the term "trance" either because it puts beginners off by confusing them. I know only too well as it first confused me completely. At the point of projection, you are fully aware of everything that is taking place. To my mind, you are in anything but a "trance". Trance, to me, means being under some kind of hypnosis. A state where you are not really aware of what is going on. Then someone clicks their fingers (or whatever) and you suddenly snap out of it, wondering what happened. The way I would describe it, it's like a veil has been drawn over my sense of outer awareness. What happens is I'm lying on the bed, deeply relaxed, such that my surface thoughts are non- existent. However, there is still a portion of my conscious awareness that can sense the physical world outside my body. Even though my mind is still, and all is calm, there is just this fraction of a tiny something that is aware of the physical surroundings. Then, a veil is drawn over this "something". At that point, there becomes a fixed point of conciousness that is entirely within myself and I am no-longer aware of the "outside world". This fixed point of conciousness absorbs every ounce of my attention. It seems like everything I am experiencing or thinking stems from or is concentrated upon that fixed point inside myself. But I am still fully conscious. At this point, I've stopped rope-climbing or whatever method I'd been using to bring myself to that state. Then, an instant later the vibrations begin; followed by a feeling like being in an elevator; then off I go. Yours, Frank 2577 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / OBE'S on: March 25, 2002, 13:33:59 The falling sensation is one of the difficult things to become accustomed to as it really does feel like you've just flung yourself from a tall building. At first it ignites all the bodily fight or flee process. To overcome it, I went on a high roller-coaster ride fairly regularly until I got bored with all falling sensations. Now when it happens, at the onset of projection, my consciousness thinks nothing of it. Yours, Frank 2576 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Undependent Astral Beeing or fabrication? on: March 25, 2002, 14:15:35 There is a level that seems to be a buffer zone between a lucid dream and an area where other beings frequent. Years ago I would forever find myself trapped in this buffer-zone by my own mind-thoughts. What seems to happen is: if you feel scared, for example, the scenery will change so as to give yourself something to feel scared about. Which, naturally, makes you feel even more scared; so again the scenery will instantly change to something that is even more awful, and so on. The process also works the other way around. If you feel blissfully happy, circumstances around you will become so that they make you feel all blissful and happy. I also have a theory that significant numbers of new-age mystical types get trapped at this stage. Many I spoke to, over the years, would describe this heavenly place that they sought-out through some meditation technique or other. Basically, If you come to this stage thinking you've found God and all his angels, for instance, then that is precisely what you will get by the plane-load! I used to call this place the "training ground". It took me quite a while to realise that the images/circumstances I was seeing were being generated by my own thoughts! Just beyond this, you start coming across regions (types of Astral Planes) where people appear to be going about their business in all manner of circumstances. Living and working in places that can be very ordinary or quite fantastic and all situations inbetween. Most times you can approach someone and have a chat. But don't be surprised if they just look at you totally confused. I found if you become disruptive, you are automatically shifted back to the training ground stage. Hence the name. The best state of mind to have on this region, I found, is that of mild curiosity. Then you tend to attract beings who like to help out. HTH Frank 2575 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Nailing the Exit on: March 26, 2002, 09:48:36 quote: I've been attempting Astral Projection unsuccessfully for about a year now, reading various books, websites, etc. I recently picked up Astral Dynamics and I really enjoy the book. It isn't like anything else I've read. Now, here's my dilema. I have gotten pretty good at successfully relaxing my body and calming my mind, then entering the trance state. However, I just can't nail the exit! I sometimes get vibrations, swaying sensations, etc, and sometimes I don't get anything. When I begin with the rope technique, I feel as though the pressure is forcing me to break trance. I catch myself holding my breath, or tensing muscles. Then, before I know it, I've killed the trance. For some reason, I can't let go of the physical. Any suggestions/ comments? You use the ROPE technique in order to bring yourself to the point where you begin to feel vibrations. What the ROPE technique serves to to is 1) provide a focal point of conciousness to the exclusion of all other thoughts, feelings, etc., and 2) it gives a powerful visual signal to the sub- conscious that you want to transfer your conscious mind into the projected body and go some place other than where your physical body happens to be. If you start rope-climbing at the vibration stage, chances are you will upset the process. This appears to be what is happening in your case. First, understand that the separation is fully automatic. The trick is to bring yourself up to the vibration stage and then simply let separation happen! Tensing muscles and upsetting the smooth progression of the breath are caused by tiny fears, doubts, etc. Which will go away once you experience projection a few times. After all, you are on the brink of the unknown (according to your conscious awareness at the time). So it is only natural for it to feel a teeny bit nervous. Which in turn upsets the projection process. What I did was, as the vibrations began I found I could modulate their intensity by regulating my breathing. So I spent time just experiencing the vibration-sensation thus allowing my conscious mind to get used to them. The way you separate is just to let it happen. If you try and "do something" the process will be interrupted. Yours, Frank 2574 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Blown by the strobe... on: March 26, 2002, 18:23:08 Look, I don't want to sound rude, or anything, but my posting to this BBS is the first time I have ever made contact with others on this whole subject. I just want to say that the "Astral Realms" are pretty flaming wierd. You cannot start questioning, "Oh, I saw this flashing light what am I going to do?" In the Astral Realms there are lights you could never imagine you would ever see. There are sounds that you couldn't possibly describe. There are different kinds of beings you come across that you could never imagine existed. But they are all within you, and you must have faith in the fact that you can never be harmed by it all. In the sense that the whole experience is a natural discovery process that the "supreme being" is wanting you to have. Gosh, decades ago, I was SO scared of every little sound and every little vibration caused a fear... a fear so big that it felt like someone was about to end my life at that moment. Yours, Frank 2573 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Blown by the strobe... on: March 26, 2002, 19:16:32 quote: Hey Frank, what do you mean the beings are within oneself? Are you saying all beings one meet in the astral should be imaginary beings or what?´ Cause that I would disagree with... I don´t think that was what you meant though.. Tia, flickering lights, sound, and other sensations seems to be very common in connection with OBE´s and OBE attempts, and shouldn´t be over analyzed I´d reckon. Me myself has never heard any sounds or had any flickering though, but the vibrations, them I´ve encountered the more even though I´m an OBE novice... it seems to be very individual what type of sensations one will experience, they are all exciting though, the thing is to make them non- exciting, so one doesn´t get distracted by them... remember to be merely a passive observer to these sensations, responding to them would most likely ruin a good OBE attempt. Since I haven´t yet succeeded floating out, I can´t say how long I have to put up with the sensations before "leaving", but the two times I felt I was VERY close I had the vibrations for what seemed like 3 minutes give and take 1 or 2... how fast I encounter the vibrations vary of course, but I most often get them rather quickly, perhaps 5-15 minutes after relaxing the physical body satisfyingly(sp?). All the best in your future attempts, perhaps we´ll bump into each other out there, until then, take care// Qui-Gon - Your focus determines your reality - All the beings you see, everything that you experience... whether on the physical plane or otherwise... happens within you. But... Imaginary??? NO WAY!!!!! What one experiences, by venturing within, is a true sense of REALITY. Yours, Frank 2572 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Nailing the Exit on: March 26, 2002, 19:52:16 Believe me, they come from fear. When I use that word I do not mean in a normal, physical sense. All kinds of uncertanties, let's say, can upset the natural process of separation. It's fear in the sense of being uncertain of the outcome. But it is a very normal stumbling block you can easily learn to overcome. Yours, Frank 2571 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Dream / OBE last night.... on: March 27, 2002, 09:10:22 There are an infinite number of "Astral Planes" and an infinite number of beings frequent them. You have to be careful that when you do come across them, you don't make false assumptions. The image could well have been a younger version of yourself. But you don't know whether it is your mind making that assumption, or whether the being itself presented that picture. After much trial and error, I found that when you do find yourself in populated regions of the Astral, the best state of mind to adopt is an air of mild curiosity. Then you tend to attract others who like to help. Which is good because you can find out a *lot* of information that way. Otherwise you end up trying to work out what is going on around you for yourself. Which is extremely difficult, as nothing really relates to the physical. So you end up in a state of being puzzled and perplexed. Problem is, Scamps (as I call them) pick that up and begin teasing you; playing on your fears, and so forth. It is perfectly possible on the Astral to learn to play any instrument, or to learn a language, or whatever. Technically, on the Astral, you cannot project into the "future" because there is no time (everything is infinite). But I admit it's a convenient way of looking at it from the point of view of the physical. With skill and practice, it is possible to project to populated regions where great music is played. There you are bound to find a helpful someone who can teach you. Coming across the "someone" who can teach you, once you are there, is the easy part. The hard part is developing the ability to project and find such a place... and not just once, but with sufficient accuracy to do it time and again. Yours, Frank 2570 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Does Anyone Else See Symbols when OBEing? on: March 27, 2002, 09:57:04 The Astral planes contain an infinite number of symbols. The solution to their meaning, or why the symbols have been put where you came across them, or the "why's" and "wherefore's" of any Astral event: can usually be got by staying near and adopting an air of mild curiosity. Someone will almost always come along and explain it for you. As I touched on in another post, if you try and work it out for yourself it tends to just get more and more confusing. There are vast areas of the Astral planes devoted to all manner of circumstances and events. Symbols are, of course, no exception. A way to transport yourself to these areas is through use of metaphysical imagery, as explained in another post to this thread. Yours, Frank 2569 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Blown by the strobe... on: March 27, 2002, 11:26:55 There are two issues here: In my original post I meant it against the background of Astral encounters always being within one's capacity to control, i.e. you cannot ultimately be harmed by any of it. In the sense that, on the physical, if there is an object that you do not want to see (for whatever reason) you simply turn away. If there's someone you don't like, then you simply avoid them, etc. However, I've come across people in the past who visited Astral realms and were repeatedly subject to bad experiences of one kind or another. They did not, for some reason, realise that with a little practice it is just as easy to "turn away" from some bad entity in the Astral realms, as it is on the physical. The second issue is about the fact that, ultimately, whether on the Astral or the physical, all experiences occur within us. And I would wholeheartedly agree with the poster who stated, "...Of course we are all made of the same star dust and everything I encounter is experienced "within", even though it´s not actually IN me..." Yours, Frank 2568 Psychic and Paranormal / Welcome to Psychic and Paranormal! / Energy body attachments on: March 27, 2002, 17:20:58 The person in question is in the "training ground" I described in a post to a different thread. Yours, Frank 2567 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Search for Osama!!! Millions of dollars reward! on: March 28, 2002, 11:08:27 quote: See, it's weird for me because one minute I will totally believe all this astral projection stuff, and then the next I will have some serious doubts. This is one of them. I am a rational, logical person who pursues things scientifically. If this was REAL, if you could really travel around in the real time zone, then couldn't Robert and Romero and all the hundreds of others I'm sure exist like them, EASILY find Osama bin Laden? Couldn't they have quickly pinpointed survivors at the WTC? Couldn't they find where Chandra Levy is? And I'm aware that Robert says the realtime zone quickly fluctuates into the others, but with skill and discipline the real time state can be maintained for an extended period. Actually you don't even need the real time zone, just make a hop skip and jump over to the akashic records and look up our man osama. Sounds easy to me. I guess this gets back to the question, if this is real and not in the mind, then why can't anyone prove it? You say you are rational, logical and pursue things scientifically... then why are you making an exception in this case? I am a scientist, and the way I set out was to accept the phenomenon was real and try and disprove it. I basically took a selection of "obe techniques" and tried them exactly as read. I regarded myself as a basically normal, healthy rational-thinking individual. Such that, if I *genuinely* tried the techniques *properly* and *thoroughly* and did NOT have any kind of obe experience: that would be sufficient proof (for me) that the whole obe "thing" was baloney. As it turned out, I did have obe experiences and have been enjoying them for about 20 years. Even so, I would still regard myself as a beginner in many respects. The real-time zone (as it is called) is the most stable zone. But it is *still* very tricky to negotiate. You can't just say to yourself, "Go find so and so" and open your eyes expecting to be there. In theory, yes, but in practice it is extremely difficult. And there is also the political aspect touched on by the previous poster. Personally, even if I could I still wouldn't. Because it's simply not my business to start getting involved in one side's viewpoint or the other. Yours, Frank 2566 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hello.... FATHER! on: March 28, 2002, 13:25:21 A lot of my early obe experiences turned out to be hallucinations. Like the 5 years or so I spent in what I termed the "training zone" mentioned in another post. At first it can be tricky separating your own hallucinations from genuine interactions with other beings. The mind can often "play tricks" on you in the physical... but on the Astral, it's trick-city. On the Astral it is SO darned easy to get carried away with an idea. Those ideas can so very easily creep into your physical life too. Like, there are areas on the Astral where, depending on your character in physical life, you can be surrounded by the most godly and angelic of beings. If you do this often enough, you can easily begin thinking you are some kind of "chosen one" etc. When in reality, the images you are seeing are nothing more than hallucinations created by your own sub-conscious yearning. Problem is, one situation begets the other. Such that the more real and tangible the images become, the more you believe them... so the more real and tangible they become... so the more you believe them... and so on, ad nauseum. Get enough people either to see, or wish to see the same (or similar) images and, hey-presto, a new religion is formed. So your Dad is correct in a sense. The solution to getting beyond the initial hallucinatory stumbling blocks is, once you can get on the Astral, you need to keep an entirely open and mildly questioning frame of mind. Simply think of everything as "interesting", don't get bogged down, and keep things short. Like last night with myself, for instance. I've been experimenting with creating forms or changing existing forms. I came across an area of rock strata and I thought, "Hmm there's no-one about so let's have a play at changing this area around." Oh, as an aside, I also believe it is important to create as little disturbance as you can. For example, when approaching people always excuse yourself and be polite. And don't try changing the shape of someone's dwelling, and so forth. Anyhow, for a while I was changing the shape, colour and texture of these rocks. Which was mighty amusing. Once I'd finished, I then returned to the physical, awoke, made some notes about the experience, and then went off somewhere else. I firmly believe that is the best way to proceed. Robert Bruce, in his book, advises you keep your travels short and to the point. This is good advice. If you don't, what tends to happen is your Astral journeys become a mish-mash. In the sense that when you wake, it's hard to separate the circumstances where you were simply dreaming... from situations where you were on the Astral proper. Best of luck, Frank 2565 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Point Shift Technique on: March 28, 2002, 16:45:42 quote: Well I use something similar to this point shift technique and usually after half an hour I tend to get the tiniest sound in my ears that I heard the first time I ever had an oobe but the sound is very very slight and if it wasn't totally quiet in the room id never hear it - so I believe I may be on the right track but no matter how long I remain like that and attempt to relax etc the noise just doesn't get any louder and I start getting an itchy head or itchy cheak or itchy leg. I feel i'm just not capable of inducing an OOBE and that I can get to a certain point but no further - even using the technique I used first time of waking in the night and trying it while very tired doesn't work. Oh, the itch stage! I could write a whole book about those flaming itches. Look, could I please suggest you forget (for the moment) using any particular "technique" such as point and shift, ROPE etc. First, you need to find some "thing" to concentrate upon that is very appealing to you personally... but has nothing to do with sex, money, etc. Because it will all get too Primal and spoil it. You just need one "thing" that you can enjoy imagining to the extent you can hold that one image, in your mind, to the exclusion of all other images. And that is what you need to practice doing. At first, you will be able to hold the image for a few seconds and then you'll think of something else. But gather your thoughts and begin again. Keep doing this until you can concentrate solely on that one image for fun, if need be. At which point, you are ready to concentrate on specific images such as ROPE, etc. The key is to ask yourself the question... where, exactly, is your sense of conscious awareness coming from? That is to say, when you are doing the imagining: where is the image you are attempting to imagine coming from. The answer will be, at first, directly behind your physical eyes... even though your eyes may be closed. What you need to do is shift that sense of consciousness up slightly and to the centre. In other words, lock the physical eyes out of the equation. To me, it's almost like the eyes can't let go of being the dominant "visual" organ. They suspect you are trying to view some "thing" and it's like the physical eyes automatically take over saying, "Yep, we do all that visual stuff so get-lost the rest of you." The way I do it is imagine I am looking at myself in a mirror, and a red dot is painted on my brow. Then I estimate the position and try to see the same dot from within. Keep swapping from one to the other, at a rate you feel comfortable with, until you get a response. You will realise the difference because all kinds of "happenings" will begin. Yours, Frank 2564 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Robert Monroe JOOTB on: March 29, 2002, 10:41:38 quote: I am currently reading Journeys Out of the Body and although the book is a little out dated, I have found it quite fascinating and full of good info. Anyway, for those of you who have read it (and can remember), I have a question specifically regarding the chapter he dedicates to "Local III"- For those of you who haven't read it and those who have but long ago, Monroe finds himself traveling through tunnel into a black void. Eventually he finds an entire world like ours, with a cilvilization much like ours (with human beings, etc.) The main difference is the technology is different, ie. trains that don't use steam or electricity, but something stored in "vats". The automobiles are very wide and sit up to six people on wide benches and drive down very wide streets. The strangest thing is that when Monroe travelled there, who would occassionaly take over the body of a man... this man was an engineer and occassionaly he would be in control of his body during vital moments, for example once he found himself as this man in his labratory. Suddenly the man's wife entered the room with a group of people and asked, "So, can you tell my friends what you're working on?" Of course Robert, not having any memory of the man's past or present, other than the little info he had gained when he was in his body, didn't say anything. Anyway, Monroe admits to feelig guilty for having caused much embarrasment and anguish for the man... What could this mean? Do you think this was actually happening...that he was entering into another dimension, another world and actually interacting with real beings? I found this chapter quite compelling...but sort of "Twilight Zone-ish". Let me know what you think, expecially if you have read the book and remember this part. -Dan Monroe's J.O.B. was the first ever book I read on this topic in about 1977. What I susequently realised from my studies, was the region he describes as "Local III" is simply the Astral realm. Problem is (as with any emerging science) we don't have many set terms for things. Some terms have been universally accepted now, like "Lucid Dream" for instance. Monroe called various areas "Locals". Some call them "Planes" I call them "Zones" and so forth. You see, just beyond the Lucid Dream stage there is what I call the Training Zone. Beyond which is what I term the Discovery Zone. The Discovery Zone is an infinite area that is populated by all manner of beings, including human-looking beings, engaged in all manner of activities. This is, I believe, where Monroe went when he describes the automobiles, etc. in a place he calls "Local III". I haven't read the book for some 15 years and no-longer have a copy so I cannot refresh my memory of what he wrote exactly. But it would be a mistake to think that "Local III" was just one area populated by one type of people. The number and types of beings and/or areas, etc. are truly infinite. However, if Monroe did believe there was just this one area, then that thought alone would be enough to keep transporting him back there. In the Discovery Zone you can generally approach people and ask all about what is going on. Hence why I use the term "Discovery". The other week, for example, I entered a huge building that turned out to be some kind of bakery. The other night I visited a social club where people were celebrating. Other times I just end up walking by a river, or just rambling across the countryside. Just recently I came across a large number of people who had met to watch a competition between these fascinating vehicles that had me enthralled. The most amazing thing I ever did was travel to an underwater area. Now that is very scary! It completely baffles your consciousness... the fact that you can go underwater without the need for any Scuba gear. Another amazing thing is sometimes the people you interact with actually know "what you are". When I went to the bakery, for example, I chatted to some people in a room that looked like a storage area of some kind. At first they were wondering who I was. Then one of them said to his workmate, "Ah, I think he's a xxxxxx... Yes, he is definitely an xxxxxx" Unfortunately, I cannot recall the word as my visit was cut short by my physical body pulling me back. Basically, there are two ways of visiting the Astra... 1) you can do as I do and just whoosh off and see where you end up. Or, 2) you can practise directing yourself to specific areas by using metaphysical imagery. HTH Frank 2563 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Search for Osama!!! Millions of dollars reward! on: March 29, 2002, 11:08:38 quote: I don't see where the exception here is. I also am accepting that it's true and trying to disprove it. A) I have never had an OBE despite years of effort. B) I think it is disheartening that this can't be proven and used for more practical purposes, SUCH AS finding survivors of crashes. Finding kidnapped people, etc. After all, advanced projectors are supposed to have access to the Akashic Records right? Where every thought idea and action has been recorded? A I can understand. B I find fishy... Thanks for the replies guys. Atlas Atlas, you made me realise something important. You see, the Astral realms have certain "qualities" about them. You cannot gain access to the higher realms until you mind has been conditioned in a certain way. For example, my current playground is what I call the Learning Zone. It is a place where you can walk or fly around and interact with other beings. Many of which look exactly like ordinary humans. Initially, I found that if I became rowdy then some kind of energy would instantly and automatically transfer me back to the next lowest level (which happened to be the Astral base level) which I termed the Training Ground. It came to me very strongly when I read your last post. A burst of thought told me that this "prevention process" is present not only between the different levels of Astral Realm... but they are present right back through the physical. Some area of your consciouness is actually preventing you from having even the merest onset of an obe experience. Please don't take offence. I'm only saying this because I thought it may help you. Yours, Frank 2562 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hello.... FATHER! on: March 29, 2002, 13:17:08 quote: Greetings Frank! Thanks once again for a most informative and wise post quote: A lot of my early obe experiences turned out to be hallucinations. Like the 5 years or so I spent in what I termed the "training zone" mentioned in another post. At first it can be tricky separating your own hallucinations from genuine interactions with other beings. The mind can often "play tricks" on you in the physical... but on the Astral, it's trick-city. What "zone" was this "training zone". I mean, was it entirely in your mind, was it the "real time zone" or non of the above? Perhaps more importantly - how did you, after five years (and that pereverance is a credit to you and an example to others), start to cease experiencing hallucinations, and start experiencing the Astral proper, and much more importantly - how did did you come to differentiate between the two? Robert, in AD, compares visualisation abilities in the Astral vis a vis the physical, as like comparing the most advanced super-computer (Astral) with a toy calculator (physical). It is not difficult to see how thought forms can be created, and viewed as real - especially against a desire to see something specific, or meet with Angels, Deities etc.. And there is subjective versus objective imagery The passive, interested, bystander approach seems excellent advice to me! With best regards, Adrian. Just beyond the Lucid Dream state there is a region where all your surroundings and everything you experience are a direct product of your thoughts. Any whim, desire, fear, or whatever, is instantly and graphically presented all around you. As you think, so it will be: instantly and literally. Depending on your state of mind, this place can be sheer heaven or total hell (or anything between) and it's entirely your choice. I have a theory that many people confuse this place with the Astral proper. If you enter this region thinking you are on the Astral plane... then whatever you sub-consciously imagine what an "Astral Plane" looks like will instantly become your reality. Believe me, it looks and feels absolutely real. Problem is, the more "real" you think it to be, the more "real" it becomes. And that is how you become trapped. Because the stronger your belief the more your surroundings will develop to enforce that belief, therefore, the more you believe it: and so on; and so on; and so on........ The kinds of experiences you can have in this region are truly infinite. So if you enter this region thinking you are on the brink of your lifetime's spiritual journey, then that is how you will perceive it. Sadly, I fear many people have spent many years thinking they were on a profound spiritual journey, when it was all just a product of their own sub-conscious imaginings. For example, if you are a devout believer in some religion or other and you enter this region, your sub-conscious desire to be at one with whatever (or whoever) you call God will manifest itself in total glory. There will be bells, music and angels, galore. Everything you ever wished for, in fact. Another big danger is, unlike travel on the Astral proper, your experiences in this region make a MUCH stronger memory imprint. So you come out of it remembering a lot more of the experience. As such, it doesn't take much to imagine how this might affect your physical life. The way I got myself out of it was to "realise" it. Once you realise that everything around you is merely a manifestation of your own sub-conscious, then it all just fades into nothing. I am a scientist and people think what makes a scientist is wearing a white coat and forever dabbling in some laboratory. Nope, I say what makes a scientist is the way he or she thinks. I think people are born with a talent for thinking along a certain kind of path. A person born with a talent for art, may eventually become an artist. Likewise, a person born with a talent for thinking in a certain way becomes a scientist. Okay, not all of them. But a significant percentage, let's say. Writing down my experiences and being objective about it all, or at least as objective as I could be, caused me to realise that the experiences I was having were hallucinations eminating from my own sub-conscious. It sounds simple to realise when I'm writing this down, today. But at the time of the experiences it was very different. I believe this region is most easily entered from the wake-induced dream stage. Well, that is how it was with me. And it is from this stage that most people have there initial obe's. So again, there is the big danger where you have an inexperienced person falling into what can be a very powerful trap. At the same time, I was experimenting trying to enter the Astral Realms from an awake state by means of meditation, etc. What began to happen was, sometimes I would have an "experience" that felt different. The scenery, for example, seemed more fixed. If I turned one way then turned back again, nothing would have changed. Plus, there were all kinds of other tiny aspects that just made me think differently. When you are on the Astral, proper, you can think entirely independent of your surroundings. Though you can, with a little practice, manifest things with your thoughts; you are doing it knowingly and purposefully and in a highy controlled way. In the Training Zone you are totally wrapped up in your surroundings. They ARE you in fact. But because you are SO totally immersed it is very difficult to realise it. It's like being subject to a HUGE Catch-22. Also, on the Astral, you can interact with others and gather knowledge. Admittedly, you can do this in the Training Zone too. But the interactions with other beings on the Astral are much more fluid, and much more natural. You can repeatedly walk in and out of buildings, for example, and the interior will be the same each time. Also, you can walk away from a place and turn around and it will be about the correct distance away... given your walking speed and the time taken. In the Training Zone, the scenery tends to envelop you and has the feeling that it's following you wherever you go. It's rather like as if you were suspended at the centre of a 20 foot diameter bubble. Ultimately, there is a distinctly different "feel" to the Astral. Well, the Astral I can currently access given my level of development. While I say the Training Zone is more commonly entered from the Lucid Dream stage, I feel it is possible to enter the Training Zone from ANY stage of development; no matter what method you use to project; or however experienced you are. For example, I fear that some of Monroe's later work has been composed from Training Zone experiences. The passive, interested, bystander approach is the best state of mind to have because it stops you from getting too carried away. Okay, I freely admit that even what I or anyone else would call "the Astral" may simply be one mega-group-hallucination. But I'm keeping an open mind on that one, therefore, have no thoughts one way or the other. I think what did make a big impact is when I had my first real-time obe. Being out of your physical body and looking at the ceiling from about 1 foot away, then looking down at yourself asleep is one heck of an experience when it first happens. You think, "No, I just can't have!". And then when you do it again and again, all this Astral Plane stuff starts to feel very tangible. Events start falling into place, new knowledge comes trickling through, and concepts you would struggle to grasp from merely reading them in a book... suddenly become easy to comprehend. Yours, Frank 2558 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Amusing Astral Sounds on: March 30, 2002, 19:31:28 The sounds you hear are within you. Only your interpretation of them is different. No human- being has ever heard a sound that did not eminate within them. It's only the auditory-illusion process, on the physical level... that tricks you into thinking sounds, per se, eminate from without. Yours, Frank 2557 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: March 31, 2002, 10:35:20 As far as relaxation goes, you just need to be lying on your back fairly comfortably. That's all. Don't "concentrate" on being relaxed. If you do that, you will never be able to do the most important step. Also, put aside all thoughts of "projection techniques" for now. Because concentration on some technique, or other, will again interfere with the most important part, which is: You need to shift your focal point of awareness (or consciousness) upwards. If you concentrate, for a short while, you should realise that your focal point of consciousness is situated immediately behind your physical eyes. And that is probably where it has been all your adult life, during times when you are awake. There lies the difficulty!!! It is SO used to being there, during awake time, it becomes habitually entrenched. Imagine looking at yourself in a mirror and you had drawn a 1cm diameter circle in red felt-tip pen, in the centre of your forehead about 2.5cm up from where your nose joins to your forehead. That's about where you need to be, focal-point of consciousness-wise. You will probably find that the moment you begin doing it, i.e. letting your focal point rise to the correct place, your eyes will "grab it back". You have to teach the eyes to let go and allow the focal point of consciousness to rise up as I describe. As it rises, you may begin to see little shadows, or glimpses of any sort-of this or that. I call it stray energy. Sometimes I might see a little figure coming out of a hazy mist. Just this morning, for instance, I could have sworn I could see the head of a wolf right in front of me! But you need to teach your eyes not to react to it. The way you do that is to keep practising. At first, as your conciousness rises and you see a tiny glimpse of some image or other, the eyes will suddenly try to look. It's like the eyes say, "What was that??? What did I just see!!!" The moment they try to look at whatever it was, your focal point of consciousness will immediately drop back behind your physical eyes. So you'll have to start again. But after a short while, you will pass through the stray-energy stage and begin feeling vibrations. Once you feel those vibrations that's it, you've done it. Problem is, people read all kinds of books about all the many so-called "techniques". I remember the days when I would go to bed, armed with probably 50 techniques for relaxation; 75 techniques for the breath; 20 techniques for the exit, etc., etc. You know, I'd be prepared for any and every eventuality that may arise... and boy was that stressful!!! Yours, Frank 2556 Bug Reports and Questions / Forums Bugs Reports and Questions / Moderation in all things on: March 31, 2002, 18:13:14 Lauràelle, The Ceremony & The Sword You entered the Training Zone. Rgds, Frank 2555 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Question on: April 01, 2002, 07:17:01 quote: I was wondering if anyone has ever been in an obe, and returned to the body and spoke directly to someone in the same bed. May sound confusing, but i commanded myself to return to tell my partner all about my obe, i returned to the body and turned and spoke. I didnt wake first, shake my head, then speak, it was one process. Any ideas? Thanks alfa_33au Yes, this is what you should train yourself to do with every experience you have. Doing this will enable you to remember more of the experience, and it will encourage you such that you WILL make faster progress. People who have difficulty with obe's generally do not endeavour to make bedside notes of their experiences HOWEVER SLIGHT. So if you haven't done so already, put a pen and notepad beside your bed. Make a habit of going back to the physical and immediately arise then jot down a few notes of your experience. Yours, Frank ps I liked the 'Sud Sprint better. 2554 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Robert Monroe JOOTB on: April 01, 2002, 07:34:54 Look, I really wouldn't place too much emphasis on the specifics of what Monroe wrote. Yes, at the time his JOB was brilliant. I will always have a soft-spot for "old man obe" as I call him, as JOB was the very first book I read. But a lot of the conclusions he came to about people being different incarnations of himself, and so forth? Well, maybe they were. But it is highly likely that they were not. The BIG PROBLEM in coming to conclusions about Astral experiences is they can SO VERY EASILY become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The fact of which seemed to have escaped Mr Monroe. But I'm not holding that against him because it is SO darned easy to get carried away with it all. Yours, Frank 2553 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 01, 2002, 10:54:07 quote: Are you saying that is all whats needed to project?? DjMidgetMan "Mind over Matter" No, I'm not saying that at all. You do not "need" anything to project. Any physically and mentally normal person already has everything they need in order to project. You see, these days people are suffering Astral Information Overload. Problem is, commercialism is taking over; books need to be sold, pages of information need to be created, and so forth. Marketing works because, in essence, it fools you into thinking you "need" some "thing" in order to be a better person, say, or to make your life more secure, or whatever. Advertisements play on fear and greed and all kinds of circumstances and emotions so you'll keep buying and buying and buying...... But don't get me wrong, I do realise where you are coming from. I just want to make clear the big mistake I see people making, time and again, is they think they need some "technique" in order to project. No, the act of projection is a totally NATURAL event. However, what you DO need (or at least what most of us seem to need) is relaxation coupled with a little meta-physical imagery. So as to kick-start the process of bringing ourselves to the mental point where projection WILL happen (NOTE: The key word to remember here is "little"). Have you ever noticed that the sexiest pictures of women, the pictures that really stimulate the most, tend to be the ones where they are NOT fully naked? That's because they tantalise the mind and stimulate it into developing elements of creative fantasy in order to "fill the gaps". Which, in turn, can very quickly stimulate an erection. So the million-dollar question is: How can we "tantalise the mind" into stimulating projection? Okay, the first thing we need to do is to simply relax. Not relax in any particular way necessarily. No, all you need is to simply do nothing more than just lie down on your back and relax... what could be more natural than that? But what has happened is, the marketing-boys have latched onto this and have provided us with an amazing plethora of so-called "techniques"... "Buy my latest Power Technique... No, buy my Super-Power Technique... Hey, over hear, I've got a Super-Power Technique that doubles as a 10-Minute blah, blah, blah, Technique all rolled into one... No, listen to me, I've got the latest Advanced Super-Duper Power Two-Minute Projection Blaster... and if that fails, next week comes the very latest Projection BlasterII that's guaranteed to relax & project more than any other, or your money back!" And so it goes on, ad nauseum. I was flipping through Astral Dynamics yesterday when I came across a section where problems had occured from using the Rope Technique. One person ended up with a pile of rope on the floor; another kept hitting the ceiling, and so forth. What these people have done is to develop (or perhaps they already did have) brilliant powers of creative visualisation. But that is all they have done. Alright, maybe having such an attuned creative power will come in handy in their physical life. Especially if they are a designer of some kind. But it is not at all necessary for Astral Projection. In fact, I maintain that it can quite possibly interfere with the entire projection process. Projection occurs when you shift your focal point of awarenes from behind your physical eyes and move it upwards to the point I described in a previous post to this thread. That is really all you need to do. Your focal point of awareness is simply the part of your brain that gives you the five physical senses of smell, touch, taste, hearing and eyesight. Plus, it allows you to think about things and to remember events. Right, so inside the front part of your brain, about where I told you to imagine the red dot, is a portion of the brain that has the ability to see the Astral region(s). Imagine that the Astral regions are the VHF FM waveband (in the UK it's 88 to 108 megahertz) and that the portion of the brain I'm telling you about is an FM radio. But also imagine that this radio has no loudspeaker - just a headphone outlet. So now imagine a situation where the radio is switched-on and tuned to a station; and you are standing next to the radio wearing a pair of headphones. But the headphones are not plugged in. In other words, the radio is receiving and playing a signal; and you are standing there with everything you need to hear it; but you can't actually hear anything... until... you do the simple act of plugging in the headphones and bingo! Instantly you hear the station. In the physical body, your focal point of awareness are the headphones. The part of the brain that connects to the Astral is the switched-on radio. When you shift your focal point of awareness upwards... you plug in the headphones. It really is that simple. So just lie back, relax, and imagine making that connection by using a little meta-physical imagery. You can climb an imaginary rope, or imagine putting your sense of physical awareness in an elevator, or anything like that will do. The simpler and the plainer it is the better. Also, and this is HIGHLY EFFECTIVE, let your eyes roll back so they are looking upwards. You see, this is SO HIGHLY EFFECTIVE because your focal point of awareness, when you are awake, tends to follow the eyes. Point the eyes up, and your focal point of awareness goes... At first, you may experience stress in the eye muscles. So relax them until the strained feeling goes away and try again. Try to concentrate on not physically holding the eyes up. Just let them roll back naturally. Which they WILL do after just a little practise. You know when you are doing it right, because there will come an instant when suddenly you thought you heard something; or maybe you thought you detected some kind of shadow or movement. At which point the eyes will try to look. Which will have the effect of immediately halting the process. So you will have to start again. This may happen quite a number of times at first, but at least you will know you are on the right track! So please, as a little experiment, put aside all thoughts of using any kind of technique. Simply lie back, gently relax, and let your eyes roll back and imagine your awareness drifting upwards. It is important that you take things very slowly, and handle your mind very gently. It is rather like if you were physically handling a new-born baby. Think of the protective gentleness you would feel towards that tiny new-born soul. Now imagine the same thing, but in mental terms. Please always bear in mind: YOU CANNOT "MAKE" PROJECTION HAPPEN!!! Successful projection is all about creating the right circumstances where you simply let it happen. Understand that conscious-exit projection is a gentle and graceful process. The slightest hint of any kind of mental harshness totally scuppers the whole thing! Yours, Frank 2552 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 01, 2002, 14:39:40 Adrian, please understand that you do NOT have to imagine to such a DETAILED extent. If you keep on doing that, chances are, all you will become is an expert at creative visualisation... rather than an expert who can fly around the Astral planes at will. If you concentrate on holding a fixed point of awareness, either within or without, doing such a thing will occupy your consciousness and keep it firmly rooted where it normally resides (while awake) which is behind your physical eyes. As such, you will never get to connect your headphones. Simply let your eyes roll back and allow yourself to create a vague notion of your conscious awareness just drifting up through the top of your head. Be very gentle about it. Think of it softly, and not in any kind of real detail. Just let the natural process take over. You see, that's the big stumbling block. That's what I have realised through my interaction with this BBS. People try too hard to have a conscious-exit obe. Once you start imagining, in detail, and doing things like trying really hard... it scuppers the whole process! It's like people get trapped in a Conscious-Exit Catch 22. The only relaxation consideration you need is to give yourself the once-over; in the sense of asking questions like, "Is my head supported?" or, "Am I warm enough?" and stuff like that. You need conditions such that your physical body feels basically comfortable and will continue to be so for some time. That is all. You don't want your physical arm having it's circulation restricted, for instance, otherwise you'll be pulled back. Which is a bit of a waste of an experience; for something you could have spent a few seconds sorting out at the start. As for your breathing, just let it happen naturally. But it must be through the diaphragm. Maybe you know this already, but if not then there must be information galore on the Internet. Breathing through the diaphragm is how everyone should breathe anyway, as it is far more efficient than trying to raise your whole chest cavity with your lungs everytime you breathe in. The whole physical portion of the initial experience serves nothing more than to confirm that your physical body will just go to sleep and stay there! Believe me, there is nothing worse than enjoying a fantastic Astral experience, only to have your physical body pull you back because of some petty problem... like... the room is stuffy so you sneezed a few times, or whatever. It's a complete PITA. In spite of the precautions outlined, your physical body will *still* pull you back, and seemingly for no reason. So you need to minimise this as much as you can. With me, it has now got to the stage where when I feel this familiar poking on one or other of my shoulder blades I think, "Oh no, what is it this time." So I return saying, "What now?" It may be the dogs have been barking, or my wife got up to have a pee, or whatever. And it always seems to happen when I'm having a most fantastic Astral experience, that's SO totally out of this world... and the physical pulls me back because it's a little too hot, or a little too cold, or there was a strange noise... or a myriad of other things that - at the time - when compared to the experience you were just having, prior to the recall, seem just SO totally irrelevant. So please try doing as I suggest and let me know how it goes. Nothing is going to happen overnight, obviously, but what you need to happen is: you'll be lying there and for a moment you thought, "What was that?" Like you heard som kind of sound, or a tiny flash of light, or whatever. It was just something that kicked your physical eyes back into focus. And when that happens, you KNOW you are on the right track. Yours, Frank 2551 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 01, 2002, 17:04:35 Look, once you feel those vibrations just bathe in them, let them flow through you up, down, left, right and every other place besides. Because getting those vibrations is IT!!! From then on, you will have the ability to decide where you want to go. In the sense of, right, you just learned to drive and passed your test. So now it's up to you where you choose to drive to. You choose your own road-map. No more is there an instructor beside you saying where you should (or should not) go. With me, I can't stand messing about in the Real-Time Zone... Why? Because that's where I spend my whole physical life! Look, once you have walked through one bedroom wall you've walked through them all, believe me. If you can stay real and enter the Astral proper, you will NEVER look back. Chances are, though, once you feel the merest hint of vibration: like feeling a base-note zub-zub- zub sensation (about two zubs per per second but you don't hear it so much as feel it) you are going to think WTF and immediately come back to the physical. But at least you will have felt an inkling of what the start of it is like. Though at first you will feel confused thinking maybe you just imagined it. As good as authors have been in the past of putting things into words, there is still a MAJOR misunderstanding as to the mechanics of the process. All I am really trying to do, is to simplify the whole thing for you (and anyone else who is listening) as best I can... while teaching stuff that really does work. The process of projection is a VERY subtle event. Again, it's like (as if) you were handling a new-born child. Roll those eyes back and feel NOT for a projection experience, but simply relax and let your conscious-awareness drift upwards. Do it right, and there *will* come about a situation where suddenly you think, "What was that?" And then you will realise your eyes have just tried to capture this inkling of an image... which has just brought you out of "it". If you can feel that, I promise you, the "it" that you were brought out of IS the correct path. But, by realising that, you may become confused! On the one hand, you will feel that you did actually "let go" and were truly doing "it" correctly as I advise... but, then again, your consciousness may be (at the same time) telling you that such and such cannot possibly be true because, for that instance, you were not "doing" any "thing". I mean, "things" in the sense of doing stuff like "visualising" or any other kind of "projection technique" that you feel you must supposedly be doing in order to reach the Astral realm. As for time, look, it's going to take you a week or two of genuine practise in order for you to get results. What you must do though is catalogue your experiences. That is so darned important. Yours, Frank 2550 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Search for Osama!!! Millions of dollars reward! on: April 02, 2002, 07:28:40 No-one can "prove" to a person that obe's are "real". It is something you have to experience for yourself. A proper obe experience is as real to a person undergoing the experience as the physical world is. I've said this before that what really did it for me was the very first time I projected into the real-time zone and saw my wife and myself sleeping on the bed. I'd read loads of stories about it happening to others and they've thought all kinds of depressing stuff, like, they thought they were dead, etc. No, it's nothing like that at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. To the extent where I could not help but just stand there chuckling to myself. The scene was just SO surreal. Prior to that, I'd had hundreds of obe experiences on the Astral but could never project into the real-time zone. Yes, I freely admit that it could be argued my Astral experiences may have been just fantastic kinds of dreams that some human beings can have. That is exactly what I thought at first. But I say to these doubters, forget arguing some theoretical point: use the energy to learn to project for yourself and then you can make a balanced decision having experienced both sides of the issue. Also, to those who say Astral techniques could be used to track down murderers, etc. Well, here's your golden opportunity to develop them! What you need to please consider, is that what we are involved with here is a new and emerging science. I have no doubt that, in the future, it could well be possible to eliminate crime by use of some kind of Astral technique. If someone were to ask me why I don't try and do that myself, my answer would be that I'm simply not interested. In the sense that I'm having a great time experiencing what I'm experiencing and that is that. You see, your actual physical character determines to a high degree the kinds of Astral adventures you experience. Your character also determines, to a degree, the kind of physical life you lead too. But it has a MUCH GREATER effect on the Astral than the physical. As far as politics are concerned, I could not be more disinterested. It is an area of life that has always been riddled with hypocrisy. But no more so than today. One moment a government is arming others to the teeth and teaching them to shoot. Next minute these same people are labelled as terrorists and hunted down. To me, it's the same old clap-trap that keeps being regurgitated and eaten, time and time and time again. One government's terrorist is another government's freedom-fighter, and they all get switched around according to taste. So here we have yet another war fought in the name of peace... and yet again all the right thinking, peace loving people in the world roll their eyes in complete despair. That's my heart-felt opinion, hence the reason why my Astral experiences could not involve anything to do with searching for terrorists, etc. However, as I say, if any of you think differently then get out there, on the Astral, and develop the techniques! Yours, Frank 2549 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Where do we Go ? on: April 02, 2002, 08:50:40 Experiences like yours are something I have been struggling to comprehend in recent times. You see, I had (and to an extent still have) the opposite problem. Up until fairly recently I could not, for the life of me, project into the real-time zone. Problem was, I'd got into the habit of just whooshing off and seeing where I'd end up. I would also read articles in books about "Astral Gateways" and think what on earth they could possibly be? The Astral regions are infinite in size and navigating from one region to another is tricky. You could spend years having hundreds and hundred of experiences and each one could be entirely different. But a way to navigate to a particular area is to hold an image of the place in mind whilst undergoing the projection process. Again, that's what I am trying to teach myself to do at the moment and I'd be interested to hear of your progress. Yours, Frank 2548 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 02, 2002, 09:05:35 quote: I tried it for a couple minutes last night, and two things happened....(The focal point of consciousness on the forehead thingy) 1) I saw some "stray energy".... and it formed into the shape of a face, and I was distracted.... lol 2) After a couple minutes, I felt this sensation of rising up really fast.... Is that normal??? DjMidgetMan "Mind over Matter" You are on the correct path. That is what happens when you first see stray energy... you get distracted. It may be a face-like thing that comes out of a mist. Or you may see a flash of something. But stick with it and your eyes will learn to just ignore it. The rising sensation is normal, too. It happens because your focal point of conscious awareness is redirecting itself. At first you feel it and you snap back thinking, "What was that I just felt!" Then you realise what happened. At which stage your consciousness has snapped back to where it was before so you have to start again. Yours, Frank 2547 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 02, 2002, 11:35:11 quote: This is like me trying to teach someone how to drive a car when they have no experience & saying "look you just get in start it & go" Then comes the questions;"where do I put the key" "whats this stick in the middle that says 1 to 4?" Then what do you say?"look I know how to,so just relax & do it!" Frank I,m not trying to attack you here & everything you have said works for me,I just think it is a bit too simplified & dismisses anyone who really wants to learn more & gain experiences. BTW you wouldn't happen to be Frank De Marco,the OBE writer would you? Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool. Good journeys Mobius No, I beg to differ, with respect, it is not like teaching a total novice to drive a car in that way. To do such a thing would be reckless. All I am simply doing, is trying to publish a relatively easy to understand process that should give any physically and mentally normal person a strong chance of having a conscious-exit obe. In the same way, I would expect any reasonably competent car- driver to be able to get into virtually any car and drive it with a sufficient degree of safety. There are all kinds of people in this world. Some of them are what I call "gadget people". A new gadget comes out and they just have to have it. One of my nephews is like that. He just loves digital gadgets and spends hours learning about how they operate. Give him the highest level of complexity, in as small a package as possible, and he's in 7th heaven for days on end playing with it. Me, I'm not a gadget person. In fact, I am the complete opposite. In all areas of my life, I like to keep things basic and simple. Now, I've enjoyed hundreds of obe's over 20 years. However, up until fairly recently, I had never entered what is commonly called the real-time zone. So I started researching how to do it. I came across a website with articles written by Robert Bruce. Instantly, I knew this person was writing from his own experiences rather than describing some fantasy. I tried using the ROPE technique and, hey presto, it worked! I found that by using this kind of meta-physical imagery, in the way Mr Bruce describes, tends to have the effect of projecting you into the real-time zone as opposed to the Astral proper. Which comes as no surprise to me now. Because on subsequently reading Astral Dynamics, Mr Bruce says about how the majority of his experiences have been in the real-time zone. When my experiences have been the complete opposite. With a little adaptation, I found the ROPE technique had the much desired effect of slowing down the whole projection process into the Astral. Something for which I was extremely grateful as, for years, all I ever seemed to be able to do was zoom off with a big whoosh. So many times I would end up flying at a tremendous speed and wouldn't have a clue as to how or where I was going to stop. The technique allowed me, for the first time, to reliably hold the vibrations steady. So it felt like I was bathing in them. At first, I found I could control their intensity with my breathing. But I simplified that to the extent where I can now control them just by imagining increasing or decreasing the energy flow. Again, as with everything, I try and simplify things as much as possible. To be honest, I got bored of climbing the same old rope in the same old way. So I developed different ways of climbing: arms only; both arms and legs; right arm, left leg; right leg, left arm, etc. In doing so I found that it didn't really matter how I climbed the rope. The projection effect was just the same. So one day I imagined I was climbing without a rope. Again, I managed to project no different to before. So, to simplify things even further, I discarded the rope. Then I got bored of climbing. So I just imagined myself drifting upwards through the top of my head. And still I could project exactly as before. Okay, so why not simplify things even further, I thought, and lie down and merely think about projecting. Well, nothing happened. That is, until I directed my consciouness upwards and imagined myself floating out through the top of my head. You see, my actions proved to me that it wasn't the actual ROPE technique that "caused" the concious-exit projection. All it did, was give exactly the right kind of metaphysical-image kickstart that set-off the natural projection process. So now my projections are a million percent more controllable and all I have to do is lie back in a comfortable position and imagine myself drifting upwards. Around 7 times in ten I can controllably project either into the real-time zone or the Astral. But while I found the real-time zone to be a bit of a let down (novelty wears off very quickly, I found) my projections into the Astral have become better than ever. As a result of my study on how to enter the real-time zone, I ended up developing a very simple and easy to understand technique that I now use to project into the Astral with a high degree of reliability. To me, there is no point in my going on to develop (or to learn) thirty or forty different techniques that all basically do the same thing. Provided I have one technique that can project me to where I want to go, with a high enough degree of reliability, I'm fine with that. However, just like there are people who love all kinds of gadjets, I have learnt that there are those people who love to try all kinds of "projection techniques". They avidly read all the books available, searching out every known technique, and relish trying them all. Which anyone is at liberty to do, if such is their thing. But you hit the nail on the head when you said that if you already know what it is like to project, you can easily work out where the author of the technique is coming from. My question is, what if you are in the position of the vast majority of people who have not yet had the benefit of a conscious-exit projection experience? I believe that a LOT of the published techniques are WAY TOO COMPLEX for a total beginner to grasp, all on their own. I also firmly believe that most people who try Astral Projection, after reading books on the subject, try these techniques unsuccessfully; after which they end up in the very same extremely frustrating position of the creator of this thread, Mr DJ. Speaking of whom, he's already on the path to having his first projection experience after only one attempt at doing what I have suggested. Naturally, I wish him every success. Yours, Frank "Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complex." Confucius 2546 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 02, 2002, 12:01:41 quote: Hi Frank - thanks a bunch for your simple tips. I tried these out over the last two nights and had really good results, although they are exactly the same as when I use ROPE also. As I'm falling asleep, I get more and more relaxed, and then my arms and legs start buzzing and I get pressure in the ears and hear sounds like a massive wind is passing my ears. Last night I tried your thingy with the awareness point in the forehead and after a little bit I felt some very deep vibrations, and after about 3 minutes of the usual sensations, I suddnely felt everything in my body change and lost awareness of my heavy, relaxed body and felt very light and airy, then could feel myself rising, like my face waas peeling away from itself. I totally shat myself, my heart was racing and all I could think was, "Holy sh*t, you're doing it son!" then I got way too nervous and my mental state went back to normal. I was really excited though that separation was as easy as simply moving "yourself" out of the physical body. BTW - I also have similar results when using ROPE, so long as I don't "see" it and try and "feel" myself moving up. Anything to exteriorise your point of awareness. What can I do to get past this damn nervousness though? No matter how much I tell myself to calm down, it's too overwhelming separating from your body for the first time! Also, don't you think any form of energy raising / NEW would help? Thanks. Joe The way you get over the nervousness is by simple, step-by-step familiarisation. Which may sound obvious but that is the way it's done. Practice getting familiar with the vibrations. Just bathe in them for a while. Then, when you feel ready, just allow yourself to raise a little bit. Then hold it for a few seconds and come back down. I found the best mental state to have is one of mild curiosity. Also, when having a scary moment on the Astral, I find it soothing to give myself a running commentry of what it is I am feeling or seeing. That way, the portion of your consciousness which gets fearful and immediately says, "Run like hell!!" tends to stay calm. Yours, Frank 2545 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 02, 2002, 13:35:26 quote: Greetings Frank! This method does make alot of sense as I said before - however you look at it. I gave it a try last night - but was tired. But a couple of questions arise: 1) Is it best to try your method after going to bed for the night - i.e. to Astral travel while you sleep? Or can this method be used at anytime? 2) I am so used to using supreme effort to exteriorise point of awareness and hold it there, that I couldn't let go of that habit! I found myself trying to actually *force* my awareness upwards, just as would do to exteriorise it. I gather from what you are saying that is exactly the wrong thing to do? BTW - do you allow your awarness to only rise as far as the centre of the forehead - which of course is the position of the brow chakra, usually associated with psychic abilities, or do you allow your awareness to rise completely though the top of your head? It did occur to me that as you find this method so easy and reliable, you might well have psychic abilities anyway. 3) What about memory recall of your Astral experiences upon return? The holy grails of Astral Projection are reliable projection at at will, and full memory recall of the Astral experiences afterwards. Thanks once again - it is great to have you around With best regards, Adrian. 1) I like to have a couple of beers or a few glasses of wine in the evening which scuppers any chances of projection (well, for me at any rate). My projection time is early in the morning. Anytime from, say, 4am. But I tend to go to bed early. It's unusual for me to stay up beyond 10pm. I suppose you could try it anytime, provided you could relax fairly comfortably. 2) You are an amazing visualiser, Adrian. I couldn't even begin to do a tenth of the visualisation actions you describe and with SUCH clarity and accuracy too! All you do is let your awarenes drift upwards. It will tend to follow the eyes anyway so please do practice allowing them to roll back. The idea is to give it an initial nudge, then it will continue of its own accord... if you can let it. But the ability to do that comes with practice. Which is fun to do because at least you know you are on the right track. There is nothing more soul destroying than doing a whole load of work and then realising it was all to no avail. It helps to use a little meta-physical imagery just to set the process off. Please see my new post where I talk about how I manipulated Mr Bruce's ROPE technique to good effect. Also, I do not wish to appear rude, but I honestly would not know a "brow chakra" from a hole in the ground and I haven't got a psychic bone in my body. I've heard of these chakra points or areas. But I could never get my head around all the more esoteric mystical stuff. I find it all rather too complex to unravel, I'm afraid. As your consciousness plugs into the area of the brain that connects with Astral matter, you should start to see visions in your mind. These visions are distinct from the stray energy you pass through at first. Last time, I saw was a golden coloured building. Other times I may just see wonderous colours. Understand that, at this stage, the process is largely out of your control. So you do not have to think about questions such as, "How high do you visualise your consciousness rising?" And so forth. You only need the intial visualisation "technique" or visualisation anything... just in order to set the process off. It's like DJ said in his post to this thread that he felt a rising sensation. That's the start of it. If you can just let that rising sensation continue, it will mainly be automatic from then on. As you feel that rising, chances are you will begin to see all kinds of mental imagery. Stray energy, colours, shapes, anything. In other words, there will be lots of distractions that will almost certainly snap you back at first. Once I could have sworn there was the head of a wolf pressing against me. It looked like I was staring into its left eye from about 5cm away. So I just looked at it, curious as to what it was and/or what it was doing. Sometimes it can be beneficial if there is some stable visual "thing" close by that you can concentrate on. That way, whatever is going on in the background is far less distracting. 3) My other post about my experiences with ROPE touches on the reliability question. You will remember more if you keep the experiences short. Which you must do at first. But before considering all of that, you need to work on getting to the vibration stage. Which is what happens if you can teach yourself to allow your consciousness to keep drifting once you feel it start. Then you can take the next step which is to learn to control things from then on. Jo made a valued contribution to this thread about potential difficulties you have yet to face. Thank you for your kind comments, Adrian, both in this and other posts. Myself, I am grateful that people have found my contributions useful. It is the first time I ever made any contributions to a BBS on this topic. It was Mr Bruce who put me in touch with you all. And I sincerely wish those of you who have yet to experience it, every success in your first projection. Yours, Frank "Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject" Thomas Mann 2544 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / New to this Forum on: April 02, 2002, 15:13:59 quote: (Monroe's works for me) also to imagine being cocooned in white or golden light. Because thoughts in the astral are instantaneous, Whatever we encounter that is negative, feeds on our fears, so if we are prepared prior to entering the astral state, to being in a positive frame of mind, knowing that we can conjure up anything from our imagination to help whatever scares us. Although I have been reading and practicing for some time now, I realize that I am just a beginner to all of this and have a lot to learn, but I hope that with practice and determination I will be able to project out of my bedroom. Best wishes, Barbara Welcome to the forum. You need to check your emotions at all times. The most beneficial state of mind to have is a feeling of mild curiosity. What you are going through is what all Astral travellers have faced at some point. Fear is a very strong barrier. Something which I know only too well. You do need to be aware, though, there is a base area of the Astral that I have termed the training ground or training zone. I posted something about this in my answers to another thread. Despite everything, the Astral proper is quite a "stable" environment. I never came across any Demons or anything. Well, not when I have been truly on the Astral in what I term the discovery or learning zone. I do have what I call "scary moments" but that is only because I am seeing events that are so totally alien to me that my mind naturally gets a little concerned. If you are projecting and find yourself having to fend off Demons or such like, it is 100% certain you are in the training zone. In the training zone, circumstances are not so much a case of, as you say, "Whatever we encounter that is negative, feeds on our fears" It is more a case of, "Whatever we fear causes us to encounter that which is negative." Likewise, the exact opposite can occur or any other situation inbetween. I often read of people's experiences and, by the nature of the experience, it smacks to me of a training zone experience rather than the Astral proper. Yours, Frank 2543 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 02, 2002, 16:21:21 I'm sorry but I really do not understand terms such as "brow chakra" and "third eye" and so forth. Yes, I have read about such things in the past but I'm really not all that clued up, definition-wise. But what I do know is, the act of projection is a very natural part of the human condition. You are good at visualisation so a good solution may be to simply visualise yourself being a complete beginner starting from scratch. Yours, Frank "Understanding reduces the greatest to simplicity, and lack of it causes the least to take on the magnitude of complexity." Ray Holliwell Edited by - Frank on 02 April 2002 18:25:23 2542 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 02, 2002, 17:06:00 I honestly do not know what it means to "visualise". In a sense you have taught me that there is some kind of visualisation-thing I cannot yet come to understand. All that I know is what I can see, hear, touch, etc with my physical senses. I am a scientist, not a mystic. Yours, Frank "You see, God always takes the simplest way" Albert Einstein 2541 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Where do we Go ? on: April 02, 2002, 19:03:18 quote: Hey Frank, My new thoughts are that the astral realms are not up in space. They are all around us, I do not have to travel to get there. They are just a phase shift, or a change of thought. Just as close as stepping to the left or right, and you're there! What do you think about this? Nightflier... Absolutely correct!!!! Okay, you have to understand that I have an electronics engineering background so, to me, the terms phase-shift and frequency-shift are entirely different. If you were to ask me I would say it is a frequency shift. Okay, I gotta leave this thread as dinner is served. But happy travelling and speak to you all tommorow. Yours, Frank 2539 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 04, 2002, 07:33:43 You need no-one to grant you the gift, as you call it. You just need to work on it some more. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not calling you lazy or anything like that. (It's so darned easy to get misunderstood in these places!). I'm getting to think that there must be SO many people in the same boat as yourself. But I always say that if I can do it, then anyone can. When I first started, I was a complete and utter non- believer in any kind of God, or religion, or any kind of mystical stuff of any kind. I haven't got a psychic bone in my body. I wouldn't know a Chakra from a hole in the ground (or at least, I think until this morning. The experience of which I'll reserve for a new thread). I had neither had a "hunch" of any kind, nor any "instinct" for anything in particular. I think the only aspect of myself that I feel has helped is the fact that I eat sensibly, and my level of health and fitness is fairly good. I would think that feelings like indigestion, bloatedness, internal pains, and so forth, would go against having a naturally induced obe experience. So don't give up. Trust me, being within the Astral is like nothing you could ever imagine. It's so flaming marvellous, and words can in no way grasp the magnitude of feeling of stepping within the Astral for the first time. Yours, Frank 2538 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Meetings on: April 04, 2002, 07:52:10 quote: Entering another person real time or dream time, mind time, etheric.. I call it, laying in. You (can) target the person, then match the or their vibrations, you sink into them, softly match them, breathe with them, you share space with them. You are merged with them, you know them, you know you, you are very close to almost one, you don't really know where one begins and the other leaves off... The best way to practice this is (daily) with verifiable feedback, some seemed more skilled than others, for me it came very easily. If you want to do anything or get anywhere, for me it's easiest to (just) match the vibrations of the target. (I become it and it... comes to me) A target can be anything a belief, a person, event (OOB), a real time location, a non local (any etheric) (belief). Just my experience.. ~T~ ~T~ Very interesting, because after having spent almost 20 years zooming off and wondering where I would end up, I am gradually beginning to control the experience but it's slow going. Your experiences seem to be the definition of controlled and I wondered if you could please clarify further about "matching the vibrations of a target". Basically, I cannot grasp how the target vibrations are determined. And, if I may ask, when you say "match"... match them with what? Your own vibrations? I mean the vibrations typically felt prior to projection? Or are there other vibrations coming into play? Any pointers gratefully received. Yours, Frank 2537 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Deep physical relaxation?? on: April 05, 2002, 08:54:01 I've found something really significant! Before I tell you about it, I'd like to say that on another post I was thanked by a member for motivating them to do research: Well, I too would like to say a big THANK YOU for motivating me to make the progress I made in just the past week alone. Interacting with this BBS has caused my meta-physical studies to take a much higher priority in my physical life and my progress has taken a giant leap. Okay, I've said before about how I could never get my head around all the more mystical side of things. I hear all these terms, like, there was one to this thread which was "Path Work". Now I've heard about that somewhere but haven't got a clue what it means. Another term that I hear ever so often is "Chakra" which I could not for the life of me get my head around. To me it sounds like a brand of crisps. That's another reason why I was attracted by Mr Bruce's work. Because he basically felt the same way and attempted to create more modern-day terms that described his experiences. The past few days, I have been trying to slow down the projection process and try and feel each stage, step by step. The problem I have found, is thinking about what is happening puts a BIG spoke in the works. An important prerequisite is to rid your mind of stray thoughts. Well, the body sees the thoughts that are monitoring what is going on as the equivalent to stray thoughts. So what I did was, allow a little of the projection process to begin and then I'd think, right stop there, note this down, then I'd start again letting it go a little more, then stop and make note, etc. In doing so I have made several discoveries about myself. For example, normally at the onset of vibrations I'd just let them happen then whoosh... off I'd go and land in the Astral somewhere. But I discovered that the vibrations actually begin as an ever so tiny tingle in my fingertips and travel up my arms. Whereas, before, I could have sworn they just "begin". As to where they came from, or the direction they were travelling in, I just wouldn't have a clue. However, I made one big discovery about the relaxation process that I'm going to talk about on another thread. In a previous post to this thread I said about how you lie back and simply relax. However, I discovered, while that is what I feel I'm doing, when I came to break down the process, step by step, and take things one bit at a time: I realised there is a process that occurs, but it normally happens so smoothly and so quickly I never knew about it. In other words, the "relaxation process" for me, had become a habit. Physical relaxation is a very necessary part of the process. But what I found was you can "relax" in a certain "way" and it has the effect of channeling energy up through your body to the extent where it appears to *automatically* trigger the vibrations. More later on a new thread. Yours, Frank "See it big, and keep it simple" Wilferd Peterson 2536 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What does a "Chakra" make you feel like? on: April 05, 2002, 09:10:08 Thanks for the info bitsmart but I cannot make head nor tail of it. I was flipping through and it all sounded mighty confusing, however, I found a brilliant little nugget of text that describes a part of what I felt absolutely perfectly: "............ as the Sub-Navel centre is being filled it automatically overflows into the Sub-Heart storage centre; and as the Sub-Heart storage centre is being filled it automatically overflows into the Sub-Brow storage centre. So when energy is directed solely into the Sub-Navel centre, the two higher centres above it are automatically filled at the same time......" Okay, it doesn't go into describing the feeling so much as the channeling of the energy. Reading that papragraph reminded me of something I forgot... just before the tingling feeling there was a feeling that some kind of "connection" had been made from my abdomen to my chest. Then it felt like the energy was being channeled upwards to my head. At which point I decided to stop to make some quick notes. Yours, Frank 2534 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Developing new OBE method (ex. relaxation topic) on: April 05, 2002, 14:50:53 Top post, Adrian, well done. Yes, let's pool our ideas on this one. Thanks for the reference to the Chakra articles. They seem much simpler and I think I'm grasping some of the concepts. I've got more input to report but not much time right now. I've sensed what I think is a "Chakra" lower down about where my belly-button is. I found I can lie down and "switch my legs off" with it fairly quickly. It's a wierd feeling! If I apply a little concentration I can move my upper body and still keep my legs feeling completely dead. Like, I know they are there but have absolutely no inclination to move them. I discovered there's a particular method of breathing that switches this thing on and off... a way of breathing that I seem to do habitually. But, by slowing down the process, I began to feel exactly what I was doing. Big downside is I've been doing a LOT of discovery work and haven't been on the Astral for days! You know, I do truly miss the place. It's quite amazing really how the dimension becomes such a part of one's life! Anyhow, I'll report back as soon as possible. Yours, Frank "All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small" Lao-Tzu 2533 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / You Can't Breath Without Lungs. on: April 06, 2002, 06:37:52 You didn't run out of air so much as run out of energy. Plus, the sense of consciousness that you take with you is basically the same as the sense of consciousness you have in the physical. Maybe it got a little confused as, from the wording of your post, it sounds like your first time. Your post reminds me of the first time I visited an underwater region in the Astral. My sense of consciousness balked big-time at the thought of going underwater without Scuba gear. The guide who I happened to be with gradually coaxed me under. The key is to take things step my step and introduce your mind to the experience very gradually. Yours, Frank "Perfection is attained by slow degrees; she requires the hand of time" Voltaire 2532 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What does a "Chakra" make you feel like? on: April 06, 2002, 07:27:41 Thank you for your post, Mobius, that's what I am now beginning to realise, i.e. these "Chakras" can be activated by just concentrating on them. My problem was, I couldn't grasp a sense of what I should actually be concentrating upon in the first place. You said in your post the Adrenal is the easiest. Now, if someone says to me to concentrate on some weird and wonderful concept of some Chakra or other then, personally, I'm hopelessly lost... but ask me to concentrate on my Adrenal glands and I instantly comprehend what is required. Hey Presto! I get a major feeling of butterflies. Thanks mate. Yours, Frank 2531 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Developing new OBE method (ex. relaxation topic) on: April 06, 2002, 09:54:09 Because I habitually go to bed early (very rare to see me up after 10pm) I awake naturally around 4am. Also, I eat very light in the evening. Just a portion of Basmati rice (my favourite!) with either some steamed vegetables or a mixed salad. For drinks I enjoy a couple of glasses of beer or wine to "take the edge off" as I call it. I certainly wouldn't advise you to intake any tea or coffee at this time because, if you are the same as me, it will interrupt your sleep patterns (as will too much alchohol, hic). Plus, I don't know if this is significant or not, but I never eat foods such as cakes, biscuits, chocolates etc. I think diet is important only to the extent you don't get disturbed in the night. In the sense that you need to awake feeling fairly fresh and revived but in a relaxed state, i.e. no feelings of bloatedness, feeling hungover, headaches, neck tension from having "slept funny" and so forth. I imagine if you were forcing yourself to arise by use of an alarm clock then it would perhaps be beneficial to get out of bed and have a small cup of light tea. This would raise your awareness enough so that you don't just fall back to sleep. The reason I say this is because on the rare occassion that I do go to bed late, I still seem to awaken at around the same time due to sheer force of habit. But when I start to try and project, more often than not, at the later stages in the process I automatically roll on my side and go to sleep without realising it. Okay, so I naturally awake, have a little stretch, then lie on my back, arms by my side with elbows slightly bent, and hands resting naturally either side of my hips. Please understand you don't need to follow this robotically! If your hands feel more comfortable with your elbows straight, say, then fine. What I do feel is important, however, is that you are lying on your back and your head is supported. Reason being I've found it virtually impossible to project when lying on my side. Then you let your eyes roll back and imagine your sense of consciousness floating upwards. Or use the ROPE method if you find that easier. All you need is a little meta-physical imagery to kickstart the process. But do please always bear in mind that it is not the meta-physical imagery, in itself, that makes you project. As fantastic and as surreal as it may appear, the act of projection is a natural bodily function. Just as we have natural powers of sight, taste, smell, hearing and touch: the body does have the seemingly magical power to naturally detect a level of existence we term the Astral. Not only that, we also contain within us the ability to project our sense of conscious awareness into it. With me, depending on how I feel, I can project in 5 minutes or sometimes it may take an hour. This morning it took about 20 minutes. But around 3 times in 10 attempts I either get bored trying; or the dogs start barking at the foxes; or some other disturbance comes about, like, heavy rain pelting against the window, strong winds, or whatever. The important thing is to concentrate on keeping your mind firmly affixed on the process. But don't think so hard! In analysing what I am doing, on a step-by-step basis over the past week, I found that there is definitely a point where you can use TOO MUCH concentration. What happens is, the harder you concentrate the more "it" resists you. Keep on doing that and all that happens is you get into a downward spiral. Which is where I suspect most people who try Astral projection and fail, end up. Please understand you don't need any kind of harsh concentration coupled with any real degree of fixed determination. We are not fighting a war here! Yes, you do need a little concentration, obviously, else your mind would simply drift. But, again, the key word here is "little". Let's just say, for a moment, that the key to successful Astral Projection was imagining the right kind of "dancing" in your mind. But, let's also say, we had no concept of the act of dancing in the physical world. When I say dancing I mean simply human-beings dancing to music. If you could imagine that one particular way of dancing in your mind... whoosh... projection would be ignited. But with no visual concept of dance, in the physical world, the only means of communicating the actions would be through words. So say the correct kind of dancing you had to imagine was classical ballet. Now, the problem would be, we'd have a large number of people all thinking along the correct lines alright... but they are imagining being in a nightclub dancing to Rock 'n Roll. Yours, Frank Coming together is the beginning; Keeping together is progress; Working together is success. Henry Ford 2530 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What does a "Chakra" make you feel like? on: April 06, 2002, 10:15:11 Mobius, I owe you a beer! Those two links are just what I needed. A heart felt thank-you to everyone who gave time to contribute. Yours, Frank "He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much" Lao-Tzu 2529 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Amazing projection on: April 06, 2002, 10:29:08 You visited what is commonly called the Astral. Such experiences are very common for people who have the ability to project their sense of consciousness to these regions of awareness. The Astral is an infinite place populated by all manner of beings and forms. On what are termed the "lower regions" you tend to come across people and places that can be very earth-like. It is said the higher up you go things start getting more abstract but, as yet, I have only managed to project into the lower regions. Once you learn to control the process you can very quickly build a catalogue of such experiences. Yours, Frank 2528 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Developing new OBE method (ex. relaxation topic) on: April 06, 2002, 15:00:26 Frank - do you allow your point of consciousness to just rise to the centre of your forehead and then focus on it, or do you allow it to carry on rising up ad- infinitum until projection occurs? If I concentrate on anything it is allowing myself to be still. Right now I'm imagining an orchestra and the conductor is doing his thing and he is leading the orchestra to the point where there is about to be a beautifully romantic violin solo. Ever so gradually each section of instruments will fade away. Yet there will be a common musical thread that has been sewn into the music that you know will be left for that one violin. That is how you shut down your mind. It is a graceful and gradual process. Yet I fear what people do is concentrate hard on blocking-out stray thoughts. But doing such a thing is very self- defeating. I guess patience is a key factor as well. When you feel vibrations - what happens then? it is usual to use an exit technique - do you just suddenly find yourself in the Astral straight after the vibrations, and without doing anymore? How do you know when you are there? Patience is THE key factor. Any feelings of frustration, despair, anger, and such like, are a DIRECT BLOCK to projection. It's funny how you ask about what happens because I was practising exiting the physical in various ways and seeing what the effects would be. Okay, here's what typically happens to me when I go direct to the Astral. The vibrations begin and they last for about 3 seconds. Then there is a feeling of an intensification of energy and immediately I lift up for a split second and then... whoosh... I accelerate RAPIDLY upwards and forwards. The degree of acceleration I would estimate is that of accelerating from a standstill to 100 mph in about 1 second (I used to be into drag-racing). In a vehicle you feel a push in the back... travelling to the Astral I feel more of a pull from the chest. After which I end up in some Astral place or other and begin interacting with my surroundings. I have not yet developed the skill to control the process such that I can determine exactly where I will end up. But this morning I was concentrating on projecting progessively more slowly. If when the vibrations begin you just turn around and kinda flop out of the physical, you end up in the RT zone. But what I found was, if I do not whoosh-off fast enough then I drop back down into my body. I tried what must have been 6 attempts at slowing down the acceleration at the exit. But each time I quickly fell back. Also, I found the attempts were very draining, energy wise. In my final attempt I left the physical but, as I dropped back, I spun sideways and landed across my wife. This had a very unusual effect, to say the least! In my sense of conscious-awareness I actually felt like I had landed across her body *exactly* as if I had done such a thing in the physical. Now, a very strange thing happened... we spoke. In fact, she told me off! She actually started cussing me about taking up her side of the bed. Which was very confusing I have to say. Especially as she remembered not one iota of the experience. I would still like to know whether your method can be reliably used to project during the day from a sitting position, rather than just early in the morning? I have no idea because I only ever project early morning, sorry. Yours, Frank 2527 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Dreams - OBE on: April 06, 2002, 15:06:45 Flying in an OBE is one of the biggest joys of my life. Yours, Frank 2526 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / You Can't Breath Without Lungs. on: April 06, 2002, 15:21:18 I'm sorry but I think we are speaking totally at cross purposes. I hear terms such as "energy raising" and I honestly have no idea what is meant by this. All I know is in my Astral experiences I often came across circumstances where I would feel weak and the physical would pull me back. The solution, I found in Astral Dynamics where RB suggests looking at your hands for an instant (but not too long so as they melt) which causes a burst of energy to revitalise you. It worked great, I found. I am a scientist with an electronics and mechanical engineering background. So, yes, it is a fact that I've got various degrees of "energy concepts" held in my conceptual framework. But until today (thanks again Mobius) Chakras were not one of them. Yours, Frank 2525 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / "Outsourcing" & Color Coordinated Higher Planes on: April 06, 2002, 15:30:47 Daniel, I'm really not too clued up on all of this. But Mobius has a post to another thread where he talked about different colours being associated with various areas of the body. Which is something I, myself, am only just trying to get to grips with. Yours, Frank "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my father in his throne" Revelation 3:21 2524 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Dreams - OBE on: April 06, 2002, 15:40:47 My question is, were you on the Astral or were you dreaming? Yours, Frank 2523 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Dreams - OBE on: April 06, 2002, 17:09:48 You see, I ask you because that is the BIG problem when setting out to venture on the Astral. You really do need to develop a function within you that constantly monitors where you are, or what it is that you are experiencing... at the time! I describe this function as having an, "air of mild curiosity." It is very important because it gives you the ability to ask questions "whilst your experience is happening"... not after. SO MANY PEOPLE: arrive back and then begin questioning. Almost always, it seems, the only question they want an answer to, basically, is, "Was the experience I just had, real???... and... "Where was I???" But the time to ask those kinds of questions is, at the time! In other words, ask questions whilst the experience is happening. Then you will almost certainly seek information from those who are best able to help, i.e. those people (or beings if you like) that inhabit the Astral within the vicinity of where you happen to be. Yours, Frank 2522 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral danger on: April 07, 2002, 08:20:06 In my hundreds of true-Astral experiences never once did I come across an entity that bore malice. Quite the opposite in fact. Please understand that the Astral is merely energy which you perceive with your senses. I firmly believe that your Astral experiences are distorted by the "slant" that we tend to place on our sense of perception. An example of this, on the physical plane, would be to take a half-full container. Personally, I would always see it as half full. But there are those who would habitually think the opposite, and there are those who would see things either way depending on what was in the container. That is not to say you will never had a scary experience. Sure, you will have lots of those! But it will only feel scary because you are viewing something that looks SO unfamiliar. Like, for example, the first time I travelled in an underwater region. Convincing my sense of consciousness that it was okay took quite a lot of effort!!! However, you do need to realise there is a base Astral region that exists somewhere between a Lucid Dream and the Astral proper. It is an area I became fully familiar with due to my having been "trapped" there for about 5 years. I call it the "training ground" or zone. This is the place where Dragons are fought and Demons are slain. Basically, in the training zone, your thoughts are played back to you on what I call a 360 degree bubble-screen. I posted information on this a couple of weeks ago to another thread. So you should be able to dig that out. In the training zone, whatever you basically believe or think, instant by instant, will be immediately played back to you in glorious technicolour. Myself I spent 5 years slaying dragons, breathing fire, fighting wars, dealing with demonic entities, etc., etc. (I had a rather turbulent upbringing!) The reason why I called it the training zone is because what this region serves to teach you, ultimately, is that what we human-beings call "thought" is actually a primary energy. So the vibrational purity of your thoughts determines your Astral experiences. You see, on the Astral, it is impossible to "spoil anyone's party" as you can only perceive regions that strike a harmony with your own vibrational energy. I have also had experiences, particularly early on in my travels, that I call training-ground buffer experiences. These are where I might have got a little fearful for an instant and you find yourself sort of halfway in the training zone and halfway in the Astral proper. It's like on the one side of you is looming some demonic entity that is set to justify your fear... and on the other side is what remains of the Astral scenery you were experiencing. Another little pitfall that can catch you out, is you now and again come across what I call "scamps". Scamps are these friendly and often very humourous (but secretly devilish) creatures who can scan your thoughts for trace vibrational impurities (fear, anger, malice, and such like) and latch onto them. They have the ability to feed off this energy and they use it to fuel what I call their "little party trick"; which is to distort their form (or distort the form of something around you) in order to trick you into perceiving they are something much more sinister than they really are. They often catch you out! The key to dealing with scamps is to just be calm and neutral. Hence, the trace energy they are feeding off is soon used up. At which point the facade fades away and the creature normally beats a hasty retreat. Personally, I feel a lot more safe on the Astral than I do on the physical these days. Yours, Frank Edited by - Frank on 07 April 2002 13:07:47 2521 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Amazing projection on: April 07, 2002, 08:44:29 quote: I had experiences like this nightly for a period of about 15 years, but I never met anyone else who had them, so I learned to keep quiet. Now, quite a few years later, these kinds of experiences are being talked about, that's GREAT! HI EVERYONE! Jeffrey I felt EXACTLY the same for a period of 20 years. It's amazing how you just learn to keep quiet! I married for the first time quite late in life and my wife would often ask, "Did you sleep well honey?" And often I couldn't help but chuckle. Thinking, oh my gosh, if only she knew. One day I just started talking about it gradually, in conversation. Now, rather than asking if I slept well, she asks, "Meet anyone interesting last night?" I just wonder how many there are of us in the world? Yours, Frank 2520 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Developing new OBE method (ex. relaxation topic) on: April 07, 2002, 10:26:41 I'll reply to the other points raised a little later on as right now I'm a bit busy with some work. But I took a quick look at a document referred to on another thread. I'm sorry I forgot who it was, but thank you for that as it contained something HIGHLY significant to me (it's the document on my Chakra thread where it says to scroll to section 6.1). Okay, people on this thread have mentioned about this "third eye" and, yes, I too imagine looking out from a point in that region. However, when I think about letting my consciousness drift upwards... I definitely do say to think about it drifting upwards like it was going through the top of your head. Because, to me, that's exactly what it feels like. But at the same time I am imagining "looking out" from a point where I said to Mr DJ to paint an imaginary red dot on his forehead. Right, I've just realised why all that is necessary! This is what the document says... "........The awakening of the third-eye chakra leads to clairvoyance or the ability to see on the nonphysical planes. And the awakening of the crown center is associated both with the ability to consciously travel on the nonphysical planes and with it the process of enlightenment." That's it, in a nutshell. I couldn't believe it when I read it. Okay, call me thick, but I never really realised why it all worked, until this moment. Because I never understood anything about all this Chakra stuff. Yes, I have seen images of pyramid shapes with a big eye in the centre and all that jazz. But I could never relate to any of it. But now I've realised that there is this Crown Chakra that sets the process off. That's exactly what it feels like! In the sense that Adrian has been asking about how far you imagine letting your consciousness drift upwards, and so forth. And I am saying, no, you don't need to worry about that because you get to the stage where the meta-physical imagery will kickstart the natural process of projection. It really does feel exactly like there comes a point where a switch is thrown and... whoosh... the whole process begins. It's like being in a dark room and switching on a light. One moment you can't see a thing and then, in an instant, everything becomes visible. I think that is a good analogy: because in switching on the light, it is not the switch, in itself, that causes the illumination. No, all the switch did was direct the flow of energy to the bulb. Now, imagine that the bulb is the Chakra. The initial meta-physical imagery is the switch, and the energy is your thought. That's why you cannot use any old meta-physical imagery directed in any old direction. In the same way that if you want to switch on a particular bulb you have to throw a particular switch. Not only that, it can't be any old thought either. Because the energy has to be directed down a particular wire that leads to the bulb you wish to illuminate. I'm realising, for the very first time, exactly WHY stray thoughts interrupt the process. I have always known they did, because that is what I experience. But I'm now understanding and realising "why" they do. It is the concentrated thought-energy that switches on the Chakra. If your thoughts are flitting about here and there, then it's like trying to feed a lightbulb with 1 or 2 volts instead of the full 240 volts (UK mains is 240 volts). This also neatly explains why someone can be concentrating their thoughts alright, but still have zero projection success. Yes, they are concentrating their thoughts... but... sending them in the wrong direction! Aaaagh... I've just realised... The Chakra is the bleeding interface!!!!!!!! I'm sitting here kicking myself that I just didn't realise this before. That's all a Chakra is, it's just an interface. Speak to you all later, I gotta do some work now. Yours, Frank "I want you to start a crusade in your life... to dare to be your best" William Danforth 2519 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Intensely bright light on: April 07, 2002, 19:48:37 Yep, your experiences will follow along much the same lines as others who are now starting to "come together" as a result of websites such as these. Please continue to talk about them, Jeffrey, because they give help and hope to those who have yet to experience such phenomena. Yours, Frank 2517 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral danger on: April 08, 2002, 12:03:16 quote: Thank you very much Frank for the information. You reinforced my will of going in the astral. The more I know about all those phenomenons the more I'll prepare my mind to face what I can expect. I understand that CONTROL of my emotions is the key. I'll work on that. Please understand and always bear in mind that "thought" is a primary energy. You don't feel it so much on the Physical plane. That is because, on the Physical, there is a major physical interface (i.e. your body) between your thoughts and the creation and/or outcome aspect. A simple example is you might suddenly think, "Oh, I forgot to buy some bread, right, I'll nip to the shops and get some." What I am saying is, you cannot actually manifest the bread that you are thinking about. Such that it instantly appears before you in your kitchen. You have to physically go and buy it. Another example is you might think badly of someone and get a little angry when you think of how they snubbed you, say. Then an hour later you might smile to yourself and think of how daft you were to ever think such a thing, and just forget it. Alright, I fully accept you might think that is obvious. Yes, it is obvious because that is what we are all used to doing. However, the Astral is very different... and there lies the problem. The sense of conscious awareness that you take with you to the Astral is not some fantastic Astral sense of conscious awareness... no... it is exactly the same sense of conscious awareness that you have, right now, within you. BIG problem being, your mind has been subject to years of Physical-plane conditioning! On the Astral, for example, you are not subject to gravity. Which means you can simply take off and fly like a bird. But your sense of conscious awareness has had no previous experience of any such ability. Moreover, it could well even hinder your progress by refusing to believe such a thing is possible. What you have to do, therefore, is to gently retrain your thoughts and coax your mind, 1) to encompass the whole idea, and 2) coax it into accepting the sensations. Once you have done those two things, you can then go on to practise developing the necessary skills that will allow you, eventually, to fly comfortably and gracefully, and to land with accuracy. The way you fly on the Astral is to merely "think" about flying and you WILL fly. But on the Physical, you can "think" about flying alright; but in order to actually get in the air you need some kind of physical device, i.e. an aircraft of some kind, that will enable you to do so. On the Astral, however, there is no such need for any "physical device" at all. Which is a bit mind-blowing at first. You see, on the Astral, as you "think" it automatically and instantly comes about! On the Physical, we have these notions of "like attracts like" and "what goes around comes around" and so forth. But a life of debauchery may take decades before it catches up with you. On the Astral, however, it catches up with you instantly. That is why control of your thoughts is doubly essential. Not so much control of your emotions. Yes, controlling your emotions is important. But if you keep your thoughts in check, then your emotions will automatically remain in check. That is because thought is the primary energy. On the Physical we have this notion of "killing two birds with one stone". The same basic principle applies here, in the sense that if you concentrate solely on controlling thoughts, then emotions will automatically be kept under the necessary degree of control too. But if you concentrate mainly on controlling your emotions, then you will also have to juggle at keeping your thoughts in check. As I say, the simple reason is because "thought" is the primary energy. Which means it is your thoughts that both determine and direct your Astral experiences. Because of this, you can actually use the Astral in order to enact any fantasy of your choosing. Which is what a number of people seem to enjoy doing. I can well see the attraction, as there is NO LIMIT to what you can experience. The only "limit" as such is the limit of any one person's imagination. If slaying Dragons is your thing, then Dragons will be heaped on you by the plane-load. Conversely, if you would like to sit amongst Angels then you will be fed Angels galore until you get sick of the sight of them. But if, like me, you want to journey to discover the Astral and to find out more about what goes on there; and to maybe get some answers to the questions about the origins of life, and so forth... you have to direct your thoughts accordingly. Which is why, I always say, the best kind of "thought" to hold in mind, in order to open up that discovery gateway, is to hold an air of mild curiosity. HTH Yours, Frank 2516 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Developing new OBE method (ex. relaxation topic) on: April 08, 2002, 12:13:44 quote: Ive been trying the method for the last couple days, and I think im making some progress.... Frank, you know how you say that when you take it slow, you can feel the vibrations coming in a limb softly?? But when you do it normally, the vibrations come out of nowhere??? Last night, I tried your method, and I felt slight vibrations coming in from my left leg/thigh, but they stayed slight.... How close was I??? DjMidgetMan "Mind over Matter" You may have been at the onset stage of vibrations and thought about it. Problem is, actually thinking about it at that stage will tend to take you out of it. Rather like when your attention is disrupted by stray energy. Suddenly your eyes try to focus which interrupts the whole thing and you have to start again. The key thing is to practise every day if you can, and have faith you can do it. If you can get to the vibration stage once, it does get easier next time. Yours, Frank 2515 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Developing new OBE method (ex. relaxation topic) on: April 08, 2002, 12:16:09 quote: There are alot of people talking about, "Shifting your focus" to your brow... Where is your focus to begin with? to then be able to shift it? Do I just roll my eyes, and LOOK? without thought? Do I talk myself through the process.. Im becoming very lost here. Thanks for your patience and I realy do thank everybody for your help. DB I think maybe reading the previous thread on this topic will help you clear the confusion. We started this thread as the other was getting too long. Just found it, it's called "Deep physical relaxation" and it's a couple of pages back (at the moment). Yours, Frank Edited by - Frank on 08 April 2002 13:19:32 2514 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral Body Shape on: April 08, 2002, 13:02:07 I think a little meta-physical imagination could play a big part in overcoming this. It smacks to me that the problem could quite possibly be more mental than physical. Yours, Frank 2513 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Developing new OBE method (ex. relaxation topic) on: April 08, 2002, 13:12:57 quote: I did the raising of awareness to my third eye last night and rolled my eyes back so that they were looking towards it. Every time I did, within a few seconds, there was an astounding sense of expansiveness almost like I was falling into it (out of it?) and the vibrations would begin. This seems to be an excellent new beginning technique so far. I had very strange dreams and half-sleep-induced images that night. Sadly, my eyes would get tired quickly and I couldn't hold it very long. Perhaps as we try it a little more, our eyes will become accustomed to it. Your eyes get into the habit of simply rolling back the moment you want them to. After a while it gets to be so comfortable you feel the need to check you are still actually doing it! I think what happens is the eye muscles stretch to accommodate the action (like any muscle would given time). One thing you might try is to practice some eye exercises a few times a day. Like, look up, down, left, right; then the same but reversed; then around in a circle one way, then the other, and repeat. That kind of thing. Yours, Frank 2512 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral danger on: April 08, 2002, 18:27:09 quote: But let's say I am able to control my thoughts well enough, but that once I just can't. I am totally scared. The creature knows it of course. I read that the worst thing that can happen is that I wake up very tired, the creature having drained some of my energy. Is it so? Is it really the worst that can happen? What about those creatures attached to some people feeding of their energy? Would they do that even though the victim had not visited the Astral? In other words, can the visits in the Astral "provoke" such things or everyone can have this problem without necessarily knowing it? The "creature" (as you call it) is nothing more than a visual manifestation of your own fear! That is merely formed from *your* thought energy. Please listen carefully... On the Physical you can think badly of someone because maybe they snubbed you... and an hour or so later you can simply shrug it off. No harm has come to anyone, nothing has happened. You just got in a bit of a mood, exactly like ALL of us do sometimes, including me, and that is that. Now, when you are on the Astral you get to realise that "thought" is a primary energy. Within the Astral there is no "physical buffer" simply because you are NOT on the Physical anymore! As such, everything you think instantly forms around you. But try telling your sense of consciousness that. It won't listen (at first) because the sense of consciousness you bring with you is the SAME as you have right now on the Physical. All this "instantaneous thought" stuff is nowhere near so obvious on the Physical... but that's precisely what your sense of consciousness is used to dealing with! On the Astral you need first to realise what the "rules" are, and to teach your sense of consciousness to deal with them accordingly. Which obviously takes time. Look, I've been travelling the Astral (proper) well over 10 years and still get "caught out" many times. There's no shame in that. The Astral is just SO immense and SO different that no-one can possibly prepare you for the delightful mix of "wonder and fear" you will come across the first 10 or 20 times you project. Yours, Frank 2511 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral danger on: April 08, 2002, 18:31:19 quote: Hi Frank, You had responded to my amazing astral projection entry and I was interested in finding out more about the buffer zone that you mentioned. I have only had one projection and I have been trying to repeat the experience without success since nov. 2001. In my projection I had to face two demonic intities disguised as saints, which I incinerated with fire from my hands. Is this the buffer zone that you refered to. Also, I felt that I was being directed during my experience. Do you have any info on this. Thanks Scott Scott Thompson The lower Astral region is an area where emotional interplay is the primary pastime. As such, I would suggest the reason why you felt that you were being "directed" is because it would have been your *own* sub-conscious mind that was doing the "directing". The fact you can pick that up tells me your projection instincts are developing to the point where you can soon learn to bring them within your conscious control. Yours, Frank Edited by - Frank on 08 April 2002 19:47:43 2510 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral danger on: April 09, 2002, 13:08:46 quote: Hi Frank, Thank you for trying so hard to make me understand how it works in the astral. I do understand the thought issue, but your message gave me the impression that every encounter - good or bad, is created by one's thoughts. If you could help me complete correctly this list, it would help me. I think my reason demands very clear classification of every living encounters one can meet in the astral. I don't know if it is that important but I want to know. There would be : 1. Other projectors -real 2. Inhabitants of the astral - real (dead people, etc.) 3. Encounters totally created by the subconscious - not real (Alice Wonderland) 4. Encounters created (or attracted?) by one's thought - not real (like your dragons) What do you think Frank? Am I close to the truth? Thank you again for your help. Yes, you are getting the hang of it. First, I am sorry that my explanation has caused a little confusion. I have only been interacting with people on this topic a short while and I, for a moment, forgot to take account of the fact you have not yet managed to project. Against the context of that, I see my response could be taken that I was in some way trying to make out everything someone experienced on the Astral was solely a manifestation of their own thoughts... which is definitely NOT the case. I found one of the biggest challenges you face on the Astral is trying to differentiate between, 1) images you are seeing as a result of your own emotions... and, 2) images of the Astral proper. Okay, call me thick but it is something that took me 5 years to work out. In doing so, I learnt a lot about what's what, and the major pitfalls where beginners can get trapped. Plus, as I say, you do come across entities I call "Scamps" that can easily catch you out. As an aside: an example of what I believe almost certainly was a Scamp, is detailed in another thread. The poster (Jeffrey) said, ".....went back outside where a 6 inch silver colored ball that looked like weightless mercury was floating around. I grabbed it and it turned into a crab." You see, all Scamps have what I call their "little party trick". Their objective is to trick you into becoming emotional. They can then feed from this energy and use it to make themselves (or some form) appear bigger or more powerful that they really are. The images of the Astral proper can be interwoven with images that you are generating from your emotions. This effect can happen at any part of your Astral experience. There are no borders beween the two sets of images. You can be completely immersed in what I call the Training-Ground; or you can be completely immersed in the Astral; or you can be immersed in what I term a Buffer-Zone experience... where you are not fully in one or the other. (Incidentaly, it was from having Buffer-Zone experiences that I managed to make some kind of sense of it all.) And if that were not confusing enough, the actual extent to which you are "in one or the other" can vary on an instant-by-instant basis. That is why, when you read accounts of people's early obe experiences, they often flip from one scene to the next. Like the one Scott posted just recently. One instant he's in one place and experiencing one set of circumstances; next instant he's somewhere totally different, experiencing something else, and so on. What tricks you, is the strong tendency to believe that your thought patterns and emotions are changing as the scenary changes. No, it's the other way around. Familiarity with the Astral, helps you to build a degree of experience thus avoid some of the more major pitfalls. In turn, this will have the welcome effect of adding a degree of stability to your Astral journeys. The images you create are created from your emotions. Your emotions are primarily determined by your thoughts. The emotion of Fear is a very common emotion to have on the Astral. This is because much of what you see will be SO different from what you see on the physical. But don't get me wrong, I have come across Astral regions where what I was seeing was completely and utterly earth-like. As I say, the sense of consciousness you have with you on the Astral is exactly the same as the sense of consciousness you have with you on the Physical. Okay, so imagine you went for a country walk on the Physical. You estimated the time wrongly and the light is fading. Before you know it you are making your way through woodland in the dark. But it's a familiar path and there isn't all that far to go. It's a full moon, the sky is clear, giving just enough light for you to see by. Suddenly you hear the snap of a twig. "Was that me?" you ask yourself, and stand still wondering. Then you hear a rustle of leaves. Perhaps an animal is stalking you? So you stand rigid, slightly fearful, listening intently. Next moment you laugh and think, "No, it's just me being silly!" and carry on walking. You get home safely and forget the whole thing. Now imagine that exact same scene, but it's all happening in the Astral. Which is perfectly possible. For in the Astral, while there are all kinds of weird and wonderful places, you can engage in basic activities as well. Such as, go for country walks, climb rocks, swim rivers, stand by the ocean, etc. However, difference being, on the Astral, the very moment you felt that mild emotion of fear... some image, or other circumstance, would have come about in order to justify that same level of fear. Please note: From my experience, it makes no difference to think whether you attracted the image, or whether you created it. It's just a different way of looking at the same thing. If you were mildly fearful, then you would instantly have a mildly fearful experience. However, mild levels of emotion often lead to an Astral buffer-experience. Here you will find the circumstance that came about from your emotion, becomes entwined with the existing Astral scenery. The reason why the intensity is precisely matched to the intensity of your emotion, is simply because it is your emotion that is fuelling it. In the same sense, if you set light to a thimble full of gasoline, you get a tiny whoosh of flame. Set light to a 50 gallon drum... and you have a major fire on your hands. What usually follows, is your sense of conscious awareness - upon being met by the mildly fearful experience - panics and immediately says to you: "RUN LIKE HELL... GET OUT OF HERE". You had a little flame, and rather than let it burn out of its own accord, you just used it to set light to 50 gallons of gas. An instant before, you were enjoying a quiet Astral stroll. Now you are surrounded by evil monsters. There's no escape. The leader has fangs the height of a house, and they are just inches away from crushing your face. Next instant you are back in the physical, shaking and sweating. Immediately you get up and start touching all the furniture and walls, double-checking that you truly are back. Big problem is, many people get locked into having these experiences. What they fail to fathom is that they, themselves, are creating the whole episode. The experiences *are* very real and it is only natural for them to think they are being picked-on by demons, and such like. Yours, Frank Edited by - Frank on 09 April 2002 14:20:07 2509 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / To Mr. Bruce on: April 09, 2002, 17:58:34 quote: Nice weather today isn´t it Still wondering by the way... Peace //Qui-Gon - Your focus determines your reality - I understand your question was not directed at me, in particular. But please understand there is an important difference between stimulating Chakras "merely for the sake of it" and doing so in order to attempt a projection experience. Yours, Frank 2508 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral danger on: April 11, 2002, 14:28:55 quote: Frank that is one of the best explanations I have ever heard. I must admit that I have been trying to have OBE for 6 years. In that time I have had several OBE but I can never repeat them. I must have developed some hidden fears in regaurds to it. How can one over come them? Have you ever gone into real time zone and met with someone and asked there subconscious what is holding them back? Do you think it is possible to do that? If it is possible would consider doing it for someone. I know it is alot to ask even if it is possible but really I have tried everything. DOA Developing the ability to have a conscious-exit obe is VERY tricky. It's a bit of a mental balancing act that takes practice. If someone asked me, "Frank, what are the 3 most important things I should do to have an obe?" I would instantly answer, 1) practice, 2) practice, and 3) practice. What fallnangel77 says is so very true. With me, hardly a minute goes by where I'm not thinking about the Astral. My whole waking consciousness is flooded with Astral images, sounds, ideas. Plus, there's all the on-going thoughts I have about finding solutions to problems, working out how to understand things, how to better deal with tricky situations, etc., etc. As for the real-time zone I only learnt how to enter this region fairly recently. Virtually all my 20-odd years of experience is on the Astral. To be honest, I found the real-time zone a bit of a let-down. Yes, it was surreal looking at myself and my wife lying there asleep on our bed... which did make me giggle quite a lot. Walking through the bedroom door without opening it first, was quite strange. So too was entering the kitchen via the ceiling. But the novelty soon wore off. After all, I'm in that area all the time in the physical. The Astral is a *much* more exciting place. Realise you *will* have regular scary moments so you have to learn to deal with them. The best way is to practise controlling your emotions on the physical. Become a person who just does not get uptight about anything, even to the slightest degree. Practice remaining calm and neutral. Also, be pure in your thoughts. Speak kindly of people as often as you can. That's not to say you shouldn't speak your mind, or you let yourself get taken for some mug. No, there are kind ways and polite ways of going about all things. Always think about a person's positive qualities, including yourself. Go about your business with thoroughness, always use good manners, etc. Take walks in the countryside, alone, especially in the wind and rain. Be at one with the elements. Look up at the clear night sky and imagine flying to the stars (you will be able to do that one day!). Go to the ocean and see the gulls swooping from a great height and skimming the water (you'll be able to do that too, with the very same degree of conscious awareness you have when reading this). The reason why I say these things is because "your problem" as such, I very much doubt is in the subconscious. It will be your waking consciousness that needs clearing of some problem. With a little work you should be able to clear it away. Being at one with the elements, enjoying nature and appreciating the beauty of the earth is something I feel is important. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to go around hugging trees, or anything. But successful projection requires a kind of mental stillness that seems to harmonise with nature. Yours, Frank 2507 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Developing new OBE method (ex. relaxation topic) on: April 12, 2002, 07:41:49 quote: I have a basic (dumb) question: I've been focusing on my brow chakkra and it raises my vibration and energy almost immediately but (here it goes) "are my eyes supposed to be open or closed" as I look up to focus my attention on my brow chakkra? Thanks Don Personally, my eyes are closed but it's whatever feels most comfortable and most effective to *you* that matters. For conscious-exit obe's you need to perform a particular mental "balancing act" that's a little tricky to do. Because there is not one method that people can just simply do, we have lot's of so-called methods. As a result, the whole thing gets confusing. Particularly as the whole subject of obe's is becoming more commercialised by the day. The reason why you let your eyes roll upwards is because your sense of conscious awareness tends to reside behind (and follow) your two physical eyes. But what you need to do is let your sense of conscious awareness drift upwards such that it makes a connection with your Astral interface that is present within your brain. You have 2 basic interfaces within the brain... the Astral and the Physical. Then you have what I call your "sense of conscious awareness" that you can choose to either plug into your inner Physical interface (where it normally connects) or you can plug it into your inner Astral interface (where people are attempting to connect). The way you make the switch is by basically relaxing and use a little meta-physical imagery to kickstart the natural reconnection process. Yours, Frank 2506 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral danger on: April 12, 2002, 11:28:10 quote: Thanks for the advice. I am not sure how much it helped but I will try anything. What about home life marital problems kids and that stuff how much does that affect your ability to project The kind of life you lead on the Physical very much affects your ability to project. Please realise there are aspects of Physical life that can definitely encourage projection and there are aspects that very much discourage it. Obviously, the kind of life you choose to lead is absolutely your business. It is not my place to either interfere with your life, or start dictating to anyone what they can or cannot do. I just want to make that clear because it is *so* easy get misunderstood in these forums! The big stumbling block, I feel people have, from my interaction with this BBS, is achieving the correct degree of mental stillness. I feel people concentrate too much on the physical aspects. Like finding the right "method" and researching websites, reading books, etc. Yes, that is a good thing. I'm all for that, so no-one please get me wrong. But it is a fact that having knowledge *in itself* is not what makes you project. There are many people on this BBS with *so* much more knowledge about projection than I perhaps will ever have. Yet they, themselves, still cannot actually project. Not only that, people are starting to email me asking for my opinion on so-and-so tapes, or this and that technique, etc., and I have to admit that I've got no idea. Because virtually all my Astral research takes place on the Astral, not on the physical. Years ago, when I was learning what to do, many methods I tried would mention about getting rid of "stray thoughts". Something which I found darned difficult. So what I did was begin to look at the problem from the other way up. My mind was a mass of stray thoughts all flitting here and there. So I began to pick out these thoughts as they were flitting through my consciousness and I'd analyse them. I'd mentally grab hold of one and ask: What are you, and why are you there? What I found was, many of these thoughts I could eliminate by simply being a calmer, quieter person. Like, there would be times when I'd set my heart on being able to get something at a particular time. On the way there might be a delay, such as a traffic-jam. By the time I got there the shop might be closed, and so forth. Things like that would wind me up. Not to any major extent, don't get me wrong. But I found there was an *accumulative* effect to all this which ultimately resulted in 99% of all the stray thoughts flitting through my mind! Many stray thoughts would turn out to be lyrics and beats from pop music I'd been listening to that day. So, rather than listening to that, I started to try and learn to appreciate the classics. Which was amazing because properly listening to a solo violin for the first time had a deep emotional impact. Quite why I don't know, and I still don't know to this day. But I found that when listening to certain classical pieces, my mind would just gently float along with it. So all this inner study sparked off an interest in looking at every area of my life, and seeing whether it could be improved in any way so as free up my mind. Yours, Frank 2505 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / suffocation ? on: April 13, 2002, 09:44:05 quote: Hi, my name is Steve and I was wondering if someone may be able to help with a problem I had whilst doing a visualization practice. I must first say that, "I have not projected as yet" ( not through lack of trying ) and thought that some visualization exercises might help with my concentration. Well, I started of as I usually do as for an astral practice ,I'm laying down nice and comfortable ,I go through relaxing my body releasing any tension ,I do some consentration on my breathing, which appears to get me to the what I call the,"Just about to nod of level", and then I start to visualize. Well the visualization was going fantastic ,I'm in a forest,walking along a path which leads to a clearing where there is a small lake,I imagine there are little elementals there ect ect,ect. I was doing this for about 30 minutes when I started to notice that my breathing was starting to shorten,I kept visualizing ( because it is something that i've never really been good at) and the visualization was going great ,but the breaths kept getting shorter.It felt as if my lungs had started to close down,It was really strange because I was still visualizing ,but at the same time thinking I'm going to stop breathing, but didn't care. I continued for about another 5 min's then stopped. The crazy thing is, I can remember the breaths shortening and feeling as if i'm going to suffocate (die), but I cannot remember the point at which the suffocation stopped or dissipated . Well, "that's it", It would be interesting to hear from any body about what it may have been ? Regards Steve If you are going to learn to project then you will have to learn to adjust to some pretty "weird" bodily sensations. What you have experienced, I would say, was completely normal (in the general scheme of things!). Your breathing was almost certainly not shortening, it just felt like it was. Understand that the biggest stumbling block you will (are beginning to) face are the current limitations of your own sense of conscious awareness. For years you have just had it "plugged into the Physical". At first, everything on the Physical seemed strange. But over the years you got used to all the Physical-body sensations like wearing clothes, having a shower, gravity, etc. But now you have to teach your sense of conscious awareness all the Astral-body sensations. The primary difficulty in teaching yourself that is overcoming fear. You see, when you were starting to experience Physical-body sensations like having a bath, you were a just child. Hence, you had a far less refined sense of perception. Babies, as I'm sure you know, have hardly any sense of perception at all. You could dangle a baby out of a 10th story window, or 2 inches off the ground, and it wouldn't really know any different. However, as an adult, your perception senses are present in abundance. Now, in trying to overcome fear, it's no use saying to yourself, "No, I'm not scared, when I'm out there on the Astral I won't fear a thing." I'm sorry, but thinking that doesn't work. Imagine you walked into your living room and there was this huge Lion, standing right in front of you. When I say "Lion" I don't mean some statue of a Lion that, for a fleeting moment, you mistakenly thought was real. No, I mean a proper live Lion. At first glance you would refuse to believe it. You'd think you were seeing things. But on seeing you the animal let out a huge roar. It's preparing to pounce and, in a split second, its jaws will be crushing your neck. In those circumstances you would be completely and utterly overcome with fear. Rational thought would, therefore, be absolutely impossible. Understand that, when on the Astral, your sense of conscious awareness cannot tell the difference between a Physical lion and an Astral Lion. All it sees is a Lion and it's about to pounce. At that moment the *automatic* fight/flight process takes over EXACTLY in the same way as it would on the Physical. All that was happening to you, is your sense of conscious awareness was starting to plug into your Astral-body. The clue is where you say, ".... It felt as if my lungs had started to close down." You see, the Astral-body has no lungs. Simply because, on the Astral, there is no need for you to breathe. But for years your sense of conscious awareness has had "awareness of breathing" written under the heading: Essentials. Awareness of the breath became gradually less and less, to a point where your conscious awareness started to panic slightly. Please realise that you have only ONE "collective sense of conscious awareness" which you can "plug into" either the Physical Body, or the Astral-body. When you plug into your Astral-body the radically different sensations can (and often do) overwhelm your sense of conscious awareness. Instantly it becomes fearful which, more often than not (especially in the beginning stages), automatically activates the fight/flight reaction... which scuppers the projection process. If it continues to happen, the solution is to gradually allow your sense of conscious awareness to get used to the new sensations by practicing regularly. Take things just that little bit further each time and eventually you will overcome it. Yours, Frank 2504 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral danger on: April 13, 2002, 18:54:29 quote: Frank, Your explanation of your experiences are gratefully received. Fantastic. I have had a few real time obes and one in particular, i commanded myself from the ceiling of my house, to return to tell my partner. As soon as i thought this, i returned, then spoke to him. He answered me. What appeared strange, was that i didnt wake first, was all one process. Ever experienced this? or know what it may be? Paola. (alfa) Yes I have just recently experienced something similar with my wife. First, I do believe that is is possible to communicate with a sleeping person's subconcious. I suppose the level of success will very much depend on circumstances. Myself, I have often wondered about trying to contact my wife in this way. But thought better of it in-case I scared her, or something. Anyhow, a short while ago, I was practising zooming off from the Physical at various speeds to see the different effects. I found that, following onset of projection, there was a critical speed which, if I didn't get to quickly enough, I'd fall back down into the Physical. I'd been doing this about 6 times. The last time I was feeling a bit drained and, on flopping back into the Physical, for some reason I turned sideways while falling. As I landed, I got an amazing feeling that I had landed sideways across my wife's body. As I say, I was feeling rather drained by that time. My sight was all a bit fuzzy and the room was dark anyway. But the sensation was EXACTLY like I was lying across her abdomen in the Physical. What was even more amazing, was she started cussing me for disturbing her! Telling me to get on my own side of the bed!! I muttered an apology and explained that I'd just crash-landed. Next morning she had no recollection of the "incident". Yours, Frank 2503 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / OBE that turned into a dream? on: April 13, 2002, 19:38:53 Jeni, if you are having a true Out of Body Experience you will not have to try and work out whether it was some kind of dream or not. You will automatically know, trust me. A true obe is *totally* different to any kind of dreaming. However, what your experience tells me is that you have successfully got your sub-conscious on the right track. Which is an essential part of the process. Yours, Frank 2502 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Etherial Projection: feedback needed on: April 14, 2002, 10:52:22 quote: But I am tired and need something new, I am now trying to open the higher astral planes. But to do that I need to change my vibration or frequency to a higher rate. I think I have a slow vibration, hense the dense astral body and real time projections. With Robert's N.E.W. system we might shed this extra weight, or find a way of our own, good luck to both of us! Nightflier... Funny you should say that. Because despite having had hundreds of Astral experiences, I only learnt to project into the RT zone fairly recently and found the novelty very quickly wore off. The Astral is simply a MUCH more interesting place. I found the way to project into the RT zone is to just "flop out" of the Physical before the pre- projection vibrations had reached (what I had previously considered to be) normal projection intensity. When learning about projecting into the RT zone, I could not understand where people would write instructions such as "roll out of your Physical body", etc. Because, when I project into the Astral, it feels like I have been shot from a cannon! For some reason, that is how it as always been with me. Drag Racing used to be a big hobby of mine and, from that experience, I would say it is like accelerating from standstill to 100 mph in about 1.5 seconds. (The thought has often occured to me that Drag Racing could well have had a strong influence on my early obe practice.) Recently, I experimented with "taking off" at varying vibrational intensities. What I discovered, is there appears to be a "critical point" that you have to reach in order to project into the Astral proper. Otherwise, you simply flop back either into the RT zone or into the Physical. It seems like the "vibrational intensity" is the equivalent of your take-off thrust. A bit like a rocket where the thrust is what keeps it pointing and flying upwards. If it were to start running out of thrust, it would fly in a big arc and eventually nosedive into the ground. So now, if I feel the onset of vibrations and let them build in intensity very gradually, whilst thinking about a gentle side-to-side rocking motion, there comes a point where I roll out (or flop out, as I call it) into the RT zone. To reach the Astral, however, you must first let the pre-projection vibrations build in intensity... and then project. The intensity and/or frequency of the pre-projection vibrations can be "controlled" by simply thinking about them. Lie still and just let the vibrations wash over you for a while (I imagined that I was bathing in them). Feel them as normal, but you need also to "listen" to them. You should become aware that the vibrations are not just one frequency, but are composed of many different frequencies. Though it might take you a number of attempts before you can pick this out. I call this my "frequency of contact" with the Astral. You see, all the different regions of the Astral tend to resonate at a particular frequency and intensity. On the Physical we would say that a bar or nightclub had a certain "atmosphere" for example. But not only that, we do this subconcious "picking up the atmosphere" virtually anywhere and everywhere we go. The Astral is no different. In fact, on the Astral, the "atmosphere" of a place is very much more obvious than when in the Physical. What you need to develop is a mental balancing act between allowing the vibrations to build but, at the same time, you think about filtering out the lower frequencies. You already have this ability. It is exactly like when you are listening to music. You can choose just to mentally sit back and be enveloped by the whole sound, or you can choose to fix your attention on just one instrument or voice: even though there might be many different instruments and voices all sounding at once. We also use this ability when in a group of people who are all having many different conversations at the same time. By merely thinking about it, we can "tune in" to anyone (within a reasonable hearing range) and hear what they are saying to the exclusion of everyone else. Or we can "tune out" and listen to no-one in particular, just hearing the general hub-bub of the overall sound. At first, concentrate on allowing the vibrations to build in intensity. Then, when you feel your head is about to explode, mentally "let go". You should feel yourself whoosh off. Like someone just fired you from a cannon. Though, initially, you may experience what I call "spontaneous projection" into the Astral. This is where you project before you decided to mentally "let go". But, with practice, you will be able to hold-off projection until mentally saying the word go. For a brief moment, you might feel like you "blacked out" or that you are traveling at high speed through a dark tunnel, or such like. Then, next moment, you should find yourself within the Astral somewhere. Once you can control the vibrational intensity, practice controlling their frequency. You will find that taking off at varying levels of intensity and frequency, very much effects where, on the Astral, you end up. Yours, Frank 2501 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Tricky physical stumbling blocks on: April 14, 2002, 11:04:22 quote: Frank- Thank you for sharing that personal experience. I don't know if that's where you were going with your post, but that's where it led me. Thanks again- Daniel fides quaerens intellectum Yes, you read it correctly, and thank you for your kind comments. Yours, Frank 2500 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hemi-Sync ------>"Transcendence" on: April 14, 2002, 11:15:19 quote: Anyway, I would still be interested to hear what those of you who have used Hemi-Sync techonology both extensively and/or just a little, have to say about it. pax! -Dan fides quaerens intellectum I just listened to their Java demo and, to me, it sounds like just a jumble of noise. Personally, I'd find it irritating listening to it whilst attempting to project. But that's just my opinion, of course. Yours, Frank 2499 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Am I projecting from a dream? on: April 14, 2002, 18:49:23 Seems to me like you are on the verge of projection. Concentrate on letting the vibrations build in intensity then... take off! Yours, Frank 2498 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Tricky physical stumbling blocks on: April 15, 2002, 08:14:03 quote: Your post reminds me of the strangest dream I had a while back, I thought it was an OBE that I was remembering as it wasn't the usual dream feeling. I think that things do jump on your back, not just related to the physical body. Anyway, in the dream I was in the lower realms and I was wanting to know why I was there. It was all dark and oppressive. I was then shown a book, I only remember seeing lines on the page but I know that I understood what I was being shown. I was attracted in some way to these levels and was being shown why. After my 'lesson' I suddenly realised I didn't have to be there anymore and proceeded to move up and out of there. Just then, something jumped on my back. I wasn't scared initialy, I began to vibrate very fast to dislodge it. It didn't budge. I then got scared - infact I panicked. I shot upwards very fast and at the same time reached behind me and pulled this thing off and ripped its head off. It was a reflex movement done out of panic. I then looked down from a great height at what was left of this 'thing', floating, lifeless, in two seperate bits of energy. I think I've had things jump on my back before. You can’t kill something in the astral can you? What you recall, to me, is a typical training-ground experience. You were probably projected within the Astral somewhere but your Astral experience would have been heavily buffered by your own emotive imagery. As for killing someone, yes, you can experience ANYTHING on the Astral. That's the marvellous, mind-blowing joy and the big, big *danger* of the Astral. But you cannot kill anyone in the sense that we know it in the Physical, of course. Yours, Frank 2497 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Etherial Projection: feedback needed on: April 15, 2002, 09:54:48 quote: Hi Frank, You mention your exit sensations feeling like moving from 0-100mph in 1.5 seconds. As I've posted before, that's exactly the same for myself, and I usually have conscious volition of exactly when to actually project. However, interestingly enough (or not!), despite having identical exit sensations to yourself, I've only ever projected directly into the RTZ! I have managed to get to the astral via the tunnel structure, but I've never projected directly to an astral plane. It just seems odd that we can experience the same sensations but different results, and you say you've projected hundreds of times. In Astral Dynamics I get the impression that the exit sensation should feel like a continual *downward* falling sensation. How come some people (yourself and I included) feel an upward movement? Perhaps we should compare the specific exit sensations more closely, as I get the impression that the individual discrepencies have always been overlooked by projectors/researchers. Regards Conn I've had high-speed downward-falling sensations too. It's just that upwards is better with me. It seems like everytime I think of falling out (as opposed to shooting out) I end up underground somewhere totally unable to know which way is up. Seeing the inside of layer upon layer of Astral rock is the Physical equivalent of watching grass grow. I don't know exactly what determines either up or down. If I left it totally to chance I guess it would be 50-50 which direction I'd go. But now, if I find myself falling I think of slowing down. This puts a brake on the projection process. I then catch a hold on the vibrations, build their intensity, and shoot off. More often than not I'll go upwards this time. The feeling is that my head comes out first with "body" straight. I rotate as if there was a hinge on the soles of my feet. I estimate the angle through which I rotate is about 120 degrees. So I end up body straight, head first leaning at an angle of about 60 degrees to the floor. During this initial rotation phase there is a tremendous wrenching feeling. Like there was a rope attached to my upper body and the other end was attached to a powerful slingshot mechanism. The rotation and subsequent shooting off is a continuous movement. After initial take-off the feeling is of travelling upwards at about a 60 degree angle at several hundred miles per hour for around 2 or 3 seconds. When you say "identical" exit sensations: understand that during the experimentation I talked about in my previous post to the thread, the actual "exit sensation" did not change all that much. Reference where I say, "What I discovered, is there appears to be a "critical point" that you have to reach in order to project into the Astral proper. Otherwise, you simply flop back either into the RT zone or into the Physical." As I say, the "exit sensation" of the times when I did not make it to the Astral were more or less the same as the times when I *do* make it to the Astral. What I was changing was the vibrational intensity of the pre-projection vibrations. These I found had a *significant* effect on whether I reached the Astral or "flopped back" as I call it, into the RT zone. There appears to be some kind of critical-point or critial-level of intensity that the pre-projection vibrations must reach before projection to the Astral proper can be achieved directly following take off. When I say "flopped back" into the RT zone. I suppose that if I had no prior experience of projection into the Astral then I would just say that shortly after "take off" I projected into the RT zone. It's just that from my point of view, trying to reach the Astral and ending up in the RT zone feels like you "fell back" or "flopped back". But to yourself it no-doubt just feels like you projected into the RT zone as normal. So I think the reason why we both can, "experience the same sensations but different results" as you were wondering, is because the vibrational-intensity of our respective pre-projection vibrations is different. As regards experiences given in books, I think it's best not to take what is written too literally. Well, that's what I found. Everyone has a natural way of projecting. So the key thing to do, I feel, is to use books to grasp the basic principles and/or ideas and then use them to develop your own way. It could well be that someone can only project by "falling out" of their body. Someone else's "natural way" might be to take off. But that someone-else hasn't projected yet, so they do not know what their natural way is. But they read a book and get the idea that the only way to project is by falling out. So in taking what they read, literally, they end up working against their natural way of projecting and don't know it. The only obe book I've read in the last 10 years is Astral Dynamics. Which has given me a number of hints, tips and pointers that I've used to good effect. The big limitations of the book, for me, is due to the fact that the bulk of Mr Bruce's projection experience is into the RT zone. So, Astral-wise, it didn't offer me all that much. But from using pointers given to me by Mr Bruce's work, I did (finally!) managed to enter the RT zone. So that was a big bonus. BTW... What is a "tunnel structure"? Yours, Frank 2496 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Vibrations on: April 15, 2002, 17:39:40 quote: Firstly, thanks to all of you who posted a response to my earlier plea for help. The technique I am using is as follows: Relaxation - roughly 5-10 minutes of deep regular breathing while relaxing each part of my body - I feel very relaxed by the end of this. Pre-projection (never get to post unfortunately) After relaxing, I have started closing my eyes and staring upwards. This causes a vibrating sensation that starts in my head, and in particular, seems to make me lose any feeling in my legs, my arms feel....Tingley! The vibrations are not all over my body (not in chest, back or groin area. From this point, should I use an exit technique, or concentrate on the brow chakra? ALSO - - - I notice frank mentioned he has a beer or so. I sometimes like to have a beer or smoke a joint (Once a week or so) This seems to get me to the vibrating point much quicker, and obviously helps me to relax. Is this a harmful pracise for projection or is it something that can aid me? Thanks, Spencer Permit me to correct you here: I did say that I do like to have a couple of beers or some wine in the evenings. But in the same breath I also said that it scuppers my chances of projection. Yours, Frank 2494 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / does everyone protect themselves before an OBE on: April 17, 2002, 11:22:56 quote: Originally posted by dllb: I have read and truely believe it is very important to protect yourself before you try (and succeed with) an OBE. I usually say a prayer to God then ask to be surrounded and protected by His white light. While I'm visualizing this white light completely surrounding me like a heavy fog, I state that "In this light there is Divine protection and only God and good can penetrate this light". What other means of protection do people do before an OBE? Thanks Don I've posted on this before so you'll get more info from digging out some of my previous posts. Basically, what you have to realise is what we call "thought" is, in fact, a primary form of energy. We don't notice it all that much on the Physical because our physical bodies and associated actions "buffer" our thought processes. On the Physical we can basically think what we like. However, in order for things to actually happen, we have to physically *act* on our thoughts. In other words, you can think about having a beer. But unless you physically get off the sofa, go to the fridge and get one... nothing is going to happen. Realise that, on the Astral, there is no such physical buffer. Hence, as you "feel" so it instantly becomes. Big problem is, "thought-fuelled fear" comes about ever so readily on the Astral. The moment you become a little fearful, your circumstances will instantly change in order to justify whatever level of fear you are experiencing. This is because *your* emotion provides the energy to create the new emotion-fuelled surroundings. Remember, on the Astral there is no Physical buffer between your thought-release-emotion and the circumstances that surround you. On the Physical, you can get a little enraged and think about biffing someone on the nose. But "thinking" about it and actually "doing" it are two entirely different things on the Physical. But that is not so on the Astral. As your mind releases the emotional-fuel, so your Astral surroundings and/or circumstances become. Problem is, people get tricked into thinking it's the other way around. In the sense they think they became fearful because they just had a scary Astral circumstance thrown at them... no... the nasty circumstance came about because they felt fearful. The change in circumstances is instant. Making it ever so tricky to make sense of it all. The "protection" you are serving up for yourself is all very well, in theory. What you are saying can work. For if you "believe" that you are protected by some kind of "shield" such that no harm whatsoever can possibly come to you, then great. Once you are within the Astral, therefore, you should never "fear" anything because you firmly believe you are protected. As a result, you will never give out any fear-based emotional fuel... in turn... no fearful circumstances will ever be generated. However, from your point of view, you will believe that no nasty Astral circumstances have ever come about - in your case - because your "shield" is working keeping them out. When, in fact, it is your belief that the "shield" is working that is keeping your own potentially fearful emotion(s) in check. If your belief in this "shield" is what works for you then all well and good. But realise there is a danger in thinking this way. It is all very well thinking about shields, and so forth, before the Astral event. But the circumstances that can (and do!) come about on the Astral can so very easily take your normally earth-bound sense of conscious awareness *totally* by surprise. Not because of Demons or anything. But simply because often, on the Astral, what you see can be so very different to what your sense of conciousness awareness is used to seeing on the Physical. You WILL have scary moments, believe me. When it happens, with me, I can now recognise the resulting changes in scenery for what they are: my very own thought-fuelled emotions being played out, all around me, in glorious 3D Technicolour. As such, more often than not, I can regain control of my thoughts and simply let the emotional energy dissipate. But it's tricky. This is something that took me around 5-years to realise, initially, and now - even after hundreds of Astral experiences - I STILL can get caught out. The danger is, with yourself, you will fail to recognise the true picture. As such, when you have a scary moment, you will come to believe that your "shield" is not working. Or maybe that God (the entity whom you believe granted you this "shield" in the first place) no-longer loves you, or is not listening to you, or whatever. So you might scour the Internet in a search for a stronger, more powerful shield. Yet these "scary moments" I say WILL continue regardless of what you do... for they are simply a natural consequence of the process of projection into the Astral. After a while, you may begin to feel "possessed" and you might start talking to others who have gone down a similar path to yourself (there are plenty of them). Or you might conclude that these "possessions" are a result of some "evil deed" you did in a "past life" (there are plenty of those too). Obviously, I realise what you choose to do is your own affair. But I would strongly suggest you consider this matter very carefully and try to realise the true picture. Yours, Frank 2493 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Simple question. on: April 17, 2002, 16:53:55 quote: Originally posted by cainam_nazier: Okay, I have been unable to project. I have been trying for rather a long time. A year or so. Now I do have one question since I am still new to many of the concepts of the action. Originally I would just mediate on projecting. And I usually meditate before I go to sleep. Now my question. In most of the things that I have read many people some what warn of not trying to project before you go to sleep when you are first starting out. Why is that? I know one of the things Mr. Bruce says, (I think if I remember correctly) was that it is better when begining to try during the day when you are fully awake. Mostly because it is daylight outside. So are there any other reasons? If not would this apply to me since I sleep during the day and am awake at night. So if I was to try and go outside during the day I would have to do it before I sleep. Also, I have gotten to the point of vibrations only a couple of times. The last was several months ago and I have not been able to bring it back. Any suggestions? "If you see the wrong way sign you had better rethink your course." David Rogalski cainam_nazier@hotmail.com Believe me when I say that you should not take what you read in books *too* literally. You should use the basic principles and develop your own way. For example, just recently I have made *major* developments in my projection abilities. Despite having had hundreds of Astral experiences, I never knew what "chakras" were. People on this BBS were kind enough to point me in the direction of some basic information that I found *very* helpful. Now, to me, a "chakra" sounds like some kind of potatoe crisp. But from the information I received, I managed to realise the importance of understanding the basic principles involved and the basic workings. From which, I developed a new set of terms that, as an ex-engineer, I can positively relate to. Now, if someone were to ask me what I am doing, I'd reply, "I'm connecting my sense of conscious awareness to my Remote-Projection Interface". You see, when someone talks to me about a "crown chakra" it means nothing. I instantly imagine it's something the Queen would wear on an off-day. But thinking about a "remote-projection interface" says everything to me. Because I can relate to it. Plus, it feels doubly exciting just knowing that I've got one... to the extent that, tomorrow morning, I cannot wait to activate it again. The problem being, I feel, that years ago, in whatever land or language that term evolved in, the term: "chakra" probably gave those people exactly the same sense of excitement that I feel today when I think of activating my "remote-projection interface". Not only that, I discovered that I have a "remote visual interface" too. That I am finding I can activate SO easily. But when people would talk of "brow chakra" all I'd imagine was some potatoe crisp stuck in my hair. So please realise that it can be *very* beneficial to work all the basics out in your own terms. Yours, Frank 2492 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Anyone know what this is called? on: April 17, 2002, 18:37:49 quote: Originally posted by kifyre: Just from random stuff I've read, it seems like they're many ways to interact with other planes of consciousness than just the classic projection (which, I guess, is creating an energetic double). You've got remote eye projection, clairvoyance, and (probably) all sorts of subtle variations. But, like you said, you had a body and you interacted with your surroundings. Maybe you created a double in a different way (using a different combination of chakras? ?). And then you started to generate the normal double as well, which brought on the classic symptoms. RB states that it is *possible* to project more than one double, but I figured those were projected in the same way, one after another. ::shrug:: Mark Mark, it definitely did not feel like I was "remote". It was all very hands on just like the Astral is (provided you can keep the old emotions in check, of course). To all intents and purposes I'd say that I was on the Astral proper... but... I had none of the normal projection process, i.e. vibrations followed by a terrific acceleration. What really confused me is I could bring on what I would call my normal pre-projection vibrations within the "whatever it was" I was experiencing. Oh well, it's another morning tomorrow... another morning another mystery! Thanks for the input you two. Yours, Frank 2491 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / does everyone protect themselves before an OBE on: April 21, 2002, 07:20:03 Your case and point is a typical experience that I'd guess virtually everyone comes across sooner or later... once they begin projecting their sense of consiousness into the Astral realms. Understand that what I am talking about has nothing to do with "imagination". The ability to imagine is a Physical-plane activity the like of which is simply not possible on the Astral. Imagination is possible on the Physical because our bodies act as a major buffer to our thoughts. Which means we can think about doing some action, and get all emotional over it, but not actually do it. In other words we say we "imagined" doing it. However, on the Astral, there is NO such Physical buffer. As you imagine, so it INSTANTLY becomes in glorious 3D Technicolour. Big problem being, when projecting, you do NOT just suddenly develop a super sense of Astral conscious awareness. The senses you take with you are the same as you have on the physical. Which is a MAJOR stumbling block; as all your thoughts, fears, desires, beliefs, etc., etc. come to the Astral with you. Yours, Frank 2490 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Tricky physical stumbling blocks on: April 21, 2002, 17:58:13 Spot on, mate. Couldn't have put it better myself. Yours, Frank 2489 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vegetarianism and Astral Projection on: April 23, 2002, 14:58:23 Experimented for some time on this topic, years ago. Tried vegetarian, vegan, raw, fruit, et al. Didn't make a scrap of difference. Well, not with me at any rate. Yours, Frank 2488 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My latest OBE-esque experience within a dream on: April 24, 2002, 14:16:42 quote: Originally posted by Kodemaster: Two nights ago, I was dreaming that I was in someone's house with lots of Christmas presents. It looked sorta like my living room, but it was someone else's. Suddenly, I realise that I'm dreaming, and decide to see if I can float/attempt OBE. I float up to the top of the room and do some flips and fly around the room. I don't have all that much control over the experience, which feels very much like a dream with a bit of lucidity. The only thing that makes this one interesting is that when I made myself aware of my vision and try to figure out if it's cylindrical (astral) or regular 3D vision, I was thrown off for a few seconds, and then back in the house again (don't remember which room). My experience ended shorty afterward. I think I was low on energy...the dream that preceded this experience was rather bizarre, and quite disturbing (I've been having a lot of nightmares lately), so I think that it drained too much of my energy for it to turn into an actual OBE or AP. Take care, Jeni Have been doing a lot of studies of the near-dream region of late. What I discovered, and I think it will help in your case, is how to enter the Astral from a Lucid dream. What you need to do is, as you find yourself becoming consciously aware that you are dreaming, try and quit the dream. Do this by switching off the emotional energy you are giving out that is fuelling the on-going dream picture. Otherwise, if you try and project, what will almost certainly happen is you will "dream" about projecting. Best way, I found, is to stand still and adopt an air of mild curiosity about one "thing". It might be an area of colour, or any old object. I found it doesn't really matter. Anything just so it gathers your thoughts. Then the dream scenery will shift. Once you are sure you are no-longer dreaming, that is the time to start having a wander around and interacting with your surroundings. At which point there is no need to think about projecting, as you are projecting. Yours, Frank 2487 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My latest OBE-esque experience within a dream on: April 25, 2002, 08:35:41 quote: Originally posted by James Davis: Hi Frank, I do a bit of lucid dreaming myself, and I've been following your other posts (good stuff -- very helpful). I was wondering: what's the best way (or even A way) to move from a lucid dream to the "consensual" areas of the astral, as opposed to the "training ground" you've mentioned. In other words, how does one get to the "objective" areas of the astral plane so that one could interact with objects and beings that exist apart independantly of one's imagination. In lucid dreams, I've been able to shift the scenery and float between dreams in a sort of dark void, with some sort of wind blowing on me, but I don't know if the next scene I see is "objective" or just another figment of my imagination/training ground type stuff. I've read your posts on the "training ground", but I'm wondering what the signs are that one has entered an objective astral area. Thanks! Your interface with the Astral is like a television or a radio. In your mind is the tuner, and the Astral plane is the incoming signal. The trick is to learn how to tune your mind into receiving the channel. Which is easy to say, but pretty darned tricky to do at the time. It is not a case of having to, in some way, "transmit" yourself to the Astral. You are already receiving the signal. The task in hand is to learn how to tune into it. Or, more importantly, learn how to stop blocking it out. The way you access the "objective" areas (as you call them) is to simply BE objective. Plus, I also found it helpful to adopt an air of mild curiosity. Following which, any "dream scenery" will simply fade away. Then you can decide what's what. Difficulty though lies in the fact you may just be standing in a black void. Whereupon the mind will have a strong urge to create some "thing" in order to fill the blackness. The key is to accept your surroundings as they stand and begin to move on from there. Even if your notes read nothing more than, "Became objective, dream scenery faded, stood in a black void for 5 minutes, got bored and returned to Physical". That's pretty dull, I admit, but at least what you were experiencing was a true sense of Astral reality: not simply a figment of your own imagination. I also find it very helpful to stand still for a short while, just observing my surroundings, and then move off. When you do start to move, concentrate on moving around slowly. On the Astral, you are not subject to gravity. Problem is there is a tendency to walk, for example, with the same sense of effort you would use on the Physical. For ages I couldn't for the life of me understand why, after taking a few steps, the scenery would often become blurred. No, it wasn't the scenery that became blurred... it was me walking at 50mph! Being truly objective is ever so easy to say, but *so* darned tricky to do at the time. How people choose to live is their business, but I will say that your Physical mindset has a tremendous influence on your Astral experiences. This is simply because your mindset-release-sense of conscious awareness, memory, beliefs, emotions, and so forth... all come to the Astral with you. Practise being objective on the Physical, and it will help you remain objective on the Astral. Not only that, if you develop the ability to remain objective when faced with all the weird and wonderful kinds of circumstances you come across on the Astral: remaining objective on the Physical becomes a piece of cake. Understand that many activities people engage in, on the Physical, can have a profoundly detrimental effect on the Astral. Which is why I am very careful to avoid any emotionally upsetting circumstances. I never argue with anyone, for example. I never read any kind of ghost stories; watch horror movies; movies with excess violence; never play computer games; watch or read news stories about war, famine, and such like. Though, again, what any one person chooses to do in their lives is their business. All I am trying to do is give people the benefit of my experience. As you gain experience, you will learn to detect the subtle difference between your own emotion-fuelled imagery and the Astral proper. The key thing is to question everything you see. For example, don't just walk through a door and continue on. First, observe the scenery around you. Then walk through the doorway. Stop and observe, then take a few steps back through the doorway: is the scenery the same as it was before? Now step through the doorway again, has the scenery changed? And what of the door... What is it made of? Are there any carvings on it? Etc., etc. This may all seem a little long-winded but I believe this step-by-step, observing and questioning as you go approach, is the best way to develop experience. Understand that it is the *quality* of your experience that is important. Not the quantity. You see, because moving around on the Astral, even at high speed, takes hardly any effort; it is ever so easy to begin rushing around here and there. In that event, you see little bits of everything, and it is all very exciting at the time. However, back in the Physical, you actually end up remembering virtually nothing. Also, do not make any assumptions whatsoever! What I mean is, you will find that the mind is absolutely terrific at trying to make any strange circumstance "fit" the details of what it gauges is a similar circumstance to that which it came across before on the Physical. However, once you have developed a degree of true-Astral experience, naturally you will come to make assumptions. But they will be valid assumptions based on previous *Astral* experience, not Physical. Also, when you come across some strange-looking symbol, or building, or whatever: the time to ask the questions about what the symbol means, or why something looks that way, or what some weird-looking machine is used for, etc., etc... the time to ask is at the time. Generally, if you develop an air of *particular* curiosity about whatever it is, this has the effect of attracting some "being" who can give you the answers. Lastly, I feel it is very important to keep talking to yourself; reassuring the part of your sense of conscious awareness that is continually seeking to "protect" you, that all is okay. Speak to it in soothing tones. The same as you would do with a child that has had a scary experience. You will notice much more on the Astral how your mind has a dual quality. It's the same on the Physical but the effect is much more pronounced on the Astral. There is a distinct part of the mind that plays an active role and is only too eager to engage in daring adventures; and there is a distinct part of the mind that is more passive and more protective in nature. The key is to have the active part talking to and reassuring the passive part: such that you make progress as a "team". That way you will keep the chances of producing emotive imagery to a minimum, thus have fewer scary moments, etc. HTH Yours, Frank 2486 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Anyone know what this is called? on: April 27, 2002, 09:00:17 Thank you for your continued input, it is very much appreciated. First, I'm not at all sure whether I did used to see these kinds of visions, though at a faster rate. In the sense that now I am slowing down the projection process I can focus on them rather than the visions being just a complete blur. To me, what I am experiencing is a separate and totally different Physical-exit sensation. The reality, as such, is very real. But no different to the sense of Astral reality present following my "normal" shooting-off exit. (You see, that's the confusing part.) Also, it does not feel like I am viewing the scene "remotely" like I was looking at something in the distance through binoculars on the Physical; which is how I understand the term remote-viewing to be. I am definitely there and can interact with my surroundings in just the same way as in what I would call a normal Astral experience. The other day, for example, I found an elderly lady who could see me and was willing to chat. She was standing on the pavement looking at a particular house. The street was lined with a row of small terraced houses and the one she was looking at looked run-down. I approached, stood next to her, and she asked me if I had known "him". I apologised saying that I didn't and could she please explain. I learnt that the house had belonged to a man who had been murdered. We started walking slowly along and came to the end of the terrace; which was a corner shop that sold general hardware. The lady explained the shop had belonged to the murdered man. The new owner was related to him and he had inherited the shop upon his death. Many people suspected that the new owner was in some way connected with the other man's death. I thanked the lady and exited to make some notes. To all intents and purposes, this was a normal Astral experience. The only difference being I had somehow just "stepped into it". I have only practised this a few times as it is rather tricky for me to do. But I learnt there is a definite feeling of a "shift" of awareness. First time I described it, I said it was like stepping into it. Veo has now described it perfectly. Yes, it's like a "phasing in". It does not feel like a Lucid Dream. Problem is, I am plagued with such things. I know exactly how Robert Monroe felt when he talked about just wanting to sleep when he would often automatically project out of sheer habit. Well, that's the same with me and Lucid Dreams; to the extent where I've forgotton what it is like just to simply go to sleep and wake up the next day. The experience of "phasing in" is not like drifting off into a Lucid Dream. The whole process takes about a second. It's like some kind of light comes on in my mind and... zooom... I have a feeling of making fast but tiny shifting movement. After which I'm standing within the Astral. Well, as I say, to all intent and purposes it feels like the Astral, But, naturally, I'm not making any snap judgements. The process I find very tricky but I'm working on refining it further. Another thing I have noticed is since the first "shifting" experience I have started to "hear" things. No, I'm not going mad, I promise! I've heard the term "clairaudience" before and never really knew what it meant. But I've had several instances lately where I've just suddenly realised that I've been listening to a conversation. It's a bit of a weird sensation and if anyone has come across such a thing before I'd be grateful for their input. I'm used to all the pops, bangs, knocks and ripping noises that are generally heard as a part of the projection process. So such things hardly ever distract me now. But just recently I've found myself relaxing and, quite by accident, I've let my sense of conscious awareness drift where, suddenly, I've found myself listening to people talking... exactly as if I were overhearing a conversation on the Physical. Problem is, I'm finding my sense of conscious awareness tends to "snap me out of it" in the same way it does when feeling the vibrational state for the first few times. But I'm hoping that, with practice, I can get my sense of conscious awareness used to the idea. Following which I hope to become more attuned to what is being said. Right now I'm only getting snippets of this and that, which don't add up to anything with any real meaning. I'll buy the Ultimate Journey book and see what it says. Maybe I can recognise something that will lead me in the right direction. Yours, Frank 2485 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Anyone know what this is called? on: April 27, 2002, 10:23:27 quote: Originally posted by SteppenWolf: Frank - Sounds to me like it's a really advanced type of remote viewing. However because you weren't given a target, you just ended up viewing an astral area. From reading lots of RV experiences that's how it sounds to me - as many of them get a lot deeper into the place than the training indicates. Eg check this out: http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/1973JupiterRVProbe.html Just most people don't get to that level and have to work with vaguer data coming through. However the very best feel as if they are there - or rather in two places at once. Out of interest - are you a bit of a natural or have you just done a ton of training (yoga, etc) and if so - what training have you done? Cheers, RIchard http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile.gif" border=0> Thanks for the link. I find all the science stuff very interesting. As for training, no, none whatsoever. I said in one of my early posts that I haven't got a psychic bone in my body. The way I got into the subject was from reading books. (I have always been an avid reader ever since early childhood.) The first book I read, on this type of subject matter, which I came across quite by accident, was in the 70's, entitled: Your Telecult Power (I forget now who wrote it). I considered the whole thing to be mystical nonsense, to be honest. And even to this day, despite having had hundreds of Astral adventures, the moment a conversation starts to dwell on anything remotely "mystical" my mind automatically switches off. One day, years ago, I happened to be walking along a local street and noticed a new bookshop had opened. It was one of those "New Age" places that sold crystals, Tarot cards, et al, as well as books. In the window was Monroe's J.O.B. It was mere curiosity that made me buy it. I got more curious still and bought several other books. My curiosity developed to the point where I simply wanted to find out, for myself, whether all that I had read was true... or just a load of tosh. So I thought, right, I'm going to genuinely give it a go and see what happens. If something comes about then it is genuine. If not then it's tosh. I wasn't really all that bothered either way. As I say, it was curiosity more than anything. Well, in the event, something did come about (much to my surprise as it happened). Looking back, I think it was the fact I was setting out to satisfy my curiosity about obe's that was, to a large degree, responsible for my eventual success. Nowadays, I hear of people's failed attempts and it comes across to me, quite strongly, that they are trying too hard. I liken this to areas of Physical life where it is generally best not to come across to others as being too "needy". Like, the moment you need some "thing" urgently, others quickly latch-on and push the price up. It's the same with relationships, too. I've known guys in the past who were so desperate to get into a meaningful relationship, and couldn't. But nothing is more off-putting to a woman than a "needy" guy. It seems to be there are areas of life where the more you try, the more the "thing" escapes or resists you. I notice this effect a lot from my experience in riding and schooling horses. Yours, Frank 2481 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / HELP AND PATIENCE on: April 28, 2002, 17:14:03 Okay, calm down, after all we *are* on your side. Understand that having a conscious-exit obe is VERY tricky. There are no hard and fast rules as to "time". Yours, Frank 2479 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / White or Dark Light.???? on: April 28, 2002, 18:00:35 quote: Originally posted by Focus15: "Place the white light around you for protection"....Why is this false phrase so commonly used??? Somehow, IMO, it is like a chess game between Dark and Light Played in third density and the incarnations are the playing pieces. Just as in chess, there are 2 colors. In this case black and white.. So in order to play in their game, you must choose a side.Surrounding yourself with white light identifies you, on the astral, as a light side player.Surrounding yourself with black light identifies you as a Dark side player...These auras are used so that the polarities know who their allies and enemies are and will act accordingly...Protective? somehow I don't think so..If anything, using polarity light will encourage attacks by the opposing side since it radiates like a beacon in the astral.... Just some thought I wanted to share... Blessing Oh... Nice one!!!! There is a depth behind what you say and a gravity that I've felt for SO long. Yours, Frank 2478 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Electric Blanket" Good or Bad ? on: April 30, 2002, 07:33:47 I have an all-night electric blanket that I leave on during winter-time as I do not have the central heating on in the bedroom. I leave the window open slightly to get plenty of fresh air. Which means the room can often get quite chilly, hence the need for the electric blanket. In the summer the blanket is switched off and I have air-conditioning to keeep the room cool. None of these electrical devices, I found, affect my ability to obe. Yours, Frank 2477 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Anyone know what this is called? on: April 30, 2002, 16:30:26 Again, thank you for your continued input. On the contrary, I find all positive obe concepts most interesting. Today I ordered the two Monroe books Far Journey and Ultimate Journey which I should receive tomorrow. I happened to read the snippets on Amazon.com, of Ultimate Journey, and a couple of things Monroe said, just in the few pages available, aroused my curiosity quite a lot. What Monroe later talks about, which didn't really come across in JOB, is the idea of "thought" being a primary energy. This is something I discovered in my early Astral experiences, but have not yet been able to really make sense of it all in a more "advanced" sense. At the same time I ordered the Gateway series CD's which I'm going to look into. I'm not a great fan of all this audio stuff but, by the same token, I cannot have any real opinion on the matter unless I experience it for myself. Yours, Frank 2476 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / HELP AND PATIENCE on: May 01, 2002, 10:00:44 Having a successful conscious-exit obe depends to a large degree on what you don't do, rather than what you do. From slowing down what used to be my "normal" projection process I've gained a lot of understanding about the preliminary stages. For example, with the initial "stilling the mind" stage, at first your thoughts are flitting here, there and everywhere. Now, I think it is a big mistake to try and somehow blank these out. Because if you try and do that it you just end up fighting against yourself. What I do is imagine I'm focusing my thoughts with a lens. I got the idea from when I was a kid. We'd get a magnifying glass and focus sunlight to a tiny dot. Enough heat was generated to light bits of paper or burn our names into a piece of wood. So I think of my thoughts like they were sunlight being channelled through a lens. Once they have passed through this lens they are projected and contained within a small circle situated at the top of my head. Gradually, as I focus the lens, my thoughts become contained within an ever smaller circle. I noticed that as the circle gets smaller their intensity increases dramatically. With practice I managed to focus them to an ever smaller and smaller dot. Then, something happened which caught me quite by surprise. I focused my whole sense of thinking down to one fixed point of awareness about the size of a pinhead. Then, right at that moment, my collective sense of conscious awareness felt like it had been sucked into it. As I say, this caught me off guard and I immediately snapped back with a jolt. So I tried it again and, sure enough, the same effect came about. I now call it the black-hole effect. After a few times my sense of conscious awareness became familiar with the sensation. There would be a kind of flash of light and then... zoom.. my sense of self would be on some other level. It was a feeling like some tractor beam just scooped me up. I think I'm "transported" to the Astral, but need to do more research. A few days ago I was pottering around the house and a thought suddenly came into my consciousness, together with a big burst of emotion. It came to me that I could, quite possibly, have realised the true meaning of the first sentence of a book I'd read 20-years previously. The book is, "The Secret of the Golden Flower" by Lu-tsu and translated by Richard Wilhelm. It begins by saying, "Master Lu-tsu said, That which exists through itself is called the Way." I'd pondered on this sentence many times as to it's true meaning. Eagerly I searched for the book and flipped to the first page and began reading. Hmm, it all seemed just as confusing as when I had last tried to read it. Then I saw one of the initial diagrams, entitled: Meditation, Stage 1: Gathering the Light. Then it suddenly came to me, and I kicked myself for not having realised it before... when the book talks of "light"... it means thought-energy! And now it all starts to make some kind of sense. Yours, Frank 2475 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / HELP AND PATIENCE on: May 01, 2002, 18:58:11 quote: Originally posted by quebec: Thanks again for all your input. I have enough to work with for a couple of weeks. I liked your idea Frank in controlling the mind. The few times that I've reach the vibrations, was when I could empty my mind. They came shortly after reaching this kind of inner silence. The inner silence is what is called the "stillness in the midst of conditions". It's a region that I'm only just beginning to explore in detail after having learned to slow down what was my normal projection process. Yours, Frank 2472 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Proof Of OBE - and/or - How to Win 1 Milion $ on: May 04, 2002, 11:34:07 quote: Originally posted by Atlas: >>It's also rather comical to me, being a scientist, and who recounts to this BBS my controlled, consistent attempts at performing various obe states that you would ask for further "proof". Faith is sadly lacking in you, my friend. << Frank, no offense meant here mate but I find your claim at being a scientist questionable if you mention "faith". Faith in something requires that it not be provable or have evidence otherwise you "know" it and it is no longer a matter of faith. Science is about facts, reason, rationality, evidence. NOT faith. Faith is the realm of religion and mysticism, not science. Experiments performed by you on yourself can't just be accepted you know. There's no way to avoid bias in that circumstance. Here's an experiment. I will give you my address, We can use TerraServer so that you know how to get here, and I will paste a 5 digit number on my front door. Go into the real time zone and come read it. Now THERE is an experiment! And like i've said, my FAITH , for better or worse, is STRONG! BECAUSE, despite my 0 success rate, despite my issues with this in terms of logic and rationality, I STILL believe this a true phenomenon. That's pretty much faith, since everything rational is telling me this is a load of malarkey. Thanks for the post. Cya Atlas No offence taken. I much prefer communicating with people who have the courage to speak their mind. My Collins dictionary gives the primary meaning of the word Faith as: A strong or unshakeable belief in something. Which is how I meant the word to be used. Yes, I do readily admit the same word can have religious connotations. Llike, a belief in something unproven such as the existence of some kind of God: which appears to be the context in which you assume I have used it. But my use of the word was solely as given above. There is nothing wrong with experimenting on oneself. Provided any inherrent biases are ironed out of whatever conclusion(s) I happen to make, I see no harm in it. As for popping over to your house, I've said before that travelling to a *specific* place in the RT zone is a tricky thing to do. It's something I currently find impossible. That's precisely why I have been working on slowing down my normal projection process in order to try and make it more controllable. It was only fairly recently that I managed to project into the RT zone. That was after literally hundreds of projections into the Astral. I thought it was weird, at first, but I got a lot of comfort from the fact that in AD Mr Bruce tells of how his experiences had been primarily in the RT zone. Which was virtually the exact opposite of what I experienced. So I thought, well, that's not quite so freaky after all. You never know, sometime soon I might take you up on your offer. Yours, Frank 2468 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Proof Of OBE - and/or - How to Win 1 Milion $ on: May 05, 2002, 07:39:50 History is replete with examples of where Physical science got it wrong. I started out in the electronics field. When I was learning we had what was called "conventional current flow" and "true current flow". We were told that the early scientists originally worked out that current flowed from positive to negative. You had a positive charge that dissipated into a the negative. I suppose they thought of it in much the same way as a full bucket of water would dissipate when poured onto a patch of earth. So they developed all these formulas, and so forth, that "proved" their findings. However, years later, some bright spark started claiming they got it all wrong. Saying that current didn't flow from positive to negative at all. In fact, it was the other way around. There naturally followed a period of dismissal. However, one by one, scientists had to eventually accept they got it wrong and all the formulas were rewritten. It's the same way I feel today when talking about "thought" being a primary energy. Of course, I'm not the only one. But we are a very tiny minority. All that scientists are beginning to discover is there are finer and finer states of matter; and that the Atom is not the be-all and end-all they once thought it was. Now, I don't need a 10 billion dollar research facility to find this out, because I can project within these finer states and discover them for free. Just as we have the Physical world composed of Atoms, we have the realms made of a much finer matter than Atoms we call the Astral. As I say, scientists are only now beginning to discover the existence of these finer particles of matter. Understand that the Astral is not some separate place that you travel too. The Astral realms are composed of progressively finer and finer states of matter that are interwoven within what we call Physical matter that is composed of Atoms. It makes sense that, as scientists develop the technology to magnify atoms more reliably, and to an ever greater extent, they will start to begin to reach the stage where their instruments will have the capacity to detect the finer Astral matter that is interwoven within the Atoms themselves. They are surprised at the way this finer state of matter seems to react to their thoughts. Well, of course it will. Because such is the nature of Astral matter. On the Astral, with a little practice, you can actually manifest any object at will. Thus create a form of that object (or creature) from Astral matter merely by thinking about it in a particular way. Yours, Frank 2466 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hoax tapes or working Hemi-syn? on: May 05, 2002, 07:47:27 Please note, when I recommend "Hemi Sync" I'm not recommending anything other than the Monroa Institute Gateway CD's. I have no experience of any other Monroe institute CD's or any positive experience of other recordings either "Hemi-Sync style" or otherwise. Yours, Frank 2465 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hemi-Sync... user reports on: May 05, 2002, 08:40:19 quote: Originally posted by kifyre: Shoot, and I was hoping nothing would beat good-old-fashioned practice. http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile.gif" border=0> I suppose I should have known. Drums, poison frogs, drugs. People have used tools to achieve trance and projection for eons. Mark Yes, you are quite correct, there really is no substitute for good old-fashioned practice. I could not agree with you more on that. but that's the *brilliant* aspect to these CD's. In that they quickly help you to structure your practice in a very much more controlled way. You still have to do the driving, as it were; and I suppose, in a sense, it is very much like learning to drive; with the CD's performing the function of having an instructor beside you, teaching as you go. Then, once you are proficient enough, you can drive on your own. That's how these CD's are organised. They gradually coax your mind into achieving specific levels of relaxation states. After a while you find you can achieve these states without the CD's. Okay, I suppose the theory behind that is nothing new. But all the stuff I've listened to in the past has been sheer claptrap composed by people who have no real idea of how the mind works. But these CD's are truly different. As I said in my original post, whoever composed these CD's is VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE about the process of projection. Incredibly so, in fact. You see, for ages I have been floundering around using trial and error in order to discover the best most simple way of projecting. Like, discovering relaxing from the head downwards was far more effective than trying to relax from the feet upwards. That process took me maybe 2-years to fathom all on my own. But it's all there, on the very first CD, for anyone to learn in days! I just wish I'd had these CD's 20 years ago. Yours, Frank 2464 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Sorting energy from matter? on: May 06, 2002, 08:32:06 quote: Originally posted by Tom: When I do exercises with energy, I can feel energy and have been for some time. My awareness must at least partially be in the energy. When sending energy outside of my body, I feel the energy flowing out. It does not feel like my awareness goes along. Going out of body does not involve the physical body. I'm leaving that behind (though not empty). In order to succeed with astral projection do I need to try to occupy energy withouot that energy having to occupy matter such as my body? If so, how do I begin to pull energy away from matter and occupy it? I'm not sure what you mean by exercises with energy. I've heard a lot of talk about this since joining the BBS and don't fully understand most of it. Though I suspect what people are doing is just stimulating what Mystics call Chakras. Or they are practising developing their powers of mental visualisation. Both of which are nowhere near the same thing as Astral Projection. Actual projection is a natural process that needs to be triggered. RB in Astral Dynamics calls it a Projection Reflex. Which describes it perfectly. Projection is a reflex action that occurs when you place your body under certain conditions. First there is a tingling, then a vibration, which literally feels like your whole body is buzzing and vibrating. Then you can let those vibrations build to the point where you feel yourself taking off. From what you say in your post, I would gauge the mental process your are involving yourself with is some kind of creative visualisation. Which is not the same thing as Astral Projection. Though it is perfectly possible to "visualise" a projection experience just as anyone can dream about having one. If you were truly projecting your sense of conscious awareness into the Astral, believe me, there would be no doubt about it. It's like when, occassionally, someone will post and ask something along the lines of, "Was this an obe or just a dream?" The straight answer is, if you have any doubt, then it was a dream. There is an area of the brain that acts as an interface between your physical body and the Astral realms. What you need to do is learn to plug your collective sense of conscious awareness ( i.e. your 5 senses together with mental faculties such as thought, memory, etc.) into that area of the brain. Then, through your collective sense of conscious awareness, you will begin to experience Astral-realm sensations, as opposed to Physical-realm sensations. However, before this can happen, you need to place your Physical body into a certain pre- projection state. I've only recently come across the Gateway CD's from the Monroe Institute. I can honestly say they are definitely a good aid to Projection. Wave-1 takes you to what they call Focus 10. This is basically the *same* pre-projection state I learnt to place myself in: only through years of trial and error! By following tracks 1 & 2 of the first CD, anyone should be able to place themselves in this state in just a few weeks. Basically, this state is described as "mind awake... body asleep". Understand that your "collective sense of conscious awareness" can be unplugged from your Physical body and connected to what is commonly called your Astral Body (though, personally, I can't get on with that term). It might not feel like this unplugging is possible because, for years, through your collective sense of conscious awareness, you have only experienced Physical-body sensations. In the "mind awake... body asleep" state, it's not so much that your body has gone to sleep (though I do agree it is a handy way of describing it). What you have actually done is detach, or unplug, your collective sense of conscious awareness from your Physical body. In that event you cannot feel your physical body anymore. Once unplugged, using a little meta-physical imagery, you can gather or focus your collective sense of conscious awareness and let it drift upwards; so as to make contact with, or plug into, the area of the brain that interfaces with the Astral realm(s) of matter: as opposed to the Physical realm. At which point, as I say, you will begin to experience Astral-sensations. Yours, Frank 2463 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Sorting energy from matter? on: May 06, 2002, 16:11:16 Yes, the exit as you say is largely "automatic" once a certain intensity of vibration has been reached. By slowing down what was my normal projection process, I realised that it is not enough merely to feel vibrations. You have to let them build in intensity. I used to control their intensity by modulating my breathing, but quickly found they could be regulated merely by thinking about them in a certain way. I posted on this topic a short while ago, where I say to listen to the vibrations as well as feel them. You will start to realise they are composed of different frequencies and/or intensities of vibration that you can learn to become attuned to. I found that allowing their intensity to build slowly, whilst engaging in a side-to-side rocking motion, at some point I would roll out of the Physical and drop through my bedroom floor into the kitchen. But if I let them build in intensity, whilst lying still, I can shoot off to the Astral like I'd just been fired from a cannon. Yours, Frank 2462 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I do not see anything on: May 06, 2002, 16:23:09 As for seeing whilst projecting it's the same as you would do on the Physical. You simply open your eyes. On the Astral, obviously, you don't have any physical eyes to open, as such. But all you do is to think about opening your eyes and you will be able to see. As for the rapid-heartbeat you are feeling, what you are probably doing is just activating one of the bodily energy centres that mystics, et al, call Chakras. There is something about a Heart Chakra that can be activated which gives similar feelings to what you describe. I believe, from what people have said on this BBS, that I did the same once. Quite by accident, as it happened. But activating various Chakras is not the same as projection into the Astral. Which is probably the reason why you have reached your current stumbling block. Yours, Frank 2460 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Sorting energy from matter? on: May 07, 2002, 08:16:08 quote: Originally posted by quebec: Could you elaborate also Frank on the factors involved in getting the vibrations. As I see it right now, you relax your body, work to get into a trance state, keep the mind "emptied". Once there I found that using the "rope" technique from Robert's book, I have been able to get the vibrations a few times, with the pounding heart, flushes etc...but no exit. I don't have any fear but I get too eager, too excited, and this create tension in my body. I think that the solution for this is only practice and time. What do you consider the most important factor in reaching the vibrations. Is it the "thinking about them in a certain way" as you mentionned previously ? Or is it the depth of the trance. I'd disagree here with some of what you say. I used to do the "relax your body, etc" stuff. But found it was far more efficient to first relax what was going on in my head and my body would, in the main, automatically relax. That is why I am so eager to recommend the Gateway Wave-1 CD because it basically shows you right away "exactly" how to do it. Whereas it took me years of trial and error. Again, I would say to anyone having difficulty to simply buy the Wave-1 CD and follow what is on the first 2 tracks. Put aside anything else and simply follow that. Keep practising (every day if you can) until you reach the Focus 10 state, i.e. mind awake... body asleep. I feel strongly that beginners try too many so-called "projection methods". They try this and that method and none of them work, so they give up. What they fail to realise, I believe, is that the "method" in itself is not what causes you to project. But that is how I see these methods being marketed. It's like, "Take this pill and it will get rid of your headache." So you take the pill and the headache goes away. "Buy this XXX Projection method and you'll be projecting in minutes!" So you buy the method, follow it to the letter, and nothing happens. So you try another, and another, and another... and for most people... nothing happens. A small minority have the necessary degree of faith to stick with it and work it out. Once you do so, you realise that a *lot* of the commercial stuff is total cr*p. Problem is, after a number of failures, people naturally start to question the validity of the whole thing. But if I can do it, anyone can. The exact same difficulties I hear about people having on this BBS I had myself, years ago. Plus, I don't know what people mean by "trance state". I hear this term a lot and have read it in AD but, to me, the word "trance" means as it says in the dictionary, i.e. a state in which a person is unaware of their surroundings or actions. Like a stage hypnotist puts a subject in a "trance" and suggests they make noises, or do certain actions, so as to humour the audience. At all times during the projection process I am fully conscious and aware of everything that is happening. In no way do I ever feel like I am in some kind of "trance". The "state" I am in is as described on the Wave-1 CD: mind awake... body asleep. Plus, there is no "pounding heart" and no "flushes" I feel absolutely nothing coming from my physical body at all (prior to the onset of vibrations) nor do I feel like I am doing anything remotely to do with "energy". I'm slowly beginning to realise that this "pounding heart" sensation almost certainly comes about from activating what mystics call Chakras. I once did that quite by accident and, yes, there was a pounding kind of vibrating feeling about my heart region, coupled with other sensations. Which is what I suspect you are doing. But that is not Astral Projection. The process of Astral Projection is, in a sense, like driving. While you can have choices about which actions to take, there are various strict rules that everyone must follow. Like, all driving on the same side of the road. You can choose where to drive to, or what car to go in, etc. But you cannot wake up one morning and think, "Hmm... which side of the road shall I drive to work on today?" Projection is a reflex action that WILL occur if you bring your mind and body into a particular state. That particular state is the SAME for everyone. You can choose to enter that state by use of various means. But whatever means you choose it must, at the end of it all, bring you into that particular pre-projection state in order to stimulate the natural projection reflex which I am sure everyone has. Yours, Frank 2459 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Sorting energy from matter? on: May 07, 2002, 08:29:10 quote: Originally posted by chohan: Frank - enjoyed your input here. I agree about the wave series and have been drawn to the Focus12-liftoff I believe in wave3.Curiously, when I stumbled into the vibrations over a week ago I was just experimenting with trance and breath, no audio input. Indeed a projection "reflex" just like the panic reflex that set in on me. I'm inclined to think the panic reflex is ego related... "what's happening to ME" survival type flee response. Interesting when you said you can almost hear the vibrations at some of the frequencies. I'm starting to think the tinnitus (ringing ear) that the army gave me was a curse but now a blessing. When doing a full body circuit I've noticed by focusing on that high-pitched ringing in my head that it helps clear the monkey mind and can almost act as a channel to help with energy focus. Plus the fact that the ringing is very high frequency and modulates, any thoughts? Lately, I've been attempting to form the energy around my head in a ring and just play with and then amplify it. It amazes me that we can even do this just with will and intention. Will keep you all posted and enjoy reading! peace, chohan Yes, the projection reflex normally activates the fight/flight response. Problem is, as I've posted before, the collective sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral is exactly the same as the one you have on the Physical. Therefore, you need to introduce the new sensations gradually in order to allow your consciousness to become accustomed to them. Yours, Frank 2458 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Proof Of OBE - and/or - How to Win 1 Milion $ on: May 07, 2002, 09:10:49 quote: Originally posted by Inguma: Interesting discussion Frank - something you said really caught my eye: quote: Now, I don't need a 10 billion dollar research facility to find this out, because I can project within these finer states and discover them for free. Just as we have the Physical world composed of Atoms, we have the realms made of a much finer matter than Atoms we call the Astral. As I say, scientists are only now beginning to discover the existence of these finer particles of matter. Could you describe precisely what you have seen?? I would love to hear more about this. I remember I asked a projector once who had done this and she said it was like small universes with no end to how tiny you could get. But I wonder how you would "see" an electron since it is "travelling" so immensely fast. I'm not exactly sure if I am seeing electrons or atoms or whatever particles, but I've come across various "energy areas" on the Astral that contain all kinds of energy-particles. It's something I've yet to work out. You see them quite easily by matching their speed and direction. Imagine if you were standing by the roadside and a car came past you at 500 mph. You just see a fleeting blur. If it made several passes at ever increasing speed there would come a point where you wouldn't see it at all. But if you were alongside the car, matching its speed and direction, no matter how fast it was travelling, relative to the ground, the car would appear stationary to yourself. I've travelled along and within huge light-beams and I've seen what look like individual photons that make up the beam as a whole. They appear as a suspended ball of energy, each giving off a certain degree of light and each spaced about 30cm, or so, apart. Thus forming a huge 3D grid. Some get thrown off and form a whirling kind of light cloud. When you look at these particles some are different shapes and can be multi-coloured. As you travel through them you can feel an electrical charge that gives a tickling sensation. As I say, I'm not exactly sure what these are. If I fly out of them and view the whole thing from a few thousand miles away it looks like a huge beam of light. Yours, Frank 2457 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Sorting energy from matter? on: May 07, 2002, 19:01:30 UK copyright law allows a person to copy exerpts from a work in order to demonstrate a point or idea, or whatever. Provided there is no money changing hands, of course. I was thinking of making the Wave-1 CD available on KaZaA, purely for research purposes. Then, once a person got going, they'd buy the CD set from the Monroe Institute in order to progress further. As I say, I'm sure such actions would be within the Law as it stands in the UK. But I will double- check with a lawyer-friend tomorrow. Yours, Frank 2456 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Proof Of OBE - and/or - How to Win 1 Milion $ on: May 08, 2002, 10:00:44 As I have said before a number of times, what we are involved with here is a new and emerging science. As such, we have not yet evolved a common system of labelling. But it will come, given time. The problem you have when searching for commonality, Atlas, is you have no experience of projection. As such, you views come across to me as being very one sided. When I read RB's and RM's work they have quite a lot in common, both with each other and with my own experiences. I read Ultimate Journey for the first time the other week. I'm about halfway through and it is mind-blowing the extent to which Monroe's experiences run parallel to my own. However, had I read that book 15 years ago (assuming it had been published then) I'd be struggling to make sense of it all. That's basically the position you are in right now. Well, I suppose that's the position the majority of people are in when they first try and project. Yours, Frank 2455 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anyone give me some decent answers? on: May 09, 2002, 09:19:24 On the Physical, many people are trapped in belief systems; ranging from total envelopment to simple colour prejudice. Problem is, you lug all this with you to the Astral. Such that, if you project expecting to have to deal with demonic entites: demonic entities you will have to deal with. If you let this continue often enough, you will most surely begin to feel "possessed". The other extreme is: if you project to the Astral expecting to see your picture of almighty God surrounded by a zillion Angels: that is precisely what you will get by the plane load. To the extent where, if you let it continue, you will most certainly begin to feel like you were one of "God's Messengers" or such like. Another big problem is, not only do you lug all your emotional baggage with you to the Astral... you lug all the emotional-baggage developed on the Astral, back with you to the Physical. Also, on the Astral, you can come across "fragmented energy". These can take many forms. Some of these fragments (that I call Scamps) take great delight in trying to scare you. If successful, they feed off your emotional energy and use it as "fuel" in order to make themselves appear something much bigger, and much scarier, than they really are. When you come across these critters, for the first few times, they easily catch you out. But after a while you get so used to them they no-longer bother you. This is because they scan your thoughts and realise they aren't going to surprise you and get the desired effect. So they just leave you alone (but you can still, occassionally, get caught out). Same too with other "energies" which often take great delight in bursting through people's "protection". Again, what you have to realise is these entities can scan your thoughts. Thus they know, with absolute accuracy, where your mental weaknesses lie. I've flipped through posts here and there, on various BBS's, that follow along the lines of, "I visualised "XXX protection system" before I projected but still the demons came... help!" What these people are failing to realise is that it is not the "protection system" in itself that keeps the demons away. It is your belief about it that determines whether it works for you or not. However, I would recommend people take one step further than that and realise the true picture of how beliefs, thoughts and emotions (biggest one being fear) colour your Astral experiences. Once you get more proficient at projecting, you often come across people with bits missing. Half-corpses of men, women and children, writhing in agony after having been mutilated by bombs, missiles, swords, natural disasters, etc., etc. It takes a while to get used to such images. But you must resist the temptation to react emotionally as you, yourself, will become Astrally-enveloped by them. Logic and reason play a big role here. What you are seeing is the aftermath of various destructive actions on the Physical. You just hope that eventually a "facilitator" will come along that will have the power to transport these people to levels where they can become whole again. It's the mutilated children that still effect me, though, even after years of Astral experiences. It's happening less and less now, but when first seeing such things I'd wake-up, in the Physical, with a feeling of wanting to cry my heart out. But the trick is to simply let the emotional energy dissipate, drift off to sleep, and start a fresh next time. Yours, Frank Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Proof Of OBE - and/or - How to Win 1 Milion $ on: May 12, 2002, 09:31:01 quote: Originally posted by Atlas: >>As I have said before a number of times, what we are involved with here is a new and emerging science.<< You have said that and I totally agree that it might be, but as I've said and I think you'll agree, this new science is not above the scientific method. You have said that it may be proved in the future and that might be the case also, but as it stands right now, I see no reason to believe, based on EVIDENCE here, that the OBE is not a vivid lucid dream. I totally understand your position, and I think you understand mine. Only you know that you are having an OBE, and that it is NOT a dream. There's no way to prove it to anyone except in the ways we've stated. Thanks for the post Atlas Yes, I understand where you are coming from. Also, as you pointed out likewise, with Mobius, if I may say with respect that I am a scientist and there is no "might be" about it. As such, it couldn't possibly be "above the scientific method". But look around you and see how that is beginning to happen. At last, as far as I am concerned, this whole "thing" is being taken out of the hands of the mystics and steadily being observed and experienced by those who have a more scientific-based sense of reasoning. Robert Monroe was the forerunner of this. Myself, I have inadvertently been "following in his footsteps" without realising it. I have only recently read Far and Ultimate Journey(s) and, while Monroe has gone much deeper into the Astral than I have thus far, I am gobsmacked at how our Astral experiences have so much in common. But, then again, he observes from basically the same viewpoint as myself. I've said before that negotiating the real-time zone is very tricky for me. I only recently learned how to project into it after having had hundreds of previous Astral experiences. But, as an on- going experiment, I'm prepared to make it my goal to try and visit your home, or some big landmark or other (that you are familiar with in your vicinity) and I will try and project to that place and tell you something about it that I couldn't have known normally. Okay, it's not "proof" in the scientific sense of the word, i.e. a conclusion that has been derived from repeatedly successful double-blind testing. But it will be a start. Plus, it will give me a more definite goal to work towards. You never know, it might work. Then, perhaps we can move on and perform some more advanced tests: like reading figures pinned on your front door, or something. I'm not sure whether I can do it, and I am unsure as to how long it will take. But I am willing to give it a go. Let me know what you think. Yours, Frank 2452 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE doesn't prove life after death on: May 14, 2002, 07:55:38 You see many "dead" people on the Astral planes. The place is chock full of them. Your "beliefs" when you die (and to an extent the cause of your death) primarily determine whereabouts on the Astral you end up. On the lower planes, there are many "lost souls" wandering around not realising they are dead. Many of them have been involved in wars, nasty accidents, etc., and are still writhing around with body parts having been blown off and so forth. As you quite rightly point out, "A balance of perspective must be maintained in order to preserve reasonable logic and truth". Once you can project to the Astral proper, you will be able to see all of it for yourself. Thus look at the matter from a balanced perspective. Also, when you say, "Maybe the "spirit" or consciousness needs the body to power it, like a battery... body dies, so does consciousness." Please understand that it is, in fact, the other way around. Yours, Frank 2451 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Are any of you Christian Astral Projectors? on: May 14, 2002, 08:36:30 The Astral caters for all "belief systems". On the Physical, it may well be the case that adopting a particular system may have the effect of accelerating a person's spiritual development, thus bringing on the obe experience at a faster rate. However, you must be aware that the planes which cater for the various "belief systems" are, in fact, the lower planes. Which is a tad ironic, in my view. On the Physical, adopting a particular belief-system may have the effect of accelerating spiritual development. Once on the Astral, however, it can have the opposite effect; in that your progress will be limited to the lower areas. On the Astral, the rate of your development is not determined by the intensity of your beliefs, but by the intensity of your curiosity. Yours, Frank 2450 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Are any of you Christian Astral Projectors? on: May 15, 2002, 06:31:19 quote: Originally posted by manfred: Hmm it is true that religious belief system territories tend to make you slower but in the end all of the planes are worth exploring. From level 3 to 35.....if you are familiar with Monroe Institute terminology. Regards, Manfred Manfred http://www.astraltravellers.com/ Yes, I quite agree. If you can recognise these areas for what they are then there is no problem, you won't get stuck in them. Therein lies the problem. Yours, Frank 2449 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Are any of you Christian Astral Projectors? on: May 15, 2002, 06:40:40 quote: Originally posted by chohan: I should modify my previous statement regarding "waste time in a belief system area" to would much prefer the "area where I am needed." It seems that a feeling of fraternity is a big part of this. Willingness to be of service and help others. Admittedly assisting others who would be caught up in the real-time zone or inner-most ring (name your flavor), well it would have to be fascinating to say the least. At my present progress I'd be quite overjoyed to be in the training grounds. What can I say... those vibrations gave me quite a jolt. The last couple weeks have found me more focused on dream recall and lucidity as if I'm trying to sneak in an OBE without having to face those vibrations. However, I have great confidence these fears can be faced and conquered... curiosity will win out. best to you all, chohan If you wish to navigate the Astral with any degree of proficiency, you will have to curtail emotional outbursts such as "joy". The lower planes are sickening places and the entities who hang around there are largely beyond "help". But still worth a look, I suppose. Yours, Frank 2448 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Thoughts not my own on: May 18, 2002, 08:22:34 quote: Originally posted by utopia: Sorry for the long post, but i felt i absolutely had to share this with you all and in doing so want to ask your help with whatever i'm dealing with. It comforts me a bit to know that i am not going nuts, that instead it might be a 'neg problem' after all. What i didn't mention in my earlier post is that i suffer frequently from nightmares where i find myself on the run trying to escape some faceless powerful entity. Often this evil Being will fly after and catch hold of me, and me being so scared and thinking it is for real will then wake up in terror. I have had trouble sleeping peacefully for as long as i can remember now, and rarely passes a night in which i am not woken atleast 3-4 times, often without any good reason to it. Sound sleep comes to me only in the morning usually after day break. Now i begin to wonder if i am under a severe psychic attack that i am unaware of? Robert has mentioned proceedures following which one can lessen the impact of a direct psychic attack. But how does one get rid of, reduce, eliminate alien thought pattens being forced in your mind by negs. Would this also be called a form of psychic attack??? My problem is that most of these are directed against myself, almost as if it were i wishing bad things to happen to me!!! Believe me this scares the hell out of me, bec why would i WANT problems and troubles to follow me! At times when it is others i think?? negative about, i end up having to experience the situation myself, another reason why these 'thoughts' terrify me. If indeed , my troubles are caused by negs, i am begining to feel a rightful anger against these creatures and wish to fight back. Indeed i feel its payback time #$%@! In this i ask all of your help. Pls share your experiences about this, if any. What might be the most effective way to guard oneself against strong, negative, often scary and obsessive thoughts. ROBERT BRUCE? ?? ANYONE!!!!? What you are experiencing is the typical kind of emotional interplay that goes on within the base-level Astral region. Your problems feel like they are being directed against yourself, by yourself, because that is precisely what is happening. Understand that fear is a very prevalant emotion amongst people generally. What happens is (often with children) while sleeping it is possible for your mind to get stuck in a base-level Astral region. A region that is just beyond ordinary dreaming, that I termed the Training Ground (beyond which is the Astral proper). In this state, your sense of conscious awareness has woken up, but only to a limited extent. It hasn't woken up enough to give yourself your normal, full degree of conscious understanding. Under such conditions, you find yourself having some of your senses working, like, you have sight, plus maybe hearing, together with motor control, i.e. the ability to move. But your powers of conscious reasoning, longer-term memory, and so forth; in other words, the part of your mind that forms your "higher intelligence aspects" are missing. Under such conditions, it is only natural for you to become a little fearful. What happens is your base-level fight/flight response, finding yourself in some kind of abnormal mental condition, wonders what the heck is happening... then all hell breaks loose. BIG PROBLEM IS: on the Astral, thought -release- emotion is a primary energy. I've posted on this subject before so, if you are interested, then you might find it beneficial to read some of my past postings. It is all too easy to get in a downward spiral. The only way of stopping it is to wake up. Usually at some moment of trepidation where you are going to be eaten by some monster or other. Well, it could be monsters, or being thrown off tall buildings, or whatever. That basically depends on the character of the person in question. With me, I got stuck in this region for about 5 years. I'd had quite a turbulent upbringing, so I tended to experience lots of violence in the form of fighting wars and fighting all kinds of demons, slaying dragons, etc. Also, it is only natural for you to get angry and want to fight back. Yes, I know that feeling only too well. However, the anger you feel will simply be reflected back at you causing you to feel ever more angry. The greater level of anger will cause yet a greater level of angryness to be reflected back at you; thus causing you to feel ever more angry, and so on. Again, the only way out of this downward spiral is an enforced awakening, usually at some unbearably scary moment. If this situation is allowed to continue, following the "fighting back" stage, comes the "possession" stage. As I say, fighting back merely makes the situation worse. The reason is because it is *your* emotional energy that is directly fuelling the circumstances that surround you. As the situation deteriorates, then it is only normal a person would, in some way, feel "possessed". Again, problem is, uncontrolled feelings of possession will simply act as yet more fuel for the fire, so to speak. Meaning circumstances will come about in order to justify such feelings, etc., etc. So the downward spiral continues, ad nauseum. The proper solution is to realise the truth of the matter. Which is all too easy to say but ever so hard to put into practice *at the time*. Yours, Frank 2447 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / vibrations ! on: May 19, 2002, 07:13:00 Yes, absolutely correct the above post. If you find yourself "wondering" about whether you "might" be feeling vibrations, then you are probably not. I think people sometimes think the vibrations are something you have to imagine in your mind somehow. No, it actually *feels* like your whole physical body is buzzing and vibrating. The analogy of the spin-cycle is a good one. Imagine if the machine was unbalanced as Tisha says and think of how your physical body would vibrate if you were sitting on it. That is very much like the feeling. Only the big difference is, whilst it feels like your physical body is vibrating, it isn't. What has happened is your sense of conscious awareness has disconnected from your physical- body and connected to the Astral body. It is the Astral-body that is vibrating. However, at first, because your sense of conscious awareness has been so used to experiencing physical-body sensations, you automatically think it's the physical body. Yours, Frank 2446 Bug Reports and Questions / Forums Bugs Reports and Questions / Problems Getting Into 'My Area' on: May 19, 2002, 07:15:18 Now you mention it, it happens to me also. Though I fear we are about to receive a severe moderating for posting way off topic. Yours, Frank 2444 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Electric sparks on: May 20, 2002, 08:02:04 Have experienced all kinds of sensations and "electric sparks" I come across often, both on the physical and on the Astral. They usually come about at the separation or re-entry stage. Yours, Frank 2443 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Flickering candlelight after re-entry? on: May 20, 2002, 08:46:52 quote: Originally posted by Tisha: Hello all, This might be addressed in Astral Dynamics, but I'm halfway through it and haven't read anything about this. It's the way reality looks/feels after the vibrations stop and I'm stuck in my physical body (which is what happens to me most of the time). Anyway, the vibrations stop, and there I am, flat on my back on my bed, with a peaceful, floating, totally relaxed feeling, which is SOOO nice, since I've just spent the last minute like this: OHMIGOD SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE! As you can see, for many years I had no idea what was going on with this nighttime paralysis. In this peaceful reverie after the paralysis passes, my usually dark bedroom seems lit with flickering lights, almost as if someone had snuck (sneaked?) into my bedroom and lit a bunch of tea candles and hid them around my room. In fact, the first time it happened, I thought I'd left candles lit and I rummaged about my room looking for them, getting REALLY confused . . . even more confused than I had been originally for just having an OBE without knowing it. After a minute or two, the candelight effect goes away, and it all feels REAL over with. Does anyone else experience this? Any theories as to its source or possible utility? Tisha What you are experiencing is just "stray energy" that you come across around the onset of projection. You can see colours, or shapes, or hear pops and bangs and so forth. At first people tend to perceive these as coming from outside the body. Which is only natural. When I first started projecting I would hear all kinds of things which often would make me physically get up and search for the source of the noise. At the time I would have sworn there was someone marching up and down the stairs, or the bedroom door just slammed shut, or whatever. Reason being, your collective sense of conscious awareness is SO used to being connected to the physical. To the extent where, on hearing some loud pop or bang, it instantly assumes the sound to have come from outside the body. It's the same with stray visual energy too. Your sense of conscious awareness automatically assumes that what you are viewing is outside the body. But it is easily possible, due to "mind split" effects, to have Astral visions superimposed on ordinary visions of the Physical. Yes, it is mighty confusing at first and I can well understand you looking around you room for candles and such. So many times I got up to switch a light off and found myself in a total muddle thinking, "Err, what light, I could have sworn there was a light on a moment ago." It also works the other way around, too. When I'm on the Astral, I sometimes find myself looking at a vision of my bedroom superimposed on the Astral scenary. Which is very confusing, initially, as you are not sure which body you are in; in the sense that you have to take a moment to ask yourself, "Now, am I on the Astral imagining I'm in the Physical... or... am I in the Physical imagining I'm on the Astral? But, again, it's just a kind of "mind split" effect that you get used to after a while. Yours, Frank 2442 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How long does an OBE last in the Astral on: May 20, 2002, 19:20:26 There is no such thing as "time" on the Astral. Naturally, you bring a "sense of time" with you that is picked up from living on the physical, but it can easily get distorted. Like, in scientific experiments where a person is isolated from outdoors, and anything else that can give them a sense of time like a radio or a TV. What happens is they tend to develop weird sleep patterns, and so forth. Plus, they lose track of the ability to hold in mind the idea of time passing. In the sense that 5-minutes can seem like an hour, or an hour can seem like 5-minutes, and such like. You can be on the Astral for what feels like hours. However, in terms of physical earth-time, you may have been projecting only ten minutes. As for the maximum time you can project, I never did any real studies on this. But you are subject to physical-body demands in a big way. That is why it is essential to make sure the physical body is properly supported and is not too hot or too cold, etc. Sometimes I will be right in the middle of a great Astral adventure and I get the feeling the Physical has some problem or other. Often I get pulled back automatically. I enter the physical and it's like, "Now what the heck do you want this time?" I may have rolled onto my side, or the dogs are barking, or my wife got up, or whatever. In a sense it is comforting to know there is such a high degree of communication with the physical whilst you are "out" so to speak. But it can be mighty frustrating as well. Yours, Frank 2441 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Question regarding ascension on: May 21, 2002, 08:19:32 quote: Originally posted by Kodemaster: Hello guys, I have a question regarding ascension. When you get to that point where you're feeling the 2nd vibrations, you're feeling heavy and you feel like you're about to float away, should you let your mind wander or should you concentrate on something? And if so, what should you concentrate on? Thank you very much, -=*Jeni*=- I too am not sure what you mean by 2nd-vibrations. But if you mean the pre-exit vibrations then, once you are at this stage, you have plugged your collective sense of conscious awareness into the Astral body. At which point you need to concentrate on building your take-off energy. This pre-exit stage is quite tricky to master because here you can feel all kinds of sensations, like, vibrations, flashes of light and all kinds of wrenching, popping and banging sounds. These can have the effect of snapping you out of it. Following which there is no option but to begin afresh. You need to "tune in" to the vibrations and allow them to build. I found a way to control their intensity by modulating my breathing. But later found I could modulate their intensity just by thinking about them in a certain way. I posted on this topic a while ago. Mainly, it is a case of "letting them build" because 99.9% of the time, in the early stages when I would have problems, it was due to fear-induced tension; even though I didn't feel scared at all and welcomed the experience, deep down, in the lower recesses of my conscious awareness, there was a fight/flight primeval survival-instinct mechanism at work that needed doubly convincing all was truly okay. You need to let the vibrations build in intensity. As you do so, think about gently rocking from side to side. When the vibrations reach a certain intensity you will roll out of the physical into the real-time zone. However, if you lie still and allow the vibrations to reach a higher intensity, until they sound like they are screaming and screaching at you, at some point you will take-off like you've just been shot from a cannon and land within the Astral somewhere. While this is happening, the trick is to keep your "eyes" open. I used to wonder when people spoke of Astral entrance-structures and the like. I could never understand why I hadn't seen anything of the sort despite my hundreds of Astral adventures. But recently I realised that, on take off, I would hold my "eyes" firmly shut until I came to rest. Also, as you get more proficient at attuning to the vibrations, you will notice that you can hear them as well as feel them. At which point you will be able to not only modulate their intensity, but you will be able to home-in on specific frequencies prior to take off. For further info on this please see some of my past posings. Yours, Frank 2440 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How long does an OBE last in the Astral on: May 21, 2002, 08:36:13 quote: Originally posted by Joe: Thanks all - I originally meant the question in the sense of subjective time (ie, are there limits to how long the projector can sense themselves engaging in Astral experiences) but was going to follow-up with the physical-time part of it as this is important in other ways. The real point of the question is, are there any limits at all to the astral experience in the same way that energy seems to be the limit of the realtime zone? Doesn't seem like there are, apart from the usual body alerts, etc. Which is kind of encouraging... There are no limits as to how long a projector can sense themselves engaging in Astral experiences. As I say, you do bring with you a "sense of time" from experiencing life in the physical. But the sensation is meaningless on the Astral due to the fact that there is no time. Ten minutes of earth-time, on the Astral, can seem like anything from mere seconds to eternity. There are also no limits at all as to what you can experience on the Astral. It is an infinite place where anything and everything is possible. That is the glorious wonder, and the humungous danger of the place. The primary restriction you have are physical-body demands. These can be minimised by making sure it is comfortable whilst you are "away". Yours, Frank 2439 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Electric sparks on: May 21, 2002, 08:45:12 I have come across areas that seem alive with energy. Sometimes I fly through it and can feel a tingling in my body. Other times I have come across "scamps" as I call them, whose little party- trick is to give you a jolt of energy. It doesn't hurt so much as take you by surprise. Though I never came across any live sparks just hanging around in mid-air. Must be fun to watch. Yours, Frank 2432 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / am I near astral projecting? blind projecting? on: May 25, 2002, 13:03:57 Not being able to see I think is common at first. I know it effected me and it still does to an extent. First you need to think about opening your eyes and sight should come to you. As I said in another post, I used to wonder why I never saw any Astral entrance structures and the like. Then I discovered I'd hold my "eyes" shut during the separation/projection process without realising it. Sometimes I find it's like I can only see through one eye. In that my vision appears restricted on one side. But find if I stand still for a moment and think about seeing clearly then the problem goes away. Other times I've thought my eyes were closed, but I'd be in a dark place, or under the ground. What you need to do is stand still and concentrate on seeing. If you only see a sort of gloomy darkness, your "eyes" may be working but it could be that you are in a gloomy, dark place. In which case you need to fly off to somewhere different. Yours, Frank 2430 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Proof Of OBE - and/or - How to Win 1 Milion $ on: May 26, 2002, 09:21:00 Projecting without realising much of what was going on for about 3 years. Then spent around 5 years stuck in what I later termed the Training Ground. After which I've been projecting to the Astral proper for 10 years. So around 18 years in all. I'm still not too sure where I am in the general scheme of things. That's why, about a year ago, I decided to try and make some real sense of it all: as opposed to simply looking at the Astral as a place to wander round and have adventures. Yours, Frank 2429 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Involuntary pressure sensations in head... on: May 26, 2002, 09:40:29 quote: Originally posted by Kodemaster: Hello all, I'm another one of those that almost gets out, but doesn't quite make it. During my attempts, I often make it to the heavy vibration stage, where I feel heavy and light at the same time and hear the buzzing sound in my head. What seems to hold me back are these brief pressure sensations in my head, which come at random and are involuntary. They seem to come at the point where I'm about to project and wreck it for me. Anyone else experience these? I try to concentrate on the vibrations at that point, and it brings me closer again, but the head-pressures eventually wreck it again. I also get the eye-fluttering thing when i try to concentate on my third eye. Did anyone figure out a way to stop that? I apologise if I missed your post. Take care, Jeni The thought occured to me, these pressure sensations that you say wreck your attempts: they wouldn't feel more like a twitching sensation would they? Like your brain has a kind of spasm, one maybe two times, following which there is a light vibration that quickly dissapates. After which you instantly feel you are back in the Physical. Reason I say this is because I just recently read the two later Monroe books and was fascinated by his "phasing in" technique of entering the Astral. I'm beginning to grasp the basic idea of it and find, on occassions, I can do the same as Monroe describes: but with nowhere near the same degree of certainty (yet). But what I have noticed is, as you "phase out" there is a sensation as I describe above. The sensation feels like a natural event of returning to the Physical. The thought occured to me that you might be inadvertently sparking off this process. Such that you think it's the sensation that is bringing you back to the physical, but the reality could be that there is some prior factor that is coming into play sparking it off. Yours, Frank 2425 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / trance state help on: May 30, 2002, 08:41:49 Tisha, is this something you have just realised recently, or have you known about the issues raised in your points for some time? If these are issues you've known about for some time then you won't be needing any reinforcement. But if it's something that came to you fairly recently, I just wanted to say that you are *absolutely* on the right track. Yours, Frank 2423 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Involuntary pressure sensations in head... on: May 31, 2002, 10:19:04 The 2 books are Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey. There's nothing in the books that really teaches you any kind of specific "phasing in" technique. You have to search for clues as to what Monroe is on about, I'm afraid. I have managed to grasp the basics of what he means and, fortunately, a lot of Monroe's Astral experiences are very similar in nature to my own. Which makes what he is writing about much easier to comprehend. Basically, "phasing in" is a two-step process. First you are in a state where you appear to be viewing the Astral scenary remotely. Like, for example, you were sitting watching television and the television screen was the Astral imagery. Then you "step into it" and instantly you find yourself on the Astral proper. Instead of vibrations (though I sometimes do still feel them) there is a kind of... zzzzuuuummp... together with feeling of a shifting movement... and you are there. On the way back I tend to feel a twitching in my head together with a light vibration that quickly dissapates. This ending feeling is, from what I can gather, just normal part of the "return process" that is sparked off from my thinking about the physical, i.e. a voluntary return, or by an enforced return caused by a Physical Body demand. Yours, Frank 2422 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Involuntary pressure sensations in head... on: June 01, 2002, 09:29:11 At first you should begin to see (or hear) stray energy, things like whirling colours, shapes that just seem to float by, or whatever. Then, once you get through that stage, you should begin viewing Astral scenary. Number 1 setback, at this stage, is reacting emotionally to whatever it is you are seeing. If you do, then your emotional landscape will be superimposed on the Astral landscape. This is the state people commonly call a Lucid Dream, where all you are basically doing is watching patterns of emotional interplay. Which would, for you, be a retrograde step. If you "step into" what you are viewing from the Lucid Dream stage, you enter what I termed the Training Ground. Where you become enveloped by you own emotional-fuelled surroundings as opposed to watching them from a distance. If you can simply remain being an non-emotional observer (which, from what you say, you can do) then you should be in a state where it feels like your whole existence is contained within your mind and ahead of you is the Astral: like you were viewing it on a screen. In the background you may experience light popping sounds, buzzing noises, vibrations, and so on. But the trick is not to let these sounds and/or feelings distract you. At this point you are "in tune" with the Astral and should, therefore, be able to summon a "helper" to get you out. This is what I normally do as I have not got the technique of stepping-out (or "phasing-in" as Bob Monroe also describes it) on my own with any degree of reliability (yet). Helpers are summoned by a process known as Non-Verbal Communication. It's just a way of communicating between minds, thought-form to thought-form, rather than verbalising your thought forms. At first, out of sheer habit, you will communicate thought-forms by verbal means. But please try and get out of that habit as soon as you can, as it will help you greatly later on. Look out over the Astral scenary with an air of mild curiosity. Rather than actually verbalising something like, "Help, someone, I'm kinda stuck here and I'd really appreciate it if someone could come over and lend a hand." What you do is think of how wonderful it would be if someone, from that place, could reach out and bridge the gap. Imagine an all enveloping energy, that radiated a loving warmth, came over and held you close; made you feel secure; made you laugh, and so on; then transported you to a place, on the Astral, of your choosing. You should soon get the feeling someone is watching you, or that someone is close by. They tend not to appear out of the blue as they know this will startle you (at first). So they make their presence known very gradually. Don't worry if you fail to make contact the first few times, you will soon get the hang of it. As an example, here's a rundown of my latest experiences that happened yesterday: I pick up from the initial sensing of my "helper". As I say, all communication is thought-form to thought-form but the verbal translation is, as follows. "It's you again, I can sense you behind me." "You catch on quick, are you sure it is me? Maybe you are imagining the whole thing. Perhaps I might be a figment of your imagination." "Ah ha, I didn't spend 5 years in the Training Ground for nothing, you know." "So you do recognise me then?" "Of course, and I also sense you coming closer. You want to unlock some kind of energy." "You will now sense a movement around your head." "Yes, I can feel it, like your hands are massaging my temples." "You like that?" "It feels okay, but nothing special. It reminds me of a concept I read about. The writer called them Awareness Hands. Any more tricks you can play?" "How about this...." "Now I can see all of you! You are female and you have long black hair." "Ten out of ten." "Wow, there is a strong energy sensation about my forehead. I can feel you are causing that with your hands somehow." "Yes, that is correct, there is tension that needs to be released. Then we can go to the place of your choosing." "So you know where I want to be?" "Yes I do." At that moment it felt like the whole of my forehead simply opened and let in a thick beam of white light that seemed to come from deep within the Astral. Next there was a kind of shifiting sensation whereupon I was standing on the Astral, in a large garden. One end of the garden turned into a high rocky area, following which there was a clifftop and then the ocean. Many children were playing in the garden and a number of adults were supervising them. It was a happy place that seemed to stretch for miles. The air was fresh, the sky was a deep shade of blue, and several huge rainbow-like formations were radiating wonderously coloured light-beams. Each child was a picture of total innocence. They all beemed a happy smile, with their bright eyes reflecting the colours of the huge rainbows up above. As I watched them play, the thought occured to me that each one of these children had suffered an untimely death. Some may have been road-accident victims; others may have starved to death in some 3rd-world backwater; or had been the innocent victim of one of mankind's disgusting wars. For a moment I drifted. First there was a tinge of sadness, followed by a welling up of a mixed bag of emotion. The colours changed, angry reds and deep jet blacks whirled all around me. In the midst of the colours were frightful entities indulging in unimaginable acts of horror... the torture... the screams... the fear... the panic... Phew, next moment all is clear. For an instant I thought I was back in the physical. It took a few seconds to gather my composure. Then the realisation came that I wasn't in the physical at all, but was sitting on a rock overlooking the ocean with my "helper" beside me. "You nearly lost it back there." "Yeah, tell me about it. Thanks for the timely rescue. I was right about the suffering though. I opened to it and it hit me like a mountain of bricks." "We collect them from the lower regions and they stay here for as long as it takes to lose all memory of their physical experiences. Some are very badly traumatised. They are the ones you see asleep in the shade of the trees. Eventually they will awake. Initially only for fleeting periods. But, given time, they will start to remain awake enough so they can learn to begin to play again." "If it's all the same to you I'd like to go back now please." "No problem, I understand. Please visit us again sometime, there is much you can learn here." ___________________________________ What I have found is, rather than doing what I used to do, i.e. just zoom off to the Astral and just end up at some place at random. If you can enter the Astral slowly, under the control or guidance of a "helper", then everything is much more controled. Such that, if you do have a "sticky moment" as I did in the above experience, your "helper" can often get you out of trouble. HTH Yours, Frank 2421 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Death on: June 04, 2002, 10:51:13 It is understandable that people think of their physical selves as being "themselves". In the sense that, when the physical body dies, then that is that; which is basically what I used to think for the first 20-odd years of my life. But no, visiting the Astral teaches you many things. Virtually all these mystical books you see, talk about a process of "enlightenment" of one form or another. I firmly believe, even though these books can sometimes differ widely in their teachings, they are all basically writing about the same thing, i.e. Astral travel of one form or another. There are two primary aspects that you discover from visiting the Astral... 1) As incredible and as unbelievable as it may seem, the physical body is merely a carcass that you can slip out of... and, 2) what people call "themselves" is merely a collective sense of consciousness that exists entirely independently of the physical; and is merely "plugged into" the physical body, as opposed to being a permanent feature. The process of Enlightenment, as taught in all the various mystical books, I believe is merely the process of becoming "enlightened" to the above two primary aspects of human existence. Okay, the books tend to add a various slant on things, depending on the views and experiences of the writer, but such is only human. But the mere act of being able to travel to the Astral, is not the be-all and end-all of enlightenment. You need to visit the Astral and guide yourself along a certain path. Which is very tricky to do! From my interaction with this BBS, I feel many would-be projectors think learning how to project with a degree of expertise is the hard part: following which it's all downhill from then on. Nothing could be further from the truth, I'm afraid. Learning how to project is difficult, no mistake about it. But the challenges you face - following projection - are maybe a hundred times more difficult to overcome. Also, depending on the beliefs you have formed in your physical life, some of those challenges may even be next to impossible to overcome without a major change in character and/or beliefs. Problem is, on the Astral, as you think so it becomes. And as I've said before in previous posts, whatever you expect to see or feel, on the Astral, so your Astral reality will be. But there is a fine line which you can tread, which takes you through "belief system" areas into the Astral proper. And within these regions it is possible to summon "guides" who will help you understand all manner of things: both about Astral life and Physical life. On the subject of physical death, if you simply live and die without having had any knowledge of Astral matters, and you didn't subscribe to any kind of religious belief system while on Earth, then you will basically take up some kind of lower-region activity. The kind of activity you will gravitate towards will depend on your past physical life to a high degree. Opera singers will continue singing opera; carpenters will continue practising carpentry; avid stamp-collectors will continue avidly collecting stamps, mathematics teachers will continue teaching mathematics: all completely oblivious to the fact they have undergone physical-body death. If, while on the physical, you subscribed to some kind of religious belief-system then, upon physical-body death, you should gravitate to the corresponding belief-system area within the Astral. Within these areas the inhabitants generally are aware that they have died, but are not all that worried as they believe they have moved to being in heaven with their God. However, if while living on the physical, you can learn to tread that fine Astral line that "enlightens" you as to the reality of the whole thing: after a time, being on the Astral will become as familiar to you as being on the physical (in fact, it can become even more so as it has always been your "true home"). With myself, for example, more and more times it is happening to me where I sort of begrudgingly come back to the physical due to some physical body demand. I'm even getting to the stage where I'm beginning to think that having a physical body is a bit of a burden. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm suicidal or anything. No, far from it. I'm still very positive and upbeat about things. It's just that the more familiar I become with the Astral, the duller physical life becomes: you can't really travel anywhere of any real interest; you can't fly; you have to eat and breath; work long hours every week just to keep a reasonably-sized roof over your head, etc., etc. By comparison, the Astral is a far more exciting and rewarding place. The primary purpose of treading this fine line to enlightenment, is so you can learn how to prepare for the time when you discard your physical carcass. If you fail to do this, then the chances are you will end-up stuck in a lower-region activity area. But if you prepare beforehand, you will have the path to follow, and all the assistance you need to instantly travel to the higher regions. Yours, Frank 2420 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Involuntary pressure sensations in head... on: June 04, 2002, 12:37:30 It's not the same "helper" or "guide" every time. Though I have a man that I have come to know as my "regular". He's about 70 years of age (well that's how he appears, I mean) and he takes me here and there. He is very knowledgeable about the nature of human emotion and its effects both on Physical and Astral life. He takes me on little tours of the lower regions and shows me some of the more interesting cases. He also has some kind of flying craft that we have travelled in on a couple of occassions. I have only recently learnt how to slow down what was my "normal" projection processes. Plus, I recently read Ultimate Journey for the first time and became fascinated by Monroe's concept of "phasing in". As a result, what I found was, I can now get to the stage where I'm viewing the Astral remotely. At this point I am "in tune" with the Astral to the extent where I can communicate with Astral entities. However, the more proficient I become at doing this, the more "clutter" I seem to be receiving. Before I'd be struggling to try and find a way of "making contact" with just one entity. Now, after around a month of daily practice, it seems like I've got 30 or 40 entities, all in my head, and all trying to make contact at once! Many of the entities appear to be of a fairly low grade, or interesting only for their "novelty value". Like the "musical entity" I came across this morning. It scanned my thoughts and began playing my favourite Opera. Next I was drifting through space just floating along with the music. It was rather exquisite, I admit, but it doesn't really add to my Astral knowledge all that much. So I thanked the entity and went back to the physical. I found the trick is to be more specific about what it is you want to make contact about. Then, it seems, you will attract the same helper (provided they are willing, of course). But I do not have all that much experience in this area (yet). When I visited the garden, in my above post, the female entity that took me there said for me to visit again. Though I'm not sure how that can be achieved. I presume that if I think about the place, at the initial stage, she will come and take me there like she did the first time. Also, I'm not really at the stage where I can ask questions. It's more a case of my guide introducing me to various circumstances and filling my mind with information. Such that communication, at the moment, is very much one way. Though I do feel, at some stage, as my Astral education progresses, I will start to have the opportunity of asking questions. But right now it's like "they" already know the questions to which I need the answers to. Yours, Frank 2419 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Death on: June 04, 2002, 13:38:27 I forgot to mention, as regards dying in your sleep: Repeated Astral activity, over a length of time, of the kind that is required to plot your own post- death pathway, has the effect of permanently altering the experience we generally call: the sleep state. That is to say, no feeling in the physical body and conscious awareness shut down with no memory of any dreams. Although I am not there yet, I can see that I will eventually progress to the stage where my collective sense of conscious awareness will spend daytime within the Physical and nightime within the Astral. For instance, I cannot remember the last time when I simply went to sleep and awoke the next morning with nothing having "happened". It seems like whenever I am not projecting, I'm Lucid Dreaming. Problem is, nowadays, whenever I start Lucid Dreaming, there is a part of my consciousness that detects it and tries to wake me up in the dream so "we" can project. It's like a child tugging at my sleeve saying, "Please can we go play now; please; come one; wake up; let's go and play; ahh, please!" At first, that same part of my conscious awareness was doing its level best to prevent me from projecting. I remember all the failed attempts where the slightest noise, even just the smallest little pop or bang, and "it" would zip me back into the physical in an instant. I spent ages trying to remain calm and explain to "it" that falling sensations were normal; vibrations were a cool thing to have; pops and bangs were all part of the fun; flying through the air was a joyous experience; and so forth. Now "it" has turned full circle and can't get enough. Yours, Frank 2418 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Death on: June 04, 2002, 18:56:32 quote: Originally posted by Tisha: I read in a book once that when one becomes "enlightened," one stops sleeping entirely. One is permanently awake, aware at all times. Sounds exhausting to me! I also read someplace that if most people really knew what "enlightenment" entailed, they would run screaming from it. What a wonderful adventure . . . such places we can go if we can accept the consequences! Tisha Yes, the "mind split" phenomenon can be a problem. But eventually one set of memories rolls into the other and becomes just one collective set. It was a little scary to contemplate, at first, but I'm actually beginning to attach more weight to my Astral memories than Physical memories. Difficulty in the beginning is caused by the fact that life, on the physical, entails being "awake" during the day and "asleep" at night. Eventually, you get used to the idea that "yourself" being your collective sense of conscious awareness, can occupy a "day body" and a "night body" and it never gets tired. It's only the "physical body" that needs to actually sleep. "Run Screaming"? No way. The Astral is a wonderous place that fills you with love everytime you visit. Well, the physical is the same (depending on how you look at it) which I know, Tisha, you have the full jist of already. So you should have few problems finding your true path on the Astral. Yours, Frank 2417 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Death on: June 05, 2002, 09:18:29 quote: Originally posted by distant bell: quote: Originally posted by Frank: The kind of activity you will gravitate towards will depend on your past physical life to a high degree. Opera singers will continue singing opera; carpenters will continue practising carpentry; avid stamp-collectors will continue avidly collecting stamps, mathematics teachers will continue teaching mathematics: all completely oblivious to the fact they have undergone physical-body death. Frank- I don´t see the sense in this. We at the forum al have some religious knowledeg, but is it not harsh to state that the poor ignorant people out there would not know that they are dead just because they had no religious belife in life? Of course they will realise! And I tell you this, if peopel get "stuck" in a self made dimension refusing to die, It has nothing to do with what they belived in life - it has al due to not wanting to let go of the physaicll body. It could happen to a religious person too. I am sure that most atheists will realise that they are dead preatty fast and move on. Felix -- Love is the Law - Love under Will -- Then I must be an exception, Mr DB, as I readily admit to not having any "religious" knowledge at all. Plus, I don't know where you got the idea of "poor and ignorant" from. I'm sorry, but I feel I ought to strenuously point out that I definitely did not use those words, and meant nothing of the kind. Naturally, as in all things, there are odd exceptions. It's just that people with religious beliefs gravitate to the "belief system" areas, while realising their physical body is dead, because their beliefs (while on the physical) in the main incorporate a concept of some kind of "afterlife". So they are already highly-geared towards leaving the physical and entering whatever is their description of heaven. Plus, if their beliefs have been heartfelt over a long period of time, they will often be met by "helpers" of the same religious pursuation; who will explain everything to them and clear up any post-physical confusion, etc., as necessary. Otherwise, you say, most people will simply realise they are dead in any event and move on. The above statement, to me, throws up two big questions: the first being about the "realisation" aspect. In the sense of how are they going to realise? And the second question relates to the fact that even if they do realise, by some slim chance, then where are they going to move to? Though, rather than us go into it at this stage, perhaps I might respectfully suggest you take a tour of the lower regions and see what goes on there for yourself. Then by all means come back to me with your findings. Yours, Frank 2416 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Do I really need to reach a trance state? on: June 05, 2002, 17:08:52 Following on from the previous post, I would say that at the onset of "the switch" that is to say, the switch from conscious-awareness of the Physical to conscious-awareness of the Astral, my physical-body relaxation state is at the Alpha level. Anything deeper and I fall asleep for a while and obe from a Lucid Dream. The state is very much like I was listening to a favourite classical piece. Only instead of tuning in to music, I'm tuning in to a particular sense of mental awareness. Following which, there is (what is now) a familiar kind of mental pulsating and it's like my whole sense of self becomes contained within my head. At this point "the switch" has been made and I am then not aware of the physical at all. In terms of percentage importance, for a normally healthy person, between having the correct physical-state, in terms of physical relaxation; and having the correct mental state, in terms of ability to tune-in to the Astral: I would definitely say that the ability to relax the physical, into the required state would be about 10% of it (if that). The other 90-odd percent of the work is with the mental aspect. In fact, later on you discover that if you can get the mental-aspect right the physical just falls into place. But in the beginning, to work on developing that correct mental aspect, you need to "push the physical aside". But, after a while, it learns to just get out of the way when required. Note: When I say normal, healthy person, obviously if you have some physical problem that gives you pain, or whatever, then this will not help when it comes to learning how to perform conscious-exit projection. Yours, Frank 2414 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Death on: June 05, 2002, 19:08:54 Waterfall, give me some tips because I regularly come across entities on the lower regions that died long ago that don't realise it. Many, I have found, have body-parts missing, etc., and are still writhing in agony after suffering the most horrendous death. It's the children, especially, I have a "problem" with. Not so much the adults. I've tried "communicating" so many times and all I get is a blank stare, I'm afraid. What's the secret? Yours, Frank 2413 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Death on: June 06, 2002, 10:55:40 Waterfall... My interest has been stimulated by curiosity, more than anything. I'm not really trying to help these entities, so much as actually communicate with them in order to find out what's going on in their minds. Plus, I always had an irresistable impulse to go where no man dares to tread. Thanks for the warnings, yes, I understand about the "negatives" only too well. I spent around five years fighting with the things. I can still get caught out, though. There was this Scamp the other day, in the form of a multi-coloured cube, whose little "party trick" was to head towards you and not stop. Yep, it got me alright. I'm still sore from the kicking I gave myself for jumping out of the way! Basically, you said in your posts that you did "soul retrieval" work. This sparked off my interest because I recently met an entity who took me to a large garden full of children who had been "retrieved". So my curiousity has been doubly ignited. Also, it sparks off questions such as whereabouts on the Astral do you retrieve these entities from, and where do you take them? Who are you "working for"? How did you get recruited? How do you know which ones to retrieve? Do you work from some kind of list or do you project and get directed somehow? I'm thinking also, you must have to navigate with a very high degree of accuracy; and the art of navigating to specific places is something I am avidly working on, so I'd be grateful for any hints and tips. Sorry for all the questions, but if you could do your best to fill me in, in layman's terms (if at all possible) as I am not well versed in mystical terminology. Yours, Frank 2412 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Frank method on: June 06, 2002, 11:57:20 I've been doing quite a lot of observational work in this area recently, in addition to my past posts on this topic. What I have found is, your sense of conscious awareness will automatically drift upwards, thus disconnecting from the physical and attaching to the Astral, if it is "allowed" to do so. The first step in the process is to place your physical body in a relaxed position and put aside all your day-to-day worries and concerns, and so forth. Next you need to direct your thought awareness to a point on your forehead that is beween, and about 2cm up, from physical eye-level. What you need to do is imagine you were looking out from that point. At first, all you will see is blackness. When I first started doing this I'd get frustrated at the length of time it took before feeling any kind of familiar exit sensations like vibrations, etc. What I ultimately found was there is a lot of mental tension that accumulates in the brain. Particularly at the front of the head. People can detect tension in the rest of the body fairly easily, given a little practice. But tension in the brain is a little more difficult to detect. The first clues about this were handed to me when I aquired the Monroe Gateway CD's. Wave One has been a brilliant aid to helping me work towards having conscious-exit projections. Yours, Frank 2411 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Frank method on: June 06, 2002, 16:07:45 Not sure what is on the tapes, as I have the CDs. But it's the CD that takes you to the Focus10 state. Brilliant stuff. Took me a while to get used to it, but every morning I play the CD once, maybe twice. Then switch the player off and mentally run through the process without the headphones on. I think maybe in about another month or two I won't need the CD at all. It was the bit about letting that sense of relaxation flow into your brain. That was a major turning point, for me, which went on to give me the ability to now have multiple conscious-exit obe's almost every morning. I was already following along basically the same lines as Monroe talks about. For example, as I said in a previous post some time ago, I already had worked out, from around 3-years of trial and error, that it was way more efficient relaxing from the head downwards... rather than the other way around. But it was from listening to the CD, that I began to detect that the brain itself can hold a kind of tension that blocks the ability for your sense of conscious awareness to drift upwards and make contact with the part of your brain that is in tune with the Astral. The sense of "tension" seems to collect during the day and every morning I have to "clear" it. I'm not sure if that will always be the case, or what is the root cause. I have only latched onto this in the past couple of weeks. Previously, I would be lying there for about an hour, hour and a half, after listening to the Focus10 CD, before the onset of conscious pre-exit sensations. But this morning, for example, about 5 minutes after listening to the CD I was roaming the Astral for fun. Yours, Frank 2410 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Frank method on: June 07, 2002, 08:01:38 quote: Originally posted by rodentmouse: frank where can i buy the monroe cd? I bought the CD's from a company in the UK. I posted their details after I purchased them. It about 6 weeks, or so, ago. I haven't got their details to hand, but if you do a BBS search I'm sure you'll come across it. Yours, Frank 2409 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Get these sensations? And other Q's. on: June 07, 2002, 08:50:01 I posted on an experience I had a while ago. It felt just like you described. Turns out I had accidentaly stimulated what mystics call the Heart Chakra. It felt like I had expanded to about twice my normal size and that my body had turned into foam rubber. These Chakra areas are stimulated by concentrated thought and, once they become active, they present you with all kinds of weird and wonderful sensations. Yours, Frank 2408 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Projecting in a dream on: June 07, 2002, 08:56:09 Yep, I found that projection started to come into my normal dreams in just the same way as other aspects of my life. In the sense that I would dream *about* projecting rather than actually doing so. Yours, Frank 2407 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Projecting in a dream on: June 07, 2002, 09:18:05 I started dreaming after I started projecting. As I say, it would just come into my dreams like any other life event. Yours, Frank 2406 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Imput needed... on: June 07, 2002, 16:37:16 What you experienced was very normal. Though it takes a while to get your sense of conscious awareness used to the idea. Yours, Frank 2405 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Get these sensations? And other Q's. on: June 07, 2002, 21:03:25 Don't worry about any thoughts of "blockage" and so forth. Sounds to me like you are enjoying what you do. Keep on trying to move that concentrated thought energy to your head. Once you get the hang of doing that correctly, you'll be obe'ing for fun. Yours, Frank 2403 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / comments welcome on OBE-like experiences on: June 09, 2002, 09:06:51 Yes, it sounds to me like you are at the beginning stages of an obe. Only you need to familiarise yourself a little more with the process, in order to overcome the various teething problems people commonly get at the beginning. What you call "waking paralysis" is just the fact your sense of conscious awareness is awake and functioning but your physical body, the vehicle that it is usually plugged into, cannot be felt. There is a part of your collective sense of conscious awareness that can get a little perturbed by this (at first). Because, for years, this section of awareness has gotten used to the idea that when consciouness is awake and functioning, there should be a feeling of an attachment to a physical body. Some people can panic at this stage thinking they have died, or whatever. But it is a normal part of the projection process. The "things" you see in front of you is Astral imagery. What you need to do is practice "stepping into" this imagery. But, on doing so, try not to do too much in the sense of exploration. Otherwise you'll end up moving here, there and everywhere and accomplish little. At first, try just standing still and practice getting your faculties together. Holding your "eyes" closed is a natural, reflex-action to any strange circumstance (just like you would do on the physical). So you need to first get your sight, then try and stand still and just be an observer. At first your consciouness will try and open your physical eyes. Which is a fruitless exercise because you don't have any. The problem results again from the fact that, for years, your consciouness has been in the habit of opening a pair of physical eyes with which to see. But if you play around for a while then a sense of sight will come to you. Once you have projected within the Astral several times, your consciousness will learn to make whatever adjustments are necessary from Physical to Astral. Understand that the collective sense of conscious awareness you have on the Astral is not some super-sense of awareness that is solely geared for Astral use. Nope, it's exactly the same as you have on the Physical. Which means all the differences between Astral and Physical have to be learnt and compensated for. This does take time to do and can be the source of much initial confusion. Above all, try not to react emotionally to anything that may happen. Doing this, I feel, is the number one all-time mistake people make (and have made through the ages) when they step within the Astral. If you do, your emotional energy will begin to fuel the scenery that surrounds you! The most productive state of mind is simply to be mildly curious about all that you see. Another thing you can try is to summon a "guide". I've found that it is MUCH more productive having an Astral resident show you around. Rather than flitting here and there, not understanding a thing about what is going on. Yours, Frank 2402 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Bringing things back. on: June 09, 2002, 12:13:36 This is something I have tried to do on *many* occasions. At the time it feels so real, holding some object or other, that I feel certain I'll still be holding it upon my return to the Physical. But nothing has "crossed the bridge" as yet. Yours, Frank 2401 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Death on: June 10, 2002, 10:52:48 Thank you, Cho, your perception is spot on. About 6 weeks ago I read Ultimate Journey for the first time and I was amazed at how my Astral experiences matched those of Monroe. Particularly in the way Monroe looks at the Astral from an objective, more scientific viewpoint. Plus, there's no talk of dungeons and dragons, demons or gods. Which I believe is no coincidence to the fact that we both are only too aware of the effects of releasing emotional energy on the Astral. There was one *major* difference, however, which was the sheer extent to which Monroe had travelled. It was kinda depressing realising that, even after having had hundreds of Astral adventures, I had just scratched the surface. But there were so many parallels in our work, it brought out a terrific new sense of Astral excitement. As it happened, reading the book became a *major* turning point. To the extent where I now look at the Astral in a totally different light. I was already working on developing a more controlled projection process, and became thoroughly fascinated by Monroe's concept of "phasing in" to the Astral. Compared to what used to be my "normal" projection process, i.e. shooting off at high-speed and hoping to land somewhere of interest, Monroe's technique seemed like the ultimate in accuracy and control. Now, after 6-weeks of daily practice, I feel I am finally beginning to get somewhere, navigation- wise. The other morning I'm almost certain I travelled to a place that I've been to before. Which was rather fascinating. But I'll have to go there again another few times to make absolutely certain it really is the same area. Thanks again for your pointers. Yours, Frank 2400 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Need comments on: June 10, 2002, 12:30:01 I read your post carefully, and feel certain that what you experienced was an obe. What you write, to me, perfectly describes a typical experience that people seem to have at first. You find yourself somewhere, then you think, "Hang on a minute, this is different, this is so real, I'm doing it!" This is a difficult one to describe, but there is a certain "quality" about an obe experience that distinctly separates it from a lucid dream. Once you sense that quality, it becomes obvious that you are not dreaming. There is a particular mix of excitement and a wonderous sense of knowing. Then, upon return to the physical, this feeling translates into a particular sense of joy that can last for days. Controlling your actions on the Astral is mighty difficult, at first. What you need to do is: next time you find yourself projecting, rather than try and find any guides or whatever, simply concentrate on being still. Both in body, and in mind. You see, it is SO darned easy to move around on the Astral. Such that you can cover huge distances in virtually no time at all. It is literally a case of, think of a place and then zoooom, you are there. Which naturally takes you by surprise. Next you think, "Hang on a minute, I was someplace else a moment ago!" Then, chances are, you will think of an impression of "someplace else" and the next instant, zoooom, you are in a different place. Which again takes you completely by surprise, so you zoom off to another place, and another. Which all gets mighty confusing. Then, next moment, you find yourself back in the physical wondering what the heck happened. Also, you will have to learn how to close yourself off to emotional thought. You have already discovered how a little emotion can have a big effect on your circumstances. Releasing emotion, on the Astral, leads to what I call a "buffer experience" where the circumstances created by your own thought-fuelled emotion become superimposed on the Astral scenery, in varying degrees. When you met the woman, for instance, you will probably have released a tinge of sadness coupled with a degree of sentimentality. Which led to the buffer experience of the sobbing. The basement area was perhaps a little dingy and dark. This perhaps naturally led to you releasing a little fear, which fuelled the buffer-experience of the Zombies. However, rather than becoming ever more fearful, you simply dismissed them. Thus cutting their fuel-supply (so to speak) so they fizzled out. Considering it was your first obe, I think you dealt with "them" brilliantly. Because releasing emotion is inevitable while you are still learning the basics. However, the way to deal with it is to prevent yourself from reacting further. If you can stay neutral and just mentally dismiss whatever comes about, then the emotion-fuelled circumstances will simply fade away. Thus leaving you to continue as normal. That's ever so easy to say, but *so* darned difficult to do at the time. But it seems you have a knack for it. Also, please don't be surprised if you fail to feel the act of reconnection back to the Physical. Problem is, everything at the moment is happening too quick for you to feel it. The more control you can learn to have over your experiences, the more you will see and feel. Yours, Frank 2399 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Need comments on: June 10, 2002, 16:03:12 Thank you for your kind comments. In my experience I have come to accept there always are seemingly unanswerable questions following virtually all my Astral adventures. As such, it pays not to question each event in minute detail (especially at first). As you get more and more proficient at negotiating your way around, then the times when you get taken by surprise, either by some entity or other, or suddenly finding yourself in an unexpected place, become less and less. The trick, as I say, is to first try and gain a sense of stillness of both the mind and the body. Which is easy to say but SO darned tricky to accomplish. But that's when the fun really begins as you naturally develop a sense of Astral confidence. Which means the place doesn't seem so vast and so threatening. Now and then, I get taken by surprise and release a little fear. But I have the experience that, more often than not, allows me to have a little chuckle to myself as the energy dissapates. In a way, it's just the same as on the Physical. When I was a boy, I'd think about what it would be like to be an adult. The thought seemed so daunting. All those bills to pay just to keep a comfortable roof over your head, finding a good job, and so forth. But now, in my mid-forties, I'm kinda used to meeting whatever cr*ap Physical life throws at me. Also, if I may respectfully point out, you need to please be careful to avoid what I call: Astral- Anthropomorphism. That is to say, attributing Human, Earth-aware Physical values, situations, events, etc. to Astral entities or residents. The woman did not refuse to give you her name. Her response was to acknowledge the validity of your question, but she didn't have an answer. Being a Physical-life, Earth-living visitor, on the Astral, has a certain kudos amongst Astral residents who have absolutely no concept of what it is like to be human in a Physical sense. You need to consider the fact that "she" may have no concept of what we Physical Earth-aware entities commonly call, "a name". Plus, you talk about her being "your guide" but there are lots of guides who will help you. From her point of view, she was maybe just someone who was willing to be your "guide for that moment" or "guide for that event". Next, she is suddenly being hit by questions (from an incredibly advanced being, according to her) that are way out of her depth. Please understand that your way, way higher (to them) knowledge of advancement radiates a particular "light". Which they can sense. Many of these beings will stand in awe of this light. Though, naturally, at first, you will wonder what the heck is going on. But once you have more experience in controlling things, you will automatically start to attract correspondingly more advanced Astral residents who can begin to explain things to you in a more informed way. Yours, Frank 2398 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Fears and Dark Entities on: June 11, 2002, 16:49:07 Basically, what you have been advised is correct within the context in which it is meant. I don't know what a "Shaman" is exactly, but I do know that your own "darkness" (by that I take it you mean any kind of destructive emotive intent) will most certainly become an evil that you will have to deal with, on the Astral. In fact, there are many Internet forums containing people who are having to do just that, and often on a daily basis. Plus, there is only so much the mind can take before what is generally considered to be normal behavioural functioning, becomes increasingly impaired. But if you are a generally upbeat and reasonably happy person, then you should have no real major problem setting foot on the Astral. Yours, Frank 2397 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / People are not real but are fine. on: June 13, 2002, 14:34:11 In the course of my work, now and again I come across a case such as yours. Firstly, it's not her imagination. Your daughter is simply in-tune with the Astral (or at least some part of it) but she doesn't have the requisite degree of conscious awareness necessary in order to make sense of it all. It is a fact that confusion and the Astral seem to go hand in hand. "Hearing" loud pops and bangs, Velcro-like ripping noises, while undergoing initial stages of projection, and often during projection, is all VERY NORMAL. To me, it is understandable how the image could have appeared to come out of the TV, as she says. Many children go off into a trance-like state when watching TV. As your daughter is so aware of the Astral, it is likely that when she goes into this state her sense of conscious awareness will automatically plug into the Astral. With the result that one moment she is viewing TV imagery and next moment she is viewing Astral imagery. However, because her infant mind does not have the capacity to differentiate the two, she concludes the image must have come out of the TV. However, you say the TV can also prevent her from projecting. This could be due to her actually concentrating on the TV image, which stops her drifting off into a trance-like state thus preventing her sense of conscious awareness from plugging into the Astral. The big problem in these kinds of cases, if I may respectfully point out, is normally caused by the parent's lack of understanding as to what is happening. First, the child displays behaviour that is in some way "odd". But to the child, initially, it all seems very natural. Typically the child begins talking to, or speaking about, or begins playing with, some kind of unseen friend. Or the child might start describing some event that entailed actions, such as, flying through the air. At first, the parents dismiss it all as mumbo-jumbo and hope it will go away. The typical response goes something like, "She started this when she/he was x-years old and we just thought she'd grow out of it... but then the nightmares started... " And usually there then follows a tale of ever worsening situations. Initially, everything starts off fine. However, as the child gets older it begins to develop a sense of fear. And it is only a matter of time before the child visits the Astral and has a "scary moment". Typically, this results in a forced awakening coupled with events like: screaming for mummy, while complaining about having been chased by monsters and such like. Problem is, the child will naturally look to the parents for reassurance. But because they have no understanding of Astral matters, the parents tend to be at a complete loss as to what to do. More often than not, they become fearful for the child which the child picks up. Then the "nightmares" get worse as the child becomes ever more fearful and the whole situation turns into a downward spiral. I think, perhaps, as a start, what you need to do is read through some of my previous posts where I talk about the effects of releasing uncontrolled emotions when projecting within the Astral. Basically, what we humans call "thought" is, in fact, a primary energy. As a result, when you are projecting within the Astral, it is essential that you become emotionally closed. This is because any release of emotion will cause your circumstances to instantly change in order to match whatever it is you are being emotional about. Fear is the most common emotion to have. Any release of fear will cause you to instantly find yourself in fearful circumstances. Which normally has the effect of making you ever more fearful, i.e. release more emotional energy, which merely has the effect of fuelling ever more fearful circumstances, and so on. The longer it goes on, the more difficult it is to break the cycle. So the sooner you work out ways of teaching your daughter not to become fearful, the better. By the way, the "skill" your daughter has, in being able to step within the Astral SO easily, many of the adults on this BBS would give their right arms for. Yours, Frank 2396 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / People are not real but are fine. on: June 13, 2002, 17:54:48 So called "neg activities" are complete hogwash. I spent around 5-years "fighting" and "protecting" myself against such entities only to realise they were simply products of my own emotional interplay. At the time, when I realised the real truth of what I had been up to (for what I thought) were all those years, I felt completely and utterly stupid for having not realised sooner. Now, years later, I find out that in real terms, I was lucky to have ever realised at all. Yours, Frank 2395 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / the energy body on: June 14, 2002, 18:14:45 You have to decide what it is, exactly, that you want to do. If you concentrate your thought- energy on what Mystics call Chakras then you will tend to experience some weird and wonderful bodily effects, but that tends to be all you feel. Doing this tends to have the effect of giving you evidence of some kind of hidden-energy, and can be quite exciting If you want to experience an obe state, then you have to basically forget about having a physical body. Just completely forget that you have it, and simply let it go. Which is fairly hard to do. Though, provided you do not have any injuries, or whatever, then relaxing from the neck down is the easy part. Relaxing what goes on in the head, both physically and mentally, is the hard part. I have found the Monroe Institute, Gateway series CD (to Focus 10 state - CD1) very helpful in allowing myself to have repetitive, conscious-exit obe's Yours, Frank 2394 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / success followed by down time? on: June 14, 2002, 19:17:19 I too have more difficulty if I do not project for a few days for some reason. Just recently I was thrown from my horse and suffered injury that affected my sleep. This morning I tried to project after 3 days of not doing so. There was an obvious resistance that took particular attention to overcome. When I did project it was more a mish-mash of buffer experiences coupled with whirls of light and floating sensations. Yours, Frank 2393 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / the energy body on: June 14, 2002, 19:29:42 Yes, the latter. I feel all this toying around with Chakra stuff is quite useful in the sense that it gives a person a solid experience of some kind of hidden energy. Like, if you excite your "base Chakra" (well, that's what I think it is called) your legs feel like they are floating away from you and, if you are male, you tend to get a stonking erection. Excite the area around your middle and you get a feeling like your whole lower body just relaxed and opened to some magical force. Allow that sensation to rise upwards and you stimulate what mystics call the Heart Chakra: where it feels like you have swollen to twice your normal size and you get a very pleasant fuzzy feeling. While all this is very interesting and entertaining to the individuals who like that kind of thing... it's not Astral Projection. That's why I say, you must really first choose what it is, exactly, you want to accomplish. Yours, Frank 2392 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / success followed by down time? on: June 15, 2002, 07:15:46 In my experience, a combination of factors can scupper your projection attempts *particularly* in the early stages. Years ago, when I first started projecting, I'd go sometimes a month to six weeks without so much as one measly projection. Then there were the times when it seemed I couldn't not project. My technique, in those days, was to project by awakening myself from a Lucid dream. Problem was, there was a high degree of unreliability in the process. Such that trying to pin down the why's and wherefore's was next to impossible. But I found the key factor that keeps you projecting, with a degree of consistency, is practise followed by more and more practise. The past 6 months I have really been getting my act together, projection wise. Now, every morning, without fail, I will go for at least one conscious- exit projection attempt. Even if I only have, say, ten minutes before I have to get up. I'll do my best in the time available. I surprised myself the other week. My wife went downstairs to make our morning cuppa and, because I had retired uncharacteristically late the previous evening, had only just awoke. So that meant I had around five to ten minutes to make an attempt, before my wife would return with the tea. Okay, she came back before I'd had any chance of making an exit but, given another five minutes, I reckon I would have been at the vibration stage. Patty mentions the term "psychic energy" but I don't actually know what that is, exactly. I read all kinds of stuff, on this BBS, about "storing energy" before a projection attempt and so forth. To my mind, all this kind of discussion is in a box marked "mystical stuff" which I do my utmost to avoid. Each to their own, of course, but it all smacks to me of being yet another one of those circumstances where: if you think you can, or if you think you can't... you're right. Yours, Frank 2391 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / the energy body on: June 15, 2002, 09:11:46 Quite simply, I don't. Well, not nowadays, I mean. Though I have activated Chakras in the past just to try and understand what it is all about. As for the erection problem, what you may be doing is inadvertently relaxing into some kind of dreamy reverie where the mind starts operating and thinking on a base level. The act of procreation is one of the most basic of human reflexes. So that's why it could be coming up to play, so to speak. Projection entails a state which Robert Monroe ever so aptly describes: as "mind awake, body asleep". The "body asleep" part is the easy bit. Any normal, healthy person can fall asleep quite naturally. The tricky part is keeping the mind awake. When I say "mind awake" it is precisely that, fully awake in exactly the same way as if you were bright and alert in the physical. Only you have no feeling of a physical body. Though your mind obviously realises you do have a physical body attached but it is sensed as a kind of blob that is lying below you. The reason why it feels like it is below (or underneath) you is because, at this stage, your sense of conscious awareness is contained at a point about the centre of your forehead. This is the point where you step into the Astral. Any physical-body sensation will totally scupper the whole process, as you are only too aware. What I'd suggest is to try practising keeping your mind more alert. And rather than thoughts of activating Chakras and such like, just think about letting go of the physical-body completely. Yours, Frank 2390 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / i am troubled by something i read about OBE..... on: June 15, 2002, 10:19:27 A lot of these ideas stem from mystical ideology, 90-odd percent of which I regard as mere hocus-pocus. Thus best ignored, in my opinion. But, again, it's each to their own. The type of person you are on the Physical can, in many ways, determine your chances of having successful, repeatable conscious-exit projections. However, there is no hard and fast rule that says people who engage in (what the moral majority may consider) "evil acts" cannot project, full stop. I would say the best type of character to have, from my 20-odd years of experimentation, is one that remained basically neutral about things in life. That is to say, having the ability to keep one's emotions in check most times, together with an insatiable curiosity about life in general. That way you perform best, both within the Astral and on the Physical. There is one aspect to beware of, however, and that is: people who release uncontrolled "demons" on the Astral, soon end up having those very same entities controlling them - on the Physical. Yours, Frank 2389 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / vibrations--have i projected???? on: June 15, 2002, 12:58:56 That's normal. Sub-conscious fear probably put a stop to it. I always say that if you have to ask the question, "Did I or did I not project?" Then, chances are, you didn't. But it sounds like you are getting *very* close. Personally, I get no sensation of "breathing" whilst on the Astral. But that's not to say such would be the case for everybody. There's no need for any "clothing" but my body always appears to be dressed. Plus, I also wear my "watch" and "spectacles" when on the Astral. Yours, Frank 2388 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I don't get it... on: June 16, 2002, 08:37:16 Reason is you still have a little way to go. 15 months is not a long time to be practising conscious-exit obe. I'm unsure of your terminology as I'm not into doing any kind of meditation or trance energy work. Thus have no idea what you mean. But there is one stage I do very much recognise where you say you see image flashes. That sounds to me you are seeing what I term "stray energy". At the stage where your collective sense of conscious awareness is plugging into the part of your brain that interfaces with the Astral, you can see flashes of all kinds of shapes and/ior images. Or, with me, sometimes, rather than seeing anything, I can sense a feeling like as if there was someone standing behind me in the Physical; or mabe I just see shadows, or hear pops and bangs, or whatever. Sometimes I sense very little and just drift through this stage easily and swiftly, and sometimes I might spend a few minutes watching, and/or listening to a combination of any or all of these things. It can be a frustrating stage to be at because, at first, many times you see a flash of something and the Physical eyes will try to look, or the Physical ears will try to hear. Worst case that will bring you out of it completely, so there is no choice but to begin again. Or it can keep you on the border line thus prevent you from "passing through" and plug into the Astral proper. I'd say it is 99.9% certain you still have tension at the front of your brain that is preventing your progress. This is something I have been looking into, over the past few months, in order to try and discover what Monroe was going on about when he talks about "phasing in" to the Astral (Ref: Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey). I discovered that the BIG barrier to allowing your sense of consciousness to plug into the Astral (or "phase in" as Monroe puts it) is physical tension at the front part of the brain. That is to say, around the eye area and up behind the forehead. Well, strictly speaking, it wasn't me who discovered it entirely. I was given the idea by an Astral guide. It was something I never thought of before. Years ago, I discovered that relaxing from the head downwards was way, way more effective than relaxing from the feet upwards. But it never occured to me to think about think about tension in the structure of the brain itself. What I have also discovered is that tension in the body (of course, provided you have no injuries or other physical problems) is *directly* caused by tension in the brain. Such that, releasing brain-based tension can cause some amazing and immediate effects in the physical body. For instance, once I was practising seeking out any brain tension. I'd first gotten to the stage where I was relaxed to the point where normally I'd have around 15 to 20 minutes more work in deepening the relaxation state and I'd be at the point of sensing "stray energy". I imagine the part of the brain that holds the tension is like a squashy rubber ball that has gone a little hard. I think of these tiny hands gently manipulating and massaging this ball and, as I do so, the ball softens and parts. So, on this occasion, I was allowing my sense of conscious awareness to drift upwards to plug into the Astral, as per usual, and perceived the normal sense of resistance. What I would normally do, at this stage, is imagine I was "looking out" from a point on my forehead that was situated between and just a little up from my physical eyes. Eventually, I would lose all physical-body feeling and begin seeing stray energy. But instead of doing that, I was practising trying to reach the part of my brain that was "resisting" the drifting upwards movement of my sense of conscious awareness. This was about my tenth attempt, over about 3 weeks or so, and I was trying to reach a point of my brain that seemed about 2 inches behind and 1 inch below my physical eyes. So there I was, imagining this part of the brain as a squashy rubber ball that was gradually softening to the point where the two halves would part. This would form a pathway in order to allow my sense of conscious awareness to continue drifting upwards. It was a tricky thing to do. Sometimes it felt like I'd got it spot on, and other times I simply wasn't sure. However, on this occasion, after about 5 minutes of massaging, suddenly all sensation of my physical body simply went away. And instantly, I thought, "Wow!" It was rather surprising and quite an amazing feeling having the Physical literally switch-off. I mean, it was exactly like when you switch off a light at night, and the room instantly goes from light to dark. I lay there for about 5 minutes, in this state, chuckling to myself realising I had discovered something significant. Not only that, I had truly (and finally!) discovered what Monroe means by "mind awake, body asleep". My mind was incredibly bright and alert, but I had absolutely no feeling of a physical body whatsoever. Not even an inkling, absolutely zilch. In fact, I imagined that if I had gotten into that same state just accidentally, without knowing anything about obe, etc., it would have been very scary to say the least. Because, even when I thought about moving, it was a case of moving what? There was no sensation of anything physical. So now when I come to project, I found that there is no need for me to even think about relaxing the physical-body at all. I simply lie back and think of forming a pathway through the brain that leads to the part that connects with the Astral. At the moment, I just have a inkling of where it is, and it's like I have to clear the tension each time. But each time I do, it gets just a fraction easier. In the sense that it feels like any kind of human learning process. For example, learning to play an instrument. Practise regularly and each week you make a little more progress; because the act of repeating the same actions, over and over, forms permanent pathways in the brain that control the precisely timed muscle movements. My theory is, the more this pathway to the part of the brain that connects with the Astral is consciously formed and trodden, the more permanent and defined it becomes. And that's what I think Monroe had developed. All he had to do was to "think" about the Astral and instantly he would connect with it. In exactly the same way as if you have a friend you telephone regularly. All you have to do is think of that friend and their telephone number instantly comes in mind. Well, that's the theory (for what it's worth). Yours, Frank 2387 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / HELP - I'm back in the game and a little confused on: June 16, 2002, 10:10:00 Hello, Tisha, welcome back. I thought you'd like the Monroe books. Ultimate Journey is my favourite. I resonate with so much of it. My current favourite piece is from p91 beginning "At this point......" to end of chapter (p96). You can project with no vibration symptoms. I used to always get pre-projection vibrations. But now, I only seem to get vibrations while I am on the move, i.e. going to somewhere on the Astral, but even then not always. Recently I learnt to view the Astral from a distance and find I can "step into it" without any vibrations at all. Which I found is a *lot* more reliable than my old way of projecting. Sometimes things can be a bit vague and, on returning to the physical, drifting off into a lucid dream is *very* possible. Problem is, you wake up not knowing what's what. Which naturally leads you to start asking yourself, "Was this just a dream or a real obe?" But the more you learn to control the process of projection, the less this will happen: promise you. Your projected double, as you call it, does feel very "real" to you because it *is* you. One of the by-products of projection, is you discover the real You. The true You that, for years, has been seemingly locked in a physical body. Projection teaches you that the physical body is merely a carcass which You can connect to, and disconnect from, at will (given practice, of course). That's why I cannot get on with the term "projected double". It give the impression that there are two of "You". That is to say, the one lying on the bed back there somewhere, and the You that is sitting on the Astral. Nope, the Physical body is not You at all. It is merely a carcass that You occupy in order to experience the Physical. Also, if I may please point out, I feel you are going wrong in your thinking in the post where you respond to Justin saying, "Getting halfway out and getting stuck is very frustrating........" It is difficult to tell for certain, but the feeling you describe, i.e. legs etc. out but the rest of you stuck, sounds to me like all you have done is overstimulate what Mystics call the Base Chakra. Doing so gives you a feeling exactly like you describe. But this feeling is nothing to do with Astral Projection. I think Justin is also doing something very similar. There is a Chakra around the abdomen that, when stimulated, can give you tingling sensations around the lower region of your body and a feeling of butterflies. It can also give sinking feelings, like, going over a hump-back bridge in a car. But, again, while all these sensations can be very interesting to research (if you are into that sort of thing) none of this is Astral Projection. Yours, Frank 2386 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / trance and NEW mix up on: June 18, 2002, 14:56:50 I'm not all that knowledgeable on mystical terminology and I don't know what is meant by "energy raising". I hear this term all the time. If there is someone who could describe for me please what energy-raising means, in simple terms, I'd be grateful. If "energy raising" involves something to do with the Physical body then I cannot see how it could aid Astral Projection. But, as I say, I'm floundering in the dark a bit here. The times when I have activated bodily "chakras" I did it by developing a focal point of awareness about the region of the chakra and, after a short while, it would activate. For Astral Projection, you basically do the the same thing but go upwards, into your head. So it feels like you are looking down, onto your nose. At this point, you have absolutely no feeling of a physical body whatsoever. Then, if you shift upwards a little further, your your sense of conscious awareness will "plug into" the section of your brain that connects to the Astral. Yours, Frank 2384 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Spirits on: June 19, 2002, 19:26:47 Yes, I often wondered that. I always supposed it was just all different races of people, over the years, experimenting with fermenting all kinds of fruits and berries and so forth. Then it must just be that some taste in particular catches the popular imagination, and bingo. Yours, Frank 2383 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Dream or AP... on: June 19, 2002, 19:33:16 What you experienced was a lucid-dream release vague Astral-experience, heavily buffered by your own emotive creativity. Yours, Frank 2382 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / my thoughts on hemi-sync (long) on: June 20, 2002, 09:38:12 Justin, I haven't progressed beyond the Focus 10 stage (Gateway series CD's wise) so I cannot give you any pointers beyond that. Monroe describes Focus 10 as "mind awake, body asleep". If you are feeling bodily sensations, such as you describe, then you are not at Focus 10. I only recently managed to consciously get to this stage once just recently, as I described in a post to this thread: http://www.astraldynamics.com/forums/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=&TOPIC_ID=1141 It is very tricky to do and requires lots of practice (well it did for me, I mean). What I would do before is to suddenly jump from a feeling of remoteness of the physical (but still having a small sensation of a physical body) to a state where I'd be viewing the Astral remotely with no sensation at all of the physical. The frustrating thing was, everytime I analysed what was happening, in detail, it did not match the state Monroe describes as Focus 10. So I continued with my efforts to slow down the process, yet further, in order to sense it in more detail. In doing so I discovered there is an inbetween stage where, on the one hand, you have absolutely no feeling of having a physical body whatsoever, yet you are not in touch with the Astral. When I say absolutely no feeling of the physical, I truly mean absolutely no feeling whatsoever of anything to do with a physical body. It's a feeling like you are suspended in an infinite void. I rather enjoyed it because I was happy that I'd finally discovered the state that Monroe was describing as Focus 10. But I would think if anyone just found themselves in that state, without any prior knowledge of obe, etc., it would be very scary indeed. Problem is, I have not yet managed to repeat the Focus 10 state because it is darned tricky for me to do. But I suppose it will come to me, given practise. Yours, Frank ps I wholeheartedly recommend the Gateway wave 1 CD to anyone who is having problems learning how to project. The CD is instructional in nature: as opposed to the buzzing and vibrating noises you get on all these CD's that claim to be able to induce an obe in 20 minutes, and so forth. Which, to my mind, are just a complete con. Plus, once you have listened to the CD for a month or two, you can run through the process to Focus 10 without any help from the CD. 2381 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / light trance....... then what??? on: June 20, 2002, 11:19:11 quote: Originally posted by rodentmouse: ok, i can enter a light trance fairly easily now, but how do i go from that to an OBE, i assume you do an exit tecnique, so i did, i used the rope but could only maintain the sensation vividly for a split-second, it takes a helluva lot of concentration even for this, also i can still feel my body, should an exit tecnique only be attempted when your body is totally numb? and, from a light trance, how would i go about entering a deeper trance? That's the zillion-dollar question. And because there is not one clear method that works, there are hundreds of them that all claim to be able to induce all manner of bodily sensations. If you can afford it, I would seriously consider trying the Gateway Wave 1 CD (to Focus 10). It is sure to save you a *lot* of time in experimentation. For example, it took me around 3-years to realise that relaxing from the head downwards was a whole load more effective than relaxing from the feet up. The CD has it all on there already, for you to learn in just a few weeks. Yours, Frank 2380 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I don't get it... on: June 21, 2002, 10:17:06 Ashfo, I don't actually do any progressive muscle relaxation such as tensing and releasing. To my mind, that would only concentrate my sense of conscious awareness on the physical body. All I do with the physical is to simply lie back in a comfortable position, with my head and neck supported, etc. From my interaction with this BBS, I have discovered that if you move your focal point of awareness around various areas of the physical body you can excite "Chakras". Doing this can give you all kinds of weird and wonderful sensations... but this is not Astral Projection. For successful conscious-exit obe you have to simply let go of the physical entirely. In a nutshell, what you have to do is initiate the natural bodily sleep-reflex, but keep your collective sense of conscious awareness switched on. A lot of so-called projection techniques I read about tell you to go around the physical and concentrate on releasing muscular tension by various methods. To a certain extent this will work; in that releasing muscular tension has the effect of releasing tension in the corresponding part of the brain. However, it is a whole load more efficient doing it the other way around. First, because you are going direct to the root cause of the tension and, second, you are concentrating your awareness *away* from the physical body. To my mind, it is somewhat self-defeating (well it was for me) to set off on a process of "letting go" of your physical body, by first concentrating your awareness on it. The way I see that, is it's like you want to drive a hundred miles south of where you live. So you set off driving two hundred miles north then turn around. Okay, not everyone will agree. But all I am trying to do is give people the benefit of my experience FWIW. The dillema is, that tension in the physical body IS a direct bar to successful conscious-exit obe. So the question arose, "How do I release tension in the physical body without actually concentrating my awareness on it?" This question led me to make an important discovery (with a little help from an Astral guide and from something Monroe said on the CD). The important aspect, I discovered, is that muscular tension in the physical (provided you have no injuries and the like) is *directly* caused by tension in the brain. I only came across this fairly recently so I am still experimenting. But I have extended my squashy-ball method, that I spoke of on another post, and I am practising taking my focal point of awareness into places that I perceive as small areas of the brain, in the front upper region. This has given some startling effects. As I say, I have only recently began doing this so it is all a bit hit and miss, at the moment. The other morning I happened to hit on a place that has the effect of instantly switching off the physical. This morning I felt some place and it was like my physical body started vibrating, quite violently as it happened. Which took me completely by surprise and threw me back into the physical. At another place I began seeing flashes of light and colour and, next moment, I'm standing on the Astral. Which again took me so much by surprise I jumped back into the physical. You see, normally I begin seeing stray energy and then the Astral scenary gradually comes into focus. But this was instant, which will take a little getting used to. This is what I think Monroe was doing when he talks about "phasing in" to the Astral. There was no spending hours doing all kinds of muscular relaxation stuff, or energy raising, or meditation, or anything like that. Instead, he simply made himself comfortable and just moved his focus of consciousness to a place in his brain that immediately switched-off the physical and made contact with the Astral (at least I think that's the theory). The big question is how? And how I wish I had a clear answer, but at best it is all a muddle. Consider also that Monroe could even "phase in" to the Astral whilst physically awake... which is another great can of worms to chew on. Yours, Frank 2379 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Spirits on: June 21, 2002, 19:02:47 WF, when you say they "check and help" do you mean in the physical, like, they lived just a few miles apart, or was it through some kind of telepathy, or some kind of clubhouse on the Astral they created? Also, when you say "reading" could I ask what is that, exactly. I'm sorry if I am missing the obvious but all this "past life" stuff holds a particular fascination for me and I'm struggling to understand all the terminology. Yours, Frank 2378 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / my thoughts on hemi-sync (long) on: June 22, 2002, 07:13:27 In my studies I always try to seek out the "original message". Problem is, over time, rationalisations are made and the original message often gets lost under layer upon layer of opinion, alternative ideaology, varying experiences, etc., etc. Plus, these days, there is the ever present "commercial factor" which tends to act as a strong diluant. Therefore, I would ask anyone reading my above posts to add the word "complete" immediately before the statement "mind awake, body asleep". Yours, Frank 2377 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The relationship between chakras and AP on: June 22, 2002, 07:37:59 The way I see it is quite simple. If what we were involved in was a motor car, then activating chakras would be reving the engine, switching the headlights on and off. Flashing the indicators, beeping the horn, moving the seats forwards and back. Opening and closing the boot, bonnet and doors, and so on. Whereas, Astral Projection is where we start the engine, shift into gear, and drive off. Yours, Frank 2376 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / non-physical guides (perhaps wrong forum) on: June 22, 2002, 09:55:16 Touring the Astral with a guide is generally *much* more productive and I, for one, would highly recommend you to delve deeper in this area. You will learn far more if you turn over the driving, as you call it, to them. I found that guides approach you very gradually, at first, so as not to alarm you. With me, I get a feeling like if I were on the physical and I sensed someone behind me. They will only approach you full-on when they are sure you are ready. Meeting a guide can often be a very emotive experience, and I don't know why that is exactly. I assume it is something to do with the energy they radiate. You get a very humble feeling and it makes you want to stand in awe. Well, that's what used to happen to me. Whether you will feel the same I don't know, but I think it would pay you to be aware of the possibility. Because, if you let that kind of emotion overwhelm you, a buffer experience will come about wherein you might find yourself bowing down to angels, and the like. I have what I call a "regular" who I nicknamed Harry. He takes me on tours of the belief-system areas and shows me some of the more interesting cases. Harry also has this flying craft that we travel in now and again. Last time we went in it, he flew through an Astral-Plane Entrance Structure which was a lovely experience as I had never seen one before. Afterwards I realised why not: I always keep my "eyes" closed while moving around at speed. Something which I am still trying to get out of the habit of doing. I think it was no coincidence that I realised this after the trip, as I reckon Harry put the seed-thought in my mind. Guides will scan your thoughts and communicate directly from mind to mind. That is probably where you are getting the feeling of "companionship" from. However, your guide will only come as close as you are ready to receive them, as they are only too aware of your own emotional strengths and weaknesses. Also, don't be surprised if you get a strong feeling you met your guide before somewhere. That's how I feel about Harry. I would swear blind I met the guy before but cannot, for the life of me, think where. And don't be surprised if you find guides introducing you to people that seem to already know you. This used to confuse the heck out of me, at first. Like, these people knew my name and all about me, as if they were lifelong, close friends. Yet, I'd never seen them before??? Problem is, they all communicate non-verbally and can scan your mind. Which does take a *lot* of getting used to. Plus, you slowly start to begin to be able to do the same. But it takes a while to learn. In the beginning stages you only pick up little snippets about the person (the stage I am currently at) which gives you a, "Haven't I seen you before somewhere?" sensation. Guides are excellent for helping you to "trace your roots" which is what I am currently working on. However, you need to be prepared for some pretty explosive emotive experiences that you will find impossible to remain closed to. Your guide will generally not interfere with this, in the sense of protecting you from the experience, as it is your actual experiencing of the situation that is part and parcel of your mind's enlightenment process. To my mind, finally getting around to seeking a guide is a major turning point. First the temptation is to look at the Astral as a huge adventure playground. Which is nice, and is a view I held for quite a number of years. But I believe the first step on your own path of enlightement is when you finally summon the courage to ask a guide to show you the way. That's basically the point where you stop playing and begin to discover all of what "life" is really about. And it can be one heck of a rocky road. Where you state, "but I don't personally buy into that because I believe my very real-seeming demons have all turned out to be figments when I confronted them." I hope you absolutely believe that statement utterly and totally, 100%. As it will be tested time and again (especially at first). Best of luck. Yours, Frank 2375 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Spirits on: June 22, 2002, 13:12:30 WF: You say, "The way that I have found my belief in past lives was to actually access one that plays a very important part in this life. It was of a native life and I was called waterfall." If I may ask, what is the important part the past life plays in your current life? Also, how did you contact this life? Do you have an idea of where your focal point of awareness is, in your brain, at the time you make contact? It's just you mention about when doing the "reading" saying, "When I focused in on him I kept seeing faces..... " Is it possible for you to be more specific as to how you achieve this focusing. The basic question is focus what, where? Yours, Frank PS Okay, they say there's no such thing as a dumb question, but mine just became the exception that proves the rule, I know. 2374 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Spirits on: June 22, 2002, 22:09:07 WF: I've been working on understanding what you have said so far, and I have some more questions, if I may. You say you softly focus on the person and see whatever comes about. But where do you see whatever it is that comes about? Are the visions seen with the physical eyes or are you perceiving visons at the front of your mind with what is often called a 3rd eye? You say you focus with your 3rd eye but I'm confused as to what organ you are using to see the visions. You see, this morning I think I discovered something. I found out that I can activate my 3rd-eye (or Astral Visual Interface, as I call it) without doing any of the "letting go of the body" stuff. I got the idea from your doing the "reading". It's quite tricky to do because the moment I "see" something my physical eyes try to look. Which is basically the same problem I used to have with projection, before I learnt how to relax to the extent where I had very little feeling of the physical. Now, because I was fully aware of the physical, I did not have any of my normal pre-projection symptoms. Oh, and I fully understood where you say about it's like a funnel going to the top of the head. With me it feels like some kind of tractor-beam. So it appears, then, if you "let go" of the physical and active the areas of your brain that are in contact with the Astral, then you project within it. Which is what I am familiar with. However, I am now coming to realise that these areas of the mind can actually be accessed without letting go of the physical at all. Is this correct? Yours, Frank 2373 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / non-physical guides (perhaps wrong forum) on: June 23, 2002, 07:51:36 Thank you for the opportunity to share, but it does not pay to dwell on what are commonly called: negative experiences. I find it has the effect of magnifying their importance. Such that, when on the Astral, they can unexpectedly manifest and spoil the experience. You say these creatures you perceived "followed close deaths". It would appear, to me, that you had some kind of cognitive awareness about these up and coming deaths (which is only natural, as you say, these people were close to you). However, rather than recognising the incoming thoughts directly, for what they were, you reacted emotionally to them. Thus created a distorted picture of the reality of the situation. With guides, on the Astral, it's not so much that your negative perceptions are tested, like, as if you were sitting an exam. It's just that you set off down a road to find out who You really are. In doing so, you become *highly* exposed to the magical and previously unimaginable Truth of Life. Which, many times, will cause you to experience an overwhelming emotional mix that you will find *impossible* to control (at the time). Accept the fact that the chances of you veering off on an emotional tangent, positive or negative (to quote popular terms), is very likely. These can often result in forced awakenings back to the Physical. However, If you can keep your act together, and think your way through things, rationally and unemotionally, you will survive: thus keep treading the true path back to your source. Rather than, as I say, veering off on an emotional tangent. The good news is, if you are with a guide, they will not let you experience more than they know you can bear. Which means you can go ahead and experience whatever it is, fully in the knowledge that (however confusing it may appear at the time) you will be able to work through it eventually. As an example: I posted a short while ago about my experience of being taken to a garden with children playing, all around. Some where lying sleeping in the shade of the trees who had been badly traumatised as a result of what they had experienced on the Physical. Eventually, they would awaken and learn how to play again. What I didn't say, in my original post, is that one of those children, was me. Realisation of this caused an instant and uncontrollable burst of emotion that is still within me even now. I can feel it, as I type, welling up at the sides of my head wanting to explode outwards into floods of tears. Quite why, I do not know. All I do know is I that need to keep working on solving the mystery in a rational, logical manner, and I will find the answer (eventually) of who I really am. Yours, Frank 2372 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / I got a result...! on: June 24, 2002, 17:46:45 You described the typical confusion that can arise, perfectly. Beforehand, many people say things like, "Oh, I'm not scared, I'll have no fear" etc,. etc. Which is SO darned easy to say but it can be *very* difficult to control things at first. The sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral, as you now realise, is the very same as you have on the Physical. Instantly, the moment you set foot on the Astral, for about the first ten or twenty times you project, it behaves like a fish out of water. It is very normal to hear all kinds of sounds. Like pops, bangs, crashes, tearing and ripping noises, and so forth. What happens is your conscious awareness instantly gives you an idea of what may have caused the sound... just like it would do on the Physical. Problem is, you have to teach it that all these kinds of sounds, when on the Astral (or when undergoing separation, etc.), are all very normal. Which does take a little time. You heard a sound which your conscious awareness instantly thought it recognised as smashing glass. This immediately led to a wacky moment, where you think you are being broken into in the physical. You first think of your partner and dismiss it. However, thoughts of this person, when released on the Astral, can have quite a profound subsequent effect. Searching for some kind of security, under the circumstances, you create an image of a policeman. All of which looks SO real, at the time. Yours, Frank 2371 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / My first experiences on: June 25, 2002, 07:51:15 What you describe are the preliminary stages of Astral Projection. Certainly nothing to be fearful about though your reactions are understandable. Lots of people think they are dying and stuff like that. Which can obviously be very scary. The thing to do is to put aside the fear and let events take their natural course. You have lots of wonderful surprises in store. Yours, Frank 2370 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Spirits on: June 25, 2002, 09:46:32 WF: I'm sorry but I don't really know what an Aura is. Something about colours that are radiated from people but I never saw any. I've seen lots of whirling colours on the Astral, though. As for channelling, well, I read about it on some website but it all seemed a bit far fetched if I may say. Thing is, with me, the moment I start hearing any kind of mystical terminology my mind has great difficulty trying to reason with it. But thank you again for a very informative reply. The last line holds a particular resonance with me because that is exactly how I used to be with Astral Projection. About 3 or 4 times a week I'd wake up early morning and, about half an hour later, I'd get pre-projection vibrations and shoot off (rather like I'd been shot from a cannon) and I'd come to rest within the Astral somewhere. I had been doing this for over 10 years, and found the experiences very enjoyable. Though for around 5 years prior to that, I had spent fighting demons, and the like, in a region I later termed the "training ground". Basically the Astral, to me, was a huge adventure playground and it was only when I came across this BBS that I began to try and slow things down so I could analyse what, exactly, was happening. Mainly so I could explain the process to others. However, in doing so, I discovered all kinds of new sensations. The most interesting discovery, that I made recently, is I can develop a focal point of awareness and place it in what I perceive as different areas of the brain. I also discovered that within my brain there was a kind of tension, in a particular area, that if I "massaged away" it would simply switch off all feeling of my physical body. Now I am realising all kinds of other sensations. It is still *very* hit and miss but if I place my focal point of awareness about my forehead something seems to "switch on". There's a kind of zuuump feeling then I see a flash of something or other, then I snap back as the physical eyes try to look and see. Another interesting notion you have given me is the idea of something "popping out". I have only ever thought of it as me "stepping in". It's also interesting you talking of asking guides because I realised, again just recently, that I can communicate with other entities just prior to projecting within the Astral. It's at the point that I call the "stepping in" stage. Where normally all sensation of the physical has gone, I can see the Astral in front of me, then I mentally step into it. Only now, and it's very weird for me, I can do very much the same but I have total awareness of the physical. However, I cannot step into it like normal. Which is why the term "popping out" feels much more apt. I also like your term "spirit" so this morning I focused to the top of my head where I felt a kind of resonance and asked if anyone was in tune with me. And I swear I heard this friendly male- sounding voice welcoming me. I forget exactly what was said because I got so surprised I snapped out of it immediately!!! There were two aspects of his response that really threw me. The first was the fact that he knew me, as he welcomed me by name. And the other was that he said he'd been waiting for me, or it was perhaps more like he was expecting me. Now that was weird. On the Astral I have spoken to loads of people but it all seems very natural. But to be lying there, fully in the knowledge that I'm in the physical (I can even hear my wife breathing by my side), and have some Astral entity wanting to chat like we were long lost friends was rather mind-blowing. I did try and do it again but for some reason the protective aspects of my awareness got really nervous, which prevented me. I have long since learnt that trying to "will" yourself to do things is rather self-defeating. But I hope to be able to coax my protective sense of awareness into accepting the new sensations, I suppose, in the same way I had to when learning how to project. Okay, if I may, another question: You say, "the first time I felt it move like a large ball rolling around under the skin." Could I ask please, what were you doing prior to this? In other words, how did you get to activate it the first time? Is there some kind of excercise in particular that is necessary? Also, the past few days, I have a kind of sensation about the middle of my forehead which I never used to have. The sensation is there constantly and it feels like there's a small circle of paper stuck to the middle of my forehead. Only it feels like it's actually underneath the skin. Thanks again for your responses, they are very helpful to me. Yours, Frank 2369 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / time perception on: June 25, 2002, 18:58:09 There is no such thing as "time" on the Astral. Which means trying to relate one with the other is rather difficult. As a result, you may measure clock-time on the physical and the reading may be 10 minutes. However, on the Astral you may have felt like you were projecting for many times that, or just for a few moments, or anything inbetween. One of the major "problems" you have to face when entering within Astral realms is the concept of infinity. It's tricky one to get to grips with. Yours, Frank 2368 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / rope tecnique and higher self.... on: June 26, 2002, 08:28:02 I think the best answer to your question might be to realise what part the rope-trick is actually playing in the general scheme of things. First, the act of actually projecting within the Astral is a natural bodily reflex. Basically, you place yourself in a particular state which activates this reflex. The way the reflex is activated is by placing your focal point of awareness at the top of your head. Which is all you really need to do. So the question arises, "How do I get my focal point of awareness to the top of my head?" one effective answer to that question is: by using a little meta- physical imagery to kick-start the upward transition. And that is the part the rope-trick plays. However, there is a major pit-fall, which is: if you begin to concentrate on actually climbing the rope, and visualise the process in too much detail, then what you start to become involved in is an act of Creative Visualisation. Which, of course, is not Astral Projection. In other words, your focal point of awareness becomes the act of climbing the rope. Which means it will remain stuck usually at a point behind your physical eyes. In your case, I feel you don't need the rope-trick at all. I also feel, considering the point at which you are at in the projection process, it may well be scuppering your projection attempts. I very much doubt the voice you heard was your imagination. Plus, if you are absolutely sure you saw the figure in your minds eye, then you should definitely not be doing any kind of rope-trick at that point. Yours, Frank 2367 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / rope tecnique and higher self.... on: June 26, 2002, 15:41:29 That final transition, between being vaguely aware of the physical and stepping into the Astral, can be a *very* tricky mental balancing act. So please be aware that the problems you are experiencing are very normal. You see, any kind of thoughts about the physical, any slight fears, or nervousness, or even "trying" too hard or "thinking" too much can scupper the process at that point. What I would do, as you have said you can get your focal point of awareness to the top of your head, and you mentioned about how you saw the woman in your mind's eye, I would work on sending your focal point of awareness forwards in order to activate what is generally called the 3rd eye (or what you are calling your mind's eye). You should at first begin seeing stray energy, following which an image of the Astral should come into view. You will find that you can mentally "step into" this image whereupon you find yourself within the Astral. Best of luck, Frank 2365 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / A simple question about Hemi-Sync on: June 27, 2002, 15:12:18 Depends what it is you want to do. If it's conscious-exit obe then Gateway Series Wave 1 is the best way forward IMO. Focus 10 (mind awake, body asleep) is a precursor to obe and I can highly recommend it. Yours, Frank 2364 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / time perception on: June 27, 2002, 15:47:50 That's a good explanation. There are some sad ex-Earth cases that you see where it's obvious the person has been in the same behavioural loop for a hundred years, or more. I boarded a train once and the entities on there had probably been riding that train, watching the scenery going by, I'd say for at least 70-80 years. Harry (a regular guide) shows me some of the more interesting cases. He once took me to this tall building. Inside was a stage and stairs led right to the top where there was a landing. Several people were gathering around and we had been waiting for what I perceived was about 10 minutes. I asked Harry what was going on, as more and more "people" were entering the place. He said for me to wait a little while longer and I would see. Next, music began playing, of the kind that plays when someone is coming up on stage at an awards ceremony. Up above, on the landing, I could see a figure about to take hold of a rope. Then, as the music was playing, the rope gently lowered this person down onto the stage in order that "he" could make his entrance. Once on the stage he bowed repeatedly to the crowd who were all cheering and clapping. Then the crowd began to disperse and he left the stage and began climbing the stairs to the landing. This whole cycle of events had been going on for decades. Yours, Frank 2363 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / time perception on: June 28, 2002, 10:00:05 Any kind of release of emotion, on the Astral, instantly creates circumstances around you that pertain to whatever emotional mix it is you are releasing. Problem is, if you are not aware of this, then you will naturally react to these circumstances thus release more emotion. This further release of emotion then continues to fuel your surrounding circumstances. People can often get into these behavioural loops in their dreams. But they get interrupted by physical-life demands, such as having to get up and go to work. Once you leave the physical altogether, however, it is possible for people to get caught in a behavioural loop that captivates their attention completely. Due to the fact there are no physical- life, or physical-body demands causing any interruptions, and the fact that "life" on the Astral is infinite. With these people, their Astral circumstances are created and fuelled by release of emotion. The circumstances that are created causes them to behave in a certain way, thus releasing more emotional fuel; which causes them to behave in that (same) certain way, thus releasing more (of the same) fuel, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum... literally. Yours, Frank 2362 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Guides... on: June 28, 2002, 11:56:25 In order to make contact with more spiritually-developed entities, you must first gain a reasonable degree of control of your own Astral experience. At first, people tend to flit here, there and everywhere, releasing all kinds of emotions to the extent where everything becomes a whirl. Once you realise the basics, and learn to put them into practice, you get to the stage where you can remain still, both physically and mentally. Then it is merely a case of looking around you to see what is going on. If there is no-one about then I found that becoming mildly curious about something around me is normally enough to attract a helpful entity who can explain things. That's how I met Harry. He started out by showing me "emotions" and their effects. If I am in a populated area then I try and interact with the locals. That is, if they are open to me. Sometimes you find the residents are as equally curious about you, as you are about them. As for your idea regarding affirmations, and so forth, prior to sleep: you explained it in a nutshell. In fact, that is basically how I began around 20 years ago. Yours, Frank 2361 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Guides... on: June 28, 2002, 15:58:20 The quote you made was particularly in answer to making contact with other Astral entities while on the Astral. Yes, there are prayers and the like that can reach-out as you describe. These days it never occurs to me to think of any kind of deceit. Basically, you reap what you sow, and that is no more true than when on the Astral. Yours, Frank 2359 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Spirits on: June 29, 2002, 09:15:23 Thanks, Mobius, for your informative reply. I wasn't thinking of the feeling as a problem. More of simply a new sensation. In a sense it feels like a kind of awakening. From what Waterfall has said it appears to me that the brow chakra, to more advanced students of the art, can be felt constantly: with a greater or lessor depth of feeling depending on whether it is activate or not. It's funny you should mention about using the two halves of the brain synchronously. Because that is exactly what I have been practising. I scouted the Web for information on seeing Auras and came across a site that gave this picture of two circles and you look at them and form a third circle in the centre. http://www.thiaoouba.com/seeau.htm They said that when you see this third circle in a particular way, you are focusing your awareness at the dead centre of the brain. The website talks about this exercise increasing the sensitivity of the physical eyes. But, personally, I think they are mistaken on that. What I think they are doing, by holding a focal point of awareness at the very centre of the forehead, is activating the brow chakra. And I think it is the brow-chakra that "sees" the Aura, not the physical eyes. Which aligns with Waterfall's reply to my question on this. It is quite tricky to do as your focus tends to flip from one hemisphere to the other. But yesterday I managed to hold it constant for about 15 minutes. Then I got this weird feeling and suddenly I saw these visions all around me. They looked like simple line drawings of objects that were slightly out of focus. The first thing that came to mind, as to what I might be "seeing", was stray energy. Of the like I often see just before mentally stepping into the Astral. Oh, when you say a huge strobe, do you mean a bright flash of light, like a camera flash? Because I experience these sometimes and I wondered what they were. Yours, Frank 2357 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Disturbing screams of pain in my head on: June 30, 2002, 09:05:49 quote: Originally posted by rodentmouse: hello to the people i have had 2 identicle screams like someone is being tortured coming from within my head, first i was watching tv and assumed it was that. But it happened just now in the bathroom and everything was silent, the Exact same scream from earlier, it sounds bizzare, but im assuming its because of the NEW work im doing and the fact that my psychic self is being "born" could maybe it be an evil spirit stalking me, knowing that i will be a prone target sooner or later because of my projection attemps? this has completely happened and not an attempt to start a topid for the sake of it.... has anyone else had anything like this happen to them? The one HUMUNGOUS stumbling block for anyone seeking spiritual enlightenment is presented by the fact that the sense of conscious awareness you take with you, to the Astral, is the exact same one as you have with you on the Physical. In fact, once on the Astral proper, tread the correct path and you will become aware that your collective sense of conscious awareness IS you; which is merely "plugged into" your physical body. Knowledge of which is quite exciting, at first. But the novelty eventually wears off, as you become more and more accustomed to the idea: to the point where you just accept it. Another aspect of spiritual enlightenment which you must learn to just accept: is the fact that, at first, the protective aspect of your sense of conscious awareness will behave like a fish out of water. I would say that what you heard is just Stray Energy. It very often comes about just prior to making contact with the Astral. For me it's a signpost that tells me I'm almost there. Yet there are those who would readily agree that you could well be being stalked by an "evil spirit" preparing to entrap you the moment your set foot on the Astral. Well, if the spirit was so evil then why warn you of its presence. Surely, the "evil" thing to do would be to remain entirely hidden until your most vulnerable moment. But, then again, I don't know what an evil spirit is exactly. I assume people mean those "entities" I spent around 5-years "fighting" in a place I later termed the Training Ground. What I do know, for an absolute fact, is that Stray Energy can be perceived in many strange kinds of ways. When I was starting out, I would regularly hear all kinds of pops, bangs, yells, screams, rips, tears, hooting sounds, growling noises, etc. At first, on hearing such noises, what naturally happens is, the protective aspect of your awareness makes an instant judgement as to what the sound might be... exactly as it would do on the physical. Therein lies the problem: On the Astral, different rules apply. As such, one of the MAJOR initial challenges is to teach the protective aspect of your awareness that there is one set of rules for the Physical, and a different set of rules for the Astral. Yours, Frank 2356 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Disturbing screams of pain in my head on: June 30, 2002, 16:13:11 Yes, you have to please get used to the idea of listening to all kinds of sounds in your head. Monroe, for example, had worked to the point where he could "sense" his connection to the Astral all the time. With me, often I'll be relaxing, pottering around in my workshop, listening to all kinds of stuff going on within. The big problem, still, is it's not something you generally want to be talking to people about. Hearing "voices" in your head I mean. Yours, Frank 2355 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I don't get it... on: July 01, 2002, 21:11:10 Patty, I do not have any kind of "exit technique". Any thoughts about such a thing, at that critical point of projection, will scupper the attempt. You simply allow it to happen: which is a process that is about a zillion times easier to say than to do. (Well, it was for me, that is). Also, with me, my focal point of awareness is not "outside of my body". I place it around the top of my head area. I used to get vibrations before shooting off. But after around 6-months of concentrating on slowing down the whole process, I now practise simply letting go of the physical and mentally stepping into the Astral. I can only, at the moment, do this around one or two in about ten attempts. But soon it will be three in ten, then four, etc. Well, that's what I hope. The BIG problem, for me, Tisha touched on in her post. I got used to my old way of doing things and, because things have changed, "the physical" tends to step in wondering stuff like: how; why; what; where? Which completely wrecks what I'm about to do. I have so much sympathy for those who try and try and try. Then, one night/morning, suddenly there's an inkling of a vibration and (quite naturally) they automatically think: "Wow, I'm........" And it's gone. For those stiil trying, without any success at all, the best tip I can give you is to hold the idea of obe in mind - constantly - while going about your ordinary business in the physical. But generally, the key thing is, to my mind, is to want to do it because you are curious of the outcome. And not for any other reason.... like... you want to go see the (so called) Akashik Records to view next week's lottery numbers. Yours, Frank 2354 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / comments and questions on: July 01, 2002, 21:27:20 Yep, I'm chuckling at my screen, because you hit on what must be a common pitfall. So many times I relax the physical and automatically roll on my side and begin going through the motions of drifting off to sleep. Next instant I'm saying, "Hello... shouldn't you be projecting to some place?" Yours, Frank 2351 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Guides... on: July 04, 2002, 20:23:43 Psi..... Within the Astral, "guides" are all over the place. You only have to be open to them and they flock around you. Yes, there are deep-feeling entities that people might call their own, very personal, "spirit guides" or "guardian angels". At the other end of the scale, there are open entities who can tell you if this "tunnel thingy" leads to anywhere interesting or not (and everything inbetween). It may well be that one of yours (personal guides, I mean) put that "nagging thought" in your mind just so you'd seek *them* out. Problem is, we humans, when aligned to the Physical, tend to always think the other way around (at first). Yours, Frank 2350 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Please somebody shed some light, WILD or OOBE? on: July 05, 2002, 10:44:02 That's the time I project always, early morning. Got into it quite by accident, as I have never been a "night person". Hence it's rare for me to be up beyond 9.30 - 10pm. As such, I naturally awaken around 4am. Years ago I'd spend 2 or 3 hours studying then leave for college. When I first came across the concept of obe, I naturally used this time for my new-found obe studies. From my own research, I found there are distinct projection processes. For years I would experience heavy vibrations, before shooting off like I'd been blown from a cannon. Then I worked on modulating these vibrations, and found doing this caused varying projection effects. Nowadays, I hardly ever feel any vibrations at all. Ever since I became fascinated by Monroe's concept of "phasing in" to the Astral. You see, Monroe was one of the most experienced Astral travellers there has ever been (to date) yet he mentions not one word about chakras; energy-raising; devils; negs; et al. No lying there for hours doing body-circuits and the like. Nope, just a simple "phasing in" and there you are. So I began trying to work it all out; on the basis that if he could do it, then it must surely be within my capacity to do also. Now I found that if you allow your focal point of awareness to drift to a certain area of the brain, you place yourself in a state that Monroe describes as, "mind awake, body asleep". While there are several interpretations as to what Monroe actually meant by this, and there are commercial factors that come into play, I found (from teaching myself to achieve Focus 10, from using the Gateway Wave-1 CD) there is a point where you can leave the physical behind completely, yet you are not yet projecting within the Astral. From this stage, all you need is a little mental "push" and the Astral will come into view. From which point, you just mentally "step into" that view and you become within the Astral proper: with no vibrations, no falling sensations and/or feelings of shooting upwards. All of which is ever so easy to say, but I find it's a darned *tricky* mental balancing act to perform. Yours, Frank 2348 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Please somebody shed some light, WILD or OOBE? on: July 06, 2002, 10:39:29 Quebec, I'm making developments on this technique almost daily as it is something I only got into the past 6 months, or so. If you read my earlier posts you will see I basically began using the ROPE trick and tried to simplify the process from then on. My early work involved letting (what I called) my sense of conscious awareness drift upwards. But doing that can still take a while. What I am working on is trying to get a concrete process that can simply be enacted, in the same way Monroe did. You see, basically, all I want to do is project within the Astral with the absolute *minimum* of preparation and effort. Pursuits such as meditation, energy-raising, igniting chakras, and so forth, are all very well. And I am in no way against anyone going that. All I am simply saying is: it's not my thing, and none of it is necessary for projection. Which is the main reason why I only recommend the Gateway Wave-1 CD; as the rest goes off on a tangent (in my opinion) where commercial factors start coming into play. Anyhow, I came to realise that, in addition to the general sense of conscious awareness that resides within my brain, I also have what I now call a Focal Point of Awareness (or Focal Point of Consciousness) that normally resides within my physical body. If I have been using my hands a lot the previous day, for example, I often find my focal point of awareness residing in my hands. But, generally, I find it resides around the area of my chest when relaxing with my eyes closed. Where your focal point of awareness is, can sometimes be obvious. Like, if you are male and have an erection. I had this idea of my focal point of awareness being like a sensor on the end of a temperature probe. One that had been inserted into a bucket of water in order to take a reading. Like, my focal point of awareness was sitting on the end of an extendable probe that came from the top of the brain. It extended into the physical body, in order that physical-body sensations could be experienced. I then thought, rather than lying there for an hour, trying to allow this focal point of awareness to rise upwards to the top of my head: what if I could mentally reach down, grasp it, and lift it upwards. Simply lift it up to the top of my brain where I should immediately say goodbye Physical, hello Astral. That was the theory. In practice it all remains ever so tricky. But this morning I took a slightly bigger step than yesterday. I awoke at around 4am and started to listen to the Wave-1 CD (track 2, to Focus-10) as usual. What I do is first listen to track 2 of the CD, once or twice, then mentally run through the process on my own. Which, more often than not, leads to a conscious-exit projection. However, this morning I only listened to the CD for about 5 minutes as I felt relaxed and confident enough. So I lay there and mentally tried to reach down to my chest and lift up my focal point of awareness to the top of my head. As I say, I find all this a very tricky mental balancing act to perform. But after about 10 minutes I had a distinct feeling of my focal point of awareness moving upwards. At the same time, the Physical simply switched off. I found myself in a "mind awake, body asleep state" and it felt like "I" was situated right at the top of my head. Which is a condition I have found myself in before, from using the teachings on the Wave-1 CD. Only this time there was no vision of the Astral at all. Normally, at this point, I'd start seeing stray energy then the Astral would come into focus. Whereupon I would mentally step into it. It was a little confusing, so I thought I'd just roll along with the sensation to see where it would lead. Next I felt a distinct pulsating all around me, followed by a drifting feeling. Below me I began seeing all kinds of dark shapes with lines of lights between them. Then I chuckled to myself upon realising that I had inadvertently projected into the RT zone and was flying about 200 feet, or so, above the rooftops around where I live. Yours, Frank 2347 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / how close am i? on: July 06, 2002, 18:58:03 quote: Originally posted by jilola: I have this nagging feeling that the whole thing is way more simple than we allow ourselves to believe. I mean, if eeveryone does it when they sleep it would mean that it really doesn't take much of an effort and knowledge but rather simple acceptance of the fact hat OBE happens. It's a matter of unlearning what we've been conditioned to see as impossible. Jouni That last sentence is ever so true. Well done for putting it so well. Yours, Frank 2346 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / how close am i? on: July 07, 2002, 08:17:05 RM: Any thoughts of ROPE or any other "technique" will scupper the projection process at the point where you are at. From what you say, it seems you are beginning to form a focal point of awareness towards the top of your head. So keep practising and it will all come to you in time. Progress is made in tiny steps, normally, and the biggest potential spoke in the works, is fear. Even though you might not feel fearful, there is a part of consciousness that I call my "protective sense of awareness" which is constantly looking out for potential danger. It does this by remembering every circumstance that you ever experienced with your senses, and catalogues them in order of danger potential. It continuously compares what you are currently experiencing with this list of potential hazards and tries to sort "knows from "unknowns". For example, I live in a road that has a dead-end. So there is no through traffic. What I've found is, over the years, my protective sense of awareness has learnt the sounds of all the resident's cars and the times when they are most expected. The moment it hears a car it's not sure about it causes me to be aware of it. "The Unknown" is a major threat, so this area of consciousness tries all it can to make an "unknown" into a "known". Which is all very well on the Physical but, within the Astral, it can present a *major* stumbling block... as I am sure you are about to experience over the coming weeks. Oh, and could you let me know, please, the web-address of the online forum where you were speaking to the people who said they could project at will. Seems like I could learn a lot from these folks. Yours, Frank 2345 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Last night's OBE on: July 08, 2002, 09:15:38 Patty, IMO your problem is simply due to the fact that you have too much emotional energy riding on the outcome. Look, I don't want to be coming across as "all knowing" because, believe me, I too am struggling with my own stuff. It's just that I have experienced these kind of reality fluctuations, time and again, to the extent where I can easily recognise the problem in others. Also, it's usually one of the first major hurdles to overcome once you learn to project. Your questions: If we truly travel to these astral planes and they have this sort of malleability - was I witnessing this sort of thing with the playing cards? Yes, there are truly Astral planes upon which we *do* have the ability to create the circumstances around us. And, yes, you were witnessing precisely that sort of thing with the playing cards (albeit at a fairly moderate level). How does this work? How do we stop it? The fluctuation is generated and fuelled by release of your own thought-release-emotion. The way to stop it is to gain control of your thoughts such that you can remain emotionally closed at all times. Which is ever so easy to say, but so darned tricky to accomplish. But it can be done, given time. Primarily, what you need to realise (and fully accept) is that it's *your* release of emotional energy that is the cause. Isn't there supposed to be a plane near the physical that has essentially no malleability? No, but the RT-zone is the plane with the least "malleability" as you call it. As such, the reality fluctuations you experienced were *very* moderate. On the Astral proper you can instantly create the whole circumstances that surround you, in glorious 3D Technicolour, on an instant by instant basis. You are also quite correct where you speak of "intent" in relation to travelling on the Astral. It's the "intent" that fuels the travel and gives the direction. The actual travelling time is instant. As for the Wave-1 CD (or tape) I found it's best to first listen to the CD, go through the motions once or twice, then run through it on your own. There is an inherrent problem in trying to get (what I call) a true "mind awake, body asleep" state. Basically, if your physical body were asleep and you had truly "let go" of the physical, you wouldn't hear the CD. Yours, Frank 2344 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Metatones! on: July 08, 2002, 18:30:58 Yes, regulars will know that I wholeheartedly recommend the Gateway series Wave-1 CD (if your end goal is Astral Projection, that is). Yours, Frank 2343 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Finally got a date! on: July 09, 2002, 08:28:50 It has been a while since the last one, but got another date this morning on a coin: 1926. It was an English penny. Problem was, I got a little excited at having read the thing and all kinds of reality fluctuations came into play. The place I was in was definitely of that period. I could tell by the decor (Victorian) and the way people were dressed. Funny thing is, it was a similar period and surroundings to the place I was at the last time I got a date. So there must be some kind of connection, somewhere. Another morning, another mystery. Yours, Frank 2342 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Last night's OBE on: July 09, 2002, 08:48:58 On the subject of reality fluctuations, I try where I can to pick up dates of things. This morning I held a coin and looked to see more about it. It was an old English penny and the date imprinted on it was 1926. At that moment I realised, "Yes, I got another date!" It was only a tiny little outburst but instantly the figures on the coin began switching around. Next moment there were all kinds of coins jangling in front of me and I could just make out my original Astral surroundings through what looks like "heat haze" on the Physical. I immediately closed and, after a few moments, the emotional energy was used up. But I still could not, for the life of me, read the face of the coin now without all the figures becoming jumbled up. Even though my emotions were now closed, there were still residual effects preventing me from reading the date again. Which reminded me of your post where you kept looking at the cards, seeing them change, and trying to decide which would be your definite choice. Yours, Frank 2341 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Sleeping Positions and OOBEs? on: July 10, 2002, 07:32:28 For me it makes no difference. Though at first I found if a habitual sleeping-postion was adopted there was a strong urge to fall asleep rather than practice obe'ing. But now it makes absolutely no difference how my physical body is lying, provided it is reasonably comfortable. Yours, Frank 2340 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Finally got a date! on: July 10, 2002, 09:02:41 quote: Originally posted by BriMercer: I hope you can answer my question, Frank. After years and years of reading accounts of real-time and astral projections (and having had some personal experiences like this myself), I wonder if you can explain this situation: Someone goes OBE. Everything about the projection seems valid and "real", but then someone in the locale to which the OBE'er is projecting begins to talk to the projectee. In the example of your original post, you recount talking to folks in this British men's club even though you (I would think) have no body for people to see nor lips from which to speak. I've had experiences in which everything about my projection experience seemed like a valid OBE and then someone who I wouldn't think could see me, strikes up a conversation. Even stranger I find that, as common as this experience is in reading OBE accounts, no one seems to questions why this is. Do you have any thoughts on this? Brian Brian, if I may respectfully point out, your thinking is based on faulty premise, i.e. within the Astral I have, "no body for people to see nor lips from which to speak" and that no-one should be able to see you. Yes, I do have a body that basically resembles my physical body. Everyone has one. As for Astral residents seeing you, that depends on their circumstances. Sometimes residents won't see you because they are totally engrossed in some behavioural loop. Other times, as in the pub, they will chat to you just as if you were another member of the group (which can often be a whacky experience). Sometimes they chat with you and they know what you are. That is to say, some kind of "visitor" (occasionally your presence can attract quite a crowd). Other times you can have a bit of fun, like, I was chatting to these three guys just recently. They knew I didn't belong in the place where we were at, so they were curious as to where I was from. I strung them a line about how I was this time-traveller from another planet. I gave the three of them quite a laugh. They naturally thought I was joking, and I'd have loved to have seen the looks on their faces when I disolved back to the Physical right before their eyes. The more evolved Astral residents can see you and have no problems recognising you for what you are. In fact, they instantly know all about you as they have the ability to communicate mind- to-mind. So they can instantly read what is in your mind. Given practice, you too can learn to do the same. The Astral is an infinite place, populated by all kinds of interesting residents, that provide a never-ending source of learning. In fact, during the course of a month, say, I actually interact with more Astral-residents than I do Physical-residents. However, the one *big* problem with the Astral is keeping your emotions in check. Otherwise all kinds of reality fluctuations will come into play, which can easily prevent you from interacting with Astral residents with the requisite degree of stability. This touches on Patty's point about dreaming whilst having an obe. Yes, this is perfectly possible though I call it a "buffer experience". A "buffer experience" is where you have multiple sets of images each overlaying the other to a greater or lesser extent. First, you have the Astral proper and whatever is happening at the region where you find yourself. Now, if you can remain completely closed, emotionally, you will be able to interact with your surroundings, i.e. chat with other residents that may be open to you, contact spirit- guides for guidance on particular issues you want to know about, etc., etc. However, what naturally tends to happen is, there is a strong tendency to react emotionally to your surroundings. This release of emotional fuel will create imagery around you that will justify whatever it is you are feeling emotional about. This imagery can become so thick that it completely blocks your experience of the Astral proper. Or if the emotional release was immediately checked, it creates a situation where you can still see the Astral proper, but it looks like you are seeing it through a kind of "heat haze" which goes away as the emotional fuel is used up. Yours, Frank 2339 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Sleeping Positions and OOBEs? on: July 10, 2002, 09:12:05 Yes, sometimes. When I first started seriously practising conscious-exit obe I'd have to lay on my back as, if I lay on my side (habitual sleeping position) I'd simply fall asleep. However, after a while of laying on my back, I'd feel a strong urge to turn on my side. The longer I'd remain on my back, the greater the urge to roll on my side would become: which would eventually scupper any projection attempt. So this was more than a little frustrating, at first. However, after a while, my mind got used to the idea of laying on my back hence the urge to roll over became less and less. As I say, now it hardly matters. Yours, Frank 2338 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Finally got a date! on: July 10, 2002, 11:07:31 Yes, I have to say the thought did cross my mind. During the early eighties, right when I very first started to obe, in my spare time I was involved in buying and selling antique furniture. Pieces from the Victorian era featured prominently. I also like to work with my hands and, as a hobby, I'd also renovate Victorian mirrors (the types with the plaster-cast ornimental frames) and stained-glass windows. Most of which were from the Victorian era. At the time I also lived in a house that was situated in England's first (what were called) Victorian Garden Suburbs. Obviously, it could simply be the case that my past Physical experiences are dictating my Astral experiences to a greater or lesser degree. Which is why I'm keeping an entirely open mind on the matter. But it's definitely food for thought. The weirdest aspect was that it was basically the same setting. Though I cannot say whether it was, in fact, the same place. Yours, Frank 2337 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hemi-Sync on: July 10, 2002, 12:14:12 I can highly recommend the Gateway Wave-1 CD for any obe beginner. It teaches you, step by step, exactly how to bring your body to a state where you are on the verge of being able to obe. If you can follow this correctly, all you need from then on is a little mental "push" and the Astral will come into view. However, there were a few issues about the CD that took me a short while to get my head around, like: Monroe's voice has a kind of "Houston Mission Control" feel about it. Which first kept making me giggle. He also talks about, "relaxing the muscles at the top of your head". Which was confusing because I don't have any muscles at the top of my head. The term, "Energy Conversion Box" also got me flustered. So, as a get-around, I thought of a term I could relate to more, and put Monroe's term in the box. In order to actually obe, it is best that you teach yourself to be able to rundown the whole process all by yourself, i.e. without use of the CD. This is because, when on the verge of a conscious-exit obe, you are in a state that Monroe describes as, "mind awake, body asleep". Problem being, if your physical were truly in the deep state of sleep that Monroe describes, you would not be able to hear the CD. To make best use of the CD you need to be pro-active about it. In the sense that you need to actually *perform* the visualisation exercises, etc. for it to work. It's not one of these weird and whacky CD's that play some buzzing and beeping sounds; that claim all you have to do is listen for a time and, suddenly, an obe experience is automatically induced (yeah, as if). All in all, Wave-1 (to Focus 10) was a great help for me in learning how to achieve repeated, conscious-exit obe's. Yours, Frank 2336 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Teachings of the Spirit Silver Birch on: July 10, 2002, 17:56:16 There is a tendency within me to agree. Problem is, on the Physical, so many commercial factors come into play. I have a lot of marketing experience and it happens *so often* that some company, or other, produces a "give away". In the business it's called a, "Loss Leader". A Loss Leader is precisely designed to get people hooked. Also, because it is give-away, the wording can so easily be exaggerated. This is due to the fact consumer-protection legislation is generally geared to protecting people who send money for goods and/or services... not who receive them for free. Once people are hooked then, "one recommends the other" and the big money is made on what is called: back-end response. Yours, Frank 2335 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / time perception on: July 10, 2002, 18:06:48 I'm just not sure. Though what I do know is that, in infinity, every possible situation will occur an infinite number of times. So if it is possible for one person to come out of it, then it is logically possible for an infinite number (eventually). The way I think of it is it must be like having a dream that seems to continue forever. However, on the Physical, such dreams are ordinarily interrupted by alarm clocks, or whatever. But on the Astral, no such interruption exists... and so it goes on. Yours, Frank 2334 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hemi-Sync on: July 10, 2002, 18:28:56 All my obe work is done early morning whilst lying in bed. Focus 10, is achieved when you get to the stage where your mind is bright and alert and your physical body is deeply asleep. I posted on this just recently so a search should dig up the posts. Quebec: I'm sorry but I cannot comment on the book you mention as I haven't read it. But what I can say is, anyone who can project to the Astral proper, cannot help but find themselves coming into ntact with "dead people"... as the place is chock full of them. Yours, Frank 2333 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Sleeping Positions and OOBEs? on: July 11, 2002, 06:09:01 It took me about 2 months before I could lay comfortably on my back for an extended period (1 to 2 hours). Yours, Frank 2332 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Finally got a date! on: July 11, 2002, 07:02:43 Brian, yes, I understand where you are coming from. I only recently discovered how to project within the RT-zone. That was after around 15 years of projecting to the Astral proper. The novelty soon wore off, I found. The Astral is a *much* more exciting place and there are loads of populated regions where people create a copy of what they perhaps enjoyed doing most while on the Physical, or just simply what they did the most out of sheer habit. The process appears to be largely automatic. I've visited all kinds of places and chatted to all manner of people engaged in all kinds of activities. The Astral is a great learning zone where you can discover answers to questions you never even knew existed. It's terrific fun. How to keep calm, well, I'm not sure what you mean by "meditation" as stuff like energy-work, meditation, igniting chakras, and so forth, is not my thing. But I do know a good way of practising how to remain emotionally closed on the Astral, is to try remaining emotionally closed on the Physical. I would say it's about ten or twenty times harder remaining emotionally closed on the Astral, as it is on the Physical. But if you can go a month on the Physical without feeling any emotion such as anger, or such like, then you should be able to do reasonably well on the Astral. Yours, Frank 2331 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Finally got a date! on: July 11, 2002, 07:32:52 Alpha, I always set out with the intention of gathering data such as street names, etc. Problem is, I end up enjoying the actual interation with the residents so much I forget. That's why I like the Astral so much. It is a fantastic learning zone and the stuff you can find out is immense. Yours, Frank 2330 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / suicide victims,where do they go? on: July 11, 2002, 16:40:17 To commit suicide you'd have to be in a pretty badly screwed emotional state. Problem is, these people think that doing away with the Physical body will, in some way "put them out of their misery". Difficulty with that is, their screwed, collective sense of conscious awareness doesn't actually reside within the physical body at all. It resides in the body they are left with after they mutilated the physical carcass. In a sense, "suicide" could be considered a basic learning process, albeit a rather drastic one. Yours, Frank 2329 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Finally got a date! on: July 11, 2002, 16:57:04 In order to consciously project, within the Astral proper, you first have to clear the mind of all kinds of Physical desires and concerns, and just allow projection to happen. Therein lies the problem. While in the Physical, I may have some kind of pre-programmed agenda. However, once I start my "projection countdown" any kind of Physical desire, or concern, like some kind of "plan" just goes out of the window. Yours, Frank 2328 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What is all this new age crap? on: July 13, 2002, 13:14:55 I'm sorry, but from your post it is blatent that you have no idea what a "soul" is. Your soul is not some kind of abstract mystical concept, it is simply You. Meaning, your collective sense of conscious awareness. The very fact that you have the sense of consciousness to post to this group *is* proof you have a soul. Yes, obe's are interesting experiences. If you follow them through and learn to tread the correct path on the Astral, then the full truth behind our Human existence will be revealed to you. Then you will no-longer be confused. The reason why people create these demons and so forth is because what we call "thought" is in fact a primary energy. We don't notice it so much on the Physical plane because our physical body acts as a very effective buffer. But, on the Astral, thought-fuelled emotion instantly creates your surroundings. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, many people don't seem to realise this. Yours, Frank 2327 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / suicide victims,where do they go? on: July 13, 2002, 13:26:45 It is not so much the method of physical death that is important. It is the level of emotional activity. Problem is, you cannot actually kill yourself. Sure, you can place the physical body in a situation where it will no-longer continue to function. But you are still left with You at the end of the day. Yours, Frank 2326 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What is all this new age crap? on: July 14, 2002, 09:12:29 Problem is, I often come across situations where people are merely scratching the surface, yet are coming to far-reaching conclusions as to the nature of obe's. People think that learning how to project is the difficult bit. Nope, that's the easy bit. The big difficulty is gaining a proper degree of control over the projection experience at the time. That's the really hard part. On the Astral, as you think, so it becomes, in glorious 3D Technicolour. As such, one of the hardest and most difficult things to do is to simply remain completely still: both in body (Astral) and in mind. From this standpoint, you make progress by developing an air of mild curiosity. Deviate from this state of mind just one iota, and you go off on a self-driven tangent. Which is a very difficult situation to get out of. Of course, there are sure to be a small number of people who can achieve the requisite degree of stillness naturally. But it took me over 5-years to do. People also make distinctions between what are perceived as dreams, lucid dreams, or astral projection. But, basically, each state is an obe state. The only real difference is the person's degree of conscious perception. Yours, Frank 2325 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What is all this new age crap? on: July 14, 2002, 12:02:57 Jason, now you are really knocking on the door of your own limitations. I think what you need to accept is that everyone is at a different level of spiritual advancement. And one of the primary functions of this BBS is to simply bring people together so we can try and give each other a hand-up where we can. What we are involved in here is a new and emerging science. As such, there is no concrete "proof" as yet, that is sufficient to convince people who are naturally very skeptical. Sorry that your skepticism seems to have got the better of you. I guess that is understandable given the circumstances. Many people try and fail before they can give themselves the chance to get to understand the true nature of the obe phenomenon. I was at it 20 years before making any real kind of sense of it all. You said you have experienced buzzing and floating sensations. These begin to occur when you are just beginning to scratch the surface. It seems to me like you gave up just when you were starting to make progress. Yours, Frank 2323 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Ever feel like something's just not right? on: July 14, 2002, 20:09:20 That's just "stray energy" RM, please don't worry about it. Yours, Frank 2322 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Ever feel like something's just not right? on: July 15, 2002, 09:10:50 quote: Originally posted by rodentmouse: you mean they werent the negs!!!! sheeeeesh............................ Is that what people are calling negs? All those strange shapes that can sometimes form into gargoyle-type faces and often bits of faces? I mean, there's lots of talk about "negs" on the other forum and I can never, for the life of me, work out what they are going on about. In all my Astral adventures I never, ever came across any kind of frightful entity that was not a product of my own emotional interplay. Problem is, though, many accounts that people have published, of sensing negative entities, are from people who do not appear to be projecting. Well, not from what they say, at any rate. But I do keep an open mind on the subject and I always wondered if there were really some kind of place where these entities lived, exactly. I'm just wondering if the mystery of where these "negs" reside has been solved for me. If so (okay, it does seem a bit of a long shot) then these "negs" may well be what I am calling: Stray Energy. I often pass through this stage immediately before I begin to focus-in on what I call the "Astral Proper". In fact, this stage I use as a helpful milestone that tells me connection to the Astral is imminent. I imagine it as a kind of no-man's-land: where first I sense that my conscious awareness is drifting away from the Physical and is, sort of, half in this no-man's-land region and half in the Physical. Then there is a sensation of leaving the Physical behind completely and my conscious awareness is fully in this no-man's-land region. (This is where I have no sensation of the Physical whatsoever yet I'm not detecting the Astral either.) Right at this point is where I often come across this Stray Energy, as I call it. Then there is a sensation of the Astral coming into view and my conscious awareness is, sort of, half in this no-man's land and half in the Astral; whereupon I can then mentally "step into" the Astral completely. Stray Energy, for me, can be any kind of image: from what look like abstract line-drawings and shapes; demonic looking faces (or bits of them); or they can appear more real, like, one I posted about a couple of months, or so, ago, where it felt like there was this head of a huge wolf pressed right up against my cheek. Often these shapes are accompanied by all kinds of sounds, like, screaches; stomps; shuffles, tearing sounds, etc. To the extent where, so many times in my early projection attempts, I'd snap back to the Physical and swear there was someone stomping up the stairs, or the bedroom door or window had just slammed shut, or whatever. What you are perceiving are merely harmless bits of stray energy that you just come to ignore. Well, that is how it was for me. I'm just thinking that maybe there are those who latch onto these images and start taking them seriously. Yours, Frank 2320 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Waking paralysis on: July 16, 2002, 08:34:14 To have a successful conscious-exit obe you have to bring yourself to a state that is described as: "mind awake, body asleep". From there, I found, all you need is a little mental push and the Astral will come into view. The BIG problem, at first, is dealing with the protective aspect of your conscious awareness *especially* if you get into this "mind awake, body asleep state" without realising what is going on. Which is what you appear to have done. You are laying there, fully conscious, yet have no sensation of a physical body. The natural tendency is to panic, thinking you have died, or whatever. But what you didn't realise is you were on the verge of realising your goal of having an obe. It can also be the same when people spontaneously find themselves projecting into the real-time zone. Instantly they panic thinking they are in the process of dying, or something. But once you understand the process it all becomes much easier to get to grips with. You see, one of the MAJOR stumbling blocks, that I touched on before in other posts: is when you project within the Astral, you don't just suddenly develop some super Astral faculties that provide you with a collective sense of conscious awareness instantly geared for Astral use. No, the collective sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral, is the exact same one as you have with you on the Physical. However, on the Astral, very different ground-rules apply. All of which means you tend to behave like a fish out of water the first 10 or 20 times you project. Yours, Frank 2319 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Waking paralysis on: July 16, 2002, 19:21:16 Pete, please also understand that there is no real difference between dreaming, lucid dreaming, or experiencing what is called a wake-induced lucid dream. It's all basically an "out of physical body" experience. The only major difference is your level of conscious awareness. That's why keeping a "dream diary" is helpful. It raises your level of conscious awareness towards your dreams. Rather than doing what most people do, i.e. simply shrug any residual dream-memories off and get on with their day. Yours, Frank 2318 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What is all this new age crap? on: July 17, 2002, 09:13:38 Hi Atlas, good to hear from you again. I'm still working on trying to get the necessary high degree of conscious control in order to project to someplace in particular. Mobius touched on how difficult it is a few posts ago on this thread. I have learnt a LOT the past couple of months especially after becoming enthralled by Monroe's concept of "phasing in" to the Astral. Mobius, in his post, talks about blackouts. Well, that's basically what I have been struggling to overcome. I found that by trying to copy Monroe's work I am now projecting with the minimum of reality fluctuations and blackout times but I *still* cannot yet fathom how to project to a place in particular in the RT zone. James S: You say, "What seems to me a fairly important factor here is that people may be trying to find consistant proof in something that is highly varied and subjective." If I may point out, the Astral realms are as stable as the Physical (perhaps even more so). They appear highly varied and subjective because of the limitations of our mental faculties in trying to comprehend what is going on. For example, when we get sceptical on the Physical we have the strong tendency to say, "I'll believe it when I see it" Okay, so you project within the Astral and, not realising the ground rules, you release all kinds of emotions that instantly create and continue to fuel the circumstances that surround you. Your conscious awareness can see what surrounds you so it believes that what it is seeing is real. Big problem is, though, your mental faculties will react to these circumstances in exactly the same way as it would do on the Physical. That's why it is ever so easy to get caught in a loop where you create the initial circumstances that surround you; then you react to these circumstances, thus perpetuating the circumstances; then you react to these circumstances, thus perpetuating the circumstances................. Learning to hold precisely the right kind of mental state is rather difficult and takes lots of practice. Well, that's how it seems with most people, myself included. Yours, Frank 2317 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Ever feel like something's just not right? on: July 17, 2002, 09:36:32 Jouni, I really don't know anything more about these "negs" and, to be absolutely honest, the thought that some kind of "neg" could become attached to me makes me chuckle. Personally, I think it is a ridiculous concept that has been born from mankind's seemingly innate yearning to destroy itself. Plus, there is a *lot* of room for misunderstanding the obe process. Like, I read a post from someone who said they were in the beginning stages of projection and it felt like someone was pulling them out of their body. They instantly became fearful thinking it was some kind of demon or other trying to grab hold of them. But what this person obviously does not realise is the Astral body has a biomagnetic attraction to the Astral which you can often sense as a kind of tugging. Yours, Frank 2316 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What is all this new age crap? on: July 19, 2002, 10:17:49 Patty: The Astral proper is a very stable environment. What I mean is, when you are able to remain completely closed, emotionally, and have all your senses working normally. Which, of course, is *very* tricky to do but by no means impossible. Problem is, any slight variation from this mental stance and reality fluctuations begin to come into play. In other words, your scenery begins changing and entities begin being created. Which means you stop experiencing the true-Astral and you become engulfed by your own emotional interplay. Which is basically what happens to everybody at first (well, maybe there are the odd exceptions). Another big stumbling block arises out of this, in that, people think they are indulging in a true- Astral experience: when all they are experiencing is their own emotional interplay. It is extremely difficult to separate the two. Next to imposible, in fact. Unless you are experienced enough to know what to do. Problem with that is, you get caught in a Catch-22 situation where, in order to know what to look for you need to have had a degree of true-Astral experience... but you will never get a degree of true-Astral experience if you are locked in emotional interplay. As I have said before, it took me over 5 years to get out of this. Another difficulty with experiencing emotional interplay is you never get to finding out anything interesting. You cannot interact with Astral residents on any kind of meaningful basis; you never get to meet any guides who can take you around and show you what's what, answer questions for you, and so on. As a result, you get locked in a situation (like Jason, et al) where you know that you are having what feels like an obe experience. However, when you analyse those experiences, there is nothing about them that would suggest they are anything other than lucid dreams. From that stance, I guess it would only be natural to conclude (albeit wrongly) that obe's are merely lucid dreams. Yours, Frank 2315 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What is all this new age crap? on: July 19, 2002, 11:13:20 Mobius: As I understand it, the phasing-in concept is what Monroe used to make contact with the Astral. As I pointed out before, there was no laying down for hours doing any kind of "energy work" or igniting Chakras, etc. He seemed to just lay back and make contact in a few seconds. The big problem I have is due to what you call: blackouts. These occur with me initially when trying to make Astral contact, and can also occur during my Astral experiences. Very much in the manner you describe. Often I'd be laying down relaxing and allowing my focal point of awareness to drift upwards to the top of my head. Then I might blackout for an instant then suddely see the Astral come into view. Or I might jolt back to the Physical, or find myself in a variety of other states. Because there would be a short blackout I'd get frustrated thinking what happened during this blackout that got me from there to here. The frustration was due to not being able to find out what, exactly, was the mental trigger. Because if I couldn't realise that, then I couldn't repeat it at will. And repeat it at will, is what I am trying to achieve. That's why I became so enthralled by Monroe's technique of phasing in. I think I'm getting close. The past couple of weeks I deliberately paid no prior attention to the physical at all. Instead, I've been building a mental picture of two small hands that reside in my head. I mentally thing of these hands going searching around trying to "hit the spot". They go around massaging various parts of the brain, trying to find the mental switch that has to be thrown in order to make connection to the Astral. I've had some *very* interesting results with this. A couple of times now I have found myself at the onset of feeling gentle mental vibrations (that I recognise as the onset of an obe). The difference being, however, I am *entirely* aware of my physical body and my physical surroundings. Problem is, the slight excitement at finding myself being able to do this scuppers the attempt. But that is something I will overcome with practise. Plus, there is still an ever so tiny blackout in that I am unsure of the exact spot my focal point of consciousness was at when the vibrations came about. Another thing I managed to do, but again there is a similar tiny blackout, is to be completely aware of my physical body and physical surroundings, yet I have found myself looking at pictures in my mind that are as vivid, and seem as real as any image I have seen with my physical eyes. In fact, first time it happened I opened my physical eyes to check that they were, in fact, closed. Then it was like there were two images, one slightly higher than the other. The lower image was of my bedroom that I know was coming from my physical eyes as, when I closed them, the image went away. The upper image was just as clear but, what I was seeing on that "screen", was not of the physical world. It was like someone was playing me a kind of movie. But I couldn't make sense of it all. As I've said before, another morning, another mystery. Yours, Frank 2314 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Body Switching??? on: July 20, 2002, 08:50:06 Your Astral/Spirit/Energy/Etheric body, call it what you like (personally I prefer Spirit body but tend to use the term Astral on this BBS) has a biomagnetic attraction to the physical body which is how it manages to stay in alignment as the physical body moves around. Your Spirit body also has a unique biomagnetic signature that precisely matches the signature receptors of your physical body. As such, I cannot see how another spirit body could possibly take over another person's physical body. Of course there is nothing stopping two people trying to swap physical bodies. But, as none of the signature links would match, there's no way they could possibly lock into alignment. Yours, Frank 2313 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Falling sensation. on: July 20, 2002, 08:58:40 Does the swishing sound feel like it is coming from the top of your head? If so, sounds to me like you are right on the verge of separation. I'd bet that you just began to separate, but your protective sense of conscious awareness hauled you back to the Physical. This is very *normal* and should stop once it gets used to the rising/falling sensation. But after that there will be loads more strange sensations it will have to get used to also. Yours, Frank 2312 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / First Experiences?? on: July 20, 2002, 09:31:26 What you experienced was your sense of conscious awareness coming awake within a dream. This naturally makes you more lucid, hence the term lucid dream. Plus, you can also begin to perceive vibrations of varying degrees, which is perfectly normal. What you need to do now is work on developing a more controlled sense of conscious awareness. Basically, if you perceive your consciousness at a place other than firmly seated within your physical body, then you have had an "out of body experience". Problem is, people often confuse having an out of body experience with controlled astral projection. But the two are *widly* different. The first thing you need to keep in check are your emotions. Which is easy to say, but is very tricky to do at the time. Any emotional release will create the circumstances that surround you, and you will enter what I call a Buffer Experience. You have already experienced an example of this where you say, "I was not scared/frightened, in fact it was thoroughly enjoyable and I felt sad when it ended. [Now enter buffer experience and feel justification for releasing emotion of sadness] I did not wake up for real at that moment, it was like I had been dreaming about dreaming again, cos I 'woke up' sat in a chair and feeling sad. You will see my note in square brackets, that's the point where you entered the buffer experience fuelled by releasing feelings of sadness. Yours, Frank 2311 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / First Experiences?? on: July 20, 2002, 16:25:37 Controlled, conscious-exit Astral Projection is difficult to achieve. Naturally, there will be those that pick things up quicker than others. But from what I have come across so far, from articles and posts I read on the Internet, what a lot of people are calling Astral Projection is largely their own emotional interplay. Yours, Frank 2310 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Enlightenment on: July 21, 2002, 08:38:20 Enlightenment IMO is simply becoming enlightened to the fact that (as Monroe so aptly puts it) "you are more than your Physical body". It's all about learning to tread the correct path within the Astral whereupon you discover the amazing Truth about life. You no-longer question, for example, if there is such a thing as reincarnation; or whether we have a Soul that lives forever. Once beyond experiencing your own emotional interplay, the whole glory of the Astral becomes open to you. It's mind-blowing stuff and a great source of learning. Yours, Frank 2309 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / something which creeped me out... on: July 21, 2002, 10:06:56 Well, RM, if it is a, "spirit or demon following your progress" trying to scare you, then they appear to be succeeding. You need to understand that what we call "thought" is a primary energy. In other words, what we concentrate our thoughts upon, tends to come true. However, on the Physical, the connection between your thoughts and the subsequent effects are not so obvious. Though, naturally, some Physical situations that are manifest can be more obvious, or more hard-hitting, than others. On the Astral, however, the connection is always *instant*. I read a recent post from a chap who said he had read about all the tremendous fears one can have at the onset of an obe. Now, as he is at the onset of an obe, he experiences a tremendous sense of fear. Problem is, a person in that situation will think what he originally read in the book was correct. As such, it is only natural for a person to then try and seek a solution to what is viewed as a problem, or stumbling block, that he is facing which is outside of himself. Like, this fear is not being reflected but actually being transmitted in a kind of pointed attack. It is only then natural to go one step further and think that there must be some "entity" that is the cause of this attack (as the energy must be eminating from somewhere). The feeling they are experiencing is fear, which is very unpleasant. It is again only natural to assume the entity orchestrating this "pointed attack" is unpleasant also. Plus, as the action is perceived to be undertaken deliberately, then it is further assumed this entity must be "evil". Problem is, the fear is being released from within himself and the Astral merely reflects it back. Therein lies the humungous danger. When a person feels the reflection, they tend to take it that the original fear was justified. Which naturally makes them even more fearful, which is merely reflected back at them, which makes them ever more fearful.............. So the downward spiral continues. I have a regular guide I nicknamed Harry who takes me around the Astral and shows me interesting ex-Earth cases of people who are locked in various emotion-fuelled spirals and loops. I became fascinated by this topic after spending around 5-years locked in my own emotional interplay. With many of them the emotional-lock could so very easily be undone: if they would just stop for a moment and observe just one little aspect about what they are doing. But they go on missing it by a whisker, each time. So the loop, or spiral, continues. Another thing I discovered from Harry, which I think may be relevant, is about situations where Earth residents try and make contact with what they perceive as their guardian angels, and the like. Generally they ask for some kind of "sign" that they exist. According to Harry, however, there is a delicate balance that needs to be maintained. On the one hand, the spirits they are communicating to would love to give them one big "sign" but that would merely scare the person sh*tless. What they have to do is try and give more subtle "signs" that they know the person in question can mentally withstand at their particular level of Spirit development. The big problem is, says Harry, the signs of the like they can dish out, tend to be too subtle to be noticed in the hurly-burly of people's everyday Physical lives. Yours, Frank 2308 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / something which creeped me out... on: July 21, 2002, 16:41:00 Jouni, that is a very kind comment to make. But, ultimately, I am merely trying to help in the only way I know how: by passing on the benefits of my experience. It's the only way we are ever going to solve the mystery. Yours, Frank 2307 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Good vibrations on: July 22, 2002, 08:25:52 PI: What you are calling sleep paralysis is the "mind awake, body asleep" state that is prerequisite to a conscious-exit obe. All that buzzing and vibrating is perfectly normal. I'm not sure from your posts what it is you are trying to achieve exactly, but if obe'ing is your goal then is seems like you are 95% of the way there already. Only I'd suggest rather than struggle, simply relax and allow the obe reflex to take its natural course. Yours, Frank 2306 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Putting Knowledge into Practice on: July 23, 2002, 08:20:24 Over the years I have developed to the stage where a large percentage of my physical life is devoted to achieving controlled conscious-exit projection. Regular posters will know that I am really not into doing any kind of meditation, or energy work, or the like. Reason being, all I'm interested in is Astral Projection and none of the other stuff is strictly necessary in order to do that. Unless, of course, you think it is. In which case, that is how it will become for you. Over time, I have simplified the process to the point where I never think about anything to do with the physical body at all. You see, what I discovered was successful conscious-exit projection is more to do with what you *don't* do than what you do. For example, concentrating on the physical body, I found, puts a big spoke in the works. When I first started out, I went to bed armed with all kinds of bodily relaxation "techniques" but nothing really worked like it said on the tin. Nowadays, commercial factors are coming into play like never before and it will only get worse. The one's that really get up my nose are those adverts for tapes that claim they can in some way "induce" an obe in just however-many minutes. Yeah right, and my father was an astronaut and the moon is made of Swiss cheese. Working it all out takes time, organisation, and as much practice as you can manage. As with most things in life, half-hearted efforts produce half-hearted results. Sure, there will be those people who are born with a natural talent to obe at will. But for me, I find mastering each tiny step is a hard slog. But it's well worth it in the end. Yours, Frank 2305 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Body Switching??? on: July 24, 2002, 08:53:29 No, Alpha, you are not dreaming. Your thinking is absolutely spot on. Yours, Frank 2304 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / OBE and dreaming on: July 24, 2002, 12:21:34 I know this to be true and I have caught myself doing it on occasion. With me it seems about 2 feet but I guess the exact height would vary from person to person. Yours, Frank 2303 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Body Switching??? on: July 24, 2002, 19:19:31 Alpha, I have difficulty accessing the private message area because of the security settings on my browser. If you wish to contact direct then it would perhaps be better if you posted to my base email address which is published in my profile. Sorry for any inconvenience. I did manage to respond today to your PM, as you will know. But to do so I have to fiddle with all kinds of windoze settings first. Yours, Frank 2302 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / soul spasms? on: July 26, 2002, 07:28:08 I get this sensation now and again. I'm not really into doing any kind of energy work so I simply assumed is was just my body doing it's "thing", so to speak. To me it feels like an area at the top of my head is "talking" to some area of my lower back. I'll feel a kind of spasm in my head, then a big tingling sensation that runs through my upper body, then an almighty spasm in my lower back. The whole thing comes in waves that occur about 1 or 2 per second and can last for several minutes. I've no idea what it is, exactly. Though I strongly suspect it has something to do with all these Chakra thingies people have fun stimulating. Yours, Frank 2301 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The 3rd eye on: July 26, 2002, 08:33:07 I posted something about this a short while ago. With me, there was a kind of pressure like a coin or something was stuck on my forehead. Only it wasn't at the onset of an obe, but was with me during waking hours. It was a tad annoying as I kept wanting to brush it off. The feeling has gone now. But I suspect it's gone because I got used to feeling it. It came about when I started to develop my technique of remotely viewing the Astral and mentally stepping into it, and was with me for about a week. Yours, Frank 2300 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / soul spasms? on: July 26, 2002, 09:24:34 Oh, perhaps I should also mention that the head spasms I'm very familiar with as they occur immediately prior to what I call a "travelling projection". First I get the spasms accompanied by a kind of whuuup/whoosh sound. Then I get vibrations followed by a sensation of movement. It seems, however, that on occasion the same head spasm makes some kind of connection lower down; which gives the sensation I described in response to your original post. And I don't know if this is significant, or not, but I regularly "wake up" in a situation where my sense of conscious awareness is detached from my physical body, and I am experiencing the sensation. Yours, Frank 2299 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The 3rd eye on: July 26, 2002, 09:32:45 Thanks a bundle, Mobius, for the link. I just read the line, "The crown chakra reaches down until its vortex touches the pineal gland" and a MAJOR piece of the puzzle fell into place. Yours, Frank 2298 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / soul spasms? on: July 27, 2002, 13:09:51 quote: Originally posted by jilola: Frank: Could you elaborate on "travelling projection"? would it be justified to assume that the spasms are a form of energetic activity and that they therefore could be used to facilitate or enhance the possible OBE following them? 2cents jouni I now have two types of projecting to the Astral: The first (step-in projection) involves activating what mystics call the "third eye". Though I, personally, think of it as a kind of Astral Visual Interface. This is still a bit hit and miss for me, but I can activate this interface and still be aware of my physical body. Then I can choose to just watch whatever images happen to be "on the screen" or mentally "step into" the image(s) whereupon I instantly lose all physical-body feeling and find myself in my Astral body standing on the Astral somewhere. There are no vibrations associated with this, just a point that I call the "stray energy" stage where I can get to see all kinds of shadowy abstract shapes or faces which can often be accompanied by all kinds of pops, bangs, Velcro-like tearing sounds, etc. This stage quickly passes then it's like someone switched on a light, and I can see images in my mind that are as clear as the images I normally see with my physical eyes. The second (travelling projection) involves the mental spasms we have talked about. I get a sensation at the top of my head that feels like my physical brain is contracting and releasing like it were a muscle; such as a bicep, for example, where you can easily tense and release the muscle. Only it comes across as an uncontrollable spasm that has been triggered. When it first happened it shocked me out of it. But after it happened about 10 times, or so, my protective sense of awareness became used to the sensation. I found if I just laid back and allowed the spasms to continue, they would increase in frequency and turn into what I instantly recognised as my familiar pre-exit vibrations that I used to always have. Only this time everything was happening in a *much* more controlled way. Normally, before, I'd suddenly wake up from a lucid dream feeling powerful vibrations. Then I'd get a feeling of shooting off at high speed and after a few seconds I'd land on the Astral somewhere. Now, the vibrations gradually increase in intensity and there is a point where I feel a slight turbulence. It's a sort of bobbing and rocking feeling like if you were in a canoe and you got caught in the wake of a speed-boat. Which I now recognise as the point of separation. Next, I slowly begin to travel to a place on the Astral. I might go upwards for 5 seconds or so, then feel myself taking a right turn and travel in that direction for a short while. Then go upwards again and then maybe down. Sometimes I speed up, sometimes I slow down. At the moment, It really does feel like I am being directed to some specific place. The sensation is like it would be if you were in a light aircraft, sitting in the passenger seat wearing a blindfold, and the pilot was performing some basic manoeuvres. All the while I am travelling, I feel a constant buzzing kind of vibration of the like I set off with. (A big problem for me at the moment, whilst I am in this travelling phase, is I don't have any sight. But I'm working on it.) Next I feel like I have stopped and the vibrations will stop at the same time. Whereupon I find myself at some place within the Astral and I have my sight back. So I think what I'm probably doing is still holding my "eyes" closed like I would do before when I'd shoot off at high speed. Yours, Frank 2297 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / soul spasms? on: July 27, 2002, 18:53:44 The brain spasms most often occur after I have used the "step into" technique. But I can initiate them from a "mind awake, body asleep state". But not from having any sensation of the physical like I can in the initial remote-viewing phase where I am totally aware of my physical body. Getting to a true "mind awake, body asleep state" is difficult. I have found it much easier to first activate (for want of a better term) my Third-Eye. This I can do whilst retaining full feeling of the physical. So I lay back, basically relax, and place my focal point of awareness about the middle of my forehead. I play around mentally massaging the relevant area of my brain and, after about 10 minutes or so, I start getting inklings of Stray Energy. I pass through this stage and the switch is thrown and I get images of the Astral proper. Next I mentally step into these images then put out a yearning to travel elsewhere. NOTE: The only reason I step-into the images is that it is a handy way of quickly dumping the Physical. Then normally, after a few seconds, I get the brain spasms followed by vibrations and travel to wherever. (I'm still working on travelling to places in particular.) My travelling to the Astral used to consist of a feeling like I had been shot from a cannon. And it is only just recently I have managed, after around 6 months of experimentation, to get a higher degree of control of the projection experience. I always end up within the Astral because that is where I want to be. Projecting for the first time into the RT zone was a bit of a let-down as I only managed to do it after having had hundreds of Astral Projections spanning around 15 years. As a result, the novelty quickly wore off (the Astral is a much more exciting place). If you find yourself at the "turbulence stage" I mentioned in my previous post, just increase the vibrational frequency a tad more, roll to one side and you will "flop out" into the RT zone. But I have been experimenting holding a particular image in mind prior to moving of and, just recently, I came to the same place twice in a row. So maybe that's the key. Yours, Frank 2296 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I want to die on: July 28, 2002, 09:19:22 The real problem you are about to face, if you fulfill your wish to place your physical body in a state where it will no-longer function, is you will still be left with You at the end of the day. Problem is, you can't actually kill yourself. It is highly likely, all that will happen is, you will find yourself in basically the same depressing circumstances on the Astral, as you are now on the physical: only more so, because you will almost certainly get locked in an ever worsening emotional spiral. I have a regular guide who takes me around the lower planes and shows me some of the more interesting cases where people are locked in an emotional loop. Many of them can be quite entertaining and joyous to watch. But I have seen some truly awful suicide cases where people keep trying to mutilate themselves over and over again. The reason why you find yourself in the circumstances you are in, is because of the powerful negative emotions you are releasing. Though I fully accept that you, yourself, may not see it that way. Best of luck, anyway. Yours, Frank 2295 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I want to die on: July 29, 2002, 09:58:56 quote: Originally posted by Comus: Thanks for all the good replies. Frank/Gandalf: I don‟t think I‟m a bad person. In fact I show more compassion for the sick than most of the people I know. Why would I end up in lower realms and try to kill myself again and again when I'm already dead in the Physical? The depression I have is a consequence of the problems I have in the Physical. Knowing that I'm dead I'm no longer pressured by the burden of "trying to survive". I think I will actually be happy and free. I never said you were a bad person. Though, on the other hand, I'm not sure whether having compassion for the sick, in itself, would necessarily mean a person was all light and good. Perhaps, you are relating the lower planes exclusively with bad and evil? If so, that is not the case at all. There are some very happy and joyous inhabitants of these planes. Problem is, you can get caught in a very happy and joyous emotional loop. But it's still an emotional loop and you are still just as trapped, i.e. your Spirit is going nowhere development- wise. You say, "....... when I'm already dead in the Physical." Problem is, as I said to you originally, what you are calling "I" (what I term the You of you) doesn't die! That is why I cannot, for the life of me, understand why you would wish to get rid of your physical body. Okay, I fully accept you don't see it this way. But, believe me, your physical body is the best hope you have right now. It's the only solid protection you have shielding you from directly and instantly experiencing the full-blown effects of the negative emotions you are releasing! If you do away with that body, You (meaning your whole collective sense of conscious awareness, together with all the highly-charged emotional baggage you are currently carrying) will automatically and instantly be transported directly to the Astral. Frankly, and please excuse me for being so direct, at your current level of Spirit development you won't stand a cat in hell's chance of remaining "free" of anything. It is highly likely you will (again?) become trapped in a negative downward spiral of the like I strongly suspect you have been trapped in before, and for a very long period of time. THIS is the CAUSE of your current problems. The legacy from which is what you feel within you. It has nothing whatever to do with your current Physical circumstances. Your current Physical circumstances are merely a reflection of this. Somehow, by the skin of your Astral teeth, you managed to get out of that spiral. Thus enabling your Spirit, i.e. the You of you, to continue to grow. I very much doubt you would have done that all by yourself. Someone (a higher being who will have experienced much the same in their own Spirit development) will have helped you come out of it. They will be watching over you right now, praying for you and hoping that you will turn around and realise the emotion-fuelled loop you are in. Just like you realised the time before when they rescued you on the Astral. Now you have been given a golden chance, and have been put on this Physical plane in order that you can best deal with the emotional load that keeps arresting your Spirit development. It's the very best chance you have of finally breaking the loop. So don't blow it, use it to your advantage. Oh well, best of luck and all that. Yours, Frank 2294 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Enlightenment on: July 29, 2002, 19:56:24 Alpha, I always wondered (sorry if this is a little off-topic for the thread) what is it about other people's negative emotions that affects you so badly? Not trying to psycho-analyze you or anything. Just curious, buddy, that's all. Yours, Frank 2293 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Voices in Ya Head. on: July 30, 2002, 09:10:54 Yep, all sounds about right. Can be a tad difficult to get used to, at first, and they can become darned inconvenient when you ask them about something and they come back with all the wrong things. I work with horses, as a hobby, and I'm dealing with this TB Irish horse at the moment that's stretching my knowledge to the limit. I called out for some help and, the other morning, the answer appeared in the form of a voice that began reading out to me all kinds of training techniques. It took me only a few seconds to realise he must have been from the middle ages, or something, as nothing related to my problem. I tried to shoo him away but he wouldn't go, and just kept on telling me about all kinds of stuff I didn't need. Managed to project away from him in the end. The most interesting auditory experience that I have had, to date, was meeting what I initially called a "musical entity" that I found out was, in fact, a dog. His past master used to be fond of classical music and he ever so much wants to become, “One like me” as he calls it. He has such a fragile little soul and is crying out to learn. It seems that in some way he has been assigned to me. He reads my thoughts and plays me the most beautiful pieces and is desperate for me to “take him on”. I haven‟t the heart to tell him I haven‟t got the faintest clue what he is on about. But the entity is of such a sweet disposition it is hard to refuse. In any event, I wouldn‟t know what I‟d be “refusing” or “accepting”. It often comes to me while on the Astral threshhold. I'll be just about ready to mentally "step in" and, out of the blue, I'll hear classical music. It is so enchanting I often find myself drifting off into an endless void with the music enveloping me. At the other end of ther scale, there are all the pops, bangs, tearing sounds, knocking noises, etc. that you just get used to ignoring after a while. But they still catch you out. Just this morning I was lying in a half awake, half asleep state and I heard a knock-knock-knock on the front door. Thinking it was the postman wanting a signature (it was around usual delivery time) I went downstairs and opened the door only to find I'd been caught out, yet again! Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think the auditory side of things can be developed into a skill that I believe is called "clairaudience". Yours, Frank 2292 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Enlightenment on: July 30, 2002, 09:18:41 I read the link and think it's really fascinating. Also, when you say, "point their hate at you" do you mean they are hating you, directly for something bad they think you did to them? Or are these people just continually in a state of hating people generally? Yours, Frank 2291 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I want to die on: July 30, 2002, 12:31:32 Comus, the lower Astral planes generally reflect what you see on the Physical. In other words, you come across all kinds of good, bad, and everything inbetween. When you speak of types of death, understand that it is not so much the actual death, or the cause of death that is important; but the emotional baggage or load the Spirit is carrying and/or releasing when the physical body expires. Someone posed a question relating to this a short while ago: about what is the difference between an older person being kept alive on a machine; where that person agrees with the doctors that it's time to pull the plug; and a youngster, in a desperately screwed emotional state, who takes their own life. Because, technically, they are both "suicide" cases. To which I entirely agree. However, the stark difference between the two circumstances becomes apparent when you consider the respective emotional load. And it's the emotional load that makes all the difference when it comes to assessing the likely route that person will take, when making the transition to the Astral upon physical-body death. Now, when I say "Spirit" I'm not talking about some fuzzy mystical concept. Your Spirit consists of your collective sense of conscious awareness. That is to say, all your thoughts, memories, feelings, emotions, experiences, etc. all of which are contained in your Spirit body. People often think that their thought processes are products of the workings of the physical brain. But such is not the case at all. The brain merely acts as an interface and is the "central processing unit" that controls the workings of the physical body. Your Spirit body is held in alignment with your physical body by biomagnetic attraction and interfaces through multiple energy centres. And, as I say, it is where your collective sense of conscious awareness actually resides. Which is why, if you place the physical body in a position where it will no-longer function, all that happens is your surroundings change. But the You of you, remains *exactly* the same. This phenomenon is demonstrated in another way when projecting within the Astral. When you do so, you don't suddenly develop some super sense of Astral conscious awareness, fully primed and geared for Astral use. Nope, the collective sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral is exactly the same as you have with you on the physical. Here lies the *major* stumbling block: One of the trickiest things to accomplish, while on the Astral, is to learn to remain emotionally closed. The reason this is absolutely necessary is because you cannot make any kind of real progress unless you learn to do so. Understand that what we call "thought" is, in fact, a primary energy and how we "think" creates our basic circumstances. This is as true on the Physical, as it is on the Astral. However, on the Physical, our physical bodies buffer our thoughts to a high degree. In other words, you can think about getting a beer from the fridge until the cows come home; but unless you actually get up off the couch, go to the kitchen and get one, you'll never get that beer. On the Astral, merely think about having a beer, stir in a little emotion and, hey presto, you instantly find yourself in a pub, club (or wherever) having a cool beer. (And relishing it the same as you would on summers evening after a scorching hot day.) You see, on the Astral, you can manifest anything and everything with your thoughts. Become fearful, for example, and *instantly* you will find yourself slap-bang in the middle of some fearful circumstance. For any release of emotion, when on the Astral, instantly creates your surroundings in glorious 3D Technicolour. The BIG danger here, is that these emotion-fuelled circumstances that surround you on the Astral, look as "real" to you as any circumstance would look on the Physical. Which is why it is ever so easy to get stuck in an emotion-fuelled loop or spiral. People get caught in all kinds of loops while sleeping and dreaming on the Physical, or when projecting to the Astral. This is something I have done many, many times in the past when I was learning the basics. But such loops are easily broken by physical-body demands, like, hearing the alarm clock, or needing to go to the toilet. Or, if I would get caught in a really scary loop, my protective sense of conscious awareness would initiate a forced awakening back to the Physical. However, without a physical body, no such breaks can possibly occur. It is true to say (and one of the posters to this thread mentioned about it) as the Physical carcass dies, the Spirit can be met by friends, relatives, guides or other helpers, waiting on the Astral to assist them with the transition from Physical to Astral. Yes, this is absolutely true. HOWEVER...... What good this does, all depends on the emotional load the Spirit is carrying and/or releasing at the time of death. Understand, it is *easily* possible to release a level of emotion to the extent where you block out the true-Astral completely. In other words, you may well have other Astral residents, such as your Spirit Guide, around you trying to help. But you won't be able to see or hear them. As you will be totally engrossed in your own emotional interplay. I come across Astral residents like this all the time. They can be engaged in some repetitive task, or just aimlessly walking about, and when you look into their eyes all you see is that (by now) familiar glazed expression. In fact, I very much doubt these people even realise their physical body has passed away. And that is the challenge these higher beings have. It's like you were in a coma. No-one can say when you will come out of it. All they can do is play your favourite music, make you smell your favourite food, have your wife hold your hand and talk to you softly, etc., etc. In the hope that deep within you, something they do that is familiar to you will trigger an awakening. You were rescued on the Astral alright. Where do you think that compassion comes from. Trace it back to its source and you will find whoever it was that saved you. I think you owe them a beer. As I say, best of luck. Yours, Frank 2290 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I want to die on: July 31, 2002, 09:48:00 quote: Originally posted by Comus: Frank: We experience both joy and sadness in the Physical. Isn't that the same in the Astral? Why are they trapped in that particular mental state right before death? Do they break out of the loop when their mood changes from bad to good? Like they don in the Physical? Or there's no room for "mood change" in the Astral? If that's how it works then it's quite unfair to those unhappy people who died in accidents. When they die they'll be trapped in lower realms. There have been times in the past when I felt sad, and there were the times when I felt joyous. However, nowadays, apart from the odd tinge of frustration and the occasional mild annoyance I manage to keep myself emotionally closed much of the time. Which is the same condition that you have to maintain if you are to make any real kind of sense of the Astral realms. Problem is, you can only really "experience" emotions on the Physical. In the sense that a person might get angry, for example. If they are sensible, they will sit back in a comfy chair, relax and listen to some soothing music perhaps. As a result, an hour or so later, their mood changes and they could well find themselves brushing off the reason for their anger while laughing thinking of how petty they were, or whatever. On the Astral, whatever emotional mix you release *instantly* and *literally* becomes your reality. In other words, there is no going to a quiet room to relax until the angry mood subsides (i.e. the emotional energy dissipates). Say you released some fear (very common emotion to release on the Astral) you will instantly find yourself in fearful circumstances that will be as fearful to you, at the same level as you expected to be fearful. This is simply due to the fact that it is *your* release of emotion that is fuelling it. What typically happens next, is the person gets even more fearful. Which naturally releases more emotional fuel; so the fearful circumstances get more intense; so they get more fearful; so the fearful circumstances get more intense; so they get more fearful; so the fearful circumstances get more.......... And there you have it, an ever worsening emotional spiral. On the Physical, you can readily get out of this. Due to the fact the nightmare will increase to the point where the protective sense of conscious awareness will initiate a forced awakening back to the Physical. On the Astral, however, without a physical body, no such forced awakening is possible. In other words, the nightmare continues getting worse and there is nothing you can do about it. That is again why it would be daft of you to dispose of your physical body at your current level of development. Keeping your physical body is basically the only real chance you have of putting things right. Having a physical body means you can project to the Astral, seek out your guides, find out your history AND do it safely. Because whatever it is you face, no matter how horrid or ghastly, ultimately it cannot harm you. Because you can always zip back to the Physical in an instant. When I was learning the ground rules, I used to do this all the time. I'd naturally release a little fear and, try as I might, I couldn't close it off. First there were two of them, now there's a hundred and they are all chasing me holding weapons. Then I think I'm trapped and instantly I am surrounded. Aaagh I lost it again, time to wave bye-bye and exit. Happened to me *so* many times where having a physical body came in mighty handy. Because it allows you to project to the Astral, screw up completely, and come back. Then you can think it over in the physical and try again. Okay, so you again might again screw up (badly). But you can always come back, think it over, and try again. Maybe on the tenth time you project, you screw up a little less. By the fiftieth time your really starting to make good progress. By the hundreth time you managed to make contact and find out some of your history. I suspect you have had little previous Physical experience, and the experiences you had, have not been all that happy. The thought strikes me you may have suffered some awful death, at a young age (around 6 to 8 years of age, say) in a near past physical life. Maybe even your previous one as the legacy is so strong. But it's up to you now, to get your curiosity socks on and find out. Yours, Frank 2289 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / help me clarify my development please on: July 31, 2002, 11:30:30 RM: you are SO darned close! The stray energy stage I use as a milestone telling me connection with the Astral is imminent. It happens when your focal point of awareness has drifted upwards to the point where it is just about to make Astral contact. If you mentally comment on the imagery (and it is ever so hard not to) then your focal point of awareness immediately zaps back down to your throat region and spoils it. The trick is to allow yourself to pass through it. You don't have to worry about whether you are at a particular level of trance, or not. If you are seeing stray energy that is the most important indicator of your progress. But yes, again I agree, it can be VERY distracting. So you must pass through as *swiftly* as possible. Next time you get to this stage, or thereabouts, try bobbing up and down in your mind about 3 or 4 times a second. Like there was a golf ball at the centre-top of your brain that you could vibrate up and down about quarter of an inch either way. I do this sometimes if I stay at the stray energy stage more that a couple of seconds (I also practise doing this during the day). Another technique I do is to imagine small hands massaging my temples, then I take the same hands and have one of them massage my forehead. I tend to first do circular motions and then some pressing actions then alternate between the two. The actual massaging technique is not really all that important. It merely serves as some imagery that will get your focal point of awareness up that one last little step. That's all you need, and the Astral will automatically come into view. Which, of course, will almost certainly zap you out of it. It's like someone turned on a light and you instantly begin seeing images as clear and as distinct as the ones you see with your physical eyes. Yours, Frank 2288 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / help me clarify my development please on: July 31, 2002, 13:34:54 I'd suggest you may be stuck because, from what you say, you stop to watch the images rather than let them pass you by. This would prevent your focal point of consciousness traveling that last step upwards; which it needs to connect to the Astral so you start remotely viewing the Astral-proper; as opposed to viewing the mysterious stray-energy that, for some reason, dwells on the periphery. Anyone who is detecting stray energy is on the verge of connecting to the Astral. You do not necessarily have to be in a complete, "mind awake, body asleep state" in order to do this. The more I practice, the easier I can view the Astral whilst still having a sensation of my physical body. Whereas, before, I could only get to view the Astral from a complete "mind awake, body asleep" state. I'm also wondering if I will eventually be able to learn to remotely view the Astral while my physical body is completely awake. Because that is the direction I seem to be taking. I'm also wondering if this is what is meant by clairvoyance. I'm thinking maybe people who are such, were just born gifted with the ability to remote view the Astral whilst in a fully awake state. Rather than having to practise for months on end like most of us have to. Yours, Frank 2287 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Are OBEs actually lucid dreams? on: July 31, 2002, 16:11:03 Yes, dreaming, lucid dreaming, near-death experiences, etc., etc. are all collectively known as "out of body" experiences. In the sense that you perceive your conscious awareness is somewhere other than your physical body. But such experiences can *so very easily* be coloured by all manner of reality fluctuations of the like that is described in the report. Yours, Frank 2286 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Are OBEs actually lucid dreams? on: August 01, 2002, 07:55:44 I think the major problem with the kind of work brought forward by the originator of this thread, is that it is orchestrated by researchers who tend to have no idea of Astral basics. I call it Astral Anthropomorphism: where researchers either base their work, or compare the results of their work on, or against, Physical-plane knowns. Yours, Frank 2285 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / help me clarify my development please on: August 01, 2002, 09:42:29 Er, I'm confused: what colours and lights RM? When I close my eyes I just see nothing. The stray energy I see (or can often hear as well) comes immediately prior to viewing the Astral and can take many forms. Sometimes I see gargoyle-like faces (or more often parts of them). Shadowy figures can just appear. They zoom in and feel like they are pressing against me, then just suddenly go away as I pass through. I said before that once I could have sworn there was this half-head of a huge wolf just an inch from my face. Sometimes I have seen large cobweb-like strings that feel sort-of sticky as you pass. Other times I've seen large outline drawings of all kinds of shapes. These shapes can be irregular shapes of anything, or they can be familiar regular shapes like squares, rectangles, triangles, etc. that just seem to float around but some can dance and jiggle about. I've often seen whirls of colour that look like clouds in the Physical. It feels like being in a thick fog that is whirling around you that is all different colours. Only I cannot actually feel anything like you would feel air resistance on the Physical. I just see them whirling around me. The energy seems to be able to take all kinds of forms. But, in my experience, all these forms tend to have one thing in common: whatever the form, it comes across as indistinct and shadowy. There's never anything definite that you can pin down. One moment it's here, then it's there, or maybe it has gone just as suddenly as it came, and so forth. I suppose that is why they can be so darned distracting at first. Particularly as the images can often be accompanied by all kinds of pops, bangs, knocks, tearing and ripping sounds, etc. Then, a few seconds later, it's like someone flicked a switch and I can see all kinds of Astral images. These images are totally different to any kind of stray-energy image in that they are as clear, as distinct and as fixed as the images I see with my physical eyes. Then I project my focal point of awareness forwards and mentally step into the image. Yours, Frank 2283 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / This may help... on: August 01, 2002, 12:20:53 The mind awake, body asleep state feels like precisely that. Some people who got into this state without realising it have called it "sleep paralysis". Which I can fully understand because, if you didn't know any better, you would think your body had become completely paralysed due to the fact you cannot feel it or move it: yet the mind is as awake as it is when fully awake and alert on the Physical. You bring up an excellent point regarding observation. In trying to slow down what used to be my normal projection process, what I basically started to do was observe every step like I was a spectator just watching things happen. Jeff_M. made a point to this effect in a recent post to another thread. Doing this allows you to best record what is going on. Then, after a while, simply by recalling what it is like to feel so and so effect, brings on the actual effect. Also, as my projection process started to happen more slowly, and with a better degree of control, I noticed I'd get these little blackouts; which were frustrating because, in the process of the blackout, I had made some kind of transition. A common one would occur just beyond what I term the stray-energy stage. Suddenly I'd begin viewing the Astral. But when I'd think back afterwards, I'd realise it was not a smooth transition. So I taught myself to be more observant at this stage. I discovered that merely becoming more observant, had the effect of getting rid of the blackout. Now, the stage from stray-energy to remotely viewing the astral I can do in one smooth transition. Another case where imagining the effect causes the effect to come about was sparked off by a converation with Jouni on another thread. We were talking a lot about mental spasms and what I term: travelling projection. I was thinking it through a few mornings ago about how I could best explain what they were like. I was thinking about them and imagining what the spasms are like when I feel them. Suddenly, I went from imagining to actually having. The spontaneous nature of the effect startled me which brought me out of it. Though I couldn't reproduce them because of the feeling of excitement, I knew I'd hit on something. Being able to imagine the effect, in the correct way, actually causes the effect to come about. That's where beginners are stumped. A conscious-exit controlled obe beginner's prime difficulty is they cannot imagine what the effects of the various stages are *exactly* like. They can only imagine from the words people describe. And we all tend to interpret meanings of words slightly differently. Yours, Frank 2282 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / NEGS - real entities or just old fears? on: August 01, 2002, 13:45:08 I wish I could say for sure whether "negs" encountered during obe are actually proper entities as such. Problem is, in all my Astral adventures, I never came across anything that could remotely be called "negative" that was not occuring either directly as a result of my own emotional interplay, or through my lack of Astral understanding. Naturally, I came across LOADS of scary situations in my early research. But that fear was merely being generated due to my having come across some situation, or other, that was just so darned different to what I had experienced before: Physical or Astral. Tisha's post resonates with my own thoughts to a great extent. And I, for one, firmly believe there is no such thing as positive and negative on the Astral: just a lack of Astral understanding. I believe also that the syllogistic way in which our mind tends to operate, while extremely beneficial on the Physical, can be a major stumbling block on the Astral. Again, I feel this negative/positive issue, and the like, is yet another case of Astral Anthropomorphism. Because hypothetical constructs (such as positive/negative, good/bad, etc.) can work well, on the Physical plane, we have the natural tendency to follow the same line of thinking on the Astral. After all, you travel to the Astral with the same collective sense of conscious awareness that you have with you on the Physical. However, on the Astral, it is a fact that very different rules apply. And these differences can have the effect of creating major distortions in our sense of perception. The only other situation that I came across fairly recently, is when I pass through what I call the Stray Energy stage that occurs immediately before the Astral comes into view. It seems there is a kind of threshhold-area right before the start of the Astral proper. I perceive this Stray Energy in many different forms. I often see glimpses of what I would describe as gargoyle-like faces (or rather parts of faces, mostly) of the kind you see on old church or cathedral buildings. I don't really pay attention to these as my intention is to reach the Astral. Personally, I never really gave this any thought. However, just recently, while posting to another thread, the idea suddenly occured to me that maybe what people were calling "negs" were, in fact, what I was calling Stray Energy. Yours, Frank 2281 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / NEGS - real entities or just old fears? on: August 02, 2002, 02:32:43 Personally, the idea of a "negative being" to me makes no sense at all. Moreover, the thought that some "neg" could become in some way "attached" to me makes me chuckle. My sense of logic says this is merely a problem that occurs as a result of our natural human syllogistical way of thinking. Plus, as Tisha mentioned (and I agree) we tend to conclude that what we might initially think is "bad" for us must be "negative". But the sheer fact remains, every really difficult circumstance I ever had in my life (to date) turned out to be an extremely valuable learning process. Yours, Frank 2280 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / NEGS - real entities or just old fears? on: August 02, 2002, 14:18:39 Galdalf: from my experience of the Astral I would have to say that it is possible, but very unlikely. I am a fairly normal, balanced, healthy individual who happens to be able to project to the Astral and have done so for around 20 years. In all that time, as I say, I never, ever came across anything I could call "negative" that was not a product either of my own emotional interplay, i.e. expressing emotions such as fear, doubt, confusion, and so forth; or due to a basic misunderstanding of what was taking place in the Astral circumstances I found myself in. But there are so many people who claim to have seen all manner of what they call: negative entities. Many even claim they have these "neg" things "attached" to them which, in some way, "drain" their energy. From my hands-on experience, I can only conclude that there has to be an "additional element" that some people have within them which either attracts, or in some way creates, these devilish sort of creatures. Sometimes my curiosity leads me to flip through some posts in the Psychic Self-Defence forum. But I find it all way, way too negative for my tastes. All that talk of possession and killing and evil. Uugh, even just thinking about it makes me want to soak in a hot bath. Yours, Frank 2279 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / NEGS - real entities or just old fears? on: August 03, 2002, 08:34:47 There are Spirits resident on the Astral who, in one way of looking at it, could be said to be engaging in evil acts. The lower Astral is just like the Physical in so very many ways. However, when you come to ask the question: what harm can these beings actually do to someone living on the Physical? I would say the answer to that question is precious little. Undeveloped Spirits have very little power on the Astral. Plus, the chances of them getting locked in an emotion-fuelled loop is quite high; which completely negates their capacity to think freely thus rendering them totally harmless. (Though the activities they can engage in often look dangerous and scary, at first.) In contrast, the developed beings have immense power. And when I say "immense" I mean absolutely mind-blowingly immense. If you are asking the question: could the energies these beings have control of *directly* harm someone living on the Physical plane? The answer to that would be a resounding Yes, in theory. But it could never happen in practice. It is impossible for these advanced Spirits to harm you as they basically look at you as an extension of themselves; and they, in turn, look at themselves as an extension of the Whole. That is basically why I cannot agree to the idea of one great source of "negative energy" being held in check my one great source of "positive energy". Simply because, ultimately, there is only one all-encompassing source. (My apologies here, Gandalf, if I appear to be cutting a swathe through your heartfelt beliefs. Such is absolutely not my intention.) I believe the "eternal struggle" concept is a Physical plane notion only. For it simply does not exist in the upper echelons of the Astral. In these regions, the notion of eternal-struggle has basically been replaced by the notion of eternal-cooperation. Yours, Frank 2278 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something I noticed, and questions for you on: August 03, 2002, 09:37:04 Patty: I think you have developed a tad of ego attachment to whatever were the techniques you were using. It's easy done. With the result that you start thinking about making it happen, rather than simply allowing it to happen while following your particular path of growth. Your path can often turn a sharp left or right and, sometimes you keep going straight-on not realising. Suddenly you find yourself in a blind alley, i.e. you stop progressing. Please do always bear in mind that your "projection technique" will change as you develop and grow. Tendency is, when you move on a step, you find what worked for you before has now become a stumbling block. There lies the difficulty. Precisely because doing X, Y & Z worked for you before, you naturally get attached to doing it. I still maintain that the answers to the questions you seek exist within the Astral and not the RT zone. As a result, it is to the Astral that I believe you are being directed. You need to take the imagery and concentrate on maintaining just one image. It doesn't really matter what it is, the simpler the better. Then allow your focal post of awareness to rise upwards and meet it. Whilst doing this, you need to make sure you don't verbalise anything in your mind. When I say verbalise I mean like when you read something, there's an inner-voice that reads the words for you. You need to keep that silent, otherwise your focal point of awareness will not rise from the throat. Yours, Frank 2275 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My Biggest Problem on: August 04, 2002, 10:16:07 That's the problem with the RT-zone, once the novelty wears off it can become a little boring. I only learned to project to the RT-zone fairly recently, after having had hundreds of true-Astral adventures. It's nothing compared to the Astral, where you are free to interact with all kinds of resident entities. Basically, you need to learn to project directly to the Astral. If you give me a detailed rundown of your normal projection process I could probably give you some pointers. Yours, Frank 2274 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Purpose behind the noises? on: August 04, 2002, 18:05:29 I've often said that learning to project is the *easy* part. Though, naturally, the sensations you feel act as a kind of taster for what is to come. But I think nothing can prepare a person for the sheer mind-boggling glory of the Astral. The true-Astral I mean, not mere emotional interplay. Yours, Frank 2273 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Purpose behind the noises? on: August 04, 2002, 19:01:52 Yes, you make a good point. But again I think nothing can actually "prepare" you for the full glory of the Astral. It's out of this world... literally. Best of luck with your training. Yours, Frank 2272 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My Biggest Problem on: August 04, 2002, 19:28:28 In order to give you some pointers, what I need to know is your step-by-step methodology that leads you projecting into your room. With a little change to that, you should be able to project directly into the Astral in a controlled way. I know absolutely what you mean by travelling at high speed. It's too hit and miss. I used to do this all the time. It was only when I came across Astral Dynamics and this BBS that I began working on slowing things down. Yours, Frank 2271 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Purpose behind the noises? on: August 04, 2002, 19:41:44 Yep, you got it in one. There is MUCH more to being Physical than meets the eye. But thinking about that in a sense of well, it may be true it may be not; and then getting full-blown hits from repeated true-Astral experiences is *totally* mind boggling. Yours, Frank 2270 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My Biggest Problem on: August 05, 2002, 16:43:57 Okay, I am fairly certain that what you have described is pretty much the same as I have taught myself to do as a result of slowing down my normal projection process. You say, "When I lock onto an image like that, I almost get pulled into it." That's what you need to do, allow yourself to mentally step into it and you should find yourself standing within the Astral rather than the RT-zone. Your Astral body and the Astral have a biomagnetic attraction that's why you feel the pull. Yours, Frank 2267 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My Biggest Problem on: August 07, 2002, 19:43:27 No problem, let me know how it goes. Might be tricky to rid yourself of a 4-year habit right away. Yours, Frank 2266 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Help Me, New to projection and I really need help on: August 08, 2002, 08:25:27 quote: Originally posted by UncleSam: Hey my name is Nick and I am 15 years old. Right now I am taking an 8 week online course on Astral Projection at mysticweb.org but the community there takes forever to respond to online posts.... Here is what I need answered about Astral Projection/Lucid dreams. Should I attempt a Lucid Dream before Astral Projection? A lucid dream *is* a kind of astral projection with only a very limited sense of awareness and control. What happens is your sense of conscious awareness "comes awake" just enough for you to perceive your surroundings. What you typically see and/or experience, however, is the product of whatever emotional mix it is you are releasing. In time, what you can learn to do is steadily come awake more and more until you get to the stage where you can close off the release of emotion. Then you get to view the Astral proper. quote: I figured I should dabble with lucid dreams before I actually try to get out of my body and go into the astral world. But so far I am having a hard time producing a lucid dream (I used to have them all the time). Are there any techniques for having a lucid dream that I can practice during the day? And also should I try lucid dreaming before I try to AP? As I say, when lucid dreaming you are in the astral world, as you call it. But only with a very limited degree of conscious awareness. One good way to become more aware while you are dreaming, is to think about Astral Projection more during the day. My first Astral Projection came about through a lucid dream. What I would do is, every 15 minutes or so during the day, I'd mentally confirm that I was in the Physical and touch something solid. This went on for about 2 or 3 weeks then, one night, it came into a lucid dream I was having. My sense of conscious awareness got confused because something wasn't quite right. This stimulated my sense of curiosity to the extent that I became aware enough to realise (just for a moment or two) that I was not in the Physical. This realisation zapped me awake with a jolt and I sat up in bed for about an hour afterwards too excited to sleep. quote: How will I know it when I am in the process of leaving my body? Because you will feel yourself doing so. When the transfer of consciousness from Physical to Astral occurs with a full sense of awareness, understand that it is not some subtle event that is difficult to detect. Nope, it is a very obvious, full on, right in your face, kind of experience. quote: When I start to AP will I know that I am doing it? I have read a guide on how to do it... but when I try, I just open my eyes and I am in my bed in the dark room looking around.... Will I actually start to see what my astral body should see? And by that, I mean even with my eyes closed, will I start to move up out of my body and see my astral ligiments? Can I look down at my physical body and see myself laying there in a kind of "trance" like state? As I say, it will hit you like a brick. quote: What does the astral world "feel" like? The lower realms of the Astral world look much like the Physical world in many ways. Sometimes I have to Astrally pinch myself just to make sure I am, in fact, within the Astral and not the Physical. Problem is, there are *so* many different regions and all with *so* many different characteristics it is hard to know where to even begin to start explaining what it is like. quote: Will I know I am in the astral world just because I can fly or will I know because of how real it is on top of how I can fly? By real I mean taste, smell, hearing... all of the senses. If you can learn to achieve a controlled conscious-exit projection then you will have all your "senses" only they will be many times more sensitive. With practice, you can become as awake and alert when projecting within the Astral, as you are on the Physical during the course of a normal day. Once you have gained all your mental faculties, and you have learnt about the need to remain emotionally closed, you can then project to populated regions of the Astral. Here you can chat to residents (those that are open to you) in *exactly* the same way as you can on the Physical. On the Astral, however, it is much better fun. This is mainly due to the fact that you can learn about all kinds of exciting things which makes learning on the Physical plane seem rather dull. quote: Covers or no covers? When I am in a trance state does it matter if I have the bed covers over me? Should I be laying down? Sitting up? Your physical body needs to be in a position where it is comfortable, and will remain so for a while. I've had many a projection spoilt (latest was this morning) by physical-body demands interrupting me. Make sure your head and neck is properly supported and none of your limbs are in a position where the circulation may become restricted. quote: Fan in the room? Will it matter if I have a fan in the room that puts air on my physical body? It is kind of a distraction but my room does tend to get VERY hott at night. But I can deal without it if I have to. Makes no real difference if you are accustomed to the sound of the fan. I have air-conditioning on at night and the fan cycles on and off. But don't really hear the sound as I am *so* accustomed to it. quote: Are there any good books I should read on AP/Meditation/Lucid Dreams? Anything that will help me understand myself and the astral world better and make me be able to "wake up" in the astral world? As far as good books on basic techniques go, Astral Dynamics is probably the best to date. HTH Yours, Frank 2265 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / lucid dreaming while awake on: August 08, 2002, 08:34:24 Yes it is very possible. Children do it a lot, usually when you want them to pay attention to something important. Yours, Frank 2264 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE experiences in Outer Space? real or not? on: August 08, 2002, 09:35:23 I have travelled into space many times. Problem is, travelling to somewhere specific, at high speed, is *extremely* difficult to do. Well, it is for me at any rate. At the moment I am working on travelling short distances, with accuracy, then gradually going further out (but keeping the same degree of accuracy). The magnetic pull of the planet has no effect whatsoever. It would be true to say that some "forms" on the Astral are created from the collective consciousness of people. But this is not true of the actual Astral realms themselves. Likewise, if we construct a building on Earth we only created the building: not the planet. The Astral realms are truly infinite and entirely encompass everything that is Physical, i.e. they encompass not just this planet, but the *whole* of the Physical universe. The technique needed to travel long distances, i.e. to travel through what we call Space and end up on another planet or moon: is to travel to wherever you want to go within the Astral. Then, once you reach the target, slip into the RT-zone. Whereupon you will be able to observe the physical surroundings of that planet or moon, in exactly the same way you can on this planet when projecting into the RT zone. As for meeting "aliens" while on the Astral. Well, I never met any little green men but I have interacted with many Astral entities. Plus, I have a regular guide who, on my request, took me to see an Astral Plane Entrance Structure. We flew in this kind of craft which was all incredibly interesting. So maybe my guide is an "alien" from some other planet. Thing is, when you start projecting regularly, with a good degree of control, you cannot help but interact with other beings. There's literally millions of them, all over the place. Therein lies the problem, in the sense that you are never sure where in the universe you are. But there must surely be some accurate way of navigating... clues anyone? Yours, Frank 2263 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE experiences in Outer Space? real or not? on: August 08, 2002, 10:20:42 Astral... You see, I can project to some populated place within the Astral; I am fully lucid; emotionally closed; thus completely able to interact with resident entities that are open to me. I can also move around at will... but... I haven't got the faintest clue where I am! It's a big problem I'm facing right now, i.e. trying to navigate to somewhere in particular. Monroe, in his two later works, talks about reaching out for someone's IDENT. It's like he could feel some kind of energy that was particular to one being or place that he could somehow home in on. Right now I'm completely stumped as to what he means. Yours, Frank 2262 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE experiences in Outer Space? real or not? on: August 08, 2002, 18:53:31 quote: Originally posted by Jeff_Mash: Frank, why is that? Why do you suggest that we travel in the astral realm to a location, and then switch to the RT zone? Is it because if we travelled that distance only in the RT zone, it would take too long and/or be disorientating? And once we travel somewhere in the astral, what key things do you do in order to switch back to the RT zone (while still maintaining your location)? Keep smiling, Jeff Mash, Founder and Editor MyJokeMail.com - Jokes and Humor http://MyJokeMail.com Simply because somehow we have to get around conventional laws of physics. In the Astral dimension, different "laws" obviously apply. It appears you can defy gravity at will, for example, and travel at many times the speed of light. Just two aspects that appear impossible when the Physical is your basis. I also believe that is why there is a so-called technique of switching from RT-zone to Astral by flying off at high speed. There must be a limit to how "fast" you can travel in the RT-zone before you automatically switch to Astral. As for switching back to RT-zone once you arrive, I have absolutely no idea at the moment as I don't yet know how to navigate. Yours, Frank 2261 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Visualization Problems... on: August 09, 2002, 09:07:45 I feel there is always a potential problem generated from using some kind of "exit technique" like the elevator or rope-trick. Which may or may not be true in your case, but if it can be of help........ My theory is that, at first, people imagine a rope or elevator and, because they are new to it, they are not really visualising a rope or elevator: just the merest hint of one. Now, because these techniques can work so well they might get some early results. They suddenly think, "Wow, there's really something to this projection stuff". Which naturally gives them a strong encouragement to continue. And here comes the pitfall: they think that by concentrating on the "exit technique" more, they will get better results. Because of this, there is a strong tendency for the person to concentrate on the exit-technique to the extent where they begin engaging in the mental act of creative visualisation. Which, of course, is not Astral Projection. Yours, Frank 2260 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Visualization Problems... on: August 10, 2002, 08:50:42 Having feelings of descending or ascending rapidy is part and parcel of the "exit process" at first. For example, I used to get feelings like I had been shot from a cannon. But sometimes it would go the other way, and I'd get a falling sensation which felt like I'd thrown myself off the top of some tall building. For years I experienced these sensations and thought they were a normal part of the process. But I since learned that the process can be slowed down to the extent where I can now exit with no extreme sensations at all. After a while your protective sense of conscious awareness just gets used to it. Like if you were to ride the same roller-coaster time after time. Yours, Frank 2259 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / can you try too much? on: August 10, 2002, 09:08:09 I suppose it depends to a high degree on what you are trying and how. Astral Dynamics contains all manner of techniques for doing all kinds of energy-work, and so forth. Successful conscious-exit projection relies on being able to bring yourself to the point where your sense of conscious awareness is focused on a particular place in your mind: which then triggers the projection-reflex. The thought occurs to me that if you are spending hours having your mind flitting here and there, trying all kinds of things, then that isn't going to be of help. But spending two hours a day (say) quietly relaxing, steadily teaching yourself to focus your thoughts and practising allowing your focal point of awareness to rise to that certain place in your mind which triggers the projection reflex. Such would be very beneficial. Yours, Frank 2256 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My little experience on: August 10, 2002, 14:50:46 What you have described are the typical pre-exit symptoms that you get at the moment of separation. Becoming fearful is very normal. But if you allow the vibrations to build and increase in pitch you will find you can leave your physical body and travel to different locations. Yours, Frank 2255 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OOBE Complications :( Please help me on: August 12, 2002, 09:47:32 Leviiathan, you need to shift your focal point of awareness upwards to the top of your head. As this happens, your physical body will seem to just disappear from underneath you. Also, try not to concentrate on visualising whatever "exit technique" it is you are using too much. This can be a bar to projection. Yours, Frank 2254 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: August 12, 2002, 12:10:35 Yes, now you are really making good progress! Problem is you moved and spoilt it. I recently found the head vibrations begin as a very light mental swishing feeling. Like someone was stroking my brain with a feather, every second or so. Then I start to get a zump... zump... zump about twice a second, which feels like a portion of my brain is contracting and releasing. These contractions become faster to the point where it feels like you are vibrating. Allow yourself to bathe in the vibrations and they get more and more refined, i.e they get to a higher pitch. At some point you will simply move away from the Physical and make your entrance on the Astral. Oh, and at some point too you should automatically get your Astral sight. One good way I found of getting your focal point of awareness upwards, is to imagine that, at either side of your head at the temple region, is a ping-pong bat. And you keep knocking the ball from one side to the other about once or twice a second. Then create two small awareness hands and have them massage your forehead and temples. Another thing I started doing is have an imaginary short length of string with a weight on the end. Take one of your awareness hands and imagine it is situated vertically in the top middle of your head. Then have it hold the non-weighted end of the string and start spinning it around so the weight flings out and spins horizontally. Another one is to take the same hand and string and hold the hand horizontally, so the fingers are facing the inside of your forehead, and start the weight spinning like a propellor. If you continue with one thing too long your attention shifts. So keep rotating each set of imagery every minute or so. There will come a point where you suddenly realised you forgot all about your physical body and you find yourself either remotely viewing some Astral scenary, or you begin feeling the contractions in your head. Yours, Frank 2253 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Vibrations...but can't seem to get out. on: August 12, 2002, 12:22:11 At first the vibrational characteristics can be such that they are not refined enough for take-off and/or your protective aspect of your sense of conscious awareness is holding you back. If you bathe in them for a short while, you find the vibrations turn into a buzzing sensation at which point you should take off no problem. Yours, Frank 2252 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / OBE, AP, NDE, etc. <--IT'S ALL IN YOUR MIND!! on: August 12, 2002, 12:54:08 I cannot understand these scientist-types who try proving obe phenomena by analysing other people's experiences. To my mind, if they spent one-tenth the effort on themselves, they could experience first hand what people like myself are on about. They would also realise that there are, in fact, millions of people populating the Astral planes; whereupon they could interact with these people and collect all the evidence they liked. It would also stop them from saying dumb things, such as: quote: If OBEs were a common occurrence, one would expect that there would be minds out of their bodies everywhere. There are supposedly thousands of souls leaving their bodies every day and night. You'd think that there'd be a mix-up occasionally and one or two souls or astral bodies would come back to the wrong physical bodies, or at least get their "silver" cords tangled up. One would expect some minds to get lost and never find their way back to their bodies. There should be at least a few mindless bodies wandering or lying around, abandoned by their souls as unnecessary baggage. There should also be a few confused souls who don't know who they are because they're in the wrong bodies. Perhaps this is one of those topics that should not be scrutinized too closely. Yes, there are "minds out of their [physical] bodies" everywhere. As I say, there are millions and millions of them populating the Astral regions at a range of different levels. They would also realise that each physical body had a unique signature link with its respective spirit (or Astral body). Therefore, it is simply impossible for any mix-up to take place. Plus, it is also impossible for a spirit to, in some way, get lost. This is due to the biomagnetic attraction between the two bodies. Astral anthropormorphism also rears its head, here. They talk about a "cord" and imagine it in a Physical sense, i.e. in the sense that it may become tangled, which is simply impossible. Yours, Frank 2251 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: August 13, 2002, 08:17:51 quote: Frank by higher pitched vibrations do you mean they become sharper and/or smoother instead of the intensity of "average" vibrations, i am going to assume you do for the time being. They become higher pitched and smoother. At first the vibrations can feel like you are sitting on an unbalanced spin-dryer that's turning at full speed. Once you get more proficient at bringing them on, they quickly smooth out. quote: I had the contraction in my brain feeling, but it wasnt the same part of my brain as it was in my morning experience so i quickly shunned it as being the wrong part of my brain to focus on, although ill focus on it next time. Explore *all* brain contractions. They are important, trust me. quote: Does this method project you to the astral plane or real time zone?? The real-time zone is an Astral plane, but I realise what you are saying. I found that if I let the vibrations smooth out slowly, whilst gently thinking about rocking from side to side, at some point I flop out into the real-time zone. If you let the vibrations refine further you automatically move away from the Physical and project within the Astral. quote: Is it possible to shift between the A.P and the R.T.Z whilst projecting? Yes, very possible. There are various techniques that involve shooting off at high speed in the real-time zone and ending up within the Astral. With me, I suppose, because the Astral is where I would normally project to, I only have to think about being there and I automatically transport somehow. quote: If when i gain astral sight i think "wow ive got astral sight" it will surely fade away...yes?? Chances are, yes. But not necessarily so. quote: i did not hear the incredible noises like i did in the morning last night, do the noises imply i am closer to projecting? The noise you hear is just stray energy that just seems to come and go at random (with me, anyway). Because of that you cannot really imply anything from it. When I manage to do a really smooth and controlled conscious exit (cannot do that all the time, yet) I neither hear nor see any stray-energy at all. Best of luck. Yours, Frank 2250 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Reading when projecting... on: August 13, 2002, 08:33:42 This used to really bother me at one stage. The reason I found is it is one thing being able to see the symbols, on paper, or on a screen, or a poster (whether those symbols be in the form of words, or whatever) and it is another thing being able to translate their meaning. What happens is, you see something written and you might instantly recognise the symbols on it as being words, in english. But when you come to actually read them proper, everything becomes jumbled. This problem goes away once you develop more mental ability (astral-wise). It's like, at first, people can have difficulty getting their Astral sight. With me, I had sight alright, but I struggled for ages to develop speech and hearing (perhaps the two are linked). But I also found that there are other, more finer, mental qualities too that take time to develop. Like the ability to recognise various shades of colour, for example. Yours, Frank 2249 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Kundalini on: August 13, 2002, 10:01:29 quote: Prior to early kundalini raising, massive kundalini spikes are felt coursing up through the spine. This will happen the first few times its raised, getting progressively easier each time. Then it stops happening and only the serpent sensation is felt. Robert, The sensation I get is like there is a big pulse in my brain. Then there is a BIG rush of energy down my spine which causes what feels like *very* powerful contraction (and subsequent release) of my whole lower spinal region. Then there is an immediate and powerful rush of energy from my lower spinal region back to my head. Followed by another great pulsing in my brain and the cycle will repeat. The feelings are extremely powerful to the extent where I can only stand about 4 or 5 cycles before feeling giddy and a bit sick and I'm struggling to try and make them stop. This happens to me about once a month, on average, and I always wondered what they were. I wondered if they are what you are calling "Kundalini spikes?" Yours, Frank 2248 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / hemi-sync wave 1 on: August 13, 2002, 14:38:17 The great thing about Wave 1 (only one I personally recommend) is it gives a beginner a structured plan to work towards achieving the necessary "mind awake, body asleep" state, necessary in order to achieve conscious-exit obe. In other words, it's not one of these wacky CDs that contain all kinds of buzzing and beeping noises that claim to be able to induce an obe state in a short period of time. Wave 1 is a teaching tool. Such that, eventually, you learn to achieve the Focus 10 stage (mind awake, body asleep) without the CD. From there, all you need is a little mental push and the Astral should come into view. Yours, Frank 2247 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Earthbound Spirits on: August 13, 2002, 16:21:51 For people who have not yet projected to the Astral in a controlled way, in order to develop a greater understanding as to why the "earthbound spirit" phenomenon can often occur, it is necessary to understand that a person's collective sense of conscious awareness, i.e. all their thoughts, opinions, ideas, emotions, memories etc., basically remain the same: physical body alive - or physical body dead. Yours, Frank 2246 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: August 13, 2002, 17:45:59 Yes it most certainly can be done. But as to how to pick a specific location is escaping me at the moment. Basically, my navigation skills suck and I'm currently working on changing that. As the Astral encompasses the Physical, it should be possible to travel, say, to the moon within the Astral and then simply plop out into the moon's RT-zone and go walkabout (or any other planet for that matter). Yours, Frank 2245 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Earthbound Spirits on: August 13, 2002, 18:24:52 The physical body I think of as more of an interface. I've viewed a number of these "earthbound spirits" while touring the base-level Astral. While I never yet managed to make any kind of contact with any of them: I strongly believe, from my observations, what keeps them in that kind of loop is gross ego attachment. In the sense that, somehow, while on the Physical, they became completely encompassed by their negative emotions. To me, perhaps they were sore losers; the ones who could never admit they were wrong; the people who think the world is against them; and they can never seem to comprehend anything from any other point of view but their own; relationships (especially with the opposite sex) perhaps never came easy; and so forth. Maybe they vowed that one day they would get revenge. Perhaps that was their dying thought. Not realising such powerful emotion would dictate their future actions for eternity. Yours, Frank 2244 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / hemi-sync wave 1 on: August 14, 2002, 08:18:06 Naturally, I cannot say whether Wave1 would definitely work for one particular person. What I do know is that, for a beginner, the myriad of different "techniques" out there must be *so* darned confusing. For most of these people it must surely be a case of wondering, "Where the heck do I begin?" As far as Astral Dynamics is concerned, while I agree that it is a darned good book that contains a *lot* of useful information, it's obvious that Robert is into doing all kinds of "energy work". As such, to a complete beginner, simply wanting to learn how to do controlled conscious-exit projections, I'd say that Astral Dynamics goes a bit overboard technique-wise. Again, that is why I like Wave1 so much; as it give a total novice a very simple and structured plan to work to, and it is recorded in a very effective format: it's one thing reading about something in a book, but it comes across on a CD so much more effectively. But is it worth one hundred USD? In this capitalist system of ours, pricing is largely determined by what the target market can stand. Personally, I believe AD would still be worth the money at 5x the price I paid. But book publishing is a *highly* competitive sector to the extent where the market simply wouldn't stand it. But the Monroe Institute seem to have created a nice earner for themselves in the form of the Gateway Series CD's. After all, they are that price because they can sell at that price. Which is amazing considering: $99 for a 5 cent CD. That's a brilliant mark-up. Yours, Frank 2243 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Earthbound Spirits on: August 14, 2002, 09:26:12 The base-level Astral is not a nice place. I couldn't imagine any person thinking anything but negative, i.e. releasing emotions of hatred, fear, anger, etc. in this region. But the residents are quite harmless, as they tend to be locked within themselves to a high degree. I suppose, though, there may be the odd exceptions who might try harming Physical residents. Their powers would be *extremely* limited though. Well, they wouldn't have any power at all, except to look scary. Yes, there are those who, post physical death, find themselves on the Astral in a bit of a confused state. Perhaps they might be concerned about loved ones they left behind, or whatever. But eventually these people will get scooped up and taken to resting places, where other residents will explain to them about what's what in the Astral. If they are only just reachable, for example, they might get put on an Astral train for a number of years until something in their surroundings jogs them awake. Like people try pulling someone out of a coma on the Physical. They play their favourite music, or put a plate of their favourite food under their nose, and so forth. But not all "earthbound spirits" are out to do damge. Some people get stuck just out of sheer terror or fright which maybe came about as a result of the way in which they left the Physical. Yours, Frank 2242 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: August 14, 2002, 09:54:15 Yes, though, Astral travel uses a combination of both. I talked about this in a recent post reference my two newly developed methods of projecting: there's my "step in" projection and my "travelling" projection. The post was quite recent so should be an easy look-up. Yours, Frank 2241 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Methods on: August 14, 2002, 09:55:50 15 to 25 minutes *is* pretty quick. Yours, Frank 2240 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Earthbound Spirits on: August 14, 2002, 11:39:53 Once the physical-body dies you have no choice but to enter the Astral realms. The only question is where you end up. Large numbers of people naturally gravitate to belief-system areas (Monroe's Focus 24, 25 & 26) and some go beyond that into what is generally called the true afterlife region (Monroe's Focus 27, and beyond). But there are a number of exceptions as we have discussed. The belief-system areas can be quite wacky and "beliefs" are not solely restricted to religious beliefs. For example, I once came across a whole community who "believed" they were under some kind of military rule. I was chatting to some locals and suddenly these sirens went off, and they told me to get inside quick as there was a curfew. I just stood there curious as to what would happen next, while people were running for cover in all directions. A few minutes later, I'm the only one left out on the street. This soldier approached, waving his arms and shouting for me to get inside. Playing along I scuttled off into the nearest building. Inside were a load of people, all huddled together, waiting for the curfew to finish. As I say, things can get too wacky to comprehend to the extent where it becomes virtually impossible not to laugh; which I feel I ought not to do, so I zip back to the Physical and project to somewhere else. (Eventually I am hoping to be able to learn to navigate from region to region, rather than have to go back to Physical each time I want to project to some other place.) Base-level Astral is next one up from the RT-zone. My opinion is that it is not a proper region but some kind of buffer-zone between the Physical -release- RT Zone and the Astral proper. Yours, Frank 2238 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Earthbound Spirits on: August 14, 2002, 17:57:00 The heaven and hell stuff is more to do with the belief-system areas. Though anyone who gets caught in the base-level Astral exists primarily in their own private hell, I guess. Well, that's how it looks to me. Many regions of the Astral are ever so like the Physical in many ways. As I said on another post, sometimes I have to Astrally pinch myself just to make sure I'm projecting. Yours, Frank 2237 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Earthbound Spirits on: August 14, 2002, 18:15:41 Jouni, it's like going to a multi-level department store. All the floors, collectively, form the store. So, in that sense, they are intrinsically connected. But each floor could be entirely different in character. Yours, Frank 2236 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Was this OBE? on: August 15, 2002, 12:25:15 It sounds like you had a kind of remote viewing experience where the memory flashes were almost certainly coming from within the Astral. Please understand that there are all kinds of weird and wonderful side-effects that come about when attempting to increase your level of awareness, Astral-wise. These effects can be triggered by just about anything, or they can just come about for no apparent reason. Aside from my Astral projection experiences, for example, I must get at least one and often two or three occassions during the day where I see flashes of images, or some voice or other telling me stuff. The weirdest one happens to me about once a week, that's been happening for about 2 years. I can be sitting in a chair, just quietly contemplating something, then, all of a sudden, I go into a kind of trance state where I hear myself talking. My vocal chords, mouth and tongue are all moving in the normal way, exactly like if I were reading out loud. It's my voice, but it's not actually me who is initiating the conversation. The subject of the "voice" is always something to do with the Astral that I may have been struggling to comprehend. I feel it's best not to concentrate on these infill experiences too much as they can distract you from the focal point of your study. But they are often fascinating experiences, that serve as a handy pointer letting you know you are definitely making progress. Yours, Frank 2235 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / More Gateway Wave1 feedback on: August 15, 2002, 17:54:58 I just want to make clear to any newcomers that I'm not on any commission or anything. I bought these CDs out of mere curiosity as the place I bought Monroe's two later books from just happened to have them on special offer. So I thought, what the heck, may as well give them a go. Clandestino makes a good point about them becoming boring that Jouni answered rather well, I thought. Also, to anyone thinking of trying the CDs they ARE pro-active in nature. In the sense that you actually have to *do* the mental exercises in order to make them work. Not only that, you need to do them repeatedly, day after day after day, before it finally sinks into the sub-conscious. As I say, I must have listened to that same CD 300 times. Also, I've posted past experiences about Wave1: so to anyone thinking of giving it a go, it might be an idea to look up my past posts. As for working through the other CDs, well, I have them here so I may as well try. But I'll take it step-by-step and see what happens. Yours, Frank 2234 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Was this OBE? on: August 15, 2002, 18:17:01 Thanks, Adrian, for your feedback. The trance state occurs at random and I do not, as yet, realise I am doing it. It just happens and I only really realise after it has finished. Although I do have a good recollection as to what has been said. The sessions last only a short time, 5 minutes perhaps, and what is being related to me is normally the answer to some big Astral problem I'm having. I've obviously heard about the works of "mediums" but never really understood it all as my primary focus is Astral Projection. But what you say sounds very interesting. I'm also very interested in your new website. I think it is a *great* idea. Yours, Frank 2233 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / More Gateway Wave1 feedback on: August 15, 2002, 18:40:56 I've never timed it exactly but I'd say it's about 35/40 minutes. Yours, Frank 2232 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / More Gateway Wave1 feedback on: August 15, 2002, 18:43:40 quote: Originally posted by Tisha: I haven't OBEd with Wave I yet, and I've stopped using it for awhile because every time I use it I get the munchies . . . I've gained 10 pounds. I have to solve this mystery before going back! But the CD does put me into a deep trance. Tisha "As Above, So Below" Maybe you were a glutton in a past life. Yours, Frank 2231 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE Philosophy on: August 16, 2002, 08:57:26 quote: I never said that we shouldn't OBE. I'm just saying that given the assumption that we've already been to the AP, and the assumption that we're going back when we die, Yes, you have no choice to "go back" when you die. But the question is, where will you end up? Will you spend 50 years wandering aimlessly in the lower regions? Or will you become locked in a belief-system region for a hundred years, or more, before something clicks and you decide to leave via the back door? You may do that, and think you "escaped" only to become latched to the belief-system area alongside for another hundred years, or maybe a thousand years. The concept of Time means absolutely nothing on the Astral. There is a reason why all of us are here, which is, for each individual to find out why we've had to come here. The fact that we do not already know tells us enough. The more advanced incarnate beings already know the "why" of it all and their purpose (which is basically to try and convince us lot to stop killing one another, and get a move on in a more productive direction). The primary difference between basic incarnate beings and advanced incarnate beings is that the advanced bods have long since been "enlightened" as to the true nature of life (as fantastic and as unbelievable that true nature may seem). The only way us basic incarnate beings can become more advanced, i.e. fully enlightened, is by tracing our roots back through the Astral. Having a physical body offers a brilliant chance of being able to do this; because the physical body gives us a solid foundation on which to base our experiences; as this body acts as an effective buffer between our thoughts-release-emotions and our surrounding circumstances. This allows us the luxury of being able to mentally step back so we can reason and compare. Plus, if we screw up we're not going to spend x-amount of hundred years trying to undo the damage. It's just a quick zip back to the Physical, take a few deep breaths, and project again. Yours, Frank 2230 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Questions on: August 16, 2002, 10:33:08 I read quite a bit on this BBS about keeping a quiet mind and I always wondered exactly what people meant because, when I am preparing to project, my mind is far from empty. After reading your post, Shayde, the thought occured to me that maybe beginners were getting the wrong idea thinking that their minds had to be completely void of anything prior to projection. The beginning phase of projection is all about using your imagination. Of course, what you have to be completely devoid of is surface thoughts of the kind that generally come across in a verbal way, in your mind. Like, if you read to yourself, there is an inner voice that reads the words to you. Those kinds of thoughts are a bar to projecting. Igniting the projection reflex involves getting your focal point of awareness up to the top of your head. The place where it needs to be is where your imagination resides. Think about eating your favourite food. At the same time, try and sense *where* in your mind that imagining is happening. Because where that imagining is going on, is exactly where you need your focal point of awareness to be. In other words, what you need to do is to step into the realms of your imagination, but do it in a controlled way. I often feel that people don't realise just how close the Astral is to ordinary consciousness. I was quite surprised to find out just how close it is. The Astral actually begins fractionally beyond the border of your imagination, and there is a thin buffer-zone that separates the two. My theory is that, in completely enlightened incarnates, this buffer zone no-longer exists. An effective way of getting your focal point of awareness to the right place, is through use of meta-physical imagery. One concept involves imagining you are stepping through a mental doorway. Another involves imagining climbing a rope. Others involve imagining symbols and entering through them, etc. Basically, it doesn't matter what you imagine provided it is stable enough. In the sense that you don't want to be flitting from image to image as this will dull your concentration. Then again, there may well be people for whom having multi-images works best. The point is, you can basically use whatever imagery you like, provided it serves the purpose of getting your focal point of awareness to the place in your mind where your imagination resides. One thing I found, though, is that if you try and imagine just one still image it can get rather boring. To get around this, you need to make the image do something fairly simple like turn around, or swing from side to side or whatever. Have just enough of a movement to keep it interesting, that's all. Otherwise you may start to indulge in the mental act of creative visualisation, rather than Astral projection. As your focal point of awareness rises (it does so quite quickly) you will simply lose all sensation of the physical. So you don't have to pay any attention to the physical body accept to make sure it is comfortable and will remain so for the duration of your projection. Just take a few deep breaths, lie back and relax. Or sit back, whichever you prefer. Yours, Frank 2229 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: August 16, 2002, 10:45:21 Your brain isn't actually contracting, it just feels that way. Some of the sensations you get can feel uncomfortable, at first, until you become accustomed to them. Yours, Frank 2227 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / More Gateway Wave1 feedback on: August 16, 2002, 16:11:29 quote: The trainer told me that you could event listen to all the CD's in their sequence once. But the best approach was to go at your own pace, and stay with one track as long as you feel before moving to the other. The latter is what I basically have done. It just so happened it took me a while before I felt like moving to another. But after listening the Advanced F10 for two days now, I already know that I will move to Wave2 fairly quickly. Because F10 has given me a solid grounding. I'm quite a slow learner, initially, because I like to get the basics absolutely right before I move on. People who rush into things, tend to get half-hearted results and give up. Yours, Frank 2226 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Had some great results with this on: August 16, 2002, 16:20:12 Perhaps I ought to stress that I think it's a great exercise to do for a reason other than seeing auras. I'm sorry if I caused you any confusion. I did say what I was using the exercise for in the 2nd line of my post. But again I apologise for not making it totally clear I haven't really read any of the other stuff on the site. The exercise I happened to come across while seeking the answer to a totally unrelated problem. And yes, basically, I agree with your reply. Yours, Frank 2222 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Questions on: August 18, 2002, 10:25:06 Another aspect some may find helpful is that *belief* plays a major part in projection. Plus, there is a massive *doubt* aspect that puts a big spoke in the works. Could I please reiterate what I said in my previous post, that the Astral is very much closer to you than perhaps you realise. As I say, I was quite shocked to discover just how close the Astral is to ordinary consciousness. When I say ordinary consciousness, what I mean is, if you look within your mind, you become aware of different levels of consciousness. I think of human consciousness as if it were contained within a cone. The base level, where the diameter is the greatest, is where all the ordinary thoughts whirl around. The day-to-day clutter that mainly comes across in a verbal way. Analyse these thoughts and you will see they are all to do with the Physical in some way, shape or form. When we relax our physical-bodies and visualise letting go of the Physical, what happens is our focal point of awareness steadily moves higher up the cone. As such, our thoughts get progressively more contained, and become more visual and more abstract. At the very top of the cone there is the opening to the Astral. When I say more *abstract* what I mean is the higher up in terms of consciousness you go, whatever it is you are imagining relates progressively less and less to the physical, material world. This happens because you are progressively getting closer to the Astral and moving away from the Physical. (There eventually comes a stage where you lose all sensation of the Physical completely.) This is why imagination plays a big part: thought is a primary energy; which means that the act of concentrating and imagining a desired result (i.e. Astral contact) will ultimately cause that desired contact to come about. However, if our focal point of awareness is at the base of the cone, any specific thought-pattern that is released quickly becomes diluted by the huge mass of other thought energy all whirling all over the place. Which means the pattern just scatters into nothingness. Which is why we must first clear our minds before creating the thought-form or pattern we desire. In letting go of all thoughts to do with the Physical realm, we move our focal point of awareness higher up the cone. What Monroe suggests you do is to visualise a large box. You "raise the heavy lid" and in it you place all your Physical worries, concerns, etc., etc. Then you close the lid and walk away. (Something which I found very effective.) Once you get higher up the cone, any thought pattern that is created and released stands a far better chance of bringing on the desired effect (Astral contact). Because, 1) there isn't the huge mass of other thought energy to dilute it... and, 2) you are closer to the Astral opening and the walls of the cone are very much narrower. Therefore, the chances of having that thought-form reach the Astral and still make some kind of sense, is altogether much higher. Belief plays a large part in this process. That is because belief primarily affects your expectations. Which, in turn, focuses your intent. The major spoke that can get in the works here, is doubt. Any kind of doubt will affect your beliefs and expectations in a very negative way. Because I have experienced controlled Astral projection many times, each time I come to project I expect to project which focuses my *intention* to project. This, in turn, creates the requisite thought-pattern of projection. Which, ultimately, causes the actual projection to come about. So I say to anyone who has been trying to project without success. Take a step back and analyse your beliefs about the whole process, and dig out any doubts that might be lurking in your mind. Yours, Frank Oh, and thank you for your kind comments. 2221 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Dream Invasion on: August 18, 2002, 10:50:01 Yes, it is possible. All you did was meet on the base level Astral somewhere. That's where people do their dreaming. I've come across my wife's Spirit a number of times, but haven't yet been able to wake her up. I found she likes to sleep outdoors, curled up amongst nature. Yours, Frank 2219 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / can you try too much? on: August 18, 2002, 16:58:25 Oh, another thing you should always do is ask for help. Anything you don't understand you must ask about at the time. For example, if things are unclear, then ask for more clarity until they become clear to you. Or if things are dark and gloomy then ask for more light, until you can see. Or if your surface mind is difficult to calm down, as in your case Jouni, then ask for assistance so as to make it easy for you, etc., etc. Realise, there are SO MANY astral entities who are only too willing to give you a helping hand. And, as I said on the other thread, they are a whole lot closer to us than I think people realise. Yours, Frank 2218 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / can you try too much? on: August 19, 2002, 10:07:51 James, I have a regular guide I nicknamed Harry. He once told me that guides have a very hard time trying to help earth-bound spirits. The core problem was acceptance. They'd give them a little mental push (thus causing the person to have a little more clarity) and, rather than accepting the new information and building on it and moving on, first thing the person does is doubt. The source of the doubt, more often than not, is the person cannot decide whether the info they received was from the Astral or their own imagination. Problem is, the Astral is very much closer than people realise. The Astral actually begins right on the border of your imagination. So please think of your imagination not as just some place in your mind; but think of it as a conical channel that runs from your point of everyday consciousness (the widest end) all the way through to the beginning of the Astral. A major stumbling block (even when you can clear your mind of all the mass of day-to-day thoughts) comes about due to the fact that anything coming through this channel has to pass through your critical faculty. That's why belief plays a very important roll. What you basically believe, determines what you accept or reject at the critical-faculty stage. Or, you can have situations where one aspect of your critical faculty says throw it out, and another aspect is thinking maybe we should keep it. So you begin to doubt and ask yourself typical questions, such as, is this real or just my imagination? The instant answer would be to simply, utterly and unconditionally accept the reality of the Astral and all that goes with it. But this would be near impossible to do. The solution is to accept it in easy to assimilate chunks. There is only so much Astral reality a typical beginner can *unconditionally* take on board at any one time. Which is why, I say, what you should do is communicate with those that are helping you and ask for a little more clarity each time. When you get it, try and avoid being critical in any way, or doubting what you have received. It sounds easy when you say it, but complete acceptance is a very tricky mental balancing act to perform. Simply because, on the Physical, we are SO darned used to doing the opposite. I found the best most productive state of mind is to maintain an air of mild curiosity. Which holds true for both Physical and Astral. Yours, Frank 2217 Dreams / Welcome to Dreams! / long post, extrmely wierd and vivid exp. need expl on: August 19, 2002, 12:10:21 What is happening is you are learning to increase your level of awareness to a high degree. What tells me, is at the end where you say the experience was as real to you as your normal waking life. That is what Astral-travel proper is like. When you can succeeed in doing a fully controlled, conscious-exit projection to the Astral proper and maintain emotionally closed what you experience is just as "real" as if you were experiencing it on the Physical. Reading through your post it is obvious that what you have yet to learn, is how to remain emotionally closed. What you experienced, was what I call a "buffer experience" where your surroundings are part Astral and partly formed from your own emotional release. Thought is a primary energy and thought-fuelled emotion, released on the Astral, literally creates the circumstances that surround you. So if you are mildly fearful, for example, you will instantly find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance. Problem is, if you don't realise this, what you tend to do is get ever more fearful. So you release even more emotion which has the effect of fuelling ever more scary circumstances. Normally, it all starts to spiral out of control and ends in a forced awakening back to the Physical. Buffer experiences are very common. Especially those concerning fear and sex. However, as they normally happen with next to no sense of awareness, the experience is barely remembered: just a few fleeting memories, which very quickly fade on awakening from sleep. Problems can occur, though, with beginners who suddenly find themselves on the Astral with a high degree of awareness. I used to get this all the time in my beginning years of projection. You get into situations where you have a high degree of conscious awareness, but with very little control. Which can be mighty confusing. The solution, which unfortunately took me just over 5 years to realise, is to learn how to remain emotionally closed. I found the best most productive state of mind to have, was to maintain an air of mild curiosity. It's one of those things that is very easy to say, but mighty tricky to do at the time. As with a lot of things Astral, the solution to this is practise as often as you can. If you find yourself getting out of your depth, rather than have the situation spiral out of control, try and project back to the Physical. There you can take a few deep breaths, calm down, and project again. Yours, Frank 2216 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / can you try too much? on: August 19, 2002, 12:35:54 quote: Do you find what your guide has to say to be a lot more umm...enlightened and encouraging that what your own everyday consciousness would produce? Problem is, James, you get to the stage where you forget working any of it out all by yourself. It's *way* too confusing. At first it was ever so difficult for me to trust the insights I was receiving. So I took them in, unconditionally, a tiny piece at a time. And the whole thing snowballed from there. I think meeting Harry was a big turning point. Haven't met with him for a while because the focus of my development is changing. He used to escort me through the lower regions and show me some of the more interesting cases. He also taught me all about emotions and the effects they have on the Astral and on people generally. But I'm spending less and less time in the lower regions (novelty has worn off now). Yours, Frank 2213 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Questions on: August 20, 2002, 08:12:25 Sounds like you are already getting the hang of it. Perhaps I ought to mention the idea of climbing a rope is not mine. It came from Robert Bruce, the host of this BBS. (I don't want him thinking I'm nabbing his methods as, next time I project to Focus 27, he'll be sending the boys round to have a word. [grin] ) Fear and excitement scupper the process, but all you have to do is go back to basic physical consciousness (C1) and start again. This can seem a bit negative, but it does bring about some very positive effects as, the more you keep going to and fro, the easier it becomes. Yours, Frank 2212 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Reading when projecting... on: August 20, 2002, 08:36:57 Yes, you got it in one, Jeff. I too would struggle, all to no avail. But found that if I mentally took a step back, and put my mind in a state of expectation about what it was that I wanted, then eventually it would come about. I also found it better not to think about the nitty-gritty action so much, but to concentrate more upon what I wanted to do *if* whatever it was that I was asking came about. That's eventually how I got my speech and hearing. Rather than concentrating on my voice (any words that came were really slow and slurred, like when someone is very drunk only much worse) I would imagine myself communicating with other members of the Astral community. Then, one time I projected, I just found myself amongst a group of people who were really chatty and friendly. It was a while before I realised, "Hey, I'm talking to these people and I can hear them perfectly!" And ever since then I've had no problems. Yours, Frank 2211 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Dream Invasion on: August 20, 2002, 09:27:03 quote: How would a person go about finding a loved one or friend, as they are dreaming on the Astral? Navigating to specific places is what I am working on. Problem is, even though I've been projecting within the Astral-proper for around 15 years, I only ever thought of it as some huge adventure playground that I go to, and come back from. Call me dumb, but in all that time I never actually realised that you can navigate between different regions whilst you were there. As a result, I can get to the Astral and back no problem. But my navigation skills are a bit iffy to say the least. I found that when trying to navigate "intent" plays a big role. What you do is become still and focus your thoughts upon that person with the intention of going to them. If it works, you find yourself in their vicinity. Another way is to ask for a guide to take you to them. quote: So where is the base astral located in comparison to the RTZ? The RTZ is a kind of buffer zone that sits between the Physical and the start of the base-level Astral. Yours, Frank 2210 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / OBE and Paralysis on: August 20, 2002, 10:12:52 These kinds of experiences are very common. All you are doing is dreaming on the base-level Astral with varying degrees of conscious awareness. I put a few pointers in [square brackets] in the body of your post to assist you in trying to make some kind of sense of it all. [Sense of conscious awareness comes awake to the point where you can sense your dream.] I had a dream my friend and I were at a store and the store was about to close so we were deciding where to go after. [To travel within the Astral you focus with intent on where you want to be.] We both thought we should go to a campground or something. Suddenly we were on a hill looking at a lake and I kind of wondered how we got there. I didn't remember walking or driving there. [It was your intent that caused you to travel to that location.] Then we sat for awhile and got a little bored, so we decided to try a different campground instead. After we formed the thought we magically appeared at another campground. This time I knew something was odd. [Again, intent caused the movement to the new location. Also, your sense of conscious awareness is coming awake more, i.e. thinking becomes more rational and critical faculties start coming into play.] Then I realized I was dreaming. My favorite thing to do while dreaming is to fly, so I jumped up and floated over the trees. I had an intense vibration going through my body and I became extremely excited. [Feeling a buzzing or vibration sensation is normal when travelling with an aware state of mind.] Then I felt a tugging feeling and began to fall. While falling I didn't see the ground and landed in my body. I thought I was awake, so I opened my eyes. My arms were out in front of me in an akward position, so I tried to move them. I was paralyzed and started to panic. [A physical-body demand interrupted the fun and called you back. Somehow, rather than slipping back into your physical body, you found yourself in what is commonly called a "mind awake, body asleep state". Which, if you find yourself in by accident, not knowing that this is a very normal thing, you can start to panic thinking you are physically paralysed, or are in the process of dying, and so forth.] Then my 2nd body got up out of bed and I looked down at myself wondering why I was laying with my arms like that. I tried to push them down and couldn't. While I was pushing them I could feel it as though I was 2 people at once. [Again this is normal confusion caused by the "mind split" phenomenon. Basically, it is where you become aware of your physical body and your Astral body at the same time.] I got scared so I stepped back and stared at my body for about 3-5 minutes, then I tried a few more times until I became tired and fell asleep on the floor next to the bed. So I was sleeping both on my bed and next to it at the same time. I had a weird dream so I woke up (still on the floor) and checked my body on the bed to see if I had moved. I hadn't so I tried to move myself again. I couldn't so I layed back on the floor and had two more dreams. Eventually I woke up and was back in my body. [Yes, when this happens I find it best just to simply go to sleep and wake up when it's all over, i.e. I am back in the Physical.] Problem is, when this happens people naturally get scared. But the key thing to remember is don't panic. I feel that what you probably did was to overdo it when you were on the Astral. You say that when you were flying you became "extremely excited" and you need to please check this and find a way of stopping it happening. There have been times when I have thrown caution to the wind and allowed myself to get over- excited in the sense that I have zoomed off somewhere trying to go faster and faster, and I've ended up slamming back into the Physical with a MASSIVE jolt. Following which I have found myself misaligned somehow and I cannot get fully in. But, as I say, the best you can do for yourself in that situation is simply to go to sleep and let the two bodies sort it out amongst themselves. Yours, Frank 2209 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Communication with the dead on: August 20, 2002, 14:11:32 Grendel: you cannot help but come into contact with "dead" people on the Astral. There's millions and millions of them all over the place. Yes, some are just wandering around aimlessly, others are on Astral trains in a coma-like state. Others are just lying around sleeping. There's countless numbers in the belief-system areas doing whatever it is they believe in. And there's the countless numbers of people engaged in all manner of activities on the higher planes. If you are looking for info on soul retrieval go to the Bruce Moen website, at: http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.html He seems to specialise in this kind of thing. Yours, Frank 2208 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Questions on: August 20, 2002, 16:12:29 Thank you for that info, Tisha, much appreciated. I admit to not being all that well read Astral Projection-wise. The meta-physical imagery was placed in mind some time ago from a guide. Fact is, so very little of what I know has been worked out entirely by myself. Usually, all they leave me to do is fill in a few blanks. It's like with my trying to learn how to navigate to specific areas. I was determined to work it out myself. But this morning I stood within the Astral and formally conceded defeat. Now I'm on the lookout for a guide who will teach me the ropes. But they want me to do some soul-retrieval as a trade for some juicy info. What I am finding, more and more, is that going from Physical awareness to Astral awareness is simply a question of focus. In the sense that wherever you place your focal point of awareness, that place automatically becomes your reality. As you know, I tend to follow the Monroe ideology and I mulled over for ages about what he meant by the word Focus. Yes, he is describing the various states, but why that specific word: Focus? Then I realised that that is how it must have felt like to him. In that he focused his attention on that particular state and such became his reality. Then, for about a week, I was sore from the kicking I gave myself for not realising that I use the phrase "focal point of awareness" all the time! Monroe's term Focus is the same thing as my phrase "focal point of awareness". Then came realisation that I was thinking about Focus 10 as some kind of feeling that came about from some physical-body process, and it's not that at all. Focus 10 exists as an independent reality, it's not just a set of feelings that I create. Not only that, I found by using the meta-physical imagery suggested on the CD, I can simply project my focal point of awareness directly into the realm of Focus 10. (Rather than thinking about allowing it to rise to the top of my head and so forth.) As such, Focus 10 instantly becomes my reality. The exciting news is, theoretically, it should be the same with *any* Focus level. Yours, Frank 2207 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Questions on: August 21, 2002, 08:55:58 quote: Any highfalutin' cosmic concept should be brought down to Earth and worked there during your day-to-day to the GREATEST EXTENT POSSIBLE. Such as, clearing up the "garbage" in your mind and in your physical life, and doing everything you can to open yourself up (given reasonable precautions) to the energies around you. There are SO many ways you can do this, everything from housekeeping rituals to taking a dump . . . I'm not kidding! GET CREATIVE! Yes, Tisha has it absolutely right, there. Though, personally, I would swap the phrase, "energies around you," to "energies within you". But that's probably just a matter of personal viewpoint. Yours, Frank 2206 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Shadow memory problem on: August 21, 2002, 09:06:23 Hello, Jeni, it's good to hear from you again. Yes, it is possible. What happens is your conscious awareness comes awake to the point where critical and recognition factors start coming into play... but only fractionally. So you wake up with a kind of memory imprint that recognizes something specific, but with no recollection of anything generally. Yours, Frank 2205 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 21, 2002, 09:23:32 Pops, bangs, ripping noises, stomping sounds, shrieks, etc., etc., are all very normal (particularly at first). Also, the lights you saw in your mind, that's what happens when the 3rd-eye switches on. Though, at the moment, it seems like everything is taking you by surprise. But all this roughness and surprise will fade away with more practise. The key thing is to simply put the various difficulties in the hands of those who are helping you from the Astral. Ask them to slow things down a bit for you, and so on. It may seem weird, and you may feel like you are simply talking to yourself, and that there is no- one there really. But I found, to my incredible surprise, guides are always there reaching out to try and help you. Problem is, there is only so far they can reach through all the mental garbage. So if you clear away that garbage, and mentally reach out to them, they will be able to reach down and make contact. Yours, Frank I thought I'd edit this experience in, that I had this morning, as an example: Yesterday I posted that I had given up trying to find a way of navigating the Astral on my own. I stood within the Astral and formally conceded defeat. So my next step was to seek out a guide to help me navigate the higher plains. I did have a regular guide (who I nicknamed Harry) but, as I said in the post, I hadn't seen him for a while as the novelty of having him take me on tours of the lower regions has worn off. Okay, so I go to Focus 10 and mentally reach out my intention for a guide to take me to Focus 27 and the following is an account of what happened when that contact came about: --------------------------------------------------- Blackness, asked for clarity, a few seconds later saw a shadow. Asked for more clarity. Then sensed a familiar figure to the side of me... Harry!!!! So you still recognise my presence. How could I forget, we had some good times, what are you doing here? You wanted a hand, what was it now, something to do with Focus 27? Yeah, that's right, I keep trying to go there but....... Failed miserably would be an accurate way of describing it. I just thought maybe I could step out on my own now the novelty of touring around the lower plains has worn off. No offence and all that. No offence taken. Changing the subject, I see you have made good progress with the Hemi-Sync. You reached out directly there. What happened to the roundabout way? Well, it all got a bit too, er, roundabout. You know me Harry, always looking to make things more simple. Look, there's something we need to straighten out before moving on. What's that? You must stop calling me Harry. Whoops, sorry Harry. I mean, er, what is your proper name? Come on, tell me, I promise I won't laugh. My name is Harath. Ah, now I know where I got the Harry from. I told you my non-verbal comm's are a bit iffy. Okay, I promise I'll call you by your real name from now on. So can we go to Focus 27 now? By all means I will take you there, anything special you'd like to do? I thought as we haven't seen each other for a bit, we could go to some bar and chill out over a few drinks; chat to some ladies, listen to music, that sort of thing. Then maybe we can have a wander round. Hmm, very well, I'll see what I can come up with. Hold tight!" ------------------------------------------ 2204 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Had some great results with this on: August 21, 2002, 09:34:10 Tension around the eyes and the front part of the head generally is a bar to projection. I found this exercise excellent for relaxing this area. The benefits come when you can simply relax into it and hold the centre image without even trying or thinking about it. Which is difficult (at first). This fully relaxed state is very similar to the fully relaxed state needed prior to projection. Yours, Frank 2203 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 21, 2002, 13:35:47 Understand that you do not have to completely clear your mind so it is devoid of all thoughts. If you did that you would not be able to do anything... because it is the thought-energy that enables you to project. That's why your mental focus is all important. In other words, you have to channel the right kind of thoughts in the right direction. Because, again, thought is a primary energy. What *completely* scuppers the process is all the emotional baggage and/or other such mental kak that people generally carry around in their heads. So focus and intent are extremely important, together with expectation. Focus your mind with a specific intent and expect a result. If the expected result doesn't come about right away, simply imagine that it has. Then take a step back and try again. This is a little technique I picked up fairly recently where you practice talking to guides: First go to Focus 10 and simply start having a conversation with a guide. Don't even think about the Physical not one iota. Don't even question whether or not you are at Focus 10. Have no doubts whatsoever of your intention. At first, I would ask simple questions and imagine the replies. Then, after about the 4th or 5th attempt, I got a reply back from a question which stopped me dead. I thought, er, hang on a minute, I didn't imagine that response. Then I clearly heard a female voice saying, "No, that is correct, it was me... hello!" I tell you, it was freaky when it first happened but the process quickly becomes second nature. Yours, Frank 2202 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Had some great results with this on: August 22, 2002, 06:45:44 Yes use your finger as a pointer initially, but there comes a stage where you can just do it. All you need is practice. After a while you find you can get up, walk around, speak on the phone, etc., etc. and still maintain a relaxed soft focus. Yours, Frank 2201 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 22, 2002, 07:27:57 Jouni, another pointer: Because we are SO used to being in our physical bodies, we tend to use that body as a yardstick which we compare against to check if we are making progress. Sort of like a base reference if you will. If we feel something like a mental shift, it is only natural (in order to verify if we have in fact, shifted away from the Physical) to instantly try and compare where we are now, to where we would feel normally in the Physical. But the moment we do that, our focus instantly shifts back to the Physical. So the mental shift comes across as being something that was not actual but was imagined: and we were really in the Physical all the time. Which is frustrating, because you begin to doubt your experiences and think it's all a product of the imagination. Well, that's how it was for me. Until a guide pointed out to me where I was going wrong. Yours, Frank 2200 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Questions on: August 22, 2002, 08:33:30 Forgive me for being so blunt, but I consider all that male/female stuff mere Astral anthropomorphism. Then again, the mystical side of things turns me off completely. Funny that I've lived in northern Europe all my life, but I still wouldn't know a Shaman from a hole in the ground. To me, much of it was created by people who, through various ages, travelled to the Belief- System territories (Monroe's Focus 24, 25 & 26) without fully realising the ground rules. Or, they projected into the base-level Astral - taking all their negative emotional baggage and other such mental kak with them - then came back and wrote about how scary it was. But things move on. Even Monroe, in one of his later works, talks about how he misunderstood certain aspects of the Astral that he wrote about in his first book. Though, naturally, I don't want to come across like I'm wanting to cut a swathe through people's heart-felt beliefs: I'm merely presenting my opinion. Nowadays, you cannot escape the fact that Focus 27 is rapidly becoming the "in" place to go. Especially with the youngsters. They are even creating their own nightclubs out there! Complete with fantastic sound-systems and exotic cocktails, and so forth. I reckon that, as awareness of the "afterlife" increases amongst the young, the population of the Belief System areas will gradually decline. And so too will the numbers of people who get trapped in emotional loops on the base level. Yep, I forecast some major positive changes in the Astral structure over the next hundred years or so. Yours, Frank 2199 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Questions on: August 22, 2002, 10:19:30 I would say that It's nothing really to do with "trance". But, the problem is, I never really understood what that word meant in relation to Astral Projection. To me, a trance is what a stage hypnotist would put a person in. Then suggest that person do all kinds of wacky things in order to amuse the audience. With the help of guides, I am rapidly getting through to the core issues. The past few weeks I have been taught that Astral travel is simply to do with where you direct your focal point of awareness. By definition, you can only have one focal point of awarness and, where that focal point lies, instantly becomes your reality. Before, I would speak about allowing your focal point of awareness to rise to the top of your head. Now I have since learnt that I can simply project my focal point of awareness directly into Focus 10. As such, the Focus 10 state instantly becomes my reality and, at the same time, all sensation of the Physical falls away. Okay, I admit to not being able to do this every time I try. But it's getting easier by the day. Focus 27 exploration is fairly new to me. Although I do recognise that I have been there many times without realising where I was. Going there with a guide makes it so much clearer. Focus 27 is also called the true afterlife region. This is a vast area of the Astral where all kinds of people are involved in all manner of things. In this region you can basically do whatever you like. Well, there's one basic rule that no-one can impose their will against another. But who would want to, as there is no lack of anything. Absolutely anything and everything is in abundant supply. People die at all ages and not all of them get stuck in emotional loops at the base-level, or in the Belief-System regions. As I say, in Focus 27 you are free to create and/or do whatever it is you like. It's only natural, therefore, for younger people to want to create a few nightclubs and bars. Yours, Frank 2198 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Questions on: August 22, 2002, 18:12:14 quote: Originally posted by Tisha: Oh and another thing . . . just because I call this Otherworldy Travel Business shamanism/witchcraft/sorcery doesn't mean YOU have to call it that! You can call it OBE, ham sandwich, trance, lucid dream, chocolate fudge, anything you want. The world is yours to define as you will! Tisha "As Above, So Below" Tisha, I'm a bit out of it right now as one of my most promising horses had to be put down this afternoon. But what you say contains much food for thought. As I say, I'm out of it now, but tomorrow I'll be back: live and kicking. Yours, Frank 2197 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 23, 2002, 09:56:59 James: The Monroe school of thinking does not incorporate the usual mystical terminology you often come across when researching articles and/or experiences to do with the Astral. (Which is very much like Robert Bruce's attitude also.) As such, more modern-day terms are used to label the various Astral planes. The reason the word "focus" came about, is basically because where your focal point of awareness is placed or projected, that "place" becomes your reality. For example, in the Monroe school, Focus 27 is the label given to what is generally called the True Afterlife region (I have no idea what the mystical label is). Therefore, if you project your focal point of awareness within Focus 27, then Focus 27 becomes your reality. You'll find a lot of info about this on the Internet. Yours, Frank 2196 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 23, 2002, 12:04:08 quote: Originally posted by jilola: Thanks guys. Frank: I thin I got a bit impatient. After the click and the change in the vision I did get anything else and started to analyze the state I was in. Didn't think about the physical though, I've learned to control that part pretty well. But I had enormous trouble before when I'd get all excited and blow the mind shift thingy. About the expecting things part: That's actually what helps to aboid being startled out of the process. If you anticipate that something weird may happen you don't get taken by surprise and can maintainjj the curious attitude. lateralus897 & Oliver: Yup somewhere thereabouts. I checked the link quickly and will read it more thoroughly. Jouni: The key thing to always bear in mind is to keep asking for more clarity, or more light, or more understanding, or whatever it is you feel you need. Keep asking and expecting; keep moving forwards with intent to grow; to discover; and to comprehend. Eventually you will get into the habit of doing so, and you will be introduced to who it is (or who they are) that is/are helping you. Please understand that they ARE there. I know it may sound daft, and it may appear like you are just talking to yourself (that's what I felt at first). Fact is, I was bowled over when I first realised just how close the Astral is to our ordinary consciousness. Keep talking to them, and keep listening out for their guiding responses. As I say, if you don't get any at first (very normal) then just imagine you did and keep pushing deeper and deeper within. Yours, Frank 2195 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP with no structure, just haze? on: August 23, 2002, 16:49:34 quote: Originally posted by Kodemaster: However, there was no landscape, there were no grids and no people. Just this ambient, dull haze that shifted as my thoughts shifted. I did feel a rush through my body, and it definitely felt like a projection and not a dream. How come I went into the astral but didn't see anything? Jeni: Please don't think I'm being facetious, or anything: I think the simple answer is, it sounds like you projected to a place where there was nothing but an ambient, dull haze that shifted as your thoughts shifted. The way to make progress, within the Astral, is to shift your intent. Try to picture a place where you want to go and imagine being there. Then you will feel a mental shift, after which you find yourself in a different place. You tend to find yourself in places, within the Astral, that resonate with your intent. As such, if you projected with no real idea of what you wanted to do. Maybe you had just some wispy, vague notion of being on the Astral someplace. Then you'd tend to find yourself in someplace that's all wispy and vague. Yours, Frank 2192 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 23, 2002, 21:24:11 Jouni: Nothing, at first, is ever so normal. To answer your question: concentrated thought, in a "talking in your mind" sense during normal waking consciousness. And in a more abstract, visual-pattern during obe practice. Yours, Frank 2191 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 24, 2002, 10:15:42 First you need to learn to recognise what your thoughts are. Then you can instantly recognise thoughts entering your mind that were not originated by you. So basically you need to stop thinking. Well, to do that literally is impossible. But it is surprising how much mental kak is generated from holding opinions about things. That's why I dumped any opinion that was not vital to my existence. Sometimes, for social purposes, I may adopt an opinion but always make sure it gets positively and completely dumped once its purpose has been served. Incidentaly, now this "new age" stuff is getting more commercial, I'm meeting people on a social level who (thinking they are being really daring and modern) strike up conversations about mystical topics such as the afterlife, energising Chakras, and bits and bobs like that. I pretend I don't know a thing, obviously, but it's great knowing just the right "innocent" question to ask, at precisely the right point in the conversation. Anyhow, after clearing away all the kak, you will find your mind becomes surprisingly quiet. You'll notice thoughts now echo off the walls and everything seems very bare by comparison. That's how you need to keep it. With me, I don't read newspapers; watch the news; watch any violent movies; I don't vote; have no interest in politics, etc., etc. Plus, all emotions should be firmly locked away. Though selected amounts can be brought out when necessary. (In that event make sure all the emotional energy is consumed, or mentally discard any residual.) Always bear in mind, that the collective sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral is exactly the same as the one you have on the Physical. This is one mother of a stumbling block, that puts a humungous spoke in the works. (Even putting it that way is the understatement of the century.) But, being Physical, gives us a great chance of having big mental clearout that puts us in good stead to make rapid progress on the Astral. For example: the only basic difference between the people in the true afterlife region (Focus 27) and the people in the Belief System regions (Focus' 24; 25 & 26) is the realisation that: thought is a primary energy that creates your surroundings. Basically, the people on Focus 27 know they are dead and realise they can create their own surroundings to a greater or lesser extent. The people in the Belief System regions may or may not know they are dead. But the one thing they don't know is that their surroundings are entirely created through concensus reality. Some realise and leave (or are rescued) and some are perfectly fine as they are: believing they have found heaven, and are in-touch with God and all that jazz. Yours, Frank 2189 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trance Questions on: August 24, 2002, 19:10:31 Because, in my darkest moments, it's the humour that keeps me sane. Yours, Frank 2186 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / First retrieval... yuk! on: August 25, 2002, 07:25:24 Tisha, I had quite a tumultuous upbringing (by today's standards) but nothing spectacular happened. My childhood was all a bit more of the same. Basically, I was born into an ordinary working-class family. My father was fairly aggressive, but he was fighting to survive. In any event, It wasn't just him as that's how things were. The way I see it has nothing whatever to do with any kind of sympathy. To me, it's simply a question of responsibility. It's not me that gets these adults trapped in emotional loops: they do. I'm not responsible for that. However, fortunately for them, there are plenty of others who hold a different view. But with the children, my logic has a major flaw: a child cannot be held responsible. As such, I feel a sense of common responsibility hence the wanting to do something about these situations in particular. Yours, Frank 2185 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / First retrieval... yuk! on: August 25, 2002, 19:58:36 Alpha, if you could maybe get a grip on the projection side of things I think you'd be a perfect help on the Astral. Yes, you are quite correct (and I readily admit) that I'm way too harsh to be of any general help. But you have *so* much empathy within you that you could put to good use. Yours, Frank 2183 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / i think i projected on: August 26, 2002, 09:22:31 Well done, not only did you project but you are open to the possibility of guides (which means you will progress faster). From what you say, you have several working on you full-time. It never ceases to amaze me how creative they can be: novice-projectee monitors. LOL, that's excellent. If you are open to them, guides will approach you in a way that you will best accept. With me, they approach with no airs or graces. Just plain and straightforward, with no surprises. If you had suddenly been met by some stranger, chances are, the fear of that happening would have zipped you back to the Physical with a jolt. But in the event it became just a casual thing, like, "Oh don't mind us, we're just novice-projectee monitors". Which fools your protective sense of conscious awareness into thinking, "Well, that's alright then. Phew, for a moment there I thought you might be the dreaded negs." You see, there is a MAJOR difference between chatting on a BBS about projection and having guides approach you, and so forth: and actually having it happen to you. Most people would be scared sh*tless. I know when the inkling of having some Astral entity around me came about the very first time (as I became open to the idea) and even though it was something I wanted, I was *still* very nervous about the whole thing. The reason for the ticket and the word, is two fold: 1) it makes the the whole situation appear more real hence more genuine; and 2) it stimulates your curiosity, so you remember it more vividly once back in the physical. Again, I take my hat off to their creativity. Yours, Frank 2182 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Had some great results with this on: August 26, 2002, 10:55:22 Alpha, I basically use it as an exercise to relieve any tension at the front of my head. After a while you just flop into it and can hold the image with zero effort. At first the image can be a bit blurry and flits about. But there comes a stage when the centre image gets very clear and stable. At which point it becomes highly relaxing to do. The important point I'm trying to get across is: the feeling I get when in this relaxed state is very like the feeling I get prior to the onset of projection. It may even be the same process, I'm not sure (still looking into it). Yours, Frank 2181 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How to enter the 'black void' - the inner sanctum on: August 26, 2002, 12:56:30 The black void effect comes about by mentally stepping into the Astral with the intention of stepping into a black void (on the Astral, as you think so it becomes). Like you say, you end up in what feels like a kind of buffer zone between the Astral and ordinary consciousness. Here you can just allow yourself to drift in complete nothingness. Which is quite relaxing. Though I think if it were to happen to someone by chance, and they didn't know anything about the Astral, or anything, then it could be quite scary. You can also drift to the music (Astrally generated, I mean) of your choice. Which is a lovely sensation, as you actually feel the music as well as hear it. Which also happens on the Physical, to an extent, but it's a thousand times better on the Astral. There are other things you can do while in this state, like, contact guides and so forth. Also, affirmations made on the Astral can have some profound Physical effects. Yours, Frank 2180 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Spiritual Truths website on: August 26, 2002, 13:21:34 Yes, James, well said. I do very much agree with Adrian's definitions and can see that a lot of thought has gone into formulating the basis upon which the discussion group will operate. For a while now, I've been scouting around looking at other groups and it's all a complete mish-mash. Astral Pulse really does stand out, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a regular here. But for a while now, I've thought there is the need for a discussion group that goes beyond beliefs and concentrates more on actual truths. I can see where Adrian is basically coming from: he simply doesn't want people contributing by talking about beliefs that have come about by anything other than hands-on experience. I suppose that he feels if enough people make the right kind of contributions then, eventually, we might be able to make some kind of concrete sense of it all. Yours, Frank 2178 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What/Where are all the FOCUS "states"? on: August 26, 2002, 18:38:36 Main ones are: F22: People suffering chemical dependency such as alcohol, i.e. being blind drunk; people suffering from delirium, or those who are otherwise comatose. Prospects: reasonable to next-to-none (depending on Physical circumstances). Power: very little to none. Hope for the future: reasonable to next-to-none, depending on Physical circumstances. F23: Dead but stuck close to RT zone. Could be for a number of reasons, for example: strong feelings of wanting to get revenge; confused suicide cases, etc. These people have normally suffered some *major* emotional trauma at the point of physical death. Like, being executed for a murder they didn't commit, and so forth. Prospects: maybe get listed in the Physical as a ghost. Power: limited to scaring people in the Physical who should really know better. Hope for the future: very little (rescue is possible but highly dependent on age and circumstances). F24, 25 & 26: Dead, but when physical accepted various premises and concepts. These would normally include (but are in no way limited to) religious and philosophical beliefs: but who are entirely unaware that thought is a primary energy that creates their surrounding circumstances. Therefore, range of possible actions is limited to whatever are the acceptable range of actions within the adopted belief system (concensus reality, in other words). Prospects: limited to "rising within the ranks" of the adopted belief-system. Power: more or less, depending on belief-system position. But always restricted, ultimately, by overall constraints of belief system. Hope for the future: mental realisation of limitations of belief-system leading to escape and/or rescue to F27 (highly dependent on age and circumstances). F27: True afterlife region. Dead and aware (to a greater or lesser extent) that thought is a primary energy that creates your circumstances. In other words, people in this region are free to have all the fun they can muster, in whatever way, shape, or form they choose. Prospects: unlimited. Power: unlimited. Hope for the future: unlimited. HTH Yours, Frank 2177 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / i think i projected on: August 26, 2002, 19:07:13 RM: It does not pay to spend too much time in the Physical pondering over your Astral experiences. People make that mistake all the time (including myself, at first). What you can tend to do is compare "what happened there" with "what normally happens here". But the two are not compatible. It's like me saying, "But I can fly on the Astral by simply taking off, why can't I do that on the Physical? Nope, I cannot accept the Physical is real. Because, if it were, then I should be able to fly." You see, think of a person who normally resides on the Astral coming to the Physical. You could think exactly the same way. It's just that the Physical is our normal yardstick, not the Astral. What you have to accept is the Physical and the Astral are two very different states of matter. As such, one cannot directly compare with the other. Yes, they do connect in some way. But direct comparisons simply make the whole thing too confusing. The way around this, is to gain a better degree of control; to the extent where you will be able to speak directly to the Astral entities who are obviously helping you. They will be able to answer all your questions. Yours, Frank 2176 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What/Where are all the FOCUS "states"? on: August 26, 2002, 19:26:29 Blind Drunk is a colloquial term meaning being totally intoxicated, i.e. out of your box, completely mashed, etc. (I'm not sure what the equivalent north American colloquialisms are.) There are introductory states that start from C1 which is ordinary Physical consciousness. But the obe stuff basically begins at F23 (I'm a bit pushed for time, at the moment, to explain the prelim states.) Yours, Frank 2175 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 26, 2002, 20:26:54 Jouni: Hermitic, no, though I do understand why you may think that. I love to entertain and very much enjoy being a gracious and attentive host. Plus, I do very much like being around other people in all the typical kinds of social circumstances (especially other females). But with me, it is a matter of not being influenced by other people's emotive kak. I think once you can do that, being around other people becomes really very enjoyable. One of the things I'm very much looking forward to doing is arranging some decent parties on F27. I just love that upbeat atmosphere that is created when a number of positive and like-minded people get together in a glamorous setting. Projection-wise you are ever so close. Yours, Frank 2174 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Overcoming Dry Spells on: August 27, 2002, 09:27:46 Once you start trying to "prove" things all kinds of ego attachments can come into play. The very fact you want to prove it means you have a big doubt somewhere down the line. Doubt is a MAJOR spoke in the works. You say you "intend" to have your way. Well, that's a positive thing because "intent" without "doubt" is a very strong mental basis to begin projecting from. Also, if I were you, I'd forget messing about in the RT-zone and get within the Astral proper. Here you are free to meet up with guides and generally interact with other Astral residents that are open to you. Projecting from meditation is what is generally known as a controlled, conscious-exit obe. This is extremely difficult to do! It can takes months and months of dedicated daily practice (perhaps years for some people). Though I suspect there will be a small minority who are naturals at it. Yours, Frank 2173 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Retrieval info on: August 27, 2002, 13:04:23 Well, yes, depending on circumstances you can get caught in any emotion. However, because of the nature of people generally, emotions such as fear and anger are more common. I've come across people who appear to be doing nothing more than just sitting reading; or just sitting like they are waiting for someone to arrive; or for some thing to happen; or even just lying there sleeping. Problem is, they don't realise they've been sitting or lying there for perhaps 20 or 30 years! As for control over your own experience, well, to do this kind of thing you need a fair degree of skill in projection. Basically, you need all your faculties together and you have to realise the need to remain emotionally closed. Otherwise you end up flitting here, there and everywhere, which is not much use. Yours, Frank EDIT: Since writing the above, I found this link that had just been added to another post that I thought you might find useful: http://www.nexusmagazine.com/bmoen.html 2172 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What/Where are all the FOCUS "states"? on: August 27, 2002, 13:09:37 Wow, great article. Cheers for that. Yours, Frank 2171 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What/Where are all the FOCUS "states"? on: August 27, 2002, 17:40:58 Yeah, I didn't mention The Gathering stuff because the Jury is still out on that one as far as I am concerned. Problem is, I've never actually projected within that region, so cannot really say if the place definitely exists or not. The only info I read about, to date, sounds a bit wacky. (Well, to me at any rate.) It would be nice if I could make contact, as I'd love to review the kinds of technology they were using. Yours, Frank 2170 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I make OBEs easier and reproducable? on: August 28, 2002, 09:17:46 Having repeated and controlled, conscious-exit experiences is something that only comes with a lot of practice (well, for most of us that is). If you were not born with some natural ability, then it's going to take you quite a bit of mental effort. Please don't believe those advertisements that claim they can sell you some kind of short cut, or think there is some kind of drug that's going to get you there today. Nope, short-cuts only end up being long-cuts in this game. The way to do it repeatedly, is to develop some kind of ritual that you go through each time. For example, people tend not to just suddenly go to sleep. With most people, if they were to observe themselves, they would see the habitual process they go through of gradually winding down. The same principle applies to obe practice. With me, I could have a controlled obe alright, but could only initiate the process from a lucid dream. Something which would occur around 3 times per week. So in order to work on getting a better degree of control over the start of things, what I did was get into a ritual of waking up at around 4 to 5am each morning. (This I found quite natural as I've always been an early riser: very rare I'm not in bed and asleep by 10 pm.) On awakening, I'd listen to the Gateway CD1 a couple of times which "puts me in the mood" as it were. Then I go through the same physical-shutdown ritual only without the CD. After about 5 months of doing this virtually every morning (and often I'd go through the whole process 2 or 3 times in a morning) around 8 times in 10, I can now manage to shift my focal point of awareness to the Astral in a fairly controlled way. I'm hoping, over the coming months, to be able to get to the stage where it's 100% and without the aid of the CD. I found the two key beneficial aspects are: mental-focus, and intent. And the two biggest stumbling blocks are: doubt, and fear. Therefore, the most beneficial way to proceed is to focus your mind fully on the task in hand; with the intent to succeed beyond doubt; and realise that initial fears are a normal part of the process that go away once you gain a fair degree of familiarity. Yours, Frank 2169 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / A guide story on: August 28, 2002, 09:53:29 That was a good account. Although you made assumptions of your position. Which is not a good thing. It's always better to try and ask where you are rather than assuming things like you are still on the street in front of your house. You see, belief and expectation play a distinct role in scuppering the Astral-reality part of the experience. That's why I find it best to always maintain an air of mild curiosity, regardless of what happens. Higher beings always radiate a pure kind of energy to a greater or lesser extent depending on what they think you can bear and what they know you want to expect to see. So if you want to see some kind of angelic figure, they turn themselves into what is your idea of an angelic figure and switch the radiation to high. With me, they approach casually with just enough radiation so I'll recognise them for the higher beings they are, and not mistake them for a normal resident of the lower planes. Because that's what they know I expect. Problem is you lost it towards the end. Which is a very *easy* thing to do. You can always tell when you are losing it as things start to get into a kind of whirl. The different figure, the fireballs, and so forth, they all became what is known as a reality fluctuation. This is where you stop having experience of the Astral-proper (as I am sure you were at the start) and your surroundings are created as a result of your own emotional interplay. What I found is it's best to recognise the moment you begin losing it and go back to the Physical. Problem is, reality fluctuations tend to sour the experience and they are very difficult to recover from while within the Astral. So if you zip back to Physical, it instantly gets you out of it. Then, chances are, you will be able to project back and continue as you were. Yours, Frank 2167 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 28, 2002, 12:39:52 quote: Originally posted by jilola: Had something similar happen today. No clicks or pops this time but after a while of relaxing and strivinig for the all-elusive cool I felt what was like a switch thrown and suddenly I was crystal clear feeling vibes and completely at loss as to what comes next. I knew I should flop but didnät know how [(:]So again I just felt around trying to memorize the feeling and state of mind. But these experiences are getting more and more frequent so I'm now convinced that the astral is really really right here! And the trick to get there is just too simple at the moment for me to grasp enough to switch there. 2cents jouni The only time there is a sensation of "flopping out" is when projecting into the RT zone. This is what I call a classic Out of Body Experience (OBE). Which is what Monroe, for example, would experience in his early years. However, as with most things, technology has moved on. The idea nowadays, when projecting within the Astral, is to think of the concept of phasing-in. I think it is more apt because you don't actually feel like you are "out of body" at all. The feeling is more like you are still within your physical body. Only instead of being within the Physical realm, you are now within the Astral realm. In other words, phasing-in, is more to do with a switching of mental focus: not actual bodies. Of course, you are not literally still in your physical body. But you are in a body and it doesn't look or feel all that much different to actually being in your physical body. If you get what I mean. What I'm trying to get across is, the accent should be placed on shifting your mental focus, not switching bodies. When shifting your focus like this, there is no sensation of switching bodies. In your mind, the Astral should just come into view. And you kinda mentally step into it. Or you can think of it another way, like, it sort of envelops you. At the moment of the Astral coming into view I am often still aware of the physical. Not to any great extent. But I am not in a pure "mind awake, body asleep state" either. (Virtually, but not absolutely.) However, once I mentally step into the Astral (or I'm mentally enveloped by it) then all awareness of the Physical realm goes away. Yours, Frank 2166 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How does Roberts descriptions compare with Monroes on: August 28, 2002, 12:50:59 In the old mystical terminology the term "Astral" is the the equivalent of a single Focus number (don't ask me which one, but someone else may know). But these days the phrase, "the Astral" tends to be used as a collective term meaning any realm that is not Physical. Which is how I use the term. In other words, when I say, "projecting within the Astral" I mean I could be on any Focus level (or plane). But to a traditional mystic, they would take it that I was projecting to one plane (or Focus level) in particular. Yours, Frank 2165 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / moving about in the RTZ on: August 28, 2002, 13:26:41 The two bodies have quite a strong biomagnetic attraction. The pulling effect is like with two magnets that are slowly brought up close to each other (opposing poles, of course). First you feel nothing, then there's a slight attraction as the magnets become within range of each other. The attraction quickly gets more intense, to the point where it reaches a critical level, and the magnets snap together. That's how projection is. You should find that if you can get beyond biomagnetic attraction range (about 6 to 12 feet or so) then the pull should be felt a lot less. You will always have a sensation of your physical body to a greater or lesser degree, depending on circumstances. For example, I've had many a good projection completely ruined by physical- body demands. Sometimes you will feel a strong tugging sensation. Or you get the sensation like something is wrapping itself around you, and you can't shake it off, and the like. At first you'll wonder what the heck it is. When I first realised it was my physical body trying to signal me to return, I'd often try and ignore it. Then I'd feel this almighty jolt and suddenly find myself awake in the Physical. Yours, Frank 2164 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Something popped in my head on: August 28, 2002, 17:22:14 I'm sorry to be seeming to go against what you say, because you do make an excellent point. But I'm not altogether sure whether the old way is, in fact, easier or not. Having tried it both ways, the phasing-in concept feels far more natural than, 1) feeling like I'm sitting on an unbalanced spin-dryer revolving at high speed, then 2) having the sensation of being shot from a cannon. Interestingly, the phasing-in way is how the Monroe institute teaches people (not that I'm overly struck by TMI, it's just an observation). So I think it's perhaps best not to think of phasing-in as being more advanced: just different. From what you say, you appear to be making good progress. Soon I'll be sending you an invite to my proposed party on F27. (Well, when I can learn to get to the place with any degree of reliability that is.) Yours, Frank 2163 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How do I find my guide? on: August 28, 2002, 17:44:10 Jeff: It's now got such a habit with me to ask higher entities for clarity, or understanding, or whatever, I even do it on the Physical. In answer to your question, you can ask for more understanding of a situation at any level. Yours, Frank 2162 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My first, and hopefully not last, concious OBE on: August 28, 2002, 18:03:56 Leslie, you have talent, no-doubts there. I, for one, will be more than interested to read your future posts. But a few paragraphs would help enormously, and maybe drop the italics. Yours, Frank 2161 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: August 29, 2002, 08:31:47 Adrian: as you probably know I've been researching this exact topic for about five months now. Therefore, I'm able to give you some reliable pointers. Though I haven't experienced any teaching from TMI directly. I'm basically speaking from my own research and/or direct experiences. The whole phasing-in concept is built on the premise that wherever you point or place your focal point of awareness: that place becomes your reality. The place becomes as real to you as being in the physical. In fact, it feels exactly like you were in your physical body and the only difference is your surroundings have changed. It's what I call plain-vanilla projection. As such, memory retention of the experience is basically the same as memory retention of any physical-world experience. Though one big spoke in the works, retention-wise, is to fall into ordinary sleep following an Astral experience. As with anything, technology moves on. Astral exploration is no exception. Nowadays, it would seem, the idea of leaving your body in the way of early Monroe, et al, is very old hat. Plus, doing this causes lots of problems. Main problems being: disorientation, which is magnified by subsequent reality fluctuations; confusion and fear, caused by the feeling of actually being separate from your physical body. Which naturally leads to fears of not being able to get back in, body possession while away, silver cord breaking, and so forth. All of which cause yet further reality fluctuations. In contrast, phasing-in is a very much more user-friendly product, let's say. Yours, Frank Oh, if you feel any of my posts could be useful in getting your site off the ground then I'd be happy to paste them over. 2160 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How do I find my guide? on: August 29, 2002, 09:36:00 On the subject of initial contact, I did go through a phase where I thought all this guide stuff was nonsense. But my curiosity got the better of me and I thought well, let's give it a go. So I mentally dumped all my thoughts of it being just some kind of mystical nonsense and began projecting with an entirely open mind on the matter. I never forget the time when I was just floating in a load of nothingness, and I mentally said out load, "Okay, if you really are there, then please just say hello." And this female voice came back, as clear as day, saying "hello". Well, hearing that shocked me back to Physical with a jolt. But since then I never looked back and I now wonder what I ever did without them. I've got two regulars, my main one Harath and there's this woman who keeps helping me but I haven't got close enough to start asking names and so on. Also, I found there are what I call, "guides in passing". I perceive them as higher beings who just happened to sense I was having some difficulty and, as they were in the vicinity, they made a short detour to help me out. After which they just carry on with whatever it was they were doing. I've never actually seen these people, but I do sense them in the distance. From my experiences, I would say the first step to take is to become open to the whole idea. Then just ask for help in a small way first. Also, be specific. It's no use asking for help in general. Trust is very important too. People have this idea that the Astral is a really nasty place full of all kinds of devils and demons. Well, I've had my full share of scary moments on the lower planes, but none of these frightful situations can harm you in any way. And none of these people have any real power except to scare you, and cause you to release fear. Which instantly goes to creating and fuelling all manner of scary circumstances that surround you. You quickly get to recognise higher beings because they radiate a loving kind of warmth. Which initially makes you feel all humble and gooey inside. But you soon get used to it. They can also read your thoughts and they will approach you in a form they believe will be most pleasing for you. That is why, if you read other people's accounts of meeting guides, the style of approach will always tend to differ. Imagination, again, plays a big role. If you relax your mind and imagine the circumstances in which you would most like to meet an Astral guide, this will send out a powerful signal that you are ready to meet up. Yours, Frank 2159 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / a little help please on: August 29, 2002, 09:48:56 Yep, problem is, Astral Projection is not something you can throw money at to get a quicker result. Like, paying extra for next-day AM delivery and so forth. Also, people in a rush tend to have some kind of strong ego attachment to the outcome, which is also a big stumbling block. Yours, Frank 2158 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How does Roberts descriptions compare with Monroes on: August 29, 2002, 10:56:03 Gandalf: Focus 27 is not really the highest. It's just that this is the first of the regions populated by people who are fully aware they are dead and fully aware of where they are (dead and proud of it, as I say). I was contacted by a guide this morning, as it happens, in answer to the enquiry I put out a few days ago. He was telling me of a Focus 45 or what he called "alien regions". I remember listening avidly to what this chap was telling me. Afterwards I was mulling over what he'd told me, as it was so fantastic and so out of this world, and there's this voice in the back of my mind telling me to get up and make notes. And I thought, yeah, I'll do it in a minute. But I went and fell asleep. So most of the valuable info has gone from my mind. Yours, Frank 2157 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How does Roberts descriptions compare with Monroes on: August 29, 2002, 12:54:18 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf: I have done some reading and the higher 'planes' above astral are really higher levels of consiousness rather than planes as such. Douglas Basically, the modern way to think of Astral planes is in terms of focal points of consciousness. As opposed to travelling "out of body" to a particular region/plane/ring: as they have been called in the past in more mystical circles. From Adrian's post I realise I was wrong. The Astral, in mystical terms, is not just one Focus level (as previously assumed) but is a term that for the region that encompasses Monroe's Focus levels 10 to 26. Which is basically everyone who is existing in emotional interplay of one description or another. I'm assuming then, where Adrian says, "Spirits have to arrive at the realisation that the materialism is an illusion" before they can progress higher. It's the same as us now thinking in terms of thought-fuelled emotion creating the circumstances that surround you; coupled with the realisation of the need to remain emotionally closed. Yours, Frank 2156 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Instant projection on: August 29, 2002, 12:57:20 That was the freaky thing about it. Yes, I had full control over my physical body. Yours, Frank 2155 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I make OBEs easier and reproducable? on: August 29, 2002, 13:26:56 DY: Thanks for your comments and I wish I could engage more, but I'm not all that well read Astral Projection wise and History never did anything for me I'm afraid. The only mystical book I ever tried to read was the Secret of the Golden Flower (Wilhelm translation of the T'AI CHIN TSUNG CHIH) and it was only recently, after around 15 years of projecting to the Astral proper, that I began to work out what the heck they were going on about. Yours, Frank 2154 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Instant projection on: August 29, 2002, 14:07:50 quote: You see, I've had this theory for a while, bear with me : I reckon that as a person gets more and more skilled at projection (in that they can project nearly every time they attempt it), they are gradually wearing down an inbuilt resistance to projecting. Yes, you are quite correct. There develops an expectation of an end result, if a particular series of mental actions is followed. As I am following that process, at the same time I am imagining the end result. That is what stumps beginners. They cannot imagine the end result as they are going through the process. Problem is, words are only so much use when describing the whole thing. quote: Having completely worn down any resistance to projection in the relaxed/ mind awake - body asleep/ focus 10 state, further practise would begin to wear down a different resistance, that of the mind awake / body awake - in otherwords our normal conciousness. Yes, after this morning I would tend to agree. quote: Frank, are you going to try and go for a repeat performance ? It sounds to me that if you can repeat and practice being aware of the astral and physical simultaneously, then you could develop this to the point that you could flick between the astral and physical worlds just as easily as we flick between applications on our computers. I would like to but have no idea why the process was triggered. It came upon me quite by surprise. The feeling of having the the two energy-systems switched-on, at once, was *very* freaky indeed. It felt like I was sitting in the middle of a tremendous flow of energy that I could direct and control. I think maybe this experience will open a doorway to something but I don't know what. I've been asking for guidance throughout the day but nothing has come through as yet. I'll project later and see if I can find anyone who knows what happened. Yours, Frank 2153 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / A guide story on: August 29, 2002, 14:39:09 Yes, I understand fully what you are saying. But "expectation" and "belief" are very active constructs that, unlike in the Physical, have an instant effect on the Astral circumstances that surround you. For example, I was with a guide once who took me to an underwater region for the first time. Trying to convince my protective sense of conscious awareness that I didn't have to breath underwater was one heck of a task. After a few underwater sessions, I started to notice things that seemed odd, like, when we came out of the water my guide wasn't wet. But I was soaked. Reason being, I expected to be dripping wet. After all, I had just come out from under the water. Another thing I began to notice was that when my guide entered and exited the water, he made not one ripple on the surface. Yet, with me, the water was splashing about all over the place. Again just as I "expected" it to do. So, taking your situation, if you jump from the window to the street with your back to the house, as you turn around you will naturally expect to see the house. The problem arises that, when you are in this state of mind, you never know whether the image you are seeing is actually your house (viewed from the real-time zone) or whether it is a thought-form created from your sense of expectation. Yours, Frank 2152 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I make OBEs easier and reproducable? on: August 29, 2002, 16:04:42 Yes, you touch on a very important point there Jeff. It's the crux of the whole relaxation process I'd say. I know what you are saying, words often fail when trying to explain ever so subtle (but ever so important) differences. I'm currently practising trying to channel specific information. The biggest problem I had (and still do to an extent) was I'd lay myself open and relaxed at Focus 10 and reach out to anyone who wanted to speak to me about a particular topic I wanted information about. After a while of trying I'd hear a voice telling me about things I wanted to hear: the moment I heard the voice I'd immediately think, "Hey I just made contact!" and instantly the connection was broken. The same would happen if I concentrated on the actual voice. I worked out that the necessary state of mind to have is to listen, but not listen. On the surface this apears to be a contradiction in terms. But no, it suddenly came to me, that's what we do when listening to music. We focus on the overall sound, not on individual notes played by any one instrument (though, this is possible if we so choose). So that's how I got around it. Instead of listening to each word that was said, I'd imagine the voice as a kind of music that entered my awareness. Yours, Frank 2151 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: August 29, 2002, 17:10:53 Adrian: I'm not a big fan of the Monroe Institute, and I have said on another post that their way of doing things is all a bit touchy-feely for my tastes. But each to their own What I do know is, for an obe beginner, one of the biggest stumbling blocks is knowing exactly what to do, at each step of the way. Point being, these people need to get into some kind of ritual that they can practice each day. Now it's one thing reading a book, but it's quite another having quality recorded guidance. That's what Wave 1, CD1 gives you. It's a specific count from C1 (normal physical consciousness) through to Focus 10 (mind awake, body asleep). It's done very professionally, and I'm a great fan of it because it has been the core help in my original efforts to slow down what was my usual projection process. (Which was basically the feeling of being shot from a cannon three times a week, on average, to someplace on the Astral somewhere.) The CD does not "induce" an obe. That's the brilliant part about it. All it does is, "set the stage" and leaves it up to you to play your part. I'm not sure where the "Hemi-Sync technology" aspect comes into it either. There are subtle sounds on the tape but are mainly in the background. What you hear mainly is Bob Monroe's voice guiding you through the various steps. I only recommend Wave 1 CD1. It's all you really need. Because the rest, the average person could discover for themselves through interaction with others on this BBS. At Focus 10, you are right on the brink between human physical consciousness and the start of the Astral. This state has made it possible for me to contact guides with a *much* higher degree of reliability and, for the past couple of months, I have been practising "channelling" information while at the Focus 10 state, again with excellent results. Yours, Frank 2150 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: August 30, 2002, 13:21:11 quote: If I understand you correctly, are you saying that Wave 1 CD1 gets you to that pivotal stage of consciousness where you can make your own choice? Or specifically, could you raise your awareness from there to the mid to high Astral of your own accord - i.e. without voice or hemi-sync guidance? The Wave1 CD1, teaches you how to bring your awareness to the Focus10 state. After a while, you learn to be able to do this by yourself, i.e. without the CD. What I do is, each morning, listen to Wave1 CD1 (track 2*) a couple of times just to get me in the mood. Then I go through the process without the CD. At Focus 10 you are right on the border of the Astral. All it takes from there is a little mental push and you are in. * Track 1 gives you some prelims that you only need to go through once or twice. quote: I don't want to take much of your time, but I am particularly interested in this quote: At Focus 10, you are right on the brink between human physical consciousness and the start of the Astral. This state has made it possible for me to contact guides with a *much* higher degree of reliability and, for the past couple of months, I have been practising "channelling" information while at the Focus 10 state, again with excellent results. Are you saying that you are attaining better results than OBE, and also, what sort of information are you channeling and from whom? A resounding yes. At the moment I am practising putting out mental questions, over the Astral, from the Focus 10 state. Then I leave myself open to receive the answer. It's still hit and miss because I only recently began trying this. Again, it was my being able to reliably get myself to Focus 10 that opened up the possibility to try new things in a controlled way. Yours, Frank 2149 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: August 30, 2002, 17:34:20 quote: Originally posted by astralmaster: Frank, Just a quick question: When you say Wave 1 CD 1, do you recomend just intro to focus 10(track 2) or the Orientation also? Also, What do you think about the 3rd track (advanced focus 10 - on cd 2), do you think that the intro to focus 10 is more crucial? Thanks David You need to go through the prelims on Wave-1, CD1, track-1 a couple of times just to familiarise yourself with the terminology. After which all you need to listen to is track 2. I did try to progress beyond CD1 and tried the Focus 12 stuff but couldn't get on with it, as it was getting in the way of me projecting. With a little practice, it becomes fairly easy to project from the Focus 10 state. You don't really need all the rest because, if you can get to Focus 10 and project, then the next step is to make contact with an Astral guide or two. They will be able to help you *far* more than some CD. Yours, Frank 2148 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / A guide story on: August 30, 2002, 17:53:30 That depends on your state of mind. Please don't get me wrong, it probably was your house and I'm *not* trying to show you up or anything. The main aspect I'm trying to get across concerns belief and expectation. You will hear me say a lot about the fact that "thought" is a primary energy. And thought-fuelled emotion, when released on the Astral, actually creates the circumstances that surround you in glorious 3D Technicolour. But even if you can remain emotionally closed, there is a "next stage" that you have to overcome. That stage is all to do with belief and expectation. I haven't spoken much about this, on the BBS, as what most people here need is clear guidance on how to overcome the basics. Which is mainly to do with keeping the emotional side of things under control. But just going beyond the basics, for a moment, in order to try and demonstrate what I mean, my question to you would be: "Why did you descend onto the street?" Yours, Frank 2147 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: August 30, 2002, 18:39:00 Adrian: During normal everyday consciousness, our focal point of awareness is in the Physical (C1, in Monroe terms). The other Focus levels are thought about as merely an extension of consciousness-awareness that include non-physical realms. In other words, when I project, I am not "out" of anything. All I am basically doing is becoming aware of other aspects of "me" that I hadn't previously focussed upon. The big problem arises with people because they believe that they, on the Physical, are just a physical-body and that is that. But no, the physical-body aspect is merely one facet of the whole thing. But please don't ask me what that "whole thing" is. I don't know. I only made contact with a small section, thus far. Yours, Frank Just a thought: It's not a case of travelling anywhere in some other body. It's merely becoming aware of what is *already* within you. 2145 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: August 31, 2002, 07:18:44 quote: In an OBE, according to my understanding, the astral body (or a copy of it) containing the awareness actually leaves the physical body, and which is maintained by the Astral matrix - the silver cord until they reunite. It's a notion that I too used to subscribe to. After all, that's what it said on the box, which told me what to expect when I opened it. How was I to know any different? But the idea of me getting taken by it now makes me chuckle, and it does sound rather quaint in a romantic sort of way. Reminds me of the feeling I get when watching one of those black & white romance-movies of the 1940's and 50's. I've spoken before of the role emotion plays in creating the Astral circumstances that surround you. Release of emotion, particularly any kind of fear or anger, has a full-on, right in your face, kind of effect. But there are other, equally powerful, energies that colour a person's Astral experience. The main two are: belief and expectation. Like emotion, they are powerful energies but their effects are very much more subtle. Yours, Frank 2144 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: August 31, 2002, 09:20:46 The projection experience feels like you have shifted your surroundings, not your body. That's the best I can explain it. As I say, belief and expectation are very powerful energies that can have ever so subtle effects. Whether you have a percept of different bodies, chords, etc. basically depends on what you believe is real for you. Yours, Frank 2142 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Instant projection on: August 31, 2002, 10:13:51 quote: Originally posted by Tisha: Hey ! That's neat. I just finished Casteneda's last book (whew!) but my question to you, Frank, comes from the book before (the Art of Dreaming). In Carlos' experience, he was able to connect with the Astral and hear (without fail) completely honest and accurate answers to EVERY question he though of. It was so disconcerting he had to teach himself to shut out this "Truthteller" so that he could go about his other business. I wonder if the skill of the clairvoyant (French for clear-seeing) comes from connecting to the Astral and hearing this Truthteller voice. I'd be interested in hearing any experiences you might have in the future with this voice . . . where you think it might come from (assorted guides? a guide with a job title? a Voice without a soul? something else?) Tisha "As Above, So Below" Why on earth would anyone want to shut that out? Will Desert Lord win the 2.25 at Chester today? Nope. Okay, will East Flares win? Nope. Jay Gee's Choice? Yes. Right, next race.................. Seriously, though, I'm not sure where these voices come from. I think of them as verbal guides. Someone talked about "channelling" on this BBS a couple of months ago. I did some digging and thought I'd give it a go. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I feel I might make some more progress with it. Yours, Frank 2141 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 01, 2002, 13:06:25 quote: Originally posted by Adrian: Just talking around this, - the etheric (in the case of an RTZ projection) and Astral bodies are really finer duplicates of the physical, initially at least, so it would not be surprising that they felt the same from an OBE perspective. It's common to think that way, in terms of other "bodies" I mean, and it gives a person something concrete they can relate to. Though in those terms, the Physical is really a denser duplicate of the Astral. Thinking of the Physical as a start point, or basis, is very common. But the Physical is really an end result. I look at it like clothing. In the sense that if I'm attending an important function, like a business meeting for example, I'll wear a business suit. When I'm pottering in my garage-release- workshop tuning one of my cars, or motorcycles, I'll wear overalls. If I'm on holiday, relaxing poolside, I'll wear shorts and sunscreen. All different outer layers that suit the occassion and/or circumstances, but it's the same Me within. quote: This must be the case I guess, because after physical death, which after all can be likened to a permanent OBE, the person often does not perceive any difference in the reality of their body until they achieve that realisation, and that is often a problem as to why Souls can become "earth bound". My point of question however is that raising consciousness is not an OBE, but an altered state of awareness, or to use a Monroe analogy - focus. In order to operate on the Physical you need a physical sheathe which, in term of today's technology, has a certain sell-by date. Again, it is common to view the Physical as an origin hence the term permanent OBE. I suppose the non-difference in their reality is similar to the non- difference felt when phasing, though belief and expectation do play a large part. As you believe, so it instantly becomes. Which only has the effect of reinforcing the original belief, and so it instantly becomes more... and more... and more........... ad infinitum (literally). quote: I suppose the other issue is how real you would seem to the beings of the Astral world in an OBE and raised level of consciousness or "focus" respectively, if indeed there is any difference. There are so many variables in this kind of interaction it is not possible to comment on what may, or may not be the case. What is "real" is very subjective to all manner of possible fluctuations. quote: Tricky things to get the mind around. But the main thrust of my questions are in trying to ascertain whether the "Focus" approach is more meaningful than the OBE approach. Difficult to say because the term "meaningful" is so darned subjective. Though I'd say the focus approach is more in line with non-physical reality. In that you are experiencing what is as opposed to experiencing what you believe and/or expect. The way I see the focus approach is like an advancement in technology. Someone said that the traditional obe approach and the focusing approach are basically one and the same. Well, no and yes. To me it's like comparing a high-end manufacturer's top-of-the-range motor car with a Ford model T. Yes, they are similar in that they are both powered by an internal combustion engine; have 4 wheels each rotating about a central axis held by suspension; both have seats; a steering wheel, etc., etc. On paper they appear very similar, but in actuality they are very, very different. That primary difference is: technology. So drive 500 miles in a top-class Mercedes and you get out feeling relaxed and comfortable. Try the same in a Ford model T and imagine, 500 miles of being jiggled about; exposed to the elements; maybe a breakdown (or two) along the way. Yours, Frank 2140 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Three in one night on: September 01, 2002, 13:13:17 Tisha, could you be more specific as to circumstances. I assume we are talking non-physical here. Yours, Frank 2139 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 02, 2002, 10:31:54 quote: Originally posted by Windameir: Frank While listening to the Monroe CD Orentation and Intro to Focus 10 I went tru the motions Monroe leads you through but Maybe Im missing something he says when I count to 10 you will be in focus 10 yada yada but I don't feel like anything is different. I have listened to them many times. ..Got any pointers? by the way when you bought your CDs Did they come with any kind of manual? bassicly im just having trouble getting to the body asleep part my mind seems really good at staying awake. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Happy Travels Windameir To make the best better You are concentrating on the physical-body rather than simply letting it go (as Monroe keeps saying). I often get the idea that people are lying there and monitoring their physical body, checking whether or not their body feels more or less asleep than it was 10 minutes ago, say. Everytime you "check" you focus your awareness on your physical body. But focussing your awareness on your physical body, scuppers the process. The one downfall with the CD's is there isn't any kind of manual. It's not strictly necessary as track1, CD1 tells you all you basically need to get started. But a decent hints and tips manual would have been a nice addition, especially given the price. Oh, you say you listened many times. How many is that, roughly? With me, I only really began getting the hang of it after I'd listened about 100 times. Yours, Frank EDIT: following Mobius' post it appears there should have been a manual supplied with the CD. 2138 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vibration Induction Techniques on: September 02, 2002, 11:43:00 OW: From what you describe in "10" it sounds like you are absolutely right on the verge of projecting. If you just allow the vibrations to continue, rather than concentrate on them, they should increase in frequency and become more like a buzzing. I found if you actually concentrate too much on the vibrations in a *specific* sense they go away. The way I think of it is you just lie back and bath in them. The colour flashes and wind-chimes, sound like stray energy which is a stage you pass through. Following which the Astral will come into view. I use this stray-energy stage as a kind of milestone that tells me Astral connection is about to take place. The way forward for you is just to allow everything to happen. Once you get used to just allowing things to continue, the whole projection process (from initial feeling in the head, to finding yourself within the Astral) only takes a couple of seconds. As you keep doing it, the vibrations become more of a buzzing with a kind of crackling, electrical sort of noise. Like the sound the big, half-million volt grid distribution cables make on a damp day. Yours, Frank 2137 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vibration Induction Techniques on: September 02, 2002, 15:25:09 Try as often as you can. It is far better to practise 5 minutes per day than 35 minutes once per week. Personally, I don't subscribe to all that energy raising/storing stuff. This morning, for example, I projected a record 4 attempts over about 2 hours. Had a great time, yet feel no different than normal. Yours, Frank 2135 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 03, 2002, 04:32:04 quote: Originally posted by Windameir: Frank I have listened to the Orentation and Intro to Focus 10 cd probably 20 times allthough I have probably fallen asleep 12 out of 20 times tryin to make it through Focus 10 after listening to Orentation. If I listen to them seperately I do fine but if I listen to them concurently I wake up to white noise somewhere on the Focus 10 part of the cd. Maybe I should just focus on Focus 10. Happy Travels Windameir To make the best better Forgive me for being so direct, but I think your problem is, you are not engaging your imagination. That's why you are falling asleep and that's why nothing is happening when you don't. Please realise that track1, CD2 is a very potent tool. But like all tools, it has to be used properly to get the best out of it. Okay, tell me what are you imagining when you go from the energy conversion box to Focus 3? Yours, Frank 2134 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 03, 2002, 10:24:49 I'm going to open a new topic because I just realised something important (well, at least I think I did) that people are not doing when listening to the Wave 1 CD and this thread is getting a bit long. Yours, Frank 2133 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 04, 2002, 07:13:58 No, not yet. I'm going to take you through the imagery I go through on the CD from start to finish. Which will be a bit long but should give you a good idea of what I'm going on about. I hope to post it late this afternoon. Yours, Frank 2132 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Woman returns from coma- confirms OBE on: September 04, 2002, 07:19:27 I haven't seen the Knight, as such. But I do know that coma victims generally dwell in Monroe's Focus 22. Yours, Frank 2131 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 05, 2002, 16:27:39 Jeff, yes, it's the point where it becomes 3D that you are right on the edge. I think you are very much more "visual" than a lot of us. All I see when I close my eyes is blackness. My experience on this is more like Xehupatl's desciption of it being in one's head. But there have been times when all I have seen is blackness, but then the blackness has taken on a 3D effect. Yours, Frank 2130 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vibration Induction Techniques on: September 05, 2002, 16:48:43 The place you are looking for is right on the border of your imagination. That's where the Astral begins. Discovering this was a *major* revelation for me. I used to think of the Astral as some place distant. Like I had to bridge a big load of space to get there. After all, that is what my (then) normal projection process felt like. But the connection was right under my nose all that time. Yours, Frank 2129 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / drugs and the spirit world on: September 05, 2002, 17:55:09 The people who take these drugs come back and usually describe some weird experience, like they were "out there" somewhere. Yes, they no doubt were. But the very fact they could not make any sense of it all at the time is where the "drugs shortcut" falls flat on its face. Yours, Frank 2128 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Anyone ever been to hell? on: September 06, 2002, 10:45:17 Yes, that's pretty much how it is. All very disgusting stuff by Physical world standards, but par for the course on the lower planes. All that happened is the poster let herself be carried away by it all. The heading claims she's been an Astral traveller all her life. Well, she's either very young or a mighty slow learner. If she'd simply increased the level of her radiation nothing would have happened. Maybe she could have rescued one or two, instead of turning into emotional jelly. Problem is, these kinds of posts tend to scare newcomers sh*tless. The implication being, "Gosh, if someone who has travelled all their lives is experiencing this sort of hellish experience, what chance do I stand as a complete beginner?" The poster suggested a solution about getting in touch with gods and chanting, etc. Which I don't buy, personally. The simple and most straightforward thing is to ask a guide to take you around. I used to tour the lower planes with a regular guide. It was when I was going through a phase of learning how to remain emotionally closed. It's quite simple to do once you get the knack of it. Then you just maintain an air of mild curiosity. For anyone who may want to try and rescue these people, all you need do is: when they approach in a manner which suggests you'll be their next victim, simply radiate a strong mix of compassion and understanding. Which makes them turn to jelly, not you. Yours, Frank 2126 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / White Noise?? on: September 06, 2002, 10:57:16 In the summer I find the bedroom air-conditioning fan quite relaxing. Have drifted off to it many times. Yours, Frank 2125 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 06, 2002, 11:22:16 Yes, I make a sound that resonates with the CD and the harp. But it's imaginary not literally. Also, could I please reiterate what Adrian has said in his last post. Imagination is a very powerful tool that is not of the Physical body. Well, all the lower stuff is such as doubt and fear. In the sense that someone might imagine something is going to turn out bad, so they begin to fear the outcome, and so on. But when you clear out all that stuff, you get to see (or sense) the higher imagination. Which is all very visual and more abstract. This kind of imagination is very Astral oriented. As I keep saying, the Astral is right there on border of the upper reaches of your imagination. That's why the stronger you imagine, the closer the point comes where you actually project your focal point of awareness into whatever it is you are imagining. At which point you find yourself standing within the Astral. You don't have to travel anywhere, or create anything to get to it. It's right there already. Yours, Frank 2124 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 06, 2002, 16:27:11 quote: Originally posted by Adrian: I think people might be afraid to use imagination, thinking it is not real, or a "figment", but it is very real, and very powerful. With me, the big stumbling block was trusting that my imagination was reaching out to somewhere. That's where faith comes into it quite a bit. At first, you are lying there going through the process on the CD, but you can still feel your physical body. And the feeling of your imagination feels weak by comparison. Hence it is so very tempting to think, "Oh, this is stupid, this 'aint gonna work." But after going through the process a couple of hundred times, the contact you have with your imagination becomes far more powerful than the Physical. Well, under those relaxed circumstances when you are practising I mean. You don't want to be driving to work and suddenly the Astral side of things takes over. The turning point comes when you get all the timing right (it was with me, at any rate). That's when the whole thing takes on a life of its own. quote: Frank: Could I ask you this - when you are "in" the Astral, either from your early morning OBE and/or from your focus 10 work, can you sense your physical body, e.g. arms, legs, feet etc.., or do they just sort of blend intothe background and effectively become unnoticable? I suspect alot of people might be put off from higher states due to the constant awareness of their pysical state - pressures of sitting, pins and needles, itches etc.. I like the phrase, "blend into the background". Before I was struggling to try and explain to you the feeling of this new-found projection process. I said it felt more like the scenery had changed, rather than bodies. But, then again, there is an awareness that you are not exactly in your physical body. But the physical body is always kinda there somehow. I see it now like a revolving door. Turn it 180degs and the person at the back is now at the front, turn it another 180degs and the opposite is the case. It's like you change your phasing and the one at the front sees all the action and the one at the back sits quiet. Then the phasing changes. quote: The question - are you totally absorbed and at one with the Astral experience to the point where you are unaware of your physical body and its position? I am particularly interested from the Focus 10 perspective, since that is more like meditation than an OBE in absolute terms. From the Focus10 perspective, I have an awareness that, down the corridor, is a physical body. I can feel it if I want to, or not if I don't. Yours, Frank 2123 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My First OB on: September 06, 2002, 16:43:16 Yes, Tisha, my thoughts exactly. Problem is, once you start trying to "prove" things to yourself, all kinds of ego attatchments start coming into play. On the Astral, as you believe so it becomes. Which means, if you get all cynical thinking you are creating the experience, then such will become your reality. If you think what you are seeing is real and not just self-created, such will become your reality. Either way, you created your reality. And nothing about it was "real" in the true sense. Yours, Frank 2121 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 06, 2002, 17:22:34 quote: Originally posted by Adrian: I think you really have something here - something potentially far more meaningful than a conventional OBE. By raising your awareness, or "focus" to the Astral level in this way, and being attached rather than detached as it were from the experience, I would think that it is far more objective and most importantly you can bring back full recall. Yes, because there is no feeling of detachment from the physical-body it feels, in a sense, like one continuous process. So there isn't any great hole that your memories fall through (as they used to, with me, when I did things the old way). quote: Question: Are you an observer from the "focus" perspective, or can you fully interact with the environment and the people there, e.g. your guide? Yes, I can fully interact but, when listening to the CD, I curtail my actions as it's so easy to go off and forget I'm invoved in a training exercise. Sometimes I can't wait for the CD to finish whereupon I zip back to F10 and project freely. quote: You should also find that you are not limited to the Astral. You should be able to raise your awareness to the Mental, Celestial and eventually Cosmic levels of consciousness, and the Astral will not seem the same again then. I use the term "Astral" as a general term that, to me, describes any projection I may have. From one of your other posts. I now realise the true earthly meaning of the word. Thing is, all the "beings" I met on the Astral are just people at the end of the day. My regular guide, Harath, for example, is not of this physical Earth. But he's a nice helpful guy who is trying to expand my (rather limited) mind. For which I am grateful. quote: The thing with the Astral is that that the people there are the same as the people here, same attitudes, outlook, desires etc., except they are discarnate. That is one reason why they are still in the Astral of course, until they can rid themslves of the earthly materialism, passions and desires. Beyond the Astral the Spiritual knowledge available is incredible. Another very real possibility for the Astral however is to contact the higher intelligences there who can impart some truly advanced knowledge. These intelligences are responsible for almost every aspect of the evolution of mankind, and have vast genuine knowldege between them. Also of course, there are the beings of the single elements who can impart vast knowledge regarding the element to which they belong. Yes, you come across those people who are discarnate. In the sense that they had, and now do not have, a physical sheathe. But, along the line, you get to meet those who have never been incarnate on this physical Earth. It's kinda freaky at first, especially as they are just as curious about you; as you are curious about them. Yours, Frank 2119 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 06, 2002, 18:04:52 Tisha, my imagination is as "engaged" as much as it is, by default I'm afraid. I just stumbled upon it, if the truth were known... and it all just snowballed from there. Yours, Frank PS Jeff_M's post contains much useful info also. He says about how he can relate so much to what I describe; but the feeling, to me, is mutual. Our respective "techniques" are very similar. 2118 Psychic and Paranormal / Welcome to Psychic and Paranormal! / Why Not Just Shield??? on: September 06, 2002, 18:29:12 quote: Originally posted by Tracy: I totally believe in psychic shields, and it makes me shiver to think that people deal in the spirital relms without it. Well keep shivering Trace because I go Astral-naked each time. Yours, Frank 2117 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 06, 2002, 19:30:54 Yes, thank you. Your observations are much appreciated (as always). Yours, Frank 2116 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 07, 2002, 09:01:55 quote: Originally posted by kifyre: Isn't this just a tad more difficult than putting yourself into a trance and pulling on a rope? http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile.gif" border=0> Mark The whole thrust behind my thinking is to try and work out what Monroe meant when he writes about "phasing in" to the Astral as opposed to the traditional out of body experience. I tried the rope-trick ages ago, but got bored with it. Climbing the same old rope every morning became too much of a burden. This way is far more involving and much more of a mental challenge to get right. Yours, Frank 2115 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 07, 2002, 09:39:51 I think what might help, Tisha, is if you get a little more curious about the grey blob. I find that releasing feelings of curiosity tends to speed up the process. Yours, Frank 2114 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 08, 2002, 10:04:58 Adrian: Either you misunderstood, or I didn't make myself clear enough. I can no-longer project my "old way". Not sure exactly why that is, though, thinking about it in computer-software terms, it feels like the new version of Windows has overwritten the old version. So I cannot boot using the old version anymore. Nowadays, when going through the exercise to Focus 10 and back, I often start to slip into what I call "countdown to projection" mode. I'll begin seeing whirls of foggy colour and abstract images (stray energy stage) which I use as a milestone that tells me projection within the Astral is just about to happen. Which is all very nice. Because to be able to do that with such relative ease *is* what I have been working on the past six months. However, I do like to be thorough. And it is the very fact that I have been so thorough, that has got me to this stage. Plus, it is also a question of control and mental discipline. Not only that, I am (as yet) nowhere near achieving my goal of achieving repeated, controlled conscious-exit projections with the ease Monroe writes about. Basically, I want to be able to just lie back, take a few deep breaths and "phase in". The mental imagery, coupled with the use of the CD, may seem (to some) to be a bit long winded. But one glaring aspect of projection has come about from my work, and that is: you have to learn to project slowly, before you can project quick. Consider also that when doing it without the CD, you can run through the process in just as much detail but in *half* the time. Plus, it is possible to add further refinements such as my "fast track" declaration process. Which works very well. I enter the declaration room as before and, instead of reading the declaration out loud, I'm handed a form to sign. The declaration is written out on the form. I read it through, agree and sign, then the door opens and off I go to Focus 3. Oh, I spoke to Harath this morning. Not much happened. For some reason he was making me do all these sight exercises. He'd cause different shapes to come up on a wall about 20 feet away and I had to say what they were. Such as red triangle, blue circle and so on. I asked him where he was from and his exact reply was, "Where I'm from is not important" and he just kept insisting we do these darned exercises. Next thing this "school minibus" drove up with a load of children inside and I had to help him usher them into "school" after which I had to leave (physical-body demand). Yours, Frank 2113 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / State of trace where astral-body seems loose. on: September 08, 2002, 12:20:13 You appear to be making good progress. What I would do is not go into too much detail at the moment. Problem is, each projection always causes more questions than it answers, and that will be the same all down the line. The key thing to do is ask the questions at the time. Which means becoming open to those who are guiding you as quick as you can. Obviously I cannot say for sure but the man in the truck may have been a guide watching over you. What you need to do is practice as often as possible, and teach yourself to remain emotionally closed: just keep an air of mild curiosity. You noticed that, at first, everything seems in a complete rush. This is because we tend to use the same degree of impulsion on the Astral as we do on the Physical. But it takes only a tiny fraction of the effort to do things on the Astral. So the first thing I always suggest newcomers to do is, once they project, try and remain as still as possible. Then, from that point of stillness, start taking tiny steps. Yours, Frank 2112 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 08, 2002, 12:50:28 Thank you for all your kind comments, and I am grateful that you have given such consideration and attention to what I have to say. Yours, Frank 2110 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Anyone ever been to hell? on: September 08, 2002, 17:43:49 quote: Originally posted by fredhedd: if you do project to an unpleasant environment, is there any way you can make it pleasant? when you get there if you generate sincere love and compassion for those beings and the environment, is it possible to change it or help them? i dont worry about the dweller but there are times right at the time that projection is supposed to occur that i think about what i would do if the dweller was there. i believe i would be sympathetic and kind to him and maybe ask him to help me out or something. The mistake is in thinking something is unpleasant, or pleasant. That kind of thinking is Physical-world reality only. It's like when I project to the Astral and *still* think in terms of up; down; left; right. Call me dumb but, for some reason, I'm having a lot of difficulty getting such thinking out of my system. Which is why, I am told, by the immensly perservering souls who guide me, I'm having major Astral-navigation difficulties. The correct emotional state to maintain, on the Astral, is to simply remain neutral. Though I have found it more productive to maintain an air of mild curiosity. Which, strictly speaking, is not a perfectly neutral state. The key to remaining neutral is to recognise and *totally* accept that the lower-level situation that is being perceived is not real in the Physical sense. Problem is, though, these situations can (and very often do) look ever so real in exactly the way they would look in Physical-matter reality. The woman says she was terrified as the people threatened to throw her on the bonfire. So what? What possible harm could that do? To my mind, this kind of thinking serves as a prime example of base-level Astral anthropormorphism. The only person who can harm you, on the Astral, is yourself (as you believe, so it becomes in glorious 3D Technicolour). Yours, Frank 2109 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / I was just wondering..... on: September 09, 2002, 17:24:51 Yes you can. But the "time" aspect doesn't come into it as, on the Astral, there is no time. So, basically, anything can happen whenever. Yours, Frank 2108 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 10, 2002, 10:40:45 quote: I have 3 questions for you: 1. When you do the imagining, do you imaging in a third or first person view? I try to imagine in a first person view, but it always seems like I am imagining me watching myself walk everywhere. Good, you have managed to locate your focal point of consciousness. The point at which you are, when you are looking at yourself doing whatever it is you happen to be doing, is your focal point of consciousness. Ideally, this should be within the body of light (or whatever style body it is you are imagining) but it doesn't matter if it's a bit half and half. Note: You don't want to be trying too hard with the visualisation aspect. You need to keep things slightly on the abstract side otherwise you begin to engage in an act of creative visualisation, rather than Astral projection. The key thing is to keep that focal point of consciousness, or awareness, as far away from the Physical as possible. Which is, ultimately, the whole idea of having the rundown to Focus 10 and back. In that it gives you an exercise in deliberately taking your focal point of consciousness away from the Physical, and then bring it back again. As Monroe says, the more you do this the more natural it becomes. quote: 2. Do you do this laying down or sitting up? Laying down in bed, early morning. But now I'm starting to practice the exercise, without the CD, at various times in the day just sitting in a comfy chair. I find I am more aware of my physical body during daytime. But I'm hoping, with practice, that will change. Ultimately I'm trying to reach the stage where surroundings/time of day/etc. make no difference. quote: 3. How often do you fall asleep while doing these exercises? Did you fall asleep a lot at first and gradually remain conscious? Falling asleep can be a problem if you do this at night before normal sleeptime. That's one reason why I practice early morning, and now at additional times during the day. Yours, Frank 2107 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vibration Induction Techniques on: September 10, 2002, 12:02:49 quote: Originally posted by overworked: I've noticed that at some point during my meditation that the blackness behind my eyes seems to expand. One time the blackness seemed to become more denser and almost look as though it was solidifying. Where exactly does this sensation fall within the steps of projecting? Jeff_M should relate pretty well to this as he describes the blackness in very much the same way. With me, I describe it as taking on a 3D effect. This is the start of the projection process (in more of a modern-day sense). I get: 3D backness, followed by whirls of multi-coloured foggy kind of smoky stuff; couple with the odd outline image or other; which may also be accompanied by the odd sound (this is what I call the "stray energy" stage). Then everything clears and the Astral comes into view; at which point I used to automatically "step into" this image and I'd find myself within the Astral. Lately, however, I have been practising just viewing the image as if I were sitting back looking at it on a screen. Which is a process I believe is called: Remote Viewing. With this method, vibration feelings are minimal to none. And if they are present they come across more like a light buzzing. Well, that's how it is with me. Yours, Frank 2106 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 10, 2002, 13:24:15 At first it will automatically be abstract enough. All I mean is keep it fairly simple so it flows along with the CD, but if you happen to get a few blank parts that don't quite add up then that's okay. The circumstances that you imagine around you will be fairly fluid, expect that. Don't try and make the whole process exactly the same each time so it becomes robotic. Robert Bruce had problems, for example, with the ROPE technique. He'd have people who would bang their heads on the ceiling, or who would end up with a huge pile of rope on the floor, and so forth. The mistake they were making is to take the technique too literally. Yours, Frank 2105 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 11, 2002, 10:21:46 Jouni, yes, that is correct. Although it won't feel like that in the beginning because a large part of it will still be reading physical-body signals. However, by practicing these kinds of visualisation exercises, you gradually learn to shift that focal point of consciousness more and more away from the physical body. Yours, Frank 2104 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 11, 2002, 17:09:20 quote: I assume, and I am sure Frank will confirm (or deny) this, but as soon as you pass through the doorway your have created with your imagination, you then enter an objective (to the extent the possible) Astral realm and place, where everything that you see, and everything that is happening, and the people you meet are very real, and are always there, and that you can interact fully with this environmentt. I.e At that point you cease to create the imagry in the Astral in your mind, and start to become a part of the Astral. Yes, absolutely correct. The imagery technique, or stage, is merely a vehicle that transports you from Physical to Astral. quote: Sorry to beat this to death Frank, but I don't think I still understand fully the difference between creative visualization and astral projection. Could you elaborate a little bit more, please? It is all to do with the end goal. The end goal, here, is not to create an absolutely perfect imaginary scenario that aligns completely with the CD to the n'th extent: that is totally repeatable in every way, each time you run through it. Logic and reason, while being advantageous faculties to have, can get in the way if applied too literally to obe work. Please feel free to ask further questions if you are still unclear. Yours, Frank 2103 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE vs. Astral vs. Lucid please explain! on: September 11, 2002, 17:10:45 The most basic difference is your level of conscious awareness. Yours, Frank 2101 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 12, 2002, 10:42:19 quote: Here's another thing I was thinking. You seem to be taking to TMI's "Focus" word pretty literally (I don't mean that in a bad way), so I started thinking about F10 and 12. Do you go back to F10 (without the CD) by just imagining you are walking through your Focus markers and getting to where you are at the F10, and by this time you have focused your attention and "feeling" in that "place" and are now, by definition, "in" F10? Yes, absolutely. That is the whole point of creating the imagery. Otherwise, if Monroe said, "Return to Focus 10" where would you go? What would you do? By having the various mental states linked to particular sets of meta-physical imagery, the answer to the question of what to do (or where to go) next is obvious and immediate. quote: The same for F12 would be just getting to your F10 hut and then walking through the door to the F12 space scene? I hope I am not way off, because, if this is correct, I might now understand what the TMI trainers meant when they said that you could get to all the states while walking around. Again, yes, absolutely. You are really starting to get the hang of it. The reason why I, personally, have a "space scene" is because F12 is the first stage of expanded awareness where you leave the Physical behind. At F10 I'm still grounded, as it were, in my F10 hut. But the opening in the wall of the hut leads into limitless space. What you can practice is flying out of the opening into the surrounding space while still keeping an eye on the opening you just came through. Then, when Monroe instructs you to return to C1, come back to F10 and go through the return procedure as normal. quote: Now, when does it happen where you are actually "in" the Astral and not imagining anymore? Does it somehow happen "magically," or is there a better way to bring it on? I am not sure exactly how it will happen with yourself. It could happen in a variety of ways. All I can say for definite, is you will KNOW when it happens. What I would do is work on getting to the stage where there is a definite difference in feeling when you return to C1. What I mean is, I progressively feel my physical body less and less; such that by the time I settle into my reclining chair at F3, I've normally lost touch with it more or less completely. From then on, the going through the motions of the journey should be the focus of your attention. The feeling is just the same as if your attention was absorbed by watching a favourite movie. Only difference being the movie is being played in the realms of your imagination. I've said before that the Astral is very much closer than I suspect most people realise. It's right there, on the border of your imagination. What this technique does is to provide the framework to enable you to travel within the realms of your imagination. At some point you will reach that border and the Astral will come into view. Yours, Frank 2100 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 12, 2002, 12:13:03 Interesting, it sounds to me like you were at what I call the "stray energy" stage. I get this just before making contact with the Astral proper. Also, the sensations of bouncing and static feelings tend to come about when the head and chest energy centres are activated. It sounds like you were right on the verge of projection, in fact you probably were for a time, but not with any great deal of awareness. Is this the first time this has happened? Yours, Frank 2099 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Voluntary Pressure in head on: September 12, 2002, 12:24:38 I don't know about possible dangers, but I do very much recognise the sensation you describe. Next time you get the head pressure and vibrations, try concentrating on your chest area. What you want to try and do is open up an energy pathway to your chest centre. When you do so, you will feel a rushing tingling sensation from the top of your head to your chest area. At which point it will feel like your whole chest cavity expanded. With me, when this happens, I get a feeling like I just fell downwards about 200 feet in a second or two. Which gives a *major* rush. Then I block the energy flow, rise up again, and repeat. It's immense fun. After 10 of these you come back to the Physical, all full of beans and giggling your head off. Yours, Frank 2098 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Poss. of entering Astral via Lucid Dreams on: September 12, 2002, 12:46:22 Waking up in a dream is how I first came to discover the Astral, and I used this technique for many years. The way you practice is to check yourself every 15 minutes, or so, on the Physical. You need to do some little action and, at the same time, confirm that you are in your physical body. I used to tap my foot or hand a couple of times and say, "Confirmed, in my physical body." After a while, this will come into a dream. You will do the same action but the result will be different than normal. This is designed to stimulate your curiosity. Hopefully, it will be aroused to the point where it will awaken your critical faculties in order to investigate further. There will probably be a few minutes of confusion and, if it all works to plan, you should realise you are dreaming. But the next bit is the most important part of the technique and is perhaps the trickiest to do (at the time). At the point of realisation, you need to quickly close off any emotional release; as it will have been emotional release that was causing the initial dream you just came out of. Then, no matter what you "see" around you, remain as still (in both a physical and a mental sense) as possible. That way, any remnants of the original dreamscape will dissipate, leaving you free to navigate the Astral proper. Yours, Frank 2095 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 13, 2002, 09:21:20 I use the tiny Walkman-style earphones which work okay with me. There is a school of thought that says for best effect use full-size headphones but I, personally, would find them too bulky. Yours, Frank 2094 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 13, 2002, 15:55:18 I think what you might try is forgeting all ideas of getting out of your body and think more of mentally stepping into the imagery you are seeing. I am pretty certain that you are at what I call the "stray energy" stage and the fleeting glimpses of various scenes are of the Astral. What you describe is basically the same as what happens to me. Next time you are at that stage, have an intent to go somewhere in particular. Keep it simple like, imagine sitting by a lake, or just looking out over the ocean. Just something basic. "Intent" is what makes you travel. I think what you are doing is (mentally) standing on the brink, uncertain of what to do, and it is the release of that uncertainty which is causing the flitting from one scene to another. My idea is, if you can gather a definite intent, that should cause a fixed scene to appear. Then you should feel a kind of attraction that makes it easy for you to mentally step into that scene. Then you are there, basically. Yours, Frank 2092 Healing / Welcome to Healing discussions! / Anyone know how to heal a headach? on: September 15, 2002, 09:27:54 Drink lots of fresh water and stay off the sugar. Yours, Frank 2091 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe "Gateway" series on: September 16, 2002, 09:23:38 You need to get an idea of what it is you want to experience on the Astral. Make sure you don't have any kind of ego-attachment to the outcome, like, wanting to know this Saturday's lottery numbers. Keep it simple and to the point. And develop the intent throughout the day while in C1. Then, when you get to the stray energy stage, let go and trust in those that are helping you (your Spirit guides) and simply allow the experience to unfold. Yours, Frank 2090 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Aliens and the Achousta. on: September 17, 2002, 09:25:28 You access these areas (same as any area) by using intent. It's always best to ask for a guide to help you, which makes the process less hit and miss. Yours, Frank 2089 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Few Extra Gateway Questions on: September 18, 2002, 11:06:13 quote: Originally posted by TheJza: Frank: Here are my last few questions, if you don't mind answering them (and, of course, everyone else is free to as well): 1. When you now get into Focus 10 from C1, is it comparable to a shift like going from waking consciousness into a lucid dream? It's not a "shift" but more of a gradual phasing-out of C1 which culminates in the feeling of being at F10 as per Monroe's instructions. I start to lose awareness of my physical body from F3 mainly. From which I gradually lose physical-body sensations as my mental focus moves further away. Problem is, I'm not sure whether our definitions of lucid dream are the same. When at F10, I have full waking consciousness so I am fully aware that "back there" somewhere is a physical body but my attention is taken up elsewhere. It's like if you were sitting reading and had become engrossed in a book. There is a part of you that is aware you are sitting in a room, reading. But because you are mentally focused on the book, awareness of your surroundings is heavily dulled. In fact, the mindstate people go into when heavily engrossed in a book is very similar to the F10 mindstate. Only instead of your consciousness running along with the mental imagery created by the words in the book, you create a particular mental-imagery structure in accordance with the guidance on the Wave 1 CD. quote: I;ve read comments where you say to "step into" the scenery, and that is the image I got into my head. Focusing away from your body until your waking consciousness is in this other "place." Yes, that is what it feels like to me. Like I have "stepped into" another reality. In the sense I have full waking consciousness, and I'm at a place that feels as real and as tangible as the Physical: only it's the Astral. quote: This would also make it much easier to get to the other focus levels, since it seems to me like F10 is the biggest shift. Also, I have read that Monroe always used to say that a person can get to any Focus level by having a good F10/12 base Rather than "shift" I, personally, see it more of a gradual transition. But that's probably just our using different terminology to describe basically the same thing. It *is* the most important as F10 is a springboard to all the other non-physical focus levels, through use of Intent. This is because, once you have focused into one non-physically reality realm, you basically use the same "focusing" technique to focus into the other non-physical reality realms. Same focusing technique, just a slightly different phasing. Like learning to drive a car. Once you can drive one car, you can basically drive any other car: same basic controls; steering wheel; gearshift; pedals, etc. The make/model/degree of technological sophistication, etc. may vary, but the basic controls are the same. quote: I should have probably waited to do Gateway at TMI until I had a good F10 base, I probably would have gotten a lot more out of it. I bet you would have an absoultely amazing time there. I agree, you probably would have. I'm not sure about myself, though. It's just that a lot of the TMI writeups come across as being a tad too touchy-feely for my tastes. Like, all the holding hands and chanting around a crystal stuff. quote: 2. I remember when I first started using Hemi-Sync, I notice now when I lay down and everything is queit, I hear a high pitched buzzing or ringing in my head. I have read the same thing from people on the Voyager Mailing List, so I wanted to know if you now have that as a side-effect as well. Now that I have started using binaural beats again heavily, it is VERY noticeable. Some people say it is tinnitus (spelling?), in any case, it is annoying. Sorry, but I cannot help you there. I, personally, have had no side-effects (other than increasing my ability to visit the Astral). Yours, Frank 2087 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Quieting the mind on: September 19, 2002, 09:10:27 quote: Originally posted by quebec: Anyone could share in how to calm the mind in trying to OBE. I am aware of the breath-awareness that Robert suggest in Astral Dynamic, but I don't have success with it. I focus my mind and it wanders of a couple of seconds later. Thoughts keep cropping up. The idea of achieving a totally quiet mind seems to me to have sprung from Meditation. (I'm not exactly sure what meditation is, as it's not my thing, so feel free to correct where appropriate.) It is said that this "empty mind" condition can be used as a base in order to experience obe's and so on. Which may well be true. Problem is, to my mind, quieting one's thoughts to the extent demanded is incredibly difficult. I look at it in the same light as with the classic obe; where you create an "energy body" complete with "silver cord" and so forth. All of which is VERY tricky to accomplish. Unless you happen to be born with some kind of knack for it (which the great majority aren't, including myself). Which is why I am a great fan of the more modern-day Phasing approach. With Phasing, it is not at all necessary to achieve a totally quiet mind devoid of thought. In fact, the exact opposite is the case as the technique would not work otherwise. Nor does it rely on any kind of special breathing exercises, or energy work, and so forth. So if, like me, you don't feel like you have a knack for the traditional mystical approaches, then maybe take a closer look at the latest Monroe ideology. Yours, Frank 2086 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / How do i get on the planes through a lucid dream? on: September 19, 2002, 09:53:21 Realise there is no real difference between a dream; a lucid dream; dream initiated uncontrolled/controlled projection; or a full blown controlled conscious-exit projection within either the RT zone or the Astral. Basically it is all Astral Projection. The major difference is *your* level of conscious awareness and the amount to which you can keep your thoughts and emotional-release in check. As your sense of conscious awareness becomes more awake (while your physical body is sleeping) the more you perceive what is going on. Note: What we generally call "a dream" is just the uncontrolled release of emotion within the lower Astral regions with little or no sense of conscious awareness. So if your sense of conscious awareness comes awake to the extent where critical faculties can come into play, then, chances are, you'll look at something in the dream that doesn't quite add up. Your critical faculties will say to you something like, "Hey, look at that [some dream anomaly] over there, it's [point out to you how it "should" be compared to how it currently is]." In order to try and find an answer about this anomaly, Critical Faculties awaken your sense of curiosity. Curiosity, on seeing the anomaly, thinks, "Hmm, I wonder how that can be?" And in a further attempt to "solve the mystery" Curiosity awakens the senses of Logic and Reason together with associated Memory functions. Once that happens, the answer becomes plain and you think, "I'm dreaming!" At this stage, you have full conscious awareness on the lower Astral. The major problem, however, is you will be subject to all manner of reality fluctuations *unless* you can quickly close down the emotional release that was fuelling the dream that you were having in the first place, and become mentally still. If you can do that, your dreamscape will dissipate and you can begin exploring. If you wish to "travel" you do this by using Intent. Though, if you wish to explore the Astral with any degree of success, I would strongly suggest the first thing you do is become aware of the Astral residents who are guiding you. Yours, Frank 2085 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My second real time OBE! on: September 19, 2002, 10:22:04 quote: Originally posted by Tia: Thanks Patty, you just hit the nail on the head. I've been wondering why I'm so dissapointed and it's because if the environment is so intangable, it cant be verified, as in I can never prove a thing. I'm remembering your card tests and the way they changed infront of your eyes, I now totally understand that. Bugger... Tia, well done for getting thus far and I'm not one for pouring cold water on your fire, but realise the Astral enviroment is very tangible. Just as tangible as the Physical environment. Perhaps even more so, as there are no earthquakes, no bad weather conditions, etc., etc. The sole cause of the intangibility is you. This is obvious from reading your post, where you are making all kinds of judgements and have all manner of expectations. Your surroundings are flitting here, there and everywhere which is hardly surprising considering. You need to please concentrate more on becoming totally still. Both in body (Astral) and in mind. Next time you find yourself in the "void" as you call it, instead of getting scared simply ask those who are guiding you for more clarity, and maybe a little soothing music. Or whatever. The point being, you can just ask for whatever it is you need for you to feel comfortable. If you feel scared, then ask those who are guiding you for more understanding. As you gain more understanding, your fear will dissipate completely. This will allow your sense of curiosity to guide you, and that's when you really start to make progress. Yours, Frank 2084 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Advanced Astral Projector's Corner > on: September 19, 2002, 12:56:08 quote: ...I want to merge with someone in the astral , to share knowlege and experence, maybe even both of us learn more psychic abilitys. Astralc,Blue Light Mystic,Jason, anyone up for this? Yep, I'm up for merging, though females only. Yours, Frank 2083 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Mind travel - your thoughts please. on: September 20, 2002, 09:37:34 Amazing, what you describe is basically the same as the focusing technique or "phasing in" technique that I've been practising the past 6 months, or so. There is no real sensation of leaving your body. It's more of a shift in mental focus. It's based on the idea that wherever you place your focal point of awareness, that place becomes your reality. Normally, for the great majority of people, their focal point of awareness is placed in physical world reality. But it is possible, given practice, to remove your focal point of awareness from the physical and place it in the Astral. As such, the Astral becomes your reality. The sensation is different to that of the traditional idea of an obe, in that there is no feeling of swapping bodies. It just feels like you shifted your mental focus and your surroundings changed. From what you say I'm not sure what Focus level you were at. Guessing, I'd say it was Focus 12 (your guide will know). I'm fairly certain all the cloud scenary would have been created by your guide for effect (guides always approach in ways they feel will be most pleasant to their subject). From that platform, it is possible to shift your mental focus up through the various levels. As you place your focal point of awareness in each level, whatever happens to be going on there immediately becomes your reality. Well, it sounds easy to say, but it's tricky to do. Ask your guide for some direct help. I'm sure she'll take pleasure in showing you around. Yours, Frank 2082 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / When hands don't melt on: September 20, 2002, 10:01:39 Thank you all, for your comments. Yours, Frank 2081 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Mind travel - your thoughts please. on: September 20, 2002, 17:24:08 James: I'm not sure what you mean by "mind travel" but I can definitely say, again, that what you describe in your original post is basically the same phasing-technique I have been teaching myself over the past months. Using this, you can go anyplace, anywhere on the Astral. Rather than talking about Astral planes or regions, as per tradition, Monroe labelled his experiences according to various states of mental focus. Next time you contact your guide, ask her for more info. I'm sure she will be only too pleased to help. Another thing that you will find happen (if you continue down the Phasing road, which is more than a little weird to contemplate at first) is, rather than the usual experience of having feelings of travelling to the Astral in some kind of energy body, and so forth: it starts to get to the stage where it feels like you just simply remain still and the Astral "comes to you". Next comes the realisation that "the Astral" was always there, all the time, right on the border of your imagination. All you did was open the door. Yours, Frank 2080 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Mind travel - your thoughts please. on: September 21, 2002, 10:16:18 Yes, perhaps even more so than the more traditional methods. I'm now getting to the stage where I don't have to even have my physical body in a *totally* relaxed state. There is a particular place in the brain that triggers the whole process and I'm finding that if I just basically relax and concentrate in a certain way, the Physical phases out and the Astral phases in. Okay, I admit I've only been able to do this a few times. The latest was this morning where, in my mind, I was getting all the symtoms of making contact with the Astral but I was completely conscious of my physical surroundings. At first I thought, no, this must be a reality fluctuation of some kind. So I half sat up, physically, then pinched myself in the leg just to make absolutely sure I was 100% in the physical; which I was, yet, in my mind I knew connection with the Astral was imminent. So I lay back and let it continue whereupon all feeling of the Physical faded out and the Astral came into view. I'm hoping if I continue down my current path I will get to the stage where I can have complete control over whether I tune into Astral or Physical. And because it's just a simple "mind switch" there is less shock to the system. Which is why I wholeheartedly recommend this technique for beginners. Yours, Frank 2079 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Mind travel - your thoughts please. on: September 21, 2002, 16:09:40 Jenn: If I may directly ask, what is it, exactly, you are attempting to accomplish? Also, you say, "One day I also will have a guide". You've probably got them all around you, stacking up in six-packs. On the Astral, guides are all over the place. You just need to become open to them. You say, "It has given me hope". Hope for what? Also, where you say you hear some kind of vocal guidance but dismiss this as "imagination"... could I please strenuously point out that the higher imagination *is* your direct connection with the Astral. It is the very faculty within you that you use in order to make full contact. If you go and dismiss that, communicating will become like if you were trying to speak to someone on the phone when the plug had been pulled from the wall-socket. Tisha made a quote from a book the other day saying that the Astral was as close to you as your face. No, I disagree, it's even closer. Yours, Frank 2078 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Mind travel - your thoughts please. on: September 22, 2002, 18:11:51 Thank you for the extensive reply. It's always good to hear of people's experiences, and you appear to be making good progress. As I touched on in my previous post, the thing you need to do is accept what comes through as "real" and please don't just dismiss it as just your imagination. Though I do accept, at first, it does appear that what you are perceiving is merely your imagination. But that is because what we call Imagination is, in fact, an information channel; with all our day-to-day concerns going on at one end, and the Astral is connected to the other. Yours, Frank 2077 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Possibly met my guide this morning - Question on: September 22, 2002, 18:48:41 Jeff: what I find is falling asleep afterwards is not the way to go if you want good recall (as you have observed also). Many a good projection I have spoilt by thinking, "Oh, I'll remember, I'll have a short nap and make some notes in half an hour or so." And when I wake up, everything has gone from being crystal clear to very sketchy indeed. When you met the person in the car (who I'm sure was a guide that made themselves known as a result of your calling) it may have touched against some aspect of a belief you hold, that is contrary to the experience of meeting a guide. In the sense of, maybe (deep down) you never really expected someone to literally turn up in the way they did. What I find is, when this happens with me - where I'm perceiving something that is contrary to some belief I hold - there is a protective aspect of my conscious awareness that shuts down the experience in order to protect my belief in whatever it happens to be. This would happen a lot in the beginning when projecting underwater, for example. I'd go underwater and the experience would fade out because of my belief it was impossible to swim underwater without scuba gear. Yours, Frank 2075 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / International Academy of "conscientology" on: September 23, 2002, 12:39:12 Daniel: I was neither involved in the setting up of the structure of this site, nor involved in the running of it. Gold Member status is issued automatically when you reach 500 posts. In any event, it has been a long time since I got fooled by the fallacy of thinking that the truth of an assertion depends necessarily on the virtues of the person asserting it. Argumentum ad hominem, as they used to say in Rome. Funny you should mention the Monroe Institute as I am on record as saying I'm not a great fan of them either (all a bit touchy-feely for my tastes). You mention Hemi-Sync and I can wholeheartedly recommend the Gateway Wave1 CD. Looking back through my past posts you will see one of the primary reasons I recommend it, is that it ultimately teaches you to achieve the Focus 10 state *without* use of the CD. Yours, Frank 2074 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / new CNN article talks about OBE on: September 23, 2002, 13:09:27 The major flaw that I see in their thinking, is the thrust of their approach. They always seem to come from the POV that obe's are not a "real" phenomena, i.e. they are just some kind of mind created illusion, and that is what they set out to prove. To my mind, that is a big mistake. I explained in one of my very early posts about how, around 20 years ago, I came across the subject when I just happened to see Monroe's JOB in the window of a newly-opened New-Age bookstore in the vicinity of where I was living at the time. For some reason (and now, of course, I know the reason) I felt compelled to buy the book out of sheer curiosity. Which was strange because there's no way you'd ever find me in a shop like that (not even now) least of all buying some obe mumbo jumbo. I read the book through a number of times. After which my sense of logic said to me this is complete nonsense; but my curiousity had been ignited to the extent where I thought, well, what if it isn't. So I fought myself for a while and came to a conclusion. I thought, right, let's assume that everything written in this book, as amazing and as loony as it may seem, let's assume it is all real. So, I'll give these exercises a genuine try, over a reasonable period of time, and, if it is just a load of mystical mumbo-jumbo then nothing will happen. Well, much to my surprise, I began to get projection symptoms and I never looked back. Which is why I feel that if these scientists would spend just one ounce of effort actually attempting obe for themselves, many of them would finally start to get an inkling of what people such as myself have been going on about all this time. They are looking for proof alright, but they are looking in the wrong direction. They should be looking within themselves as opposed to looking without. Yours, Frank 2073 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / International Academy of "conscientology" on: September 24, 2002, 08:36:04 quote: .......... which asked inicially you to tell us what makes you think that Conscientiology is New Age. So for you to be coherente with your affirmation above you could tell the fundaments behind your' true' assertion that Conscientiology is 'New Age blurb' and not just participate by yawning. I thought you had already conceded to this, when you said the Monroe Institute was more New Age than yourselves. Which is why I pushed the subject aside and moved on. As for your second question, I made my opinion clear in my original post which does not need restating. quote: By the way, if Monroe Institute is touchy-feely for you (I agree) then you ironically might just be interested on the Conscientiological approach. This would make a nice Campus argument, but I'm a bit long in the tooth for all that. Yours, Frank 2072 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 24, 2002, 12:39:59 Adrian: best of luck with your project. Replies, as follows: quote: 1) In the Astral access "sequence", how real/vivid/plasticly do you need to imagine or "see" the sequences you describe that lead to entering the Astral portal proper, and waving goodbye to the butler, (Clive?) for a time? E.g., can you imagine it like watching an inner TV screen, or do you find it more "hazy" than that and harder to maintain? I think you see the point of the question. At first it is hard to maintain. The tendency is to drift off on some other, more earth-bound thought(s). But this goes away with practise. Having the sequences mapped out on the CD is very helpful tool to practice with. Though if someone wanted to create their own sequence, I guess it would work well too. In which case I would advise them to plan it out carefully. Write down the script, and go through it several times in the Physical first. The technique does not require you to first create the meditive "empty mind" state (though if a person could already do that it would be a bonus). The idea is, you flood your mind with other, more beneficial thoughts, i.e. those more likely to achieve contact with the Astral, as opposed to wondering what you're going to have for breakfast. Ultimately, having some kind of script *is* what keeps your mind focussed on the task in hand. As for how I "see" these images: they are nowhere near as clear and vivid as the images I eventually see when stepping into the Astral realms - these images are as clear as day. It's more like I am sensing an awareness of an image in my mind, rather than seeing the image directly. Astral access sequence is, as follows: I get to Focus 10, and stand in my F10 Hut looking out through the F12 doorway. I generally just stand there gazing at the blackness of the space scene, which is punctuated by all the stars. If nothing happens then I might fly into the blackness and drift about a bit. If still nothing happens then I'll come back to the Hut and stand looking for a while again - then fly off some more. If the next stage (below) has not come about after 20 minutes, or so, then I will return to C1. I'll give it 5 or 10 minutes, go through the countdown to F10 again, and try for full Astral contact once more. (I won't try and force things as doing this is a MAJOR retrograde step.) There comes a point, when I'm standing in the F10 Hut either gazing outwards or just drifting in the blackness, where the blackness takes on a kind of 3D effect (Note: Jeff_M's experiences are similar here so you might find reading over some of his posts helpful). The blackness taking on this 3D effect, seems to be the transition between "sensing an awareness" of the imagery, and seeing the images directly, as clear as day, just like I were looking through my physical eyes. This is also the point where I *totally* lose all sensation of my physical body. (Not that I have much by the time I reach Focus 10 anyway, but there is always this inkling of a feeling until full Astral contact.) First the blackness becomes 3D, followed by a sensation that the blackness is gently swirling around me. Then I normally see whirls of smoky, foggy-looking colours for a few seconds and, sometimes, there is a bright light in the distance which is obscured as it shines through the fog. It is at this stage where I "mark my intent". (On the Astral "Intent" is the energy that drives you into experiencing whatever it is you want to experience.) Which sounds ever so easy to say, but I'm currently finding it difficult to learn. Well, as I've said before, my navigation skills were virtually non-existant and it is only recently that I've started getting the hang of it. Then I find myself projected within the Astral proper. quote: 2) It is clear that dedication and perseverance is a major factor, and one where people might become despondent if no results are forthcoming. Yes, you are quite right. But I also found that Belief and Doubt are major factors that determine an individual's progress. Any kind of doubt puts a MAJOR spoke in the works. Belief is also another factor that can hinder (or accelerate) a person's progress. The typical scenario a beginner is faced with is the question, "How can I believe something that doesn't exist?" (When I say "doesn't exist" I mean not existing on physical-plane reality.) As such, a person will naturally doubt the whole thing. Which is where Faith comes into it to a high degree. They may read a book such as AD where aspects of projection are explained in simple, matter of fact terms. This tends to give people confidence in that they too can learn. So they set off just trying some small "energy awareness" technique. Deep down, they are not really fully believing everything that is written, and they doubt whether they will ever be able to experience even half of what RB has written about. But the book has touched them to the extent they have a little Faith in what they are about to do, and naturally they will be curious. All it takes is for them to make just a little progress, and this will have the effect of increasing their Faith and Curiosity. So they go in a little deeper and each time their Faith and Curiosity increases, and with it their doubts begin to fall away. But an individual doesn't necessarily have to take this approach. The simple way to go from Physical A to Astral B, is to 1) Fully and absolutely believe in the possibility, and, 2) Have no doubt that results will be forthcoming. Bit of a tough cookie, I agree. quote: How long did it take you before the Astral portal access sequence progressed from imagination to reality. By reality, I mean to the point where you no longer had to imagine it, but it rather assumed a life of its own, and the Astral environment, as entered through the portal, became solid, real and fluid - i.e. the Astral life proper where everything is happening around you, and you are a part of it, and can interact, communicate, etc... I listened to the CD several hundred times over a period of months. During which time I concocted the imagery for the countdown sequence. It wasn't so much the actual concocting of the imagery that took the time. Thats part of it only took about 2 weeks to perfect, going through the sequence 2 or 3 times each morning. It was the realisation, or the idea, of going through the countdown in that way: which didn't come to me until I'd been listening to the CD for about 2 months. Once I had perfected the imagery process, my progress began to accelerate quite rapidly. Had I initially begun using the CD, coupled with the imagery I am using now, I guess it would have taken me about 3 or 4 weeks before the transition to the Astral would have become a semi- predictable event, say, 6 times in 10 attempts. quote: 3) Is this Astral experience (via the Astral portal), as vivid and real as your previous OBE experiences - indeed it the same Astral level, people etc.? I also assume that you can retain full recall of the experiences. I really like the term "Astral portal" I'll use that in future, thank you. Yes, even more vivid and even more real. Doing what I used to do, i.e. my Cannonball Projection, is quite a shock to the system. Phasing through an Astral portal, by comparison, is a very smooth and controlled transition. As such, it is much easier on the system. Plus, there is no feeling of leaving your physical body, no looking down seeing yourself on the bed and so forth. Which is okay for some. But most people who find themselves in that state get scared sh*tless. In fact, it feels so smooth there is a strong tendency to think it's all just a vivid dream. It's not, of course, because there are distinct differences which I can readily detect as a result of my previous projection experience. Which leads me to your second point, yes, it's the same place I used to go. Memory recollection is as easy as memory recollection is on the physical. But with one exception: if I fall asleep after the experience. I've trained myself to go back to C1 (normal Physical consciousness) after any projection experience. But sometimes I get lazy thinking, "Oh, I'll have a few minutes of sleep then make some notes." Which is fatal, retention-wise. HTH Yours, Frank 2071 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / My buzzing head thing going on on: September 24, 2002, 13:46:47 The buzzing in the head is your crown Chakra switching on. It's very normal. Just relax into it, think of where you want to project to, and away you go. You were right on the verge of saying goodbye Physical, hello Astral. Feeling the buzzing in your head is as normal to Astral Projection, as is hearing the engine running when you start your car. There is NOTHING to be afraid of, in other words. Yours, Frank 2070 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / "Good Will" Method on: September 26, 2002, 07:25:39 Couldn't agree more, Jeff. And I also strongly suspect that what a lot of the promotors of these sites do, is broadcast all over other people's message boards pretending to be an ordinary person seeking information. Yours, Frank 2069 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 26, 2002, 09:19:43 It's good to hear people getting creative. Yes, the possibilities are truly endless. Though please do always bear in mind the objective is to project within the Astral, and the imagery is merely a prop that sets the stage for the next Act. (Imagine a real stage where just a few abstract forms, here and there, can so very easily set the tone of the next Act. That's how you need to be working.) Act 1: Energy Conversion box. Bring on the props, set the stage, do your bit, then move to Act 2: Resonant Tuning. Here the props change, you play out the scene, then move to Act 3: Declaration Stage... and so on. All so it flows with the CD. But watch you don't get bogged down in nitty-gritty detail. Though too much detail will not effect you in the early stages. For example, you can imagine your Energy Conversion Box in as much detail as you like. It won't have any negative effects at all. Reason being, at this stage, you are still within the lower realms of your imagination. But the higher you go, creative-imagination wise, the more abstract your thoughts become. And remember that right at the end of your creative imagination, is the border to the Astral. (I promise you, it really is that close!) That's the main reason why, imagining in too much detail can bog you down. In that it keeps your focal point of thinking within the lower realms of the imagination. When what you should be doing is gradually travelling towards the border. So feeling your thoughts naturally getting progressively more abstract, the further you progress, would be a positive sign. The key transition is from Focus 10 to Focus 12 (the tricky one!). Hence the need for all the thorough preparation beforhand. Please bear in mind that *everything* you do in the previous Acts, is done solely to bring you to the point where the transition from F10 to F12 is performed as smoothly and easily as the transition from C1 to F3 (say). In other words, if you are having difficulty with the F10 to F12 transition, it is 99.9% likely that the cause will be due to some problem in the preparatory stages. Focus 12 is very simple to recognise: it occurs when I say in my latest post to Adrian (above) where I sense the blackness taking on a 3D effect, and I start to see colours, etc. This is Monroe's Focus 12. Focus 10 (mind awake body asleep) brings you to the edge of the border. And, like all Astral borders, there is not an immediate and sudden transition between one realm and the next. There is what is commonly known as a Buffer Zone. At Focus 10, as I say, you are standing on the edge of your creative imagination. At Focus 12, you mentally "step into" the buffer zone between the edge of your creative imagination and the Astral proper. (Note: In my earlier work I used to call the effects of stepping into the buffer- zone, the "stray energy" stage.) The F10 to F12 transistion is not given on the Wave 1 CD. So you will have to create your own sense of expectation based on my description. The F12 transition is given on a later CD but I found it of little use. Thing is, once you are at F12, stepping into the Astral and making contact with some guide is a relatively simple matter that I imagine most people would hardly have difficulty with. Well, provided you know the ground rules about remaining mentally still (just releasing a mild air of curiosity) and remaining completely closed emotionally, that is. Otherwise you'll step into the Astral and begin flitting all over the place. Which is no use at all. Yours, Frank PS LD: The process I describe is based on what I can glean from Monroe's latest two books (I haven't bothered with his ealiest work JOB, as Monroe says himself that he moved on from all that) which is coupled to the Gateway, Wave 1 CD. So if you have no experience with these, you will have a hard time trying to work out where I am coming from. The reason why my approach sounds scientific is because I'm a scientist. 2068 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / FRANK ... How are the retrievals going? on: September 26, 2002, 14:02:20 They're not, I'm afraid. I'm on a bit of an Astral projection downer at the moment. Last one was about 10 days ago. Lately, I've been practising developing my navigation skills and have been trying to project to Focus 27. I want to go to what the Monroe school calls TMI-There, and see if it's all true what they say, about the crystal and everything. And I was rather hoping I might be able to contact Bob Monroe and have a chat, as I've got a number of questions for him. I've had no success so far. As for Harath, he's around somewhere, I know that much as I often sense his light in the distance. But these guides can be mighty frustrating to deal with at times. Everytime he takes a step back I know there's a lesson I need to discover somewhere. Problem is, sometimes they won't just simply come out and tell you what you need to do, or just simply guide you to where it is you need to go. Yours, Frank 2067 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Affecting the physical world in OBE on: September 26, 2002, 19:35:02 quote: I'm curious to see what others (Frank, Adrian, Patty, Tish, etc.) has to say. Keep smiling, Jeff Mash MyJokeMail.com - Jokes and Humor http://MyJokeMail.com I, like Patty, only just opened the thread out of sheer curiosity as a result of thinking, "Hmm, that's getting a bit long." Then I realised there had been something of a debate going on. As you are curious, Jeff, I think your posts have answered just about everything to the extent where I've got nothing really to add (like the onion analogy BTW). Yours, Frank 2066 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 26, 2002, 20:47:33 Adrian: The 3D blackness thing is difficult to explain. (I think Jeff_M might have some better input on this as it forms the basis of his own projection technique.) I'll try and think of a good analogy and get back to the thread. With me, the point at which I sense the 3D blackness is the point where I leave the Physical behind completely. My focal point of awareness has "crossed the bridge" and is now *completely* immersed in another reality. As for the whirls of colour. Imagine that the blackness was gently swirling around you, like a black fog. Then, intermixed with this black fog, was fog of different colours all gently swirling around. Often I can hear a tune playing which sounds like it is drifting over from a distance. Or sometimes it might be just a single note. Many times I can see a bright light (higher being) in the distance that is obscured by the fog. In my early work, at this stage, it was common for me to hear all kinds of pops and bangs. Or sometimes I'd hear stomping noises, or Velcro-like ripping or tearing sounds, etc. I'd also see all kinds of abstract shapes like black & white outline drawings. Some of them looked quite devilish in nature, and once I'd have sworn there was this huge head of a wolf right up alongside my face. Which there wasn't, of course, but the energy was perceived that way for some reason. However, I find that, nowadays, all I get is the coloured swirling fog which is often accompanied by musical tones of various description, and the bright light. I'm normally in the buffer zone for about 5 seconds. All the while the fog is swirling I get a sensation of gradual movement. Then the fog clears and the Astral comes into view. What I see, or what I do from here depends on my original Intent. If I pass through with no real fixed objective (as I often do, but I'm trying to get out of the habit), I'll just end up standing around somewhere, in no place in particular. What I like to then do is walk around for a short while, just taking in the fact that "here I am again". From which point I'll decide what to do. At this stage, it is obvious that I am situated within the Astral proper. There is no mistaking it. It feels *exactly* like I was standing within the Physical, only it's the Astral. Though please bear in mind this is only due to the fact that I can remain emotionally closed. The tendency for newcomers, at this point, is to flit all over the place as their minds flit here and there. Which brings me to Clandestino's point about excitement and so forth. Yes, this is a very natural thing and any emotional release will hinder your progress. But at least you know that. The first 10 or 20 times you project your emotional release will no doubt scupper your experiences. But your realisation of the fact that it is your own emotional release that is the cause, will help you overcome the problem within a relatively short time. When I first started projecting within the Astral, I had one heck of a job trying to make sense of it all. One moment I'd be immersed in one scene, then another, then another...... At that time there were no Internet BBS's that you could join in order to ask questions and get help (er, come to think of it, when I first started there were no desktop computers!). As a result, it took me just over 5 years before the penny dropped, and I realised that my own release of emotion was the cause of my flitting about here, there and everywhere. Nowadays, the facts about emotions and their effects when released within the Astral are starting to become common knowledge. Which means the problems can be overcome in weeks, not years. Yours, Frank 2065 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Interesting on: September 26, 2002, 20:55:17 Yep, sounds absolutely brilliant. The guy's a natural. Yours, Frank 2064 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 27, 2002, 10:40:28 Adrian: Yes, I'm getting to the stage where I only use the CD every other morning. After another month, or two, I guess I won't need the CD at all, as it will have done the job it was designed to do. Yours, Frank 2063 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How do I get started w/OBE & Astral Travel? on: September 28, 2002, 09:09:24 First, recognise that the subject of Astral projection is becoming more commercialised by the day and perhaps well over 90% of the stuff that's out there is absolute kak. Second, realise that everything you need in order to travel within the Astral realms you already have within you. If I were you, I'd also forget about attempting what is viewed as the traditional "out of body" state. This is where you end up floating out of your physical body and typically end up looking down at your physical body, lying on the bed fast asleep. Doing this is very tricky and can be subject to all manner of reality fluctuations. Plus, despite all the hassle involved in getting to this obe state, you can't really get anywhere proper as all the "fun stuff" is on the Astral. Fortunately, the easiest thing to attempt (in relative terms) is Astral projection. This is where you project your focal point of awareness within the Astral realm as opposed to the Physical realm. The way you do this, in very basic terms, is to allow your physical body to fall asleep but keep your mind awake. How you do this is up to you, in the sense of doing whatever technique you feel most comfortable with. The techniques all tend to be based on using various sets of meta-physical imagery in order to kick-start the natural phasing, or projection process. Yours, Frank 2062 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Newbie on: September 29, 2002, 09:05:41 Sorry to sound contradictory, Arie, but I personally regard physical-body relaxation as being the easy part (relatively speaking) and it is by no means the "most important". There are many important considerations that all tend to be as important as each other, at each respective stage of the process. Anyone with normal sleep patterns allows their physical body to go to sleep at least once, usually every 24 hours. This is a natural process that a person (with normal sleep patterns) doesn't have to "try" or in some way "will" themselves to do. A person simply allows the natural sleep process to happen. So it is the same when preparing for Astral projection. The difference between allowing your physical body to relax when intent either on sleep or Astral projection, has nothing whatever to do with the physical body. In both cases the physical body simply goes to sleep. The big difference is your mindstate. The key difference between Astral projection and ordinary sleep is to keep your sense of conscious awareness awake, while simply allowing the physical body to naturally go to sleep. That's the tricky part: keeping your sense of conscious awareness awake. Once you can do that, you will find yourself right on the border to the Astral realms. That is really all there is to it. Well, as far as I am concerned, that is. Naturally, stepping within the Astral opens up a whole new can of worms due to the different ground rules that apply. But these are not difficult to put into practice. And, yes, you may have the odd scary moment or two but you cannot be harmed by any of it (unless you mentally allow yourself to be, of course). Yours, Frank 2061 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 30, 2002, 09:57:33 Tracy: you hit on something important which I'd like to stress again: It's where you say, "Be patient and be happy to have progressed as far as you have". This is ever so important. Now and again, someone will turn up with the question about wanting to AP. But they say they are impatient and want quick results. Problem being, Astral projection is not something you can throw money at and it comes quicker, like, paying extra for next-day delivery. The other aspect concerns your use of the word: happy. So many people approach AP like they were approaching some wild animal. From many people's posts it seems like every twist and turn is yet another cause for alarm. Leading to yet more anxiety, fear and stress. I'd like to take this opportunity to hit home the fact that Astral Projection is FUN. Yes, it's incredible FUN. And it fills you with a tremendous sense of JOY and HAPPINESS. quote: And Frank, how long did it take for the 3-D to become swirling color? It's not so much the 3D changes into swirling colour. It's more like a passing through phase. All the while I'm getting a sensation of movement where first it becomes 3D, then I move through that and get to the swirling colour stage. Then the fog clears, so to speak, and the Astral comes into view. Looking at it another way, if I get to the 3D stage and just remain there, then there I will remain just floating in a 3D void. Oh, while on the subject of being in the void, what you might try is asking for some music. It's really nice floating in the void listening to your favourite classical pieces. Yours, Frank 2060 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 01, 2002, 09:30:57 quote: Frank, let me ask you. You've mentioned on a number of occasions that you simply phase into the astral....no feelings of separation from a physical body. So would you say that you simply feel a slight movement (while passing through F12 & swirly color phase) and then BOOM! You find yourself in the astral environment? On reflection, I think "movement" is perhaps not the right word. It's more of a gradual mental shift that starts from first seeing what look like moving shadows for about 5 seconds, then 3D blackness quickly followed by the swirling for, say, another 5 seconds, then the Astral gradually comes into view. At this point, I am viewing the Astral from a short distance like if I were at the cinema viewing the Astral on the screen. Here I have 2 choices: 1) I can put out an "intent" to view something and watch it on the Astral screen. For example, I enjoy working with horses and I like to watch horses in action during olden times. Chariot racing is my favourite thing to watch at the moment, followed by jousting. But you can basically ask to see whatever you want and up it comes on the screen. (Though this is one of those things that it far easier to say, than to do! But it gets easier the more you practise). Second choice: I allow myself to mentally step into the Astral scene, whereupon I find myself within the Astral proper. Here I am free to just walk around, chat with the locals, etc. quote: Also, while getting there in this manner, do you suddenly become aware that you have an astral body? Where you can feel yourself walking, looking at hands, etc? Having an "Astral body" is not something that I become aware of. In the sense that I don't really need to think about it. I am free to walk about, as I say, and chat with the locals. But it just feels like it's me, normally, like I were in the Physical. Obviously, the "body" I am in, within the Astral, is not literally my physical body. But it feels exactly the same as if it were. It's difficult for me to explain, but there is no point in the process where I feel any kind of separation from my physical body. It literally feels like all that happened is the scenary changed. quote: I only ask because virtually all of my OBE's have happened from feeling a separation from my body....so I have had body-like sensations from the beginning. If I simply phase out into the astral, do these body sensations kick in once I'm actively moving around? What I would do is try and phase-into the Astral from the 3D blackness stage and not worry about any kind of body. quote: And one more thing....when I am going through my relaxation techniques and I hit F12, I'm not imaging myself moving. There is no visualization scene in my head like the one which you envision while listening to the tape. Do you think once I get to F12, I should start to IMAGINE some movement forward, through the images? The visualisation scenes that I use are merely tools that are designed to get me to F12 (and the subsequent transition to the Astral). So as soon as I begin to perceive F12 "symptoms" the previous visualisation stuff is redundant. When at F12, INTENT and EXPECTATION start to play a big role. Basically, Intent is the engine that drives you, and Expectation has a kind of feedback effect that pushes aside possible reality-fluctuation effects caused by Doubt and the like. Problem is, at this stage and beyond, you become your own self-fulfilling prophecy so you have to watch what you are thinking very carefully. Try floating in the 3D blackness and put out a specific intent to do something in particular and see what happens. Yours, Frank 2059 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Newbie on: October 01, 2002, 10:19:13 Wow, that was some post, Mr Berry! Thank you for some great insights. There was one particular sentence that I'd like to stress for the all the beginners out there. Where it says, "Swoop, dip, dive, move through the clouds, have fun! Move in whichever way you like, focusing only on the visualization. [my emphasis]" The problem with conscious-exit projection is the mind stays fully awake and alert at all times. I mentioned about this in a post a short while ago that it is ever so tempting to be lying there and checking, every now and again, what state of relaxation your body happens to be in. Typical question being, is it any more relaxed than it was 5 minutes ago, say. Doing this scuppers the process. Because the moment you focus on the physical body, it tends to come awake. Imagine if you were trying to fall asleep and, every five minutes, someone came along and shook you saying, "Are you asleep yet!" Under such circumstances, sleep would be next to impossible. For students of this modern-day phasing approach, the key thing to remember is to simply let go of the physical entirely. Merely allow your physical body to go to sleep as normal, rather than in some way trying to make it sleep: which you cannot do, because the more you try and make the body sleep, the more it will remain awake. Yours, Frank 2058 Healing / Welcome to the Healing place! / Urgent hangover healing required on: October 01, 2002, 10:33:57 Thanks for all the advice. Call me boring but I've decided to follow Adrian's advice and give up alchohol entirely. Never drank much in any case, but it was nice sharing a bottle of wine with my wife in the evenings (though it would scupper any chance of projection). So that's it, I'm completely drug free (and feeling kind of sterile). Yours, Frank 2057 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 01, 2002, 11:09:14 LD: Yes, I am sure that what I am viewing are events that have occured. But I have no actual proof of that (yet). I hesitate to use the term "Akashic Records" as mystical terminology is not my thing. But these particular kinds of images I am viewing on the Astral screen came about originally after posting an Intent to view the Akashic records (or at least my understanding of them). My overall intention is to try and view specific points in time. At the moment, all I can do, it seems, is to view an overview of events (if that makes sense) that appear to be occuring over, say, several months (or maybe even years) of time. It's like, for example, if you were to take a photograph but not wind the film to the next frame. Then take another picture, but again not wind the film on. So take, say, five pictures like this without winding the film on each time. The resulting image would be a bit of a jumble. But look closely and you would be able to pick out lots of bits of detail about each of the pictures you took. But there would not be just one clear image that captured one specific point in time. Which is what I am currently working on doing. Thank you for the kind comments and the book suggestion. Yes, having a high degree of control over the projection process allows you to dig deeper; as you are no-longer at the mercy of all kinds of reality fluctuations. I'm not sure how my interactions with the Astral are affecting my Physical. To be honest, I try my hardest to keep the two entirely separate. Yours, Frank 2056 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / monroe's locale II experience on: October 01, 2002, 11:43:02 Monroe's Local II is a region that nowadays would be termed from Focus 22 to the start of the Belief System regions at Focus 24. F22 is the point where consciousness dissociates entirely from the Physical. This is the beginning of the regions where it is demonstrated that what we call "thought" is in fact a primary energy (thought = instantaneous action). In other words, within these regions, as you think so it becomes all around you (in glorious 3D Technicolour). F23 is populated by people who are dead but cannot move on for whatever reason. Maybe through trauma, or insanity, or maybe they are just asleep not realising they are physically dead, or whatever. F24 Is the beginning of what are commonly called the Belief Sytem Regions, i.e. F24; F25 & F26. Here you find people who close-mindedly subscribed to a strict set of beliefs while Physical. Beliefs can be religious but not necessarily so. F24 is probably where Monroe came across the people you describe. The actions these people were involved in does sound weird, but I've seen a lot weirder. Yours, Frank 2055 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 02, 2002, 11:04:21 quote: Originally posted by Tracy: Ok Frank, I have to ask this. When you see this screen does it show actually moving scenes or are they more a sort of virtual reality where if an object in that scene is a little to far away to recognize that you ask to see the image at an angle. And complying with your request it rotates around so you can see the sides and back of the image until you recognize it. Yes, moving scenes that look as real as if I were watching a movie at the cinema. quote: For example a screen of a cute pleasant looking kitchen and wooden table along with a pair of fakey plastic pants hovering in mid air close to the kitchen table. Sorry about the example but I thought it would help in the description. This all relates back to the 3-D images I talked about earlier which by the way also have actual scenes of places. I'm trying to figure out if these scenes are astral in origin or just my brain taking me for a ride. The problem you face at this stage of development, i.e. when a person gets to the stage where they begin to see inner visions (or progress to Focus 22 and beyond, in Monroe speak), is you become your own self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, as you think so it instantly becomes, all around you in glorious 3D Technicolour. So if you decide that these images are your brain "taking you for a ride" that is how they will become for you. Which is why it is very important to learn how to become completely and totally still, mentally. Otherwise you will become forever entangled in all kinds of reality fluctuations. Taking your "kitchen" as an example: You may be viewing someone's Astral kitchen, but there is an inkling of a doubt inside you that what you are seeing is true Astral reality. What happens is, the Doubt that you feel will manifest in some symbolic way (this touches on Adrian's recent post in reply to Jeff's point about the sidewalk). You might see the cooker, for example, upside down sitting in the sink. Upon returning to Physical, you dismiss the affair. Thinking there was no way you were projecting to the Astral: it was just your brain playing tricks. So you think your Doubt was justified. As Doubt has now been reinforced that little bit more, next time you project it manifests again, and again, just that little bit more each time. Let this continue and you will reach the stage where you will dismiss the whole idea of Astral projection as just some whacky nonsense. (We had someone join the BBS not so long ago who had gone down this exact route.) The key thing to realise, is the Astral is a completely separate field of realty. As such, very different ground rules apply. Once you know those rules and can abide by them, the Astral becomes a very stable place. It is even more stable than the Physical. In the sense there are no earthquakes, tornados, terrorist bombs, car crashes. In fact, there is no death or destruction at all (well, the near-earth planes are a bit iffy but these are easily avoided). quote: Where there actually people in the pictures you viewed or did you have to go in the astral land and find them? When viewing the Astral screen I am simply a passive observer. From this stage I can choose to mentally step into the scene whereupon it becomes a part of me and I, in turn, become a part of it. The way you navigate on the Astral is by use of INTENT which is something I am still working on. For many years I was in the habit of just projecting to any old place and seeing what was around. So now I'm getting out of that habit and trying to project with a specific Intent each time. But still, I can so very easily get sidetracked. Interacting with the locals can be tremendous fun. And, if the conditions are right, the temptation to play tricks is too great to resist (well, for me that is). My two favourites are jumping off tall buildings and walking on water, both of which can attract quite a large crowd. quote: On another note, Even though you have had the cds to guide you I have no idea how you found all this out on your own. When I go out and just play with my unconscious and strange things occur I feel like I am fumbling around in the dark not sure where I am going or what these strange assurances are supposed to mean and what are you supposed to do next. Somehow I am guided to the next level and a new mystery unfolds itself feeling lost again. When I hear someone else actually has been through the same sequence I feel grounded again like I am not going in no man's land. I know that you have went through this all by yourself and went through the hard work and creativity of solving what to do next without earthly guidance. Yep, what you describe I recognise only too well. It has taken me 20 years of trial and error to get to where I am today. If I could go back and change anything it would be my initial thinking that all the stuff about Astral guides, and such, was just a load of mystical nonsense. This set me back quite a number of years. Which is why I always recommend the first thing people do is to become open to the idea of having Astral guides right from the start. Yours, Frank 2054 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 02, 2002, 12:23:09 quote: Ok....I've been here before. In fact, just the other night, I saw this mini-cinema. It was a small, square scene in the middle of the blackness, which showed me a sidewalk. Of course, right after I realized how real this was for being on my bed, my attention went back to my body in bed. Dooohhh! This kept happening over and over until I went to sleep. Adrian is right about the symbolism thing. The moment I read your post I saw it as an invitation for you to walk along it. Then I read Adrian's post. It's amazing how this stuff works to guide us! quote: Anyway, assuming that I didn't lose this astral image....when a person is at this point in his trance-state, would you say you could technically phase into the astral within the next few seconds? I would think so, since you're already starfting to see these 'scenes.' However, I think deep down, I've instilled the false belief in my mind that once I see these scenes, I still have a little ways to go before I can project. Try and think about it as being a natural, smooth transition from one focus level, to the next. I get the impression (do please correct me if I am wrong) that you are thinking of it like you go through various preliminary stages, then, blammo, you suddenly find yourself projecting within the Astral. You have received an inkling of the next stage, which is the Astral screen that starts to come about at the Focus 21 state. You are obviously not yet comfortable in this state as your protective sense of awareness keeps zapping you back to C1 (Physical). But once you are comfortable viewing the screen, you can phase naturally into Focus 22 which is where you mentally step into the screen. Focus 22, is a region of consciousness that, in my early posts, I termed the Training Ground. In my early days of projection, I got stuck projecting to this region for around 5 years before the penny dropped, and I realised that the scenary that surrounded me was fuelled by my own release of emotion. Focus 22 is also known as the Lucid Dream state. The big difference being you will be entering this region of consciousness with full conscious awareness and, therefore, full control of your actions; as opposed to the limited level of conscious awareness experienced when Lucid Dreaming. Here, don't be surprised if you see people just milling around aimlessly like they were drugged, or something. They are just people who are asleep. Yours, Frank 2052 Healing / Welcome to the Healing place! / Urgent hangover healing required on: October 02, 2002, 13:04:37 I've been off alcohol for over a week and, I have to admit that in spite of the fact I didn't drink all that much, it *has* made a difference. I'm now starting to project before sleep (as well as after) which I'm sure will help my progress, and my day to day thinking is a tad clearer than normal too. Though I do feel a bit sterile as alcohol was my only vice: don't drink tea or coffee, take any other drugs, nor do I eat any processed food or sugar, and riding horses gives me plenty of exercise. It's a bit weird because I had been having dreams about myself in circumstances where I'd be at a bar, or some like place, declining to have a drink when offered. I never thought much about it at the time, but it takes on a whole new significance now. Yours, Frank 2051 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / monroe's locale II experience on: October 02, 2002, 13:29:40 Focus levels are states of mental consciousness. Starting from C1 being normal Physical consiousness. In other words, in this state, your physical body is the primary mental focus and you are receiving sensations from your five physical senses. As you turn your attention away from your physical body, your mental focus changes. As it does so, you begin to perceive various other mental states that are labelled according to the common factors of each state. In his early work, Monroe refers to two "Locales" which have now been taken over by his later work. Locale 1 refers to the state beginning Focus 15 through to Focus 20. Which is just before the Astral Bridge zone at Focus 21. Cross that bridge and you enter Locale 2 as described earlier. Yours, Frank 2050 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 03, 2002, 09:52:57 Jeff: The Astral is populated by people, millions of whom continue to behave just like they did when incarnate (I'm mainly talking now of the Belief System regions). If conditions are right, they will look at you as "one of them" in the sense they don't realise that technically your're not: which gives you a mega advantage. I'm still a practical joker at heart (legacy from my youth) and opportunities for mischief abound to the point where it's difficult to resist. The real-time zone is some kind of buffer between Astral and Physical. It's not a mental focus state as such, and I have very little experience of RTZ projection. I only learnt to do it for the very first time about 8 months, or so, ago after having had hundreds of Astral experiences over quite a number of years. I found the novelty wore off very quickly, as there is nothing of any real interest you can do (by comparison to the Astral, I mean). The Training Ground is Focus 22. Which is the first mental state you reach after crossing the Astral bridge at Focus 21. Once that bridge is crossed, all release of thought-release-emotion becomes immediate action. Unless you realise this and adapt your behaviour accordingly, your progress to the higher realms will be severely curtailed. Hence my calling it the Training Ground, because it like prepares you for progression to the higher planes. As for your need to "lose consciousness" please realise that, correctly applied, with phasing there is no loss of consciousness! This is the very essence of the success of the technique! And is the primary reason why, for example, you can achieve near 100% recall. The 3D shapes are characteristic of Focus 12. As you progress you should find you come across a kind of null-zone where everything seems to just hang. I mean "hang" in the sense of a computer screen that sometimes can just suddenly hang on it's last action and do nothing more from then on. You may also suddenly get strong intuitive feelings about, say, answers to questions you might have had lingering in your mind: this is Focus 15. Then things begin to crystallize and you begin to see the Astral screen at Focus 21. This is where INTENT starts to play a big role (Intent is the engine that drives you on to the other, higher states). Yours, Frank 2049 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / waking in vibrational state on: October 04, 2002, 09:31:56 Blossom: what you describe is very normal. It's just your Crown Chakra switching on (has happened to me countless times). Problem is, when you come across it after waking up from sleep, as you did, the vibrations - coupled with the other feelings of electricity and crackling and so forth - have reached a fairly advanced and intense stage. Which makes it all feel like it's out of control. However, when you do this while conscious, the vibrations begin with a very light mental wafting. Like, someone is stroking the inside top of your brain with a large leaf about every second or two. At which point you can take control of the process and allow the vibrations to build to a higher pitched more of a light buzzing sensation. Then, for a bit of a laugh, direct the energy to your chest centre and ignite the Chakra there. As it comes alive, you should get the feeling like you just dropped about 300 ft in about a second. Now block the energy flow, come back up and repeat. It's immense fun. Yours, Frank 2048 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Welcome to the Astral Consciousness forum! on: October 04, 2002, 10:08:12 Personally, I regard the phasing approach as a natural advance from the traditional obe. If I may also quote an extract from Monroe on the matter, thus: "One of the Knowns emerging through repeated examination was that moving into or out-of- body no longer had for me what could be called "movement." Experienced subjects in the Institute laboratory had reported this many times [my emphasis] but it was not a part of my personal pattern until I began what I called the "quick-switch" method. Thereafter what happened was a fading out of one consciousness into another. To describe it as "going out-of- phase" seemed more accurate and satisfied better my left brain classification system." Yours, Frank 2047 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Found guide thru Auto. Writing!! on: October 04, 2002, 10:30:27 Meg: fascinating, I'll give this a go myself. When you ask your guide(s) a question, do you actually write it on paper first? Or do you just think of the question in your mind and write the auto answer? Yours, Frank PS This would make an excellent topic for the new Astral Consciousness forum BTW. 2046 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 04, 2002, 11:20:33 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf: Does this mean that in these situations I am lucky enough to become aware at monroe's focus 12 level or something? The Astral screen effect comes about at Focus 21. When you step into it, this is the Phasing to Focus 22. As I said in an earlier post, Focus 22 is also known as the Lucid Dream state. But you are entering this state with full waking consciousness; as opposed to "waking up" within a Lucid Dream where you generally only have part conscious awareness, which makes a BIG difference. If you Phase further and find yourself amongst all kinds of black and grey nasty stuff teaming with every manner of Human crud, then you are in Focus 23. And if you think Focus 23 is weird then Phase further and prepare to be weirded out to the n'th degree. Yours, Frank 2045 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 04, 2002, 17:13:16 quote: Originally posted by Adrian: Greetings Frank (if you have made it as far as page 6 of this topic http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile.gif" border=0> ) Regarding the Wave 1 CD - do you know what frequency it uses - I assume it is Theta waves? I have to admit to having no idea. The Hemisync side of things I never really understood. There are some feint sounds on the CD that I assume are the Hemisync tones but they can hardly be heard. quote: Does the frequency increase or decrease during the process, or remain static? As I say, these background sounds I don't have much of a fix on as they are way in the background. quote: And, what is the background - is it Monroe's guidance with a soundscape, and "pink" noise (a sort of hiss)? Yes, there is a kind of feint hiss which I'm sure will just be white or pink noise. Sorry I can't be of much help on this. Maybe on some of the other TMI CDs the Hemisync side of things features more prominently. Yours, Frank 2044 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / IIPC or Monroe on: October 06, 2002, 09:25:54 Daniel, "three romance-type books" you are having a laugh aren't you? Also, if I may respectfully point out, it comes across very strongly to me that you are confusing Science with Technology. The two are quite different. There are many shrewd people out there preparing to capitalise on the (now potentially mainstream) obe-etc. market. As with all new markets, it will be a case of presenting the punter a choice of "technologies" to buy into. "Here, buy my Betamax technology, no, here, I've got a super VHS that's cheaper and just as effective." And so a whole new industry catches light. "TMI the original and best" Now Coming To A Town Near You. Non-profit making? Yes, only because at the moment there is no profit to be made. But it's only a matter of time before that cozy theory gets blown out of the water. I bet you, it'll end up just like the crazy Diet market. Yours, Frank 2043 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 07, 2002, 10:49:48 quote: Originally posted by quebec: Frank, could you comment on the "intent" aspect once at Focus 21. Could you describe your approach once there at Focus 21, and how you utilise intent. My experience with Focus 21, if I practice in the evening, brings about a lot of sleepiness, and it's very hard not to fall asleep. It seems to be the border that has to be crossed while keeping your mind awareness from sleep. I want to first answer your last point about sleep. People fall asleep from habit. As your physical body goes to sleep, it's like there is some signal that says, "Physical is going to sleep... now initiate Mind cut-off." Somehow you have to break that habit. It isn't hard to do (unless you think of it that way) it's just a tricky mental balancing act you need to get into the habit of doing. Which can take time to get your head around. In other words, you need to go through a phase where you are working on swapping habits. Someone like Mr Berry, for example, from what he says never seemed to get into the habit of initiating Mind cut-off to any great extent. As a result, he seems more in the habit of not switching off access to Mind as his physical body goes to sleep. Therefore, projection comes easy to him. In a nutshell, all Astral projection involves is to simply let your mind remain awake and alert, while allowing your physical body to go to sleep. Because once your physical body nods off, that's it, you're free! Obviously, someone who has been in the habit of doing the opposite for 50 years of their life, say, chances are will find it a tricky habit to get out of. But it is by no means impossible. People also get the misguided idea that they need some kind of empty-mind condition before they can phase-in to the Astral. This is not the case at all. I suspect a lot of failures come about from this misguided notion. The key is to concentrate on the task in hand, just like you would concentrate on any other task. Another trap that befalls beginners is, they go about their normal day right up until the point where they lay in bed *then* they start to practise their techniques. Which I feel this is a big mistake. The time for practise is during the day: and it is from such practise that you develop the Intent. First, you need to believe that what you are attempting to achieve (Astral projection) is possible. Next you develop a firm intention to achieve that goal. Having the Intent leads you to practice the necessary mental techniques; which takes concentration. Concentrating without having a firm belief, for example, won't bring results. Neither will having a firm believe but allowing your mind wander all over the place through lack of Intent. As I say, the time for practice is during the day. With myself, in my mind, I *constantly* hold an image at a place in my head where the Astral TV screen effect comes about at Focus 21. During waking hours I cannot see the image as clear as day, like I can normally, because I am out of phase with it during Physical waking hours. But I still hold the impression of it CONSTANTLY in mind. As such, when I come to project, I do so with the specific intention of phasing to the screen. This is my first step. Then, as the screen comes fully into view, I take the next step which is normally to travel to my regular guide, Harath. Unless I'm going through a "not talking to him" phase in which case I might take an Astral stroll, have a chat with a few locals, and so on. I've said in previous posts that the Astral is very much closer to us that I suspect most people think. Which is why Imagination is a very powerful tool. I also suspect that a lot of people don't realise that their higher imagination-release-memory functions are not contained within the physical body at all. So I would say to people first starting out down the Astral-phasing road, is to imagine doing it at every opportunity you can during the day to the point where a permanent connection is made. Or at least the feeling of a connection is there, all the time, during waking hours, Yours, Frank 2042 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 08, 2002, 16:51:55 Jacara: guides can be a right PITA because they never give you a straight answer. My regular guide speaks almost entirely in riddles which, I suppose, is designed to stimulate curiosity. But often all I simply want is a straight answer to a straight question and, for whatever reason, he always seems to take this as some cue to go off on a tangent. And there's only so much I can take before telling him to get lost. Yours, Frank 2041 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 09, 2002, 09:42:57 quote: Originally posted by Tracy: Can a person project directly to the astral, bypass the little cinema screen and just be there? Yes, absolutely, this is the whole point of the training in going through the various stages, etc. What I found is, you have to learn to project slowly before you can project quick. Well, that's how it is with me and I strongly suspect that's how it is with most ordinary people; not having been born with any kind of "gift" for projection. I think of it like if a person was learning to play an instrument. At first you play the various notes at a pace so slow it seems like torture. But with persistance and determination, slowly but surely, things start coming together; to the point where, after a number of years of practice, you could just sit at any old piano and play it, for example. Astral projection rests on the same principles. First you slowly go through the various stages of mental focus in order to be able to recognise them and feel comfortable in the various states. In the process, people will many times get zapped back to C1 as the body adjusts to the new-found environment. But with persistance and determination, eventually you will reach the stage where you just lie back, relax, and simply go directly to the mental Focus state of your choosing. Myself, I'm not quite there yet. But all it takes is more practice, practice & yet more practice. Yours, Frank 2040 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus away from your body on: October 10, 2002, 09:56:16 Problem is, your focal point of awareness normally resides behind the physical eyes and it's one heck of a habit to get out of. Typical problem being, the moment you perceive any kind of inner vision, immediately the physical eyes will habitually go to try and look. Which zaps you right back to C1. What James says is *good* advice and it reminded me of something else you might try (which I used to often do as a "warm up" exercise during the day) is imagine in your mind doing a slow back flip. Imagine being in a room that is familiar to you. Then jump upwards and let your lower body come up and over, so you do a full backwards circle and land on your feet again - facing the same way. As you turn, imagine in your mind how it would look from the point of view of your physical eyes. In doing this you are doing the same as James suggested in his post. In that you are making yourself imagine from a perspective that you don't normally come across (unless you are heavily into athletics, of course). What I would advise you to do is to concoct several such mental scenarios: where you perform an action and imagine yourself looking from a point of view you wouldn't normally come across. Then, when you come to practice the rundown to Focus 10/12, you'll be looking at yourself from just another different perspective. I said on another post that the best time to practice is during the day. What I still often do, during waking hours (as I kind of mental warm-up), is practice holding basic shapes in mind. Like, imagine a box that contained shapes. Now reach into the box and take a square. Give it some colour and imagine looking at the square from, say, 5 feet away. Now change the colour. Note the colour then change it again. Now imagine the other side is a different colour. Turn the square around so the other face, with the different colour, slowly comes into view as the previous face fades out. Now turn the square into a cube. At first have each face the same colour. Imagine the cube turning in various directions and note as each face comes into view. Now have each face become a different colour. Turn it around again noting each coloured face as it comes into view. Now increase its size so it's about as tall as you are. Then have the cube stationary and imagine yourself walking around it. Now have it suspended in mid air. Float above, underneath, and all around, noting the colour of each side. Shrink the cube and turn it back to square. Now try the same with a triangle turning it into a pyramid shape. Then a circle into a sphere, and so forth. These kinds of mental exercises will GREATLY improve your inner vision, and can be performed almost anywhere, anytime you get a few minutes free. Think of your inner vision as a completely separate faculty. At the moment it is like a muscle that has hardly ever been exercised, and you need to gently coax it into doing some work for you. Every time you imagine seeing some basic shape in mind (or imagine seeing anything in mind for that matter), you are exercising that muscle. Just a little, here and there, twenty or thirty times a day. And after a few months that muscle will be bulging out of your forehead. Yours, Frank 2038 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Frank..where should I go? on: October 13, 2002, 09:56:31 Sorry, but there are no easy answers to your questions. You need to research as much material as you can and try to find methods and ways that suit you. Me, I'm a great fan of the Monroe school and the Phasing approach. Lots of other people follow methods published by Rober Bruce who talks of all kinds of Energy Raising concepts, etc. Basically, you need to study the various approaches and work on finding your own way. To me, the "fun stuff" is in the finding out, or the discovery aspect, whether I'm phased into Physical or Astral. Problem is, though, everyone's idea of Fun is different. Yours, Frank 2037 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 13, 2002, 10:27:02 quote: Originally posted by Windameir: Frank I wondered if you could expand on your breathing technique for us you mentioned it in another post and called it (habitual) I asked in another thread but I am thinking that maybe you havn't gone back there since its moved down past the first page. Thanks Happy Travels Windameir Basically, there is a good way and a not-so-good way to breathe. Quickly take a deep breath in. If your chest immediately begins to rise, you habitually breathe the not-so-good way. If your stomach moves out first, as your diaphragm moves downwards, that is how it should be. (The chest should only rise at the very last stage of a deep breath.) What I was working on, at the time of my original post, was imagining energy flowing from my head, down my spine with each intake of breath (as diaphragm moves downwards). Then, as the diaphragm reaches its bottom limit, you can find a kind of curling sensation coupled with a tingling feeling in the solar plexus area (rather like if you go over a hump-back bridge at speed). If you keep doing this it activates the various Chakras. It was at a time when I got curious about the various sensations you get when bodily Chakras are activated. I found the Heart one is the best. Real whacky sensations. Though I found the the novelty does wear off after a bit. Yours, Frank 2036 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Prayer on: October 13, 2002, 10:49:20 Arie: You say........... quote: Lately I've been evaluating all my beliefs and I'm beginning to doubt more and more. Lately I've had the belief that God is Love. Because I have experienced love. But then again how is that God is the emotion of love. That doesn't make sense. How can he be an emotion. He has to be much more than that. Tom I'm interested in your belief that God doesn't exist. How did you come to that conclusion? Do you believe that we are eternal. Because my intuition is telling me that we are. It doesn't make sense that anyone can "lose" existence or become extinct. Lately I've been "sensing" my intuition more powerfully. I describe it as a calm inner knowing. Do you guys know what I mean? I feel alot more empowered and somehow I sense that I'm on the right track. I haven't felt like this ever.......... And in the other breath you say your prayers are not being answered??? Sounds like topsy-turvy thinking to me, which I believe is quite probably the source of your anxiety. Yours, Frank 2035 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus away from your body on: October 13, 2002, 11:10:29 quote: Originally posted by TheJza: Frank: It is funny that you say the Day time is the best time to practice. When I do the Cd in the morning before work (which I just did), this is the toughest time. My eyes are constantly moving behind my eyelids and snapping me back to looking at the black behind my eyelids. Funny, the very moment I read the sentence about your eyes moving the 2-circles exercise came to mind, which you went on to suggest. Yes, I think it may be beneficial as it helps relax the eyes and enables you to hold a soft focus for a period of time. Yours, Frank 2034 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / An Astral question.... on: October 14, 2002, 08:40:36 quote: Originally posted by James S: (my guide is very affectionate and increadibly attractive so I don't mind it) Sorry, couldn't resist a chuckle or two thinking of yourself hugging another aspect of yourself. Yours, Frank 2033 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / An Astral question.... on: October 14, 2002, 18:40:40 James: Of course I mean no offence which I'm taking that you realise. There are, no doubt, exceptions to the rule but guides are usually past incarnations of the same Self. My regular guide Harath, for example, is a different incarnation of me. Next time you meet with yours, ask her where she fits in. Yours, Frank 2032 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I would very much appreciate Franks help on: October 15, 2002, 09:23:52 Phasing is a method of Astral projection. The technique is based on the idea of simply allowing your physical body to go to sleep, however, as you do so, you keep a conscious connection with your mind rather than simply blinking out like you'd normally do. Doing this allows you to remain conscious at all times during the process. As you phase away from the Physical, your focal point of consciousness becomes attuned to different regions of consciousness that are called Focus levels. The technique was founded by R Monroe who wrote several books about his Astral adventures. The best of which (IMO) are Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey. Plus, there's lots of information on the Internet that you might find useful. Some of my early posts to this BBS are about the time when I was first experimenting in finding a more controlled Astral projection process. I was practicing moving my focal point of consciousness to different areas of my head and body in order to try and find some kind of mental switch that would swap me from Physical to Astral. As a result of those early experiments, I began to work on perfecting what I now call my Phasing technique which is descibed above. Best of luck. Yours, Frank 2031 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I would very much appreciate Franks help on: October 16, 2002, 09:50:37 My technique is based on the Gateway Wave 1 CD from the Monroe Institute. But you can basically use any kind of meta-physical imagery as a portal. If you use the search facility to read through some of my more recent past posts I think they should give you a good idea. Yours, Frank 2030 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Phasing questions on: October 19, 2002, 10:05:08 Tracy: you are free to explore wherever you like. Simply be intent on doing so and it will come about (as you think, so it becomes). Though there are natural limitations that apply. These limitations largely depend on the extent to which you can remain emotionally closed and/or keep your thoughts under control. But, as far as your exploration is concerned, it is *you* that's in the driving seat. That is why you often read people's early obe experiences and they always tend to follow along the lines of, "First I was here; then suddely things changed; but before I knew it I was somewhere else; then I thought I saw someone I recognised; then everything changed again... etc... etc... and then I woke up." The person hasn't yet learnt that, on the Astral, thought equals instant action. Which means they allow their minds to flit all over the place and, each time it flits from one line of thinking to another, the scenary changes with it. (Though it is normal for these people to think it's the other way around, i.e. their thoughts are a reaction to the change in scenary.) I would suggest the problem in your case could well be your thinking that, "every time I project it is always in a lesson. I can never go out and explore" As I say, thought equals action and if you project thinking that everytime you project it will always be in a lesson and you can never go out and explore: then such will become your Astral reality. You say you want to go out and explore. But where do you want to go exactly? You need to have a fair idea of what it is you want to do, to the extent where it will fuel your Intent to do that thing. Yours, Frank 2029 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Phasing questions on: October 20, 2002, 10:21:44 Tracy: Think of the ground-rules as being easy once you get the hang of it. The tricky bit is teaching your sense of conscious awareness that a different set of ground rules apply. After a while it becomes easy to switch from one to the other. It becomes, like, in Europe, when we in the UK nip across the Channel to France we have to drive on the opposite side of the road. At first it's a bit tricky having to constantly bear in mind that everything is the opposite. But regular visitors simply get into the habit of switching from one driving mode to the other. That's how it gets with the Astral. You just switch from one set of thinking to the other. The one big thing to always bear in mind is thought equals instant action. Which means it is ever so easy to get into a situation where everything experienced around you is merely being created and fuelled by your own release of thought-release-emotion. We had a classic example of a person who came onto this BBS telling of how he, at first, thought obe's were "real" but after a while he discovered that what he was experiencing was just his own mental meanderings. So he concluded that the whole "out of body" phenomenon was ultimately just a Lucid Dream. Sadly, what this person failed to realise is the basic rule that: Thought Equals Instant Action. I've spent a number of years researching the basic mental pitfalls and have made most of them oodles of times. Even now I can get caught out and have my experience scuppered. Perhaps one of the most common pitfalls (I mean apart from the very basic stuff like releasing emotions such as fear) is getting caught in a Confusion Loop. Once you can keep your basic emotions in check, the Astral becomes a much more stable place. This offers you the opportunity of having a wander around and interacting with the locals. (Well, those that are open to you that is.) But this, in itself, opens up the possibility of coming across yet more subtle pitfalls. And one of the most common is, as I say, a Confusion Loop. What happens is, you see something that might be perfectly normal on the Astral, but something that you'd never see on the Physical. In an effort to make sense of it all, your conscious awareness will automatically call on your critical faculties for an explanation. Obviously, no explanation will be forthcoming because all you have to compare against (in your early days of exploration) are Physical-based phenomenon. Hence the confusion that subsequently arises. Once you get into a mental state of confusion, it is very difficult to get out of. Because your release of the thought of confusion, becomes the fuel that makes the situation you are in ever more confusing. Then you find yourself locked in an ever-worsening downward spiral of confusion which, ultimately, scuppers the experience. The key is to avoid getting into these loops in the first place. This is where Guides come in *mighty* handy. What you do is, the moment you come across something that looks remotely confusing, stop and ask for clarity. Understand that Guides are with you at all times. Even though you may not (at first) be able to perceive them around you, they are there. So you don't want to get into a frame of mind where you close yourself off to Guides entirely, as they are most useful. I've said before on this BBS that, in my early years of exploration, I thought all the Guide-stuff was mere mystical mumbo-jumbo. Problem was, my thinking that way severely curtailed my progress. In a sense, your situation is the basic opposite to how I used to be. In that I was once totally closed to them, and now you appear to be smothered. And both of us found it difficult to make progress. The solution is to try and find a happy balance between allowing your natural sense of curiosity to guide you; but always having the security of a Guide, at arms reach, for when situations get sticky. Which they *will* often do. Yours, Frank 2028 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Phasing questions on: October 21, 2002, 09:30:08 quote: The thought and intent was so strong that after I finally did project, my astral being didn't realize this, it also tried to project and succeeded into another plane (I think). Non-the less, now I know how strong intent can be. I felt like I was mirrored in three different places at once, this was so strange. With the Phasing approach, once you become practised at it, it becomes possible to have awareness of both Physical and Astral. For example, I used to wonder how, when reading accounts of people who had travelled to Focus 27 at TMI, these people could be at Focus 27 yet still follow instructions given to them through headphones attached to their Physical ears. Now, of course, I realise that it is just as possible to Phase to Physical from Astral in a controlled way. Whereas, at first, going back to Physical is, more often than not, forcefully initiated as a means of escape. quote: --I was wondering how much the unconscious suggestions come to play in projection. Very much. quote: I was thinking the reason why I project into various rooms in my house is because I used this thought while learning to project. "I will project into my living room" knowing it is a safe , comfortable place. And later on became an unconscious suggestion. This suggestion manifested itself in my projection unknowingly. Who knows if this is true. Yes, that is basically how it works. quote: Well, I hope I get the hang of switching the different ground rules. This is another challenge that is difficult to figure out. I like your flipping the switch idea, so if a switch is flipped moving your consciousness from the physical into your astral body during an OBE, then we should be able to flip a switch in the mental processing for these astral rules while phasing. ...interesting.... Maybe my guides will help me ease into this. They have played a very important part in everything I have learned so far. All it takes is practice, practice and yet more practice. Also, the moment things get sticky I found it is far, far better to come back to Physical and start again rather than try and sweat it out. Because it normally takes beginners ages to project each time, the tendency is to try and hang on to the projection for as long as possible. But I found that the main aspect of projection, which makes it all get progessively easier, has nothing to do with the actual length of projection but is all to do with the frequency. As such, it is far more beneficial, longer term, to have (say) three short, controlled projections per day rather than one long one. Also, doing this cuts down on the number of scary circumstances you create for yourself. Each one of these leaves a strong imprint in your mind. However, normally these should be wholly outweighed by all the positive experiences you should be having. Please be aware that serious mental problems can arise when the opposite is the case (as is often clearly demonstrated on the PSD forum, for instance). Taking your point about it taking months for you to sort out, when I first started (20 years ago) there was no such thing as the Internet. It actually took me around 5 years to realise that thought- release-emotion went to creating and fuelling the circumstances that surround you. Nowadays, thankfully, this kind of basic information is getting to be common knowledge which accelerates a person's development no end. Yours, Frank 2027 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: October 21, 2002, 11:10:46 Please bear in mind that I specifically reco the Gateway Wave 1 CD tracks 1 & 2 ONLY. Track 1 is the intro to track 2 which you only have to listen to once or twice, then you only need listen to track 2. If you master the transition to Focus 10/12 then you should fairly easily be able to do the rest from your own study. Plus, I regard the way it is all set out in various "Waves" and so forth, as being mere commercialism. Obviously, the final choice is down to each individual. I just wanted to doubly stress my position so there can be no chance of any upsets (those CD sets are mighty expensive). Yours, Frank 2026 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Phasing questions on: October 22, 2002, 10:37:13 quote: I'm not quite sure which focus.... focus 27 is, could someone briefly describe it? Focus 27 is called the true afterlife region populated by people who are dead and fully realise it (dead and proud of it, as I say). It's a region where you can discover all kinds of things about life, itself and everything. An Internet search should bring up all the explanation you can muster. Briefly, the near-Physical regions are jam-packed with all manner of human crud and it gets better the further out you go. If praying to Gods is your thing then you'll love the Belief-system regions of Focus' 24; 25 & 26 where you find Gods galore in all shapes and sizes. In fact, there are many sad characters in these places that actually believe they are God. Basically, these regions of F24/25/26 are the literal definition of the phrase: like attracts like. It's interesting observing all that goes on and it teaches you a lot about life in general. But you can't really learn anything of any major value. The problem with these regions is people tend to be locked in their everyday activities which means, a lot of the time, they are closed to you. When they do see you, they more often than not view you as if you were one of them. Which means you can have a lot of fun, entering into their world as some character or other, simply enjoying the role-play. As I say, it's all immense fun (especially if you like drama) and the opportunity to play a practical joke or two is difficult to resist. quote: Yes, It is really nice to read this and is a comforting to know. Right now I mainly have short projections and have been thinking of drawing these small projections out and make them longer. But, I don't feel stable enough yet to have a long projection. So this is nice, no pressure being felt. Rather than working on the length, work on the stability. The more stable your projections become, the more meaningful they become. Think of it that people project for *hours* every night in their sleep, but it's all meaningless as it's virtually all uncontrolled. Far better to project for just 2 minutes of Physical time with total awareness and control, than drift along for hours on end not realising it. And because there is no such thing as "time" on the Astral, a fully controlled 2-minute projection can often feel like you've been out for days. quote: --That projection where I was in three places at once, ended up being longer than usueral and quickly became quite confusing. Not realizing I had projected twice, I was trying to "wake" out of the second projection into the first projection not realizing I was still projecting and couldn't "wake" out of it. After several tries, I finally realized I had double projected and actually finally came out of it where I was back in the real physical. Very confusing. You probably had similar experiences. Remember, it's always "as you think so it becomes". So if you get confused thinking you projected twice, such will become your reality. All that happened is you became subject to the typical kinds of reality fluctuations that can occur in a typical Confusion-loop, and the circumstance you describe is commonly called a False Awakening. There have been times when I would have staked my life on the fact that I had returned to Physical and was laying in my bed, in my room, with my wife sleeping next to me. But no, it was all a false awakening and I was actually within the Astral. I posted a thread a while ago on this. I think it was called, "Astral experience example" or something like that. EDIT: Found it, here's the link http://www.astraldynamics.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=619 That kind of experience can get very spooky, especially when you do return to Physical but don't believe it. Many times I've got out of bed, gone downstairs, listened to music, made some tea, walked around the garden, etc. All to make absolutely certain that I AM truly in the Physical. Again, the way to overcoming it is to gain more control which only comes with practice, practice and yet more practice. quote: Is there an easier way to avoid confusions in circumstances like this? Maybe I should just think......."There's no place like home, there's no place like home!..... Ok, that's just a little silly. No, not silly at all. You actually got it in one. The way you get back to Physical proper, in one go, is to think about something Physical that is very close to you, or has some kind of special meaning. Or it could be anything really, provided it has some strong link in your mind to the Physical realm. Then, what you do is practice phasing from Astral back to Physical in a controlled way and using whatever Physical thing it is you are thinking about as a kind of trigger. Then, if you have a sticky moment, you immediately pull the trigger and instantly you are back to Physical. With me, I open my physical eyes while projecting. This superimposes the image given to me by my physical eyes on the Astral scenary. Then I just think of mentally stepping into this image whereupon I phase right back to Physical in an awakened state. Once you get more control you might feel a kind of null-zone in your Astral awareness. With me I felt like there was a kind of "shadow" right alongside me. Wherever I went, it went. The feeling become so strong I even started to think that all the talk about "attachments" and so forth, you often read about on the PSD forum, may actually be real entities. Because that is how it felt, like something was attached to me. After a while I realised what it was: it was my physical body. Not literally, of course. Like I say, it came across as a feeling of a kind of null-zone where the Physical lay. Like, step into that zone and... zoom... back to being Physical again. With my Astral sight, for example, it seemed like just a little way off from the place I was viewing from was this kind of null zone. It was a feeling like I'd get with my physical eyes if I were to look with one eye closed. So I tried mentally going into this zone and was rather surprised when my physical eyes opened and I zipped back to Physical right away. So now I use this method both to reliably phase back to Physical and to quickly get me out of trouble whenever the need arises. Yours, Frank 2025 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing/OBE What's the difference? on: October 22, 2002, 12:19:03 Phasing is a term first coined by Monroe which developed thus... Quote Monroe: "One of the Knowns emerging through repeated examination was that moving into or out-of- body no longer had for me what could be called "movement." Experienced subjects in the Institute laboratory had reported this many times but it was not a part of my personal pattern until I began what I called the "quick-switch" method. Thereafter what happened was a fading out of one consciousness into another. To describe it as "going out-of-phase" seemed more accurate and satisfied better my left brain classification system." Phasing is a means of projecting consciousness within the Astral realms. Whether you project via traditional obe practice, or through the more modern-day Phasing approach you still project within the same Astral realms. All that changes is the method used to get there. Like, fly to New York on an aircraft, or go by ocean liner, you still end up in the same New York. As with Physical transportation systems, there are benefits coupled with disadvantages of each. The boat takes longer, but you can relax, take a walk, have a swim, sleep in a comfortable bed, enjoy sumptuous meals, etc. By contrast the plane is cramped and uncomfortable, the food sucks, and so forth, but it's darned quick and relatively cheap. So, you can take the traditional Energy Raising approach, and have tremendous fun igniting various energy centres (Chakras); enjoy all the weird and wonderful sensations of having crackling waves of energy running up and down your body; creating psi balls; moving objects with your thoughts, and so on. Not only that, you can take this energy and create a body double of yourself from etherial matter; project a copy of your consciousness into it; and go wandering around the real-time zone. As I say, all great fun and interesting to do. But it's darned tricky to accomplish for the average person. Not only that, while it may be fun to an accomplished projector having waves of cracking energy flowing through them; or looking down on their physical selves whilst lying on the bedroom ceiling: ordinary people normally get scared out of their wits just by the thought of doing such a thing. Phasing offers a simpler approach as the technique is aligned very much with bodily actions and/or sensations that most individuals already do while performing other actions. Becoming completely engrossed in a movie or a book, is very much like the Focus 10 state, for example. Mildly drifting off listening to classical music is like Focus 3. As such, it is all very much easier to explain. Not only that, people gain confidence knowing they can make progress with feelings they are already familiar with. And they are reassured by the fact they are not going to suddenly find themselves bouncing off the ceiling thinking they just died, or whatever. The big disadvantage is the Phasing experience is a whole lot more restrictive. Barring the odd exception, the only place you ever get to go, or thing you get to do, is to project within the Astral realms. Now, for me, that is all I ever want to do. Because, on the Astral, is where all the fun stuff lies. However, there is a MAJOR pitfall: all the "fun stuff" can only be tapped into by knowing and adhering to the strict ground-rules that apply. Which is ever so easy to say, but so darned difficult to perform at the time. In summary, I would say that Phasing offers a person a relatively quick and simple way of projecting their conscious awareness within the Astral realms (if, like me, that is all you really want to do). But there is the danger a person may project within the Astral completely unprepared for what comes next. The traditional approach seems to be taken more slowly, and with a far greater emphasis placed on the actual Spiritual teaching side of things. To me, this more prepares a person for "normal" life on the Astral. A lot of the teaching talks about being a good person, being non-violent and generally cooperating with others. I note, though, that people through the ages have taken this to mean only Spiritually pure people, and the like, can have access to the Astral. Which is not true. You can be as evil as they come and the Astral will welcome you with open arms. However, people who cannot keep their emotions and thoughts in check will naturally not get past Focus 22. The reason for this not because there is some Astral police force preventing you, but simply because Focus 22 is the first realm where thought equals direct action. A violent/aggressive/highly-fearful person will simply become imprisoned by the circumstances of their own making. Which is a vile and disgusting thing to witness. But, ultimately, you brush it off realising that it's all part of the human learning-curve in the grand scheme of things. Yours, Frank 2024 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing/OBE What's the difference? on: October 22, 2002, 16:04:48 Jeff: That's an interesting occurence. I'm a bit confused where you say you knew he wasn't a physical entity. Do you mean he did not currently have a physical body, i.e. he was not currently incarnate. Or that you knew the boy was currently incarnate but realised you were viewing a body other than his physical? My initial thoughts are the boy was physical incarnate and merely doing the same as you, i.e. projecting into the real-time zone. I'd love to give you a straight answer but I have precious little RTZ experience. And I'm not all that sure where the RTZ comes into it Focus-level wise. Yours, Frank 2023 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing/OBE What's the difference? on: October 23, 2002, 09:15:52 quote: a) I was 'out' and usually when I'm 'out', I've never encountered anyone. And those that I have were always shocked and alarmed. I remember you told me you only normally project in the RTZ. What I think is happening is you are becoming more open to the idea of other populated realms. I don't have all that much RTZ experience but I get the impression people tend to move around in the RTZ encased within a kind of restrictive thought-bubble that concentrates or fixates their attention on their immediate surroundings. Doing this will largely close you off from all the rest that is going on just a slight-shift away in conscious awareness. And it IS just a very slight shift. I've read now and again where people are asking how to get to the Astral from the real-time zone. Like it was a million miles away or something. There was once talk about choosing some point on the horizon and zooming off towards it at high speed and stuff... why? When the Astral is just a fraction of a mental shift away. quote: Anyway, during this exact same projection, I did walk through a window of some house into a room which had some people in it, and they all looked scared to death to see me there. So the only way I can explain this whole scenario is this: 1) Either I was in a realm which looked similiar to the RTZ but wasn't, or 2) I was in the RTZ and these entities were part of it. The reaction of the people you encountered smacks to me of belief-system region. But your primary mental focus would have been RTZ. Just the fact you thought you were in the RTZ would have created an RTZ-like buffer experience. Or maybe you were half in the RTZ whilst perceiving some group of people located, say, on Focus 24. This is all VERY possible. There are no hard and fast barriers between the mental focus levels. You often come across groups of people huddled together around Focus 24 and they get scared when they see you. What happens very often is people die and they think that's it. But it's not, and they are very surprised and frightened to realise that there IS a "life after death" that they had discounted all their physical lives. These people can get mighty scared because they start thinking of all the bad things they did; all the times they discounted the idea of God, etc; and they get this idea that someone is eventually going to come along and take them to Hell. Then, one day, you fly in through the window. quote: THat still raises the interesting question though: I wonder if being in the RTZ, one can see and interact with beings who normally reside in higher Focus levels. For example, could someone who usually resides on Focus 27 "travel" into the RTZ and interact with us there, or any other Focus level for that matter? Yes, this is very possible and happens all the time. quote: I would have to assume that they can, since we ourselves are free to travel through multiple Focus levels. Yes, we are, but only when we have learned the basic ground-rules that apply, i.e. remaining emotionally closed with thoughts in check. Else we just get stuck at Focus 22. quote: If this is true (and I've never heard anyone else hypothesize about this), then I can see how things can make a little more sense during a projection. This could explain why many times, you're environment tells you that you're in one Focus level, but certain entities that you come across appear to be from another Focus Level. As I say, there is a very fine line, just a *tiny* shift in mental focus, from one place to the next. You may have made that shift without realising it (very common) thus begin to perceive other people on other focus levels. But your base thinking is still "back there" in the real-time zone. So you are standing there, half and half, because that is where your thinking is at. Always, always keep in mind: as you think, so it instantly becomes. Or, as you are thinking from moment to moment, so it is becoming moment to moment. Yours, Frank 2022 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / First astral experience! on: October 23, 2002, 09:29:41 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf: >Sounds like a Lucid Dream to me. So? Eventially you realise that the difference between all such states is concious awareness, THAT is what makes the difference! Douglas Well said that man. The Lucid Dream state is, basically, Monroe's Focus 22. With one MAJOR difference, which is, your level of conscious awareness. Also, perhaps I should mention, there is all manner of activity going on within the Astral realms. In other words, you can sit in a cafe or bar just like you can on the Physical. Of course, it is only natural for a person to think, when they first start to come across these places, that they must be dreaming and it is not a true Astral experience. I know I did. But, as I say, all manner of human activity that you see on the Physical, also occurs on the Astral. Yours, Frank 2021 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / My eyes want to come open... help :( on: October 23, 2002, 11:28:08 Sounds to me like tension around the eyes and forehead and maybe just a little fear is coming into play as you perceive the 3D blackness. At this point it would only be natural for you to tense up a little without really realising it. The expanding blackness is Focus 12 in Monroe-speak. The slowing down sensation occurs at Focus 15 as you phase totally out of the Physical and thus lose all sensation of Physical-time. Further on you cross the threshhold at Focus 21 and step into the Astral at Focus 22. So you are *very* close. What I would try is massaging your forehead/temple region a few times a day (check your neck and shoulders too for any inbuilt tension). Also check youself to make sure you are not in the habit of pulling what I call a: Rain Face. If you stand and watch a crowd of people that get caught in the rain, you'll see how they all scrunch-up their faces like the raindrops were directed at them, personally. Many people are in the habit of scrunching up their faces, raining or not, which can cause a level of inbuilt tension around the eyes and forehead. Problem is, you need to relax the eyes completely which some people find difficult. If the eyes are not relaxed they have this tendency to want to snatch a glance at whatever it is you happen to be perceiving. And once they try and do that, it brings you out of it. Which is very frustrating. Yours, Frank 2020 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing/OBE What's the difference? on: October 23, 2002, 16:52:22 quote: Originally posted by Jeff_Mash: And I now see how many times, I could be walking down a familiar hallway in my house, only to make a turn and find myself in a completely different house! It's all about controlling these mental shifts. You absolutely got it in one. On the Physical, we are SO used to having a very stable environment. However, on the Astral, thought equals direct action. One moment you are walking down your landing, you make a turn, but at the same time (without really realising it) you make a subtle mental shift. As a result, your whole environment changed. Problem is, your mind isn't yet used to that. It fully expected to turn and continue down the landing (or to wherever it would have led normally as you made the turn). As the mind's expectation focus has not been met, coupled with the fact that what it has been met with is SO not like it would normally experience, i.e. in a Physical sense, the mind then tends to get caught in a confusion loop - which generally scuppers the experience. The key is to take things really slowly while you are out there. Thought and movement is ever so fluid within the Astral. Even if you slow things down to what feels like a half or a third the speed you would normally think and move (Physically) you are probably actually thinking and moving many times faster than you *ever* could Physically. Yours, Frank 2019 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Used Monroe CD's sale/exchange? on: October 23, 2002, 17:10:37 Yes, it did take me quite a while. But please don't take that as any kind of yardstick. I truly do not have any kind of natural gift for obe work. As such, I often have to really fight for even the smallest of gains. But that's how I always am with most things, and have long since accepted that. I imagine a younger person more into the technology could, once they got the basic rundown from the Wave 1 CD, could easily create their own CD complete with sound effects, etc. Which I am sure would be equally effective. Yours, Frank 2018 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / 12/23/2012 on: October 26, 2002, 16:34:25 quote: Originally posted by Violet: I think the change will be in consciousness. My feeling is that mankind will be forced to realize that thoughts are things. As people start picking up more and more on others thoughts and feelings it will be those that have learned self mastery, humility, self respect and respect for others that will be well liked. People will become more and more aware of the subtle ways in which they are being controlled by others (the insincerity of some people) and many will start breaking free of these bonds. What a lovely post. One of the best (and most accurate) I have ever read. Thank you. Yours, Frank 2017 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / The straight up wacknessity of it! on: October 27, 2002, 09:41:12 quote: Originally posted by Risu no Kairu: This morning I was doing that and it was working, I felt vibrations and had hypnogogic or whatever images(which looked very real). Anyways, how come sometimes you can hear radio stations? Because within the Astral there are radio stations, TV stations, books, newspapers, magazines, and a whole load else besides. If you have a favourite piece of music, for example, simply become open to it, while on the Astral, and it will begin playing. Same is true with anything else you want to see, hear, experience, etc. Or if there is nothing quite to your tastes, in *whatever* it is you want to experience, then you can create it (as you think so it becomes *literally* in glorious 3D Technicolour). Yours, Frank 2016 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / An update on my progress (still stuck) help plz on: October 27, 2002, 10:21:34 From what you say about images, random sounds, etc. you are relaxing to the Focus 12 state (in Monroe-speak). At this point your focal point of awareness is very close to the Astral border where it joins to your higher imaginative consciousness. At the point where you begin to perceive the imagery has taken on a 3D quality, you need to become a little more active, mentally. Because I think your main problem could be lack of any real intent to do something in particular. You see, once you get to a certain stage you are free to go. The exact details of when that stage arrives is slightly different for each person. With me I perceive the 3D blackness, then dark shadowy figures which turn into a whirling coloured fog, then the Astral landscape comes into view. Note: it is common for people to perceive tunnel or grid structures rather than a landscape effect. But, for some reason, I always seem to perceive a landscape. Once I perceive the 3D blackness turn into whirls of colour, I then hold in mind a picture which, to the best degree possible, sums up my Intent. (NOTE: that's why it is best to keep your intention simple so you can capture the gist of it with a simple image). Reason being, once I percieve the Astral landscape I am at the Astral bridge-zone at mental Focus 21. This is the beginning of the state where thought equals direct action. So, by holding an image in mind which sums up my Intent, the moment I reach Focus 21 that image is released as a thought-wave which goes to fuel the next step in my progression. Which, nowadays, is normally to visit the library at Focus 27. But my suggestion would be for yourself to first put out the idea of contacting a guide. As you will make much faster progress in the long run. Yours, Frank 2015 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / All the different brain entrainment possibilities- on: October 28, 2002, 10:01:10 Mark: you are on the right track. Talking "about" obe is not the same as actually "doing" it. No matter which slant people decide to put on things, a person still has to lie back and DO it at the end of the day. So I say the sooner a person begins, the sooner they can begin getting results. Also please bear in mind that all the help you, or anyone for that matter, needs is right there, within you... within everyone. All the help they could ever hope to get, tailor-made for their specific needs (and for free too!) just a slight shift in consciousness away. Yours, Frank 2014 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / An update on my progress (still stuck) help plz on: October 28, 2002, 10:51:21 quote: Originally posted by Zarklon: Frank: When is the best time to ask for your guide ? I'm not sure when to do it.. Is it when I start seeing that big blackness or when I get some sensations of trance ? Put out a strong intent when you sense the big blackness - which is what I call the 3D blackness. Then just flow along with it, holding the intent in mind. It's also best to be as specific as you can. With me, it's almost always a case of "another morning, another mystery." (I do my projection practice early morning) In other words, every projection tends to produce more questions than it answers. What I do next, during the day, is try and sort out just one or two main questions where, if I got some kind of definite answer to those one or two, then the answers to the rest would kinda fall into place. Then I develop the intent to the extent where, as I awake, that intent immediately pops into mind. By developing the Intent, I mean I'll ponder over it throughout the day. Yours, Frank 2013 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / question about........................timing! on: October 28, 2002, 15:57:16 With me, it has settled into a pattern where I can focus away from the Physical and enter the Astral after about 15 to 30 minutes. But I'm certain this time could be further reduced with more practice. It used to take me sometimes 2 to 2.5 hours of repeated attempts and 50% of the time I'd get virtually nowhere. Which was all darned frustrating because, during the same time, I could easily wake-up in a Lucid Dream and project from there. Often I'd project from a Lucid Dream, have a roam around the Astral, then return to Physical; at which point I'd try and project again, only in a conscious- exit fashion, and I'd get nowhere. The big breakthrough came with me when I decided to change my way of thinking as regards my physical body. I used to think of the physical-body's awake-state as being a barrier to projection success: but later discovered it was precisely because I thought this way that was scuppering my projection attempts. What I decided was to just simply ignore my physical body entirely. Which was tricky to do, at first. Now, if it wants to move on its side, say, I just let it move. Whereas, before, I'd sense the urge to move as something that would scupper the whole thing, something that had to be shut out at all costs. But now, as I say, I just ignore my physical-body and just let it get on with whatever it needs to get on with. Instead, I now solely think in terms of achieving the correct mind-state, rather than first trying to achieve the correct body state. I found if you just switch-off from the physical and concentrate on what is going-on mentally, the physical body quickly fades into the background once you achieve the correct mental state. The correct mental state is not easy to describe. And the difficulty is, with conscious-exit projection, you will still have a strong awareness of your physical-body at the stage whilst trying to achieve the correct mental state. Which can be most off-putting, but you've just got to teach yourself to ignore it. Achieving the correct mental state, primarily involves turning your focal point of awareness through 180degs and focusing inwards: to the place in your mind where your higher imagination resides. Fortunately, you can find the place easily by imagining your favourite food, or thinking of being at a favourite holiday destination, or whatever. Wherever you sense the feeling of whatever it is you are imagining, in your mind, that's where you need to focus towards (to the exclusion of all other day-to-day concerns) because, down that path, is your connection to the Astral. Like, if you plug in a TV you connect the plug to a wall socket. The wall socket is the TV's connection to the mains-supply. Well, your focal point of mental awareness is the plug, and the wall socket is situated at the upper reaches of your higher imagination. Yours, Frank 2012 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Brainwave Generator software (BWGEN) on: October 28, 2002, 16:06:20 quote: All this is the result of using this program for just one hour daily, so I would recommend it. But for some reason, by using this program I seem to feel as if I am cheating or not earning my astral experiance. What are other peoples views on this? Martin: Just go for it guy, get out there and explore. At the rate you are making progress, 2 weeks from now we'll all be coming to you for pointers. Ah, the joys of youth. Yours, Frank 2011 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / The straight up wacknessity of it! on: October 29, 2002, 08:32:05 Everything that we have on the Physical plane is the physical equivalent of its Astral counterpart. (The Physical is not an origin but an end result.) Yours, Frank 2010 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / why you will never OOB on: October 29, 2002, 08:44:31 quote: There were statements that such tapes and machines will be in every school so the kids will become super-students - relax in 10 minutes and 500 words learned within next 20 minutes. I was convinced and enthiusiastic. Thirty years passed and there is less mind machines and tapes than it was before. Few schools used the tapes, few individuals exoerienced OOB and even fewer developed Remote Viewing but thousands paid their hard earned money for keeping the hope alive. Ever wonder why it happened as it happened ? Er, because the advertising was a load of hype and a perfect demonstration of where something that might work fairly well in controlled conditions in a laboratory, can completely fall flat on its face when confronted with real-world conditions? Yours, Frank 2009 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Technique was given to me, what does it do exactly on: October 29, 2002, 09:07:03 What is described basically follows along the lines of some of my early posts and sounds more to me like phasing. The person who told you that probably sees only a whitish screen but it is possible for different people to see all kinds of different shapes and/or colours. Also, with me, while I can understand what is meant by moving your visual attention forwards (because that's how it feels) personally it feels more like a moving upwards and forwards, into the expanse of the mind. Yours, Frank 2008 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / vibrations on: October 29, 2002, 14:14:51 The solution is to simply get into the habit of going to bed early. Sometimes people ask me how on earth I can function during the day while waking up at around 4.30/5am each morning to practise projection. Simple, I go to bed at 9pm. Yours, Frank 2007 Healing / Welcome to Healing discussions! / insomnia on: October 29, 2002, 14:32:51 Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic with insomnia? He used to lay awake at night wondering if there really was a dog. Yours, Frank 2006 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Found a nice tool on: October 31, 2002, 08:57:47 The phenomenon known as Galvanic Skin Response is nothing new. It has been known for maybe a hundred years. For people who want to know more here is a typical link: http://www.trans4mind.com/psychotechnics/gsr.html As I say, it is quite amazing how this phenomenon can be used to great effect in projection exercises. I just wish I'd known about it earlier. I've only had it a few days and it's paid for itself already. Using this now makes me think of how much easier learning how to achieve the necessary mind- state must be with a full-blown EEG machine... anyone got 2 or 3 thousand USD lying around they want to donate to a worthy cause. Yours, Frank 2005 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / what's the first thing you'll do? on: October 31, 2002, 16:09:59 The first thing you need to do is remain still, very still. Because the moment you let your mind run away, that's it, you've lost it. More than likely you'll shoot back to physical, continue sleep, and will have forgotton the experience come wake-up time. The best thing in the world is to project, realise it, come straight back, wake up immediately on re-entry, get out of bed and make notes. Reflect for 30 minutes, or so, on the experience... then you can do whatever. Next day you'll have a smile from ear to ear. Yours, Frank 2004 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / difference between Focus 10 and Focus 12 ? on: November 02, 2002, 08:49:57 quote: Originally posted by napoleon: Is there any difference between Focus 10 and Focus 12 ? Thanks in advance Jan Yes, a distinct difference. Focus 10 is where you have retreated from the physical about 85 to 90%. You still have an awareness that somewhere "back there" is a physical body. You are aware that you have one, but aren't really interested in it, and receiving next to no input from its physical senses. Your mind is awake and alert, but your focal point of consciousness is contained in what feels like a black 2- dimensional compartment somewhere about the centre of your head. The primary difference between Focus 10 and Focus 12 is the 2D blackness becomes 3 dimensional. In other words, you get a sensation of an opening up of space, all around you. It's like if you suddenly found yourself in an unfamiliar room, where you were standing in the middle, and there was no light whatsoever. You wouldn't have any spatial awareness at all. All you'd see would be a 2-dimensional blackness before your eyes. Now, say, someone very slowly began to turn on a light. There would come a point where you'd begin to see abstract shadows. Then, as the light got steadily brighter, the shadows would become more distinct and you'd begin to recognise basic shapes. This is what Focus 12 is like. People perceive the state slightly differently, but the primary difference is the fact that the 2 dimensional blackness becomes 3 dimensional. Which gives you a distinct feeling of spatial awareness. You can't really see much at this stage, just indistinct shadows, or maybe whirls of foggy sort-of darkness. But, as I say, you cannot miss the *distinct* feeling of spatial awareness that comes about. From Focus 12, it's like the light progressively gets brighter. Taking the room analogy a step further, as the light got slowly brighter, there would come a point where you'd recognise some object, previously perceived as an indistict shadow, as a chair (say). But you wouldn't know the colour of the fabric or the pattern (if any). As the light got brighter still, you'd start making out that there might be a pattern on the fabric, but you still wouldn't be able to see the colour. As the brightness increased, there would come a point where everything would come into view. This is Focus 21 Yours, Frank 2003 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Help me name this mystery alphabet on: November 02, 2002, 10:46:26 quote: Originally posted by Windameir: Never haveing gone to the akashic records myself I can only report what I have read. As a matter of fact Robert has some stories on the akashic records I beleive he described the area as a large building or structure with collums and large entrance doors.... I have read a few stories from people who have visited the records and they seem simular to that discription but the shape they take I beleive really are up to you. I think your mind constructs what you think they would look like.... to some degree anyway. Robert gives info in his book Astral Dynamics. Happy Travels Windameir Regulars will know that I'm not into any kind of mystical stuff, so it's difficult for me to make exacting comparisons. But I'm fairly sure the fabled Akashik Records are what more modern-day exponents of the art would call The Library at Focus 27. I came across the place fairly recently. It's a HUGE building with a large foyer area. Like a large hotel only much bigger. (I think there may well be any number of foyer areas and the place I have been visiting is just a small section of *many* others.) Leading from the foyer are corridors with one main corridor in the centre that runs for what seems like eternity. Off these corridors are doors leading to reading rooms, and whatever else there must be. I've only explored a tiny part of it. Problem is, I always keep getting sidetracked as Focus 27 exploration for me is still a bit of a novelty. Yours, Frank 2001 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / My new effortless method on: November 04, 2002, 10:39:44 Anyone feeling dismay at only being able to project for a short time, shouldn't. Physical time does not exist on the Astral, therefore, it is next to impossible to compare one with the other. I have had countless projections where it felt like I was out for hours but only actually amounted to a few minutes in Physical-matter time. Think of it as a kind of Timeline that is divided up into fixed segments. At the onset of projection you hop off the Timeline at a particular segment, then jump back on again when you return. Yours, Frank 2000 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Help me name this mystery alphabet on: November 05, 2002, 14:07:36 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf: You say that you may have come across it. It certainly has been reported as a large building or library by some. I think you would agree though, that the record is represented as such just to make it easier to comprehend and to use. That is what I would have said a few months ago. But this place I discovered is very different. What I mean here is I'm comparing it to the kinds of constructs that you typically come across in belief-system regions. They have a kind of fake quality to them. But this place is absolutely as solid and as well founded as any large building would be in the Physical. Well, I say large building but there is nothing Physical I can compare it to. The place is MASSIVE in construction. If it covered the Physical equivalent of 100 square miles I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. You see, in the belief-system regions, the buildings (or other constructs) you come across are primarily created from the pooled thoughts of the residents of that region. As I say, many times when you look closely you see they have a kind of fake quality. Like they have been made from cheap plastic. What is very different, in the case of the Library, is I can sense that the construct is formed not from the people I see milling around in there, but from some other energy source. What is more, this energy source is radiating with an intensity (yet with a fineness of quality) I have never come across before. I lately discovered the part of the building I have been going to is the part that relates to me in some way. Well, not just to me, you understand, but a whole load of other people besides. As I say, information is very sketchy at the moment because it is all very new. The region has a totally different atmosphere to what I've been used to. Everyone can see me for a start. But what's really freaky is people keep coming up to me saying hello, and introducing themselves to me. Okay, that in itself isn't freaky. The spooky part stems from the fact that all these people know me, personally. Yet I haven't the faintest clue who they are. This has happened to me before on odd occasions but I just brushed it aside. Yet now it keeps happening virtually every morning. quote: Others have experienced it in a purer form, simply a bombardment of images and experiences, but this is hard to asimilate. I think this is why some people find it represented a a library, comple with books etc. Yes, that is how it began. I posted on this a few weeks ago where I said about the images I was viewing in my mind. They were like a photograph where you take, say, 4 or 5 frames without winding on the film. Like a bombardment of images, as you rightly point out. Which was hard for me to assimilate. What I did was to ask for clarity. Next I was asked if I wanted to go to the source of these images, to which I relied yes. That's when I ended up in the place that I now know as The Library at Focus 27. quote: Guides appear to make use of it to teach others, it also appears to be used quite a lot for people who have just passed over from the material plane That is how it appears to be. All the people I have spoken to, in this region, know they are dead and all of them seem to be embarked on some kind of information-gathering exercise. Though I'm not sure, as yet, precisely what it is they are gathering information about. quote: There are many accounts of guides giving a 'slide show' to NDE individuals, who have later reported this. In their case, the slide show was pertaining to events from their own life. Yes, from what I have seen thus far, what you say makes perfect sense. quote: Originally posted by Jeff_Mash: Out of curiousity, when you set your intent to travel, do you focus on any particular Focus Level? For example, when in F10-F12, are you affiriming a strong mental declaration that you want to go to, say, Focus 27? Intent, is the fuel that drives you to various places within the Astral. However, the full effects of this only start to become apparent from the Astral Bridge Zone at Focus 21. Focus 21 is the beginning of where thought equals direct action. Therefore, if you put out the Intent, i.e. a strong fixed-thought to be at someplace, while at Focus 21 or above: then, at that someplace, you will become. Whereas, on the Physical, for example, you can sit and think all you like about going someplace; but unless you actually get up and physically transport yourself there, you will remain in the same position. In other words, within C1, thought in itself is not enough. But from Focus 21 onwards, the mere act of thinking is all it takes. What I do is hold the Intent in mind right from the start at C1. After 10 to 15 minutes I recognise I'm at F10. A short while later there is a sensation of drifting in blackness coupled with whirls of foggy colour at Focus 12. Then I totally lose all sensation of the Physical realm as I pass through Focus 15. The colours and whirling fog begin to crystalise as I approach the Astral Bridge Zone at Focus 21. Crossing over the Bridge, into Focus 22 brings the Astral clearly into view: at this point, the Intent I am holding in mind kicks in. As it does so, I feel a strong and definite shift in Focus. It's like before I was gradually drifting from C1 through F10, more gentle drifting through F12; F15; slowly the Astral crystalises... and then, suddenly, there is a very definite change in sensation. Everything becomes very direct and to the point, so to speak. As I drift through the various regions, from F22 to F27, I see all kinds of blurred, fleeting images. Like if someone ran a videotape at 50 times normal speed, say. Then, what seems like about 10 or 15 seconds later, everything just suddenly stops at one image of a place. This place, of course, is my destination. At which point I just mentally step into the image and have a wander around. Yours, Frank 1999 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / To those who have OBEs! on: November 05, 2002, 14:19:17 Yes, I absolutely reiterate what Jeff is saying. While on the Astral, I have full waking consciousness. I know exactly where I am, and what I am doing. I am free to move around at will and to chat with anyone in my vicinity that is open to me. When I say chat, I mean converse with exactly the same clarity and detail as if I were on the Physical. That's the scintillating, mind-bending beauty of it. Yours, Frank 1998 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Technique was given to me, what does it do exactly on: November 06, 2002, 10:55:46 Tom, instead of rolling your eyes upwards as well, just keep them crossed (with eyelids shut) to the point where you feel a kind of strain. Ease off so the straining feeling doesn't get too bad (which can do depending on how much tension you have in that area). Then cross your eyes some more and try and work through the "strain barrier". Once you can get to the stage where your eyes are crossed and they are comfortable in that position, this should put your focal point of awareness somewhere about in the middle of your head. (Well, provided you can do this without all the usual mind-chatter, in which case your focal point of awareness will remain about the throat region). Then imagine yourself moving backwards into the expanse of your mind and you should be able to activate your Crown centre. First clue is you feel a slight mental spasm and your ears will shut-down for the duration of the spasm. I leave the air-con fan on at night to keep the air moving around the room so it doesn't get stuffy. So I can always hear the slight whirring of the fan. I use this sound as a signal that my Crown centre is activativating, as the sound of the fan shuts out for an instant which is very noticeable; where the spasm, initially, is hardly noticeable at all. At the beginning, the slight mental spasm is *very* slight. In other words, you can't feel it all that well. It's like someone quickly (but ever so gently) stroked the inside of your head with a feather and at the same time you perceive a slight swooshing sensation. It is *so* slight that is was actually the shutting out of the sound of the fan that first indicated to me something was happening. Now I use the fan's sound as an indicator all the time, as this is a very clear indicator that I'm getting close. Because, at the very beginning, the mental spasm is SO slight I can't feel it. However, no matter how slight the spasm, my ears still completely shut down for the half-second or so the spasm is occuring. Which is very noticeable. Then, if you relax into it, you should get stronger spasms occuring over a shorter time. Following which the frequency will increase to the point where they become a kind of buzzing sensation. At which point you will feel very light, like your physical body is floating in mid air. At which point you are free to travel. Yours, Frank 1997 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Technique was given to me, what does it do exactly on: November 06, 2002, 18:59:06 Just try and keep them crossed. With your eyelids closed, and your physical body relaxed, close your eyes and imagine each eye looking at the other. There will be a point of strain. Keep working on seeing through this point of strain to the point where your physical eyes are relaxed. This puts your focal point of awareness up to the centre of your head. Yours, Frank 1996 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Technique was given to me, what does it do exactly on: November 07, 2002, 09:22:40 Michael, I don't know. What I can say is, the crossing of the eyes is simply to bring a person's focal point of awareness to the centre of the head. Otherwise, what happens is the eyes just relax any old how and the focal point of awareness sinks to the chest (or some other lower region) then the person falls asleep. But holding that point of awareness in the upper part of the head will keep the mind awake while the body soon gets bored and drifts off to sleep. I guess what you have to do is find out where your focal point of awareness is situated, as you come to relax and begin your practice. As you are blind I guess you use your hands a lot so you might find it there. I know I do sometimes when I've been tinkering in my workshop using my hands a lot. Yours, Frank 1995 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Great phasing example: on: November 07, 2002, 16:45:22 quote: Originally posted by Windameir: And whats the ELS? Happy Travels Windameir You really should gen up on your modern-day terminology you lot. LOL ELS = Earth Life System Yours, Frank 1994 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Need some OOBE Expert Advice on: November 08, 2002, 17:23:37 It's because I can't relate. Yours, Frank 1993 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Great phasing example: on: November 10, 2002, 10:56:27 Douglas, I feel the easiest way for newcomers to understand the concept is to think of the Physical as an end result (as opposed to what most most people believe it as: an origin). Where the term "disk" came from I don't know, but I rather suspect it was coined from the shape. From a distance a "disk" looks like a large white saucer. Basically, your Disk contains all the various aspects of You that has been thus far. One of the tasks of a Disk is to create what I call a Mix. A Mix is formed from taking a particular blend of the various aspects of You. This Mix then becomes the basis on which a new Personality is formed. So, you are incarnated into the Physical with a Mix that creates your base thoughtforms. Then, as your physical body develops, you naturally use these base thoughtforms in conjunction with free will... which forms a new personality. The idea is, this personality will use the energy of curiosity to continue to develop and grow. Then, at the end of each incarnation period, this additional knowledge is added to the Disk. In a sense, a Disk can be thought of as a huge knowledge bank that is continuing to be added to. And the greater the range of knowledge a Disk has access to, then the better the personalities it can create. Well, that's the basic theory. You say about going back to your Disk. But you never actually leave it. Everyone is connected to their Disk by a filament of awareness. Problem is, most people call it Imagination, hence dismiss the whole concept. I don't know how many Disks there are in total but it is a huge number. There are different Disk levels too. There are base-level Disks and each of these connects via a filament of awareness to another, higher-level disk. And each higher-level disk seems to connect to a higher-level still. Lower-level disks (what we incarnates are currently connected to) you'll find hanging out around the Focus 30 to 35 region. And all the records pertaining to people's Disk members, past lives, and so forth, can be viewed in the Library at Focus 27. Yours, Frank 1992 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is anyone else turning Psychic? on: November 10, 2002, 11:18:02 LOL: yes, what you are experiencing, to me, is very normal. Though I have long-since learnt to keep very quiet about this whole topic. Apart from publishing my experiences on this BBS of course. (Which I still find something of a novelty). It must happen at least once a day where something will come into mind about a friend, say, and next moment they are on the phone telling me what I just thought about. Yours, Frank 1991 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Great phasing example: on: November 10, 2002, 16:59:24 Douglas: what you say makes good sense which is the main reason why I avoid reading any kind of mystical books. The best place to get information is to make contact with your spirit guides. These people are different aspects of You whom you can ask questions and get the right kind of answers. Otherwise, what happens is you read this and that book, and it's quite possible to end up with all kinds of theories which don't exactly match. Which is all very confusing. Think of each Disk is a knowledge centre from which stems all the different aspects of You. If you are familiar with computer networks it's like your Disk is the central server and the different aspects of You are the workstations. You can visit your Disk just like you can visit any other Focus level. This is something I am working on at the moment. Yours, Frank 1990 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Great phasing example: on: November 11, 2002, 09:08:31 Yes, they are as distinct (to continue the analogy) as one workstation from another. But the similarity comes from the fact they are all reading and writing to and from the same central hard- disk. They don't necessarily all display the same data (personality Mix differs with each person) but the data that is displayed is some combination of what is on that central disk. Where the workstation/central server analogy breaks down is, with people, they have the ability to take the sense of awareness they currently have and use it to explore/experiment/etc and take on board new knowledge. This new knowledge is then added to the Disk. Which makes it available to all Disk members. Yours, Frank 1989 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Ok this is my probleme on: November 13, 2002, 16:48:24 Yes, Jeff, that's good advice. There was a time when it seemed like I was going to bed "armed" with all kinds of "techniques". Problem is, concentrating attention on the physical body tends to keep you in the Physical more than anything. Thing is, Astral projection is an exercise of the mind, and projection comes about when you turn away from the Physical. As you do so, a void is created which is filled by the only alternative sense of awareness available... that being the Astral. Or at least the beginnings of the Astral. Then, one thing leads to another and suddenly you are projecting. Okay, that's the theory and in practice it is a tricky mental balancing act to perform for most people. But, again, it's a MENTAL exercise, not a Physical one. So the key is to forget the Physical entirely. Often people say, "But I have difficulty relaxing my physical body." Okay, so how do you know your physical body is not relaxed? Yours, Frank 1988 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Ok this is my probleme on: November 14, 2002, 09:31:46 quote: Originally posted by SiVA: Hi Frank, You agreed with Jeffs advice to focus solely on breathing to get into a trance, but you say "concentrating attention on the physical body tends to keep you in the Physical more than anything" This seems contradictory, but I'm thinking what you meant was to simply do the breathing exercises to get into a trance, then turn away awareness from the physical all together once the trance state is achieved. Is this correct? Thanks again! I think you shouldn't take my response too literally. I was according with the generality of Jeff's post more than anything. Obviously, people will develop their "pet technique" of getting the process underway. Whether it be focusing on their breathing, or whatever. Also, I've said a number of times before that I don't understand what people mean by trance- state. Trance, to me, is what a stage hypnotist puts a person under in order to get them to do silly things for the amusement of an audience. Then, one they've had their fun, the hypnotist clicks their fingers (or does whatever) and the person "snaps out of it" wondering what the heck happened. The way I see it is basically thus: There are two human sleep states... 1) mind adrift with no conscious control, and physical body asleep; and, 2) mind under conscious control, and physical body asleep. State 2 is the projection state. And note that in either case the physical body is in the same state of sleep. Some time ago the question arose in my mind of why, when you come to go to sleep in the ordinary way, do you simply lie back in a comfortable position and just drift off; but when you come to projection practice, where you also want the physical-body to go to sleep, do you start going through all kinds of bodily routines and techniques? The only difference between the normal human-body sleep state and the projection state: is whether or not you have conscious control of the mind. Which is why I say projection is a *mental* exercise, not a physical one. Yours, Frank 1987 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / More guide questions. on: November 15, 2002, 22:34:54 If you are unsure, the key thing to do is not to guess or (worse still) to make possibly profound and deeply moving decisions on very limited information... but to keep asking for more clarity. For example, I'm working on trying to open a channel of communication with my regular guide, Harath, whilst I am in the Physical. There have been times of late where I'd sense his presence in my mind but it was all very indistinct. But gradually, day by day, by successively asking for clearer and clearer signals, I can now communicate fairly well. Okay, in the thick of my day I can lose the sensation of contact; and it takes me about 15 minutes of feeling around in the dark, so to speak, in order to regain the thread. But that's way better than I could achieve a couple of weeks ago, say. Yours, Frank 1986 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway program origins on: November 15, 2002, 23:25:20 Please always bear in mind that any kind of self-imposed limitations can have a profound effect on your ability to explore the Astral realms. Yours, Frank 1985 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is this stuff really true? (not a flame post) on: November 16, 2002, 16:35:55 quote: Originally posted by Heimdall: I'm asking seriously, because I've tried for quite some time with no results. This is normal. Some people make progress quick, some people make it slow. I make it slow... maybe you do too. quote: I have NOT had an OBE, to my knowledge. The word "knowledge" here is the key point about this whole obe thing. Everyone "goes obe" all the while they are asleep... but... they have no knowledge of that fact. What you need to work on are the mental techniques (that will work for you) which will give you that knowledge. quote: To me, all it seems like is another form of meditation, where you can reach parts of your subconscious that are normally only available during dreams. How can you all be sure that this is all true, that this is real? Because once you get more adept, you can get in contact with those who guide you; chat to other Astral residents; etc. in a way that is as "real" as it feels whilst being within the Physical. quote: Have any of you met each other and shared time in this alternate reality, or had any other direct evidence that all of this just wasn't imagined? To me, delving into subconscious realms like this can lead to a lot of false paths, as well as true ones. How do you know that what you are experiencing is truly real and not your imagination? One of the trickiest concepts to get your head around is the fact that what we call Thought, is a primary energy. Which means any uncontrolled release of thought-release-emotion within the Astral realms, will directly lead to fuelling the circumstances that surround you. The key is to remain emotionally closed at all times with your thoughts in check. I found the best state of mind to have is just to maintain an air of mild curiosity. Otherwise, as you say, you will be led down many false paths. (Just like so many people have been led down in the past). quote: I've had inklings of what might be OBE, but to me it's something you have to be careful about because you can easily be fooled into thinking that it's real when it isn't. You brain can fool itself, or make itself see/think what it wants to. Yes, absolutely, I could not agree with you more on this point. Which is why, again, it is *doubly* essential to keep your thoughts in check. Problem is, there are ever so many people who approach this "obe" topic as a result of having suffered some severe trauma in their lives: such as the loss of a child, or trying to "find themselves" after having suffered severe depression, etc. Difficulty being, all that mix of heavy emotion tends to lead them down a path where they become their very own self-fulfilling prophecy. quote: I guess I'm a little frusterated. Haven't had a conscious OBE that has seemed just like reality like the others say, but I'd like your opinions. Again, do not consider this a flame it's merely a question I'm posing..... You just need to keep working at it. As I say, I make progress slow (very slow) so that makes at least two of us. It does take time. The main difficulty being keeping your thoughts in check. Once you can do that, you can be sure that what you are perceiving is reality.. as opposed to a product of your own sub-conscious ramblings. Yours, Frank 1984 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / What causes OBE frenzies? on: November 16, 2002, 16:56:16 What we call "dreams" is what is labelled as Monroe's (mental) Focus 22. However, the BIG difference between the Focus 22 state (as taught by Monroe) and the F22 state of a dream... is your level of conscious awareness. Dreams, are Astral projections: only with a very limited sense of conscious awareness. The key difference, always, is your level of conscious awareness and the extent to which you can keep random thoughts in check (at the time). Yours, Frank 1983 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / different place? on: November 17, 2002, 08:57:40 quote: Originally posted by asstray85: This was the wierdest night of experiences in my entire life. I am going to listen to the hemi-sync wave again tonight, and report any other experiences i may have. Any suggestions on what this might be? -Steve Any suggestions as to what it might be? Yes, sure, what you are experiencing is *precisely* what you are working towards! And it sounds, from what you say, you are making good progress. Feelings of sluggishness are very normal but generally go away once you get more adept, i.e. your sense of conscious awareness becomes more alert. The projection where you were at your computer screen sounds like a typical Focus 22 experience. This is the first mental focus level where thought equals direct action. In other words, what you think, instantly becomes all around you. One of the BIG difficulties with this (as you, yourself, have now experienced) is the fact that the surroundings we create look as real, say, as our normal Physical surroundings. The computer, the dog, etc. would have been mental constructs that were visually played out all around you. You see, as a general rule, at first if you find yourself projecting surrounded by circumstances that are immediately recognisable to you, then you are almost certainly at the Focus 22 state. Now, as you project on to the higher mental focus levels, you introduce yourself to other, more wide-ranging circumstances which typically include people and circumstances you never knowingly came across before. This, as you have also now experienced, is all *very* confusing! However, rest-assured things quickly start to fall into place as you become more adept. Next projection to the forest area could have been a Focus 23 experience but my instinct says it was probably a little higher, say, Focus 24. Generally, from Focus 23 things really start to get really juicy, Astral exploration-wise. Basically, the lower Astral planes are chock full of people who are acting out all manner of scenarios. And I really do mean *all* manner of scenarios you could possibly think of, and more (infinitely more). At the base level you find people engaged in the most disgusting acts of depravity, where child torture, murder, rape, et al, are the norm. As you go higher, you come across regions where people are engaged in all manner of other pursuits, many of which have a religious or mystical slant. Once you can reliably project your consciousness into these regions you can have a lot of fun chatting to the locals and finding out what's what. But I do agree that it is very spooky at first because, as you rightly point out, it all seems so real. That's because it *is* real. The key thing to do, or rather not to do, is start to overly analyse whatever the circumstances are that you find yourself involved in. The best state of mind to be in is that of a passive, mildly curious observer. Problem is, if you begin to react to the circumstances, especially emotionally, your own release of emotion will cause reality fluctuations that can (and often do!) vary from mild to wild. What happens then is, you become entangled in a situation where you have the Astral circumstances you found yourself in. Then, superimposed on that, are the circumstances you are creating from your own release of thought-release-emotion. Which all gets mighty confusing and generally scuppers the experience. If you feel circumstances are getting out of hand, rather than try and "make it right" simply go back to Physical (C1) and project again. Best of luck in your future projection. Yours, Frank 1982 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Well guys..help me make a decision plz. on: November 17, 2002, 09:12:29 I read Astral Dynamics a while ago and it does contain quite a number of techniques and methods. So, from what you say, it should be ideal. Yours, Frank 1981 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focusing Attention Within and my F27 Place on: November 17, 2002, 11:43:56 Each particular focus level (or Astral plane in more mystical terminology) resonates with a particular frequency of energy. As you reach Focus 27 you notice that the energy has a much finer vibrational quality. Thought equals direct action on all the mental focus planes. However, on the lower planes the energy has a rather crude kind of quality about it. Mental constructs can be created instantly and easily, but the Astral form quickly dissipates once the thought-energy creating that form is used up. At the Focus 27 stage, however, the energy has a much finer quality. Which means a mental construct remains until you choose to erase it. That is how it is possible to revisit your created place time and again. Plus, you can add to it, or you can delete bits your bored with. At the moment I only have a small beach house but, as I mentioned a while ago, I'm looking to create a kind of oceanside hotel and nightclub complex where people can meet and have some fun. The idea of creating your place, as it were, within F27 is it becomes a place of sanctuary for you following physical death. So many people die without having any real idea of what happens. As a result, they become trapped within the lower regions. And even if they do get rescued, there is no saying that the moment you are brought to F27 your difficulties are suddenly over. (It can take a long time for someone to feel mentally at ease again.) Having already established a home within F27 offers you several distinct advantages. Perhaps the main one being the fact that the trauma many people suffer following physical-body death is eased considerably. As, rather than finding yourself in a kind of mental no-man's-land, following physical-body death you arrive at your very own place which is obviously totally familiar to you. Plus, the fear most people feel, even just thinking about dying, is no longer. Focus 27 exploration is still fairly new to me as my obe practice, overall, has followed basically the Monroe route in that I spent well over a decade trying to fathom it all out on my own. But already, even from my somewhat limited interaction with F27 residents, I'm noticing what a completely different atmosphere the place has. Everyone I've talked to says how great it is to be There and how much they are enjoying life. Which is such a contrast to all the gore and the horror of the lower regions. Yours, Frank 1980 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How to turn lucid to OBE on: November 17, 2002, 12:02:14 The lucid dream state is basically Monroe's mental Focus 22. In other words, you are situated right on the edge of the Astral realms only without much of a degree of mental control. Basically, you know you are dreaming but that's really all. In order to progress from this state, what you need to do is concentrate on bringing your whole sense of conscious awareness into play. One of the ways you can do this, is to first try and become completely still following which you look at some aspect of your dreamscape and ask yourself a question about it. As you begin to question, your mind will bring other mental aspects into play such as your critical faculties, coupled with faculties of recognition. Once these come on stream, alongside comes your short-term and long-term memory banks, etc. to the extent where you develop the same full waking consciousness that you normally have with you within the Physical, only you are within the Astral. At this point, you will be in control enough to be able to develop a particular Intent to go wherever you feel like going. (Within the Astral, Intent is the fuel that drives you to places.) Yours, Frank 1979 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Two Questions on: November 17, 2002, 12:12:51 quote: Originally posted by Galgorth: While projecting, I have been able to enter into a light trance quickly and easily, but my problem lies in maintaining the proper focus and concentration to "climb the rope". I begin to climb, and start to feel my astral body loosen, with some accompanying light vibrations, but then the surface thoughts rear their ugly heads and I become distracted and lose it;by that point I am usually so frustrated that I decide any further effort would be for naught. Does anybody have any suggestions on exercises/training I could do to improve my focus? The only thing you can do is continue practising. I know exactly the point you mean and it took me months, and loads and loads of attempts, to reliably get through this stage. I don't know why, exactly, but there appears to be some element of your protective sense of conscious awareness that "snatches you back" just as the process is kicking in. Which is very frustrating. But do keep at it because you will overcome this problem given time. Yours, Frank 1978 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How to turn lucid to OBE on: November 17, 2002, 16:41:15 Yes, the dream environment is an Astral place. But you don't always get the complete kind of waking consciousness that you have while wide awake and alert on the Physical. This is something you need to work on doing. For example, sometimes people will project and can only see in black and white. Some people have difficulty seeing true 3D shapes. Others project without being able to see anything and then, after a short while, their sight will come to them. You see, at first, you need to work at bringing all your mental faculties into play. Yours, Frank 1977 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / realtime zone and card test on: November 18, 2002, 16:51:23 I think such thinking has occured to all of us at some stage. The card idea has been put forward before, and if you feel that such will be beneficial to you then why not give it a try. By all means let us know how you get on. Yours, Frank 1976 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / deprived of mutton? on: November 19, 2002, 08:42:56 It sounds very much to me like you projected your focal point of awareness within the Astral. How you describe it is what it's like: as if you were totally immersed in a completely different reality. Are you saying this is the very first time ever you have managed to project, or the first time you have interacted with other Astral residents? Yours Frank 1975 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is this stuff really true? (not a flame post) on: November 19, 2002, 09:08:58 quote: By the way, I am in no way a mystic or an old man with a flowing beard either. Quite the opposite. I am extremely rational and scientific, what you would call a skeptic. I don't do drugs, I don't believe everything I hear, I enjoy sports and auto racing, and to all intents and purposes to other people I am someone that would be as far from this kind of thing as possible. But my natural ability has forced me to further explore these areas. OBE seems to be one of my cherished "final frontiers" that I have yet to explore. What you say above is very interesting because in this respect we are very much alike. I too am a beardless skeptic with a keen interest in science; stay well clear of drugs, etc. and amazingly have a strong interest in drag racing. Plus, again like you, to all intents and purposes I am someone who you would think would be as far away from this kind of topic as was possible. Which can often lead me into some delightful situations where, at social functions, every now and again I meet someone who thinks they are being ever so daring and modern by mentioning something to do with the subject of obe's. Naturally, I keep my mouth firmly closed as the subject is still very much taboo. But I take great delight in asking just the right kind of "innocent question" at precisely the right point in the conversation. Yours, Frank 1974 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Any Dangers having OBE on: November 20, 2002, 18:37:18 That's a nice reply, Jeff. It's amazing how we are both so much on the same wavelength. Best of luck, my friend. Yours, Frank 1973 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / ok i see Achiving obe is too hard... on: November 20, 2002, 20:50:30 Hey, you guys, I spent over 5 years going around in circles before I made an inkling of progress. And when that was going on, over 20 years ago, there were no BBS's such as these you could count on for some good advice. We had to work it out all on our own. So think twice now about giving it up. Yours, Frank 1972 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is this stuff really true? (not a flame post) on: November 20, 2002, 21:20:37 quote: Originally posted by booRadley: Heimdall, I've only had a couple of OBEs due to lack of training and laziness But what I have found is that Robert Bruce's book Astral Dynamics is outstanding. He troubleshoots the process and mentions that many people trying to project at bedtime may just fall asleep. Yes, you are absolutely right, it is a good book. Yours, Frank 1971 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is this stuff really true? (not a flame post) on: November 20, 2002, 21:29:49 quote: Originally posted by clandestino: Hi Heimdall ! re Frank's post : "Naturally, I keep my mouth firmly closed as the subject is still very much taboo. But I take great delight in asking just the right kind of "innocent question" at precisely the right point in the conversation. " This made me chuckle to myself, because unfortunately for me, I have neither : a) Frank's ability to project, or b) Frank's ability to keep his mouth shut !! This has led to a couple of occasions where ( ok I admit it - i was a little bit drunk) I have told a couple of friends about my interests in OBE....the alcohol didn't seem to help me when it came to explaining what I know so far....can't think why. Suffice to say, I'm pretty sure that a couple of my friends now think I'm slighlty unhinged !! Try not to end up like me....ha ha. cheers, Mark ROFL: Hey, at your age I'd have been the very same. Yours, Frank 1970 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / ok i see Achiving obe is too hard... on: November 21, 2002, 10:48:41 I think you are taking it all a tad too literally. It's not the actual act of climbing the rope that causes you to project. All you need is a little meta- physical imagery to keep your mind focused while your physical-body drifts off to sleep. And that's basically all there is to it: you keep your mind focused while allowing your physical body to go to sleep. The way you keep your mind focused is to set it a little task. It just so happens that imagining climbing a rope has been effective for many people (including myself when I set out to learn how to project into the RT zone). But you could try any number of things. People have suggested climbing a ladder, or being in an elevator... there is no limit to what you can try. So I would say that if imagining climbing a rope doesn't work for you, simply find something you can imagine that does work. You don't need to imagine in too much detail. In fact, the act of trying to imagine in too great a detail keeps you grounded in the Physical more than anything. I have experimented with imagining all kinds of things. One of the best that works for me is imagining taking something apart and reconstructing it. I come from an engineering background so doing such a thing holds a particular resonance in my case. Another one that I found particularly effective I formed from a idea about a classic children's toy. It's the one where you have a wooden base (well, these days it's usually plastic) with cutouts of basic shapes, i.e. square, triangle, circle, etc. The child has a bag of these shapes and they have to select the correct shape that matches the cutout. All you do is imagine doing that for 10 minutes or so and you should find your physical-body simply gets bored and drifts off to sleep. As I say, in a nutshell, all Astral Projection involves is being able to allow your physical body to drift off to sleep while retaining your mental focus. The reason why this is SO darned tricky is because people are generally in the habit of being in the Physical when their mind is alert and focused. If you observe yourself going to sleep you will notice that the further you drift off, the more your mental focus dissipates. In actuality, however, it's the other way around. In that you are drifting off deeper into sleep precisely because your mental focus is dissipating. If you arrest the progress of this dissipation, by focusing your mind again, you feel yourself come back to Physical. And that's the habit most people are into: allow mental focus to steadily dissipate - drift off to sleep... gather your mental focus and concentrate - come back to Physical. That's why Astral Projection is a tricky mental balancing act to perform. Because you have got to gather your mental focus and concentrate, only you don't want to come back to Physical. Which is what you are currently in the habit of doing. So the question arises: how can a person still retain their mental focus and concentrate, yet not have the act of doing this keep them in the Physical? The answer is to set the mind a little task. A task that, on the one hand, is not too complex, thus needing high levels of focus of the kind that keeps you bound to the Physical. But on the other hand, is not a task that's wishy-washy to the extent where it cannot resist the mind's tendency to dissipate its focus during the normal act of drifting off to sleep. Yours, Frank 1969 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Mystery High on: November 21, 2002, 11:04:36 quote: Originally posted by asstray85: The buzz lasts only a few seconds but is a very pleasurable feeling that your whole body can feel but mostly in your head. What is this? -Steve When you say "buzz" in what context are you using this word? Do you mean that you literally feel a buzzing kind of vibration like as if the upper part of your brain is physically vibrating. Or do you mean you get a mental buzz in the sense of simply being high on your own thoughts? Yours, Frank 1968 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Akashic books. hard to read! on: November 21, 2002, 11:31:16 quote: Originally posted by fURIX: The wierd thing was when I tried to read the title the letters changed as I read. Lets say the first letter was a "L" I would read "L...." and then alle the other letters would change to that letter. The tittle would be like "LLLLLLLL LLL" and If the first letter was "S" then "SSSSSSSS SSS" and so on... Have only just picked up on this thread, and I too have been plagued by this problem. It is caused by reading something and immediately forming a mental impression about what it is you just read. Within the Physical we all tend to do this habitually. It stems from the fact that, whilst undergoing the normal act of reading, as we are reading we automatically form impressions about the words and sentences, on an ongoing basis. Problem is, on the Astral there is no physical buffer between our thoughts and our circumstances. Which means as you think, so it becomes. What happens is, you read a word and immediately a mental impression is formed as to what that word means to you. As that mental impression is formed it is released within the Astral; where it becomes a kind of fuel that goes to creating the circumstances which surround you. These circumstances can range from annoying little fluctuations where letters can jiggle around and change shape, and so forth... to full blown weird and whacky circumstances where people end up slaying dragons, being chased by vampires, having sex with 50 different partners, etc., etc. The way around it, is to simply read whatever it is, kind of "in passing". Like, your memory was merely a database. In other words, you just read and store without actually thinking anything as you read it. Yours, Frank 1965 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Mystery High on: November 22, 2002, 15:56:47 quote: Originally posted by asstray85: Yes its a actual buzz feeling. Like your head is buzzing. Im glad that other people have experiences this before, i thought i was the only one. Now only if there was information on exactly what this was. http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile_cool.gif" border=0> -Steve It's your Crown Chakra (for want of a better term). With me it begins as a slight mental swoooshing sound that comes just as my physical body is dropping off to sleep. These happen about once every few seconds. Then they get progressively quicker to the extent where it feels like the top of my brain is physically vibrating and making a buzzing noise. Which it isn't actually, of course, but that's what the sensation feels like. As I relax further into it, there comes a point where I feel a sensation of movement or a distinct mental shift in consciousness. For a fleeting moment I'll see an image of my physical surroundings as I pass through awareness of the real-time zone, following which the Astral comes into view. It's a way I have of projecting that follows a slightly different course than that of my Phasing approach detailed on other threads. It's sort of Phasing but with a few elements of the old projection technique I used to have. Yours, Frank 1964 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Akashic books. hard to read! on: November 22, 2002, 16:00:59 Yes, you got it in one. Choose whatever terminology suits. But the essential thing is to take some kind of mental snapshot... then analyse it later. Yours, Frank 1963 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is this stuff really true? (not a flame post) on: November 22, 2002, 16:09:30 quote: Originally posted by Jon Icarus: I have the same thoughts as Heimdall. What is really going on here ? What is the difference between a lucid dream and an OBE ? Many claim that dreams are really just projections with a lack of conciousness, but it can be argued that OBE's are really just another form of lucid dream (and in fact, experiments tend to support this). The whole matter could easilly be settled with this experiment : 1. One person places something in a room (for instance, three playing cards with the faces up on a table), and records the symbols on a sheet of paper. 2. He hands this paper in a sealed envelope to a second person (the controller). 3. Someone else does an OBE, goes into the room and looks at the cards. He records the cards on another piece of paper as soon as he wakes up. 4. The controller compares the two records for similarity. It's easy and inexpensive. If the records maches, then we can assume that the OBE really took place. -- Jon Icarus Funny I just posted a response to virtually the same type of post on the other BBS which I post as follows: Jon: This kind of point you raise crops up quite often. A person puts forward what seems, on the surface, to be a fair and logical proposition which involves proving the reality of the Astral in some way. Problem is, what can often on the surface come across as a clear and logical argument; when looked at more closely, dissolves into nothing more than what I call: Astral Anthropomorphism. Astral Anthropomorphism is a phrase I first coined (not that I'm gunning for recognition, I'm just telling you that so you won't be wondering why it's not yet in the dictionary). It's where a person attributes Physical-realm realities, characteristics, etc. to the Astral. For example: mental constructs such as up; down; left; right; good; bad; positive; negative, etc. come in quite handy while within Physical-world reality. But within the Astral, these kinds of constructs have no real meaning. Now, when you project your focal point of conscious awareness within the Astral, you don't automatically gain some super-sense of Astral consciousness all primed and geared towards Astral-realm reality... nope... it's the exact same sense of conscious awareness that you have with you on the Physical. And this has been perhaps the biggest Astral stumbling block ever faced by mankind. The stumbling block is primarily caused by the fact that what we humans call "thought" is a primary energy. We don't notice it so much on the Physical, because our physical bodies buffer our thoughts to a high degree. In other words, you can sit back and think about having a beer all you like, but unless you physically go and get one from the fridge (or convince someone else to go) no beer is going to be had. Within the Astral, however, there is no physical-body buffer protecting you from the full impact and/or consequences of whatever it is you happen to be thinking about. Which basically means as you think, so it becomes. Okay, so imagine a slightly fearful circumstance and you will instantly find yourself in a slightly fearful Astral circumstance. The level of scaryness will exactly match the level of fear you are releasing. This is because it is *your* release of fear that is the fuel which powers the circumstances. This concept tends to be a tricky one for people to get their heads around. Reason being, when a person finds themselves within those mildly fearful circumstances, they don't just think, "Ho hum, there I go releasing emotion" and wait patiently while the energy dissipates. What happens is they get ever more fearful; which makes the circumstances even worse, so they get ever more fearful; and so it becomes even worse. Eventually these kinds of emotion-fuelled loops are broken by a forced awakening back to Physical consciousness (C1), and the whole thing is considered a nightmare. That's again where having a physical body saves you. In that you can always come back to C1 consciousness. Without it, it is possible to become trapped in your own emotion-fueled loop; which a lot of people are, hence the need for the whole retrieval process. With these people, they became in circumstances where they no-longer had a physical body to retreat to. As this happened, they were thinking in a certain way; which instantly caused them to be in circumstances that caused them to continue thinking in that same certain way; which continually causes them to be surrounded by circumstances that cause them to continue thinking in that same certain way... ad infinitum. When I say the word "circumstances" I mean circumstances that look, for all intents and purposes, just as real and/or as tangible as any Physical circumstance(s) would appear to a person. Again, it is quite possible to become entangled in such a loop in a dream. But it's not long before the alarm clock rings, or you get hungry, or need to use the toilet, etc. and so you wake up. But no such need exists within the Astral. Now, coming back to your proposition, what you are saying is that I should doubt that what I am experiencing is true Astral reality. Further, I should fuel that doubt by entertaining the idea that what I am experiencing is mere brain-created illusion. Next you want me to take that mental construct with me, to the Astral, and put it to some kind of test. I admit that it all sounds very logical to the extent a person could well conclude that no reasonable person could possibly argue against such a thing. After all, scientists undergo this kind of experimentation on the Physical all the time. However, I can immediately see a big underlying problem here. My concern, and my question to you Jon is: What's going to happen to that Doubt when it's released within the Astral? Yours, Frank 1962 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is this stuff really true? (not a flame post) on: November 23, 2002, 17:02:15 quote: Originally posted by Heimdall: I have had dreams where I was in real locations, which then warped into other locations depending on what I am thinking and what I would like to see. Was I really at that location at that specific time? I don't know. I have been lucid in my dreams many times before. Lucid dreaming has been something I have been able to do from time to time. But to me a lot of lucid dreaming is just that, dreaming. When you are able to control your dreams, it firsts manifests itself by yourself (mind) noticing that you are consciously changing the dream you are experiencing. In my case, it's always something like "Hey cool, I can change this and do that and how about if I add a little of that etc". I've "met" people before in my dreams, but that doesn't mean that these are actual people. They could very well be "extras", or dream symbology (something my mind creates to symbolize a non-tangible idea). I don't consider what I have personally experienced an OBE. I attribute it to lively imagination. This is the Focus 22 state (in Monroe terms) or lucid dreaming as it is commonly called. Mental Focus 22 is the first level Astral where thought=direct action. This is where a lot of people who try astral projection get stuck, or they dismiss the whole obe thing as just a product of their imagination. What these people fail to realise, however, is there are more Focus levels beyond Focus 22 that have very different characteristics. Yours, Frank 1961 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Please! No one will help me and I really need it! on: November 23, 2002, 17:27:19 Difficulties, yes, very normal. Sometimes it can take years before you achieve the correct degree of understanding. I suppose one day someone will invent a pill for it, but for now it takes lots of practice. Perhaps the realisation that you project every night in your sleep may help you. In the sense that it's not a question of you not being able to leave your body. The real question is, how can you be mentally awake and alert while you do so. For a number of basic, more traditional AP techniques the book Astral Dynamics is the current number one. For info on the (some say easier) more modern day Phasing approach then Bruce Moen's work I'm sure will offer you some pointers. As will a search through this BBS. You didn't say in your post what it was you wanted to do, exactly. Naturally, I read what you say about wanting to leave your physical body. But to go where? Is what I am asking. Reason why I ask is because Intent is a strong driving force within the Astral. If you could please fill me in a little more as to who, or where, it is you are trying to connect then I'm sure I could advise further. Yours, Frank 1959 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Lost the knack on: November 24, 2002, 10:28:11 Yes, Helen, your experiences are like so many others where, because of limited understanding, people have tried to "fight" their experiences rather than understand them for what they are. Your protective sense of conscious awareness is an ever so fragile aspect of the human self which bruises easily. What I do is always treat my protective sense of conscious awareness as a separate aspect of self and introduce it to situations very gradually. Like a mother would do with a child, for example. You need to talk to it and encourage it to come along with you, rather than oppose you. After all, this aspect of you is trying to protect you at the end of the day (well, that's what it thinks it is doing). In the beginning, your protective sense of self will baulk at every little thing. The slightest odd sound, the tiniest flash of light or slightly weird bodily sensation, and it zaps you right back to Physical (C1 consciousness). You will often read posts about people's experiences where, just as they seem to be making a little progress and losing sensation of their physical body at Mental Focus 10, they drift further to Focus 12 and that's right where you start to hear odd sounds or visions of abstract images, etc. The very instant they hear, see or feel the slightest thing, rather than interpreting them for what they are, i.e. clear signposts that serve to confirm your progress, they get zapped right out of it. But no matter how proficient you become, you will always have odd moments where your progress is halted. Either you get stuck at a point within the Astral somewhere through lack of understanding as to what to do next, or you get zapped back to Physical. The latter is very annoying but it does serve as a useful sign that you are overloading your protective sense of awareness. This is yet another good reason why it is far better to keep your adventures short. To me, it is way more beneficial to have 3 short, to the point projections in succession with near 100% recall; rather than one long adventure where you end up flitting here there and everywhere and get zapped back remembering next to nothing. Except, of course, that it was all very freaky. In your specific case, what I would do is to write your protective sense of self a letter. Explain about all the trauma both of you had in the past and the reasons why these problems occured. State how you now have new knowledge and understanding that will overcome the difficulties you had 12 years ago. This should "clear the air" and get the pair of you on an even keel. Yours, Frank 1958 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Feared-but why? on: November 24, 2002, 10:33:27 Helen, my response to your post on another thread refers. Yours, Frank 1957 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Frank :-D on: November 25, 2002, 17:23:20 quote: Originally posted by Leviiathan: Here are my observations: Heaviness: I find that the heaviness coming over me feels slightly uncomfortable, causes me to become anxious. This has nothing to do with fear or anything, it's just that there's a form of tension that I feel in my knee area, and a feeling of physical and mental anxiety (slight) that makes me want to start being active / getting up. For this reason, I find that your technique does not always work because when I start to pass into sleep this way, it seems there's something trying to prevent me from doing this. It's hard to explain. I think I'd have to experience it again, then write it down for reference. Work your way through it. Chances are it's just the protective aspect of your sense of conscious awareness coming into play. quote: Bored Mentality Alright, so it may be effective in causing my body to start to fall asleep. However, I find that my mind becomes entirely bored by this and begins to focus into other things. Now, I am met with a crossroad as I can either (1) let my mind wander or (2) continuous forcing myself to follow through with the same mind-busy tech. My mind just becomes bored... it wants to shift onto something else! Problem is your lack of Intent. You don't need to be locked out of all feeling of your physical body to Phase to the next stage. The meta-physical imagery you concoct is just something to concentrate on initally. This initial phase does the job of defocusing your awareness from your physical body and focuses it within the mind. But you don't want to be doing this all the time else, as you point out, you'll quickly get bored. quote: Little inconvenience I need a bit more help in applying this tech, as I at present only manage to do this: I take a shape, and imagine an open space in it, then I imagine it being filled, like I've placed a peice there. I do not imagine myself doing anything. This is sort of like a two dimensional scenario where you see a flat object, then seeing it filled. The two-dimensional system is inconvenient because it causes my mind to wander (get bored), and because I can have it happen fast (object appear, object fill), I begin to lose focus) Again you need to Phase to the next step where those 2D objects become 3D. That's the Focus 12 state (in Monroe terms). quote: Observations With Sleep In past occurances, I've noticed that indeed when I hold my mind still (like I've gone brain dead or something), and I just begin to let my mind wander, that very occupation of my surface mind / thoughts causes me to fall asleep. In fact, I hold no memory of how I fall asleep. I can just do this, and suddenly, I'm dreaming without even realize it, or even holding any memory that i had fallen asleep (you know how dreams are). A correlation is like a sudden UFO Abduction (a jump from point a to point d) and not being able to account for the lost time between those points. Yeah, tell me about it. So may times in early attempts I'd make that "a to d" jump as you describe it: with no account of the lost time inbetween. It still happens to me even now. In fact, it happened this very morning where one moment I'm within 3D blackness at Focus 12, then next thing I'm dreaming about riding a bicycle down a lane just like I used to do when I was a child. Because of my experience, in these situations I can normally get my mental focus back because typically there's this voice saying, "Frank, Frank, you slipped mate, you're dreaming. Hello! You lost it big time, wake up!" At which point about 8 times in 10 I'll zap back to the Focus 10 state. quote: Further Notices I tried just drifting off again today and last night and it didn't seem to be very effective. I forget why. Hmm... how strange. Also, what is phasing? This interests me. I find that a direct separation approach is not advisable for me because of the many factors involved that seem to puzzle me (and because I can't achieve the correct state to separate). Phasing is more a product of the Monroe/Moen school of thought which seeks to recognise and label various mental states that each of us have in common that we can become attuned to. One of the underlying ideas of the Phasing idea is that Astral-travel is merely an expansion of consciousness rather than a "separation" of one thing with another. I liken it to that of a radio receiver where most people would have their minds tuned to two channels only, namely, awake in the Physical environment or not. Each 24 hours they tune from one to the other, not realising there are other channels that can be received by the mind also. Yours, Frank 1956 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Any Dangers having OBE on: November 26, 2002, 04:09:22 quote: Originally posted by Phil: Dangers of having OBE Is there any dangers what so ever while having a OBE, I ask this because I fear cause I am out of my physical body I can be taken by something maybe a spirit or something, again I ask this because I am not sure what state I am in when having a OBE, is it still a dream or am I out of body somewhat like a spirit. When I have a OBE, I am in my house starting from my bedroom usually, there have been a couple of times I have seem someone in my house when I am having OBE I would get very frightened and return or wake up immediately. Who am I seeing, other spirits or what. Yes, there is a big danger that for centuries has led people into experiencing all manner of difficulties. The primary cause of these difficulties is where people form conclusions about what they either perceive (or think they may perceive) within Astral reality: based on their experiences within Physical reality. I call this Astral Anthropomorphism. A typical example is that of thinking someone can slip into your physical body whilst you are "out". Like the body were some kind of physical possession that could be stolen from you if left unattended. Another one that crops up often is due to the way Astral perception can often come across in a multi-layered kind of way. Whereas the Physical environment is generally perceived as a single layer. On the Physical, if we are sitting in a room then we see the surroundings of the room. And if we, at the same time, see other people within the walls of that room we naturally conclude those people we are seeing are also in the room. Which, you might think is a very obvious thing to state. After all, if we are sitting in a room and we can obviously see other people in that same room, then where else could those people be but with us in that room. This is all very obvious within Physical reality, but not necessarily true when applied to Astral reality. A major stumbling block is caused by the fact that when we "go obe" (for want of a better term) the sense of conscious awareness we take with us, is the exact same one we have with us on the Physical. In other words, when projecting we don't automatically create this super sense of Astral understanding all primed and geared for comprehending Astral reality. It is unfortunate that with most people (myself included) getting the right degree of understanding and control takes years of trial and error. Big problem is, because of the inherent nature of the Astral environment it is ever so easy to go off on a tangent and become your own self-fullfilling prophecy. The reason why this occurs is because, in many ways, the Astral acts as a perfect mirror that serves to reflect whatever emotion, thought, idea, wish, need, want, etc., etc., back to you. But it does so in a seamless and ever so subtle way that forever catches people out. Basically, within the Astral, your ability to perceive is directly linked to your willingness to believe. So what you "believe in" largely determines your experiences, which the Astral instantly reflects back at you... thus reinforcing the original belief(s). Which has the effect of making you believe it more (whatever "it" is, the Astral doesn't make judgments) so you perceive it more; so you believe it more; so you perceive it more; so you believe it more... and so it goes on. But I think things will change as progressively more people communicate their experiences and learn about the basic ground rules that apply. Yours, Frank 1955 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / working on a retrival,maybe? on: November 26, 2002, 17:20:31 Alpha: From my limited experience it very much sounds like a retrieval situation. Ginny is our resident expert on this subject and I wonder what she might have to say. The bullets flying, I recognise as I've come across loads of people in the belief-system regions still playing the various war-games they played while Physical. In fact, the last retrieval I did was a "cop shoot out" situation where this American policeman got shot alongside his two sons near his home. He didn't realise he had died and was still tending to what he thought were his dying offspring barely clinging on to life - while yelling into his radio for backup. Me and my regular guide, Harath, turned up in this big 1960's or maybe early 70's style cop-car of the like you see on some of the old Kojak episodes. The bullets were really flying on this one (which I suppose made a change from the huge knife I got stabbed with the previous time). And just as we arrived there was this really loud explosion... and... I ducked. The look on Harath's face as he turned and looked at me I'll never forget. Anyway, we got them bundled into this car and off we went to a recovery area within F27 which had been specially prepared. Also, where you say that all the info just started coming to you? Yes, that I do very much recognise. It comes across like you just wonder and then it seems like the moment you wonder, the answer comes to mind. But as to why the child was reluctant, I'm sure Ginny could help you there. Yours, Frank 1952 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / working on a retrival,maybe? on: November 27, 2002, 08:54:57 Ginny: thank you for the detailed response and you bring up an important point which I overlooked, which is, of having a "helper" by your side. I'm so used now to Harath always being with me, and that's what I think you need to become open to, Alpha. I'm sure there will be helpers around you at the time and all it should take is to become open to that possibility which should bring them within the range of your perception (on the Astral your willingness to believe largely determines your ability to perceive). What Harath has taught me to do is latch onto a feeling which he described as a "spark of hope" that exists within a child's mind seemingly regardless of the horrific circumstances they are in. It's next to impossible for me to explain in words but there is a kind of resonant vibration I feel that's just a slight phase shift away from the dingy and dark circumstances you often come across within the lower regions. It's like rather than concentrating on the surrounding circumstances, what I do is concentrate on the child being retrieved. Then I think of a kind of Christmas morning feeling. It's like on the Physical when a child suddenly finds themselves surrounded by all kinds of good things it overwhelms their awareness to the point where they forget everything going on around them. They just have this wide-eyed wonderous look and their aura sparkles. Like, for example, when you see children meeting their favourite cartoon characters in Disneyland. Well, it's that kind of feeling that I search to bring out (apologies if my explanation is of no use but it's difficult for me to describe in words). The essential thing to bear in mind is to avoid concentrating on the actual circumstances. I mean, to the point where you start to get involved. There was a post not so long ago that typified the kinds of entanglements that can trap you. This person found themselves within one of the lower regions and several men grabbed her and were about to put her in a big cooking pot or something. So she started screaming and struggling, calling out for her friend, who I think was an experienced projector. Her friend saved her from the circumstances. But she could so very easily have saved herself simply by cracking a joke or two, which would have raised her vibration. Anyhow, best of luck Alpha. It's good to hear of your progress. Yours, Frank 1951 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Projection Stage / Vibes (Need some insight) on: November 27, 2002, 09:48:32 quote: Originally posted by Leviiathan: Alright, first of all, I'd like to ask: About Entering Trance I'm come to understand that the process of entering trance may be one that may need to be developed over an extended period of time, like a person learning how to ride a bycicle. With each attempt, the person improves. Is this true? Yes, absolutely. Though people naturally tend to develop at different rates. But each time you succeed it gets just that little fraction easier the next time. The key is to develop familiarity with the various states and use them as signposts that indicate your progress rather than stumbling blocks that trip you up. quote: About Conditioning step, and the Natural Resistance Barrier Do any of you believe in a so-called (my term) "Natural Resistance Barrier?" I feel that it's different for each people and that what this is is a suconscious level of resistance that prevents people from inducing altered states of consciousness (i.e. trance). For me, entering trance has been one of the biggest, hardest, most frustrating steps I have ever taken in my journey to AP. Like cooking, it seems that inducing trance requires the right set of ingredients, or rather, in this case, correct amount of focus, correct style, correct center- of-awarenss-position, etc. The philosophy here is that your subconscious naturally tries to stop you from performing a willing self-hypnosis (or being hypnotized in general), and it takes a matter of time for the process to be accepted as a normal function process that is performed in the every day life step. For me, hopefully my 3 hours-a-day of practice (3 1-hour sessions) will develop my abilities. Again, your insight is pretty much spot on. Where you say, "and it takes a matter of time for the process to be accepted as a normal function process that is performed in the every day life step" you couldn't be more accurate. Problem is, your Astral progress is largely determined by your willingness to believe. That's why, when people post about their experiences, the first thing I look for is the phrase "I believe" and study carefully what follows. Because in the text of what follows, is usually a major stumbling block that the person in question has possibly been tripping over for years. quote: Personal Philosophy I feel that I have a puzzle that is incomplete. I have to get from step a to step d. I can already advance to step d from step a, but if I do that, I mess up completely. I need to get from Step A to Step D, through Steps B and C. Why is this? Because if my body is asleep, then I will be able to project! To quote your analogy, above, "Like cooking, it seems that inducing trance requires the right set of ingredients, or rather, in this case, correct amount of focus, correct style, correct center-of- awarenss-position, etc." It's a question about having the right set of ingredients that creates just the right kind of mental mix that fires the process. quote: My Mistakes I've Realized I'm just explaining a typical session for me. Ironically, my experimentations began with Robert Bruce, expanded out in many different directions, and seem to have come back to his simple techniques. All I've done is merely expanded my knowledge so that I can apply them properly. It is not that they were wrong. I have realized that my understand of how to apply them in practice was wrong. So here I am. Successful projection is a mental exercise that comes by obtaining the correct degree of mental understanding. Realisation is a very powerful emotion that tears down inner mental barriers at a terrific rate. The more you expand your knowledge and the more you practice, the more you realise. And the more you realise, the thinner that mental barrier becomes... until... one day, you break through. quote: Prologue Step / Readying myself This is what I do. The conditions, be light, darkness, or semi-darkness don't necessarily bother me, if not at all. Semi-darness is the most ideal condition, as indicated. I lay down, tense up my muscles (3 times or so), then breathe in, hold it, breathe out (2 seconds breathing in, hold for 1 second, breathe out for 2 seconds) at a gradual and slow pace. After doing this a few times, I close my eyes and do it again. In the case of tonight, I just kept doing that, then led into the next step. Like most people, I do this to prepare myself. I don't like to call it a process that calms my mind, nor a process that relaxes me. It does all of those things, but the description is purely that it is a preparation step. I don't think of when I'll be ready, I don't think of how many times I'm supposed to do the breathing. I just let it happen. I don't think about it. And the reason why is because my mind is not focused on the concerns of how I'm supposed to breathe. It just happens. Yes, good advice. It's all about realising that projection is a natural process where you just let it happen, rather than try and force things. quote: Intermediate Step / Inducing Body Sleep, Mind Awake I don't want to call this "Trance", because it is not a trance step. I prefer to describe it as the process that dims my full awareness, and puts my body to sleep. I have not mastered this area, so in given time, I believe, I will be able to. This area, being the most crutial developement step of my training, is something I still have yet to develope to the required level. This step, which entails switching from 2D vision, i.e. merely looking at the blackness behind the eyelids, to 3D vision (the switching on of Astral Sight) is a very tricky mental balancing act. Even now this step frustrates me. Like, the other morning I merely only had to think about the step and it almost right away came about. However, this morning I couldn't make the step at all after about an hour of trying... why? That's the question I'm currently seeking the answer to. Why is it that some mornings it's virtually instant, where other mornings it happens but with varying degrees of difficulty. And there are times like this morning where I couldn't make it... why? quote: One thing I also noticed: I had these black-outs seem to hit me. This feeling where you start to black out, but then within a split second, your awareness returns back to where it was. Any particular comments on this? Yes, I recognise your description and it is caused by failing to keep the right kind of mental focus (well it is with me). It happens to me when I let my sense of mental focus shift from a point that I sense is about the middle to upper of my head. If I just let it drift then I'll fall asleep. In a way this is a signpost that tells you the body is on the verge of sleep, and right at this point comes the tricky part. As the body sleeps, out of sheer habit, it wants to shut down your sense of awareness. But you are lying there wanting to project. So you get this little tug-of-war going on where the body is trying to take away your sense of awareness, and you keep trying to snatch it back. Eventually the body will give in, drift off to sleep, and then you are free. quote: Projection Stage I figured I might as well do a projection and see what I'd get. I started to climb the rope. It was not long till vibrations came over me. They started out small, and seemed to become stronger. One thing I noticed is that they were not intense vibrations, nor anything weak. When you say vibrations, where did you feel these were coming from? Yours, Frank 1950 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Page 2 on: November 27, 2002, 10:13:34 quote: I had no idea how much time had passed but wasn't in a big hurry to return to C1. As a matter of fact I felt such a warm, soothing peacefulness that I decided to just recline and float. Haven't felt that good in a long time. Now you are getting like me, in the sense that soon you won't want to come back. I tell you, it makes a big difference having your own place There. Nowadays, I keep myself emotionally closed pretty much all the time but I cannot help feeling a tinge of sadness every now and again when I read people's posts about devils and demons and all kinds of other such (so called) Astral dangers. If only these people could become open to what a joyful and harmonious place the Astral can be. It'd make planet Earth a more harmonious place too I'm sure. Yours, Frank 1943 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Projection Stage / Vibes (Need some insight) on: November 28, 2002, 10:06:00 quote: Originally posted by Leviiathan: About Vibrations It's hard to recall, but let me try to remember. I think they were paramount around the top of my knee caps to around my neck area, but were mostly felt throughout. It wasn't a surging feeling (which is more intense, and different). I have a pulsing feeling, like my body is pulsing. When I said "pulsations", I was saying that as I'd breathe in, there'd seem to be a sight and fast reactions of the pulsations suddenly going "PULSE" as I breathed, instead of just "pulse". Most of the time, vibrations begin for me with the heart chakra begining to pump energy. It feels like my heart rate it speeding up. On one or two occassions, I noticed that my face was red and warm, as if I had just exercised, so in those cases, I think it had something to do with my heart. With the heart chakra beginning to pulse, the body begins to surge with energy soon after. From my mid-section / heart (area I described as where it is generally felt), it spreads out to encompass my feet, hands, and face. Okay, now I'm not sure how universal these feelings are amongst people but, with me there are several vibrational states I can sense. Only one of these is to do with Astral Projection. In other words, I am of the opinion that it is not enough merely to feel vibrations: they must be vibrations in particular. First I'd like to stress that I'm not into doing any kind of "energy work" it's just that I went through a phase of trying to understand at least some basics to do with Chakras (and the like) more out of curiosity than anything. There are a number of people on this BBS who are quite expert at doing things such as "energy raising" very little of which I've had any experience with. From my limited experiments, I discovered there are 2 bodily vibrational states I can muster. (That is, apart from the vibrations I feel that are to do with Astral Projection.) One of these is centered around the area of my abdomen. It's a very high pitched kind of vibration similar to an intense tickle. Or the kind of feeling you get in your belly going over a hump-back bridge at speed. I often find this vibrational-centre active during sleep. Many times I catch myself dreaming about standing on the edge of a tall building. As I become more consciously aware, I begin to sense this intense tickle coming from my abdomen. As the feeling does bear some kind of resemblance to the feeling you can get in your abdomen when looking down from a great height, I figured it was this which sparks the dreams about standing on the edge of a tall building. The other vibrations are felt in the region of my chest. These are of a lower frequency than the one I just described, but still quite a high pitch. It also gives me the feeling that my heartbeat has raised itself to a high level. Which is hasn't actually, but that's how the feeling comes across. Also, my whole body develops a feeling like it were made of some kind of spongy foam and that it had expanded to about double its normal size. The bottom half of my body gets this weird sensation like it carries on forever and ever. Which gives me a feeling like I were "in" my physical body at the region of my head and neck, but the rest of me was "out there" somewhere. The third vibrational state is the one which comes about at the onset of what I call my "travelling projection". Basically, I have two ways of projecting: "step into" or "travelling". With a travelling projection I'm laying back relaxing and, as I do so, I'll feel a kind of stroking sensation within my head. At the same time I get a sound. It comes across as an ever so gentle swooosh sound, like a little wave just rippled through my head. So I relax further and it will come again after about 30 seconds, or so. Then I relax into it more and it will start happening faster to the point where each swooosh comes about every second or two. Then it develops into a low-frequency vibration that feels as if my whole brain is shaking slightly from side to side. Which it isn't literally. But again that's what it feels like. I also feel the swooosh sensation naturally as I wake up. Not every time but, say, around half the time. As I am coming awake, I'll feel at least one tiny swooosh. I'm saying this because the thought occurs to me that maybe other people have felt this and not really given it a thought. In the sense they may have just habitually and long-since ignored the sensation thinking it was merely a factor involved in coming awake. You see, the first time it happened to me as part of a projection I thought, hang on a minute, I recognise this swoooshing feeling. And, sure enough, it was the same sensation I have often felt while in the natural process of coming awake. As the swoooshing turns into a vibration I get a sensation of movement. Like my physical body were laying on some kind of flying carpet and we were going off somewhere. At some point early on, I get my Astral sight which usually begins with a brief view of the real-time zone, then I get a load of jumbled images following which everything begins to slow. At which point I find myself within the Astral. Yours, Frank 1941 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Projection Stage / Vibes (Need some insight) on: November 28, 2002, 15:46:12 quote: Originally posted by Jeff_Mash: In the beginning of my projections, when I would get to this point, I would become scared, because I would literally plummet at lightening speeds in a downward direction. This made me think, "Oh crap, I'm going tp ram head first into the ground!" Yes, this I very much recognise. It's what I used to do, only in reverse (mostly). I called it my cannonball-exit because it literally felt like I'd been shot from a cannon. Though there were times when it felt like I'd dropped about a thousand feet in just a few seconds. But since I started working on slowing it all down and becoming in touch with the Monroe Phasing process that never happens to me anymore. Yours, Frank 1940 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Page 2 on: November 28, 2002, 16:33:45 quote: Originally posted by Ginny: How many times have so many been confronted with some lost soul who just needed directions or a little company...and we instantly assumed they were evil? I think it stems from experiences within Physical reality. Within the Astral I have an open mind. I suppose because I know that absolutely nothing can harm me. But on the Physical? Yours, Frank 1939 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Which book by Robert Bruce should be read first? on: November 28, 2002, 16:35:26 Astral Dynamics. Bit of a heavy read but has loads of tried and tested techniques for beginners. Yours, Frank 1938 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Possesion on: November 28, 2002, 17:09:12 quote: Originally posted by Donna: Hi Frank, Our higher self knows everything. The more I practice the more of this "knowing" bleeds through to my everyday conciousness. Even reading posts on this forum much infromation about an individual will come through. This is a normal progression for everyone who practices what is discussed on this forum. Well, my "higher selves" are dunces by comparison. To my knowledge there's only 4 of them plus Harath. He seems to be the knowledgeable one (as far as all the Astral stuff is concerned). But even he can't tell me next Saturday's lottery numbers. So I figure he's not all that worldly wise after all. But, then again, he never claimed to be of planet Earth but of some other place. Sounds like it's time I got a new higher-self to me. Yours, Frank 1937 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Suicide and spiritual growth on: November 28, 2002, 19:37:16 quote: Focus15 P.S... If you are going to "quote" someone FRANK, give full credit.... Yes, I've known for a while now where you've been coming from. Yours, Frank 1936 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Suicide and spiritual growth on: November 29, 2002, 09:36:39 quote: Originally posted by Rolling Bear: Frank, you're still making rigid distinctions between the "physical" and the "astral," where in fact these are only apparent, not fundamental. The "physical" and "non-physical" are all made of thought. Dave, I wish you'd offer to give me £100 for every time I made the statement "thought is a primary energy". Of course it's all made from thought because (again for the zillionth time) thought is a primary energy. But that doesn't stop me making clear distinctions. For example, scientists have proven that all Physical matter is made of atoms. Now, I don't know about you, but I for one make a rigid distinction between my laser printer and the planet Jupiter. quote: There is no respite from what you call "thought-release-action" -- every thought still instantly manifests, even if you don't immediately perceive it as such. You seem to be getting tangled up here. On the Astral there is no respite from the thought- release-action process. But on the Physical there is and I can prove it. I'm sitting here, at my keyboard, thinking all manner of thoughts yet my surroundings haven't changed a bit. quote: And what you refer to as "highly damaging emotions" are to be embraced and incorporated into oneself, into the bittersweet complexity of one's being; they are not to be "banished." They are part of one's character. Even if you try to discard them, they'll return to haunt you. Best to realize they are an aspect of your totality and accept them as a holon of yourself. Emotions such as fear and anger are highly damaging. I would say that is obvious merely from looking at the state we are in, planet Earth-wise. The French still encompass the notion of a "crime of passion" but I maintain most people get murdered through some kind of mix of fear and anger. I'm not sure what you mean about all this "bittersweet complexity." It's obvious that is how you view yourself (which you have every right to do) but I like to keep my inner workings to as simple and as emotion-free a degree as possible. I allow myself an element of joy at least once a day, and that's about it. Yours, Frank 1935 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Candle Vision approach - feedback please on: November 29, 2002, 10:54:53 You touch on a point I was making on another post about giving the mind a small task to keep it occupied, while the physical body drifts off to sleep. Because, in a nutshell, that is all Astral Projection entails. Problem is, set the mind too difficult a task and your focal point of awareness remains locked in the Physical; and too wishy-washy a task and your sense of conscious awareness dissipates and you fall asleep. It just so happens that setting the mind the task of climbing an imaginary rope has worked for a lot of people (including myself). But, ultimately, it's a case of each individual finding what works best for them. In my experience I have no need for any kind of "exit technique" once I feel vibrations. I find if I just relax into them I get a feeling like I've just set off on a flying carpet ride. I've got this other way of projecting that follows a different approach where you imagine some kind of scene. Which could be anything that appeals to you. There comes a point where you get a 3D blackness effect (Monroe Focus 12) and following that "the scene" will come to life within your mind, then you just mentally step into it. Ultimately, I'm of the view that it doesn't really matter what kind of "doorway" you create for yourself. It's the mental act of creating some kind of doorway that makes the whole thing work. How that doorway is represented within each person's mind I think matters not. Yours, Frank 1934 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Possesion on: November 29, 2002, 11:46:20 quote: Originally posted by Donna: Hi Frank, LOL. I am just thinking of some of the spirits that I have chanced to meet. It is a strange idea, to me, that you would refer to another (other than yourself), as your Higher Self. You don't give your credit for your phasing abilities away to these guides do you? You have achieved your skills working on your own, with some tools like Hemi-Sync, right? Within me resides my Higher Self, I also refer to this one as my Subconscious Self. I began to "knock on that door" when I began to show a spiritual interest. It was opened immediately, and as wide as my interest persists. I'm still giggling about your guides... Donna Donna: LOL, yes, I find this particular topic so frustratingly difficult to understand at times. To the extent where it's like I've got a choice between pulling my hair out in frustration, or giggling insanely: the latter being my only real choice as, at my age, having a full head of hair is a precious asset. I know, for example, that Harath is another aspect of my Self. And there are other aspects too. Some are fleeting and difficult to pin down. But the other person I have met, several times, is a woman called Freda. She tends to this huge garden in F27. I call it the Rainbow Garden and it's full of children. She says she looked after me when I was once there, and she talks about all kinds of stuff about "us". Problem is, once they start going on about the structure of it all, I get confused and subjected to reality shifts. You say that "within you resides your higher self" which is a statement I feel I can understand. But what I can't seem to get a straight answer to, in simple terms, is: what is a Higher Self? Yours, Frank 1933 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Virtual reality projection this morning? on: November 29, 2002, 15:51:03 Jeni: It definitely sounds to me like a situation where a guide was trying to get some kind of point across to you. I've recently come across areas in The Library at Focus 27 where there are many screens and all manner of events can be replayed. It seems the idea of replaying events on a screen, therefore, is a typical "guide situation" from what I can gather. About the Astral superimposed on your room this is easily possible but does get more than a little confusing at first. One of the most beneficial parts about Astral Dynamics, for me, was where RB talks at length about "mind split" effects. They used to confuse the heck out of me, but thanks to RB's directions it's something I quickly learned to get used to. Again (and I know it's tricky) you need to try and gather your thoughts, at the time, and try and remain still. Basically, you need to learn to control the situation rather than have it control you. What I do is think of the quality of being still, like still water where there's not a ripple on the surface. Which gets the situation under control. Next, you ask for clarity. If you can't get to grips with what is being shown, take a step back into stillness and ask for clarity again. The moment anything gets confusing, step back right away into that stillness. Because once you learn to keep the situation under control, that's when the fun stuff begins. Yours, Frank 1926 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Candle Vision approach - feedback please on: November 29, 2002, 22:32:23 Yes, it's not that hard but kinda difficult at the same time. Sort of a middle approach that's not so easy to explain. It's an inbetween thing. Not waking consciousness but not asleep. As I say, in a nutshell you let the body go to sleep while keeping the mind awake. Yours, Frank 1924 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Who Am I? on: November 29, 2002, 23:34:42 quote: Originally posted by Patty: So then my thoughts on what is self, what am I, leads me to emotion. This meditation takes me away from emotion. Despite the fact that I value my emotion. I think that it is this. I think that in this focus, the emotions are not repressed or controlled, they simply are not present. Patty Yes my precious, yes. quote: I need a useful metaphor for this idea of emotions, self, and so on. A useful one that comes in handy for me is to think of a water fountain. Not the kind you drink from but the ones that create a fancy display. Thought (in Mystical terminology this energy I think has been called Prana or Chi; and other names like that) being a primary energy is the water, and the nozzle of the fountain is the mind. In other words, you could have many different nozzles that create many different fountain displays: but they are all powered from the same pool of water. Each person's mind is connected to the same supply of thought. But where things differ (and often differs radically) is how each person uses their mind to manipulate this basic energy and forms what we commonly call an "individual character". Which is basically a person who has decided to modulate the incoming thought energy in much the same way over time. Yours, Frank 1923 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Possesion on: November 30, 2002, 10:24:10 quote: Originally posted by Donna: .....through their eyes, and others act like they know me there. Now this is a very confusing issue with me. Especially more recently because I keep coming across people who know me There and I haven't the faintest clue who they are. Are you saying I should become open to these people? Because, up until now, every time it happens I mentally turn away. You know, when I read your post I couldn't help but chuckle. Because you sound just like Harath. That's what he says when I ask who are you? He claims that he is me. And with Freda too. She basically says the same thing. What gets me is, if Harath is me then I, in turn, must surely be Harath. But we're not, we are two different beings. This is a big stumbling block I cannot get to grips with. This idea of Harath and myself being One and yet being different is ever so confusing. The Spark of the Prime Creator, now that I do understand. There's a particular kind of resonance within me where, if I tune into it, it makes me feel all humble and gooey inside. And it give me thoughts about giving all my money to charity and stuff. Harath calls it our hotline to God. I come across it quite a bit while within the Astral, and it causes me to become subjected to serious reality shifts. When it happens, Harath always laughs at me saying, "Whoops, the red telephone is ringing." The creation bit I recognise as well. Though on nowhere near the scale of forming planets and things. I recently created a beach house for myself within F27 which I'm particularly fond of (was my first proper "creation"). Yours, Frank 1919 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Suicide and spiritual growth on: November 30, 2002, 22:40:20 Alpha, you are making great progress. The realisations you are expressing are very advanced in the general scheme of things. The key thing is to retain that control. As you say it's not easy. The big problem we have to face is how can we make people realise? What is it that we can just click our fingers and do: that will givepeople the same (or even better a greater) level of understanding? Keep working on that, my friend. There's more than you behind you hoping. Yours, Frank 1918 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / OBE this morning - Anyone seen this entity? on: December 04, 2002, 17:51:10 Greg, it's probably an Astral representation of your physical body. I get this feeling, like there's someone clinging onto my back now and again and it is always when there's something uncomfortable physical-body-wise. The best one I had once was when it felt like there were these two arms coming over my shoulders and the hands reached down and kept tweaking my nipples. It was ever so annoying and I kept trying to grab a hold of these arms and wrench them off. Then I thought, hang on a minute, what the heck am I doing here? So I zapped back to physical and what happened was my physical arms were over my head. Sometimes I do this while falling asleep; which I try to avoid because I wake up after an hour or so with my arms feeling completely dead. Which is what had happened. Other times I get what I call a "sucker monster" leeching onto my body. I'm sure I posted on this a number of moons ago. Ultimately, what you have to be prepared for are some pretty weird bodily sensations. Difficulty with this is, if you make snap judgements about what you are feeling while you are within the Astral, then "as you think, so it becomes" I'm afraid. Within the Astral, Thought=DirectAction. So next time I'd advise you to please try and not make snap judgments. On the Physical "snap judgements" can often be the best judgements to make. For instance, you are driving along then, suddenly, there's a car on the wrong side of the road and it's coming towards you head on. Now, there's no time for wondering here. And it would be a pretty dumb thing to do to start thinking of the why's and the wherefore's about how this situation came about. There's no time for any kind of logical analysis: you make a snap judgement to swerve out of the way. So next time you feel something uncomfortable, or something that's just not quite right: think about how you are coming to that conclusion in the sense of "not quite right to what?" Well, chances are, you are comparing Astral sensations to the kinds of sensations you would normally expect to feel while within Physical consciousness. The difficulty with this is, within the Astral, very different ground-rules apply. In other words, within the Physical you are cruising along having all kinds of fun then, something mega-out of the ordinary happens, and you react on instinct, make a snap judgement and... phew... it gets you out of trouble by the skin of your teeth. On the Astral, however, such thinking can merely lead you into ever more of a downward, ever worsening situation spiral. So within the Astral the bigger the sh*t you think you are in, the more you should sit back, have a beer and think. Yours, Frank 1915 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / DMT- HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE MISSED THIS? on: December 05, 2002, 21:42:53 Anyone trying to find a short-cut through drugs please forget. You can't retain or keep the requisite degree of mental control. It's next to impossible with people who are completely sober. Yours, Frank 1914 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / DMT- HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE MISSED THIS? on: December 06, 2002, 15:52:12 quote: Originally posted by Rolling Bear: That's an extreme oversimplification, Frank. Yep, you can't get things too simple where I'm concerned. Funny, I was reading a story today about how, decades ago, NASA discovered pens were useless in space. So, to solve the problem, they hired Anderson Consulting. It took them ten years and twelve million dollars to come up with a solution. They devised a pen which worked at zero gravity; upside down; under water; and on practically any surface: in temps ranging from below freezing to around 100 degs C. At the same time the Russians were beginning their own space program and had the same "useless pen" problem. They solved it by using a pencil. Yours, Frank 1913 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / lucid dream/ap with goggles commercially now. on: December 07, 2002, 12:41:10 I think the product could work. For many years I used the technique of waking up within a dream so I can definitely say doing this is a route to achieving Astral Projection. But I've no experience of this specific product. Another thing I can say for sure is, waking up within a dream becomes quite a habit. So if the product did work then the more you used it the less you'd need it. Which I always feel is a good thing with any kind of "prop". Yours, Frank 1912 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / View point in dreams on: December 07, 2002, 12:53:44 It could be that this is the way you happen to habitually perceive yourself. Within the Astral, with a little practice, you can switch views consciously. One of the weirdest I came across was when I discovered a kind of null-zone in my Astral awareness. The null-zone, as it turned out, was my physical body. So after a bit of practice I got to seeing Astral vision in 1st person; Physical vision in 1st person; and Astral vision giving me a whole 3rd person kind of overview... all at the same time. This ability to switch between views goes to creating what R.Bruce aptly calls the "mind split" effect. Which can be quite freaky when you first come across it. Astral Dynamics contains some good info on this. Yours, Frank 1911 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / View point in dreams on: December 08, 2002, 15:25:21 Yes, the switch from 3rd person to 1st person is where I mentally step into the Astral scenary. It's the point where the the border is crossed between imagination and the Astral. There is also an inbetween state I get where it feels almost like I'm looking from a 1st person view. But it's only a kind of virtual 1st person, not actual. The best explanation I can think of is I'm in a condition where, I am imagining I'm not looking from a 3rd person view. Then follows the full transition to true 1st person. Yours, Frank 1910 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: December 08, 2002, 15:50:10 quote: Originally posted by elasticca: Anyways, while lying in bed I would often expect to see the ceiling above me (astral sight?), but would fequently see a large expanse of stars in a night sky instead, as you seem to have described. It was usually at this point if I remember correctly, that I would "rise up", and find myself fully lucid in some other environment (astral planes, or dream environment?). I dismissed these experiences as lucid dreams, as I had previosuly had a full blown OOBE in the past, and these experiences seemed to differ significantly (finding myself in an otherworldly environment other than the RTZ, no exit sensations, etc..). After hearing about phasing on this board, I'm not sure anymore about my experiences. Any thoughts? Anyone? Best, Michael The starscape effect generally occurs as part of the Phasing process. It is also common to see whirling shapes or clouds of colour, and such like. Basically, you switch from seeing only the 2- dimensional blackness at the back of your eyelids... to having a feeling of moving into a 3 dimensional blackness, which is often punctuated by lots of little yellow lights in the distance (well, with me they are bright yellow). If you progress further you typically feel a kind of mental shift wherupon you find yourself within the Astral someplace. Which is what happened to you. But if you slow that shift down, you find it is possible to travel through the blackness and go right up to the lights, for example. Or you can have a root around and see if you can come across what are commonly called Astral Plane Entrance Structures of the kind R.Bruce printed on the back of AD. Yours, Frank 1909 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / a Focus 23 Retrieval on: December 08, 2002, 17:39:49 quote: Originally posted by jilola: Recent expericenes and lucid/semi-lucid dreams lead me to believe things are about to change but so far I can't say I've experienced the higher focus levels consciously, only afterwards as recollections. Jouni: this is how it starts. The trick is to have your sense of conscious awareness switched on at the onset. Which is something you are working towards. But recollecting after the event is the next best thing. I used to have a technique where I would come awake in a dream. Many times I got so close to having the necessary degree of awareness, but didn't quite get there. The frustrating thing was I'd come awake in the Physical realising and knowing how close I got to awaking in the dream. And it would be ever so frustrating to the point where I would be kicking myself thinking why couldn't I have made that little bit extra of a realisation at the time. One day I just did it and from then on I never looked back. Perhaps that way will happen with you also. With me I tend to go through phases where I keep trying and nothing much happens and then one day... zump... everything just slots into place. Yours, Frank 1907 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Advice for the beginner on: December 08, 2002, 18:08:28 Echo Fred's post, plus you need to learn to manage your fears. Something I got into the habit of doing which helped me enormously in the beginning: if you find the Astral circumstances getting out of control (which they WILL do at first) then, rather than try and make things right at the time, simply zip back to Physical consciousness, allow the mind to recover its calm, and project again. Problem is, people tend to find it so hard to project the natural tendency is to not want to let go of the projection. Which is understandable. But the mind is quite a fragile thing and tends to act like a fish out of water the first 20, or so, times you project. So you will have to make allowances for this, and give it an easy time. Memory recall of the experience is important too. Which is another reason why keeping your early projections short and to the point will help you. (R.Bruce gives some info on this in AD.) Yours, Frank 1906 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / What do I do next? on: December 09, 2002, 09:51:49 Debbie: what you describe comes across as being about normal. If you want to work towards having a full-blown obe then you are going to have to get used to all manner of (what feel like at first) weird bodily sensations. It is normal for you to see all kinds of swirls of colour, flashes of lights, and so forth. Which can often be accompanied by all kinds of sounds that can range from the odd popping or banging and stomping sound to hearing bells, chimes, tearing and ripping sounds, and even voices, plus whatever else I may have missed out. Bodily sensations can range from feeling a slight shift, to a sensation of falling or rising at great speed. Together with feelings of pressure and vibration that can appear almost anywhere. But I mainly feel pressure around my back (sometimes) and vibrations coupled with pressure at the top of my head (almost always). When (for want of a better term) my Crown Chakra activates the top of my head buzzes to the extent that it feels like my brain is vibrating from side to side. Which it isn't literally, but that's what it feels like. And often the pressure becomes such that I think my skull will burst open. But it's all a very normal part of the traditional process. If you find this sort of thing uncomfortable and feel you just can't go through with it, perhaps look at the Moen school of doing things as a starter. Then maybe come back to trying the more traditional ways. But if you have only recently started and are already getting such positive results, then I'd stick with it if I were you. Because it sounds like you have a knack for it. Yours, Frank 1905 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / why do some of you? on: December 09, 2002, 10:36:54 Fred: LOL Jeff: You are correct in thinking it wasn't me, but my instinct tells me the facts will make no difference on this one. I think the person in question just found themselves in the wrong forum. I was going to suggest they post to the PSD place, but it seems natural attraction has taken its course and they appear to be settling in there nicely. Yours, Frank 1904 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / DMT- HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE MISSED THIS? on: December 09, 2002, 15:36:20 Funny how this drugs debate often crops up. I suppose, ultimately, the point that stands out in my mind (as the analogy of the pen demonstrates) in taking potentially harmful substances... not only that, many of these substances are highly illegal class-A drugs... to induce astral projection is, to my way of thinking, using the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a nut. Also, I happened to be reading a report the other week which gave the official figure of 3.5 million people in the UK (pop. 59 million) who regularly take hard, i.e. class A drugs. I suspect the true figure is even higher. It's nice to dream of some rosy picture of Shamans in days of old; or talking about taking these substances only where they are legal (someone tell me a place any sane person would want to live where hard drugs are legal) and taken in the company of responsible, knowledgeable people. But there is no such reality. The hard fact of the matter is these substances are dangerously addictive and can have disastrous consequences. Consider that well over half of all street-crime and burglary in the UK is committed by addicts stealing money for their next fix. Which is just one example of the destruction and devastation they bring to people. Yours, Frank 1903 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / DMT- HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE MISSED THIS? on: December 09, 2002, 22:10:32 quote: Originally posted by Tisha: I must concur with Rolling Bear on the non-addicting nature of the plants being discussed. I don't, however, concur with the crankiness of some of these posts. What a waste of energy! Everyone hold hands, take a deep cleansing breath . . . . there. Problem is, Tisha, we are talking here about psychotropic drugs and psychotropic plants. The two are *very* different. It may well be that plants containing psychotropic agents would be non-addictive. They'd more than likely make you very sick after the first few leaves and branch. But to quote Dave, he said: "There is no "fact" that psychotropic drugs are addictive." The unfortunate fact is that psychotropic drugs are highly addictive. Not only that, given incorrect doseage they can be potentially fatal. Hence the reason why all psychotropic drugs are strictly controlled world-wide. Dave further went on to say, and I quote, "The fact is that they are the least addictive of all known drugs and plants; in fact, they are completely non-addicting." Again, I ask are we talking here about psychotropic drugs or merely plants that contain psychotropic agents? Yours, Frank 1902 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / DMT- HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE MISSED THIS? on: December 11, 2002, 01:15:02 quote: Originally posted by Rolling Bear: FRANK, psychotropic drugs and plants are non-addictive Dave, I'd begin to make a clear distinction between drugs and plants if I were you. I've got two of my old lecturer buddies and my ex-professor waiting to take money from you. And that's in addition to the half-million GBP I bet for when you walk on water next year. quote: They are not illegal because of addiction concerns; the reasons for their illegality are far more complex, but have to do essentially with ways of controlling our states of mind. The drugs in question would not be Psychotropic if they did not effect our state of mind. As such, they cannot not have addiction concerns. quote: They often trigger in the user a sense of the illusory nature of things, including ideas closely held by society, such as "being a consumer is good," "everyone should be a wage-earner," and "don't question your government. Dave, I've said before that often your vernacular is hard for me to follow, but here we concur. Consumerism, particularly north-American style consumerism, has always been to my complete distaste. But as to being a wage-earner, well, my wife and myself are both wage-earners. Which is obviously not to your taste but my wife and I (and all our neighbours I should hasten to add) think it's far better than robbing people for a living. As I say, over 50% of all street crime and burglary in the UK is commited by addicts wanting their next fix. Yours, Frank 1901 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / WILD vs. Phasing on: December 11, 2002, 18:03:46 Lucid dreaming is Monroe's Focus 22 state. There is the Astral bridge zone at Focus 21 and if you cross that bridge you enter into the first of the realms where thought equals direct action. In other words, as you think so it becomes all around you. The only difference between uncontrolled dreaming and lucid dreaming is your degree of conscious control, which also affects your memory of the experience. So where you say, "It would seem to me that Lucid Dreaming, and dreaming in general, is a phasing of the consciousness into a different "focus" level" you are quite correct. And basically that Focus level is, as I say, Focus 22. So dreaming in general is mind at the F22 state with next to no conscious control. Lucid dreaming is mind at the F22 state with a good measure of conscious control. Yours, Frank 1900 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Sleep Wake Sleep Method - Schedule on: December 11, 2002, 18:07:13 My ideal routine is sleep for 6 hours from 10pm to 4am followed by 2 to 3 hours projection practice. Yours, Frank 1899 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / hypnogogic sounds on: December 12, 2002, 10:14:48 Think of them as signs that indicate your progress. Imagine driving along a motorway and you see the sign for your exit that tells you it is 1 mile ahead. You don't have to stop to acknowledge the sign. You observe the sign in passing whilst keeping your primary focus on the junction ahead. So, in a sense, you are not looking to ignore these sounds and/or images, you want to be looking out for them. Because they are definite indicators of your progress. Yours, Frank 1898 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Yesterday's EXERCISE with ASTRAL PHASING on: December 12, 2002, 15:03:38 quote: Originally posted by amcturbo: I had seen the Astral Tunnel, the other day, more clearly ... it appeared as a blackish-grey mildly lighted *black hole* forming in front of me. Greg Taylor Yes, this is something I recognise very well. Plus, a lot of near-death experience bods talk of the same thing. You get it at around the Astral bridge zone at the Focus 21 stage. Focus 21 is basically the bridge between Astral and Physical. It can often be viewed as crossing some kind of expanse, or moving through a tunnel, etc. Basically, if you feel a definite shift like you have moved from one place to another - then you just crossed the bridge zone. How each individual experiences that shift can vary. But moving through some kind of tunnel is a common way of perceiving it. Yours, Frank 1897 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Sleep Wake Sleep Method - Schedule on: December 12, 2002, 15:56:01 quote: Originally posted by TheJza: Frank: How long do you stay up before you start your practicing? Also, do you get up right away afterwards, or do you need more sleep after you are done? On awakening at around 4am (which I do naturally as I've been in the habit of going to sleep early and waking early for a number of years) I generally just lay in bed thinking about any kind of thing I may have been dreaming about, perhaps make a few notes on that. Which takes about 15 minutes. Then I go through the process and my first conscious projection comes about after around 20 minutes. My normal projection time is about 10 minutes. After which I return to C1 consciousness and make some notes. By this time about an hour has elapsed. So I attempt again and, if all goes well, another hour will have elapsed so I try for a third time. Now, depending on various factors, by the 2nd time I might be feeling a little sleepy so on the 3rd attempt I may lose my focus and drift off to sleep. Or if the two previous projections were longer than normal, say, and lots happened then I may be too long making notes to try for a 3rd projection. In which case I'll just lay back and take a nap for 30 mins or so until 7am which is the time I normally get out of bed. But if all goes to plan I can normally achieve 3 projections. Sometimes I might be able to pack-in 4 short projections. Or it does happen where my first projection gives me some kind of turning-point experience that excites me to the point where I can't project any more that morning. Like, when I first came across a guide. I returned to C1 consciousness and that was it. I could hardly sleep for thinking about it for days afterwards. So it threw me out of my normal sleeping schedule. I can often go through phases where I can't project for some reason. Like, I'll go 3 or 4 mornings where I know that my body is just not in the mood for it. These blank periods usually coincide with times when my Physical work schedule is fairly heavy so my mind is taken up by that. Or I might have had some disagreement with my regular guide, Harath, so I'll avoid him by not projecting for a few days. I'm not too groggy to start my day because, as I say, I've been in the early to bed, early to rise habit for many years now (I've never been a night person for some reason). But now and again I'll attend some social function that keeps me up late, but the next morning I'll forget trying to project and just sleep through. I used to use the Hemi-Sync Wave 1 CD but stopped recently as I find I no-longer need it. There is also a kind of habitual expectation that comes about with obe practice. Which is why I feel it is best to keep to some kind of routine that works for you. The worst thing I feel a person can do is try to force themselves. It just won't work. So if trying before sleep is difficult for you, then try and find a time when it feels natural and comfortable. Yours, Frank 1896 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / weird start is it normal?? on: December 12, 2002, 23:18:08 Terrance: yes, the moving real slow like monitoring every step is darned good advice. Try and slow to a standstill and remain mentally calm... and then move on from there... which is what I always say. Problem is, when we project to the Astral the first few times, we tend to move as if we are resisting the same kind of forces that we are moving whilst Physical. Forces such as gravity, for example. Like, when I very first started to project into the real time zone, I'd get this flash of a vision of my bedroom then everything would become a blur... why? Because I discovered I was flying out of there at a zillion MPH. Likewise when projecting to the Astral the first times. Everything would be a blur... until I realised that I was zipping here and there at lightning speed without realising it. Yours, Frank PS Welcome to the BBS Hope you find it useful. 1894 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Evil astral projectors.... on: December 13, 2002, 13:00:35 The lower Astral is populated by millions and millions of what we incarnates would consider "evil people". They continue to play the same mindless games on the Astral that they played while Physical. As such, every shade of evil that is present on the Physical is also present within the lower Astral. The good news is, these people by their very nature self-limit their development (not that they perhaps would perceive it that way). Basically, within the Astral like attracts like. So someone who liked murdering people would naturally be attracted into regions populated by murderers. Which is, of course, where it gets interesting. It is only when you learn to project into these areas and have the ability to remain detached (so you don't get wrapped up in the drama and begin releasing emotion yourself) that you learn the true definition of the phrase Poetic Justice. So murderers, for example, are entirely at liberty to seek out new victims... but at the same time, others of the same disposition are all around them doing exactly the same. Yours, Frank 1893 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Sleep Wake Sleep Method - Schedule on: December 13, 2002, 13:16:43 Ralphm: It is difficult making a comparison between Physical time and Astral time. Because as there is no such thing as Astral time, one cannot be compared to the other. Simply because there is no "other" to compare against. I have had 5 minute projections that had me experiencing circumstances where I lived through several days of Astral Action. Where afterwards I end up writing pages and pages of notes, all for just five minutes or so of Physical time. Yours, Frank 1892 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / WILD vs. Phasing on: December 13, 2002, 14:17:57 Turning a lucid dream into a controlled Astral projection to a higher focus level is dead easy to say, but ever so tricky to do at the time. A lucid dream is simply where your mind is at the Focus 22 state and you are releasing all kinds of thoughts and emotions that are creating the circumstances you find yourself in. I haven't read LaBerge's work but he is quite correct to say that dreams are created by the person dreaming. With practice, a person can teach themselves to become more conscious so they begin to see the dreamscape while it is happening, rather than remembering about it after they awake. Now, it is at this point where it starts to get tricky. Because there are people I came across who experienced lucid dreams to the point where they became expert at creating them. So much so, they concluded that all this obe-stuff was mere emotional interplay. In other words, they got so wrapped up in creating these lucid dreams for themselves, they became blinded to all the other stuff that lay ahead. What you need to do is when you find yourself in the midst of a dream, i.e. when you become lucid, try and concentrate solely on one aspect of your dreamscape. Then ask yourself a simple question about it. You see, even though you have become lucid, your whole sense of conscious awareness will not all be with you (well, chances are it won't put it that way). So you need to first bring everything on stream. By asking a simple question, this brings your critical faculties into play together with your senses of logic and reason. Which, in turn, swing into action your short-term and long-term memory banks, and so forth. Once you have full conscious awareness, then you need to become as mentally still as possible. This will have the effect of shutting down all the dreamscape. At this point you can gather a definite intent to travel to wherever you wish. Within the Astral, Intent is the fuel that drives you from place to place. That's why you need to start from a point of mental stillness. Because whatever you focus on, becomes your reality. So if your mind is flitting here and there, your circumstances, in turn, will be flitting here and there. Which is all mighty confusing. A handy tip to remember: it is your degree of conscious control that is the key to opening access to the higher planes. So the higher the degree of conscious control you have, the higher the Astral plane you can project to. In the old days they talked about having to be a spiritually pure person and giving money to charity, and all that jazz, before the higher (in their line of thinking more godly) realms became open to you. When it's nothing of the kind. It's simply your degree of conscious control. The definition of what constitutes good conscious control is the degree to which you can remain mentally still and emotionally closed. From this basis, you can then "become open" and "become closed" with a high degree of selectivity. Which does take a lot of practise. Monroe was something of an expert at doing this and he even created a list of terms which detailed the switching processes commonly encountered. Yours, Frank EDIT: I just read Ginny's post about her latest F23 retrieval and she gives some good examples of what I'm talking about. Like, where she says: NOTE: Words in italics are my emphasis. quote: this camp or town had attacked the first town I had encountered. I opened up just enough to get a sense for the place and got a strong feeling of hate, an all- consuming emotional need for retaliation. quote: It was a constant merry-go-round: attack, be attacked...an endless loop for justice and the need to destroy. I closed these feelings off quickly and moved inside one of the 'bunkers'. quote: The man was feeling uncertain...I think having trouble dealing with anything new or anything suggesting any kind of change...so I brought the feeling of love and respect to me and directed the energy to him. It wasn't long before another Helper arrived quote: I thought to ask if it would just invite more misery and destruction but kept my feelings to myself as their anger was building to a fever pitch. I was open to finding anyone who was disenchanted but no one there had any desire to want to leave, just gear up for more fighting...so I waved goodbye and departed upward and out. 1891 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / a retrieval in the Belief System Territories on: December 13, 2002, 14:39:24 Ginny: a fascinating read and (again) a great account of how it should be done! Yours, Frank 1890 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Yesterday's EXERCISE with ASTRAL PHASING on: December 13, 2002, 14:50:25 Greg: yes, F21 stage is the tunnel. But people can perceive it differently, as I say. Also, don't be surprised if you start perceiving this stage in other ways as you become more familiar with the process. At the tunnel exit is the Astral. Focus 22 is the next logical step but you can exit the tunnel anywhere within the Astral, of your choosing. What I'd suggest is for you to have a definite Intent as to where it is you want to go. Then hold that Intent firmly in mind as you approach the tunnel stage. Yours, Frank 1888 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Exploring with Disk or I/There Members on: December 18, 2002, 13:49:19 quote: Originally posted by Jeff_Mash: Hi Ginny, The text I quoted above is something I've been working on for a while now. You see, when I lay down to relax and start to shift my awareness to the 3D blackness, I can feel my PHYSICAL eyes looking around, trying to spot a portal. Sometimes, this movement of my physical eyes causes my eyelids to peer open slightly. I realise your question was to Ginny but for ages I suffered from this problem. Where the very instant you perceive some image in mind the physical eyes try to snatch a glance at whatever it is, and it brings you out of it. Another problem that still comes about with me, now and again, is when I perceive not a specific image but an all-round light. It's normally the light from my regular guide, Harath. It comes across like someone is shining a light from directly above. Often my mind gets confused thinking I have woken up late and the light is the normal daylight that pervades my bedroom. Yours, Frank 1887 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Exploring with Disk or I/There Members on: December 18, 2002, 14:28:51 Jeff: no, this light is a continuous white light. In a way it's like being enveloped or bathed in a 3D whiteness, as opposed to a 3D blackness. I think from what you say the initial images may just be some kind of after-effect of having closed your physical eyes. But letting your curiosity guide you could lead you to making some other conclusion. Higher beings, generally, in their raw state, come across as a ball of sparkly light (well, that's how I perceive it). So I'd advise anyone experiencing any kind of "inner lights" to look in that direction more closely. Yours, Frank 1886 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Exploring with Disk or I/There Members on: December 18, 2002, 14:31:20 Ginny: Top post. Absolutely mind boggling experience! Yours, Frank 1885 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / 3D Blackness on: December 18, 2002, 20:33:21 See, didn't I tell you all that Ginny is a projection megastar? That lady has talent. Yours, Frank 1883 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Advice for the beginner on: December 19, 2002, 22:01:37 Thing is, Leviiathan, we all need to concentrate together on this. Stuff that Robert Bruce publishes can oftentimes be completely lost on me. Like all that Psychic Self-Defence stuff... yuk... as far as I am concerned. But, then again, his pointers in Astral Dynamics about the Mind-Split effect helped me loads. Yours, Frank 1879 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / What am I experiencing? on: December 20, 2002, 14:57:42 Zebrima: There is a chance that it may have something to do with the surgery. But if you had simply posted an experience that mentioned everything but the surgery, I would immediately have said that what you are experiencing are normal projection symptoms of the kind people such as myself have felt countless times. Also, when you say "drilling" do you mean like a buzzing vibration in your head that feels like your brain is literally shaking from side to side? You also mention that the more intense the drilling the faster you went. Now, can you remember the order of things. Did the drilling begin as you began to move, or did the drilling begin while you were already on the move? Yours, Frank 1877 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Bruce Moen Style on: December 20, 2002, 19:55:48 Jeff: Basically, I'm trying to explore every avenue. Like you, I want to be able to project at will. But I can't unless certain conditions apply. Then again, I have been taught that we are all "connected" always... even in the heat of a typical working day. So I'm experimenting with ways of developing and/or recognising that permanent connection. In the morning, when conditions are optimum for me, I'll have a full-blown projection or two (and often 3 projections where time permits). During my lunch break, I'll generally remain Physical but perhaps write something to a special friend. In the afternoon, during a 10-minute break, say, I'll try and enter a Moen-style phasing state. Plus, the drive to and from my office during rush-hour is an exercise in how to achieve total self-control, and at all times keep one's emotions in check. My working with horses, in my spare time, teaches me how to retain my humour under the most testing of circumstances. And my motorsport involvement keeps me absolutely down to earth, and in tune with the limitations placed upon us within this Physical realm. Yours, Frank 1876 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / How did you start in metaphysics? on: December 20, 2002, 20:28:46 quote: "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup." I just have to say that quote cracks me up. ROFL Yours, Frank 1875 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / 3d blackness and focus 12 - the same thing? on: December 21, 2002, 11:23:14 Problem is, experiences often differ between individuals and there sometimes isn't such a clear distinction between the various mental focus levels which Monroe tried to isolate and attach labels to. I think I once went through a phase of thinking the 3D blackness came about at the Focus 12 state. But as I gradually slowed down the phasing process and got more familiar with what was happening, I realised there was a distinct shift in feeling between Focus 12 and the 3D blackness. Whereas, when it first happens, one moment there's a perception of all kinds of abstract shapes and then suddenly you are within the 3D blackness; not actually realising you've just zipped through several inbetween states that each have their own characteristics. My current line of thought, based on quite a lot of research I've done on this, now strongly suggests the 3D blackness comes about at the Focus 21 state. Which is what is generally termed the Astral bridge zone. Basically, at this point, you are right on the border between the 3 dimensional Physical realm and the 4 dimensional Astral realm. It is also the point at which thought starts to equal direct action. I also found it interesting to note that many people from the Moen school think of the 3D blackness as a kind of portal where you can access anywhere within the Astral by the use of Intent. Which to me makes perfect sense as Focus 21 *is* the border at which thought begins to equal direct action. Which further reinforces the notion of the 3D blackness coming about at the Focus 21 state. Yours, Frank 1874 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Bruce Moen Style on: December 21, 2002, 12:30:41 Adrian: Yes, I think you are onto something there. I like your turn of phrase "impressions oriented" and you are absolutely right there's no visual at all. Whilst now and again there might be a glimpse of a kind of something, virtually all the communication is through these impressions you get in your mind. The problem I find is these impressions need interpreting before being able to relate to them. And it is here where the difficulty lies. Because it is ever so easy to lay down a different interpretation. Thing is, I've only been studying this for a few weeks so please excuse the fact that much of what I say could well be subject to radical change in the future. But this is how I currently see it: Imagine someone talking to you on the Physical. Now we all generally realise that words, in themselves, have no real meaning. What makes words meaningful are the mental pictures they stimulate. In turn, these mental pictures leave an impression in our minds. So the basic rundown is, a person speaks a word; the other person hears it; a mental picture is created in their mind; and that mental picture leaves an impression. Okay, so with the Moen-style of communication, what I am finding is, the communication that comes through is just the final "impression" part. Hence the need for interpretation. Several graduates of the Moen-school have talked to me about "unravelling" and "working backwards" on themselves in order to make sense of what they experienced. At first I wondered what the heck they were on about. But here's what I think they mean: The impressions received in mind are just bare impressions. What they need to do (and I think this is where the "working backwards" comes from) is to allow their minds to then create the images that would have normally come about had those impressions been formed in the normal way. Once those images come into mind, that's when they can make sense of the original impression. Words could then be formed in mind by taking this one step further back; in that these images could then stimulate the words that would have been spoken again if those mental pictures had been formed in the normal order of things. Well, that's what I have concluded thus far. The problem I'm having, as I say, is it's ever so easy to lay down a different interpretation. But I'm sure this can be overcome with practice. Yours, Frank 1873 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Time Travels!? on: December 21, 2002, 20:39:56 Thing is, within the Astral there is no "time". Time is a 3-dimensional construct. I suppose the only thing missing from the post in question is a copy of the winning cheque. Without that, the claim is meaningless. Yours, Frank 1872 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Bruce Moen Style on: December 23, 2002, 10:22:01 quote: Originally posted by TheJza: Frank: I was under the impression that the 3D Blackness technique that Moen talks about is a tool that has portals to take you to first-person type experiences. Is this not the case, or are you talking about pre-3D Blackness Moen procedures? Yes, pre-3D. The technique Mr Moen teaches is something he calls focused attention. He says that as a result of people learning these techniques they also stumbled across the 3D blackness state and found they could use it as an Astral portal. Quote Bruce Moen: I don‟t mean to imply that one must be able to shift to the 3D Blackness in order to reach other areas of consciousness. I consider this technique a little more advanced than is necessary for exploring our afterlife or areas of nonphysical reality beyond our afterlife. But, many who practice the Focused Attention techniques I teach have stumbled into the 3D Blackness on their own and discovered its usefulness. What fascinates me is BM is able - and teaches other people to be able - to have verifyable contact with the Astral with no particular pre-conditions such as any kind of "trance state" or any kind of energy work, etc., etc. Yours, Frank 1871 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Bruce Moen Style on: December 23, 2002, 12:38:28 quote: Highly evolved Spiritual beings such as White Eagle and Silver Birch among many others, came to teach these realities and truths in order to help set mankind on the true path, and back from the brink of where mankind is in serious danger of heading today. Adrian: Since I started exploring the higher regions I discovered there is a general concern that Mankind truly is on an unsustainable course. I'm one of those people who doesn't buy all the conspiracy theory stuff; and some group of people, somewhere, predicts the end of the world every year. So someone has to be right, ultimately: but only in the same way a broken clock will tell the right time at least once a day. Also, a large number of people in the F27 region seem to be preparing for something. I don't quite know what, exactly. Problem is, much of it is beyond my comprehension at present. Yours, Frank 1867 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Was this PHASING? on: December 29, 2002, 11:52:20 Phasing describes a controlled process where you phase out of the mode of being open to the Physical world (or C1 consciousness as it's generally termed) and allow your sense of conscious awareness to become open to other realms of reality. There are two basic schools of thought on this, the latest is the Moen-school, and I believe the idea was first touted by Monroe. Problem is, at the beginning, rather than being a smooth and controlled transition it can be a little hap-hazard. To me, from what you describe, you had a spontaneous projection to the Astral somewhere. This is *very* common, where you are going along with the flow of your imagination and then suddenly... boom ... you become aware you are now experiencing circumstances that were not on your script, so to speak, and you think, "Hey, I'm not imagining this!" At which point the shock of realising you are within a totally different sphere of reality brings you out of it, i.e. your protective sense of conscious awareness leaps back to C1. Where you say, "I looked around, and everything was like very real. I remember checking to see whether all my senses worked, and it seemed they did. eg., I went past some clothing left on the floor, and picked it up to see if I could smell it, and I could! That sounds very much like the Astral to me in that, what first hits you, is how everything seems SO real. Maintaining the state gets easier the more you practice. The key is to not let the experience overwhelm you. When you first realise you have made the switch, you need to then remain as mentally and emotionally neutral as you possibly can: just maintaining an air of natural curiosity. After a while you will become adept at "opening" and "closing" yourself to your experiences. (If you read through Ginny's posts of her experineces I'm sure you'll find them helpful as she's something of an expert at this.) If you need further pointers I'll pick out some good examples for you to ponder over. Yours, Frank 1866 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: December 29, 2002, 12:04:17 Tisha: It sounds from what you say you came awake within a lucid dream and found yourself within the Astral someplace. Also, the experience at the end I think is you having a more controlled return. Normally, in the beginning, the return phase tends to be executed rather hurredly, more as a means of "escape" than anything. But as the return sequence gets more controlled it does get to seem a lot like you describe. In that you first tend to see an image of you within the Physical, and it does feel a lot like you've come awake. But the confusing thing is, at the same time you know you are still within something of an Astral experience... and then you come awake in the Physical proper. Yours, Frank 1864 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Conscious phasing btwn lucid dream & "reality" on: December 29, 2002, 12:09:11 I think I just answered your original post on this. Yours, Frank 1863 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / I think I finally did it... on: December 29, 2002, 12:13:21 More progress being made, methinks. Especially with the dullness at the top of the head. It's a sensation I have experienced but, with me, I tend to get buzzing sensations there. But whether each individual feels a numbness, or a pressure, or a vibration doesn't really matter. It's the fact that they are feeling something in that region which is the important thing. Yours, Frank 1862 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Wild and OBE is like the same things ? on: December 29, 2002, 12:37:11 There tends to be confusion over this. But, basically, there is no difference between projecting to the Astral, or having a lucid dream in terms of asking the question, am I within the Astral or not? The answer is yes, in each case. The main difference is your level of conscious awareness. The greater your level of conscious awareness, the more you can experience. Yours, Frank 1861 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Projecting into a black hole? on: December 29, 2002, 13:19:28 Black holes, red holes, blue holes: however devastating the phenomenon they are all matters to do with the physical-realm. In fact, the whole idea of one's self being harmed is a physical-realm construct only. It's come about simply because it is possible for your physical body to be placed in a situation where it will cease to function. That's the one big problem with physical matter... it has a certain shelf-life. But once you step out of this physical realm, then you step within the realms where time no longer exists; nothing ever degrades; there is no death; nothing and no-one can possibly harm you... unless, of course, you believe it. I mean, there are millions and millions of people trapped in the belief-system regions undergoing the most hellish experiences. I've had first-hand experience of many of these cases. Often I would think perhaps, for them, it would be a mercy if they could die. But they cannot. And many become trapped in a state of undergoing a kind of nasty, perpetual death. Yours, Frank 1860 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: December 29, 2002, 13:59:04 quote: Originally posted by Squeek: Well, these are all good suggestions, but I still have a simple, minor problem. Ya see, no matter how hard I try, I always seem to have a song in my head. The only time I think I DONT have a song playing up there is when i first wake up. And at that point im just not ready to conentrate on ANYTHING! Well...any tips? Funnily enough, this morning I came awake with a song in my head. I had been pottering about in my workshop the previous day repairing my nephew's car, and I'd had the radio on. There was a particular song that kept playing and it got to be a bit annoying. I actually switched the radio off because of it. Anyhow, this morning it was still in my head. As a few people here have posted about having the same problem I thought, hmm, I wonder if it would be possible to use this situation advantageously in some way. So I focused on the tune and, what was happening, this chorus-line kept repeating. The main instrument was a piano together with a voice. I don't even know what the tune is called (I'll try and find out) but it has this catchy piano bit that keeps repeating. Anyhow, rather than try and shut it out, I began to concentrate more and more on this repeating piano. As I did so, the voice part faded into the background to the point where only the piano notes remained. Next I started slowing down the sequence of notes, ever more gradually to the point where I was taking just one note at a time. As I was doing this, I also gradually increased the length of each note so each one would last a about a second or two (note lengths vary naturally, so increased them all in proportion to what they were originally). I concentrated on feeling each note and tried to make them as real, i.e. as lifelike, as possible in my mind. Well, I think I hit on something here, because after only about 10 minutes of this I found myself stepping into 3D blackness! Yours, Frank 1859 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Conscious phasing btwn lucid dream & "reality" on: December 30, 2002, 22:59:55 Jeni: please understand that what you are experiencing is very normal. People can (and do!) experience severe reality fluctuations at first. But the more you experience these kinds of effects, the more you can sort one type of experience from another. Yours, Frank 1858 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Catchy tune in head technique on: December 31, 2002, 16:04:22 Ginny: Yes, exactly that. I didn't have to think about creating some kind of sound as it was already there in my head. So I just concentrated on it more and more to the point where my whole awareness was focussed on this series of notes; that just kept repeating, getting ever slower, and the notes were getting longer. Then, as I say, I just plopped into the 3D blackness. Took me a little by surprise too as I never expected it. All I was doing was toying with the notes. Adrian: Thank you for your input. What you say sounds interesting (forgive the pun!). Problem is, a lot of what you say goes right over my head as I have never really studied the mystical side of things. When you say focus on the word "om" I was wondering please if you could you expand on that for me a little more. Like, do you just picture the word, or say it out loud, or hum it in your head, or what? Sorry if what I'm asking sounds a tad simplistic. Also, if there's a website you know of that explains it in fairly simple terms I'd be grateful for the link. Jeni: you are very welcome. I hope it will be of help. Yours, Frank 1857 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Catchy tune in head technique on: December 31, 2002, 16:17:37 quote: Originally posted by Ginny: How's it going with being in the 3D blackness? I'm still getting use to it but boy I've got to admit I love what one can do there! Love, Ginny Thank you for asking. Things are going alright for me (which always makes me a tad suspicious!). The 3D blackness is the first state where thought=direct action. So, technically, from that state you should be able to launch yourself basically anywhere. I used to spend a lot of time in this state, just drifting and listening to music (I mean music coming from within) and it's also where I first met Harath. Yours, Frank 1856 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: December 31, 2002, 16:23:38 Adrian: Yes you got me thinking. When you say smells, is that why a lot of these mystical sort of groups burn incense? In that they associate a particular kind of smell to a particular kind of mental state? Yours, Frank 1854 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Was this PHASING? on: January 01, 2003, 16:21:19 quote: Originally posted by oohyeah: So IS this phasing then? From what (I think) I understand about the Bruce Moen style of phasing, what you perceive is still more like your imagination (like when I'm imagining my F10 hut etc. where there's not much detail at all), just that things seem to pop into your 'imagination' without your prompting. Kinda like when I meditate using guided imagery on tape. - Do I understand this correctly as the "Bruce Moen" style of phasing? Yes, I would say so though most of my experience has followed along the lines of what you say here: quote: If so, then mine's not like that. In that, I didn't make ANY of it up. It's almost exactly like a lucid vivid dream (which I wonder whether it could be, though I'm sure I never lost consciousness). Or is this what Monroe describes as the "quick-switch" method? Is this "Monroe-style" phasing? Monroe's experiences involved progressively taking your mind through various states which he labelled Focus 10, 12, etc. All his experiences, from what I can gather, were always direct 1st- person experiences. As are mine and it appears so too are yours, from what you say. The state that's generally known as the lucid dream state is actually Monroe's mental focus 22. This is the first region of consciousness where thought=direct action. Well, technically it starts a tad before then at the focus 21 state. But Focus 21 is a kind of buffer region between the Physical and the Astral where you are sort of half and half. But Focus 22 is where you step into the Astral fully. This also happens to be the mental focus state in which people tend to do their dreaming. You can always do a simple test to see whether what you are involved within is a lucid dream or a real projection: you simply become completely still and see what happens. The Moen school practices what they call "focussed attention" where you just sit there, and focus your attention within and use your imagination to get the flow going and wait for something unexpected to happen that wasn't on the script, so to speak, and go along with that. Here, information tends to come through in all manner of ways other than actually being there and involved directly in whatever the circumstances are. Though each school of methodology does have many aspects in common. quote: Some pointers to the articles by Ginny you were thinking of would be most appreciated too! No problem, I copied a section of one of her recent posts below and highlighted a number of the relevant parts in bold text for you. Which should give you a good idea. ______________________ Hi everyone, A few days ago I decided I wanted to visit my Focus 27 tree house and talk with Disk members...and this is what happened. Once in the 3D blackness I floated for a few minutes and in then observing its texture noticed ahead and to the right a light blue area that was somewhat round. It then felt to be a portal and in focusing my attention on it I was then suddenly just 'seeing' and feeling a whitish area all around me (I'm still trying to get use to this instantaneous way of traveling!) and I knew I was on the deck of my tree house. As I was making the adjustment to suddenly being there I took note of the different feeling my F27 place had opposed to being in the 3D blackness. I opened up to sense my windchimes and got that they weren't making their usual 'wind music'..and thought this was interesting. I then was seeing my deck as if through foggy vision and knew there wasn't anyone there so turned and moved inside the house into the huge livingroom area. The area was in semi-darkness, a soft orange glow casting about from a crackling fire in the fireplace. I saw two individuals sitting on the couch facing the fireplace and moved closer, sending them a happy greeting feeling. I sat in the stuffed chair to their right, wondering about the fact that in their presence I had more clarity of 'seeing' and sensing. The fogginess and silence out on the deck had felt like an indication they just weren't there. The person the farthest from me was tall and I sensed he was my Indian friend who had guided me into my last 'alnernate life as a wolf and woman' episode. The person to his right, on my immediate left, was a woman, feeling to be around 30ish with long straight hair catching the fire light. I couldn't sense anything about her and left it at that. Their faces were in semi-darkness but I could feel their calmness, a quiet contentment to be sitting with me. I asked them a personal question and a mental/knowing back-and-forth conversation took up a few minutes...and I marveled at how stable or real the room, their presence and our interaction felt. No wonder they had wanted a new F27 place for months: for me to finally become really acquainted with them. It was apparent I had somewhere along the line dropped the idea that my disk or any members were more advanced or holier-than-thou. All of us were equal partners of a huge conglomerate. Feeling comfortable with them and a sense they were willing to answer an questions I had, I thought of Bob Monroe and asked, "Is it true it's considered quite a boon for a disk when a member, while still living in physical reality, or any reality, becomes aware of their disk connection and journey's [SNIP] ___________________________ You see how she takes herself through the experience in a very controlled, step by step, fashion. From the basis of being mentally neutral, just releasing an air of mild curiosity, she'll take note of this; become open to that; close down to something else, and so forth. If you read through some of her other posts you'll soon be able to pick out the parts I mean. Yours, Frank 1853 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Catchy tune in head technique on: January 01, 2003, 16:56:23 Ginny: I think this is what Monroe developed when he talks of his "quick switch" method. I think he found that all he had to do was think about being There, and so he became. I have been experimenting with a quick-switch method of getting into the 3D blackness (which I normally always see with a starscape in the background). What I've been doing is just laying down and imagining that I was already at the 3D blackness stage. The keyword here, I found, was "already". In the sense of I'm not concerned at all with wondering whether I'm nearly there; whether it's going to work; whether it's going to take me 2 minutes or 10 minutes; etc., etc. I feel strongly that if a person could just imagine, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they were within the 3D blackness; if they could just lay back and picture themselves already there. Then that is all it would take to instantly place them there. I suppose people would still have to work on getting there using more conventional means, at first. As making a quick-switch requires you to be very familiar with the feeling of whatever state it is you are switching to. I can't actually make the switch all that quickly yet. But the results I have been getting thus far have been encouraging. Yours, Frank 1851 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Was this PHASING? on: January 02, 2003, 14:29:45 Ralph: Phasing is a process that takes you from C1 consciousness... to the Astral bridge zone at Focus 21 (which I think we have now determined is the 3D Blackness stage) and beyond. The idea was first touted by Monroe. Well, in its common form that is. People who are more into the mystical side of things as well (such as Adrian) have noted there are quite a number of similarities between the modern-day Monroe approach, and olden-day ideology. So phasing describes the process, not so much the end experience. Your experience is primarily determined by where you phase to. Generally, lucid dreams are created when a person has "phased" to the mental focus 22 state. This is the first Astral region you step into from the bridge zone at focus 21. When a person falls asleep, their sense of conscious awareness naturally phases out of the Physical, crosses the bridge zone and, as it does so, it enters the first main realm where thought equals direct action. (I say main-realm because, technically, the focus 21state is the first realm where thought has this effect. But this is more a buffer zone than a realm proper.) Problem is, as the mind has little conscious control, all manner of thoughts and emotions can be released. Which goes to creating and fuelling the circumstances that come to surround the person. In other words, the person begins dreaming. With a little practice, as most of us know, it is possible to teach your sense of consciousness to "come awake" within a dream. This then gives a person a degree of conscious control over their thoughts which, in turn, gives them the ability to manipulate their dreamscape. However, if a person can retain a high degree of conscious control, it is possible to skip focus 22 entirely. Where I say, above, that while the physical body falls asleep the mind crosses the astral bridge zone and slips into the mental focus 22 state... that is only largely due to the fact there is little conscious control. If normal alert waking consciousness is retained while the physical body drops off to sleep, the mental focus 21 state can be used as a portal through which you can phase directly to a higher level. As a general rule, the greater the degree of conscious control you have, the higher the mental focus level you can access. Where Ginny has her treehouse is within the mental focus 27 region. At the focus 22 state, the forms that can be created have a raw and unlasting quality about them. In other words, think of a form and instantly it materialises. But stop thinking about it, and the form will dematerialise just as quickly as it came about. The higher you go, the more solid and the more lasting the forms you can create. It's all to do with the vibrational quality of the energy that is available to you as your basic building material, within whichever realm you happen to be. Within the mental focus 27 region, you can create forms that will last for as long as you require them to. The forms still will create themselves in the blink of an eye, but the great thing is they feel solid and are everlasting. As a result, a person is able to create their own Astral home within the focus 27 region. Then they can phase to and from that place directly. It also becomes a handy place to meet guides, and so on. But one of the biggest advantages it offers is that of having a familiar home to go to, on passing out of the Physical. Yours, Frank 1847 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Binaural Beats, F27 on: January 04, 2003, 11:23:24 John: Welcome to the forum. I too am anything but a mystic. I'm an engineer turned scientist and first came across this topic after by chance reading Monroe's Journeys Out of the Body over 20 years ago. It was just sheer curiosity that got me reading the book when I happened to see it in a bookshop window. I figured the guy had either gone insane, or had stumbled onto something. So I put aside the tremendous tendency I had to think the former, and gave the latter a genuine try. Much to my surprise I began getting projection symptoms and I never looked back. Problem was, when people like myself first started there were no groups such a these where we could all communicate and pass on hints and tips and so forth. So my progress was rather slow at first. You asked if the phenomenon is all to do with the mind. The answer to that is a resounding, yes. But I think what you are asking is the phenomenon merely something the physical brain concocts. In which case the answer is no (mind and brain are entirely different). Though I cannot provide you with independent proof of that fact. The best way is to discover for yourself and then decide. Much has been written about this phenomenon over a great many years and it is all too easy to become sidetracked. But a good basic tip I give to people is that Astral Projection comes about by keeping your sense of conscious awareness awake, while you let your physical body just go to sleep as nomal. It's quite a tricky little mental balancing act to perform, and some are naturally better at it than others, but that is all you need basically do IMO. The mental experiences people typically go through from attempting this have been isolated and labelled. Monroe (an engineer) was the pioneer in this work, so you might gain some benefit from studying the Monroe school. Bruce Moen (also an engineer) has taken Monroe's basic methods and simplified and modernised them yet further. So you may derive some benefit from his work also. The other person I'd highly recommend, you already came across: Robert Bruce the author of Astral Dynamics. Robert takes a more traditional "obe" and "energy work" approach. These techniques generally lead you to having projections into what is known as the real-time zone. Where you typically end up looking down at your physical body whilst floating around your bedroom, etc. Whereas the other two are mainly concerned with projecting your conscious awareness into what are commonly called the Astral realms. Within the Astral realms reside all manner of people in all kinds of circumstances, and it's quite fascinating being able to project within these places. You can sit and chat with these people, for example, in exactly the same way as you can on the Physical. (Well, those that are open to you that is.) You can discover other members of you Higher Self; visit the library within Focus 27; discover about your past lives, and so much else besides. Perhaps the greatest thing about discovering all this within yourself, is you finally begin to understand the reasons how all the mystical side of life came about. The difference today, however, is we have a very much more evolved sense of consciousness. Which gives us a big advantage when trying to work it out. Best of luck. Yours, Frank 1845 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Question about LOOKING BEHIND EYELIDS... on: January 05, 2003, 12:31:56 quote: Originally posted by oohyeah: I'd still like to know what you guys DO with your eyes when you close them. Are you actually "looking" and focussing on the blackness? Or do you just relax the eyes (like how you would when you go so sleep) and try to perceive whatever comes to the mind? Do you understand the distinction I'm trying to make here? Yes, I understand the distinction. Basically, the eyes should be relaxed. What you allow yourself to do is shift your focal point of awareness from behind the eyes up into your head. That's where the Astral is. Well, the connection I mean. When you first close your eyes, you will be looking at the back of your eyelids. This is the 2D blackness stage. But if you let the eyes relax your mental focus will shift upwards. As it does so, you begin to perceive whatever is coming into mind as you say. The shifting occurs as the physical body drifts off to sleep and you keep your sense of consciousness awake. As your mental focus shifts progressively more away from the Physical and into the Astral, that is when the blackness takes on a 3D effect. But at this point, this is not the same blackness you were looking at upon first closing your eyes. In the sense that blackness has in some way switched from 2D to 3D (though this is how it comes across). But the 3D blackness comes from a different area of consciousness which has got nothing to do with the physical eyes. Also, the 3D blackness is not something you focus upon. It is more like something you find yourself within, rather than something you look at. Yours, Frank 1844 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / a Focus 23 retrieval on: January 08, 2003, 17:56:27 Nice one... One day they'll be making TV programs about stuff like this! Yours, Frank 1843 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Retrieval Question on: January 10, 2003, 17:06:15 quote: Originally posted by TheJza I have read a lot of retrieval accounts - Monroe's books, Moen's books, McKnight's book, and Frank DeMarco's book - and now I have a question. A lot of the retrievals seem to be in the realm that I would classify as dreaming. When I am dreaming, I could be doing one thing over and over again for an infinite amount of time (until I wake up), and it seems like a lot of people who need to be "retrieved" are experiencing this same state. Any comments? Dreaming is done mostly in the Focus 22 state. Problem is, people who are sans physical-body can't reach Focus 22. Their limit is Focus 23 which is where a lot of these retrievals take place. But they can also take place in the higher realms of Focus 24; 25 & 26. Loops are formed due to the fact that what we call Thought is actually a primary energy. Within the Astral, as you think then so it becomes. That's how people from the Moen school can use Intent to get to some place, for example. All you need do is to place the Intent... and instantly you become There. However, there is a BIG downside to this in that any uncontrolled release of thought-release- emotion will automatically go to creating the circumstances that surround you. A loop is simply where someone thinks in a certain way; which causes a particular mix of emotion to be released; which instantly creates a particular set of circumstances surrounding them; which causes the person to continue thinking in that same certain way; which causes the same mix of emotion to be released; which continues to fuel the same circumstances that surround them; which causes the person to continue thinking in that same certain way; which causes the same mix of emotion to be released....... It is possible for people to become trapped in 3 basic types of loop. The first is the static loop, described above, where the person is performing the same set of actions over and over. Second, there's the ever-worsening loop. Which is what religions and mystics in the past have called "hell". Where the person is trapped in ever worsening circumstances. The third kind of loop is simply the opposite to the second kind, where the loop becomes ever-bettering. Like the person is trapped in an ever more exquisite heaven. A loop is broken by what is called an "interrupt". The reason why an interrupt breaks a loop is because the circumstances that surround the person are created by their very own thoughts. Switch the thoughts, and you instantly switch the circumstances that keeps a person thinking in that same certain way each time. In other words, you cut off the fuel supply that keeps creating the events they keep reacting to. As you say, people can often get caught in these loops in dreams, but if it gets too bad the person's protective sense of awareness will initiate a forced awakening back to Physical; or it's only a matter of time before the alarm clock goes off, or the need to use the bathroom arises, etc. (That's where having a physical-body comes in handy as there are loads of interrupts that naturally come about.) But for someone who is a permanent resident within the Astral, all the kinds of natural interrupts that occur while Physical simply do not apply. Such that it can (and often does!) happen where people are caught in loops that have been going around and around for maybe a hundred years or more. The solution is for the person to just stop thinking for a minute. Which is, of course, how the retrieval process works. In that the person doing the retrieving has to,in some way, interrupt the thinking of the person who is caught. Yours, Frank 1837 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Darned good beginner's phasing info on: January 14, 2003, 13:35:52 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf What I wonder about sometimes though is that its ok to 'place intent' to go somewhere on the astral, however, if you have never experienced the astral its hard to know where to go or what to do, do you see where I'm coming from? I think that some beginners might get stuck with this early stage as they wouldn be very sure what they wanted to do. Douglas Yes, you are quite right and I see exactly where you are coming from. Which is why I am a great fan of the Phasing process as it introduces a person gently, by giving them a step-by-step process they can follow. People from the Moen school are taught to initially try and make contact with people who were close to them while Physical. Well, that's what I can gather from the various bits and bobs that I have read. What they do is travel along the thread of an imaginary circumstance where they see themselves meeting an ex-relative, for example. Then just go along with that until some situation comes about that was not "on their script" so to speak. Another way I now use all the time is to keep asking other members of your Astral family for whatever it is you need. But at first take things in small doses. Like, please don't just lie there and say, "take me to the Astral now". Rather, as you perceive the blackness in mind, simply introduce yourself to those who are guiding you with a simple, friendly hello. If you can push aside all the stuff that gets in the way, which is all mainly doubt-based, then you should be able to contact your higher-self directly. But maybe it would be best to contact another Astral family-member first, as they tend to be a tad more human-friendly when it comes to communicating and giving assistance. As you lie there perceiving the blackness, you will gradually phase out of the physical more. At the same time you should notice that the blackness can become as if it were more fluid in nature. Maybe you might perceive an area that looks a little grey; perhaps you just thought there was a streak of something that just went on overhead; maybe there was a slight swirling to the left; or you might get the notion of some kind of light switched on behind you... but you can't quite grasp what it is. Other effects you can come across are where the blackness seems to take on a kind of texture. With me there's a grainy sort of texture which often comes about. B.Moen talks of a velvety- blackness which I experience often. All these are signs that you are phasing progessively more towards the Astral. While this is happening keep up a simple dialogue with your guide. Okay, it may seem like you are talking to yourself (at first) but ignore that feeling and push on. As you perceive these changes in the blackness, imagine them as "signs" that are being presented to you by a guide in order that you are able to sense you are making progress. So keep up a simple dialogue with them and ask for more help in going deeper within yourself. Things you typically ought to be saying are as follows. Okay, you will have to make big allowances for the fact that the pointers are in my words, not yours. So if you try this for yourself, take my words as giving you the general gist of it only. Then put the whole thing in your own words..... Hello, Douglas here, and this morning I'd like a lesson in perceiving the different kinds of blackness. Allow me to get into a relaxed position... there... that's nice and comfy. Now I'm ready to begin. Yes, I see the 2D blackness but how about a texture or two. Hmm, not really perceiving anything my end... wait... there was a streak of something, thanks I got that. I wonder if there was an odd swirling sensation around to the left just then. Yes, I just saw that rippling texture come and go. Ah, now I just observed some kind of swirling foggy light top-right. "Correct, Douglas!" And at this point you'll go, "What, hey, wait a minute, I never said that!" Which will typically have the effect of snapping you back to C1. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this will happen after the first few observations. As I say, I'm just trying to get the gist of what I mean across to you in the simplest way I can think of. You might have to try maybe a dozen times before you get settled into a useful routine. The blackness will eventually take on a 3D aspect. At which point you will also feel yourself coming from the position of actually being within the blackness, as opposed to being an observer. From this point you should be able to phase gradually into the Astral-proper. With me I often find myself transitioning by hovering in the 3D blackness then I'll perceive a swirling in front of me. At the centre of this swirling is a light that gets bigger in diameter to the point where it becomes a kind of tunnel. Then I simply place an intent to travel through the tunnel and it's hello Astral. Yours, Frank 1836 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Darned good beginner's phasing info on: January 14, 2003, 13:57:29 quote: Originally posted by EnderWiggin Frank- How far can one travel in OBE? You mentioned Bob exlored the solar system. Would it be possible to explore something as far away as a distant star, such as Centauri Alpha? The idea of distance is a physical-realm construct only which is related to the notion of linear time. Within the Astral there is no such thing as time. As a consequence there is no distance either. Okay, while within the Astral things can be perceived as being "in the distance" but that's only the way we see it. Simply by placing an Intent to be at some place is all it takes for you to instantly manifest at whatever place that happens to be. Yours, Frank 1835 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / What is "Phasing"? on: January 14, 2003, 14:27:19 Phasing was first coined by Monroe and basically describes a process of tuning out of the physical and tuning into the Astral. Whereas the traditional obe route involves the creation of an "energy body" where you have the sensation of leaving your physical body and entering what is generally known as the real-time zone. So basically, with obe, you end up floating in your bedroom looking down at your physical body and all that jazz. Whereas, with Phasing there is no sensation of leaving your body at all. It basically feels like you are you, in the exact same body, only your surroundings changed from Physical to Astral. Traditional obe generally incorporates the use of an "exit technique" which a person uses to help perceive themselves as being separate from their physical body. Successful "exit" is often accompanied by all manner of sounds and vibrations. Whereas, Phasing involves the experiencing of a step-by-step rundown of subtly different mental states which Monroe called Focus Levels. Generally, the phasing process (if performed correctly) is a smooth transition with next to no unusual sounds or vibrations. With obe, as I say, you generally enter the real-time zone where it is possible to observe events happening in real-time within the Physical plane (hence the term real-time zone). However, the RT zone extends way beyond our Physical earth to the extent where it actually encompasses all Physical matter. Also, within this realm, it is possible to view what are known as Astral Plane Entrance structures of the kind described in Astral Dynamics (which are really amazing to see and to travel through!). Whereas, with Phasing, the normal destination is to project directly to the Astral. Yours, Frank 1834 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / why? on: January 14, 2003, 14:50:51 Yes, Fred, I'll second that. It's basically due to your level of conscious awareness. With next to no awareness, say, with just the bare level of knowing that you are dreaming you still tend to just roll along with the dream. As it's the uncontrolled release of thought-release-emotion that creates and fuels the dream: for as long as your thoughts continue along the same lines, then the subsequent dream will continue along those lines. But if your sense of awareness develops to the point where your thoughts become interrupted, say, you begin to question about something or other, then the dream will become interrupted. Simply because it was your previous uncontrolled train of thought that was creating the dream. This is also one of the techniques I advise people to try in order to determine whether what they are experiencing is merely a lucid dream, or the Astral proper. All you need to do is fix your mind on one particular aspect of your surroundings and ask yourself a clear question about it. Anything that subsequently begins to dissipate was merely a dream, and anything that remains is Astral reality. Yours, Frank 1832 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Application of "Intent" on: January 19, 2003, 16:14:36 There is a fundamental distinction between Intent and its effects within the Physical plane; and Intent and its effects within the Astral. Within the Physical: Intent must be followed by physical action of some sort or another. Otherwise the Intent merely becomes an idea. Which is basically what Tisha and others are saying. An example I would give is to say, you can set out in the morning Intent on visiting a friend on the other side of town; but unless you physically transport yourself there, by some means, you'll simply remain where you are. Within the Astral: Intent is what transports you from one place to another. Having the Intent to be at a place causes you to instantly manifest within that place. Yours, Frank 1831 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / phasing vs oobe on: January 20, 2003, 10:08:27 As to whether one is easier than the other I think, to a large degree, depends on the individual in question. The one big problem with traditional obe experiences is nothing can prepare you for the shock of actually being "out of body". Not that you are really "out" of your body but that is how the mind tends to see it. Which is very disconcerting to say the least. Not only that, you have to be prepared to endure some very freaky bodily sensations which take a LOT of getting used to. For example, it's all very well talking about flying through Grid Formations and Astral Plane Entrance Structures, and seeing pretty pictures of them in a book... but it's quite another thing actually doing it. With me I can actually feel the energy of these structures which often gives me near constant feeling of having an electric shock. Plus, there are zillions of other sporadic buzzing and crackling sensations like you get on the Physical from static electricity. None of this is harmful in the sense that it causes any pain. But again it all takes a LOT of getting used to. The moment you feel a crackle you immediately think: OUCH! Not that it did really hurt, but that's the way the mind keeps reacting to it. With Phasing, none of these sensations come about. When performed correctly it should just give you a feeling of one smooth transition - through various states of feeling - from Physical to Astral. In other words, there is never any feeling of being "out of body". It just feels like you are you, in the same body, only your surroundings changed. Yours, Frank 1830 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE that started in wrong spot on: January 20, 2003, 16:25:19 quote: Originally posted by Kodemaster I had a dream that I turned into an OBE the other day. It's very easy to say "your experience was just a lucid dream." However, my experience was very realistic, and I knew I was OBEing whilst I was having it! Yes, this experience is very common. People who have not felt that tend to be the ones who typically ask the question, "How do you know your experience was not just a dream?" Simply because, like you say, you are as aware and as conscious as you are while Physical. quote: Because of the other distortions, I've decided to stop looking for something to remember when I wake up, as my mind always seems to invent stuff that isn't there just for that purpose. Hopefully if I take the "casually observe" approach, I'll remember something when I wake up that I'll then be able to compare. This is a big problem when it comes to actively "verifying" your experience while having a full- blown obe. It's all down to the fact that you are within an environment where: as you think, so it becomes. This is where people from the Moen school have a distinct edge. They are taught from the beginning to seek verification of their experiences, but they are doing so from an entirely different standpoint. People try and verify their experiences because they "doubt" whether or not it is "real". This is only natural given the circumstances. But, if you attempt this within the Astral environment, what tends to happen is: all the while you are trying to make some kind of verification, you are inadvertently releasing feelings of doubt. Again, those feelings of doubt are being released directly into an environment where "as you think, so it becomes". As a result, what tends to happen is it has the effect of reinforcing the original doubt. It is possible to become caught in a bit of a downward spiral where the more you try and verify the experience, the more it will appear that someone keeps playing tricks on you. But all that's happening is you are releasing feelings of doubt within the Astral environment. Verification will come to you in good time. You are right in adopting a casual observer approach. This, believe me, is the best way. Just be casual and mildly curious. Later on you will have verifications galore. Yours, Frank 1829 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus xx!? on: January 21, 2003, 10:54:44 Focus levels are what graduates of the Monroe school use to label the various mental states that were described and taught by Robert Monroe. During the course of his work he developed what he came to term "phasing" which, if performed correctly, is a fairly seamless way of transporting one's consciousness from Physical to Astral. Monroe was by no means the first person to attach labels to these various states of mental consciousness. Mystics throughout the ages have come up with all manner of terms. But what Monroe tried to do is attach labels and descriptions that had a more modern-day feel to them. To find out more simply do an Internet search on Monroe +"focus levels" or something like that, and I'm sure you'll come across heaps of info. Yours, Frank 1826 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / 3D blackness - grid-like effect on: January 27, 2003, 12:15:11 Yes, this is common. People tend to apply different descriptions. Like Bruce Moen, for instance, who talks of a "velvety blackness". I came across that too only I call it a watery blackness. There are a number of textures and effects you can perceive. A common one with me is where the blackness goes a little gray and it developes a fine gravel-like texture that is similar to Artex paint. The important thing is you perceived a kind of 3D effect. What you need to try now, is do it again. Only this time you know what the effect looks like so you can "reach out" for it in your mind. It's like I was saying before in answer to your point about not knowing what you are looking for. Well, now you have something. Something else which may help: The thought came to me the other day that maybe some people set-off down the Phasing route and in some way they think they have to create the effects. I mean effects like the 3D Blackness stage, for example. Perhaps they may be confusing it with traditional obe teaching where a person uses some kind of "exit technique" like picturing themselves climbing an imaginary rope, for example. The idea came to mind that maybe people were lying there trying to "picture" a kind of 3-dimensional blackness. I'm not saying that you are, particularly. But I just thought that people might have that tendency generally. The 3D blackness is already there, within each of us. What we have to do is mentally reach within and focus on it. It's not something we create, it's something we focus on. This naturally begs the question of where, in the mind, do we focus. Which is a tricky question to answer. But looking at it in Physical terms, I would say it's upwards and back slightly. Imagine looking out horizontaly from your physical eyes. Then shut your eyes so you are now viewing the backs of your eyelids. That's the 2D blackness. Now turn your mental focus through about 100 degrees up from the horizontal. In other words you have shifted so you are now looking within the mind just beyond vertical. Yours, Frank 1824 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / 3D blackness - grid-like effect on: January 28, 2003, 10:10:35 Maya: I kinda get where you are coming from but my question is, why are you trying to focus on a point at the back of your eyelids? Although I understand what you are literally saying, I'm not at all sure what you are trying to achieve. Also, where you say, "I get caught up in "what do you mean by that" kind of questions and get stuck. could you expand a little more for me please. It's just that you mentioned on your other post about trying the TMI tapes for 20 years with no results. While I take my hat off to you for sticking with it for so long; I cannot help but think you are making some basic error without you realising it, that keeps tripping you up from the start. Yours, Frank 1823 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / More hemi sync Wave 1... on: January 30, 2003, 17:42:50 quote: Originally posted by clandestino I've listened to wave 1 excercise 2 now on many occasions. Typically I listen to it on returning home from work, or at the weekend when I'm nicely relaxed. (I've tried several times to wake myself up at 2 or 3am and give it a go, but I normally end up just turning the alarm clock off and rolling over !) Call me sad but AP has become such a part of my life that I'm almost always asleep by about 10pm and naturally awaken about 4am. quote: I've noticed so far that there are typically one of 4 outcomes to the exercise : 1) I fall asleep, and then awaken to Monroe's voice at the end saying "breath deeply, stretch your arms and legs". This normally happens 5% of the time. 2) I am disturbed by a noise or something else; or I can 'feel' that there will be no positive outcome to the exercise, so I give up about 2/3rds of the way through (25% of the time) 3) I have some sort of "success" (10%) 4) I complete the exercise, but feel nothing has happened (60%) As to: 1) this happens to me with about the same frequency, funnily enough. 2) I get this now and again, say, when the dogs start barking at the foxes and it just disturbs me to the extent where I simply can't ignore it. Or maybe I get the need to use the bathroom, or whatever. My solution in this instance is to simply cancel the current session, sort out whatever it is, then start afresh. 3) Not bad at all. 4) Right, this is the most important point you raise in that 60% of the time you complete the exercise. Please understand that I hardly ever project when listening to the CD. Sometimes I get to the stage where I would like to, but resist the temptation and complete the exercise. I found that the CD was a great primer. What I'd also do, often, is play Track 2 on repeat while I was asleep. Just on a very low volume. I'm not sure what headphones you have but I use these really lightweight internal-ear ones that I can sleep fairly comfortably whist wearing. Also, early on I burnt a copy of track 2 on a recordable CD so as to protect the original (as I was playing it so many times). quote: Ok, lets focus on number 3. My successes are nothing significant to date. I've seen 3d blackness a couple of times, I've also seen a fair bit of imagery behind my eyelids...Most recently, I could conjure up faces, objects etc. There were also scenes / faces appearing that I definitely did not conjure up. Apart from that - nothing else. Well, that's getting there. What you are describing with the scenes and faces is more a Moen- school experience which I reckon is a handy pointer that you are making some kind of progress. quote: Anyway, my question is on how the exercise is used, hopefully a few of you guys can give me some pointers ! I've been using an "imaginary scenario" as per Frank's post a while back...But I haven't had any noticeable success with that technique, and I find that it is quite hard mental work to follow the scenario through, so I often stray from it. Then simplify it to the point where you can follow whatever imagery you conjure up. The imagery itself is not important. I have experimented with all kinds of stuff. One of the simplest scenarios I tried was where I imagined Monroe was standing on stage dictating the whole rundown, and I was part of the "audience". During which time it got a bit freaky because it became such that I felt Monroe was actually there, on stage, and all the other audience members were sitting around me. And here's me thinking, no, hang on a minute, I should only be imagining this! But after a while that's truly how it becomes. Like, you get the feeling you can use whatever scenario. In the sense that you just take whatever you are mentally presented with and use that. You see, I ever so strongly feel that successful Astral Projection depends not so much on having the right "technique"... but on having the right kind of mental understanding as to how these techniques can be utilised. As it seems to be the case that once you find one technique that works, then virtually any technique can work. quote: I've also just been lying back, relaxing, and trying to "do" the exercises Monroe guides you through (energy conversion box, resonant tuning, declaration, relaxation). By doing this, and not really engaging my imagination at all, I seem to be having the "successes" I mentioned above, but not progressing any further. By actually doing the exercises you are engaging your imagination. But more so in a way you, yourself feel comfortable with. So it probably doesn't feel so much, to you, like you are making anything up. But that's great. As the important thing is to find a way that works for you. Yours, Frank 1822 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Latest astral experience! on: February 01, 2003, 16:00:25 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf An interesting one from last night. I didnt do any mental exercises or anything, I just went to bed as usual. Anyway, some time this morning I seemed to partially awake to find I was reading some AP or phasing manual (in my dream) and at the same time this voice was lecturing me on the best way to get into the astral. I'm sure this voice was my own but I can't verify that one. The voice was saying that in order to have a higher level of concious awareness when 'dreaming' I should imagine some kind of scene and fill in all kinds of detail, such as objects that are there, people, scenery and so on, but really try to make it as detailed as possible. This is "sleep school" where you can often catch yourself reading something that a guide has given you or hearing someone lecture you about a topic. quote: Later I fell asleep and had several 'astral cinema screen' effects, interestingly most of these were focused on people, incredably detailed close ups of people (faces esp.) but I can't be sure if I recognise them or not but they were incredably clear and could see me, although they didnt respond as such. These would evaporate after a while. Finally the last astral screen effect I had was of this room, a large hall and chairs were gathered round in a large circle with people sitting on them, perhaps engaged in a discussion of some sort (kind of like a very big tutorial group). This sounds like sleep-school again only taken one step futher. quote: I Conciously moved forward into the 'screen' and for the first time actually entered into it, I've been trying that for ages! I walked into the mddle of the circle, but only one or two people really noticed me I think. I was fully aware all this time, which was good but I had to remain focused as it was very easy to slip back down into 'dream mode' and I was aware of this, I was continually having to focus my attention on being 'aware'. Yes, it's great when that first happens. You take a mental step forward and suddenly find yourself immersed in whatever you were viewing a moment previously. The concentration aspect gets easier the more you project. You need to try and make every action and every thought, very slow and determined. Otherwise events will have a tendency to just become a kind of whirl and off you'll pop to sleep. quote: Then, instead of sitting down in one of the spare seats I decided to fly up into the air and I done some acrobatics, at which point the the 'tutor' of the group shouted out to me to get back down and start behaving myself! LOL: the temptation to play practical jokes, et al, is a big one to resist. quote: I immediatly thought about my uncle who died a few years ago who I got on really well with, so I put out a thought to see if he was around. Well, imediately from a doorway to the right he appeared, just as I remembered him, he smiled and I ran over and hugged him and asked how he was. It was only as I began questioning him that I realised that something wasnt quite right. Here you need to be a tad careful when getting into this kind of situation. Always bear in mind that you are within an environment where Though = Direct Action. quote: My uncle was very realistic and responded quite well but seemed very vague and incoherrent in his replies and it dawned on me that he was a 'thought form' rather than my uncle proper. I still held out for a while because I remember RB talking about this and suggesting that thought forms are still useful to create if you want to contact deceased relatives because sometimes the real person might come along and inhabit the shell you have created, thus allowing contact to take place. Nothing of that nature seemed to happen here however. It may have been the case that when your uncle came about a tinge of Doubt crossed your mind as to whether or not it was truly him. Problem is, any release of Doubt causes reality fluctuations that serve to justify whatever degree of Doubt you are releasing. I'm not saying that was necessarily the case, and you may be absolutely right in what you say. But you need to always be on your guard when you are within the Astral environment. The basic ground-rule is: Thought = Direct Action. Which also means your ability to perceive is directly proportional to your willingness to believe. Which, I'm sure you can see, makes for a bit of a tricky mix. Overall, it sounds like you made a big step forward. All you have to do now is the same again. Yours, Frank 1821 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / first conscious fully obe on: February 03, 2003, 11:57:23 quote: Originally posted by weagle Another weird thing is sometimes when I listen to the hemisync tapes and concentrate on the body awareness exercises the volume goes mute for a second. I know the tapes are fine I believe my mind is so focused on the body awareness exercise somtimes I enter a split second trance state then get out of it. That was an enjoyable read and it sounds like you are making good progress. The observation in the quote above I recognise very well. It happens to me in the early part of my projection rundown, and it's one of the markers I use that tells me my physical body is on the verge of dropping off to sleep. As regards the "spirit beings" I think you might feel more comfortable if you thought of them as normal people. Only they are "normal" in the sense of being non-physical. It's just like on the Physical where, depending on genetic heritage, people's skin colour can be a lot lighter than others. Or their facial features may differ quite significantly. In a similar vein, some Astral residents can come across in a "ghostly" kind of way. Others you can chat to and you'd swear blind they were Physical. To the extent where you find yourself questioning, "Am I within Physical or Astral right now?" Higher-level residents, in their raw form, come across as a bundle of sparkly white light. Like a twinkling star surrounded by a radiant aura. It's just one of the things you have to get used to. In that you have to encompass the idea that this Physical reality is not the only reality that exists. There are people living within the Physical realm and there are people living within the Astral realm. I used to make the mistake of calling them "entities". Now I use the term "residents" in the sense of Astral residents and Physical residents. One of the confusing aspects about the real-time zone is the possibility of having familiar scenes of your home/garden/neighbourhood, and so forth, in some way implanted in another - often very different - set of circumstances. The real-time zone is a buffer zone between Astral-matter and Physical-matter. As such, you can find yourself in a situation where you are half out of one, and half in another. Which is a bit freaky to get used to at first. With me, at the point of projection into the real-time zone, I often hear people chatting or get scenes of people moving around in my vicinity. At first I'd get mighty confused and think, "Hey, hold on a minute, these people shouldn't be in my house!" Also, the static sounds you hear, I get that too especially at the point of projection. Plus, don't be surprised if you get to hear all kinds of other popping, banging and stomping sounds; tearing noises like Velcro coming apart, and all kinds of other weird stuff. For example: I don't know why but, for about two weeks now, just prior to projection, I've been hearing feint music like it was drifting over from a distance. The first couple of mornings I actually stopped to get up and check whether someone in the vicinity was having an early- morning party, or maybe a radio had accidentally been set on a timer, or something. But no, everything was dead quiet as per usual. This morning I came to project and there's no music. So quite why this should come and go is something of a mystery. Anyhow congrats on your progress, and do please try not to get fearful. There really is nothing to be frightened of. But I know only too well that's ever so much easier to say than to do at the time. The best state of mind IMO is to maintain an air of mild curiosity. And the best "protection" you can give yourself is to always bear in mind that you are within a realm where the uncontrolled release of thought-release-emotion leads to reality fluctuations. These fluctuations can - and often do! - range from mild to wild. If you persist, they can very easily switch to crazy and then to insane. So if you find yourself losing it, it's far far better to zip back to Physical (C1) and project again - rather than try and somehow "make it right" within the projection. Best of luck. Yours, Frank 1818 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / question about levels above astral on: February 07, 2003, 21:08:26 quote: Originally posted by Adrian Greetings Gandalf, This might be necessary because, in all probability, in order to ultimately progress, all personalities of an individual, i.e. representing their higher self, need to be united as a single individual with all personalities incorporated to make the whole. With best regards, Adrian. Adrian: I'm only just recently getting my head around the "higher self" stuff. It has caused some mind-boggling Astral-situations to come about over the past couple of months. I haven't posted anything of my experiences because I'm still floundering in the dark to a great extent (Ginny has been a great help). But from what I have gathered thus far you are right on track with the above quote. In fact, I'm almost certain you could drop the phrase, "in all probability" and substitute "might be" for "is". Alright, I'm not dead sure on that yet but my experiences in the "retrievals" aspect are very much pointing in that direction, let's say. Yours, Frank 1817 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / A Retrieval in Focus 23 on: February 07, 2003, 21:23:08 quote: For a few seconds I experienced a split-knowing, meaning that I was aware that he believed we were in motion, gaining speed as the car shook and roared down the track, and yet I would have sworn we were sitting still. It was an odd feeling but I just accepted it as a part of his world. Congrats on yet another interesting account. Regarding the above quote you describe perfectly my experiences in my retrieval post (to the other list) about the tribal boy who implanted two wooden spears in my chest. Like, on the one hand, I was totally aware that he believed I had been speared good and proper. The visions of such were absolutely right at the forefront of my mind (to the extent where I even heard the spears penetrate!) and yet, on the other hand, I was perfectly normal. Well "normal" in the sense of being "spear free" let's say. Yours, Frank 1816 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / question about levels above astral on: February 07, 2003, 22:06:23 quote: It is indeed mind boggling, in particular trying to figure at how all ones selves can exist at the same time as the "higher Self". This makes me chuckle because I've poured over this point for the past 3 months, or so. I reckon there must be a simple explanation but the details of such escape me big time. Yours, Frank 1815 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / question about levels above astral on: February 08, 2003, 10:53:21 Douglas: yes, I too was not overly struck on the word "disk". But the word "soul" has been abused to the extent where I find it unusable. To me it's like the word God. Even if it were discovered beyond a doubt that there really was one almighty creator I, for one, still couldn't call whoever (or whatever) he, she, it was: God. Anyhow I've currently settled for the description (for want of a better one) Astral Family. Though I'm not overly struck by it. The word family gives a good description. It's just the "Astral" word I need a good replacement for. Problem is, Higher Selves do not reside within the Astral realms. Though other members of the Astral Family or Soul Family could be resident there. Yours, Frank 1814 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Construct your own talk-through tape? on: February 08, 2003, 13:15:20 I've often thought of doing this and one time I decided to give it a go. But the stumbling block was lack of any quality recording equipment. If person had the right equipment they could marry the sounds produced by BW-Gen with their own voice commands. The doing of which could have lots of potential IMO. The one big problem with the Gateway series CD (although I've long-since become accustomed) is Monroe's voice had a "Houston mission control" feel about it. Especially during the countdown! I kept chuckling at visions of space-rockets on launch pads. Yours, Frank 1813 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Construct your own talk-through tape? on: February 09, 2003, 09:32:42 Yes, I found the countdown sequence to be very effective once I got used to it. Though it did take me quite a while to train myself to work closely with the CD. Yours, Frank 1812 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / newbie needs help on: February 09, 2003, 13:49:10 Yes, I too agree. What you describe is ever so normal. There is a portion of consciousness (I call it my protective sense of awareness) that is constantly scanning yourself and your surroundings, watching out for anything that could be considered harmful. At the heart of this area of consciousness is a reference library of every known (or potential) set of circumstances that you have ever (or ever might) come across which could possibly place your physical body in a situation where it could suffer harm - to whatever degree. Naturally, the activity of this faculty varies from person to person. Which is why we get situations where one person would shy away from doing a thing where other would readily indulge. But we all have underlying circumstances in common, such as avoidance of excessive heat for example. The basic goal of the protective sense of awareness is to keep the physical body alive and free of harm. It operates at root-consciousness level. Which means it is not something you can override with ease. Plus, it also has the ability to directly drive your emotions - which can put a *major* spoke in the works. However, with a degree of coaxing, it can be trained to take on board new circumstances. I call it putting whatever it is on the "ignore list". On the ignore-list are all the scary or potentially scary Astral circumstances that either have, or could possibly come about. Anything my protective sense of awareness detects which is on this list, rather than instantly injecting a level of fear, it simply ignores it. The ease with which someone‟s protective sense of awareness can be coaxed does depend on that person to a high degree. One of the most common fears that initially comes about is to do with fear of dying. Precisely as you too have found. Now, someone who had previously suffered a high level of emotional trauma to do with death could well be locked in a state where it would be impossible to coax their protective sense of awareness into accepting the death-fears which typically come about in the initial phases of traditional obe practice. Whereas, someone who had never suffered such trauma could perhaps coax their protective sense of awareness into adding these fears to the ignore-list after maybe only 4 or 5 attempts. Thing is, you need to get your protective sense of awareness "on your side" so to speak. Otherwise, your obe experiences will continually be fraught with either you repeatedly being pulled back to Physical or your experiences will forever be plagued by all manner of "demons and dragons". As I say, the protective sense of awareness can directly drive the emotions which can put a *major* spoke in the works while within the Astral. Yours, Frank 1810 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: February 13, 2003, 12:39:01 Pete: What you have described pretty much exactly is Bruce Moen's "focussed attention" method. For more info see: http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/ Focussed Attention is a very valid way of connecting with the Astral. With Mr Moen's method, all you do is basically focus your attention inwards and simply go with the flow, so to speak. One of the hurdles with this technique is working out which scenes are valid contact scenes and which are formed from any old mental rambling. To get around this, what Mr Moen does is to teach people to try and contact someone who was close to them and has now passed over. To kickstart the process he encourages people to first use their imagination to create a kind of fantasy scene where they are imagining making contact with that person. Then simply go with the flow of that. Chances are, they will soon come across something or other that happens which was not "on their script". Coming across an unexpected event is taken as a sign that contact has been made. So they simply push along that mental road to see where it will lead. A number of people who have had success at doing this have stumbled across the 3D-Blackness phase of the Monroe mental-focus method and have learnt how to mentally "step into" the scenary they are viewing. Which is basically what I do with my "step into" projection technique. In the sense that, if you were to do exactly as you are doing now only instead you lay down and allowed your physical-body to just drift off to sleep as per normal. Then you should find yourself standing in the Astral somewhere. So with Focussed Attention you are basically focusing along the line of your imagination and becoming open to whatever is being transmitted from the "other side". Problem is, the incoming signals tend to get mixed with all kinds of other mental signals that happen to be floating about - because a person is still very much aware of their physical body. However, someone such as yourself who, from what you say, have a very vivid and clear imagination then you will have far less difficulty isolating the good stuff. You can take this one step further by eliminating the physical-body from the equation. As I say, I have what I call my step-into technique which is all the above, plus, I lay down and simply allow my physical-body to drift off to sleep as per normal. Doing this puts anything Physical right out of the equation, thus allowing a person to mentally travel along the thread of their imagination and pop-out within the Astral somewhere. So, yes, compared to my step-into technique Focussed Attention is a kind of step-into Lite. The next step (continuing in software terms) would be step-into Pro i.e. a full-blown obe in the traditional style of Robert Bruce et al. Here you have all of the above, plus, at the point of travelling along the thread of your imagination, you activate what Mystics call the Crown Chakra. Doing this causes a person to pop-out from within themselves into a region commonly called the real-time zone. Here you can sample the delights of flying over the rooftops in your locality, or entering the Astral by flying through all kinds of Astral Plane Entrance Structures of the like you see portrayed on the back cover of Astral Dynamics, and so forth. Yours, Frank Oh, and thank you for the kind comments re the thread. 1809 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: February 13, 2003, 17:08:07 quote: Originally posted by Adrian I am intrigued by this "step-into" technique. I assume it has evolved from your Gateway work? In any case, it would be most interesting to hear more. Yes, the technique evolved from my Gateway work. But the technique is basically as described on this thread: where you create a mental scenario (either with or without some kind of recording to aid you) then, as the physical-body drifts off to sleep, your conscious awareness lets go of the Physical and you mentally step-into the imagined scenario. quote: I lay down and simply allow my physical-body to drift off to sleep as per normal. That is definitely a major cornerstone of phasing. But I think it is true to say that with most people, the mind falls asleep first, followed by the body sometime later. If it were possible to reliably cause the physical body to go to sleep while keeping the mind fully awake, then many more people will have alot of success with phasing. Any pointers for people to follow in this regard would be most useful. Yes, you are exactly right. It is a very tricky mental balancing act to perform which generally takes a lot of practice. With me, like this morning for instance, I can lay back and within ten or fifteen minutes I'm off... hello Astral, goodbye Physical. Yet, most mornings it will take me at least an hour to get myself in the requisite frame of mind. (Sometimes it will take me 2 hours, plus.) But once I'm in that "frame of mind" it's Astral-projection city, like I can't get away from the place. The big research question in my mind these days is why the difference? Like, why can't I just lay back and simply make direct contact? quote: BTW - I know that you used to do more of an OBE type approach before moving to phasing - do you find that your quality of Astral presence, i.e. your ability to see Astral residents and equally importantly they to see you and communicate with each other, and the general realism of the environment is as good of better with phasing than OBE? For a while I went away from the traditional approach and researched the Gateway products. I found that by practising the Phasing approach had the effect of overwriting the original data to a large degree and I lost touch with my past efforts. Lately, however, I have successfully managed to marry the two approaches. My early "cannonball exit" so-called because it felt like being shot from a cannon and landing within the Astral someplace (without any degree of control at all) I have managed to temper with my current Phasing techniques. So now it doesn't really make all that much difference whether I Phase to the Astral in one smooth mental transistion; or whether I take the more traditional approach and enter via the RTZ from flying through some Astral Plane Entrance Structure. The latter is, of course, more exciting and naturally more difficult for people to manage generally. Which is one of the main hiccups of the technique. Yours, Frank 1808 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Message for Frank on: February 13, 2003, 18:12:54 Sorry for not replying sooner but the comprehensiveness of your post is a bit difficult for me to take in. I read through what you say at least twice a day trying to form some kind of concensus as to how best to reply. On the one hand, you near perfectly describe the typical frustrations encompassed by beginners. To which there really is no hard and fast answer: yet, on the other hand, I feel sure I can come up with some more pointers that will hopefully lead you further towards your end goals. Yours, Frank 1806 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: February 14, 2003, 13:25:30 quote: Originally posted by Pete Thanks Frank. Very interesting. I will look into Moen's work. Ginny is our resident Moen-expert who has studied his work and successfully used his techniques, and Mr Moen also runs a message board where you can ask questions, etc. Myself I only have limited knowledge of his work. But I got the jist of where he was coming from quite quickly and found the technique to be a very valid way of exploring. quote: how then is the experience of the traditional OBE and the experience of being there by phasing- in or stepping-in different from each other? It sounds like you are saying the end result of getting outside the body First, I too find myself unable to get on with certain terms and/or phrases. I dislike the phrase "outside the body". Because it only seems like you are "outside" of your body. If anything, you have gone within yourself more, as opposed to being outside of yourself. With the Phasing technique, performed properly, there is one smooth mental transition from Physical to Astral. There's no sensation of being "outside the body" (for want of a better phrase) in the sense of flying over rooftops in your locality, or floating around your bedroom ceiling looking down at yourself sleeping, etc. It simply feels like you are in exactly the same "body" only your surroundings changed. Monroe first coined the term and, being an engineer, he naturally thought of the smooth transition he had come to experience as a phase-shift, hence the term Phasing. quote: I understand that the two techniques for getting outside the body are different ... how then is the experience of the traditional OBE and the experience of being there by phasing-in or stepping-in different from each other? The main difference is in how you experience the Physical to Astral transition. With Mr Moen's Focussed Attention you never experience a full Physical to Astral transition. And it is precisely this transition that presents a major stumbling block for all manner of reasons. The main one being your general sense of conscious awareness acts like a fish out of water thus sending your protective sense of awareness into overdrive. All manner of panic-buttons are pressed and the whole experience turns to meltdown. Fear is the most common emotion to have at the onset of any non physical-reality based experience. Well, at first that is. Naturally, someone having success at the Moen Focussed Attention technique may well feel a little nervous at having confirmed contact will old aunty Agatha, or whomever, long-since passed away. But because their conscious awareness is always primarily grounded in the Physical, any feelings of apprehension, nervousness, fear, and such like, are released within the Physical realm and not the Astral. This means they will not be subject to the kinds of reality fluctuations they would be subject to, if these kinds of feelings or emotions were released within the Astral environment. With Phasing you experience a direct Physical to Astral transition. Like I say above, there's no sensation of being "outside the body" (again for want of a better phrase) in the sense of flying over rooftops in your locality, or floating around your bedroom ceiling looking down at yourself sleeping, etc. It simply feels like you are in exactly the same "body" only your surroundings changed. With traditional obe another factor comes into play in the sense the Crown Chakra (for want of a better term) becomes very active. Whereas, with normal Phasing I do not feel the Crown to be active at all - just the Brow. An active Crown is felt as a buzzing kind of vibration and/or feelings of static electricity running through the body. The intensity and/or pitch of this buzzing or vibration determines where you eventually end up. At a particular level of intensity, you will be subjected to feelings of leaving your physical body. I mean in a literal sense where you feel like you are actually leaving the physical body behind. Hence the term Out of Body. With traditional obe you generally project into what is known as the Real-Time Zone or RTZ. It is called this because, when projected into this realm, you are able to view events that are currently happening on planet Earth. However, the RTZ is actually an infinitely huge buffer zone between Astral-matter and ALL Physical-matter. Within this zone or realm, you can see interconnections between the various states of matter that take the form of all manner of tube structures and consequent energy vortices which you can travel down. (Though this is *not* for the squeamish.) All kinds of 3D Grid formations can be viewed together with what are commonly called Astral Plane Entrance Structures: of the kind portrayed on the back cover of Astral Dynamics. quote: Also, Frank, about the Monroe tapes. I notice that the Gateway Series only takes you up to Focus 21. (I'm on Wave III). How then do you get training for Focus 22 and beyond? How did you? I got into this whole topic from chance coming across Monroe's JOB over 20 years ago. I figured the guy was either insane or had stumbled onto something. I gave his techniques a fair try and, much to my surprise, began getting projection symptoms. Everything I learnt was from ordinary trial and error. But I have to say that, only up until a few years ago, I viewed the Astral as just this huge adventure playground which I visited 2 or 3 times per week. Since then I've managed to put some polish on my techniques from clues given to me from visiting various websites and from reading Astral Dynamics and Monroe's two later works... Far journeys and Ultimate Journey. Plus, the Internet has enabled me to pool experiences and/or ideas with a number of experienced explorers, which has benefited me greatly. I also became open to the concept of "guides" which accelerated my progress no end. As far as the TMI and the Gateway series CD's are concerned, my personal opinion is they go off on a commercial tangent after Wave 1. I think most ordinary people who could get to Mental Focus 12 could make good progress from material that is available on BBS's such as this one for free. Yours, Frank 1805 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: February 14, 2003, 20:23:07 quote: Originally posted by Adrian So basically then - it seems to be a matter of maintaining imagery in the mind while waiting for the body to fall off to sleep? Well, the mind as such never sleeps. Problem is the sense of conscious awareness usually drifts off about the same time as the physical body. The "sense of conscious awareness" is a kind of inbetween entity that can be with one, or the other. From physical birth this entity becomes latched with the physical body to a high degree. So physical-body asleep... sense of conscious awareness asleep: physical-body awake... sense of conscious awareness awake. The trick is to break that cycle and realise that the sense of conscious awareness can be with one, or the other. quote: 1) Is this best practiced on going to bed at night, or after waking up early in the morning? I know that you used to awake around 04:00 or so for your Astral travels. But if tired, I would guess that this method would work at bedtime if it is possible to keep the mind awake. I am no expert at being able to do this at will. I have to create certain fairly exacting conditions before that transition to "the other" can take place. With me I find it more fruitful to practise early morning. Others may find the opposite, or whatever else inbetween. quote: 2) Most importantly - what sort of imagery does one maintain while awaiting for the body to go to sleep? E.g. would it be a full blown scenario like acting out a scene, or simply maintaining a static scene? Basically, whatever works for the person in question. The BIG problem is breaking the cycle. There is a natural tendency where, if a person tries to keep their sense of conscious awareness alive, this will prevent the physical body from going to sleep. So a sort of battle ensues to the extent where tiredness will naturally take over. However, there is this definite, inbetween road that is a tricky mental balancing act to follow. In a nutshell, you let the physical body just drift off to sleep as per normal: but you keep your sense of conscious awareness focussed within you. Yours, Frank 1804 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / is anybody on this board not a teenager? on: February 14, 2003, 20:28:38 Well, I'm 44 if that helps and will soon be 45. Scary huh? Yours, Frank 1803 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: February 15, 2003, 11:39:14 quote: Originally posted by Pete I am just beginning to experience that mind awake body asleep state. I did it once spontaneously and now twice in the last few days, though it doesn't feel quite deep enough yet. The other night, I was rushed with sensory stuff, sounds, whatever, and couldn't maintain any imagery of my own at that point. (I then heard a distinct female voice say "hello", and I came out of it). LOL: this happened to me too. I'd previously lumped the whole idea of guides in a big box marked "Mystical Mumbo-Jumbo Do Not Open." So when coming around to the idea I mentally said out loud, "Okay guide or guides, if you are really there watching me from the "other side" (so to speak) then just flaming well make yourself known. I want no fancy robes and halos and all that jazz, just come out from wherever you are and say hello. A few seconds later this voice came into mind, as clear as day, and said: "Hello Frank". It shocked me to the extent where I zapped back to Physical double-quick. Oh, being rushed with sensory stuff like sounds of voices, or music, or hearing any old popping, banging or stomping, or whatever; abstract mental images like outline drawings of all kinds of shapes, or faces of humans or animals; bright areas of blackness that seem like some kind of light in the distance, or seeing swirling foggy colours; having the blackness take on varying textures, and so on: this is the Monroe Mental Focus 12 state. quote: It is a very interesting state, and very different from the deep meditative empty mind state which I can reach pretty easily now. Yes, I am pleased someone else has made that observation. I could never quite understand what people who were into "meditation" were trying to achieve. From what I can gather, the goal is to work towards a state where the mind is completely blank. But in the midst of me making the Phased transition between Physical and Astral my mind is anything but blank. Also, something someone posted the other week about Monks and their wanting to attain a state where they are within themselves looking at what was described as a white screen. Immediately I recognised what the person in question was saying. I used to get that quite often and it was a flaming nuisance to be honest. Because there I'd be after maybe an hour and a half of working towards getting my physical-body out of the mental equation, I'd just be getting to thinking that I was transitioning nicely and the Astral was about to come into view, and then plop: all I'd get was this blank white screen that I couldn't seem to get rid of. It reminds me of the people who post saying they have, "suffered" what they call, "sleep paralysis" all their lives. Oh, how I would dearly love to "suffer" this condition in an instant every day: instead of spending 1 hour+ trying to bring myself to experience it. In a similar vein, I couldn't help chuckling over the thought of all those Monks spending perhaps years trying to attain something which used to "pester" me so regularly. quote: So does it mean then that if you were to have a regular amount of sleep hours in that trance state that you would then not need anymore sleep? The mind then doesn't need any sleep? Is that true? I hadn't thought of that before. All the evidence I have gathered from years of personal experimentation and observation strongly suggests to me that each individual is, in fact, their Mind. In other words, what we call "our mind" is actually us, and is a totally separate entity that exists independently of the physical body and has no need for sleep; only the physical body has any need for sleep due to the fact that the cells that form it have a certain sell-by date. To my mind, successful Astral projection is not so much to do with finding the right "technique" but is all to do with achieving the correct degree of mental understanding. For me, realising that the physical-body springs forth from the Mind, and not the other way around, was a *major* turning point for me which led to my making a big leap forward in my development. Yours, Frank 1801 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: February 18, 2003, 12:43:54 quote: Originally posted by Pete On another subject, I wanted to say this: in the terms used in Astral Dynamics, what exactly is happening in the phasing in process that is different than the AD classic OBE where "consciousness reflects itself into the expanding etheric body", in other words, creating a copy of itself in the etheric body. What then is occuring in the phasing in process and why does this allow for greater memory retention?....... With me, I tend not to get wrapped up in the body-forming process. I merely let the natural process "do its thing" so to speak, as my main area of focus is destination Astral realms. The way I look at it, is you don't need to know how a car functions exactly in order to drive someplace. All a person need know is how and when to push and pull the various levers, and after an appropriate time they arrive at their destination. In other words, I don't have too much experience in this area of observation. Though what I can say for sure is the Phasing process is much easier to bear. In the sense that it is one thing thinking about bobbing around your ceiling looking down at your physical-body, or flying through some Astral-Plane Entrance Structure of the kind seen on the back cover of Astral Dynamics: but it is quite another thing actually doing it! With Phasing, there is generally less trauma and/or excitement associated with the Process. And any kind of trauma or excitement will inevitably lead to a person suffering severe reality fluctuations that turn their whole experience into a complete mish-mash. Another thing I find affects memory recall *considerably* is falling asleep directly following the experience. I still do this now and again which turns a great projection, full of vivid memories, into some event I can hardly recall upon awakening. Yours, Frank 1800 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: February 18, 2003, 13:11:06 quote: Originally posted by coral1 Hi All, I`ve started having success projecting in the last 10 days and seemed to have stumbled onto Frank`s "step into" technique, quite by accident.I lay down one afternoon to take a nap.After laying on my back for about 45 minutes and becoming very relaxed I rolled onto my right side and after about 10 minutes felt strong vibrations and projected to the RTZ: a first for me.I had a short experience floating around my house.The interesting thing was that it happened spontaneously-I wasn`t trying to project. Sounds like you are making great progress, well done to you. Funny, how you describe it is basically how it happened with me the first time. I remember how, years ago, I used to go to bed "armed" with all manner of variations that I was going to try that night-release-morning. All to no avail (or so I thought). Then, one morning, it just happened in very much the same way as yourself. Once I knew the feeling, I largely put aside all the other ideas I'd had and concentrated on searching out for that same feeling again. As you say, it is a subtle and tricky place of consciousness to get to, so I had to persevere quite a bit before I "found it" again. But if you stick at it, you'll find it does get a fraction easier each time. What I admire about your methodology is the way in which you have mixed a number of approaches: taking the Intent aspect of the Moen school, coupled with the Monroe Hemi-Sync and Robert Bruce's energy work all mixed with a large dollop of your own intuition and feeling... sounds like a great recipe for success you have there! You are also very right about not analysing your experience too much. Simply concentrate on homing-in on that feeling. Yours, Frank PS quote: As always thanks to Frank! I`ve learned more from your posts than all the books I`ve read combined That is an exceptionally kind comment to make, thank you. 1799 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Help with my first consious experience on: February 18, 2003, 13:31:24 quote: Originally posted by watsonla I would welcome anyone who can give me some enlightenment on how to stop my excitement and just let it happen. I have so much in my head for what I want to do, see and meet there after but need to get over this hurdle. Many thanks in advance Regards Len I think this is a phase virtually everyone goes through, including myself. With me, it was gaining familiarity with the process which eventually led to my being able to handle all the various sensations. In other words, it was just a question of practice, practice and even more practice. Problem is, your protective sense of awareness tends to switch into hyperdrive; and this area of consciousness also has the facility to directly effect your emotions, which can make for quite a heady-mix. Then couple this with the fact that it's all happening on a root-consciousness level, and you tend to find yourself in situations where there are no quick-fix solutions. Yours, Frank 1798 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: February 21, 2003, 22:27:23 quote: Originally posted by Pete Frank, would you mind explaining more about the transition from Focus 10 to Focus 12? I think I am managing to reach Focus 10 (though I am not always sure whether my body is asleep exactly). Focus 10 is basically described as, "mind awake, body asleep" but in practice things are not quite so clear-cut. I found it is very easy to get caught in a Catch-22 here. Because the more you check to see if your body is asleep, the more it stays awake. So a sort of battle ensues. Following which it's only a matter of time before natural tiredness takes over. Personally, I would now describe Focus 10 as the state where you are focussed away from your physical body to the extent that you are not thinking about it at all. In that, your whole focus of attention is pointed within your mind; and you become engrossed by that to the extent where any notion of a physical body just drops out of the equation. To me, that is focus 10. Though please no-one get me wrong, here. I'm not going against Monroe or saying he was mistaken or anything like that. On the contrary, I believe both he and I are explaining the same basic state but in different ways. Problem with me was the word "asleep" as in mind awake, body asleep. My consciousness was just *so* fixated with the idea of body asleep, sense of consciousness asleep, that I had to think in different terms in order to break that cycle. quote: At this point, I have the most success using the Wave I excercise 2 tape as you described earlier on this forum. So, do you stop the tape and then try for Focus 12 or do you finish the exercise and then get back to Focus 10 and then 12 on your own? (Which would mean I will have more success once I can reach Focus 10 as deeply on my own). The Focus 10 rundown I only ever used as a kind of preconditioner to projection. Many times I felt I could just let go of the commentary and be off. But I resisted the temptation. I've listened to the Focus 10 rundown easily a thousand times in various situations. The most effective, I believe, is on low-volume repeat while asleep. From my studies I can say absolutely that Bob's rundown holds a particular resonance within the Astral. quote: I seem to keep reaching a sort of overwhelming input of sensory sounds, images, etc, though I'd describe it more like I suddenly just woosh as if getting on some sort of roller coaster, losing awareness of my body, a sudden letting go completely, which is so "sweeping-me-off-my-feet" that I keep snapping back to what I assume is Focus 10. Well, normally, any feeling of snapping back brings you to C1 not F10. From what you say it sounds to me like you get to F10 and, after whatever time, you make a definite transition to F12: at which point your protective sense of awareness slaps the brakes on and zaps you back to C1. That being the case, what you are feeling is very normal. All you need to do is convince your protective sense of awareness that all is well and to just go along with the ride, so to speak. quote: So, I guess my main question is how to make this transition? Is there a way to slow it down or make it be less startling? I can understand how you pause at the door to Focus 12 while using the tapes and then return as instructed. But how did you start entering Focus 12 and staying there for awhile? It's just a case of practice. Slowing it down is what I set out to do about a year ago. Now I've begun to get it about right. If you are like me then you have about a year of practice ahead of you. If you are twice as good then 6 months... or whatever. quote: I agree that the Focus 10 to 12 transition isn't much on the Gateway tapes. So that isn't much help. Do you think they expect that by merely thinking or saying 12 that you will arrive at that level? Doesn't seem very helpful for a beginner. Agreed. In many ways the whole "Gateway Series" stuff I cannot help but feel is more a commercial exercise. Yours, Frank 1797 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: February 22, 2003, 10:37:11 quote: Originally posted by Pete Frank, A little more on my last post - Monroe seems to describe Focus 21 as the "edge of time and space", the last level of physical world reality, "the edge that lies between the physical world and the afterlife" (to quote Moen). I've been thinking of Focus 12 as that edge. I can well understand why you think that way because I too once thought Focus 12 was that edge. And this touches on what you say below about everything happening in a whoosh. That's exactly what used to happen with me. When I looked back from the point of being within the Astral, the last stage I really remembered was being at Focus 12. So that's why for a while I thought Focus 12 was the bridge zone. It's only when you slow the whole transition process down yet further that you realise there are several, fairly distinct inbetween states. Focus 21 is characterised by what is often called 3D-Blackness. Basically, you find yourself floating in an endless, timeless void. Which is the bridge zone between Physical and Astral. It's quite a comforting place once you get used to it. Though people who "suffer" what is sometimes called "sleep paralysis" can find themselves within this region not knowing quite what is happening. And, for them, it can be quite scary. Focus 21 is the first of the realms of reality where: Thought = Direct Action. Which is why people, such as Ginny for example, tend to use it as a start-point for their Astral journey. For in this region all you have to do is either Think about where you want to go, or place some strong Intent about what you want to achieve, or to experience... and it automatically comes about. Normally, what happens is some kind of portal will open in the blackness and you simply place the Intent to go in that direction. The reasoning behind Monroe's talk about being on the "edge of time and space" is all to do with the Physical realm where we hold notions of Time and Space, and of course Distance. Within the Physical, these three notions are inextricably linked. However, within the Astral there is no such thing as Time. So there is no such thing as Distance or Space either. quote: Could it be that I am leaping/swooshing right from Focus 10 to Focus 21 and beyond and it is striking me as a huge, overwhelming move? Are Focus 12 (and 15), more preliminary levels? Maybe I'm conceptualizing them incorrectly. Though I know it is not a science exactly, perhaps my ideas are making it more difficult. Perhaps I need to slow it down and make myself linger in 12 for awhile. Yes, you need to slow it down as touched on above. Once you can make the transition slowly you will perceive the inbetween states. With me, Focus 15 is a very interesting and subtle state where I experience a mental null. It's next to impossible to explain in words but you pass through a phase where it does just seem like all of Time just stands still, or it can seem like Time is moving with you. Which I'm sure makes no sense at all. Like I say, it's next to impossible to explain in words. quote: (I have another similar, if more minor, confusion of definitions when in track 2 of the Wave I tape, Monroe instructs to relax each body part in turn before then counting down to 10. I had to re-write my scenario a few times to make sure I didn't give up my "body" until after that massage/relaxaton part. I had been leaving my physical body at the energy conversion box at first and this created a jarring problem. I've got that straightened out now I think. The way I see it is I don't leave my physical body behind until after the relaxation and during the countdown when I have to leave it behind pretty fast.) Yes, I too pondered over this. So I decided to dump what I call my "physical sheathe" in the Energy Conversion Box. From then on I take all notion of having a "body" in a non-physical sense. Yours, Frank 1796 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: February 22, 2003, 11:31:02 When originally posting to this thread I was working on stimulating what Mystics call the Crown Chakra, and trying a number of ways of getting my focal point of awareness away from the back of my physical eyes and point it upwards into the expanse of my mind. This was prompted primarily from my research into the question of where, exactly, do the "vibrations" come from. Regulars will have heard me talk about what I call my cannonball-exit; a projection experience characterised by a sudden feeling of intense vibration, followed by the sensation of exiting the Physical with a force like I had been shot from a cannon. So I set out to try and slow down this process in an attempt to find out what was happening. I discovered the vibrations began very subtly from a point at the crown of the head: right where all the mystical drawings and charts depict the placement of what is termed the Crown Chakra. From further research, I have now found it possible to be able to focus inwards and, given the right conditions, I can activate the Crown Chakra even while still having some awareness of my physical body together with my physical surroundings. Although this is still very much easier said than done. Activation begins first with a subtle mental "knowing" feeling that tells me I hit on the right place within my mind. And this bit is the real tricky part. Because from then on it feels like an automatic process takes over. Following this "knowing" feeling comes a short phase where I feel like I am experiencing vibrations, but I'm not actually experiencing them. It's sort of like I'm beginning to mentally tune-into them. For a while this was a tad confusing. Until the penny dropped and I realised that the vibrations were something that were always there, and not something that we create. In other words, we don't in some way "manufacture" this vibrational state. It's more something that we mentally tune-into by focusing our awareness in a particular direction. Next, I get a kind of mental swooshing feeling like someone just stroked my brain with a feather. This happens every couple of seconds or so. Then I relax into this further and the swooshing feeling turns into a mental vibration that occurs about once per second. Now, at this point, if I relax into it further then the vibrations increase in frequency and intensity and I lose all sensation of my physical body. Yours, Frank 1795 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / A woman in Focus 23 on: February 23, 2003, 10:12:45 Thanks again for sharing, Ginny. Have you come across the cell-construct before? Reason for asking is I tend to come across this myself fairly often. Yours, Frank 1794 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / i came close but a problem with my eyes.... on: February 23, 2003, 10:59:42 One of the *big* hurdles people generally need to overcome is the sudden unwelcome intrusion by the physical eyes. Such intervention almost always has the effect of zapping you right back to C1 consciousness. The reason this happens is because your focal point of consciousness normally resides behind your physical eyes. When I say "resides behind" what I mean is your primary focus of attention is mostly based on what the eyes tell you. The ears may transmit to you a strange sound... then immediately the eyes will go to look. Someone may touch you unexpectedly from behind... then immediately the body spins around so the eyes can see. Which reminds me of an old playground joke where we'd come up to someone from behind and tap them on the opposite shoulder to where we were standing. So the person would immediately look and see no-one there. If you think about all the various human-response actions you will see that - almost always - the physical eyes are the primary information providors that determine whatever comes next. On the Physical, this process works amazingly well. However, it can put a big spoke in the works when it comes to projection excercise. Difficulty being, the eyes are not used to just rolling back and relaxing while the consciousness is awake and alert. Having an awake, alert consciousness and taking-in input from the physical eyes is about as natural as it comes. It used to happen to me all the time where I'd just be settling into the Focus 12 state; where it is natural to perceive all manner of outline shapes and shadows, or whirls of colour, and so forth, and the moment I'd see something definite it was like my protective sense of awareness would shout, "What's that!" And my physical eyes would immediately go to look. Which, of course, brought me right out of it. The only way around it is to practice all you can to the extent where your protective sense of awareness regards everything that is happening as normal, and your physical eyes have got into the habit of switching themselves off during practice. I think this problem can never be eradicated entirely, and it still effects me now and again. Just this morning, for instance, I drifted into the Focus 12 state fairly quickly and the 3D blackness suddenly loomed into view. The thought crossed my mind, "Wow, that must be the quickest to- date." Next moment my protective sense of awareness slapped the brakes on, and my physical eyes immediately became restless. Like they were scanning from side to side on the lookout for any danger. Which, of course, zapped me right back to C1. It even raised my heartbeat a tad too. Which meant it took me about half an hour just to get that settled again before practice could resume. Yours, Frank 1793 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / A woman in Focus 23 on: February 23, 2003, 18:55:58 Ginny: I mean both. Either a formal "cell" with bars and stuff or just a small room in which the person feels trapped for some other reason than imprisoned in a traditional, Physical sense. Yours, Frank 1792 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Retrieval info on: February 24, 2003, 10:10:35 quote: Originally posted by weagle Are the children well or are they really stuck somewhere because they have not matured mentally to believe in God or know what happens to them when they die and have that faith so they can go to the right place? I'm not sure what you meant in your post by, "low-level obe" and about having people looking at you from your bedside. So I can't offer any input there. But I can say, in answer to your question above, in my experience the problem with many children is they have been abused by circumstances to the extent where they never really had a "childhood" in the typical 21st-century, 1st World sense. Which is what causes a large part of the problem. Yours, Frank 1791 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: February 25, 2003, 12:38:51 quote: Originally posted by Adrian Greetings Frank! With apologies if I have overlooked another post on this, would you mind summarising this latest "Crown Chakra" method of yours from the beginning as a complete working Astral projection method? Also, is this a method for anytime, or is it best to wake up early morning with full relaxation and half trance state and work from there? An indication as to how long the process takes from start to Astral would be most useful as well - I think some people tend to get frustrated to quickly if things don't happen very quickly. There has also been much discussion on lying position - many people say that OBE is really only possible - reliably at least - while lying on the back rather than the side - this seems quite a common observation. Also - has this evolved beyond and to supercede your Monroe type phasing method, or are they connnected in some way? Adrian: What I am currently practicing has evolved out of my Monroe studies. Initially I set out to slow down what was my normal "cannonball exit" by following the Phasing method as taught by Monroe. After a while I did get to the stage where I could go through the phasing transition in a controlled way. Though I still can't just do this at will. I prefer practicing early morning as it's quieter and my body is refreshed following a night of sleep. As for length of time, it can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to around two hours to get to the requisite state. Typically, results come within 45 mins. Once in that state I generally have two or three projections in succession, with a break inbetween to make notes as necessary. Normally I lay on my back for projection practice and on my side for sleep. Though in my experience the effectiveness is no different between the two. I just make the distinction as a clear signal to myself as to what is on the agenda: projection-practice or sleep. As to why some mornings it's like I just fall into it and others it takes me a couple of hours, is a question I've been working on for about two months. Basically, it looks like it just comes down to getting into a working routine followed by lots of practice. When I first started out on the Phasing route I was trying all kinds of things, from all kinds of angles, to try and work out what Monroe was going on about. Now, I've boiled it all down to just one working routine which I stick to religiously. Since doing that the number of successful attempts has increased significantly. I've said before that I've got no natural talent for any of this, which means it always takes me a lot of time to make progress. So perhaps I'm not the best yardstick to use when it comes to estimating the typical lengths of time people need to practice the various stages before getting results. The Phasing approach I've been practicing virtually every morning for about a year. A practice session I make 1.5 hours minimum. Often I'll extend this but pushing myself too hard I found counterproductive. My current routine begins with going through the Gateway rundown to Focus 10 and back to C1. Technically, I don't really need the CD anymore as I know it off by heart after listening to it so many times. But I find it has the effect of getting me nicely in the mood, so to speak. Then, upon my return to C1, I'll decide whether or not to begin the session proper. It may have been that during the CD rundown I was disturbed by something or other and it didn't go according to plan. Maybe I felt the need to use the toilet, or perhaps my wife was a little restless, or whatever. In which case I'll go through the CD rundown again. Note: I found it counterproductive to begin a session that didn't feel good from the start. So if there is a problem then I cancel the session, sort out whatever it is and start afresh. So, on deciding to progress, I'll got through the rundown to Focus 10 without the CD only this time I'll carry on through to the higher Focus levels. If I don't feel quite right for whatever reason, I'll listen to the CD one more time and then start the session proper. The past couple of months I've developed a successful deviation from what was my normal Phasing practice; in that I have successfully married elements of my previous Cannonball-Exit to the Phasing process. I reached the stage where I'd developed a degree of skill that enabled me to make the transition from Physical to Astral with a reasonable degree of predictability. Problem was, comparing my experience with the description Monroe gives of his Physical to Astral transition: the two didn't match. The transition he describes sounded to me more like a combination of the traditional obe- style exit, followed by what I can now recognise as a smooth Phasing to the Astral. Also, quite a number of experiences he describes, for example viewing M-Band radiation fields, sounded very much to me like he was way out in the real-time zone, rather than the Astral proper. As we know, Monroe originally set-out projecting in the traditional obe sense, and later developed the Phasing concept which he taught at TMI. So this gave me the idea that maybe Monroe's later projection experiences were somehow a cross between his old way and his later developed Phasing concept. So I set out on the road of trying to take my previous, more traditional-style projection experience, i.e. feelings of vibrations, leaving the body, etc., and marrying them with my recently developed Phasing skills. As it happened, this turned out to be a highly successful step forward in my development. Yours, Frank 1790 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Retrieval info on: February 25, 2003, 13:03:28 Cannot see what difference your age would make. In the rescue of youngsters, I could see you would have a significant advantage. One of the problems I repeatedly face is directly caused by the fact that virtually all the cases I come across are to do with children who have been abused by adults in some way or another. So it is forever a challenge to find a way to gain the child's trust. All you basically need is to have a good degree of control over your projection experience. Otherwise you tend to flit about here and there, which scuppers the process. Or, what can also happen is you become emotionally involved in the circumstances of the person you are attempting to rescue. Which again scuppers the process. Also, bear in mind that all "rescue work" is automatically done under the guidance of other people who are residents of the higher realms beyond the Astral. So you can always rely on them for support. Yours, Frank 1789 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Skepticism And OBE on: February 28, 2003, 10:36:54 quote: Originally posted by LJ57 I have had three OBE experiences although one was more like a lucid dream. As much as I want to believe that I was leaving my body and exploring astral realms or just floating in the real-time zone, I still find myself questioning everything. Having a lucid-dream is basically the Monroe Focus 22 state, only with a reduced level of conscious awareness. Focus 22 is the first proper realm where thought-equals-direct-action. I say "proper" because, technically, this thought/action effect comes about at the Physical-to-Astral bridge-zone at mental Focus 21. I agree wholeheartedly with Daniel in his point that one of the biggest challenges is to conciliate formal mechanical logic with multidimensional logic. This hurdle is presented by the fact that, when we project, we don't in turn develop some super-sense of conscious awareness all primed and geared for Astral use. On the contrary, the sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral is the very same one you have now. All of which means you tend to behave like a fish out of water the first 10 or 20 times you project. To help overcome this hurdle, you need to gain a fair degree of understanding about the basic nature of the Astral environment, and the different ground-rules that apply. We have to gain familiarity with these basic rules in much the same way as we do when first entering the Physical. For example, perhaps the one most basic Physical rule (we gain familiarity with rather quickly!) is that no two physical things can occupy the same physical space. A person who could not get the hang of this basic rule would forever have difficulties. Not only would they be forever bumping into things, pursuits such as driving a car, for instance, would be nigh on impossible. Same thing applies with Astral exploration where, without an understanding of the basic ground rules, people will keep running into difficulties. One of the main difficulties is presented by the fact that releasing emotions within the Astral environment acts as a kind of fuel that goes to creating the circumstances that surround you. This is a *tricky* one to overcome because these circumstances can seem just as real, and equally as lifelike, as circumstances are within the Physical. So if you release a little fear (very common) you will instantly find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance. Problem is, finding yourself all of a sudden in a scary situation will normally have the effect of making you even more fearful. So the situation will instantly become that much more scary; which makes you more scared; so it gets that much more scary; which makes you even more scared; so it gets that much more scary; and so on, and so on....... If that were not bad enough, there is another basic rule which says, "Your experiences and/or circumstances are primarily governed by your expectations." Therefore, if you expect to encounter demons and dragons... then demons and dragons you shall encounter. But that's not all. There's another basic rule which says, "like instantly attracts like." So it won't only be you having these horrific experiences. Chances are, you'll be surrounded by countless others all suffering the same fate. Such a group concensus will naturally have the effect of reinforcing your beliefs to a high degree. Bringing into play the basic rule which says, "Your ability to perceive is proportional to your willingness to believe." In other words, the more you believe the Astral is a nasty and dangerous place, the more readily you will perceive it as such. Bearing all this in mind, you need then to be careful how you go about things... else all manner of reality fluctuations can come about. For example, it is only natural that you should question your experiences. This is a great way to make progress provided the questioning aspect comes about as a result of natural curiosity. Over years of trial and error, I found the best most productive mental state to have while within the Astral realms: is to remain emotionally neutral, while maintaining a natural air of mild curiosity. However, if the questioning comes about as a result of Doubt, then you need to be ever mindful of the fact that any release of thoughts of Doubt - while within the Astral - will instantly lead to you experiencing circumstances that support whatever level of Doubt you are feeling. Then, just like in my release of fear example above, finding yourself all of a sudden in a situation where your doubts are justified, will normally have the effect of making you feel even more doubtful; so your circumstances will instantly become such that your doubts are reinforced all the more; which in turn makes you doubt all the more still; and so on, and so on....... It's unfortunate that now and again I come across a person who once managed to successfully project to the Astral and subsequently concluded that it was all some kind of brain-generated fantasy. We had someone come onto this BBS last year who was adamant on this. From reading into where they were coming from, it was obvious the person had been projecting to the Focus 22 state while releasing feelings of doubt. Of course, this person's doubts were immediately reinforced each time to the extent where they became utterly convinced their doubts were 110% genuine. All of which then blinded this person to the facts about what had truly taken place. As for wanting "proof" and such like. A popular idea is the one about having someone else place a playing card or some other object out of sight, and so forth. But what I would suggest is you learn to become more proficient at projection and all the proof you can handle will be fed to you by the bucketload. Yours, Frank 1788 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Rollercoaster ride through 3D Blackness! on: February 28, 2003, 13:15:55 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf However, as soon as I saw these stars and galaxies flying past, a moment of fear passed through me and the experience ended. However, even although the speed I was travelling was terrific I never once thought of any danger, the only twinge of fear I got was when I saw space, as I wondered how far from home I was, this fear then ended the experience. I wonder if I really was hurtling through the galaxy in the RT zone via some kind of wormhole or if the whole thing was an astral construct? Either way it was a hell of a lot of fun! Yes, it *is* one heck of a lot of fun! Though not an experience for the squeamish. Obviously, I can't say for sure but it does sound to me like you were hurtling through the RT zone. One Astral difficulty is caused by the fact that we tend to move about the Astral using the same degree of effort that we use when moving about the Physical. Problem is, it takes no effort at all really to "move" either within the Astral or the RT zone. You probably set-off with the intention of mentally stepping-into the 3D-blackness and perhaps used much more mental effort than was necessary. With the effect you ended up shooting-off somewhere. That feeling of speed is just great isn't it? Many times I've entered RT-zone tube structures: which is what I think you inadvertently entered as you describe it so rightly, i.e. "After a short while the walls of the tunnel started to become slightly transparant and I could see what looked like stars and galaxies flying past". This is like how it appears to me too. And I've many times shot down these tubes or tunnels at speeds which feel like thousands and thousands of MPH. I'm not sure what these structures are, exactly, but they seem to be huge kinds of links between points in space. These tube structures have all manner of interconnections too. If you can keep your protective sense of awareness calm, while in the midst of it all, you can find yourself suddenly switching direction down another tunnel. But do be wary as some of them can be one *heck* of a roller-coaster ride. I once entered a tube structure and got gripped by a force of energy that shot me off somewhere and, despite all my experience, I really thought I'd overcooked it this time and would never get free. I was hurtling through some kind of energy vortex at breakneck speed for what seemed like an age, and it wasn't stopping. My protective sense of awareness was hitting panic-button after panic-button in an attempt to zap back to Physical, but nothing was working. Eventually I did get back, of course, and I chuckle about it now. But, at the time, I really and truly thought I'd had it. Once you can "exit" with a bit more control these structures can be perceived quite readily. Together with all manner of grid and Entrance structures. The grid-structures look like very fine laser light-beams that literally form a 3-dimensional grid structure. The ones I seem to always end up travelling through are mainly red and blue in colour. The size of each of the cubes that form the whole grid look to be about 50cm square (though the size and colour can vary sometimes). Within the structure of the grid are energy pathways that you can travel through. They come about just after stepping into the 3D-blackness. If you mentally hold a picture of a grid formation this should open up an energy pathway for you at the appropriate place. You can also use this technique in order to perceive Astral Plane Entrance structures, of the kind portrayed on the back cover of Astral Dynamics. quote: PS a note for Frank, I remember you noting at one point that if you imagine pieces of music in this state you get it in 'full suround'I certainly had this effect, once or twice pieces of music, other times sound effects or voices (although the voices were just random snippets rather than messages of any kind). Yes, it is possible to just float in the 3D-Blackness listening to a favourite piece of music, or whatever. At this Focus 21 state you are in a kind of Astral no-man's land between the Physical and the Astral. Hence why F21 is termed a Bridge-Zone. Here you are right on the brink of the realms where thought-equals-direct-action. So all you need do to experience something, is to think about experiencing whatever that something is, and... zoom... it instantly comes about. Yours, Frank 1784 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Discussing the purpose of the brain... on: March 04, 2003, 22:58:05 The brain, as such, is a fabulous organ that runs the physical-body. Yours, Frank 1782 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / For FRANK - Brain Technique on: March 07, 2003, 19:34:36 It does take a while to become used to the sensations. Feelings of falling or rising upwards at a fairly high speed, tend to cause your protective sense of conscious awareness to keep zapping you out of it. There is no hard and fast answer. Well, none that I know of, let's say. With me it was just a question of practice, practice and yet more practice. Until eventually the whole process became routine. Yours, Frank 1781 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / If you would be so kind as to help a stranger... on: March 07, 2003, 20:10:59 quote: Originally posted by DIM Greetings friends, I have been practicing Astral Projection for two years now. About six months ago I successfully projected. Since then, I have projected roughly once a month. The problem is I cannot seem to do it successfully at will. The only times I have projected (with the exception of a few) have been accidentally (though during an attempted projection). It takes place after I fall asleep and wake up within, rather than willing my astral body to leave the physical one. This is extremely frustrating and is affecting me deeply. What you describe in terms of frequency of projection and timescale is about how it happened with me originally. Well, more or less. I went from about once a month to around 3 times per week after about 5 to 6 years of practice and mainly from "waking up" within a dream. Okay, I'm on record as having made clear several times that I have no particular talent for obe work. So I guess I'm not the best yardstick. But I still cannot, "project at will" after 20-odd years. But that doesn't stop me projecting fairly reliably. I have just chopped and changed my lifestyle to the extent where it is all mainly geared to the specific routine I need to follow. Yours, Frank 1778 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / For FRANK - Brain Technique on: March 09, 2003, 19:53:09 Douglas: you need to play around with the various sensations to the extent where you develop a methodology you feel comfortable with. Which does, of course, take quite a bit of time and dedication to the task in hand. I feel the great thing is you are experiencing something, which gives you stuff to build on. So my answer is basically to experiment with what you are presented with. After all, that's what I find myself doing pretty much the majority of the time. Yours, Frank 1775 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / astral bagpipes! on: March 10, 2003, 21:03:42 Sounds to me like "sleep school" and they were teaching you that what we call thought is a primary energy that goes to creating the circumstances that surround you. Yours, Frank 1771 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: March 13, 2003, 12:09:09 I do tend to make clear, where necessary, that I am not into doing any kind of formal "energy work" or "chakra stimulation". Nor am I into any kind of "mystical work". Plus, I don't want to get into a situation where RB says one thing and I'm saying the opposite. For what would seem, on the surface, to be a direct contradiction probably has a very normal and natural explanation. All I can say is, after having experienced these vibrations for quite a number of years, I have suffered no ill-effects whatsoever. But it may well be within the context of conducting intensive "energy work" to stimulate one "chakra" more than another could cause some kind of imbalance. I really can't say on that. There is also the consideration the vibrations I have talked about in various posts, that I say begin at the crown of my head, may be nothing to do with any kind of "chakra" at all. It's just that after studying the onset of vibrations very closely (I lost count of the number of times) they do begin from the same area in my head each time. This area is pretty much right about where all the mystical drawings I have seen depict some kind of energy-centre called the Crown Chakra. Plus, all the descriptions point towards this Chakra being a kind of gateway to the Astral realms. Which is exactly what I experience. As the vibrations begin, I get a definite sensation of unhooking from the Physical and flying off into the RT-Zone. What seems like a few seconds later I enter the Astral realms. So it's exactly like once the vibrations begin a kind of "gateway" opens. Whereupon I take-off and fly through it. This process I now know is basically the same as what used to happen with my old "cannonball exit" that I experienced for all those years. Only now, after extensive practice using the Gateway Wave 1 CD (as I posted about at length) I managed to slow the whole thing down to the extent where it all happens with a good degree of predictability and control - pretty much all of the time now. I still cannot simply project at will. As I do need fairly exacting circumstances to be put in place. But once those circumstances come together, multiple projections come about that are predictable and readily controlled. Basically, I need to be in quiet surroundings where I am mentally fresh with little possibility of interruption. Which for me is early morning. As regards the crown-chakra situation, my question is, if what I experience is happening not as a result of "crown chakra" stimulation, then what is being stimulated? Also, it could well be there are varying degrees of stimulation coupled with varying sensations. Though I can say categorically that I never experienced any kind of "pain". I've experienced (and continue to experience) all kinds of very whacky and highly unusual feelings. Which do become rather fun to have, once your protective sense of awareness becomes used to accepting them as being normal. But never anything I could remotely describe as pain. Yours, Frank 1770 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: March 14, 2003, 11:11:04 Thank you for the compliment. From what you teach it appears we share a lot of common ground. Especially, when it comes to our views on the true nature of the human imagination. Yours, Frank 1769 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Presence on the onset of projecttion on: March 14, 2003, 20:25:58 Fact is, if you project within Astral regions you ARE going to come across all kinds of other people who live there. The chances of misunderstanding exactly what you are getting involved in are pretty high, at first. This is mega-complicated by the fact you are projecting your sense of conscious awareness into a system of reality where Thought equals Direct Action. Which makes it all the more complex to get to grips with. Yours, Frank 1768 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: March 14, 2003, 20:43:18 quote: Originally posted by metaphysics Great reply Frank! Just curious - how did you initiate your cannonball exit? Was it just spontaneous? All the best, M Originally, it came about from reading Monroe's JOB over 20 years ago. I posted a while back about how I came across this book by chance, and thought the guy was either insane or had caught onto something. I gave it a fair go and, to my surprise, began getting projection symptoms. The cannonball-exit came about as a result. At the time, I considered this rather violent projection experience to be how it was, so to speak. After all, I didn't know any different. It is only relatively recently I started taking my Astral experiences more seriously and began trying to slow the whole process down to try and make more sense of it. Yours, Frank 1767 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: March 15, 2003, 16:54:23 quote: Originally posted by Ash hi Frank, I found your comments really interesting, because the pain i feel is such a regular effect that I just assumed everyone felt it. You posted last week about acupuncture. Can I ask whether you have felt pain from acupuncture stimulation? I'm sorry but I think you might be confusing me with someone else as, to my knowledge, I never posted on acupuncture. Though I do take your point as regards your assumption. With my early cannonball-exit I just assumed that was the way it was. Unfortunately, as much as I would like to, I cannot really comment with any authority on your other questions as I'm not into doing any kind of energy-work... such as that described in RB's NEW system, for example. Yours, Frank 1765 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Presence on the onset of projecttion on: March 16, 2003, 11:47:44 quote: Originally posted by ame Thanks everyone for replying, Frank, You said about misunderstanding what we are involved with. How do we minimise this from happening? And how to increasse the objectivity of our experience. I don't want to be clouded by my own belief or fear or personal filter. How do we control our emotion in the astral from influencing what we say? Is this a good practice? To help overcome this hurdle, you need to gain a fair degree of understanding about the basic nature of the Astral environment, and the different ground-rules that apply. We have to gain familiarity with these basic rules in much the same way as we have to when first entering the Physical. For example, perhaps the one most basic Physical rule (we gain familiarity with rather quickly!) is that no two physical things can occupy the same physical space. A person who could not get the hang of this basic Physical rule would repeatedly have difficulties. Not only would they be forever bumping into things, pursuits such as driving a car, for instance, would be nigh-on impossible. Same thing applies with Astral exploration where, without an understanding of the basic ground rules, people will keep running into difficulties. One of the main difficulties is presented by the fact that releasing emotions within the Astral environment acts as a kind of fuel that goes to creating the circumstances that surround you. This is a *tricky* one to overcome because these circumstances can seem just as real, and equally as lifelike, as circumstances are within the Physical. So if you release a little fear (very common) you will instantly find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance. Problem is, finding yourself all of a sudden in a scary situation will normally have the effect of making you even more fearful. So the situation will instantly become that much more scary; which makes you more scared; so it gets that much more scary; which makes you even more scared; so it gets that much more scary; and so on, and so on....... If that were not bad enough, there is another basic rule which says, "Your experiences are primarily governed by your expectations." Therefore, if you expect to encounter demons and dragons... then demons and dragons you shall encounter. But that's not all. There's another basic rule which says, "like instantly attracts like." So it won't only be you having these horrific experiences. Chances are, you'll be surrounded by countless others all suffering the same fate. Such a group concensus will naturally have the effect of reinforcing your beliefs to a high degree. Bringing into play the basic rule which says, "Your ability to perceive is proportional to your willingness to believe." In other words, the more you believe the Astral is a nasty and dangerous place, the more readily you will perceive it as such. Bearing all this in mind, you need then to be careful how you go about things. Else all manner of reality fluctuations can come about. To summarise, then, the basic rules you need to keep in mind are: 1) Thought equals Direct Action. 2) Your experiences are primarily governed by your expectations. 3) Like instantly attracts like. 4) Your ability to perceive is proportional to your willingness to believe. Even though you may set out armed with this information, chances are you will screw up quite often at first. Not that I'm wishing it on you I'm simply being realistic. If you come across any kind of sticky situation where events are getting out of hand, my advice is to not try and "make it right" within the projection. Simply hop back to Physical, take a few deep breaths and project again. quote: Lately i can't seem to get into the RTZ. When I'm projecting I try to go away from my physical as far as possible without sight and the when I'm able to turn on my sight It's like I'm straight in the astral. I wonder why it is like this. Sounds to me like you are being guided to where all the fun-stuff takes place. Yours, Frank 1764 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: March 16, 2003, 13:52:00 quote: Originally posted by quebec Hi Frank, I'm working on the "brain method" and could you explain the evolution of the sensations, feelings, up to the projection. Quebec: To be honest I don't know what the "brain method" is, exactly. Someone else coined the term which seems to have stuck. A while ago I set off down a road which attempted to find an answer to the question, "Where do the vibrations come from?" They seemed to begin at the head, but with me they'd build in intensity so quickly I had no chance to study them. So I began trying all kinds of techniques to try and somehow ignite these vibrations, but in a controlled way; hence the ping-pong exercise, and a few others, with which I had limited degrees of success. At the same time, I was working on several imagination-based techniques, coupled with the Gateway Wave-1 CD, which I posted about at length. I developed these techniques to the point where I could fairly reliably Phase from Physical to Astral most mornings - without feeling any kind of vibrations at all. So I forgot about the question of vibrations for a while. I thought that my later work had overwritten the older stuff: in much the same way as when you load a newer version of Windows, for example. The new version overwrites the old version to the extent where you can no-longer boot from the old program. Lately, however, I got curious about the matter of vibrations again after re-reading Monroe's two later books: FJ's and UJ. It struck me that even though Monroe speaks about Phasing, he does describe feeling vibrations as well. So I set-out to try and form a mix between my new-found Phasing skills and my old cannonball-exit. My attempts at doing this were surprisingly successful. Now, my projection experience follows pretty much exactly as Monroe describes. Though with nowhere near the same degree of reliability (yet). In Monroe's case he would project with such ease that many times he'd just simply want to sleep instead. (Oh, how I would dearly love to "suffer" this condition!) Just thinking about experiencing vibrations, while undergoing the Phasing process, flicked a switch somewhere and I began to feel an inkling at first; after which they came back into the projection equation more and more. But somehow my later-developed Phasing skills had completely changed the nature of the way I experienced the vibrations. For a start, they began in a far more controlled way from about the Monroe Focus 21 state. And I discovered also they did in fact come about from a point at the top of the head each time. From practice, I found I could trace their origins back further. I felt them begin as a tiny mental swooshing feeling like someone just stroked my brain with a feather. Since then, I traced the feeling back further still. The whole process begins with a simple mental "knowing" feeling; then a kind of mental null; then a weird sort of creaking sound; then the feather-stroking feeling. The length of time at each of these stages can change slightly. I might get two or three mental null feelings, then maybe just one creaking sound, followed by several feather strokes; or just an inkling of a feather stroke, one mental null and several creaking sounds; or whatever combination of the three. The mental Knowing feeling happens when my physical body has relaxed to the extent where my focal point of awareness has shifted from behind my physical eyes and is now focussed within the expanse of my mind. Though my latest studies do strongly indicate that the reverse is more the case, i.e. the act of shifting my focal point of awareness *is* what causes my physical body to duck-out of the equation. Which is something I've suspected for quite a while. But I've only recently been able to experience the onset of the process slow enough and reliable enough to make any kind of concrete sense of it all. I found that shifting my focal point of awareness from behind my physical eyes to be the trickiest part in the whole process!!! It still presents me with quite a stumbling block and it's the last major hurdle I need to overcome. Problem is, it doesn't just have to shift: it needs to shift in a particular way. And that's the darned tricky part. Well, for me that is. quote: On working the brain as you wrote, (ex: the ping pong ball from temple to temple etc...) I will get a feeling of tighness, or congestion, is that also your experience ? Not that I can remember. quote: From there what happens next, step by step ? Where does the feeling of being stroke by a feather comes in ? This has been covered above. But if you need more info then by all means ask and I'll do my best to explain further. quote: This will help in knowing if I'm progessing in the right direction. Also you lately wrote about the crow area, do you work that area in the same manner as the brow (ping-pong), and does the area of stimulation as to be precise, pin pointed, or just the general area ? I no-longer use the original exercises. As outlined above, the Gateway work took over. When I recently came to think about vibrations again, they were far more controlled than previously. Yours, Frank 1763 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Please explain on: March 16, 2003, 15:31:49 Basically, Monroe attached labels to various states of mental focus. He was not the first person to do this, as mystics throughout the ages have labelled the various states or realms or regions. However, what Monroe did was to take a more modern-day approach in the sense that, rather than develop some mystical-sounding terminology, he simply used an arbritary series of numbers. As you turn your mental focus more and more away from normal physical consciousness (which Monroe labelled "C1") you begin to perceive inner realities. Monroe categorised these inner realities according to their particular characteristics. The initial focus states are perceived as more of a shift in inner awareness. The transition from Physical to Astral comes about at the Focus 21 state. Focus 22 is the first real realm where thought equals direct action. Incidentaly, Focus 22 is basically the Lucid Dream state only with a better degree of conscious control. From there comes Focus 23 and beyond, as Mr Moen has described. Yours, Frank 1759 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral Radio... tuning in on: March 17, 2003, 14:10:30 As strange as it may seem, hearing music within the Astral is very normal. I went through a phase of drifting in the 3D-Blackness listening to my favourite pieces. Stopped doing it though as it was getting a bit addictive, and floating around listening to music isn't exactly productive. I know what you mean about coming back to Physical to check. When it first happened to me I distinctly remember getting out of bed and going through the rooms of the house checking that a radio or TV hadn't been left on! Also, people often ask me what the Astral planes are like. The answer is, once you can get beyond all the emotional pitfalls of the lower regions, the upper Astral (if that's the right term) is very much like being on the Physical without all the negative stuff such as death, wars, famine, earthquakes and the like. Plus, everyone is friendly and tend to be engaged in all manner of positive pursuits, including composing music. You might also find the music you are hearing is being channeled by a guide as a means of contact. Yours, Frank 1755 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / The Brain method on: March 19, 2003, 15:26:03 quote: Once you have acquired the desired state with Gateway (Focus 10) how does it goes from there ? Since you have gotten away from the exercices (ping pong etc...)what exactly do you do from there (Focus 10)? How does it evolves to the exit? Is it just placing your awareness in the crow area for exemple, just looking at the brow to get the 3D blackness ?? As to your questions, I feel the process is not quite so cut and dried as you think. After a *lot* of practice I have pretty much reached the stage where I can hold myself at the various mental- focus states originally labelled by Monroe. Though please bear in mind I always said that I don't have any natural talent for this kind of thing. It always seems that each step takes me ages of trial and error. What I'm getting at is perhaps I'm not the best of yardsticks. I doubt you will get to a position where you are at Focus 10 or Focus 12, and so forth, stuck as to what to do next. The process is largely one that starts flowing and will continue to flow if you let it. You see, a lot of the work I've been involved with is learning how to try and slow the process down. And the same has been true with a number of people I've been in contact with. The various mental focus states come about like motorway signposts. In the sense that from Focus 10 you get a sensation of mental movement like you were travelling. As you travel you become enveloped with particular mental scenarios that have certain qualities about them. The tendency, I found, is people will generally either pass through a state, or get zapped out of it. I no-longer think about placing my awareness in any particular region of my head. The simplest way I can explain it, is I just shift my focus of attention into the region of my mind. Okay, I still find that far easier say than to do. And it's one of the last remaining hurdles I face in my quest to project at will. The key element to achieving this, I found, is getting your mental focus away from the backs of your physical eyes. The Gateway Wave-1 CD acts for me now as a kind of mental primer. In that first I'll listen to it a couple of times, and go through a mental rundown of the like I describe in the sticky-post. This acts for me as a kind of mental stretching exercise. Just like dancers do, for example, to warm-up their muscles before a performance. Oh, one mental rundown I found particularly effective is to imagine you are in a small audience and Monroe is facing you a short distance away, on a stage, verbalising the instructions. Another exercise I often do is imagine a shape, any shape it doesn't matter. Perceive that shape in mind for a few seconds then shift your focus of attention to the backs of your eyes. So you are looking at the backs of your closed eyes. Then shift your focus back to within your mind and perceive the shape. After a while you will perceive a distinct shift in focus. Once you recognise the shift, then practice holding the mental shift within the mind. This is a bit tricky because you'll probably have these little blank moments; during which your mental focus will slip to the backs of your eyes again. Once you can hold that mental focus, next you simply feel what you are presented with. You might say, "Just blackness". But if you perceive more closely, you might get the idea that all is not quite jet black. Again, when I say "blackness" I'm speaking of a situation where you are not simply trying to focus on the backs of your eyelids and all you are seeing is some kind of residual vision. You might perceive an area of greyness, or other areas that are lighter than black. These may seem to come and go at random. Once you become more adept at doing this, you will have fewer of those annoying little blank moments where your mental focus drops back. As such, there will come a point where these inner effects will capture your attention to the extent you are no-longer focussed on the physical body. This is Focus 10. In other words, Focus 10 is basically the same state as when a person becomes engrossed by a movie on TV. Mental attention has been captivated to the extent where there is no-longer any sensation of the room the person is sitting in, the sofa they are sitting on, or their physical body which reclines on the sofa. In obe terms, you are no-longer aware of the room you are laying down in, or the bed you lay on, or your physical body laying on the bed. Your entire mental focus has been captivated by what is going on within you, mentally. As I say, this is Focus 10. Next comes Focus 12 where you will find that the areas of lighter than black become more distinct. The blackness can take on a velvety or a liquid quality, or you may perceive all kinds of other textures. You might perceive outline drawings of all kinds of shapes; or what seem like faces of people or animals; or whispy foggy colours that appear to swirl around you. As this scenario develops there comes a sensation of mental movement; a kind of forwards progression that takes you onto the next phase. Each transition tends to be fairly seamless in that one will naturally flow into the other over a period of several seconds. However, at first, progress will probably be scuppered again by the physical eyes in that they tend to try and snatch glances of the various effects you are perceiving. Once you can get the eyes out of the projection equation, you should be able to effect a seamless and controled transition from Physical to Astral. At first, though, chances are you might perceive a forwards mental movement and next instant you might see some fleeting Astral scene: at which point your protective sense of awareness kicks in and zaps you back to Physical. Which is frustrating, but at least it confirms you are making progress. There can also come a period where you go through what is a frustrating phase of, "hindsight realisation". This is where a person enters, say, the Focus 12 state... but because it is all very unfamiliar they obviously cannot recognise it. Finding itself in unfamiliar territory, the protective sense of awareness promptly zaps the person back to Physical. At which point they suddenly realise, in hindsight, they projected to an unfamiliar state. HTH Yours, Frank 1753 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Presence on the onset of projecttion on: March 20, 2003, 12:27:26 quote: Originally posted by ame To summarise, then, the basic rules you need to keep in mind are: 1) Thought equals Direct Action. 2) Your experiences are primarily governed by your expectations. 3) Like instantly attracts like. 4) Your ability to perceive is proportional to your willingness to believe Frank: Great one Frank. I always suspect there is somewhat different rule in the astral but never saw any thing as clear and concise as the for point you mention. Hope my control will be better. Ame: Technically, all the above apply to a certain degree on the Physical plane too. It's just that, on the Physical, our physical body buffers our thoughts to a high degree. For example, you could say that all physical action comes about through thought. In the sense that you might think about visiting a friend, and so you go and see them. The difference, however, is the fact that you can "think" about visiting that friend all you like... but unless you actually physically transport yourself to them, then you remain where you are. However, within the Astral just the thought of being at some place or experiencing some circumstance, is all it takes for you to manifest at that place, or experience that circumstance. A big stumbling block is generally presented when a person first begins to consciously project their focal point of awareness within the Astral. The problem is the fact that, when we project, we don't suddenly develop some super-sense of conscious awareness all primed and geared for Astral use. The sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral, is the exact same one you have now. Which means there is a strong tendency to automatically judge circumstances or situations in very much the same way you would if you were on the Physical. It's a very common condition that I call Astral Anthropomorphism. Like, where you said you were led to a tent and left in the dark. Problem is, light and dark can have entirely different meanings within the Astral. Darkness, on the Physical, normally means lack of light. Whether that be daylight or artificial light. However, darkness, within the Astral, can very often signify lack of understanding (which is generally linked to the formation of doubts). Obviously, I cannot say for certain: but it could well have been the case that your awareness either was, or became dulled through lack of understanding as to what was going on. When this happens everything tends to go dark. Often you can still perceive the Astral circumstances around you, but they become similar to shadows on the Physical. This still happens to me I'd say at least once every 3 or 4 projections. At first it was very confusing. I found, however, that if I think of taking a few deep breaths (not that there is any need to breathe on the Astral, but that's the way I think of it) my awareness, more often than not, will become clear again. In other words, it's like someone just switched the lights back on. As I breathe in, I imagine myself taking on-board all the necessary understanding: to the extent where I can become open to the experience which is being presented. As I breath out, I imagine releasing any niggling fears, doubts or whatever other confusion, which is causing my awareness to be dulled. You see, this darkness is *very* common when being introduced to new circumstances. Remember, your ability to perceive is directly proportional to your willingness to believe. It is very natural for people to experience doubts *particularly* when either coming across, or being introduced to, new circumstances. Doubt obviously affects your willingness to believe which, in turn, affects your ability to perceive. The way in which your ability to perceive can be commonly affected is that the circumstance can appear to go out of focus, or, as explained above, it's like someone turned down the lights. So whenever you come across "darkness" if you can, try getting to the habit of becoming more open to the circumstance. You can do this by taking a step back, taking a few deep breaths while asking for more clarity, or for more understanding (or for more of whatever it is you feel you need). Then approach the circumstance again. Sometimes you find you have to persevere quite a bit before the circumstance reveals itself, and other times it may all come clear the first attempt or two. Though don't be surprised if you now and again come across circumstances which only come clear over a number months, or even years. Yours, Frank 1752 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / how do you obe on: March 21, 2003, 12:28:54 First you need to start reading everything you can find on the topic, which will have the effect of priming yourself. Though it is perhaps best not to take everything you read too literally as, ultimately, chances are you will need to develop a routine that suits you best. With me, for example, I've developed a fairly successful projection rundown that's been formed from about 40% Bob Monroe, 20% Robert Bruce, 10% Bruce Moen, and the remaining 30% from my own internal research. Though no-one please get me wrong here and think these percentage figures in any way serve to indicate the relative effectiveness of the methods employed. The figures merely indicate the approximate mix I have formed, that is aligned in accordance with my particular style of understanding. As you come across as a complete beginner, I think maybe the first step forward would be for you to try emulating the Bruce Moen Focussed Attention approach, rather than traditional obe. Reason being, people who have repeatedly tried and failed with more traditional methods (as did Mr Moen, himself) have had fairly quick successes with Focussed Attention. Also, a number of people who set out on the Focussed attention road, have gone on to develop more traditional skills associated with the Bob Monroe and Robert Bruce schools of thought. Which I guess is only natural as, whichever way you approach it, it's basically the same phenomenon that we are dealing with. There's a lot of useful info given on the main site as Tom kindly pointed out. You will find out about the B.Moen approach here: http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/ Yours, Frank 1749 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Presence on the onset of projecttion on: March 23, 2003, 10:36:50 What people call sleep paralysis, is the beginning stage of an obe. The last big hurdle I still have to overcome is getting to that beginning stage. Often it takes me an hour or more (and sometimes two) to get to that stage. Once I'm there, however, it's projection-city. Now and again I come across a person who complains about being plagued by sleep paralysis, and what can they do to get rid of it. Oh how I wish it were something that could go in the mail. Yours, Frank 1744 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Locales? on: March 26, 2003, 10:38:34 quote: Originally posted by Risu no Kairu So, I'm reading Robert Monroe's book, Journey Out of the Body, and he mentions things like Locale I, Locale II, and Locale III. So, Locale I is pretty much the Real-Time Zone, and Locale II seems to be the upper Astral... But what exactly do you think Locale III is? I think he mentioned something about turning around in his body, and finding a hole to get there. Monroe, in his later work, does mention about how his thinking had moved on since the days of naming the states he was experiencing "Locales". I'd put money on Locale III being somewhere in the area of what Monroe went on to label mental focus 23 through 26, not Locale II. You say he describes about finding a "hole" to get there. Consider he is speaking of a mental-hole, not a physical one. A more up-to-date description would be entering the Astral through a portal in the 3D-Blackness (the Focus 21 state). I haven't read the book for over 20 years and no-longer have a copy. And I cannot recall the characteristics he was decribing when in Locale I or Locale II. Monroe always labelled the various states depending on the characteristics of the places and people he came across. So if you let me know some of the descriptions I'll try and cross-reference them for you. Yours, Frank 1743 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / What is after me and J? please HELP on: March 26, 2003, 10:48:03 Phew, sounds like your having some fun there. Seeing wolves is not really my thing, so there's not much I can offer. Apart from the thought crossed my mind you might get more of a response if you posted this to the PSD forum, instead of Chat. People on the PSD forum regularly post about experiences which tend to be in a similar vein to yours. Yours, Frank 1742 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / using TMI gateway wave 1 on: March 27, 2003, 11:05:14 Mark: This has happened to me before quite a number of times. Maybe you should try what I do and think of the CD only as a kind of primer. Listen to it a couple of times and go through some kind of visual rundown like I described in the monster thread. Then try feeling your way around without the CD. What I did when first attempting without the CD is to practice getting to Focus 12, only. Which, funnily enough, is what I've gone back to yet again as I'm getting a bit cheesed off at continually failing to achieve my goal of simply being able to project at will. Everything else is largely sorted: the emotional control, the navigation, etc. Except it still takes me around an hour and sometimes longer, to initiate the process. Although sometimes I'll go, say, 10 mornings in a row where it'll take me just 5 or 10 minutes. Then, next morning, it might take me an hour and a half. Anyhow, I was having a moan about this to Freda, one of my "Astral Family" members as I call them, and she said I had no problem up to Focus 10 in that I could quit thinking about any physical-matter concern quite readily. But there was a receptivity problem causing a kind of mental block that was preventing me from attaining the Focus 12 state in a shorter time. She said the key was to "become open" to the Focus 12 state, stop trying to in some way initiate it, then simply flow along with events as they unfold. The times when I projected in a shorter time, were the times I had naturally be more receptive at the onset of Focus 12 (but didn't realise it). She also said the Focus 12 state is a very important state to work towards achieving as the whole conscious-exit process begins to unfold from Focus 12. Which is something us Monroe fans basically know already. But what she doubly reinforced to me was the importance of this state in the general conscious-exit scheme of things. She did also say that lapses in conscious awareness can also be caused through lack of receptivity to Focus 12. Which is basically what you are experiencing, so maybe this may apply to you also. Anyhow, I decided to take a break from projecting until I polish up on the C1 to F12 transition. Which is all I've been practicing the past week. Yours, Frank 1741 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / A Little Bit to the Right... on: March 29, 2003, 11:17:03 quote: Comments or similar experiences? Yes, definitely, what you are describing IS the Phasing process! quote: Okay i've started to notice a strange phenomenon during my practice sessions. Sometimes I feel like I might be about to phase, or obe, or I'm viewing hypnagogic imagery, and then I will "snap back". This snapping back is something like being in a daydream and then realizing where you are in real life. It's sort of a sudden change in your focus of awareness. Yes, that's what you should be experiencing. It's a distinct shift in your focus of awareness. And there is no mistaking it too. Like, you are not placed in a situation where you are left wondering did you make the shift or not. The reason why you currently keep snapping-back, is due to your protective sense of awareness kicking in. It's not something you can consciously control as the protection aspect operates on a very base level. But it does stop happening the more you practice. As your protective sense of awareness gets used to the shift, it becomes a case of, yawn, here we go again. quote: What I realized is that every time I snap back it actually feels like a very subtle, quick movement down and to the left. After it happens I feel totally awake, just looking at the backs of my eyelids, my awareness centered behind my eyes. But if I drift off again, my awareness moves up and to the right. Again, this is how it should feel. Although I only mainly feel an upwards movement, with just a slight hint of a twist to the right. quote: Once it moves there, if I can regain control without snapping back, I get all sorts of astral and dream-like symptoms. I may get astral sight, or if not I can easily visualize and actually see whatever I visualize (ordinarily my visualization is the pits) At first the whole situation can be a bit of a muddle. But after a while you will be able to distinctly recognise the different states of conscious-awareness as you phase through them smoothly. The point at which your focus of attention is completely directed inwards, this is Focus 10. Following which you then start to see all kinds of abstract movement (or hypnagogic imagery as you term it) this is Focus 12. If you are in the position where, like you say, you can visualise and actually SEE what you are visualising, this is Focus 22. Note: Focus 22 is basically the same state of consciousness as Lucid Dreaming: only with a very much greater sense of mental control. Also, Focus 22 is the first proper realm of conscious awareness where thought equals direct action. So, as you have discovered, it is easy to visualise anything simply by thinking about seeing it, and it immediately materialises. quote: A couple of things are interesting about this. 1) it absolutely cannot be forced. I only realize it has happened after I snap back. During the process it all seems perfectly natural. I can't reproduce it if I actually try to move my awareness. That's right, and this part of it I find ever so tricky to explain. You cannot will yourself to have the experience. It's something you mentally allow yourself to become open to. It's like where I've tried to explain it before by saying that Astral Projection is not about finding the right projection technique, but more to do with developing the right kind of mental understanding. Techniques can be very useful but, ultimately, I believe their effectiveness stems from them acting as a kind of mental primer that serves to kick-start the natural process. quote: 2) I'm wondering if this has something to do with the "Brain Method" I don't know what the Brain Method is exactly. Someone coined the term a while ago and it seems to have stuck. What I can say for sure, however, is that what you are describing are characteristics of the beginning stage of the Phasing process. If you keep practicing you will find that you will be able to ultimately make a complete smooth transition from Physical to Astral. quote: 3) When people access memories, or try to imagine, they either look up and to the right, or up and to the left. I can't remember which is which, but one is to remember facts and one is to imagine something. I wonder if this awareness shift is related to accessing a different part of my brain. This phenomenon can vary between different people. I'm not sure if they are linked in any way. But the awareness shift you feel is due to the shift in your focal point of awareness. As it shifts it gives a sensation of movement like you were travelling in a particular direction. If you keep practicing to the point where you can reach the Astral fairly reliably and keep your thoughts/emotions in check; you will be able to contact other members of your Astral Family who I'm sure will only be too happy to explain and give demonstrations and/or exercises that will show you how the Mind is a separate entity from the physical-body and the physical brain. Yours, Frank 1739 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Confusion on: March 29, 2003, 21:20:07 Peaches: There's quite a bit of info already posted on this BBS that will go a long way to answering your questions. I just wondered if it might be more productive for you to have a search around first, give some techniques a try, and report back as to your findings and/or experiences. From the standpoint of you being a complete beginner, I truly would not concern yourself - at this stage - about where you end up when you either project, or the details of the different planes within the Astral. My advice FWIW would be to first practice trying to achieve either the Monroe-school Focus 12 state, or the Focussed Attention methods of the Moen school. Plus, there's a workbook available for download about the NEW system on this website written by Robert Bruce: which details the more traditional ways of going about things. My advice would be to take a look at all three; mix and match the mental concepts you, personally, feel comfortable with; see what kind of outcome you achieve; then go from there. HTH Yours, Frank 1738 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Not sure on: March 30, 2003, 11:43:24 quote: Originally posted by quant I was aware when i thought about what i had done, you know, it was like, i was aware when i was walking there, but had forgotten, and rememebered when i was actually walking there when i got up out of bed. This is what I call Hindsight Realisation and it's very common in the early stages. Either you remember snippets upon waking or some Physical circumstance can come about during the course of your normal Physical day that can act as a trigger: where suddenly an image of you being (for want of a better phrase) out-of-body comes flooding into mind. Thing is, what we call dreams are actually Astral Projections. The only real difference between a dream, and an Astral Projection, is your level of conscious awareness and your degree of conscious control. Which is why it is perfectly possible (as Pan also rightly points out) to "wake up" within a normal dream and convert the experience to an Astral Projection. What converts the experience is the act of you becoming more aware and taking control of your thoughts. The Astral environment is a region where Thought equals Direct Action. So one of the basic keys to exploring the Astral realms productively (as opposed to flitting about here, there and everywhere) is having a high degree of conscious control over your thoughts-release-emotions. Yours, Frank 1737 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / mind awake/body asleep on: March 30, 2003, 13:38:17 quote: Originally posted by nstkd8 I've been learning a lot about OBE over the last couple years, but i'm having a bit of difficulty reaching the mind awake/body asleep state. I attempt to relax my body and focus my mind on something (so it doesn't wander off into some daydream/dream) The beginning stage of Phasing, at the point it kicks-off *is* very much like a daydream. Only you retain a sense of mental focus, rather than having your mental-focus dissipate and falling asleep as normal. The way you stop the daydream "running away from you" and so retain your mental focus, is to passively observe the imagery that comes about within your mind. There comes a stage where doing this causes your focus of attention to turn inwards entirely. The point at which this happens is Focus 10. In other words, you *should* allow yourself to mentally wander off and, all the while you do so, maintain a state where you are passively observing yourself doing so. From what you say, I think you are perhaps becoming more involved in an act of creative visualization. Which tends to keep you grounded. There's a tricky mental balancing-act you need to maintain between kick starting the natural Phasing process from using a little abstract imagery, and avoiding engaging in an act of creative visualization. Followers of the Moen-school Focused Attention methods, for example, are taught to contact people (in what they term the Afterlife) from first imagining they are speaking with that person in some typical setting they would have normally come across while they were alive, physically. At the same time as they are imagining this rundown, they are also taught to be on the lookout for mental events which come about that were, "not on their script" so to speak. Then they simply branch off down these threads to see where they lead. Likewise, with the Phasing approach. The mental imagery is used only to kick start what is a natural Phasing process. Basically, it acts as a mental device which is designed to help shift your focus of awareness away from the backs of your physical eyes, and up into the expanse of your mind. quote: so that my body will fall asleep and I'll enter a fairly constant trance state, but it seems that my level of mental activity is still keeping me from entering a trance. The times when i get closest (wave-like vibrations, feelings of limbs floating upward, etc) seem to be when i've lost focus and started to daydream. As I say, the beginning stage of Phasing *is* very much like entering a daydream. But you retain your sense of focus by passively observing the daydream as you enter into it. It's a difficult one to explain, but it's like you stand back from it just a touch, and keep the observational senses alert. As the dream unfolds, you need to passively observe the action. What I mean by "passive" here is to observe... but simply remain neutral. Because the moment you begin reacting to the unfolding events, that's the point where you begin to rapidly lose it. The dream becomes you, and you become the dream; and the more you become the dream, the more the dream becomes you; so the more you become the dream......... quote: Only then do i find myself in what i believe is (possibly) the beginning of a stage of energy body expansion. When i deliberately try to loosen my focus a bit, i end up slipping into a foggy dreamy sleep. I assume that i must stay loosely focused on something (my breathing/feelings of falling) until my body's physical senses shut down, but actually doing this is... a bit like assembling a puzzle when you don't know what the final picture is supposed to look like. Any thoughts on the subject are more than welcome. thanks. I never engage in any kind of formal "energy work" so I'm not sure what you mean by "energy- body expansion". But again, from what you say, the problem you are having is trying to find that centre road. Like I say it's quite a tricky mental balancing-act. Yours, Frank 1736 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / mind awake/body asleep on: March 30, 2003, 14:26:04 quote: Originally posted by nstkd8 I have assumed the mind awake/body asleep trance state to be one in which all physical senses have shut down. I generally reach a point at which my body starts to feel "expanded" and slightly fluid (i seem to have rippling vibrations passing through various parts of my body), but i don't feel like my body is "asleep" enough to allow me to trigger the projection reflex. Generally, I feel people who try to achieve the Focus 10 state and beyond, are concentrating too much on trying to relax their physical body; rather than concentrating upon shifting their focus of attention inwards into the expanse of their mind. At which point they will naturally lose all sensation of having a physical-body. If I may use the above quote as an example, the poster says, "but i don't feel like my body is "asleep" enough to allow me to trigger the projection reflex." My question is, "How do you know you do not feel your physical-body is asleep enough yet in order to allow the projection reflex to be triggered?" Problem being in order for a person to know what state their physical body is (or is not) in, they have to focus on the body. And Focus 10 will only come about when 100% of a person's focus of attention shifts away from the body. So the two are in conflict. Another point I wish to raise is, when correctly applied, the Phasing process is one smooth transition from Physical to Astral with no loss of consciousness. Also, at no time do any of your "senses" shut down. All the senses you have with you while within the Physical, you take with you to the Astral. Although, at first, people may have difficulties fully engaging all their senses. For example, initially it is normal to experience vision and orientation problems. But these generally fade away once a person becomes more experienced. In other words, yes, you lose all sensation of having a physical-body. But you can still see; touch; taste; smell & hear just as you can while Physical. In fact, once you get more adept at keeping a sense of control, your senses - while within the Astral - become many, many times more vibrant. Yours, Frank 1735 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / An Iraqi man in F23 on: March 30, 2003, 18:50:29 quote: Originally posted by Risu no Kairu Wow, you seem to be really good at this retrieval thing. Hmm, only really good? Ginny is one of the best. Yours, Frank 1733 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is there anything like astral projection? on: April 01, 2003, 11:20:21 quote: Originally posted by Tom The biggest problem I have with learning astral projection and with trying to explain it to someone else is that it is such a unique experience. This is especially true of the separation from the body. It is hard to imagine what must be done without having any experience of having done it. Tom: The big problem is the Astral environment itself; in that you are projecting your focus of awareness into an environment where Thought equals Direct Action. This takes quite a bit of getting used to and is the reason why people's experiences differ (and often differ wildly). Plus there are all the religious, death, and near-death aspects that come into play; along with all the mystical notions of witchcraft, sorcery, devils, demons, dragons, et al. The potential for misunderstanding, therefore, is quite high (to say the least). Which is why I always maintain that successful Astral Projection is not so much about finding the right "technique" but about gaining the right degree of mental understanding; because even small misunderstandings as to what is truly happening, can cause a person to come to all manner of faulty conclusions. A typical example of this I came across just yesterday on another BBS. Someone posted giving strong advice against listening to a certain series of Astral Projection tapes, as they gave the person bad nightmares. The accent was that the tapes were, therefore, useless. It sounds to me like the tapes worked brilliantly. All that probably happened was they had the effect of projecting the person to the Focus 22 state; which is the base-level Astral and the first realm proper where Thought equals Direct Action. At which point the person appears to have met some fairly severe emotional imbalances head-on. What people such as Monroe attempted to do, was cut a swathe through all the emotive aspects and try to record the Physical/Astral, Astral/Physical transition objectively. Or at least as objective as it was possible to get, at his level of understanding: which was quite advanced as it happened. quote: Descriptions are good, but they are not as good as examples based on common experiences. Is there anything that most people have experienced (or a combination of experiences) that begins to approach what it is like to succeed with astral projection? Nowadays, more and more people who have attempted to follow the Monroe Phasing method are beginning to publish experiences in common. Perhaps the most common being that of the 3D- Blackness effect at Focus 21. Which is technically not Astral Projection as Focus 21 is the bridge zone between 3-dimensional Physical, and 4-dimensional Astral. As for Astral Exploration proper: dreams of the highly-lucid kind I would say begin to approach what it is like. Though please note the stress I place on the word "begin". Yours, Frank 1732 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is there anything like astral projection? on: April 01, 2003, 12:24:01 quote: Originally posted by timeless Quote Then the light widens and a tube comes down and connects to my head chakra. Then with a small jerk I am out of my body and travelling a million miles a minute. This used to happen to me, I called it my "cannonball exit" and it's basically how I used to project for years as I just considered that was how it normally happened for everyone. On discovering such was by no means the case, I set-off on a path to see if I could slow the whole process down, with a view to getting it under a degree of control: which I successfully managed to do. If you wanted, with a little practice, I'm sure you too could slow the process down in the same way I did. With the effect the experience will become much more rewarding. Difficulty being if you "exit" in an uncontrolled way things tend to continue in an uncontrolled way. For example, many times I'd find myself flying through the Astral and often I'd crash through the scenary. My protective sense of awareness would get to the point where it simply couldn't take it anymore, and I'd be zapped-back to Physical (C1 in Monroe-speak). The portals you speak of with symbols on them, chances are, will lead to an Astral-Plane Entrance Structure of the kind depicted on the back cover of Astral Dynamics. Though it sounds like you are travelling way too fast to enter them with the requisite degree of control. What you really need to try and do is come to a halt, then approach and enter the portal slowly. The pin-prick of light and subsequent tube-type portal is typical of what can occur at the Focus 21 state (or 3D-Blackness as it is often called). And the overwhelming feeling of love and peacefulness I'm fairly sure will be your heart-chakra becoming active. Though, again, this energy-centre too seems to be quickly running up to an extreme; when all it should be doing is giving you a sort-of happy, contented buzz. Yours, Frank 1731 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is there anything like astral projection? on: April 01, 2003, 16:32:39 quote: Originally posted by timeless Dear Frank, Frequently when I meditate I do reach a state where there is not just a complete calming of my mind but a 'shift' where I feel like I am completely surrounded by nothingness. It is an amazing feeling. Almost like being sucked into outer space without any stars. Sounds to me like the 3D-Blackness, or Focus 21 in Monroe-speak. quote: I have never thought of this as a projection but now I am questioning that supposition? I always thought when I reached this state that this was my 'workspace'. I self reflect here. It seems to bring powerful self reflection because in that state I have a very objective view of self BUT disipline of mind is critical in this state (or is it a space) because things can go very weird very fast if you do not have a mind that keeps on track. It goes off track because you have entered a realm where Thought begins to equal Direct Action. So a person's state of mind is critical. If you hear me talk about Focus 22 I'll describe it as the first realm proper where Thought equals Direct Action. I use the word "proper" because, technically, this effect begins at the Focus 21 state. Note: I tend to use the word "state" but substitute, "space"; "region"; "realm" or "plane" or whatever other term, as you would prefer. Focus 21, however, is a sort of half and half realm where you have neither fully left the Physical, nor fully entered the Astral. So that's why it is called a Bridge Zone. It's quite a comforting place and it comes as no surprise you have naturally found this region a beneficial area for self-reflection. Myself, I went through a phase of just drifting through the blackness listening to Astral music. Something I found rather comforting. But eventually had to stop doing it because it was becoming addictive to the extent it was affecting my progress. quote: Perhaps a few times I did go into low Focus levels like Focus 22 without realizing it. I always terminated fast not really taking time to take in the weird stuff that was happening. Yes, you have to keep the thoughts in check once you enter the higher realms. One good thing I note is you instinctively terminated the projection the moment things got weird. It's the best way IMO. Problem is, when we project into these realms we don't automatically develop some super sense of conscious awareness all primed and geared for Astral use. Which means we tend to act like a fish out of water for a while at first. So when this happens, rather than trying to make things right within the projection, I always maintain it is *way* more beneficial - in the long run - for a person to hop back to Physical, take a few deep breaths, and project again. quote: It is odd that with what I considered my only OBE experiences I never went into the blackness (Focus 21). Instead the separation from my body was into bright light and then tremendous speed (holy gees what a rush). It makes the fastest ride at the amusement park feel like nothing. LOL: I know exactly what you mean. To me it felt like I had been shot from a cannon! You probably do pass through the various inbetween states, but everything is happening SO fast it is impossible to realise. quote: But in all cases this type of OBE happened after I had done a lot of prayer and raising of vibration so I had my mind in a 'good' place. Ah, that changes the context for me slightly. The small pinpoint of light you see at first could well be an aspect of your higher-self making contact with you. Was that along the lines of what you were praying for? I don't mean to intrude so feel free not to answer if that question is too personal. It's just that when I very first read your post, where you say you saw the pin-point of light then the overwhelming feeling of love: I thought, yep, sounds like higher-self contact. But then I thought well, given the energetic nature of your "exit", maybe it's an over-excited Heart Chakra. So now I think it could well be the former. Problem is, people who reside in higher dimensions radiate a kind of energy that makes you feel all humble and gooey inside. They realise this and "turn it down" so to speak, as much as they can. But still, I remember in the early days with Harath and the light he would radiate seemed emotionally blinding. And that's with it turned down to minimum. But as a person progresses and increases their own radiation, one just blends with another. Yours, Frank 1728 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is there anything like astral projection? on: April 02, 2003, 14:59:55 quote: Originally posted by quebec Its in the way to GET THERE that is different and where the confusion arises. That why I think it is hard for those who are working towards that first OBE in understanding the process. For myself, I have done Energy work, search for that 3D-blackness, many different techniques without succes, and the more I try to understand to more confusing it gets. Quebec: I know only too well how you feel. With me I always try to keep things a simple as possible. Plus, I am always willing to try a new slant on things to see what works and what doesn't. Basically, if something doesn't feel right after giving it a fair go I'll happily junk it and try something else. I can understand too where you are coming from when you speak of confusion. You see, when I first started there were no desktop computers. And this topic, even today, is not really something you talk about openly: never mind 20-odd years ago! So there wasn't the whole plethora of information then, like there is today. quote: Am I right in saying that the requisite to OBE are: 1- Complete relaxation: listening to tape 2 (Focus 10) as a primer or any other techniques in getting that complete relaxation 2- Attaining that shift in consciousness I mentionned earlier. The relaxation of the physical body and the shift in consciousness are inextricably linked. So attaining the necessary state of relaxation automatically tends to initiate the shift in consciousness. Conversely, if you initiate the shift in consciousness, your physical body automatically tends to attain the necessary state of physical relaxation. With me, I much prefer working on initiating the shift in consciousness and simply letting the physical body do its "thing" so to speak. Reason being, there is a rather large pitfall you can fall into when taking the physical-body relaxation route. Problem is, focussing attention on your physical body tends to make you *more* aware of it, not less. To demonstrate this, now focus your attention on your breathing. So immediately you will become aware that you are breathing. Now try and actively forget you are breathing, and you find you won't be able to. In fact, the more you concentrate on trying to forget you are breathing the longer you remain aware of it. Now shift your focus of attention elswhere, say, make a phone call to a friend (or whatever). As you engage in this other activity chances are, initially, there will be this niggling voice reminding you that you are still breathing. But there will come a point where your focus of attention will become consumed by the other activity. At this point, you will no-longer be aware of your breathing. Then, some time after, you will remember that you forgot. The above example is very similar to the situation people face when attempting to relax the physical body. Many times I hear people complain about not being able to achieve the requisite state of relaxation. People tell me often they get frustrated because they lay down and try to relax, but after a period of time they can still feel their physical body. My question is, "How do you know you can still feel your physical body?" Then the person normally comes back saying something to the effect of: well, it's obvious, I know what having a physical body feels like so I can easily recognise whether I can feel it or not. Problem is, all the while you are recognising the feeling of having a physical body, you are mentally focussed on it. And, just like the breathing example I gave above, the more you mentally focus on something the less you are able to forget about feeling it. This is why I always suggest to people having these kinds of relaxation problems: rather than actively trying to relax your physical body, instead, switch your focus of attention elsewhere. At the point where your focus of attention becomes entirely consumed, all feeling of your physical body will be lost. Of course, I realise saying this very much begs the question of where, exactly, should your focus of attention be switched to. quote: I am at present trying to get my attention in my "inner-self" (hard to use the correct wordings) and feel as if I'm inside this physical body, and keep my attention on this "inner-self". Problem is when my mind starts to question in "where" I should be aware. You know...inside my head, behind eyelids, a little over my head...all these type of questions. First recognise where your focus of attention is currently located. Normally you will find it at the back of your physical eyes. As such, your focus of attention will be on the blackness that normally comes about when you close your eyes in a darkened room. What you need to do from here is to get your focus of attention upwards into the huge expanse of your mind. This is what the 3D-Blackness is. How you do that is something you have to develop for yourself. It is very tricky to explain (though I am more than happy to try and expand further on this if you wish) and each person's way tends to vary depending on their personality, and what they feel comfortable with. People have published all manner of techniques but, ultimately, chances are, your success will not depend on you solely finding the right "technique". But it will be more to do with developing the right kind of mental understanding as to how a "technique" you feel comfortable with, can be successfully applied in your case. Yours, Frank PS A heartfelt thank-you for your very kind comments. 1725 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / using TMI gateway wave 1 on: April 05, 2003, 19:00:53 I'll try by best. But right now I am focussing on that very question. Once I have some semblence of an answer I'll let you know. Yours, Frank 1724 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Books on death/dying/afterlife on: April 05, 2003, 20:06:14 Tom: I've not read any of the Moen books, so cannot speak with any real authority. But I always thought his work was based on personal experience and not fiction? Or maybe it's the modern idea of "factional" where you take a few basic facts and lump them in with a load of made-up stuff for effect. Could that explain all the alien-talk people post about in his books? I always thought Focussed Attention was one thing, but meeting up with little green men in space in order to teach them how to read and write, was a bit far fetched. Yours, Frank 1723 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Books on death/dying/afterlife on: April 05, 2003, 20:44:01 Me, have any fictional titles on death, dying or the afterlife? No, not me. I've always said I'm not all that well read on that score. Perhaps it's best as chatting to little green men are not my thing. Yours, Frank 1721 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Easy Method for AP on: April 08, 2003, 10:02:46 quote: Originally posted by SBman How's it going everybody? I need your help. I have been following RB's ROPE method. I can get into a trance, and then I do my chakra work, but ROPE just doesn't seem to be working for me. I can't get out of my damn body whenever I try to use the ROPE technique. I was wondering if anybody could give me an easier method of projecting. I appreciate the help. Thanks, SBMan Projection is not so much to do with techniques: it is a mental excercise which comes about from developing the right kind of mental understanding. The ROPE technique, in itself, cannot cause you to project. It just serves as a little meta-physical imagery that can kickstart the natural process. On the subject of mental understanding, from your tone, the thought crossed my mind you may be thinking too strongly along the lines of stepping out of your body. Problem being you cannot actually step "out" of your physical body. I know that's how it looks, and authors have written about Astral Projection along those lines in the past. But what you are actually doing is stepping out from within yourself. In other words, you are taking a step back from the Physical not a step that is in some way "beyond" it. Yours, Frank 1720 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Learning Astral Phasing & Focus Levels on: April 08, 2003, 12:11:16 In a nutshell: Phasing is a term which describes a process where you allow your physical body to fall asleep as normal, but as it does so you retain the realisation of Self. People who do this find they go through various stages in common. What Monroe did was to identify each of these successive stages with an arbitrary series of numbers. Of course, Monroe was by no means the first person to attach labels to the various non-physical states of consciousness. Mystics have done this throughout the ages. But the big difference with Monroe was he explained his work using more modern-day terminology. Plus, he approached the whole topic from a more scientific viewpoint as opposed to a mystical one. Monroe first began trying to identify the various states he was experiencing as "locales" which he wrote about in his first book, Journeys Out of the Body. But as he expanded his knowledge he developed a more wider-ranging view and mapped the various stages, as I say, with an arbitrary series of numbers. For a person first setting out down the Phasing route, the most important numbers are 3, 10 & 12. Perhaps the "10" state is the trickiest and everything seems to flow from "12" onwards. The Gateway CD's marketed by the Monroe Institute claim to be able to take you through all the various Focus levels. My opinion has always been that the CD's go off on a commercial tangent, and are darned expensive to buy. But, like I say, that's just my opinion. If you are reading this and have money to burn then don't let my comments put you off buying them. For someone on a limited budget, however, wanting to dip a toe in the Gateway water, after researching the various "Waves" (as they call them) of the CD set, my advice would be purchase Wave-1 only. Reason being, once you familiarise yourself with this CD it can become a very useful mental primer that helps to kick-start the natural process. (Well, that's how it turned out with me and I see no reason why it cannot do the same for others.) You must please also bear in mind that the CD's in themselves do not instil the various mental focus states. Nor did Monroe invent these states of consciousness from using a technology he termed Hemispherical Synchronisation. The mental focus states occur quite naturally. All Monroe basically did was attach labels to them and describe what he experienced. He also did quite a lot of research into the brainwave patterns people experienced while in these states. What he then tried to do was reproduce these brainwaves by using various patterns of sounds fed to each ear; and that's where the whole Hemispherical Syncronisation idea stemmed from. But the technology is by no means perfect. While I'm sure there are a number of people who only need to look at a HemiSync packet and off they float, most people not born with any particular talent for this kind of thing (myself included) will still need to put in quite a bit of effort in order to get results. Yours, Frank 1718 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Visioun before projection on: April 08, 2003, 17:25:45 quote: Originally posted by biggymatt A question. Many times while meditating and working on my energy body preparing to project, my astral vision starts working and I can see the room around me while my eyes are closed, even turn to look other directions if I focus hard enough. Sometimes I am aware of other figures or forms in the room around me. They usually do not seem negative mostly just watching me. Sometimes they are there for a sec when I exit but fade away quickly. Are these figments of my imagination or actual beings? There is nothing wrong in what you are perceiving. I'm not sure what the sum total of your experiences have been to date, but people who first start to make progress, for example, are often surprised to see other people about them either at the onset of projection or thereafter. Confusion largely arises because Astral sight, while having common features, is quite different to normal Physical sight. Astral sight has an added dimension which can take quite a bit of getting used to. Yours, Frank 1717 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / which Monroe book is best? on: April 09, 2003, 11:09:08 Gandalf: I echo Clandestino's comments here as both FJ and UJ are not "workbooks" such as Astral Dynamics, for example. So they contain very little practical information for beginners. Plus, UJ details Monroe's more advanced excusions to the extent where you'd need a fair degree of experience to follow it. I think that's why the write-ups you have seen for UJ tend to go on about it being more to do with Monroe's beliefs and personal philosophy. What Monroe has actually done in UJ is to describe in a high degree of detail what advanced Astral exploration is like, and the kinds of avenues of thought it opens up within your mind. The actual "Ultimate Journey" he was writing about was the search for what he called: his Missing Basic. Which is why the book takes on a more personal slant. He sets out to trace his roots through the Astral and discovers his "higher self" or I-there as he calls it. Plus, he finds other fragments of himself in all kinds of circumstances and time periods. FJ as the title suggests is more to do with Astral Jouneys generally. Monroe meets up with two friends AA and BB and some of the antics they get up to are hilarious. Especially where he is trying to introduce BB to what life is like within the Physical. As with UJ, the book perfectly describes what advanced Astral exploration is like, and what fun you can have as well as learning about the true nature of life. What both books also demonstrate is the clear-cut way Monroe goes about his exploration. No mystical notions, no demons and dragons, and such like. Just methodical, analytical exploration. (Exactly as it should be IMO.) Yours, Frank 1716 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / which Monroe book is best? on: April 09, 2003, 14:14:08 Douglas: Yes, I think that would be best to start with as another point I realised was that Monroe used specific words to describe particular events, situations and places within the Astral. These are introduced to you in FJ. Yours, Frank 1715 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / which Monroe book is best? on: April 10, 2003, 10:44:39 quote: Originally posted by clandestino ! ha ha, I'd forgotten about AA and BB !! they were a couple of characters ! Mark Yes, especially BB as he had never been human. The first part of chapter 14 always has me laughing my socks off. Yours, Frank 1714 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Learning Astral Phasing & Focus Levels on: April 10, 2003, 12:28:51 quote: Originally posted by Serenity1 My experience so far with W1 has been that I drift of into dreams when the space between say f3 - the f10 countdown starts. I guess this is lack of concentration on the visuals. Early days still! Drifting off into dreamland is the other end of the scale to being grounded in the Physical from visualising too strongly. In the monster thread I talk about not visualising to the extent where you being to engage in an act of creative visualisation. And, like I say, the other end of the scale is you don't want your attention to lapse or dissipate to the extent you drift off to sleep. There is an inbetween state that you need to hold: where you feel like you are drifting off into dreamland, but you quietly retain an element of conscious awareness. This enables you to passively observe the process - as it is happening - and you simply flow along with it. It's quite a tricky mental balancing act because, at first, what normally happens is you'll just get an inkling that you are making progress: and either that will be the last thing you remember and you wake up some time later, or your protective sense of awareness will zap you out of it. So the various beginning Focus levels (C1 through F22) which Monroe described and labelled, people pass through every time they fall asleep. Problem is they have no realisation of it. Oh, you might find some of Jeff Mash's posts useful too because his technique followed similar lines. He's been a bit busy work-wise of late and hasn't had the time to stop by for a while. But some of his posts of last year describe how he goes about it. The basic way I like to look at it is this: Anyone with normal sleep patterns Phases to the Astral every time they fall asleep. But the big problem is, at the onset of sleep, all realisation of Self is normally lost. That's the key missing element you need to retain. So the key question is: How does a person retain their realisation of Self while letting their physical body just drift-off to sleep as normal? This is where all the ideas about visuals come into play: they have the effect of focussing your attention on the task in hand, and give you practice in holding a mental scenario in mind for the time when (hopefully sometime soon) you need to "hold it together" for real, so to speak. Followers of the Moen-school Focussed Attention technique practice making contact with former loved ones, and so forth, resident in an area they call the Afterlife. To do this, they are first taught to imagine they were holding a conversation with the person in question about a typical topic, and in a typical setting to what they would have done when the person was alive Physically. As they are imagining this, they are also taught to be on the lookout for circumstances which come about that were not on their imaginary script. The visual rundown technique I recommend in the monster thread operates along similar lines. Where you'll be drifting along with a particular visual thread and then you'll get an inkling of an image that was not generated as part of your imaginary rundown. The shock of this happening tends to keep zapping you back to C1 (Physical) at first. But that goes away once your protective sense of awareness becomes used to it. Once the natural process has been kick-started, you will then start to see a visual rundown that is being produced as part of the normal Phasing process - as opposed to the visuals you were consciously generating before. And that's when the fun starts! Yours, Frank PS Thank you for your kind comments about my posts. I am pleased you have found them helpful. 1713 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / which Monroe book is best? on: April 10, 2003, 20:09:30 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf Is it the case then that there are many astral 'persons' out there who have never been human? Gosh, yes, zillions of them. Though they would not normally be resident within the "Astral" according to the normal mystical definition. quote: But from looking at Bruce Moen's site, his Faq seems to suggest that the vast majority of astral residents are human (meaning that they have been embodied on Earth at some point) Yes, of course, that is because we are talking here of the Astral in the normal mystical sense of the word. But beyond that there are an infinite number of worlds together with their associated realms. We are nothing more than the tiniest of drops in an infinitely large ocean! quote: Mind you, perhaps I picked him up wrong as he also mentions all the other physical civilisations out there on other planets, which he deems as being quite likely. Not only quite likely but true. quote: This points out a seemingly differing opinion between Moen and Monroe however, as as far as I can tell, Monroe found no evidence of other planetary civilisations on his travels (we're talking about the RT zone here). The Moen-methods while they serve a grand purpose in one sense, have serious limitations in another. Plus, while Monroe was perhaps the best in his day, time does move on (so to speak). quote: Of course, maybe I've misread it, and anyway there's no law against two projectors having differing opinions! I think the two cannot be compared directly. Mr Moen himself readily admits he has no talent for the kind of projection exploration detailed by Monroe. Which is, ultimately, the limiting factor in my view. You can see the various limitations, for example, where the Moen-School have to rely upon the "Interpreter" concept in order for them to gain a fuller picture: even when operating within the lower Astral. Whereas, someone such as myself who who began with the Monroe concept and developed my techniques thus, can now perceive all manner of situations directly. I suppose ultimately it depends where you want to end up in the grand scheme of things. Yours, Frank 1710 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / which Monroe book is best? on: April 11, 2003, 12:01:10 quote: Yes, I suppose that both Monroe and Moen have their respective plusses and minuses. This one of the reasons why I always advise people not to take anything you read too literally (my work included) and to mix and match concepts you feel comfortable with, in order to forge your own path. Monroe was a great pioneer but his work is by no means definitive. Explorers like B.Moen and R.Bruce, et al, appear to be pioneers in the making within their particular sphere of interest. But mankind is on the verge of discovering a whole new "science" so there is one heck of a lot more to come yet. quote: Out of interest though, what's your opinion then on the status of other physical civilisations out there in the RT zone universe. It depends on your definition of physical matter. Matter can construct itself in ever so many basic ways. What we see as physical-matter is matter that is constructed in just one of them. Also, what we perceive as "our" RT universe is just one of God knows how many. I mentioned before that my regular guide Harath has never been incarnate on this planet. However, he has been incarnate on another planet which is situated within a completely different physical-matter reality universe. He has taken me there several times now and I'm sort-of getting used to it. But I tell you, the first time we went it was more than a little freaky. It's one thing talking about the possibility of life on other planets, and so forth. But it's yet another thing to actually experience it first hand! Within the Astral (well, technically they are not in the Astral in the traditional mystical sense as they are a bit far out for that) there are these tubular energy structures you can travel down and they bring you out into other realms of reality. Though doing that is definitely not for the squeamish as it is one *heck* of a roller-coaster ride. I posted about them a while ago, and said about the time when I entered one and shot off at a terrific speed. Which I expected as I'd ridden similar tubes before. Only what I didn't expect is this one continued for what seemed like forever and, despite pressing every panic-button, I couldn't get back to C1. I did eventually, of course, but not until long after I had resigned myself to the idea I was a goner. Which makes me chuckle now as riding these tunnels has become second nature. quote: I can't see a problem with other physical civilisations but it does tend to go against the grain of those who would like to think that Earth and humanity are some kind of special case and unique in the entire RT universe. We may be unique within what we call "our" entire RT universe. But, like I say, there are ever so many other RT universes. Yours, Frank 1709 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: April 11, 2003, 18:34:50 Dan: As much as I would like to be able to give you a definitive answer, it is not easy for me to decide for you whether or not the Cd's would be worth it. I have the whole set, but I reckon the Wave-1 CD is the one people should buy if money is tight and they want to dip a toe in the Gateway water, so to speak. After all, it is the only CD out of that whole set which I found useful. But that doesn't mean to say such experience is necessarily going to be the same with everyone, and I'm not saying the rest are rubbish or anything like that. I'm just simply reporting my experiences. If you have the opportunity of getting a copy then maybe give Wave-1 a fair go. I'll be happy to give you any pointers I feel may help. Yours, Frank 1706 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / which Monroe book is best? on: April 12, 2003, 14:44:26 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf This is really interesting, from the experience you had there, was it quite similar to our own, did people have the same basic humanoid forms? were they at a similar technological level? Or was it all radically different. Douglas: I'm sorry if my descriptions come across as being a bit sketchy. It's just that I have only visited 4 times and the first time I was simply too in awe to think properly. Also, Harath has taken me to the same area each time (the area where he once grew up) so I am not sure how representitive this area is with the planet as a whole. Another difficulty putting a general spoke in the works is, because of the awesome nature of the experience, I'm finding it difficult to continually keep my thoughts and emotions in check. So I often experience reality fluctuations. From what I have gathered thus far: they have basically the same human form only they are of a smaller build than the average Anglo Saxon. I know there are male and female and they wear basic clothing. I don't know yet whether or not they have the ability to reproduce in a normal Earth sense, and I haven't seen any children. They have houses and streets similar to what we have. Only the material from which these are made differs from the normal steel, concrete, brick and glass structures we have here on Earth. I'm not sure about transportation. I haven't seen any cars or buses. As I say, they do have streets but the ones I have seen have no markings on them suggesting any kind of traffic instructions. Harath says they can transport themselves as necessary using genetically driven craft which I talk about further down. They appear not to have any kind of government or monetary system. While they can communicating by talking like we do, they are also in touch with each other on a telepathic or mind-to-mind level as well. They always talk to me verbally, however, as Harath says that is the custom. The people have always been happy to see me and expected my arrival. They smile and laugh just as we do, and they know about our existence here on Earth. As far as technology is concerned they are way more advanced than us. For example, their physical-matter appears to be genetically derived. The best I can currently describe it is, rather than manually constructing a house like we do using bricks, mortar, and so forth, they grow theirs out of various kinds of genetic material. This I admit sounds a bit daft because it conjures up images of planting a house-seed in a patch of soil somewhere, feeding and watering it each day encouraging it to grow. Yet as daft as that may sound, Harath assures me that *is* the basic principle. Though the actual technology, when put into practice, is way different. The planet is subject to a cycle of daylight and nightfall. I am not sure if they are subject to weather conditions in the same way we are, or whether they measure "time" like we do. On my first visit it was night-time and the area was lit by rows of lights which jutted out from the tops of the houses. But they have neither electricity nor lightbulbs, as the light is generated genetically. quote: It's interesting about what you are saying about other RT civilisations from other 'alternate universes' if you like, as this concept is sometimes related by abductees. Now I am the first to admit that many of these cases are bogus but not all of them. In some of the more reliable accounts, abductees have been known to question the beings about which planet they come from and so on. The subject of "alien abductions" is not one that I know all that much about. While I try to keep an open mind, I'm very much like you in thinking a large number of these cases must surely be bogus. quote: On quite common reply they make is to say that it is not quite as simple as that. They don't come from another planet in our physical universe, they often state that they have travelled here from *another universe*. Yes, that is *most* interesting because it ties up with my experience. quote: That is, they have developed a technology that allows them to travel to different physical universes at will, allowing them to visit other civilisations. Funny you should mention that because it is a subject I am currently investigating. Problem is, I can't really say a lot because I simply don't know all that much yet. Perhaps I ought to make clear that UFO-sightings and the like, really don't interest me. The few bits and bobs I have read about over the years seem too far-fetched for words IMO. You know, all the stuff about the USA being in league with aliens and there's that Area-51 place. Plus all the conspiracy stuff. Okay, there may be an element of truth somewhere. But I reckon it has long- since been lost under layer-upon-layer of kak that's been produced over the years. But what I do find fascinating is the genetic technology they have on Harath's home planet. Just recently, on the subject of transportation, Harath has been explaining to me about how they have craft made from materials which are genetically derived. And at the heart of this craft is a kind of biological propulsion device. But much of what Harath is explaining goes way over my head. He tries to explain it simply by relating it to my experience of Astral travel. We have the ability to utilise non-physical energies in order to "travel" thoughout the Astral. Plus, we can do all manner of things besides. What he says is to imagine stripping away all the unwanted abilities, physical attributes, and so forth, and retain just the "ability to Astral Travel" element. This is basically what they create, genetically, which forms the heart of their propulsion system. quote: What I find quite interesting about this notion is that it fits in quite nicely with what you were describing about the myriad universes out there, and although civilisations might be on their own within each one (on the RT level only of course!), with such a technology as has been described, they can move around to others and study different civilisations and so on. Like I say above, there does appear to be at least one other planetary civilisation with the technology to transport themselves between universes. And the people I met there are very much aware of us here on Earth. At the moment my understanding is next to zilch. But I am starting to find this area of discovery quite fascinating (to say the least). Yours, Frank 1705 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / An Experiment on: April 12, 2003, 19:38:24 quote: Originally posted by KnacK An Experiment. I have wrote this text in Two languages because I don‟t speak English very good. I hope it will be enough for the next sentences. I‟m not very keen on OBE but I have read a lot of Articles. If I‟m understand the Theory of Out Of Body Experience right than I come to the point where I see a chance of proving that OBE is not just happening in our heads but it‟s real. Well, your english is certainly better than my german. Thing is, it gets to the stage where "proof" just comes to you in spades. You get to learn all manner of things about people and places that would simply be not possible for you to dream up. What I would respectfully suggest to anyone in your position is to forget any talk of the "theory" of out of body experiences (as they are commonly called) and simply go-ahead and practice for yourself. Also, you say at the end of your post that you want to make sure that the experience is not just in our minds. Problem is, that is generally where they take place. I think perhaps what you mean is the experience is not merely a physical-brain created experience. Yours, Frank 1701 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Learning Astral Phasing & Focus Levels on: April 14, 2003, 10:34:22 Adrian: You have made some very positive comments about my work which is ever so kind of you. For my part, being fully aware of just how tricky a subject this can be to get one's head around, it is a pleasure to give people a leg-up where I can. Yours, Frank 1700 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / reading Monroe's FJs ......... I-There question! on: April 14, 2003, 11:41:24 Douglas: I only ever read part-1 of the book once. This part came across like one big advert for the Gateway residential programs. So when I think about FJ's, to me the actual book begins at chapter 7. I read through the section you mentioned and they seem to be talking about some kind of green slimy thing. Problem is, I too I cannot fully get my head around this idea of a I-There or a Disk, or whatever, either. From my experience I can get the jist of where these notions come from. But it all just seems a heck of a confusing way of explaining it. Personally, I'm far happier thinking about the Higher-Self topic in terms of Quantum Physics. But, then again, people may think that is a heck of a confusing way of explaining it and prefer instead the notion of an I-There or Disk. This link http://home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/Wingmakers/Quantum%20Physics.html gives a pretty good rundown of what's what. Yours, Frank 1699 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Learning Astral Phasing & Focus Levels on: April 14, 2003, 15:22:36 quote: My experience of the focus levels so far is that focus 10 feels like a sort of quiet, relaxing meditative state where you are looking inwards to yourself, and the space in front of you looks calm and smooth. Yes, this is the point where with me I'm often surrounded by whiteness and everything is just still. My attention is 100% focussed inwards and I have no sensation of a physical body. I do wonder if this is the state people who "meditate" try to attain. There was a thread a short while ago about Monks whose goal it was to achieve a "white screen" effect while meditating. quote: Focus 12, by contrast, is when you try to open up to the outside world, and produces a feeling of looking outwards which is accompanied by a vibrant staticy type of space in front of you, often like dark 3d clouds with electrical discharges in them. Not sure if everyone will experience them the same way. Very occasionally, objects of some sort will appear, not sure if this is still focus 12 or is an example of something else. Sounds to me very much like Focus 12. Swirling clouds; passing shapes like outline drawings of all kinds of figures; noises such as static and/or all manner of pop and bangs; Velco-like ripping sounds; having the space around you take on various textures, etc. All are characteristic of Focus 12. Yours, Frank 1697 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / reading Monroe's FJs ......... I-There question! on: April 15, 2003, 13:42:58 Douglas: Again, as much as I would dearly like you give you a definitive answer, I could never get my head around all this talk of Disks and I-There, and concepts like that. I'm not knocking them, nor am I trying to make out they are less-worthy ideas. It's just that mystical-talk resonates with me not one iota. The analogy given in the Holon paper was that we never die, we simply shed our physical body as a tree sheds its leaves. Which is a good analogy. The problem is, however, while the author of that paper has displayed some good science; there is a distinct lack of talk of the actual hands-on application of the theory. The science of Quantum Physics together with the Holon notion, is steadily bringing about a sound theoretical structure which serves to explain how multi-dimensional reality exists. But, like with zillions of theories, their outcomes when put into practice can turn out somewhat differently. If we look at it from the point of view of an individual upon shedding their physical body: if each individual in question looked at the process wholly from a multi-dimensional point of view, death simply becomes a case of, "Oh well, another Physical-realm trip over. Time to go and have a few beers with my buddies in F27." Problem is, in actuality, the transition can often be a difficult one to bear. Particularly in an emotional sense. This can (and very often does!) put a major spoke in the works. To a certain degree, this is where theory and practice can begin to come apart. And it's all due to the inherent nature of the 4D environment. You enter a realm of reality where Thought equals Direct Action. Which no-doubt you have heard me say a number of times in the past. People can get "trapped" in this realm from the uncontrolled release of their own thoughts-release-emotions. Fear is *very* prevalent within the lower planes. As I pass through, even though I can close myself off to a very high degree, its sickening quality can still be felt. Any release of fear will automatically place a person in a fearful circumstance. Now you need to understand these circumstances which can come about, are perceived as being just as "real" as any Physical circumstance. As such, they tend to have the effect of perpetuating an ever downward-spiralling set of worsening circumstances. Which begs the question: How much Hell can a person take? Once a person gets caught in an emotion-fuelled loop their development is stunted. They lose all ability to act freely, and to develop and grow in accordance with Natural Law. However, in the early stages, or in mild cases, a person might still have a chance of realising (and therefore breaking) the loop they got themselves into. Thus the ability to make progress returns. In these cases, it can be that the very act of realising they were caught in an emotion-fuelled loop, turns out to be a beneficial event which adds to the person's overall development. As the situation worsens, however, the person's chances of self-realisation steadily diminish. But they still have a chance of being "rescued" from people, such as those of the Moen-school, who regularly practice that sort of thing. The trick is to somehow interrupt the person's train of thought, which interrupts the outward flow of emotions that are serving to fuel the circumstances the person is perceiving. In other words, the fuel-supply to the circumstances is turned off. So they quickly dissipate and the person can once again think with a degree of independence. But what if a person's condition can depreciate to the stage where their thinking cannot be interrupted? For example, I have come across "people" simply squatting on the floor, motionless. They have lost all vibrancy, all vitality, and even have lost the ability to maintain their form. Their form has shrunk to perhaps a quarter of its original size. Their "skin" is grey in colour with a brown hue. Only when you look very closely can you make out the form was once human. There is no outward sign of life whatever. Though deep within that person's consciousness, there is an ever worsening, ever depleting set of circumstances which ensue. The question is, could a person reach the stage where their energy (or more correctly their ability to utilise non-physical energies) is depleted entirely? I don't know the answer to that. Yours, Frank 1696 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Learning Astral Phasing & Focus Levels on: April 15, 2003, 17:27:51 quote: Originally posted by brianspuk Focus 12 is therefore when you experience images of some sort, I wasn't sure because I find that sometimes this can feel somewhat like an astral projection, I've occasionally got wallpaper like patterns for example, just like Robert Bruce describes as astral plane entrance structures. Ah, that sounds to me like a "travelling projection". Last year I posted about how I experienced two types of projection. There's the "step-into" method which came about from my work with the Focus-10 CD and from studying Monroe's two later books FJ's and UJ. Step-into is where I experience Focus 10, then various swirling clouds, textures and shapes of Focus 12 (the details of which can very each time) and this progresses to the 3D blackness at Focus 21. Then the Astral comes into view and I mentally "step into" the Astral scene. Hence the name given to the experience. The transition is a smooth mental transition with gradual feeling of moving forwards for a period of, say, 3 to 5 seconds from F10 to where I placed the Intent to be. The other way I call a "travelling projection" which seems to have come about from mixing my earier "cannonball exit" with techniques developed from my Monroe studies. This projection experience follows a slightly different path. It begins with a strange kind of "knowing" feeling where I haven't begun to feel anything yet, but for some reason I know the process is about to fire up in a few seconds... and then it does. The mental state I am in at this time is a lot like Focus 10. But from there on it takes a different path. I begin to feel a mental stroking sensation which develops into a buzzing at the crown of my head. Then I get a distinct feeling of exiting the Physical in a more traditional sense into the real- time zone. I progress from here and enter the Astral (again in the more traditional sense) through some kind of Entrance Structure of the like portrayed on the back cover of Astral Dynamics. This latter route is what I suspect you may be taking. Yours, Frank 1695 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My 3rd and not-to-pleasant OOBE on: April 15, 2003, 18:00:12 quote: Originally posted by pj I sensed I was alone and there wasn't the noise and raucous of the voices or the sexual predator, which btw, I didn't sense as being of human origin, it seemed more animal-like. pj The "sexual predator" as you call it is probably just some aspect of yourself you are meeting with head-on as a result of entering the Astral environment. One of the realities we have to face within such an environment, is we all have aspects of ourself we perhaps never realised existed. These aspects can, "come to life" and cause all manner of difficulties. Some aspects are immediately beneficial in the short-term; yet some are not so beneficial in the short-term, but having to deal with these aspects can often turn-out to have longer-term beneficial effects. Yours, Frank 1694 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / reading Monroe's FJs ......... I-There question! on: April 15, 2003, 21:14:38 Douglas: Again I'm sorry but I do not have a definitive answer. Perhaps the Moen-school can offer more info? After all, they seem to specialise in this kind of work. I can say that the seemingly hopeless cases I came across are in a small minority. How much of a small minority is difficult for me to fathom. Problem is the "retrieval" aspect I more engage in "in passing". I do very much prefer the more far-reaching ideology. Like riding tubes to other reality systems, and so forth, as opposed to involving myself in the near-Earth stuff. Again, not that there is anything wrong in that. It's just (like many areas of life) each to their own at the end of the day. Yours, Frank 1693 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My 3rd and not-to-pleasant OOBE on: April 16, 2003, 12:19:36 PJ: Believe me, you will do yourself a big favour and accelerate your development greatly, if you realise right from the start that within the Astral environment everything can be entirely under your control. When I first started there were no desktop computers and no Internet. Consequently, it took me just over 5 years of trial and error before I finally realised the basic rule that Thought=Direct Action. During this time I fought every kind of monster, encountered every kind of demon, and slayed countless dragons. Within the Astral, because of the inherent nature of the environment, everything "within" ourselves tends to manifest "outside" of ourselves. Which is why it is such a great place to learn: phobias, character flaws, fears, and such like, can instantly manifest all around you (and often in glorious 3D-Technicolour). Plus, other challenging circumstances can come about not just from yourself, but you discover all kinds of legacies from past lives too. If that were not difficult enough, consider that when we project we don't suddenly develop some super-sense of conscious awareness all primed and geared for Astral use. On the contrary, the sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral is the very same one you have now. All of which means you tend to behave like a fish out of water at first. To help overcome these hurdles, you need to gain a fair degree of understanding about the basic nature of the Astral environment, and the different ground-rules that apply. We have to gain familiarity with these basic rules in much the same way as we do when first entering the Physical. For example, perhaps the one most basic Physical rule (we gain familiarity with rather quickly!) is that no two physical things can occupy the same physical space. A person who could not get the hang of this basic rule would forever have difficulties. Not only would they keep bumping into things, pursuits such as driving a car, for instance, would be nigh on impossible. Same thing applies with Astral exploration where, without an understanding of the basic ground rules, people will keep running into difficulties. The basic rules are: 1) Thought equals Direct Action. 2) Your experiences are primarily governed by your expectations. 3) Like instantly attracts like. 4) Your ability to perceive is proportional to your willingness to believe. All the above are important to always bear in mind especially when analysing your experiences afterwards. Perhaps the one most important, however, is rule 1. Releasing uncontrolled thoughts-release-emotions within the Astral environment acts as a kind of fuel that goes to creating the circumstances that surround you. So if you release a little fear (very common) you will instantly find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance. Problem is, finding yourself all of a sudden in a scary situation will normally have the effect of making you even more fearful. So the situation will instantly become that much more scary; which makes you more scared; so it gets that much more scary; which makes you even more scared; and so on, and so on....... This is a *tricky* one to overcome because these circumstances can seem just as real, and equally as lifelike, as circumstances are within the Physical. Also, in the early stages you can often feel what first seem like pretty weird bodily sensations. After a while they simply become normal to the extent where they are ignored. Myself I get all manner of sensations in the chest area and I expect so too do others. This is because there is a major energy centre in that region. In my early days of exploration, I‟d so often become immersed in circumstances which had gotten completely out of hand from coming to a snap-judgement as to their nature or origin. Because of this, I now advise people the most productive state of mind is to remain emotionally closed and maintain an air of natural curiosity. The moment a person feels they have slipped from this mental composure, I would advise them to immediately take a step back from the situation and ask for more clarity. If that doesn‟t work then retreat back to Physical and analyse the situation from there. Again, because of the inherent nature of the Astral environment, everything "within" ourselves tends to manifest "outside" of ourselves. If you always bear that in mind and please try to always analyse your experiences against the background of the 4 rules given above, you will make quicker progress I‟m sure. Yours, Frank 1692 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focusing Inward and Visualizing on: April 16, 2003, 12:34:07 Nick: Could you clarify something for me please. You say, "... when you [my emphasis] reach the Focus 10 mind awake/body asleep state." Do you mean "in order to" rather than "when you". It's just that at the F10 state you are already focussed inwards. Sorry for sounding like I might be picking hairs. I'm only too happy to give you some pointers but I'm not sure what you mean, exactly. Yours, Frank 1690 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focusing Inward and Visualizing on: April 18, 2003, 11:02:50 quote: Originally posted by Nick Frank, The method I have principally used to get to the mind awake/body asleep state is the RB sequence of relaxation, trance, energy. What I have used to "focus" (by here I mean settling down and emptying the mind) has been a zen technique I learned over the years of following the breath. Thank-you for the fuller explanation. Perhaps I ought to make clear here that I'm not at all sure how RB's work or Zen-techniques translate to Monroe's work. Problem is, I don't do any trance, energy-work, meditation, and suchlike. Astral exploration is all I am really interested in. Which is what I focus on more or less absolutely. For a while I have suspected that people who were into "meditation" were attempting to achieve - and subsequently remain at - Monroe's Focus 10 state. But from your explanation of what follows when you say you reach that state, ie: quote: What happens thereafter is that I settle in, get a lot of sensations such as energy moving, tingling vibrations, floating upwards, heaviness at times in the chest and body, pulsing brow center/chakra and maybe some other sensations I'm forgetting right now. The foregoing vary in degree and sometimes I'll experience more of some than others. The conditions you are experiencing do not tally with my experience. (Of course, in saying that I am in no way suggesting I am the yardstick against which all others should be judged.) A while ago I practiced activating various bodily Chakras. It was more out of curiosity than anything (the heart turned out to be my favourite). It was fun experiencing all manner of energy- rushes, tingling and vibrating sensations, and such like. However, none of this led me to actually project as I would normally do. I figured, therefore, it was not enough to merely experience vibrations and/or other sensations in order to project. The question arose that perhaps they must be vibrations and/or other sensations of a particular kind, originating from some particular place. Well, like I say, that's what I figured. Whether such is true with everyone, I cannot be sure. I've read your post carefully a number of times and conclude that our respective set of conditions at the point we call Focus 10, must be different. My reasoning is based on the following: quote: Now to the point, it is at the stage that I am in in the preceeding paragraph where I believe I should move from breath awareness (which by now is barely imperceptible), With me, at Focus 10, my whole focus of awareness has turned inwards and I have no feeling of a physical-body. Your description applied to breath awareness is: barely imperceptable. But with me, like I say, there is no perception whatsoever. Not just of breath, but no perception of anything to do with the physical body at all. So I think what you may be experiencing is a similar condition I came across as described above, during the phase where I practiced stimulating bodily Chakras. But again I do stress that energy-work is something I know little about. quote: to a more visual oriented aspect of focus. This is based on posts that I've read at this forum wherein people talk of imagining a particular scene, for example, and using that as a "gateway" to further focus levels. The visuals you imagine at first are used mainly as a gateway to Focus 10. At which point the natural Phasing process is kick-started. Here you switch from perceiving visuals generated as part of an imaginary rundown, to perceiving visuals which begin being played to you as part of the Phasing process. The visuals tend to have a kind of thread which you simply follow. As such they do have the effect of being a kind of gateway to further focus levels. But the key difference is the visuals are actually being played to you, as opposed to you generating them. I've mentioned before about how followers of the Moen-school Focussed Attention methods are taught to make contact with former loved-ones who are resident in an area they call the Afterlife. They do this by first imagining talking to them about some topic they would normally have done, and in a similar situation to which they would have been while Physical. Next they are taught to be on the lookout for anything that comes about that is not on their imaginary script. If they perceive something to that effect, they follow along the thread of it and see where it leads. The visual rundown example I gave in the monster thread follows along similar lines. Where you first choose some kind of metaphysical imagery to suit your tastes. Not something too simple else your mental focus will dissipate and you'll lose all realisation of Self as your body goes to sleep. But not something so complex and detailed you begin to engage in an act of creative visualisation. Which tends to prevent the body from falling asleep. Doing this you start to get instances where suddenly you think, hang on a minute, I never imagined that! Which tends to have the unfortunate effect of zapping you out of it, at first. So to answer your final point, the visual rundown can be anything you like. But in my experience it should follow the criteria given above. One simple and effective way I found with the Focus 10 CD is imagining I'm sitting in a small audience and Monroe is on-stage reciting the rundown. The first few times I had moments where suddenly I'd think, "Hey, hang on a minute, for a moment there it felt like it was real!" Now (though I hesitate to say this) many times at the point of transition where the Phasing process is kick-started at Focus 10, I actually sense Monroe's presence. Yours, Frank 1688 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Help on: April 18, 2003, 18:52:41 Yep, I echo that. For most people, Astral projection is a tricky thing to get to grips with. If all you are seeking to do is make contact with someone who has passed over, Bruce Moen claims to have had all manner of successes with people having made contact with former loved ones after just a little tuition. They also have a message-board where you can speak with people who have already read Mr Moen's books and attended his workshops. Yours, Frank 1685 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My 3rd and not-to-pleasant OOBE on: April 19, 2003, 10:31:26 quote: Originally posted by pj During an attempt at remote viewing a few months ago, I felt like the center of my back near my heart was attached to a strong electrical source which crawled up over my shoulders and down the front of my arms and into my hands. With each site description I uttered, another wave of electricity traveled down my arms. It was startling to say the least. That's the general problem people have once they begin to make some kind of progress. Being successful at this entails getting used to experiencing (what at first feel like) some pretty weird bodily sensations. Just as you get used to the sensations presented by one set of circumstances, along come yet more to be dealt with. I always say that it is one thing talking about entering the Astral from flying through some entrance structure (of the like printed on the back cover of Astral Dynamics, for example) and yet another thing actually doing it! Over the years I've developed a gung-ho attitude towards Astral exploration. As such, my enthusiasm for new ventures is at the stage where it knows no bounds. But I do, however, still remember just how shocking these sensations can be at first. And I still now and again come across new circumstances which severely test my resolve. It's like anything where you keep pushing the boundaries. Only within the Astral there are no boundaries. Only the ones we place upon ourselves (which susequently become manifest due to the nature of the environment: Rule 2). quote: My first Thought = Direct Action would be to see something, as so far everything has been blackness and when I attempt to open my eyes I'm instantly back to physical. Can you help me tackle this? Light and dark can have entirely different meanings within the Astral. Darkness, on the Physical, normally means lack of light. Whether that be daylight or artificial light. However, darkness, within the Astral, can very often signify lack of understanding (which is generally linked to the formation of doubts). Often you can still perceive the Astral circumstances around you, but they become similar to shadows on the Physical. This still happens to me I'd say at least once every 3 or 4 projections. At first it was very confusing. I found, however, that if I think of taking a few deep breaths (not that there is any need to breathe on the Astral, but that's the way I think of it) my awareness, more often than not, will become clear again. In other words, it's like someone just switched the lights back on. As I breathe in, I imagine myself taking on-board all the necessary understanding: to the extent where I can become open to the experience which is being presented. As I breath out, I imagine releasing any niggling fears, doubts or whatever other confusion, which is causing my awareness to be dulled. This darkness is *very* common when being introduced to new circumstances. Remember, your ability to perceive is directly proportional to your willingness to believe. It is very natural for people to experience doubts *particularly* when either coming across, or being introduced to new circumstances. Doubt obviously affects your willingness to believe which, in turn, affects your ability to perceive. The way in which your ability to perceive can be commonly affected is that the circumstance can appear to go out of focus, or, as explained above, it's like someone turned down the lights. So whenever you come across "darkness" if you can, try getting to the habit of becoming more open to the circumstance. You can do this by taking a step back, taking a few deep breaths while asking for more clarity, or for more understanding (or for more of whatever it is you feel you need). Then approach the circumstance again. Sometimes you find you have to persevere quite a bit before the circumstance reveals itself, and other times it may all come clear the first attempt or two. Though don't be surprised if you now and again come across circumstances which only come clear over a number months, or even years. Yours, Frank 1684 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My 3rd and not-to-pleasant OOBE on: April 19, 2003, 10:40:09 quote: Originally posted by manuel wow, thats some very wise advice there frank. Thank you, that was a very kind comment to make. And thank-you also to AME and PJ who have both been quite generous in their feedback. I am pleased you found my comments useful. Yours, Frank 1683 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Self-interpretation or true separate entities? on: April 19, 2003, 11:29:45 Sorry, but I thought your questions were more of a rhetorical nature. My questions are, how can you tell people you speak to within the Physical are not just figments of your subconscious? Or when you speak with a neighbour or a friend, for example, how do you know you are not just imagining it? Yours, Frank 1680 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Another Smokey Experiance on: April 20, 2003, 13:31:09 The only experience I have which is similar: is when I project into the RT zone and enter the Astral in a more traditional sense through some kind of entrance-structure (such as the one printed of the back cover of Astral Dynamics, for example) initially I travel through a thick grey fog with near-zero visability for what seems like about 3 to 5 seconds. At first the fog is dark grey and gets a progressively lighter grey as it becomes thinner. Then the fog clears completely at which point the entrance-structure can be seen. At a guess, the plane of the structure comes into view, with me, from about a 60 degree angle and in terms of distance away maybe around a thousand feet. Yours, Frank 1679 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / first OBE on: April 20, 2003, 13:39:26 The only consolation I have for you is to say what you are experiencing is very normal. At first, all kinds of unexpected events can occur which have the unwelcome effect of zapping you out of it. Problems specifically regarding the eyes are common. When I began investigating the Monroe Phasing approach a while ago, for example, at Focus 12 it is common to percieve all kinds of abstract shapes and wispy foggy colours. For ages the moment I'd perceive some shape or other my physical eyes would immediately try and snatch a glance at whatever it was. Most frustrating. But overcoming these kinds of hurdles is often just a case of practice makes perfect. Yours, Frank 1677 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / meeting strangers when o-o-body on: April 20, 2003, 14:00:08 quote: Originally posted by dino333 What do people look like in AP form??? In my experience, people within the Astral look very much like people look when Physical: whether they are projecting or are resident there. Though what I cannot tell you is if a person's appearance changes at all. This is because I have not had the experience (yet) of meeting a person within the Astral (projector or resident) who I knew on a face-to-face basis while Physical. Yours, Frank 1676 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Self-interpretation or true separate entities? on: April 20, 2003, 18:55:12 Aerotus: My intention was not to make the argument more complex than necessary. I'm sorry for giving you that impression. You say you can clearly differentiate between yourself and other humans while on the Physical after having has 23 years experience: this is all I was attempting to exemplify. Same principle applies within the Astral. In other words, I could take your response... Since I can clearly differentiate when I am in the physical plane or not, having 23 years of experience, it is obvious that other people in the physical lead their own lives and are not a figment of my subconscious!! ...and convert it [thus]: Since I can clearly differentiate when I am in the [Astral] plane or not, having [22] years of experience, it is obvious that other people in the [Astral] lead their own lives and are not a figment of my subconscious!! In other words, what it boils down to is a lot of personal trial and error which ultimately gives a person the experience to tell which is which. So maybe that is what I should have said at the outset. Again, my apologies for any confusion. Yours, Frank 1673 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My 3rd and not-to-pleasant OOBE on: April 20, 2003, 21:40:37 I'm *really* bowled over by your comments. Problem is though I'm simply not good enough - writing wise - to write the kind of book which would be commercially viable. Besides, what I most enjoy is giving beginners a helping-hand, on an on-going basis, which I can do here. I have noticed, however, over the past few months, I tend to be answering similar kinds of questions a number of times. What I have done is try and catalogue these common answers and store them as text files so I can cut-and-paste where necessary. Okay, I know that may sound a bit non-personal but it *is* a fact that beginners do keep experiencing very similar problems. While I am happy to spend time where necessary, time spent typing the same sets of words over and over, where it is not necessary to do so, seems a bit of a waste. Which I am sure people will understand. Again, I am truly bowled-over by all your respective comments and wish each and every one of you all the *very* best in your inner exploration. Yours, Frank 1671 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / pranks on: April 20, 2003, 22:28:13 Okay, with my wife's permission I have tried to do this many times. But, Physically, she cannot remember a thing about the incident. I project into the RT-zone about our bedroom. Thing is, we've gone about this a number of times so her "Astral self" (for want of a better phrase) fully recognises me by know. So we chat about all the usual stuff and especially about us recognising this, "in the morning when we wake up" and so forth. But next morning she remembers zilch. Most frustrating. Yours, Frank 1670 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / So...What's It Like? on: April 21, 2003, 10:49:58 quote: Originally posted by Squeek Very interesting experiences. I would love to fly, or breathe underwater! That would be truly amazing. If anybody else cares to share, go ahead. Truly amazing indeed but these activities are very much easier to say than to endure at the time. It takes a while for your protective sense of awareness to settle down and accept the idea of flight, or underwater exploration. I had particular difficulty overcoming the latter because I suspect having already had quite a bit of Physical scuba-diving experience my mindset was fixed one way. Flying is a bit of an art which takes time also. The flight controls are all mental so there are no levers to pull or buttons to push. Learning how to land with the requisite degree of precision is tricky. Come in too steep and too fast and you'll either end up "underground" or your protective sense of awareness zaps you out of it. Come in too shallow and too fast and you end up crashing through all kinds of structures and/or your protective sense of awareness will again zap you out of it. But like with many things it's just a question of practice. For me, up until a while ago, there was nothing that matched the sensation of entering the Astral through some kind of entrance structure (such as the one shown on the back cover of Astral Dynamics, for example). Yours, Frank 1669 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / pranks on: April 21, 2003, 11:14:36 quote: Originally posted by ame Do your wife usually remember her dream Frank? Well, not normally. Just now and again she'll say something like, "I had a really strange dream last night, etc." Problem is, she gets a little scared if I push it. I did go too far on one occasion so I'm very wary now. The most frustrating thing is her "Astral self" (again for want of a better phrase) when she is asleep merely hovers around her physical body and is reluctant to leave it. We can chat with the same degree of clarity we have while Physical, but that is all she'll do. I asked both Harath and Freda (two regular guides) why this is and they told me not to interfere with the natural process. Yours, Frank 1666 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Another Smokey Experiance on: April 22, 2003, 09:05:10 quote: Frank, What are some of the clues that you have projected into the RTZ? At first, one of the most common situations was seeing views of the room from strange angles while my vision would be blurred. Yours, Frank 1665 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Visit to another reality? on: April 22, 2003, 10:48:32 quote: Originally posted by Chris Thanks for the feedback. Interesting thoughts indeed. Yes, I've spent a lot of time in what seem like other worlds or realities. This is the first time however that it has been so emotionally disturbing. This could be a sign you are making progress, I too have been researching the notion of multiple lives in multiple time-frames and have discovered there are a number of "me". Reason why I say you could be making progress is because, at first, I would experience these other lives from a distance. The contact was more telepathic in nature. I'd suddenly get these flashes of abstract visions which would arouse my curiosity more and more. After a while I got to being able to step into one of these lives and experience events from the point of view of that person. Problem is, you also get to feeling their emotional state which can often be a bit screwed. There is an aspect of me who is living the life of a gangster, drug-baron type of setup. Unfortunately, when I came across him at his home he was being surrounded by the police. The feeling of sheer dread this unfortunate guy was feeling took me several days to shake off! At first I thought these lives were being played out within the Astral somewhere, say, in the region of F24 to F26. But no, it does appear to be the case (as many people believe like PJ pointed out) there are, in fact, God knows however many multiple systems of physical-reality universes all being played out simultaneously. Which is a quite fantastic notion, and something I'm finding ever so difficult to get my head around. The idea of a Chris-there being viewed by another individual-there as being a bit mental is very likely IMO. And it does throw quite a different light on how we-here view people with mental illnesses. It also brings up a number of questions as to what extent basic details of our current lives have been determined by other lives. I give an example of this with my own life below. I can't quite tell from the wording of your original post whether you do, in fact, live in Seattle with a person called Angie and have a job at the university. If you do, then I wondered if it may be the case your current life was chosen by you in some way to "heal" that one. What I'm finding is the other aspects of "me" I came across thus far, have basic characteristics in common. The actual lifestyle may be radically different. Like, I have nothing whatever in common with a drugs-baron, come gangster. But it's the underlying characteristics which can often be very similar. I do wonder, also, if this personality provides an interesting answer to the question of why I've always been dead-set against taking drugs? Though don't get me wrong, I'm not some anti-drugs campaigner on a mission or anything. What people do with their body is not my concern. It's just that I've always had this strong feeling taking drugs was something I should avoid. In a similar vein, I wondered if you currently have any natural aversions that may be classed as "bleed through" from another personality? Like, maybe, an aversion to playing the lottery. Yours, Frank 1664 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I want to learn on: April 22, 2003, 11:10:59 quote: Originally posted by MasterVampire Im new too all this Astral Projecting and stuff but first is Astral Projection and Remote Viewing the same thing? Cause u are both going out of your body. any way can someone give me some links and stuff so i can learn how? thanks! Hello and welcome to the forum. Astral projection, remote viewing, near-death experiences, focussed attention, and so forth, are all different aspects of basically the same phenomenon. But in terms of a comparison between what you feel or experience when remote-viewing as opposed to Astral-projecting, the two are very different. As for stuff you can learn now, there are free downloads available on this website. If I remember rightly there was a free e-book about AP which gave some fairly good basic info (Peterson book?). There was a link to another online book on a thread fairly recently which I flipped through and that too had some good basic info. http://members.tripod.com/~Xperiment/gracia.htm HTH Yours, Frank 1663 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Visit to another reality? on: April 22, 2003, 12:07:11 quote: Originally posted by Oliver So its kind of interesting thinking of another version of you living in another reality finding you, and viewing you. Personally, I find it absolutely mind-boggling! Longer-term members will perhaps have heard me mention about my regular guide Harath. I now know he is a future aspect of "me" living in another physical-reality universe who came to find the "me" living in this physical-reality universe. It's all absolutely incredible stuff. Yours, Frank 1662 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral experience? on: April 22, 2003, 20:13:14 quote: I remembered about focusing inward, and did so. There were some distinct patterns that appeared. Some lighter than others, one a beautiful blue. So, I stayed with them, and then a separate form began taking shape. Before I could stay with it very long the cd was ending with sound tones that brought me back. I never did get to see what that last form was going to be. Nick: It sounds like you achieved Focus 10 and kick-started the natural Phasing process and you progressed to Focus 12. When you begin seeing all kinds of abstract shapes or swirling colours or textures or patterns, and so forth, that is Focus 12. Focus 10 is where you split from perceiving imaginary mental imagery that you were consciously generating as part of your rundown, to viewing imagery which is being transmitted to you. The transmission of imagery begins at Focus 12. The transition between F10 and F12 is normally perceived as quick and seamless. But, after some practice, you can hold yourself at each state. (Not that there is any real need to hold yourself at Focus 10. I only practiced doing it more out of curiosity than anything.) Yours, Frank 1659 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / How do you request a guide on APs? on: April 23, 2003, 10:01:20 Guides are all around helping people make faster progress. Problem is, in order to make contact you have to become "open" to them. They will not in any way force themselves upon you as that would be grossly self-defeating. With me, I used to think all talk of guides was just mystical mumbo-jumbo. (Gosh, how wrong I was there!) All that changed a while ago after a number of various Astral events. For example, every now and again I'd be having some difficulty or other and the answer of what to do just plopped into mind. Or I'd be lost in some kind of cave structure, or whatever place, and a voice would say something like, "turn to your left" and there would be the way out. Plus, on many occasions I'd get the distinct feeling I was being followed or shadowed by someone else. Then there was the time I was floating in the 3D-blackness: I said out loud if there is someone guiding me then just say hello. Next moment this voice came back, "Hello!" Which surprised me to the extent where I got zapped back to Physical. Once I was at a place just having an ordinary conversation with a group of locals and, much to my surprise, I recognised one of the people in my vicinity as a person I'd actually been talking to at another place a few mornings before. The moment he saw me recognise him, he faded into the background. My curiosity was aroused considerably by this and I set off on a road to discover who this person was. Although I didn't realise it so much at the time, this was the point of my becoming "open" to the idea of guides. Because, as it turned out, there was a person shadowing me and giving me hints, tips, and so forth. And it did turn out to be the man I recognised. Matters came to a head one morning after getting a distinct feeling someone was standing right by me. I just said something like, "Look, whoever you are, just make yourself known now because I'm mighty cheesed-off with all this cat and mouse nonsense." Next moment the man I had previously recognised was standing in front of me. Meeting Harath was the turning point, for me. With his help my progress has accelerated considerably to the extent where I really don't know how I coped before. Yours, Frank 1658 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral experience? on: April 23, 2003, 10:20:58 quote: Originally posted by Nick This evenings session with Wave-1 brought forth Focus 12 impressions as you have described. All of this is a real breakthrough for me. Exciting times. As you begin to perceive those impressions try and remain as mentally still and as neutral as possible. Simply be a passive observer and just let events unfold. Getting scared or excited tends to zap you out of it. I thought it might be useful to mention that sometimes you can perceive shapes that look a little fearsome. I always remember the time when it looked like the head of a large wolf was pressing against my face. Yours, Frank 1653 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Deleted on: April 24, 2003, 19:10:32 quote: Originally posted by timeless Dear GreyTraveller, They are tunnels, like NDE, only seem smaller. The reason I decided to post is because there seems to be symbols on portal doors out of the tunnel but I do not know what very many of the symbols mean. I am hoping others might know about this but not likely if they have not been in the tunnels. Respectfully, timeless Ah, so what you are saying is you perceive the tunnel at the onset of the obe, yes? If so then the tunnel could well be your perception of the Astral Gateway at Focus 21 (in Monroe-speak). Focus-21 is the bridge between 3-dimensional Physical and 4-dimensional Astral. When you make that transition it is often perceived as moving through some kind of tunnel or tube. I can never really tell whether or not, at this stage, I am actually travelling along some kind of tunnel- structure or whether that's just how I'm perceiving the transition. The Astral does have all kinds of tube and grid structures which you can have fun travelling down. But in my case I come across these after I make the 3D to 4D transition. The symbols probably pertain to you in some way. Perhaps you are being guided to them in order to jog your memory of something, or maybe they are serving the purpose of stimulating curiosity. My now regular guide, Harath, used to put up all kinds of odd things just to get my curiosity going. Or maybe they identify portals to various places you might be being encouraged to visit, particularly as you say they are perceived as being on a doorway. Maybe you should try mentally pushing open the door whilst picturing the symbol to see where it leads. Yours, Frank 1652 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Learning Astral Phasing & Focus Levels on: April 25, 2003, 10:03:22 LOL: Sorry, just had to laugh. It's just remembering the number of times I've heard knocking, banging and sometimes the most almighty crashing sound; and I've actually got up and looked around the house (even looked around the gardens!) to try and find out what it was that had fallen. Oh, perhaps I ought to mention, don't be surprised if you start to hear music too. Yours, Frank 1651 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Proper and Training Zone on: April 25, 2003, 12:11:42 The Training Ground, as I used to call it, is basically Monroe's Focus 22 state. People who are lucid-dreaming are in this state also. Only their realisation-capacity is very much reduced. Looking back, the main reason why I became stuck projecting into this region of conscious awareness for *so* darned long is because there were no desktop computers; hence no Internet and no BBS's to communicate through. So, entirely on my own, it took me just over 5 years of trial and error, projecting around 2 or 3 times per week, to work out I was in some kind of whacky place where Thought = Direct Action. Having that realisation enabled me to gain a much higher degree of control over my experiences; which stood me in good stead over the years that were to come. So I got to thinking about that place as a kind of training ground which prepared me for all the proper stuff. Basically, then, what stops you being hampered by this pitfall is the realisation or knowledge this pitfall exists. Once you know, then you have the opportunity of taking preventative action. A technique I find very effective is, every now and again, I'll come to a complete halt, focus on some detail or other and ask myself a simple question about it. What this serves to prevent is a situation where you begin getting excited. Getting excited has the effect of making you think and move too quickly. So you start flitting here, there and everywhere and your progress is stunted. This effect is prevalent in accounts of people's early experiences. They tend to follow along the lines of: suddenly I realise I was dreaming; and then I found myself [at some place or other]; and there was this [some kind of event]; and then I saw [some other event]; and then suddenly I was [transported to some other scene]; but before I knew it the thing had changed [to yet another scene]; and then it became [whatever]; and next moment I was awake. The other pitfall to avoid, is making snap-judgements as to whatever comes about. This was quite a pitfall for me. Though I‟ve always said I have no particular talent for obe-work, so I‟m not sure how valid a yardstick I am. But I do often read posts where people have fallen into this trap without realising it. So I think it must be a common error people make generally. This error seems to happen more with scary sorts of experiences, where often you read something like: and then I heard a sound behind me; it sounded like [snap judgement about something scary, say a growl or a grunting sound]; and I felt myself getting scared [fear is now released into the 4D environment, instantly placing the person in a scary circumstance]; then the [whatever monster, demon, dragon, et al] revealed itself. Notice, with this example, the fear was released as a direct result of the person making a snap- judgement about the circumstance of hearing the sound. Okay, I used the instance of hearing a sound behind you just for the sake of a simple example. Thing is, all manner of circumstances and/or situations can come about within the Astral environment you‟d never come across within the Physical. So if a person sets out on the wrong footing of making snap-judgements they will severely stunt their progress, as they‟ll end up making snap-judgements galore. A more productive way of dealing with these situations is, rather than making a snap-judgement, take a step back from the situation and ask for more clarity. Always bear in mind the fact that Thought = Direct Action can just as easily work for you as well as against. Ultimately, the way to experiencing the “real deal” is to work on developing your sense of conscious awareness at least to the same level of acuity, or perception as you have while awake and alert within the Physical. This is the key to making good progress; along with the ability to remain emotionally neutral or emotionally closed, as I call it; and all the while maintaining an air of mild curiosity. What I always advise if you find yourself slipping from this state immediately take a step back from the situation and ask for more clarity; because it is ever so easy to fall into the trap of making a snap-judgement. Then the emotions begin to flow and you start losing it. Once you lose-it the chances are you will not be able to regain control while within the circumstances of having lost it. So the only option is to nip back to Physical, take a few deep breaths, and project again. The great thing is, developing the requisite degree of emotional control is something a person can practice while Physical. This is because the sense of conscious awareness we take with us to the Astral, is the same as what we have while Physical. In my estimation, however, it is significantly harder to remain emotionally neutral within the Astral, as it is within the Physical. So a person who has mild difficulties controlling their emotional-state while Physical, will tend to have serious difficulties within the Astral which could take significant time to overcome. But someone who can easily keep their emotions in check while Physical, chances are, will have only fairly mild difficulties within the Astral, which will be quickly overcome. Yours, Frank 1650 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / reading Monroe's FJs ......... I-There question! on: April 26, 2003, 10:29:05 Do: You make some very valid points and I've always been interested in how the older writings relate to the more modern stuff. Problem is, and I don't know what it is with me, the traditional mystical works just turn me off completely. From what you say your reading up on the works of gnostics has helped you relate more to Monroe's concepts. The benefit of which I do not have. I'm fully in agreement where you talk about limitations in the language. This is something to which I can easily relate as I very often keep hitting the buffers. Metaphor is a useful tool and, yes, to take a metaphor literally would be an obvious mistake on the part of the reader. However, the problem with metaphor to describe the nature, qualities, characteristics, etc. of some event, is the event itself is not actually described directly but is merely implied. (Which is pretty obvious as it wouldn't be a metaphor.) This holds open the possibility (as in my case with the concept of Monroe's I-There, for instance) the reader may fully understand the author is communicating metaphorically, but what they don't fully understand is the actual metaphor. Yours, Frank 1649 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Physical vs. astral mind on: April 26, 2003, 11:35:05 quote: Originally posted by TruthSeeker While in the astral does the physical mind filter/receive all that is happening? You still use your brain, and not some astral counterpart like you soul? Touching on the point Mark has made, you have only one "mind" which basically remains the same in whatever realm of consciousness you may be. The only difference being the type of "body" it operates through. Within the Physical, the mind interacts on this plane via a physical body made from Physical material. Within the Astral, the mind interacts via an Astral body made from Astral material, and so forth. The big difference, however, with the Physical plane, is physical-matter has a certain shelf-life. So there are natural restrictions as to how long we can remain for any one length of time. quote: If so, what happens when you die physically? Will your soul/self take over all thinking and you will get rid of dangers like "The Alice In Wonderland Effect", creating own scenery etc.? One of the most beneficial spin-offs from being able to explore the Astral while incarnate, is you get to prepare a path for yourself following physical-body death. And the other *big* advantage is you learn how to operate with a high-level of conscious awareness within the various non- physical environments. That way you realise beforehand all what you can do, and all that you should avoid. Basically, upon physical-body death you should be aiming for (and ideally have already prepared yourself a place) in the higher-level Exchange territories, rather than getting yourself caught in the lower-level Belief-System territories. Yours, Frank 1646 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is there anything like astral projection? on: April 26, 2003, 20:29:44 GS: Sorry, but I only just picked up on your last question of this thread. I've tried all manner of different techniques and concluded that Astral projection is not about getting the right technique. What matters IMO is a person's sense of expectation; coupled with the realisation their expectations are being met. Somehow, a person has to begin passively observing what goes on within themselves. How they best begin to do that does tend to differ from person to person. This is where the "techniques" come into play. After a while, however, an automatic process takes over and "techniques" become unnecessary. Bruce Moen explains it perfectly where he says that his Focussed Attention technique is, in many ways, the equivalent to training-wheels on a bicycle. Yours, Frank 1645 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: April 27, 2003, 18:35:36 I've had a number of PM's asking similar questions about my comments regarding the mental- rundown given on the monster-thread as being a kind of primer which kick-starts the natural Phasing process. The questions relate to how you integrate the two and kick-start the process; how can you tell when the process has been kick-started, and what to do then, etc. So I thought I‟d post a reply here as it pertains to the thread title. What is the purpose of creating a mental rundown? The rundown acts as a kind of mental primer which gets you in the mood and increases your anticipation and expectation levels (very important). The rundown is not what causes you to Phase to the Astral. Phasing is a natural process which comes about under certain mental conditions which I expand on later in this essay. It also gives a person practice in focusing their attention away from the physical body into the expanse of their mind. In other words, what you are basically doing is imagining you are Phasing to the Astral. What shall I try, and for how long, and how often? The mental-rundown exercise should be performed preferably at least once each day at around the same time. It does not really matter what kind of mental rundown you use. Simply do whatever feels right for you. Someone posted fairly recently they tried to work out their own but gave up and used the example I gave with a few changes here and there. Others have created their own from scratch. Like I say, it truly does not matter. You don‟t actually need the Wave-1 CD either. You can formulate a mental rundown to some relaxing music, or create something using Brainwave Generator, or use whatever suits you. All I would advise is for you to create something of around 30 to 45 minutes duration which you are basically happy with then stick with it. In other words, don‟t make it too short, or too long, and no chopping and changing. Okay, I’ve formulated a mental rundown so what next? Once you have learnt your mental rundown you are ready to use it as a mental primer. First you go through it. Then simply remove the earphones (if you are using a CD or tape) and try Phasing for real. In cases where you perhaps haven‟t got all that much time to spare, what I would suggest is you create a short version of your rundown. Say, around half the duration. Then, every other time, listen to the short version after which you try for real. Once you get more competent then perhaps switch to the short version each morning. Or maybe try a regime of rundown one day and try it for real with no rundown the next. Again, it truly is a case of whatever suits each individual. What do you mean by “Phasing for real?” When you come to Phase for-real, you switch from perceiving metal imagery you are imagining as part of your rundown, i.e. where you are imagining you are Phasing to the Astral, to perceiving images that are being created as part of the normal Phasing process. In other words, you are not imagining anything, you are doing it! After going through my rundown I try it for real and nothing happens, why? Chances are, your physical-body is distracting you by capturing your attention. One of the benefits of formulating a mental-rundown to some kind of audio recording, is it takes your mind off both the physical body and the Physical environment. Plus, you know exactly what imagery to perceive as it is you who is imagining it. Without these two mental props it can feel like you are right back at square one. Main things you should avoid when trying for-real Thinking about day-to-day Physical-realm matters. Any kind of thinking about anything to do with the Physical-realm tends to put a *big* spoke in the works. In other words, you can‟t really hope to kick-start the Phasing process if one part of you is thinking of your dental appointment next day; or whether you‟ll get that pay-rise you requested; or your birthday next week, etc., etc. To deal with this what you should do, right at the start of your practice, is imagine a large box and place all your Physical-realm concerns in that box. Then lock it securely and walk away. When you finish your mental-rundown, unlock the box and take them out again. This method is suggested by Monroe on the Wave-1 CD. It may sound a bit weird but it works! Any kind of internally verbalised thought (even if it is to do with Phasing!). What I mean here, is you need to switch your inner-thinking so it is working exclusively in a visual way. Speed-reading aside, when we read to ourselves we have this inner voice which reads the words. This voice is probably what you are listening to within your own mind, right now as you read this. Also, when we think to ourselves in an everyday sense we tend to use this same inner voice. Like, you may think, “Hmm, I‟ve got 30 minutes before I meet my next client, so I‟ll go and fill the car with petrol and pick-up something to eat on the way back.” Thinking that way uses that same inner-voice… which must be silent. Then you quietly and passively observe what happens next. When I say “quietly” I mean observe without having that inner-voice comment on anything you may perceive. When I say “passively” I mean avoid reacting in any way to anything you may perceive. Both the above I realise are a tad tricky to do. The good news is it all comes good with practice. At first, what will probably happen is you might perceive some kind of vague, fleeting image. At which point your inner-voice will chirp-up saying, “What was that?” or it might make some other comment. Perhaps it may comment in recognition that you are making progress. Problem is, as it does so, it tends to send you a step back each time. Unfortunately, you can get caught in a self-defeating loop: where you take one step forward, your inner voice recognises you just took a step forward and comments to that effect, and the act of it doing so takes you one step back to where you were before. Or you might perceive something and react to it. You might get startled, or fearful, or such like. What used to happen to me all the time (which was most frustrating) is I‟d perceive some image in mind and, the moment I did so, my physical eyes would try and snatch a glance at whatever it was. This, of course, zapped me right back to C1 each time. Okay, so you are in a state where you are quietly and passively observing. Don‟t worry if nothing comes about. Simply curtail the session after your normal time and try again next session. Hopefully, what will soon happen is you will begin to perceive what may seem like fairly weird, totally abstract mental imagery. Say you perceive some fleeting kind of something or other. Chances are you‟ll wonder if what you think you may have perceived is what you should be starting to perceive. Then you‟ll realise your inner voice has just made a comment. But the realisation of that was yet another comment. By which time you‟ll probably be right back where you started. The key is to simply roll along with this mental imagery, without your inner voice commenting on it, or having your physical body reacting to it. This is the beginning of Phasing. You don‟t need any particular “technique” in order to project. You just need to set it going. Once the process gets underway everything happens more or less automatically. If you can just quietly and passively observe the process you will end up within the Astral as awake and alert as you normally are while within the Physical. Yours, Frank 1643 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Help on maintaining Hypnagoic level in meditation. on: April 29, 2003, 09:14:49 quote: Originally posted by Kenneth When I meditate, I often reach a state where I begin to see Hypnagogic images, and hear "voices" very suddenly. Kenneth: Perhaps I ought to first point out that I know precious little about meditation, and have said a number of times that I'm not at all sure what people who meditate are attempting to achieve. I've received a few answers which sort-of put me in the picture but still, I'm very intrigued by your post. Reason being, you say you get to the stage where you start to perceive all kinds of abstract images and sounds. But then, after a while, you manage to bypass this stage and go to another stage which you describe as a deeper level of trance. Are you saying this state of being in a deeper level of trance is actual meditation? Reason why I'm so intrigued is because the onset of abstract images and sounds I recognise right away as Focus 12 (in Monroe-speak). This occurs in the beginning stages of Astral Phasing. What you do is quietly and passively observe these images and just roll along with them and you pop-out within the Astral. (Though, as I've pointed out a number of times in the past, actually doing that is a darned tricky mental balancing act to perform. But it does get easier with practice.) From what you say, it is possible to in some way bypass this stage (thus avoid Phasing to the Astral) and end up in some kind of deep-level trance state. That being the case, it solves a long- term mystery of why I could neither work out what people meant by "meditation" nor "trance". And the other big mystery was the question of how come there are quite a number of people who can successfully meditate, but who cannot project with the same degree of success. I posted on another thread yesterday (link below) answering some questions on how to overcome some typical pitfalls in the early stages. It's the penultimate post on page 3. It's the lower half of the post which contains pointers you may find useful. The top half is more to do with creating a mental rundown. People use this to practice by imagining they are Phasing to the Astral. After which they try it for real. The idea being they use the imaginary rundown in order to kick-start the natural Phasing process. When I say kick-start I mean trigger the Focus 12 state. But, from what you say, you're pretty good at doing this already. http://www.astraldynamics.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2315 Yours, Frank 1641 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: April 29, 2003, 10:06:42 Nick: Thank you for pointing that out. Your comment about my having a specific talent is quite a compliment. What I have started to do is save copies of my posts on my hard-drive under various folder headings. This gives me the benefit of being able to cut and paste when answering common questions. Plus, I'm also formulating a Phasing FAQ list and have the idea also of once I've collated enough posts I can convert these into various articles; which I'm hoping Adrian will allow me to publish on the resources section. That way newcomers will have the lion's share of the Phasing information in 2 or 3 chunks rather than having to search through a mountain of separate posts. As for publishing a book, I think the e-book route might be a future possibility. Something that explains the whole Phasing notion right from square one would be nice. But I'll have to collate quite a bit more information before I have enough to fill a book. Yours, Frank 1640 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Do real time projections exist ? on: April 29, 2003, 12:27:45 Mark: An interesting post. quote: Originally posted by clandestino In the "real time" scenario, the individual finds himself floating in the physical world, without the physical laws we are familiar with (solid structures give way; gravity can be ignored.) The real-time zone in my experience is an infinite kind of buffer-zone that exists between Astral matter and Physical matter. This zone extends beyond planet Earth to encompass all Physical matter. Way out in the RTZ you will also find links to other realms of physical-matter reality, too. quote: The astral is accepted to contain many different levels / places, some of which are inhabited by higher consciousness and generally don't lend themselves to being described using everyday language. The higher dimensions are inhabited by people of a higher-level of conscious awareness. These people thus have far wider degrees of freedom than us. This, in turn, affords them a much greater range of lifestyle options. As for describing these places, my view is these areas can lend themselves to being described in everyday language. In my view, all it will take is enough everyday people with enough of a simple-minded, down-to-earth attitude to explore these places and report their experiences. Problem is, all this multi-dimensional stuff is a heck of a tricky thing to get one's head around. Well, it is for me anyway. quote: It seems that the astral is any region that does not have the appearance of a familiar place within the real-time zone / physical world. In my experience, the Astral is populated by zillions of people many of whom are living in very much the same set-up as you would find within the Physical. So I'm respectfully agreeing to disagree, here. In fact, sometimes I get confused and have to stop and think for a moment which region I'm in: Physical or Astral. This may sound daft, admittedly. But that *is* how real it gets after a while. Every situation or circumstance, or whatever else you find within our Physical realm, you will find within the Astral (and a heck of a *lot* more besides). One of the most astounding things I realised, which only became obvious after becoming fairly proficient at Astral exploration, is how the Physical is actually an end-result rather than the start-point people generally believe it to be (including myself at one time). Basically, I split the Astral into two primary areas. (Though I think what I am about to say differs from the more mystical descriptions.) The first primary area is composed largely of the Belief- System territories. This, in Monroe-speak, would be Focus levels 24, 25 & 26. Religion has a heavy influence within these regions. There are all manner of "heavens" and "hells" and countless other types of groups of people acting out all manner of emotion-driven fantasies, especially of a sexual nature. The second primary area is composed of what are known as Exchange territories. In Monroe- speak this is Focus 27. The Exchange territories are split into two basic parts. There are the Old Exchange-territories: this is where you'll find all the rest and recovery areas, the library of knowledge, and so forth, which Monroe and others have come across in their explorations. Alongside these have grown what are called the New Exchange-territories. From my experience, this area appears to be composed of people who I describe as, "dead and proud of it". Due to the fact that everyone I've had conversations with thus far have undergone a number of life-cycles within the Physical. From this they appear to have picked-up a sufficient degree of knowledge in order to avoid getting caught in the lower regions. And, from what I can gauge, they have had little or no need for any kind of rest and recovery. These people largely understand where they are in the general scheme of things. They are basically happy and up-beat. I‟ve spoken to loads of people and none of them had any regrets about having died, Physically. They engage in largely the same kinds of activities people would normally engage-in while Physical i.e. they live in houses and the like. They travel to see friends, have hobbies, and so forth. Like I say, within this region I'll often find myself sitting chatting with a group of people and, for a brief while, I'll actually forget I'm projecting there as opposed to being a permanent resident. quote: In my experience, there is no difference between an astral projection and a real time projection. Perhaps we should stop using the words "real time projection" as they are simply referring to an astral construct that takes the form of the physical world, in the minds eye of the projector. Personally, I could never get on with the term real-time projection. It stems from the fact within this realm the Physical can be viewed in “real time”. But the real-time zone encompasses *all* physical matter not just planet Earth. I found your further comments regarding the RTZ interesting but I do not have all that much experience exploring this region as I tend to slip from Physical direct to Astral. So it‟s difficult for me to make any informed comment. All I can do is hold the transition, initially, so I sort-of hover in the region of my bedroom. But if I try to move from this position, say, fall through the floor into the kitchen: for a second or two I‟ll see the kitchen then the Astral shift is initiated. quote: Lets say someone sets up a playing card out of view, then projects, and records the info accurately. Imagine this is repeated several times and verified by scientists. Is it actually demonstrating that something is leaving the body, and making the observation ? or is it just demonstrating that the mind has become party to information that it required ? This last point is quite intriguing. Personally, my stance on the notion of “proof” is for each individual to learn to project competently for themselves and all the proof in the word will be handed to them in spades. The Astral is an amazing place that never ceases to entertain and enthral. Perhaps the most fascinating circumstance I‟m now coming across ever more regularly, is visiting the same place and chatting to people I have met before. People greet you with a smile; shake your hand in welcome; ask you how you are; what you‟ve been up to; and they‟ll fill you in on what they too have been involved in since you last met. All this is happening with the same high-degree of conscious awareness, level of realisation, and ability to control as I have while awake and alert while Physical. What I‟m basically saying is proof is provided naturally. In that, after a while of practice, the nature of the events themselves confirms - completely beyond doubt - there is no way you could possibly be “dreaming”. Yours, Frank 1639 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: April 29, 2003, 14:19:34 quote: Originally posted by Noxerus I do have tons of questions about everything, but as right now I can only guess what F10/12/21 feel like, I'll wait with my questions until I actually try out and practice everything. Always best to try and learn myself. Focus 10 is basically the same mental state as when a person is completely absorbed when watching a movie, for instance; where their attention has been captivated to the extent they are neither aware of the room they are in, nor the chair upon which they sit. Only difference being, your attention is captivated by the imagery you are perceiving in your mind's eye. And, at the point of being internally absorbed, this is Focus 10. From Focus 10 you should naturally make a quick and seamless transition to Focus 12. This is where all kinds of abstract imagery can come about; together with all manner of sounds such as, pops, bangs, Velcro-like tearing sounds, and even music. These events seem to just come about at random. For example, I hadn't heard anything for a while, just visuals. However, this morning I heard a loud series of knocks and, next moment, someone shouted my name at the top of their voice. What all that was about I have no idea. Another example which sticks in mind, came about the other week: after the coloured foggy mist I normally perceive at Focus 12, all I got was a picture of a man of about 60 years of age repeatedly trying to tell me something. He was at the window of a small wooden building about 10 or 15 feet away. I could see his mouth moving but couldn't hear a thing. I don't know where I was at that stage: Focus 23/24 maybe. When perceiving these kinds of events, at an early stage in the Phasing process, I found it far more productive to ignore the natural inclination to get curious and start trying to investigate. Instead, regardless of what happens, I avoid commenting or reacting to any of it and simply let events take their natural course. It's ever so easy to get bogged down *especially* in the early stages of the Physical to Astral transition, as all manner of distractions can interrupt your thinking. Unfortunately, the lower Astral contains every kind of weirdo who ever lived. As a beginner, it is ever so easy to have your focus of attention thwarted by some lower-level circumstance. Problem is, once you get entangled in some negative-style event, it becomes next to impossible to revert to your original track. All the exciting stuff goes on within the upper Astral which is were I'd advise people to concentrate on heading. quote: I do have a really good visualization ability, and I usually integrate everything from visuals to sounds to smells to tastes to touch into what I imagine. I think that all people who play (or used to play) a lot of role playing games (not on the computer) should have a really good visualization ability. The thought occurs to me you might need to watch you don't start engaging in an act of creative visualisation, as I talk about on both this thread and others. Because this can work against you. quote: Last night I listened to the Wave I tracks 1+2 for the first time. I don't think I managed to get into F10, but my whole body (except for the middle of my chest for some reason) tingled pleasantly this time; on previous times when I tried meditating/trancing, only my feet and hands would tingle, and so strongly that it was downright uncomfortable. As I continue practicing, the next step should be when suddenly the tingling would stop and I'll stop feeling my body? I'm sorry, but I don't engage in any kind of formal meditation or trance work. I have read posts from people in the past who do, who have mentioned about tingling sensations, and so forth. With me, I basically do the same as detailed in my Q & A post yesterday, for example. I use the Wave-1 CD with a mental rundown as a kind of primer. During which time I get no particular bodily sensations. Then I Phase for real by ceasing any internal dialogue and avoid reacting to anything I may perceive. Often I might have to use a shortform version of my rundown, just to kick-start the process. After a while, there is this mental knowing feeling which indicates I made the switch from external to internal at Focus 10. Then I start to perceive all kinds of abstract imagery. quote: Oh, and another question: when going through the F10 exercise, and visualizing myself going through it, I have something like a running commentary but as if from my visualized self's side. For example, when I reached the F3 stone last night, there was a small levitating purple velvet pillow above it. I (visualized) myself sitting down on it, and when I touched that pillow with my hands I said to myself: "ooh, silky" (as it really was silky . Is that ok, or should I try to visualize only images/sounds/smells/etc and not say things to myself as I'm actually there? I hope that made some sense.. In my experience, when you come to try for-real, any internal commentary tends to put a spoke in the works. What I think you should perhaps do from the outset, then, is try and think in visual terms only. HTH Yours, Frank PS Thank you for taking the time to comment about my work in such a kind way. Plus, your second question I can't really add to what Adrian has said already. Best of luck. 1638 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: April 29, 2003, 18:51:53 Noxerus: That sounds like a typical lower-level Focus experience. As I say, all manner of distractions can interrupt your thinking. Now you have experienced first- hand how, once you get entangled in some negative-style event, it becomes next to impossible to revert to your original track. In a similar vein, the last major false-awakening experience I had was last year. I came back to Physical (or so I thought) and was laying in my bed, in my bedroom. Yet, what I was perceiving, was entirely an Astral construct. The search-link is here http://www.astraldynamics.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=619&SearchTerms=astral+experie nce+example I'm pleased you're happy overall about your experience. I really wouldn't worry as, chances are, you'll get zapped to C1 a good many times yet. Not that I am wishing it upon you, you understand. It's just that I always try to be realistic. From what you say the thought occurs to me you could have a bit of a knack for this kind of thing. Yours, Frank 1637 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: April 29, 2003, 19:54:44 Adrian: Thank you for your encouraging comments and I am indeed grateful for your offer. Basically, I'm looking for ways to get the Phasing information across more efficiently. What started out as an interesting conversation, over a year later, has grown into its own forum complete with oodles of posts. Those who have been around for a while are pretty much in-touch with the basics. But for beginners, it must be quite a task searching through all the posts trying to piece this and that together. Yours, Frank 1636 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Do real time projections exist ? on: April 29, 2003, 20:37:18 quote: Originally posted by clandestino I'm particularly interested in the "exchange territories" you mentioned (focus 27). Although I've haven't experienced them (yet) its fascinating to hear you say : "People greet you with a smile; shake your hand in welcome; ask you how you are; what you‟ve been up to; and they‟ll fill you in on what they too have been involved in since you last met." Yes, at first it is a tad freaky but you get used to it. That's how "real" it gets after a while. quote: ps - I'd just like to emphasise that I'm not on a search for "proof" as such ! The few experiences I've had have confirmed I'm not dreaming. I thought I'd mention the old "card exercise" just to make the point that it doesn't follow that there IS something leaving the body in the RTZ projection.... Yes, I absolutely agree with you. Again, your point is intriguing. Especially as this "card excercise" is, now and again, touted by some as "ultimate proof". quote: "One of the most astounding things I realised....is how the Physical is actually an end-result rather than the start-point people generally believe it to be..." Can you elaborate on this a little ? Do you mean, say, from the perspective of being within F27, this becomes apparent ? This stems from my comparing one with the other. I'm speaking here of situations that exist in the new exchange-territories (Focus 27 in Monroe-speak). Well, the more I explore this region, the more the Physical-realm seems like a poor Astral relation. I have actually spoken to many people who, after having had a number of incarnations within this Physical realm, would not do it again. They speak in terms like there is no way they would give-up their current life, for a lifespan within this Physical realm. People within the higher regions have a degree of freedom and luxury that simply does not exist within the Physical. To me, it seems like so many things which have been invented here, within the Physical, were orchestrated by people subconsciously trying to replicate the luxury they once enjoyed while non-incarnate within the higher Astral realms. quote: Its interesting that you've split up F27 into 2 areas - R&R, and then the "new exchange" area. What are the general intentions of the people you've met there ? Are they keen to just kick back and relax, or are they half-way through a journey of some kind ? The terminology came from the people themselves. These people do not seem troubled by anything. They mainly spend their time, from what I can gauge, just having fun in the general scheme of things. Yours, Frank 1634 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Dream OBE on: April 30, 2003, 10:01:30 Paul: Projecting from a lucid dream was my main method for years. It's a bit hit and miss by comparison to the Phasing methodology I've been working on of late. But I still do project from a lucid dream several times per week, in addition to the work I do each morning. So please take it from me it is a very *valid* method of projection. Dreamscapes are formed from your own uncontrolled release of emotion while within the Astral realm. Therefore, the way to make the conversion is to gain control of your thoughts and become mentally still. The method Jeni gave you is a good way to help you do this. Once you have control your thoughts, all elements of the dream will quickly dissipate. Yours, Frank 1632 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Proper and Training Zone on: May 01, 2003, 08:46:22 quote: Originally posted by Terry B This mean that when your lucid-dreaming you'll be able to AP easily. what I always do is get back to my body from LD and try projecting from there. A lucid-dream *is* an Astral projection only with a very much reduced level of self control. If you realise you are dreaming within the dream, you can project directly from there. There is no specific need to go back to Physical. quote: The advantage is I'm really relaxed. Ther are time however that when I realise that I'm dreaming, the environment just phase or shift with special effect to other environment. How valid do you think both experience? You advise going back to your body if I understand correctly? There is no need, generally, to go back to Physical. If I may say, your understanding is a little faulty there. quote: Once in a projection I realise that I'm fooling around too much, running around and doing other stupid thing then I decide to stop. I pick up a leaf from some bushes then as i try to see them, the the environment changed a little bit then I was pull backward by a force from behind me. Being pulled backwards like that could well be due to a physical-body demand. The moment after you were pulled backwards did you end up back in the Physical? quote: A trivial question, you just ask for clarity. Is that it? And no need for other fancy thing such as... begging for clarity? The Astral is an environment where Thought = Direct Action. This can work for you, or against you. For example, navigation merely entails having a strong thought as to where you want to be. Get it right, and you'll instantly manifest at that place. Likewise with anything else you may need. Simply put out the Intent, i.e. a concentrated thought, about whatever it is you require and you will have it. quote: Sometime I'm a tad clueless on the astral. My mind become very simple at time. It's like a case of Astral Intelligence vs Astral Stupidity. This is the "fish out of water" feeling you may have read about in one of my other posts. That's what happens in the initial stages. quote: Also, a quick question. Why is the building in the Astral so long? Or I'm in the training ground? Sorry, I don't understand what you are asking here where you say, "Why is the building in the Astral so long?" Yours, Frank 1631 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Proper and Training Zone on: May 01, 2003, 08:53:22 quote: Originally posted by Terry B Is there anything such as astral grave? Seems contradictory. I haven't come across any. But it wouldn't surprise me to see some within the Belief-System regions. There you see all manner of weird and wonderful things going on. Yours, Frank 1630 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / What happened? on: May 01, 2003, 09:50:02 Ditto, sounds exactly like a short ethereal projection. Also, the fast heartbeat sensation: did that come about afterwards in a Physical sense as a result of you becoming excited due to the experience, or did you feel it during the experience? If it were the latter, this is a common feeling when the energy centre about the centre of the chest (heart Chakra) becomes active. You get a tingling sensation in the upper body and it feels like your physical heart is beating quite rapidly, but it isn't. Lack of sight is very common in the early stages. Yours, Frank 1629 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: May 02, 2003, 10:28:35 quote: Originally posted by Noxerus After a short while I started to feel something like a buzzing in my forehead with a varying intensity and then my whole body started to feel as if it's spinning around quickly. It all lasted for about 10 minutes I assume. Are those the famous vibrations I hear about? And if so, what am I supposed to do next in order to project? Or maybe I can phase from this stage too (preferable)? What you describe, i.e. the buzzing in the head and feelings of spinning around, these sensations are ever so typical of the beginning stages of Astral projection in a more traditional sense. What you probably experienced was a very short, blind projection into the real-time zone: where you spun around a few times and that was it. It will take time before you find your feet, so to speak, and overcome the "fish out of water" effect by gradually refining the process and becoming more familiar with the various sensations. Problem is, at this stage, a lot depends on the person. For example, you already discovered a still scene works better for you than a moving one (it just so happens I am the exact opposite). What you need to do then is keep exploring these sensations and carry-on down a path of basic trial and error. After a while, you will learn how to anticipate the onset of the vibrations and how to control them. That way, rather than having them buzzing about all over the place with varying intensity, you will be able to control their intensity. Once you become more practiced, you will find the vibrations take on a much higher pitch to the extent where you hardly notice them. The comparison is a lot like taking-off in a Microlight -versus- a Learjet 45. Something which just popped into mind, I used to practice, is what I'd call "bathing" in the vibrations. What I mean is you hold them at a particular pitch and intensity so you end up floating just above your physical body just enjoying the buzzing feeling. After a few minutes, gradually shut them down so to bring you back to Physical (C1). Then do the same again. Also, when you get to the stage where the vibrations are more or less under your control, i.e. where you are hovering in mid-air just buzzing away merrily, try taking some deep breaths and see if that has any effect. NOTE: When I say “breaths” I don‟t mean taking actual Physical breaths though it will feel like the same action. I found the act of breathing in and out, both at the preliminary vibrational stage and while within the Astral (not that there is any actual need to breathe within the Astral), has some very interesting effects. Yours, Frank 1628 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Help on maintaining Hypnagoic level in meditation. on: May 03, 2003, 09:25:35 Kenneth: What a fabulously informative reply, thank you! I've printed it out and will read through it a number of times over the next few days which should save most of to memory. Then I'll see if I can incorporate this line of inner-study to my own work. Thanks again. Yours, Frank 1625 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / first obe - verify, someone? on: May 04, 2003, 09:01:01 In answer to your question, I think what you experienced is typical of what can happen in the early stages. Everything is a bit confusing, you get disorientated and tend to flit here and there. It's interesting where you say, "but it wasn't what I expected at all. It was like being in a 3d movie theater where you have complete clarity of everything going on." People often report that it wasn't what they expected to the extent where I often wonder what did they expect. Like with most things, practice makes perfect. Such that you will find, if you keep having these experiences, everything tends to smooth out as you gradually learn how to apply ever higher degrees of control. It is possible to eventually reach the stage where you attain the same degree of clarity and control as you would normally have while awake and alert within the Physical. The key to doing that is keeping a high degree of control over your thoughts. Which is one of those things that's ever so easy to say, but darned tricky to do at the time. Best of luck and welcome to the BBS. Yours, Frank 1624 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How extensive should the vibrations be? on: May 04, 2003, 09:35:14 Someone (I think it was Tisha) once described the vibrations as sitting on an unbalanced spin- dryer rotating at top speed. Which is how it can often be, but it does not necessarily have to be so. I'd also go along with those whose opinions suggest the vibrations are more a symptom of projection, rather than projection itself. As such, they do give a good indication some progress is being made but are not something that should necessarily be pursued. With myself, the heavy exit-vibrations I used to feel have now smoothed out to the extent where they are felt more as a warm tingling-release-buzzing sensation in the background. Many times I project and feel no vibrations at all. When "travelling" between different realms of reality outside of the Astral, I normally get this intense crackling. It feels like a continuous static-electricity type of sensation. This is often accompanied by a wailing sound which continuously varies in pitch and intensity. Yours, Frank 1623 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / what is the nature of void? on: May 04, 2003, 09:49:21 dc: I think perhaps you are getting the wrong end of the stick, here. The "void" Monroe talks about is probably just the 3D-Blackness at the Focus 21 state. I can't remember ever reading him saying this causes sensory deprivation in a hamful, torturous kind of way. On the contrary, floating in the 3D-Blackness is rather pleasant. If you can point me to the particular page I'll try and confirm what he is saying exactly. Yours, Frank 1621 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Advanced Spiritual Beings on: May 04, 2003, 11:29:10 quote: Originally posted by Tyler Waw, this has been THE most helpful forum i ever visited. Tyler: I wondered if you might get more response if you posted to the Psychic Self-Defence forum. There you often get posts from people who are being attacked in many different ways by all manner of (what they tend to call) "entities" and "attachments". I (for one) always try and help where I can. But I'm on record here as having said, several times, I simply wouldn't know a Shaman from a hole in the ground. Plus, in my 20-odd years of Astral projection, I never yet came across any negative thing or situation which wasn't coming about either as a result of my own lack of mental control, or my failure to understand the true nature of the situation. And on the subjects of: quote: So i take it no one of you met any evil entities. And aren't you guys even curiouse to explore low planes? This one (i think) i the lowest there is. And i was taken there by that thing. Just like there are advanced positive entities, there are very advanced evil entities. My regular guide, Harath, used to take me on tours of the lower planes and point out some of the more interesting cases. During which time I witnessed loads of people engaged in what could readily be described as evil acts. But these people by their very nature confine themselves to areas of a lower order. As such, I'm at a loss to fathom how these evil-entities you speak of could rightfully be labelled as advanced. Also, I note you say that for 2 years you were digging into, "forbidden matters". The thought occured to me perhaps having repeatedly chosen to play with fire, one day you got badly burnt. My early posts mention when I first started out, I was stuck repeatedly projecting into a region I came to term the Training Ground or Zone. It took me just over 5 years to realise the basic rule that Thought = Direct Action. During which time I fought with every manner of Demon; engaged in countless wars; and slayed Dragons galore. Quite why I don't know. Perhaps some people are just destined to go through this kind of experience for some reason. Yours, Frank 1620 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / what is the nature of void? on: May 04, 2003, 21:43:01 quote: Originally posted by dreamingcarnage Frank he never said it was painful I know, that's why I was confused by your post. Yours, Frank 1619 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / my latest phasing progress on: May 05, 2003, 10:53:31 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf As intent is the fuel that decides your destination while phasing, is it possible to place intent to go to a RT location rather than an astral one? Douglas: When you say "RT location" I see for your example you mean a location on this planet within this current timeline. I see no reason why it should not be possible. It's an idea I've been toying with, on and off, without much success. Which is a bit weird because lately I've had some great success travelling between different timelines. But travelling to specific locations within a timeline requires a knack I've yet to develop. quote: I am pretty sure this was the RT zone but it made me think about this issue. It's just that everyone talks about using phasing techniques to explore the astral but rarely mention RT excursions using this method. I certainly found it very stable, much more so than previous obes using the traditional method. If you are familiar with the location and everything seemed to add-up, so to speak, chances are you were at the location in question. quote: However, how do I know that I was in the RT zone and not the astral proper? I suppose there is no way of telling for sure, but my bet is, if you placed intent to visit a RT zone location, I don‟t see why you wouldn‟t go there to start with My experience of projecting within the RT-zone in the normal sense is next to none. So specific advice is a bit thin on the ground, here. What you say makes good sense. A good way I found which I use to qualify all kinds of experiences is to simply repeat the experience a number of times and note what differs (if anything). This is something I do very regularly. quote: , but after that it depends how 'grounded' you are for you to remain there. If you loose it emotionally then you will fade out of the RT level (which technically is ALSO an astral level but is so close to the RTZ as to be indistinguishable from it). Losing it emotionally is one of the worst things a person can do as it totally screws the projection. Though my experience at RT-zone projection is precious little, I would imagine losing-it emotionally within the RT-zone would screw the experience the same as it would within the Astral. Yours, Frank 1616 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / my latest phasing progress on: May 07, 2003, 11:46:45 quote: Hi Frank, I don't see how the timeline would even be an issue. If you have intent to travel to another RT location like, for example, Edinburgh Castle or whatever, then you should go there. Chances are pretty high there are a number of "Edinburgh Castles" in multiple timelines. But, like I say, if you are familiar with that particular location and everything seemed to add-up then you were likely at that location, within our current timeline. However, I have projected to places that look remarkably like those here on Earth, for example, and discovered the year was 1942. Yet no world-war was raging and no-one I met had never heard of a man named Adolf Hitler. In a similar vein, I projected to a place where the year was 1902. Yet the people obviously had the use of technology that we, in this current timeline, didn't have until around the 1970's. quote: BTW, I would love to hear about some of your 'timeline flitting' experiences. Although I am still trying to get my head round this idea about how time-space doesnt exist outside of our physical universe. A while ago I decided to quit exploring the Astral and concentrate on areas further out. The subject of timelines was one I found myself getting ever more curious about, coupled with my quest to discover what a higher-self is, exactly. That‟s when I came across the New Exchange Territories. The examples given above are just 2 out of quite a number I have experienced in a similar vein since coming across this particular area within the New Exchange Territories. At the onset of projection I‟d place the Intent to be directed to some area that would answer my questions about higher-selves and so forth. Each time I‟d find myself at roughly the same place. It took me a number of visits before I could confirm that it was, actually, the same place and not a number of similar-looking places. The area I kept being directed to is a fairly normal town with people going about their everyday business. But dotted amongst all the normal buildings are these large round structures. They stand out quite a bit which is why I first got curious about them. Within these structures are portals which I found can take you to places which, up until now, have looked remarkably planet-Earth like. However, like I say the events witnessed do not tally with the time-period in question. All I have managed to extract from Harath thus far is the place is a point where various timelines intersect. Plus, this area is somehow significant in my higher-self research. The rest is up to me to unearth. As regards Monroe: the more I discover about the “wider picture” the more I wonder if he was telling all that he knew; or whether he‟d just touched on the more advanced aspects and his years of experience generally caused him to make good deductions from little evidence. Personally, I‟m not sure. Yours, Frank 1615 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Unable to control movement during AP on: May 08, 2003, 09:08:23 LS: It's normal to experience fairly high-speed movement. For example, when travelling through portals, entering planes via entrance-structures, and so on. Learning how to control this movement is a skill which can take a while to develop. Like with most aspects of AP, it all boils down to achieving a high degree of mental control. Problem is, one a circumstance is out of control it tends to remain uncontrollable. At which point a person's protective sense of awareness will usually zap them back to Physical. Yours, Frank 1613 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / AKASHIC RECORDS................... on: May 09, 2003, 12:03:15 The simple reason why is because it's just not that easy! The question is very easy to say and sounds logical to ask, but it's one heck of a thing to actually try and do. Plus, the "future" is not some concrete thing which can be read from a book someplace. It is the product of an endless mix of probable events. Yours, Frank 1611 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 23? on: May 10, 2003, 10:05:10 In short, Focus 23 is the label Monroe attached to one of the lower-level Astral regions. Yours, Frank 1609 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / using the astral to learn faster on: May 12, 2003, 11:13:38 quote: Originally posted by SPIRIT HUNTER 2002 i was wondering, this is prolly a stupid question but i have heard that time in the astral plane either is slower then regular physical time or time is just stopped. There is no such thing as Time within non-physical realms. Plus, because there's no pressing need to earn a living to pay bills, and so forth, people there engage far more in all manner of recreational pursuits and/or fields of learning. Individuals who are born with what people generally call a "talent" for something - whatever that talent may be - chances are have developed their skills within the 4th Density Exchange Territories (4D ET's) prior to becoming incarnate within the Physical. Great sporting men and women, for example, within the Physical, will almost certainly have been great sporting men and women within the 4D ET's. It can even be the case that people choose to incarnate along the same timeline as their 4D competitors, so as to compete against them within 3D Physical. The same appplies in many fields: renowned architects, engineers, scientists, musicians, chemists, and so forth, within 3D-Physical, chances are will have been renowned for their architecture, engineering, science, music, medicine, etc., within the 4D ET's. This is one of the big advantages of conquering the difficulties posed by the 4D environment, thus being able to live comfortably within this dimension. The end goal of the whole process of enlightenment is learning how to operate equally comfortably and competently within multiple dimensions. The ability to do this brings a person ever greater degrees of freedom and a far wider range of lifestyle choices. Yours, Frank 1608 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How do you Astral Project?!?!?!?! on: May 12, 2003, 12:10:51 quote: Originally posted by ss_majin_gohan I need EXTREME detail! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!! I'm not sure what you mean in your footnote by, "take all your shame to the grave" and so forth. I've always said that people who think death is the end, are in for a big surprise. On the subject of Astral projection: if you are looking for a relatively easy way to make a start, the Bruce Moen Focussed Attention method could well be a consideration. This method is about as simple as it gets while managing to yield meaningful results. Beyond that it all starts to get a little tricky. So if you are like most of us here, in that you were not born with any particular talent for this kind of thing, then expect to have to practice for quite a while in order to develop and hone the necessary skills. Yours, Frank 1606 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Is this even possible?!?!?!?!?!?! on: May 14, 2003, 21:11:47 quote: This is a true story of last night! Please tell me what was happening! Just the usual kind of stuff that beginners tend to react towards. I call it the, "fish out of water effect." Under such circumstances a person's sense of awareness naturally tends to become polarised. With a little work, after a while this beginning phase can be overcome to the extent where it becomes possible to maintain a more neutral outlook, more and more of the time. Yours, Frank 1605 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / ? about belief system territories Frank? on: May 15, 2003, 13:50:21 DOA: As for your first question... quote: I know that its possible for incarnate spirts to visit the belief system territories but if you go to a very religious one what do they precieve you as? I mean can you just blink in and they dont realize it or do they think you are evil or what? Where you say "incarnate spirits" I'm assuming you mean people, such as myself, who are Astral-projecting. If so, in my experience, the responses I have received are many and varied. Once you can control your projection experience to a high degree, it is possible to assume basically any form within the belief-system regions. This ability comes in handy for those who specialise in the retrieval side of things. Or if you are more like me then you'll find it ever so difficult to resist the temptation to play a practical joke or two. There are all kinds of, well, complete nutcases living in these regions. I came across a man once who really believed he was Jesus. He had a queue of people waiting for him to perform miracles together with his own church and stuff. The impulse to assume some form of "devil" was too much to resist. All kinds of war games are being enacted too. You can assume whatever side you wish and will, therefore, be treated accordingly. I always loved seeing the look of sheer surprise on people's faces when I'd approach them and they'd try and kill me by stabbing with a sword or shooting a gun and I'd just laugh. Though the ability to remain emotionally closed to such a high degree came in quite handy later when I went through a phase of doing retrievals. quote: My next question is what if you are discarnate spirit. Can you roam the differant belief systme territories at will or are you restricted. I mean like if I were to shed my physcial shell and my wife did same and we went to differant places. I am more open and believe in differant things and she is very religious and goes to another place would I be able to visit her? She might be trapped in a certain dogma while I am free to explore? Within non-physical realms you are automatically subject to the natural laws pertaining to the region you wish to inhabit. Throughout the ages mystics, et al, have maintained that in order to progress you have to be some kind of spiritually pure person; give all your money to the poor; pray x-number of times per day; and such like. This is not the case at all. Each individual is totally at liberty to make progress. The only restriction being the abilities of each individual to operate on the plane, region, density (call it what you will) in question. In many ways this progression is akin to the progression from being a child to an adult. For example, to drive a motor-car the child has to wait until he or she achieves a certain level of mental maturity before they can comprehend how to manipulate all the various levers whilst on the move. Likewise, operating within the various non-physical planes takes a certain degree of mental maturity and understanding. But no-one is in any way prevented from achieving this understanding. There are places where all the necessary knowledge and mental skill is freely taught and no-one is barred from attending. Generally, the natural progression is for a person to be working towards learning how to live on the "level" above them. In our case, we are currently living in 3rd density learning how to live within 4th density (C1 and Focus 27 respectively in Monroe-speak). A person who is living competently within 4th density can visit any region below them. This is because they must have obviously learnt all the various ground-rules which apply as they originally would have gravitated from these lower regions. When I say “living competently” I mean there are residents there who are living with assistance from others whose job it is to help people learn-the-ropes, so to speak. There are mini- communities which have been set-up where people can live amongst other newcomers so they won‟t feel too much out of place. These communities tend to have a significant percentage of people who gravitated from belief-system regions. Either they winked-out by themselves or were retrieved by someone: perhaps a relative or other loved-one currently living in 4th density, often in conjunction with “helpers” Astral-projecting. At the other end of the scale, there are those who have been settled-in for quite a while and who are very comfortable with their freedom-rich lifestyle. Yours, Frank 1604 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / ? about belief system territories Frank? on: May 16, 2003, 13:13:18 quote: If I astral project I am capable of going to any belief system territory assuming I have the skill to do so. This is correct. It's a bit of a tricky mental balancing-act because you need to be a part of the action to a certain degree in order to interact with the people there; but not so much a part that you begin to get swept along by whatever circumstances/events/actions/ etc. are taking place. quote: What about when I pass away. I consider myself aware that the belief system territories do exist so I make my home in one of them but will I be able to visit them. For example lets say one of my relatives is much more religious than I am. Lets say we both pass away and I go to place A and he goes to place B. Will I be able to go visit him/her? I understand what you are getting at here but there are a couple of aspects of the process you might not be taking into account. Firstly, while I fully respect the fact that it is your life and you are free to choose accordingly, you don't want to be looking to make your home in a belief-system region of the Astral (Focus levels 24, 25 & 26 in Monroe-speak). Thing is, you don‟t want to be within the Astral: full stop. Take it from me, it really isn‟t the place to be. The people who inhabit these places are nicknamed Flatlanders due to their failure to think multi-dimensionally. Their mix of beliefs and emotions causes their attention to become focussed or engrossed in a very local way. Imagine, say, a primitive island community in the middle of a huge ocean. Say also they've never seen a boat or a plane, or any other evidence humans exist apart from themselves. Chances are high they would believe they were the only humans alive. Yet beyond the horizon is a huge land-mass teeming with people living freedom- rich, high-technology lifestyles. This is basically the same difference between the belief-system regions and the exchange territories. You see, it's not so much a case of you choosing to make your home in the belief- system regions. It's more a case of that "home" choosing you! So to have the degree of freedom you need in order to visit other people and/or places, you need to aim for the exchange territories. To do this you don‟t have to drop your religious beliefs. There are zillions of people within the exchange territories with religious beliefs. You can even build your own church if you want. Or whatever else takes your fancy. In other words, being religious, per se, does not necessarily mean you end up in a belief-system region; as it‟s not so much being religious; it‟s being religious… and… sorely missing the point. Secondly, every person who is incarnate, in a sense, leads two distinct lives. During the hours people are awake on the Physical, each person's mind is operating through their respective physical body. As such, their primary focus of awareness tends to be concentrated on the physical environment to a high degree: the day-to-day accumulation of which forms our “physical life”. When a person is physically sleeping, however, the mind operates through a different body; a body which is of a non-physical nature. While we sleep, each person engages in activities within various non-physical environments: the nightly accumulation of which forms our “sleep life”. As an aside, I suspect this non-physical sleep-life aspect of a person is what Monroe called his: I- There. But I‟m not entirely sure on that. The type of activities a person becomes engaged-in highly depends on their level of non-physical development. Problem is, due to the Mind Split effect (Note: RB goes into this at length in Astral Dynamics.) it is easily possible for a person to have an active sleep-life and yet be largely unaware of it. It is an unfortunate fact that a large number of people, currently incarnate on this planet, have yet to develop the degree of realisation necessary in order for them to become aware of; familiarise themselves with; and subsequently cultivate this non-physical sleep-life aspect of their self. But, then again, I suppose that's one of the primary reasons why most of us are here. There is, however, a certain degree of bleed-through which people generally call dreams. Dreams have been subject to all manner of interpretations and subsequent misunderstandings in the past; and will no-doubt continue to be misinterpreted and/or misunderstood by the population at large, for a good while yet. When a person's physical body reaches the stage where it can no-longer function, the mind ceases to operate through the physical body and permanently withdraws from it. While there are a number of factors which can upset the transition, left to its own devices the mind simply continues to occupy the non-physical body it normally occupied; and continues to engage in activities it would normally engage in; while the (now defunct) physical body was asleep. A person, therefore, who previously became familiar with their non-physical sleep-life, will suffer far less stress and confusion following physical-body death; because, in a way, the Astral- projection transition is a *lot* like the physical-body death transition. This is why almost always when someone projects spontaneously they immediately think they have died; as it drags up memories of having experienced the death transition in previous lives. So, basically, a person who enters a belief-system region will do so because, chances are, that is the place where they spent their non-physical sleep-life for a time period prior to physical-body death. As I say, people generally just carry on doing what they normally did. (Note: This is also the basic reason why someone can die in a Physical sense and not realise it.) Yours, Frank 1602 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Was this projection or a dream? on: May 16, 2003, 22:08:48 What you describe are the very beginning stages of the awakening process. Suddenly you find yourself with a degree of realisation but with little control. Hopefully your curiosity will be engaged to the point where it will lead you further. Yours, Frank 1601 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / ? about belief system territories Frank? on: May 17, 2003, 10:10:36 quote: Originally posted by DOA The belief systems are not bad they are just locked into a certain way of thinking they dont see the big picture. Is that correct. Yes, correct. People who became dogmatic about their religious beliefs while incarnate here, for example, often get caught. But people who developed their faith later in life, perhaps as a kind of comfort thing to offset fears about death, say, tend to pass through without a hitch. I've spoken to quite a number of these people many of whom said they were rather pleasantly surprised that there was truly such a thing as, "life after death" (as people generally describe it). Myself, I always found it an interesting paradox where the most fervently religious, the people most committed to their faith, generally make the slowest progression. Whereas a person who is more open-minded, more emotionally neutral, tends to make smooth headway. Many people who get caught, for example, think they have died and gone to heaven. To them their experience is exquisite. No having to go to work every day; angels at your beck and call; 24-hour ambrosia delivery; and all that jazz. Problem is their growth is now stunted. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if they were at some proper level. But they are caught in a kind of Astral no man's land between 3rd and 4th density. quote: The exchange territories is what where someone see the big picture? Yes, people there are "dead and proud of it" as I call them. All the people I spoke to thus far realise exactly where they are, and know they have been incarnate here. Plus, no-one seems to be in any hurry to leave. Quite the opposite. Everywhere I go there's building work going on. The people living there are free to travel to places, meet friends, etc. They can basically do all the things we can do only much, much more. The place looks so like our Physical environment in many ways. Which I suppose is hardly surprising as it seems the people there used to live here. In fact, so Physical-like is it I often have to remind myself I'm projecting! Yours, Frank 1600 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 18, 2003, 10:43:25 I suspect many people are caught in this "catch 22" situation. Those in your position would believe it, if only they could perceive it. Problem is, non-physical reality works the other way around: in that your ability to perceive is directly proportional to your willingness to believe. On the Physical, most of us upon hearing something that sounded a bit far-fetched would say something like, "Okay, I'll believe it when I see it." This is because, basically, within the Physical realm, seeing is believing. However, people who apply this same logic when attempting to deal with non-physical realms will very soon run into difficulty. I think it's not your mind struggling to grasp the concept. Your mind will be very familiar with non-physical realms as that is where it normally "lives". It's the ego aspect of your personality that is causing you to be opinionated and analytical about the whole process. Such skills can come in mighty handy when dealing with Physical-realm matters. But can act as a big spoke in the works when approaching topics to do with the non-physical. Initially, the symptoms you get which indicate your progress are very subtle. Which means they are ever so easily explained away. This tends to push you that much further away from your end- goal each time. It sounds, from what you say, your ego has set out all the terms and conditions in advance and concluded that this Physical reality is the only reality in existence. Now, in its quest to finally prove it to you, once and for all, it has set-up a virtually impossible to perform "test". A test which, on the surface, would sound very straightforward and logical to most normal people. However, from the point of view of someone with experience of non-physical reality, as I say, it would be next to impossible to perform. About your living in a sterile world, and so forth: I always say people who think once you die that's it, are in for a mighty big surprise. Yours, Frank 1599 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 18, 2003, 21:38:35 quote: Originally posted by Grendel I just don't see why it would be impossible. Okay, you say: quote: For example : If I helped people get a general idea of where I am (Not a street address, I only want to be visited astrally, thank you.), could they go to me, and read one word on a card that I put out? Let's forget we are dealing with the Astral and all its attendent complications. Let's just deal with the Physical. A realm we are both entirely familiar with. I live in Surrey, England. That then gives you a general idea of where I am. On my desk in my study are several objects. You will be able to see them from the window. Describe them for me please. Yours, Frank 1598 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / ? about belief system territories Frank? on: May 19, 2003, 11:43:11 quote: Originally posted by Gandalf are the 'exchange territories' the same as F27? or above it? Regards, Douglas The non-physical realms are in a constant state of development. The progression and development we experience on the Physical is a reflection of that. Hence the region Monroe originally labelled Focus 27 has changed quite a bit since he first set foot there. The place is definitely expanding to the extent where you have the "old town" as it were, and the "new town" alongside it. That's about the best way I can describe it with words. The people occupying the "new town", from talking to quite a number of them, appear to have gone through many incarnations within the Physical and have developed to the extent where they realise what is going on in the general scheme of things. They are fully aware, and suffering no kind of trauma at all. Quite the opposite in fact. All the people I have met seem very happy with their new lifestyle and, from what I can see, have no particular desire to become physically incarnate again; which I can well understand as the quality of their lifestyle *far* exceeds that of the Physical. Obviously, because the place is so vast, it is difficult for me to know just how representitive the data I have collected thus far is to the population and/or the region as a whole. But wherever I go I get the distinct impression these people have graduated in some way, and are now enjoying the new-found benefits and freedoms of having done so. Monroe said the earth-life system was formed with the intention of it being a huge learning process. I have a sneaking suspicion these people could well be modern-day graduates of Earth University. If so, I sure hope I'm due to graduate this time around. Yours, Frank 1597 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Negs on: May 19, 2003, 17:13:27 Within the Physical realm people tend to get polarised by constructs such as positive and negative. Something which gives satisfaction and gratification is assumed positive and something which brings the opposite is classed as negative: hence the term "neg". Within the Astral, however, no such notions apply. Though people often continue thinking in the same way as they would do while Physical. Within non-physical realms, what is within ourselves tends to manifest outside ourselves. When people perceive these manifestations it is only natural for them to feel they are being "attacked". Because their thinking follows along very much the same lines as it would do if the same event came about within the Physical. Make no mistake, the lower Astral levels are populated with all manner of human crud. Every degree of human wickedness is represented many, many times over. But these people have no power whatsoever as, fortunately, their behaviour locks them in an Astral no man's land. The only harm these hapless individuals can cause is when some aspect of their personality resonates with an aspect of someone who is projecting. For example, someone fluent in a language I had absolutely no knowledge of could swear at me in the most disgusting terms that language could offer. They could hit me with insult after insult, yet none of what that person was conveying would mean a darned thing to me. Reason being, nothing about the sounds the person was making would resonate with any similar sound-release- meaning within myself. Plus, it is a fact that people who project and have problems with these so-called negative entities are actually being presented with an opportunity for inner growth. But I guess not all that many see it that way. Yours, Frank 1596 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 19, 2003, 20:02:58 quote: Originally posted by Tisha Hey Frank, do you have a round crystal paperweight (globe?) and/or a small pyramid on your desk? Is the window to your right? If not, no matter, I never said (or ever thought) I was any good at this anyway! tish Tisha: A round paperweight, no. But I did, for many years, have a crystal-ball on my desk which I gave to my secretary a couple of years ago. The window is to the left, unfortunately. But you are spot-on with the glass pyramid. It is a small glass pyramid about 5 cm high with an engraving of a horse at the centre. My wife bought it for me, and I now have it in place of the crystal ball. Yours, Frank 1595 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 20, 2003, 09:56:44 quote: Originally posted by Tisha Kewl! I also "saw" other little things but I didn't know what they were called so I didn't mention them. Protractor, pendulum, abacus, what-the-heck? I know you're an engineer so I figured my mind probably just made them up, so I didn't mention them. Yes, I've got all kind of marking out tools. You knowing I am into engineering science would naturally colour your thinking. But I'm impressed with the pyramid. Well, not just it being a pyramid but a glass one. And it is not something you could have gleaned from my posts either. Want to try again? If so there's a desktop computer at the corner of my desk to my left. It's the box that contains the motherboard/hard disk/DVD player and all that gubbins. On top is an object about 100cm high and around 80cm in width. The object has nothing to do with engineering or science, so as to avoid any thought colouration on your part. Any ideas? Yours, Frank 1594 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / ? about belief system territories Frank? on: May 20, 2003, 11:40:10 quote: Originally posted by Tisha The reason I'm asking is that I've heard enough about the Lower Realms and Belief System Territories, and would just as soon skip it. I am presuming the Guides recognize the term F27. That's the same basic conclusion I came to a while ago. I felt I was just faffing about going around in circles and began to look for someplace new. Well, new to me anyway. Plus, I was getting tired of following in Monroe's footsteps. That's when I came across the New Exchange territories alongside the place Monroe originally labelled F27. The way to make progress is to get a high degree of control over your experience. At a very *minimum* you should be aiming to attain the same level of realisation ability and degree of conscious control you would normally have while awake and alert within the Physical. Unfortunately, most people suffer the fish-out-of-water effect at first. The symptoms of which can vary wildly from person to person; from a fairly mild flitting here and there, which is quickly brought under control with a little practice; to experiencing frightful circumstances involving all manner of demons and dragons, et al. Only when a person has learnt to deal with these effects can they then begin to make progress. Guides, in my experience, are generally aware of what goes on. I have two that have been "assigned" to me since the start. They know everything I will need to know for this current incarnation. Plus, I know of around 50 other people who form a kind of non-physical family, in that we are all connected in some way. Yours, Frank 1593 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 20, 2003, 13:54:55 quote: Originally posted by Tisha Howdy again - - - OK now, Frank, I've got performance anxiety. My first flash was that you had something silly and cartoony there. Not bad at all. Though silly in terms of the word playful, as opposed to meaning daft. It's one of those wooden russian dolls where you take apart the first, and there is another smaller one inside, and then another ever smaller one inside that, and so on. Each doll has a cartoon-style colour picture of an animal painted on it. Yours, Frank PS Forgive me for sounding thick, but what's an altar in the context you give? 1592 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 20, 2003, 21:49:07 Tisha: I changed the object. I know we are speaking in public and all that attendent potential nonsense if you "get it wrong" but who gives a damn. What would you say is the object? It is about the same size as the previous object but with some other object that doesn't quite go. Tell me, my friend. Yours, Frank 1591 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 20, 2003, 22:58:40 quote: So, Frank, after I have COMPLETELY humiliated myself with this personal exercise I will try to find something out about what you've put on your computer, something more descriptive than square/rectangular and black/dark. Good day . . . and anyone else who wants to give it a whirl, go for it, I won't mind! It was a book, though I did not just select it for its shape (very rectangular). I did not know what was written in the book as my wife had just finished it. When I typed the words about something that didn't quite go I thought I was being slightly "clever" in a sort of testing sense. I did not mean that to come across in the sense that I was "messing" with you in any way. I'm ever so sorry such has appeared to be the case. Okay, I swapped the book with another object. It's about 11cm deep and about 6cm high... any takers? Yours, Frank 1590 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 20, 2003, 23:40:18 I never meant to imply two objects. Just the one and a "missing factor". There was one object and a missing aspect that didn't quite go. Not another object. Okay, so I removed that and have a single object on top of my computer for consideration... anyone? Yours, Frank 1589 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Excellent essay on nature of the Universe on: May 21, 2003, 09:10:53 quote: Originally posted by Noxerus Although this article is not new to me, I must say that it is a wonderful one to get one started in the wonderful world of metaphysics [ ] Agreed. I also like the way the author draws parallels with the more traditional, mystical lines of thinking yet still displays good science. Oh, just yesterday I discovered the author has written a book along similar lines. Has anyone read it? Yours, Frank 1588 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 21, 2003, 09:57:20 James: Yes, naturally objective here is to have fun. The thread was getting a little heavy for one reason or another. So I, for one, thought a little lightheartedness would be a good thing. A few observations thus far. 1) I've said many times that I haven't got a mystical bone in my body. So what I'm finding is I'm reacting mentally against Tisha's notion of an object on an "altar". Therefore I wondered, Tisha, if you could place an object on some ordinary table, say. 2) Another difficulty I've found is keeping my mind entirely open, and just somehow allow the neccessary information to come into mind. There is a strong tendency for the creative-fantasy side of my imagination to want to fill the void, so to speak. In Tisha's case, every time I try I just get an impression of two large, lit candles each in a fairly ornate silver holder coupled with a string of beads of some kind. 3) When guessing the object I think it would be easier if, at first, we attempt to identify more the class of the object, rather than go into specific detail. For example, in your case James, rather than being specific about a bird. If you had taken a step back from this and said, "An animal of some kind" you would have been correct. As it was a small wood carving of a hippopotamus. Okay, purists may argue we are widening the goalposts just to make it easier. But what the heck. 4) Also, to provide some kind of basis, what I have done is folded a sheet of white, A4 paper in half. This I placed on the top of my computer, upon which the object is placed. I wondered if all participants could do this as well so we had some kind of common start point. Okay, so I placed another object on the paper, any ideas? Yours, Frank 1587 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 21, 2003, 21:55:47 quote: Originally posted by clandestino is it a small toy car ? Ok, I've joined in the exercise too. I have an object placed on a folded sheet of white A4, just beneath my monitor. Any ideas ? I'm sorry, no it is not. As to your object I just don't know... something red? No, don't say I'll give it another go tomorrow. Yours, Frank 1586 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 22, 2003, 08:59:33 Clandestino: A small radio? Yours, Frank 1585 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 22, 2003, 09:03:16 quote: Originally posted by Tisha But there is more . . . the top of this dresser is filled with meaningful objects. Try again! Problem is, now I know what it is I keep thinking of all kinds of objects that may be on there! Whereas before all I kept seeing were these two candles and a string of beads. Yours, Frank 1584 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Matrix Reloaded on: May 22, 2003, 10:39:47 While I'm not a great fan of "action movies", curious to see what all the recent hype is about, I happened to watch the original Matrix film last night. It was way too violent and aggressive for my tastes. But there were some very interesting parallels that could be drawn between Astral/Physical. Especially the scene where the big chap was explaining about the way we create a picture of our reality from the electrical signals fed to us from our Physical senses. As such, the basic thread of the story had an interesting and intriguing angle. And it's a shame (IMO) the producers failed to take this side of things much further. Rather than substituting the parts that didn't quite add-up, and linking scenes that didn't quite flow, with aggressive shootouts and gratuitous violence. I assume the latest offering is just more of the same squared. Yours, Frank 1583 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anybody help me with proof? on: May 23, 2003, 08:45:54 quote: Originally posted by James Davis which leads me to jump in with my latest try at Frank's object: some sort of plant. James James: no, sorry. Clandestino: I got a strong impression this morning it was money. Yours, Frank 1581 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Negs on: May 23, 2003, 10:31:15 quote: Originally posted by Nay UNTIL....There I am again, looking at that dirt road. I swear I laughed out loud... I couldn't believe I was back in this dream that made me scared sh**less. I turned around..yep..sure enough Cemetary..[ ] I knew the dead people were on their way...but cha know what I did?...YEP! I jumped right off that wall and walked down the dirt road and never looked back! I have NEVER had that dream again.[ ] I remember in the dream I was just FED UP! Fed up of feeling awful for HOURS after waking. I guess I faced my fears that day! Thanks for listen! [ ] Nay. Nay: Yes, I can relate to this only too well. That's basically what happened to me in the beginning. I would project to the Astral and I'd repeatedly find myself in all manner of dumb situations where I'd be fighting this and running away from that. One day, while within a projection, I just thought sod-it! I was fighting alongside others in this world-war-one style trench. The enemy were charging at us and no amount of shooting would stop them. I was about to get stabbed by a bayonet. A part of me knew I had reached this kind of point before, ever so many times; a point in the projection where it all went completely out of control and something particularly nasty was about to happen to me; but the moment before it did I'd be zapped back to Physical. This particular morning, for some reason, I just thought sod-it! Stab me or shoot me if you want! I truly don't care anymore! I'm completely sick and tired of having these experiences! And I simply walked away. To my utter amazement, that whole gruesome scene just vanished and I found myself walking beside lake. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. Somewhere, someone was playing the most romantic classical music I ever heard. For a moment I was confused. Then the realisation dawned: all those years I'd been fighting my own fears, and the pattern became ever so clear. The way it would start with something small; then I'd think something bad was about to happen; then it did; and I'd expect it to get worse; then it did; etc., etc.; to the point where I couldn't take it any more and I'd have to retreat back to Physical double-quick. That morning I realised, within the Astral, Thought equals Direct Action; thoughts become things; thoughts fuel events; emotions come to life. Since then I never looked back. It was a major turning point for me. Yours, Frank 1580 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / From LD to the astral on: May 23, 2003, 11:35:22 quote: Originally posted by goingslow What are techniques you all use for turning a lucid dream into an astral projection? An Astral projection is very similar to a lucid dream in respect of how the Astral looks. However, there is one *major* difference between the two: which is your level of realisation ability and degree of conscious control. For years, projecting from "waking up" within a dream was a method I used to good effect. My basic test was to check whether I could think independently of my surroundings. So the moment I realised I was dreaming I'd immediately become completely still, both in body and in mind. At which point any dream elements would fade away. Another thing I still do is to regularly stop what I am doing and ask myself a question about something. This prevents me from getting mentally carried away by my surroundings. The fact you couldn't fly is a strong indication you had quite a good level of realisation about you. The greater the level of realisation, generally the harder it is to fly. Well, that's what I found. It's because there is a part of you which is saying something like, "Me, fly? Don't be daft there's no way I can fly! That's all dreamland stuff!" So you remain grounded. But the ability does come with practice. Once you establish mental control, I found it best just to accept the surroundings as being "real" in the sense of not being just dreamscape. It is natural to doubt. But releasing feelings of doubt, within the Astral environment, will tend to bring about circumstances which reinforce that doubt. Which is obviously counter-productive. I found it far better, rather than scouting around for proof, just to remain neutral and interact with the people there. After a while you will have come across across loads of circumstances where you just knew you could not possibly be dreaming, or otherwise creating the situation. Like where you came across the man singing in the sauna and you knew there was no way you were making that up. The couple you saw were probably guides. Chances are, their actions were designed to cause you to come to that very conclusion. Yours, Frank 1579 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / INTENSE vibrations............help? on: May 23, 2003, 13:00:19 quote: Originally posted by strwrs_guru they used to be centered in my chest but lately they have moved to my head. There is an energy centre (Chakra) about the centre of the chest. This can give vibrations when ignited and it feels like your physical heart is beating really fast; but it isn't; it just feels that way. quote: This is where i need some input........my vibrations are all over but they are extremely intense in my head This is where I feel them too with varying degrees of intensity. quote: I am trying to achieve a conscious OBE but all i wind up having is a lucid dream. A lucid dream is an Astral projection. When you get to this stage, concentrate on getting your level of realisation ability and degree of conscious awareness to at least the same level as you have whilst awake and alert on the Physical. quote: how close am i to an OBE? (i may have already had one, but i am mixing it up with a lucid dream.) Yes, you are mixing it up. The nearest thing to an Astral projection is a lucid dream. When you are lucid dreaming you are Astral projecting. Only with a much reduced level of ability to realise the circumstances you are in, and a much reduced level of conscious control. Yours, Frank 1578 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / INTENSE vibrations............help? on: May 24, 2003, 11:31:23 quote: Originally posted by strwrs_guru thanks frank, but i do seem to have the same level of consciousness except for direct focus. i have had about 7 lucid dreams of flying. i swear it feels like i leave my body behind because i am aware of being able to defy the laws of pysics. i immediately try to fly and sure enough i do. but i get so wrapped up in the awsome feeling that i forget to do the things that i was planning to do. This is typical of what happens where a person gets so wrapped up with all the awesome feelings they get carried away by circumstances. Which is why I always advise that, once you find yourself projecting, immediately come to a halt both in body and in mind. Another thing I would advise is not to plan to do all that much beforehand. Travelling to specific places takes quite a high degree of skill and can be very hit and miss for a novice. The sensations you describe are very normal. They are scary at first because, for example, with a falling sensation it really does feel exactly like you were falling from a height within the Physical. Plus, all manner of beliefs can get wrapped up in the experience. Thinking you were being pulled into some kind of hell is by no means ridiculous. On the contrary, it is a very natural and normal thing to think under the circumstances. As such, what tends to happen is your protective sense of awareness kicks in and zaps you out of it. That sensation of movement, at varying speeds in whatever direction, I feel in around 90% of my projections. So rather than think of it as "falling" or being "pulled" and so forth, it might be more useful if you were to think of it as "travelling" instead. Rather than think something like, "Oh sh*t something is pulling me from behind!" Instead just think, "Oh great, off we go then. I wonder where we're going today?" And just let the experience flow. Which I know is a heck of a lot easier to say, than it is to do at the time. But it does come with practice. Your question about real-time zone travel I'm not sure about as virtually all my experiences take place outside this zone. Yours, Frank 1577 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / From LD to the astral on: May 24, 2003, 11:32:27 quote: Originally posted by goingslow Thanks everyone for replying.. Frank, I really liked what you put about the singing people being guildes. The song wasn't even in english it was something I didnt understand but it wasn't jibberish... and it sounded good. That hadn't even occured to me. I think ill definitely remember your advice on not doubting it because that makes sense. Reason why it instantly came to mind is because I have a person called Harath who has become a regular guide. When he was very first trying to get me to "open up" to the whole guide concept, he would create these little confusing circumstances which would immediately stimulate my curiosity, and make me stop and think in various ways. Within the Astral, fears come to life; excitement comes to life; doubt comes to life; etc., etc. Which is why it is essential to remain neutral and just retain an air of mild curiosity. There have been people I've communicated with in the past who have projected, and all their doubts about the reality of their experience have been justified to the point where nothing can now convince them it was nothing more than a simple dream. Yours, Frank 1576 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Confused!! on: May 24, 2003, 11:59:38 quote: Originally posted by DemonicaBeatnik Hello! I'm confused about the whole body-awareness thing, especially during vibrations. I have read in a few places that you must not, in any circumstances be aware of your body and must try to keep your awareness out of your body. To me it all boils down to what you focus on. I aim to shift my focal point of awareness upwards to a point about the centre of my forehead; as opposed to where it normally is, which is at the backs of my physical eyes. I never think in terms of either being aware or being unaware of any kind of "body" as I find it grossly counter-productive. But that doesn't mean everyone will feel that way, naturally. Basically, it boils down to finding a way that works and no two individuals are the same in this respect. Which is why I always advise people not to take what they read too literally (my work included). The art is in mixing and matching concepts you, personally, feel comfortable with. With the end goal of developing a projection solution tailored to yourself. quote: I realise it may be different for different people but what are your views on this? At the moment I'm stuck lying there wondering where to put my awareness and when the vibrations start I end up panicking and losing them! If you are reaching the stage where you feel vibrations then just keep doing whatever it is you do. Because it appears to be working. Don't worry, everyone panics at first. The key is to allow yourself to experience the experience. Which is ever so easy to say, and ever so tricky to do. Mentally clinging to the Physical is a common problem. Think of it like you were standing at the edge of an abyss: all you have to do is close your eyes, take a deep breath and jump. Yours, Frank 1575 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Vibrations on: May 26, 2003, 12:22:12 Sounds good. Once the vibrational state is reached it's very easy to put a spoke in the works. Basically, you need to just remain neutral and allow the experience to unfold. In other words, there is no need to employ any kind of "exit technique" or give out any mental instructions. At this stage, doing such things can be self-defeating. And remember always to not make any snap-judgements about whatever happens. What should come next is a feeling of movement. This is a critical stage because your protective sense of awareness, chances are, will shout: ENOUGH!!! Whereupon it slaps on the brakes and you get zapped back to C1 consciousness. When I say a feeling of movement, it feels like your body suddenly developed the ability to defy gravity and you literally took-off from where you were laying, and began heading out in whatever direction. As you feel yourself move off, simply continue to allow the experience to unfold. You may chop and change direction so don't be too hasty to think that's it, if you come to a halt. You may stop for a second or two and begin moving again. In a way it feels very much like you are being guided by remote control. Again, throughout this travelling stage, you need to remain neutral and just be mildly curious about where you may be heading. If you come to any snap-judgements, it tends to put a spoke in the works as it spoils the continuity of it all. The best progression is made when you just allow yourself to be guided by the experience. Which is ever so easy to say, but it's quite a tricky mental balancing act (but it all comes good with practice). Also, if you have your sight switched on (don't worry if it isn't at first) your scenary may change. You may find yourself flying through huge swirling clouds of all kinds of colours. Then you might come to what looks like a colourful wall composed of millions of the same kind of shape. As you get closer suddenly a tunnel might open and you find yourself flying through it. Which might open up into something else, and so forth. Unfortunately, the changing nature of the scenary can sometimes give you the frightful notion you are about to crash into something. But try not to worry about it. This still happens to me on occasion. For example, you'll be flying through a tunnel and it looks like a dead end. Your protective sense of awareness may start to panic thinking you are about to get hurt from crashing into a solid wall. Problem is, as I've mentioned before, when we project we don't automatically develop some super sense of conscious awareness all primed and geared for use within non-physical realms. So if things get a bit sticky while on the move, I just simply close my eyes or quickly turn around so I can no-longer see what's coming. If you manage to see it through, then you should come to a halt within some non-physical realm somewhere. Well, when I say come to a halt you'll probably crash-land and spoil it the first few times. But when you get the landing right, don't be surprised to find yourself surrounded by people, all milling around doing things that look very normal in a planet-Earth sense. This is where the fun begins: breathing the incredible atmosphere of the non-physical realms; chatting with the residents; and maybe meeting a few non-physical friends you forgot you had. It's all very thrilling stuff. Yours, Frank 1574 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Imaginary Friends on: May 26, 2003, 12:35:19 What we generally call our imagination works in two ways. The first is a kind of channel that connects to non-physical realms; the second operates in a more local sense where we can create fantasies and/or imagine different mental scenarios. The former tends to get suppressed as we get older. So it is quite common for young children to have the ability to communicate through this channel to a greater or lesser extent. The influence of the parents normally determines whether the child will develop this ability, or whether they teach the child to grow out of it. In modern-day society, parents generally get very worried when their offspring begin "hearing voices". So this innante ability is not normally something they wish to develop; prefering instead to have their offspring sent to various institutions, over a number of years, having them brainwashed into becoming financially productive members of the industrial-technological collective. The second way of using the imagination remains effective, no doubt due to its use being actively promoted; as it comes in handy in all manner of circumstances and allows us to look- ahead in our thinking. In other words we imagine what would occur if this and that circumstance came about. However, people also tend to dismiss these mental scenarios as mere figments of the imagination. But they do actually exist somewhere or other within non-physical realms of reality, to various extents. For example, people who have problems maintaining their mental/emotional balance tend to create all manner of "figments of their imagination" on the lower realms. Unfortunately, when they project their conscious awareness within these places, they often meet these components head on. Every thought we have ripples through layers of non-physical reality. Okay, what people choose to think is their business. But I do feel if people realised just how "real" their thoughts are, and just how far-reaching an impact they have, they would be mighty careful about what they thought about. Everything is real within the realm of reality in which it is created. Yours, Frank 1573 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Do our souls have personality? on: May 26, 2003, 14:38:16 There is a lot of misunderstanding about what constitutes a "soul". Layer upon layer of religious conditioning has led to much confusion. Your soul is simply the mind part of you which is currently operating through your physical body. All your memories, thoughts, personality, and so forth, are a product of the mind. The mind is retained after the physical body dies. With no physical body to occupy, the mind automatically begins operating through whatever "body" it requires wherever it happens to be resident. Most people end up within the 4th density Exchange Territories. Here people tend to occupy a body which tends to be modelled on their previous physical body. Same goes with the houses they build and the lifestyle they they lead. All of which makes the place look very planet-Earth like. Yours, Frank 1572 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My OBE on: May 26, 2003, 16:06:03 Spheres: I'm never one to pour cold water on someone's fire, but it sounds to me like all you did was meet some member of your non-physical family who is normally resident within 5th dimensional reality. Problem is, these people can often appear as a jumbled mass of sparkly lights. Plus, they radiate a kind of energy that makes you feel all humble and gooey inside. They don't mean to do it, it's just inherrent in their nature. The feeling of nakedness is common too. They know everything about us because the respective minds are connected. So every little secret is laid bare. Following these kinds of encounters it is only natural to start thinking along the lines of having met with some kind of God. Yours, Frank 1571 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / junk food addictions/effects on astral projection on: May 26, 2003, 16:47:39 What people put into their own body is their business, IMO. But I can only wholeheartedly agree with the statement, "Natural barriers are there to protect the novice from operating in dimensional areas they are not equipped to experience." Yours, Frank 1569 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Vibrations on: May 27, 2003, 13:40:06 quote: Originally posted by DOA I did notice that I fell asleep for a few sec before this. That happened last time too I fell asleep for a few sec first. DOA Seldom is it that I can achieve a perfectly smooth Phasing transition with absolutely no gaps whatsoever. Often I'll experience a little lapse in consciousness immediately prior to the vibrational state. I think this must be a normal thing. As for the time it took you to achieve this state: in my case, sometimes I'll just fall into it in a few minutes and sometimes it may take an hour or more. I'm still trying to find out what the reason is. This morning, for instance, I was projecting for fun. Had six incredible experiences over a period of about 3 hours. However, last week was difficult, to say the least. I actually had several blank days which is most unusual for me. But on the Saturday morning of last week I had my longest ever projection. One which lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes (in terms of Earth-time). On the whole, I would say it has got easier over the years. But I just want to be able to just lay back and do it right away. Oh well, dream on Frank. Yours, Frank 1568 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Vibrations on: May 28, 2003, 10:50:27 Full marks for persistence! With me, reaching the vibrational stage was rare when actually listening to the rundown. There were times when I could have let go and projected, but I resisted the temptation and continued with the CD. Then I'd try for real without the CD. The CD, for me, acted best as a kind of mental primer. Something which got me in the mood, so to speak, and served to focus my attention on the task in hand. From what you say I think you might be going down the same route. Ideally, you should be aiming for no gaps in consciousness. However, as I mentioned in my previous post, this is difficult to achieve. With me, the gaps in conscious awareness got progressively less and shorter to the point where, nowadays, they hardly affect my progress at all. Another thing I would strongly suggest you try is, when you get to the vibrational state, simply remain neutral and allow the experience to unfold. Ideally (while I fully respect the fact it is your experience and all that) your goal should be (IMO) to move directly away from the real-time zone around your body and travel directly to the Astral. I say this because the Astral is where all the fun-stuff takes place. Okay, it's nice being able to wander about your room and maybe fly over the rooftops in your vicinity. But believe me, all that pales into insignificance by comparison to what you can experience within non- physical realms proper. To go directly to Astral, you need to allow the vibrations to increase in pitch and intensity and, at some point, you will take-off and land within the Astral somewhere. When you next reach the vibrational stage, rather than trying to roll out of your physical body and things like that, simply lay back and relax into the vibrations. With me, I imagine it like I were bathing in them. Then, while the vibrations are continuing, start to breathe in and out, slowly and deeply, and see what happens. If the same happens with you, as it does with me, you should find the breathing has some rather interesting effects vibration-wise. Note: when I say breathe you won't actually be physically breathing in the way you will feel like you are. Though it will come across to you as being the exact same action. In the same way, the vibrations feel like your whole physical body is vibrating. But it isn't actually. It just feels like it is. Best of luck in your attempts. Yours, Frank 1566 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / astral sex on: May 29, 2003, 10:47:46 Not just a possibility but an actuality. I've been fortunate enough to experience the phenomenon a number of times and the Physical version pales by comparison. Sex, within non-physical realms, as you might expect is more a meeting of minds rather than bodies. The act is especially sensual as you do not experience your own pleasure directly. You experience it through the other mind. They, in turn, experience their pleasure through your mind. Because the pleasure you feel is directly proportional to the pleasure you give; and vice-versa; the minds get locked in an ever more pleasurable experience. When I first came across this phenomenon, the beginning stage felt very much like a Physical-style orgasm. I remember thinking, ho-hum I recognise this feeling, so what's new. However, the similarity very quickly ended upon my realising the orgasmic feeling was continuing to build in intensity... and it wasn't stopping! I don't know if there is any formal "end" to the experience. I haven't managed to bear the sheer intensity of the feeling for long enough to see it through. Well, if it can be "seen through" that is. Yours, Frank 1565 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / lucid to projection on: May 29, 2003, 11:05:10 quote: Originally posted by Psypunk Anyone else ever experience this transition from lucid dream to astral projection? So far I've had 100% success rate with it. Yes, loads of times, and it is a very valid way of projecting provided you go about it the right way. Before I started investigating the Phasing approach "waking up" during a dream was a method I used for years. It was these experiences which taught me that dreams were actually Astral projections, but with a very much reduced level of realisation ability and conscious control. Yours, Frank 1564 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Silver cord and life after death on: May 29, 2003, 13:05:25 I always say that those who think once they die that's it, nothing more, are in for a mighty big surprise. The act of conscious projection is very similar to the act of physical-body death. The latter holding the advantage as there's no getting snapped back to Physical just as things start getting interesting. One of the major lessons a person learns from being able to explore non-physical realms, which also gives them a mega-advantage, is how the Physical realm is an end result. Not, as people in the main assume a start point. There is no such thing as "death" as far as consciousness is concerned, and no energy can run- out. (Even basic Physics tells us energy can neither be created nor destroyed.) All that happens is a person changes their energetic form and begins living within an environment pertaining to that form. The process is really quite straightforward. Unfortunately, thousands of years of mystical- release-religious teaching and/or conditioning has shrouded what is the very basic, simple and natural process of physical-body death. There is no rule, for instance, that says a person goes either to heaven or to hell after x-number of days. If only non-physical life were so cut and dried! Though by that I‟m not implying it is all more complex than we can think (as touched on by the original poster). My experience of non- physical realms has taught me that it is more a question of it all being a lot more simple and a lot more straightforward than we can currently think it to be. Once the physical body dies a person simply continues living through a body of a type which pertains to the non-physical region they happen to be resident within. The environment provides all the necessary "energy" for their body to function just as the Physical environment provides for us while we are Physical. The way in which the respective environments provide this sustenance is different. But similar principles apply. Someone who has learnt to consciously project within non-physical realms, has a major advantage due to them being familiar with the process; their consciousness has learnt how to operate confidently and comfortably within non-physical realms; thus giving them far wider degrees of freedom. A person, whose consciousness has not fully learnt how to operate within non-physical realms, will have varying degrees of difficulty depending on their level of development. While this situation is steadily changing, the majority of people either need (or continue to feel the need) to become incarnate once again. People who miss the point by too large a margin, can end up within a heaven or a hell of their choosing: which is one end of the scale; the other being the growing numbers of people who have graduated from Earth-life University who now live on the “next level” so to speak, in preparation for further graduations to successive levels. Yours, Frank 1563 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Silver cord and life after death on: May 29, 2003, 17:23:13 I always thought the notion of a "silver cord" an interesting concept. I suppose it stems from the more traditional, mystical view of projecting in some way outside the Physical body. In the sense of leaving it behind. Such a notion naturally brought forth all kinds of other ideas too. The idea that your physical body could be "possessed" by some "spirit" while you were "out" is just one example of many. I've been fortunate in that I have experienced hundreds and hundreds of projections. Never once have I come across a "cord" (silver or otherwise). Maybe I'm just cord-blind or something, who knows. Even if there were some kind of mystical piece of string connecting me with my physical body while I was projecting, this would be more for my physical body's benefit more than anything. Like I made clear in my previous post (and in several other posts to this BBS) the Physical realm is an end result, not a start point. I think the notion of an "afterlife" is gibberish too. So on that point we concur. Though perhaps for different reasons. A person has only one life which is an infinite cycle. Hence there can be no "before" or "after". These are just physical-realm constructs. By the same token there is no "life after death". We are all as dead now as we will ever be. Which is not my phrase but, when I read it, I thought how flaming true is that. Yours, Frank 1562 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Silver cord and life after death on: May 30, 2003, 11:23:35 quote: 1. After death, is it we move on to other realms (heaven hell whatever) or reincarnate? There is no death. You are as dead now as you will ever be. The place you will find yourself living at, when you shed your current physical body, is down to you; as it is largely determined by your current level of development. If I may be so bold as to fly in the face of centuries of religious and/or mystical conditioning; a person‟s level of development has little to do with a person‟s level of belief in some kind of deity. What happens with people generally is there‟s an initial period of confusion once they shed their physical body. The degree of confusion is more or less proportional to the extent to which they believed physical-body death was the end of their existence. The ideal situation is for a person to have already familiarised themselves with the various non- physical realms beforehand. For these people, physical-body death holds no fears, no anxiety, and no confusion. More often than not, they experience a seamless transition from one realm to the next. The place they head for, with be a place familiar to them as they will have prepared this path well in advance. As such, these people have maximum freedom of movement coupled with a wide range of lifestyle choices. Funnily enough, here is where having mild religious beliefs can give a person an advantage. People who believe in the concept of an “afterlife” in a sort-of mainstream sense will let go of their physical body with far less anxiety and fear. This helps them tremendously. Plus, they are at least expectant of something else to come. So the confusion factor is very much reduced. However, people who are deeply religious can run into difficulty (though they might not see it that way for quite some time) as they often get caught in the lower regions, where there exists all manner of “heavens” and “hells”. Within these regions a person‟s freedom of movement and lifestyle choices are restricted by the rules, regulations, laws, and so forth, of the prevailing regime. The worst cases are generally where a person steadfastly believes that once the physical body dies that is it. They firmly believe there is no afterlife of any description, and this physical reality is all that exists. These people tend to suffer the most confusion following physical-body death. Many of them can be seen just wandering around aimlessly trying to work out what happened to them. Some get together in groups to pool ideas and, after a while, begin to make some kind of sense of it all. Some eventually work it out for themselves. Others are rescued by guides and the like. People caught within the bounds of this predicament, have little freedom of movement and no real lifestyle choices. quote: If there is no beginning nor end to us, why is it i can only remember myself from the moment i was born? Normally i can only remember events that took place after i was 10 years and older but under certain conditions i can access memories from 5 month, 2 years, 5 years. why is it there is nothing before that? This is a natural condition which most of us experience. The problem is you are attempting to sense non-physical reality information with your physical senses: which doesn‟t work. In a way it‟s like trying to measure electrical voltage with a tape measure. It can‟t be done. You have to use a sensing device appropriate to the matter in question. Likewise, in order to be able to sense non-physical reality experiences, you need to attune your non-physical reality senses. This is basically what Astral projection is all about. quote: this whole reincarnation/heaven misconceptions sounds so confusing and ridiculous that i cant even begin to understand those who came up with it and get away pretending to believe it. Like I always say: those who think once they die that‟s it, end of all existence, are in for a mighty big surprise. quote: What if after death is like one never ending dream and if you can't master lucid dreaming in life you won't be even aware of yourself. This is a common problem. There are significant numbers of people who believe that death is like going to sleep and never waking up; quite a number of whom do, in fact, end up getting caught in a kind of never-ending dream. People from the Moen School, for example, specialise in rescuing people trapped in these kinds of circumstances. quote: What happens to animals when they die? Do they go to heaven or reincarnate like we do yes? no? NO? But what about us? We ARE animals, we have 98% similarity of our genes to that of chimpanzee. The only thing separating many people is that they learned how to talk, shave and play with tools. You said “no” not me. Advanced incarnates, chances are, will have been “animals” at some stage or other. I‟m no expert on this as I specialise more in the human-consciousness side of things. But I do know there are multiple orders of consciousness. Human consciousness is, therefore, just one of quite a number. I don‟t know how many there are exactly (I suspect it‟s a lot). And each order of consciousness undergoes whatever life-cycle pertains to each respective order. quote: Some people have developed higher consciousness in our brains, this brain circuits are physical and will die, i.e. stop functioning the moment life support stops. The only way i can think of which would allow higher consciousness to stay with us if our energy - our soul, had some sort of non biological imprint from it. People have confused the functioning of the mind and brain for centuries. Basically, the brain runs the physical body and that‟s basically it. In a nutshell, the physical body is simply a vehicle which allows the mind to operate within and, therefore, experience this Physical realm directly: as opposed to being some kind of onlooker. quote: And just think about other forms of death, violent death. Someone shoots you with a gun. It takes great deal of focus and optimal health condition to reach non physical state, how do you think it will be possible when half of your head is missing? When the physical-body dies, the mind retracts. Often the mind understands what is happening and swiftly reacts to the physical-body, death event. There are times when things don‟t quite happen to plan as, after all, we do enjoy an element of free will. Which is why people from the Moen-school, and such like, can have rather a busy time of things during natural disasters for instance. Yours, Frank 1560 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Questions about dimensions on: June 01, 2003, 10:00:55 There is confusion here due to the fact that science generally labels "time" as the 4th dimension. The next level back from the Physical has been termed "4th dimension" also. Personally, while I've used both, to make a distinction I prefer the term "density" in place of "dimension" to describe the non-physical realm. Which to me makes things somewhat clearer. Yours, Frank 1559 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Silver cord and life after death on: June 01, 2003, 10:29:49 quote: Originally posted by Tyler A few more questions. Is it possible to access data bank on who or what i was before my physical human life? Yes, very possible. quote: So there is a solid chance i might loose my higher consiosness (AND i heard meomory too) if i die? And it will be up to a chance or luck whether i regain it ot not. No, the chances of that happening are extremely remote. Most people get rescued by relatives, friends, guides and so forth. People There are very helpful and many work ever so hard to help those having difficulties making the transition. quote: Usually when i have normal dreams i.e. non projection ones, i find my subconsiosness in a giant mess, things and thoughts come up at absolute random and even if i do become lucid for a brief moment i can't help but say "bonk it" and just ignore what ever my subconsiosness is up to. If that's the state i'm going to find myself if i die .... NO THANK YOU [ ] But i guess it wont be the case since when i actually have a dream where i'm projecting things get better. The latter is a good sign. Although I can project with a fairly high degree of proficiency I still do dream. Sometimes I find myself dreaming all manner of abstract nonsense. However, once my sense of conscious awareness comes into play, all the abstract stuff dissipates more or less right away. The people who have the difficulties tend to be those who, when their sense of conscious awareness comes into play the situation gets worse. You'll find a number of examples of people who have this kind of experience on the psychic self-defence forum. I did take a look at your post about human sacrifices but it's not really my thing, sorry. Yours, Frank 1557 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Haha! Mr. Bruce knows phasing! on: June 02, 2003, 22:20:23 You may well be able to translate your idea of how the two systems relate, but the realms themselves evolve just as the Physical realm evolves. So the F27 region as Monroe first perceived it has changed a heck of a lot over the years since. Yours, Frank 1556 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / a question to Frank or others on: June 03, 2003, 09:36:39 With me I begin to perceive swirling clouds of colour and various textures and so on. Following which there is a distinct forwards progression into the 3D blackness. So I tend to look at it that way around. Like I was propelling myself into it. Or you could look at it the other way around like you were being drawn into it. Either way makes no difference, I guess. Sometimes I'll just float in the blackness as I find it mentally relaxing. But normally I just pass through this stage. It helps if you have a fairly strong idea about what it is you want to do. Within the Astral, navigating is all about using intent. When I say "intent" I mean you develop a clear picture in mind and wish for it to happen. If you do this at the 3D blackness stage you should find some kind of portal will open up and you just flow along it. Though, chances are, you will need to practice a number of times before you get the hang of it. At first, simply float in the blackness and think of something very basic. Like, sitting by a lake or walking in the countryside, or whatever. It can be anything you wish but make it very basic and simple. In other words, don't try to do anything detailed like visiting someone in particular at some specific place. Doing such a thing can be quite tricky, so it's best not to aim too high too quickly. Develop a picture in mind and place the intent, i.e. mentally wish that you were doing such a thing. As you do so, you might see an area of the blackness becomes not quite so black as the rest. Maybe a swirling greyness begins to develop in one part. Maybe a light begins shining in the distance. Whatever comes about, focus your attention on it. As you do so, the transition experience should begin to unfold. At this stage you don't really need to do anything. Simply remain open to the experience and allow it to happen. After what feels like a few seconds you should find yourself within some non-physical place which, hopefully, relates to your initial intent in some way. Yours, Frank 1555 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Need help please! on: June 03, 2003, 11:05:43 It's very early days for you, and the difficulties you are experiencing are ever so normal. Astral projection is an activity which requires a high degree of mental control. Which does take practice to achieve. Okay, you may be lucky and find you have a knack for it. But it seems most people have to practice for a number of years in order to develop their abilities. What you are experiencing is what I call the Fish Out Of Water Effect. It is caused because when we project, we don't suddenly develop some super sense of conscious awareness all primed and geared for Astral use. The sense of conscious awareness we take with us to the Astral, is exactly the same as the one we have while Physical. Which means we tend to behave like a fish out of water for the first however-many times we project. The actual number naturally varies depending on the innate abilities of each individual. From my early experiences what I would advise is, upon finding yourself "out of body" (to quote a popular description), first practice becoming mentally still. People flit about here and there because their thoughts are flitting about here and there; people lack clarity because they are experiencing mental confusion (which is why lack of sight is very common at first). I haven't read the book you mention. Though I have read about this notion of giving yourself some kind of mental command several times before. It can work because, I suppose, with some people it could well be that a sharp instruction to themselves would be enough to bring their thoughts to order, so to speak. At which point they would achieve the desired effect. But the actual command in itself achieves nothing. The basic problem comes about because a person is entering a realm where thought equals direct action. Which is why having a high degree of control over your thoughts is vital. People whose experiences consist of a smooth and controlled forwards progression: do so because their thoughts are flowing in the same highly-controlled way. In other words, your experiences are basically a reflection of your own thought patterns. So people tend to be at the mercy of themselves, at first. But the good news is it all comes good with practice. Yours, Frank 1551 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Casual Meetings with Guidance and Changed View on: June 03, 2003, 17:36:40 quote: Originally posted by sweet_celestial_sounds Here's a quick one folks... "But should I get the tapes?" There is no shoulds; there is only what you want. Very interesting post. Especially as, early on, I was corrected in the exact same manner! I was told, "There is no such thing as could have, should have, might have, may have - strike that nonsense from your thinking - there is only what you want." Yours, Frank 1547 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / a question to Frank or others on: June 03, 2003, 20:44:44 You are both very welcome. It may pay you to look up Ginny's past posts too. Because I'm sure she talks about the days when she'd just be floating in the blackness wondering what to do next. And then she found the answer. Best of luck. Yours, Frank 1544 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vibrations question on: June 03, 2003, 21:27:19 It is generally accepted that the vibrations are a symptom of projection. As such, they are not an end in themselves. I think it was Tisha who once said they can feel like sitting on a very unbalanced spin-dryer revolving at top speed. Then again, at the other end of the scale, people have perceived them as a mild kind of buzzing sensation. Yours, Frank 1541 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Vibrations on: June 04, 2003, 21:06:44 quote: Originally posted by sweet_celestial_sounds Hey Frank. I read the post of *** (If anyone knows please tell me.) and he said the same thing, that breathing in these states helps. He said that taking deep breaths kind of pushes or pumps his nonphysical body out. Would you elaborate on this. I was under the impression that I would be breathing with my phyisical body. It makes sense- nonphysical is vibrating, nonphysical is breathing. Non-physical realms have an atmosphere which the non-physical body (pertaining to that realm) breathes. Of course, this breathing has got nothing to do with air molecules and lungs. But similar principles apply. Yours, Frank 1540 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe Technique Questions on: June 05, 2003, 13:40:58 Wow, that takes me back a while! I first came across this whole topic from by chance coming across Monroe's JOB over 20 years ago. I remember trying the exercise you mention and, to my surprise, I began getting projection symptoms. The difficulties you are having I'd say are typical of what can so easily happen when someone attempts to describe a non-physical process or event, using words. What Monroe is basically trying to get you to do, is to shift your focal point of awareness from behind your physical eyes, upwards into the expanse of your mind. If I may say, the first thing that strikes me about your post is you are taking the whole thing way too literally. In that event, what happens is you fall into the trap of engaging in an act of creative visualisation. This tends thwart your projection attempts. quote: Step 2: Imagine two lines starting from the far corner of your eyes (the outer corner such as the left corner of your left eye) merging into a center point 1 foot away from your forehead. Okay, so if it were not already this exercise firmly places your focal point of awareness behind your physical eyes. quote: [Questions: How big should the lines and the point be? I seem to be having some trouble visualizing a perfect point.. could you think of it as a pulsating ball of energy instead of a perfect to-scale point perhaps? This is where there is a tendency to start engaging in creative visualisation. The object of this exercise is not to visualise a “perfect to-scale point”. Though I can understand why your thoughts are flowing along these lines. Again, there is ever so much room for misunderstanding when attempting to describe these kinds of mental exercises using words. But, for now at least, all of us have no alternative. The object of this little exercise is, as I say, to get your focal point of awareness to the backs of your physical eyes. The object of the next two exercises is to shift that focal point of awareness upwards into the expanse of your mind. (Note: This puts you into what Monroe later termed the Focus-10 state.) quote: Step 3: Imagine the point shrinking as it is getting further away from your forehead, and then stop once it has traveled 6 feet from your forehead. It should now look like a 30 degree triangle (the left and right lines converging to the tip, or the point) with the bottom angle cut off. This exercise introduces the notion of shifting your focal point of awareness, or focal point of consciousness from one place to another but along the same plane. quote: [Questions: It doesn't really look like any 30-degree triangle I could relate to.. if I am interpreting this as a spatial exercise.. because it can be in any point in the darkness that is 6 feet away (6 feet away on the top, bottom, upper-right corner? Where do you think you would try to imagine this point or ball of energy)] It doesn‟t matter. The objective is the shifting of your focal point of consciousness along the same plane. quote: Step 4: Draw an imaginary line parallel to your body axis (a line going down the middle of your head I think, like you were cleanly bisecting your head (or third eye) in half) and then bring that point up and over your head until it is directly above the crown chakra (approximately 90 degrees). Be sure to move it up along that parallel axis line. I think of this as taking a pool triangle (the thing you use to align the balls in a pool game) and then lifting it up and over your head.. like you are wearing it. I think you should keep in mind that the point you are moving is like a jar containing vibrations, which you will reach out and grab. Here, Monroe tries to explain the trickiest part, i.e. shifting that focal point of consciousness upwards into the expanse of your mind. The reason why it is ever so tricky to explain, and why there is such room for misunderstanding, is because following the explanation people tend to visualise shifting their focus to a point in 3D physical space situated above the top of their head. What Monroe is trying to get people to do is to shift their focus of awareness from a point situated in 3D physical space immediately in front of them… to a point “above them” which is situated within 4D non-physical space within the expanse of their mind. quote: [Questions: This is often the most vague part of this technique.. and the most problematic area is how to move it up that high. When I try to visualize the point moving up my eyeballs start to hurt (I can't roll my eyes up that far.. and I'm wondering if you even should?). Even if I could do that, you could not see the point if it was directly above your head.. it would be out of your line of sight, thus how could you reach for it if you could not even see it (aching eyeballs ] Getting your physical eyes out of the projection equation can be tricky also. This is because during the time when you are awake and alert within the physical, your focal point of consciousness is situated at the backs of your physical eyes. As it shifts, your eyes tend to want to follow it. I had a *lot* of difficulty with this. For example, just as I would begin to make some progress and start to perceive the abstract imagery at the Monroe Focus-12 state, my physical eyes would immediately come to life and try and snatch a glance at whatever it was. This, of course, zapped me right out of the state I‟d tried for maybe an hour to get into: which was ever so frustrating! But it does come good with practice. Again, the point you need to perceive is not situated above your physical head. The point you need to perceive is up within the expanse of your mind. quote: Step 5: Reach up for that point and mentally pull the vibrations it contains back into your body. If it works, I think your forehead should be the first thing to vibrate. (Although is it vibrations or just intense CHI sensations). Just how would you pull them back.. just kind of mentally imagine the point "shooting" vibrations into you? I wouldn‟t bother too much with this step because, once the vibrations begin, it all tends to flow from then on. HTH Yours, Frank 1539 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Awakened Minds CD review on: June 05, 2003, 16:36:06 quote: Originally posted by DOA and if I had no response then Id try something else. But I am realizeing that it can take several months on one thing to get results... DOA Yes, for most of us who were not born with any kind of real talent for this, unfortunately that does appear to be the case. Problem is, this topic is not something you can just throw money at and it comes quicker. Like paying extra for next-day delivery and such like. Yours, Frank 1537 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / The desire to be special on: June 05, 2003, 16:50:16 This is an interesting thread. An observation I see examples of almost daily is where people fail to keep their emotions in check. It's almost like they are slaves to how they feel at any given moment. I cannot help but think if people were to step outside of the limits they have moulded themselves by, they'd be a whole load happier. Yours, Frank 1536 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / ASTRAL WAR... on: June 05, 2003, 16:57:53 quote: Originally posted by lucid_dreamer If it is in fact true that all living things posess a non-physical body with which they will inhabit the afterlife world, is it possible that then there will be the same problems with the same people in the Astral dimensions such as war and cruelty? Has anyone witnessed these occurences in their travels and experiences? The higher realms are inhabited by people who have shrugged off all notions of good-v-evil. I used to go on tours of the lower realms where all the drama takes place. I suppose these places held a kind of morbid fascination. But it really is nice now, projecting out and breathing in the atmosphere of the higher realms. It is so incredibly uplifting. Yours, Frank 1534 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Consciousness and Zen on: June 05, 2003, 17:32:46 Phasing is a word which sums up a particular process of shifting your focus of attention from the physical realm to the Astral (or whatever other non-physical realm). As such, Phasing is not some kind of end in itself. Yours, Frank 1530 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / a question to Frank or others on: June 07, 2003, 17:13:43 Sorry, I overlooked that point. I agree with Nay. There is an energy centre around the stomach area. When it is active you can often feel it like "butterflies" in the stomach. Or the feeling like when you go over a hump-back bridge in a car. Yours, Frank 1529 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vibrations ? on: June 07, 2003, 17:17:40 Imagine yourself sitting on an unbalanced spin-dryer rotating at high speed. That's what it can feel like, worst case. Or the other end of the scale is where you feel a light buzzing sensation throughout your body. Both situations are normally accompanied by a feeling of movement. Yours, Frank 1528 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Delta is OBE on: June 07, 2003, 17:41:26 quote: Originally posted by goingslow One thing I really wish is that someone would invent headphones you can sleep on your side with. My ears are killing me from those bud things and I hate having to sleep on my back the whole time. The way I use these CD's is go to sleep with them.. I usually wake up in an LD or trance state when the cd ends. I cant listen to them for a few days though.. cus of the ear thing. I use the tiny earpieces which fit within the ear. Plus, I use two pillows spaced a little way apart. That way I can lay on my side with my head supported and my ear neatly sits in the gap between the two pillows. Works a treat. Yours, Frank 1526 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe Technique Questions on: June 08, 2003, 12:49:05 quote: Originally posted by Graupel So basically when you are bringing the point upwards (from a point of focus perspective, not intense visualization), you are shifting your focus and thoughts up and into the vast expanse up within your brain Basically, yes. Though you say "brain" technically it's your mind. Your brain is the physical organ which has the job of running the physical body. quote: Simply put, is it just kind of like seeing straight in front of you (behind your physical eyes) and then focusing on what lies "above" inside your brain, and then holding your focus in that region? Yes. Like I say the problem people often have is they mistakenly visualise a point in 3D physical space somewhere in the region of the top of their physical head. When your mental focus should go upwards into the vast expanse of your mind. Looking back, I must have got the basic jist of this more or less from the outset. Although I approached the subject with an open mind and gave his technique a fair go, I can still remember the thought of "stepping out" of my physical body was an impossible notion for me to entertain. After some weeks of dwelling on the issue I figured Monroe was either insane, or he had stumbled onto something. Like, he'd discovered something truly amazing about some inner workings of the mind. After all, the workings of the mind were not then (and nor are they now) entirely known. So I figured that if his claims were true (and to me then, it was a BIG if) whatever triggers the phenemenon must be within the mind somewhere. So that's where I began focussing. As it turned out, my thinking was absolutely spot-on which was something of a lucky break for me. Basically, then, you switch your focus to whatever is happening within your mind. That is all Monroe is trying to describe in JOB. The technique given in that book also forms the basis of his later techniques. As your body relaxes and you focus away from the Physical more and more, you should begin to perceive subtle events taking place within your mind. These events tend to go through various stages which have certain charateristics. Monroe, in his later work, labelled these stages with an arbritary series of numbers he called Focus Levels. quote: Does your body need to be asleep / mind awake (condition D hypnagogic) for this to work.. or can you do it from practically any relaxed mental state? The act of shifting your mental focus automatically puts you in the mind-awake, body-asleep state. Reason being, where you place your point of focus becomes your reality. So if you focus away from the 3D physical, then that realm is no-longer a reality for you. Which means you no-longer have any sensation of your physical body; as your reality becomes 4D Astral. But you still have senses. Like, you can still see, hear, touch, taste and smell things, for example. Though it is common for people to have to work at it, before all their senses are up and running. quote: And if you keep your focus in the brain region, the vibrations should start automatically? Yes, that has been my experience and doubt I'm some kind of exception as others have reported similar experiences. Anyone wanting to go down the Monroe road, IMO, first needs to work at getting themselves to the Focus 12 state. Reason I say this is because from Focus 12, events tend to unfold themselves if you can allow yourself to flow along with it. The point at which your focus turns inwards, you lose sensation of the Physical realm. This is Focus 10. Then you need a tricky little mental push to get you to Focus 12, following which the ball should continue rolling by itself. Yours, Frank 1524 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe Technique Questions on: June 08, 2003, 18:41:26 Unfortunately, there isn't one. The only book which details any kind of specific technique is his first. His two later works detail his adventures mostly. I have studied these books and have gleaned all I can. Monroe's work runs parallel to my own in a number of respects; which is how I managed to work out where he was coming from on several key issues. Despite years of practice, however, I still cannot project with anything like the fluency he was able to. But, like most things, practice is the key to success. Yours, Frank 1523 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe Technique Questions on: June 09, 2003, 09:25:27 quote: Originally posted by Graupel To enter the focus 10 and then 12 state, is focusing all your concentration up and into the region of your mind (the blackness that is "up" and unknown) and then holding your concentration (minds eye and thoughts) while going off to sleep the key that lets your mind and focus stay awake and then once you continue to focus upwards in that region you will eventually loose awareness of your physical body but not fall asleep and loose consciousness? Correct. Normally, when we fall asleep we lose consciousness. But we can also enter a state where we fall asleep and retain consciousness. It's a bit of a tricky mental balancing act to achieve, and some people are better at it than others. Monroe called this state, "mind awake, body asleep" which he labelled Focus 10. I like that description, "the blackness that is up and unknown". That's the place alright. quote: Even just simply going to bed as normal (without much relaxation exercise), but holding your focus in this region continuously will be enough to enter the focus 10 and keep yourself awake? Yes. That's why I'm not into doing any kind of physical-body relaxation exercises or energy-work and stuff like that. All I'm interested in is Astral projection. So I just let my body drift off to sleep as per normal while retaining full consciousness. Which is all it basically takes. Okay, that is a darned sight easier to say than it is to do, for most people. But it is by no means impossible. It's very similar to learning how to play an instrument such as a guitar or a piano. It's darned tricky and somewhat frustrating at first. But if you stick with it things gradually begin to come together. quote: And the "ladder" exercise for entering a trance.. is that just used to occupy your mind with the focus of climbing down a ladder in 3D space so that you won't fall asleep and loose conciousness too, and then eventually once you have mentally felt yourself climbing down enough of the ladder pegs, you should loose awareness of your physical body and enter the trance? People find that it helps if they give their mind a simple task to keep it occupied while the physical body is dropping off to sleep. You want something that is not so simple a task that you get bored, lose concentration, wake up a while later and realise you lost focus. But you don't want a task so complex that you engage in an act of creative visualisation, which tends to keep both mind and physical body awake. With me, I like to create these little mental rundowns where I drift from one mental scene to the next. Some climb an imaginary rope. Others imagine a ladder, etc., etc. Simply use whatever mental imagery you feel most comfortable with. But not something too simple or too complex. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by, "enter a trance". I hear people use this term but never could grasp what they meant. If you perform the technique successfully you end up situated within the expanse of your mind. You basically feel the same person only your environment has changed. This feels rather weird at first because, normally, when you are wide awake and alert, you are within the Physical environment. Unfortunately, there is the tendency to freak-out the first however-many times due to the, "fish out of water effect". But overcoming it is just a question of gaining familiarity with the basic ground rules and lots of practice. Yours, Frank 1516 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Projection Methods on: June 09, 2003, 20:44:40 quote: Originally posted by Tao Will everyone be kind enough to post on this topic what method are they using for AP - and maybe give a little detail about it There is a search function which you may find useful. Also, a number of people here have read the book Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce. Both of which should get you up to speed fairly quickly. Yours, Frank 1515 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe Technique Questions on: June 10, 2003, 10:50:43 quote: Originally posted by Graupel I was experimenting last night, and what usually happens is if I try somewhat to focus on keeping my mind awake I just end up laying in bed for hours on end (despite being relaxed, I just can't seem to fall asleep.. thus no hypnagogic imagery I am aware of), and then if I relax my mind and just let it rest, I eventually just loose conciousness and fall asleep alltogether What you describe is the core problem which most people come across. And the reason why I say it's a bit of a tricky mental balancing act. Somehow you have to "let go" to the extent where your body will just drift off to sleep as per usual; but not "let go" to the extent where you lose your conscious awareness. That's why I call it a balancing act. There's a kind of centre road you need to find. Unfortunately, it's ever so easy to fall one way or the other. Somehow you have to develop a way of passively observing yourself falling asleep. That's the core challenge most people have to overcome when attemting the Monroe-style Phasing approach. quote: I have never noticed hypnagogic imagery.. is that usually after you loose concious awareness? The Phasing approach holds the promise that conscious awareness is retained at all times. When you say lose conscious awareness, do you rather mean lose awareness of your physical body? If so then, yes. The imagery comes about in the beginning stages, and is a definite indicator of your progress. quote: What are some mental focus techniques that you could recommend I try to reach the hypnagogic state and stay in the state of "mind awake / body asleep"? This is a question I would pose to yourself and see if anything comes forth by way of inspiration. That's basically what I do when I get stuck. Try writing that question down and carrying the paper with you and read it to yourself every hour or so. I'm sure you'll get something come flooding through. quote: I tried holding up the arm, but it usually just ends up hurting or goes stiff. Concentrating on the black void and expecting something to happen usually just keeps me awake until I will myself to sleep. Rather than concentrate on the blackness, try mentally standing back and passively observing it. Imagine you had a zoom lens where you could focus in on something (which is what you are doing now) then try zooming out so you are viewing the blackness in a more panoramic sense. Then just passively observe it from that POV. I'm a bit short on time right now but later today I'll try and post a typical observation example. Yours, Frank 1514 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / CAN'T SEE A THING on: June 10, 2003, 16:37:17 Sight problems and control problems are all VERY NORMAL at first. The only real solution is practice, practice and yet more practice and it will start to come together at some stage. Unfortunately, there's no quick-fix. Well, not yet anyway. Yours, Frank 1511 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Monroe Technique Questions on: June 11, 2003, 12:52:55 quote: When you astrally project and look at a piece of text in the physical (such as your alarm clock in your room), look away and then look back.. should it be concise with that of the physical world (and not change or distort as it would in a lucid dream)? I haven't read the book you mention so I'm not able to comment. As to the above quote: the lucid-dream environment is a fairly stable place, in that the components which make up any one particular scene do not distort, per se. The reason why reality fluctuations occur is because you are projecting your focus of awareness within an environment where thoughts become things, i.e. thoughts fuel events. So you might come across a piece of text, say. Naturally you become curious as to what it might say. But as you release those feelings of curiosity the feelings will "come to life" in some way. Maybe something subtle will happen to the text which makes you all the more curious about it; so it becomes ever more curious to you; so you get all the more curious about it; and so forth. Then you might think all these subtle fluctuations are becoming mighty confusing. As you release these feelings of confusion the scene will automatically become confusing; which makes you that much more confused; and so the situation gets ever more confusing, and so on, and so on. What normally happens is, the situation degrades to a point where your protective sense of awareness slaps the brakes on and zaps you back to C1. To avoid these kinds of fluctuations it is essential for a person to keep a high degree of control over their thoughts and to remain entirely neutral, emotionally. Otherwise you end up flitting about all over the place. Yours, Frank 1510 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I want to stayout longer on: June 11, 2003, 13:09:05 Everyone projects to some non-physical realm, or another, while they are asleep. The core challenge is to become aware of it. I'm not sure if you realise this or not, but picturing your physical body is a good way of getting back to the Physical environment. From what you say, this appears to work particularly well for you. So the simple answer, I guess, would be to avoid thinking about it. Yours, Frank 1509 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Death and the Family on: June 11, 2003, 17:01:33 quote: Originally posted by Tisha OK, the more I learn about OBE and the Otherworlds, the happier I am about dying. Well, not dying so much, because dying can be unpleasant, but being DEAD isn‟t so bad. Depends where you end up. People within the New Exchange Territories generally have a whale of a time. In a sense I can't wait. quote: Supposedly when we die, our loving ancestors are there to greet us. That‟s great, if you have a loving family. But what if people in your family are horrible and mean? What if your father molested you, your mother abused you, and all your siblings hated you? I know these mean people are wounded, not evil, etc. etc. etc. Unfortunately however, I understand that icky people don‟t become nice people in the afterlife. Icky people are who they are, alive or dead. I think the word "family" is a potential source of confusion, here. People have two "families" while incarnate: a physical family and a non-physical family. It is members of your non-physical family who you'll generally find extending a hand during the passing over process. Your physical family may have been chosen either for experience purposes, or through sheer necessity. People such as myself, for example, who couldn't wait to leave home, needed some kind of "family" simply because children have to have someone to look after them until they are able to fend for themselves. My home was loving and basic; taught me all I needed to fend for myself; and I left as soon as I was able to do so. As for purposes of experience, this can be a mix of circumstances. People who have what they might say are "bad" experiences maybe chose to go through that just so they could appreciate the "good" all the more. Sounds weird, but it happens. Potential incarnates can also get together and choose their physical-life experiences to a degree. I say "to a degree" because they are always subject to the laws of chance (free-will can thwart even the best laid plans). So these people may end up being the son or daughter of someone they previously knew while non-physical, for example. Yours, Frank 1506 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / requesting a little help on: June 11, 2003, 17:15:13 The key to remembering is: do not trust the voice which says something like, "Oh, I can just drift off to sleep and I will definitely remember it in the morning." Because, chances are, as much as the experience is burning in mind at the time you think that, upon awakening x-hours later... you will hardly remember a thing! What I do is keep a notebook and pen beside my bed. I found that just jotting down 3 or 4 key words and phrases leads to near 100% recall even after several hours of sleep. Yours, Frank 1505 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Scared of OBEs on: June 11, 2003, 17:27:39 People naturally get scared. The only real complications arise when people start dwelling on it. The best way is to accept it, recognise fears for what they are, and move on. Yours, Frank 1504 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vibrations ? on: June 11, 2003, 17:32:14 Your observations, LM, spell out many of the typical issues beginners face. It's one thing talking about it and/or reading about it... but it is quite another actually *doing* it. Yours, Frank 1503 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Awakened Minds CD review on: June 11, 2003, 17:43:21 quote: Originally posted by goingslow This seems a good place to ask. Are the effects of this type of CD similiar to the Gateway CD's? I dont really mean which are better so much as do they do basically the same thing? Sorry for the delay in responding as I wanted to try the rainfall CD for a few days more to try and gauge the differences (if any). So far the results have been inconclusive. Plus, I have a basic concern with the rainfall approach. If, as the promoters say, the sounds of rainfall "mask" the binaural frequencies then how on earth can we hear them? Yours, Frank 1500 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Scared of Seeing People on: June 11, 2003, 19:50:39 One natural aspect of non-physical realms people have to get used to is they are teeming with people of all manner of description. From the utterly frightening to the incredibly informative. Yours, Frank 1494 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Ladies and Gentlemen I present my first projection on: June 12, 2003, 09:18:10 Well done. And the great thing is, all the wonderful feelings and incredible sensations you felt are just the tip of a huge iceberg of experiences still to come. Just wait until you are entering the Astral from flying through some kind of entrance structure. The experience is simply mind blowing. Yours, Frank 1492 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / requesting a little help on: June 12, 2003, 09:33:28 Oh, and something else I forgot to mention. If you do drop off to sleep and end up waking with little memory of the event, I found if you put yourself into a relaxed state then lost memories can often come flooding back. Yours, Frank 1491 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Awakened Minds CD review on: June 12, 2003, 17:26:54 Harvey: In a sense that is also one of the benefits. In that it doesn't just teach you how to achieve a particular state... you have to achieve it in a particular time. Yours, Frank 1490 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Monroe's year 3000 and all that! on: June 12, 2003, 18:04:09 Douglas: Yes, I too was struggling to keep an open mind at that juncture. Yours, Frank 1489 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Monroe's year 3000 and all that! on: June 14, 2003, 10:05:18 I think Monroe would not have suddenly switched from being calmly analytical to crazy in the space of a few pages. Perhaps he was being shown a different Earth-like physical reality system and he didn't realise it. I've read about this Mayan calendar and how it ends in year 2012 or whenever. But that kind of doomsday talk has come and gone for God knows how long. There will be a time when 2012 has long-since passed and all the "Mayan" talk will be forgotten. Does anyone remember the Millenium Bug? Perhaps, though, that is not a fair comparison as the latter became known generally throughout the world. Who knows about the Mayan calendar outside these kinds of circles? Err, no-one. Yours, Frank 1488 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Awakened Minds CD review on: June 14, 2003, 10:16:25 There are 3 tracks but I haven't yet fathomed the difference between them. They all sound the same to me. I wondered if anyone could provide some input on the "masking" aspect. The promoters say the binaural tones are masked by the sound of rainfall. And, yes, listening to the CD you would have to agree. So how on earth could they be heard? And if they cannot be heard, then how can they possibly have any effect? Yours, Frank 1485 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Criticisms of Robert Bruce on: June 15, 2003, 22:36:24 People are free to criticise. And anyone who is anyone has their critics. Whichever way you look at it, Astral Dynamics is a book and a half, and it'll be a while yet before someone can better it. Yours, Frank 1480 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Bedmates an obstacle to OBE? on: June 17, 2003, 00:29:37 Only bedmate I have is my wife: animals I respect but never wanted to sleep alongside any. I suppose a dog licking your ear every now and again would put a spoke in the works. I've had some interesting conversations with my wife within the real-time zone. While sleeping she tends to hover just above her physical body. I'm not sure why but she resists all attempts to come with me to the Astral. I tried to talk to her about it while Physical and she doesn't remember a thing. It's kinda weird because she will acknowledge me leaving and returning as if the process is second nature to her. Yours, Frank 1479 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Scared of OBEs on: June 17, 2003, 00:46:19 Anyone having problems overcoming their fears should try to develop the idea of courage. For one balances out the other. Problem is, dwelling upon any particular emotion just exemplifies the effects of that emotion. Which is why dwelling on the positive side of things is rather more beneficial. Yours, Frank 1477 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Images in blackness when eyes are closed on: June 18, 2003, 12:35:15 quote: Originally posted by GTP While I was laying down trying to get to sleep, I had mt eyes closed and was just awating sleep. I noticed the typical faint swirling, puffs of color and smokey morphing images that have no definite shape. (I always see this, nothing special, lets call them metamorphic images or MI's to make it simple.) Sounds like you have a talent for this. The swirling colours and images you describe are typical of the Monroe Focus-12 state. You say it's nothing special to you. Gosh I'm feeling a tad envious, here. It generally takes me quite a bit of mental effort! quote: But then as I approached sleep, just BEFORE the hypnogogic state, I somehow, adjusted my focus so that my eyes felt crossed and suddenly the MI's came into focus and formed into stable, 3-D images of objects! The blackness was suddely not 2-D like usual, but had depth! What you did was progress to the Focus-21 state. This is where you switch from perceiving events from a distance to a feeling of mentally stepping into the scene. Here you are situated in a kind of no-man's-land between the Physical realm and the Astral. This state is characterised by what is commonly called the 3D-blackness. It has been talked about a number of times before. So you might find it interesting doing a search of some past posts. At this point is the start of the realms where thought-equals-action. So if you can retain a high degree of mental focus you should find that if you place the intent (i.e. concentrate your thoughts on one thing) to be at some place, then you should immediately manifest there. Or you could try just floating in the blackness and see what happens. I find it quite relaxing just floating about listening to classical music. Which might be a good mental excercise for you to practice using intent. See if you can mentally tune into some favourite music. If you haven't heard music within the Astral before you are in for a nice surprise. quote: I then snapped out of it for a while, went back into it, and had a long OBE, followed by a series of vivid lucid dreams. What was going on here? Can anyone relate to this? Yes, like I say, I can relate only too well. I just wish I could slip into the Focus 12 state that easily. Yours, Frank 1476 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Some questions on AP on: June 18, 2003, 13:04:03 In addition to this Physical realm, there are other realms composed of non-physical matter. Even though the matter these realms are composed of is non-physical in nature: to the residents of these realms, this matter feels just as "real" as Physical-realm matter does to us. It's a bit of a tricky mental balancing act to initiate, but it is possible to withdraw your focus of awareness from the Physical realm and project it within a non-physical realm. At which point, that non-physical realm becomes your reality. Which means you are free to interact with the residents of that realm in very much the same way as you can within the Physical. So, yes, you could say it is a world where you can meet other people, make friends, and such like. The situation isn't quite so cut and dried because things are complicated by the fact that, within these non-physical realms, thoughts can so easily become things. In other words, you can end up repeatedly being at the mercy of your own thoughts. The base level, non-physical realm is where most people do their dreaming. That's why one of the basic problems a lot of people have in the beginning is trying to sort out true Astral experiences from their own dreamscape. Which, again, is a little tricky but by no means impossible to do. It all depends on having a good level of mental control, which comes through practice. Yours, Frank 1475 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Some questions on AP on: June 18, 2003, 17:21:26 Terry: In my experience, Astral residents speak verbally in very much the same was as we do while Physical. Which is the way I, personally, prefer. The problem is with that is, although you feel like you are communicating verbally (it feels very much like the same Physical action) the verbal aspect, i.e. the moving of the lips and so forth, is only a simulation. Often I'll get a tad confused due to my mind-input getting out of sync with my "lips". So there will be times when I'm about to ask a question I already have the answer to. Which, to me, is the off-putting aspect about non-verbal communication. In the sense that it's all too quick. Personally, I like a staged "questioned followed by answer" format, especially when speaking with my regular guide, Harath. So it's all down to personal preference at the end of the day. Perhaps the following is not all that relevant to the thread, but I do often get the idea people think they are somehow, "at the mercy" of Astral events. An example of this is where certain types of personalities repeatedly get bugged by "negs" for example. But once you get to know what's what, how you communicate is basically down to personal preference. People who reside within the higher-level realms I find exceptionally helpful and are only too happy to chop and change their approach, if it will help you comprehend more the message they are trying to get across. Yours, Frank 1474 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: June 18, 2003, 17:29:02 BBA: No, sorry I can't help you with that as I never experienced any dizzyness. Yours, Frank 1471 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Don´t like the notion of Mind Split on: June 18, 2003, 21:19:14 What I would respectfully suggest is you work on the obe side of things before you start to make any kind of prognosis as to the likely effects of any one aspect of the process. That way you will address the attendant problems-release-challenges for yourself; thus enable you to place your current dilemma into the correct perspective. Yours, Frank 1468 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / bruce moen on: June 18, 2003, 23:50:04 Bruce Moen cannot "project" in the conventional sense. He readily admits he has no talent for it. Instead he markets a system of, "focussed awareness". As Nick says, Ginny is our resident Moen-school expert. Yours, Frank 1467 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: June 19, 2003, 11:40:05 MAYATNIK: The thought came to me your post would be a good one to upload to the Astral Pulse library. I found your post an interesting read. I like to tinker with mechanical devices and have quite a collection of old machine nuts. So I'm going to tie one to a piece of string and give it a go. Yours, Frank 1466 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: June 19, 2003, 21:17:08 Well, I tied an old nut to a piece of string and went through the process as best I could. Problem is it just hangs there motionless (unless I move it, of course). I ask it to indicate a "yes" for example and it remains stationary. Okay, so I might conclude a lack of motion is a "yes" in my case. But when I then ask for indication of a "no" answer the same result occurs. Ideas anyone? Yours, Frank 1465 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: June 20, 2003, 12:58:21 Thanks for your pointers. The nut is M12 so I'll try a lighter one, say M8, and hang it from cotton instead of string. I think what may be happening is I'm consciously trying not to cause any movement with my fingers. However, Douglas, you say you are aware that it is your fingers causing the movement? If so then I may be blocking whatever it is that somehow flows into the string. Yours, Frank 1464 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Question for Frank on: June 20, 2003, 18:53:19 The one thing I wish I knew clearly, back then, is knowing where the Astral pathway originates (from the point of view of being Physical). Basically, there is a centre road between awake and sleep that you need to travel down. It is not a difficult thing to do in terms of brainpower. Like, you don't need to be particularly intelligent, or clever, or gifted. It's just a rather tricky mental balancing act to perform. Ultimately, what a person needs to do is somehow passively observe themseves falling asleep. How each individual does that can differ wildly from person to person. Which is the basic reason why there are just SO many techniques out there. The other major thing I wished I'd known from the outset, is about how thoughts - within the Astral - become things. That would have saved me years of faffing about going nowhere in particular. During which time I fought in all manner of wars, slayed dragons galore, and encountered more demons than I could ever care to remember. The post by DOA contains a good point, in the sense that it is ever so easy to put a spoke in the works through faulty thinking. So success in this can so easily come down to what you don't do. I have certain feelings that nowadays I fully recognise as signposts in the general projection process that I had back then. Only "then" I was so busy trying to in some way "force" the projection issue, these subtle mental signs were largely overlooked. Yours, Frank 1463 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Question for Frank on: June 21, 2003, 12:15:16 quote: I can feel even before I sleep that I'm going to get projection symptoms, there's a pulsing feeling in my brain, and a slight cloudiness. No matter how much I might want to project, if those feelings are not there then I can forget it because it just won't happen. That's a good example of the kind of situation I'm explaining about. In that there are specific mental feelings and/or knowings that happen as a normal part of the process. Unfortunately, many of these mental happenings can be very subtle, and are so very easily overlooked. Myself, I know I have to be in a particular state of sleepyness otherwise it 'aint going to work. And that's not just me telling myself that, so it comes about like some self-fullfilling prophecy. I've tried coming from all kinds of angles and, before I project, I recognise this particular relaxed state every time. Once I recognise it, I know exactly what will come next. When that next thing happens, I know exactly what will come after, and so on, and so on. The moment this process is started, I basically do nothing but passively observe while the experience unfolds. If I do anything other than that, the process will immediately come to a halt. So any "technique" I try is not done in order to, in some way, cause me to project. It is used solely to try and bring me to that particular relaxed state of sleepyness. Once I'm there I just passively observe while the projection experience unfolds. The frustrating thing, for me, is I have not yet found a reliable way of placing myself in that prerequisite state. I can go 3 or 4 mornings where I just fall into it, and then there will be a morning where it may take me an hour or more. On average, I'd say it takes me around 40 minutes. What I found useful was tracing back any mental feeling associated with the projection process. So, for example, with yourself you say about the slight cloudiness. What I would do is try and find out what came about the instant before that; and then the instant before that; and so on. This is how I successfully managed to slow down what used to be my normal projection experience. An experience which consisted basically of mega-vibrations coupled with a feeling like I had been shot from a cannon. The problem I'm having is I traced it all back to this particular sleepy state. However, I cannot yet get to grips with what comes about the instant before. It seems to me to be a number of what are often contradictory scenarios. quote: I think learning all this stuff about how to spot symptoms, learning to retain the right amount of consciousness is more important than specific techniques about projection. People do seem to place a great emphasis on techniques which can be counter-productive. Somehow a person has to find a way of passively observing themselves falling asleep. With me, I'm finding more and more that just the act of passively observing is enough to maintain conscious awareness. Yours, Frank 1462 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Finally My First OBE on: June 21, 2003, 12:21:59 Well done. Please don't worry about lack of sight, this is a very common problem. So too is lack of control. You are right in thinking it will all come good with practice. Yours, Frank 1461 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / No luck in having an obe :( I have some questions on: June 21, 2003, 13:08:27 NPerez: Lights on or off is down to personal preference. With me I can find it a little distracting during mid-summer months when it's light very early morning. But it's something I get used to. Covers on or off, again makes no difference with me. What can make a difference is if I'm feeling either too hot, or too cold. Whether you are trying too hard is a tad difficult to gauge without knowing any details of what it is you are doing exactly. Generally, projection is a natural process which needs to be kick- started. In other words, it's not something that can be forced. So everything you try should be done with this in mind. Trying "hard" can cause mental tension which tends to put a spoke in the works. This is why people sometimes report they made a burst of progress when they decided to relax into it more. Also, I'm not sure if you realise that people can summon the aid of non-physical helpers who will assist you from their end. To do this, all you need do is request their help and become open to whatever assistance is provided. The mystical/religious definition of this process is commonly called prayer. But there's no need to start kneeling, putting your hands together and all that jazz. These helpers are limited in the assistance they can give. Which is largely limited by your ability to perceive, which is linked to your willingness to believe. This is the reason why I say you must "become open" to whatever assistance is provided. What I do is stop what I happen to be doing for a moment, and place a clear mental intent for an answer to whatever it is I'm stuck on. I do this anywhere between 5 to 10 times spaced fairly evenly throughout the day. The answer normally either pops in mind within a day or two, or I get the answer during a projection. Yours, Frank 1460 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / astral creatures on: June 21, 2003, 14:15:36 Vicky: As to what you should do when meeting "creatures" and so forth, you will no-doubt get various responses depending on the mind-set of the person in question: performing rituals, banishments, generating shields, and such like, are still common notions despite several several thousand years of human advancement. Within the Astral realms live all manner of people who come across in all manner of ways. This is something people must simply accept. The best way of learning to deal with all the zillions of potential kinds of situations you can come across (IMO) is to familiarise yourself with the basic ground-rules which apply. One important rule you need to be familiar with is, within Astral realms, thoughts become things. So it is essential for you to keep a high degree of control over your thoughts *especially* your emotions. Hence, the best way to be is to look at all things, i.e. people, places, events, etc., from the point of view of being a neutral, passive observer. Reason being, one of the biggest mistakes people make (and you read accounts of experiences where people get themselves into difficulties from doing this, time after time) is making snap-judgements about whatever it is they came across. From a neutral, passive observer standpoint you can then make progress by maintaining an air of mild curiosity about whatever it is you wish to find out about. Though I realise only too well that is all a darned sight easier to say, than it is to actually do at the time. But, as with most things, practice makes perfect. Also, there have been quite a number of posts where people come back to Physical, describe some circumstance, and ask if anyone here has an idea of what it was. Which is all very well, however, I found the best time to ask about something is at the time. In your case, for example, you could have asked the person who they were. While there are general phenomenon people commonly come across, a significant percentage of people's experiences will pertain to them in some way. This makes it difficult for someone else to give a specific answer. Yours, Frank 1459 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / DARK MATTER on: June 21, 2003, 15:57:47 Naturally, I do not wish to sound disrespectful of your obviously heart-felt opinions, Mirador, but I too couldn't help chuckling over the last last line of your post. Plus, I'm not sure what you are going on about where you talk about diving into the unknown out of blind faith; and that nothing bad can happen so long as you are on God's side (whoever this God is... sorry, again, I mean no disrespect but I haven't got a religious bone in my body). There are people here who regularly point out the various common pitfalls. And who do their utmost to teach people the various basic ground-rules that apply. None of this tends to involve religion of any kind. Quite the opposite, I'd say. Moreover, I (for one) would argue that one of the core purposes of this BBS is to inform people the facts of the subject matter in hand: precisely to avoid having people diving into the unknown out of blind faith. Anyhow, best of luck in your travels. Yours, Frank 1453 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: June 21, 2003, 21:44:04 Okay, I decided a piece of string tied to a nut just wasn't working for me. So I put in a little more mental input. I took a piece of bamboo about half an inch in diameter and cut about 3 inches off. Then I made a "U" shape piece of wire and stuck it into the end; to which I attached a length of strong cotton thread. I gave the bamboo a fine sand and I'm waiting until tomorrow for the varnish to dry. Yours, Frank 1452 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Locale on: June 21, 2003, 22:29:48 I'm glad you just said that, Lasher, because my idea was just to imagine a sign with the Astral Pulse logo on it and just project to that. Yours, Frank 1451 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / what's the deal with hearing music? on: June 22, 2003, 11:42:05 Kairu: Yes, it is a little surprising on first hearing music. I think I've posted before on this where, when it first happened, it was so startling I was immediately zapped back to C1. Next there was me, traipsing from room to room looking to see if a radio or TV could have been switched on. I even went outside to check if any neighbours were having a party or something! Once I got used to the idea, I went through a phase of floating in the 3D-Blackness at the Focus 21 stage while listening to some favourite classical pieces. I don't do it so much now because it was getting rather addictive and taking up too much projection time. Within non-physical realms, people listen to music just a we do within the Physical. There is no need for any kind of radio receiver. All a person needs to do is develop the mental knack of tuning into it. At first I too thought it was just my mind replaying memories of music I had heard in the past. Thinking that I guess is only natural. Then I started to tune-in to music I had never heard before. Radio stations, for example, that I had never heard of. Which does feel a bit weird at first. But after a while you just accept it as normal. Yours, Frank 1450 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Images in blackness when eyes are closed on: June 25, 2003, 19:03:37 quote: Originally posted by Nick From your post, what I would want to do next time, is be mentally focused, and place intent to be somewhere. I like the idea of mentally tuning in to music as placing intent practice . Thanks. Very best, Projection is an entirely mental exercise. As such, success depends on keeping a high degree of control over your thoughts at all times. Unfortunately, at no time can you remain unfocused and still retain a high degree of clarity. If your thoughts drift... then you drift. Within the Physical we have the luxury of being able to imagine being at some place, or immersed within some circumstance, and not have our surroundings chopping and changing to suit. Within the Astral, however, no such thing applies. But once you get to grips with that, I wouldn't say things become "easy" but it's about 80% to 90% of the initial learning curve. Yours, Frank 1449 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Guides: Why trust them? on: June 26, 2003, 13:23:55 quote: Originally posted by phi Let's just assume for now that the astral is real and it is occupied by guides that want to interact with us on the living plane. If you communicate with one why trust them? Why assume that just because you are really in contact with a being from the astral realm that they have any of our best interests in mind? Even if you are receiving some verifiable information how far do you trust them with the rest? Only experience gives you the ability to tell what's what. (Just as on the Physical plane). After a while you get to recognise there are different types of people who exist in different regions. There is no one particular region solely occupied by guides who want to help us. Guides come from all manner of places. Also, they know all about the person they are attempting to interact with. So they tend to approach you in a manner suitable to you. With me, for example, Harath first began to stimulate my curiosity. Then he gave me the distinct impression someone was following me around and generally looking after my interests. Matters came to a head (as he knew they would) and one morning I just said something like, "Look, I know you've been following me around for a while now. So let's cut all this nonsense and just make yourself known." Which he did (as, again, he knew he eventually would). As I say, you get to know the various types of people. Within the lower regions you'll find live all manner of people in an incredibly wide variety of circumstances. All for one reason or another. Many of these people you will find are open to you. By that I mean you can chat with them to various extents. Lot's you will find are pre-occupied with their current situation to the extent where they cannot talk about anything else. These people are in a situation where they are gradually working through that obsession in order to, "get it out of their system" so to speak. More often than not, these people will simply assume your arrival is somehow wrapped-up with their own circumstances. An example I now and again come across is where people die, Physically, thinking that is that. However, like I always say, people who firmly believe that when you die that's it, nothing more, are in for a mighty big surprise! What tends to happen is, people often find themselves within some region or other realising they have died and immediately think, "Oh sh*t, there is an afterlife after all." Then they start feeling guilty about the "bad" things they did while Physical and expect someone is going to turn up any minute, and pass judgement as to whether they go to hell or not. As you turn up, immediately they go to pieces blubbing about all the bad things they did and how sorry they are. Plus, there are all the other types: some of who you might think are a little scary, and others you might find humerous. Like the chap I came across once who actually thought he was Jesus. He even had a queue of people waiting to be "blessed" and so forth. As you move through these areas, you find things start to change for the better. People who live within the upper regions have lived through a number of lifetimes and know what's what. They are friendly and open to you. Plus, they can think independently of their circumstances, as opposed to people in the lower regions whose thoughts very much tend to revolve around their circumstances. These upper regions are where guides generally come from. You ask how you can "trust" them. Well, fortunately, "trust" is a Physical-realm notion only. Within the upper regions there is no such thing as "trust" as there can be no deception. Likewise there is no such thing as "good" or "bad" and notions like that: these are all Physical-realm notions only. What exists is a kind of pleasant continuity. It's a tricky one to explain, but imagine a place where where each person's actions revolve around every other person's actions without any conflict. To a large extent this phenomenon is connected to the fact that people here communicate mind-to-mind. Hence there is never any misunderstanding; no difference of opinion; no complaining; no-one telling anyone else what to do, and such like. Within these regions there is a particular kind of upbeat atmosphere that every one "breathes". It's quite addictive to the extent where often I genuinely prefer to remain where I am, rather than coming back to Physical. Yours, Frank 1448 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / astral creatures on: June 26, 2003, 14:18:01 Vicky: Thank you for your kind response. As for coming back to Physical, the more aware people get the more aware they become of the return process. In the early stages, a person normally gets zapped back to Physical as a result of matters having got out of hand in some frightful way. However, after a while people should begin to notice there is a kind of inbetween circumstance that can come about where it feels like you are back at C1, but you are not actually. All that is happening is the return process is slowing down so a person feels it more. It also happens the other way around where an ever increasing degree of familiarity, has the effect of slowing down the projection process. At first, people tend to project spontaneously by "waking up" within a dream. With a degree of practice it is possible for a person to gain a higher degree of control by gradually observing themselves falling asleep. Eventually you realise that, as you fall asleep, you actually go through a number of definite inbetween states (chances are) you never knew existed. Likewise with the return. As the process slows down, people can end up at around the Focus- 21/22 state with the thought of being within the Physical. And there lies the source of the confusion... as you are still within a realm where thoughts become things. Because people "think" they are back within the Physical, these thoughts act as a kind of fuel which creates the impression of being back within the Physical. But they aren't really. Hence the confusion or difficulties that can typically arise. The solution is, rather than get confused or panic, simply remain neutral and get to recognise the "feel" of the particular mental state. Then place the intent to be back within the Physical. If that doesn't work, and you once again feel your situation change to circumstances where you are merely getting an impression of being back, then go back to the neutral state. At which point the impression should dissipate and then you can try again. Placing an intent to be back to Physical can take whatever form you wish. You could try thinking about wiggling your toes, drumming your fingers, and such like. What you basically need to do is find a trigger that works reliably. With me, I find thinking about opening my physical eyes does the trick. Immediately I think about doing that, my physical eyes open and I'm instantly back at C1. Another thing you might want to try is having multiple projections. Often I'll allow myself to come back to the Focus-21/22 state, drift around for a short while just mulling over my previous projection, and then project again. Yours, Frank 1447 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Guides: Why trust them? on: June 26, 2003, 16:19:55 quote: Originally posted by phi Thanks for your reply, Frank. Would you say then that in any non physical realm that emotions and intensions are so bare and readable that "trust" isn't even an issue? Not in "any" non-physical realm. But in the upper regions it's a wholly different ball-game. I see where you are coming from, but it's not a question of people being able to read other people's emotions. As I say, it is tricky for me to explain, but it's like there is only one emotion which everyone shares to the same extent. So you have this rather weird situation where people are going about their individual lives, yet there is no argumentation, no upset, and stuff like that. There is no "lack" of anything, for example. Within these realms natural resources are unlimited and free to all. There is no government, no currency, there is no lack of any kind. No-one is struggling while someone else has it easy: each has it "easy" to the same extent. Every individual is somehow connected to an unlimited resource. So no-one can take anything away from another. So there is no such thing as "theft" of any kind. Each individual is free to create whatever it is they desire. Naturally, such a statement begs the question of what if someone wished to create something detrimental to the environment as a whole? It simply couldn't happen. Reason being, as I say above, these people share this "emotion in common" which naturally prevents them from ever wanting to do such a thing. Yours, Frank 1446 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: June 27, 2003, 12:50:16 Personally, I found the latter part of the thread more interesting than the initial part. But, then again, my long-standing interest in psychology naturally takes precedence over any pendulum work. It seems to me that within the confines of this thread, the "word of a guide" has turned out to be the modern-day phraseology equivalent of, "the word of God". As such, the natural extension of that line of reasoning (using two thousand years of human history as a yardstick) can only lead to fighting, ultimately: my guide is better than your guide and I'm willing to die proving it, and all that. I'm unsure as to the general consensus but, after reading this whole thread a number of times, it does very much seem to me that Mr 13's only crime has been to politely and respectfully question the information being presented. Plus, it was mentioned about how this is a forum for knowledge and growth, and open discussion is natural and integral to that. How true. So surely, then, only people with some kind of hidden-agenda would find such notions offensive. As such, I thought perhaps it might be helpful if those who claim to be in-touch with this race of people, would explain that to them. And could I (for one) respectfully suggest you mention in particular about how getting all huffy and puffy adds nothing to their credibility. I'm not sure how it works on other planets, but knowledgeable people here expect a far higher standard of behaviour from those who claim to be advanced beings. If it helps, I'm within the upper Astral most mornings and they are welcome to pop along and have a chat. I'll do my best to clear up any misunderstanding directly. Oh, and at the same time would you ask if they might reciprocate by giving me a few more hints and tips on how to get my pendulum working. Yours, Frank 1445 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Whooo Hooooo!!! on: June 27, 2003, 15:49:51 That was an interesting account. You will find, Nay (and I talked on another post yesterday about this so it might be worthwhile digging out the post. Trusting guides was the title) within the Astral are all manner of people engaged in all kinds of activities. Some will be "open" to you and with others all you'll get is a blank stare. This is because their attention is focussed completely on the activity in question. It sounds to me like you projected to somewhere around the Focus 24 state. Most people here are actually people who have died physically and can be found absorbed in some mundane activity to the extent where they can't perceive you. Within these realms, like attracts like. So people lost, find themselves amongst other people lost. Then one or two of them might begin walking in some direction or other, and so everyone follows. There is no such thing as "time" within these realms. Plus, there is no need to eat or excrete or sleep; no bills to pay; no work to go to; and such like. So there are no natural interrupts that come about forcing these people to, in some way, "snap out of it". One of the challenges of doing rescue work, for example, is somehow getting these people to actually, "snap out of it". Whereupon they begin to notice you. As you have found, doing this can be rather difficult. I feel an interesting situation was about to develop with the youngster. Many times, upon making contact, I have suddenly been transported to some scene or other. Very often you can become placed in a situation where you are viewing events through their eyes. Yours, Frank 1444 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: June 27, 2003, 16:19:18 13: Thank you for the tips. I do get where you are coming from and your comments are pretty much spot-on. As regards your future ideas, why not simply open a new thread in an appropriate forum. I'm sure it will be well received. Yours, Frank 1443 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Ethics/morals on: June 28, 2003, 14:19:23 One of the *major* lessons I learnt from my explorations of non-physical realms, and this touches on what Nick has said, is how every thought, action, word, deed, etc. affects not just a person's life within the Physical plane, but it ripples through a number of non-physical realms as well. Of course, what people do, say, think, and so on, is their business as far as I am concerned. But I feel if people knew the far-reaching extent of the damage they cause to themselves from repeated feelings of anger or greed, for example, they simply wouldn't do it. When I say that I don't mean they would suppress it. I mean they would realise the full consequences of their actions and simply not do it. I am not a religious person but I know a number of subscribers are; and they'll probably recognise what I describe in the above paragraph is the basic meaning behind that famous phrase, "Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do." Someone who is a regular explorer of non-physical realms (such as myself, for instance) cannot help but view events on the Physical from a totally different standpoint from people who (say) believe the Physical realm is all there is, and once you die that's it. Problem is, when a person dies Physically they then have to face the consequences of their past actions. A large percentage of people on this planet happen to doubt this. But that‟s their lookout as far as I am concerned. Please believe me when I say there truly is no way of getting away from it. With me, I know such is the case. This knowing stems not from some kind of religious or other mystical belief, but from years and years of exploring non-physical realms; meeting all kinds of people there; in all manner of situations. My regular guide, Harath, used to take me on tours of the lower Astral and show me how emotions such as greed, hate, anger, bitterness, and so forth, damaged a person to the extent where it had severely stunted their development. One of my early posts gives an example of witnessing an experience where people were completely obsessed with dual emotions of greed and lust. The title was called, “Astral experience example” in case anyone wants to look it up. For me, what it all boils down to is, it's not a question of being a "good" person in the sense of it being some kind of religious duty: your life becomes a performance dictated by a shopping-list of morals; together with paying homage to some God. Nor do you need to start giving all your money to charity and things like that. Perish the thought! I suppose, in a way, someone could argue what I am promoting is, in itself, a form of selfishness. As it would appear, on the surface, the only reason why a person such as me seeks to do the right thing (so to speak) is because they want to get ahead in the wider scheme of things. But that argument fails to take account of the general benefits which would accrue to human society as a whole. Given sufficient numbers, that is. And I do feel this is basically where all the talk of a coming New Age is leading. I doubt whether it will happen in my current Physical lifetime, but I do very much believe human society here will (eventually) develop to the extent where a significant percentage of people can explore non-physical realms in a more objective fashion to the extent where they actually realise all this for themselves. Because there is one heck of a difference between believing in the notion of non-physical realms… and actually experiencing them with an attendant degree of objectivity. What I mean by that last bit, is there‟s a *major* difference between spontaneously projecting to the Astral every now and again, and flitting about here and there; and projecting on a regular basis with a high degree of control. While I agree the former can have a significant and often beneficial impact on a person (it sure did with me) nothing can possibly prepare a person for the mental impact of consistently experiencing the latter. Like I say, it changes your whole outlook on life and you will never think the “old way” ever again. The above, in a nutshell, is what I believe the mystical notion of “enlightenment” basically to be. You become enlightened to the real truth about life: which causes major, irrevocable changes in the way a person thinks and feels. Problem is, people who have experienced this are in a tiny minority. Quite why that should be I do not know. Fortunately, however, it does appear to be an ever-growing minority. As such, I do feel certain it really is only a matter of time before the numbers become evident to the extent they slowly begin draining this melting-pot of insanity we call, “civilised society.” Yours, Frank 1442 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Whooo Hooooo!!! on: June 28, 2003, 15:26:20 quote: Originally posted by bba Hello Frank, When you speak with somebody of F24, he takes you for one of his friends either an unknown, I like to know if they can think or not. People within the region of Focus 23/24 can often be seen just generally drifting about doing aimless things. Either singularly or in groups of various sizes. What has happened is these people have died physically, but there has been a degree of confusion and/or fear to the extent where their progress to the upper regions has been thwarted. They are able to think. Problem is, though, their thoughts tend to get stuck just going around and around in the same loop. quote: "doing rescue work"? There are people (especially from the Moen-school, http://www.afterlife- knowledge.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.html) who specialise in trying to interrupt the train of thought of people who get stuck in these regions. As I say above, they can think but they just keep thinking the same thing. The reason why this is possible, is simply because within the Astral there are none of the usual kinds of interrupts we have while Physical; for example, you may have the sensation of being trapped in some circumstance within a dream, but it's only a matter of time before your alarm- clock goes off, or you feel the need to use the toilet, or whatever. People who attempt these kinds of rescues have to be quite creative in their approach. Somehow you need to interrupt the thought-loop of the person being rescued. This can take a high degree of sensitivity with the more difficult cases. Ginny is our resident expert on this, and she has posted several examples of her work. Yours, Frank 1441 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Whooo Hooooo!!! on: June 28, 2003, 16:53:11 quote: Originally posted by Nay WOW!!! thanks Frank. It is all so interesting!! I will go look up that post. Also where can I look up the information on the Focus states? Monroe, when he came to plot non-physical regions in his attempts to make some kind of modern-day sense of it all, labelled the various places with an arbitrary series of numbers he called: Focus Levels. He found that each region (or plane or realm, whatever you prefer to call it) contained people with a number of characteristics in common. This is how, on reading your post, I immediately could tell from your description of the people there, which Focus Level you had most likely projected to. As you experience the Astral more and more, you'll get to see all manner of people in all manner of circumstances. But you should begin to detect the main differences that indicate to you where you are in the general scheme of things. There is a basic explanation given here... http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/what.html quote: That is exactly what I got from most of those people..a blank stare! but they kept their eyes straight ahead..well, except for the boy. Funny...I don't know why I didn't look at the beginning of the line..I was just so focused on the people directly in front of me..lol. Eyes glazed over is a common sign of someone caught in a thought-fuelled loop. Within themselves there could be quite a lot of mental activity going on. Unfortunately, their attention has become consumed by it... to the extent where their ability to act independently has been severely hampered. Don't worry about failing to step back and take-in the wider picture. Once you have come across a number of similar situations you will, I'm sure, be able to act with a higher degree of proficiency. It's just a question of practice. Gosh, the number of times I came back to C1 and kicked myself thinking, "Why on earth didn't I just..." But by then it's too late. In the beginning (and I fully include myself here) people tend to act like the proverbial bull in a china-shop. But, with practice, you will learn how to operate with an ever higher degree of tact and sensitivity. quote: What do you think was going to happen? I can't stop saying WOW..lol I think you were in the midst of a "rescue" of the kind that people such as Ginny, for example, regularly get involved with. The person who entered the room, I strongly suspect was a person from a higher realm who had arrived to take the boy to a place where his development could continue (as opposed to being stuck aimlessely wandering about the lower Astral). This person too, I suspect, was who transported you both to the room. In my experience, this kind of transitory scenario occurs fairly regularly. It is done in order to get the subject out of their current situation, and allows an opportunity to gain the subject's confidence to the extent where they forget their previous situation and are, therefore, open to moving away to new and better circumstances. Yours, Frank 1437 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Just one suggestion would help. on: June 29, 2003, 13:06:40 quote: Originally posted by goingslow I have hinted at a question and no one has really answered so I'll ask again. For people who project regularly and have "controlled" projections where do you start? For a controlled, conscious-exit projection you start from C1 (Physical). quote: It may seem simple but I really dont know where to go or how to go about finding a locale where I can visit on a regular basis. Maybe part of it is the fact I still think im dreaming, but even then I often find myself searching for something I dont remember finding in MOST projections. Chances are highly likely the reason for this is because you haven't yet brought your degree of realisation ability, and sense of conscious awareness up to the requisite levels. At the very minimum, these two factors need to be at least at the same level a normal person would experience while awake and alert on the Physical. quote: Do you have to have a guide first? It helps, but it's by no means necessary. I think it boils down to what suits each individual. I tend to go through phases where I might project on my own for a few weeks, just projecting for the joy of it. But doing so tends to accumulate all kinds of questions; especially when I find myself getting out of my depth; or I come across some phenomenon I haven't seen before. So then I'll go through a phase of projecting with a guide (usually my regular, Harath) to get answers and advice. But after a week or so of daily lectures on this and that, I'll get the yearning to go freestyle again. And so the cycle repeats. quote: Do you focus on a location and go there then have a set plan on what to do? With me, I tend not to focus on locations. I focus more on seeking answers to questions, or clarification on matters which I feel are important to me. Then I hold this in mind as the projection experience is unfolding. Once I have been to a location several times to the extent that I know what the place looks like then, yes, I can simply picture the location and off I go. quote: What is a controlled projection? The full term is: controlled, conscious-exit projection. It describes an experience which begins at C1 and progresses through various, recognisable inbetween states (Focus levels, in Monroe- speak), and finally ends up within the Astral at a place of the person's choosing. Performed correctly, at no time during this process should a person either lose consciousness, or lose control of the experience. It should be one smooth and controlled transition. quote: Where did you start when you decided to plan out your projections? With me I found it all works much better if I concentrate more on getting answers to questions, or seeking clarification on matters that are important to me; as opposed to thinking about the actual projection process. Projection is an exclusively mental process so having the right kind of "thoughts" is crucial. Having the right Intent, or Desire is very important when it comes to kick-starting the process. Any kind of Doubt, puts a *major* spoke in the works, of course. HTH Yours, Frank 1435 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / , on: June 29, 2003, 20:08:31 quote: Originally posted by neg removal5 .......If that ever happens to you, you can talk to God directly in your spirit, and he will talk back to you from within your spirit. It would be direct spirit mind to spirit mind communication. Can you talk to God, you better believe it! Are you sure you are not getting confused here with the normal communication which takes place in most non-physical realms? From upper-Astral and beyond, mind-to-mind communication is the norm, not the exception. Yours, Frank 1434 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / , on: June 29, 2003, 21:22:31 I hear what you say NR5. But if you are the contemporary voice of modern-day faith, then I thank God I am still an athiest. Yours, Frank 1429 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / , on: June 29, 2003, 22:49:16 We are not sure who you mean by "God". Within this Physical plane, God is a concept... anything from something to bow down to... to something to fight over. As Harath always says, those darned mystics who claim to have a private line to God, ought to be compelled to disconnect. Yours, Frank 1427 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Im so happy! VIBRATIONS!...Or was it a dream..? on: June 30, 2003, 11:41:57 Well done for getting a result. What you describe is how it generally is, at first. Lots of sensation and confusion. Feelings of inability to move various body parts. Often people get feelings of spinning around going no-where fast, and loads more besides. What you need to do is practice as often as you can. At least once a day is best for, say, half to one hour. People find early-mornings can be quite productive. What I would do is just concentrate on getting a degree of familiarity with the various sensations. Once you do that, you will come to the stage where you'll discover the feelings can be controlled. So rather than suddenly... boom... the vibrations begin, you'll be able to modulate them so they come on smoother, and feel more of a light buzzing sensation. Plus, you will be able to sustain them at a particular pitch and intensity. As opposed to having them suddenly keep switching on and off. What you need to do is get to the stage where you gradually bring on the vibrations and slowly increase them in pitch and intensity. As they gradually come in, there will come a point where you will feel like you suddenly developed the ability to defy gravity and take-off from your physical body. I found the vibrations can be controlled mentally, but also try thinking about taking slow deep breaths while the vibrations are happening. You should find the breathing causes some interesting effects. Note: when I say "breathing" you won't actually be taking physical breaths but it will feel as if you you are. In the same way the "vibrations" feel like your whole physical body is shaking. But it isn't really, it just feels that way. Yours, Frank 1425 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Too many methods on: June 30, 2003, 15:09:51 quote: Originally posted by Amber I stare at the inside of my eyelids and silence my mind, then I end up asleep. But, I wake up a little bit in between my dreams and so I noticed that if I concentrate on the details of the dream, I can let it pull me back in, and if I tell myself that I am going back into a dream and I am already outside my body...lo and behold, I find myself in my bedroom in my 'other body'. So, I have no idea what I am doing...it's not in any of the books, this method. What you are doing is sending an element of conscious awareness along that centre-road which exists between being fully asleep and fully awake. That element of awareness then enables you to "wake up" from the dream. It's quite a good method of projecting and something I used to do for years. The only problem with it is the blank period which occurs between falling asleep and coming awake again. This can make it a bit unreliable. I found the chances are higher early morning. Because there was less of a tendency for me to fall asleep completely, and just wake up next morning; which, from what you say, is what you are finding; in that you are managing to recognise (and, therefore, take your sense of conscious- awareness down) that centre-road between being asleep and awake. Which, in a nutshell, is all Astral projection entails. The way to fine-tune this process is to try and eradicate the blank moment when you fall asleep. This makes the process more reliable because at no point do you lose consciousness. As you lie back, try and just passively observe yourself falling asleep. It's a bit of a tricky mental balancing act, and one of those things that is far easier to say than to do. But it's by no means impossible. Basically, you are looking to follow that same "centre road" as you are doing now, only beginning much earlier. That way, as I say, you avoid any blanks in conscious awareness. Yours, Frank 1424 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Too many methods on: June 30, 2003, 17:08:00 Amber: It took me about 6 months of daily practice. Yours, Frank 1423 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: June 30, 2003, 19:02:02 Wow, this thread is starting to get *really* interesting. That's one heck of a post Mr-13, and I too was glad to see Mayatnik return. As regards your post, I particularly liked, "If only I could go back to my Uni exams and explain to my lecturers that I was simply 'testing' them with my 'guidance'". That was sweet. Credit to Mayatnik, too (which I realise you recognise). This promises to be one heck of an interesting debate. AstralPulse is just the best, and the quality of the postings here prove it. Yours, Frank 1422 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Just one suggestion would help. on: June 30, 2003, 19:30:32 James: I wish I had a definitive answer, but it really does depend on the individual. Okay, that may sound a bit wishy-washy but it that's really how I feel about it. I'm very much in- tune with the Monroe-school. I think that is because I first got into all this from chance reading Monroe's JOB around 25 years ago. Someone in 20-odd years time may well be post the same about Robert Bruce's Astral Dynamics: and talk about how basic "energy work" led to their success, etc., etc. In the same way now people such as Ginny rave about the Moen-School. Ultimately, it really is down to each individual to mix and match concepts they feel comfortable with and broadcast their experiences. The last bit is in italics because I feel it's the most important part. Yours, Frank 1421 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Im so happy! VIBRATIONS!...Or was it a dream..? on: June 30, 2003, 19:52:33 Paul: thank you for the feedback and I wish you the best of luck. Like I say, practice is the key. And do take Squeek's advice. Perhaps your parents are not the best people to consult right now. Maybe in a while once you have more experience. Yours, Frank 1419 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: June 30, 2003, 20:41:35 Well, it was Mayatnik who proclaimed himself, in capitals, from the start... that the "truth" shall be known. Go for it, old chap. If there truly are aliens visiting this planet on a regular basis whom you are in touch with, then by all means send them to me. I don't mind. I'd love a quick trip to Alpha-Centuri and back. I'm being totally serious. Yours, Frank 1417 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: July 01, 2003, 09:19:13 Mark: I'm glad you made that point. I was thinking along the same lines because the two statements look to be saying the opposite. Plus, there was the other point about guessing cards. I hesitate to ask because Mayatnik has indicated such questions are upsetting: but what's the difference between guessing cards or guessing water? Yours, Frank 1416 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Question for Mayatnik on: July 01, 2003, 10:28:46 Mayatnik: Thanks a million for your incredibly informative response. I do like to inject a note of humour in anything I do, but I am deadly serious about wanting to fly in a UFO. I have been projecting within Astral realms for quite a number of years, so I'm not exactly a beginner when it comes to non-physical realities and I haven't got a squeamish bone in my body. I used to consider the Astral like one huge adventure playground and would project 2 or 3 times a week mainly from "waking up" from within a lucid dream. To me, it was just a fun thing to do. A place where I could bring my thoughts to life and generally have a laugh. I've never really been interested in anything religious or mystical. More the opposite. I was ambitious and my primary focus was advancing my engineering career. However, a few years ago, I got to thinking more seriously about my adventures within myself, and started scouting around the internet for some info. The turning point, for me, was when I became open to the concept of "guides". Since then I've discovered all manner of stuff and have spent a *lot* of time trying to make sense of it all. Where you say: quote: This has been a gradual process, because it is not a matter of „blind faith‟ in what I receive telepathically; instead, it is knowledge questioned until I firmly comprehended such new „realities‟. And, believe me, I really „grilled‟ my extra-terrestrial teachers with questions, diving down every nook and cranny of what they told me, to ascertain to my satisfaction the validity of what was being revealed. “You gave us a hard time,” they admitted finally. But, finally I had grasped those higher perspectives and knew beyond a shadow of doubt what it was really all about. We are EXACTLY alike in that respect. From this quote: quote: Surprisingly, what you say is not all that outlandish. And I have „visited‟ other worlds and dimensions, but not taking off from a conventional craft as people imagine it to be done, but by „connection‟ to those worlds in my consciousness. I take that as confirmation they can be contacted in a non-physical sense. As I am fairly adept at Astral projection, I'm hoping that is qualification enough for me to contact them this way also. If so, my question is (if I may) is there some particular "sign" or "calling" I can broadcast in order to help make this connection? I was thinking of something I could hold a mental image of. Do they have a national flag, or some other image like that? Yours, Frank PS Oh, and thanks again for the wonderfully detailed reply. You've given not only me, but I suspect quite a number of others lots to think on. 1415 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / I think I'm getting closer to OBEing.. on: July 01, 2003, 11:03:46 quote: After a half hour, the preset ended and I just laid down and stared into my eyelids. I tried not to think about the past, it was all about what was going on at the time. Colorful moving patterns began to appear when I stared into my eyelids and then weird things started happening. That's the Monroe Focus-12 state. It comes about as you switch your focus of awareness from the Physical, to within the expanse of your mind. As you do so, you begin to perceive with your non-physical senses. Problem is, as you have found out, in the beginning you tend to experience what I call the Fish Out Of Water effect. It's where everything seems topsy-turvy and things keep shifting here and there, and you can't seem to make any concrete sense of it all. Problem was, you touched on entering a realm where thought equals action. Which means you need to practice keeping your thoughts in check at all times. Otherwise things will just flit from one event to the next, and you'll keep getting zapped out of it. One thing I can confirm is you *are* getting closer. You should find that things tend to roll along of their own accord from the Focus-12 state. So let the experience unfold and, chances are, you'll end up within the 3D Blackness at Focus-21, or you might skip this and end-up seeing some vision or other (which is what happened with you with the trees). When this happens, remain very calm and try placing a mental intent to "step into" the vision. Because just beyond that vision, is where all the "fun stuff" takes place. Yours, Frank 1414 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Too many methods on: July 01, 2003, 20:11:03 quote: Originally posted by Kuhl ...but also find myself trying to look with my physical eyes whereas the dream scenery is happening in my minds eye. That normally pulls me out of it. Yes, I know this feeling only too well. I've posted on this before. How, just as I started to make progress, and began perceiving images in mind, my physical eyes would suddenly attempt to "snatch a glance" at whatever it was. Which, of course, would zap me right out of it every time. It took perhaps 3 months of daily practice to get out of that habit. It was a major stumbling block for me. Yours, Frank 1399 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Question for Mayatnik on: July 02, 2003, 19:50:36 Mayatnik: You have opened a new door of discovery for me, for which I most sincerely thank you. You have independently confirmed something I have been seeking for almost a year. Yours, Frank 1398 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / a F23 retrieval and a bit more on: July 02, 2003, 20:38:24 quote: I sensed great lonliness replacing her fear as she thought about this....and then I saw small fingers touch the opening and I reached down and pulled her into my arms. Isn't that just such a lovely transition. Yours, Frank 1395 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / a F23 retrieval and a bit more on: July 02, 2003, 22:52:28 quote: Originally posted by Nay By the way Frank..nice Avatar! kinda reminds me of the guy on "the Mummy"..lol.. Thanks, not into "Avatars" myself but my youngest nephew decided it was time and, from his point of view, it seemed fitting. Yours, Frank 1389 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Achieving consciousness state for Astral phasing on: July 05, 2003, 11:11:28 The mental rundown is used as a kind of practice session, after which the person tries for real. It serves the purpose of getting a person into the habit of focussing their attention within themselves. Problem is, when someone is a complete beginner, it is difficult for them to spark the process off. People try and "look within" and see nothing. In the event they just get disheartened thinking they can't do it. Which is why I suggest for people to first create an imaginary scenario. Then, after a while, situations will come about where you snap out of it thinking, "Hang on a minute, that wasn't on my script!" Slowly but surely, a person will get used to these unexpected situations so they will be able to just passively observe them. At this point, a person crosses the bridge between just imagining and shifting their focus of attention for real. Myself, I never think in terms of relaxing the physical body, or stilling the mind, or entering a kind of trance-state. I think all that is more to do with meditation rather than Astral projection. I think of it more in terms of mental focus. When you focus your attention within yourself you automatically lose contact with your physical body. When you focus on a specific mental rundown, then you automatically drop all the day-to- day mental tittle-tattle that people can become preoccupied with. And as I've mentioned before a number of times, I cannot understand what people mean by "trance state". I'm not knocking these concepts. The notion of entering a "trance state" or doing specific physical relaxation exercises, and so forth, may well work for some people. But with me, like I say, it all boils down to where you focus your attention. Yours, Frank 1388 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / bringing astral objects into world of form on: July 05, 2003, 11:21:08 I have attempted to do this several times without success. I've been there, so awake and alert holding some object or other, and slowly phased back to physical trying to "hold on" to the object as much as I could. But each time there's a kind of "mental blip" at the crossover point, and that's where I lose it. Yours, Frank 1387 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Obe VS. Focused Awareness on: July 05, 2003, 14:12:01 There are different ways of experiencing non-physical realms. The most difficult being in the way of a full-blown "out of body" style experience. The reason is because it takes an exceptionally high degree of mental control which generally takes a *lot* of practice to attain. I always say that it's one thing talking about entering the Astral by flying through some entrance- structure (such as the one depicted on the back cover of Astral Dynamics) but it's quite another thing to actually do it! The Focussed Attention methods of Bruce Moen rely on a series of concepts which are much "kinder" to the individual. With the traditional route, it's a full-on, right-in-your-face experience that's there is no getting away from (except for being zapped back to Physical). The Moen-route is a step back from this. Rather than experiencing situations directly, they are taught to build-up a mental picture from using a number of non-physical "tools". The immediate advantage is that the moment anything starts to go awry, an individual is able to take a step back from the experience and hold it at arms length, so to speak. They are then taught to call on an "interpreter" to act as a kind of go-between. An interpreter's job is to offer advice on how best to proceed, or explain the nature of the circumstance, and so forth. Which is all very much easier on the senses. Yours, Frank 1385 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: July 07, 2003, 09:29:54 quote: I was actually suprised when I realised that some people thought it *was* some kind of mystery force moving the pendulum! However, once it is established that the pendulum can be used for subconcious communication then its function as a tool for receiving communications from *outside sources* should also be considered. Regards, Douglas Douglas: Okay, call me thick but I too thought it was come kind of radiation that came from the chest area (Chakra?) that caused the pendulum to move. I got this idea from Mayatnik's first post, thus: >>>>The Pendulum should be held for accuracy in use, in front of the body with the „bob‟ about 6 inches directly in front of the breastbone for the beginner especially to ensure the strongest „signal‟ to activate it and start it moving in the appropriate direction.>>> Up until now, when trying to get my pendulum to work, I have been especially careful to make sure my hand and fingers are as still as I can make them so as not to (as I was seeing it) interfere with the "signal" driving the pendulum. Which, as I say, I thought was some kind of radiation. It would appear that the "signal" driving the pendulum is not radiated from the body but is transmitted through the nervous system and activates various muscles as per normal. Only the difference is, it is more of a subconscious activation as opposed to a deliberate one... am I right? Yours, Frank 1384 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / I had a question in mind... on: July 07, 2003, 11:12:45 From reading the posts a few pointers came to mind. First and foremost, projection is a mental excercise. Therefore, your thoughts are very important. It is your thoughts which propel you. Whether it be promoting the unfolding of an Astral experience, or zapping you back to Physical. As Nick has pointed out, the moment he gets too excited about some scene or other he gets zapped out of it. Which is ever so common and still happens to me fairly regularly; as I am the kind of character who likes to continually push the bounderies so I'm coming across new situations fairly regularly. With practice, however, it is possible to shut-down detrimental feelings so your awareness of the situation becomes dulled; as opposed to being immediately zapped back to Physical; then, after half a minute or so, you can become "open" again to whatever it is. Doing this enables your protective sense of awareness to gain a degree of familiarity with the situation to the point where it considers it to be "normal". At which point you can move on. Another way in which having the right kinds of thoughts can help you is in initiating the process. If I may suggest for you to re-read Ginny's posts and look at where she talks about placing the intent to be some place (as well as becoming "open" and "closed" to situations). For example, in her latest post she starts out by, "I focused in on it--having already decided that I wanted to go to a place in F27 I had never been before." The key word in that quote is "already". Note, she set-out with a distinct intent to do some particular thing... this is ever so important. Plus, any kind of "doubt" puts a MAJOR spoke in the works. Bruce Moen is always making this point. He's always saying the biggest problem people tend to have is believing in what they are doing. It is an unfortunate rule of non-physical realms that your ability to perceive is directly proportional to your willingness to believe. This causes two major problems: 1) If you doubt, then basically what you are saying is you have a reluctance to believe. Which means your ability to percieve will be restricted to the same extent by which you doubt. This, unfortunately, tends to have the effect of reinforcing the original doubt; so you doubt more; which means your ability to perceive is reduced yet further. Which further reinforces the original doubt... and so the downward spiral continues. 2) A person who avidly believes something beyond doubt, needs to be very careful about what it is they are believing in. Because the more you believe something, the more able you are to perceive it. Which tends to have the effect of reinforcing the original belief... and so you perceive it more. People locked in this kind of loop get to the stage where their beliefs have been self- reinforced to such an extent they can percieve no other reality, or points of view, etc. It is precisely because of these pitfalls, the best state of mind to have is to remain neutral: especially emotionally. From this basis, or standpoint, what you then do is release an air of mild curiosity. Okay, I do very much realise that is a darned sight easier to say, than it is to actually do at the time. But all it takes is knowledge of the ground-rules coupled with daily practice. Yours, Frank 1383 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / And the truth shall be known - You'll see ! on: July 07, 2003, 16:30:08 Thank-you Douglas and Mayatnik for your responses. I think I'm slowly beginning to get my head around this pendulum business. Problem is, as I've said a number of times before, it always seems to take me ages to get my head around any kind of non-physical stuff. Yours, Frank 1381 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Question for Mayatnik on: July 07, 2003, 20:06:56 Tao: Thank you ever so much for your kind comments. While I have quite a lot of experience at Astral projection, in the general scheme of things I'm just a tiny fish in a very large pond. Mankind is bordering on discovering a whole new "science". And while we all, in our own way, are the forerunners of that... in a hundred years or so, people are going to look back and laugh at how limited we all were. Yours, Frank 1379 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Question for Mayatnik on: July 07, 2003, 22:53:42 quote: Originally posted by Tao What I wanted to ask you Frank - have you developed a kind of BIG curiousity for "the pendulum thing" The direct answer to your question is, no. However, as a result of Mayatnik's posts, I have developed a BIG curiosity for "the Pleiadian thing". To the extent where I am currently in the process of working towards attempting contact within non-physical realms. quote: Or am I the only one who thinks that this is the key to Everything ? It may well be that you were in some way "destined" to reach this moment and feel this way. Just as Mayatnik himself was, in his own way. quote: What I mean is do you find "the pendulum" more important then Astral Travel ? Again the simple answer to your question is, no. quote: because I have kind of "put aside" the AP exercises recently (thinking that "the pendulum" is more important) Then I would suggest you follow your instinct and go for it. Yours, Frank 1378 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Wow, finally, my 1st OBE!!! on: July 07, 2003, 23:21:31 Well done for the experience. One of the "problems" people have to face up to when beginning to explore the non-physical, is the fact that these realms are populated by all manner of people. And once we become attuned to these realms, we naturally begin to perceive them. It has got to the stage with me, that I have now got more non-physical friends than Physical. And I am by no means some kind of "loner". Quite the opposite, in fact. Some people may try to "latch on" to you for one reason or another. It's normally because they are scared. I come across people all the time who have died, physically, and they have great problems dealing with it. Often, all it takes is a kind word to raise their understanding and off they go to some better place. Unfortunately, at first, one of the BIG problems people have when dealing with these kinds of non-incarnates, is they have the tendency to project their fear onto you. But they don't really mean to do it. It's the only way they have of, "crying out for help" so to speak. Yours, Frank 1377 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Focus Level Attributes from experience??? on: July 08, 2003, 19:27:06 Lasher: The Bruce Moen website gives a basic description and I'm sure if you do an internet search on Monroe +"focus levels" you'll find mucho info. Yours, Frank 1375 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / WILL WE GO TO HELL on: July 09, 2003, 11:35:09 There is no such thing as "hell" per se. It's just that within the lower Astral thoughts become things. In other words, as you think then so it becomes, all around you. So, for example, if you become mildly fearful (very common) you will instantly find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance. Now here's where people get caught: When people suddenly find themselves in such a circumstance, rather than thinking, "Ho hum, silly me, better close off quick and allow this situation to dissipate" they take their current circumstances as a sign that their original fears were justified. Which is only natural as, 1) the person felt fearful thinking perhaps something untoward is about to happen, and 2) so it did. What typically happens next is the person feels fearful all the more thinking something even worse is about to take place... and so it does! However, chances are by this stage the person will have become completely engrossed by their circumstances. Which means it is near impossible to get out of. So they get caught in an ever worsening loop. Now here's where people who have died Physically, get caught in "hell": I'm sure everyone here can remember being in a dream where something bad was happening and no matter how hard you tried to extricate yourself from the circumstances, you couldn't. If you managed to get away from one monster, two more would appear, and so on. Or the more you tried to run away, the stickier the ground would become, etc. When we get caught in this kind of situation, it's only a matter of time before our protective sense of conscious awareness zaps us back to Physical. Or the alarm-clock goes off, or whatever. Which has the obvious effect of bringing a person right out of it. Within the Phsyical, there are all manner of natural interrupts which come about that "save us" from becoming trapped. But for a person who is sans physical body, no such interrupts apply. Within the Astral there is no need to eat or excrete, no awake/sleep cycle, etc., etc. So if a person gets caught in a thought-fuelled loop there is precious little they can do about it. The way to extricate yourself from such a loop is to simply stop reacting to your circumstances, i.e. stop thinking, and allow the surrounding circumstances to dissipate. But again that is one of those things which is a darned sight easier to say than to do, at the time. Yours, Frank 1374 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / I had a question in mind... on: July 09, 2003, 16:36:45 quote: Originally posted by Parmenion This is exactly the frame of mind I always try to maintain. Granted it is, as you say, easier said than done but I am getting better at maintaining this mindset with practise. The key thing, I feel, is having knowledge of the ground-rules that apply. Knowing these ground- rules explains away a *lot* of the confusion people typically experience. And the great thing is, it all really does come good with practice. quote: Would you recommend Bruce Moen's work? Does his work with afterlife retrievals and such draw any parrallels with astral phasing? On the whole, yes. I haven't read any of his books but I'm sure others here have. So they will be best placed to give specific advice. I do know he does some great work with beginners and I'd especially recommend his Focussed Attention methodology for people first setting out. Yours, Frank 1373 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Who has helped you most? on: July 09, 2003, 16:54:43 For me, it has to be Robert Bruce as it was he who introduced me to this BBS originally; together with a big thumbs-up to Adrian for dealing with all the technicalities. And I'd also like to take this opportunity to say thank-you to anyone else who has spent valuable time working "behind the scenes" so to speak. As regards the forum generally, I can't put it any better than Nick where he says, "I've come to realize what a remarkable forum this is. Here we are, from all over the world, sharing information and insights on a variety of spiritual matters. How nice is that?" I think that's marvellous... and it sure beats fighting each other. Yours, Frank 1362 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Falling Asleep on: July 16, 2003, 01:26:50 This is a common problem. The way I avoid it is to project early morning. I also remember Nick saying just recently how he projects late afternoon, after work (as he has an early start). The general concensus is trying before your normal sleep-time can often (though not always) be self- defeating. Yours, Frank 1359 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus thingies on: August 03, 2004, 17:42:19 The focus numbers are just an arbitary series of numbers Monroe used to label the various mental states people generally go through when undergoing a controlled Phasing to the various non-physical realms. They could have been called apples and pears, or whatever. In the sense that the actual numbers themselves hold no particular significance. Monroe was an engineer, so I guess the numbers thing sort-of appealed to him more than the previous mystical-style labels that have been attached in the past. Yours, Frank 1358 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Uncooperative muscles on: August 10, 2004, 17:56:40 One way I find useful is to try to keep the physical body relaxed as much as possible all the time. I'm not sure how true this is with the population at large, but it does seem to me that a lot of musular tension begins in the mind. In my life I've come across people who were always uptight about one thing or another, and that same mental tension did appear to be reflected in their physical body also... tense shoulders and forehead, neck pains, back pains, etc, etc. Ultimately, what you have to do is focus your attention away from the physical. How I do this is by having something non-physical, i.e. something within the mind to focus on. As Nay rightly says, somehow you have to find a way of just ignoring the physical. Which is a rather tricky mental balancing-act to achieve, but it does come good with practice. Perhaps rather than somehow trying to find a way of ignoring the physical, turn it around and think more in terms of finding a way to make your inner reality more real - by concentrating within more. That way you'll find eventually the physical just falls away like you hadn't got one. HTH Yours, Frank 1356 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / hemi- sync type stuff on: August 10, 2004, 21:19:12 Congratulations on being able to achieve the focus 10 state so easily. I think what you need to do now is gather a little more intent to do something in particular. It's hard to say whether any particular CD would help you. Because it seems what works for one does not necessarily work with another. I had some tremendous success with the Hemi-Sync Wave 1 CD, for example. Yet there are people who have tried it with mixed success or even none at all. What I would suggest is maybe for you to concentrate on something in mind. Say, think of opening a some kind of pathway and walking off down it. Your imagination is a key player here. Some people imagine stepping into a mirror, others think of some kind of symbol such as the kind you see on Tarot cards, for example. Basically you can think of just about anything provided it has something to do with looking towards crossing the barrier between the physical into the non-physical. What you are basically doing is focussing your attention away from the physical (where it is usually focussed) into the non-physical. And to do that people normally need a little meta- physical imagery to kick-start the process. At first you will perceive yourself from the point of view of you looking at whatever it is you are imagining. But after a while, and how long it will take varies greatly between people, you will suddenly realise that you have in some way "stepped into" the image you were previously thinking about. The shock of this realisation will almost certainly snap you right back to physical the first, maybe, 5 or 6 times it happens, or maybe even the first 10 or 20 times... it all depends on the individual. But with practice you will learn to stay emotionally neutral, so you can then begin to explore your new non-physical surroundings. Yours, Frank 1355 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Dream or OBE? on: August 13, 2004, 17:36:23 When the physical body is asleep, the mind's focus of awareness shifts from the physical into the non-physical. This happens with everyone. Here you are in an environment where thought equals action. Which means any release of emotion will instantly be played out all around you. So if you release a little fear (very common) you will instantly find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance; the actual details of which naturally vary from person to person. So someone who is scared of spiders will, chances are, see some kind of spider. And that kind of thing. A person with little regard for non-physical affairs will normally shut down their sense of conscious awareness while the mind's focus of awareness is anywhere other than in the physical. Which is why most people hardly remember their dreams except when it's to do with something particularly extreme, such as winning the lottery or being chased by a pack of giant lions, or whatever. In such cases, what usually happens is: as a person's sense of conscious awareness begins to come alive, then their protective sense of awareness immediately comes into play to yank them back to physical double quick. So all you remember is one moment you were being chased by a pack of lions and then next moment you woke up. Some people, either through obe training or naturally, can manage to awaken their sense of conscious awareness *to a degree* whilst their physical body is asleep. This brings about the classic lucid-dream scenario. Where a person's sense of conscious awareness is alive to the extent where they can recognise they are dreaming, but they can do little else as their sense of conscious awareness is only partially there. In this situation you tend to have some powers of recognition with short-term memory ability and very limited powers of reason. The next stage is what the original poster experienced. A lucid dream but with their sense of conscious awareness almost fully on stream. You feel you have complete awareness but there's just this essential something missing that you could perhaps fathom out, if only you weren't so confused. The original poster asks the question, "Is it possible I was having an obe but not fully conscious?" Yes, that is exactly what you were having. Essentially, the only basic difference between a dream, a lucid dream, or full-blown obe is a person's degree of conscious awareness. So a dream is basically an obe but with next to no conscious awareness. The key to getting out of the dream scenario is to stop the release of emotion which is fuelling it. When I was doing this, what I'd do is ignore the dreamscape and concentrate on just one particular aspect, just a really simple aspect, and ask myself questions about it. This would bring into play my longer-term memory and increase my powers of reason. Then, once I'd got a high degree of awareness, I'd concentrate on becoming totally still, i.e. I'd stop thinking about anything. This would cut the fuel to the dream which would cause it to quickly dissipate. Then I'd be ready to do some Astral exploration. Another aspect of the original post I feel worth mentioning is where the poster says about how the experience was "so real". So real in fact that it was as real as sitting in the physical typing a message on a keyboard. That's how it is when you get proficient at exploring non-physical realms. Often people come on and ask, "how do you know obe is real and that you are not dreaming?" You know, simply because when you can do it right, you are as awake and alive as when you are in the physical. You can meet other people too who know exactly where they are, and you can talk to them and tell jokes and stuff, exactly like you can when in the physical. There is no difference within you. You are the same You, the only aspect that changes is your environment. HTH Yours, Frank 1354 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Dream or OBE? on: August 14, 2004, 07:11:49 In addition to what Douglas has said, another extremely important aspect people ought to realise is when you are within the lower Astral (where people generally do their dreaming) you are within an environment where thought-equals-action. On the physical, we get used to thinking and feeling and having our physical surroundings remain as is. So, for example, a person can sit in a chair and get a little angry about something for, say, 10 minutes and then they cool off. During which time their physical surroundings simply remain the same. This does not necessarily apply while within the Astral environment. Within the Astral environment thought equals action. When I first started, finding this out took me almost 5 years of trial and error. But back then their was no Internet, well, come to think of it, there were no personal computers! Always remember: thought equals action. So anything you think will automatically manifest all around you - and often in glorious 3D Technicolour. But this is not necessarily always a "bad" thing. Because once you get over the initial stumbling blocks and learn how to remain emotionally neutral, the phenomenon of thought-equals-action is precisely how you navigate from once place to the other; or how you get to meet people, and so forth. Another crucial aspect is what Douglas (Gandalf) has just pointed out. People don't have to somehow "try" and obe. Everyone does it naturally while their physical body is asleep. In fact, the Mind is in a constant state of obe if you think about it. Problem is, people think that the Mind is somehow resident within the physical brain... it isn't... but conventional science has yet to catch-up on that one. Yours, Frank 1353 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / How do you shut the mind off on: August 14, 2004, 07:36:41 Keeping the inner voices quiet is often a difficult hurdle to overcome. In the beginning, many a potentially successful projection can be ruined by one or two stray thoughts leaking through at precisely the wrong moment. The way I overcame this is by trying to keep the inner voice quiet at all times (or at least the vast majority of the time), not just when I came to try and project. The first thing I did was to stop having opinions on all and sundry. So I stopped reading newspapers, magazines, etc. and stopped watching TV, never got involved in any kind of gossip, etc., etc. Doing this I found quietened my mind considerably and not only made my non-physical life more successful, but my physical life too. Yours, Frank 1352 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP roadblock. Argh! on: August 14, 2004, 10:18:06 Activating the fight/flight, help-I'm-dying response is one of the stumbling blocks a LOT of people face. Though it seems you have a kind of particular association established which is unfortunate. I'd had loads of Astral projection experience before I managed to project into what's commonly called the Real-Time Zone. For some reason I could just never do it. Anyhow, the first time I did and looked down and saw my physical body asleep on the bed, something inside me flipped and I got zapped back to physical PDQ. Afterwards I couldn't stop chuckling to myself thinking how daft I'd been. Here's me with all this previous projection experience and then I flip thinking I had died or something. But then I thought wow, if it happens to me like that, just think how awful it must be when it happens to a complete beginner. So in a way I can understand very much where you are coming from. Breaking such an association will possibly not be an easy task, in the sense that I doubt it will be something that will just go away of its own accord. I feel it will be something you will have to work on in particular ways until you find a way that works. But if you stick at it, I'd lay money you will solve it eventually. And maybe not before long. One of the ways in which I practised keeping myself calm was to take things really slowly and keep up a running commentary of what it was I was observing. Bt verbalising everything it stopped my mind becoming overloaded with input, and I'd get zapped back to physical far less often. Another thing I would do is if things did get out of control and I did get zapped back, then I'd replay the experience in mind afterwards a number of times; only at the point where things started getting out of hand, what I would do is use my imagination to substitute a more pleasant outcome in place of the scary bit. Then I'd keep replaying the imaginary experience in order to, in some way, overwrite the unpleasantness. Which I found worked really well for me. Yours, Frank 1351 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I need to talk to my astral gardian! on: August 14, 2004, 13:03:35 Being able to have astral projections or out of body experiences, repeatedly and in a highly controlled way does in fact eventually provide a person with proof of an "afterlife". Though I personally cannot stand that term, and every living person on this planet is as dead now as they are ever going to be. With respect to any other member with a differing opinion, I don't buy the argument about whether or not consciousness can live outside the physical body when the physical body dies. Saying that makes the assumption that a person's conscious resides within the physical body in the first place, which it doesn't. Although I have said in the past that conventional medical science has yet to cotton-on to this. Whilst having an obe, it is the case that a person's physical body is still "connected". Reason being, if it weren't, the physical body would die. Again, people make the assumption that the physical body, notably the brain, is what somehow keeps consciousness alive. I'm sorry to take issue, but it is in fact the other way around. (Though I can well understand why people would think differently.) In my experience there is no concrete definition of an "afterlife" that can be generally applied. Because the consequences of physical-body death can differ so wildly between individuals. There are those who simply slip off to the higher Astral and continue living as normal, having a home, chatting to friends, travelling to places, etc. Yet there are the less fortunate who, through various misunderstandings, end up being stuck in the lower Astral in a melting pot of their own making. Yours, Frank 1350 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I need to talk to my astral gardian! on: August 14, 2004, 18:40:07 quote: Why would the body die? And how do you _know_ that the body dies without this connection? The physical body would die because its source of life energy would be cut off. How do I know this? Well, when a person learns to project to non-physical realms with a high degree of proficiency they are free to explore and ask questions. This is one of the areas I am particularly interested in so have done quite a lot of study in this regard and have been shown a number of examples of the death process as it was happening and have attended lectures, etc. The non-physical realms are chock full of people engaged in all manner of pursuits. Just like on the physical but even more so. There you can find out about all manner of things such as where you came from, other lives you might have, how this works, how that works, etc., etc. It really is a truly fascinating place. Yours, Frank 1349 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 15 on: August 15, 2004, 18:58:27 From what you describe I'd say you were perhaps at some preliminary Focus 10 state. Or it's quite possible you just ignited some bodily chakras that are giving you a weird sensation (as they do) and that's about it. Focus 12 has particular characteristics none of which you mention. At focus 12 you should begin to perceive swirling colours and/or abstract shapes and/or varying kinds of textures. Plus, you can get to hear all kinds of pops, bangs, tearing and wrenching sounds. Also, at Focus 12 you can get a distinct feeling of movement. With me I tend to get a feeling of moving forwards, but others have felt sinking or rising sensations also. Barring getting scared and being zapped back to physical (very common at first), the transition from Focus 12 through to Focus 21 is normally a smooth, progressive transition. So the fact you say you are in some way stuck, sort of indicates to me again that you are in some state other than Focus 12. I'm not an expert in RTZ projections as I've only done it probably half a dozen times (the novelty of being able to see my sleeping physical soon wore off). But Focus 21 is the point I used to separate. I'd get to F21 then think about rolling gently from side to side and out I'd pop. HTH Yours, Frank 1348 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 15 on: August 15, 2004, 21:01:44 I wondered if maybe you should think about shifting that point of consciousness upwards through the top of your head. I keep reading your original description and again it does seem very much like you are at a preliminary F10 state. Where you say, "its like my conciousness sits in the very center of my head and theres "space" between my point of perspective and my eyelids" I can relate to the feeling of this all too well, because that's kinda like how F10 starts out with me. But from F10, I immediately get a sensation of movement - forwards and upwards - while the sensation of F12 begins coming through and a couple of seconds later I'm at F21. (I concur with MajorTom in that I too have difficulty separating F12, F15 and F21.) With yourself, maybe you need to give the process a little kickstart, as I say, by shifting that point of consciousness upwards through the top of your head. Whilst doing this, what you need to look out for is seeing any foggy kind of swirling colour(s), or something else I see often are these dark abstract shapes that look like line drawings, which come and go. Or if you start to hear any kind of sound like pops and bangs or knocking sounds, and the like... you are reaching F12. Once you begin to see anything, resist the temptation to focus on whatever effects that are coming about, but imagine yourself thinking through them. Like, if you see the abstract shapes, the first thing you tend to do is try and focus on them. Instead, focus ahead at a point way in the distance and imagine moving forwards through it all. If your experience is anything like mine, you'll get a sensation of forwards movement and emerge into the 3D blackness which is Focus 21. Yours, Frank 1347 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Yeeeees I can LEVITATE! on: August 15, 2004, 21:11:56 Not being subject to gravity takes some getting used to. Astral flight is an art which I still have some difficulty with. Taking off and flying is fine, but my landings are awful. Yours, Frank 1346 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Advice.. on: August 16, 2004, 06:49:54 What you describe is so very normal. Yep, you wake up thinking you are in the physical but you're not; when you try to move it feels like your body weighs heavy and you feel like you're floating just above the bed; your eyes are closed yet you can see all around you in the room: everything very normal thus far. But your protective sense of awareness won't think so. It usually shifts into overdrive and starts screaming and kicking trying to get the person out of it. Difficulty being the fear side of things is a stage many people have to overcome before they can project with a degree of proficiency. The sheer levels of terror you speak off I, and very many others, know only too well. But you get over it in time. The fear about leaving your body and not being able to get back in, is pretty much universal among people. The other biggie, is the fear some demon or other may in some way take over your body while you are away. All very ludicrous and laughable when chatting about it from the relative safety of the physical, but at the time the experience can be monstrous. Laughter is how I always get over it. If ever I get myself in a sticky situation and have to abort to physical, which still does happen to me now and again, I make a point of laughing at myself for a whole day for being so dumb. (Not that I'm calling anyone dumb. That's just me and the way I talk to myself.) I note also you say for the past 3 years you have drifted into a frightful dream almost every night. May I suggest you could well have a separate problem here which should perhaps be addressed beforehand. Reason being you are attempting to enter an environment where thought-equals- action. So you don't want to be in a mindset where you are releasing any kind of fear or fright. Because all that negativity will literally become manifest all around you. Yours, Frank 1345 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 15 on: August 16, 2004, 09:33:45 funinfloating111: Don't worry about the vocabulary we understand you just fine. Yes, I mean the start of Focus 10. As MajorTom has said, at the transition from F10 to F12 you should not feel your physical much (if at all). With me I feel nothing of my physical at this point. But at the beginning stages, you do feel your physical but at a reduced level. Which seems to be giving you the feeling that your limbs are all over the place, when in fact they are not. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. It sounds like just one of those weird feelings you simply get used to and then it doesn't bother you anymore. A lot of the feelings and sensations people get in the beginning are like that. MajorTom: At F21 I more often than not find myself in a 3 dimensional blackness where the blackness is punctuated by thousands of tiny points of light - which I call a starscape effect. Here I find I have three options: 1) I can look at the starscape and see perhaps one of the points of light may change in some way. Possibly change colour or shape or often I'll see a kind of black-hole effect forming. As I see the change I'll will myself to move towards and through it. As I do so, a few moments later I'll find myself within some non-physical realm. I often use this technique when meeting Harath, my regular guide. I'll think of him and immediately see a swirling black-hole effect. So I travel through it and next moment I'll be standing alongside him. I use this technique mainly for when I wish to travel to specific places that I've been to before. I'll place an Intent to be at that place, see some kind of effect form in the starscape, then head off in that direction. 2) As I see the 3D blackness I hold off a moment and the starscape effect will change texture and form a kind of screen. So it becomes like I'm sitting in a cinema watching a big screen from a short distance away. At which point I can watch whatever imagery is displayed or project my own mental imagery onto the screen. Often I like to try something new and just explore whatever comes about. So I'll place the Intent to do this and flip-through a number of scenes of various places on the screen. When I see something interesting I'll step into the image. A few moments later I'll find myself at that place within the Astral. 3) At the 3D blackness stage, I hold off moving towards some kind of effect as in (1) and hold off the Astral Screen effect as in (2). Then I'll think of myself gently rocking from side to side. At first nothing will happen and when I was first trying this I'd think too much of my physical, end up back there and have to begin again. So I have to think of myself rocking gently from side to side *as if* I were in the physical, but not actually... if you see what I mean. Then, after a few seconds, I'll get the sensation of being in a body. Again, when this first happened I thought, oh no, back in the physical (because that's kinda how it feels). But much to my surprise I wasn't. Once I feel "locked" within this "body" I can simply roll a couple of times to one side and find myself in the real-time zone. HTH Yours, Frank 1344 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 15 on: August 16, 2004, 09:38:33 quote: Originally posted by Mikegreen hey im kinda curious but what are the phases for. Like are they for trying differnt things in differnt phases or just stronger meditation? Any info or links would be greatly appreciated. Mike: Sorry but I'm not quite with you. What do you mean when you say, "what are the phases for?" Did you mean to ask about Focus Levels, or did you mean something else? Yours, Frank 1343 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 15 on: August 17, 2004, 06:41:15 MajorTom: It's amazing how you say you are trying for a year to work on getting from the RTZ into the Astral, when I was trying the exact opposite for ages. I'd always go from physical to Astral and could never get into the real-time zone. Regarding the F12-15-21 transition I admit I could never really work out what state Monroe was calling F15. Making a sharp distinction I find impossible. Looking at it closely, there is a sort of transition phase from F12 to F21. But reading the various descriptions on the Internet about F15 being a place where time stands still and the like. If this is the case, well, I can't see it. I think what may have happened is Monroe himself had something particular to him at this point, which he must have written about. Then everyone repeated it like it were absolute fact. So F15 became a place where time stands still. As regards the tapes, I bought the CD set as they were on special offer at the time from a place in the UK. If you bought the whole set you got them for half price - so I did. The only CD I found myself repeatedly listening to was Wave 1. I did listen to the rest of the CDs which I found interesting, but Wave 1 was the only CD I found I needed. At the time, my primary difficulty was getting into the Focus 10 state. Once I was into Focus 10 everything would progress fairly smoothly so I didn't need anything from then on. But I did put in a lot of work in the beginning, slowing the process down and familiarising myself with the various states. Amazing, when you are at the F21 state you already have this second body. With me, as I say, it is something I have to consciously create otherwise it doesn't come about. I can definitely say that when transitioning through F21 I don't have any 2nd body of the kind I create for an RTZ projection. I have transitioned to Astral from the real-time zone a number of times. All I did was express the intent to do so. Then comes a feeling of flying off and I go through patterns of swirling colours normally, then the Astral comes into view. Doing this I have also entered the Astral through grid- like patterns of colour of the kind you see depicted on the back cover of Astral Dynamics. Now that really is an experience and a half... wow! Yours, Frank 1342 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 15 on: August 17, 2004, 06:50:56 Mike: One of the early pioneers in this kind of work was a chap called Bob Monroe. He developed a technique of transitioning from physical to astral he called, phasing. The Focus Levels relate to the various stages of this process. If you were to do a search on Monroe +"focus levels" I'm sure it would give you a mine of info on the basics. Yours, Frank 1341 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / can AP work better if theres more of you trying??? on: August 17, 2004, 08:32:46 I kinda doubt it. But why not give it a go and see. In my experience of life thus far, the more people who cobble together and attempt a thing, the bigger the mess that's created at the end of it. I suppose if you had two people who were very close to each other and they embarked on the task then maybe you might see faster results. But AP is not like organising a bucket brigade where the more you have the quicker it flows. It's a deeply personal experience and the more people there are, the more the distraction (IMO). To me, the best way of working is a person working on their own, but having an informed internet forum they can use to compare notes. Now that I can see works wonders. I know if I had that when I first started I would have saved years of trial and error. I suppose these days it is trendy to attend classes in subjects such as meditation. Where all these "new age" types hold hands in a circle (or whatever) and start chanting their stuff. I would often talk to several friends of my late wife who would do that kind of thing. They never really got anywhere, but they enjoyed the group experience. Which is why I suspect many of them would go for it. Yours, Frank 1340 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 15 on: August 17, 2004, 18:31:00 MajorTom: Something tells me we are set to have some very interesting discussions in the months to come. Now, calling it a "nullpoint" makes a lot of sense. I'm sure I posted something to this effect a couple of years ago when a similar discussion came up. Because there is a kind of soft "null" that I pass through between F12 to F21 which I mentioned in my post. It's an ever so subtle point where everything seems to blank out for a moment. I can't seem to do it myself, but maybe Monroe could actually stop the transitioning exactly at the point of this null and sort of sit there in the midst of it, as it were. For me, getting to F21 presents no problem whatever... provided I can reach Focus 10! Once I attain Focus 10 then it's like everything switches to automatic and within a few seconds I'm at F21. However, getting to Focus 10 I still cannot just do on demand. I have to be in the right kind of relaxed mood which tends to come about most mornings, thankfully. Which is why mornings are my time for projecting. But I'd dearly love to be able to simply project whenever I wanted to. Having retired from the rat-race is helping considerably as there's opportunity for me to be able to have a lie down early afternoon. I've been trying to attain F10 at this time for about a month. I've got close, have achieved what we might call a light Focus 10 on about 25% (or so) of occasions, but nothing concrete as yet. I'll do it though, it's just a matter of time and practice. All the best. Yours, Frank 1339 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What is an easy method for obtaining and OBE... on: August 17, 2004, 20:03:54 You have basically described the common problems in a nutshell. Unfortunately, this is what most people have to face when trying to do it. Astral projection is one of those things that sound quite simple and straightforward on paper. But when you actually try and do it, all manner of challenges rear their heads. Somehow, you have to forge a channel that runs between wakefullness and sleep. It's a tricky mental balancing act to achieve and normally takes a lot of practice before a high degree of proficiency is attained. Unless you happen to be one of the small minority who have a knack for it that is. Unfortunately, I was not one of them and, from what you say, it looks like you are not either. What usually happens is, just like you describe, you can't seem to get relaxed and then, just as you do, you fall asleep. It is most frustrating as I and many others know only too well. What I would suggest is, don't give up on your current attempts because you never know, one day it might all just fall into place for you as it did with me. In the meantime, try raising your awareness in order to "come awake" within a dream. That way when you fall asleep you get another shot at it, as it were. Projecting from within a dream is a perfectly legitimate way of going about it. It's a little tricky as you are by no means certain to achieve the requisite state each night. But with a little practice there is no reason why you should not be able to project, say, once or twice a week from this technique. HTH Yours, Frank 1338 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What is an easy method for obtaining and OBE... on: August 18, 2004, 09:16:12 quote: I dislike the idea some intense method is needed to overcome the blocks that seem to come up once you know what is going on, and which stop you from doing what you did before without trying particularly hard. Wow, I just so loved the way you put that I couldn't help mentioning it. What you say makes a lot of sense! Yours, Frank 1337 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / insight requested on hypnogogic or AP on: August 18, 2004, 11:54:14 Everything about it sounds to me like you had a short obe into the real-time zone. Personally, I never get hung up about whether I'm in a "body" or not and if so what type, and all that jazz. I just get on with exploring. Sometimes you may feel you are within a body and sometimes not. This is normal. Same with the vibrations too. Sometimes you feel them strongly, sometimes not at all and sometimes they can come over like gentle waves. Other times you may feel a kind of static electricity type of feeling which is often accompanied by buzzing and/or a crackling sound. Your comments about it being ultra-real and in full colour, yep, that's how it should be. Though not everyone is fortunate enough to experience that so soon. Often people are groping in the dark the first few attempts. When you are within the astral too, everything should normally be as real and as clear as when you are within the physical. I think maybe your protective sense of awareness prevented you from seeing your physical. I'd advise anyone to be a tad cautious about doing this, as it can immediately throw up some pretty strong emotional feelings about having died and stuff. If it had been me I'd have gone straight into the computer, and I bet you would have emerged within the astral somewhere. Best of luck with the next one. Yours, Frank 1336 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Accessing Akashic library on: August 19, 2004, 08:19:19 I'm not sure on the meditation thing as it's something I've never done. I'm more of a follower of the Monroe school and in those terms Focus 27 is the mental state you need to achieve. You can basically access whatever information you wish that is aligned to your personal development. Yours, Frank 1335 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Accessing Akashic library on: August 19, 2004, 13:25:10 The pioneer was a chap called Bob Monroe who researched over a number of years, and attached a series of arbitary numbers to various internal mental states he called Focus Levels. Later on he founded the Monroe Institute where he went on to develop a series of tapes and CDs which uses what you might call binaural beats, and other effects, in order to try and achieve these states. It's not an exact science so, as you would expect, people report varying degrees of success. You don't actually need these tapes or CDs to get to these states. Various techniques are possible. If you were to do an internet search on monroe +"focus levels" I'm sure it would throw up a lot of info. Yours, Frank 1334 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 15 on: August 21, 2004, 09:48:32 quote: Frank, have you got some evidence that made you sure about that the result of that type of phasing you described is indeed an astral projection? To avoid misapprehension, by astral projection I mean shutting down of the brain into deep sleep (no REM or activity in the visual system), and various degree of time distortion (the felt experience seems more longer than its real time compound), and most importantly: because of the deep sleep there is no cognition possible by the brain. Or could it be F22-dreaming? By F22 dreaming I mean the state which you would experience after getting up from your bed into the darkness. It is REM-sleep. upstream: I've got no concrete evidence that would satisfy a court. Just the usual empirical stuff brought about over the years. Another thing, while I use it (because most other people do) I dislike the term astral projection as it's a tad too mystical for me. I can see from your posts that you have studied the process you go through very thoroughly, and your latest post was an especially interesting read. To be honest, and I've said this a number of times in the past, I never really concern myself with what "body" I'm in or the like. Nor what my brain is doing, or the type of sleep I'm having, etc., etc. I know that REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement and that's about it. Also, I never do any kind of energy work, or breath awareness, or such like; and I'm only interested in the various Focus states" Monroe labelled as they serve as markers in my projection process. To me they act in a similar way to road signs. My experience in projecting within the RTZ is very limited as I only managed to do it relatively recently. That is, after having had hundreds of projections over a number of years into non- physical environments. It appears there are people, such as yourself and MajorTom, who in some way automatically create a "body" at some stage in your respective projection processes. But with me, this has never happened for some reason. Once I reach the 3D blackness at Focus 21 I'm off exploring. All thoughts and/or feelings of my physical are long gone at this point. The only time I have to deal with my physical after that, is when I feel an all too familiar tugging which says it wants me back for some reason. Yours, Frank 1333 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Real Time Zone questions on: August 22, 2004, 11:02:21 quote: If the real time zone reflects the physical plane almost exactly, then shouldn't you be able to see many people walking about doing their daily lives, which would lead to further moral and ethical dillemas of visiting celebrities houses or seeing your neighbour naked...Can anyone fill me in on what really happens? Yes, here's what really happens: Concepts such as ethics and morals are physical-world notions only. Within the non-physical environment there are none. While there are those who would no doubt try to persuade you otherwise, members of your own higher self in particular, everyone is free to basically run rampant as and however they choose, within a sphere of reality of their own making, for as long as they like... literally. Consciousness within the non-physical, to an accomplished person, is exactly the same consciousness that person has while within the physical. Anyone who would write otherwise, say, as the poster mentioned about reading a book where the author compared non-physical consciousness to hypnosis... it is nothing remotely like hypnosis, and anyone who would write such a thing in a book obviously has some way to go. An accomplished projector can, in theory, spy on people naked in the physical. But anyone who has trained their mind to accomplish such a feat as proficient real-time projection: simply would never think about it. Ideas such as looking at your neighbour naked, for example, is nothing more than ego-driven tittle tattle which an accomplished projector would have long-since left behind. In any event, the whole concept of nakedness is an exclusively physical world construct; and the whole notion of "celebrity" is about as ego-driven a construct as it is possible to get. Which, again, a truly accomplished projector would naturally never dream about getting themselves involved with. Yours, Frank 1332 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Neurologists claim they can trigger OBE's on: August 23, 2004, 10:19:57 quote: Originally posted by Thanatos ... To believe that you're actually being transported out of your body is a mistake because your body is just a mental construct of your brain as well. To believe you are being transported out of your body is a mistake, yes. But the real reason is because "you" are never in your physical body in the first place. The feeling that you are is simply an illusion. I often feel if people would only realise this one fact then a lot of other stuff would begin falling into place. The mind and the brain are two separate entities with a bio-magnetic link and lock mechanism which couples them. Rather like a television and a broadcasting station with a high- frequency radio link that couples the two. The mind is the broadcasting station, the television receiver is the brain and the radio signal is the energetic link. But our case is slightly different as the physical body also transmits from its own sensory mechanisms back down the link to the mind. The explanation regarding the science experiments is really very simple. All they are doing is disturbing the transmission path between non-physically located mind, and physically located brain. When that path is disturbed, you suddenly feel disassociated from your physical body because the transmission has, to a degree, lost its bio-magnetic lock. Obviously, then, you will get a sensation of no-longer being energetically linked to your physical body. So, hey presto, you have an out of body experience which you relate to the surgeon afterwards... and because no-one fully understands what is happening... they all put two and two together and make fifty five. That's why I cannot help but agree with these scientists who scoff at the idea of a person being able to somehow climb out of their physical body, and start walking about the place. I think it was the William Bulman book that had a picture of a person on the cover supposedly stepping out of their physical body. Really, it's laughable to suggest that would be possible. It isn't. You can't step out of your physical body. There is absolutely no mechanism in the brain which will allow you to do so. And anyone who would say it is impossible, is absolutely 100% correct... but for all the wrong reasons. The key is to realise that "you" are never "in" your physical body in the first place. Yours, Frank 1330 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Accessing Akashic library on: August 25, 2004, 08:57:18 LRJ: Take it from me, you can access any information that pertains to your development. Finding out what will happen to you in your current life does not normally come under this umbrella as it would spoil the punch-line somewhat. Which is probably what your friend meant. Normally you would seek this information with the help of someone who already knew their way around, so to speak. So it's better if you seek a guide first once you manage to get within the non- physical. Being party to info on other aspects of your self can have quite a profound affect on a person. So it's not information that is normally handed out willy nilly. Don't be surprised if you have to get to quite a high stage of proficiency first, before they start handing you the juicy bits. Best of luck in your quest. Yours, Frank 1329 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I know quite a bit but this\ on: August 26, 2004, 16:19:32 Probably just an overactive imagination. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. To say you have psychic ability based on the fact you guessed a person had something wrong once, well, it's stretching it a bit if I may say. Most people's lives either are, or have been, screwed in one way or another at some time. Sadness is quite a common emotion to feel. I see sadness written over most people's faces. Together with tension and fear and all manner of upset and confusion. That's just the way life is for most people in this living hell we call modern-day civilisation. But don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking you. It's just that I tend to look at things in a fairly down to earth way. Maybe you do have something you can develop. If so then I'd advise perhaps for you to remain an observer for now. Once you get more experience then you'll also develop the ability to draw more informed conclusions. Yours, Frank 1328 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / auditory hallucinations? on: August 26, 2004, 16:28:22 They are very common around the Focus 12 state. You can also hear all manner of pops, bangs, whistles, knocking sounds and Velcro-like tearing and wrenching sounds. Together with people calling your name or just all kinds of shouts, or whatever. Some people get it more than others, but it's just normal at the beginning stages of projection. You can also hear music. Many times in the early years I got up and searched about the house for a radio I thought was left on. Or I've gone downstairs thinking someone was knocking on the front door. Another one I'd get is the sound of a door slamming shut. But after a while you just get used to them all and it hardly happens now. It's just a stage many people go through which seems to go away once you get used to it. Yours, Frank 1327 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / auditory hallucinations? on: August 26, 2004, 17:22:00 This thinking it is so real, tends to throw people at first. They get the idea that non-physical realms are kinda hazy, whacky sort of places. And some are, I agree. But once you get through the beginning phases you should begin to perceive everything just as clear and lifelike, and as "real" as you do while physical (later even more so). Yours, Frank 1326 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / How does Astral Projection feel and is dangerous? on: August 27, 2004, 11:13:20 You cannot suffer any direct physical harm if that's what you mean. But what you are proposing is to enter realms of existance where you can come across all manner of what you might call nasty scenarios. This can affect a person mentally I suppose. Ultimately, it all depends on the individual. Normally when people project for the first time they get scared out of their wits. But they get used to it after a while. The lower planes are populated by all manner of human crud, which beginners can get bogged down by. There was a post just recently by a person who was sensing a little bleed-through from the lower planes and they immediately started dwelling on it. Which is typical. Problem is, what people in this position don't tend to realise is just about everything on the lower planes has got something to do with blood guts and gore to varying degrees. Well, it's either that or sex. But the key is just to close your eyes to it all, and you very soon learn to pass through without a blip. The more saner non-physical environments are populated by people of all types just like the physical. People whom you can chat with if you want, well, those that are open to you that is. Plus, you can basically go wherever you like. There are no limits. Constructs such as exterior "limitations" are physical-realm only. Any limitations that go on in the non-physical will have you as the source. HTH Yours, Frank 1325 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Did anyone test the objectivity of their OBEs ? on: August 27, 2004, 11:48:19 Once you become proficient at it you get so much "proof" of the reality of the experience all doubts just fade away and it's not something you ever think about. I (for one) respectfully disagree that your test would be proof of the reality of an obe experience... maybe the person supposedly doing the projecting just read the mind of the person doing the writing. Yours, Frank 1324 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Reasons why OBE‟s should NOT be feared. on: August 27, 2004, 11:58:32 quote: Originally posted by UnEeK Hi , im new here , i just got one question , so please answer it and please dont just say it isnt likely to happen or wouldnt happen or etc... , just please answer my question.. , ok , my question is , wat happens if u got killed in the astral world? , by a neg or something? , would u just go back to your pyhisical body wide awake? , or would u be totally dead? , would u be able to astral project again? , lol , guess its kinda lots of questions in 1 , please answer my questions , thankyou,[ ] You can't be killed it's as simple as that. There is no such thing as death. Everyone is as dead now as they will ever be. Yours, Frank 1322 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Did anyone test the objectivity of their OBEs ? on: August 27, 2004, 15:39:05 quote: Originally posted by kiauma Hi Frank, [ ] I've heard of the 'It's just ESP' hypothesis before, including the phenomena of past life experiences and clairvoyance. Just what do you think would be 'proof of the (objective) reality of an obe experience'? That's a good question with an extremely difficult answer, IMO. I suppose you'd first have to define precisely what is meant by the term "obe experience" and then set about putting together some kind of test criteria that would isolate any other variable. The problem with this whole thing is, to a person who can project with a high degree of proficiency the proof is all around them. They don't need to seek it out or perform particular experiments and such like. They have bucketfuls of proof handed to them. So it's not something that really concerns me personally. But I do understand how someone could come to ask the question. I think Rastus makes a good point about the test being meaningless when you can just get on with your non-physical work. The other problem, which I spoke about a couple of years ago, is it's very difficult (if not impossible) for a person to "doubt" the experience is real and then go and project in order to find the proof that will assuage their doubt. Reason being you are projecting within a realm where thought equals action. If you are having feelings of doubt, then that doubt will manifest all around you. Thus making you doubt it all the more. So that more intense feeling of doubt will further become manifest, and so on. Now and again someone will come onto the forum talking about how they once thought the experience was "real" but they doubted it and after a number of projections they concluded it was all just in the head. Or something to that effect. People who do this just don't realise how classic a case they have become... living their very own self-fulfilling prophecy. Which is oh so very easy to do within non-physical realms; especially when you are unfamiliar with the basic ground- rules that apply. So if you believe in something (whatever that may be) you project and what you believe becomes manifest all around you... and so you believe it more, and so it becomes more intensely manifest... and so you believe it yet more... ad nauseum. The original poster asked if anyone had tested the "objectivity" of their experiences. Looking at the meaning of the word a moment: Objectivity - judgment based on observable phenomena and not influenced by emotions or personal prejudices. Problem is, the whole concept or standard of "objectivity" has been formulated from physical- matter concerns. For example, scientific experiments; where it is relatively easy to isolate the personal-prejudice aspect by the use of Double Blind testing procedures. Doing this holds the promise that no matter what the prejudices contained within the minds of the people conducting the experiment, the nature of the strict procedure ensures these prejudices can have no affect. Within the non-physical, however, a person's surroundings can so very easily be changed about by the slightest release of emotion. So it is extremely difficult for a person to remain fully objective. It generally takes a LOT of practice for the majority of people (myself included). Thing is, two people could project to the same point within the astral and both have very different experiences. Which is great for the people concerned, but plays havoc when anyone tries to quantify that experience using physical-world expectations and procedures. Like I say, it's a difficult one to get your head around. Yours, Frank 1321 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Beware the Talking Monkeys! on: August 27, 2004, 16:00:38 Sorry, but I couldn't resist a little chuckle at you losing your astral cherry. Yours, Frank 1319 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Did anyone test the objectivity of their OBEs ? on: August 27, 2004, 18:16:44 kiauma: I think you make some good points. The reinforcing nature of the experience is an important one because it is that which can utterly convince a person what they feel is real... absolutely beyond doubt. And the more they think that way, the more they believe it. That is how people get "stuck" on the lower planes following physical death. Their emotional outpouring creates what I call a reality sphere within the lower astral. Which is the emotional scenario being played out all around them. The scene they are engrossed within will cause them to react in a certain way; which will cause that same certain circumstance to manifest; which will cause them to react in that same certain way; which will reinforce that same certain scene; which causes them to react in that same way etc., etc, ad infinitum... literally. People can get locked in these kinds of emotional loops within dreams, but it's only a matter of time before their alarm goes off, or it gets so bad their protective sense of awareness zaps them back to physical, or whatever. Some people suffer from recurring dreams. Which is basically an emotional loop that gets broken during waking hours. But some kind of mental neurosis causes the person to outpour the same emotional feelings during sleep. However, once you lose the ability to zap back to physical, i.e. following physical body death, it is possible to get caught in a loop for the equivalent of a good many physical years. Your examples about two people meeting within the astral are both equally valid. The difference being the person's emotional involvement in the process. There is a way to have an entirely objective experience: that is to remain emotional neutral at all times. Which is a tricky thing to do (to say the least). Now, two people may perceive each other, but perceive their surroundings differently... because their individual emotional state is different. If two people meet and both remain emotionally neutral, they should perceive each other and the same surroundings. That would be the most reliable from a conventional-science point of view. But then, any conventional scientific study would get thrown if two people met yet described different surroundings. Conventional science would logically conclude that, as the people described different surroundings, they must have been in two different places. This would naturally (for them) beg the question how could two people correctly perceive each other, and be in each other's presence, but at the same time each person be in an entirely different place? However, true-science tells us this is conventional science coming to a faulty conclusion. The two people are not in different places. They are at the same place, but the difference in each person's emotional condition is creating a particular reality sphere which each individual perceives and interprets as being their true surroundings. With any astral experience you have your true astral surroundings, then, superimposed upon your astral surroundings, you create a reality sphere which is composed of and fuelled by your own thoughts-release-emotions. Now, once a person gets more adept, they learn to recognise which elements of the scenery are being composed by themselves, and which elements are true astral. The key to doing this is to practice remaining neutral. Then, the elements of your surroundings that are being created by yourself will dissipate thus revealing your true astral environment. Problem is, at first you can only hold this neutral state for an instant or two. Then the mind wanders and starts creating thought-forms again, or some unexpected circumstance will arise and catch you off guard. So you are correct, being able to control the emotion is the key. The most productive state I found is to start from the standpoint of being emotionally neutral, and then release a feeling of mild curiosity. Yours, Frank 1316 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Did anyone test the objectivity of their OBEs ? on: August 27, 2004, 22:27:07 quote: I dont think its meaningless at all to test reality in the way Nemo mentioned Michael: any chance you can expand on that and tell us why not? quote: even better if its done under a rigorous protocol Could you tell us what would be your idea of such a protocol? Yours, Frank 1305 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Did anyone test the objectivity of their OBEs ? on: August 31, 2004, 22:44:34 Nemo: We realise you are talking about an objectivity test. That‟s the crux of the problem, as upstream has already quite rightly pointed out. Against the background of the wider reality, there is no distinct difference. So we haven‟t missed your point. Our subsequent discussion went beyond it. And yes, we do like to philosophise here. Myself, I‟m not an expert in real-time zone exploration. However, I do now and again get information from people within the astral realms that I have relayed to people within the physical, who confirmed the information was correct. It is not something I ever consciously set out to do, it just happens to me now and again. If my experience has anything to go by, the more reliably and frequently a person can project the less likely they are to be concerned with faffing about trying to prove it to themselves. Now, taking your point about where you say, “Well, the question is precisely if they are in the same (objective) place or just in their heads having peculiar hallucinations (ESP or projection alike).” To answer your question: within the physical, a person could be said to be in one place, say, London and another person could be said to be in Paris. Objectively they are in two separate places as there is an obvious distance between them. People then try and relate what they think is simple physical-realm logic, to non-physical realms: which is something I call astral anthropomorphism. In this case, what you have failed to take into account is within non-physical realms there is no such thing as time. So there can be no such thing as space or distance either. So every location within the astral could be said to be in exactly the same location. So no matter where two people were within the non-physical, they are always in one place and in every place, all at the same instant. And you say, “or just in their heads having peculiar hallucinations”. Why would anyone be in their heads? Your brain is in your head. No-one does any hallucinating there. Hallucinations are a product of the mind. Which lives in a place nowhere near your head. The mind resides in a totally different dimension of existence. HTH Yours, Frank 1297 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Negative spirit projection! help!!! on: September 04, 2004, 18:19:34 When people get furious and start to think about hurting others they create evil thought-forms in their mind, and these thought forms actually come to life within the lower astral. So people who do this, what tends to happen is, when they project they meet their own thought-form energies head on. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. If you sort out the mental problems you are having I'm sure it'll all just fizzle away. Yours, Frank 1296 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Second Attempt at my question! on: September 07, 2004, 11:34:16 Reports on these kinds of products tend to be highly subjective, and much depends on the sensitivity of the person in question. A lot of the advertising I have seen borders on the riduculous. I've never managed to work out how someone can "guarantee" astral projection. They get away with it, I suppose, because of the legal grey-area that exists with these kinds of products. There is no specific definition of astral projection, and no test any official can apply that would objectively determine whether or not use of tape-xyz did (or did not) produce the results as advertised. So it all becomes a case of buyer-beware. I had great results from the Monroe Gateway Wave-1 CD. Yet there are others who've had no results at all, and others with all manner of varying results in between. So the only real way of finding out IMO is to try whatever it is and see how you go. Problem is also when people have reported results with these kinds of tapes they usually describe what I would call a whacky experience, as opposed to a controlled conscious-exit obe. Which leads me to conclude that what these tapes may in fact do is just screw around with the brain; and in doing affect the energetic link between mind and brain thus bringing on said whacky experience; which a person then confuses with a proper obe. After all, a person who has never done it before wouldn't know there is a rather distinct difference. It's a bit of a minefield and before laying out hard cash I'd definitely try and get some feedback about a specific product beforehand. HTH Yours, Frank 1295 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FRANK: About diet and the ability to OBE on: September 07, 2004, 15:57:56 As a result of my studies over quite a number of years I concluded the natural diet for the human animal was one that consisted largely of raw vegetables and fruits. Not only that, my work also led me to conclude that 99% of all sickness and ill-health in western society was directly caused by diet. The two main culprits are sugar and animal products, especially dairy. The body was never designed to digest animal flesh. It does try as best as it can and people can survive off it to a point. But what happens is all the undigested proteins putrefy in the gut which places a tremendous load on the immune system; as it‟s the immune system which has the unenviable task of clearing away all the toxins that are developed. The immune system can only deal with so much. It is already loaded from the constant barrage of toxins which just occur naturally. Like viruses and bacteria that try and find a foothold in the body in whatever way they can. Though a normal healthy immune system can virtually always fight off these natural invaders before they can take a hold. It is only when a person comes across an abnormal occurrence, say, if they got bitten by a poisonous snake that the immune system might need some kind of supplementation such as the injection of an antidote. However, when a person has pounds of indigestible, putrefying meant in their gut, the immune system becomes so loaded that these natural viruses and bacteria begin to take a hold and the person gets sick. And because one person‟s body works very much like any other, and because enough people tend to eat the wrong foods in much the same way, there are distinct similarities in the way people get sick. These similarities have been catalogued over the years. So when a person is recognised as being sick in a certain way, western medical science says they have caught a disease. All manner of pills and potions have been developed to mask the symptoms of these diseases, but without actually getting to the very root cause of the problem, which is… diet. But that is only half the story. When the digestive system had been loaded with pounds of putrefying meat, very little else can be digested properly. This means there is precious little raw material available for bodily repair processes. So the person‟s body begins to degenerate. This comes about in obvious ways such as they lose flexibility, muscle-tone and skin-tone; they can also lose their hair, their teeth, and so forth. And the degeneration can come about in some not so obvious ways such as unexplained anxiety and depression. To a large extent, this degeneration process locks a person in a kind of downward spiral of degeneration. Because the degeneration doesn‟t just affect the outward expression of the body, it affects all bodily processes including the brain. In other words everything is affected. Which is how we get to a situation today where ever so many people in western society are over-fed, yet their bodies are severely undernourished. I doubt very much, therefore, whether a person‟s ability to obe could in any way be some kind of exception. Okay, it could be argued that the whole obe “thing” is not a product of the body but of the mind which, as more enlightened members realise, is not directly of the body. But a common prerequisite to the obe process is the ability to relax the physical to a high degree. If a person‟s nervous system is constantly on edge from that person suffering all manner of physical complaints, then I would suggest their ability to obe would certainly be affected also. Fasting can work well for someone who eats a normal western-style diet; as it tends to relieve the immune system from the continuous digestive load, and allows it to start clearing up on other bodily issues to a degree. But fasting for too long can cause its own problems, as the body requires a constant source of nutrients for all its repair processes. The solution is simply to stop ingesting the toxic products in the first place, by eliminating all meat and dairy from the diet plus all non-natural sugars. Though I would suggest a person even eat fruit sparingly as the sugar content is quite high, natural or not. When a person becomes in-tune with their body then natural variations will come about. With me, for example, I find no natural need to drink large amounts of water during the day. Maybe because I add no salt to my food whatsoever. So I drink about a litre/litre and a half, a day that's all. Plus, fasting is not something I ever do for more than a day, as I carry very little bodyfat and before long my body starts eating away muscle which I like to keep. HTH Yours, Frank 1294 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FRANK: About diet and the ability to OBE on: September 07, 2004, 19:45:11 Adrian: a number of excellent insights! I especially loved the line, "they come to Earth to get it right, and then after 5 years of programming they spend the rest of their physical life getting it all wrong yet again." It's just SO true. After all, we have all done it before. Well, I know I have. But this time, thankfully, it was different... somehow I realised. tdd: I've taken on board your fasting pointers and I'll certainly give it a go (36 hour fast) and see what happens. I lose weight fairly quickly even if I don't eat for a day. Such that my body can start to feel wasted. But maybe that's all a result of "conditioning". In this respect I do tend to agree with Tisha in that it's no fun. But maybe there is a hurdle for me to overcome. Like I say, I'll give it a go and see. Yours, Frank 1293 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Should dream and OBE's never be shared? on: September 07, 2004, 20:10:31 This question came up before a couple of years ago, also as a result of the stuff published on MysticWeb. According to their logic, I should never be able to obe now, as I have tried to share everything I know about the topic. But they still come about virtually every morning. And what about people such as Robert Bruce who must have shared his experiences with millions. He still has obe's. Bob Monroe must have sold zillions of his book Journeys, founded the Monroe Institute, etc., etc. yet he continued to have obe's right up until he shed his physical. It's just nonsense. Like not walking under ladders and stuff (ha ha, reminds me of you Stephen!!!). Yours, Frank 1292 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FRANK: About diet and the ability to OBE on: September 07, 2004, 22:04:37 Wow, Adrian, I'm a bit in awe at what you say. I can see there's a learning curve I'm sitting at the bottom of here. When you say juice fast I'm assuming you mean any juice, for example carrot juice, and not just fruit juice. It's just that fruit-juices are really not my thing as I find them too sweet (never did have a sweet tooth even when I was a kid). If so then what I'll try is drinking only carrot-juice for 36 hours. Wow, that seems like a heck of a long time to go without a spinach salad. Longest I ever did to date, which I do about once a month, is 24 hours on just water. Yours, Frank 1291 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FRANK: About diet and the ability to OBE on: September 08, 2004, 18:21:05 Tisha: my diet has evolved as my obe abilities have evolved. With me they went hand in hand like it had all been planned that way from the beginning. Basically I feel more “connected” than I ever have. It‟s something which is difficult for me to explain. It‟s like I am far more accepted now in the non-physical company I keep, and as a result more doors just continue getting opened; and as I develop and learn to take on board new prerequisites, more doors are opened, and so on. It took a while before I got it right; so many twist and turns and blind alleys; and I know there are ever so many challenges I have yet to face. But I now know a lot of the lives I went through to get where I am now; and knowing that makes me feel so grateful to be me. So no matter what it takes that‟s what I have to do. If it means being on a raw-food diet (or whatever) then so be it. Adrian: Yes, I agree, I just wrote it out a hundred times (seriously): I shall not try, I shall just DO. You know, one of the best things about my now living in France is I never visit a supermarket (I despise the places). I grow a lot of organic vegetables, far more than I can consume, so I‟m a member of the local organic grower‟s cooperative and we bring our surplus to market, as it were. It‟s wonderful because we deal direct and cut out the big-money parasites that would otherwise seek to bleed us dry: like they do with farmers in developing countries. As for all the meat products on colourful wrappings, untold suffering, and about our needs being very basic, yep, I‟m 100% with you there. I always thought it would be an interesting scenario if there were a race of animal beyond us who liked to think of chewing on human-animal flesh as we now think of chewing on, say, cow- animal or chicken-animal. Oh how we would be so dead against eating meat! Yours, Frank 1290 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Second Attempt at my question! on: September 10, 2004, 17:38:11 Mustardseed, thank you for your kind comments. What you said was very interesting and my reply is as follows: The artificial aids may screw with the brain and affect the energetic link between mind and brain; then again they may not. What I‟m putting forward is an informed opinion as opposed to concrete proof. But I do feel rather strongly that they do. Likewise I would agree that laziness, lack of proper discipline and fear also has a strong detrimental affect. To the extent where, yes, the brain can get screwed from that also. Your spiritual journey will consist of many, many steps, and it is possible to screw-up at any stage. This I would say is normal. I screw up all the time. But the thing is, with people like me who have been at this a while, we‟ve got a kind of momentum going which tends to carry us through. Unfortunately, with people at the beginning stages, when they screw-up they tend to keep getting knocked back to square one every time. This can be very demoralising to say the least. Your point about us progressing as we are “meant to” I find most interesting. People tend to use the past as an indicator of future progress. And the way we are meant to do it is to have many, many lives learning what really are the most simple of lessons. For example, with myself, “greed” took me about 10 lives to get out of my system. Now I learnt this lesson fairly quickly, when measured against conventional yardsticks, because there are people who‟ve spent a hundred lives and still can‟t get the point. Anyhow, regardless of the nitty-gritty of it all, don‟t you think spending a hundred lives, or even ten lives for that matter, don‟t you think that‟s such a complete waste of time? Especially given that it is now possible to circumvent the bounds of this thinking and realise in perhaps a few years (or even months on occasion) what would normally have taken many lifetimes? Quantum leaps in growth can occur with almost any individual. When this happens, the person in question automatically bypasses the need for many future incarnations and immediately takes a huge step forward. Problem is, people would quickly have to take on board certain concepts and live to particular ideals, and most people in western society are just too far gone to make such an immediate switch. So I would say, on balance, people proceed not so much as they were meant to… but proceed as they mistakenly feel they are only capable of. I know, wondering whether you are doing it right is just so darned natural. The key is to see everything from everything‟s point of view. This will give you the understanding necessary to make great changes in your life. Yours, Frank 1288 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FRANK: About diet and the ability to OBE on: September 10, 2004, 19:08:31 "While I made my own personal choice not to eat meat, and feel best on 100% raw fruits and vegetables - I do not believe that it "hurts the planet".. eating and being eaten was always part of this planet.. just that we "stopped being eaten" quite a qhile ago:)) I do believe however that it hurts the person eating it." Yes, eating and being eaten but in nowhere near the scale that we now do and entirely unnecessarily. When it happens naturally, in nature, there is always a balance that is achieved. But in our inane and senseless bungling we break every natural rule in the book. Which you and others may well believe does not hurt the planet, but there are people who today still believe the world is flat. The facts are there for everyone to see. But as I've said before, most people are more interested in what's happening in their favourite Soap, than the devastation that is being caused to our environment. Yours, Frank 1287 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FRANK: About diet and the ability to OBE on: September 11, 2004, 17:05:28 I read the info on the "beyondveg" site and, in the main, it serves as a prime example of how people can become seriously screwed from not following a natural eating regime. Once you let yourself go beyond a certain point, it can become extremely difficult to get back on track... as the personal accounts demonstrate. Though I do note they tend to blame the "diet" rather than their own stupidity. The article entitled The Calorie Paradox of Raw Veganism gave me a good chuckle. According to them I should be a pasty-faced anorexic. But therein lies the flaw of counting the value of food merely in terms of its calorific value. Now this did make me laugh, and I quote: "just how the raw-food "experts" can claim to maintain weight, energy, and muscle on modest daily volumes of raw food". Anyone who has met me could easily attest to the fact that I am of adequate weight for my height. I'm 5ft 9" and weigh 172lbs, carry around 4% bodyfat, so my bodyweight is mainly composed of muscle (which is rather obvious). I have no problems whatsoever maintaining this!!! According to the website, I should have to eat around 20lbs of vegetables a day. What a load of rubbish. I eat normal-sized meals at around normal times. The simple difference being, my digestive system has NEVER been abused to any great extent. I have never let myself go, and all my life I have never eaten sugar in any quantity. If you do that, you get seriously screwed to the point where it becomes very difficult to get back on track. In other words, it takes EFFORT over quite a long period of time... which most people in western society just cannot comprehend anymore. And as for the cooked food argument, well, that's just too ridiculous for words. Name one animal that cooks its food? The argument is senseless to the extreme. It's like Douglas' friends who come back with notions of plants suffering in the same way as animals. Are there any limits on the depths of human ignorance? I always hoped there was a limit. But each year, as a race, we hit a new low to the extent where now I'm seriously beginning to wonder. Yours, Frank 1286 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / lower plane ghosts (who else has been scared?) on: September 11, 2004, 18:23:14 Wherever did you get the idea it was rare to see other people within the astral. The place is chock full of them! Thing is, it is normal to be scared at first but eventually you get over it and the astral becomes a fun place to go to. Yours, Frank 1285 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / lower plane ghosts (who else has been scared?) on: September 13, 2004, 07:58:35 There are a few basic ground rules that I'm going to write up about in the FAQ section sometime when I get chance that I feel if people would get to grips with understanding first, they wouldn't have such a bad time. The astral is populated; there is no doubt about that. Anyone who says otherwise is simply wrong. The place is not populated by "entities" or "beings" or "ghosts" or whatever, it is populated by people (and other wildlife but for now I'm concentrating on the people aspect). They are just people, exactly like you and I, only they are sans physical. This is a perfectly normal state for a person to be in. In fact, it could be said to be more of a normal state than being physical. Just because someone is confused about being dead or not, doesn't make them bad; or some kind of demon. Problem is, when we project we drag all our emotional baggage and other superstitious and/or religious conditioning with us. Within the physical we have the luxury of being able to think and believe what we like and not have our surroundings chopping and changing to suit our emotional state. This is by no means the case within the astral. Think of the astral environment as a mirror that reflects our every thought, deed and action. If a person is seeing evil, then they are thinking evil; if they are experiencing confusion, then their thinking is confused; if their circumstances are out of control, it‟s because their thinking is out of control; if a person is about to attack us, it‟s because we think we are about to be attacked, and so on. Problem is, the astral environment is ever so fluid, meaning it chops and changes so easily and seamlessly, to the extent where we believe we are reacting to the changes in the environment. When it is in fact the other way around, our environment is reacting to changes in us: in particular our emotional state. Yours, Frank 1284 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / My phasing effort: was this astral projection? on: September 13, 2004, 12:09:23 The 3-dimensional world you speak of was, from what you say, the lower astral. Probably somewhere around Monroe's focus 24 state. Phasing is like that, it gives you the feeling you are not actually out of body (not that anyone is ever in their body in the first place, I just use these terms in the way others tend to use them). Plus, you always have the feeling too that you can "go back" to your physical any time merely by focusing on it. These sensations are normal and correct. Phasing to the astral in this way, is a whole lot less traumatic than suddenly finding yourself floating on your bedroom ceiling looking down at your sleeping physical. In the past, people have done this and mistakenly assumed they had somehow left their body. Then a load of people wrote about it over a number of years and the whole "out of body" idea was born. Phasing, when done properly, should be one smooth conscious shift in focus from physical to astral, which should also feel completely natural. From what you say you are on the right track. Now all you need to do is practice. Next time, rather than getting engrossed in your surroundings practice remaining completely neutral. In other words stop thinking and stop doing. Then, from this standpoint, release a feeling of mild curiosity about something and see where the feeling takes you. You will find that after a while of practicing doing this, you will learn to take control over your experiences rather than the experience controlling you to whatever degree. Yours, Frank 1283 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Hell, and all the weirdness that comes with it. on: September 14, 2004, 22:00:19 Tell your friend, anyone who can "really" astrally project realises there is no such thing as a heaven or a hell, in singular terms that is... there are zillions of them. Problem is a lot of these old-fashioned religious types love the kind of up, down; left, right; heaven, hell, opposite extreme kind of constructs. None of which apply within the non-physical. But that doesn't stop them trying of course. I liked what you wrote about your experience. I've had loads of similar sounding ones so it made a lot of sense. With me, those kinds of experiences always threw-up loads more questions than they answered; to the extent where I couldn't wait for next morning to arrive so I could project again. Best of luck on your future travels. Yours, Frank 1280 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Why is all this happening ? This is the qesution . on: September 16, 2004, 18:32:56 We don‟t leave our body. We are never in it in the first place. The feeling that you are is just an illusion. I did wonder once who created it all, but later realised that concepts such as beginning and end; top and bottom; up, down, left, right, and so forth, are all meaningless within non- physical realms. They are just handy concepts that apply in the physical world only. And no, it is nothing like The Matrix. That was just some dumb movie that happened to capture the popular imagination. Yours, Frank 1277 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / My phasing effort: was this astral projection? on: September 17, 2004, 08:36:01 Rastus: That's the general idea, yes. Within the lower levels the constructs you make very quickly dissipate. But the futher in you go the more permanent the structures become. They are trickier to build and they take longer to do, but once made they remain. So now, for example, I can phase to my place in the Exchange Territories (Monroe's Focus 27) and use it as a base for further exploration. Also, if things get a little sticky (which they still do now and again) rather than getting out of it by switching my focus to physical, I escape back to my place in the non-physical. Which saves me a lot of faffing about. Perhaps the biggest advantage of having a place prepared, that is already familiar to you, is when it comes time to shed your physical you already have somewhere to head to; rather than just floating around aimlessly wondering what to do. Yours, Frank 1276 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / My phasing effort: was this astral projection? on: September 17, 2004, 12:38:02 Douglas: One of my favourite methods for a number of years was waking up in a dream. With practice I became fairly proficient at it. But I know only too well about the mysterious something that always seems to be missing. Then, when back in the physical, I'd realise I wasn't quite all there. Even though at the time it felt like 100%, it's afterwards when you realise otherwise. Most frustrating. The thought crosses my mind you might be at the stage where your efforts would be better placed in your fully conscious attempts. Because then you'll have 100% awareness right from the start. Even though I did eventually manage to raise my awareness from a dream to quite a high degree, it's still nothing like having 100% awareness from the outset. Thing is, also, coming out of a dream I always found it was like starting off on the wrong foot. In that not only do you have to raise awareness, but you have to try and find out where you are in the general scheme of things and decide how you are going to get to where you want to go, and all that jazz. When doing it fully consciously, you simply phase to wherever you want to be. Like, you kick off on the right foot. In the days when I was somewhat less proficient, I found that a projection that started off well, unless I did something stupid (which I often did!) would continue to go well. But projections that were muddled in the beginning, for some reason I could never quite shift all of the crud and something would always tend to bug me throughout. Either there would be some kind of sound like a buzzing that just wouldn't stop, or perhaps I would have difficulty moving, or maybe my hearing wasn't all there, or I'd have a feeling like something was stuck to me, or whatever. Oh, as an aside, I think that‟s where all this talk of “attachments” comes from with the PSD bods. Because it used to happen to me fairly often and it does feel exactly like something is attached to your “body”. So maybe they assume there is and, because of the inherent nature of the environment, hey-presto so it becomes. The other point I wanted to make, as you touched on it in your post, is when you start with 100% awareness it is possible to develop a kind of super awareness. Where you sort-of become aware of being aware. This is when your thinking begins to take on a more multi-dimensionality aspect. At first, when people get some semblance of awareness to their normal physical awareness, they gain control over their non-physical experience (as a result) then they start walking around here and there, exploring in very much the same way people would do while physical. Like, say, taking a walk in the countryside. This is basically what I did. Next a person might learn to fly. So they start flying here and there, thinking it‟s a whole lot more efficient than walking. Then comes the realisation you don‟t actually have to travel at all. You can simply manifest in whatever place. Problem is, it does take a while to rid yourself of physical-realm notions such as gravity, time, space, and distance. Following which comes the further realisation that you can not only manifest in one place, but can manifest in several different places all at the same time. Basically, I doubt very much whether this type of super-consciousness could be developed from projecting by waking up from within a dream. It does seem very much like 100% awareness from the outset is a prerequisite. Yours, Frank 1272 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Meditation Phenomina on: September 19, 2004, 07:49:58 Yes, good results considering the timescale. The uncomfortable sensations will subside as you get used to them, so please don't worry. The more you concentrate on them the more significant they become. So try to just put them to the back of your mind. Tingling and feelings of pressure, falling and ascending, or other kinds of sensations of movement, are all very normal at first. What you are calling generic visuals sounds very much like the Monroe Focus 12 state. Here you can see all kinds of abstract images or textures, or often sounds such as knocking and wrenching sounds, or maybe screaming and whistling sounds. Again, all very normal. Try to think of this phase as somthing you pass through. Many people use it as a signpost that tells them they are well on their way to the next step, which are the astral visuals. So try not to spend too long here. It should last only a few seconds, maybe 30 seconds absolute maximum. The visuals you are getting are what you need to aim for. After a while they will become stable rather than snapshots of a few seconds or so. Then you are in a position where it is like being at the cinema watching a large screen. Note: you should aim for this stage to take up most of the time of your meditation. Once you are comfortable with viewing the screen, take a deep breath and mentally step into into it. At which point you will find yourself immersed within the non-physical, or the astral as people generally call it. Then you can take a walk around, or fly around if you want. And that's it, you've done it! From that point you are free to explore and interact with your environment, meet people and so forth. Just like you would do in the physical. You say you have great fear of obe but that's exactly what you are doing now! Please put aside all the old notions of floating on the ceiling looking down at your sleeping body, meeting demons and dragons, and all that other whacky stuff. That's so past its sell-by date it's unreal. There's nothing to be frightened of. But always keep in mind you will be in an environment where thought equals action. So please remember to keep a check on what you are thinking at all times. The best state of mind is to stay neutral, but then release just a mild feeling of curiosity. In a way just as you are doing now. Simply keep that curious state of mind and you will be fine. If you happen to find yourself getting a little fearful, watch out because you can easily get yourself locked into an ever worsening downward spiral of negativity. Which is a complete waste of time. The way to deal with it, is the moment you find circumstances flowing away from you, quickly switch back to physical, take a few deep breaths to clear the mind, and project again. Yours, Frank 1271 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / How many Monroe Focus points are there? on: September 20, 2004, 01:02:43 Plus: C1 - Physical F3 - state of expanded awareness Yours, Frank 1270 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Do EM Feilds Effect Entities? And How? on: September 20, 2004, 11:13:55 There are lots of what you might call radio stations broadcasting within the astral. The physical reflects the astral, not the other way around (as many assume). I think what people must have done is tune into an astral radio station and assumed they were picking up a physical-realm station. It's easy done I suppose. Not only can you tune into "radio stations" but all kinds of music as well. Yours, Frank 1269 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / My first “third eye experience” on: September 20, 2004, 22:59:20 The reason why you see darkness is because when you are awake your focus of awareness tends to reside behind your physical eyes. So when your eyelids are shut then all you see is darkness. When you are asleep your focus of awareness naturally shifts. The key is to cause that shift while remaining "awake". Which, for most people, is a heck of a tricky mental balancing act to perform. What you experienced was fairly normal in the general scheme of things. In other words, that's how it tends to come about. Now you've been given a taster it should spur you on to try and experience it again and again. Perhaps the main distinction between imagination and a real experience is the feeling that what you saw could never have been a product of your imagination. Like, it just happens, as you say, entirely without you actually thinking about it. The experience should just flow of its own accord without you in any way having to force it. As you say, as if you were watching television. That's exactly right. You mentally sit back and observe the experience. Then, once you have got used to doing that, take a deep breath and mentally step into the screen you are watching. At which point you will find yourself immersed in the non-physical realm, where you are free to explore and interact with people just as you do while physical. Yours, Frank 1268 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / My first “third eye experience” on: September 21, 2004, 15:29:20 I'm not sure whether difficult is the right word. It's tricky to get the hang of, yes, and I think it is also possible for a person to try too hard. You have been at this for some time without any real results, and the thought occurs to me that's maybe what you are doing wrong. Then, one time when you were in just the right kind of relaxed state of mind, up it comes. Try shifting your focus of awareness around your body by imagining separate body parts for a few minutes at a time. That's a good excercise a lot of people have found useful. Once you get a feel for that, start to place your focus at different points in your head. One particular mental stance I found gives great results is to imagine being at a point about in the middle of your neck and looking up into the mass expanse of the mind. Think of yourself as a point of consciousness and you are looking upwards in a direction towards the top of your head. From where you are is an empty space for, say, about 10 or 20 feet and then the expanse of the mind begins. Imagine the mass expanse of the mind as huge grey clouds that expand upwards and outwards into infinity. Keep looking at those clouds above you gently swirling around... but stay looking from the point of view of looking upwards from the middle of your neck. Like you were looking up through the top of your head (that's very important). At first you'll no doubt feel yourself slipping, and find yourself looking once again at the backs of your eyelids. When you feel comfortable with looking upwards through the top of your head, mentally reach up into the clouds. Keep looking from the same point at the middle of your neck, but imagine a line of contact reaching out from you and going upwards. As you are a fan of Star Trek then imagine sending out a tractor beam. Imagine that the Tractor Beam (or whatever you imagine) contains a message from you asking for help in making the transition between the physical and the non-physical. Keep broadcasting the message every 2 or 3 minutes, and between broadcasts simply stay in the same mental position quietly observing what you see. You need to remain hopeful and expecting that somone will come along and give you a hand up, so to speak. If you feel yourself getting despondent then stop the excercise and try again another time. Getting despondent puts a big spoke in the works. Which is one of the problems with trying too hard - you get disheartened. So it's far better to practice little and often, in a positive frame of mind. What should happen is one time you try you'll see the clouds make some kind of variation. Perhaps a person will appear and they float above you, beckoning you to come towards them; or maybe you'll see an area that suddenly lights up a different colour; or whatever. When it happens, mentally reach out towards it and allow the energy of it to lift you upwards. HTH Yours, Frank 1267 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / i was so close! focus 12 on: September 27, 2004, 10:11:34 Once you get more familiar with the state it will slow down to the point where you feel in control of it. What you are experiencing is the dissolving of all your concepts, thoughts and emotions back into the expanse of your mind. It can give you the feeling like everything you ever knew disappearing and/or the feeling that your existence was somehow slipping out. The reason people feel like they just died is because the same basic process occurs at the point of physical-body death, and it tends to awaken the memories of when you have died before. What you say about having done a lot of reading and it being of little use when actually doing it is very true. Problem is the nitty-gritty detail of everyone‟s experience tends to be different. Books can only give you a broad understanding, and are no substitute for hands-on experience. Yours, Frank 1266 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / My Take on OOBEs and Astral Projection on: September 29, 2004, 09:20:41 quote: Self Imposed Limitations You start trying to have OOBEs, and your first attempt doesn't work. You keep trying for weeks and still aren't getting anywhere. You were a skeptic who was trying to prove yourself wrong. After too many "failed" attempts, you give up and say "See I knew this was crap!". Well my friends, that is all self limitations. Every "limitation" you think you have is all mental, all in your mind. It's about your will to do something, if you say you can't or you won't you will never be able to. You can try, but only to your dismay. You must truly believe in the "unbelievable" Yes, I‟ll second that. Because everything about this topic takes place in the mind, it is extremely important to think along the right lines. If someone is thinking, “Well, I‟ll give it a go, but I don‟t really believe it is possible” chances are, they will give it a go and get no results. Then they emerge from the experience believing it isn‟t possible. After which they will look back thinking, “See, I was right all along!” Not knowing, of course, they just lived out their own self-fulfilling prophecy. Another question that comes up fairly often (or at least along these lines) is where a person asks, basically, was this experience real or just all in my mind? Well, where else would it be! Having the will (or intent) to project your focus of conscious awareness elsewhere from the physical is not just important, it is an essential prerequisite. A person‟s Will or Intent is the very driving force behind it! Which I realise will sound too obvious for some. But I do feel a significant percentage of beginners tend to miss this point. The other big downfall I feel a lot of beginners make is they aim too high using too many fangled techniques. They read a number of books then decide on a strategy that they believe will get them “out of body”. When I feel what beginners should be realising is the true nature of the connection between mind and body; realising they go “out of body” every time they are asleep; and working on a strategy to simply raise their awareness of what they already do naturally. Yours, Frank 1265 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / I think I got contact with my disk/astral family! on: September 29, 2004, 09:43:47 Douglas: The degenerate humans you came across would have been precisely that. Many people are so attached to their previous physical body their mind actually makes a link to their rotting corpse which is what you perceived. As you know, like instantly attracts like, so people who are stuck in this unfortunate predicament can often form groups. They tend to come across as angry, nasty kind of characters but they are perfectly harmless. A good way to get through to them that almost always works is to offer an alcoholic drink. I enjoyed reading about the “disk” experience. Especially where you say about you recognising people and they knowing you, yet all the while you have no idea where you know these people from. When I began on this kind of tack it happened to me so often. The feelings you get from these people can come across as being very paternal in nature. So finding yourself blurting out “hello dad” and such like is very normal. So too are all the other feelings you talk about, i.e. feelings of homecoming, joy and laughter. These feelings can so very easily get to the stage where they become overwhelming, which ruins the experience. So it‟s best to take small doses at first. The further in you go, the more stable everything becomes. Once you get more proficient at navigating to these places you'll find they become even more "real" to you than the physical. One of the best experiences is to be able to project to a place you have been to before, not just once but several times over. That's when you properly begin to believe in the reality of it all. You step out of the idea of it all being some kind of "game" and realise the seriousness; the depth; the gravity of the whole thing. Which you will have touched on already, of course. Yours, Frank 1264 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral life, questionable journeys on: September 29, 2004, 10:09:27 Is your friend aware of how infinite these realms are? I mean, they truly are infinite to the extent where there must be an infinite number of "overall stories" and such like. What I feel is happened to your friend is she became attuned to a particular area, at a guess I'd say somewhere around the Monroe Focus 24 state, where the inhabitants believe in xyz scenario which subsequently became relayed to her. Then she took this knowledge as being generally applicable. Which it most certainly isn't, I am happy to confirm. Yours, Frank 1263 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Negs putting masks on you? on: September 29, 2004, 10:37:23 I believe you are answering your own question where you say, However being that we are so used to our physical bodies, the astral body replicates the same senses and perceptions of the energies. People can feel pressure in the head to the extent where it feels like a mask, and so it becomes. (Thought equals action within the non-physical.) For example, I used to get sensations a couple of years ago where it felt like some huge sucker-monster had attached itself to my back. Lately, I've been having sensations of "attachments" to my body like huge leaches have got their claws in me and I can't shake them off. But that's just the way the energy flows sometimes. You just have to accept it and move on. You say there are "spirits" around you who would not be too pleased if you took the mask off. Well so what? If I baulked at every obstacle someone tried to put in my way I'd never get to explore anywhere! All manner of people live within the astral realms and if you let yourself get bogged down about some imaginary mask and these spirits who are friendly sometimes but not at other times, you'll spend your non-physical life getting nowhere fast. Next time it happens have a good laugh about it and move on. Yours, Frank 1262 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / I think I got contact with my disk/astral family! on: September 30, 2004, 10:02:10 Douglas: Yes, these Zombies (I do like that term) can be a bit obnoxious but you soon get used to them. Generally, I find it best to think of others you come across not (as most people tend to do) in terms of “entities” or “beings” but simply think of them as other people. Only within the non-physical there is a wider variety of naturally occurring bodily conditions a person can find themselves in. Because at first we are unfamiliar with this extended range of possible conditions, they can take us by surprise. But as soon as your mind gets the idea these conditions are all very normal, and they are just people after all, you tend to look upon them with humour, rather than fear and/or surprise. From my experience a significant percentage of them appear to be ex-physical realm alcoholics. This is why offering a drink usually works wonders in getting them to quieten down. If you can get to engage one of these people in some kind of serious conversation, in other words break the emotional loop they got themselves caught in, you will see a number of exciting changes take place. It‟s a good idea to follow your curiosity. Doing that will multiply your interest and increase your overall Intent. I was like you in that I too would project regularly from the dream state. Now, years later, I still can‟t just simply dream. Once I do, more often than not I become lucid. Which sounds great but it gets to be a right pain in the *rse when all I simply want to do is sleep! One of the ways I have been practicing recently is to phase while being 100% awake within the physical. Sort of more like opening up a channel in the way a Medium would do. My work had been taking me in that direction for a while, and I first tried it in a group setting with a couple of other Astral Pulse members. The intensity of the experience really startled me. What I found was being in a small group increased my Intent many fold, over what it ordinarily would have been when trying the same technique alone. It also doubly reinforced to me the importance of Intent when it came to achieving concrete results. It seems to me like projecting from a lucid dream the need for a strong Intent isn‟t all that great (by comparison). After all, much of the groundwork has been laid out already. From which point all it takes is to generate a reasonable degree of conscious awareness and there you go. Okay, the experience will never quite have that totally lucid quality of a conscious phased transition. But it‟s more than good enough for starters. I know you are having a little difficulty with your fully-conscious phased transitions and I wondered if you might inadvertently be failing to generate the requisite degree of Intent. The more a person progresses towards the fully conscious transition stage, the more this topic becomes their life. (This basically follows on again from where Monroe says about a door opening which can never fully be closed.) And I do very much feel that, after a point, a person‟s true practice begins when their formal practice ends. In other words, the whole thing just becomes you, rather than something you do between nine and ten thirty (or whenever). At the border between awake and sleep, there is a tiny channel which you need to travel down. Frustratingly, at first, people keep missing it and they switch from being awake to sleep; sleep to awake; at which point they realise they missed it yet again. The solution to this is to develop a strong Intent to find this channel and travel down it while fully conscious. Intent can also be thought of as determination. But it is a quiet, passive kind of determination. Not the aggressive, “We‟re gonna win at any cost” type of emotion. If you don‟t do this already, you need to develop a pictorial representation of each state, i.e. the awake state you are in before sleep; the sleep state you normally end up in; and between them you need to picture the channel I talk about that you need to travel down. The detail of how you picture all this is up to you. Simply let your imagination wander until it has built up a strong and detailed picture of all three. As maybe the channel is unfamiliar to you, picture yourself travelling through a tunnel about 10 feet in diameter where the walls of the tunnel are formed from swirls of coloured kinds of clouds (this is how I normally perceive it). The colours tend to start off more blues and reds and progressively turn yellow to white towards the end. Then, at different times throughout the day, you need to imagine yourself being in the preliminary awake state before sleep, going through the motions of having your physical body go to sleep (picture it in as much detail as you can) and instead of your conscious awareness blotting out as normal, you enter the channel and travel down it; to emerge at the other side within the non-physical at whatever point you have previously imagined. The place where you saw your astral family might be a good place to think about going. Going through this kind of scenario throughout the day will go a long way towards developing the necessary kind of Intent that will finally propel you, fully conscious, down that channel. HTH Yours, Frank 1260 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / I think I got contact with my disk/astral family! on: September 30, 2004, 17:26:43 Yep, you've got it. Breaking the habit-cycle is what it sort of all boils down to. That's why youngsters can often find this easier. A 15 year habit is a darned sight easier to break than a 50- year one. That kind of thing. I wish you all the best. Yours, Frank 1259 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / A serious astral projection (for a change!) on: October 01, 2004, 11:23:18 Groping around the RTZ is not a lot of fun. I only learned how to project my consciousness into this region after having had hundreds of projections within the astral. I can't see what all the fuss is about, to be honest. Okay, seeing my sleeping physical whilst floating on the ceiling was something of a novelty. But it quickly wore off. The astral is the place to be, IMO. From what you describe I'd hesitate to call it a past-life experience. Firstly, everyone has other aspects of themselves. These aspects normally come across as other people, but they form part of a person's whole character. These others are generally free to live their lives but are not necessarily incarnate within a physical realm. Aspects of ourselves can reside within various levels of astral plane too. Myself I have various aspects of myself that can pop up in the most unlikely of places. And that is the situation I think you came across. It is possible to step into the life of another aspect of yourself. Meaning you see as they see and feel as they feel, etc. Plus you can step out and become like you are seeing them from a short distance away. Or, once you get proficient at it, you can do both at the same time. A strong, reliable indicator that can almost always tell you where you are, i.e. whether you are physical or astral, is the landscape. From what you describe it sounds very astral. Yours, Frank 1258 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral life, questionable journeys on: October 01, 2004, 11:48:30 Yes, this is definitely lower astral stuff and is typical of all the kinds of mind games that are played out within these realms. Big inflated egos trying to wield power over others. They do it while physical and simply continue within the lower realms of the astral. They have no real power over anyone, except for what the person in question gives them. I often get confronted by these characters on my tours of the lower realms. The solution is just to walk right through them as if they weren't there. This fuses their circuits no end. Yours, Frank 1257 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vibes and the Lunar Cycle on: October 02, 2004, 11:23:27 Never noticed any connection myself, and I can't see what a difference it would make. Perhaps it is one of those things where if you believe it makes a difference then it does. Yours, Frank 1256 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Need Advice With Failed Projection on: October 02, 2004, 11:47:15 In a way you have answered your own question. It's obvious you got scared and your protective sense of awareness pulled you out of it. Fear of not breathing is a common one together with other fears such as thinking you have died, and that kind of thing. It's all very common at first. All you need to do is simply let the experience run its course. Perhaps it may take a number of attempts before you can do this. But that would be very normal as well. Fortunately, when you get used to these sensations the impact of them lessens considerably. With me now, for example, I hardly ever feel any kind of vibrations at all. To the extent where I can't remember the last time I felt actual vibrations. Yet in the beginning the vibrations felt so bad it was as if I were sitting on a very unbalanced spin-dryer rotating at top speed. Then I'd shoot forwards at an incredible rate like I had been shot from a cannon or something. At every level there are challenges to be faced. Which, in the early stages, almost always means overcoming fears of one description or another. Yours, Frank 1255 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral life, questionable journeys on: October 02, 2004, 12:14:06 I chuckled as soon as I saw the link: something-foundation dot org. And I said to myself, yep, thought so. And then, sure enough, up comes ubiquitous funny logo, man with beard, mission statement, pathway to this, that and the other, oh and a battling dark forces book. IMO, a complete joke. How can these people possibly have any power over anyone? Unfortunately, there are certain types of people who believe in it. And so (for them) it becomes. I never understood why people believe that kind of stuff when they can look within themselves for free. All they need is a bit of basic guidance from a forum such as this one and away they go. No need to fuel the ego, and line the pocket of some "Guru" Yours, Frank 1254 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral life, questionable journeys on: October 02, 2004, 13:01:42 Douglas: I too have become interested recently in the mediumistic side of things and have been practising opening up a channel whilst fully conscious within the physical; as opposed to all the going through the various transitions between various focus levels, etc. I found it tricky at first but lately I've had some great results. Stephen (EOL007) has experience with this kind of thing. He gave me loads of pointers which I am using to good effect. He also talked to me about "being touched" which happens to him fairly often (which I found absolutely fascinating) and he explained to me how it came about. The idea of manifesting an object or person sounds several steps removed from mere touching, but I wonder what Stephen would have to say. Hopefully he'll stop by the thread and give us some pointers. Yours, Frank 1253 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / I think I got contact with my disk/astral family! on: October 03, 2004, 17:35:40 James: Being able to repeatedly project to the same place is a kind of confirmation that tells a person they have a high degree of control over their experience. Being able to do this also helps greatly in communicating with people who reside within non-physical realms. Being zapped back to physical due to some physical-body demand will always tend to come about no matter how experienced the person is. If this happens when you are in the middle of a conversation with someone, it becomes a simple matter to go back to physical, sort out whatever is the problem, maybe visit the bathroom or whatever, and project again to the same place and continue your conversation. To navigate to a place all you need do is think about wherever you want to be and you will automatically manifest in that place. Doing this is one of those things which feels a bit tricky to do at first, but you soon get the hang of it. Regards, Frank 1252 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Finally got a date! on: March 28, 2002, 12:14:11 For a few years now, I have been trying to get positive details of some kind of date and place. Problem is, every event I come across on the Astral tends to bear no direct relation to my experience of the physical world. However, on my "travels" last night I came across what looked like a typical English social club, albeit a rather old-fashioned looking one. It crossed my mind, from the way people were dressed and the decor, that it was probably early 1900's. People were standing around having drinks and all were in a jovial mood. Instantly I thought, "Yes! A chance to get a date." So I got chatting to two men and asked them what they were celebrating. They got confused and said, "It's Christmas!" I then asked the men what year it was, and got yet more confused looks. One of them pointed to a calendar sitting on a large mantelpiece. The date was December 23rd, 1924. Immediately I thought, right, I've got to remember this and kept repeating "Chrismas 23, year 24"; "Christmas 23, year 24" and so on... knowing that I'd easily remember it was December from the Christmas aspect, and the period I would readily know from my first thinking it was Victorian. So I zoomed back to the physical, instantly awoke, and made some notes on the pad that I keep at my bedside. Then I thought, aaagh, I forgot to find out what the place was called! One of my goals is to come across some building (or whatever place) and be able to get sufficient details about it so I can verify whether or not such a thing has been recorded as having existed at some time in the past. But if possible I want something that is not in existence today. Like a building that has been demolished, for instance. Has anyone else either tried, or had any success doing this? Yours, Frank Edited by - Frank on 28 March 2002 13:16:47 1251 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Prerequisites for obe-ing on: March 31, 2002, 09:41:54 Okay, on another post a chap mentioned about how he'd been trying unsuccessfully for years to have an obe. When I read his post I felt a burst of realisation that made me sit and think for a while. It is believed that access to higher Astral planes is limited; and that entering these areas requires a higher degree of spiritual development (or at least that's what I have gathered). Often people pose questions, like, if they entered the real-time zone will they be able to pop over to their neighbour's house and watch them having sex, and so forth. Well, I suppose technically you could. However, in practice, I doubt you'd get very far in your Astral development! But the thought occured to me that maybe the same (or a similar) kind of barring process was present at every level... even on the physical. So this morning I did a little experiment. For a while now I have been practising conscious-exit obe's and I've managed to develop enough skill to keep the necessary steady-state conditions in which to conduct some exercises. Normally I'd just whoosh-off and see where I'd end up. But I've been practising concentrating on holding the vibrations steady, then releasing them as gently as I can. First, as expected, I entered the real-time zone. Oh, BTW as an aside that is the key to entering the real-time zone as opposed to the Astral proper. You need to control the release and project very gently and very slowly. It's like you just ease yourself in. Anyhow, I'd been feeling a little stuffy that night so I wanted to go somewhere fresh and light and happy. So through the "tunnel" I went and ended up at a large seaside resort. Fresh air at last! It was such immense fun, flying low over the waves and breathing in all that fresh sea air. So much so that I almost forgot about doing my experiment. So I landed and stood around just watching all the people. Loads of children were enjoying building sand-castles and paddling in the sea. The conditions looked and felt very stable. The sun was out and everyone was happy. Okay, my idea was to just stand still for a while and take in the view. Then I would debase my thoughts and see what happens. So I thought of something smutty and said to myself, "Where's all the women around here, yeah, show me some naked women!" The surprising think was, at first, I felt a strong feeling of reluctance. The thoughts would not come to me. I knew what I wanted to think about, but had to use quite a lot of concentration to actually think the thoughts out loud. As I did so, the colours changed and for a split-second I felt some kind of energy drain. Then, the next moment, everything was bright again and just in front of me were two women: very scantily clad and giggling amongst themselves as they walked. I looked to where they were going and just in front of them was a complex of buildings that looked like some hotel. It was obvious from the situation that I could follow these two women into the building, and have rampant sex with them. The other strange thing, was the style of building and atmosphere of the place was not all that far removed from the situation I had been in a moment previously. It was sort-of like a "mini version" where the fine detail is absent and only the bare basics are present. The required amount of detail was being formed and deformed, as necessary. You feel it mainly when you look around. The moment I did so I thought, yep, I know where I am... I'm back in the Training Ground! So I withdrew, got out of bed, and proceeded with my day. However, after about half an hour I was overcome with a tremendous feeling of shame. I don't know why. It was totally unexpected, and all my attempts to just laugh at it and simply shake it off didn't work. In fact, I never (to my knowledge) ever felt SUCH an intense, shameful feeling in my life before this morning. So I sat quietly and began to meditate. Soon I was enveloped by a feeling of a powerful but kind, gentle and all-knowing energy. In my mind came the details of my "Astral Experiment". It became obvious to me the stupid impulsiveness of my behaviour. Thoughts flashed through my mind of times in my physical life where I have acted recklessly; putting myself in danger for no good reason. Thoughts which made me feel even more stupid and ever more shameful. I wanted to try and explain that I was only doing it for an experiment and that I didn't mean any harm. However, it seemed the very same moment I tried to say anything, the answer to what I was ABOUT to say came right-away into my mind. The realisation came about that access to higher levels depends entirely on how your thoughts are attuned. On the lower planes, such as the Learning Zone, the effects are very obvious. What was also realised for me, was that I was right in thinking that there were thought-barriers on the physical. Barriers that can restrict a person's ability to have oob experiences. It appears that emotions can severely affect a person's ability to have obe's. The most beneficial emotion to have, that came to me from this energy, was Faith. I also got a load of other VERY confusing stuff. Like, it was coming across to me about my having had an extremely traumatic time, where I had shown tremendous qualities of faith, devotion and courage. All of which was mighty confusing, because I never remember such a time at all!!! Anyhow, the energy went away just as quickly as it came. All that remained was a feeling that I'd just received a right good ticking-off, for messing with forces I should under no circumstances mess with again. Yours, Frank 1250 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What does a "Chakra" make you feel like? on: April 04, 2002, 09:17:44 A couple of days ago, on another post, I said I wouldn't know a Chakra from a hole in the ground. But this morning I had an experience that I didn't recognise. I wondered if someone had an idea of what happened. I have been slowing down the projection process as much as possible in order to make it as controllable (and as describable) as I can possibly make it. So this morning I was practicing slowly relaxing and feeling my legs getting heavier and monitoring that feeling rising upwards through my body. Only instead of just letting it happen, as I would normally do, I'd purposely induce a stray thought or two. This had the effect of momentarily halting the deadening process. Then I'd let it rise a little more then halt it, then let it rise a little more, etc. Right, so at one point something very unfamiliar happened. I began to feel a continuous tingle through my whole body. Then, over a period of the next few seconds, it seemed my body became about 3 times its normal size. Then I had this feeling like my whole body was made of spongy foam. It felt like the stuff they use for foam mattresses and cushions, etc. And something weird happened to my breathing. I understand about breathing through the diaphragm and normally I can feel this muscle moving up and down in a cyclic motion. But it was like with each breath I could actually feel my lungs themselves. Each time I breathed in it was like the air was an electric current that I could actually feel flowing in and out of my body. It was a very pleasant feeling so I ran with it for a while. Then it suddenly occured to me that, although the energy was spreading throughout my whole body (all 3x the size of it!) this energy actually seemed to be flowing in and out of my body from just one area of my chest. It was almost like a hole had opened up and this energy was flowing in and out of it. I concentrated on the exact area and quickly shut this thing down by willing myself to move... then immediately put my hand on my chest right where I had estimated this "hole" to be, before I forgot. It was then that I realised my hand was placed exactly where my physical heart is. Can anyone give me a clue here? Yours, Frank 1249 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral experience examples on: April 10, 2002, 11:05:12 People have been Emailing me and asking about the differences between illusions caused by your own fears, and the Astral proper; how can you tell the difference, and what's the best way of controlling your emotions, etc., etc. I apologise for not being able to spare the time to answer each question on an individual basis. So I thought I'd post you one of my own experiences which demonstrates how Astral events and/or circumstances can change from one moment to the next. Plus, it shows you how easy it is for situations to get out of hand. Notes about the various changes I put in [square brackets]. Okay, here goes......... I was standing in an open space alongside a guide, seeking understanding about the nature of human emotions and their interaction with the Astral. We were chatting generally about thoughts and emotions and about the different types of characters that people have. I asked my guide if it would be alright for me to "see" an emotion. He said okay which one do you want? I said "greed". The scenary changed and we came into a ballroom. [Still in Astral proper.] There were a large number of people enjoying what looked like a "mafia style" party. At one end of the room was a stage and on it was being played a gloriously entertaining show the like of which I could never begin to imagine. There were the most beautiful creatures performing a wonderous dance. It was a truly fantastic interplay between form and colour. Words could not even begin to describe the phenomenal display of beauty. Save to say the scene was utterly captivating and I was absolutely enthralled. Suddenly I realised my guide was trying to distract my attention from the show. Eagerly I began asking questions about it but he directed my attention elswhere. We walked through the crowd of people to one side of the room. It was then I noticed all down one wall of this room was a line of cash dispensers. A large group of people were bustling and jostling around each one. They appeared to be competing between themselves to make a withdrawal. All around people were holding large wads of cash. Banknotes were stacked in piles and many just littered the floor. My guide took me close to a machine. Well, as close as we could manage that is. I was peering over people's shoulders trying to see the dispenser screen. Then, when I got near enough to see, I realised something: each time they made a withdrawal, their account would be credited by the amount of the withdrawal, not debited as is normal. Each withdrawal made them every more greedy to make another withdrawal, and ever more greedy to make another... and another... and another... and so on. We retreated a little and, through the crowd, I could just make out the show was continuing. Yet the only thing the majority of people in the crowded room was interested in doing was grappling to try and take money from the machines. My guide explained that the performance was a celebration of the relationship between light, colour and form; and that the work symbolised the formation of a life-sustaining planet, such as Earth. He further explained that there were quite a number of touring "shows" that travelled regions of the Astral in a similar way to those on Earth But hardly anyone in the room gave a damm about that. All they were concerned about was greedily taking and hoarding as much money as possible. The contrast was sickening to the extent where I asked my guide if we could please go. My guide became a little surprised and asked me if I'd like to make some withdrawals. No, I said, thank you but I'd just like to leave. He said there was only one way out of the room which was through a door that opened into a corridor. Along that corridor were a line of doors and that I could go through any one of them... as each room had an exit I could use. He led me to the door and beckoned me to leave. I asked if he would accompany me. But no, he insisted this was the point at which we should part company. So I thanked my guide and bid him farewell. [Maintain air of natural curiosity.] On entering the corridor was a line of doors. There was a door immediately opposite me so, as my guide had said it didn't matter which door, I simply chose that one. The room was of a totally different character than the one I just left. It had a soft deep- pile carpet and what appeared to be velvet-lined walls. Beautifully woven tapestries were hanging all around. There wasn't a door that I could see, so I parted what looked like a shimmering silk curtain in front of me. To my left was a large wooden door that had been delicately carved out of what looked like fine mahogany. Great, I thought, there was the exit. However, immediately in front of me was an enormous bed that looked like something you'd imagine a famous movie-star would sleep in. Lying on this bed, in a very seductive pose, was an incredibly gorgeous woman. It suddenly occured to me that the same (or very similar) setup was probably in each of the rooms along that corridor. I deduced that once the people in the room had satisfied their lust for money, next they satisfied their sexual lust to the same obnoxious extent. Oh well, who cares, I thought and went to open the door. But it would not open. There was no obvious handle, so I tried mentally pushing and pulling but still it wouldn't budge. The woman smiled, arose from the bed, and approached me questioning why I wanted to leave. The sexual undertones were very obvious to the extent where I doubted, just for an instant, my ability to control the situation. Then... aaagh... at which point she wrapped her arms around me. [Enter buffer-zone experience and feel justification for my doubting to control.] Closing my eyes I thought might help but she began caressing my upper body whilst trying to coax me onto the bed. All the while I am giving myself a running commentary on what is going on. Note: I have found doing this has a calming effect on the mind and helps me stay in control of my thoughts during "scary moments". [Buffer-zone experience depletes due to having dissipated the emotional energy.] I regained my composure while the energy was dissipating and, sure enough, on opening my eyes there she was back on the bed. But darn it, the moment I saw her a flash of mild annoyance slipped through my mind, thinking like, "How dare she do that!" [Enter buffer-zone experience and feel justification for mild annoyance.] Aaagh... just when things were getting under control. I further braced myself for the effects. But knowing that if I just remained calm, the energy would dissipate. Immediately her face began snarling at me. Problem was, she went from being ever so stunningly beautiful, to being ever so ugly, in the briefest of moments; the contrast caught me off guard to the extent where I really lost it. For just a tiny split-second I thought, "Oh no I'm trapped!" [Worsening buffer-zone experience, matching worsening of emotional control. Now feel justification for feelings of being trapped.] But no, phew, reflexes had kicked in and I was back in the physical lying on my bed. I lay there for a few minutes thinking about what happened, feeling very cheesed off with myself for not keeping my composure. I had really wanted to see what was on the other side of the door. Oh well, you can't win them all, I thought, and got up to make some notes. Whoops, there's something not right here. Er, Frank, this doesn't feel right at all. Wait a minute, no, it can't be. Oh heck, I'm not in the physical at all. Next moment, the woman drew back a curtain. I desperately tried to contain my shock at seeing her. I got out of "my" bed realising that I was still in the same room on the Astral. Yet, I swear a moment later I would have staked my life on the fact that I was in the physical and lying in my own bed. For some reason, rather than panic, I just simply let out a laugh while thinking of how surreal the whole experience was. How stupid of me to have let out the emotion of feeling "trapped" and how that energy fooled me SO darned completely. Making me think that I was truly back in the physical when it had all been an illusion. Yet it felt so real. My bedside table and lamp; my wife beside me; the atmosphere of the room, it all "matched" perfectly. Even down to the sliver of light coming into the room from the night- light on the upstairs landing. I thought of how tuly wonderous and magical the Astral is. Yet, at the same time, how tricky it can be to get around all the potential pitfalls. [Exit buffer-zone experience. Emotional control now fully regained.] I'd given up hope of trying to open the door so, ignoring my surroundings, I simply closed my eyes and walked through it. As I did so a swirl of colour came into my mind and next instant I'm lying on my bed in the physical. There's this little voice in my head saying, "Er, havn't we done this once before, Frank?" So I get out of bed, and all the while expecting to hear that woman go, "Ta da!" And her face appears from behind a curtain. So I'm heading downstairs, but still not believing it. In fact, it took about 10 minutes before I truly believed I was back! Yours, Frank Edited by - Frank on 10 April 2002 12:11:39 1248 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Tricky physical stumbling blocks on: April 11, 2002, 13:12:08 From my interaction with this BBS thus far, it appears people have a big problem with learning how to project controllably. However, learning how to project with a degree of reliability, in relative terms, is an easy task when compared to the *major* pitfalls beginners face once they are "out there". The one BIG pitfall is failure to control emotions. As I explained in another post, on the physical we can get a bit uptight over things now and again without doing any real harm. But the key factors here are "bit" and "now and again". If you are a person who gets emotional over matters that typically happen on the Physical plane, believe me, you are going to last not one second on the Astral. The reason for this emotional stumbling block is due to the fact that the sense of conscious awareness you take with you to the Astral, is exactly the same as the sense of consciousness you have on the Physical. But the opposite is also the case. In that, the sense of conscious awareness you bring back to the physical is the same too. Which can be a very positive thing. As it basically makes the whole process of "enlightenment" possible. Something which does have a profoundly positive effect on your Physical life. However, the BIG potential danger, is that negative Astral experiences can have a profoundly negative affect on your Physical life. In the sense that there are only so many "Demons" the mind can take before it can quite possibly begin to feel possessed. But on the Astral, please understand there truly is no "evil"... only a person's lack of perception. The same basic rules apply on the Physical plane too. But they are nowhere near as obvious. Another big stumbling block is: not only can you see vile and/or other immensly scary images, you can get immensly scary "feelings" too. When I say feelings, I mean feelings like "beings" were pressed against you and/or latching onto your body. Beings that you cannot, for the life of you, shake off. One example of this happens to me now and again. It took me about a year to fathom what it was. Sometimes, if I am feeling a bit drained physically. Like, if I have been lifting and carrying things so my muscles ache a little in the morning: when the vibrations come about, rather than them building in intensity to the point where I project, the projection process might suddenly "lock". Immediately they do so, I get a strong feeling like some large "thing" has latched onto my back and is pressing itself against my skin. My conscious mind is desperate to "shake it off" but physically I am completely unable to move. The reason why this happens, is because even though what I call my "mental" side of things is preparing to project, my sense of conscious awareness isn't really going for it. Often, even though I might be tired, the vibrations will begin. But I think, "No, I'm too tired this morning" and I'll roll over onto my side. At which point the pre-projection vibrations slowly die off, and that is that. But, now and again, the vibrations will suddenly stop mid-projection. At which point, my sense of conscious awareness has left my physical body, but the vibrations suddenly halted before projection to the Astral took place. Here, it seems, my sense of conscious awareness is "hung" or "frozen" in a kind of no-man's-land between my Physical body and my Astral body. In this situation, I am lying on my bed and fully able to think: but have no awareness of the Astral; cannot move in the Physical; and my consciousness wants to "panic" because it feels like this huge "thing" is attached to my back. The first few times it happened were VERY scary. However, once you've experienced it a few times, it becomes much easier to live through. The solution is to try and simply go to sleep. Which is extremely difficult, at first, because you would bet your life there was this huge sucker-monster behind you! This morning, the effect I have just described, happened to me again. Unable to move I drifted off into a Lucid dream. I was in a bar and had ordered a drink. They served me only a small glass of beer even though I'd ordered a large one. An argument ensued. Next there was a fight and someone jumped on my back (surprise surprise!) and I kept spinning around trying to shake them off. Eventually I broke free. (Which I guess is the point where my conscious awareness slipped back into the Physical.) The argument had introduced an element of aggression, the scenery changed, and I found myself fighting with a group of riflemen. Which wasn't all that pleasant. But I thought I'd run with it and slowly let the energy dissipate. Thinking of how I could help these guys in a more positive way, I suddenly became the cook (in the Physical I very much enjoy preparing food). Now I was standing in front of a large cooking range behind a glass screen. The men were still fighting outside and it was my job to prepare a hearty meal for them when they returned. A few of the guys turned around and beckoned me to come and shoot. But I had some good food ready and they were hungry. Word soon spread, and they put down their rifles, came inside, and sat down to eat. At which point the scenery melted away as it's energy ran out. Also, it's probably fitting to mention here that I feel it is important that you allow stray emotional energy to dissipate naturally, if at all possible. That way you end your experiences on a more positive note. I got this idea from my working with young horses. I found that no matter what went wrong during a schooling session, if you end the session on a positive note the horse makes faster long- term progress. And the same appears to be true with a lot of things in life. Yours, Frank 1247 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Anyone know what this is called? on: April 17, 2002, 08:54:19 As regulars will know I've been practising slowing down my normal projection process; which used to consist of merely shooting off and landing within the Astral at some random place. But I have been having good success in slowing things down. Just recently I have been experiencing a state of mind I do not fully recognise. Okay, the state of mind I need someone to please identify is, as follows: I allow my mind to become still and let my sense of conscious awareness drift upwards and forwards to what I recently named my Remote-Visual Interface (or RV-Interface for short). This is the spot on the forehead that mystics, et al, commonly call a "brow chakra". Once my sense of conscious awareness connects, I begin to see images in my mind. I found I can "step into" these images In the sense that I can walk around and look at whatever is going on. This morning I stepped into a street-scene. There was a road, lined with buildings, and populated by people. I found I could walk around and examine various bits of street furniture, etc. In fact, it felt like I was on the Astral. But I had experienced none of my usual projection feelings, i.e. no vibrations, no feelings of shooting off at high speed, etc. Also, I did a little experiment where, during the experience, I thought about letting my sense of conscious awarenes connect to my Remote-Projection Interface (RP-Interface) which I believe mystics call the "crown chakra". As I did so I began to experience familiar pre-projection vibrations - whilst I was actually within this state. So I was definitely not projecting in my normal sense of the word. What I also noticed is my physical body seemed to be in a different resting state. It was definitely more awake than it normally would be if I were projecting. To all intents and purposes it did feel like I was projecting because I could engage in my surroundings; and it felt totally different to what I would call a Training Ground experience, i.e. where the images are solely manifest from the viewer's emotional energy. Pointers anyone? Yours, Frank 1246 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hemi-Sync... user reports on: May 04, 2002, 10:06:29 As a result of discussions on one of the threads I sought to purchase Monroe's latest books, Far journeys and Ultimate Journey. In the process of that, I happened to come across a store, in the UK, that was selling the Hemi-Sync Gateway Series CD's at half price. I'm not a great fan of all this (what I call) whacky commercial stuff. But I do have a soft spot for "old man obe" and my instinct told me to give them a try. So I ended up buying the CD's as well as the books. I've heard a number of sound patterns in the past that have claimed to have all kinds of weird and wonderful effects on the brain. Much of it, I say, is just a load of tosh. Not only that, it can be very damaging. The Brain is extremely delicate and incredibly sensitive. As such, it is definitely not something that should be messed with. I've said in the past that the mind should be treated with the same degree of tender care that you would adopt when handling a new-born child. Blasting it with an array of mind-bending sounds and lights is really not the way forward. Okay, so the night before I set up a portable player by my bed ready to try the first CD the next morning. I awoke at 4am and started to play the CD. And... wow... what a surprise! I'd listened to the Java-Applet on the Monroe website which gave a demo of "Hemi-Sync" (or so they said). While I don't like to approach things with a fixed mindset, I thought the CD would be more of the same stuff as played by the Applet. In which case I'd listen to it for 5 minutes, get bored, switch the thing off, and get down to some serious projecting. But no, what is on the CD's is nothing remotely like the Applet at all. Which is rather confusing. In fact, the CD's are absolutely flaming brilliant and I cannot recommend them too highly. I have only properly listened to the first CD (Wave 1) as it is obvious they must be learnt sequentially; as the early CD's contain details of exercises you must learn first, otherwise you won't understand what to do in the later CD's. A couple of minor downers: 1) An absolute beginner, I feel, would find the instruction manual lacking detail about exactly what to do and what to expect. But for someone with a little experience this would not be a problem. 2) The voice has a bit of a "Houston Mission Control" feel about it. Which kept making me chuckle, initially, but it's something you quickly get used to. What took me completely by surprise, however, is the sheer quality of the whole production. The subtleness and the gentle way the whole process is handled is absolutely first class. I felt my mind gradually being coaxed into a state of mental stillness. There was no harshness, no weird buzzing and mind-numbing vibratory-type sounds like I had heard on other recordings. No, this is all remarkably different and extremely effective! It is blatently obvious that whoever composed those recordings knows a heck of a LOT about how the mind works. They know only too well how, the moment you try and somehow "force" the mind into doing something, it will automatically resist you with the very same degree of force. The more you try and force it, the more it will resist. Which simply puts you into an ever downward spiral. I listened to CD1, Track-1 a couple of times just to get used to the process. Track-1 (relax to Focus 3) is very basic. Which would be absolutely perfect for beginners. However, someone with a little previous experience in relaxation/meditation will quickly move to Track-2. Which takes you to the body-asleep, mind-awake state which they call: Focus 10. I found the "trip" to Focus 10 very relaxing. It is incredibly professionally done. It's brilliant the way the counting is staged, in the sense of how the timing changes. Your mind is anticipating the next count, but it doesn't come when expected. As a result, a little "hole" is created that your sense of conscious awareness falls into, relaxing ever deeper. Absolutely incredible and nothing like I expected at all. Plus, I just love the way a lot of what is done harmonises with my own thinking. A fact which gives me total confidence in the process. Like, the way they start relaxing from the head. I have often felt that people concentrate too much on the actual mechanics of the Physical relaxation process. Doing that has the tendency to activate the mind, not still it. I've said before that the technique is to lie back in a comfortable position and simply allow the mind to become still. As a result, the rest of the body will have a strong tendency to automatically be still. And so it is the same on the CD. They first relax the face and head, and then let that sense of relaxation flow into the brain. At which point I get a delightful sinking feeling which flows from my mind into my whole body. Which, as I say, is basically what I do anyway. Only it took me about 10 years of trial and error to discover it where, with this CD, a person could accomplish the same in only a week or two! The Hemi-Sync sounds are ever so subtle. You can hardly hear them. As I say, I expected some whacky and irritating kind of buzzing noise like I've heard on recordings in the past. No, it's nothing remotely like that. And the effect the sounds have on the mind is ever so wonderful. This morning I listened to Track-2 for only the second time and, following the relaxation process, I felt there was some kind of marble-sized entity present at the centre of my brow: pulsating and vibrating. It was a very similar feeling to what I would occassionally feel before in what used to be my normal projection process. Only this time, instead of relaxing for an hour or so, it happened after only about 10 minutes! In fact, the feeling came over so strongly, my sense of conscious awareness snapped me out of it. But it will become used to the feeling in a short while. Another very important aspect is the CD's are ultimately an aid to self-learning. In that they basically teach you how to perform the whole relaxation process *without* the help of the CD. In fact, on the later CD's you are expected to perform the exercise of reaching Focus 10, for example, all on your own. The voice on the CD simply instructs you to do so, and stays silent for a while. Then it comes back to teach you some of the more advanced stages. That's another reason why the CD's *must* be learnt in the correct order. After my experience, I would say to anyone who is having the remotest difficulty with any aspect of relaxation and/or projection to buy the Gateway Wave-1 CD set * immediately*. Don't bother with the other Waves for now. Because until you are adept at achieving Focus 10 relaxation they will be useless to you. I cannot remember a time when I could so wholeheartedly recommend a product. At the time I was in two minds, shall I or shan't I. My instinct held sway and now I'm just so darned pleased it did. Yours, Frank PLEASE NOTE: I decided to add this footnote just to clarify that all I am recommending to you, specifically, are the Monroe Institute Gateway series CD's. I have no experience of any other recordings made by the Monroe Institute. Moreover, this recomendation is NOT to be taken as a general endorsement of "Hemi-Sync" or any other "Hemi-Sync style" recording. Just a recomendation of one specific product only. 1245 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Responsive OBE related site on: May 06, 2002, 18:03:51 Anyone know of other BBS forums that mainly specialise in obe? I'm not looking for any negative tosh. Just plain and simple obe experiences and/or how people can work towards having them... but mainly with members that are *already* engaged in the process of obe. Yours, Frank 1241 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / More Gateway Wave1 feedback on: August 15, 2002, 11:31:50 Right, so, this morning I decided to move on from the intro CD (to Focus 10) and try the advanced Focus 10. It's been a while since buying the CDs but I feel the tendency, with all these staged courses, is to flash through the prelims and try and do the advanced stuff too quickly. So I've been listening to the intro CD for about 3 months at least twice a day, and often 3 or 4 times. I've successfully resisted the temptation to take a peek at any of the others. What I would also do is, 2 or 3 nights a week, go to sleep with it playing softly (on repeat). I've probably heard the CD about 300 times! And have got to the stage where I can real it off word for word. So I thought it's time to move on. I was a bit sceptical when, on the advanced F10 CD, Monroe first started going on about some protective energy-balloon. I got disappointed thinking oh, no, not more of that that "neg" stuff. But I persevered and thought it best just to go along with it. It wasn't too bad as it happened. Okay, so Monroe's telling me that he's going to take me to the F10 state by just counting up. And I'm thinking, yeah right, and the moon is made of Swiss cheese. But was I ever wrong. The moment he began counting something just took over, and the instant he said "10" I was out there, right away. It was like... zump... and I was on the Astral. The CD brings you back to C1 (Physical) and sends you out again. Well, at the beginning of the second count, I thought maybe it was just luck. But no, the moment he began counting, that same something just took over and a few minutes later I'm out of the Physical. Another technique introduced on the advanced CD is to associate the figure "10" with the particular state. What you do is breathe out and imagine your outgoing breath is a kind of energy that generates a picture of a big silver "10" in your minds eye. I tried it and produced an enormous "10" the size of a house. Okay, it may be just imagination but now everytime I think about it, my body feels like it wants to lie down. All in all, I'm quite impressed. Yours, Frank 1240 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Had some great results with this on: August 16, 2002, 13:04:52 I mentioned about this a while ago, but thought I'd post again for the benefit of beginners. I've had some good success in developing the right kind of mental state for projection from practising a technique (for around 15-30 minutes at a time at least once each day) given on the below link: http://www.thiaoouba.com/seeau.htm Scroll down the page and you come across an exercise involving a blue and red circle and you have to create a centre circle as per the demonstration. I printed out the drawing, in colour, on a sheet of glossy A4 photo paper. The circles I made 6.5cm in diameter and spaced them 2.5cm apart. Printed off in Landscape orientation centrally placed on the paper. I have a wall that runs across the back of my desk, so I stuck the sheet on there at eye-level whilst sitting. At first your eyes tend to flit here, there and everywhere. But after a couple of weeks of practice things start to get really interesting. Yours, Frank NOTE: Following the below post and subsequent PM's could I please make clear the following points: 1) I have no real interest in seeing auras... and, 2) I came across this exercise as a result of trying to find an answer to a non aura-related problem. So if you have any comments regarding the actual website then either direct them to the site's author, or to wherever. Just not to me, please. 1239 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / First retrieval... yuk! on: August 23, 2002, 14:49:15 I've been trying of late to increase my awareness of Focus 27, and improve my navigation skills. To this end, I've been considering the possibility of doing what is generally called "retrieval work". The idea behind this, is to try and contact "lost souls" who are trapped in emotional loops (and such like) on the lower planes and take them to the various reception centres in Focus 27. My idea was to first do a retrieval with my guide Harath. Then follow him back to Focus 27. He could go and do his stuff, while I visited an F27 nightclub for an hour or two before going back to Physical. Well, this is how it went: (I pick it up from initial contact with Harath) Your boy is in good hands [refers to the horse I lost] I have a percept of a white stallion, only he kept the black mane. Yeah, that would be typical. And the lower half still flops left, and the upper flops right, what a blo*dy crazy horse. Thanks for letting me know. I might try and pay a visit sometime. So what's on the cards today Harry boy, sorry, Harath? You sure you are up for it, Frankie? Ah, so you *do* have a concept of revenge! Yeah, I'm up for it, but I'm not sure where I fit in. Just use your imagination and go with the flow. Remember, I'll be in the background to give you some pointers. Where are we going? Just over there and down a bit. What, er, how come we are already here? Because you came direct to me, I didn't come to you. You're still not used to reaching out directly yet, are you. I suppose it will take a while after your years of going around and around beforehand. Alright, cut the sarcasm: Mr. Almighty who only happens to have a million year advantage. Okay, so if you're so clever why do you need me? Technically, I don't. But your radiation is more suited to the task in hand and it gives you experience. What do you mean radiation? You don't seem to be radiating to me. Well, not any more than normal. That is because I tone it down, and you are getting more used to it. So what's it like when you are fully switched on then? You really want to see? Depends on whether I'll survive or not. Let's save that for some other time. We have work to do, come, follow me. It was like we travelled along a series of tunnels. I could have sworn we were underground somewhere. I couldn't see a thing as it was completely black so I hung on tight. After a short while we stopped. Harath, where are you, I can't see a darned thing. Be still, reach out to me and you'll sense where I am. I'm confused, I sense something awful here. The atmosphere makes me want to puke. Where the heck are we? There's some kind of pressure like we're under the earth. If you really must know, it's a mass grave. Ugh, you're not joking are you. You mean right now we're moving through heaps of rotting corpses. Yuk, that's disgusting. Couldn't you have found some damsel in distress we could rescue? Shhh, we're almost at the spot. Feel that? Hey, now you mention it, I do sense a kind of movement. There's something familiar but I can't get a fix on it. What do you reckon it is? Oh sh*t... Harath... something just wrapped itself around my legs. What do I do now? Pick it up What!!! Pick... It... Up Okay, okay, if you insist. As I reached down it became clear to me why the movement felt familiar. Taking hold of the object, I immediately recognised the form. It was human, probably no more that about 6 years of age. The body was trembling, using all it's strength to latch onto my legs. I managed to unhook its arms and bring the body up to chest level and held it tight with both arms. At which point the body became absolutely still. Right, let's go. Hey, Harath, for once we are in total agreement. We travelled back through the series of tunnels. Then there was a flash, and a feeling of acceleration like some afterburner just kicked in. Soon we came out of warp speed and began to slow. Suddenly we came to a halt. Harath knew that I'd had enough and took the form. He held it to his heart, and the child was instantly shrouded in a golden light. Harath moved his hands away and, instinctively, I went to reach out thinking the child would fall. But the form remained close to him, suspended and bathed by the light. That's quite a party trick you have there. Speaking of parties, weren't you thinking of going someplace else? Very funny, Harath, ha-ha-ha. Besides, there's no way they'd let me in looking like this and stinking of rotting flesh. You need to go back and get cleaned up Yeah, cheers Harath. Got quite a few notes to make as well. Let's try something a bit more glamorous next time. What you say? ----------------------------------------------------------- 1238 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Retrieval info on: August 24, 2002, 12:55:31 A few of you have asked what is involved, how to get into it, etc. With me, I've long since been fascinated by the concept of being stuck in emotional loops, and so forth, and have a regular guide who used to take me on tours of the lower regions and show me some of the more interesting cases. Many of the examples I saw were a bit sad, but I generally found it easy to remain closed and simply be an observer. After all, it was basically their own fault they were in that state, not mine. Big problem came, though, when I saw the kids. They were innocent, yet were caught in some of the most ghastly circumstances imaginable. So I went through a phase of wondering if there was some kind of way these little ones could be helped. One morning a guide came and took me to a park in Focus 27 that was full of children who had been rescued (I posted about this experience a while ago so I won't go into it here). And around the same time, someone calling themselves Waterfall posted info on this BBS that got my curiosity up. I did a bit of digging and discovered lots more about it. One of the main proponents in this field is a chap called Bruce Moen, coupled with the Monroe Institute who run a Lifeline program which (so they say) teaches you about how to do retrieval work. Bruce Moen did the TMI program and then discovered he was Bob Monroe's long lost soul mate. He also wrote a few books on the subject. I posted a link to the BM message board a short while ago on another thread. In case you missed it, it's: http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.html Well, much of what they do is way, way too touchy-feely for my tastes. Especially this binding concept they have called: Pure Unconditional Love. They send it to each other, and to those they are preparing to rescue. They also like to hold hands and chant around this big crystal in Focus 27, and so on. All of which is not me at all: I merely present the information as some may find it useful. Anyhow, I decided to go ahead and try and rescue some of these innocent children. I made this clear to Harath, and he first starts chuckling; then here's me trying to be all serious, and he's laughing his head off. I was more than a bit miffed when he told me that's what he'd been priming me for all along. To cut a long story short, it appears there are Astral entities who are always on the look-out for people, in the Physical, with the right kind of qualities to train them up to do particular kinds of rescue work. Basically, they need people who can cope with all the real nasty stuff which, more often than not, involves children. However, the only qualities you really need is to have a high degree of control over your projection experience. As not everyone who is trapped, is entoumbed in some frightful circumstance. Quite the opposite, some of them. All you need to start, is to project to the Astral and ask for a guide to show you how it's done. Yours, Frank 1236 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Instant projection on: August 29, 2002, 11:44:55 This morning I had the first projection since my antics with Harath that I wrote about on another post, and it was the weirdest I have had to date. Not weird in the normal sense of seeing something crazy on the Astral. No, it was weird in the way the process was initiated. I awoke as per usual at around 4am and felt the need to use the bathroom. As I came back to bed, I felt a pressure build-up at the top of my head. It almost felt like it hurt like a dull, throbbing headache. But there was no pain, as such, just a feeling of pressure. I'm confused, because it felt like I had some kind of hangover. Yet all I'd had the previous evening was a glass of wine. Then, next moment there was a zub, zub, zub, throbbing sensation. And I realised, hang on a minute, this 'aint a headache, these are pre-projection symptoms! But, at the same time, there's another side of me saying, "It can't be, you're standing alongside your bed, in the Physical." So I switched on the bedside light for a moment, just to absolutely check I wasn't projecting in the RT zone without realising it. But, no, I'm definitely in the Physical. I lay down in bed and the low frequency zub, zub, zub, turned into a feint buzz. Which felt very familiar as it was my (now) normal projection process. The big difference was, I was *entirely* aware of my physical body. I could move my limbs, hands, feet, everything. At the same time, I can see the Astral as clear as day in my mind. Lately, I have been wondering if Clairvoyance was having the ability to make full contact with the Astral, as well as having full contact with the Physical. The direction I have been going has also led me to conclude that, by pushing the right mental buttons, it may be possible to contact the Astral without necessarily losing all contact with the Physical. Well, this morning I got a definite answer. Yes, it is possible. Don't ask me how, or why it happened. All I know right now is that it did happen, and the feeling is totally mind-blowing. It is very difficult to put into words, but it's like either side of you are two huge energy systems; and you are a kind of tunnel that connects the two. There is a sensation of a raw energy flow that you feel like you can just command and control. Your hands, for example, feel electric as if they were glowing. To the extent where if you touched someone, for example, they would instantly heat up to the point where they'd begin to roast. Anyhow, it all started to get more than a little freaky so I let go of the Physical and projected. Yours, Frank 1235 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Three in one night on: August 31, 2002, 08:57:42 More retrievals and more straight-forward this time (thankfully). Took me a while this morning to get in the mood. Awoke at around 4am as normal but it had been daylight a while before I finally left Physical. Kept asking for help and getting none, and was on the verge of getting up, when I detected a kind of whispy smokiness and Harath's face appeared smiling. I immediately thought oh no, what's he got in store. Next thing it's like someone threw a switch and the Astral comes into view. I can feel a familiar buzz, coupled with a slight shifting, and next thing I'm in a large building. But no Harath. I'm standing at the top of a stone staircase and there's a room just ahead with people milling around. They seemed to be visiting the place just to look at it. I got the idea it was one of those stately homes that are open to public view. So, thinking Harath would catch up with me soon, I thought I'd join in and have a look around. Next thing I'm about 10 feet from a window. In front of the window are two adults chatting. Immediately behind them, standing on a small stone window-ledge, is a girl about 5 years of age. She looks bored and fidgety, as the adults aren't paying her any attention, and she's playing with something on the window. Then I suddenly realise, it's the window catch. I shout, "No, come down from the window!" But it was too late. The window came open and she looked right at me the instant she fell. This was most confusing as none of the adults could see me, or the girl. Not knowing what else to do, I looked out of the open window and was surprised to see a man dressed in a blue robe, suspended in mid-air. He was carrying the girl and figured he must have caught her as she fell. Who are you? I asked. Don't worry about that. I'm the Helper, that was well done, now get to the lighthouse. Er, what lighthouse. And what do you mean you are the helper, where's Harath? I said don't worry, you need to go to the lighthouse. Just think of the lighthouse and you'll be there. So next thing I'm flying, there's a blur and a whirling, then daylight. I'm flying over sea and, sure enough, about a mile away over towards my left is a lighthouse. Getting closer I can see the place looks deserted and run down. At the foot of the lighthouse was a narrow landing of flat rocks, so there I came down. It seemed like no-one was around. Then I started chuckling to myself thinking of all the possible lighthouses there are, and the slim chance that this is the right one. But walking around the lighthouse I thought I saw two figures sitting on a large rock. On getting closer, I saw they were two boys and they were sitting on the rock just looking out to sea. "You two look like you are waiting for someone," I shouted over. They saw me and began waving. I scrambled onto the rock and they both seemed very relieved to see someone. Tears were running down their cheeks and they both had big smiles on their faces. Not really knowing what to do next, I gave each one a hand saying, "right, come on lads, it's time we had you off this rock." The thought flashed through my mind as to what to do next. But no sooner had I thought that, I felt a sensation of drifting upwards into a multi-coloured void. Upon which the two were taken from me somehow. But the feeling came across that they were in good hands. Yours, Frank 1234 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Gateway Wave1 pointers on: September 05, 2002, 14:55:39 There's two people currently on this BBS who have listened to the Wave 1 CD without much progress; and I suspect there may be more who have long since lobbed them to the back of a drawer somewhere, after listening to the CDs without having any real results. Now I find that strange because, for me, the Wave 1 CD has been a very effective tool in my efforts to gain control over the exit process; and to try and work out where Monroe is coming from when he speaks about "phasing in" to the Astral; instead of doing like I used to, for example, which was the feeling of being shot from a cannon and landing within the Astral somewhere; with no real control whatsoever. Now I know myself pretty well by now, and I know for a fact that I do not have any natural talent for this obe stuff. I make the point because someone could say the reason why I am successful, is because I have a natural talent for projection, and so forth. Not a bit. All my gains are hard fought let me assure you. Though, in hindsight, I feel it is because I have no real talent for things of this nature, I‟ve been forced to use my imagination to quite a high degree. It was when I read the following, that I suddenly thought where people may be going wrong: ps : Franks quote : "Okay, tell me what are you imagining when you go from the energy conversion box to Focus 3?" In my case, I was trying to concentrate on an image that I could see behind my eyelids, I think that Mr. Jeff Mash mentioned this in one of his posts. Concentrating on an image behind your closed eyelids, and imagining you are going from your Energy Conversion Box to Focus 3: are entirely *different* things. You see, the Wave 1 CD does not in any way “induce” the obe state. In other words you cannot simply lie back, think of any old thing, and 10 minutes down the line you float out of the room. All the CD does is to provide an outline structure, and *you* have to provide the infill. But that‟s what makes it so effective. The way you provide that infill, is to use your imagination. What I thought I‟d do (excuse the length) is to give you a rundown of my experience that demonstrates what I mean. Personally, I‟m surprised at the lack of support information supplied by TMI. I would have thought some kind of similar rundown example would have been supplied with the CDs. This would at least give people an example to work from, which they could just chop and change to suit. Okay, here goes…………. Wave 1, CD1, Track 2: OCEAN SURF Place physical body in a relaxed position, take a few deep breaths and check head and neck is comfy and properly supported. Then I imagine my sense of conscious awareness is drifting upwards to the top of my consciousness cone. NOTE: I posted before about how I imagine my consciousness to be a cone with everyday thoughts, actions, etc., at the bottom of the cone: with the start of the Astral at the top. GO NOW TO YOUR ENERGY CONVERSION BOX I time it so that when I imagine I reach the top of the cone, Monroe says the above. At the top of my consciousness cone is an attic room. At the opposite side to which I enter there is a doorway marked “Border to the Astral” in large letters. At the centre of the room is a large wooden box. Standing next to the box is Clive, the butler, who helps me lift the lid of the box and remove my Physical sheathe. We open the lid and inside is a lower area containing any Physical-matter concerns, etc. The upper area has a shelf where my Physical sheathe can lie safely until I next collect it. So I wriggle out of my Physical sheathe to reveal my body of light. Clive takes the sheathe while asking me if I have anything else to deposit in the box (which I hand over as necessary). He lays the sheathe out and we close the heavy lid. I walk through the doorway marked “Border to the Astral” and step outside into the fresh clean air; the sand underfoot is soft and warm; the atmosphere is comforting; everything feels secure and familiar. I look behind and Clive is standing in the doorway wishing me a safe journey. I thank him for his assistance and he closes the door. On the outside of the door is marked “To C1” in large letters. Ahead is a pathway composed of inlaid, white stone slabs that contrast with the golden brown of the sand. The path leads to my resonant-tuning pyramid. It‟s a pyramid structure, but with a flat top about ten feet square and around 10 feet in height. Each of the four sides has steps from top to bottom. The structure is made of the same stone as the pathway and, to the right of the pyramid, is a large golden-coloured harp. BEGIN NOW YOUR PROCESS OF RESONANT TUNING I time it so that as Monroe instructs the above, I begin climbing the steps to the top of my resonant-tuning pyramid. I sit in the Lotus position, on a large cushion, on the flat top. A helper appears to play the harp and pick the strings that resonate with the sounds on the CD. The whole area vibrates and sings in harmony. Ripples of joy run through me as each string is plucked and my body of light tingles and glows a pure white. NOW RELAX AND BREATHE NORMALLY At the point where Monroe says the above, I walk down the front steps of the pyramid, take a few more steps forward, and stand on a large inlaid, white stone slab marked “Declaration Stone”. As I do so, a white mist appears in front of me. When it clears, I see a large round structure has arisen from the sand. I walk down the path to a door marked “Declaration Room”. I enter the room and I‟m right away flanked by two Saintly-looking people each dressed in a pure white silk robe. In front of me is a large crystal Orb that is glowing with an orange/yellow light. Both sides of the Orb, facing me, are 2 more Saint like people that stand as official witnesses to my declaration. I take a bow and give my declaration. As I do so the Orb begins to pulsate. The colour changes and becomes progressively less orange turning to a brighter and brighter yellow. Then it becomes a pure white as I come to the end of my declaration. At this moment, a door opens to my right. I‟m ushered to this doorway and look out. On the ground to my left is a pointed sign, saying “To Focus 3” in large letters. Looking in the direction of the sign I can see the Focus 3 archway in the distance. At the same time, Monroe says, “Now you will move to Focus 3.” Now Monroe starts the count to Focus 3: While Monroe is talking, I‟m acknowledging what he is saying while walking down the stone path towards the F3 archway. I stand on a stone slab and I look down and see, deeply and clearly engraved in the stone is, “F1”. (Note: this action is timed with the CD, like always.) I acknowledge the engraving on the slab by looking at it for a few moments, and then continue walking. Next I come across another similar slab, only this time the engraving on the stone says, “F2”. Then I walk forwards towards the F3 archway. I time it so that as I stand under the large archway, Monroe says, “3” followed by, “relax and enjoy….” etc. At which point I turn around and look back down the path and see the Declaration Room where I just came from. Then I turn to settle into a large reclining chair that is under the archway. I sit down and look into the distance. I can see my F10 hut sitting on top of a plateau area. A steadily inclining white stone pathway leads to my F10 hut. I relax into the chair and recline it. As I do so, a female helper appears. Now Monroe starts the relaxation process starting, “Let your jaw relax……” As Monroe directs, the female helper massages my head and facial area while I just lie back and enjoy! As Monroe begins saying about letting the relaxation process flow into the brain, I get up and thank my helper and she wishes me a successful journey. Now I stand outside the archway looking across to my F10 hut. I Look down and wiggle my toes as Monroe begins saying, “into your toes……….” etc. As Monroe talks about the relaxation flow from the brain, I imagine myself slowly filling up with a kind of liquid that makes me feel vibrant and totally in tune with my surroundings. I‟M GOING TO COUNT NOW Now I begin walking along the white stone path towards my F10 hut. Monroe says, “4” and I time it so that, at that point, I‟m standing on a slab engraved with “F4” in large letters at the top. I look down and acknowledge that I am at F4 by looking at the engraved figures for a few moments. Then, still standing still on the slab, I do the observation and relaxation exercises as Monroe prompts. Then I walk forwards some more, and I time it so that when Monroe says, “5” I‟m standing on a slab marked “F5”. There I do the exercises Monroe suggests, then do the same with, “6”; “7” and “8”. First acknowledge the engraving on the slab; do the exercises as per Monroe‟s prompting; and when Monroe is silent between counts, continue walking down the path. (Obviously it takes a short while to learn the CD and get the timing absolutely right.) After “9” I continue up the path and arrive at the foot of some stone steps, which lead upwards to the plateau on which my F10 hut is situated. I walk up the steps and see, about 30 yards ahead, is the entrance to my F10 hut. Between this is another embedded stone slab engraved with a large “F10” at the top. I walk forwards, stand on the slab and look down acknowledging the engraved “F10”. At this moment, Monroe says, “10”. Then I go through the prompted exercise, just like before with the previous slabs. Then Monroe repeats the number “10” several times, during which I‟m walking towards the entrance of my F10 hut. I open the door, enter the hut, and close the door behind me. I stand for a moment and Monroe says, “Relax and be calm and comfortable in Focus 10”. On the opposite wall to the door I came in, is a large opening through which is Focus 12 (and on to the Astral proper). The scene through the opening is like a clear night sky, with the deep blackness punctuated by millions of stars and planets. Sometimes I just stand and admire the view, listening to Monroe‟s voice on the CD. Or I may leave the hut and fly around. But not too far as it‟s easy to get carried away and lose the fact that this is an exercise. (The return from which is very important for the exercise as a whole.) The return: On one wall of my F10 hut is a door marked “Direct Return to C1” On Monroe‟s prompt, “You will return now to full Physical waking reality, as I count from 10 down to 1” I open the door, walk through into the large tunnel and close the door behind me. I‟M GOING TO COUNT NOW Then Monroe says, “10” and I look at the door I just walked through, seeing it has “Entry to F10” written on it, in large letters. Then I start jogging down the tunnel and come to a door marked with a large figure “9”. I quickly go through it (no need to close as it‟s spring loaded). Jogging along the descending tunnel I come to a similar door marked “8” then “7” then “6” and onto doorways 5, 4 and 2. (Have to be quick here as Monroe doesn‟t give you much time, but this does greatly add to the effect). Going through doorway “2” I see the opening of the tunnel. I emerge next to the C1 door I stepped out of originally. The C1 door is open and Clive is beckoning me to hurry. He has my Physical sheathe ready which I step into quickly. He welcomes me back and asks if I‟d like to take anything else from the box. I say, “Leave it, no time” and I descend quickly to ordinary waking consciousness at the bottom of my consciousness cone. This happens just after Monroe says, “1”. (I always think, “Phew, just made it!”) Monroe then prompts, “wake up, open your eyes……..” etc. So I do as prompted, in that I actually open my eyes, breathe deeply, and stretch my legs and arms, exactly as Monroe instructs. _________________________________ Well, that‟s it. Sorry for the length. I hope it will give people some ideas of how to use the CDs successfully, and would appreciate any feedback anyone may have. Yours, Frank 1232 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Bob Monroe comments on: September 15, 2002, 10:33:15 Came across the following useful info regarding phasing and other stuff. Thought I'd post a copy here: ___________________________________________ Consciousness Is a Continuum In our focused wakefulness, we as Human Minds employ that part of our consciousness spectrum limited to time-space. This is made possible by the device we identify as a physical body, with its five physical senses. This physical body permits us to express externally our mind- consciousness through physical activity and communication. When this focusing is affected for any reason, our mind begins to drift along the consciousness spectrum away from time-space perception, becoming less aware of the immediate physical world. When this happens, we become conscious in another form. The fact that we often have difficulty in remembering correctly our participation in that other part of the consciousness spectrum does not negate its reality. The problem lies in perception and translation, diffused and distorted as they are by the use of current time-space systems of analysis and measurement. The spectrum of consciousness ranges, seemingly endlessly, beyond time-space into other energy systems. It also continues through animal and plant life, possibly into the subatomic level. Everyday human consciousness is active commonly in only a small segment of the consciousness continuum. The Phasing Concept The methods and techniques of the Institute can be identified as means to establish and control phases of consciousness. In the waking physical state, the untrained mind makes these phase shifts frequently each day with little or no control. Primary Phasing is the state where the mind in fully focused on physical sensory input or activity. Any deviation from this condition can be regarded as a phase shift, where some part or percentile of consciousness is, to a certain degree, aware in another form. One example is inattention, where physical sensory input remains strong but part of the mind has "wandered". What we call daydreaming is another. Introspection, where attention is turned away from physical awareness, is a more deliberate phase shift, as are certain meditative states. Sleep is a shift in phasing to another state of consciousness where very little awareness of physical sensory input is taking place. Ingestion of alcohol and certain drugs evokes split phase shifts, where part of consciousness is "here" and part in another area of the continuum. In these cases, when the stimulus is removed, the phasing fades. Psychoses and dementia are inadvertent instances, and in these conditions drugs or chemicals may be employed to dim or eliminate the nonphysical area. To understand the process clearly, we may consider the physical body as a tuning mechanism through which the human mind can operate in physical consciousness. As such, it contains circuitry that converts physical sensory patterns into forms that can be perceived by the mind, much as a radio or television receiver is tuned to a particular frequency band in the electromagnetic spectrum. In these receivers, there is a discriminator section that filters out for the most part any distractions or distorting signals or harmonics from other parts of the spectrum. As we tune a radio receiver gradually from one station - or frequency - to another, one signal fades and another is faintly heard. The receiver is shifting out of phase with the original station to the point where another station can be heard simultaneously. As we continue returning, the original station is no longer heard and the other signal takes over. The human mind, which also has access to a "discriminator", acts in a similar way. The mind untrained in the tuning process drifts slowly out of control from one phase of consciousness to another. As it does so, signal are received partly from the physical mechanism and partly from a different segment of the consciousness continuum. The signal input from the physical state diminishes until no such signals reach the mind, which moves into the state generally known as sleep or unconsciousness. The Learning systems devised at the Institute offer a means to place these phase shifts under willful control of the individual. In the early stages of this learning, the mind becomes completely at ease and feels little fear or anxiety in the resulting changes. The reason for this is that these states of consciousness are familiar territory. It is the presentation in a new and organized form that makes the difference, where any changes are made deliberately by the mind itself." Some Other Comments From Bob: Alienate The nineties have begun with more and more expressions of the need for freedom, which has a multitude of meanings depending on who and where you are. Generally speaking, it should mean the freedom to control one's life instead of being controlled by others. Of course, it's an impossible ideal. Most humans can't handle freedom in a pure form. That's why the idea of laws came into being. Left to their own devices, most humans can't act responsibly, so a civilization apparently keeps adding more rules to try to force them to do so. When a new situation arises, new laws are passed to cover it, all allegedly to make us considerate of our fellow travelers. Thus we are drowning in rules and laws. That's freedom? Sadly, it won't and can't change until the overwhelming majority of humans conform to the basic inalterable law--which humans had nothing to do with creating--the law of Cause and Effect (Authority and Responsibility). To retrain all five billion plus now in residency has nightmarish aspects. The only way this could happen would be to start worldwide with all infants at birth. Teach them to think and be in a new way. Make it an ongoing process for generations. Eventually there would be no laws. They wouldn't be needed. Can you conceive of any possible event or motive that would trigger this? I can't. We grandly claim and demand that the human has an inalienable right to life even at someone else's expense. Life at any cost is the hard way, and the laws of our society force this upon us, like it or not. Up to the nineties, little has been done about the other inalienable right--the right to leave the kitchen if it gets too hot, too painful, or you've completed your assigned tour of duty. Imagine having to go to the Supreme Court (what a misnomer!) in order to let a body die. Never mind the fact that it can cost $100,000 plus per year to keep that body "alive," and can bankrupt loved ones and family. Perhaps the whole thing might change if our culture knew--knew, not believed, hoped, or had faith--exactly what and where and how we exist upon our exit from this reality structure. With the advent of this decade, a lot of people are beginning to ask for cold-turkey answers without frills. It might happen. Yes, that would make a change. A big one. We wouldn't be human. Not the humans we know, anyway. Robert Monroe 1231 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / When hands don't melt on: September 19, 2002, 11:43:22 I've read and experienced the so-called melting hands phenomenon. But I'm sure I have read somewhere that, under some circumstances, they don't. It's just that this morning, I was on my 3rd projection and I think my physical body wanted me back for some reason (maybe it was missing me ). I felt my clarity fading and the idea of glancing at your hands for a moment, that I'd read in AD, suddenly popped into mind. So I looked at my hands, and looked, and looked, but nothing melted. Ideas anyone? Yours, Frank 1230 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Interesting NDE/OBE article on: October 27, 2002, 12:20:12 The following article is copyright the person named below. I found it an interesting read and the author makes some very good observations about the attitude of scientists in general towards the obe/nde phenomenon. "On Materialism as Science Dogma" by Neal Grossman, Dept. of Philosophy, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago (to appear in Journal of Near Death Studies as "Who's Afraid of Life After Death?") (The following essay focuses on the Near Death Experience (NDE) as evidence that science has - - to its detriment -- become a dogmatic belief system wedded to reductionist materialism rather than being a neutral, objective method for investigating reality of any sort. One could effectively substitute the three letters "UFO" for "NDE." The advantage of dealing with NDE is that there is no doubt whatsoever as to the existence of the phenomeon; the interpretation, of course, being another matter.) When researchers ask the question "how can the Near Death Experience be explained", they tend to make the usual assumption that an acceptable explanation will be in terms of concepts -- biological, neurological, psychological -- with which they are already familiar. The NDE would then be explained, for example, if it could be shown what brain state, which drugs, or what beliefs on the part of the experiencer, correlates with the NDE. Those who have concluded that the NDE cannot be explained mean that it cannot, or has not yet, been correlated with any physical or psychological condition of the experiencer. I wish to suggest that this approach to explaining the NDE is fundamentally misguided. To my knowledge, no one who has had a NDE feels any need for an explanation in the reductionist sense that researchers are seeking. For the experiencer, the NDE does not need to be explained because it is exactly what it purports to be, which, at a minimum, is the direct experience of consciousness -- or minds, or selves, or personal identity -- existing independently of the physical body. It is only with respect to our deeply entrenched materialist paradigm that the NDE needs to be explained, or more accurately, explained away. In this paper I will take the position that materialism has been shown to be empirically false; and hence, what does need to be explained is the academic establishment's collective refusal to examine the evidence and to see it for what it is. The academic establishment is in the same position today as were the cardinals who refused to look through Galileo's telescope. Why is this the case? Before addressing this question, it is probably incumbent on to me to say a few words about the kind and strength of evidence which refutes materialism. Cook, Greyson, and Stevenson [1] "describe three features of NDE's -- enhanced mentation, the experience of seeing the physical body from a different position in space, and paranormal perception -- which (they) believe might provide convergent evidence supporting the survival hypothesis."[2] They then go on to describe 14 cases which satisfy these criteria. From an epistemological perspective, the third criterion, paranormal perception, is the most important. The materialist can, in principle, give no account of how a person acquires veridical information about events remote from his or her body. Consider, for example, the kind of case where the NDEer accurately reports the conversation occurring in the waiting room while his body is unconscious in the operating room. There is no way for the relevant information, conveyed in sound waves or light waves, to travel from the waiting room, through corridors and up elevators, to reach the sense organs of the unconscious person. Yet the person wakes from the operation with the information. This kind of case -- and there are lots of them -- shows quite straight-forwardly that there are non-physical ways in which the mind can acquire information. Hence materialism is false. Perhaps the "smoking gun" case is the one described by Michael Sabom in his recent book.[3] In this case, the patient had her NDE while her body temperature was lowered to 60 degrees, and all the blood was drained from her body. "Her electroencephalogram was silent, her brain-stem response was absent, and no blood flowed through her brain."[4] A brain in this state cannot create any kind of experience. Yet the patient experienced a profound NDE. Those materialists who believe that consciousness is secreted by the brain, or that the brain is necessary for conscious experience to exist, cannot possibly explain, in their own terms, cases such as this. An impartial observer would have to conclude that not all experience is produced by the brain and that therefore, the falsity of materialism has been empirically demonstrated. Thus, what needs to be explained is the abysmal failure of the academic establishment to examine this evidence and to embrace the conclusion: materialism is false, and consciousness can and does exist independently of the body. Moreover, the evidence against materialism comes not only from the NDE, but from other areas of research as well. Both mediumship, which has been extensively investigated since the time of William James, and Stevenson-type cases of children who have verified true memories of past lives, offer an abundance evidence against materialism. The best epistemological analysis of the evidence is given by Robert Almeder. After a lengthy and detailed discussion of Stevenson-type cases, he twits Stevenson for concluding only that "it is rational to believe in reincarnation, given the evidence."[5] The proper conclusion, according to Almeder, should be "it is irrational not to believe in reincarnation, given the evidence."[6] I agree with Almeder. Our collective irrationality with respect to the wealth of evidence against materialism manifests in two ways: (i) by ignoring the evidence and (ii) by insisting on overly stringent standard of evidence, which, if adopted, would render any empirical science impossible. The refusal of academics to examine the evidence against materialism is not new. Writing one hundred years ago, William James complains I invite eight of my scientific colleagues to come to my house at their own time, and sit with a medium for whom the evidence already published in our proceedings had been most noteworthy. Although it means at worst the waste of an hour for each, five of them decline the adventure. I then beg the 'Commission' connected with the chair of a certain learned psychologist in a neighboring university to examine the same medium, whom Mr. Hodgson and I offer at our own expense to send and leave with them. They also have to be excused from any such entanglement. I advise another psychological friend to look into this case, but he replies that it is useless, for if he should get such results as I report, he would simply believe himself hallucinated....This friend of mine writes ex cathedra on the subject of psychical research, declaring (I need hardly add) that there is nothing in it; ...and one of the five colleagues who declined my invitation is widely quoted as an effective critic of our evidence. So runs the world away! [7] More recently, Michael Grosso reports a similar experience in attempting to get colleagues to read anything on the evidence for life after death. The type of person I have in mind will come up with weak, if not irrational, excuses for not reading the book I place in his hand. In one case, the argument ran: "It's only words on paper; no reason to take any of it seriously." Another academic said he didn't have the time. "You mean you can't find a few hours to read a book that might change your basic outlook on life and death?" I asked. How strange that these intelligent people should be not merely indifferent but resistant to the data. It's as if there were a conspiracy against this information, a need to make it harmless, irrelevant, or nonexistent. http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile_8ball.gif" border=0> One of my earliest encounters with this kind of academic irrationality occurred over twenty years ago. I was devouring everything on the Near Death Experience I could get my hands on, and eager to share what I was discovering with colleagues. It was unbelievable to me how dismissive they were of the evidence. "Drug induced hallucinations", "last gasp of a dying brain", "people see what they want to see" were some of the more commonly used phrases. One conversation in particular caused me to more clearly see the fundamental irrationality of academics with respect to evidence against materialism. I asked: "What about people who accurately report the details of their operation?" "Oh", came the reply, "they probably just subconsciously heard the conversation in the operating room, and their brain subconsciously transposed the audio information into a visual format". "Well", I responded, 'what about cases where people report veridical perception of events remote from their body?" "Oh, that's just a coincidence or a lucky guess." Exasperated, I ask, "What will it take, short of having a Near Death Experience yourself, to convince you that it's real?" Very non-chalantly, without batting an eye, the response was "even if I were to have a Near Death Experience myself, I would conclude that I was hallucinating, rather than believe that my mind can exist independently of my brain." He went on to add that Dualism (the philosophical thesis which asserts that mind and matter are independent substances, neither of which can be reduced to the other) is a false theory and that there cannot be evidence for something that's false. This was a momentous experience for me, because here was an educated, intelligent man telling me that he will not give up materialism, no matter what. Even the evidence of his own experience would not cause him to give up materialism. I realized two things in that moment. First, this experience cured me of any impulse to argue these things with recalcitrant colleagues; it is pointless to argue with someone who tells me that his mind is already made up, and nothing I can say will change it. Second, this experience taught me that it is important to distinguish between (a) materialism as an empirical hypothesis about the nature of the world, which is amenable to evidence one way or the other (this is the hallmark of a scientific hypothesis -- that evidence is relevant for its truth or falsity) and (b) materialism as an ideology, or paradigm, about how things "must" be, which is impervious to evidence (this is the hallmark of an unscientific hypothesis -- that evidence is not relevant for its truth). My colleague believed in materialism not as a scientific hypothesis which, qua scientific hypothesis might be false, but rather as dogma and ideology which "must" be true, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. For him, materialism is the fundamental paradigm in terms of which everything else is explained, but which is not itself open to doubt. I shall coin the term "fundamaterialist" to refer to those who believe that materialism is a necessary truth, not amenable to empirical evidence. With respect to (a) materialism held as an empirical hypothesis about the world, the evidence against it is overwhelming. With respect to (b) materialism held as an ideology, evidence against it is logically impossible. A complicating factor is that the fundamaterialist typically holds the metabelief that his belief in materialism is not ideological, but empirical. That is, he misclassifies himself under (a), while his behavior clearly falls under (b). The debunker and skeptic believes that he is being "scientific" in ignoring and rejecting the evidence against materialism. He claims that the evidence is weak, that it is not compelling, that it can be easily explained away by the materialist paradigm. But when asked what kind of evidence it would take to convince him that materialism is empirically false, he is, like my colleague, usually at a loss for what to say. If he's not familiar with the data, he'll come up with a criterion of evidence which in fact has already been met. When it is pointed out to him that there exist many well-documented cases which satisfy his proposed criterion, he will simply make his criterion more stringent, and at some point he crosses the line between the reasonable demand for scientific evidence and the unreasonable (and unscientific) demand for logical proof. This is not a minor point. Fundamaterialism is so deeply ingrained in the academic establishment that most researchers on the NDE fall prey to it. For, after presenting case after case which would satisfy any reasonable standard of empirical evidence against materialism, even sympathetic researchers almost always deem it necessary to add the disclaimer that their research does not prove that there is life after death. But no scientific hypothesis is ever proven in this sense. Theorems in logic and mathematics can be proved. In science, hypotheses are not proved; rather, empirical evidence renders a given hypothesis more or less probable. There is no such thing as logical, or mathematical certainty in science. The fundamaterialists are correct in that the hypothesis that consciousness exists independently of the body cannot be proven with mathematical certainty. But neither can any other scientific hypothesis, because empirical science deals with evidence, not proof. Evidence never "proves" a hypothesis, it just makes it more probable. And, when evidence for a given hypothesis accumulates to a certain degree, we accept the hypothesis as true. But "true" in this scientific sense never means "proven"; it means very very probable. In science there is always the possibility that a given hypothesis may turn out to be false. The fundamaterialist will not accept the hypothesis of an afterlife until it is "proven" beyond a logical possibility of being false. That is, he is using a concept of proof which belongs in logic and mathematics, not in science. And NDE researchers are playing the fundamaterialist's game when they utter caveats that their research does not prove the hypothesis of an afterlife. What researches should say, in my opinion, is simply that they have amassed sufficient evidence to render the hypothesis of an afterlife very probable, and the hypothesis of materialism very improbable. In the above paragraphs, I have been using the terms "science" and "scientific" in its epistemological sense. Science is a methodological process of discovering truths about reality. Insofar as science is an objective process of discovery, it is, and must be, metaphysically neutral. Insofar as science is not metaphysically neutral, but instead weds itself to a particular metaphysical theory, such as materialism, it cannot be an objective process for discovery. There is much confusion on this point, because many people equate science with materialist metaphysics, and phenomena which fall outside the scope of such metaphysics, and hence cannot be explained in physical terms, are called "unscientific". This is a most unfortunate usage of the term. For if souls and spirits are in fact a part of reality, and science is conceived epistemologically as a systematic investigation of reality, then there is no reason why science cannot devise appropriate methods to investigate souls and spirits. But if science is defined in terms of materialist metaphysics, then, if souls and spirits are real, science, thus defined, will not be able to deal with them. But this would be, not because souls and spirits are unreal, but rather because this definition of science (in terms of materialist metaphysics) has semantically excluded nonphysical realities from it scope. Peter Fenwick uses the term "science" in this metaphysical sense when he writes So far we've taken a largely scientific, and therefore a rather limited view of the NDE. We've been looking at mechanism, and almost everything we have said has been based on the assumption that the NDE takes place in or is constructed by the brain. We've confined "mind" to the brain because, scientifically, we have no other option. When the brain dies, the mind dies; the scientific view does not allow for the possibility of a soul, or for any form of personal survival after death. It is only by looking at some non-scientific views that we might find a wider explanation of the NDE....[9] If the term "materialistic" is substituted for "scientific", then the above passage is an accurate statement with which I have no quarrel. The last sentence becomes "it is only by looking at non- materialistic views that we might find a wider explanation of the NDE...." And this is absolutely correct. Materialism is a woefully inadequate framework in terms of which to understand the NDE. And, I wish to insist, it is science itself, understood epistemologically as a metaphysically neutral method of inquiry, which has discovered the limitations of materialism. After all, the primary researchers in the field are not philosophers or theologians, but well-trained scientists and physicians, who, using standard scientific methodology, have been forced by their data to conclude that materialism cannot be the whole truth. I stress this semantic point about how the word "scientific" should be used in part because the term carries a lot of emotional weight. To be labeled "unscientific" is sufficient for having one's work or one's self dismissed and ignored by the academic establishment. And I think this is part of the reason academics are in fact dismissive of the research on the NDE. The reasoning goes something like this: to be scientific is good; to be unscientific is bad. Science = materialism. To believe in souls and spirits, or even to talk about souls and spirits, is to talk about and/or believe in something which is not materialistic. Therefore it is unscientific, which is bad, and hence we shouldn't waste any time on it. I believe that most of my colleagues think like this. The false premise, upon which the argument hangs, is the equating of science with materialism, an equation so deeply ingrained that it is difficult to root out. But I think even the most die-hard materialist ought to grant the following hypothetical: if souls, etc. are real, that is if non-material objects exist, then it should be possible to study them, to acquire data about them, to construct generalizations and theories about them, etc., which is to say, it should be possible to study them scientifically. Hence science ought to be construed as a method of inquiry only, not as a metaphysical theory which stipulates by definition what there is, and what can or cannot exist. I wish to turn my attention now to the discipline of philosophy. It would seem that, of all the disciplines, philosophy ought to be most interested in, and meticulously study, all the research on the NDE. After all, isn't philosophy supposed to be concerned with questions of ultimate meaning, of the purpose of life, of the relation between mind and body, of God? NDE research has data which are directly relevant to all of these questions. So how is it possible that philosophy has collectively managed to ignore and even ridicule this research? To those outside of academic philosophy, it may come as a surprise to learn the great majority of academic philosophers are atheists and materialists. While, as I have argued above, they incorrectly use science to support their materialism, they systematically ignore the findings of science [10] which refute their materialism. Since their materialism is not empirically based, I call it fundamaterialism, to make explicit comparison with fundamentalism in religion. Fundamentalism connotes an attitude of certainty towards one's core belief. Just as the fundamentalist Christian is absolutely certain that the world was created in the manner described by the Bible (fossil evidence notwithstanding [11]), so also the fundamaterialist is absolutely certain that there exists nothing that is not made up of matter (NDE and other evidence notwithstanding). In fact, and this is the crucial point, their respective beliefs have nothing to do with evidence. As my fundamaterialist colleague put it, "there can't be evidence for something that's false." And, more surprisingly, even those philosophers who are not materialists (and their number, I think, is growing) refuse to look at the data. One would think that a Cartesian Dualist, or a Platonist, would eagerly devour the wealth of data which strongly support their point of view. I would like to share a few more personal experiences which highlight some of the attitudes involved. In the late seventies, when the early research on the NDE was just being published, I was involved in team-teaching a course with one of the campus chaplains. Excitedly, I shared what I was learning about the NDE with the chaplain, thinking that he would welcome empirical data which, at the very least, constituted strong prima-facia evidence for much of what he believed in -- soul, afterlife, ultimate responsibility for one's actions, Higher Power, etc. To my astonishment, he was just as dismissive of the evidence as was my fundamaterialist colleague. When I questioned him about why he was so resistant to the data, he said, in effect, that his belief in God, afterlife, etc. is based on faith, and if these things were decidable empirically, there would be no room left for faith, which for him, was the foundation of his religious convictions. I knew then that the NDE was between a rock and a hard place, as far as being taken seriously by the two disciplines, philosophy and theology, which should be the most interested in it. On the one hand, fundamaterialist philosophers believe in the truth of materialism a priori; empirical evidence is not relevant to them, and they are committed to ignoring and/or debunking anything that looks like evidence. On the other hand, theologians and other intellectuals who do believe in an afterlife, tend to base their belief on faith, which they feel would be seriously undermined if empirical evidence were relevant to their beliefs. Moreover, once theology and religion open the door to empirical evidence, then the possibility arises that the evidence may contradict some aspects of what was believed solely on the basis of faith. Indeed, this has already happened. The evidence from the NDE, for example, suggests that God is not vengeful, does not judge us or condemn us, and is not angry at us for our "sins"; there is judgment, to be sure, but the reports appear to be in agreement that all judgment comes from within the individual, not from the Being of Light. It seems, in fact, that all God is capable of giving us is unconditional love. Well, the concept of an all-loving non-judgmental God contradicts and undermines the teachings of many religions, and it is no wonder that the religious fundamentalists are up in arms about the Near Death Experience. One more story: a few years ago, a Plato scholar from England gave a colloquia at my university. Afterwards, I found myself sitting next to him at dinner, and he politely asked me what my interests were in philosophy. I replied that I was interested in examining the various kinds of evidence suggestive of an afterlife.[12] He, assuming falsely that my interest was in debunking the paranormal, proceeded to tell us of a recent lecture he had attended in England. The lecturer, he said (with a slight sneer of contemptuous ridicule which only the British have truly perfected) was a certain neuropsychiatrist who talked about the Near Death Experience, and (with heightened tone of ridicule) actually believed that it was real. Even though I am quite used to the limitations of my metaphysically challenged colleagues, his attitude surprised me. In the first place, here was a Plato scholar, who, like the chaplain, was summarily dismissive of even the possibility that there could be evidence that Plato's views, the views of the philosopher about whom he is an "expert", might actually be true. The first recorded NDE is at the end of Book 10 of The Republic, so I would have thought that a Plato scholar would at the very least be curious about it. But even more disturbing to me was his implied reasoning. Whenever I hear that a highly trained scientist has studied some sort of esoteric phenomena, and has come to the conclusion, based on his research, that there is something to it, my curiosity is piqued, and I want to investigate.[13] My reasoning is that, if respectable, well-trained scientists have concluded that there's something to it, then maybe there is something to it, and I proceed to read what they have to say. But my colleague, the Plato scholar, was reasoning quite differently: if a respectable, well-trained neuropsychiatrist has come to the conclusion that there might be life after death, what this shows is, not that there might be any empirical reason to believe in an afterlife, but rather, that even a rigorous training in neuropsychiatry cannot protect an individual from believing in such foolish absurdities as an afterlife. This is the reasoning of a closed mind. With respect to the question of an afterlife, his mind is already made up; like most academic philosophers, he believes a priori that there is no afterlife, and since there can't be evidence for something that doesn't exist, anyone who believes otherwise betrays a mind that has fallen victim to superstition, wishful and fuzzy thinking, irrationality, and so forth. One conclusion I have come to over the years is that both the atheist and the believer, from the fundamaterialist to the fundamentalist, share something in common. In fact, from an epistemological perspective, what they have in common is much more significant than what they disagree about. What they agree about is this: beliefs pertaining to the possible existence of a transcendent reality -- God, soul, afterlife, etc. -- are based on faith, not fact. If this is true, then there can be no factual evidence which pertains to such beliefs. This metabelief -- that beliefs about a transcendent reality cannot be empirically based -- is so deeply entrenched in our culture that it has the status of a taboo. The taboo is very democratic in that it allows everyone to believe whatever they want to believe about such matters. This allows the fundamaterialist to feel comfortable in her conviction that reason is on her side, that there is no afterlife, and that those who believe otherwise have fallen prey to the forces of irrationality and wishful thinking. But it also allows the fundamentalist to feel comfortable in his conviction that he has God on his side, and that those who believe otherwise have fallen prey to the forces of satan and evil. Thus, although the fundamentalist and the fundamaterialist are on opposite extremes of the spectrum of possible attitudes towards an afterlife, the extreme positions they hold unites them as "strange bedfellows" in their battles against the possibility that there are matters of fact about the afterlife which empirical research might discover. The very suggestion that empirical research might be relevant to beliefs pertaining to a transcendent reality -- that such beliefs are subject to empirical constraint -- runs strongly against this taboo, and is hence very threatening to most elements of our culture. So, at the very least, there is a failure of curiosity among the academic establishment with respect to a large body of data suggestive of an afterlife. And if I am right, if, to paraphrase Almeder, it is irrational not to believe in a transcendent reality, given the evidence, then academia is permeated by a widespread and recalcitrant irrationality which blinds it to the findings of science. I think there are three inter-related factors, or causes, which converge to generate the resistance with respect to this issue: (a) resistance to paradigm change, (b) intellectual arrogance, and (c) social taboo. (a) Resistance to paradigm change: Ever since the publication of Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the concept of a paradigm has been a familiar, useful, albeit sometimes controversial, tool. The concept of a paradigm helps us considerably in understanding scientific revolutions, when dramatic changes occur involving deep-rooted assumptions about how things are or how things must be. All academics matriculate within the context of a specific discipline which trains its practitioners to think in terms of the currently operating paradigm. Once the operating paradigm has been internalized in the mind of the individual, other, competing paradigms appear wrong and/or foolish. For example, I seem to remember, as a graduate student, spending a pleasant afternoon ridiculing phenomenology, which is a different way of approaching philosophy than the analytic paradigm which is dominant in America. None of us had read any phenomenology, or understood what it was about, yet to us it was meaningless gibberish, foolish French philosophy. Examples, historical and personal, could be multiplied without limit. Indeed professional meetings, both in science and humanities, not infrequently degenerate into mere debunking sessions. It seems there is something very deep in us humans that causes us to dismiss and ridicule any way of thinking which is different from our own. There is a natural resistance to forms of thinking which differs from what was internalized during the educational process. Academic philosophers matriculate within a paradigm which is largely atheistic, materialistic, and reductionistic. There is no God, only material objects and processes exist, and human experience and behavior is to be explicated mechanically in terms of brain states. Books with the terms "mind" or "consciousness" in their title, for example, tend to have as their primary goal the "reduction" of mental and conscious experience to neurophysiology. To one who has internalized this paradigm, this way of approaching things appears to be right, reasonable, objective, and sensible. The paradigm itself is rarely questioned; it is the very water in which the academic philosopher is swimming, which is why it is so difficult for one who is immersed in the paradigm to see it as a paradigm, rather than as the way things "must be". Someone operating out of a different paradigm appears to be out of touch with reality, irrational, and so forth. So, one of the forces which cause academics to ignore, dismiss, and ridicule the evidence for an afterlife is the force of the paradigm which the individual academic has internalized. The force of a well-entrenched paradigm has, throughout history, always caused scientists and humanists to actively resist both (i) paradigms, theories and hypotheses which are different from their own, as well as (ii) information which runs counter to the general contours of their own paradigm. Indeed, I think the concept of a paradigm partly explains why philosophers are, as a whole, much more resistant to the concept of an afterlife than are scientists. (It is scientists, not philosophers, who are actively engaged in this research). It is because atheism plays a much more central role in the contemporary philosopher's paradigm than it does in the scientist's. In today's academic climate, a physicist could write a book called ``God and the New Physics'' [14], but not a philosopher. (b) Intellectual arrogance: In addition to the normal kind of resistance with which any paradigm defends itself against change, the atheist paradigm of academia generally, and Philosophy in particular, feels especially threatened by the findings of paranormal research. This is because intellectuals like to regard themselves as the highest manifestation of intelligence on the planet, if not in the Universe. Embracing an evolutionary model according to which consciousness is correlated with brain development, intellectuals regard the human brain as the highest development of evolutionary forces [15], and an educated human brain as the highest of the high. Intellectuals like to feel that they are riding atop the crest of the wave of Evolution. This intellectual smugness is greatly threatened by paranormal research, especially the NDE, the results of which strongly suggest (I am tempted to say "clearly show" instead of "strongly suggest") that the human intellect is by no means the highest form of intelligence. The Being of Light is Itself often described as infinite intelligence and love; moreover, intermediate between the humans and God there appear to many forms of non-embodied intelligence, greatly superior to our own. And furthermore, NDEers report that they feel themselves to be more alive and intelligent while out of the body than when in the body. NDE research seems to be confirming Plato's view that the body acts as a damper on the soul's native intelligence, weighing it down, so to speak, such that the soul is not able to manifest its full intelligence as long as it is embodied in material form. All this is deeply unsettling to us academics. When we were younger, we may have been poor at sports, we may have been frequently teased by other children for being "squares" or "nerds". But we were smart, and our whole sense of self-worth got tied up in being smart. We were praised by our teachers for getting A's, and we worked hard to achieve the highest possible academic honors and rewards. It is thus quite natural for us to desire theories which support and justify those qualities which are strongest in us. It is therefore very comforting, although blatantly self- serving, to embrace a paradigm according to which we intellectuals are the most highly evolved beings in the Universe, or at least, on the planet. So to ask us to take seriously current research on the Near Death Experience is to ask us (i) not only to entertain the possibility that the atheist paradigm in terms of which we were raised and educated might be inadequate, (ii) but also that human intelligence, of which we academics are the supreme manifestation, is not only not the highest form of intelligence in Creation, but may very well be among the lowest. No wonder there is so much resistance! (c) Social and cultural taboo: This is the most serious and powerful source of resistance, because it involves not only the university system, but our whole culture, indeed, our whole way of life. Despite avowals to the contrary, we live in a completely atheistic and irreligious culture. To be sure, most people profess a belief in a Higher Power of some sort, and many people attend religious services regularly, but religion, by which I mean religious values, plays no role in shaping the economic and political forces which structure and control our culture. Let me explain: the primary religious value, common to all of the world's religions, is love. The religions of the world agree that Divine Love is the force which creates and sustains our world, and that our primary purpose while embodied is to grow in our ability to understand and express this love. The world's religions advocate that we practice compassion and forgiveness towards others, that we treat people as ends in themselves, and that we not value material possessions. The "goodlife", according to religion, consists, not in the pursuit of wealth, reputation, or power, but rather, in the pursuit of right relationship with the Divine. Now, the values of our culture are diametrically opposed to the values of religion. Success in our culture is measured by wealth, reputation, and power; and the desires which are requisite for obtaining this success are greed and ambition. Religious values have been safely shunted off to at most one hour a week on Sunday morning, where they are completely ineffective in mitigating the forces of greed and ambition which drive our culture economically. The primary religious values of love and compassion play no role in shaping the economic and political life of our culture. Politicians and corporations seek only to win fame and fortune for themselves; they do not value kindness, they do not seek to share their wealth, and most importantly, they, like everyone else in our culture, measure their self worth according to their wealth, status, reputation, etc. No one gets rich by being kind to their competitors; no one gains political office by being loving towards their opponents. Religious values may be paid lip service to, but they are inoperative in our culture. Indeed, they are fundamentally incompatible with the values which do, in fact, drive our culture.[16] The reader can probably already see where I'm going with this. Research on the NDE has yielded the following unambiguous conclusion. NDEers confirm the basic values of the world's religions. The purpose of life, NDEers agree, is Knowledge and Love. Studies on the transformative effect of the NDE show that the cultural values of wealth, status, material possessions, etc., become much less important, and the perennial religious values of love, caring for others, and acquiring knowledge about the divine ascend to greater importance. That is, the studies show that NDEers not only verbally profess the values of Love and Knowledge, but they tend to operate in accordance with these values, if not entirely, then at least more so than before. As long as religious values are presented as merely religious values, then it is easy for popular culture to ignore them or give them minimal lip-service on Sunday mornings. But if these same religious values are presented as empirically verified scientific facts, then everything changes. If the belief in an afterlife were to be accepted, not on the basis of faith, nor on the basis of speculative theology, but as a well-confirmed scientific hypothesis, then this could not be ignored by our culture. In fact, it would mean the end of our culture in its present form. Consider the following scenario: further research on the NDE confirms in great detail what has already been established, many more cases of verified veridical perceptions while "out of body" are collected and documented, advancing medical technology makes possible many more "smoking gun" cases of the type discussed above, longitudinal studies on NDEers confirm the already observed behavioral changes aligned with their newly acquired (or recently reinforced) spiritual values, and so forth. The studies are replicated in different cultures, with the same results. Eventually, the weight of evidence begins to set in, and scientists are ready to announce to world, if not as fact, then at least as highly confirmed scientific hypotheses: There is an afterlife. Our real identity is not our body, but our mind or consciousness. Although the details of the afterlife are not known, we are reasonably certain that everyone will experience a life-review, in which the individual experiences not only every event and every emotion of his life, but also, the effects his behavior, positive or negative, has had on others. The usual defense mechanisms with which we hide from ourselves our sometimes cruel and less than compassionate behavior towards others seems not to operate during the life review. The purpose of life is Love and Knowledge -- to learn as much as possible about both this world and the transcendent world, and to grow in our ability to feel kindness and compassion towards all beings. A consequence of (3) is that it appears to be a great disadvantage to oneself to harm another person, either physically or psychologically, since whatever pain one inflicts on another is experienced as one's own in the life-review. This scenario is by no means far-fetched. I believe there is already sufficient evidence to present the above propositions as "probable", or "more likely than not", based on the evidence. Further studies will only increase the probability. When this happens, the fallout will be revolutionary. When these findings are announced by science, it will become impossible for our culture to do business as usual, either economically, or politically, or in the universities. For our universities, as I have written elsewhere [17], are institutions of our culture, and as such, manifest and perpetuate the values of our culture. It would be interesting to speculate what an economy, or a university, which tries to align itself with the above five empirical hypotheses might look like, but that is a project well beyond the scope of this paper. It is sufficient for our present purposes simply to note that acceptance of the findings of NDE researchers would mark the beginning of the end of a culture whose driving forces have been greed and ambition, and which measures success in terms of material possessions, wealth, reputation, social status, etc. The present culture, therefore, has an enormous vested interest in undermining NDE research, which it does through ignoring, debunking, and otherwise marginalizing the research. More subtly, our culture has created an atmosphere of "taboo", for want of a better name, around any serious discussions of spirituality. This is why we tend to feel uneasy and awkward in discussing these things with colleagues. We can discuss spirituality in the academy as something that other people believe, but not as something for which there could be empirical evidence and which might be empirically true. Even the former is difficult. I remember attending a conference on Spinoza some years ago. A member of the audience wanted to ask the speaker whether he thought Spinoza was a mystic. But the questioner could not bring himself to utter the word "mystic". He stuttered and stammered until someone else asked the question for him. The taboo against spirituality is so strong in academic philosophy, that we feel awkward and embarrassed even to say the word "mystic". And this is why I say that something like a taboo is operating here, something which we have all internalized, and which generates feelings of unease and anxiety whenever spiritually is discussed as something that might be true, rather than merely intellectually, as sociology, history, psychology, or literature. To avoid these feelings of discomfort and anxiety generated by the taboo, academics try to protect themselves by employing the same strategies that everyone uses to avoid anxiety. The first strategy is denial. By paying no attention to the research, by ignoring it and dismissing it a priori, the academic is spared the uncomfortable feelings which would arise from violating the taboo. The second strategy is to debunk, to explain away, and to otherwise marginalize the research, and sometimes even the researchers themselves. I believe I have identified several of the major factors which are involved in academia's collective refusal to take seriously the results of research into the paranormal. Those disciplines which would be most affected by this research, such as Philosophy and Psychology, are the most resistant to the data, because the data calls into question their most fundamental presuppositions of what a person is and of what life is all about. There is thus much for academics generally, and philosophers and psychologists especially, to fear in this research. I would like to close by telling a little story I heard about C.D.Broad. C.D. Broad was a famous British philosopher who wrote in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. He served as president of the British Society for Psychic Research, and was the last philosopher with an international reputation who believed there was something to it. Towards the end of his life he was asked how he would feel if he found himself still present after his body had died. He replied that he would feel more disappointed than surprised. Not surprised, because his investigations led him to conclude that an afterlife was more likely than not.[18] But why disappointed? His reply was disarmingly honest. He said, in effect, that he had had a good life: that he was comfortable materially, and that he enjoyed admiration and respect from students and colleagues. There is no guarantee that his status, reputation, and comfort would carry over intact into the afterlife. The rules by which success is measured in the afterlife might be quite different from the rules according to which success is measured in this life. And indeed, NDE research suggests that Broad's fears were well- founded, that "success" by afterlife standards is measured, not in terms of publications, grants, or reputation, but rather by acts of kindness and compassion to others. Perhaps those whose sense of self-worth arises primarily from their status within academia have, as Broad expressed, something to fear from the findings of NDE research. Footnotes "Do Any Near-Death Experiences Provide Evidence for Survival of Human Personality after Death?", Emily Cook, Bruce Greyson and Ian Stevenson, Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol.12, No. 3, p. 377, 1998. Ibid, p 377 Light and Death; Zondervan Publishing House, 1998, chapter 3 Ibid, p.49 Robert Almeder: Death and Personal Survival Ibid: William James: Frederic Myers Service to Psychology, in The Works of William James; Essays in Psychical Research, Harvard, 1986, p.194 Michael Grosso, PhD. Fear of Life after Death in What Survives?, Gary Doore (ed); Tarcher, 1990. (Italics mine) Peter Fenwick, The Truth in the Light, Berkeley Publishing, 1997, p.249 I think it is time to be quite candid about this; there is a tremendous body of research on the paranormal, accumulated since the time of William James, which should properly be called the "findings of science", because the researchers have been trained scientists who adhered to strict, methodologically scientific rules of evidence. When I say that the findings of science refutes materialism, I am using the term refutes in the standard empirical (not logical or mathematical) sense in which a hypothesis (in this case materialism) is said to be refuted, or falsified, by strong evidence to the contrary. Fundamentalists are just as inventive in explaining away fossil evidence as fundamaterialists --at least those who bother to look at paranormal research --are at explaining away NDE research. One particularly ingenious fundamentalist explanation is that, when God created the world 5000 plus years ago, He created it with fossils and dinosaur bones in place, to make it look as if the world were older, as a sort of test of our faith. The Creationist then challenges the evolutionary scientist to "prove" that God did not in fact create the world in this way. One does not need to be an astute logician to see that the Creationist's hypothesis is unfalsifiable in principle, hence unscientific, and hence, the evolutionary scientist does not need to show (because it cannot in principle be shown) that God did not Create the world with the fossil evidence in place. The arguments of those fundamaterialists who look at the evidence from paranormal research are just as convoluted, involving unfalsifiable premises, confusing evidence with proof, etc. See Almeder, op. cit., for a more detailed examination of some of the convolutions the fundamaterialist must undergo in order to save his materialism. As an aside, I must say that it has taken me twenty years to gain the courage to be able to reply simply and honestly to questions pertaining to my interests. The taboo against having any interest in the paranormal except for the purpose of debunking it has persisted in academia since the time of William James; and the punishment for violating this taboo is to be ridiculed and marginalized by colleagues. My fear, which has now left me, of being on the receiving end of such ridicule has kept me silent for many years. Everyone desires approval from their peers, and I have nothing but admiration for those researchers whose love for truth gave them the courage to publish their findings despite fears of their colleagues' disapproval. e.g. William James on mediumship, John Mack on UFO's, Brian Weiss and Ian Stevenson on reincarnation, etc. Paul Davies Although, it must be noted that intellectuals are not consistent in their application of their own criteria. If species intelligence is to be correlated with brain development, then dolphins and whales must be regarded as the most intelligent life forms on the planet. I do not mean only the corporate and political culture, but popular culture as well. Consider, for example the value of forgiveness, common to all religions. In what per cent of our movies is the protagonist a hero because he has successfully applied this value and has forgiven his enemies? Compare this with the percentage of movies in which the protagonist is a hero because he successfully applied the opposite value of vengeance and destroyed his enemies. See my Context & Content in Academia; Parts 1 and 2, as yet unpublished. C. D. Broad reached this conclusion based on studies of mediums and apparitions. The evidence available today, through NDE research and Stevenson-type cases, is even more compelling 1229 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Found a nice tool on: October 30, 2002, 16:40:07 Anyone come across a device called: Thoughtstream? I've been mulling over the question recently of feedback. Problem is (especially with newcomers) is it is difficult to recognise whether the relaxation technique used is actually doing its job. And even if it is, the question arises could there not be a slight change in the technique that might make the process quicker. So I looked around the Internet doing a search on EEG machines. Technology has come a long way since the first machines came about, so I thought I might be able to find something digital at a reasonable price. However, it seems there is nothing to be had (worth having), in my price range, as they all seemed to be geared towards use in a clinical/hospital environment. So the prices are sky-high. But I came across an advert for this Thoughtstream thingy, and I must say I rather thought it was going to be one of those things I toy with for about 10 minutes, before junking it. But it really is useful. The box measures the resistance of your skin (Galvanic skin response) which is proportional to the amount you are relaxed or stressed. What I find amazing is the sensitivity, and the instant difference thoughts make to the resistance of your skin. I have also tried fooling it by relaxing, remaining still, but then thinking thoughts such as riding my motorcycle. But the thought pattern has a virtually instant effect. Same with breathing. I'll breath slow and rythmically and the unit will gradually indicate a progressively more relaxed state, then I'll try and fool it by subtly changing the pattern: which almost right away registers on the scale as steadily increasing tension. The unit has a sensitivity adjustement and I managed to get it down to level "3" so far. But it gets much harder the lower you go in the setting. This afternoon, for example, I was just sitting at my desk having a play and got it down to the low three's for the first time. I'd got my mind ever so still, and then some, but it wouldn't budge down another notch. Then I began to see swirling all around which jolted me out of it. I thought, hang on a minute, I recognise that swirling from my projection exercises... but from lying in bed early morning, not sitting at my desk mid afternoon! Anyone else had any experiences with this they can share? Yours, Frank 1228 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Great phasing example: on: November 07, 2002, 09:05:23 I've been lurking on the Afterlife Knowledge BBS for a short while now (yeah, okay, quit sniggering at the back there) and was sifting through the usual mix, when I found a little gold nugget in the form of the below post. It was written by Ginny who I recently discovered has got her head ever so firmly screwed on in the right direction, Astral exploration-wise. I'm wanting to bring this post to your attention because it gives a detailed rundown of exactly how an Astral exploration should be handled (in a phasing sense that is). It's a lovely mix of Intent and Curiosity and the use of these two thought patterns in order to propel the process. What I really admire, however, is how she deals with the various awareness sensations in such a controlled and positive way. You will notice how she nearly lost it towards the end, but then recaptures her focus by quickly correcting her thinking. That kind of thing is ever so easy to read about, but doing such at the time takes a *lot* of skill. ___________________________________________ Posted by Ginny on November 06, 2002 at 10:57:08: Hi everybody, In the last few months I've been thinking of starting a series of many visits with what I call my Disk Family,---or Oversoul, I/There. I've just come to feel that they aren't far away or inaccessible to those in the physical. To the contrary, they're Here, within. I'm just very curious about a lot of things and have been interested in information I'd be able to gather from my Disk, as well as kind of poking my nose further up the ladder so to speak regarding who dreamed me up (my Disk) in the first place. On this journey I wasn't There long but perhaps I'll be able to lengthen my stay next time. So, a few days ago I went through my energy gathering and placed the intent to visit with my Disk. Just relaxed in blackness for a few seconds and then felt someone/something kind of all around me. I took this in and then sent out a "Hello". I immediately perceived soft laughter which seemed to either be mixed with something that felt musical, or the laughter was a kind of brief music---not sure. I could then sense more of a presence and wondered why this was all I was getting (I wasn't really 'seeing' anything) and so asked if I could 'see/perceive' someone from my Disk as I have in the past. I then got a thought, a reminder of when they had visited with me at a particularly bad time in my life (many years ago), and the utterly mind blowing feeling of love I had experienced. I communicated back that I now knew that it had been them. It then felt as if I was being told that 'seeing' either wasn't necessary or that I should get use to it now as it wouldn't serve me well later in this experience. Oookay---hmmmmm. I then saw a tall, humanoid, golden shape materialize at a distance and as soon as I noted that it was neither male or female it transformed into an oblong golden shape and remained that way. I could feel/understand that this golden shape was for my benefit, a collective representative (?) for me to converse with. Although I no longer look to this entity, my Disk, as holier than thou, I just had to point a finger at myself and then at the Rep along with the amazing idea/thought that I was looking at myself. I shook my head and communicated with a smile that it was at times still baffling. I got back a loving chuckle kind of feeling. So I started asking a few questions, such as, "Is it true that We, as a collective, can re-create or somehow revisit the lives we've lived, in the ELS as well as elsewhere?" I got back a yes along with a feeling that this was normal. I said that it was difficult for me, with my awareness so centered at times in the ELS, to understand how disk members (those focused primarily within a disk) live...keep from getting bored. I felt a feeling of understanding come back. I then asked when I made my final exit from the physical, should I go to them or F27, wondering if a person has more creative choices in F27, or within one's disk. The Rep said it would be up to me. I was then asked if I'd like to revisit a favorite life apparently enjoyed by I guess more than one disk member. A not so bright humaniod figure suddenly stepped out of or from behind the Rep and sat down on something. I understood this to mean this disk member individual would be the tour guide. As I indicated my approval I then simultaneously felt myself closed within something, kinda like being wrapped up in a warm, protective blanket...very comfortable, and I sensed but still could not 'see' activity going on around me. I was then standing above and at a slight distance from a beach near what was either an ocean or large lake. No problem with 'seeing' this! A few birds winging it through the endless blue sky could be seen out over the water. Waves were gently rolling in, pounding the sand below...some rocks or boulders just below where I was standing, trees off to my left, and utter peacefulness. I could feel that this place was a favorite and I was encouraged to remember it. This caught me by surprise but I got a hold of myself and placed the intent to be open, stop analyzing and just be open to the place. I began to feel a familiarity but it was frustrating because I couldn't indentify with who, what, when. I opened myself again and then knew this place/experience had been one of great happiness...but I couldn't get anything more. I was then instantly back in the blackness with the feeling of many around me...and I thanked them for the short tour. As I was recalling several more question I had wanted to ask I then stopped and blurted out, "Who created us? Who or what dreamed us up?". I got back, a larger version of Us. I then stated that I wanted to visit with this larger version and after a few seconds felt a kind of mild, not unpleasant pressure around me, as well as movement, and I had a brief image of me exiting a transparent circle/bubble only to move out into a larger circle/bubble that housed the one I had just left. It crossed my mind that perhaps I was seeing this 3D image as a way to help me understand what was happening. I was still in soft blackness, could feel something massive all around... and decided to open up again and just see what came to me. It felt right that I would be able to perceive better if I did this, relying more on feeling/perception I guess, instead of always needing to 'see'. I'm not explaining this adequately but oh well. I then had a fuzzy but fixed image of me above my Disk out in black space...and sensed that who or what I was now with was larger than large. I asked how massive this entity/Disk was? I got back that the image I was seeing was solely to help perhaps orient me, help me to understand some basics...that they weren't 'massive' because 'massive' requires 'space'---something they don't exist within. This got my attention. I said, "So you don't exist within space, a space, any space?", and got back that 'space' was a concept that they lived independently from: the Disk I am a part of lives within such a concept. I looked down at my Disk (a hazy view of a transparent bubble) and thought about this and then asked why They created my Disk. Basically the answer I got--a rote I guess because I had to take one piece of information at a time after it came rolling to me in one fell swoop--was, "Why not?"-- that consciousness is always in motion, ever expanding, reaching out to manifest. When you live within the concept of having boundaries, it's difficult to understand perception without them. They told me to see life as something round, or in a circle, that never ends. I asked if they had created other disks and got a yes...and it felt to be more than I could ever count. As I was just floating there, wondering about those other disks, I was asked a question!---"Have you ever thought to explore the disks you and your members have been creating?" I was stumped. I looked back down and wondered about this, saying no, I hadn't. It was then suggested I just relax and try to not think for a moment, which I made an attempt to do (not easy for me), and I was able to feel quite relaxed after a few minutes. I then sensed I was loosing gas so I thanked them, feeling a kind of loving understanding come back to me, and then returned to my Disk. I stated that I wanted to help in a retrieval but was told it might be best I get back to C1....which is what I did. This experience was brief as I mentioned earlier, but it has fueled my desire to want to know more---:O)! Thanks for listening and much love to everyone, Ginny COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The above post is copyright the author, as named, and is reproduced here, in full, for teaching, study and/or discussion purposes. The original can be found at http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/wwwboard/messages/36784.html 1226 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Suicide and spiritual growth on: November 27, 2002, 10:52:16 Quote: I now realize that I suicided because there were things I couldn't deal with, emotional things, things between myself and others. I was in so much pain. That pain didn't go away after I killed myself and I now realize that the one thing I need to resolve the pain is hanging from the rafters in the garage. The above quote is from an experience by Mr Moen of the other BBS and serves as a classic example of the points I was trying to get across to someone a while ago on this BBS. Where the person was feeling despair to the point where they seriously felt like killing themselves. It also touches on the whole question of why are we here? Why do we become incarnate? The basic answer is we are all here to learn lessons. Lessons that would be impossible to learn within the realms of the Astral. The reason is, again, due to the fact that within the Astral: Thought=DirectAction. Within such a sphere of reality, it is impossible to put any distance between your thoughts and your surrounding circumstances. Having a physical body acts as a very effective buffer between the whole thought-release-action connection. It give us the ability to sit back and think; become emotional even; and not have our circumstances flit from one scene to the next. This gives us the luxury of being able to work through emotions such as fear and anger, and not have representations of these feelings continually being manifest, instant by instant, before our very eyes. As such, being Physical gives us the grand opportunity of being able to work to gain the requisite degree of knowledge and understanding, in order to banish these highly damaging emotions from our consciousness. Yours, Frank 1223 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Bruce Moen Style on: December 20, 2002, 13:54:56 I have been experimenting with this for the past few weeks and have got some very encouraging results. It takes a bit of getting used to, just lying there and becoming "open" to anything I may experience and merely placing an Intent without all the other projection stuff. But Bruce is absolutely spot on when he says to go with the flow of your imagination and look for something unexpected to happen. Immediately I can see an advantage for beginners in this way of doing things, as you are always firmly rooted in your physical body. So the fear of being possessed while you are "out" and so forth, is diminished considerably. The big downside, well for me that is, is you don't have the same kind of direct, 1st-person experience of actually being within the Astral. Instead, in a way it feels like a kind of "fumbling in the dark" at first but you quickly start to get the hand of it. Rather than actually seeing and experiencing the Astral directly, you get these impressions that come into your mind. At first it feels exactly like you are talking to yourself within your mind but then... blammo... something unexpected comes to mind where you think, hang on a minute, I never thought that at all. After a while, you start to recognise where these thoughts are coming from in your mind to the point where you can distinguish between you own inner voice, and the thought impressions coming through from the Astral. Here's a rundown of one of my early experiments where an unexpected event suddenly manifests: Laying down early morning, I placed the Intent to make contact with the Library at Focus 27. Which is somewhere I have been a number of times before in the more traditional projection sense. At first nothing happened. Plus, I felt confused and subject to several petty distractions. In particular it was almost dawn and the birds were singing their usual piece. Right, so I placed the Intent (which wasn't hard because, as I say, I've projected There before). Well, it was all dark and murky and I felt a bit like a fish out of water because I didn't have any clarity of vision. But I put all the difficulties aside and tried to just become open to the experience. Also, the fact that I was 100% aware of being in the Physical didn't help. But I persevered and concentrated on just relaxing and flowing with the experience. Then, I had a sensation of being close to library shelves full of books. I couldn't actually see any books, it was more like I could "feel" them close to me on a row of shelves. So I took this as a sign that the process was working and thought I'd "play along" and take a book from a shelf. So I mentally took a book and (playing along further) I thought right, now I'll go find a table and chair, sit down and read the book. As I turned to walk along the line of the bookshelf, much to my surprise I almost bumped into this tall man. He must have been easily 6ft 7in tall and he reminded me of one of those American basketball players as he was SO tall. Anyhow, he asked me if I needed any help. But I'm starting to lose it by this point because I'm totally gobsmacked thinking, hang on a minute, I never imagined this! Yours, Frank 1221 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Catchy tune in head technique on: December 29, 2002, 14:07:34 I posted this in response to a post on another thread. But have posted it again here as a number of people have mentioned about this before i.e. where people have been distracted by having some tune keep repeating in their mind. So felt it might be worthy of its own thread. This morning I happened to come awake with a song in my head. I had been pottering about in my workshop the previous day repairing my nephew's car, and I'd had the radio on. There was a particular song that kept playing and it got to be a bit annoying. I actually switched the radio off because of it. Anyhow, this morning it was still in my head. As a number of people have posted about having the same problem I thought, hmm, I wonder if it would be possible to use this rather annoying situation advantageously in some way. So I focused on the tune and, what was happening, this chorus-line kept repeating. The main instrument was a piano together with a voice. I don't even know what the tune is called (I'll try and find out) but it has this catchy piano bit that keeps repeating. Anyhow, rather than try and shut it out, I began to concentrate more and more on this repeating piano. As I did so, the voice part faded into the background to the point where only the piano notes remained. Next I started slowing down the sequence of notes, ever more gradually to the point where I was taking just one note at a time. As I was doing this, I also gradually increased the length of each note so each one would last a about a second or two (note lengths vary naturally, so increased them all in proportion to what they were originally). I concentrated on feeling each note and tried to make them as real, i.e. as lifelike, as possible in my mind. Well, I think I hit on something here, because after only about 10 minutes of this I found myself stepping into 3D blackness! Yours, Frank 1215 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Darned good beginner's phasing info on: January 10, 2003, 22:37:10 I'm reproducing this here because several times now I posted on the B.Moen BBS about how posters there might seek some advantage in coming here and having a look. The following post is reproduced in full (without permission) but I'm sure Mr Moen will understand the value in what I am trying to put across, like, the feeling is reciprocated: Quote _______________________ JimB, >> Bruce . . . your method is good for exploring the 'afterlife' areas only. Bob Monroe's methods seems good for exploring both the afterlife Focus levels and physical reality. << The method I teach, Focused Attention, can be used to explore any reality: afterlife; physical; nonphysical or others. That's because all my method requires is that one learn to shift their focus of attention to the reality they are interested in, and "look around." And, the method utilizes the assistance of Helpers to assist in doing that. >> Bob Monroe was able to explore this Solar System and much of the universe and the afterlife areas as well. << He was also able to explore realities, or dimensions, beyond the Afterlife and physical universe. He used the term Focus level to catagorize these and his division lines were based on the kind of "people" found in a specific area of consciousness or Focus level. I use the term "people" loosely as Bob would have labeled some of them "intelligences." I see Bob's personal method as classic OBE. The methods that he developed using Hemi-sync were probably orginally intended to teach folks how to do classic OBE, that's just my opinion. But, not everyone can learn the OBE technique quickly and easily, and Bob discovered that it wasn't necessary that they do. They could use Hemi-sync to shift their awareness to various focus levels without having to develop OBE skills, and still successfully explore. I see what I teach as a simplified version of Bob's Hemi-sync based exploration, without the Hemi-sync. The primary difference I see between what I teach and what Bob taught is that he started from a classic OBE perspective and I don't because I can't. He explored that way and I never could learn how. Fortunately, there are a lot more people who can't learn OBE than can. So, my simplified method makes exploration beyond physical reality available to a wider range of people. In my view what I'm doing is building upon what Bob developed to make such exploration more widely available. So, the method I teach comes from the perspective of someone who can't do the classic OBE method, and gets into the nitty gritty details. In TMI's Lifeline program, for example, a method of verification of the retrieval experiences as real was not included until very recently. Finding ways to verify contact and communication as real is a nitty gritty detail that's critical to long term success, in my view. I've been pushing for TMI to develop a Partnered Exploring program for years as a way of routinely getting verification of experience. Maybe some day they'll do that. Part of the nitty gritty is that beliefs we hold that conflict with the existence of an afterlife, or other nonphysical realities, block perception of those areas of consciousness. To open perception those beliefs must be confronted with verifiable, conflicting evidence from one's own direct experience, again, my opinion. Once enough verifiable evidence has been gathered individuals typically go through an identity crisis, a belief system crash, that results in having a different world view, and more open perception. As a method of exploration Focused Attention covers this nitty gritty detail. In a recent post by Dora, the Devil's Island post, another nitty gritty detail is illustrated, Interpreter Overlay. Understanding this concept is critical to successful exploration. I can see how there can be some confusion about the areas or realities Focused Attention can be used to explore. I teach afterlife exploration because it presents the opportunity for verifiable, belief clearing, experiences. Afterlife exploration via retrieval is like training wheels on a bicycle. Once you get the hang of riding around the Afterlife the training wheels can come off and you can ride your bike to any reality or dimension. Bruce 1207 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Awakened Minds CD review on: June 05, 2003, 12:37:45 A few weeks back I ordered the Awakened Minds CD from here: http://www.awakenedminds.com/ This idea came about from a discussion on another post, which I cannot now find so I've started another thread. As you can see, the website publishes all the usual hype and fantastic claims normally associated with these (so called) mind expanding products. At “only” 35 USD plus postage, price-wise it‟s towards the lower end of the scale. Even so, it‟s a heck of a lot to pay for a shiny piece of plastic. So what about those claims? Well, they claim that within every individual there is the potential for “ultimate consciousness”. Quite what is meant by that I simply cannot fathom. But they do go on to say their audio technology is a proven method for awakening that potential. So I guess I am destined to find out. The CD looks and feels very ordinary. Which was surprising as, given the claims made for it, I‟d expect it to be hot to the touch. The accompanying documentation was basic. There was all the usual blurb like don‟t listen while operating machinery, and so on. Plus, you get a short list of hints and tips which follow along the similar lines to that published on the website. The sound you hear is exactly like heavy rain. Initially, my mind found this rather annoying to the extent where I almost switched the thing off and consigned it to the bin. Listening to rainfall is very much like listening to white noise, only rain is far more interesting. So the idea of having rainfall masking the binaural side of things I think is a good one. However, in my opinion, what they have done is tried to be a tad too realistic rain-wise. Not only do you hear it veritably teeming with rain, but you hear all this water gurgling and dripping too. Unfortunately, my mind began reacting to it as if it were literally happening; even to the point of anticipating lightning and accompanying thunderclaps. After a few sessions my mind got the message that it wasn‟t literally raining, but was still a tad confused by it all. It was only my curiosity about the nature or state of “ultimate consciousness” which gave me impetus to resist the urge to bin it. However, this morning something happened. After about 10 or 15 minutes I found myself having these little blank moments. These are familiar little nulls in consciousness I often get before something interesting, projection-wise is set to happen. So things took their familiar course and I ended up projecting to the Astral as per usual and, on my return, the track had finished playing. Unfortunately, I cannot tell whether the CD played any part in this. At present, I‟m of the opinion my mind learnt to overcome the irritation caused by the sound of the rainfall and simply projected as usual. But there were a few differences looking back. The imagery I normally perceive at the Focus-12 state came about quicker, and *much* more strongly and than usual. Plus there were a few other more subtle differences which are hard to explain; but were a definite deviation from what I now recongnise as my normal projection experience. I suppose, ideally, we need someone who has had little success to try it each morning for a reasonable length of time. Myself, I'm going to continue with it for at least another two weeks to see what (if anything) happens. Yours, Frank PS Nick, you also have the CD if memory serves me correct. How is it going? 1199 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Question for Mayatnik on: June 30, 2003, 13:14:29 Hi: I've been scouting the Internet for info regarding the Pleiadians. I couldn't help noticing you sign off your posts each time with, "Pleiadian Love and Light". I'm not really a UFO buff, so a lot of what I have been reading recently has a high chuckle-value and that's about it. From what I have read, these people are some kind of ancestors of ours and they visit us regularly. Is this true? As you say you are in constant touch, I thought you would be the best person to ask. If it is true, then lots of other questions come to mind, like, how do they get here, and why? And all kinds of Q's like that. Plus, and I touched on this in a post to the pendulum thread, is it possible for them to pop along and meet me somewhere? That sure would make for interesting conversation, at the very least. I'm just imagining the look on my neighbour's faces as this starship lands in the garden, and I get in for a quick demo tour of the cosmos. Okay, that sounds outrageous from our point of view. But if these people really are visiting us on a regular basis then taking someone for a quick trip to Alpha Centuri and back, wouldn't be all that out of the ordinary. So how about it? Yours, Frank 1194 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Subjective experience example... on: August 28, 2004, 10:46:13 "... A conversation board on this theme is naturally understood to invite reasons why these astral experiences don't seem to convey such knowledge and why they don't "ring true." I have had OBEs that I now realize were merely lucid dreams. I am working with the complete set of Gateway CDs because someone who uses Bruce's method told me that OBEs are far more convincing than Bruce's techniques..." I wanted to find an example where someone had projected but, rather than using the experience to forward their progress, they regressed due to their own faulty thinking. The above example is a classic and was reproduced from a post on the Bruce Moen message board (afterlifeknowledge.com). This regression situation is caused because your early experiences with almost certainly be subjective in nature. In a subjective experience, because of the nature of the non-physical environment, to a large degree you will be creating your own reality. The sentence in question is where he says, "I have had OBEs that I now realize were merely lucid dreams. This is what I call "subjective interference" and is a perfectly normal thing to experience at first. Later, you can progress beyond that by gaining a deeper understanding of the various ground rules that apply. So after a while of practice, your experiences will become progressively more objective in nature. Until, finally, you are able to view your surroundings proper. In other words, you are viewing your true astral or non-physical surroundings without any interference from your own uncontrolled release of thoughts-release-emotions. This process of learning does take a while. During which time the novice projector should refrain from coming to any firm conclusions while any subjective interference is apparent. The reason why you should hold off making any judgements is because at this beginning stage you are creating your own reality. Which many novice projectors are simply not aware of. If you doubt your experience, as the poster above has obviously done, then you will find yourself in repeated situations where your doubt will become manifest. This, in turn, will have the serious effect of reinforcing your original doubt. Which in turn will have the effect of placing you in ever more doubtful circumstances that simply reinforce your doubt all the more, and so the spiral continues. Eventually, the person's doubt will be confirmed to the point where they come to potentially far reaching conclusions that may seriously hinder their development. Such as, "I have had OBEs that I now realize were merely lucid dreams." Remember, in a subjective experience, to a large extent you are creating your reality. This reality that you create is not some kind of half-baked affair you can easily see isn‟t actually real. No, not at all. The reality you create looks every bit as real and every bit as lifelike as ordinary physical reality! Which is, of course, the root cause or crux of the problem; as people do not believe it is themselves who are creating it. Another classic example is the case of Susan Blackmore who had a few drug-fuelled “out of body” experiences that were highly subjective in nature, and then she went on to plug herself as some kind of authority on the non-reality of the obe phenomenon. Talk about making yourself look daft! From what she says it is blatantly obvious she has never had anything like a truly objective experience (and probably never will now). To avoid making these kinds of mistakes and coming to potentially damaging conclusions, it is doubly essential to get a good understanding of the various ground rules that apply: preferably before you begin to project. Yours, Frank 1193 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Weird creature on: October 13, 2004, 01:50:03 When people begin to focus their awareness away from the physical they can come across all manner of thought forms which represent emotions of one particular mix or another. Many people when projecting for the first time experience the phenomenon of meeting their own emotions (usually a mix of fear) head on. You are beginning to enter realms of existence where thought equals action. Within the physical we get used to basically being able to think what we like and not have our physical surroundings chopping and changing to suit. Such is not the case within the non-physical. Within the non-physical, thoughts can literally take on a life of their own. To the extent where, say a person creates a fragment of themselves representing a particular fear, you can get situations where the fragment seeks to perpetuate its existence by behaving in such a way as to bring out that same fear from the person who gave it "life" in the first place. Beginners projecting for the first time tend to quickly reach a point where their beliefs are not supported by their experiences. At which point, in an effort to try and make sense of what is happening, they try to mould the experience to fit their beliefs. In doing so, because of the basic nature of the non-physical environment, i.e as you think so it becomes, they quickly become engaged in what is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Which is, in a nutshell, where all the "negs" came from. HTH Yours, Frank 1192 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Meeting in the Astral on: October 13, 2004, 10:22:45 Like most things obe-wise, this kind of task is about as difficult as people believe it to be. I have a friend who I meet up with several times a week. I'm not sure why people would have to think of any elaborate system of recognising each other. A person's bodily energetic (or Ident as Monroe called it) is easily a hundred times more obvious within the non-physical than the physical. Now and again I come across people I know but, more often than not, the person in question has difficulty recognising me for one reason or another. Mainly due to their consciousness being only partly there. Others sometimes approach me and I can't for the life of me realise where I know them from. Which is a bit of a spooky feeling but one of those you just get used to. HTH Yours, Frank 1191 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Life Cycle Near End? on: October 13, 2004, 19:30:02 Anyone looking back through history will realise the "end of the world is nigh" merchants have been at it since time began. Logic tells us someone has to be right eventually. There's a lot of alarmist bunkum doing the rounds. Global warming is a favourite. Fact is, though, the Earth has been heating up and cooling down for millions of years. Wasn't it only around 10,000 years ago we were locked in an ice age... and now we are in a warm cycle. I think what people are worried about is the rate at which it is warming up. But that's just the planet's way of dealing with all the crap we fling into the atmosphere, and the way most people in the western world continue to live. At some point large numbers of people are going to realise we are enclosed within a fragile eco-system flying through space at however many thousand miles per hour. But I very much doubt the planet is going to be all that concerned. A lot of Humans will have a hard time of it, almost certainly, but the planet will be here for a good many years yet. Fortunately the reign of the money-grabbing ego monsters is reaching the end of the line; and it is these people who will ultimately suffer the most. They passed the point of non-sustainability in the late 1970‟s and their days have been numbered ever since. Over the following decades, we will gradually see the empire of the ego monsters being replaced (as all empires are, eventually) with a more balanced breed of human; people who will build a new style of political system with compassion at its core, as opposed to advanced missile technology. Someone is currently doing the rounds saying it's going to explode from the centre, as the centre is a big nuclear reactor and she's gonna blow. Yeah, right, and the moon is made of Swiss cheese. :) These environment merchants ought to get their facts straight. I remember in the mid 1990's when there was very little rainfall in the UK, water reserves were low and all manner of pundits were spouting about how this was due to global warming and that is how it is going to be from now on. I distinctly remember a water-board official saying about how the reserves of water were so low it would take three years of extraordinary rainfall for the reservoirs to be full again. An impossible task, he said, given that due to global warming we are to see incredibly depleted rainfall figures from now on. Funny how in the next three years we had such extraordinary rainfall all the reservoirs were full in just 12 months! Then, a couple of years later, on comes another environmental pundit from the water board, claiming that this increased rainfall is the result of global warming, and that‟s how it is going to be from now on. Exactly the opposite of what they were saying two years previously. Fact is, scientists can‟t even predict simple weather patterns with any real degree of accuracy. Never mind what it‟s going to be like in x-number of decades to come. For example, I was never all that interested in watching the weather forecast but since I move to France and started growing all my own vegetables and stuff I started watching it. All I basically need to know is whether it will rain overnight or not: because I need to know whether to water the vegetables, etc. Where I am, piped water is fairly expensive so considerable savings can be made by not watering if it is going to rain. I‟m not sure if it is the same all over, but in France on the evening forecast they first give you the weather as it was that day. What flaming use is that! I suppose they do it as a form of self comfort. So they can look back and think, well, at last we got something right this evening. Because they are so far off in their forecasts it‟s unreal. Yours, Frank 1190 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Meeting in the Astral on: October 13, 2004, 21:53:51 Amber: In general there is no need to arrange a time or a place. You talk about going “out of body” to meet your friend but no-one is actually ever in their physical body in the first place. It is the mind which makes the contact with the other mind. And everyone‟s mind resides within the non-physical. So in a sense everyone is already connected to each other. Problem is, while our minds are focused within the physical, the physical body does ground our thinking to quite a high degree. Therefore, being in an “out of body” state can help matters when it comes to focussing within non-physical realms and making contact with other minds. But there is no real need to go “out of body” to do so. Perhaps Bruce Moen‟s work might be of interest to you as it explains what I am saying more fully, that is, if you haven‟t come across it already (afterlife-knowledge.com). In the conventional sense of being “out of body” you make contact by simply thinking about your friend and expressing the willingness or the intent to meet with them. Like I say, it matters not whether they also are in an “out of body” state. When I meet with my friend, sometimes he is consciously projecting while his physical sleeps, and sometimes he is wide awake within the physical. It makes no difference as I still hook-up to the same aspect of his mind. Yours, Frank 1189 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Meeting in the Astral on: October 13, 2004, 22:01:38 Nay: shortly after your message came through the forum went down and now your PM is no longer in my inbox as I think everyone's PM store must have been erased in the transfer. I'm sure I saved it in another file though. In any event I remember the contents (I will ALWAYS remember the contents!) well, the first half that is. If you have a copy could you send it again please. All the best, Frank 1188 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Meeting in the Astral on: October 14, 2004, 13:39:48 Amber: we are on the border of a new and amazing science. Unfortunately, because of this we do not yet have a ready-made list of concrete terms and a subsequent solid understanding of those terms. As such, getting to grips with all the terminology is, in itself, quite a task! I‟m sorry I failed to make myself clear. When I say we cannot go “out of body” I didn‟t mean to suggest a situation where, if we are not in the physical, then we are in some other kind of body, etc. and so, as a technical point, we cannot ever be “out of body”. Here we are speaking at cross purposes. It can be complex to get to grips with I know, and the book I‟m currently writing deals with this topic in the first chapter, i.e. the true relationship between mind and brain. I began with this as I feel it very important; there is ever so much misunderstanding in this area. I‟ve said before that if people would first grasp a solid understanding of the way the mind and brain interact, a heck of a lot of other stuff would begin falling into place. People speak of the mind and brain as if they were both one and the same… they are not. The mind and brain are connected in various ways while the physical body is alive, but they are in fact two separate entities. Like I say, it is only when a person grasps a true understanding of how these two entities operate that many other aspects of this whole topic begin falling into place. Lots of questions are answered when a person realises the true relationship between mind and brain. The human brain, as most people are aware, is composed of physical matter and is situated within the physical skull. The function of the brain is to operate, control and direct all the physical processes of the body… that is all. No consciousness is developed in the brain, no thinking or any other kind of reasoning goes on in the brain, no memories are stored in the brain. The brain is simply a kind of central processing unit for the physical body. Human faculties such as consciousness, thoughts and memories are all functions of the mind. The mind exists as an entity in itself and lives in an entirely different dimension of existence. Not only that, the mind derives its energy from a particular source that is totally independent of the physical body (I talk about this in-depth in the book). That is how consciousness can “live on” after the physical body dies, for example. Because many people rationalise that if the mind is a function of the brain and the brain dies, then surely the mind must die with it. But no, the mind is not merely a function of the brain. It is the other way around: in fact the whole physical body, brain and all, is a function or outpouring of the mind. We are never “in” our body, any body, whether it be ethereal, astral, physical, etc. All we do is simply focus the mind in that direction and, hey presto, it feels as if we are. Problem is, people get into a long-standing habit of focussing their mind in one direction only; to the extent where they find it immensely difficult to focus anywhere else. Many other people are so taken by focussing in one direction only they get to believe there is no other way. As a result, they spend their whole lifetime encased within a tiny bubble of physical reality which they firmly believe is all that exists. When people engage in what is commonly called “obe practice” they try so darned hard to, in some way, get “out” of their physical body. But it is not a question of getting out, as you are never in it to begin with! It is a question of learning how to break the habit of only ever focussing in one direction, i.e. towards the physical. Our minds are not “in” any body at all, physical or otherwise. The mind will simply manufacture a suitable bodily vehicle that will best serve its needs on whichever plane of existence it happens to be focussed within. The physical is no different in this respect. When I go non-physical, for example, I feel like I am in a kind of body. Though it feels like it, I am no more “in” that body than I am “in” my physical right now typing these words. My mind is currently operating through my physical. Because that is the only way my mind can operate on whichever plane of existence or realm of reality it is focussed within. The mind cannot operate directly within a realm that is outside of its existence. To do so it has to generate kind of interface; one that is made from the matter of that particular plane. So, within the physical, our bodily interface is made from physical matter, i.e. the very stuff of this plane. When the mind is focussed within the ethereal realm, it generates a bodily interface which is made from etheric matter, and so on. Thing is, the reality of it all gets even more whacky. Because, when I say each person‟s mind, the mind that we think of as our own is merely an infinitesimal fraction of the Whole to which it is connected. But I‟ll save that for another day. Yours, Frank 1187 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Life Cycle Near End? on: October 14, 2004, 17:04:58 Douglas: I see again we are aligned in our thinking in many ways. Mankind gets so carried away with his ability to destroy, it‟s like people get drunk with power and fantasise of the “ultimate destruction”, namely, the very destruction of the planet itself. While the eco-systems of this planet are fragile, and we are wrecking them at a phenomenal rate, the planet as a whole is as tough as old boots to the extent where there‟s no way we could demolish it. We‟d just destroy ourselves in trying. That‟s why I so like your phrase, “and a few million years later, you would never have noticed.” Because it spells out the sheer length of the timeframe the planet deals in, as compared to our own lifetimes. Planet earth will be here for billions of years yet. So what‟s a few million by comparison… it‟s nothing. We‟d wipe ourselves out; rivers would be flowing with radioactive waste and the seas polluted likewise. But a few million years later all the forests would have regrown, animal species would return, etc., etc., just like they have done in the past. Regarding Monroe, I too thought he was going off on a tangent. Thing is, though, I managed to replicate most of his, what you might call, saner stuff. So I‟m holding an open mind on the Y3000 experience. Question that sticks in my mind is, was it symbolic or was it literal? I suppose we‟ll only really know the true answer to that in another 996 years. Yours, Frank 1186 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Life Cycle Near End? on: October 14, 2004, 17:06:31 Major Tom: Yes, absolutely organic. I‟ve had the estate for eight years and employ a number of people to work the land. The place was used as a holiday retreat two or three times a year. But about a year ago, when I retired from the rat-race, I decided to live here on a full-time basis. It was only then I took up an active interest on what goes on here. So I‟m a newcomer too. I love the idea of growing my own but doubt if I could get enough of a variety of produce to be self-sufficient. It‟s possible but a lot of hard work! The main crop is olives, tons of the things, which are pressed into oil. Plus loads of figs and cherries. I mean way, way more than we here could ever consume. So the oil, figs and cherries are traded at the local organic cooperative for foods that aren‟t grown on the estate, plus other items such as rice and things like soap. We do the obvious, i.e. carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, green peppers. Next year I might organise some lettuce and herbs. What I really do like is never having to go to a supermarket. If I‟m short of something and I can‟t get it from the cooperative, then I know several other organic growers in the region and I simply trade something with them. Seldom is it actual cash has to change hands. Personally, I love the way it works. I‟m surrounded by farmers all doing their own thing and not a large corporation in sight! It‟s really wonderful. As I say, I‟m new to it all myself and I‟m learning from the guys I employ to work the land, so I don‟t have any book tips. But if you know a good one or two, then please let me know. Regarding the root cellar, no, not exactly. But I do have the back room in the old part of the house where I store things. I think it must have been used as a wine cellar as there are no windows. The walls are at least 2 foot thick and the sun never penetrates so it‟s always cool in there. The thought of making one has crossed my mind, though. Yours, Frank ps Apologies to the original poster for being a tad off-topic! 1183 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP induction on: October 16, 2004, 15:13:56 The circumstances you find yourself in are fairly typical. Unfortunately, there is no specific level of difficulty that can apply. Some people find it easy, some people find it hard, and loads more are somewhere in-between. Questions such as: does projecting from a lucid dream help projecting from a conscious state? Have no hard and fast answer. It all depends on the individual. Some would say yes, some would say no. I would tend towards the latter as that was my experience. But you may be different. All you can do, ultimately, is try it and see what works for yourself. Problem is, with projection practice, people quickly tend to reach the stage where their experiences no-longer support their beliefs; or their thinking becomes self contradictory or self defeating. Projection is primarily a mental exercise, so beliefs are very important - particularly self-limiting ones. You appear to have been under the belief that if you practised a particular series of techniques with a certain degree of intensity for a particular length of time you should have had some concrete results by now. Unfortunately, your experiences have not matched up to that original belief. In which case my advice would be to have a total rethink about what you are doing and start again. Only perhaps keep a more open mind about it the next time around. Some people practice for years, for example, before everything finally comes together. Some people get results on their very first try. Like I say, it all depends. Generally, with me, I find it more productive to focus on what it is I wish to achieve, exactly. Rather than focus on all the nitty-gritty stuff that goes on while I'm getting to where I want to be. Like, for example, I never concern myself whether I'm in the correct degree of trance, or whether this needs to occur before that; or whether my physical body is relaxed enough, and all that jazz. As another example: people go to all manner of lengths to try and quieten their surface thoughts in order to reach some kind of "empty mind" state before they feel they can project. With me, regardless of what I happen to be thinking, I just focus my thoughts on what it is I want to achieve, and let all the rest of my bodily functions simply get on with what is necessary for my goal to come to fruition. What I find is, if I hold a picture in mind of the end goal, as it were, everything else tends to fall into line. Just the act of focusing my attention towards the right place in mind, appears to set off a kind of chain reaction. For a time I went through a stage where I tried all manner of things. One "prop" I found useful in my later conscious-exit attempts was the Monroe Gateway series Wave-1 CD (to Focus 10). I had good results with it. Yet other members reported varying experiences from no results at all, through to having good results. So, as you can see, what works for one does not necessarily work for another. No matter how genuine the product, and no matter how many times it may have worked for people in the past, there is no saying it will work for you. I have tried a number of what are generally called "techniques" such as Robert Bruce's Rope- Trick, for example. This gave me some definite results. And I‟ve tried all manner of other hints, tricks and tips I picked up from browsing the Internet. I suppose I had to try it all these things to realise that, ultimately, I don't need any of them. Though I‟m not saying the experience of trying them all was a waste of time. Far from it, as it got me to where I am today which I am very pleased about. HTH Yours, Frank 1182 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Pixels and 2-D images in the Astral Plane on: October 17, 2004, 11:29:13 Yes, I used to see this kind of thing quite regular. Used to see it more when I was using the technique of projecting from a lucid dream. As the dreamscape was falling away it would often look like some mid-nineties computer game when the 3D-fx games were in their infancy. At the base-level Astral a lot of what you see can come across as 2D. For example, at the Focus 12 state (in Monroe terms) it is common to see all kinds of 2D shapes pitched against a kind of flat blackness. As you progress, the blackness takes on a 3D effect, i.e. it gains depth. This occurs at the Focus 21 state (again, in Monroe terms). The higher up the scale you go the more stable everything becomes. At the Focus 27 state, the energy of the plane has a much finer and far more cohesive quality and is exclusively 3D. Yours, Frank 1181 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Does anyone else here believe we only live once? on: October 17, 2004, 17:36:38 Reference the original poster: Your fears are obviously something you will need to work through for yourself. But I took a look at the link you gave, which looked fairly typical to me: cheesy music, quotes from the bible, lots of talk about God, etc., etc. All that appeared to be missing was the bearded guru. I can‟t comment in depth about Swedenborg‟s work as I never read his book. But it wouldn‟t surprise me if he were not all that far off and these people have come along, decades later, and are taking his words out of context and using them as a stick to beat people with; in typical religious fashion, of course. The website commentator comes up with all manner of assumptions, as they do, and prattles on about his particular biases and dogma. Talking about the one God and all that bunkum. I mean, does anyone really care whether John the Baptist was, or was not, the prophet Elijah and whether the transfiguration of Christ with a couple of his buddies is, or is not, proof of reincarnation? Is there anyone left on the planet who gives a toss? And how can any of this prove anything in any event? It‟s all just so utterly and incredibly bizarre. He further talks about people having a fear of living in the spirit-world and tries to make a cute point about where Swedenbourg describes how people in these realms live, saying they do so very much like we do while physical. Well, big deal, anyone who ever projected to Focus 27 knows that! The only significant point there is to make in that paragraph IMO is the fact that the commentator (who claims to be all knowing and connected) hasn‟t got a clue himself. Which again is so very typical of these religious preacher types; where the only (so called) evidence they can muster are selected quotes from the bible, and such like. Swedenbourg was no doubt a man ahead of his time, so to speak. But still, we‟re talking about 18th century thinking, here. Maybe he just got a little confused. After all, this topic can be tricky to get one‟s head around. I suppose, technically speaking, you could say that each person does get only one life. It all boils down to where you place your standpoint. Problem is, we use terms such as “past” in the sense of describing a past life. But there is no such thing as past or present. We experience the notion of time solely due to the fact that our physical senses can only assimilate experiences one chunk at a time. However, from a non-physical “higher self” standpoint, every physical life that anyone ever had, is having, and is ever going to have, are all occurring simultaneously. So everyone only ever gets one life in those terms. That‟s what I think Swedenbourg was trying to get across. Only, like I say, we are talking about 18th century thinking. Information would have been given to him in terms with which he was familiar, which obviously causes distortion, and then he has relayed that information, again in terms of his prevailing thought patterns, which causes yet further distortion. Then some preacher comes along a hundred-odd years later and starts adding yet further layers of distortion, and so forth. To the extent where the original message gets lost under layer upon layer of religious crud. But I‟d bet a pound to a penny the situation Swedenbourg was attempting to describe were the circumstances surrounding the notion of multiple reincarnation from the point of view of the collective self, or higher self, or however you want to term it. Because I‟ve pondered this point ever so many times this past year, i.e. how to correlate the striking difference between each person‟s singular experiences, which occur in successive time frames; and the experience from the perspective of the higher collective, which sees each individual‟s life experience as taking place entirely concurrently. For instance, let‟s say there was a situation where person A lives a life and he dies as normal. Then person B is born, say, 3 years later in an adjacent town. When B reaches, for the sake of argument, 10 years of age he begins to describe a life in the town next door; talking about parent‟s names and experiences he had, how and when he died, etc. Say everything is checked and proven to be entirely correct. Did person B actually live the previous life of person A, or is person B for some reason (whatever that reason may be) accessing the memory of person A‟s life from within their collective self? Swedenbourg appears to be saying they are doing the latter, other people may argue they are doing the former. The “higher self” could well consider this a fatuous, entirely meaningless argument. As It would say there is no such distinction in time frames, and that both lives are occurring simultaneously. Yours, Frank 1180 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Weird creature on: October 17, 2004, 19:37:45 Archnea: Hello and welcome to the forum. Of course, not every creature you meet are figments of fear and whatnot. There‟s an incredible variety of wildlife I, for one, take great pleasure in being amongst. The wood nymphs are my favourite and I‟m enraptured by the sound they make. Telemann‟s concerto for flute, I believe, was composed in a way to mimic the sound and the behaviour of the wood nymphs - because it is just so like them it simply cannot be mere coincidence. The situation I was talking about in my original post was when a person is new to projection. Unfortunately, they often meet their fears head on. Problem is they are entering a realm where thought equals action, so emotions can easily take on a life of their own. It is one thing reading about this effect on a forum such as this one, and it is quite another thing actually experiencing it. It‟s far easier said than dealt with! These kinds of “creatures” newcomers often meet are formed from the projection of their own fears. It would be stretching the narrative to say they have a consciousness of their own. But they do have, like all creatures, a basic instinct for survival. Because the creature‟s very existence, then, depends on the person‟s projection of fear, it could do nothing but attack that person in order to protect the only semblance of identity it had. It‟s quite sad, really, when you think of it, that poor creature struggling to survive in the only way it knows how. But people hardly ever see it that way. Yours, Frank 1179 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Just starting out... on: October 18, 2004, 10:38:00 I don't mean to sound picky, but half an hour! People often practice developing their inner senses for years before they start getting concrete results. Half an hour is not even scratching the surface. Half an hour a day for the next three months would be starting to get into it. This time next year maybe you would have had a some promising results. Thing is, I wish everyone could get concrete results on their first try with anything they attempt. But that seldom happens, unfortunately. Yours, Frank 1178 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Tight Muscles on: October 18, 2004, 12:43:50 From what you say I'd suggest paying more serious attention to your frame. Muscles that are so inflexible are almost always a sign of far worse problems to come. Lower back tension is often a sign of bad posture generally. It might pay you to look at how you are using yourself throughout the day. How you carry yourself while standing and how you sit. There is the other point of how much weight you are carrying. Too much weight around the middle places great strain on the lower to middle back region. Walking is a great tension releaser. Particularly walking in the countryside as you get a variety of surfaces and the whole body gets exercised without you really knowing it. As a shorter-term solution I'd suggest for you to try having a hot bath beforehand with some herbal muscle relaxer in the water. Sometimes if I've been overdoing it on the farm the muscles around my shoulders can feel a little sore. So I have a good soak with a mix of essential oils in the water which works wonders. HTH Yours, Frank 1177 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / What means "to surrender"... and how do to that ? on: October 18, 2004, 13:37:05 I‟m not sure about the god stuff as it‟s really not my thing. When people have surrendered in the past, didn‟t they burn themselves at the stake or something? Sounds a bit extreme to me. But then fanatics are, I suppose, by definition. In terms of projection (which is more my thing) the letting go normally means letting go of physical attachment and surrendering to the experience. The area of a person‟s mind that deals with actions and events on the physical realm is generally called the “ego”. When you project, you cannot take your ego consciousness with you; as this area of consciousness deals exclusively with the physical realm, and no other realm. Whilst focused within the physical, all normal people have two basic mental tools to aid in their operation within this realm, 1) the physical ego consciousness and, 2) the physical waking consciousness. The former you cannot take with you, and the latter you want to take with you. Problem is, in people who are materialistically inclined, which is the majority of people in western society, their dominant sense of physical consciousness is the ego. So for them, splitting their physical waking consciousness from the ego is nigh impossible. In a properly balanced person, the physical waking consciousness should be clearly dominant. In other words, the ego should be a servant of the intellect, and not the other way around. Which means this kind of person should have little trouble letting go of their ego consciousness as the connection isn‟t all that strong to begin with. So the “letting go” bit is all to do with letting go of your ego consciousness. As for “surrendering” when we surrender to an experience we don‟t try to, in any way, fight it. We simply yield to it and allow the projection experience to unfold. Projection is a natural process that just needs to be kick-started following which it usually runs all of its own accord… but only if we let it. Once we start trying to fight it, then all manner of problems can arise. Fears begin to materialise and so forth. All of which puts a major spoke in the works. HTH Yours, Frank 1176 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Pixels and 2-D images in the Astral Plane on: October 18, 2004, 15:28:55 Ah, now your original post makes a little more sense. I spent about a year doing retrieval work and would often see events from the perspective of the injured party. These events would now and again be perceived as 2D. The physical realm is an end result. There is nothing we have Here that isn‟t already There. TV and radio broadcasts are very common. I remember posting on this a while back. People who live in the Exchange Territories (Monroe Focus 27) generally enjoy very much the same things as they did while physical “dead and proud of it” as I call the residents there. I‟m not sure what you mean by not having Cable. There is no need for cables within the Exchange Territories. Many residents do, however, create an image of a physical realm television or radio-receiver just for effect. Some even go so far as to put an antenna on the roof! But you tune into these “services” simply by attuning your mind. All manner of music is available. I went through a phase where I‟d spend my projection time just floating in the 3D blackness at Focus 21. I‟d think of a favourite piece of classical music and up it would come. The music causes a sensation far more intense than the physical; in that you not only hear it but it envelops you to the extent where you feel it too. Yours, Frank 1174 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Shadowy things and the like on: October 19, 2004, 12:34:02 Sounds to me like you are entering the Focus 12 state (in Monroe terms). Here it is normal to see the kinds of things you mention. Yours, Frank 1173 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE to visit deceased on: October 21, 2004, 11:48:40 If you haven't done so already, I'd suggest for you to take a look at Bruce Moen's work by visiting: afterlife-knowledge.com. Bruce specialises in this kind of think, and he describes the simple techniques he uses. Bruce has taught many others to do the same thing as he does. I've even had a go myself to good effect. His techniques are so simple, he says the main difficulty people tend to have is believing they are actually doing it. And after having tried it myself I know full well what he means. But what he says does work, no question. Yours, Frank 1172 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Pixels and 2-D images in the Astral Plane on: October 21, 2004, 12:40:22 Mike: Everything we materialise within the physical is already within the non-physical. Every TV program, every song, every piece of music, every radio broadcast, in fact everything and anything any of us (in whatever physical era) have either invented, are currently inventing, or ever will invent, is already present within the non-physical. In the past, people have represented this phenomenon in various ways. Perhaps the most common being the notion of Akashic Records. In turn, people have naturally allied this idea to the physical representation of what we call a library. But, as is normal, people‟s knowledge and thinking moves on, to the extent where the old notions are being dropped in favour of a greater understanding of the reality. Like you say, anything and everything is possible via the correct attunement. Which is one of those things that is easier said than done, but far easier to do while non-physical. Well, that‟s my experience. Within the Exchange Territories (Monroe‟s old Focus 27) people live very much like they did while physical. As such, they have friends, family and so forth. In my experience people form family groups based on many factors. Such as, like you say, could be members of a physical-life family, or whatever. People choose to incarnate together, for example, and afterwards they might have a chuckle about their adventures, and all that kind of thing. There‟s a myriad of reasons. Yours, Frank 1171 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Truth Against the World on: October 21, 2004, 13:08:28 Mike: Everything we materialise within the physical is already within the non-physical. Every TV program, every song, every piece of music, every radio broadcast, in fact everything and anything any of us (in whatever physical era) have either invented, are currently inventing, or ever will invent, is already present within the non-physical. In the past, people have represented this phenomenon in various ways. Perhaps the most common being the notion of Akashic Records. In turn, people have naturally allied this idea to the physical representation of what we call a library. But, as is normal, people‟s knowledge and thinking moves on, to the extent where the old notions are being dropped in favour of a greater understanding of the reality. Like you say, anything and everything is possible via the correct attunement. Which is one of those things that is easier said than done, but far easier to do while non-physical. Well, that‟s my experience. Within the Exchange Territories (Monroe‟s old Focus 27) people live very much like they did while physical. As such, they have friends, family and so forth. In my experience people form family groups based on many factors. Such as, like you say, could be members of a physical-life family, or whatever. People choose to incarnate together, for example, and afterwards they might have a chuckle about their adventures, and all that kind of thing. There‟s a myriad of reasons. Yours, Frank 1170 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / just had an idea - its all about motivation on: October 21, 2004, 13:13:28 What you say makes a lot of sense but I think maybe not all that many people are interested in the Telekinesis side of things. This forum, as a whole, is more to do with astral projection. But I wish you every success. Yours, Frank 1169 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / What means "to surrender"... and how do to that ? on: October 21, 2004, 17:53:28 I want to make clear that physical ego consciousness is a very necessary component of the human physical experience. In other words, as Tayesin says, it is a definite part of the human physical dynamic and, after all, we are choosing to be physical. We have two mental faculties to enable us to live a life as human beings within this physical plane: the physical ego consciousness, and the physical waking consciousness. Materialising thoughts/emotions/ideas within the physical plane, is the job of the physical ego consciousness, whose point of view is entirely subjective. In addition, our physical waking consciousness provides us with what we term our intellect, i.e. powers of reasoning and understanding, and such like, which can be either subjective, in undeveloped cases, or (more importantly) progressively more objective as the intellect develops. Physical life is all to do with developing both senses of consciousness and learning how to forge the correct balance between the two. In the past, the imbalance between these two facets of a personality has been called Karma. Karma can be said to be positive or negative depending on which aspect of consciousness holds sway. Personally, I dislike the terms positive and negative when applied in this instance, as they infer one way is good and the other one is bad. The state we are trying to achieve is one of balance. So anything beyond that, IMO, is not a question of being positive or negative, but too much either way. Karma is not having to live a life of suffering in order to correct past mistakes. Two wrongs do not make a right from any perspective, whether physical or non-physical. The whole idea is to bring yourself to a stage where you are Karma neutral. At which point the personality is said to be in balance. The physical ego consciousness must always be channelled by a sound intellect. If not, highly damaging aspects of a personality can take physical form; such as narcissism, racism, greed, self- indulgence, together with all the other negative behaviours that are ever so prevalent in society, particularly western society. The physical ego consciousness is by no means a “bad” thing. On the contrary, it is very necessary, a vital component in fact. Without it we would be like animals acting solely on instinct. There would be no such things as agriculture, technology, transportation, housing, and all the other material benefits we have brought into being within this physical world. Unfortunately, because significant numbers of people are suffering a severe imbalance, we materialised a lot of nasty stuff too. For example, weapons (and the need for such), overpopulation, corrupt systems of government, inequality, high levels of pollution, and so forth. Achieving the correct balance is not easy. Both aspects of consciousness have to be functioning to an optimum capacity. Not only that, the balance must stand firm under an exceedingly wide variety of circumstances. For example, anyone can be balanced when things are going well. But how does that facade stand up when the going gets tough… and then tougher still… and even tougher after that? Many people are so darned ego-driven, virtually everything that surrounds them, their whole identity, has been (or is being) formed by the ego consciousness. These are the people who grossly indulge in all the material aspects of life. I‟ve come across many cases where people have had all their material goods, i.e. houses, cars, credit-cards, etc. taken away from them. Either their business collapsed, or the stock-market went the other way, or whatever, and they felt their whole life had become worthless to the extent they committed suicide. This is ultimately what happens when a powerful ego-consciousness is allowed free reign, and is not channelled by a scrupulously sound intellect. I was reading on another forum a thread entitled, Truth Against the World. It talks inter alia about people who simply cannot grasp the idea of non-materialism, which exactly demonstrates my point. People can easily reach the stage where they simply cannot think any further than their own ego- driven desires. No matter how often, or how simply you explain it to them, they cannot appreciate what you are saying (a tiny few do, of course, but there are always exceptions to anything). It‟s like these people have something missing that prevents them from appreciating the worth of any concept - no matter how simple - that lies outside their box, so to speak. What they have missing, of course, is their intellect that has been suppressed by a lifetime of ego-conscious dominance. In other words, their intellect remains in its early subjective, i.e. ego dominant, phase of development. But even if your ego-consciousness doesn‟t get the better of you to the extent you curtail your life, a big problem arises on the point of physical-body death. Like I say, a person can get to the stage where the only sense of consciousness they know is the ego consciousness: to the point where they have precious little intellect left. The basic job of the physical ego consciousness is to materialise thoughts/ideas/emotions within the physical realm. Therefore, once the physical body dies, to the personality in question, the physical realm is no more. In other words, at the point of physical-body death, the physical ego- consciousness suddenly finds itself out of a job. Which means it dissipates with the physical body. In which case, without any intellect to guide them, a person can find themselves stuck within the gruesome planes of the lower astral. The golden rule is: your intellect you can take with you, as it survives physical-body death. In fact, you want to take it with you as it‟s the intellect which allows you to operate objectively within the non-physical! (This is the basic reason why we need to develop it in the first place.) The ego-consciousness dissipates on physical-body death. The above rule is valid whilst projecting also; in that only your physical waking consciousness can be transferred to any non-physical realm, which again is precisely what you want. But your ego consciousness cannot be transferred, as it can only operate within the physical. Yours, Frank PS I‟m paraphrasing my up-and-coming book in this post to a large extent as I write about this topic at length, giving you all the whys and wherefores and actual details of some of the cases I met within the non-physical. But I‟m having to leave out a heck of a lot of detail to the extent where what I‟m saying might not quite add up. Please bear with me on that, as there are many other side-issues I cannot explain, as fully as I would like, within the bounds of this forum. 1168 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Spirit Guide on: October 21, 2004, 18:53:52 Anyone trying to contact anyone non-physical, whether it be a guide or a dead relative, or whoever, without "going obe" in the usual sense should, if they haven't done so already, try the Bruce Moen approach at: afterlife-knowledge.com. Bruce specialises in this kind of thing, i.e. chatting to people who live within non-physical realms without "going obe". I've tried his method myself and it really does work. Yours, Frank 1167 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE and Astral Defence on: October 22, 2004, 10:09:03 The dream characters you say you are protecting yourself from, are you in the first place. And why on earth do you believe anyone would intend you harm? With respect, it sounds like you have been watching too much Star Wars and the like. Those are just movies and are not meant to be taken literally. Jedi forces don‟t exist, someone just made it up and it caught the imagination of the public at large. In reality, the only influences you are prone to are the emanation of those energies that are within you in the first place. Yours, Frank 1166 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / What means "to surrender"... and how do to that ? on: October 22, 2004, 12:02:50 Daem0n: I can see where you are coming from. I too don‟t buy all the Lightworker stuff. It all appears way far fetched to me and doesn‟t really tally with any of my non-physical experiences. To me it‟s just an extension of the kid‟s stuff we see today. A high proportion of youngsters in the western world have grown up believing all those whacky cartoons about demon wars and such like, actually exist. So they are more prone to believing anything in that direction. But in reality it‟s just a load of fictitious bunkum that has no bearing whatever on reality. I‟m not sure whether I can agree where you say Karma is what a person owes to others. To my mind, if there is anything owed then, in those terms, surely it is owed to each individual in question; sort of, not so much what you give to others but what you give (or do) to yourself. For instance, I like where you say, “the only thing you know or have some control over (eventually ...) IS YOU… don't make decisions for other people… don't judge other people, how do you know what's good for them” To all that I can generally agree. The thought comes to mind then if Karma is, how you say, what you owe to other people, then how can a person possibly decide who they owe Karma to? Surely this would entail coming to some kind of judgement about what is good for them, and making a decision on their behalf? I‟m sorry, but I don‟t follow your line of reasoning here. Yours, Frank 1165 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / What means "to surrender"... and how do to that ? on: October 22, 2004, 14:11:45 Yep, I got it now and thanks for the fuller explanation. I see you are looking at things on an attachment-release-energetic level which certainly makes more sense. Yours, Frank 1164 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Sexual Supression on: October 22, 2004, 14:34:31 You say one of the reasons you were celibate was that you were seriously trying to follow a spiritual path. Could you let me know what that particular path is so I can avoid it! lol 3 years, gosh, that's a long time without the curvy stuff. Time to get decked out and on the razzle methinks. Good luck! Frank 1163 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE and Astral Defence on: October 23, 2004, 19:06:05 Amber: These kinds of questions come up all the time and it is precisely for that reason I decided to write my book. What I set out to do is simply tell-it-like-it-is. To give people all the basics they need to know then, in theory at least, there should be far fewer fundamental misunderstandings. I have a strong feeling that misunderstanding the basics drags people down and slows their development just at a time, i.e. in the beginning, when they need some quick results to stimulate their interest; which, hopefully, will lead them on to making all kinds of discoveries about themselves, rather than keep going around the same loop. I have consciously projected to the astral hundreds and hundreds of times. Never once did I ever come across anything that could remotely be called “negative” that was not either a thought-form of my own fear, or my own misunderstanding; or just a basic misunderstanding where my own thought-form of that misunderstanding was being overlaid onto the actual situation, or just nothing more than a misunderstanding. Your reality is basically wherever you focus your conscious awareness, such that everything within that reality becomes “real” to you. Most people have their focus fixed towards the physical, so everything within the physical, therefore, is “real”. With people who learn to focus within other realms of existence, they still have a tendency to think of the physical realm as being the “real” reality. They then use the experience of this as a kind of reality-yardstick against which their non-physical experiences are judged. Doing that doesn‟t work as it merely creates all manner of confusion. People who make these kinds of comparisons, quickly tend to find themselves in a situation where their experiences no-longer support their beliefs. In most cases where I came across this, the person in question was trying to manipulate the circumstances of their experience(s) in order to - in some way - make those circumstances fit their beliefs; when a better solution is to try doing the opposite. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, this topic attracts a fair proportion of unscientific idealists who believe in all manner of notions to do with demons and dragons. It looks to me at times like these people would rather die at the hands of an axe murderer rather than give up their beliefs on how it should be; especially in the way they often appear to ignore legitimate information from people who are successful. Anyhow, I digress, that‟s their problem of course. You ask what is hallucination and what is real? I‟ve spent a long time studying this aspect and can conclude, without a doubt, every form you see is real regardless of the source of that form. In other words, whether the form you are seeing is produced from your own release of thoughts/emotions or whether it has been produced by other means, it is real, regardless of source. Likewise when people ask, was this real or just a dream? There is no such distinction. Dream reality is just as real as waking reality from the standpoint of the mind: which is where you should be looking from. People do, of course, look from the standpoint of the physical consciousness and consider the dream consciousness to be unreal. I can well understand where they are coming from. But if you look to the physical from the standpoint of the dream consciousness, the physical looks equally unreal too. However, when you look from the standpoint of your mind, each and every circumstance experienced by all facets of conscious awareness, look equally as real as each other; and that is the true situation. Have you ever had a false awakening? Where you dreamt you got up and went about your normal day, and then at some point you suddenly realised you had dreamt the whole thing? In the midst of that “dream” I bet you never questioned it. To the extent where, to all intents and purposes, you thought you were living in physical reality. Until some aspect of your consciousness jogged you out of it, maybe your alarm-clock went off, or something like that. Believe it or not, many people get caught in this way, i.e. they die in the night and just carry on dreaming whatever it was they were dreaming about. Some dream they woke up and went about their normal day, and then keep going around that loop totally oblivious to the fact they are in a completely different sphere of reality. Several times I came across instances where people were caught in this dilemma, and in others too. On seeing me, sometimes the person in question would begin to think they were dreaming or hallucinating! And they‟d shake their heads in disbelief and get on with what they thought was their ordinary physical day. When in fact, everything they were experiencing was taking place in a realm that, when they were physical, they‟d have considered dreamland, i.e. being in a place where nothing “real” exists. Yet to them, the place is now just as real as physical reality… because that is precisely what they think it is! Within the non-physical there are all kinds of weird and wonderful phenomena on show. The first times you go there you tend to be attentive to absolutely everything that is happening: like a child walking through the gates of Disneyworld for the first time. But after a while the novelty wears off and with me, now, I just get on with what I need to accomplish. I‟m sure that is how you‟ll get after a while. At which point you won‟t be so aware of everything going on around you. Once you have a primary focus then all the background stuff tends to just fade more and more into the background. To be honest, I can‟t remember the last time I had a really good lucid dream. If I catch myself dreaming then I project. This is because I used to use the technique of projecting from a lucid dream as my main projection technique for a number of years. But yes, I basically get all the kinds of effects as people describe; all these morphing characters and such like. It can be highly entertaining, especially when they take on a life of their own and start answering you back! Ha ha, that made me chuckle. Though not every character you meet while under the influence of dream consciousness will automatically be a thought-form created from your own release of emotion. Like attracts like to the extent where you might find yourself in situation when you are amongst all kinds of other people dreaming the same dream, for example. The possibilities really are truly endless. The key, therefore, is to know the basic rules that apply. This enables you to make sense of whatever is happening to you, or whatever circumstances you find yourself in at the time. I have, for example, several times had what I thought was true astral projection from a lucid dream, when in fact the whole thing was merely a thought-form of my own making. This hasn‟t happened to me for a while now, but in the early days it was most disconcerting. Ultimately, what I‟m trying to get across to you within the limited space of this post is that anything and everything is possible. So it‟s no use trying to prepare yourself for any particular circumstance. The key is to have a solid understanding of the ground-rules. This is what enables you to make basic sense of it all. Also trust comes into it to a very high degree. The work I‟m involved with at present keeps reinforcing this to me over and over again. Like, where you saw the door shape, you shouted for verification and the room went black and the door was illuminated in some way. Okay, so you knew you are being listened to and your concerns are being met on some level. Problem is you didn‟t understand the significance, and nor probably would I. When I‟m exploring there are still all kinds of circumstances and/or situations I come across that I do not understand. In which case the procedure you go through is to ask for more information and be open to what you receive. From my experience, I now know that if I see a door or get the impression of some kind of opening like a window, it‟s an invitation to walk though or to look through. Maybe there was a specific question I wanted an answer to and, on projecting, I saw the shape of a door. So I ask for clarity and the door becomes lit up. To me, that‟s a definite invitation to walk through the door. So I do, let‟s say, and I then find myself in a completely different realm. In front of me is a path. Now paths, in my experience, are invitations for me to walk along. So I walk along just admiring the scenery and all the while trusting that I‟m on the right road to getting my questions answered. Then I see the figure of a man up ahead who smiles and beckons me towards him… and so forth. Thing is, every time you project chances are the initial circumstances will be different (especially in the beginning). So you‟ve got to always be on the lookout for an opening that will kick-start the experience. This is why it is always best if you project with a definite idea of some kind of question you want answered. With me, I‟d be so darned curious about the flapping wing across the door. Gosh, I‟d want an answer to that before anything, especially if I‟d seen it as a child and it had scared me and all that. My curiosity would be blazing. HTH Yours, Frank 1162 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE and Astral Defence on: October 24, 2004, 19:44:37 Firstly, as I mentioned before a number of times, RTZ projections are not something in which I specialise. That is more Bob Bruce‟s cup of tea. I have had must be well over a thousand astral projections and only about a dozen RTZ projections and they came about after I tried the Rope method given in Astral Dynamics, in conjunction with my Phasing method. Nowadays, I can project into the RTZ reliably without the Rope-trick, but can only do it from the Phasing method. I was using the technique of projecting to the astral from a lucid dream for a number of years but that was a while ago. Must be I would say around 15 years. I never once had an RTZ projection from this method. So I cannot help you on that, sorry. Converting a lucid dream into a proper projection is all to do with bringing your physical waking consciousness into play and substituting this facet of conscious awareness in place of your normal dream consciousness. In another post, I explain how while physical we have two facets of conscious awareness, 1) our physical waking consciousness and, 2) our physical ego consciousness. The physical ego consciousness cannot be introduced within a non-physical realm as this facet of consciousness can only experience physical events. However, the physical waking consciousness (collectively known as the intellect) can operate within any realm either physical or non- physical. Which is quite fortunate as the physical waking consciousness has a number of very useful mental tools such as advanced powers of reasoning and understanding together with an extensive memory capability, that also contains all the knowledge you have stored there either from books, web forums, previous experiences, etc. In your case, what it sounds like is you are slipping into dream consciousness out of habit. This kind of mental shift is ever so easy. Any projection whether it be RTZ or astral requires a high degree of focus. Think of it like driving at speed on a busy motorway. You have to concentrate on what you are doing and keep your focus. Problem is at first people get overwhelmed by the experience. What I used to do is make very SLOW definite movements. In addition, I would keep a verbal running commentary going all the time. For example, first I would stand still and look left, note what I could see then look right and do the same. Then turn around and look left, so I should see the same as what I saw before when looking right. Then I look right and note whether or not things are the same as before when I looked left. Then I would turn around and take one-step forward, then look right and left again. Then maybe I would turn to the left. Now when I look left I should see what I saw before after I turned around. Looking right I should see what I saw ahead before I turned to the left. Then take one-step forward and note my surroundings again. If all were well then I would take another step and look again. Then take another step, and so one. All this I realise will sound very cumbersome to many people but I found it was far, far better to have one definite experience about anything, rather than have many experiences about nothing. Like the typical experiences where people post saying, “I found myself out of body and next moment I flew out of the window… and… that‟s all I remember. Tell me guys was this an obe or was I just dreaming?” Also, consider that the very act of focusing your mental awareness within any particular place causes you to realise that you do in fact exist in that place. Therefore, the moment you lose focus, you lose consciousness of your surroundings. What usually happens then is you slip back into dream consciousness and awake later with a vague memory of the experience. Substituting your dream consciousness with your physical waking consciousness is not an “all or nothing” affair. Certain elements of your PWC can bleed through, such as your powers of recognition. When this happens you will realise you are dreaming. Problem is you need to get all the other elements of the PWC going as well. If you can raise a bit of memory, that will give you the idea of what to do next as you should have pre-programmed yourself with what to do. When I was doing this, I would stop and look at any particular aspect of dreamscape and ask myself questions about it. This would cause my PWC to keep progressively bringing on-stream more of my memory, together with other faculties of consciousness, until I virtually had it all. While I was doing this, the dreamscape would progressively dissipate. Note: I say virtually had it all because I never could get to the stage where I felt 100%. I have had the occasional false projection where fell asleep during a projection attempt and did not realise it. The dream consciousness is highly creative and can replicate any scenario. However, there are limitations that do come about. For example, once I was in a false projection and I “came awake” within it just as if I had done so within an ordinary dream: was darned lifelike though, and certainly had me fooled for a while. This has not happened for a while. I think because the past couple of years I have gone all out to increase my sense of conscious awareness within my projections to the max. But do make note that it can happen. HTH Yours, Frank 1161 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / I'd like to research how accurate people are remote viewing on: October 25, 2004, 18:02:52 If you give clues then surely you are just inviting sceptics to say someone got it right because they guessed it from the clues? Yours, Frank 1160 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE and Astral Defence on: October 26, 2004, 15:09:48 Catmeow: going with the flow of the experience, enjoying the ride as it were, is nice but you tend to get nothing done. In my early years, I would project to the astral several times a week mainly projecting from a lucid dream. I never thought for a moment that this was any kind of “afterlife”. I thought it was just some kind of weird and whacky adventure playground. Several years went by before the truth dawned on me, and it took about a year after that to rid myself of all the bad habits I had formed, i.e. just having a fun time and nothing else! Within the mind are many facets of conscious awareness. A facet of conscious awareness is just a collection of mental faculties the mind uses to operate within whatever realm of existence it wishes to experience. All these are just basic tools, really, only mental ones. Each facet of conscious awareness has its own memory facility and memory banks are not necessarily linked. This is why, with dream consciousness, as you rightly point out you tend not to have any knowledge of memories associated with the physical waking consciousness. The converse is also true, i.e. people do not remember their dreams, unless, some part of the physical waking consciousness bleeds through; and so part of their dream experience gets stored in the memory of the PWC rather than the dream consciousness. If you can project and, all the while, do so with PWC only, then you will come back to physical with a clear recollection of the whole occurrence; as your ability to recall is directly linked to the sense of consciousness you were using during the experience. Yours, Frank 1159 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE and Astral Defence on: October 26, 2004, 15:10:57 Douglas: for many it can be a bit of a lottery. Perhaps that is why people tend to turn towards religion in later life as at least religions appear to give some kind of definite hope. Problem is, it is one thing talking about dying and it is quite another thing experiencing it. From all the examples I have been shown, I can readily see that a person‟s biggest enemy at the point of death is fear. Because fear is what traps people more than anything I have seen. Again, this is related to the religion thing. In the sense of there they all are, in a congregation singing songs every week, and so forth, and each one supports the other; quelling their fears and helping them all come to terms with their feelings of vulnerability, guilt, regret and often anger. However, while this may be beneficial to certain types of people, it is not really the answer. Well, certainly not for me that I can say. The easy way to guarantee you will pop out unscathed is to understand the process, and to be really stuck into it on an intellectual level. As you shed your physical, your physical ego consciousness will dissipate leaving you with your bare intellect, which in physical life is what we call our physical waking consciousness. With many people, particularly people in western society, their intellect is a slave of the physical ego consciousness, when in fact it should be the other way around (in a properly balanced individual that is). The reason why it should be the other way around only tends to become apparent at the point of physical-body death. Hold in mind, here, that the knowing of your existence, and subsequently your whole ability to operate within any particular plane, depends solely upon your ability to focus your attention within it. The driving force behind that mental focus is your intellect; or what was your physical waking consciousness before you shed your physical. As the physical ego consciousness dissipates, it can have the tendency to leave the physical waking consciousness rudderless. In other words, your whole intellect then becomes screwed. Now mix this with a large helping of fear and you are not only rudderless on an intellectual level, i.e. the driving force behind your ability to focus is seriously weakened, but emotionally you are scared out of your wits: which is a recipe for disaster on any level of existence, physical or non- physical. Chances are you will then slip into dream consciousness, more for your own mental protection than anything. Your dream consciousness will then attempt to ease you through your fears and you will eventually get to the stage where your fears dissipate to the point where your intellect can take over. However, that is fine in theory. Problem is an underdeveloped intellect is the last thing you want in this situation, as your ability to operate is severely weakened. Many people are just aimlessly wandering around the lower planes, as if they are looking for something but cannot get to grips with what exactly. Like attracts like, so you tend to get huge numbers of these people steadily drifting towards the exchange territories. Bear in mind also, the process of shedding your physical body is very much the same as the normal process of astral projection. Only real difference being is you never get zapped back to physical due to some physical-body demand. Ideally, therefore, you want a dominant physical waking consciousness that has been through the projection process oodles of times. In which case, locked firmly in your PWC memory will be all manner of ideas, formed from hands-on personal experience, that we do in fact survive physical- body death. Better still, you should be entirely familiar with the exchange territories (old Monroe Focus 27) and already have a home there. However, this is not strictly necessary. (The parts that do help considerably are the early stages of projection, and anything else is a bonus.) In this frame of mind, there should be very little fear. Touch of nervousness, perhaps, but nervousness more in the sense of nervous excitement as opposed to blind fear, nevertheless, nothing that cannot easily be kept under control by a well-developed intellect. Having a developed and informed intellect, i.e. a physical waking consciousness that is dominant over your physical ego consciousness, and is already familiar with projecting and operating within non-physical realms, is your guarantee of success. I cannot stress this highly enough. People I have had non-physical experience with who fitted this profile just passed-over without a blip. HTH Yours, Frank 1156 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE and Astral Defence on: October 27, 2004, 14:30:52 SpectralDragon: your post touches on a phenomenon I have been talking about for years. A good example has not come up for a while but yours is a classic to the extent where I am going to use it in my up and coming book. The phenomenon is what I termed Astral Anthropomorphism, and it is all to do with how certain types of people equate physical realm notions to the non-physical. When in fact there can be no such comparison. The two lines where you say in answer to your quote from my post, “I have walked the big cities hundreds and thousands of times, yet I have never met a mugger. Does this mean they don't exist?” sums up the phenomenon perfectly. As for the rest, I admit to being stumped by your vernacular. I have always made clear that I do not have a mystical or religious bone in my body so any kind of talk about religious sects, etc. just goes right over my head. I had a look at the link you gave and read the article. I am grateful to you for wanting to present your case, as it were, but all this talk of demon wars, Mafia hostilities, aggression and so on, just turns me off completely. To say it is not my thing, I am sure will turn out to be the forum understatement of the year! I suppose it once made some kind of sense. Centuries ago, there was perhaps a genuine need for people to reason in those terms. However, to today‟s forward-looking, unwarlike, science-based practitioners of the art, its sell-by date has long gone. Yours, Frank 1155 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My First Retrieval on: October 28, 2004, 15:40:16 Sarah: A fabulous account and you did ever so well for your first time. I cannot remember my first as I fluffed it so badly! When a person begins this kind of work it can often throw a completely new light on their sense of spirituality. I know it did with me. For the first time ever, I felt my knowledge had some practical and beneficial use beyond me just finding our more about life, myself and having fun. I felt it gave me a definite, tangible connection to the wider scheme of things, together with a distinct sense of purpose. From what you say, it sounds like you were directed to one of the transfer rooms. Here you find people from all manner of backgrounds who have physically died, but do not really have any particular direction or idea about what to do next. Like, they had no particular religious beliefs or any kind of beliefs about an afterlife or whatever. They perhaps were not very fearful about death either. They tend to be the kinds of people who think death is an unpleasant but inevitable fact of life, and that once you are dead that is it. No sense in worrying about it, it is going to happen some time… and all that kind of talk. People in this position can end up in these places, and everyone in the room probably needed retrieving in some way or another. Which is handy for beginners as, chances are, you are bound to connect with someone and experience a successful retrieval. Hence, you were directed there. Given a little more experience, under similar circumstances, you could expect to retrieve maybe eight or nine people before your experience faded. Mark was having difficulty accepting he had passed over. His sister appeared to be trying to get him to say to you he was dead (physically that is). By saying it, he would be accepting it within himself. A person must accept this before they can move on. Because it was Mark‟s continuing none acceptance that was keeping him fixed in that place. People can often be reluctant to accept the position they are in, for various reasons. Normally it is to do with the idea something bad may happen to them: like being sent to hell. The success of any retrieval depends on interrupting the thinking of the person being retrieved. First, you need to find out what the circumstances are by scanning their energetic picture. This should give you basic information of the circumstances that led up to that person‟s physical separation. I find it best to do this before trying to make verbal contact as most of them do not make much sense and it can throw your thinking off balance. Like the chap who thought he was in Las Vegas, and the woman sitting feeling sorry for herself at the table, and so on. First, scan their energetic picture to get the circumstances leading up to their separation. If you cannot get it, mentally reach out for a helper and ask them to give it to you (as it happened the helper took the initiative). Then decide on an interrupt strategy. Lots of people needing retrieval are confused, they do not know where they are; they are milling around aimlessly or sitting self- absorbed. What is happening, in effect, is they are going around the same thought-loop in their mind. Somehow, you have to break that loop and part of their energetic picture should tell you, or at least give you a strong clue as to what it is. The actual approach is up to you, but I find being direct is the way to go. Direct in the sense of telling them early on they have separated from their physical body. I find people in this position suffer two basic problems: 1) they are unsure whether they have died or not, and 2) if they have, then what the heck happens now? So my basic approach is normally designed to clarify the confusion caused by the first instance. Then I immediately follow up with a situation that clarifies the second instance, which normally coincides with the introduction of the helper (or helpers). The nitty-gritty detail of the approach and interrupt strategy will depend on the clues gleaned from the person‟s energetic signature. Helpers need us mainly as a kind of go-between. The subject is often trying to focus away from his her situation. If you focussed in this way whilst projecting, for example, you would automatically go back to physical. Unfortunately, the person cannot do that. The effect of this tends to dim a subject‟s awareness of their surroundings to the extent where they cannot see helpers, who are entirely non-physical. However, having a part of you still physical, changes your energy signature entirely, in that it harmonises with that of the subject to a higher degree. In other words, you and a helper could be standing opposite a subject who would see you, but not the helper. As you interrupted the subject and brought them out of their particular mental dilemma, they would then become more aware of their surroundings, and the image of the helper would come into view. As for the bunch of keys, the thought probably came from the helper for some reason. I‟m guessing it was to assist the subject to focus in a particular direction. Maybe a bunch of keys was relevant to the subject in some way. HTH, and the very best of luck in your future retrievals. Yours, Frank 1152 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Dynamics on: October 30, 2004, 14:04:35 Astral Dynamics is a great book. Full of very useful, wide-ranging info. It's a real down-to-earth practical kind of book which is packed full of instructions together with all manner of hints and tips. Great book for beginners especially, but even people who are fairly well practised at the art will pick up quite a bit too. Triple the price and it would still be darned good value IMO... highly recommended. Yours, Frank 1151 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE and Astral Defence on: October 30, 2004, 15:21:43 Kiauma: Apologies for the delay in replying. You ask: What are we really? A darned good question! And one I have been studying at length the past 12 months or so. The full answer is quite complex as it has to take account of many different factors, a lot of which pertain to the individual in question. However, what I will do is stick to the very basics and take it up to the point where a person has just separated (from their physical that is). Once a person comes around to the idea that, as miraculous as it may appear, we do in fact survive physical body death, the next question which usually comes up is, well how do we survive? Or, more to the point, what mental part of me survives? These are fair questions. After all, and I‟m sure most people would agree, it is no use surviving physical-body death only to lose all our identity and become some amorphous ball of nothing in particular. However, the good news is, this is not the case at all (far from it in fact). What we are, as an individual, is a collection of mental faculties bound into one facet of consciousness commonly called the intellect. Many faculties make up the intellect and everyone‟s intellect is in a different stage of development. Faculties are, for example, our sense of recognition, several various types of memory such as long-term, medium and short term, our ability to reason, to think logically, to think ahead, to plan, compute figures, and so on. In other words, our intellect is everything that gives us our intelligence. While physical, the intellect is commonly called the physical waking consciousness. This facet of conscious awareness works in conjunction with another facet of consciousness called the physical ego consciousness. The primary function of the PEC is to ensure the physical needs of the body are met. As a result, this facet of consciousness dissipates on physical-body death; simply because, as there is no longer any physical body, there are no longer any physical-body needs. While physical, the physical ego consciousness and the physical waking consciousness operate in conjunction with each other. Therefore, what you are left with on separation is your physical waking consciousness. All your memories of your experiences, your ability to think objectively, to reason, to rationalise, and all that… remains intact. In other words, everything that gives you your intelligence remains. Sounds simple in theory and it should be simple in practice. Massive variables can take place, however. The basics I describe above are the same for everyone. Subsequently, for someone with a neutral emotional state, with a properly developed sense of intellect, should pass over without any problems at all… and many people do precisely that. The reason why I say “properly developed” intellect is because a person‟s ability to function within any particular realm is directly proportional to their mental ability to focus within it. The driving force behind that “ability to focus” is the very facet of consciousness we call the intellect. In other words, the more developed the intellect the more aware the individual is of their surroundings. This applies to functioning within every realm of existence including the physical. HTH and if you have any further thoughts you wish to add then by all means fire away. Yours, Frank 1150 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Houses of the Soul on: October 30, 2004, 18:52:34 kmD: You asked someone to respond with the direction that you think you might take to becoming a more active participant in dealing with the people you meet. My first response would be for you to project direct to the astral rather than taking the RTZ route, as I feel it will be far less confusing for you. In Monroe terms, the place to be is Focus 27. Here you will find all manner of people who are open to you and can answer your questions, etc. My opinion is your thinking about interacting with people is spot on. You can project reliably, you got over the fear stage, so the next step is to start interacting with people who live non- physical and gain some extensive knowledge and experience. There are a number of ways you can do this. With me, I decided to start doing retrievals. I was a bit doubtful at first, mainly because I did not want to screw up and seriously affect someone‟s development. I did screw up a few times but was assured this was normal and had not hurt anyone‟s progress and so forth. Once it started coming together, I could not do enough of them. The work is just too gratifying for words, as Sarah has just discovered. But as gratifying as it may be, retrieval work is not for everyone. I am devoting a whole chapter of my up and coming book on the subject of retrievals, giving all the information a person needs together with a range of actual retrieval examples. But here I will attempt to give you the basics, and if there is anything I can answer further then please ask. You need to have a high degree of emotional control if you want to get involved with some of the more desperate cases. Problem is some people get themselves trapped in the most awful ways, particularly suicides. When you scan their energetic picture, it is normal to see a graphic account of the circumstances that led up to their separation. But the more horrific the circumstances a person is trapped in, the more satisfying it is to get them out of it. Particularly when it involves children. On the outset, I used to only deal with children but I have since softened my attitude. The very worst cases you will find are those trapped in the lower or near-earth realms of Focus 23 and 24. In Focus 25, you tend to get many religious types, for example, who in a technical sense are trapped by their belief status, but they do not actually see it that way. They are having fun with their particular god, in conjunction with everyone else who subscribed to the same dictum whilst physical. Now and again, you get people in these places whose intellect begins to question the overriding dogma and they get “cast out” and someone will pop along to reassure them that they are not going to hell (anyone cast out from a religious setup goes to hell as far as the people who remain there are concerned). You mention about being mischievous, well, I too love being mischievous whilst non-physical, and this ability comes in very handy particularly within Focus 25. Here you are free to be as mischievous as you like as it can often serve as an interrupt that opens a person‟s eyes to their true circumstances. There is a chap in F25, for example, who thinks he is John the Baptist and he regularly has a queue of people waiting to have their heads ducked under the water, and all that jazz. Every now and then, I will pop to see him. I arrive doing my best Jesus impression walking on the water of the river he keeps ducking people under. This causes quite a stir! I can often get the attention of at least the people queuing and a number of others besides. Around 30 people, maybe 40 people in all on a good day, will transition. These people are auto-relocated to Awareness and Information centres at F26 and F27 where non-physicals (NPs) will try to get through and inform them of their circumstances, whilst buffering their energetic picture. This gives the subject a period of time, a little breathing space if you like, where they can hopefully realise where they are in the general scheme of things. Your success-rate with bulk adult retrievals will never be 100%. If it is then great. But realistically if you can average 50% overall then you are doing well. Many subjects end up winking-out as their energetic signature becomes too incompatible for the area. This means they end up back in some belief-system territory again. So after a while you get your regulars, so to speak. You make many friends too. I often bump into people I rescued and it is nice to see them doing well rather than being stuck in some place. Lot‟s of people are setting themselves up in the New Exchange Territories. They discover old friends and make new ones, take up new hobbies and thoroughly enjoy themselves. Dead and proud of it, as I call them. So that is basically the bright side. At the bottom of the barrel, you have the hopeless and near hopeless cases that many people who do this kind of work simply cannot deal with. Note: You will be directed only towards those cases you stand a fair chance of having success with! That is, both for the subject of the retrieval and for yourself. Therefore, no one please worry they are suddenly going to find themselves placed in all manner of awful circumstances. No, this simply will not happen. Problem is, once a person begins exploring the near-earth realms they realise how millions of people throughout the ages have been sorely misguided as to the true nature of astral reality. At the root of all those “dark forces” these occultists attempt to invoke, for example, are groups of people who have been trapped within the lower realms for many hundreds of years, directly as a result of this on-going emotional game play. With all these kinds of hurtful scenarios, it would not be too bad if only the actual perpetrators suffered the consequences; after all, the perpetrators are just as trapped as the people they exploit. However, millions of innocent people of all ages have been caught up in this for centuries; having had their emotional and other vulnerabilities exploited by religions, occult groups, and all manner of gurus and individuals. On separation, these vulnerable people often enter the belief-system territories of the depraved factions who lured them there in the first place. Unfortunately, rather than being in a land of power and influence, as these people are typically promised, many end up being trapped and abused in horrific ways. Perhaps the most despicable example I came across was that of a boy, about 12 years of age, a suicide case. He jumped off a tall building so he could be with an occult master (or whatever it is they call themselves) living in the land of power and all that jazz. He had become involved in occultism via the internet and had been encouraged by some older boys who were part of the same group. The boy got there all right (or at least to some place like it) only to end up in his occult master‟s dungeon who would use this boy, along with a number of other boys and girls, for perverse sexual gratification. Well, suffice to say, getting those children out of there was one of my most heart-warming retrievals to date. But that‟s not all: Many children, throughout the ages, have been taught to use weapons and sent out to kill some enemy or other. Even today it happens. Their physical bodies often end up dying a gruesome, painful death. Many suffer atrocious burns from explosions and are mutilated in all kinds of horrifying ways. Significant numbers of these children are lost and alone, trapped by their fears within the gloomy grey depths of a place they simply call, The Deep. Here is where the torturous screaming of the thousands who are trapped, haunted by the pain of a ghastly separation, all becomes manifest. Never has humankind‟s inhumanity to itself ever been as graphically demonstrated as in this place. We enter in a group of five each time. Seldom are we successful. But when we are a big firework‟s display goes off in F27, so to speak. Anyhow, that‟s the other end of the scale. Most people who do this kind of work settle for retrieval types somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. People are needed at every level and all effort is welcomed as there is such a shortage of people. There are no big benefits involved in doing this kind of work. Just the satisfaction of helping others less fortunate. Plus you do get to meet and chat with many NPs (non-physicals) employed in all manner of tasks. So the information you can gather is way beyond what you would be able to do normally. In other words, you get around more because people show you places that you would perhaps never see as a “tourist”. Plus, you end up at the stage where you have more NP friends than physical, which feels a bit weird at first! HTH Yours, Frank 1149 Bug Reports and Questions / Forums Bugs Reports and Questions / Selective Blocking on: October 31, 2004, 18:27:32 Rastus: I'm not sure whether the facility will be added at some date. That's Adrian's department I guess. But if you get an abusive PM, then please contact a forum moderator right away. All the best, Frank 1148 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / How am I doing so far? on: November 01, 2004, 13:46:57 Something that doesn't sit right with me, you say your breathing and your heart-rate has increased a lot? Was that a typo? Yours, Frank 1147 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / How am I doing so far? on: November 01, 2004, 17:42:37 Personally, I never do any energy-raising exercises or chakra opening of the kind Bob Bruce talks about in Astral Dynamics, for instance. I'm not saying it is the wrong thing to do, it's just that it is not my particular approach. Many people engage in this type of exercise and thoroughly enjoy it. But as for obe work, the basic prerequisite for projection is a deep relaxation of the physical body. During which time your breathing and your heart-rate should fall significantly. Yours, Frank 1146 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Seeing geometric shapes when coming out of astral journey on: November 02, 2004, 09:06:40 In Monroe terminology it sounds to me like what you are passing through is the Focus 12 state, where it is very normal to perceive all kinds of shapes such as you describe. For some reason you only see them on the way back, so to speak. Myself I only tend to see them on the way there. But can see them both ways if I put my mind to it. People tend to use them like road-signs that indicate they are at a particular point in the process. They never really aroused my curiosity much, I tend to use them like road-signs too. A few times I've stopped to take a closer look but never found anything about them worth holding my attention. They are just shapes that kinda hang there doing nothing much in particular. Yours, Frank 1145 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / How am I doing so far? on: November 02, 2004, 09:27:47 Heter: Although I never do any energy-work as people describe it, I did once get curious and went through a stage of energising various energy centres people call Chakras. When the heart- centre is activated it does give many sensations and one of them is a feeling like the physical heart is beating at a ridiculously fast rate. It is obviously not, of course, it just feels that way. I wanted to clarify what you were saying because, if you did mean your actual physical heart increased then it would appear you are doing something wrong. You also specifically mentioned your rate of breathing increased as well, which again sounded suspiciously like it was your physical heart that was beating faster, and not merely a sensation of exciting the heart-centre. The basic prerequisite for projection is a deep relaxation of the physical body. During which time your breathing and your heart-rate should fall significantly. In fact, the physical body normally becomes so relaxed you lose all sensation of it. Yours, Frank 1144 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / How am I doing so far? on: November 02, 2004, 15:35:32 Ah, then what you are facing are the typical kinds of fear sensations almost everyone feels at first. I guess everyone has to get around this or solve the problem in their own way. There is no hard and fast method. Generally, overcoming the fear is usually the first big test people face. People tend to think learning this art is all to do with techniques. They believe the first challenge or goal is to find a technique that works to get them out of their body (as they would say) and – hey presto – they will be free to roam around to their hearts delight. This works only in a tiny number of instances, perhaps a fraction of one percent. Nevertheless, like winning multi-millions on the lottery, it happens just often enough to keep the dream alive. Technique plays a part, admittedly, but only a minute one. Fear is not something you deal with by attacking it. Doing that doesn‟t work. But it doesn‟t stop people trying, of course. Fighting fear only leads a person into having all kinds of mental dilemmas. Put simply, fear is something you learn to think beyond. Once you grasp the meaning of that statement, and you begin to know it and feel it to the extent where thinking that way becomes automatic; all the problems and manifestations associated with fear just fade away, and they never bother you anymore. HTH Yours, Frank 1143 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Houses of the Soul on: November 02, 2004, 16:14:03 Yes, that's typical of the kinds of horrific experiences you can come across in the depths of the lower realms. It was all very shocking to me too, at first. But I survived by concentrating on getting the subject out of the circumstances, rather than on the circumstances themselves. As I say, never has humankind‟s inhumanity to itself ever been as graphically demonstrated as it is within the lower reaches of the astral. Unfortunately, when some government or terrorist group decides to bomb some place or make war with another country; or someone else starts chopping someone up with a carving knife, and so forth, they don't realise the full extent of the misery they cause. That's what people working in the non-physical have to deal with on a daily basis, i.e. the true aftermath of all the sick and twisted political gameplay together with heaps of other crud. That's why I would only rescue children at first, well, children and young suicides. Because to me they were innocent of it all. There was a time when nothing would please me more than to come across someone suffering in a hell of their own making as a result of living a contorted and twisted life on the physical. But my thinking has now moved on, of course. Yours, Frank 1142 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / The well known one on: November 06, 2004, 10:37:12 These kinds of predictions always fascinate me. I first came across one with a school-friend in the early 1970‟s. I was in my early teens at the time and not being religious at all, I never got the full significance. I believe they were Jehovah‟s Witnesses and, one day, he said he was going away with his family to some place. I don‟t know where, exactly, in the world it was but it was quite a trek as I recall. Anyhow, he told me the world was going to end and that he and his family were meeting with some other group who were going to survive. Like I say, I never got the full significance but thought it fascinating nonetheless. I remember cycling home thinking, wow, and the world will end next week and all this won‟t be here anymore. How incredible! A couple of weeks later my friend returned with his family and he explained something about having got dates mixed up or whatever. He was the same age as me, so I think he didn‟t quite get the full significance of it either. It was a number of years before I realised these kinds of predictions have been going on for as long as there have been people on this planet. The most entertaining one of late was the so-called Millennium Bug. Ha ha, that was a corker. Not so much for its originality, as the doom and gloom idea of computers taking over the world and all that jazz is rather old hat. But what really set it off was the scale of the thing, in the sheer numbers of people who believed it. This pole-shift idea in 2012 scores marks for originality, I‟ll grant it that. But it‟s simply not believable enough. Compare that to the current number 1: Global Warming. Now that has it all in my book. It‟s a simple concept that virtually everyone can understand. Huge numbers of people are said to be engaged in it, in the course of their ordinary life. Plus, it involves them in one of their favourite topics they like to moan about, i.e. the weather. I mean, you are never going to get a scenario where someone moans about heavier than normal rainfall, or groans about less than normal sunshine, and someone answers, “Well, it‟s the up and coming Pole Shift you know.” The Pole Shift is just a flash in a pan unlike Global Warming, which I reckon is set to run for decades yet. The more people repeat it, the more they believe in it; and the more they believe in it, the more they repeat it. Soon they will be turning en-masse to their governments demanding action be taken against it. The mass media will be full of it. Every natural disaster that is ever set to take place will be because of it… Human nature can be ever so entertaining at times! Yours, Frank 1140 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Having difficulty using the NEW System on: November 06, 2004, 16:24:39 Never tried the NEW system as my origins are more Monroe school. But the thought came to mind when I saw your post, why not ask the man who published it, Bob Bruce? Pop a question in his private section and I'm sure he'll oblige. Yours, Frank 1139 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Activating the Crown Chakra on: November 06, 2004, 17:11:18 I‟ve never really done any meditation–release-energy work. Astral projection is what I know and I stick to that. However, in the course of my AP activities I often cannot help activating all kinds of energy centres. The one at the top of the head, which I am assuming is the Crown Chakra, gives me different sensations. I can activate it mildly just by thinking through the top of my head now as I type, and I get a tingling sensation that gets more intense the more I think about it. If I continue, the tingling will start travelling down through my body. It tingles all the way down as it does so, and gives me goose-bumps on my arms, for example. The right kind of classical music activates it too, which also gives the same tingling feeling. The other time it comes alive is when I switch focus to non-physical. There is an initial sensation that feels like the top of my brain is being lightly stroked with a feather. This gets progressively more intense and eventually, after about 20 seconds, it becomes a light vibration. After about another 20 seconds or so, this changes into a high-pitched buzzing sensation. It feels all the time as if my actual brain was buzzing and vibrating which it isn‟t literally, of course. It just feels that way. In my experience, to project with full awareness, i.e. being totally immersed within the non- physical with all your senses requires the energy centre at the crown to be active. Whereas, just to take a look requires only the one at the forehead to be active. HTH Yours, Frank 1138 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Activating the Crown Chakra on: November 06, 2004, 17:59:56 Leo: I agree these sensations can be intriguing. Out of curiosity, a couple of years ago I went through a phase of activating these areas. The heart centre gives me some incredible sensations. Now and again, I‟ll do it just for the whacky experience. I‟ve never really analysed the crown, but it is obvious when it becomes active as I feel definite vibrations coming from it. The fact that it extends as you say makes perfect sense, and out through the sides too… sounds like a great sensation! Yours, Frank 1137 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Past and future travel on: November 06, 2004, 18:48:23 Cayla: What you are suggesting I think is a great idea. My upbringing was rather traumatic as well and I found this kind of exercise extremely useful. It opened pathways within me that I just never knew existed. I‟m not sure whom you mean by “little self”. Did you get that concept from a book? We only experience time on the physical. So the very act of stepping out of this realm takes us beyond the constructs of past, present and future. I would recommend you not try to heal these parts of yourself through astral travel. Dealing with such intense emotional interplay, while immersed within the astral environment, could be an almost impossible situation for you to deal with. For a start there is no way you would be able to set a base level, therefore, distortions would be paramount. Under such circumstances all imagery, symbols, etc. would be meaningless within the context of the healing you wish to accomplish. Far better to stay grounded through the physical while you do it IMO. All you would need for this is a bit of light meditation. I would do a little preparation beforehand. Write out the situation on paper, and note the questions you want answers to. Then meditate quietly for, say, 30 minutes a day taking one question at a time and allow the feelings to bubble up to the surface as they feel ready. HTH Yours, Frank 1136 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Expanded-body sensation on: November 06, 2004, 21:14:52 It is typical of the kinds of expansion feelings you can get in this kind of state; where you are not fully focused within the non-physical, but you are not entirely focussed within the physical either. While physical, the energy of your consciousness fills the body, so to speak, which is a finite space. So we get used to the feeling of that particular space and never really notice it – until it changes. Once we pull away from the finite limitations of the physical, we often feel a sense of expansion. But because you are still focused to a degree within the physical, the sense of consciousness expansion you are feeling still has a physical-body association. In other words, you are relating the sense of consciousness-expansion to your physical body. So it feels like your physical body expanded. The heaviness you feel is a typical sensation you can get when your sense of consciousness is awake and alert, but your physical body is very relaxed. HTH Yours, Frank 1135 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Airforce studing psychic teleportation? on: November 07, 2004, 10:28:18 It's just yet another example (as if any more were needed) of a sick society. Not content with killing one another on a physical level, these vile morons want to do it on a spiritual level as well. Yours, Frank 1134 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Origin of energetic life on: November 08, 2004, 11:39:33 Time is not an entity in itself, nor is time a dimension. Though I can fully understand how people come to think that way. Time, is a notion, an idea, a concept. One that has developed from a particular kind of interactionism. A result, if you like, of having to perceive events via our physical senses. That is all. Yours, Frank 1131 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Origin of energetic life on: November 10, 2004, 21:17:39 Well according to leading physicists, time isn't just a human concept, it is a tangible property of sorts. Check out Steven Hawking's "A Brief History of Time". Because of our physical neurological structure, we can only perceive events in a sequential manner. In other words, we see events taking place one after another in a sequence of moments. On perceiving sequences of these moments, we feel a sensation of passage. This sensation is what we have decided to call “time”. I suppose we had to call it something. All the other sensations we typically experience have been labelled, and there is no reason why the sensation of passage should be any different. So Time is just the name we decided to call the “ ” that comes about between one moment of neurological perception to the next. Someone could well argue, of course, that time must surely be a tangible property of sorts because, irrespective of the label attached to it, something or other has taken place between moment “a” to moment “b”. Yes, of course! What has taken place is the sensation of passage, and no one can argue (well, no one in their right mind, let‟s say) that the physical sensation does not exist. It definitely exists, that‟s why we attached a label to it. But it‟s still only an idea we came up with to serve a particular purpose, i.e. to describe a particular feeling relating to our perception of events that come about within physical reality. This feeling arises, as I said in my previous post, from a particular kind of interactionism. A result, if you like, of having to perceive events via our physical senses. Yours, Frank 1130 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Origin of energetic life on: November 11, 2004, 13:04:04 Aleshah: I'm sorry but were you directing the question to me, or to the group? If it is to me then I'm not understanding what you mean by "pressure" in this context. Yours, Frank 1128 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / All things astral - where to begin. on: November 11, 2004, 15:07:47 I hope my post makes sense and I hope there is someone out there who has been in a similar situation (IE started with no proof, no experiences and gradually has worked up to a point where they can enjoy the experience and get used to it and not be afraid). Hello: You are describing me, I would say. I came across this topic 20-odd years ago after by chance coming across Monroe‟s Journeys Out Of The Body, displayed in a bookshop window. I thought the author was either insane, or had genuinely hit on something. My curiosity got the better of me and I gave his technique a fair go. Much to my surprise, I began experiencing some definite effects. The rest, as they say, is history. Prior to that I had no notion whatever of anything to do with astral projection. I enjoyed my own inner-space, as it were, and I was definitely an introspective person. I liked my own company and being amongst nature (still do) but I was by no means a loner. I have always enjoyed physical life and in my youth, I was ambitious to the extent where I cringe now thinking about it. I had my dreams just like any other person, but never attached any particular significance to them. To me they were just dreams and that was that. You could say then I didn‟t have a mystical or religious bone in my body and, despite my 20-odd years of non-physical experiences, I still say the same. When I first started, there was no Internet I could count on for additional pointers, so I made slow progress from simple trial and error. It took me almost 5 years before I realised the place I kept finding myself at was a place where thought equalled action. During which time I fought all manner of wars, battled with every kind of demon and slayed dragons galore… I had quite a difficult upbringing! Anyhow, realising all the different environmental ground rules that applied was a major turning point for me. Particularly as it allowed me to move on from the quagmire of self-defeating thought, that had previously been repeatedly dragging me down. Which came as a big relief! I then spent a number of years projecting to the astral by the technique of waking up during a lucid dream. I found this came about around 3 times a week on average. Plus, I would get other projection feelings too, like vibration sensations and what I called my “cannonball exit”. So termed because it literally felt like I had been shot from a cannon only to appear within the astral environment somewhere, a few moments later. All this time I thought of the astral realms as just some huge adventure playground. In his book, Monroe talks about people inhabiting the astral who passed over from the physical, but none of it really sank in at the time. It never really occurred to me the people I was interacting with and having fun with in the astral, were in any way dead. I just assumed they were ordinary physical people simply doing the same as I was. If there were any dead people there, I figured for some reason, none of us ever saw any. About 12 years ago, events started taking on a more serious tone. I began accessing areas that were very different in character to the normal places I would visit. The people I would meet were different too, far less playful and only ever wanted to get serious and teach me things. Where I just wanted a bit of fun and excitement. After all, this was my playground and the more serious side of life took place back there, i.e. within the physical. Anyhow, my curiosity about these new places got the better of me and I decided to adopt a more serious outlook. In other words, I began to look at what was happening with a more scientific eye, in the same way as I did in my physical profession. Doing that was another major turning point for me. It set the stage for a completely new way of learning, together with a wholly different understanding of how our physical lives are put together. Exploring non-physical realms has become second nature to me. I am never afraid, not because I am particularly tough or I have developed the perfect “shield” but simply because I know the ground rules to the extent where putting them into practise has become a habit. This prevents me now from making the typical kinds of mistakes I used to make as a beginner. I thoroughly enjoy my work within non-physical realms. I started by doing what is commonly called “retrieval work” and now I work primarily as a tour guide, but still do retrievals when the opportunity presents. HTH Yours, Frank 1126 The Astral Library / Welcome to Book Reviews! / The taken for granted reality of evil influences on: November 12, 2004, 10:08:20 Major Tom: Thanks from me too, great reco. I've put this one on my must read list as it's a topic that has intrigued me for some time. I especially liked the review phrase "devilish good" in respect to advertising, that Nick brought up. This is something I have been noticing for some time. Thanks again. Yours, Frank 1125 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Relative Plane on: November 12, 2004, 10:56:30 Dagaz: The astral is simply a term that describes a huge expanse of non-physical reality. It's the equivalent in physical terms of saying, for example, "The land mass of the Earth". People you meet generally have all kinds of terms for the place where they are. In all the people I came across and asked this question no one ever said, "I live in the astral". They reply with whatever they perceive is the name or label that is attached to their locality (or impression of their reality) or they give directions. This is what we would do if asked the same question while physical. For example, if someone stopped me on the high street and asked where I lived I'm not going to reply, "On the land mass of the Earth". Nor am I even going to reply, "France". I'm going to say something like, "Take a left at the end of the high street down so and so avenue, and my house is number 4, about 150 metres on the right." Typically, however, if a complete stranger came up of the blue and started asking a person where they lived, chances are, most people would firmly tell them to mind their own business. So exploring with a fair degree of tact and sensitivity is normally more productive than exploring without. The other point that comes to mind is, you will find your forays far more productive if you realise the time to ask questions about various non-physical phenomena is... at the time. People often see all kinds of weird-looking symbols, for example, take great pains to remember what they look like, in order to come back to physical reality and ask if anyone knows what they are. What they should have done is ask that question at the time. HTH Yours, Frank PS If you projected from a dream I'd say you were definitely within the Astral. 1123 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Hey Frank, did you ever get round to that thread? on: November 12, 2004, 15:24:52 Douglas, Yes, you are right. Thanks for the reminder, and it is on my to-do list of replies. I've been busy preparing a special report that I will be posting to the forum in a few days (hopefully). It took me a little longer than I thought. Once that's complete, I had it in mind to answer the questions raised by your previous post I talked about in my PM. What we can do is leave this topic open, and I'll reply here and change the title heading. As you are quite right, we were a bit off-topic on the other post and should create a new one. Speak to you soon. Yours, Frank 1121 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / NEW on: November 13, 2004, 18:45:27 Obviously you are welcome to post your question here if you wish, but the thought occurs to me there is a whole section devoted to this book with one of the authors on hand to answer questions. If you posted in that section you might get a more direct answer. But the choice is yours like I say. Yours, Frank 1120 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Our thoughts create our reality! on: November 15, 2004, 12:32:20 It's not so much that our thoughts create our reality, though I realise what you're getting at. But our reality is created in accordance with our core beliefs. That's why all this positive thinking stuff has little (if any) affect. People can think all manner of things, go around chanting what they like 'til the cows come home. But events only begin to change when core beliefs begin to change. Yours, Frank 1119 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / A different view on OBE/AP: an article. on: November 16, 2004, 12:51:07 Xetrov: People have the right to argue what they like, obviously. But it would be far more use, and their arguments would have much more of an impact, if they would inform themselves before deciding to put pen to paper. It is obvious you have no real practical experience at all, and all you are doing, in the main, is arguing semantics. Anyone who is established at practising this art knows that we are on the borders of discovering a completely new science. As such, we do not (yet) have a concrete list of established terminology that is linked to however-many known definitions. Under such circumstances, and until such time arises, it should be fairly obvious there are going to be quite a number of misunderstandings when it comes to making comparisons between who described what, about whatever. The term “Out of Body Experience” is today a blanket term used to describe any situation where you become conscious of being mentally focussed within any other realm but for the physical. So whether you “come awake” within a dream, or whether you find yourself floating on your bedroom ceiling looking down at your sleeping physical, or floating on the ceiling of the operating-theatre looking down at your dying physical, or whatever, whatever. If you find yourself focused within any other realm of reality other than the physical, you are said to be having an Out of Body experience. But do realise that when we say, “Out” of Body we don‟t actually mean we have stepped beyond the physical in the sense of being outside of it. When we say “out” we mean out in the sense that we are “not in” or we‟re “not at home”. In other words we are “away” or “absent”. Anyone who is anyone in this field realises the physical is an end result. The knowledge of such is so basic, it goes without saying. Unfortunately, a significant part of your argument appears to be primarily based on your confusion of the word “out” with “outside”. Your article is so lacking in structure I‟m having difficulty following the thread of it. On the surface, it would appear you are in some way attempting to distinguish between what is a “real” obe and what you would say was merely a dream. Your narrative is confusing but, from what I can gauge, you are attempting to conclude the only “real” obe is one that takes place without physical brain activity. Well, if I may respectfully point out, you are wallowing in your own ignorance here. It is obvious you have no knowledge at all as to the true nature of the relationship between the mind and the brain. I had to chuckle where you make a particular point of saying, “So an NDE-OBE occurs when there is no brain activity.” Well, the person is undergoing a near-DEATH experience. After all, that‟s what the “d” stands for. I‟m sure it must be obvious to everyone that the closer a person is to death, the less active his or her brain becomes. In your conclusion, you talk about applying “common-sense logic”. To be honest, I thought that is what the piece sorely lacked. I think a suitable display of common sense would be for you to get 5 or 10 years of hands-on experience under your belt, before trying to argue another case in public. Yours, Frank 1118 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / A different view on OBE/AP: an article. on: November 17, 2004, 13:48:00 Xetrov: I would like to make clear from the outset that I draw a definite line between expressing a critique and being insulting. If I have given you any reason for you to think I was expressing the latter, it was certainly not intended and I am sorry for any misunderstanding. I have reviewed my initial response word for word, and note that my critique remains focussed wholly upon the article in question. I also note that it was you who posted the article, and you posted it knowing it may be controversial. You are at liberty to doubt whom you like. But please understand that if you begin publishing information contrary to two protagonists of the art, Bruce and Monroe, you are going to need a lot more evidence in your bag than experiencing a number of lucid dreams, and having a few pals who do the same. Otherwise, don‟t be surprised if you come under some serious critique. You say at the beginning of your article about how you should always ask questions. Of course, asking questions is all well and good. But at some point, you should begin developing some worthwhile experiences. Coming awake within a lucid dream is a popular pastime; however, if doing that taught us all we needed to know, every last one of us would be veritable connoisseurs of the art. You conclude your reply by saying the whole intention of your article was to, “show that there is more than one way of explaining OBE's induced from sleep/trance.” Err, no it wasn‟t. The heading of your original article clearly states how in that article you are going to tell us what “real” OBE‟s are, and you are going to tell us what “fake” OBE‟s are, and how they are generated. Of course, again, you are at liberty to make these claims and then change them later on. But in all seriousness, before doing so, I would strongly suggest you remain congruent and back up your original claims with actual hands-on experience, rather than just accepting quotes from those you feel are pro your stance, and rejecting those you feel are contra. Regarding your reply: I‟m not talking here about exploring different concepts of spirituality vis-à-vis the current day western scientific method; in the sense of the western scientific method finally coming around to accepting and embracing old-age spirituality, et al. That‟s just your assumption. What I actually said was, “... we are on the borders of discovering a completely new science.” You make a case for saying we already have good established terminology and definitions on the basis that people have been writing about OBE experiences for thousands of years. And in the next sentence, you say, “As such there are two possible ways to define what an OBE means.” That doesn‟t sound definite and established to me. You talk about my definition of the term OBE in relation to us never being “in” our body in the first place. Well, I forget how many times I said this before on the forum. You say, “… if you see it this way we are really never inside our bodies at all.” Yes, that is correct. The mind is located in a totally different sphere of reality and connects to the brain by what is known as a Bio-Energetic Link. Your sense of consciousness never “leaves” the physical body, because it is never “in” the physical body in the first place. The only thing “in your head” is your physical brain. The function of the brain is to run all the physical processes of the body and serve as an interface between the body and the Energetic Link. No memories are stored in the brain, no thinking goes on in the brain, the brain has no consciousness, and so forth. All these kinds of mental faculties are characteristics of the mind. The brain, in a sense, acts as a kind of central processing unit that runs the myriad of physical processes that take place within the body. In the wider scheme of things, we are always in a state of being “out of body”. Physical body that is. It doesn‟t feel that way to most people because they choose to engage a more or less permanent physical focus, and only knowingly disengage at the point of final separation. This is why trying to fathom which types of experiences take place within the body, and which types take place without (as your article sees fit to do) is just a useless exercise, IMO. Because no one is ever “in” their physical body in the first place. Unfortunately, much of what you say in your article is based on a false premise. In any event, you are arguing over soon to be redundant terms. In the early days, people would project within the astral and that was all they could comprehend. As more and more people develop a progressively higher degree of proficiency, the blanket, catchall term Astral becomes inappropriate. If someone said to me they had an astral projection, the first question that would come to mind is to ask where they were. Monroe was a bit of a pioneer in this. But even his work is steadily being superseded. The non-physical region he originally labelled as Focus 27 is actually termed the Exchange Territories, for example. The term OBE is now a broad-based term that I suspect will become redundant in time. Nowadays, people are beginning to identify their non-physical position from describing whichever particular “focus” they have engaged. Modern-day practitioners no longer “project” they merely engage a different focus. The term Astral is becoming redundant too, as people substitute it with the term non-physical. Though I (for one) when answering posts, lean towards using the older terminology, for now, as that is how people understand it to be. But as people‟s awareness expands to incorporate the more modern-day concepts, they too will make the switch in terms - as the two go hand in hand. The term “Out of Body Experience” came about as it best described the typical types of experiences people were having at the time. Nowadays, however, people are discovering different types of experiences and developing new terminology to suit. Monroe talks of this in his later works, where he coined the term Phasing in place of his earlier “out of body” sensations. It became to him not as if he were projecting to anywhere, but as if he were “switching phase”. Today, as I say, the word “phase” is being slowly replaced by the word “focus”. It is simply not possible to “exit” your physical body by taking a step “out” of it or “beyond” it, as is often depicted in the more traditional works. The physical realm is an end result. In other words, nothing exists beyond the physical realm. You can take steps back from the physical, but you cannot step beyond it. Though I can fully understand how people have come to conclude otherwise. Take a step back into the real-time zone, and it does very much look as if you just took a step “out” of your body. It‟s a perfect example of how looks can be extraordinarily deceiving. In a way it‟s like when people once looked at the line of the horizon and thought it was the edge of the earth; or they watched the sun rise and set, and thought the sun revolved around them. Such mistakes are ever so easy to make when you don‟t have access to the big picture. Your article is a perfect example of that, IMO. Stick your article in a drawer, go and explore the non-physical for 10 years and then read it again. You'll soon see what I'm getting at. Yours, Frank 1117 Dreams / Welcome to Dreams! / Dreaming inside a dream on: November 17, 2004, 21:57:52 Innerfocus: I'm not sure where you are at in terms of development, but dreaming dreams within dreams, i.e. layered dreams, are generally indicative of an awakening of the awareness of self, or the awareness of the multi-faceted nature of consciousness. I sense your inner self (subjective self) is giving you a strong reminder of something, giving you a wakeup call. Perhaps it is to stimulate your curiosity in such a way as to cause you to look (mentally) in a particular direction and open up awareness of a part of yourself. The question of trust features prominently too, in that you must trust this part of yourself, or this new path you find yourself on, unconditionally. The precognitive aspect is particularly significant is it would imply some kind of reward for adopting this new approach. HTH Yours, Frank 1116 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / A different view on OBE/AP: an article. on: November 18, 2004, 03:50:39 Xetrov: I note all you say but it‟s largely based on a false premise, and I‟m a bit long in the tooth for this kind of campus-style theorising. I prefer to sort out what‟s what through actual hands-on experience. Plus, all you appear to want to do is curve fit people‟s responses to whatever notion you happen to believe in at the time. And when you come out with blanket responses, like you, “… sort of know what the experiences of Bruce, Monroe and a lot of people on this forum are.” That‟s just so presuming it‟s laughable. You complain that I have decided to put more value and trust in Monroe and Bruce‟s experiences than I do your own. Which is correct. That decision was not just arrived at willy-nilly as you try to make out. I regard Monroe‟s experiences as having more merit than yours, for the simple reason I spent a number of years studying and replicating his work and found it to be highly accurate. I have also studied and replicated a number of Bob Bruce‟s experiences published in Astral Dynamics (the ones that cover my particular field of study) and found them to be equally accurate. By comparison, all you do is say that your different way of thinking things is closer to what is really going on. Unfortunately, no matter which way I look at it, I see no merit in that statement at all. I think the mistake you made is to presume everyone is in the same position as yourself, i.e. pitching arguments from the point of view of having respective “pet theories”. Of course, under such circumstances, who is to say whether theory “a” is any more or any less valid than theory “b” c, d, e… ad nauseum. In the end, you talk about collecting evidence to support your case. Well, there is only one proper way to collect evidence to support your case and that is to drop all your fanciful theories in the bin, and get some actual hands-on experience. Yours, Frank 1115 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / A different view on OBE/AP: an article. on: November 18, 2004, 20:08:47 Xetrov: People are free to believe what they like and, as far as I am concerned, they can debate their beliefs on the Astral Pulse all day and all night. Provided they do so in the appropriate forum and keep to the rules. Your criticisms of the Astral Pulse are duly noted. But do bear in mind that in the world of non-physical/spiritual forums, we are one of the most popular. So whatever we are doing, we must be doing it right. Speaking of myself, as far as non-physical exploration is concerned, I think not in terms of beliefs but in terms of what is. After all, a scientist is what I am, not a mystic. All along you try to raise the old chestnut that one person‟s beliefs are no more, or no less worthy than another persons, etc. But our differences stem not merely from beliefs, or sheer differences in terminology, but from our respective degree of hands-on experience. In all seriousness, I would strongly suggest rather than aligning yourself to some aged belief construct, you cast off your shackles, as it were, and simply go exploring. Hands-on experience is not merely important, as you say; it is an absolutely crucial, vital aspect. Without that, what else can you do but argue over semantics, talk about who said what to whom, and discuss the relative merits of one belief construct over another. I am aware you don‟t think your premise is false and the reason, as I have already said to you, is you are not seeing the whole picture. You are doing the equivalent of looking at the line of the horizon and thinking it is the end of the Earth. The myth was blown away only when someone actually sailed out there and found out for themselves. So again, and I keep saying this not to be insulting, but in an effort to be truly helpful: go blow away your own myths by getting some proper hands-on experience. Yours, Frank 1114 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Questions on OBE Mechanics and Meditation on: November 19, 2004, 11:25:07 Asif: We are developing continually and this subject matter is no different. Reading the more traditional works you will come across all manner of belief constructs such as an “etheric body” or an “astral body” and so forth. Monroe, for example, in his earlier experiences talks about fairly detailed realignment procedures when he “returns” to the physical, for example. Nowadays, the more forward-looking practitioners of the art are realising the true nature of these constructs in the way they served to help people understand the kinds of experiences they were having at that time. One of the constructs that always sticks in my mind as a prime example of this, is the notion of a “silver cord” that was said to connect the etheric body to the physical. Within our belief systems is the notion that we must incorporate a process. The early practitioners thought of themselves as being disconnected from the physical in some way, therefore, there must be some “process” of connection between the one location to the other. Hence the silver-chord belief construct. In reality, you are never remote from your physical body at all. All you simply need to do is re- engage physical focus. The degree to which we perceive a place is proportional to our intensity of mental focus within it. So the mere act of closing your eyes to the experience, so to speak, will cause you to shift focus away from it. So there‟s no need to think about “jumping back”. Merely think about bringing the physical into the foreground of your mental awareness again. If you focus within the non-physical and, rather than exploring, stay put and gently feel (mentally) for your physical you‟ll feel it in the background of your mental awareness. If you practice you‟ll find you can switch focus from one to the other, i.e. you bring the physical into the foreground of your awareness and the non-physical switches to the background. But here you are not actually feeling like you are fully “in” the physical, like we are in our normal waking state. It merely comes into the foreground of your awareness. You may hear yourself snoring (if you snore that is) or hear your heart beating, or feel your bed covers, or even see your bedroom, then you‟ll find you can focus away from that and focus on the non-physical again. It‟s as if you switch the two points of focus though 180 degrees. Like a kind of revolving door effect. That‟s why Monroe, in his later work, thought about it as switching phase. Myself, I prefer to think of foreground and background and switching my mental focus rather than switching phase. HTH Yours, Frank 1113 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My First OBE! on: November 19, 2004, 11:39:55 Ha ha, it sounds very much like the first experience I had. Does everyone remember their first time? I do. What you need is to develop a degree of control from the outset. Try not to get excited and resist the urge to fly off here, there and everywhere. Simply stay put, observe your surroundings, and take tiny steps. Also, it's not important for you to begin "classifying" your experiences yet. Simply work on achieving a high degree of control. Yours, Frank 1112 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / One simple question. on: November 21, 2004, 19:09:02 It won't affect your actual projections in the sense there is no particular rule that says blocked nose, no projection. But what it may do is hamper your ability to relax sufficiently. I'm assuming you manage to fall asleep okay. If so then I'd say it should make no difference. Yours, Frank 1111 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Pixels and 2-D images in the Astral Plane on: November 21, 2004, 20:26:46 Fyrenze: I‟m sorry for the delay in responding to your question on the previous page but I overlooked it for some reason. I‟ve been a bit busy lately writing my up and coming book and it escaped my notice. When I say the physical realm is an end result, I don‟t want anyone thinking I‟m saying that to downgrade its purpose - as if the physical is some kind of dead-end in the sense of being in a dead-end job. All I mean to say is there is nothing beyond the physical realm. When people have found themselves in an RTZ projection in the past, they have thought they had taken a step “outside” of themselves; in the sense of taking a step beyond the physical. When in fact what they did was take a step back. But when I say a step back they are still within the physical, it‟s just that physical reality is much wider than most conventional physicists realise. Every manifestation of consciousness within the physical is a reflection of a known reality. But you are entirely correct in thinking there may be something about the things here that cannot be experienced there. What can be experienced here that cannot be experienced there, is: objectivity. The notion of objectivity is very important for us to learn. It is here within the physical realm that we learn the art of creative responsibility. This can only be taught by example and it can only properly be performed within a physical-matter, i.e. objective, reality. Regarding your other point, here and there are not the same place. But they are not as “apart” as generally thought of either. They are different mental focuses. Monroe was something of a pioneer in this although I have subsequently redeveloped his original “focus level” concept, which was brilliant in its day I‟ll grant him that. While everyone else was cuckooing the old-age astral planes and different “body” paradigms, he went out on his own and discovered there were no astral planes at all where people “travel” to: but different areas of consciousness or mental focus levels. Shame he didn‟t latch on to the truth regarding the artificial nature of all the different “bodies”. Once you cast off the chains of Dark-Age doom and gloom that forever appears to haunt this topic, it becomes quite simple to understand. Consciousness is multi-faceted. The physical realm is merely one facet of consciousness. Here and there are not the same place, but don‟t take that to mean they are separate in that one facet is here, and another facet is over there somewhere. There is no separation in consciousness; there are no boundaries or barriers. What changes is your perception. Or, to put it another way, you switch your focus of attention. In the past, people developed the belief construct of “astral travel”. They would perceive themselves to be at one non-physical place, and they would “travel” to another place, and then another place, etc. So they built up this idea of astral realms where you could travel from one place to another. Early mystics even composed all kinds of maps listing areas they would call astral planes, and such like. Many people still believe this notion today. What the early pioneers of this art failed to realise is, you are not travelling anywhere. You are merely shifting your focus, or changing your perception. This is essentially what Monroe hit upon. But even he didn‟t realise the full truth of what he had discovered (or maybe he did and chose not to make it public). The big mistake those early pioneers made was (and I readily forgive them for it because they were early pioneers after all) they thought consciousness occupied space. Consciousness occupies no space whatsoever. You cannot “travel” within non-physical realms. Though many times in my posts I will use the old terminology because that‟s how people understand it to be, and people would hardly have any idea of what I was going on about, which would be no use to them at all. But, ultimately, you cannot “travel” anywhere within the non-physical because there is no space to travel through. Consciousness occupies no space. Think of it like many TV channels being broadcast down the same cable at the same time. Using a broadcast tuner, you can switch to the precise channel you want to view. Think of the mind as being like that tuner. Only instead of switching a dial, you switch your perception. As your perception changes, your environment changes. People having no experience of the non-physical have their tuner stuck on the Physical channel! The reasons people find it so difficult are many and varied. Perhaps the main reason, as I touched on above, is due to their belief that there are divisions between consciousness. They think there are “barriers” that must be overcome by initiating some kind of “process” such as a projection technique. Many make the other primary mistake of thinking going-within is a process some “expert” has to invent a “product” they need to buy so “it” can do the work for them. As people mature, they take on the influences of mass belief systems and lose their connection with their other focuses. People fail to realise also how they create their own reality. As I always say, we are what we consider ourselves to be, so it makes sense to be someone you find desirable! There are no barriers to growth and progress except those you erect yourself. We are not puppets! Every one of us is in the process of creating our own reality. To the extent where, if our physical life were a movie, each of us would be a sole director. But rather than directing responsibly and objectively, and creating all manner of worthwhile benefits both for themselves, and for others, millions of people just get tangled in the web of their own drama. Trapped in an infinite maze of events, with no way of knowing which way is out. Unfortunately for these people, the Universal Laws of creation are founded on the concept of free will. So you are allowed to ruin yourself by taking a fragmented, torturous approach if you absolutely insist on it. Many people on this forum have “taken on the challenge” of exploring non-physical realms. But they take on that challenge with their existing (limited) sense of consciousness. First, they must remove the limitations within their sense of thinking, because in reality there are no limitations. Any limitations a person might create for himself or herself are merely choices for their experience. Once all self-limiting beliefs are throughly eliminated, a person can simply become aware of what they do naturally. Which the previous limitations were preventing them from perceiving. If people are having difficulties, they should ask themselves why they are placing barriers against their progress through faulty thinking. We experience Out of Body states CONTINUOUSLY. Problem is people fail to TRUST themselves and ACCEPT the true nature of our reality. In reality, there is no method! If there is one thing my 20-odd years of experience has taught me is that methods and techniques just get in the way. That‟s what I say to people in my book: just mentally bin the lot. The only true method is to realise there is no method. There is only trust of self and acceptance. The biggest all time spokes that anyone can put in his or her non-physical works is: FEAR and DOUBT. The good news is, fear and doubt cannot exist in a mental environment of trust and acceptance. And there are all manner of other mistakes people make too. I should know, I‟ve made most of them myself. :) Yours, Frank 1110 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / any tips for KEEPING focused while in astral? on: November 22, 2004, 13:53:36 Douglas: In reality there are no levels, there is no higher or lower. Consciousness simply is. All that changes is our perception. The dream environment is entirely subjective and very literal. You expressed a desire to go higher so you did. You say it didn‟t work but from my point of view, I say it worked perfectly. The dream environment is a very literal realty. It would help you to perhaps think more in terms of widening your range of perception, rather than going up and down in a linear fashion. Manipulating the dream environment has the effect of manipulating our physical reality. People can have what they call a “pre-cognitive” dream, for example. It‟s not so much that the dream in itself was acting as a kind of forecasting tool, the person in question was simply allowing themselves a demonstration of how the dream environment creates our physical reality. There will be some facet or other of your personality that is fighting the experience, therefore, causing the typical kinds of effects you describe. In an effort to give you a perspective, I myself have experienced this kind of scenario loads and loads of times. Well, in the beginning that is. I would bet my one-hundred euro to your cent that the cause is something to do with fear and/or doubt. To me it sounds like doubt, from what you say. Although I wouldn‟t discount the fear aspect entirely. Fighting doubt, or fighting fear (or fighting anything for that matter) doesn‟t work. It may go away for a bit, but it will keep coming back to haunt you. Holding onto the banister was a classic graphical representation of a battle between one facet of your consciousness and another. Your intellect is saying yes, let‟s go for it. But another more conservatively inclined part of your personality is expressing doubts (for whatever reason). All these types of mental expression are very NORMAL to experience once you switch focus. The act of engaging our inner perception makes us aware of the multi-faceted nature of our personality. It is one thing reading about it in a book, but experiencing it hands-on is a different matter entirely! Because you are immersed in subjective reality, there is no taking a step back from a situation and being able to reflect objectively. So the tendency is you get locked in a subjective graphical demonstration of the conflict. Only by coming back to physical, can you then step back from the experience and look at the matter in a detached (i.e. objective) way. This comes back to the post you placed a couple of weeks ago on the Bruce Moen experiences. The switch in perception we initiate is the same switch in perception that occurs when we shed our physical. The only difference being you can‟t switch back to physical focus. But the actual switch in perception process is the same. I was engaged in a debate on another thread where a member was attempting to argue there were differences between switching focus to initiate an obe experience, or switching focus in a physical-body death (or near death) experience. Nope, there are no differences at all. I‟ve studied perception or focus switches at length, and the only differences that occur are directly due to a person‟s expectations, which are of course related to beliefs. Following the disengagement of physical focus, people enter what is known as a transition experience. Now, Monroe attached different focus numbers to this area of consciousness (people say focus “levels” which I dislike using because there are no levels). Namely, focuses 23, 24, 25, 26 & 27. He was correct in his method of interpreting these areas as focuses of consciousness, but he did go overboard in the numbering! Bless him. Anyhow, there is no need to make such finely tuned distinctions and it is very confusing for beginners. Monroe was a perfectionist and I fully understand where he was coming from, after having traced his non-physical footsteps at length. So no-one think I‟m trying to make out he was wrong. No, in a sense Monroe was being far too correct. In reality, it is sufficient to call this whole area of consciousness a “transition area” to which there can be attached just one focus number. In terms of the natural staging of transitional events in consciousness, I call it focus number 3 (Note: my focus 1, would be all of physical reality the same as Monroe‟s focus C1). Within this transition area of consciousness, people are engaged in shedding all the belief constructs they subscribed to during their experience of engaging physical focus. Many people, however, through faulty thinking or through sheer lack of knowledge about the process, enter the transition area entirely subjectively. In other words, they don‟t actually realise they have disengaged physical focus! This, as I am sure you can imagine, causes a person a lot of conflict and confusion. To the extent where they become locked in a state where a large part of their personality is attempting to continue physical life as per normal. But this, of course, is impossible hence the conflict. As you have experienced first hand, mental conflicts are something you subjectively engage in as part of an overall graphical representation. The people who are locked in a debilitating transitional experience, are also subjectively engaged in their very own graphical representations of whatever their conflict happens to be. The only real difference between your experience and there‟s, is you can re-engage physical focus where they cannot. From studying a large number of cases, I see that people who have difficulty tend to have an underdeveloped intellect. I‟m not saying these people are stupid. They may well be extremely intelligent as far as their physical life is concerned. It‟s just that during their physical experience their intellect became a kind of slave to their ego consciousness. Even if these people would have had some non-physical experience, rather than expand their intellect to encompass the true nature of it, they chose to engage in all manner of mental contortions to reference the nature of the non- physical experience to physical matter reality. Of course, once they disengage physical focus they tend to become immersed in a myriad of mental conflicts to the extent where it can take the equivalent of hundreds of years of time for them to work through (because there is no re-engaging physical reality to get them out of it). What it all boils down to is they enter the subjective reality of the transition experience with no objective knowledge of what is happening. So they begin to flounder. With yourself, for example, as you are steadily introducing your intellect to other areas of consciousness, when you disengage for the final time, you will already have knowingly initiated the very same process (however many) hundreds of times. So your intellect immediately recognises what is going on. In which case, you should pass through the transition area with no difficulty. Faulty thinking, mistaken beliefs, and the like, are the causes of all inner conflicts (to a lesser or higher degree depending on the individual). They all have to be dealt with before the wider perception experience becomes more as we would like it. Fear and doubt can (and often does!) place people in all manner of weird and whacky circumstances. The whole answer to the question of how to deal with these kind of difficulties is way beyond the scope of this post. However, my up and coming book expands greatly on what I touch on here. Suffice to say, fear never lurks in the background ready to strike out unexpectedly. Only people who try to mask the symptoms of fear, have to live within the gloom of delusional oppression caused from such self-limiting beliefs. And, unfortunately, for many people, the Universal Laws of creation are founded on the concept of free will. So you are allowed to ruin yourself by taking a fragmented, torturous approach if you absolutely insist on it. The way I eventually overcame my own fears and doubts, was to take SLOW steps. Every few steps I would stop and reinforce to myself that experiencing this reality was something I wanted to do, something I felt joyful about. In other words, create a short statement that you can believe in, something that makes you tingle with joy when you read it aloud to yourself. Then repeat it within the non-physical environment. The statement you create has to be in your words, because the words have to resonate with you in a joyous and harmonious way. But to give you an idea, here‟s an example of what I would typically say, “I breathe in the atmosphere of this wondrous place and experience the joy and the beauty of my inner being. It is my privilege to perceive the true reality of consciousness. As I do so, I become at peace with myself knowing that all of consciousness is forever open for me to experience. When I say, “breathe in” I intake a few breaths just as if I were within the physical. Speaking of the physical, you could try saying a statement worded like this a few times a day within physical reality, as the statement would be equally valid. After a while, you‟ll find you no longer have to say anything to yourself as the attitude you are attempting to engender simply becomes you. It is doubly important for you to realise that while practising this art, you must be centred and calm, neutral in thought and emotion, whilst being in an overall condition of relaxed attentiveness. That is the optimum state. The other important aspect for you to realise is we are not puppets. We all create our own reality in accordance with our beliefs and expectations, and no one is imposed upon without his or her consent. All limitations we come across are merely choices the individual in question has placed for their experience. Fortunately, we are now experiencing the inklings of a far more enlightened age. Where more forward-thinking members of the non-physical research fraternity are quickly realising how they too can break free from the chains of Dark Age doom and gloom, which still haunt this topic today. Naturally, the thrust of my work is to reflect that new way forward. HTH Yours, Frank 1109 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I am left handed, could that interfere with my OBE'ing? on: November 22, 2004, 19:00:11 I've been a southpaw all my life. Never affected me. Yours, Frank 1108 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Relative Plane on: November 22, 2004, 22:49:03 Major Tom: You raise a number of key points and my “analytical side” appears to be as acute as yours is, so I can fully understand where you are coming from. Ultimately, only personal experience can tell you what‟s what. Which I know sounds a bit lame but there is no substitute for actual hands-on experience. Perhaps someone, some day, will invent a kind of holographic simulator that enables a person to experience what it‟s like beforehand. But until then… On the subject of your own selves, I very much doubt whether it is possible for anyone to research all of their alternate selves, as I‟m not sure if you can actually put a number on them. Plus, there are just countless interactions between them all, far more than anyone could really catalogue. That kind of mind stuff is simply too vast to translate into physical terms. The key to it all, to my mind, is being able to recognise your area of focus within consciousness. Things really started falling into place for me when I learnt to do this. As you know, I‟m a big fan of Monroe particularly in the way he discovered what he was perceiving was an area of consciousness. And that it was his own shift in perception or focus that switched him from one environment to another. As you also know he gave each area of mental focus he perceived an arbitrary number. Personally, I like the attachment of a number concept, and the cataloguing of the various areas in consciousness by the events or actions that take place there. Reason being, I found it much easier to recognise which area of consciousness I was perceiving. Problem is, the level of detail Monroe was distinguishing was unnecessarily fine. For example, Monroe labelled focus numbers 23, 24, 25, 26 & 27 to one area of consciousness that is known collectively as a Transition Area. From my experience, there is no real requirement to have so many different numbers to represent all the fine variations that naturally come about within one area of consciousness. For the purposes of cataloguing our experiences and recognising which area of consciousness we are perceiving, all we need to know is the general term Transition Area to which we can simply attach one focus number. Anyhow, I condensed Monroe‟s original focus numbers to just 4, which represent the four main areas within our system (or at least I think there are four!). My focus 1 is the physical, which includes the area people typically call the real-time zone, as this is actually part of the physical realm. My focus 2 you could say was dream reality although it encompasses a lot more but this term will suffice for bare recognition purposes. My focus 3 is the area of consciousness related to transition as I just described. My focus 4 is the area occupied by what people would call our higher self. It‟s not really a higher self because there is no higher or lower in consciousness. I suppose you could call it the area of consciousness where we exist while having full awareness of a sense of connection with all our alternate focuses. So to me, these are the four primary distinctions I use to determine where I am in the general design of our system. Of course, within each primary distinction you could perceive a number of sub-distinctions. But that is way too much detail for the purposes of successful navigation. Number 1 we are basically familiar with. Number 2 is a veritable minefield of subjectivity, which is ever so difficult to make sense of. I am familiar with the basic operation of the transfer of subjective activity, in it being brought into objective reality; in that the dream state is in continuous connection with the waking state, and serves to create our physical reality, and so forth. But there are ever so many different levels of connectivity its just unreal. Even the most basic dreams have many dimensions that can connect with all manner of individuals at all kinds of levels. I said just recently on another post that every physical manifestation of consciousness was a mirror image of a known reality. Well, here you will find all those original images. I suppose that if people do ever begin to live for a thousand years, someone will eventually come up with a meaningful “map” of this area following a lifetime of continuous study. :) Number 3 is an interesting area if you are looking for people to interact with. Many of the inhabitants at the top of the tree (F27) are very lucid. “Dead and proud of it” as I call them. It was meeting these people that really convinced me what I was perceiving was most definitely not just some aspect of “me” (and this touches on what you say in your post). Everyone you meet, well, everyone I ever met (and I‟ve met quite a few) knows exactly where he or she is (they still hold gender definition). They know they have physically died and have been through a process of transition. They are upbeat and happy, and many are living what look to be very normal physical lives. So happy are they in fact that millions of people have chosen to colonise the area and have created a completely new world for themselves. Hence, the region has expanded to become what are now known as the “old” and the “new” Exchange Territories. The Old Exchange Territories being the original area Monroe talks about. But “alongside” a completely new populated area has come about they call the New Exchange Territories. People at the bottom of the transition tree (F23), are generally encapsulated in their own drama to the extent you‟ll generally find they are not open to you at all, and the further in you dwell you‟ll find people becoming progressively more open to you. But, as I say, by far the most coherent, you‟ll find are those who have come out of transition and are resident in the New Exchange Territories. Number 4 is very interesting. Here you can access all your other focuses, step into their lives; experience what they experience, etc. But, as I said at the beginning, everyone has many alternate focuses to the extent where there is just no way you could ever experience them all. If I were you, I‟d plumb for the top rung of my focus 3 (F27). I doubt you could fail to recognise the place. People chat to you like normal, everyone is open to you. The atmosphere is joyously charged. The place is bright, happy and colourful. Everyone is laid back and relaxed. You can‟t miss recognising the place. I mean, if you find yourself there you will not have to sit and ponder if you are there or not. It‟s something you will perceive right away. HTH All the best, Frank 1107 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Relative Plane on: November 24, 2004, 00:57:25 Major Tom: Tips and ideas, yes sure. I‟ll let my mind wander over what you have said and I‟ll type as it comes. Even if you find not all of it relevant, it may help others. So here goes: People within F27 react towards me with a variety of typical human reactions. Some have seen it all before and are too busy with other things to pay much attention, some are fascinated, others start enthusiastically explaining things to you, etc. It‟s all very human like in nature. Which is why I think perceiving this area will be the best bet for you. The spookiest feelings come about when people walk up and greet you like an old friend, and you haven‟t the foggiest notion of who they are! The concept of “travel” is a belief construct that has been adopted by ever so many people and can cause all manner of problems. Well, not so much at first because people, at the same time, align themselves with support constructs. So when finding themselves flying around somewhere, to them they feel they have “succeeded”. I‟m not knocking it, of course, each to their own and I‟ve subscribed to a number of these beliefs myself, so I know how tempting they are. I began by following Monroe‟s technique in Journey‟s OotB. It worked for me but I could never achieve a “real-time zone” perception experience. I did manage years later, but only after having had hundreds of what could be called “astral” experiences. Note: I truly hope this doesn‟t sound presumptuous, but I‟m starting to be more careful about my use of mystical terminology. I still use it, where necessary, because that is what large numbers of people relate to, after reading the books and perhaps having had a number of initial experiences. But as my experience has grown, I now prefer using terminology that is more contemporary, because it tends to be aligned with actual non-physical reality, rather than mass beliefs about non-physical reality. Not in all cases, of course, but that does appear to be the general picture. The more I read of your situation, the more strongly I feel you need to start getting to grips with where you are at in the general perception scheme of things. Perceiving the real-time zone (as it is generally called) is simple because it‟s so familiar. What I‟d suggest is for you to resist the temptation to do this. Instead, think about widening your perception to incorporate the other areas of focus. It would be a mistake to think of them as a linear scale. Think of having lines of contact to all 4 areas of our system at the same time. They all come to you in parallel, and it‟s your choice which one you connect to. There are no barriers in consciousness. So, for example, it‟s not necessary for you to achieve success at, say, a “lower” level before you can get to the “higher” one. There are no higher or lower levels. What we perceive are areas of consciousness we have constructed for a particular purpose, i.e. to perform a particular role in the workings of our wider reality. These areas are not higher or lower, they are just there. We attach numbers to identify them like TV channels on a tuner. The numbers merely identify the channel, and they are in sequence simply because it makes logical sense. Say we have TV channel 1 to channel 50. Just because channel 1 could be viewed as being at the bottom doesn‟t reflect its worth as a channel. Likewise, Channel 50 is not necessarily any more worthy a channel than channel 1 simply because it is a “higher” number. To get to channel 5 we simply switch to channel 5. We don‟t have to watch channel 1, 2, 3 & 4 in sequence for some time first, before we “qualify” to switch to 5. I was confused over this for a while when I first started. I couldn‟t get to grips with where I was because, from reading Journey‟s OotB, I got the idea the being “out of body” bit had to come first as a kind of qualification stage. From the point of which I could then experience the locale thingies, as I thought of them at the time. People today often feel the only “proper” obe is a real- time zone experience and the rest is only a dream. They say “only” a dream, LOL. These people, of course, do not understand that all our physical reality is being created by our dreams. Pretty powerful stuff those dreams! The other one is where people say, “Oh, it‟s only imagination.” They are not realising, obviously, that our whole sense of objective thought rests on us having an imagination. As there are no barriers in consciousness, there is no separation either. We create notions of separation due to our beliefs. People feel they need to enact a “process” that they need to “follow” in order to become “adept”. They are all mere belief constructs. I read once of a person who believed we have all manner of “bodies”. He said we have an etheric body, an astral body, a mental body, and all kinds of other different bodies that were all roaming around the “astral planes”. This person was so taken by this belief construct he actually wrote a whole book on it. Loads of people still firmly believe they have an etheric body that “separates” from the physical. Again, these are all belief constructs. In reality, we are a point of consciousness and we create whatever we feel we need for our purposes. If people feel more secure in a “body” then a body they shall create. I no longer follow the focus numbers originally stipulated by Monroe. They are still valid, of course, and the original concept was brilliant. But it‟s far more complex than it needs to be and they are ever so confusing for beginners. But again, hats off to Monroe for his brilliant work. Loved your joke BTW, regarding lucidity. Still chuckling as I‟m typing. Junk all elaborate mechanisms; yes, I think you are outgrowing them. People think of the non- physical as a kind of remote place we have to “travel” to. So they develop some kind of mechanism perhaps to bridge the “gap”. There is no separation between them and us. Only the barriers we create in our thinking. I have them, you have them, and we all have them. It‟s darned frustrating for me because I realise all this, and yet I still have internal barriers! Okay, perhaps less than most, but clearing away the mental blocks is not an overnight process. I suppose it could be, but I don‟t believe it is possible, and so it isn‟t... Aaagh! Beliefs are incredibly powerful and shape our reality in ways we find difficult to accept. People find it much easier to believe in the notion of a “creator” a god, or whatever/whomever. Sounds much more believable to them than we created it all. God did not create us in his own image; we created the notion of a god so we could blame him for the mess! And what a flaming mess we made, quite frankly. But times really are set to change. You have set your definition of reality. The point at which you will accept it‟s a phenomenon or circumstance not merely stemming from yourself. Are you sure you really want this confirmation? Maybe a part of you does and another part of you doesn‟t. So you end up in limbo. The non-physical reality you perceive may be a representation of this. Not all of it. But maybe elements of conflict are woven into it. It‟s consciousness we perceive after all. I often wonder if people realise that. Perhaps they never really thought of it. Maybe they picture it‟s something like space. The space between planets I mean, out there, in space, that kind of thing. Nope, it‟s consciousness we are perceiving in all its forms. The physical we perceive is one form. What we label non-physical is another form. It‟s all just different manifestations of consciousness. Like the areas we perceive that we attach labels to. It‟s just another manifestation of consciousness we have formed to suit a particular purpose or to perform a particular function, for example, Transition Area. There is no “astral” as such, it is merely a belief construct that exists in the region of my-focus 2, along with each and every other belief construct, idea, myth, thought, emotion, etc., etc., ad- nauseum, that anyone either ever had, or ever will have; it‟s all lodged in our subjective consciousness area. Or the area of consciousness we have set aside to perform the function of holding all subjective reality pertaining to objective physical manifestation. In other words, my- focus 2 is our toy box, and my-focus 1 is our play area. When people were building this system, they had to create a mechanism that would channel the conscious energy in a particular way, a kind of supply-line of conscious energy if you like. (Note: the universe didn‟t come about by chance we built it.) The 4 areas of focus I described before is the supply line. Consciousness does not merely become manifest into a human being, for example. We all have our consciousness-energy supply lines (bio-energetic links) that connect to various constructs in the non-physical background. These constructs had to first be put into place before we could create the finished product, i.e. our entire physical realm. Every person has a bio-energetic link that connects to their physical brain via the various energy centres mystics usually call Chakras. That side of things people generally accept. People have created all manner of diagrams over the years and assigned these energy centres different colours and stuff. This is wonderful, because at least there is a region of common non-physical ground that people can largely agree upon. But what you don‟t hear too much about is where the other end of the link connects. All you typically see on the diagrams is some kind of mysterious energy flowing in from the top of the head, as if it comes in willy-nilly from nowhere. It doesn‟t, it is directed through a bio-energetic link. This link connects to the person at one end, and “plugs into” a conscious-energy source at the other. The necessary conscious energy doesn‟t just come from anywhere. What we did was create a specific area of consciousness that performs this connection and supply process. Everyone‟s link (everyone in this system I mean) “plugs into” the same area of consciousness, which I labelled my-focus 4. This is the area of consciousness where everyone‟s bio-energetic link terminates, i.e. plugs into their mind. What we call “mind” is nothing to do with the physical brain. Mind is an area of consciousness that we have constructed to serve the purpose of acting as the directing and/or controlling entity we call mind. In other words, “mind” is just another label we have attached to a particular area of consciousness, as we do, for example, with the term Transition Area. Ultimately, what I‟m trying to get across is these areas of consciousness are “the works” behind our system. They didn‟t just come about willy-nilly. It‟s not just some remote space that serves merely to enthral people, and create a never-ending source of speculative discussion. These areas of consciousness are part of our whole construction. They exist for specific purposes, to perform specific functions within our wider reality. In a building, for example, if you want light you flick a switch. If you want water, you turn on a tap. You don‟t see all the workings that sit behind the scenes, all the wires, the pipes, the girders and all that jazz. All these are normally hidden from view by pretty wall panels, ceilings and flooring. The physical is much the same. All the non-physical workings that go to servicing the demands of this physical reality are all in the background, and we build-up a pretty perspective for ourselves that is formed not from materials like wood and plaster obviously, but formed from beliefs. When we widen our perspective, what we are doing is stripping away all the pretty panels (belief constructs) in order to reveal the raw workings. HTH Yours, Frank 1105 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Relative Plane on: November 26, 2004, 14:22:17 Major Tom: A few more thoughts came to mind, which may be helpful either to you or to others. I‟ll just type as I think, so here goes: After studying this topic at length, fear and doubt are the biggest non-physical experience killers there are. Doubt I have chosen to retain to a small degree. I suppose it‟s just the way my mind works. Unless I can categorically confirm the truth of an experience, I‟m not happy with it. Which is a process that goes down well within the physical, but non-physical the doubt often gets in the way. Deep down I believe a little bit of doubt is a healthy stance to take. (New Age la la land was never my cup of tea!) So I have this way of analysing my perceptions frame by frame. It‟s slower doing it that way. But at least it keeps me firmly rooted in reality, which to me is all-important. There are an infinite number of physical-matter experience systems, but all work very similarly. Each system is composed of 4 basic parts. Each part is a particular manifestation of consciousness that is dedicated to performing specific tasks or functions. The 4 basic parts link seamlessly to create the overall structure of our system. We can view the areas of consciousness applicable to these parts. The easiest one for most people to view is the physical. After all, the creation of a physical realm is the end result of the process initiated by the other 3 parts, which are the ones that typically cause the most confusion. Non-physical reality is the “norm” for us. It‟s where we “live”. We create physical worlds so we can experience them. It should be fun, exciting, a definite adventure. Problem is, within this system, people lost track of their origins and began chasing their own tails. When you strip away all the belief constructs the setup is not all that difficult to understand. After all, we were knowledgeable of it before deciding to have this physical experience. “Exploring new terrain” is a notion allied to the belief construct of separateness. Yes, you are absolutely right; it causes people to fall back on all manner of rudimentary beliefs, and I know that feeling only too well. In my early years, I fought in all manner of non-physical wars, grappled with every kind of demon, and slayed dragons galore. Ha ha, how I chuckle about it now. But at the time, hmm, that was serious stuff I thought. The reason why Monroe‟s work was so brilliant, his later work I mean, is because he was the first person (to my knowledge) who went beyond having mere belief-construct incursions, and began perceiving the areas of consciousness relating to the actual structure of our system. “Astral projection” is a belief construct. When people project, what they perceive is a graphical representation of that belief construct. All the notions of astral planes and all notions of sub- divisions, etc., etc., they are all belief constructs. Devils and demons are belief constructs. Near Death Experience “past life reviews” are belief constructs. All religious beliefs, and such like, they too are all belief constructs, along with zillions of others. Every thought, every feeling, every emotion, every belief, every idea, and so on, ad infinitum, that has ever been and that ever will be, is held in an area of consciousness I labelled my-focus 2. It‟s like a humongous toy-box packed full of every possible variation of human subjective reality, which we have the option of bringing into objective reality, if we so choose. Well, that‟s the theory. Problem is, most people fail to realise they have a choice. This is where virtually all people (including myself at first) switch their focus of attention (by whatever means) and call it “astral projection” or “mental projection” or whatever variation of projection people happen to choose, when they have a non-physical perception experience that is not to do with the real-time zone. There was a recent post to this forum from a person who said they were having experiences that didn‟t appear to “fit” with the generally accepted norm (i.e. group-consensus construct). So the person in question attached the label “energetic obe”, which is a prime example of the way people attach all manner of labels to these experiences. Of course, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be different. Though all manner of problems do tend to come about, when one person or group claims that their differences are more “right” than everyone else‟s. However, what all these people invariably fail to realise is, in reality, all they are doing is perceiving graphical representations of their very own belief constructs within the SAME area of consciousness! There are all manner of groupings, such as singular consensus, group consensus, mass consensus, and so forth, when it comes to the determining of “astral projection” perception experiences. A mass consensus reality experience would be an action chain (the events these people initiate within my-focus area 2 are called Action Chains) based on belief constructs pertaining to mainstream religion, or mainstream political beliefs, for example. Group consensus experiences are similar to mass consensus but on a smaller scale; like of the kind you see on the Astral Pulse, where people subscribe to similar belief-constructs they may have read about in a number of books, and so forth. Individual consensus is where a person thinks of their action chains as being unique in some way, so they attach there own label(s). A person may write a book and describe the “astral planes” (in fact, a post such as this happened to come up today). People may read the book and something in it harmonises with them in some way. This, in effect, can cause them to subscribe to the same belief construct. Following which the circumstances, etc., of that construct will begin to bleed into their reality. Reason being, what they do, in effect, is accept a particular construct of subjective reality that is already lodged in my-focus area 2, and then they bring it into the objective reality area of my-focus 1. At which point, the reality of the construct in question can be objectively experienced. Problem is, people do this so naturally and so seamlessly, hardly anyone realises they are doing it. The result being, if enough people enact this process over the same construct, the originator of the construct will gain a “following” of “believers” who will “preach” to others of their “magical experiences” and encourage others to do the same… sound familiar to anyone? Each one of us is born instilled with every belief construct that has ever been and ever will be. All these constructs are already lodged within the area of my-focus 2, and we all have equal mental access to this area. Note: having mental access to this area, and perceiving the structure of it as a non-physical reality, are two completely different events. We all mentally access this area so naturally and so seamlessly, no one realises they are doing it. That is, of course, until a person learns to perceive the actual structure of this area, at which point they can see the various mental communications that take place. This is something of a revelation to say the least. Plus, it‟s a heck of a tricky mental balancing act to perform, and probably one of the most testing exercises in mental gymnastics ever devised, i.e. objectively observing subjective reality. (Well, most testing in our system let‟s say.) Individuals will only experience an infinitesimal fraction of possible belief constructs throughout their physical lifetime. When a person “subscribes” to a particular construct, the details of that construct “bleeds through” into that person‟s reality. All manner of influences can cause a person to subscribe to particular beliefs. Parents, books, magazines, mass media, and all that jazz. A person might develop opinions about a particular topic and, say, they chat with others about it. Given a little reinforcement, opinions can so very easily turn to beliefs - at which point they subscribe. Then, slowly but surely, the belief construct they subscribed to will bleed into their reality. As it does so, they will take these “bleed though” experiences as confirmation of their original beliefs, i.e. that they were “right” to think that way, and so on. Problem is, they just became a classic example of a walking talking, self-fulfilling prophecy. This is the reason why, for example, some people perceive all manner of demons and devils and all that jazz. Whereas, nowadays, I never come across anything even remotely like this. They don‟t exist to me, because, years ago, I cancelled my subscription to the “demons and devils” belief construct. Therefore, nothing about that construct can now possibly bleed into my reality. This process can work well with physical-realm phenomena. Say, half a dozen inventors get together to try to invent some widget. Each will adopt common beliefs about proposed widget-X then go off and study all manner of possibilities. What they are doing, in effect, is subscribing to the belief construct of the manifestation of the widget in question. The details of every widget that was ever manifested is held in my-focus 2. Therefore, what will happen is, slowly but surely, the details of the manifestation of that particular widget will bleed through into their objective reality. Which, once complete, the people in question will say they “invented”. The whole notion of “invention” is, of course, a belief construct. Like I say, the process works well within objective reality. Nothing would ever be “invented” without it for a start. Problems arise, however, when people apply this [objective] manifestation process to the non-physical, i.e. subjective reality, in their attempts to switch focus and view non-physical events. What happens is, rather than perceive the non-physical reality of the structure, they wallow in their own constructs about the non-physical reality of the structure. This problem repeatedly arises because people invariably fail to grasp the important differences between objective reality, and subjective reality. The overall reason why these kinds of faulty circumstances come about, is because people, in the main, exist in a world of Creative Apartheid. A world where people employ all manner of bizarre mental contortions in an effort to justify the false notion of separation from themselves, and the reality they create. On this forum (and on others I suppose) people have said many times, “We create our own reality”. Practically, however, people do not comprehend the full gravity of that statement. They pay lip-service to the notion, but in truth they hold it in mind as an ideal; while remaining confused as to how to gain the necessary degree of understanding to allow themselves to attain it. In their manner of thinking, they perceive themselves to be creating their own reality within the context of, for instance, getting a better job, or moving house, that kind of thing. Yes, those kinds of actions could be said to be creating one‟s reality. But all they are doing is merely skimming the surface. What has yet to dawn on people is the fact that we create ALL our reality! I said before this fact is so darned difficult for people to comprehend, they far rather subscribe to the notions of all manner of weird and wonderful God-like figures; said to be instilled with a seemingly infinite variety of magical powers, which they use to create universes, and so forth. But the reality is, there are no gods… we did it, all of us, we constructed it from the base- material we call consciousness. You see, again, that‟s why Monroe‟s work was so darned brilliant. Because he was the very first person (to my knowledge) who stepped outside the realm of the belief constructs and began to perceive the truth of the wider reality; as opposed to merely wallowing in the collective pool of subjective beliefs. What Monroe began to observe were the areas that form part of our system‟s construction. These areas are not belief constructs. They compose actual non-physical reality. HTH Yours, Frank 1104 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Brief RTZ projection this morning and a false awakening. on: November 30, 2004, 00:04:14 Ha ha, that had really had me chuckling. What an amazing awakening experience. Yours, Frank 1102 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Vibes on: November 30, 2004, 18:58:00 Fost500: When they used to happen with me it was like sitting on an out-of-balance spin dryer revolving at high speed. Yours, Frank 1101 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Soul Mate Vrs Soul Mate on: November 30, 2004, 23:09:01 Paradox: I really love women, and quite a few have captured my heart in the past. Every time I fell head over heels in love, I thought this time it will never end. But it did, and for all manner of reasons. I never really stopped loving any of them. It's just that times change, people change, circumstances change. Things just have a habit of moving on (and sometimes when you least expect it). I look back now with fondness at all the times I shared, and I look forward in anticipation of all the times I will share. I wrote out a cheque to a woman this afternoon and her first name was Anne-Marie. Oh, how it took me back. My first ever love, her first name was Anne-Marie. I can remember it now like it was yesterday. We were fifteen when we met and our whole lives revolved around each other for almost 3 years, which at that age seemed like forever! The day I discovered she had met someone else I felt my world had fallen apart. But I truly loved her, and could do nothing but wish her well. It took the rest of me a couple of weeks to catch up with that feeling, following which I became my usual self again. Most older guys (I'm 45) can relate to what you are feeling only too well. Virtually all of us have been in that position when we were younger. When you are young and in love, especially if it‟s the first time and particularly if circumstances are not going too well, it can make you feel extremely vulnerable. But you are at the stage in life where you are learning the basics. You are still emotionally insecure. I‟m not sure exactly how old you are but feelings of emotional insecurity, especially in matters to do with the opposite sex, is very normal when you are young. Young people develop at different rates too. It would appear, from what you say that she is perhaps a lot more "together" in an emotional sense than you. Remember, she is learning about her feelings and experimenting just as much as you are. Though I guess you feel you may have pulled the short straw on this occasion. The passage of time will eventually help you put it all down to experience. As you develop and get used to handling these types of powerful feelings, you will learn to be able to put it down to experience right away. Remember, we have all come here to experience physical life in all manner of ways. You have chosen to learn about all the various feelings and sensations of having a loving relationship, which is a very sweet thing to do. Unfortunately, you appear to have veered off that course a little, and have started to go down the road not of love, but of emotional dependency. If I were you, I would engage reverse gear pretty quick and get off that track. I hear what you say about the medium and past lives, and so forth. But to me no such convoluted explanation is necessary. The situation you find yourself in is ever so common, and is the reason why these kinds of commercial "mediums" notice it so quick. After all, this kind of emotional- life stuff is their bread and butter income! Boy meets girl, both fall in love; one moves away, meets someone else and leaves the other feeling stranded. As I say, virtually every guy you meet will have “been there” at some time or another (and every woman too, for that matter). In years to come perhaps you will find yourself being the one doing the, "moving away and meeting someone else". Again, experiencing our emotions and our sexuality is the very stuff of physical life, which we all do in various ways. On this occasion, you have chosen this particular way of experiencing, so be happy in yourself. Regarding the specifics of the relationship (if I may): Personally, the fact she met someone else would have given me a clear signal the relationship was over. I have no desire to burst your dream bubble, and please don't think I am saying this to upset you; I am merely expressing my opinion based on what you say in your post: you say she loves you, but to me she's just stringing you along and has locked both of you in a classic Love Triangle manoeuvre. Remember, she is experimenting with her emotions and sexuality just as you are, and this is just a classic: where you have either a guy playing off two women, or a woman playing off two guys. Either way it‟s a classic manoeuvre. I have never wanted to initiate anything like this personally, as I‟m a strictly one-on-one kind of person, but I have known a few people who have had experience of this kind of scenario, all of which ended disastrously. The other important point I would ask you to look at very carefully, is the fact that you said you both agreed beforehand the trip would be a “test” of your love. Well, I don‟t want this to sound harsh, but it would appear from what you say that she failed miserably. Not only that, all the way through your post you seem to display towards her a distinct lack of trust. Anyhow, as I say, I‟m not wanting to burst your bubble, so to speak. It‟s just that when I read your post certain thoughts came to mind that I considered might be helpful. Sometimes it‟s good to try to see things from a stranger‟s perspective. Best of luck, in however it may turn out! Yours, Frank 1100 Astral Chat / Welcome to Members Introductions! / Please welcome a critical but friendly voice on: December 05, 2004, 13:08:53 George: What I would respectfully suggest you do is before you begin deciding what experiences are, or are not, is to get (say) 5 years of hands-on experience under your belt first. People regularly come along expressing all manner of ideas they gained from books. I don't know what it is about this topic that brings out all these closet theorists. I mean, if the topic we were involved in here was motoring, and someone came on telling us what driving was all about after having read several books on the subject, everyone would say the obvious answer would be to get in a car and drive it first. :) If it helps, I can tell you right away your “working hypothesis” as you call it, is pretty near spot on. Just a couple of points are a little off: your use of the word “perception” I‟m assuming you mean sight; and where you say “brain” you should really be thinking in terms of mind (the two are in fact separate entities). But apart from that, you got it in one. However, despite your hole-in-one as it were, I would strongly suggest you simply let go of your preconceptions and learn how to look within yourself. Preconceptions just get in the way, and words are too far removed from non-physical reality to convey any real depth of meaning. While practising this art, you must be centred and calm, neutral in thought and emotion, whilst being in an overall condition of relaxed attentiveness. That is the optimum state. Based on what you say, you need also to start learning about the true relationship between mind and brain. The other aspect people ideally need to accept from early on is that reality manifests in all manner of forms depending on where those forms are being observed. So just because reality takes a particular form in one sense within the physical, does not necessarily mean any kind of valid comparison can be made between other kinds of forms that reality may happen to take within the non-physical. Non-physical reality is no stranger to us. After all, it‟s where we normally “live”. Yourself, along with most other people, only consider it to be “strange and unprecedented” because people choose to take refuge in smaller identities that occupy well-defined physical roles. Problem is most people still consider their perception is viewing their physical reality, instead of actually creating it. Fortunately, however, times are a changing so to speak. Yours, Frank 1099 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Does alcohol effect projection on: December 05, 2004, 13:31:29 Boats: In my experience, a definite yes, and I no-longer drink the stuff. Not that I ever drank that much anyway but I have had my moments! But even 2 or 3 glasses of wine over the course of an evening would seriously impair my projection abilities the next morning. I would only drink socially about once a week on average, so it didn't hamper my progress all that much. I stopped doing it mainly because it was just some dumb social habit I'd got into. One day I thought, this is weird, every now and again I get together with a bunch of friends, we have a chat and administer poison to ourselves. I saw myself doing it and thought how ridiculous, and I haven't touched a drop since. Yours, Frank 1098 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / What is the scientific theory behind F10/F12--beyond on: December 05, 2004, 13:52:32 SP: I do not quite understand your “science” question but the last paragraph of your post hits on an important aspect that people find hard to get to grips with. It‟s where you say, “… it seems like when I try to imagine myself descending too much then I remain too preoccupied on the thought itself and I get nowhere”. Intense beauty and intense pleasure are always gratuitous, and are revealed only to senses that are not straining. Our nerves are not muscles! To push them is to reduce their efficiency. What you say serves as a classic example of this. I have said ever so many times on this forum that projection is a natural process, but often we need a little metaphysical imagery just to kick-start the process. First, you create the imagery, and then you just let it flow along naturally while allowing yourself to drift with it. The moment you try to force it, that‟s when the experience starts leaving you. So, yes, I would say you are making a good start. Yours, Frank 1097 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE Problem on: December 05, 2004, 14:01:39 TNM: Just a thought, have you tried it the other way around, that is, trying it while you are coming awake? Try coming awake very slowly and practising early morning instead of at night. Personally, I find it much easier this way around. Yours, Frank 1096 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Can anyone poke me in the right direction? on: December 05, 2004, 14:05:06 Hello: Lot's of people get to this stage and find they get stuck. Fear, apprehension, and so on is usually at the cause. Fear of letting go, and all that. It creates tension and breaks the state. Yours, Frank 1095 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / New to all of this... on: December 05, 2004, 14:09:35 Tool: I would suggest you make good use of the Search facilty for a week or two, just to bring you up to speed on the basics. Also, take a look through the Book Review section. Yours, Frank 1094 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Finally did it! on: December 05, 2004, 14:32:34 Yes, I agree. People get far too hung up on the "body" thing in my opinion. We are a point of consciousness and have the ability to create a "body" or not. If you feel more secure with a body then simply create one. Why not go the whole hog and create a matching "silver chord" to go with it. LOL Myself, as I've said a number of times before, I'm too busy exploring to worry about what "body" I'm creating. Yours, Frank 1093 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / What is the scientific theory behind F10/F12--beyond on: December 06, 2004, 13:51:06 SP: I hear what you are saying but experience has taught me that it is a mistake to think of the process in such physical terms. Our waking consciousness “shuts down” through habit. There is no “separation” in consciousness. The only barriers that exist between Here and There are the ones that we create for ourselves. In the past, people have chosen to live their physical experience encased in what you might call a smaller identity, while living out well-defined roles. Nowadays, however, people are seeking to break down those habit-formed barriers and take on a wider sense of identity. This process is entirely mental, there is nothing physical involved. The brain is simply a kind of central processing unit that runs all the physical processes in the body. No thinking goes on in the brain; no memories are stored there, etc. All those kinds of mental faculties are products of the mind. HTH Yours, Frank 1092 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Help needed on: December 06, 2004, 14:16:17 Christyl: It sounds to me like you are trying way too hard. As you say in your signature: open your heart and your mind, and give up any preconceived ideas about what is real. That's very good advice. Especially as people normally end up tripping over their own preconceptions. You have a preconception that you have to reach a "vibrational state". What if you are one of these people who never experience any kind of vibrations? Myself, I used to but haven't experienced anything other than a light buzzing feeling for ages, and I project now more than I ever have! Two years ago, a part of you that you would normally suppress, you allowed to surface. As a result, it gave you a very moving experience. Okay, so now I have a couple of questions for you. At the time of this original experience, did you have to induce this state? And, did you use any kind of method or technique to experience this state? Yours, Frank 1091 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / What is the scientific theory behind F10/F12--beyond on: December 06, 2004, 18:34:44 Donal: In answer to your question (you are a fairly new member so you obviously do not realise) but I've said many times before on the forum that I do not do any "energy work" of the kind you read about in Astral Dynamics, for example. So I really have no idea what a "raised Kundalini state" is. In the process of my work, I can obviously feel various bodily energy centres become more active. But this is not something I ever dwell upon. Out of curiosity, I did once go through a phase of purposely activating these areas to feel what it was like. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think doing this is more aligned to traditional mysticism. Which wouldn't surprise me as Bob Bruce openly describes himself as a mystic. I suppose whichever line of study you take, it all leads to the same place at the end of the day. It's just that my origins are what you might call, Monroe School. Whereas Bob Bruce's origins appear to be more Eastern Traditional. Yours, Frank 1089 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / is this meant to happen? on: December 07, 2004, 15:49:42 Hello: It is a sign that you are activating various energy centres around the body. I won't go into detail because ever so much info is published about "chakras" and the like. A quick websearch will throw up all manner of info. Though, in my experience, I found it best not to take too literally what is published for general human consumption, as it were. But it's ideal as a rough guide for starters. When you begin activating these centres, you can get sensations of tingling, or buzzing or vibration sensations. As you become more practised at doing it, you will start to sense subtle differences between different sensations, and will begin to sense the feelings and characteristics of each energy centre. Each of the main energy centres has a colour associated with it. In the build-up to projection I find there is always a definite interaction between my yellow and purple. This culminates in a whole-body tingling sensation coupled with a feeling of bodily weightlessness. In the old mystical works certain colours have been associated with spiritual development (as they called it). Colours notably the purple and the blue. But when I went through a phase of energising my bodily energy centres, I found I could project equally well regardless of which centre I concentrated upon. From what you say I can't gauge how close you might be to projecting in an exact sense. But feeling these kinds of sensations is a definite step towards it. HTH Yours, Frank 1088 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / What is the scientific theory behind F10/F12--beyond on: December 07, 2004, 18:34:48 SP: Every new arrival undergoes a period of transition. This transition phase is necessary because it takes a while for people to integrate themselves within objective reality. The opposite is also the case in that, after a long period of immersion within objective reality, following disengagement, there is a period of readjustment needed in order that a person can begin living within subjective reality, once again. However, by puberty (or thereabouts) 99.9% of people have chosen to integrate themselves as fully as possible within objective reality. What we do is place a distinct mental barrier between Here and There, to the extent where we shut ourselves off more or less completely with our subjective aspects, and concentrate our attention almost exclusively on our objective aspects. We still interact with our subjective reality, but we do so in what we call our dreamstate. Most people barely remember their dreams and shrug them off as mere mental meanderings. Our imagination is another strong link we have with subjective reality, which people shut off to a large degree by continually dismissing it as “unreal”. As I say, by puberty, people have largely aligned themselves to the basic mass belief constructs of our society. (Note: when I talk of society, in this context I mean western or western-style society generally.) One of the mass belief constructs we have is that adults (though “acceptable” for children) who go around hearing voices “in the head” and seeing things that “aren‟t there” and such like, are nut-cases who should be locked up for their own good. So most people get the message of what is accepted and what is not, early on in their lives; mainly through parental reinforcement, but also through schooling, and other forms of mass-belief indoctrination systems such as television. Mainstream religion plays an interesting role in that it exploits peoples‟ wanting to recognise their wider reality, but does so in a way that actually suppresses and controls it at the same time; thus locking people into a kind of spiritual double bind, which is all very mind-numbing stuff (to say the least). Anyhow, times are a changing, as they say. Which means these days; progressively more people are “coming awake” so to speak, and allowing certain aspects or elements of their subjective- reality awareness to come into their objective existence… but only under certain circumstances. For example, people might start keeping what is commonly called a “dream diary”. Basically, what they are saying to themselves is, “Under certain circumstances, I will allow a portion of my subjective reality, to bleed-through into my objective-reality awareness, so I can write about it.” The same basic principle applies to any method or technique, such as meditation, or energy- work, for example. Essentially, what the person is doing in these exercises is setting down the terms and conditions, so to speak, under which they will “allow” a certain aspect of their subjective self to bleed-through into their objective awareness. As I say, there are no barriers within consciousness, only those that we create for our purposes. Most people create barriers early on in their lives in order that they may comply with socially accepted physical norms. But these barriers can be removed by the same act of will that constructed them in the first place. I have been engaged in this topic 20-odd years, and if someone were to pin me down on which single aspect would be most beneficial for beginners, in my experience it wouldn‟t be a method or technique, as such, it would be that of acceptance. And the other most important aspect to my mind is trust. But acceptance is the key to all of this IMO. A person has to accept their wider reality; allow it back into their lives and greet it like a long lost friend. Then simply do as you suggest, i.e. go with the flow of that and observe the changes in your perception. Unfortunately, many people are in the position where they feel they have tried every method or technique going, yet still haven‟t achieved any worthwhile effects. In which case, I would say chances are virtually certain they have an underlying acceptance problem. It‟s not the actual technique in itself that causes a person to project. Projection is a natural process, but one that can often take a little meta-physical imagery, wrapped up in a kind of method or technique, to kick- start the natural chain of events. But pre-requisite to every technique or method, is that it must be performed on a solid basis of acceptance. Because without having that acceptance, whatever you try is just not going to work. HTH Yours, Frank PS Potatis: thank you for that wonderfully kind comment. Yes, I am in the process of writing a book which I hope to publish in Spring 2005. 1087 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Relative Plane on: December 07, 2004, 22:25:42 TJ: Terminology at times can be confusing, I admit. I use the term “consciousness” to describe the Base-Material from which everything is constructed. But, as human beings, we also use this word to describe the feeling of being conscious. This base material is what you might call the ultimate element. It is a material that, no matter how great you magnify it, you see that it is made up of nothing else but itself. Conventional science has brought itself to theorising as to its existence. But to give you an idea of what I mean, consider the following: magnify a substance and you see it is made up of all manner of chemicals (say). Magnify it further, and you see these chemicals are made up of different elements. Magnify further still and you see that all these elements are made up of what we call atoms. Magnify yet further, and you see that atoms themselves are made up of even smaller particles. Now, eventually, you reach a point where you come to what I call Base Material. It is a substance that, no matter how much you magnify it, you see that it is made up of nothing but itself. Looking backwards along the magnification route, you see that Base Material ultimately forms every physical and non-physical thing in our system. Scientists once thought that atoms took on this role (in the physical realm that is, as they haven‟t yet acknowledged fully the non-physical). But then they discovered that atoms themselves were made from even smaller particles. Science will (eventually) discover that all the various layers of ever-smaller particles are ultimately formed from Base Material. It is tempting to think in terms of a “source” and I can say everything that is, in our system, was created by us from this Base Material. Plus, from what I can see, it is the source of every other physical realm I have visited within our system. I‟ve visited around a hundred-odd other physical realms but the actual number could possibly be infinite. So as you can see, I‟m not even scratching the surface. But from people I have met from other systems, with a wider degree of awareness than I have, they say that basically my thinking is along the right lines, i.e. that it follows along the lines of their understanding as well. From what I have seen of what we would call primitive societies in our system, they tend to follow along much the same evolutionary path as we did. The width of their focus is very narrow, so they have a limited understanding of their surroundings, with very basic technology, flint axes, living in caves, that kind of thing. If you shift further up the scale, you get the people who have a much wider mental focus than we have. This has allowed them to create what we would call advanced technology. One of the benefits open to them (which we are set to have this century) is they can basically travel between the various timelines within our system. This is much the same as what I am doing now, only the big difference with them is they can do it in a physical sense, not just in a purely mental sense as I do. In other words, they don‟t just switch their mental focus, they switch mental focus and their physical self literally goes with them! From my experience of interacting with these people, which as I say is quite limited in the wider scheme of things, it would appear they are still manipulating or creating forms out of the very same Base Material as we do. The main difference being, their wider awareness of physical and non-physical reality has enabled them to create all manner of different types of forms, different materials, different power-generation and transportation techniques, and so forth. But ultimately, as I say, everything they create or construct is made from the very same Base Material. Of course, this begs the question of where Base Material comes from. The short and simple answer is I haven‟t yet come across anyone in our system who knows. I have it on good authority that there are an extremely large number, possibly even an infinite number, of other systems. But to my knowledge, my explorations thus far have been contained within our system. Problem is, even if you would think that there might be a giant emitter somewhere of Base Material. Something must surely be supplying that emitter. So where do these supplies come form? Even if there is a “creator” then who or what creates the creators? In a sense, it‟s like the age-old question of, Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodies? I just think the whole creation machine has been in operation for SO darned long that no one really knows, or could ever possibly know, how it all began. I mean, when you look at the structure of our system, in terms of system creation it‟s all what you might call bog standard. All you need do is think of it as a kind of civil engineering project, only on a much larger scale. In other words, in the wider scheme of things, it‟s all fairly straightforward. I know our ancestors were a little in awe, to the extent they thought only some God could be capable of creating a planet or a universe. But no, our capacity for creation goes way beyond double-decker buses and sliced bread. If you think of it seriously for a moment: there are an infinite (or near infinite) number of different timelines in our system; and each timeline is an inhabited planet sitting in its own universe; and if there are an infinite (or near infinite) number of other systems... could any one person actually hold an awareness of ALL of it? Within my current perception and understanding, and given the restrictions of communicating through language, I just cannot see how such a thing could be possible. But, as always, I keep an open mind. :) Yours, Frank 1086 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Learning Astral Projection with the BrainWave Generator on: December 07, 2004, 22:34:12 Brian: Hope you don't mind but I made this a sticky post as it could well have a lot of appeal. Yours, Frank 1085 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Is this a new kind of projection?? on: December 07, 2004, 22:40:15 Hello: Sounds to me like a lucid dream experience. You are technically "out of body" as these days the term has come to mean any experience where you find yourself mentally focussed anywhere but for the physical. But as for discovering a new kind of projection experience, from what you describe the short answer is, no. But keep trying and who knows, one day you may discover something no one else has. Yours, Frank 1084 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Wave 1 and general Phasing questions on: December 08, 2004, 00:30:46 TJ: Forgive the delay in replying but I‟ve been giving this a lot of thought recently. You see, since writing the original post, I have come to realise that I automatically engage my physical senses within the rundown to a higher extent that possibly most people might. So I‟m thinking now that perhaps I should have dwelt on this aspect more in my original post. The problems you highlight in your sections 1, 2 & 4, I believe have the same cause and therefore the same solution. What I have to say also touches on what Sarah advises in her reply. In my original postings, I do say for you not to get too carried away with the visualisation aspect. All you need to do is create the bare structure. Remember, you are in an environment where thoughts become things, so if you start visualising to a great extent then this can cause all kinds of unexpected problems. For example, parts of the scenery you create may suddenly begin taking on a life of their own, and that kind of thing. So keeping it all fairly abstract avoids many of the potential problems. Now, when you create a scenario, you need to engage all your physical senses. And this is the aspect I perhaps should have placed more emphasis on in my original post. Because I realise now that I automatically engage my physical senses to a high degree, and I rather assumed, without really thinking about it, that other people were basically the same. And it appears that they are not. When you create the structure of your rundown, you only need to create just enough detail to engage your senses. No more and no less. In other words, you need to see your immediate surroundings, smell the flowers, feel the cool breeze on your skin, hear the birds singing, and so forth. But you don‟t want to create something too detailed that you get lost in the creation of it! For example, when I say “hear the birds singing” I don‟t mean for you to create a line of trees full of nesting starlings, and all the mummy birds are keeping the eggs warm while all the daddy birds are catching the worms, and so forth. All I mean is, just imagine somewhere in the distance you can hear birds singing and the sound of that is drifting over to you from somewhere. In other words, you hear the sound without creating all the rest of the scenario. So, like I say, just enough to engage the action of your senses within you. The key aspect is to engage your physical senses, because this aspect is what makes it work. Engaging your physical senses within you, is what tends to have the effect of focusing your attention inwards. So you need enough detail to engage all your senses, no more and no less. You‟ll find, I am sure, that the more you engage your physical senses within the rundown, the more easily you will find it maintaining a first-person perspective. This is what you should be aiming to maintain. I have experimented with all manner of mental rundowns since my beginning with the Wave-1 CD. What I found was the success of any rundown was dependant on the degree to which I could engage the experiencing of my physical senses within the rundown. As I say, I do believe that the problems you highlight in your sections 1, 2 & 4 are caused by your failing to engage your senses to the requisite degree. It does take practice, I admit. Perhaps what you might want to try doing is going through a rundown where you mainly concentrate on just one sense only. Once you get the hang of that, then switch to another sense, and then another, and so forth, until you are familiar with bringing each sense into the forefront of your awareness. You will probably find you are stronger on some senses than others. With me, I am very visual, but my other senses are quite strong as well. Once you have practiced using individual senses, start going through your rundown using pairs of senses and gradually work through to the point where you can handle all five at once. At which point you cannot help but be in a solid first- person perspective. As regards your problem highlighted in your section 3: I believe you are taking this too literally in a physical sense. You should be thinking more in terms of entering a mental space within you, not thinking of moving upwards in terms of physical space. Like, imagining anything above your physical head or anything like that. The place where you go is upwards into the expanse of your mind, not up in the sense of physically upwards. The good news is, regarding your focus 10 experiences, you are absolutely right on track. Focus 10 is exactly like where your attention is focussed elsewhere to the extent where you are not thinking of your physical body at all. Of course, the moment you think about it, you instantly become aware of it again. At which point you realise that a moment ago you weren‟t feeling it, and then the realisation dawns that you just broke the state you worked so hard to get into in the first place. Problem is, a person cannot actively not-think of the physical. Because the more you try to not- think about it, the more you think about it, and the more you think about it, the more your attention is captured by it. Like, if someone is lying down and they think, “I wonder if my physical is relaxed yet?” Instantly they are snapped out of whatever mental state they had previously achieved, and the physical body comes to the forefront of their awareness again. The only way around this is to focus away from the physical, and concentrate on something else to the point where it captures your focus of attention. That‟s the reason for engaging your physical senses within you, during the rundown, because doing that greatly helps to hold your attention to the degree necessary to capture your attention and hold your focus. The physical grounds us to a high degree. In other words, it commands our attention and holds our focus like a powerful magnet. If you have two magnets, one powerful and the other weak, and you place a piece of iron at the centre of them. The iron will go in the direction of the stronger pull. Imagine your focus of attention as that piece of iron. At the moment, your physical is that strong magnet. What you need to do is weaken the pull of the physical by allowing it to relax, i.e. shutting down your outer senses. This weakens the attraction of being in the physical. After all, what is there to focus on but the backs of your eyelids. What you do next is create a more interesting set of circumstances within you, i.e. your mental rundown, which will attract your focus of attention. What you do, in effect, is present your focus of attention with a choice between either 1) staring at the backs of your eyelids or, 2) gravitating towards this engaging scenario “upstairs”. HTH, and apologies again for the delay in replying. If you have any further points you wish to put to me then please do so. All the best, Frank 1083 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Relative Plane on: December 08, 2004, 17:13:10 Douglas: The word “system” has two connotations here. When I say “our system” I mean the entirety of all that is within our system in the wider sense. This would include all the different planet-earth timelines, as well as our own. Each timeline terminates, if you like, within the region of my-focus area 4. Traditionally, however, the phrase “our system” would only include our planet together with which we see as being our physical solar system. For the sake of the discussion, let‟s say there are just ten basic timelines. So each of these ten timelines is a physical planet Earth-style system. In other words, you have a habitable planet populated by people in a physical sense, just as we are. They have a solar system together with a sun that powers it all. In other words, a single planet, populated by people, hanging out in space with a load of other planets and stars, and a sun giving a natural cycle of night and day. This is what you might call the bog-standard universe model, i.e. the motoring equivalent of a Ford Escort. It could well be that somewhere along the line; people have constructed modifications and/or enhancements to this basic model to include, say, a number of populated planets within the same minor system. I have not found any actual evidence of that yet, but as I stressed in my previous post and I do so again here, my explorations thus far have not even scratched the surface. There are an ENORMOUS number of timelines and I personally have explored only about a hundred and fifty. Also, regarding the possibility of other populated planets within our own minor system, again I have no evidence that would suggest there are. As far as I am aware, our system is a bog- standard model. :) Now, each minor system or timeline is “separated” from one another due to the fact that it is on a different, what you might call, time-frequency. I put the word separate in double quotes because each minor system is not separate in terms of physical space. But separate in terms of what we would describe as time. It‟s like if you were standing in an area of physical space, contained within that area would be loads of different radio frequencies all occupying that same space. Using a radio receiver, we can tune-into whichever radio frequency we want to listen to. Like, if we want to tune into Radio 2 after listening to Radio 1, we don‟t have to go anywhere, we just stay where we are and retune the dial. Because all the various frequencies are there, in the same place. A similar principle applies with minor systems. They are all basically sitting in the same place, but each one is on a different time frequency. By using our mind, we are able to “tune in” to different timelines. Which is basically what Monroe discovered and what I have managed to expand upon and clarify further. Also, you may have read in another post just recently where I said that I condensed Monroe‟s original focus levels into 4 basic areas which I labelled focus numbers 1 to 4. Now, taking our example of a major system composed of ten timelines or minor systems: each minor system would have its own Focus-1, obviously, as Focus-1 is the physical; plus its own focus areas two and three… but is connected to the common area of Focus 4. Note: Focus-4 is where all the different timelines in a system “connect” so to speak. So to recap our example: we have ten minor systems, which are composed of ten Focus area 1‟s, ten Focus area 2‟s, ten Focus area 3‟s; together with one common Focus area 4 that connects them all. Think of encasing all of this in one sphere and you have “a system” but in a wider sense of it being a major system, not a minor one. Practically, however, within our major system, there are possibly an infinite number of timelines or minor systems. If it‟s not infinite then it is a HUGE number put it that way. And that‟s just our system. It is said there are an infinite number of other (major) systems. If that is the case then the numbers are just so huge they become meaningless. If there are other major systems then all manner of questions come to mind, like, do they operate completely autonomously, or are they all connected in some way? Are they all constructed along the lines of the basic 4-Focus area model, or are they radically different? Do the people look like us? Together with a zillion and one other questions, I‟d dearly love to have the answers to. Anyhow, in the meantime, as always, I‟m keeping an open mind. In answer to your final point, yes, we are also constructed from Base Material. As everything within our major system, as far as I can tell, whether it be physical or non-physical, is ultimately made from it. Think of Base Material as a kind of consciousness, only consciousness in its rawest possible form. Yours, Frank 1082 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Wave 1 and general Phasing questions on: December 08, 2004, 21:01:56 Matt: Thank you for your kind comments. I think what I'll do is make this a sticky for now in this forum, and see if any further questions come up. Then I'll move it to the Sticky Thread forum with my original post so it's all in one. Yours, Frank 1081 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / What Is This connection? It's purpose? on: December 11, 2004, 17:25:08 Kate: What an amazing story and thank you for sharing it. Before saying anything, I just want you to know that I have always enjoyed very much being in the company of women. In fact, in my life I have found it far easier getting along with women than I have with men. People have said I am the very definition of the phrase “incurable romantic”. But to me I just love women. With men, I find all the petty ego-tripping and emotional frailty a big turn off. There have been a few exceptions to this of course, but it is true that I‟ve always had more women friends than men friends. Unfortunately, it sounds like the two of you were going through something of an emotional upheaval when you met. Perhaps I am wrong, but it does sound like you were both entering into a kind of escapism. What you say would have made a beautiful storybook romance; two people hopping on this wild ride of fantasy, culminating in a veritable explosion of physical passion. It‟s getting me going just thinking about it while typing! I think you hit on it though where you say you became close but, “as far as typed words can get close.” I do think there has been a strong element of wishful thinking on both sides. Words, at the end of the day are just that. We use words to describe actions. So unless words are backed up with actual action, they are useless. Words, in instances such as these, have precious little to offer in themselves. In my view, what you have done is fallen in love with the idea of falling in love with this man. As opposed to actually falling in love with this man directly. And it sounds to me very much like he has done basically the same as you. Rather than going down this road yet further, what I seriously believe you should be doing is injecting a large dose of realism into the equation and achieve a more solid grounding for yourself. Don‟t get me wrong, falling in love is one of the most wonderful feelings in the physical world. As I‟m sitting here typing, all the glorious memories of the times when I fell in love come flooding into my awareness. But in the midst of all these kinds of feelings, it is ever so easy to lose your basis! As such, I think what you seriously need to do is detach your thinking from what your emotions are communicating. Do this so you can look at the situation more objectively, i.e. mentally stand back from it and view the situation as if from a short distance away. I wondered if you knew what each other looked like before you met? I don‟t mean this to sound harsh, but perhaps the problem boils down to the fact that, despite everything, you didn‟t match up to his idea of physical attractiveness. I know this sounds a bit stoneage-caveman, but men do place “physical attractiveness” or rather their idea of physical attractiveness at (or very close to) the top of their list, so to speak. Whether that‟s the reason or not I don‟t know. But it strikes me as odd that despite everything the two of you said previously, there was no great explosion of physical activity as regards your feelings for one another. But in a way that harps back to what I said about the two of you falling in love with the idea as opposed to the actuality. To my mind, either love works or it doesn‟t. If two people don‟t have that certain “spark” in the first place then no amount of computer keyboarding and telephone texting can make up for it. In a way, you took a 50-50 gamble that, as unfortunate as it may appear, didn‟t pay off. Please don‟t think I‟m being critical, not a bit. I‟d have done the same, and what you said in the beginning sounds really exciting. To become so passionate over one another is lovely. But in a way, it was a kind of virtual experience, not an actual one. You could say it was kind of like a computer simulation of the real thing. Problem is now you have “invested” a load of feeling energy to the extent where you can‟t simply walk away from it. But to me that is precisely what you should do. You took a chance and it didn‟t work. It would have been wonderful… had it come about. Like I say, it‟s the stuff from which storybook romances are made, and there is no shame in taking a chance. After all, life is there to be lived, to be experienced. Exploring our emotions and our sexuality is the very stuff from which physical life is made. You say you‟ve had communications from spirit about continuing. But I think that is your own wishful thinking coming into play. It may be the case, (and I am placing great stress here on the word “may”) that the person in question is a parallel manifestation of your wider self. But the chances of that are slim, and even so, it still doesn‟t mean you are going to properly fall in love and live together for ever after. I really do believe you should ground yourself more in the physical. For instance, you ask the question of why this man has detached himself. Well, if I may say, the obvious answer surely is to ask him. If he can‟t just be forthright and honest with you, i.e. give straight answers to straight questions, then he‟s definitely not worth bothering with IMO. All the best, Frank 1076 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Projection (of course) on: December 14, 2004, 00:57:20 Hello: If it helps, as I've said a number of times on this forum: I never engage in any kind of meditation or energy-work yet I can project with little difficulty, provided my physical body is in a fairly relaxed state. So I do virtually all my work in the morning following sleep. You might want to explore meditation and/or energy-work techniques, as you never know what's going to work for you until you try it. But there is no rule that says you have to, like, if you don't meditate then you can't obe. I did go through a phase myself of activating various bodily energy centres. This can give you some really way-out sensations that are great to experience. Yours, Frank 1074 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Dragons, dragon souls on: December 14, 2004, 17:07:52 Douglas, ha ha, I did the same. Ultimately, I guess there is nothing wrong with people exploring the realms of creative imagination. The only problems arise, as far as I can tell, is when people start believing in it as something other than creative fantasy. You see this a lot on the PSD forum where people seriously believe they are being "attacked" by "negs". At least on the whole the "drags" appear relatively harmless, lol. I guess in hindsight we'll be able to tell whether these kinds of fads were just an idle distraction, or a necessary part of the process. They do appear, at least on the surface, to be opening young people's minds to the idea of their inner self. But I know what you mean. Many demonstrate the product of having too much information, coupled with too little understanding. :) Yours, Frank 1071 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Kryon: The Truth About DNA on: December 15, 2004, 17:03:19 Hello: I've read a number of these kinds of channelings and they all appear to have one big thing missing: detail. As an aside, doesn't anyone else let out a hearty chuckle at the names of some of these people, like, "I am Kryon of magnetic service". What the heck is that supposed to mean? And why can't these people just have normal names like Bill or John? It's all very well them coming here and telling us where we going wrong. Anyone can do that! What I (for one) would like to hear Mr Kryon tell us, in exact terms, is precisely what we need to actually DO in order to stop making the errors he seems content to rub our collective noses in. I was encouraged for a second or two when I read the line, "So what's it all about, Kryon, you might ask?" Reason being, that precise question had been in my mind from the first paragraph. But he merely carried on rambling. He tells us he is going to lay it on the line, then opens with, "Here's the first metaphor of the day:" Huh? He makes the valid point that most people are not scientists. But some people are scientists who I am sure would welcome such detail. So why not speak in metaphor for people less scientifically inclined, and speak in scientific terms for the rest? This would appear the obvious solution. Until one of these channelings comes up with actual hands-on, nitty-gritty detail, rather than speak in largely unnecessary metaphor, to my mind I can only regard them as basically nothing more than a modern-day equivalent of Moses coming down from the mount. In the old days they had Moses, et al, telling them where they were all going wrong, and today we have Kryon from magnetic service, lol. Yours, Frank 1069 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / spirit guides=useless on: December 15, 2004, 21:17:31 Stephen: I edited the post of profanities, must have been at the very same time you were composing your reply to it, as your reply was definitely not present at the time of my editing. If I have caused you confusion and/or embarrasement then I sincerely apologise. Could I also use this post as an opportunity to make clear to the membership, that your responses must be in accordance with our published Acceptable Use Policy. Virtually all of you realise this, I know, but we still have a few members who think this policy does not apply to them. Yours, Frank 1068 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Good place for spiritual development on: December 15, 2004, 21:35:57 Ha ha, I got it now. I'm way out in the sticks and only have dial-up. The front page takes a little while to load in stages. The moment the "Forum" button appeared I kept clicking on it each time. Now, I left the front page to load further and sure enough, a "Chat" button appeared. :) Yours, Frank 1067 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Good place for spiritual development on: December 15, 2004, 22:15:14 Kate: Thanks again, I've worked it out now! Managed to login but kept accidentally logging out. It's a bit quiet at the mo' but will popin later. I've never been in a chatroom before... it's kinda spooky, lol. Yours, Frank 1066 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Chakras on: December 16, 2004, 07:48:54 Unsafe? LOL I went through a phase of activating the various bodily energy centres that mystics typically call Chakras. Had a whale of a time, it's immense fun. Although I'm not at all into the energy-work side of things, I still do activate these centres (purposely) now and again for the delightfully whacky feelings they give. I say purposely because I do feel various centres come alive during my projection practice. But they seem to come alive far more when you concentrate on individual centres specifically. My favourites tend to be the green followed by the yellow. Yours, Frank 1061 Dreams / Welcome to Dreams! / No Dreams on: December 17, 2004, 14:37:20 Hello: Many people live their physical lives in a very narrow field of mental focus. This closes down their access to subjective information such as dreams. To widen your focus, what I would suggest you try are some of the basic energy-work excercises that Bob Bruce talks about. Plus, incorporate some kind of creative visualisation work; though the energy-work excercises do incorporate an element of this, but can be expanded upon once you start getting into it more. Basically, it's no use keep banging your head against the same brick wall. If you are not making progress in one direction then simply try another. Yours, Frank 1060 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Relative Plane on: December 18, 2004, 23:11:42 Tombo: Buddhism is a construct along with many other boxed sets of beliefs. What people do is box what they believe a wider reality entails, into confines they think they can understand. Which is all very well, I‟m not knocking it. But do realise in doing that a person lends themselves open to experiencing quite severe distortions in translation. One of the most common distortions is that of “a creator”. The key, of course, is simply to view the wider reality directly, and without preconceptions of what you think that wider reality is. Which, in itself, is a heck of a challenge for most people as they read all the books and, in doing so, they gain what you might call a solid notion of “what to expect”. Unfortunately, “what to expect” is a powerful construct that forms the person‟s reality and generally leads them to another equally powerful construct called, “I‟m right”. Understand, that everything physical is formed from constructs that we create as part of The Game. Now, what I am about to say may well resonate with mystical teachings in some way or other. Thing is, there is only one absolute reality at the core of all that is. The only difference, really, is how explorers such as myself describe that reality. With me, as I have said many times on this forum, I am not all that “well read” when it comes to this topic. This I now feel quite fortunate about, because it has helped me a lot. We are a point of consciousness. But don‟t get the idea we are just some point of nothing, floating in an eternal Void somewhere. The problem I am finding is, the closer I get to the core, the more difficult it becomes to describe the reality in words. Anyhow, there are two basic elements at Source, 1) The Cosmic Song and, 2) The Eternal Dance. Imagine everything of all that is, constantly entwined in a huge mass of perpetual motion. Every colour, every aspect every construct, every notion, just everything of all that is, constantly entwined in motion... and each of us forms a tiny part of that. Within the Dance, there are an infinite number of levels, or areas, or places, and each place has its own “song”. You might perceive one area, say; it could be a mass of whirling colours and abstract shapes. This visual scene may be accompanied by a sound, like, a near infinite number of chattering monkeys, coupled with the screeching of an equally huge number of birds. There are no actual monkeys or birds, of course, I‟m simply using this to try to describe what it may sound like. As you focus in on a particular area, you find what was entirely abstract before starts taking on particular definitions. As you do so, the sound of the Song changes. The closer in you go the more definition you perceive. Eventually you can go from what was originally a swirling cloud of colour, say, and you travel inwards to find an entire physical universe. All of consciousness is in a constant state of unfolding. This perpetually unfolding process ultimately creates the Eternal Dance. It is the sum of every experience that ever is/was/will. Plus, the summation of every minor Song of each and every area, forms the entire Cosmic Song. In reality, however, it is impossible to describe in words. You have to actually see it and hear it for yourself. We are currently connected to the Eternal Dance. It is something we can readily perceive if we choose to. However, what we have done is create a mental barrier between here and There, so as not to spoil The Game. The point of us being in the place we call “here” is to experience. We create physical worlds and revel in the experience of them as part of The Game. The Game is played in accordance with strictly laid down rules that we all agree to on an ongoing basis. Between us all, underlying what we have agreed to call our “physical reality”, is a perpetual series of energy exchanges. We have all agreed to carry out these exchanges along certain lines in order to create what we call the, “world we live in”. Without such an agreement, the whole Game would collapse. In a sense, we are all living in a house of cards where the structure is held together by our agreements formed through these energy exchanges. If we would all suddenly decide not to play the game, for example, everyone‟s physical world would simply disintegrate. Because of this, we create constructs that continually reinforce the reality of the physical realms. Being born, for example, is a construct. Of course, we cannot have people just suddenly materialising. This would spoil The Game, as it is too close to our actual reality. So we create a means of “entry” that we perceive is entirely physical based. In order to reinforce this we create all manner of other constructs such as “growing up”, “going to school”, “being taught”. Problem comes as well at the other end. We can‟t have people just remaining physical forever. It would cause too many questions and spoil the illusion. So we created a construct of “physical death”. But even this is not the total solution, because we can‟t have people just dying for no reason. So we created the constructs such as “disease” or “death by accident” for example, that allow people to die without raising suspicion. As I say, our reality is formed from constructs upon which we all agree. But some constructs play a bigger part, you might say, than others. One of the most powerful constructs is “what to expect”. This construct is massively reinforced by a veritable army of officials, such as scientists, for example, whom we nominate in order to feed us with information on “what to expect”. Of course, our whole purpose of playing The Game is to experience. Doing this, we also want to explore as wide a variety of experiences as possible. So we set up circumstances where we are continually updating our ideas of “what to expect”. This enables us to explore a far wider range of experiences. This leads to yet another important construct we call “evolution”. You could go on forever listing all the various constructs and the connections or relationships between them. There are so many I‟m not sure if it is possible to create any kind of accurate map. But all a person needs is to grasp the basics and the rest follows on from there. HTH Yours, Frank 1059 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Problems with separation! on: December 19, 2004, 18:52:49 Hello: It sounds to me like you are trying too hard and getting too involved in the process rather than simply allowing it to happen. You should just be able to relax and let the natural process take its course. It's far more productive to place your mental focus on where you want to be, rather than that keep focusing on where you feel you are going wrong Yours, Frank 1058 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / What is the scientific theory behind F10/F12--beyond on: December 19, 2004, 21:18:17 Major Tom: Again, you give some interesting insights. Speaking of Focus-12 and beyond, I discovered Focus-15 for the first time last week. Or at least I think I did. I‟m not exactly sure how it came about, but I was lying on my bed just letting my thoughts drift and I felt a kind of shift. Didn‟t really notice it so much at first, it was something that dawned on me perhaps a few minutes (not exactly sure) after it came about. It felt like I was entirely physical, so I slowly opened my eyes expecting the state to break, but it didn‟t. The only way I can explain it, is it felt as if everything within the physical had just stopped, freeze-frame like. Within my mind, it was as if there was no future and no past, and all that existed was the present moment; which felt expanded or widened somehow, and I was living in it. I expected the state to break any second but it didn‟t. Within my awareness came the description of “no time” that I had read before about Focus 15, that we talked about previously. I can say that that‟s exactly how it felt. Like time had just stopped. I‟m sure that it hadn‟t. I‟m sure the world outside was continuing as per usual. But it felt like, for me, it had stopped. What also felt doubly weird is the fact that I was fully awake and alert within the physical! But there was a sensation of being ever so slightly removed from my normal, fully awake self. But I do stress the word slightly. I stood by my bed and slowly walked to the window. As I was doing so, I got a distinct sensation of travelling through time. Which I know sounds weird but it did feel weird. I then walked back to where I was before and got an incredibly strong feeling of déjà vu. It was as if I had gone back to the time when a minute previously I was standing by my bed. So I walked back to the window and the same feeling came about. I experimented by repeatedly walking to various points in the room, and each time I would return to a point, it was like I had returned to the time when I was there previously. It was exactly as if I was reliving the same moment, over and over. After about 10 minutes (or that‟s how it seemed) I got a distinct feeling that “I” had come to the forefront of my awareness again. I was still in the physical as before, but without that strange feeling. In other words, everything became normal. I am absolutely certain that I was within the physical at all times. I touched various physical objects, for example, and everything felt just as it usually does. I‟m sure this is the Focus-15 state. Because the description, “no time” just captures the feeling absolutely. But, as I say, I‟m sure that time, in a wider sense, continued as normal, and the state pertained to me only. If I were to try to expand on the “no time” description, to me it felt as if I had my past and my future, and a large area had opened up between them. My mental focus felt as if it were situated right in the middle of this area… as if all that existed was a perpetual “now” and everything I did was time-referenced to that. I hope to enter this state again and experiment further. The enchanting aspect is the fact of being fully awake and alert within the physical. Difficulty being I cannot recall how I got there, but I‟m sure it‟ll happen again before long. The fact of it being so physical is why I missed it before. I was thinking of the state in the sense of it being more of a non-physical state. But it would appear not. Based on my experience it would seem to be a different type of physical focus! I keep searching around the Internet for more info, but haven‟t found anything more than the usual bog-standard description of “no time”. It looks to me like yet another one of those situations where no one really knows, so everyone parrots everyone else. Of course, there is always the possibility that what I discovered is not Focus-15 at all. But the “no time” description suits it to an absolute tee. Yours, Frank 1057 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / What is the scientific theory behind F10/F12--beyond on: December 20, 2004, 00:19:24 Hello: You need to check on their website for info. Yours, Frank 1054 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Argh on: December 20, 2004, 18:35:42 Hello: This is caused through tension in the muscles of your abdomen. Your yellow energy centre is coming alive and interacting with the crown (purple) which is giving you the vibrations. But muscular tension in the abdomen is thwarting the experience and causing the yellow-centre to shut down. As you exhale, you release the tension in the muscles. But on the inhale, it comes back again. You should find that the longer and the slower, and the more completely you exhale, the more the vibrations come on. So keep concentrating on exhaling slowly and completely. Take fairly quick breaths in, and long and slooooow breaths out. Also, exhale absolutely completely each time. Once the tension is released, you will find the vibrations will keep going on their own. And if you haven't experienced a projection before then you are in for a real treat. Because once the vibrations begin running of their own accord, you need to prepare yourself for take off! Yours, Frank 1053 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Is it AP experience? on: December 20, 2004, 18:48:30 Hello: What you are feeling are very normal projection states. The tremendous weight you think is pressing down on you is the sensation of feeling your physical body in a very relaxed state. The split awareness, in terms of seeing you viewing yourself from various perspectives, is all very normal. These sensations are something you just get used to after a while. Yours, Frank 1052 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Bad Luck on: December 20, 2004, 20:58:07 Hello: I've made a few recommendations based on my own development in the Sticky-thread forum. Plus, there is a thread that has been made sticky in the Astral Consciousness forum, "Wave 1 and general Phasing questions", where I give a follow-up to my original Wave-1 Pointers post. If you haven't done so already, have a read through those posts and if you want me to clarify anything for you then jot your questions down in a post to the "Wave-1 and general questions" sticky post in the Astral Consciousness forum, as it's probably a bit off-topic for this thread. HTH Yours, Frank 1051 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Argh on: December 21, 2004, 01:25:04 When your entire body start starts to vibrate yes, you are at the onset of separation (speaking in traditional terms). People who practice "energy work" I understand tend to get kind of mini-vibrations localised in places such as hands. I never do any energy work so I wouldn't know. But I do recognise the situation the original poster described very well, as I used to get the same problem (assuming it is the same problem, of course). Yours, Frank 1050 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Distractions while projecting on: December 21, 2004, 01:30:29 Hello: The sensations can be many and varied. Some people get hardly any, others are like yourself. After a while you get used to them and they won't bother you anymore. Yours, Frank 1049 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / What is the scientific theory behind F10/F12--beyond on: December 21, 2004, 01:39:36 I'm making this a Sticky post for a while to see where it leads, then I'll take the Focus info and add it as a supplement to the original Wave-1 pointers thread in the Sticky forum section. Thank you MT for your further info. I keep trying to reproduce the state but no joy as yet. Yours, Frank 1048 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / visit to 'green fields' region again on: December 21, 2004, 16:42:18 Douglas: In Monroe terms, the mental focus region sounds very much like 27. Also, I wouldn't get involved too much regarding the attitude of the person you met originally. It could be some aspect of yourself colouring your experience or the guy may have been a bit miffed. It happens! Within F27, you do tend to get all manner of people waiting around for one reason or another. Many of these people have been through difficult transitions following their physical-focus experience. So you can meet people who have still a bit of "attitude" about them; nervousness is very common, being slightly irritable is another. That's why you find these great areas set out as parks, with lovely flowers and great sunsets, things like that, where people can just sit down and chill out. Yours, Frank 1047 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Argh on: December 21, 2004, 18:06:55 Potatis: Try slow deep breathing and see if that changes the vibration state at all. When I used to "exit" more in a traditional sense, I often would get in a vibrational state but then I would have to increase its intensity before anything would happen. I discovered that by breathing slowly and deeply, the vibrational intensity would increase many fold. It would get to the stage where it would feel as if I were sitting on a very unbalanced spin- dryer revolving at top speed. Just when I thought every molecule of my physical body was about to break apart, I'd take off like I had been shot from a cannon and crash-land within the Astral somewhere, lol, those days. I used to call it my cannonball exit. :) Also, try letting the vibrations come into your head. If you are like I used to be, you should feel an intense buzzing at the top of your head. I remember that, before take-off, it always felt like my head was about to burst the feelings were so intense. I just wanted to say also that I concur with SerGei, in that there is a point that you arrive at where you just know you can "separate". In the sense that it's not like you have to try to do anything. You just do it. Yours, Frank 1046 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: December 22, 2004, 18:07:46 Hello: It is perfectly possible to engage in sexual intercourse within (what people call) the Astral Planes. It is not necessary for a number of people to meet, in a normal physical sense, as you can simply fragment yourself for the purposes of the act. You can also switch perspectives or simply view each perspective simultaneously. Though this is something people generally have to work towards achieving, as at first they tend to be very gender fixated. People speak of limitations but, within the context of the wider reality, there are no limitations. Limitations are something we create for ourselves for the purposes of our experience. An "astral body" is also something the person in question creates for herself or himself. It would make sense, therefore, if you wish to project with the intention of having sex (in a more physical sense of the act) for you to create a body with the necessary accoutrements. :) You can also engage yourself and/or others in all manner of different variations of what you might call ecstatic encounters. Merely being able to revel freely in the wider Truth, without all the usual hang-ups, limitations, inhibitions, fears, ego entrapments, neg pitfalls etc., etc., is, in itself, an incredibly orgasmic experience. To be able to share that with another focus places the level of ecstasy beyond description. One of the games I enjoy playing is a kind of virtual sex. I like to play this game within the context of what you might call a “proper couple”, i.e. me as male with another (separate focus) as female. But you can do this with aspects of yourself, or in groups. You don‟t need to adopt a bodily form; people do this as points of consciousness, but I personally prefer the traditional way as I find it more fulfilling. Anyhow, to give you an example, say there are two people: The game begins by each person placing an orgasmic feeling in the mind of the other. The level of the ecstasy you place in the other is reflected back at you via them. In other words, the more intense the feeling you send to the other, the more intense the feeling you feel within yourself. And the same goes for the other person. Of course, each person wants to feel the highest level of ecstasy, but they have to do that through the other; in that whatever they give to the other, they feel within themselves and the same goes for the other person. The upshot of this is you become locked into an ever more intense orgasmic state. Initially, the feeling is very much like a physical orgasm but it keeps building in intensity. There then ensues what you might describe as a game of kiss-chase, only instead of chasing each other around the playground, you chase each other through mental galaxies. Eventually you will both let go. At first, you do this pretty quick as the sheer intensity of the orgasmic sensations take a little getting used to. But the more serious game players can hang on to each other for what seems like an eternity. Yours, Frank 1045 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: December 23, 2004, 19:25:22 LittleP: I understand where you are coming from in your use of the word “astral” and it could well be the case that abstaining from, what might be described as sexual encounters, is a good idea within the confines of this boxed set of beliefs. Operating within such confines allows people to make mistakes, make a complete hash of things in other words, but do it in a controlled way such that any subsequent fallout is limited within the confines of the box. However, once we fully realise we create our own reality, we become free of the restrictions we previously placed on ourselves; primarily in our thinking that actions can be somehow be intrusive. I‟m not sure where we got this idea from, exactly, but the construct of intrusiveness is largely built on self-limiting beliefs that engender fear. Knowing that we do create our own reality, frees us from the burden of thinking that we are in some way “at the mercy” of events. This leaves us at liberty to explore a far wider-ranging array of circumstances than we could previously. We realise, for example, that “astral realms” do not actually exist as some independent place. What we call astral realms is merely a framework of limitations that we choose to adopt for the purposes of our experience. Yours, Frank 1041 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Do we really choose our parents before birth? on: December 24, 2004, 19:39:45 Hello: In a word, yes, I can absolutely confirm that people do choose their physical parents (and a whole load more besides). Yours, Frank 1040 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: December 24, 2004, 23:21:04 LittleP: Thank you for your feedback. I feel I ought to stress that I‟m not saying the astral realms are not real. What I am saying is the phrase; “astral realms” is a term that describes a particular framework of limitations that we choose to adopt for the purposes of our experience. Please understand that our reality is formed through our perception, and there is no part of a person‟s reality that is not real. But that reality, in this context, is a highly subjective event. I am aware, of course, that person-X, say, may develop a projection technique; and if they are successful, they will reach a point where they become immersed within what they perceive as an “astral realm”. Doing that is all well and good. I mean, revelling within our own subjectivity can be great fun. Problems seem to arise only when a person becomes too fixated with what others might call the negative aspects of their character. Hence, these aspects can become blown out of proportion. But even so, this is still a choice the person in question has adopted for the purposes of their experience. So getting back to our person-X, what he is actually doing when looked at against the background of the wider reality you see that his perception of what he calls “astral realms” has been directly formed from his adoption of a particular framework of limitations. What he has done, in effect, is to box what he imagines a wider reality entails, into confines he believes he can understand. Yours, Frank PS If I could point out also, what I am putting forward is not a theory, but has been derived following much hands-on practice and experience of the wider reality. 1039 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: December 25, 2004, 00:34:23 Douglas: Yes, the scene you create as a whole would be called a construct. But the “people” or characters you create within that construct are called fragments. We create these personality fragments all the time and use them for all manner of things. All we do is copy various aspects of our personality and paste them into our imagination; then give a good stir and pour them into what we perceive as objective reality. It‟s basically how we create our perception of the physical, only our physical creation is MUCH more complete and a whole LOT more intricate. The surprising thing about these fragments is they don‟t dematerialise after we have finished with them! Perhaps there‟s a planet somewhere they all gravitate towards, lol. That is not to say that everyone we interact with is a personality fragment. But within the region you are generally focused (my-focus 2) it is likely they are, as it‟s a characteristic of that particular area of consciousness. If you extend your perception to my-focus 3, as you appear to be doing from your post about the F27 encounter, then the people you generally come across are more “real” in the usual sense of the word. Best of luck. Yours, Frank 1038 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Wave 1 and general Phasing questions on: December 25, 2004, 06:07:03 Sarah: First off, you are making great progress and problems you are experiencing, such as having your perspective flitting about all over the place, are happening because of your progress. Thing is, when a person starts out, their sense of mental focus tends to be firmly stuck behind their physical eyes. Once you break that fixation, it can start hopping about like a spring lamb. Resonant Tuning, you should do in your imagined “I” otherwise, yes, it can get confusing. As you are discovering, there is a very fine line between too much, and too little concentration. Too little and you start drifting and risk falling asleep; too much and you become fixated and start trying to force it. None of which work. Ultimately, you must place yourself in a mental state where you allow non-physical reality to come into your awareness. Think of this reality as already being there (which it is!) all you need to do is look in the right mental direction. If we could simply look within, in that right direction, the reality of the non-physical would immediately reveal itself. Problem is, what all of us are battling to get through, to a greater or lesser degree, are the seemingly impenetrable layers of physical conditioning that cover the entrance to the place we need to be focusing within. But the more we accept our wider reality, and the more we attempt to make definite contact with it, the more of these layers we strip away. The most beneficial tool we have to help us crack this, is our imagination. People tend to dismiss what they imagine as mere mumbo-jumbo. However, what actually takes place within our imagination is a highly important aspect of our reality, an aspect that happens to be situated right in the direction of where we are trying to switch our focus! At this point we need to remind ourselves of Golden Rule number 1, which is: There is nothing within your reality that is not real! So when people dismiss their imagination, they are actually dismissing a vital part of themselves. Now, when we imagine our rundown scenario, we develop a kind of split sense of awareness. There is the “you” that you perceive as being situated within your physical reality, i.e. looking at the backs of your eyelids; and there is the “you” who is perceiving whatever it is you are imagining, that is situated within non-physical reality. And because of this perceived split in your awareness, you feel a distinct sense of separation between them. Note: the physical body does not have to be immobile to imagine going through a projection rundown. For example, I can easily imagine going through a rundown while washing up. It‟s just that, for the purposes of projection practice, optimally, it is best for the physical body to be relaxed and “switched off” to as large a degree as possible. That is how it appears to be for most people, let‟s say. Right, so getting back to our split sense of awareness, there is “you” looking at the backs of your eyelids; and there is “you” perceiving whatever it is you are imagining in your rundown; and you feel a distinct sense of separation between them. At this point, you need to realise Golden Rule number 2, which is: There is no separation or boundary within consciousness! But even after knowing this, chances are near certain that you still perceive a distinct boundary between the “you” who is “here”, and the “you” who is “there”. And because you perceive there is a distinct boundary, you will also get a correspondingly distinct sense of separation. But that boundary exists only as something that you, yourself have created. When you perceive that boundary, what you actually perceive are all the layers of physical-realm mental conditioning that you have adopted in your lifetime, to date. In reality, the “you” here and the “you” there, is all the same you! In telling you all this, what I am trying to do is give you the background information on what is happening in the process. So, hopefully, the role that your imagination plays in the general projection scheme of things, will all start making more sense to you. I don‟t want you to be frightened of using your imagination! By all means, use it to abandon (at first). But the closer you get to stepping into that definite first-person perspective, the less you should need to use it. In other words, when we are feeling that boundary the most, we need to lean on our imagination quite heavily in order to draw us through that separation layer, which we feel is sitting between our sense of Here and There. Not that there really is any separation, when viewed against the background of the wider reality. But because we distinctly feel we are separated, we have to use our imagination as a kind of tool that, temporarily at least, breaks a hole in this barrier and allows us to pass through (in a manner of speaking). Now, the act of this barrier fully opening up and allowing us to pass through, is the transition between Monroe‟s mental Focus-level 10, to Focus-level 21. Incidentally, I believe what happened to Monroe is, after some time of passing through his own barrier, he broke it down to the extent where it no longer existed to any real degree. So, as I say, use your imagination freely, at first. But you only want to be using it to trigger the transition (F10 to F21) process. Once you begin stepping into a definite first-person perspective (Focus 10), you have to be careful because you are actually entering the realms of your very own imagination. If you continue to use your imagination to the same high extent that you were using it before, in order to get you to this point, all manner of complications will arise. You‟ll begin creating things here, there and everywhere. So the trick is to modulate the intensity or extent to which you use your imagination, depending on where you are in the process. All you need to do is think of easing back on the gas pedal. I‟m assuming you drive a car. In which case, think of your use of your imagination in the same way you modulate your use of the accelerator pedal, relative to the distance versus speed of the traffic in front of you. Your imagination is like this. At first, you feel far away, lots of distance to cover (figuratively speaking) so you can give it lots of gas and away you go. But as you get closer, you need to start easing back. If you find you have backed off a tad too much, then give it some more gas to get the thing back on track and rolling again in the right direction. Then ease up progressively the closer you get. Ideally, you want to be at walking pace (so to speak) the point you slip into first- person. As you slip in, you want a slight momentum to keep you making forward progress. But you don‟t want too much intensity, as you need to leave a part of your awareness open to detect the next step in the process. Of course, the next step is Focus 12. The point where you can hold a definite first-person perspective is your entry into Focus 10. Now, what we want to do from this point is to trigger the transition to Focus 21. In my experience, this transition begins rolling of its own accord from the Focus 12 state. To a large degree, your achievement of the Focus 12 state is dependant on how well you can achieve Focus 10. If you can achieve what I call a neutral Focus 10, i.e. no revelling in your own imagination, just lock yourself in a solid Focus 10, releasing only a mild sense of curiosity, then this should trigger a transition to Focus 12. Then, once you reach Focus 12, as I say, the ball rends to start rolling of its own accord. Yours, Frank PS I think I answered everything, but if there is anything further you would like to ask then fire away, and I‟ll do my best to help. 1037 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / the astral plane, what is it? on: December 27, 2004, 12:17:43 Hello: It's an area of consciousness. Yours, Frank 1036 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / ap's are they just clear dreams? on: December 27, 2004, 20:44:41 Hello: As you are asking, my comment would be to say you are showing up your inexperience to a great extent. Perhaps it might be an idea to get a few years of hands-on experience before casting judgement upon what you believe the majority of us are experiencing. Yours, Frank 1035 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Do we really choose our parents before birth? on: December 28, 2004, 00:04:45 Markulous: I haven't read the book but where you say, "... she explains that you choose the path of your life beforehand ... You could be doing because ... you want to experience that emotion" this is essentially correct. Naturally, I am not saying everything given in the book must also be correct (could have just been a lucky guess). But for anyone looking for a definitive answer, we absolutely do choose our parents beforehand. I say this from having hands-on experience of the process (used to be one of my pet exploration topics). Yours, Frank 1034 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Do we really choose our parents before birth? on: December 28, 2004, 01:37:43 Telos: Thank you for your interest. My first book primarily concentrates on beginner issues and gives them a grounding in the basics of my work. It is a very practical guide that is designed to teach people the structure of our non- physical system, i.e. I give them a map of the place, and teach them how to begin exploring it, in exactly the same way as I do. The second book will be all about navigation and visiting other physical realities within our system. I also intend fitting in information on topics such as rescue work, plus whatever else I feel will be helpful to people at an intermediate level of knowledge. Problem is, people have to get some first-hand experience of the wider non-physical reality first, before they can begin to comprehend some of the more specialised topics such as (speaking in ordinary physical terms) birth and death. There are a number of variations of each and something tells me this would fill a book in itself. My prime concern is, if a person does not have the necessary grounding, they tend just to reject these more specialist topics outright. But if they have a hands-on grasp of the basics, it makes their comprehension much easier. Yours, Frank 1033 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Wave 1 and general Phasing questions on: December 28, 2004, 04:43:28 TJ: Something you at all times need to bear in mind, is what we are involved with here is shifting, or switching, our mental focus of attention (switching focus, for short). The Golden Rule that applies here is: where we point our focus of attention becomes our reality. Now, at the moment you are physically focused, therefore, the physical realm is your reality. Problem is people are not used to switching focus. They spend a number of years when they are children, getting the hang of how to switch to physical focus more or less absolutely, and that is it. The next time they would knowingly switch focus, is on permanent disengagement of their physical. What we are doing, however, is learning how to switch from physical focus, but without having to permanently disengage from physical focus! As an aside, this is the primary reason why the exercise tends to generate lots of fear in the minds of those who try. Because what we are doing, in effect, is actioning the process of transition. Something that only normally occurs at the point of physical-body death. This is why it takes a while for your mind to catch on with what, exactly, you want to do. I mean, it‟s obvious to your mind you do not wish to disengage physical focus on a permanent basis but, then again, you do not wish to switch to physical focus either. Okay, says the mind, then you must want to engage a subjective focus, which would normally mean, for most people, they go to sleep. But no, what you want to do is something in-between, which at first is mentally confusing. What you want to do is engage a subjective focus… but… have objective knowledge of your doing so! The quick point I want to make here is that people who follow this line of approach (and I go into this in my book) need to start using the terminology associated with it, rather than the old mystical terms… which don‟t really translate, as these kinds of terms are all to do with notions of “separation”, “leaving the body”, “astral realms”, and all that jazz. Where we are going there are no astral realms, lol. Anyhow, with most people, the only reality they know is the physical. So for them there is no real need to make any distinctions, as making distinctions clearly implies more than one. But for us we need to be able to distinguish between the two different types of reality. So physical reality we term: objective reality. And any reality that is non-physical, we term subjective reality. These are the two primary distinctions. So, in those terms, what you are attempting to offer yourself is: objective knowledge of subjective reality. And that‟s what you basically say to yourself, as being what you want to do. You want to offer yourself objective knowledge, of subjective reality. Okay, so the main reason why I‟m telling you all this, is because it doesn‟t matter a fig if you give yourself a running commentary or not. What we are engaged in here is an act of switching focus… not… quieting the mind! In the post you were looking for, I would have said (as I have said a number of times on this forum) I cannot understand where the idea came from that your mind should be “empty” for this to work. Because my own mind is far from quiet, and far from empty. I can hold a totally quiet mind if I wish to. I simply close my eyes, look out into the blackness and think of nothing. And guess what happens? Nothing! However, when I close my eyes and actively involve myself in some kind of “imaginary” mental scenario, sure enough, it isn‟t long before my focus of attention shifts, and I find myself in a first-person perspective within the scenario I was previously “imagining” (the state of which is Focus 10). So your mind should be focused on the task in hand. It doesn‟t matter how you do that. If you find that giving yourself a running commentary helps you focus, then do it for as long as it helps. I mean, if you find that standing on your head helps you engage your senses more within your rundown, then stand on your head. It really doesn‟t matter. What I am doing is giving you the basics, and the hands on, nitty-gritty application is down to you. Because people do tend to be different in that. What I can say to you, absolutely without question, is the key to not being distracted, is to engage your senses within your rundown scenario. I cannot stress this too highly. In doing so, a person from the “quiet mind” school of doing things would be totally overloaded with all the mental goings on. Because, as I say, my mind is anything but quiet! The thing you have to bear in mind is our objective, which is, a shift in focus. To do this we don‟t want our mind to be quiet. We want our mind actively working towards achieving our shift in focus. I tell you, often when I was first working on this, I wouldn‟t realise that I had actually shifted focus! I was SO busy concentrating on my rundown and going along with the flow of it, that suddenly I would “discover” myself being in first-person perspective within my rundown. And I‟d think, “Hey it‟s worked!” Of course, next instant the state would break and I would find myself back in the physical, kicking myself wishing I just hadn‟t done that. The other problem that can come about, at first, is you'll be going through your rundown and suddenly you'll feel you might be in a kind of half-and-half situation. Not exactly physical, but not exactly first-person within your rundown either. So again you check whether the state you are in is really a different state, by comparing against how the physical state actually feels, and that too breaks the state. At which point you realise you were in a different state, but by then it's too late, and you have to start again. Problem is, not only does it take a little while to practice getting into the state; it also takes a little while for you to feel okay about knowing you are in it. At first, there is a tremendous temptation to make a comparison with the physical “just to check” that you are not actually physical. I don‟t know why it‟s so tempting, it just is. Of course, the very act of checking breaks the state. Later on, when you achieve Focus-21, say, you can have these kinds of thoughts and remain within the state. But the Focus-10 state is easily broken. Yours, Frank 1032 2012 and The Transition of the Ages / Welcome to 2012 and The Transition of the Ages / Where will you be on Dec 21, 2012? on: December 28, 2004, 12:22:12 Douglas: Ha ha, and every time they say, "But this time it's different". These kinds of things have me falling off my chair laughing. I mean, if that‟s what someone chooses to believe then whatever floats their boat. It‟s one of the tamer constructs and far less damaging than firing missiles at people, for example, or clubbing innocent creatures to death. Low on factual accuracy, but high on chuckle value, so keep „em coming is what I say! Personally, I cannot wait to hear all the excuses. I‟m never one to say, “I told you so” but this time I‟m going to make the exception that proves the rule. I‟ll be there on January 1st, 2013 laughing my socks off. I really like being older. You see the same things coming around time and again with each new generation, and each one sees it all afresh and thinks they invented it. To everyone who subscribes to the 2012, whatever it is, Doom and Gloom, could I ask you to please check and make sure you got your dates correct? The number one all-time excuse with this kind of thing is, “Sorry, we were right but we just got the date wrong.” Of course, and my dad was an astronaut, the cheque is in the post, and the moon really is made from Swiss cheese. Yours, Frank 1030 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / does ap prove the afterlife on: December 28, 2004, 14:28:32 Hello: The answer to your question is no, the ability in itself proves nothing. But... if you gain a little experience in doing so, and begin exploring with an open mind and asking questions, etc. The chances are you will come across irrefutable evidence that proves to you beyond doubt, that we do in fact survive physical-body death. Yours, Frank 1029 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Vibration Dogma on: December 29, 2004, 18:35:29 Beavis: I have no idea why. I suppose someone came up with the idea originally and then everyone cuckooed everyone else to the point where it became “fact”. I suppose you could say in a manner of speaking non-physical realms “vibrate” at a different “frequency” than the physical. But the key phrase is, of course, “in a manner of speaking” and with very guarded use of the words vibrate and frequency. People continually parrot the notion of “there” being “higher”. But I guess people are not going to step out of thousands of years of religious and/or mystical conditioning overnight. The simple fact remains there is no higher or lower in consciousness, consciousness simply is. Yours, Frank 1028 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Reincarnation on: December 30, 2004, 23:21:14 Rich : Ultimately, everything is your creation; it‟s your choice in other words. For reasons best kept to themselves, many people wrap this topic up in all manner of religious and/or mystical conditioning, none of which applies within the wider reality. Unfortunately, these types of people still believe the greater reality revolves around this planet-Earth system, in very much the same way that people used to believe our planet was the centre of the universe. Basically, at some point, you will choose to begin the process of disengaging from your current physical focus. At which point you will enter a stage of transition. This is more or less the same kind of process you entered when coming into your current physical focus, but in reverse. Essentially, you are preparing yourself for life, once again, within subjective reality. Highly religious types who think they are going to die and go to heaven, for example, tend to spend a long time in transition shaking off the beliefs they picked up during their objective reality experience within this system. But don‟t get me wrong, this is not a “bad” thing. Ultimately, it is something they have chosen to do. Anyhow, everyone spends a time in transition learning to adapt to life once again within subjective reality. Now, once you have adapted yourself, the choice is yours. There are an infinite number of physical reality systems to choose from and it is down to you what you want to experience. So, yes, you choose the kind of life you want, within whatever physical-life system you desire. Essentially, it is a question of gathering the necessary mix of probabilities and entering the appropriate “birth point”. I‟ve had experience of repeating the entry of my current birth-point three times now, and it‟s quite an exciting thing to do… experiencing your own birth. Plus, I have also experienced “being dead” but I can assure you that it feels very much more alive than being physical. When you talk about previous lives, you have to bear in mind that within the wider reality all time is simultaneous, so there is no such thing as past and future. All your “lives” are taking place simultaneously. So there is no such thing, for example, as the "afterlife" as there is no before, after, beginning, end, and so forth. Understand that within subjective reality, time is merely an element of function that facilitates a person‟s objective expressions within consciousness. As regards finding people who have previously passed over: you need to realise that, contrary to what most people believe, there is neither separation nor barriers within consciousness. In other words, there is no “here” or “there”. Here and there, are just constructs that we created for the purposes of our objective-reality experience. HTH Yours, Frank 1026 2012 and The Transition of the Ages / Welcome to 2012 and The Transition of the Ages / Where will you be on Dec 21, 2012? on: January 01, 2005, 12:12:11 "... this isn't just something that little kids believe..." I know, and that's precisely what makes the whole scenario just so ridiculous! It's the sort of creative fantasy you'd expect from children, but it's actually adults doing the fantasising. This kind of thing is something that certain kinds of people have indulged in for probably as long as we've been occupying this planet. All the while these dates have come and gone, and each generation thinks up new dates and they pass by, and so it continues. But don't let that inconvenient fact spoil your doomsday party. I guess it is comforting for certain types of people to dream that one day, all that they deem to be nasty, unworthy people will get their comeuppance, and that all the "good" people (as they typically think of themselves) will be “saved”. But 2012 will come and go just like any other year. All the main protagonists will broadcast their excuses, everyone else will try to save face by fudging the issue, and the following generation will prepare their script for the next date. 2020 perhaps? That's a nice round number, or what about 2050? Bit too far away I suppose, but a nice date for future generations. Based on previous form my money is on the "got our dates wrong" excuse. You'd think this would have worn thin a hundred generations ago at least. But no, people today still believe it. Yours, Frank 1024 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Ambient noise and OBEs on: January 01, 2005, 18:46:14 Michael: I am the same unfortunately. Sometimes I wish there was a way of shutting my ears down in the same way as we can simply close our eyes. Background sounds, especially if they are familiar to me, don't bother me all that much. Monotonous sounds, such as a fan, can often help. But the moment an unfamiliar sound comes up then it breaks the state for me completely. I live in a very quiet area but in the summer the wildlife can make a heck of a din. So then I often wear earplugs which help enormously. Yours, Frank 1023 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / GOOD BOOKS? on: January 02, 2005, 01:08:41 Hello: If money is tight then my reco would be Astral Dynamics for a good all round practical book on this topic. The two later Monroe books, IMO, are good books but are not really geared for beginners, as they contain no actual techniques or methods. They are more aligned to Monroe's thoughts and experiences. Monroe's first book Journeys is a tad dated now, especially in regard to all the talk about various "locales" which has been superceded by his later focus-levels concept. But this was the very book that got me into all this 20-odd years ago. The technique Monroe gave in the book worked really well for me. Yours, Frank 1021 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing information on: January 02, 2005, 15:59:29 Hello: There will be by Spring this year, hopefully, as I'm about halfway through writing it. :) Yours, Frank 1019 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I'm losing hope -_- on: January 02, 2005, 16:26:08 Hmm, the same question is in my mind too. What do you mean by "didn't expect to do it." Was that a typo? Because if you are truly performing all this while not expecting to do it, then you are basically getting what you currently expect. I thought if you would let us know what you have tried that gave you some results, then we could expand on that. Yours, Frank 1018 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Wake someone up in the astral? on: January 02, 2005, 21:00:02 Hello: People in the sleep-state tend to limit themselves to specific areas of consciousness that are highly subjective. So by definition they don‟t have any objective knowledge of what they are doing. Under such circumstances, making any kind of contact is next to impossible (as Major Tom has also pointed out). It‟s not a question of waking them up. They are already fully awake, but they are deeply engaged in subjective action. The actions people engage themselves in are many and varied. They could be doing anything from just wandering aimlessly alone, to engaging in some complex mass-consensus scenario involving maybe thousands of people all playing various “roles”… and anything else in-between. You ask if it is possible, well, just about anything and everything is possible within consciousness. There is only one thing within the wider reality that is actually impossible, but it doesn‟t relate to this at all. So, yes, it is definitely possible but at present rather difficult for us to accomplish. The best I ever managed to do, to date, is I‟ve had three people come to me to say they had a dream where I played some kind of part and, on these occasions, the person was someone I had actively tried to contact and they had no knowledge of it beforehand. Problem is, though, I have had a number of occasions where I tried to contact people and they did not say they dreamt about me. Plus, I have had people say they made contact with me in their dreams and I have no knowledge of it. So, apart from those three definite hits, everything else has been very hit and miss. I think perhaps your best chance of making it work is if two people agreed on some kind of codeword or phrase beforehand, that one would suggest to the other to “come awake” on hearing the word or phrase. Plus, I wonder if it might not work better if the people knew each other fairly well on a personal level. Despite our current difficulties, I do feel that objective knowledge of dream contact will be something that definitely gains in popularity as people broaden their awareness, and begin to offer themselves progressively more objective knowledge of their subjective actions. I can envision a time, not too far in our future, in perhaps 10 or 15 years from now, where the possibility of meeting someone within your dreamscape will be as accepted within ordinary society as meeting someone down your local high street. I actually think this aspect will start a new kind of “craze” that causes this whole topic to “take off” amongst ordinary people. At present, it‟s all still firmly in the clutches of the mystics. But I reckon one big thing is going to come along and have the effect of sweeping away all the dark-age doom and gloom, which still haunts this topic today. This will have the immediate effect of making it very palatable for people at large and, as I say, I think this meeting-up in dreams aspect is going to be it. Yours, Frank 1015 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Wake someone up in the astral? on: January 04, 2005, 00:42:31 "... you could have helped instead of watching" It was I who brought you the experience. x 1014 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Wave 1 and general Phasing questions on: January 04, 2005, 15:59:58 Major Tom: I absolutely agree and have taken on board your pointers, thank you. I‟m currently writing a book, well, I say a book but it‟s largely a Phasing for Beginners Instruction Manual, which covers entry into Focus 12 in detail, as well as other states. I remember saying a couple of years ago that I was getting bored of entering the Monroe focus states and I was looking forward to spreading my wings a little, which I eventually did. I tried for the Focus 35 state but no joy there. It was all the talk of aliens that put me off, pictures of little green men in their flying saucers monitoring the “Earth changes”. Yeah right, and I am Father Christmas. I don‟t mean to sound sarcastic, but I can‟t help it sometimes. I don‟t know, perhaps Monroe started losing it in his later years. The level of explanation necessary goes too far beyond what I can fit in a post to a thread. But the main problem, as I currently understand it, is people are still trying to express these states based upon their expectations that have been gleaned from reading all manner of books and websites. Doing this is all very well, in the sense that I am not trying to make out these people are wrong or anything. Whatever floats their boat, so to speak, and after all, that is how I too began from reading Monroe‟s Journeys OoB 20-odd years ago. Unfortunately, however, following the more traditional teachings to too great an extent causes all manner of distortions, which ultimately upsets these subjective states and prevents people from experiencing them directly. Though I guess people mainly don‟t see it that way (yet). You see, people still have to grasp the essential difference between objective (physical) and subjective (non-physical) reality. Despite this so-called “new age” we are meant to be living in, people are still trying to objectify subjective reality in the same way they always did. All that changed was the terminology. The other danger is we tend to place too much emphasis on the numbers and methods that made sense to someone in the past. For example, a while ago I found there were several of what I called “play states” that lie just alongside our ordinary physical state. Just recently, I realised that one of these play-states is, in fact, Focus 15. But it took the rather extraordinary experience I told you about of a few weeks ago, for me to realise this. The reason why I never cottoned on, is because the true experience of becoming the Focus-15 state, is an incredibly more profound sense of reality than the somewhat puny objective notion of “no time”. Now that I‟ve managed to put two-and-two together, so to speak, I can see that Focus- 15 is a state where we actually manifest the very probabilities that go to creating the circumstances we experience within objective, i.e. physical, reality! On the surface it would appear that by directly manipulating in the Focus-15 state, a person could literally forge his or her own physical reality. Though, at present, this remains something of, what you might call, a glorious possibility. I accept that each of us already creates his or her reality, but to actually access the very state in which we create the probabilities for that reality is something very profound indeed. The temptation to begin playing with my objective-reality control mechanism is proving very hard to resist! Needless to say, this has opened up a completely new avenue of research for me, and is something I shall be exploring over the coming months. Anyhow, back to what I was saying, I largely get the idea from my interactions with people, they are thinking that Focus-12, for example, is something they experience in the sense of it being something they see/hear, etc. Like, when you sit on a hilltop and watch the sunset, or look out of your window and see the postman coming up the drive, that kind of thing. But these states, such as Focus 12, are not something we experience... they are something we become. You do not experience the state, you BECOME it, and in this sentence lies the key difference between objective and subjective reality. Now, each subjective state has a level of purity, let‟s say, which must remain intact otherwise we cannot become the state. Unfortunately, it appears that what perhaps virtually all people do is “pollute” these states with objectivity. Therein lies the core of the problem. When the state becomes polluted with a person‟s objectivity, the person ends up in a position where they are attempting to “view” the state. This is, of course, impossible. But that doesn‟t stop people trying. :) And this neatly brings us to the situation we have today, where people describe these states in terms not of what they are… but in terms of what they see into them. Essentially, where people put a BIG spoke in their own works, is the moment they perceive anything non-physical they try to objectify it. Rather than just allowing themselves to simply become it. In trying to objectify the state, the purity of the state is lost. For example, in trying to objectify subjective reality, we have developed constructs such as “astral realms” for example. In the broader reality, there are no astral realms! They are merely constructs that came about as a result of our attempts to objectify a particular mental state. Astral body, is another construct again where we attempt to objectify the mechanics of a particular kind of subjective experience. I believe the core reason for the problems people have is that of not wanting to let go of what they see as their “identity” (this is where I believe all the fear comes from). Because to become a different state, you have to let go completely of the previous one, and that‟s what people find extremely difficult. Problem is a LOT of ego identification issues suddenly begin coming into play. Another main obstacle comes about because when we enter these kinds of states, in effect, what we are doing is entering into the realms of what we, as physical beings, call the “sub conscious”. It is an unfortunate fact that most of us have pushed this area of mind way into the background of our awareness for good reason! Another main problem is, people have to let go of everything they previously counted on as being “real” and enter a new state of becoming. Once you do that and revert to the physical state (C1) again, it‟s never quite the same. Because you enter into a pure experience, and pure experiences are extremely profound events that change you in ways each time you enter them. In other words, the physical never comes back to you in quite the same way as you left it. Bob Bruce, for example, in Astral Dynamics (I haven‟t read it for a while as I lent my copy to someone a while ago, so I‟m going on memory here) he talks about entering “higher” astral realms where you experience all manner of glorious events to do with light, colour and sound, for example. Here he is touching on the kind of pure experience I am attempting to explain. Within these states, for example, you can become a musical chord, or you can become a kaleidoscope of colour. What mean is, you are not standing there seeing a kaleidoscope of colour, you BECOME it. Likewise, with sound, you don‟t just stand there hearing sound, you BECOME the actual sound, you travel along the wave and your whole sense of being reverberates with it throughout multiple dimensions. Words simply cannot explain the sheer intensity of the beauty of these experiences. The feelings are profoundly intense and ecstatic to the point where you feel like every fibre of your being is dancing, singing, and revelling in the unexplainably intense and exquisite joy of the experience. You feel like you are trillions and trillions of light years from the physical, revelling in dimensions of mind-boggling beauty… all concept, all notions, all idea of the physical is just completely, totally and utterly lost. When I am in these states, I feel like I am “home”, and there lies the danger. And that‟s why the physical never comes back to you in the same way you left it. In this, Bob and I share a number of experiences, only the problem with Bob‟s recount (as I see it) is he is explaining the experience of becoming these mental states, within the structure of traditional mysticism. I‟m not saying he is wrong to do that, after all he openly describes himself as a mystic so it‟s hardly surprising. But the big problem with traditional mysticism, in my view, is it clouds everything by wrapping up these experiences in a kind of esoteric language that puts ordinary people off. You don‟t have to spend years and years following Tibetan monks or the teachings of Indian gurus, for example, to achieve what are commonly (and mistakenly) called “higher” states. They are NOT higher states! These profound mental states are right there, alongside all of us, just waiting to be experienced. But we pollute the purity of these states with our own objectivity, and that prevents us from becoming the true state. Instead, what we experience is our objective interpretation of the state, not the state itself. Yours, Frank 1013 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Wake someone up in the astral? on: January 05, 2005, 04:46:01 "Next time remember I like open fields of flowers, large oak trees, babbling brooks, all being caressed by a warm gentle breeze..." Okay I'll mix up another potion. I must have used too much heat last time. xx 1011 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / meeting others and time on: January 05, 2005, 19:34:54 Hello: The RTZ is actually part of the physical realm. People often say it is some kind of astral reflection of the physical which isn't quite correct. It's just that the physical realm incorporates quite a bit more than our ordinary senses can perceive. As it is part of the physical, then physical time applies. When you "travel" in the RTZ you are travelling around time, in the same way as you are within the physical (as we normally perceive it). Once you step outside of the physical you begin travelling through time, as opposed to around it. Yours, Frank 1010 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Why is the RTZ a place to be avoided ? on: January 10, 2005, 02:48:57 Hello: I'm not sure where you got the idea from the RTZ should necessarily be avoided. I see no reason why it should be avoided particularly. But, then again, apart from the novelty value which quickly wears off, I cannot see the point of wanting to repeatedly focus within this region as there really isn't anything you can do. Well, I suppose you can walk through a few walls. But once you have walked through one wall, you've walked through them all as far as I am concerned. Falling through my bedroom floor into the kitchen had me chuckling, for about a minute. Problem is what else can you do? Yours, Frank 1009 Dreams / Welcome to Dreams! / Guide in lucid dream on: January 10, 2005, 02:53:30 Hello: It sounds like you met with another aspect of yourself and you were engaging in your own subjectivity. Yours, Frank 1008 Metaphysics / Welcome to Quantum Physics! / the nature of Time on: January 10, 2005, 17:53:48 Jason: I think you will find it beneficial to move beyond the old "memories stored in the brain" constructs and think more in terms of mind. The other aspect of your post you might consider is, within objective reality, we experience the passage of time as a succession of moments that flow from future through to past. As such, I think it is stretching the narrative to go so far as to define what we experience as linear-time as an illusion. But I can see where people are coming from when they talk about time in this way. Ultimately, time is an action in consciousness that we have created. On that basis, time cannot possibly be an illusion as it does have a reality existence as action. However, it is our experience of time that can often appear illusionary. Yours, Frank 1007 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / please recommend some essential oil blends that aid AP on: January 10, 2005, 23:30:07 Hello: Sandlewood without a doubt. Yours, Frank 1006 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Much Concentration Needed on: January 10, 2005, 23:34:09 Hello: Life in general takes quite a lot of concentration too, anything you want to make a success of takes dedication, concentration, mental effort, that kind of thing. This is no different. Yours, Frank 1005 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / who could it be? on: January 10, 2005, 23:39:53 Hello: This kind of thing is very normal. The person was probably just an alternate self. We all have an an infinite number of them so chances are you are going to meet one or two on your travels. :) It's one thing taking about the multi-dimensionality of consciousness, but it is usually quite another thing actually coming face to face with that reality. No need to be scared, it's only your own self. That's why it feels familiar to you. Yours, Frank 1004 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Using/Asking Spirits to Help with Astral Projection on: January 11, 2005, 12:57:44 Hello: I see no reason why you shouldn't try and summon some help through non-physical sources. Such people are a constant source of help and inspiration to me and I can highly recommend it. Calling them "spirits" this day and age, I this is a bit overly traditional. They are just people, at the end of the day, who have adopted a different lifestyle. Your technique where you say you stared at something for an hour and almost fell asleep. Rather than staring at the object, try looking into it rather than staring. There is a subtle difference that makes all the difference if you get what I mean. You know you are doing it right when you see the object change character. When it happens the first few times, it tends to snap you out of the state. As an example, when I first started doing this I used to look at a picture of a woman's head and shoulders. One day I was firmly locked into the altered state it produces then I saw, as plain as day, the woman raised her eyebrows and then winked at me. Caused me such a shock my heart nearly stopped. :) Anyhow, after a while I realised that what I was viewing was not the actual picture itself, but a kind of overlay that I had created by projecting my thoughts onto the original photograph. This I hadn‟t noticed so another aspect of myself decided to attract my attention in order to point out the changed situation. Another thing you should notice when you are doing it right, is in your peripheral vision you should see a different scene, so it feels like you are no longer in the same room. It‟s normal for me to see coloured lights, for example, like they are shining through a light mist. Yellow is a popular colour that often comes about with me. Last time I did this was about a week ago and to my right I could see a cascading waterfall that was sparkling with a golden yellow light, and to my left was just a jet-black sky that was punctuated by millions of shining stars. But I have seen all manner of things besides. Yours, Frank 1003 Dreams / Welcome to Dreams! / Guide in lucid dream on: January 11, 2005, 14:31:44 Hello: Problem is when you are thinking along traditional mystical lines, you have to realise you limit your thinking to a specific boxed set of beliefs. As a result, all manner of distortions can (and very often do!) occur. What you are doing is imposing your own sense of limitations on the wider reality, hence the ongoing confusion surrounding your requests to see "your guide". All of us have an infinite number of alternate selves, together with a huge number of other focuses of Self who are engaged in all manner of other physical-world and "other world" scenarios. And I'm not counting all the zillions of probable selves, and the equally huge numbers of other, what could perhaps be called, more minor aspects of Self. All these aspects of Self are available to us, simply because they ARE all us. Now, given that there are an infinite number of alternate selves we can become, together with an infinite number of other focuses we can merge with, against the background of that reality, someone comes along and asks to see, "their guide". Now, the question is, how can you possibly translate that request into meaningful terms, against the background of the reality of your entire Self? It's very difficult, and that is why all manner of distortions can, and very often DO, occur. I can comprehend what it is you want to do. But it is not so much "your guide" you need to be asking to communicate with. What you want is to communicate directly with Self or directly with your Essence, as it is often called. Others call it your Oversoul, but the word soul is way too religious/mystical for my tastes. I prefer the term Self or Essence. Others attach the label Higher Self, but there is no higher or lower in consciousness. So, instead of asking to meet with your guide, simply ask to communicate directly with Essence. This should erase the confusion. Don't worry if objectively you are unfamiliar with the term Essence. Subjectively, you will know what you mean. You don't actually need to go through any kind of "projection technique" to do this. Simply lie down and relax your mind and ask to communicate directly with Essence, and you should sense a door opening (so to speak) in your mind. It might take you a few attempts to get the hang of it. Yours, Frank 1001 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Bordom on: January 12, 2005, 18:34:12 Hello: If I may say I think you should concentrate more. It sounds to me like you are just sitting there expecting something to happen. I think you should take a more involving stance. Become more, as the Americans would say, pro-active. I think your mind is confused as well about what you are expecting from it. Perhaps work on giving yourself more clear directions. Goal-setting, I think is the term. That'll make it more exciting, rather than just sitting there expecting something to pop up. HTH Yours, Frank 1000 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Wave 1 and general Phasing questions on: January 12, 2005, 22:22:29 TJ: First off, I just want to say that Major Tom you are absolutely correct. I particularly liked your paragraph beginning, “Coming back to the pure awareness of focus states and the terms objectivity and subjectivity, you could perhaps even argue that physical reality is an objectification of an underlying pure subjective state that holds far greater reality than objective reality itself…” This is just absolutely bang on, but with one small change if I may, for you to drop the “perhaps”. Also, I want to say thank-you for putting up further posts/thoughts regarding my Focus 15 experiences. I have taken careful note of what you say, but I‟m in no position to reply yet. My experiences are still too new to comment with any degree of depth. So what I‟m doing is letting everything tick over in the old mind-box for a while, and I‟m getting some more hands-on experience with it, before making further comment. Okay, regarding my usage of the terms subjective and objective: yes, this is correct. The adoption of these terms followed the need for me to differentiate more correctly between physical and non-physical reality. When I say more correctly, I mean as compared to the wider reality. In my earlier work, this distinction was provided by the terms physical and astral. But it came to a point where these terms, when looked at against the background of my ever-widening knowledge, became meaningless. I understand fully where you are coming from because I have been through this stage of thought myself. Simply put, there is no part of a person‟s reality that is not real. It‟s like, for example, when beginners post on the forum the typical question, “Was this real or was it just a dream?” Against the wider reality, there is no such distinction. Understandably, beginners tend to base their thinking on the premise that the “real” reality is the physical, against which the “realness” of all other experiences is compared. This is a somewhat invalid comparison, but I can well understand why people do this. In the early years, I did the very same thing myself. People may view their dreamscape, and later on, they may view their physical circumstances. They are both reality. The only difference being in the presentation, i.e. two realities, each presented differently. There are many, many, many different dimensions of reality within consciousness. All of which are no more, or no less valid a reality, as physical reality. What was needed, therefore, was not a distinction for me in terms of “realness” of reality, but in terms that would spell out a distinction in relation to the two types of expressions of reality. That is to say, subjective expressions and objective expressions of reality, for it is ALL reality. The difference cannot, therefore, come down to a question of what is real and what isn‟t (without incurring some *major* distortions in translation, of course). The primary difference, then, is in the expression of reality, not its “realness”. The two basic expressions of reality are subjective and objective. Because we are (currently) primarily physical, and physical reality is a virtually 100% objective state, then I tend to call physical reality objective reality. Reasons being while physical, we engage in an underlying agreement that we shall view the C1 focus state as a more or less entirely objective expression. But as Major Tom quite rightly points out, C1 focus is an objectification of an underlying pure subjective state (ultimately). The underlying pure subjective state is that of Essence or Self. This state is as pure a subjective a state as the physical is as pure an objective a state. In other words, the two could be said to be at the two extremes of the subjective/objective spectrum; where our current physical reality is virtually 100% objective… and Essence, is virtually 100% subjective. So, for example, if you decide to drop a little objectivity you will enter what Monroe labelled the Focus 10 state, say. Drop a little more objectivity and you will enter Focus 12, a little more and you enter…. etc., etc. Eventually, if you were to drop all notion of anything to do with objectiveness, you would experience your becoming pure Essence (again). I suppose you could say doing such would be the non-physical equivalent of “going home”. You see, that‟s why the so-called “higher” states are not higher at all. They are just closer to the near 100% subjective state of Essence. Anyone can enter these states! You don‟t have to give all your money to charity and live the life of a monk, or whatever. Though I am sure you can see where these primitive thoughts came from once you realise the truth of the process. Because the more a person would “latch onto” the physical, i.e. traditionally speaking, the more a person would be into money, sex, physical prowess, etc., the more difficult they would find it to release the levels of objectivity necessary in order to reach the more subjective states closer to Essence. However, once you permanently disengage physical focus (in traditional terms, when you die) a slightly different set of circumstances applies. By definition, you can no longer hold the state of being virtually 100% objective, i.e. the C1 state in Monroe terms. But… a person will still hold a kind of “legacy” of objectivity, if you like, from their experiences here. The notions of objectivity don‟t immediately dissipate upon disengagement. In other words, a person‟s ideas about objective reality take some time to go away. This is the reason why, as Major Tom again rightly points out, the same mechanisms governing physical reality are generally replicated up until Focus-27. Reason being, Focus-27 is the “end” of the Transition Area of consciousness (which I labelled my-focus 3) that has been expressly laid out for the purposes of our re-engagement within subjective reality; following our intense objective-reality experience here. This is also the reason why the focus-metaphor does in fact lose its value “after” Focus-27. Simply because the subjective element starts becoming too prevalent and, in a manner of speaking, too many realities start being incorporated at once to be identified as any one particular focus level. You see, the very notion of the expression of the term “any one focus level”, necessitates the involvement of a fairly high degree of objectivity that by mere definition is simply not present in the more subjective states. I feel the main problem people have in shifting focus is their physical body in particular their feeling of it. The key is to concentrate on shifting focus within you; in the sense that what you do is create a kind of duplicate reality within the realms of your imagination which serves to draw your attention away from the physical proper. This puts you a few rungs up the ladder, so to speak, to the extent where taking the next hop isn‟t all that difficult. I often think this whole thing is a *lot* simpler than most people realise, and as a result they keep missing it. They try going down the traditional mystical roads of “separation” and “out of body” and all that jazz, and when that doesn‟t work, they turn to dream analysis; which is simpler in a sense, but just as tricky in other respects. When all you really need is to create that scenario within yourself, and be happy with it, and trust yourself that you are really doing it. Because there is no separation within consciousness. Yours, Frank 999 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Robert Monroe and his books on: January 13, 2005, 12:56:15 Hello: JOB was the first (and for many years the only) book I read on this topic 20-odd years ago. The technique given in the book worked really well for me, and set me off on an amazing adventure. Problem is now a significant proportion of his experiences in JOB concerning what he called "locales" is way out of date. Later on he developed his "focus-level" concept that went a long way beyond his early exploration, which was rather limited by comparison to his later stuff. The problem with his two later books is you need quite a bit of practical experience before you can follow them. Otherwise they are largely meaningless. They are not what you might call practical books that contain techniques for beginners and the like. They are books that entirely relate to his experiences, and in a non-mystical way; which is why I, for one, understood them very well. I can understand why a previous poster would call them fiction. But I can assure people they are pretty much bang on when it comes to describing the kinds of experiences you can have, once you step outside the limitations of the "mystical box" and get down to some proper exploring. I managed to replicate most of his work. I even found the place with the huge cars in JOB. But people who are into the mystical side of things I guess will have difficulties following any of it. As for Monroe merely relating to his subjective experiences, well, he was dwelling within subjective reality! As such, it does very much beg the question of what experiences could he possibly relate, therefore? Yours, Frank 997 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Phasing out? on: January 13, 2005, 13:17:35 Hello: As you are familiar with Monroe, from what you describe you reached the Focus 10 state, which sounds like a good start. Now all you need to is remember to disconnect your phone before you begin your practice. :) Yours, Frank 996 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Carrying memorys of this life forever on: January 13, 2005, 13:34:58 Hello: You already carry all the memories of all your other focuses within you, as within subjective reality all time is simultaneous. Though it's a bit tricky to sort out what's what, as there are so many of them it all gets rather confusing. I keep trying to access this area of Self but all I keep getting are what I call overlay experiences, where it's like you are viewing pictures on a film that never wound on, and all the exposures were made in one frame. So if you look carefully you can see snippets of every individual photo, but each one is distorted by the other and so makes hardly any overall sense. I now and again manage to merge with another focus but, to date, after about four years of attempts, I have only ever came across two aspects of myself I can readily communicate with. I merged with several others but they were too wrapped up in their own problems to do with their physical life. One, for example, was a gangster who had been cornered by the police and was about to get shot in the head. Another was shipwrecked and drowning, and others have just been going through their lives totally oblivious to the fact I had merged with them. Yours, Frank 995 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / So I can will anything when i'm in the astral plane.. ?.. on: January 13, 2005, 16:55:36 Hello: You can basically do what you like, there are no "sins" as such. Think of it as a huge adventure playground, go there, do what you like; then, after however many years it takes you to get board of revelling within your own imagination, you might want to get a little more serious and find out about the wider reality. Yours, Frank 994 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Ehm.. A question I'd like to have answered please on: January 14, 2005, 13:47:15 Hello: I am locking this thread as there is no point in continuing to speak at cross purposes. Whether you intended to or not, you have posted a somewhat tongue-in-cheek question in the Chat forum. As such, you have illicited what you could say is a like response. It now appears, from what you say, you did not intend doing that. In which case could I request, please, that you rephrase your question and perhaps offer fuller information about yourself, so that anyone answering can take account of your level of intellectual capacity. Then would you please post to one of the more serious forums such as: Spiritual Development. There I am sure you will illicite a response that is more aligned to your original intent. Yours, Frank 993 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Robert Monroe and his books on: January 14, 2005, 14:37:46 Hello: I'm not all that well up on the Monroe Institute offerings. What I always believed was sorely needed was an updated JOB book. I never understood why Monroe didn't publish some definitive practical work based on his later Phasing techniques. The cynical side of me says that had he done so, then perhaps not quite so many people would be queuing up to buy the thousand- dollar+ courses and hundred-dollar CDs and so forth. The recounts of places in JOB are hopelessely out of date and, as you say, Monroe himself readily acknowledged this. On the other hand, the book continues to sell. So the Monroe Institute will no doubt wish to capitalise on this. I'm not knocking them or anything, don't get me wrong. I mean, it's each to their own at the end of the day. I will be publishing a series of guidebooks based on my own Phasing work, that came about from following in Monroe's footsteps. Part-1 hopefully will be out in late Spring this year. I also hope to create a CD or two of my own as the old Hemi-Sync, to me, is way too expensive for what it is. Plus, there is a new technology I hope to bring into physical reality sometime in 2006, which is a video/sound Phasing tool on DVD format. This holds the promise of allowing a person to manipulate their physical reality from the area of consciousness they currently call their dreamscape. I am still developing this in a subjective sense, but I am hoping to perfom some physical trials in late 2005. Yours, Frank 992 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / astral plane? hmm... on: January 14, 2005, 15:01:06 Anton1: Speaking of handling truth: I think the truth is you are being a bit silly and your sweeping generalisations are nothing but kiddy-talk. Do you actually have anything sensible you wish to contribute, so we can have an intelligent debate? This is, after all, a forum that has been specifically set up for people to engage in obe discussions! If it is not to your liking, and if all you can see fit to do is spout insulting remarks, and if you have nothing of substance to add... then don't let us keep you from moving on. Yours, Frank 991 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Robert Monroe and his books on: January 14, 2005, 17:01:54 Again, it's each to their own. I mean, I love classic Ferraris but that doesn't mean to say everyone would want to drive one. As far as subjective exploration is concerned, people obviously relate to the "astral planes" model. They can draw parallels between various lines of study and perhaps gain comfort in that, or whatever. I used to subscribe to this myself at one time. It served its purpose, took me a few more rungs up the ladder, so to speak. Monroe's early work broadly followed the typical mystical model but with alternate terminology. His later work expanded on this to include a more encompassing model that brought the topic up to date, so to speak, i.e. he broke the monopoly hold of the mystics. But we do have to understand that it is only a model of consciousness at the end of the day. A model that seeks to objectively express (in limited terms) the nature of the wider subjective reality. Monroe's work was brilliant in that, but like all things they move on. People's understanding broadens to encompass progressively more of the wider truth. Some people, such as myself, get really turned-on by the more cutting-edge developments, and very much like to publish them for the benefit of others who feel the same; and there are others who are content with the old way of doing things. Just like me and classic cars. But then there are the people who would be lost without the very latest in personal-transportation gizmotronics, and that turns me off completely. Yours, Frank 990 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Spiritual Co-Dependence on: January 14, 2005, 23:28:45 "Think and hear for yourself, disentangle and detach from spiritual co-dependency, and know that Kingdom of God is within you." I agree with the thrust of the article, but isn't the above what you might call a glaring contradiction in terms? Yours, Frank 989 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How many people who have read robert bruces book can obe on: January 15, 2005, 14:30:59 Hello: I found the book very useful in that it got me projecting into the RTZ for the very first time. Prior to reading the book I had had hundreds of "astral projections" over many years, but the RTZ had always eluded me. Astral Dynamics contains ever so many hints and tips and good all-round general information, you cannot help but pick up benefits from it. I'm not at all into the mystical or energy-work side of things, but the book piqued my curiosity about "chakras" and I had a whale of a time exciting these energy centres. It's immense fun. Yours, Frank 988 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / What if there where a lower dimesion than this one ? on: January 15, 2005, 18:20:56 Hello: I can understand your line of thought but the physical is an end result and there is nothing "beyond" it. Yours, Frank 987 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Empowerment, Creating your Reality, a request on: January 15, 2005, 19:06:25 Hello: I can understand where you are coming from as it is an area of study that interests me greatly. Not so much the mystical entanglements, but the pure aspect of how we create our reality. If I could respectfully point out, when it comes to creating our reality, all of us are already highly empowered and adept at this. Every individual already manifests the exact circumstances that she or he desires. Unfortunately, it does appear that people, in the main, have yet to realise that fact. Yours, Frank PS Welcome to the forum! 986 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / What if there where a lower dimesion than this one ? on: January 15, 2005, 19:57:39 Hello: Taking about whether it is possible and whether it is are two different things. I suppose it is possible. Ultimately, there are no limitations, only those we place on ourselves for the benefit of our experience. So anything and everything is possible. But when you look at the current reality, the physical is an end result and there is nothing what you might call "beyond" it. Yours, Frank 984 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / What if there where a lower dimesion than this one ? on: January 16, 2005, 12:31:21 "... and 1st would be inanimate objects with no consciousness?" Hello: I am sorry to sound directly contradictory, but there is no such thing as an inaminate object with no consciousness. Yours, Frank ; 983 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Difficulty transcending to higher levels... on: January 16, 2005, 15:46:14 Hello: You perhaps need to gain more familiarity before things start becoming clearer to you. But the most basic aspect you need to understand is: what you are attemting to do is enter into realms of subjective reality. As opposed to the normal objective (physical) reality that you are used to. Within subjective reality, we tend to become our state of mind. Therefore, confusion, for example, will have you in all kinds of confusing circumstances. In a sense you could say that whatever is within us, becomes outside of us. A person may, for example, have a fear of what they might see. So they end up just fumbling around in the dark. Or they might have a fear of entering what they see as the unknown, and so they find it difficult "moving away" from their physical expression. Because we are in the habit of being within objective reality, when entering subjective reality we continue to objectify our experiences through habit. Which is why, for example, people publish notions such as, "Moving away from your physical helps you see better." It's not so much the act of moving away that helps you see better. It's more like if you can gain the clear presence of mind to move away, in turn that will create the circumstances where you can perceive with more clarity. In your case, you say, "But I can't keep my mind straight enough to really figure out how to move away." It is the fact that your mind is in a turmoil that is creating your confusing circumstances. So you don't need to "figure out" anything. All you simply need to do, is clear your mind. Then you will automatically create clear circumstances for yourself. Yours, Frank 977 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / What if there where a lower dimesion than this one ? on: January 18, 2005, 17:39:57 "... Really? I'd love to know more about that!" Everything within all of reality is ultimately made from the same base material, which is consciousness. We are an expression of consciousness just as much as a piece of rock. The only real difference between a human-being and a piece of rock is Intent. Obviously, the rock's Intent is to be a piece of rock. Our Intent is, of course, radically different. But the elements of consciousness that go to make up the rock, are no different to the elements of consciousness that make up human beings (and everything else for that matter, both physical and non-physical). Yours, Frank 973 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Vibrational State and Orgasm on: January 18, 2005, 22:10:07 Hello: I'm not sure what you are calling the sex chakra. I avoid the word chakra altogether as it is loaded with belief constructs. But I feel you are activating the yellow energy centre. This area can activate exciting places within your physical body and the obvious does spring to mind. There are a whole load more "sexual" zones you can discover if you are willing to explore. Sexual energy is very powerful when placed within the right context. It can be enjoyed in a singular sense, but its effects are magnified *considerably* within the context of a couple. Of course, other aspects then come into play. Aspects of Trust are extremely important. But when two people commit themselves to each other in a long term sense, who knows what sparks may fly. :) Yours, Frank 972 Dreams / Welcome to Dreams! / Wierd things I do while I sleep on: January 18, 2005, 22:25:53 Hello: The weirdest thing I ever did while asleep was go to take a pee (or so I thought) and fell down a flight of stairs, in a hotel I happened to be staying at once. Coming around, completely naked surrounded by a place full of strangers was an experience I will never forget. I worked out later that if I traced my steps exactly as if I had been at my own house I was then living at, the route was almost exact to the top step. Yours, Frank 970 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / the Rope Method on: January 19, 2005, 00:39:52 Hello: I think people concentrate too much on the actual rope aspect. It's just a figurative thing and is not meant to be taken too literally. It's the tactile awareness aspect that is important and this is what the technique is designed to generate. Rather than climbing a rope, try giving your brain a rigorous massage with your awareness hands. It's a great sensation. Better still, do it to your partner at the same time and wallow in the joint sensations. It's the tactile awareness, or the sensation of feeling that is the key to making it work. You are not meant to be lying there merely visualising yourself climbing a rope. You should be engaging your tactile awareness. The rope is just a handy bit of metaphysical imagery that helps you do this. You can think of any kind of imagery you like. But the key to it all is to engage your physical senses. Yours, Frank 968 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Phasing and WILDs on: January 19, 2005, 15:17:15 Hello: Phasing is not so much a technique but a term that signifies the entrance into or, more to the point, the focusing within, a particular model of consciousness. This model of consciousness is somewhat different from the more traditional “astral planes” model. The original model was founded by a chap called Robert Monroe, and I have extended it yet further to encompass an even more widely ranging view of subjective reality. The big problem with this whole thing, is you cannot objectively experience subjective reality. What we do, then, is create a model of that reality and present it to ourselves (and to others) in an objective sense for the purposes of our understanding. This translation is not something we have to “think” about to do. We do it automatically due to it being an action we know very well from our experiences within physical (i.e. objective) reality. In fact, our whole sense of physical being could be said to be a manifestation of the culminations of our actions in translation between the subjective and the objective (in terms of reality). The other big problem stems from the fact that, it is my contention, the early “explorers” let‟s say, did not actually realise that what they were viewing was a model of the underlying subjective reality, and not the reality itself! In other words, they looked at the map and thought it was the actual terrain. An understandable mistake I suppose given their limited understanding. In order to begin to comprehend the differences you first have to realise what a dream actually is. Primarily, a dream is an objective translation of our engagement within subjective reality. In other words, you could say it is a kind of private “model” of consciousness that we have created on the fly, so to speak. Whereas, when we project consciously, what we are engaging is a group model. Which is why there is no real difference between a dream and an “obe”. It just comes down to respective levels of conscious awareness and whose model of consciousness you engage in: your own, or someone else‟s. Yours, Frank 967 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Soul mates - does love transcend? on: January 19, 2005, 18:17:40 Hello: Perhaps this is not what you want to hear but, to my mind, you are better off without him. The moment I read about him coming at you with violence then that just turned me off completely. I do not know the ins and outs of it, of course, but to me there is no excuse for violence against a woman. Okay, men can get into argy-bargy between themselves. That's just the way men can be sometimes. But against women, no way. Men are born with a strong instinct to protect women, not hit out at them. So any man that hits out at a woman has got something severely wrong in his character, IMO. So, as far as I am concerned, nope, you didn't meet your soulmate. You met a nasty character you should be glad to be rid of. I am sorry to sound so blunt, I really am. But I just pity the next one he meets. I am not sure whether misguided is the right word to describe you. Confused you must certainly have been. I think, perhaps, you should spend some time concentrating on yourself. Get yourself together more and make sure you are fully recovered from the experience before taking the plunge again, as it were. "Soul mate" is a term that's talked about quite a bit these days, especially on forums such as these. I'm not at all sure what it means, exactly. I know what it means to me. But many times I read a different interpretation to the one I always think of. When we fall in love, truly fall in love, we never do stop loving. Because true love is offered without expectation. I have been fortunate to have fallen deeply in love like this, a number of times in my life. Each time it taught me a lot, about myself, about others, and about life generally. The last time taught me, in particular, about how precious each moment can be, and about how we should always savour the closeness we feel with someone, and to always appreciate each moment of togetherness. Because you just never know when it might end. I wish you all the best. Yours, Frank 966 Metaphysics / Welcome to Quantum Physics! / Global Warming (would this solve it) on: January 19, 2005, 18:38:50 Hello: What if the world wasn't really warming up, but it was the way we were judging things that was getting a little heated? :) Yours, Frank 965 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Paranoia? Sensing..with chakra work on: January 19, 2005, 20:19:16 Hello: Personally, I can't see what the problem is. You are choosing to take action in order to broaden your awareness and have the wider reality come into your objective awareness. From what you say, you are being successful in that. But as you are doing so, it appears from what you say that a part of you is rejecting it for some reason. Having visions, bodily sensations, feelings of other "people" around you. That's all fairly normal. Everything within your reality is real. I suppose the question arises with most people is how much reality can a person take before they start having problems in their normal functioning? Yours, Frank 964 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Articles on projection on: January 19, 2005, 22:36:38 Hello: Thank you for your articles, they make for good reading. I'm moving it to the Astral Experiences forum and making it Sticky for a while as I am sure this will be helpful to many people. Yours, Frank 963 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / What if there where a lower dimesion than this one ? on: January 20, 2005, 00:44:22 Hello: Each cell or molecule within the physical incorporates consciousness. It holds its own purpose, its own function, and cooperates collectively with all the other cells or molecules within the whole expression; whatever that whole expression may be: a human being, an animal of some kind, a rock, and so forth. Intent, is the potential a physical expression holds to be fulfilling of its value fulfillment, within the pool of probabilities available to it. Personally, I think of this more as a primary intent, that I denote by capitalising the initial letter. Yours, Frank 961 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / On Channeled Materials (some people's mistrust of) on: January 20, 2005, 02:02:03 Hello: Many people fail to realise that it is quite possible to alter your perception in consciousness, but not necessarily alter your area of consciousness. From my experience, it would appear there are many people who believe they are engaging within an energy exchange, or "channeling" as is the latest buzzword, but in fact they are engaging in their own belief constructs. Virtually anyone can allow themselves an openness within consciousness and allow their own beliefs to be freely expressed. But they are not "channeling" in the true sense, as they are merely exchanging energy within themselves. Yours, Frank 960 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / On Channeled Materials (some people's mistrust of) on: January 20, 2005, 13:22:31 Telos: And not just everything in this universe but EVERYTHING that is in every other universe both physical and "non-physical" is made up of elements of consciousness. But I think the issue here is a complication caused by the fact that, as human beings, we also term the ability to think independently as being "conscious". Which has nothing to do with it. Well, you could say it is connected, in a manner of speaking. Elements of consciousness make up everything, as I say, so they are not only the driving force behind matter and action, they are matter and action also. But our general use of the word "conscious" tends to create an unfortunate mix in terms which causes confusion. If you feel the above doesn't answer your point then please expand on your question and I'll be happy to explain further for you. Areas of consciousness and how the universe was constructed has been a pet topic of mine for a while now. Yours, Frank 959 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Motivation Problem on: January 20, 2005, 16:06:15 Hello: Maybe you are trying to hard? I just wondered because any kind of tension in the mind can have a detrimental effect. I think the medics call it Performance Anxiety, or something like that. Maybe you should try to relax more and go with your own flow. That's what I do. Just lay back and look within yourself and be happy with what comes about. Sometimes I think people make this far too complex, and they begin treading on their own feet. Sorry if this isn't much help, but it's just a thought that came to mind when I read your post. Yours, Frank 956 Healing / Welcome to Healing discussions! / healing with astral projection on: January 20, 2005, 20:27:26 Hello: The problem is your mother will have to disengage eventually, no matter what. My advice is to accept the current situation and make sure you say everything you need to say to her before she leaves this current physical. Take it from me, there is nothing worse than having someone leave you totally unexpectedly. It makes you think of all the things you wanted to say to them but didn't. It's a question of realising the value in the moment, and all that. These situations really bring it home. I wish you all the best. Yours, Frank 955 Magic / Welcome to Magic! / Who's more powerful: Men or Women? on: January 20, 2005, 20:37:25 Hello: I'm surprised there is even a question like this. Women have the edge by a large margin. Yours, Frank 953 Magic / Welcome to Magic! / Who's more powerful: Men or Women? on: January 20, 2005, 21:05:20 He he, maybe I just gravitate towards powerful women, lol. That last post had me on the floor laughing. Physical gender becoming irrelevant. Sounds like one of those planets you read about in science fiction books. "Err, hello, someone on the phone for you honey, it's the real world calling." Yours, Frank 950 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / a bit odd? on: January 21, 2005, 03:31:26 Hello: I wouldn't worry, all you felt is the enegy centre coming alive in the region of the heart. Each energy centre is assigned a colour and the one you felt is the green centre. It gives you the sensation that your physical heart is beating at a tremendous rate. It isn't really, that is just how it feels. With me it also makes me feels like my body has expanded to about 4 times the size and like I am made of foam rubber. It's a nice sensation once you get into it. I activate mine about once a week just for the fun of it. Yours, Frank 946 Healing / Welcome to Healing discussions! / healing with astral projection on: January 21, 2005, 17:54:24 Cezyl: I'm pleased you brought up the "guilt" aspect. I was searching for the words to explain it yesterday but couldn't. Thing is, Archdragon, what you perhaps have to come to terms with is your mother may well have reached the end of her time here and is choosing to move on. People do this in all manner of ways. They may choose a particular circumstance, for example the circumstance of an "incurable" disease for the purposes of their exit experience. Or they may choose a more dramatic exit. But, ultimately, each person chooses their mode and time of exit. Though I do very much realise that virtually all people, particularly people in western society, are not geared up mentally to accept this yet in an objective sense. There are people who, for the purposes of their experience, choose to engage in a life-threatening circumstance and then decide to "recover" from it. There are all manner of reasons why, and all manner of circumstances where people choose to do this. Some people, for example, rather than choosing to manifest a disease, manifest a certain kind of "disability" and all manner of things besides. What it all boils down to is, whether your mother "recovers" or not is entirely down to her. She may well want to leave. In which case it is time for you to say what you need to say, and "allow" her to move on. This is very important. Realise, there is no death. Your mother isn't "dying" your mother will always be. She is simply deciding to go home. None of us really live here. It's just a place we all created for the purposes of our experience. Think of it like you go on holiday, and you stay temporarily in a place, have some different experiences for a while, then go home again. It looks very much like your mother has decided to go home now. Take care, Frank 945 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE or just dreaming? on: January 21, 2005, 22:00:37 Hello: You are NEVER "just dreaming". Your dreams form your very reality, in a physical sense, and in every sense. I first got started from reading Monroe's JOB 20-odd years ago and never looked back. It set me off on an amazing adventure and I just know my life would have been radically different (i.e. nowhere near as fulfilling) had I not read it. Eventually, it becomes nothing to do with can you "control" it. Your physical life is an expression of what you know about yourself inside. The more you discover the more your physical life changes to the extent where you just become it. First you start with faith, then comes the belief, then you start living it for real. It's mighty strange at first, taking full charge of your own life, your own destiny, and so forth. It's really scary. But it's something you get used to, and like with all things, we adapt. That's how we are. Or at least that's how we should be. Acceptance is the key. We all deny ourselves, well, most of us anyway. Quite why we do that I don't know. But everything we ever wanted to know is right there, within us, just for the asking. All we have to do is allow that change to take place. Sometimes doing that can be the hardest thing in the world, which is where faith comes in. People who come into this just get too hung up on techniques. They follow this and follow that. When all you need to do is lay back, relax, look within yourself and let it flow. Just simply allow it to happen. However it comes about, just let it be. Don't question it, just let it flow. Yours, Frank 941 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / astral plane? hmm... on: January 22, 2005, 17:41:11 "travelling, having fun, having great sex. don't you want these things?" Huh? I wasn't aware AP and the above were mutually exclusive. Anton1, do you actually read what you post? Do you not realise how daft it sounds? TROLL ALERT! Ha ha ha ha ha... 939 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Extreme Projection Locales on: January 22, 2005, 18:19:08 Hello: I have a regular guide-friend who projects to me fairly often. He is resident on another physical planet and I've been there a number of times. The place looks a lot like our physical world, but without all the aggression and the violence. The technology is really interesting. It is something we are set to have he says. They have all kinds of machines and things like us, but they are all biological. They live in houses, as we do, but the houses are "planted" as a seed and they "grow". Houses are self-heating, self-repairing, self lighting, etc. The streetlamps fascinate me the most because the light itself is actually a living creature. Yours, Frank 935 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral or Mental on: January 23, 2005, 18:28:47 Hello: It depends upon which model of consciousness you subscribe to. People talk about astral bodies versus mental bodies, etc. and forget (or perhaps do not realise) that these are constructs we create for the purposes of our experience. It may well feel or look, for example, that a person "separates" their astral/mental/or whatever, whatever "body". but there is no separation in consciousness! The only boundaries are the ones we create; the only separation that exists is a distinction that we create also. We create everything. All our reality is created by us. Nothing exists outside of us. What you perceive are not artefacts that are somehow produced by, or in some way belong to, the wider reality. They are all aspects of your experience that you create for yourself. Likewise, people talk about “astral travel” we don‟t actually travel anywhere. We already occupy these areas of consciousness, so there is nowhere we can travel to where we currently aren‟t. What people call “astral travel” is a kind of reminder they offer themselves of the reality of their existence, in some place other than this current physical. Only what they see is an objective translation of that wider reality. How you form your translation is entirely down to you. As I say, it is your translation, it's your creation. From the standpoint of being immersed in one reality, another reality will be viewed as an objective translation. If I allow myself to become completely immersed within another reality, for example, I fully merge with another focus, then the physical (together with my physical life here) becomes to me “like a dream”. When I cease merging with the other individual and focus within the physical again, I become completely immersed within this reality and the reality I was merged with before, now becomes to me “like a dream”. It's just that when people are starting out, they tend to project from the standpoint of the physical being the only real reality, and everything "non-physical" thus gets viewed as an objective translation. But the early explorers didn't realise this. By and large, it appears they believed that what they saw and/or experienced was the actual reality. So they wrote about it as if that was what existed, in fact. But it's all just an objective translation! Unfortunatey, you only get to realise this when you get proficient to the extent you can become fully immersed within another reality, and retain a high degree of mental control over your experience (the two work very much hand in hand). It is then that these truths begin to emerge. Yours, Frank 930 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: January 24, 2005, 16:51:23 Hi LittleP: Nice to talk to you again. At the area of consciousness people are operating within they are mainly dwelling within their own private constructs, you could say. But once they get a little experience and start shifting areas of consciousness then they can quite easily share in each other people's constructs through a process of energy interchange, yes. We create probable scenarios within "astral realms" all the time. This is a natural offshoot that occurs as a result of us engaging in the belief construct of choice. Basically, if we have a choice between choosing situation A or situation B. Say we choose to bring situation B within our objective, i.e. physical reality, then situation A will continue to live on as a “probable” scenario within a probable reality. As a result, all of us have a huge number of probable lives taking place in all manner of probable worlds. And that is just probable lives. Each of us has an infinite number of alternate selves and an infinite number of other focuses. And that‟s not counting the infinite number of personality fragments we also create. Note: when I say “probable” worlds, I don‟t mean some wishy-washy notion of a world. I mean a world that is just as real as the one we are all standing on now. You see, to one of your probable selves living in a probable world, they would think of their world as being the “real” world and to them you would be one of their probable selves living in a probable world. Problem is, a lot of past teachings on this topic come from the traditional mystical notions. What they basically did was condense the wider truth into a boxed set of beliefs that people could understand. So they created the concept of a “higher self” for example, and other more modern- day protagonists of the art have expanded on this, such as Moen‟s “disk” concept. Problem with that is, you get a load of people thinking of this kind of disk thingy through which maybe a hundred or so “other selves” are in some way connected. I‟m not knocking it because it helps people understand the basics I suppose. But we have an INFINITE number of other lives, other selves, other aspects of us. What‟s more, it is all happening right now within all manner of different areas of consciousness we create for this purpose. Yours, Frank 929 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / On Channeled Materials (some people's mistrust of) on: January 24, 2005, 18:18:55 Potatis: Like I‟ve said before, all this info is within you, all you need do is ask yourself. I don‟t know whether it‟s just me, but I am dead curious about how all this came about. I was reading on another post the other day about where a member was asking for good places to “astral project” to. Now, I‟m not knocking this but merely using it as a comparison. Each to their own, ultimately. But he had listed such places as a strip-club, and an Iranian nuclear installation. Like I say, maybe it‟s just me, but I would never think of projecting to any of these places. I enjoy being around women, I think they are utterly delightful creatures and some of the most joyous times in my life have been spent naked with one. But with me it has to be a “special” one, otherwise nothing works. Likewise with nuclear installations. If someone made a rule the only place you could project to in future was a nuclear installation, foreign or otherwise, then I‟d give the whole thing up, nothing would work, I‟d lose the ability. Do you see what I mean? What really turns me on is finding out how all this came to be. But more to the point, how “I” came to be. Which is why I keep on doing it. And in finding out how I came to be, I'm finding out how everyone else came to be too, and how the planet was formed and all kinds of things like that. That‟s the key to all of this. First you‟ve got to study yourself, find out all your own motivations, your desires, your intents, your core beliefs. You‟ve got to start noticing yourself *continually*. Monitoring every thought, every feeling, every reaction that takes place within you, and keep asking yourself WHY you think the way you do, and WHY you feel the way you do, etc., etc. keep doing this and, slowly but surely, you will start breaking through to the very core of your own Self. But people generally don‟t do this. They think of Spirituality as a notion they objectify. They start learning techniques and methods and such like from books as if they were learning to pass an exam, following which they get a certificate saying they are now a “spiritual being”. We are all spiritual beings already! No one person is any more or any less spiritual than any other! There is no such thing as spiritual knowledge, they are just belief constructs that we at one time created for the purposes of our experience. But people have moved on since those days. Today, many of us have realised there is only one “knowledge” and that is, knowledge of SELF. Being “spiritual” has got nothing to do with being a Buddhist, or a monk, or whoever/whatever, it‟s got nothing to do with praying 5 times a day, or giving away all your worldly goods and living a life as a hobo. Being spiritual is simply about widening your awareness in order to incorporate all aspects of your own Self. In other words, “spiritual” is not something you learn about, it is something you become. Your physical self actually becomes a different focus of consciousness. It gradually becomes this different focus of consciousness as you learn to incorporate the wider aspects of your Self. Once you do this, everthing else begins falling into place. Because, ultimately, it is all connected (there is no separation in consciousness). So really it boils down to asking yourself the right kinds of questions. I remember the day years ago when I sat down and asked myself, seriously, where did I come from? And I occupied my mind with that sole question for about a year. Slowly but surely, over that time the answer began realising itself. Okay, I was fairly proficient at projection at the time as well. But I still believe the answers would have come to me the same (I wouldn‟t see that as a barrier, for there are no barriers in consciousness). Yours, Frank 922 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Work with chakras really necessary for AP or OBE? on: January 24, 2005, 23:58:27 Hello: Not necessary at all. It can help, certainly, but in terms of whether it is necessary no it isn't. I was projecting long before I had even heard of the word Chakra. Yours, Frank 921 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Sharing a Few Experiences on: January 25, 2005, 00:14:13 Sarah: Excellent work as always. Your posts also serve as a prime example of the kind of methodical note-taking that is necessary for anyone who seriously wishes to be proficient at this art. I hope your fine examples stimulate others to do the same as you do, as it is not only extremely beneficial for beginners, but also for people of all degrees of experience. Thank you for sharing. Yours, Frank 916 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / last nights ex:seemed to meet Selski, Telos & Frank on: January 25, 2005, 17:53:22 Doug: This is brilliant! What you are doing is allowing yourself to widen your focus (that's the expanding sensation) which is presenting the opportunity for you to merge with other aspects of your personality or Self. At first, yes, it tends to be fleeting. But if you keep working on trying to develop the control (again it's all down to having that control) then you will be able to merge with another focus for, in objective terms, what would seem like, perhaps, 5 or 10 minutes rather than split seconds. I have no recollection of your contact but you could quite easily have been connecting with some other aspect of myself. Funny how the three of us should come into it, though. Maybe Selski and I are Telos's spiritual parents? He he, now, question is, did he get his brains from Selski and his sensitive side from me, or was it the other way around? LOL Anyhow, like I say, just brilliant. I mean it, seriously, that's just bang on. Keep following that road because down there is where you find the fun stuff. Yours, Frank 914 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Progress? (Description of What I'm Feeling) on: January 25, 2005, 21:19:54 JK: When you say short little bursts of air that‟s what you internally hear, right? As if it were a sound like an air release? In other words, you hear it in your head more than you feel it as pressure? The other sensations re: heart and throat I recognise in that you are at the stage where you are “finding” these energy centres (sorry, but I tend to avoid the term Chakra as there are just too many ridiculous belief-constructs attached to that word). The heart, for example, you should be able to amplify to the point where it feels like your physical heart is racing and your whole body has expanded to about 4 times the size. It gives you the feeling you are made of some lightweight jelly-like substance and you get all light and floaty. The other thing you might do is when you feel the (green) heart centre “fluttering” send the energy down to your yellow centre, and then send it further down. I won‟t say what that feels like. I‟ll leave it up to you. :) But once you get the feeling in mind, with a little tactile manipulation you can also transfer it to your significant other. Let‟s just say it helps them shed a whole new light on the term, foreplay. Let me know on the Crown question. Yours, Frank 913 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Spirit vs. Astral body on: January 26, 2005, 00:06:10 Hello: The physical body is not a fixed entity, it is a personified expression of consciousness that we create. We may find ourselves in a circumstance where we are creating one particular expression, which may be apt for the prevailing circumstances, and then we may find our circumstances change, suddenly, and then the old expression no longer fits. In which case what we need to do is make a quick change to the “expression program” so to speak, and switch expressions to suit the new circumstances. Unfortunately, if a particular expression has suited a person for long enough they can get locked in that bodily expression, to the extent where they forget how to change or make the shift. In other words, they tend to concentrate upon questions of “how do I” rather than the just simply doing… and trust to themselves, in Essence, that the rest, i.e. their bodily expression will follow. Fear is a big barrier. People can make themselves ill through worrying about change of one kind or another. But what they need to do is take a step back and start looking from a wider perspective. At which point it becomes a question of merely asking for whatever it is you want, as opposed to complaining about what you currently have, in one respect. Or if not complaining, then seeing what you currently have as a barrier to where you want to be. However, as I have said oodles of times on this forum, there are no barriers in consciousness. Only those barriers that we create for the purposes of our experience. But again, we create barriers that suit us on the one hand, and perhaps years later, when they no longer suit us, we wonder how to get rid of them. Forgetting, of course, that we actually put them there in the first place. The previous poster talks about losing one‟s wife or one‟s job and saying about how devastated, frustrated, or angry these kinds of events can make a person feel. Which is true. And people pick themselves up from these kinds of events every day, all over the world, and start again, at all ages. There is no such thing as quit, there is no such thing as giving in. A man is built to protect his family and to provide for them no matter what. And when circumstances knock you down, you just get up again and be more determined next time. Yours, Frank 911 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Does reality matter? on: January 26, 2005, 20:06:17 Hello: People who say that obe's are "vivid dreams" are correct, but usually for all the wrong reasons. I would suggest that first people should find out what a "dream" is exactly before making any kind of comparison. Otherwise people lead themselves into the engagement of the action of making a comparison against an unknown quantity. Which is a bit illogical I may say. A dream is an objective interpretation of a person's engagement within subjective reality. So in wider terms what's the difference between that and an obe? I can't see any. Yours, Frank 910 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Does reality matter? on: January 26, 2005, 23:10:58 Perhaps the truth is it is neither. Yours, Frank 907 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Does reality matter? on: January 27, 2005, 13:22:40 Hello: I have no problem, for example, with being accused of it all being a product of my imagination. Personally, I don't know what other faculty it could be a product of, lol. The only bit I have trouble understanding is the accusation part. But I always put that down to people reflecting their lack of understanding upon me. Which is their problem, of course, not mine. I think people should try to understand more the vital role faculties such as the imagination play in the wider scheme of things. We create ALL our reality, physical or otherwise. The imagination plays a vital role in this. Quite simply, if you can't imagine it then you can't create it, and that applies across the board. So everything we create is a product of our imagination. This art is still too influenced by all the old religious and mystical teachings, IMO. But I think when people generally start realising that all reality is "real" then classic questions such as, "Was this real or just a dream" will simply fade away. As the Major rightly points out, the only problem with the phrase "just a dream" is the word "just". This of course touches on the good points expressed by FreeChile in that it often comes down to a question of the devaluing of the experiences, either within your own Self or becoming immersed in the situation of having others try to do that for you. The simple fact is, there is no part of our reality that is not real. Moreover, no reality is any more or any less real than any other. It is simply a question of perspective. When a person has the ability to become totally immersed in another realm of reality, then this physical realm becomes just as "dreamlike" and "unreal" as all the other realms look to someone not so proficient. The physical only looks as real as it does because it captures our focus to an extreme extent. I can now withdraw my awareness, for example, even while walking down the street, so it appears like I take a "step back" from the front-line reality. As such it all starts becoming very dreamlike. Yours, Frank 899 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Projection sickness please read! on: January 29, 2005, 22:33:00 Hello: Projection sickness, yes, there is a pill you can get for it now. I'm not sure of the name of it but it's made by a Mexican company called Pla Cebo. You take it and in two hours everything is alright again. Yours, Frank 898 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / What happened to me? on: January 29, 2005, 22:47:10 Hello: Were you actually smoking at the time you gave yourself these suggestions? Because if you weren't then they could be a source of confusion. You can't actually manifest a "not". You may know what you mean in an objective sense but the subjective gets a bit tangled with this kind of expression. The subjective can only manifest an "is" not a "not". HTH Yours, Frank 896 World Cultures, Traditions and Religions / Welcome to World Cultures, Traditions and Religions! / self and ego on: January 29, 2005, 22:58:16 Hello: There are two basic ego constructs, which one are you talking about? Inner or outer? Yours, Frank 893 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Projection sickness please read! on: January 30, 2005, 18:59:23 Hello: The big problem with this kind of thing is a person can lead themselves into becoming a walking, talking self-fulfilling prophecy. I mean, any kind of "journey into the unknown" as these people thought of it will generate a lot of fear. Now, if you start expressing fear in a subjective environment then that fear is just going to manifest all around you. So what these people did, was objectively view these manifestations and then they wrote about them, as if they were some "thing" or phenomenon that was occuring separate from themselves! They never realised it was simply a manifestation of their own lack of understanding. But they wrote with authority, and people believed them, and so others took the same route, and they themselves manifested their own fears, and so they believed they were "real" also. And people kept on doing that... until... others came along and tried to point out where these people were going wrong. As the Major says, a number of us have moved on. The only "danger" that exists is in the belief that there are dangers to be wary of. But the elimination of doubt isn't an overnight process, unfortunately. Sometimes it just takes ages for people to be convinced beyond doubt. And that's all it takes, to move on. Yours, Frank 892 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Projection sickness please read! on: January 30, 2005, 21:44:24 Major Tom: I acknowledge what you say and, as always, I am very grateful for your pointers. I am steadily bringing myself to coming around to read the other works you have recommended to me. Please understand that I have quite a low opinion of "channeled" works generally as what I have read thus far, knowing subjective reality as I do, it is obvious that what people are channeling is nothing more than an objective interpretation of their own subjective constructs. Not that there is anything wrong in that, if that is what you are setting out to do, then fine. But when these people start talking about aliens, no wait, Pleadians, and all that jazz. Then I just start playing ho-hum and switch off. I can say, however, the text you present in italics I have difficulty disagreeing with. Especially reference the Demon constructs. As I said to you in private, it is a novelty for me to read a book on this topic and actually find myself nodding in agreement even once, never mind page after page! Best wishes, Frank 890 World Cultures, Traditions and Religions / Welcome to World Cultures, Traditions and Religions! / self and ego on: January 30, 2005, 23:30:01 Er, inner and outer. I was wondering which one the original poster was thinking about. Yours, Frank 888 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Negs vs Mental Decay on: January 30, 2005, 23:57:08 Hello: Hmm, to be honest I always thought the two were mutually inclusive. Having thoughts that you *seriously* think don't belong to you is a pretty weird state of affairs. Yours, Frank 887 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / dream, obe, or ap on: January 31, 2005, 00:00:21 Dream, obe, or ap... Basically there is no real difference as they are all founded on the same basis. So I guess the answer is yes. Yours, Frank 883 World Cultures, Traditions and Religions / Welcome to World Cultures, Traditions and Religions! / Universism on: January 31, 2005, 01:06:06 Hello: For the record there are no absolutes full stop, Truths or otherwise. You don't need to subscribe to an "ism" to know that. All anyone need do is look within themselves, quietly, and they can find out for themselves without all the usual fanfare. But I suppose as most people appear locked in the old leader/follower constructs that's going to be a tad difficult for a while. But they'll drop off eventually, as people enter into more post-conventional constructs. Yours, Frank 882 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / new technologies for obe & meditation on: January 31, 2005, 01:11:26 Hello: Looks very new-age and not the kind of thing you'd want to be wearing during daylight hours for fear of being seen, or at least not without a big sign on your back saying, "Don't follow me I'm lost". Yours, Frank 881 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Projection sickness please read! on: January 31, 2005, 01:27:32 Major Tom: I'll share my 2000th post with you, and wish you all the best in your future explorations. I very much hope you will soon have the big breakthrough you so obviously deserve. I would also like to extend my very best wishes to everyone who continually works to push the boundaries, so to speak, under what I know are extremely challenging and frighteningly difficult conditions. But we're getting there! With kind regards, Frank 879 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Why are you so shure that AP is not just a product of your on: January 31, 2005, 20:29:48 Oh, not this again... So please, tell me, what could ANY of your reality possibly be a product of? (If not your imagination.) We create all our reality, and if you can't imagine it in the first place you can't create it! So yes, ultimately, everything is a product of our imagination. Can someone put a big sign up somewhere where we can all see this, lol. Yours, Frank 875 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Why are you so shure that AP is not just a product of your on: January 31, 2005, 23:37:23 "In your opinion" thanks for the honesty. :) Yours, Frank 874 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: February 01, 2005, 10:53:24 Hello: It's a long story but the big breakthrough for me came when I discovered how to not only alter my perception in consciousness but alter my area of consciousness. That's when you get to knowing the fun stuff, as I call it. I began like most people by altering my perception in consciousness. This is nice, you can learn a lot about yourself this way. But there is a whole load more besides. Yours, Frank 873 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / -=Instant astral projection=- on: February 01, 2005, 11:02:09 Telos: There is ultimately only knowledge of Self. We talk about concepts such as "others" or "future" as if they separate from us in some way. But we place these barriers, or create these distinctions, for the purposes of our experience. Yours, Frank 872 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Why are you so shure that AP is not just a product of your on: February 01, 2005, 20:08:35 Err, did I come across as having a bad day? I'm really sorry about that! But I was being light-hearted that's why I put "lol" after the post. But it's obvious that didn't come across as I intended it. Yours, Frank 871 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: February 01, 2005, 20:28:58 Nick: Parallel realities, yes, this is a part of it. But there is a whole load more to do with our particular reality that people can find out too. Which is where I have been at for the past few years following the breakthrough, as I said just above. I'm currently writing a book which I am hoping to publish in a few months, that gives all the details of what I keep trying to get across within the constraints of the forum. The first book will be a beginner's guide that will cover all the basics and get people started off down the same road. Then later in the year I am hoping to publish a second book that will delve more into the "fun stuff" and who knows what else besides. Yours, Frank 869 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: February 01, 2005, 23:30:50 Hello: I'm 45 years of age according to my birth certificate. In mind, however, I never got past 26. I got to 26 and thought that's enough ageing for one lifetime, lol. Yours, Frank 868 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Roman accounts of OBE! (Pliny) on: February 02, 2005, 20:29:23 Yeah, that's really interesting, wow and all that time ago as well. Makes me think back to a while ago. Was it you who was saying about diet info on Dead Sea Scrolls, or was that something else? History was never my thing as you know. But fascinating nonetheless. Yours, Frank 866 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Strange Projection on: February 02, 2005, 21:06:25 MJ: Take a tip from me and please don't try to force it. The best way I have found is to "roll out". I did this exact thing this morning, in fact. I'm not a big fan of RTZ projections but I do give it a go now and again just to keep in practice. You get to the vibrational stage and gently rock yourself from side to side a few times and then roll gently a couple of times to one side. It doesn't matter which side, just roll gently and then start walking and you'll automatically "right" yourself. And if you've never done it before, you'll find yourself sleepily wandering about your bedroom wondering what the heck happened, lol. At which point you will usually zip back as things can get a little fear-laden the first few times. Rolling out is the only way I can do it. If I try and somehow "step out" then bits of me keep feeling like they are getting "stuck" and I get bored and shift my area of consciousness elsewhere. Which is what happened to you. You shifted from a focus-1 to a focus-2 perspective. It's easy done. I notice you found deep breathing increased the vibrational level. Same here and this is something I have pointed out before on the forum. With me I find if I take normal breaths in, but long slow breaths out, to the point where my lungs are completely empty, then they increase considerably. There is something about that long outbreath that excites my yellow energy centre. At the same time, however, only a light vibrational level is necessary for me to get "out of body". But I do often play a game of getting the vibrations to as high an intensity as I can stand, just for the fun aspect. Yours, Frank 863 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Ethereal Music on: February 03, 2005, 20:10:45 Hello: In certain states it is easy to tune into music. I used to do it all the time, I went through a phase of doing it and posted about it here shortly after I joined. It's very normal. When it first started happening I thought someone was playing music outside and a number of times I went searching around the house checking if a radio was on, and went outside to check if one of the neighbours had decided to have an early morning rave or or something. :) Yours, Frank 862 Dreams / Welcome to Dreams! / Pictures in minds eye before sleep on: February 03, 2005, 21:16:58 Hello: These kinds of images are very normal to people who practice this art. In Monroe terms you are entering the Focus 12 state. If you hold your awareness by observing the images. Not too much but then not so loosely that you fall asleep. (There is a very fine line you need to tread at this point.) You will find after a little while you will "enter" the imagery. The whole space will open out into the vast expanse of mind (everything takes on a 3D effect) and you will be free to go walkabout. Yours, Frank 860 Dreams / Welcome to Dreams! / Pictures in minds eye before sleep on: February 03, 2005, 21:57:12 Major Tom: I find these images can just take on any pattern, for any reason. I never managed to find any particular patterns that I could say, yes, that's a definite. Lately, for example, I have been seeing a lot of textured effects. Brown and yellow colours seem to dominate. When I went through this phase before I'd get lots of shades of blue. Really deep blues as well. Not long ago I went through a phase of getting pictures. Just still pictures of people I have never seen before, not to my objective knowledge that is. It was just a picture phase, I suppose, and now it's effects again. What has happened the past few days is I have been softly focused on an effect, expecting it to melt away and then getting the feeling of forwards movement as per usual. Then, suddenly, there is this enormous BANG! And the whole effect explodes like a firework into a million falling stars. The first time it happened was about a week ago and it nearly shocked the life out of me! I never zapped back to C1 so quick, lol. After I was just laying in bed thinking what the heck was that all about? It's happened 3 times now. But I suppose that will go away and something else will come along. Yours, Frank 859 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE and damn fear! on: February 03, 2005, 22:10:38 Hello: Problem is the process of disengagement is more or less the same as what happens when you die, in a manner of speaking. So it rattles the outer ego quite a bit, as this element of your consciousness always likes to keep a tight rein on things. The fear you feel is the outer ego's battle to stay in control, its fear of losing control, etc. The emotion is really only a communication but one that is difficult to ignore. Plus, people interpret it in all manner of different ways, 99.9% of which tend to put a big spoke in the works. Yours, Frank 858 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: February 03, 2005, 22:46:21 Major Tom: Not in the first book because I'm finding that there is a *lot* of basic groundwork to cover just getting a person aligned to this kind of approach. You see, we can chat between us about F10, F15 and the like but we have a lot of knowledge of the basics already. For someone just starting out along the Monroe school of doing things, there is a lot to learn. Just explaining the beginning focus states and teaching a person how to achieve them is a mini- book in itself. When I say explain the focus states I don't mean the usual half a dozen lines everyone quotes, like, F10 mind awake, body asleep, F12 state of expanded awareness, F15 no time... I mean explain them all properly with examples of conditions and possible variances, and so forth. It takes a lot of writing. So I decided the first book will be a very down-to-earth, highly practical, beginners guide to the whole "phasing" approach. But I will think up some pointers and try and get them on one of our threads somewhere. I'm in the middle of a reply to your post that you pointed out to me the other day. I'll see if I can squeeze something in that. Yours, Frank 857 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Sex and Phasing on: February 04, 2005, 02:54:00 So tell me Frankie, do you ever conjure-up the likeness of, lets say, a celebrity that you find attractive, and have your way with her? Nostic: It is possible but it is not something I have never attempted. The only women I ever really fantasise about are those I'd be having a relationship with. But what you would do is create the probable scenario using your imagination then project and merge with it. It would be pretty easy for me to do, yes, as I perform this action already only for different purposes. As for how difficult it would be for someone else to do, it would depend how connected they felt to their imagination. It is no coincidence that successful people are also highly creative. Everything a person creates is seeded from their imagination. Probable selves are aspects of you, as in created by you on a more local level, as opposed to other "selves" or focuses which are created in Essence or the "oversoul" region of consciousness. People tend to use different terminology for the same regions of consciousness so that's why I've given a couple of examples. So, yes, probable selves are aspects of yourself. As for your question about age, I started from reading Monroe's JOB about 23 years or so ago. It took me about 5 years to start making good headway, but remember that was in the days of no Internet I could turn to for some good pointers. The actual method given in the book took me about 3 months of trying most days before I began getting some definite effects. I guess it took me about 10 years to really get going to the point where you could say I had a fair degree of proficiency. However, the big challenge in learning this art is the more you learn, the more that opens up for you to learn. So you never really get to the stage where you think you have mastered it. Because there is always something else to learn. So in a number of areas I feel very confident of my abilities, yet in others I'm an absolute beginner making all the errors under the Astral sun, so to speak. Yours, Frank 855 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Bruce Moen on: February 04, 2005, 17:51:31 Nick: I can't comment on the workshop as I have never attended one, but I have had the opportunity of studying his work after finally getting around to reading a couple of his books: Curiosity's Father and Voyage Beyond doubt. Firstly, he comes across as a bit "new age" for my tastes. But that could just be the "packaging" as it were, in the translation of the subjective reality into the objective model he presents. I note there are a number of advantages he offers beginner's especially. But one way I feel Bruce Moen stands out head and shoulders above many, is in his use of his "focused attention" concept. He cuts a swathe through all the traditional obe-style constructs, energy bodies, astral bodies, vibrations, separation, and the like (very refreshingly IMO) and cuts right to the chase. Rather than altering his perception in consciousness, he concentrates more or less exclusively on switching the area of consciousness he is focused towards. In doing this, he becomes a perfect demonstration of what I've been saying for a while, i.e. there are no barriers in consciousness, and there is no separation either. Only the restrictions we place on ourselves for the purposes of our experience. Now, I cannot comment with any authority as I have never attended one, but I do believe this is basically what he teaches in the workshop. That rather than switching your perception in consciousness, simply switch your area of consciousness you are focused towards or focused within. He appears to be switching to what he calls the “afterlife” region, so I‟m assuming he is connecting with people either engaged in transition (F23 to F26) or are within the Exchange Territories of Focus 27. Though they wouldn‟t necessarily have to be, but I‟m going from what he has published that I have read. As I say, he tends to wrap the whole thing up in new-age style terminology (from what I can gauge from reading the two books). But when I compare what he is doing to what I am doing, there are many, many parallels in our work. When I compare our respective models of consciousness, giving due allowance for his more new-age stance, I can concur more or less absolutely up to Focus 27. By that, I mean any differences are insignificant either way. But where we start to zoom off in different directions is on the presentation of his Focus 35 model, to which I cannot concur at all. But I do have a strong theory as to why that might be. If I were not too far away I would definitely pop along to attend. HTH Yours, Frank 854 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Wave 1 and general Phasing questions on: February 04, 2005, 23:18:48 Major Tom: Apologies for the delay in replying. I have been particularly busy of late, but I did note what you said with interest and earmarked your post. The following are my thoughts, not all of which are strictly relevant to your post but it gives you a bit of background as to where I am at in this general direction. There are elements of your experience I recognise. I especially like your phrase “emotional detachment” as this describes it perfectly and I know the state well. I have been, for a while now, experimenting with entering “out of body” states while remaining within C1, which is possible but still largely elusive. I talked a lot with Stephen (EOL007) last year and picked up a number of pointers from his own approach. Stephen takes the more conventional mediumistic approach, and I have had some success in combining the ideas upon which his approach is based with my own work. As you know, I started by following the Monroe model, more or less, but the past few years I have been branching out developing my own model of consciousness to incorporate actions/events that, to me, appear outside of the traditional Monroe framework of events. I‟m not saying the Monroe model is flawed, so please no one get me wrong. But it is only a model of consciousness at the end of the day (albeit a darned good one) and time moves on. The problem with the Monroe model, as I see it, is that it strongly suggests an entirely linear progression, from Focus C1 through to Focus 35. Now, I would suggest from my experience that, up to Focus 21, the various mental states do tend to flow as described with little discord from the published “ideal”. By ideal, I mean the official output presented by the Monroe Institute that everyone tends to parrot. You know, Focus 10, mind awake body asleep; Focus 12, state of expanded awareness; Focus 15, no time… etc. Now, the big problem with the Monroe model, if I may be so bold as to fly in the face of the man himself, is that “beyond” Focus 21 the supposed linearity of the model begins to disintegrate rapidly, in my experience. The problem is, for most people, once you lose all semblance of physical grounding then everything just tends to get very, “here and there”. Maybe, if one could retain absolute concentration, the suggested linearity of the model could hold up beyond F27. But I just can‟t see it, because I simply cannot find the structure that holds it up. Focus 27 is the practical limit as far as I am concerned. I‟ve tried and tried and tried, and I just can‟t make it work beyond F27. From Focus 27, you have to incorporate the notion of parallel realities. As you know, what you don‟t incorporate you blind yourself towards. But you can blind yourself to parallel realities all you like up to Focus 27, as there are no parallel realities you come across in that event… if… you are following the model construct as it is laid out. Something tells me Focus 35 was the Monroe Institute‟s attempt to create a “parallel reality” construct that rather went down okay with the people who were paying the fees for the courses. I‟m not trying to infer any kind of dodgy dealing, or anything. But beyond the Monroe-model F27, everything expands out into an expanse that is difficult to encapsulate. No words can explain it, well, no simple strings of words, let‟s say. You have to experience it to believe it; and if no simple strings of words can explain it then it can‟t be sold, it can‟t be marketed, and all the rest of it. So the concept of Focus 35 was born. Aliens, earth-changes, channellings from “supreme beings” and so forth, all of which I imagine would be popular constructs to the kinds of people enrolling on the courses. Not that there is anything wrong in engaging in this kind of wish fulfilment. People have been praying for the “second coming” for around two millennia, so such a deeply inbred feeling isn‟t going to disappear overnight. And, given our technology, I suppose it is only fitting that big-G would appear in a specially adapted flying saucer, in a way like an intergalactic/interdimensional version of the Popemobile. Anyhow, I digress. The Monroe model suggests a linear arrangement of various focus states, which is all very well. The problem I have found is it assumes a particular starting state then goes on to make a number of other assumptions and expresses these as “requirements” when in fact there are no such requirements… when looked at against the background of the wider reality. I think what has happening with me, is I have outgrown the model. Plus, I feel there is a danger in that people are making the same mistake as the traditional mystics. Where people talk about Focus 27 as if it were a place you can travel to. When it‟s not a place at all, it is just the model and our way of expressing it in modern terms. Whereas the “astral” was simply a way of expressing it in ancient terms. I know I have even talked about Focus 27, for example, as a place before. But my knowledge was relatively limited then compared to how it is today. Now, of course, I realise it is an area of consciousness. But even when people hear that I‟m guessing they will still think of it as some area, like a place somewhere, where they can travel to or otherwise go to. The problem is, there is no place in consciousness that we don‟t currently occupy. So we can‟t “travel” anywhere. We are already everywhere. Therefore, there is nowhere we can go to where we weren‟t already at before we arrived. So the notion of travelling to a place must surely be illusionary. In other words, the act of engaging in a model of consciousness that necessitates “travel” must ultimately lead to some degree of perceptual distortion in the translation between the subjective and the objective states. I would also suggest that the more complex the model, the more perceptual distortion people would lend themselves open to. I figured that if we already occupied these areas of consciousness, in other words, if they are not a separate place but they are a part of us already, i.e. there is neither separation nor barriers in consciousness, then it is not a question of focus; in the sense of where you point your focus of attention becomes your reality (Note: as I have said oodles of times on this forum, lol). Of course, that statement holds true within the constraints of the model. The tantalising question is, however, can one completely step outside of, or entirely discard the whole concept of the model, i.e. any model? I cannot present an extensive reply to that question simply because I do not know the full answer. I would suggest the answer in short is yes. As there are no limitations in consciousness, only those we place upon ourselves for the purposes of our experience. But as to how it is done, I truly don‟t know right now though I do have a number of ideas. What I do feel, and this comes right back to what you and I have touched on, is any kind of “access” to the wider consciousness must be performed from C1. The basis on which I say this, is that any notion of “travel” is illusionary, and illusionary scenarios lead to significant distortions in translation between the subjective and the objective. The other reason is, C1 is what I call our default state. In other words, we are all happiest at C1 and suffer the least distortion. It appears the moment most people “step out” of C1 consciousness they lend themselves open to distortions and fluctuations galore. Unless, of course, you happen to have spent years and years learning how to control it all. The above is just a small section of my thoughts and notes on this matter. I could go on for pages and pages yet, lol. But, in short, all the various models tend to suggest a departure, if you like, from the C1 state as being a pre-requisite to the experiencing of any other state. This is a notion I have subscribed to in the past, which I accept. But my added experience is suggesting now that the departure from C1 is not an absolute requirement. It may well be a requirement for whichever “model” is being subscribed to, but it is by no means an absolute requirement. In theory at least, it should be possible to experience ANY state directly from C1. Without all the rigmarole of progressing from one to the other, to the other, etc. Yours, Frank 853 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / My first “third eye experience” on: February 05, 2005, 20:21:31 Captain: I‟m sorry but I have only just now noticed your post of Jan 20. The swirling colours sounds to me very much like the beginnings of the Monroe Focus 12 state. I tend to visualise swirling colours as well as I‟ve mentioned before in my posts. If you were to do a quick search on “swirling colours” and “Frank” then you might find some pointers of interest to you. As for the visuals you saw that morning a while ago. This is tantalising because you offered yourself a demonstration of your abilities as “proof” you could do it. Yet when you try, in a sense, purposely, you can‟t make it work. As you have been trying for a while I feel I should make clear to you that this is how it tends to be all down the line. With me, even now, with every step I take there is reluctance. I want to do it, make no mistake, but there is reluctance. A mixture of doubt, and fear, of the “unknown”. Many times I have taken a step forward wondering if this time might not be my "last". Against the light of that, we human beings still insist upon making these discoveries. And so what we do is offer ourselves a little glimpse, we take a quick step around the corner to snatch a glance, and then step back double-quick to the safe ground we were at before. I feel that this is what you have done. I took a quick glance once and was immediately hit by a blast of energy that sent me reeling at light-speed. It felt like every molecule, every atom, and every element of consciousness of my whole sense of being was being ripped to shreds. The only way I can describe it is like getting caught on a high-voltage power cable and having that current rip through your body, but have it done to you continuously, like you would never lose consciousness and you would never die. And that is how it was always going to be forever. I got out of it eventually. After thinking about it for a while, I figured I had offered myself the very worst conditions I would ever have to face, and I had survived that, so what else is there to fear? Since that time, I‟ve been a lot more confident in my ability just to let the experience flow. That‟s the key to all this, you have to just let it flow. Allow yourself to become it, as opposed to trying to go to it, or point to it, with some kind of “method”. Just lay back and simply become it. At which point people usually say, "Yeah, but Frank it‟s okay for you but when I close my eyes all I see is blackness."Well, that is all I see at first! I think often that people are too hasty to discount these initial stages, and they just go off on some method. When I close my eyes all I see is blackness. But I think the essential difference between me and a lot of beginners is when they close their eyes they are not really noticing. And that‟s another key to it… that of noticing self. I think people just get too wrapped up in methods and techniques, and it prevents them from really noticing themselves. When I close my eyes all I see is blackness, which is normal. I‟ll wriggle around a bit to get comfy, maybe my knee is itching and my hair is tickling my ear or something. So I‟ll sort all that out and just concentrate on breathing gently for 5 minutes or so. Now, because I am noticing as opposed to avidly trying to perfect and follow some technique or method, my full attention is taken by the simple act of noticing. I read a post today where someone keeps trying and they are saying about how they are concentrating upon holding their awareness outside of themselves, and at the same time they are concentrating on “raising energy” and doing everything correctly, and whatever… but nothing is happening. That‟s right, because all their attention is fixated elsewhere, whereas all my attention is fixated on noticing. Noticing what? Well, nothing at first, there‟s not much to see really but blackness. But then, after a short while, I may see that perhaps one part of the blackness is not quite so black. Perhaps there was just a brief flash of something, then maybe a sensation of a movement somewhere else. Maybe I just heard someone call my name. Hmm, that‟s interesting, I might think, I wonder where that came from. But I don‟t get too curious I just keep noticing. I might see swirling areas of not quite so black as the rest. I might see flashes of this and that. As I am offering myself these images, my attention is steadily becoming more fixated within. As my attention becomes fixated within, from the act of noticing, at this stage I am not aware of my physical body. Part of my awareness realises that somewhere in the background is a physical body, in bed, etc. but I have phased away from it. Before, the forefront of my awareness was my physical and 180 degrees turned around from that, in the background of my awareness, was the non-physical. But now there has been a “phase shift” i.e. a turning through 180 degrees. Now, my previous foreground (physical) is my background, and my previous background (non- physical) is my foreground. This is what is meant by “phasing” because you cause a 180-degree Phase Shift between the non- physical and the physical. Monroe first coined the term as he was an electronics engineer and I graduated in electronics, before I got into technical authoring and then into publishing and marketing. But that‟s another story. Anyhow, what I want to say is because I understand electronics, I understand where Monroe was coming from as he was picturing it like it were two voltages, 180 degrees out of phase with each other. Hence he coined the term Phasing. But I guess people generally have difficulties picturing two voltages 180-degrees out of phase with each other. So, instead, imagine a revolving door that is the entrance to a building. Any old building, it doesn‟t matter. You are standing outside the building. So the “outside” is your reality. You are aware of a reality that exists inside the building, but is closed to you by the door. Now, go through and turn the door 180 degrees and stop (oh, in case anyone doesn‟t know there are 360 degrees in a circle, so 180 degrees is half a circle). Now, you are inside the building. So the “inside” is your reality. You are aware of a reality that exists outside the building, but it is closed to you by the door. Now again go through and turn the door by 180 degrees, and stop. So now, the “outside” is your reality again. Each time you go though the door and turn through 180 degrees, there is a 180-degree “phase shift” between your awareness of the outside and your awareness of the inside, in terms of your reality. Okay, so as my attention becomes fixated within, from the act of noticing, this causes a 180- degree phase shift between my awareness of the physical (outer) and my awareness of the non- physical (inner) sense of reality. So from then on, I continue to notice anything that may come about. I‟m not all that curious, I‟m not trying to make anything happen, I‟m not enacting some kind of method or technique, I‟m simply looking within and noticing what is taking place, and the act of doing that is focusing my attention. As a person focuses their attention within themselves, through the action of noticing, they allow themselves to view “snippets” of other dimensions of reality. This action is translated objectively as the perception of flashes of all manner of this and that, random images that come and go, all kinds of spurious sounds, and so forth. Doing this is the equivalent of quickly taking a peek around a corner to snatch a glance, as I said earlier, then we step back double-quick to the safe ground we were at before. As regards yourself, Captain, it would appear that you are comfortable in offering yourself a glimpse of “swirling colours” but you are not comfortable in accepting a full-on awareness such as you offered yourself before. Perhaps you offered it to yourself to have a kind of “carrot to the donkey” effect, which would stimulate you into progressing in a particular direction. What I would suggest is you follow the simple “noticing” exercise and see what other basic images you will put before you. In other words, put the idea of repeating the main experience aside for now, and keep it really simple. I think, ultimately, what people who follow the Phasing approach need to be realising is: the other dimensions of reality only seem to be objectively separated. But in reality, there is no separation in consciousness. We place a veil between the place we call “here” and the place we call “there” for the purposes of our experience. However, all these dimensions of reality are all affecting, entwined, and exchanging energy with us within every moment of our existence! It‟s just that we objectively CHOOSE not to view this action. By following the action of noticing, what you are basically saying to yourself is: “Okay, self, I would like to objectively choose to view this action for a while.” Yours, Frank 847 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Questions on: February 06, 2005, 22:11:00 Hello: Simple answers are: 1) No 2) No 3) Yes 4) No Yours, Frank 845 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral Planes = Afterlife? on: February 07, 2005, 21:06:42 Hello: The only problem I have with the "life after death" construct is the death part. There is no death. You simply remove yourself from physical focus. It's something you choose to do. But, unfortunately, in an objective sense, this is still viewed as "death" but there is no death, lol. It's just a construct people choose to engage in. One day people will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about. He he, remember, you heard it first here on the Astral Pulse. Yours, Frank 842 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / higher and higher... on: February 09, 2005, 19:59:13 With respect to MajorTom for an excellent post that has stimulated some great points, Telos, you indulge in some interesting concepts and you have a depth of thought that is most unusual for someone of your age (conventionally speaking). It has always fascinated me, the thought of being able to bring my knowledge of the inner words to the forefront of my physical existence. Ultimately, I learnt that it is a question of thinking beyond limitations. It's about recognising that limitations are what we place before ourselves for the purposes of our experience. You hit on a good point: and then you wake up, and it's the same old place... but is it? We are in a linear time framework, remember, change takes "time". You have to break the big changes down into tiny chunks that people can chew upon. Otherwise, you get into situations where you are just broadcasting rather than communicating. MajorTom is older (in terms of linear time) so he has already learnt about situations such as you cannot be in one world at the expense of another. And how very true that is. That's a *very* valuable lesson that is being presented to you on a plate, as it were. We're not talking "fictional worlds" here, this is not escapism, this is reality. But true reality, reality in wider sense. Not the limited focus on reality most people engage in. You, Telos, are on the brink of that. You are sitting there, kinda half in and half out. I admire your courage. Yours, Frank 841 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP to top secret places on: February 10, 2005, 20:03:48 Hello: Yes, I have thought about this but only in terms of wondering what on earth people find fascinating about American military installations, or any military installation for that matter. Once you can access the areas of consciousness pertaining to the wider reality, all knowledge becomes open to you. Knowledge of life, how it all began, and complete knowledge of self. Having all this as a background to your thinking, you realise what petty nonsense, and what absolute tittle-tattle are concepts such as “Area 51” and “Spy Agencies”. As if there were any secrets, lol. There are no secrets! They are just belief constructs that have been created by silly politicians playing their dumb power games. Yours, Frank 834 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Bit of help please on: February 12, 2005, 15:44:51 Hello: The various states should flow from the initial MABA state. Problem is, it is not just a question of being very relaxed. The MABA state is not something you feel, it is an actual "state" that you become or you "phase" into. As you become the MABA state you should feel a definite shift in consciousness (180 degree phase shift in awareness). Yours, Frank 833 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Sensory disparity in breathing on: February 13, 2005, 02:50:30 Telos: Are you sure you aren't simply hearing your own breathing with your inner senses? This can be startling, it even catches me out now and again. Sometimes I get into a state where it sounds like someone is breathing really deeply next to me, and it's my own physical. I'm not sure if you realise but when you go within yourself you begin to use your inner senses as opposed to the outer ones you'd normally use. Yours, Frank 829 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Bit of help please on: February 14, 2005, 20:02:27 "can you dumb that down for me?" One of my posts to one of the sticky threads talks about the Phasing process in some detail. I forget the title of the thread but it's the one originally posted by CptPicard, and the post I am referring to is my latest post to that thread. Problem is people get the idea of the mind awake body asleep (MABA) and think all they need to do is simply relax their physical body and everything happens for them. That may be the case with some people but many others get mighty frustrated when nothing happens. I have been saying for some time that I consider it more productive to forget concentrating on the physical body completely. Rather, concentrate upon shifting your awareness through the simple "noticing" exercise I talk about. The other "technique" I have found productive is to shift your perception within physical focus first and then try doing whatever it is you want to do. The easiest way I have found of doing this, is to concentrate solely on my breathing. This idea, of course, is nothing new. But again I feel people complicate things unnecessarily in developing all manner of different breathing techniques and methods. I'm not sure how common this is, but I hold a remembrance of what I call "play states" I used to enter as a child. There was a time in my life, for example, when breathing was a novelty and I used to revel in the wonder of it while lying in my cot. What I found is when I enter this play- state then all thoughts of the physical world at large, simply falls away and it's like the curtains open in my mind. From this point, it's usually just a matter of applying a simple awareness shift and I'm immersed within non-physical reality. When I say concentrate on my breathing, I'm not concentrating on breathing in any particular way. I'm simply focussing my attention on it and revelling in the wonder of it as a concept. I think also that people largely miss the point with a lot of this. They take it all too literal when what we are doing, in essence, is experimenting with all manner of situations and events as concepts, our perception of which is dependent upon state. Yours, Frank 828 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Sensory disparity in breathing on: February 14, 2005, 20:38:22 Telos: It is normal to become a little confused at this transition point, but with practice you'll just get used to it and it won't bother you any more. A big problem I had was with my physical eyes. As my inner sense of sight came alive and I would see something within me, my physical eyes would immediately come alive and try to snatch a glance at whatever it was. Which, of course, brought me right out of the state I had tried so hard to achieve. Most frustrating. Yours, Frank 827 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus Levels (10-21) on: February 14, 2005, 21:04:04 I like reading through the traditional descriptions of the focus states, they make me chuckle because they sound so old fashioned now. As a model of consciousness I think it's great and the linear progression idea relates well to beginners. The concept of simultaneous time is tad mind-blowing, so the linear progression focus concept relates ever so well to the linear nature of physical events. In any event, it was a definite improvement on the mystical notions of astral-planes and all that jazz. Like Major Tom, I owe a lot to Monroe. I've followed his work for a number of years. He was a true pioneer and some of his explorations must have taken a LOT of courage. Yours, Frank 822 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Bit of help please on: February 15, 2005, 15:45:02 If you keep practicing phasing into what you call the "not me" state then you will find that you phase shift away from the physical altogether. How it tends to begin at first is you are sitting or lying down just wondering if you are doing it right, or whatever, then one of the first signs of making progress is you will suddenly "snap back" to your normal physical state. At which point you will look back and realise that a moment ago you were fully conscious and following a train of thought, but you were not actually fully focused within the physical. You may have been hearing voices and sounds and/or seeing images, you may have been having a conversation with someone, or whatever. And you realise this has just happened as you snap-back to physical. If you persist, what will happen is you begin to notice yourself slipping into the state. In other words you begin to recognise when it is happening and this allows your thinking to "go along with the flow" of it. This gives you the ability to remain fully aware and phase shift further from the physical, while remaining fully conscious of you doing so. Yours, Frank 821 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Why are you so shure that AP is not just a product of your on: February 15, 2005, 16:24:06 ”The more time spent APing, the more utterly apparent it becomes, that there are unique differences in awareness in reality, in dreams, and in Astral Projection.” Yes, I‟d like to second that. The crux of it is, this question comes up now and again from people who have little or no experience. Perhaps just a few lucid dreams or whatever. They get the idea in their heads that what we are all on about are just lucid dreams that we have “mistaken” for out of body experiences. To an experienced practitioner, however, the differences between all the various states become as clear as night and day. The way I think of it, is the state becomes as clear and as obvious as the normal awake state. Like, we don‟t need anyone to provide us with “proof” that we are awake and alert within the physical. It‟s just obvious. I mean, if someone came along and asked a typical crowd of people, “How do you know you are awake and alert within the physical?” Everyone would just laugh, because it‟s obvious. So in the same vein, when someone asks me, “How do I know I‟m not just dreaming?” I just laugh, because it‟s so obvious. Yours, Frank 820 Healing / Welcome to Healing discussions! / Have you heard of Solarhealing! on: February 15, 2005, 20:24:55 Nourishment is a concept, along with myriads of others we engage in within this physical reality. I mean, the whole idea of "physical realm" is a concept, which is dependent upon state. And within that overall umbrella, we create many, many sub-concepts that we play with for the purposes of our experience. The concept of nourishment, these days, has an incredible number of belief constructs attached to it. There are enormous numbers of “health” magazines devoted to the topic of diet, together with a veritable army of “experts”. Who actually know very little, but there is no telling them that of course. :) Many of these “experts” view the physical body as a kind of separate entity that needs “feeding” with certain “nutrients” which can only be derived from what they see as a “balanced diet”. Which sounds good in theory, but in practice, everyone‟s idea of a balanced diet is different. In Truth, the body is infinitely adaptable. If you are of the belief that you can exist on liquids and sunlight, if that is what you truly believe, then you will create that reality. For each of us creates our own reality, and our physical body is an expression of that. Our body is not some separate entity. It‟s a physical manifestation of our own psyche. The physical body actually “runs” on the subjective energy it receives through consciousness. In theory, therefore, there is no actual need to consume conventional food at all. But in setting up this physical-life system, we have chosen, inter alia, to engage in the concept of nourishment. Therefore, it is normal to view “food” as a requirement. But it is by no means necessary. Yours, Frank 819 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / omg this is truly strange on: February 15, 2005, 20:46:35 Wow, that takes me back. I too had a fixation with the number 7 once. It kept coming up in my dreams, and wherever I looked there was the number 7 in my life. You know, like someone would knock on my door and I'd count the knocks and there would be 7 of them. I'd look at the clock and it would be 7 minutes past 7. Like, that kind of thing. I'd go to the supermarket and the total I'd have to pay would be £77.77. I'd just be completely in awe. Every 7th day I would wake up after 7 hours sleep, exactly, and just have to get up. So one day, on the 7th month, on the 7th day of that month, I thought I'd have a bet. So I layed every penny I had on the 7th horse in the 7th race of that day... And it came 7th. :) Yours, Frank 818 Healing / Welcome to Healing discussions! / Have you heard of Solarhealing! on: February 16, 2005, 01:00:35 Tom: An interesting question that throws up all manner of answers. A medical examiner has been trained to determine the “cause of death” of a physical body along certain lines of objective reasoning. The fact that the “deceased” has chosen to enter into such an engagement is not entertained in the typical medical examiner‟s portfolio. Unless, it is a death that is to do with an obvious suicide. Where it is determined that a person “chose” to “end” their physical life (for whatever reason). In conventional terms, all other deaths are recorded as coming about either through “accident”, or “misadventure”, or through “natural causes”. It is, however, a fact that every death comes about as a choice, by the deceased in question. But this avenue of approach is not yet accepted by the public at large. People do not die of improper thinking. Improper thinking is merely a value judgement that others might impose upon someone else‟s physical experience. But a person‟s beliefs are reflected into their physical experience, yes. And the physical manifestation of those beliefs are reflected in a multiplicity of terms; physical-body death being one of them, of course. Yours, Frank 817 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Unexpected projecting into artificial realms on: February 16, 2005, 11:14:58 1) You entered the area known as Focus-2 of consciousness and offered yourself the experience of discovering the source of the objective image that you created. 2) Astral Projection is a term that describes a particular type of mental construct that offers people a basic framework they can use to objectively experience certain areas of subjective reality. I‟m not sure how this could possibly be a creation of the brain. The brain is merely an interface that communicates signals from subjective areas of consciousness to the physical body. As a concept, Astral Projection would be a creation of the imagination, which is held within Focus-2 of consciousness. Yours, Frank 812 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Help with technique on: February 17, 2005, 21:50:28 I'm sorry, I don't want to put a spoke in your works, but now and again I send my energy centres crazy and I get a darned sight more than a "floating feeling". Yours, Frank 811 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hurt During AP on: February 17, 2005, 22:02:31 Is this a serious question? I mean, people spend ages and ages just to have one fleeting obe every now and again, and here you are wondering what will happen if you stay in that state too long. I think a lot of people here would dearly love to have that luxury of obe-ing too long, and with too much awareness too, lol. Yours, Frank 809 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / YES! I've had my first OBE! on: February 18, 2005, 18:37:46 The butterflies feeling is your yellow energy centre coming alive (as Nay has also pointed out). Some people feel it more that others but I get it often and almost always fairly strongly, to the extent where it can become a little uncomfortable. But I just learned to live with it I suppose. Other stuff like having no sight, that's very normal at first. It will all come in time. But what a great first experience, congratulations! Yours, Frank 808 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / YES! I've had my first OBE! on: February 18, 2005, 20:04:23 JK: He he, I tell you what man, you screw me up with these signatures. That must be the best I have seen. I cracked up at the last one but the one you got now tops it, easily! Yours, Frank 807 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to the Astral FAQ! / What is Phasing and how can I do it? on: February 18, 2005, 21:45:01 The term “phasing” was originally coined from an idea presented by the author Robert Monroe who spent much of his physical lifetime researching obe phenomena. His early work, detailed in his first book Journeys Out of the Body, followed very traditional lines of study. Such that strong parallels can be drawn between his experiences detailed in that book, and the work of the traditional mystics. However, his later books Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey, published many years later, reveal how his work had progressed to the development and formation of a completely different model of consciousness. His early “locale” concept had been totally replaced by a series of mental Focus Levels. These levels were labelled by using an escalating series of arbitrary numbers. Each level was identified from the mental impressions presented that Monroe categorised and labelled, so that others could follow in his work and duplicate his experiences. At some point in his experience, Monroe was able to determine the profound truth, that there is no separation within consciousness. Whereas in his early work it felt to him he was “leaving” and “separating” from his physical body in the more traditional sense. His later experiences led him to conclude that he was not “leaving” his body at all. But what he was doing, in his words, was changing the phase relationship between himself and his surroundings. It was from this discovery that the term “Phasing” came into being. Monroe was an electronics engineer by profession, and it so happens that I too graduated in electronics, so I understand where he was coming from when he talks about phase relationships. You can have two voltages present on the very same wire (you can have many numbers but for this example we‟ll have just two). To all intents and purposes, those two voltages are mixed, but at the same time they are separated. What separates these two voltages is the phase-angle relationship between them. Monroe used this phase-angle relationship idea as an analogy to describe the relationship between the physical or objective layer of consciousness, and the non-physical or subjective layer of consciousness. Each respective area of consciousness occupies the same area in “space” and to all intents, they are mixed but at the same time they are separated. So Monroe figured there was a 180-degree Phase Relationship between the two areas of reality. To him, projection became a case of "switching phase" between the physical and the non-physical. Phasing, therefore, entails initiating a 180-degree phase shift between the physical and the non- physical realms of reality. The way this is done is rather different from the traditional ways of initiating an “out of body” experience. In fact, Phasing does not incorporate any kind of out of body feelings at all. The normal bodily vehicle can remain and all that changes is a person‟s environment. The key to Phasing is to just let the experience flow. You need to allow yourself to become it, as opposed to trying to go to it, or point to it, with some kind of “method”. Just lay back and simply become it. At which point people usually say, "Yeah, but Frank it‟s okay for you but when I close my eyes all I see is blackness. “Well, that is all I see at first!” I think often that people are too hasty to discount these initial stages, and they just go off on some method. When I close my eyes all I see is blackness. But I think the essential difference between me and many beginners is when they close their eyes they are not really noticing. And that‟s another key to it… that of noticing self. I think people become too wrapped up in methods and techniques, and it prevents them from really noticing themselves. Okay, so as I say, when I close my eyes all I see is blackness, which is normal. I‟ll wriggle around a bit to get comfortable, maybe my knee is itching and my hair is tickling my ear or something. So I‟ll sort all that out and just concentrate on breathing gently for 5 minutes or so. Now, because I am noticing as opposed to avidly trying to perfect and follow some technique or method, in the traditional sense, my full attention is taken by the simple act of noticing. I read a post today where someone keeps trying and they are saying about how they are concentrating upon holding their awareness outside of themselves, and at the same time they are concentrating on “raising energy” and doing everything correctly, and whatever… but nothing is happening. That‟s right, because all their attention is fixated elsewhere, whereas all my attention is fixated on noticing. Noticing what? Well, nothing at first, there‟s not much to see really but blackness. But then, after a short while, I may see that perhaps one part of the blackness is not quite so black. Perhaps there was just a brief flash of something, then maybe a sensation of a movement somewhere else. Maybe I just heard someone call my name. Hmm, that‟s interesting, I might think, I wonder where that came from. But I don‟t get too curious I just keep noticing. I might see swirling areas of not quite so black as the rest. I might see flashes of this and that. As I am offering myself these images, my attention is steadily becoming more fixated within. As my attention becomes fixated within, from the act of noticing, at this stage I am not aware of my physical body. Part of my awareness realises that somewhere in the background is a physical body, in bed, etc. but I have phased away from it. Before, the forefront of my awareness was my physical and 180 degrees turned around from that, in the background of my awareness, was the non-physical. But now there has been a “phase shift” i.e. a turning through 180 degrees. Now, my previous foreground (physical) is my background, and my previous background (non- physical) is my foreground. This is what is meant by “phasing” because you cause a 180-degree Phase Shift between the non- physical and the physical. As I say, Monroe first coined the term as he was an electronics engineer and he was picturing it like it were two voltages, 180 degrees out of phase with each other. Hence he coined the term Phasing. But I guess people generally have difficulties picturing two voltages 180-degrees out of phase with each other. So, instead, imagine a revolving door that is the entrance to a building. Any old building, it doesn‟t matter. You are standing outside the building. So the “outside” is your reality. You are aware of a reality that exists inside the building, but is closed to you by the door. Now, go through and turn the door 180 degrees and stop (oh, in case anyone doesn‟t know there are 360 degrees in a circle, so 180 degrees is half a circle). Now, you are inside the building. So the “inside” is your reality. You are aware of a reality that exists outside the building, but it is closed to you by the door. Now again go through and turn the door by 180 degrees, and stop. So now, the “outside” is your reality again. Each time you go though the door and turn through 180 degrees, there is a 180-degree “phase shift” between your awareness of the outside and your awareness of the inside, in terms of your reality. Okay, so as my attention becomes fixated within, from the act of noticing, this causes a 180- degree phase shift between my awareness of the physical (outer) and my awareness of the non- physical (inner) sense of reality. So from then on, I continue to notice anything that may come about. I‟m not all that curious, I‟m not trying to make anything happen, I‟m not enacting some kind of method or technique, I‟m simply looking within and noticing what is taking place, and the act of doing that is focusing my attention. As a person focuses their attention within themselves, through the action of noticing, they allow themselves to view “snippets” of other dimensions of reality. This action is translated objectively as the perception of flashes of all manner of this and that, random images that come and go, all kinds of spurious sounds, and so forth. Doing this is the equivalent of quickly taking a peek around a corner to snatch a glance, as I said earlier, then we step back double-quick to the safe ground we were at before. I think, ultimately, what people who follow the Phasing approach need to be realising is: the other dimensions of reality only seem to be objectively separated. But in reality, there is no separation in consciousness. We place a veil between the place we call “here” and the place we call “there” for the purposes of our experience. However, all these dimensions of reality are all affecting, entwined, and exchanging energy with us within every moment of our existence! It‟s just that we objectively CHOOSE not to view this action. By following the action of noticing, what you are saying to yourself is: “Okay, self, I would like to objectively choose to view this action for a while.” I hope this helps. If you have any further questions then by all means ask on the main forum. Yours, Frank 806 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE Major Chakra work v. NEW Energy method on: February 18, 2005, 22:42:49 The thing is you can take any approach that suits. Bob Bruce offers a number of approaches none of which are in direct "contradiction" to each other. Even though it may seem that way. But at first it really is a case of whatever works for you is the best way (for you). Once you get proficient at doing it one way, then maybe you will want to chop and change and experiment a little. Yours, Frank 805 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Bit of help please on: February 18, 2005, 23:51:20 Within the Focus-2 of consciousness environment sounds get translated into images pretty much seamlessly. I get to hear droaning sounds quite regular. For me they tend to get translated into a motorboat for some reason. But whooshing sounds can get translated into jet planes and hovercrafts and all manner of things. It's symbolism you see, in the way people think of Astral "travel" and the like. The sounds tend to get translated into pictures of machines that are symbolic of "travel". It's nothing to worry about. Offering ourselves these images is just our way of making ourselves feel more secure in what we regard as an "alien" environment. Not that it is, of course, Focus-2 of consciousness is about as close to us as it is possible for a subjective area of consciousness to be. But I realise that it doesn't appear that way to someone who hasn't experienced it all that much. Yours, Frank 804 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / question about subjective vs objective reality on: February 19, 2005, 16:47:07 Doug: Very interesting questions and I think a complete answer to all the questions you raise would take many, many pages of explanation. But within the space constraints of the forum, my response to the guts of what I gauge you are saying is, as follows: The problem is all of us are in the midst of a consciousness “shift” which will take place over next 30 or 40 years. As a race, we are about to take our thinking onto a new level, so to speak. Now, with a relatively small number of people, this shift has already taken place. However, many people have yet to even grasp the basics, and everyone else is somewhere inbetween. For people who have already largely made the shift in thinking, or for people like me who are well on their way, life becomes in a way “split” between two modes of thinking. In order to interact with people who haven‟t yet made the shift, they actually have to revert to speaking and thinking in an entirely different set of terms. This is not difficult, of course, as it is just a case of going back to the “old way” for the duration of the interaction. This difference in terms I, personally, call speaking in “conventional terms” for the old way, and speaking in “unconventional terms” for the new way. In a sense, it is like when decimalisation came about in the UK. Off the top of my head, I think it was in 1969. For about 15 years after we lived with the notion of “old pence” and “new pence”. A similar situation exists in France now, where you get the main total of any purchase in Euros and the equivalent total in French Francs. Many elderly people still think in Francs and they translate the Euro total into Francs in their thinking. So as I am sure you can readily grasp, that‟s the way it is with any kind of “shift” or change in thinking that occurs en masse. There is always a transition period where we juggle the old terms or the old way, with the new, and people are translating between them. The same basic idea applies only this time we are not moving into using a different currency, we are shifting the very basis of our thinking. Essentially, we are shifting from engaging within victim/perpetrator constructs to engaging self-determination as a reality. So holding the idea of transition in mind: We form our reality from various core concepts. Each of these core concepts are held under one umbrella concept, which is the overriding entirety we call Truth. We cannot, however, engage Truth directly as a concept. Truth is a compound concept that is formed from the total engagement of all other concepts, constructs, ideals, etc. that are taking place within physical reality at any one time period or “age”. Truth, if you like, could be thought of as a core concept that is held as the ultimate ideal. Each core concept is as “important” as any other by mere definition, as they are all core concepts. But if I were pushed to say the main one, it would be the concept of Social Justice and I shall use this core concept as an example here. But please bear in mind a similar situation applies with all core concepts and they all entwine with each other. Now, stemming out from each core concept is a multiplicity of belief constructs attach to the central core concept in question. Some belief constructs are very affecting and, therefore, stem from the centre of the core, and others are what you might call sub-concepts that stem from other concepts. And you have major sub-concepts and minor sub-concepts, etc. All of which ultimately forms a huge interdimensional web of physical reality that we call our physical-life system. The concepts are lodged within an area I call Focus-2 of consciousness. Essentially, Focus-2 of consciousness is what might be termed the sub-conscious; but I dislike that term as it‟s like the term Chakra, and others like it, where you have ever so many belief constructs attached to the term and many of them are conflicting, or just simply wrong, or only half right, or whatever else inbetween. It‟s a mish-mash in other words. So in describing areas of consciousness I very much prefer to switch to unconventional terms, as they describe both the nature and the areas of consciousness far more clearly and accurately. Perhaps one of the most misleading aspects about the conventional term, sub-conscious is in the way it is typically related to an individual. Many people think of it as an individual sub- conscious that is somehow lodged in some hidden area of their brain that science has yet to uncover. When the sub-conscious is actually a common area of consciousness that we are all subjectively connected to. Anyhow, as I say, all these core concepts and constructs are lodged within Focus-2 of consciousness. Depending upon which belief constructs we might happen to subscribe to, determines which of these constructs we choose to “bring into life” within the physical. It is entirely our choice, but that is speaking in very unconventional terms. Very few people, relatively speaking, understand how we form our reality. Most people are open to the idea in a limited sense. For example, in conventional terms, if you put to someone the idea of getting a better-paid job and subsequently enjoying an enhanced standard of living, as an instance of a person creating the new reality of greater wealth, then I am sure most people would agree this is a situation where a person can create their reality. However, we create ALL our reality. That means every individual creates his or her own reality. No-one co-creates with anyone. We are the very definition of Self Determination. But as yet very few individuals hold an objective understanding of that fact and it is having that objective understanding, which makes all the difference. Each of us holds a pure desire for expansion of Self through experience. So we create these physical worlds and we place artificial barriers between here and there, and we separate ourselves into what we see as individual focuses of Essence or Soul, or Spirit (whatever terminology you subscribe to). So, taking the experience of the core concept of Social Justice: Stemming from this concept is the primary belief construct of Right and Wrong, and allied to this, of course, is the concept of Victim and Perpetrator. All of these conceptual structures are interwoven with the concept of “ideals” and we hold all manner of ideals together with a huge number of belief constructs attached, all of which come under the umbrella concept of Truth, which is held as a kind of ultimate ideal. So we set all this structure in place and, to retain the purity of the Game, we place a big artificial barrier between here and there, then we start playing the Game of Social Justice based on the primary belief construct of Right and Wrong. To make the Game interesting we create a world where emotional energy predominates and we create a wide variety of situations; such as different skin colours, different races, different countries, vastly different socio-political and socio-economic structures, etc., all within one small physical-life system, and we set the whole thing in motion and see what happens. To add greater spice, we mix this with a wide variety of other core concepts that create “basic needs” and we make a number of these basic needs of a finite nature. We couple this to the core concept of Time and we give our physical body a certain “lifespan” so we always tend to be operating under the impression that time is “running out” (lol). But against the background of the wider reality, there is no Right and Wrong, nothing is Finite, no Time is running out. It‟s just us exploring the concept of Social Justice, along with a myriad of other core concepts and subsequent belief constructs, within this physical-life system. All of which we created for this specific purpose. Problem is, for the purity of the experience “the barrier” has to remain in place. Otherwise, people would not be so convinced. Anyone penetrating that barrier while immersed within this reality would immediately see that it‟s all a Game. They would realise, for example, that there are many other physical worlds that we have created in order to explore all manner of core concepts and this is just one of them. Now, quite a number of people have penetrated the barrier to a certain extent. But they do so from the position of still being immersed in the Game. In other words, they see the non-physical realms they are accessing as a means of extending their current Game play. So the ongoing struggle between Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, etc. is extended to take place within not only Focus-1 of consciousness (the physical) but Focus-2 of consciousness also. Which, personally, I find a particularly interesting development. Within Focus-1 of consciousness this game play is, of course, quite real. However, once a person has penetrated the barrier and has realised that it is all game-play then all the fun goes out of it. I suppose it becomes the equivalent of reading a murder mystery novel when you already know the whole plot. It rather takes the fun out of it, and you want to move on and try something else. This is what is set to happen with us lot over the next 30 or 40 years. Instead, we will enter into a New Age, and this is the true definition of New Age (not the current touchy-feely stuff) of engaging Self Determination as a reality. It has been happening for a while, but events are gathering pace more quickly now and will progressively accelerate over the coming decades. During which time, people are steadily going to realise that we in fact create all our reality. Under such circumstances, therefore, there can be no victims or perpetrators! Our whole notion of “conflict” and “disease” for example, is founded upon the concept of Victim and Perpetrator. So steadily, as more and more of us engage in the core concept of Self Determination as an objective reality, there will be progressively fewer conflicts and diseases. There will be a myriad of other changes too. For example, all the religious and mystical belief structures will fall away to reveal a new Truth (thankfully). You also talk about your thoughts regarding interaction within subjective reality, which I propose to answer in another post as this post is primarily to do with physical reality and it is already long enough. So I‟m going to leave it here and come back to the subjective questions later on. Yours, Frank 796 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / The 'White Light' Trap??? on: February 20, 2005, 20:08:45 they are from the Lower Astral which is from the Negative polarity. They manipulate us and manifest in this reality through a form of 'Possession' i.e the world leaders are controlled via the lower Astral... There is no higher or lower in consciousness. Consciousness just is. There are no higher or lower planes, and there are no higher or lower selves. If we were to talk for a moment in terms of higher and lower, hypothetically speaking let's say, all of us are our "highest" expression of self already. There is no higher expression of ourselves than ourselves, lol. No one manipulates us via possession or otherwise. World Leaders create their reality just as we do. The crux of the "problem" is most people do not realise that we all are the very definition of a walking, talking self-fulfilling prophecy. Yours, Frank 793 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Hatred on: February 20, 2005, 20:45:28 XenXheng: Hearing you think is about where I was in the 1970's. It's your awareness that is widening. You are learning what compassion is. It's quite a rare quality but it's one of those emotions that fortunately is getting more popular. I think in the old religious texts they talked about forgiveness. Well, it is not so much forgiving someone, but it's about understanding Self and where each person is at in the general scheme of things. They may hate you but you can't hate them back. Because you understand why they do what they do, and all that. You might not necessarily agree, and there can of course be disagreement, but there is no harmful emotional involvement. In other words, we can all agree to disgree and respect each other's differences. That way we can progressively come together rather than developing ever more powerful weapons to blow us apart. Yours, Frank 792 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What the hell happened, I mean holy crap! on: February 20, 2005, 23:38:20 Okay, I've been itching all weekend to get on the net and now I'm here. Let me explain and sorry if it's long winded cause I need to give you as much info as I can and I haven't been able to talk about it with anyone because no one would understand. Breathe in, breathe out. I ended up watching some little geometric white shapes flash in front of my eyes like something weird on a static TV screen. This effect is typical of the focus 12 state. I got bored and decided to roll over and go to sleep. I had a couple of dreams that weren't really relevent to what happened but were vivid and I recalled them which I usually can't do. I woke up around 8am (oh, and fell asleep before 11pm last night), and went to let the dog out. I then went backt to bed and decided to try focus 10 again because of the success I had. I managed to get back in under half an hour like the last night and ended up watching green and orange swirls for a while. Focus 12 state typical characteristics, again. I was lying on my stomach and suddenly my bed seemed to lean towards the ground and I esentially felt myself falling through my bed. I floated to the floor under my bed and lay there for a moment thinking OMG I APed but then I tried to move and couldn't. I then realized that the underneath of my bed didn't look like the under of my real be (cause it was too clean). I tried to mvoe my fingers and opened my eyes. You had a spontaneous projection into the real-time zone. But with very little control and significant reality distortions. The odd part is, it happened again. I tried to fall back to sleep again and fell through my bed again. I wasn't afraid and this time I could move. I managed to crawl out from under my bed. I noticed that everything I saw seemed to ripple, like static flashing across my vision like a bad picture on a TV, big slash recurring through the middle. Again a spontaneous projection into the real-time zone. Such visual distortions are very normal (at first). I stood up and stumbled over to the mirror on the back of my door and looked at myself (cause if I ever APed, that's what I planned to do), I looked different to me and wasn't wearing my pajamas and then I turned and looked back at my bed but couldn't see me. I thought I couldn't be APing if I couldn't see me. So, I walked back to my bed and decided to try and fly (I always try this in lucid dreams), I jumped and there was only a brief hesitation and then I landed on my bed. Movement wasn't fluid like APing should be, it was jerky and I was stumbling. I woke up again and got up, deciding not to risk whatever happened again. All very normal. There is no saying you will see your physical body on your bed. When you say you were not wearing your pyjamas are you saying you looked as if you were naked, or were you wearing some other clothing? Flying is a problem when in the real-time zone as you are typically subject to similar belief-system constraints as you are while physical as the near-physical environment locks you into them (such as gravity). Jerky and stumbling, all very typical of first times RTZ experiences. Basically, I'm confused. I reached focus 10 another time since Saturday morning (when this happened) and besides what I've stated here (and falling into a parallel Universe), I'm confused and kind of un-balanced by what happened. Of course you will be, you just objectively entered a subjective realm of reality while primarily focused within the physical! Confusion is the name of the game at first. That is where the challenge lies. Yours, Frank 790 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / DREAMS? on: February 21, 2005, 21:56:56 Is this Astral Projection or just a dream?... topic comes up every fortnight or so. Please do a search and you will find a lot of info. Yours, Frank 789 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Origin of Spirits on: February 21, 2005, 22:06:40 As you ask, no one populates the planes that we come from. There is no here and there. Here and there are just belief constructs that we create for the purposes of our experience. We are manifestations of consciousness and there is no separation nor barriers in consciousness. So not only are we a focus of our own Essence, or soul or whatever "higher self" terminology you choose, each of us are all of consciousness at the same time. Pretty mind-blowing stuff. Talking objectively, i.e. as regards this (our) physical universe, consider that within the physical dimension there are an infinite number of physical universes that we have created and they all occupy the same physical space. Now work that one out, lol. Yours, Frank 787 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Robert Monroe, Experiences, Institute on: February 21, 2005, 22:18:37 Bob Monroe was perhaps the first person to demonstrate that it is not only possible to shift your perception within consciousness but to shift your mental focus to a different area of consciousness. That is the essential difference that separates Monroe's later experiences from the rest. It was my avid following of Monroe that led me too to realise this. Yours, Frank 784 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Language in the astral world on: February 22, 2005, 02:13:25 Telos: I was just looking in my Collins, and the primary meaning of fabricate is to: make, build or construct. So, yes, my initial statement runs true though I can see where Major Tom is coming from in his suggestion of alternative terms. Due allowance was given to me by the original poster's use of the word "mind" as opposed to the more commonly used term, brain. So that let me have a little play, lol. Speaking of communication and language, what you should try is releasing a word within Focus- 2 of consciousness and examine the word as a concept. It's kinda funny, I always crack up at the word "because". I don't know why, but the word, as a concept, holds a resonance that particularly tickles me. Yours, Frank 782 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / What the hell happened, I mean holy crap! on: February 22, 2005, 19:30:39 The terms were first coined by Bob Monroe and there are a number of posts on this very topic. Please see the FAQ section and the Sticky-Post section for more info. Take a look through first, then if you have any bits and bobs you can't get to grips with then by all means post in the Astral Consciousness section and we will do our best to clarify for you. Yours, Frank 775 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / question about subjective vs objective reality on: February 22, 2005, 22:13:47 "This is interesting. Would you say, however, that people close to you strongly influence the reality you create, unless you resist that influence? Also, the Common Consensus Reality of the physical world strongly influences you as well? You accept a lot of its conclusions, unconsciously, like gravity, etc? So its not a question of co-creation, simply of major influences." RM: It is essential to understand that we do not co-create. We create our reality by use of our perception. Our perception is a tool, if you like, that receives its reality-creating signals that are filtered through whatever belief constructs we happen to subscribe to. Obviously, certain belief constructs, such as gravity, are more influencing than others. So there are obviously influences, but there is no co-creation. Yours, Frank 773 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing to the RTZ on: February 23, 2005, 03:24:15 MT: I like that phraseology, a good "mind lock" on Focus 12. Because once you get that, then there is no stopping it. Well, not in conventional Monroe terms anyway. What I mean is, both myself and Sarah (Selski) have managed to engage Focus-12 while remaining very physically oriented. But that is maybe not something people should be aiming for at first. I think the traditional idea of the physical-body being out of the equation, so to speak, is a good one to begin with. Otherwise we'll have to entertain Focus 10, Mind Awake Body Awake, and it just doesn't flow somehow, lol. Yours, Frank 771 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing to the RTZ on: February 23, 2005, 03:46:31 MT: Agreed. I wondered though, getting back to Andali's original point, if we can give her any "precise" pointers? I'm struggling to come up with any. She seems to want to get to a focus level and then Phase into the RTZ. Personally, I have always struggled with the translation of Monroe Focus Levels versus the RTZ. Yours, Frank 770 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / question about subjective vs objective reality on: February 23, 2005, 04:24:06 Telos: Mathematics, science and technology are all fairly modern-day belief constructs that we now use to present us with an overview of what we see as our reality. Years ago, you are correct. We chose alternative constructs in order to describe our outward, i.e. objective reality. The further you look back then the more you will see what we call religious constructs coming into play. As a race, we have chosen to progressively drop the more wayward religious stuff, and create what we now see as more sensible and more fitting constructs. You see, the great thing about modern-day scientific methodology is that, in theory, it holds the promise of searching for the Truth. But many scientists these days merely search for more science. The quest for the Truth, as such, has been thwarted by vested interests. Materialism, monetary power, bigger and more accurate missiles, more powerful killing machines, etc. The problem is, as a race, we have got to get that insane want to kill each other out of the way before we can make any real progress. But that will come in time. I think once we do that, the belief construct of mathematics (especially) will begin to play a more significant role in these kinds of topics. This system of reducing events to certain relationships between numbers will serve the creative needs of people for a long while yet. The great thing is, of course, about mathematics, is its infinite adaptability in terms of expression. And that‟s why I feel mathematics will be around for a good many years. Yours, Frank 769 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing to the RTZ on: February 23, 2005, 04:50:38 I'm going to take a close look at Doug's post later today on this topic of Phasing into the RTZ and see if we can draw any clues from it. And I'm wondering, Doug, if you happen to stop by and read this thread, do you have any further clarification that you may feel would help in this instance? Yours, Frank 766 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Bruce Moen on: February 23, 2005, 23:08:23 Ginny: Great to see you posting here again. I think the forum has expanded quite a bit since you were here last. Hope you don't get too lost finding your way around! Take care, and thank you for your PM. I wish you all the best, Frank 762 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / 3D dimensional space on: February 24, 2005, 19:54:38 Andali: In addition to what the Major and Upstream have already contributed, I put my replies after selected quotes from your message for clarity, I hope you find them useful: I was attempting to get to focus 12 (at least that was my intent) last night and think I may have gotten there when I encountered a problem. I began to perceive the dim lights and geometric shapes associated with F12 but then they stopped almost as soon as they began and something else occurred. … A wave of total loss just flowed over me and at the same time, the shapes vanished. I had no idea where my body was and I felt kind of floaty but had a vague idea that I was still in bed, though I couldn't feel anything. You phased from Focus-10, then to Focus-12, then you continued to phase on towards Focus-21. I was noticing the blackness in front of my eyes, relishing in this new discovery, but then I noticed the blackness was different now, it appeared, on first thought, no longer 2D and in fact 3 dimensional. I had the feeling as if I was on the edge of something, something big. Like I had just sitting at the entrance to a massive space, a new dimension. I had no idea how I got that feeling but it was...quite indescribable. If you've encountered this before, then you'll know what I'm talking about, hopefully. Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about. Where you are at is the 3D Blackness at Focus 21. You are right on the edge of the physical looking out into this humungous blackness. You feel that “behind you” is the physical world and all it entails, and in front of you is this whole new dimension of existence. It‟s very wonderful, and when it first happens you struggle to find the words to explain the profound sense of awe it engenders. From what I read the next morning, I seemed to have entered F21, totally bypassing F15, apparently 3D blackness is common at this point, even though I still can't understand how I knew it was 3D. It seemed everything was thought and feeling alone. Forget about Focus-15 for now, it‟s not important. Both the Major and I have had a number of discussions on this over the past couple of months, so a quick search should throw up some info. Understand also (as Upstream mentions as well) that there is no actual need to Phase from F10 to F12 to F21. You can Phase direct to ANY Focus level. But for beginners who have to start somewhere, Focus 10 is perceived as being an easier state to get to than Focus-21. This is because we enter Focus-10-like states anyhow. While engrossed in a movie, for example. So people see it as a slightly different development on what they do anyway. So they take something they are familiar with and toy with that. Once they reach the Focus-10 state then this encourages them to take the next “step” to Focus-12. You see, from the point of view of Focus-10, then Focus-12 is perceived as being only next door. Once at Focus-12, with a little encouragement, a person should be able to “let go” of themselves enough to reach Focus-21. However, once you are fully familiar with the Focus-21 state, you should be able to simply lay back, relax, and find yourself at Focus 21 (say). With me, it takes about half an hour to reach Focus 10, then there is a swirling colourful sensation, and I‟m at Focus 27. In other words, it all just flows in one movement. I don‟t know if you drive a car, but when they teach you to change gear it is in stages. You come off the gas pedal, press in the clutch and hold it, change gear, let out the clutch, then press on the gas pedal. All the while you are doing this the car jerks about and it‟s a very fiddly process. But after some practice the process becomes like one swift, smooth movement and you don‟t have to think about the inbetween stages. But what I would suggest you do is keep practising the normal linear-transition construct, i.e. start at F10 as normal, then F12, then F21. But don‟t be surprised if soon you start simply laying back and relaxing, and suddenly finding yourself at F21. The other point I wanted to mention is there is no absolute necessity to lose contact with the physical. So don‟t be surprised either if one day you find yourself at Focus-21 while being totally aware of your physical body. It‟s just that again, for beginners, it is easier to think of the physical body being out of the Phasing equation. I know I must have answered my own question here, but was what I experienced really F21? And what was the whole "on the edge of something big, massive even" feeling I got? Yes, it was really Focus-21. You were standing right on the edge of time and space. The junction between the outer (objective) world and the inner (subjective) world. Also, when I manage to get there again, what should I do? Here you need to start being a little bit careful with the kinds of feelings you have. Because F21 is the beginning of the areas of subjective consciousness, where there is no separation between thought and action. In other words, once you step into this realm “thought equals action”. Whereas, within the physical we can sit down and feel all the emotions we like and our surroundings will remain the same. You can get as angry as you like with a brick wall, for example, you can shout at it and kick and scream, but that wall is going to ignore you and simply continue being a wall. But this is not so within other realms of consciousness. You will find that your surroundings are very sensitive to your emotions and your thoughts. In a sense, this is great! Because this enables us to navigate from one “place” to the other. As you think, then so it becomes all around you. So, to experience something, all you need do is place an intent to have a particular experience and, hey presto, that experience will come about as if by magic. Say, for example, you had a friend or relative who “died” and you wanted to go and see them. Then at F21 you simply picture the person in your mind and you will find something will happen. Maybe an area of the blackness may open up and a light will be shining at you from somewhere in the distance. So this would be your “doorway” that would lead to the person. In which case you then place the intent to go towards that light, and before you know it, you would be with that person. Or maybe as you think of the person your surroundings just begin to change and you find yourself with them directly. Or maybe as you think of them you start feeling a sensation of movement, as if you are travelling through a tunnel (this is very common with me), and you emerge the other end and the person is waiting for you. But you can literally experience ANYTHING and there lies the problem. If you read up on some of the old mystical works, it won‟t be too long before you come across talk of the “infamous void”. A place full of demons and devils where it is possible to get lost for all eternity, and all that gubbins. Well, all they mean is the 3D-Blackness at Focus-21, which people in the past have entered not knowing that “thought equals action”. So if you release a little fear (very common) you will immediately find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance. If you find yourself in a position like this, the key thing is don‟t panic. The very best thing you can do is simply laugh it off. Because then the situation will just go away because it is your release of fearful emotion that is causing the fearful circumstance to come about. The problem is, though, the moment someone finds himself or herself in a mildly fearful circumstance they get even more scared, and start releasing an even more intense level of fear. So the situation they find themselves in gets even more fearful, so they get even more scared, so they release even more fear, so the situation gets more fearful, so they get even more scared, etc… that‟s why if you can recognise the situation for what it is and just switch off your release of fear that is fuelling the situation, the whole thing will just go away. So keep taking things slow and steady. I am very impressed with your progress. But perhaps it is best to first practice stepping into the blackness and get used to floating around in it and relaxing peacefully. One of my all-time favourite things is to float in the blackness and think of a favourite piece of classical music. Suddenly, that music will begin playing. But with a vibrancy that you could never hear in the physical. Even being live in front of a full orchestra, is nothing like the way the sound envelopes you. I wish you continued success. Yours, Frank 761 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hem i-Sync on: February 24, 2005, 23:50:00 Hello: People usually buy these products to get to the stage where you are basically at. If you can achieve a solid Focus-10 then that's half the battle. Not too far removed from that is the rest of it. I can't see the tapes would enhance your experiences much (if at all). Initiate them, yes, chances are they would help and certainly worthwhile trying if you can afford them. But I cannot see they would give you anything over and above what you could achieve from simply practising what you do already. Well, that's my opinion. Yours, Frank 760 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Reincarnation on: February 25, 2005, 12:58:51 Telos: Interesting link and a quality debate. Yours, Frank 758 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Phasing From the begining on: February 26, 2005, 01:09:02 Hi: You might like to know that I am currently writing a book on this exact topic which will answer all your questions. I was hoping to publish it end March, but I'll need a little longer as I've been delayed by another situation. For now I would suggest you make good use of the Search function. I doubt you'll find any other websites on this topic as we coined the term a couple of years ago. It is based on Monroe's comments in his later work, where he said that it became for him not like he was "projecting" but like he was "switching phase" from physical to astral. I had done a *lot* of research on this and it formed the basis of my own work that I began publishing on this forum 3 years ago. People wanted to know what the technique was called and we didn't have a name for it. So we called it Phasing. The Phasing technique I developed is based around the "noticing" excercise given in the FAQ section. My book does go into it a LOT more though. Like, explaining all the terminology and everything, as there is simply more space to do so. Which is the main reason I started writing the book in the first place. But you can get a good idea from my FAQ thread and from reading through some of my posts on the forum. Plus, Major Tom's work, especially his Focus 10 sticky thread, will give you lots of pointers. He'll be stopping by soon so I'm sure he will suggest some things to you as well. And no doubt others will too. Phasing is something that appears to be gaining popularity, as you can get quick results from it. Well, when done properly of course. It gives you many of the advantages of traditional obe, for example, you can still revert to the obe RTZ state from a Phasing state if you want to. But one BIG advantage is the fear side of things is very much less when compared to a typical person's experiences with the traditional mystical work. Mainly because there is never any real feeling of separation. Yours, Frank 757 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Astral Phasing From the begining on: February 26, 2005, 03:30:19 Hi: The Phasing post in the FAQ section is made up from some bits and bobs from the book and snippets have gone into posts especially over the past few months. Yours, Frank 755 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / How to respond when negativity happens to you. on: February 28, 2005, 03:14:45 Cristaphin: Negativity is not something that happens to you. You are stepping into victim consciousness and rendering yourself open to the other person as the perpetrator, therefore, lending energy to the construct. So the "negativity" as you call it, is something you are creating. As a general rule, a person creates in their future what they concentrate upon in the Now. Our physical reality did not come about by chance. This reality is formed from a blueprint that is located within focus 2 of consciousness. This blueprint holds the core concepts that are the source of all the myriad of social structures that are present in our physical world. One core concept that we hold is that of Social Justice. Stemming from that core concept is the primary belief construct of victim/perpetrator. Our whole sense of "social justice" is, therefore, built upon this construct, which penetrates every area of our physical existence. Because this primary construct is sitting at the very heart of virtually everyone‟s inner belief structures, virtually everyone holds an alignment with expressions such as good and bad, right and wrong, victim and perpetrator, and so forth. In viewing yourself as victim, you are aligning with the other person as perpetrator. As such, you are both motivating yourselves in your respective movements in consciousness, in what might be termed different directions, but both in cooperation with each other. In other words, when looked at against the wider reality, what you are engaged in is a choice for your experience. This is why I always say that being “spiritual” has nothing whatever to do with giving all your money to charity and spending the rest of your life in some dreamy reverie about all is good and light. Quite the opposite I would say. Spirituality is about recognising yourself for who you are, in a wider sense. Spirituality is about going beyond previous belief constraints and seeing reality for what it is, rather than what you believe it to be. Once you do that you are naturally able to see other people for what and who they are too, rather than what you “judge” them to be. Yours, Frank 52 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Believe Systems on: February 28, 2005, 13:28:45 Hi: We cannot go "beyond" belief systems. Our whole physical reality is founded and created from them. We can move into a mental construct of acceptance of belief systems, which is what we are set to do as it happens. Yours, Frank 751 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Shoecrutch on: February 28, 2005, 19:34:57 Telos: Have you had any experiences like this before? If not then congratulations are in order as you just shifted your attention to Focus 3 of consciousness, or to the Transition Area! In Monroe terms this is Focus levels 23, 24, 25 & 26. From the description of what was going on I would say F25 or F26 with the accent on the latter. The people “in uniform” would have been people from F27 organising the transition to F27, although the ordinary people in the area would have no doubt perceived them differently. People engaged in transition are shedding all the old belief constructs they picked up during their physical lives here. Within the transition area, there are all manner of “towns” and “cities” where people take on various “lives” but in essence what they are doing is shedding all the ideas of physical constructs so they can engage themselves within subjective reality again. The transition area is where you find all the heavens and the hells generated by all the traditional mystical beliefs. But you also get towns and cities too, and all manner of places inbetween, where people live and work and all that jazz. You see, within subjective reality proper, there are no heavens, hells, gods, demons, etc., etc. They are just belief constructs that people subscribe to for the purposes of their experience here. Plus, people typically hold a lot of fear and anger and all that heavy emotional stuff, all of which has to dissipate. Within subjective reality there are no emotions as we know them. So eventually, people work through their fears and whatnot so they can move on, and that‟s where you went, to a “town” where people were preparing to move on. The name doesn‟t surprise me, like if I were none physical and I came to the physical as a “ghost” or something and landed in Devon, and I asked where I was and someone said , “Simonsbath” I‟d go back to my non-physical place and all my chums would be trying to work out what it meant. But it‟s just the name of the place I guess, in the sense of that‟s how the energy translates. These kinds of places I used to visit very regularly until I discovered how to shift to Focus 4 of consciousness. Try that next time you find yourself in Focus 3 of consciousness. Ask your guide friend to take you to the next focus area in consciousness. Say, “The one after Transition”. They‟ll know what you mean, and prepare for a BIG surprise, lol. Yours, Frank PS The problem in your mouth was just your physical tongue, IMO. 750 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Shoecrutch on: March 01, 2005, 00:24:26 Telos: The Transition Area of consciousness is fairly easy to recognise. The people you meet are always engaged in some activity that entails getting all the belief constructs and emotions out of them in preparation for their re-engagement within subjective reality. Traditionally, you had the heaven/hell constructs, and they still exist, of course, but you get all manner of circumstances besides. Particularly nowadays as people's beliefs have changed. When you enter these areas, stay upbeat and curious and you will not be attracted to the more base constructs. Generally, stay away from large swirls and expanses of grey, or dark colours generally. Think, bright, happy, upbeat, and mildly curious. This will take you to some interesting places within the "top branches" (as I call them) of the Transition Area. Or, like I say, Monroe F25/F26. Particularly F26, as the people there are very lucid and are generally waiting for something exciting to happen. There is always an air of anticipation in these places. Unlike the lower branches where people are still locked in their fear/greed constructs, victim/perpetrator constructs and all that gubbins. I don't know of any states "beyond" F27. I can only trace the model up to F27. Problem is F35 is meant to be a gathering of Aliens watching Earth Changes. Now that just raises the hackles of my cynical side and I think yeah, right, Father Christmas is a real person and the moon is made of Swiss cheese. I have my private thoughts on how this construct came about though. In the sense that if I had assumed, say, circumstance abc = xyz then that's what I would have thought. So in a sense I can gauge where Monroe was coming from. Everything about the model checks out perfectly up to F27, but F35 is where he and I deviate considerably. Basically, beyond F27, Monroe put two and two together and made five, IMO. But if I should subsequently be proved wrong then I'll accept no problem. Not that I really care because it was my attempts to go “beyond” F27 that led me to getting mighty frustrated with the model. So I began to ask myself for an alternative. Over a period of about 3 months the structure of an alternative “4 Focus” model began bleeding into my conscious awareness. Focus 1 is the physical; Focus 2 is the area of people‟s subconscious, which is where people do all their lucid dreaming and “Astral Projecting”; Focus 3 is the Transition Area; Focus 4 is where it really starts getting interesting. Focus 4 is where your connections to all your other focuses are located. Go there and you can find out all the info you like on anything. How the Earth was formed, all the stuff about “you create your reality”, visit parallel physical realities, and so forth. All that kind of info is available to you in Focus 4 of consciousness. So that‟s why I am rather pleased now I couldn‟t “find” F35, because my frustration about doing so led me to something far greater than a few flying saucers and a bunch of little green men, lol. I took a look at the link but there was nothing I could recognise as being what I am speaking of. Oh, have you asked your “guide” who they are? Are they an aspect of you, or an alternate focus, or… ? Yours, Frank 749 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Shoecrutch on: March 01, 2005, 22:27:57 Telos: I just read Stone's thread and it sounds like he was within Focus 2 of consciousness (note: I now always put the suffix "of consciousness" to distinguish from the Monroe model). This is where people are able to meet up and do whatever takes their fancy. :) Within Focus 2 of consciousness there are "individual areas" that people communicate with on an ongoing basis. People also do their dreaming here as well. If a person develops a degree of lucidity while they are dreaming then this is where they will have a lucid dream. Or if they purposely enact some kind of "projection technique" then they will enter this region with certain expectations, which will pan out as an "astral projection" experience as opposed to a dream or lucid dream. But these actions are all basically the same. What changes is your level of awareness and your expectations. But Focus 2oC not only relates just to individuals. It is a vast area of consciousness that you could say is an area of "common ground" between us all. Well, ultimately we are all of consciousness, so there is no such thing as "uncommon" ground. But it does help to split these places up into areas depending on the particular function they were designed to perform. This is where Monroe was a great pioneer. For example, if two people wanted to meet in non-physical reality then Focus 2oC would be the place to do it, IMO, as we already communicate back and forth with this region of consciousness continuously already. "shallow, unabashedly flighty "pick-and-choose" approach of delivering religion as a means of self-help. I just can't vibe with their aimlessness." LOL, I love that terminology! Reason why I ask about the guide thing is because, within Focus 2oC you meet many Aspects of yourself. Aspects are not other focuses but Aspects are created by you to perform various functions within consciousness. Unfortunately, there is a lot of very sticky mystical residue that pervades this topic and people often get confused. You can almost always tell if the person you are interacting with is an Aspect or not. Aspects are usually “resident” within F2oC and they tend not to say much, or they perform particular tasks and that‟s that. Perhaps they might sound confused, or they just mirror your actions, or they just stand there grinning, or something. Whatever it is they perform, even if they appear quite lucid, they always tend to come across as if they have a “bit missing”. It‟s difficult to explain but you will recognise it at the time. Sometimes they can show you places. For example, if you are thinking about wanting to visit a particular area of consciousness, you can create an Aspect of yourself that will go there, have a scout around, and come back and tell you things about it. Or you can have them meet you as you “project” and they will show you places. I mean, this is one of those actions that is a lot easier to say than to do. But once you realise it is possible then another link falls into place. I think, from what you say, this is what you have done, and the people you are calling “guides” are Aspects of yourself that you have created (without knowing it) for the purpose of assisting you in particular actions. And because you have created them without realising it, you tend to get confused as to who these people are. Beyond those actions that you have specified for them to assist you with, they are not being of much use. What I would suggest, therefore, is to try programming them with more of a range of helpfulness to you, and you should see this action being mirrored in them next time you meet. To do this all you need to do is imagine them, and while you do this instil in them the kind of experience you wish to have next time. I‟m not saying it will work right away, it may take a while to create the depth of “connection” but there is no harm in giving it a go to see what effects come about. Now with me, I came across Harry (Harath) who actually sought me out. He is another focus, which is a different thing entirely. Now Freda is not another focus, and I know absolutely she is not an Aspect. I once thought she was another focus but was mistaken. I discovered her through Harry. Freda would never tell me what the connection is between us, but she did say that my attempts to find out would be an interesting path to follow, so to speak. These people are very lucid. They have nothing missing, quite the opposite in fact. So, again, by comparison, the people you are coming across sound very much like Aspects that you created. But when I say you created them that is not to demean their status or anything. I‟m just trying to provide you with more of an understanding as to how it all pieces together. Now you know that chances are they are Aspects, and that you create them, you can try creating a more “advanced” version who will be more helpful to you. Yours, Frank 748 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Bruce Moen on: March 02, 2005, 00:29:44 Nick: Thank you for the feedback. I was very interested in what you say. BM always looked to get good press regarding his seminars from what I have seen, and now you have confirmed it first hand. I'm really glad you enjoyed it and found it helpful to you. Regards, Frank 747 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Problem, bit of aid please! on: March 02, 2005, 15:23:33 Hi: RTZ projections are not really my thing. I can have them but find the experience not all that interesting. Once you've walked through one wall you've walked through them all, IMO. It sounds like what you had was a typical spontaneous RTZ experience. Finding yourself "out of body" within Focus 1 of consciousness (or C1 in Monroe terms) in familiar but confusing circumstances. Yours, Frank 739 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Lack of control/obsure vision and spinning around on: March 04, 2005, 02:32:59 Andali: What you are experiencing is how it tends to be. But if you persist then it will come good after a while of practice. In the beginning it took me 5 years of trial and error just to gain a degree of proper lucidity. Where I realised that I was entering an environment where thought equals action and I could keep good control over my projection experience. Okay, when I first started there was no internet so progress was made through my own trial and error. But still, there is a big difference between knowing it and doing it. So I reckon it would have taken me at least a year, possibly two, even if I had been told of the nature of the environment I was projecting to. I first projected into the RTZ after having had hundreds of previous experiences in other realms of non-physical reality. So I had good experience of retaining control, etc. So my initial RTZ experiences were fairly straightforward. But I do know that spinning around out of control and zapping back to physical is a common thing with people just starting out. Yours, Frank 738 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Lack of control/obsure vision and spinning around on: March 04, 2005, 06:01:47 Andali: We all think you have done great. Because people such as myself who were at this in the early days, before Internet forums, (I first started in the early 1980's) would have struggled for maybe a year or more just to get where you are in a couple of months. So there‟s a little perspective to help you. What I am trying to say is please don‟t go getting despondent, because you are doing really well. Yours, Frank 737 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 21 - getting there? on: March 04, 2005, 06:07:54 Andali: It's 99% certain you are not in the full focus 12 state, perhaps just a deep Focus 10. Please tell me what you are experiencing in what you say is F12. Yours, Frank 732 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Robert Monroe, Experiences, Institute on: March 05, 2005, 22:14:01 A “body” is a construct that is created by each individual. We are a point of consciousness but we have developed the idea of generating a body as a vehicle that creates what we might call a “presence” within whatever area of consciousness we happen to be perceiving. Monroe may well have described entering a second body or whatever. I‟m not sure how much of this he actually realised, but the action of “switching bodies” he observed would have been a symptom of the underlying switch in area of consciousness. Problem is, people come along years later and gauge that they have to somehow “switch their bodies” in order to have Monroe-like experiences. When, as I say, the observed switch in body was a symptom of the underlying switch in area of consciousness. What people typically call “astral projection” is a belief construct that typically becomes manifest within Focus 2 of consciousness. Or in the case of an RTZ projection, an experience that becomes manifest within Focus 1 of consciousness. The reason why Monroe did not have what could be called typical “astral projection” experiences is obvious from the model of consciousness he presented from his later research. Anyone following the linear model, as he specifically expresses it, is set to “bypass” Focus 2 of consciousness. The area where most people do their “astral projecting” in other words; as the model is geared to take a person from Focus 1 of consciousness and directly transition them to Focus 3. So it comes as no surprise that Focus 3 of consciousness is where Monroe had many of his experiences. Plus, he had a number of other experiences that were, in my judgement, symptomatic of an involvement within Focus 4 of consciousness, but I‟ll leave that for another day. And I think also that Monroe didn‟t actually realise he was making that transition. Just as I think he also didn‟t realise his model of consciousness more or less eliminated any experience of Focus 2. As I put forward in my earlier post to this thread, it is perfectly possible to change your perception in consciousness and not actually shift your area of consciousness. This is what an RTZ projection entails, for example. The person is not actually shifting their area of consciousness, merely changing their perception within Focus 1. Yours, Frank 731 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / I'm stuck with XX:11 and XX:12 on: March 05, 2005, 22:29:42 Hello: As a general rule a person creates in their future what they concentrate upon in the Now. So if that's what you are concentrating upon then up it will come I guess. Yours, Frank 730 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 10 ----> Focus 12: Transitioning on: March 06, 2005, 02:15:45 Entering the F12 state is, in a sense, “stepping into” the realms of your imagination (part of Focus 2 of consciousness). Up until this point, a person is steadily trying to reach a point where the imagery they are imagining is progressively becoming “more real”, i.e. trying to make the step from 3rd person to 1st person perspective. Telos makes the point that [for most people] imagined images when looked at from the point of being physical have little depth, etc. This is correct. So you could say, the whole point of getting from physical to Focus 12 is to work to get those images from 2D 3rd person perspective to 3D 1st person perspective. By using this kind of imagery, you are following along the thread of it, bringing yourself closer to the source of these images. The imagery is what captures a person‟s attention and draws their focus. Otherwise the person would remain in a kind of “empty mind” meditation construct. Basically, it is the same action that people who follow the more traditional “astral projection” constructs follow. Instead they follow along the thread of the imagery of an imagined “potential astral experience” which leads them into a Focus-12-like state (what they would perhaps call a “trance” state). Whereupon the previously “imagined” imagery can be objectively observed as a “reality” within the regions of their imagination, or Focus 2 of consciousness. However, following the Monroe model engenders an expectation of the fulfilment of a Focus 21 experience, following Focus 12. It is precisely this expectation, which powers a person out of the realms of their imagination and “onwards” towards Focus 21. Think of F12 as an F21 “launch pad”. The imagery is created to enable a person to progressively follow along the thread of it to the source of the imagery. Once you are at that source (F12), the release of the expectations of a Focus 21 experience should be all that is necessary to keep the situation rolling, so to speak. So given the release of these expectations, at Focus 12 the “imagined” imagery should fall away to reveal the 3D Blackness at Focus 21. At this point a person is on the border between Focus 2 and Focus 3 of consciousness. Much of Monroe‟s later experience (that he published) was acted out within Focus 3 of consciousness and, perhaps I should also mention, the experiences of Bruce Moen too. This isn‟t surprising as Bruce religiously follows the same model. But the people who follow the more traditional “astral projection” models “terminate” usually at Focus 2 (oC) as this is where their expectations “come to life”, so to speak, and so they are satisfied. But, as I say, the expectations engendered by the Monroe model take a person “further” than this into a very different area of consciousness. Yours, Frank PS Telos, when I wrote this I was not aware of your latest post. 729 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 21 - getting there? on: March 06, 2005, 15:44:38 Andali: This sounds to me to be a light Focus 12. For some reason you are curtailing the experience. The most common reason for that is apprehension of some kind. You need to observe yourself very carefully when at this stage. Does your breathing quicken a little? Do you get a little nervous? Or something like that. As you make the transition to Focus 21 you should feel your energy centres working. Particularly your Yellow centre in an interaction with the Purple (if you don't then don't worry because not everyone does). The former feels like a tingling in your belly and in your head you may hear or sense some kind of buzzing or light vibrating sensation. Now, any tension in your abdomen can prevent the yellow centre from coming alive, so to speak. The Yellow centre is your emotional centre, so that is why any kind of slight nervousness can put a spoke in the works and keep you grounded to the physical. Before entering Focus 10, try doing some basic breathing exercises to relax the muscles in your abdomen. Try taking deep breaths out as much as you can then release, and breathe in deeply then concentrate on breathing fully out again and repeat for 10 times or so, then breathe deeply as normal. Also try doing a few basic stretches that involve the muscles of the abdomen. Plus, do a little stretching of your neck. I‟m guessing as to what it might be. But if someone asked me to bet on it, then I‟d bet on physical tension either in the abdomen or the neck, or some kind of slight nervousness that was thwarting you and preventing you from going deeper. The realisation of entering the Focus 21 state is pretty awesome, so a little nervous tension coming about at the thought of doing it again would only be natural in my view. Yours, Frank 728 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Robert Monroe, Experiences, Institute on: March 06, 2005, 17:00:38 Doug: If you are asking whether it is strictly necessary, the answer is no it isn‟t necessary. But it is a common phenomenon for a variety of reasons. But the “generation” of a body is a symptomatic reaction to the shift in perception. Not the other way around as many people believe. A physical body is not needed to perceive the physical world. But we are here to have the experience of being physical hence we choose a suitable bodily vehicle. In a sense you could say within the physical world, in order to experience actually being physical then some kind of physical bodily vehicle is a necessity. But this perceived necessity has a kind of knock-on effect that causes people to think that because it could be classed as a necessity in one circumstance, then it is a necessity per se. Which of course it isn‟t. I‟m not saying that you, personally, are thinking that. But people do, in the main. The fact is that none of what we purport, for example, Focus levels and focusing away from the physical body, and such like: none of this is strictly necessary and when it gets too involved then it all simply gets in the way. For example, I have it on good authority that the RTZ is, in fact, a part of the physical. It‟s just that we perceive the physical with senses that give us a particular view. But it is a very restricted view. It should therefore be possible to widen one‟s awareness to simply take account of the physical as a wider dimension. Which of course would incorporate the area known as the RTZ. No special techniques or methods should be necessary. This I have been attempting on and off for a number of months. Four times now I have managed to simply project my awareness into the RTZ. No focusing away from the physical, no techniques or methods. Simply projecting my awareness into the RTZ from being fully awake and aware in the physical. No focus 10, 12, 21, no rope-method, no blah, blah, blah method, nothing. Simply lay back and excite the yellow and purple energy centres and “roll out” into the RTZ. I find this an extremely tricky thing to do. Main reason being I find it nearly impossible to step out of the notion that I should incorporate some kind of method or process! Problem is, how do you explain that to a beginner? You can‟t say to a person that in your attempts you just sit in a chair and do it. Because we have closely held belief constructs that we should necessarily incorporate some kind of method or process. So methods and processes have naturally come about, which is all very well as they can go a long way to helping people achieve their non-physical goals. Problem is, however, a lot of these methods and techniques have taken on a kind of "life of their own". Rather than just being some kind of disposable aid, something a person throws away once they have got the hang of doing whatever it is the person was attempting, the "method" together with the observations that come about during the enactment of it, becomes sacrosanct. Yours, Frank 725 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 12 Entry on: March 07, 2005, 20:10:07 Hi: That was probably the most interesting and comprehensive first post anyone has ever put to this forum. I couldn't resist chuckling to myself when you were talking about the 3D blackness and saying how you realised that it was not you who was creating it. Because that is how it tends to happen. Once moment you are comfortably wallowing in your own mental imagery and then suddenly it's like, hang on, I'm not creating this! Hopefully your external life will now settle down to the point where you can take up your internal studies again, and build upon the successes you have offered yourself. All the best, Frank 724 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is APing just dreaming? on: March 09, 2005, 04:42:17 Hi: There are many similarities between what people typically call “astral projection” and what we commonly call dreaming. This is because they usually take place within the same area of consciousness, i.e. Focus 2 of consciousness. Within Focus 2 of consciousness is where most of us do our dreaming. If a person develops a degree of lucidity while they are dreaming then this is where they will have a lucid dream. Or if they purposely enact some kind of "projection technique" then they will enter this region with certain expectations, which will pan out as an "astral projection" experience as opposed to a dream or lucid dream. But these actions are all essentially the same. What changes is your level of awareness and your expectations. Unfortunately, what many people have yet to realise is it is quite possible to change your perception in consciousness and not actually shift your area of consciousness. What I mean is, you can be having a dream in Focus 2 of consciousness, perhaps you become a little lucid, so you start playing around with your dream characters and creating all kinds of scenarios. In this case, you have changed your perception in consciousness but you haven‟t shifted your area of consciousness. You may also become lucid to the point where you gain a high degree of control over your experience. So you may act out an “astral projection” adventure. But you still could be situated within the same area of consciousness. All that has changed is your level of awareness and your expectations. To get outside this particular “box” it is necessary to learn how to shift your area of consciousness. One of the great pioneers in doing this was a chap called Robert Monroe. He realised after a number of years projecting in a traditional sense, that there were actually different areas of consciousness that he set about identifying and labelling with an arbitrary series of numbers. It is on his work that my own work is based and the “Phasing” concept was born, which is a development from the somewhat haphazard list of numbers Monroe originally produced. Not that that should be taken as a criticism but it is a little cumbersome. It‟s just that Monroe was something of a particularist. Yours, Frank 723 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP Adventures outside the norm on: March 09, 2005, 04:53:17 Hi: Every idea, concept, invention, construct, etc., etc. that has been or ever will be invented or otherwise introduced within our physical reality is already lodged within Focus 2 of consciousness. So any story or animation, music, or whatever, can be experienced within this area. Yours, Frank 722 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Imagery comes Alive on: March 09, 2005, 05:00:47 Hi: Not sure on the relaxation aspect, but it is indicative of you reaching a particular focus level. In Phasing terms, you are shifting the focus of your attention to Focus 2 of consciousness. Within this area thought equals action so it is very easy to visualise with amazing clarity. Even if you previously thought of yourself as someone who was useless at visualisation. So not only will you visualise a tree, for example, it's leaves will rustle in the wind and all that jazz. You may think you did not consciously create these minor details but this area of consciousness is so incredibly sensitive to the slightest thought, you can very easily create various aspects without [consciously] realising it. Yours, Frank 721 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP Adventures outside the norm on: March 10, 2005, 00:27:52 Hi: There are no new definitions, just a wider awareness of subjective reality. Yours, Frank 720 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP Adventures outside the norm on: March 10, 2005, 03:04:35 -lines-: I rather think you are mistaken in your accusations of us slapping names on any old experiences we might have. There are a number of us here who are serious-minded practitioners of this art, who look very carefully and closely at the experiences we have and who take great care in our understanding of them. I think confusion is arising these days because some people are becoming more aware of the fact that everything non-physical is not “astral”. The term “astral projection” relates to a particular kind of olden-day belief construct that is usually enacted within an area known as Focus 2 of consciousness. In the olden days, you had the astral that was said to be set out as 7 planes divided by 7 sub planes, blah, blah, blah, all with ubiquitous funny-sounding names that no one really knows the meaning of. This was their model of consciousness as existed in those days. A model that was filed alongside the one about the world being flat, and the sun revolving around the earth. Now, our technology has brought to us the knowledge that the world is in fact a sphere, and we actually revolve around the sun. However, only a tiny number of people (myself being one of them) have discovered various facts about the traditional astral-planes model of consciousness, and the severe limitations of this model in relation to what actually takes place. There are no “planes” there are no “levels”, there are no “higher” or “lower” places, etc. All of consciousness is all the same. But when you view it objectively, it doesn‟t actually look like all of consciousness is all the same. And this is the big pitfall that all the olden day explorers fell into. You see, in those days, people looked up at the sky, they saw the sunrise and they saw the sunset, and it was SO obvious (to them) that the sun revolved around the earth. After all, anyone could objectively view this phenomenon for themselves simply by tracking the sun‟s movements throughout the course of a day. In turn, other people went within themselves and saw many different “levels” of consciousness with all their attendant characteristics, like planes and sub-planes, etc. But there are no levels and there are no planes. Consciousness just is. It is all the same. There are differences, of course, but these differences are not to do with the nature of consciousness. Differences come about because there are different focuses of attention, and in this there are created what we term areas of consciousness. Now, if you study the work of Robert Monroe, he was the pioneer in this. It is on his multi-focus model that my more modern-day Phasing model was based. Even though the Monroe model was a brilliant development on the traditional astral- planes models, it is not without its limitations. As in all things, knowledge widens and events move on. This topic is no different. In my Phasing model, there are 4 primary focuses of attention within our system, which I have labelled Focus X of consciousness. Where X is the Focus number in question, i.e. 1 to 4 inclusive. I also add the suffix “of consciousness” (which I often abbreviate “oC”) to separate it from the Monroe model. An area of consciousness is not a designation of a level. It is an area that is associated with particular actions, explorations, and/or movements in consciousness. Within these designated areas, an individual may choose to focus their attention and move in directions associated with their choice of exploration. Focus 1 of consciousness is the area of consciousness known as our physical world, which we are all familiar with so no explanation is needed. Focus 2 of consciousness is the next area inwards, so to speak. Now, anything that ever has, or ever will come about within Focus 1 originates within Focus 2 of consciousness. This is the area of a person‟s imagination; it is where all ideas come about, all impressions, gut feelings, etc. Each and every manifestation that is brought into being within Focus 1 oC, absolutely all of it, every invention, every design, every piece of art of any description, etc. without exception originates within Focus 2 of consciousness. Focus 2 oC is the place the olden day explorers termed the astral. It is perfectly possible to enter this area and engage in whatever belief construct you like. It‟s the place where most of us do our dreaming. Such that if a person develops a degree of lucidity while they are dreaming, then this is where they will have a lucid dream. Or if they purposely enact some kind of "projection technique" then they will enter this region with certain expectations, which will pan out as an "astral projection" experience as opposed to a dream or lucid dream. But these actions are all essentially the same. All that changes is your level of awareness and your expectations. This is about as far as those olden-day inner explorers went. Some of them tried to venture “beyond” but by and large they were captured by their superstitions about The Void. Getting lost or getting mutilated by some monster hidden in the dark recesses of The Void was a big thing in those days. The tales of which would be filed alongside all manner of other scary “facts”, such as, if a person travelled at more than 15mph their physical body would fall apart. But these days the more forward-thinking practitioners realise the infamous Void of old is just an area of 3D Blackness situated between Focus 2 and Focus 3 of consciousness. In the same way, for example, the real-time zone is a kind of buffer area, if you like, between Focus 1 and Focus 2 of consciousness. To followers of the Monroe School, The Void is simply the 3D-Blackness at Focus 21. Simple as that. No superstitious nonsense getting in the way. Just place your Intent and away you go. So when you “take off” into the 3D Blackness, you generally emerge within Focus 3 of consciousness. Or what is becoming commonly known as the Transition Area. In the olden days people used to “die” and either go to heaven or to hell depending on how they were “judged” at the pearly gates. Within the Transition Area is where all those heavens and hells are situated, and a whole lot more besides. Nowadays, more and more of us (albeit still a tiny minority) are realising that there is no death. What we call death is actually a belief construct we initiate within Focus 1 of consciousness, to be permanently disengaging ourselves from physical focus and to be entering Transition within the area of Focus 3 of consciousness. Transition is where we allow time to shake off all the now redundant belief constructs that we picked up during our physical focus experience. People who are getting wiser as to the nature of the wider reality are spending progressively less “time” in Transition. However, in the olden days, people would enter Transition with all manner of notions about god, heaven/hells and judgements and such like. Many, many of these people can still be seen today engaged within their heaven and hell constructs. Significant numbers of people have been engaged in Transition for the equivalent of several hundred years. Whereas, someone such as myself would enter Transition with full knowledge of what was happening. So any “time” I spent engaged in this process would largely be under my control. There are a number of other collective actions associated with Focus 3 of consciousness, but for the purposes of this post, my explanation above will suffice. Next step inwards is Focus 4 of consciousness. This is where things really start getting interesting. This area is populated by all manner of “energy essences” that are no longer physically focused. This is where everyone‟s “connections” to all their other focuses are situated, and it is the first step “back” into subjective reality proper a person takes following their physical experience. In fact, I could write a whole book just on Focus 4 alone the area is so involved. Anyhow, in a nutshell, the above is a brief rundown of the “map” of our system. It is quite a bit more complex than my explanation would suggest and I could have written pages and pages more. But the above should give people some idea. Essentially, then, going “beyond” the traditional astral-projection construct entails switching your area of consciousness, as opposed to a person merely switching their perception within consciousness. As I said recently in a post to another thread, what many people have yet to realise is it is quite possible to change your perception in consciousness and not actually shift your area of consciousness. To get outside the traditional astral-projection “box” it is necessary to learn how to shift your area of consciousness. This is what my Phasing approach is geared towards, and is the essential difference between Phasing, and the more traditional methods. Yours, Frank 714 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP Adventures outside the norm on: March 11, 2005, 19:15:34 "The experience....for the most part...remains the same..." Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. Whatever a person calls it, it is still an objective viewing of subjective reality within Focus 2 of consciousness. Unless you happen to project to the RTZ, of course, in which case you are viewing objective reality, which by definition means you are at Focus 1oC. The thrust of my thinking is, if people would know exactly what it is they are doing and "where" they are doing it, then all the confusion over the various terms would just fade away. Telos: great idea, I'll add my post as a supplement to my Phasing post in the FAQ section. Regards all, Frank 713 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to the Astral FAQ! / What is Phasing and how can I do it? on: March 11, 2005, 19:32:01 PLEASE NOTE: The below post was made in answer to a member's questions and I am posting it here also as a lot of information in the post is relevant to the Phasing approach. Could I also say that I get quite a few requests from people asking for me to write a book on Phasing. I am currently doing precisely that and I hope to have it published within the next couple of months. The book is about half complete and I am just starting to set up the website, etc. Okay, so here is the post: -------------------------------------- I rather think you are mistaken in your accusations of us slapping names on any old experiences we might have. There are a number of us here who are serious-minded practitioners of this art, who look very carefully and closely at the experiences we have and who take great care in our understanding of them. I think confusion is arising these days because some people are becoming more aware of the fact that everything non-physical is not “astral”. The term “astral projection” relates to a particular kind of olden-day belief construct that is usually enacted within an area known as Focus 2 of consciousness. In the olden days, you had the astral that was said to be set out as 7 planes divided by 7 sub planes, blah, blah, blah, all with ubiquitous funny-sounding names that no one really knows the meaning of. This was their model of consciousness as existed in those days. A model that was filed alongside the one about the world being flat, and the sun revolving around the earth. Now, our technology has brought to us the knowledge that the world is in fact a sphere, and we actually revolve around the sun. However, only a tiny number of people (myself being one of them) have discovered various facts about the traditional astral-planes model of consciousness, and the severe limitations of this model in relation to what actually takes place. There are no “planes” there are no “levels”, there are no “higher” or “lower” places, etc. All of consciousness is all the same. But when you view it objectively, it doesn‟t actually look like all of consciousness is all the same. And this is the big pitfall that all the olden day explorers fell into. You see, in those days, people looked up at the sky, they saw the sunrise and they saw the sunset, and it was SO obvious (to them) that the sun revolved around the earth. After all, anyone could objectively view this phenomenon for themselves simply by tracking the sun‟s movements throughout the course of a day. In turn, other people went within themselves and saw many different “levels” of consciousness with all their attendant characteristics, like planes and sub-planes, etc. But there are no levels and there are no planes. Consciousness just is. It is all the same. There are differences, of course, but these differences are not to do with the nature of consciousness. Differences come about because there are different focuses of attention, and in this there are created what we term areas of consciousness. Now, if you study the work of Robert Monroe, he was the pioneer in this. It is on his multi-focus model that my more modern-day Phasing model was based. Even though the Monroe model was a brilliant development on the traditional astral- planes models, it is not without its limitations. As in all things, knowledge widens and events move on. This topic is no different. In my Phasing model, there are 4 primary focuses of attention within our system, which I have labelled Focus X of consciousness. Where X is the Focus number in question, i.e. 1 to 4 inclusive. I also add the suffix “of consciousness” (which I often abbreviate “oC”) to separate it from the Monroe model. An area of consciousness is not a designation of a level. It is an area that is associated with particular actions, explorations, and/or movements in consciousness. Within these designated areas, an individual may choose to focus their attention and move in directions associated with their choice of exploration. Focus 1 of consciousness is the area of consciousness known as our physical world, which we are all familiar with so no explanation is needed. Focus 2 of consciousness is the next area inwards, so to speak. Now, anything that ever has, or ever will come about within Focus 1 originates within Focus 2 of consciousness. This is the area of a person‟s imagination; it is where all ideas come about, all impressions, gut feelings, etc. Each and every manifestation that is brought into being within Focus 1 oC, absolutely all of it, every invention, every design, every piece of art of any description, etc. without exception originates within Focus 2 of consciousness. Focus 2 oC is the place the olden day explorers termed the astral. It is perfectly possible to enter this area and engage in whatever belief construct you like. It‟s the place where most of us do our dreaming. Such that if a person develops a degree of lucidity while they are dreaming, then this is where they will have a lucid dream. Or if they purposely enact some kind of "projection technique" then they will enter this region with certain expectations, which will pan out as an "astral projection" experience as opposed to a dream or lucid dream. But these actions are all essentially the same. All that changes is your level of awareness and your expectations. This is about as far as those olden-day inner explorers went. Some of them tried to venture “beyond” but by and large they were captured by their superstitions about The Void. Getting lost or getting mutilated by some monster hidden in the dark recesses of The Void was a big thing in those days. The tales of which would be filed alongside all manner of other scary “facts”, such as, if a person travelled at more than 15mph their physical body would fall apart. But these days the more forward-thinking practitioners realise the infamous Void of old is just an area of 3D Blackness situated between Focus 2 and Focus 3 of consciousness. In the same way, for example, the real-time zone is a kind of buffer area, if you like, between Focus 1 and Focus 2 of consciousness. To followers of the Monroe School, The Void is simply the 3D-Blackness at Focus 21. Simple as that. No superstitious nonsense getting in the way. Just place your Intent and away you go. So when you “take off” into the 3D Blackness, you generally emerge within Focus 3 of consciousness. Or what is becoming commonly known as the Transition Area. In the olden days people used to “die” and either go to heaven or to hell depending on how they were “judged” at the pearly gates. Within the Transition Area is where all those heavens and hells are situated, and a whole lot more besides. Nowadays, more and more of us (albeit still a tiny minority) are realising that there is no death. What we call death is actually a belief construct we initiate within Focus 1 of consciousness, to be permanently disengaging ourselves from physical focus and to be entering Transition within the area of Focus 3 of consciousness. Transition is where we allow time to shake off all the now redundant belief constructs that we picked up during our physical focus experience. People who are getting wiser as to the nature of the wider reality are spending progressively less “time” in Transition. However, in the olden days, people would enter Transition with all manner of notions about god, heaven/hells and judgements and such like. Many, many of these people can still be seen today engaged within their heaven and hell constructs. Significant numbers of people have been engaged in Transition for the equivalent of several hundred years. Whereas, someone such as myself would enter Transition with full knowledge of what was happening. So any “time” I spent engaged in this process would largely be under my control. There are a number of other collective actions associated with Focus 3 of consciousness, but for the purposes of this post, my explanation above will suffice. Next step inwards is Focus 4 of consciousness. This is where things really start getting interesting. This area is populated by all manner of “energy essences” that are no longer physically focused. This is where everyone‟s “connections” to all their other focuses are situated, and it is the first step “back” into subjective reality proper a person takes following their physical experience. In fact, I could write a whole book just on Focus 4 alone the area is so involved. Anyhow, in a nutshell, the above is a brief rundown of the “map” of our system. It is quite a bit more complex than my explanation would suggest and I could have written pages and pages more. But the above should give people some idea. Essentially, then, going “beyond” the traditional astral-projection construct entails switching your area of consciousness, as opposed to a person merely switching their perception within consciousness. As I said recently in a post to another thread, what many people have yet to realise is it is quite possible to change your perception in consciousness and not actually shift your area of consciousness. To get outside the traditional astral-projection “box” it is necessary to learn how to shift your area of consciousness. This is what my Phasing approach is geared towards, and is the essential difference between Phasing, and the more traditional methods. Yours, Frank 706 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Null point? and body temperature on: March 14, 2005, 00:19:36 Andali: I haven't got much more to add on the "null point" thing that the Major hasn't mentioned. When I go through the Monroe focus-level construct I always seem to come across a kind of null in my awareness inbetween F12 and F21. It's like I blank out for an instant. I always thought that must be F15. There was a time when my idea was to slow the process down and investigate this, but then I went on to using a different "method" based on the 4-focus model that came into my awareness following my frustrations in trying to go "beyond" F27. From aligning myself with this new construct I came across Focus 4 of consciousness, and since then that is all I've been concentrating on, more or less. Once you can Phase to Focus 4oC you won't want to go anywhere else, lol. It's whacky and wild and a whole lotta fun! I reckon the getting hot thing is just nervousness or slight fears coming into play. Thing is, when you project in the traditional sense, i.e. vibrations and "separating" from the body, you tend to hear all manner of sounds. I used to get loud knocks, like someone banging on the front door. I forget the number of times I actually got up and went to the door convinced that this time there really was a knock at the door. But no. Sorry I cannot be of much help than that. It's just that much of what you say is just typical of what can happen. Like where you say you heard a chainsaw starting up, yeah I can well believe it. I used to get a sound like a jet place flying low overhead. For ages that would bug me. If it weren't a jet plane it would be a helicopter, lol. Then once I went through a phase of hearing these ghastly screams, they were really freaky. Then there was the time when I'd hear random shouts, like, someone would shout my name, just from nowhere. Or they'd shout HELLO! And it would sound like there was somone right beside me in the room I was in. It would shock me out of it and I'd fully expect there would be some kind of intruder in my bedroom. But no, it would all be normal. Hope this helps. Yours, Frank 703 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP Adventures outside the norm on: March 14, 2005, 22:37:03 I also don't understand how 2oC can have everything that has ever or will ever exist, and yet there's 3oC and 4oC somehow distinctly separate. And just what does separate these? Also, what's the difference between a dream or fantasy in 2oC and a lucid dream? Why are they different? Why isn't there just a physical state and a non-physical state? I‟m going to answer Mactomb‟s points above, and hopefully this should give a little more infill in relation to the true structure of the wider reality. This physical system was created from a set of archetypes or blueprints. There was no “big bang” that came from nowhere and started it all. We created it. When I say “we” I don‟t necessarily mean you and I. I mean “we” as in all of us but not as we see ourselves now, but humans in our natural state as energy essences. The archetypes or blueprints are held within Focus 4 of consciousness. All the original models, all the original plans, etc., etc., in a manner of speaking, for our physical reality and every other physical reality within our system, are all held in Focus 4. Plus, there are millions and millions of people resident there as well. I don‟t know how many people there are. If it is not infinite then it‟s a huge number. Simply too huge for the mind to contemplate when held by the confines of physical focus. But when I say “people” they are not people in the sense of them taking a human form, or any other form for that matter. Focus 4 can be thought of as the creative source for all physical realities within our system. Plus, Focus 4 is also the creative source for other realities that exist within consciousness that are part of our system, but these realities are realities that are not physically oriented. The people who reside within Focus 4 have no form at all. They exist as energy essences, or what we might call a point of consciousness. I‟m not sure how many people will remember the kids TV sci-fi series of about 30 years ago, or so. It was called Captain Scarlet and you had what were known as the Voice of the Mysterons. They were these mysterious beings that would talk to you out of nowhere. Well, that‟s a bit like how it is communicating with people who live within Focus 4oC. You Phase into what feels like a huge interconnecting communications network. In a way it‟s like plugging your computer into the Internet. But you are plugging your mind into an infinite network of other minds. There is, of course, a LOT more to it than that. But in a nutshell that‟s the simplest explanation I can come up with. While it is an exciting thing to do, I have to mention that it is not for the feint of heart, or for anyone who is not totally grounded in themselves mentally. The “problem” you might say, is you can get to feeling like you have “lost your own mind”. Thing is, we get so used to having only ourselves in mind. And communicating in this area is fully mind-to-mind. So what you do is merge your mind with another mind or minds (now multiple merging is really freaky, lol) and you communicate via thoughts, imagery, feelings, and so forth, in ways that are appropriate for the subject matter you are communicating about. In a sense, though, it feels like someone is “invading” your mind, and the more egotistical parts of you may battle against it. With me it took about a hundred attempts before I became comfortable with the process. Apart from Phasing to the place, there are two humongous challenges in thinking associated with Focus 4 of consciousness, as follows: 1) It is an area of purely subjective reality. So nothing actually exists as an objective observable form. 2) It is an area of simultaneous time, as opposed to linear time that we experience within this physical reality. So everything that is about to happen, has happened and is happening, is all happening at once within the same moment (within infinity everything happens an infinite number of times). When it comes to setting up a physical world “system” certain “supply lines” and “structures” have to be put into place. Each physical world system has 3 basic areas of consciousness that ultimately “connect” to Focus 4. So the “main” area or ultimate creative source, is Focus 4. This area is common to all the physical worlds that are “connected” to it. Focus 4 is what you might call an “umbrella” area, and the other 3 areas of each physical world within our system are “nested” within that overall umbrella. So say you had Focus 4 and 100 physical-world realities. Note: there is actually an infinite number of other physical-world realities within our whole system. But here let us say there are just 100. Each physical reality has a Focus 1, obviously, because physical reality is Focus 1. So there are 100 Focus 1‟s, together with 100 Focus 2‟s and 100 Focus 3‟s. Each of these areas is nested within one Focus 4. The best way of thinking of Focus 4, IMO, is to think of it as the ultimate creative source of all that exists within our entire system. In other words, all the original plans, archetypes, models, etc., etc. of all the physical realities “connected” to Focus 4, are held within this area. Focus 3 is a Transition Area that is reserved for people “returning” from their physical experience. People generally have to go through a period of shaking off all the belief constructs they brought into objective reality during their physical experience, to enable them to merge fully with subjective reality again. At which point they can decide what to experience next. Focus 3 also has sections that serve as what could be termed areas of our “collective unconscious” but for the purposes of this post, thinking of it as a Transition Area will suffice. Focus 2 is a rather interesting area, well, they are all interesting areas, but Focus 2 takes on a more “individualised” tone, which makes it a bit special. Each person has a vast “section” of Focus 2 “reserved” for them. The original archetypes held in Focus 4, that are to do with all the potential states and probabilities possible within our particular physical dimension, are “downloaded” into Focus 2. What people then do is pick and choose whatever actions they fancy and “play” with them within their area of Focus 2. Essentially, the action of doing this creates a pool of individual probabilities within Focus 2, and each person in question decides which of these probabilities to bring into objective reality, i.e. bring into Focus 1. In other words, each individual creates their reality subjectively within Focus 2, and then they “insert” it into Focus 1 on an ongoing basis. Please note: not all physical realities are built on the same basis. Not all physical realities, for example, incorporate emotions like we do. So the potential states and probabilities possible for other physical dimensions will naturally vary. Therefore, each physical reality will have a correspondingly different set of potential states and probabilities “downloaded” into their Focus 2 area. But the ultimate source for all these potential states and probabilities, is Focus 4. The 4 areas of consciousness are NOT distinctly separate. They are intertwined immeasurably, and each area is associated with particular actions, explorations, and/or movements in consciousness; while being fully connected to, and interacting with, each of the other areas. An area of consciousness is not a designation of a level. It is not a place or thing. It is not an area in space. An area of consciousness is a focus of attention!. As I said in my other post to this thread, within these designated areas, an individual may choose to focus their attention and move in directions associated with their choice of exploration. If a person really wishes to confuse themselves, they can focus within all 4 areas at the same time. But the most productive way is to focus within one area at once. This typically means Phasing away from the physical (Focus 1) and focusing their attention within another area. The difference between a dream or a lucid dream within Focus 2oC is simply the level of a person‟s objective awareness. These experiences differ in the manner of the extent to which each individual wishes to offer themselves an objective knowing, of their ability to become objectively aware within this area of consciousness. A person can think of the divide, so to speak, as being the difference between the physical and the non-physical. But that is not entirely accurate. Likewise with the more traditional “astral” constructs. These are translations of what people objectively observed at the time, and were obviously related to their beliefs. But again they are not entirely accurate. As human beings, we have progressively engaged in more effective belief constructs that hold the promise of getting to “the truth”. This is why, over the past couple of hundred years, we have been progressively moving away from the old religious constructs, and adopting what we see as more “valid” constructs pertaining to our physical sciences. This is why I always chuckle when I hear people talking about science and religion “coming together”. They never do come together. In a hundred years time there won‟t be a religious construct to be seen. Like all the other dinosaurs they‟ll all be dead and gone. Yours, Frank 696 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Did I nearly project? on: March 15, 2005, 21:14:10 Hi: All the sensations you describe are typical of conventional obe practice. Sounds like you were quite close but bottled out at the last minute. Fear tends to play a significant role at first. Takes you a while to get used to all the sensations. Yours, Frank 693 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing techniques on: March 15, 2005, 22:51:59 Hi: There are no Phasing "techniques" as such. Phasing describes an approach that holds the promise of going beyond methods and techniques. The approach works in tandem with the Noticing exercise I talk about briefly in the FAQ, which I expand upon greatly in my forthcoming book. Yours, Frank 691 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing techniques on: March 16, 2005, 01:19:19 Hi: No need to be, I'm sorry if my explanation made you feel that way. I just thought I'd give you a quick reply earlier to try and point you in the right direction, as I was a bit pushed for time, and in doing so I may have come across as a teeny bit harsh. This was not intended. What I suggest is for you to have a good read through some of my posts, particularly over the past 4/5 months. Check out posts by Major Tom too, especially his Focus 10 thread in the Sticky Topic section. If you want to ask any questions then pop them in the Astral Consciousness forum and we'll all do our best to help you. Regards, Frank 690 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP Adventures outside the norm on: March 16, 2005, 01:47:52 Andali: I respect your view, all I would say is for you to prepare, then, for a big surprise. :) Again someone has highlighted the very reason why I am working flat out to try and convince people to adopt the Phasing approach, and Phase to Focus 4 of consciousness. With respect, there is nothing in the Vatican worth knowing. Focus 4 is the place anyone needs to go if they want these kinds of questions answered. Also, if I may put my mod cap on for a second, the thread topic is about having AP adventures beyond the norm. So I wanted to just say, not specifically to you Andali, but to say generally, for us to please not let the thread veer off topic, and start debating whether or not there will still be religion in however-many years, or whether god created the earth, etc. We can debate that if we like, certainly, if someone wants to start a new thread for that purpose. Yours, Frank 686 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP Adventures outside the norm on: March 17, 2005, 23:12:33 Nostic: Thank you for your input on the subjective/objective question. Tombo: I'm sorry I overlooked the necessity of a reply, but I've been a bit pushed for time the past few days and Nostic has answered it in a nutshell. Andali: On this forum you are welcome to question whatever you like no matter who is saying it. Any debate on any subject is welcomed: provided the normal rules of respectful discussion apply... and it is ON TOPIC for the thread in question. So if you would like to engage in a debate about anything else, then by all means go for it and open a new topic. For the record: Adrian is the boss who rules by "divine right". Major Tom is king, Nay is queen. The rest, well, we just fight amongst ourselves, lol. Regards, Frank 684 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Null point? and body temperature on: March 25, 2005, 19:40:08 Andali: Apologies for the delay in replying, but I‟m really busy at the moment so my attendance on the forum will be a bit sporadic for the next five or six weeks. Don't worry, what you are coming across is what ACTUALLY happens. The big problem is, most people who write about this kind of thing are merely "reporters" writing about possible events. You see, you read all the websites and it all sounds really straightforward. But the fact is, everyone just tends to parrot everyone else, and hardly anyone can actually DO any of it! Okay, maybe they've had a few lucid dreams, or they smoked some whacky-baccy, or whatever. But when you actually try to go "beyond" all the messing about, that's where the experiences start to get really confusing... but really interesting at the same time. It's essentially the difference between having a few whacky experiences, and becoming a serious practicioner of the Art. When you Phase into a wider sense of awareness, you tend to receive overlayed impressions of several different areas of consciousness at once. The challenge, therefore, is not so much a question of, “How can I Phase to a particular area?” The core challenge tends to be, “How can I filter the information I am receiving in order to perceive only one area of consciousness at a time?” This is why I am trying to get across to people that the Focus areas of consciousness I am talking about (i.e. Focus 1 to 4), are not places where you go to: THEY ARE FOCUSES OF ATTENTION. What people fail to realise is we ALREADY occupy all of consciousness. So there is no need for us to “go” anywhere to be experiencing any “thing” within a different area. In Truth, there are no “different” areas. Consciousness just is. The only “separation” that exists is that which we place on ourselves for the purposes of our experience. Once you genuinely attempt to go beyond the restrictive and highly “filtered” one-world-view… everything tends to start happening all at once. It‟s very confusing because you have this layer, superimposed on that layer, and at the same time this and that is happening, and all the while that‟s going on, there is something else layered upon something else in the background. He he, that's the difference between objectively focused Linear Time and subjectively focused Simultaneous Time. But that‟s how it is, in reality. Not the wishy-washy “new age” touchy-feely view: where we all suck crystals for breakfast and go to work in our manure-powered cars. What you are experiencing is the actual, down-to-earth nitty-gritty of the wider reality… in a true sense. Think of it this way: You ALREADY are bombarded with every input from every reality that ever was. But, for the purposes of experiencing this particular physical reality, in this particular time-frame (out of the infinite numbers that are available to you) you apply a specific kind of “filter” that allows you to experience it. That one filter that you are currently applying is what, in Phasing terms, is called a, "focus of attention". Once you widen the scope of that filter, the more of the wider reality that becomes open to you. Which is great. That‟s what you are trying to do. But don‟t be confused by it all, when it all starts becoming open. Simply accept it and mentally “home in” on the areas you wish to experience. In other words, focus your attention on the part that interests you. Again, that‟s why I say, these areas are NOT PLACES… they are focuses of attention. In a way, I think you are expecting them to be a place where you travel to, and all you see are the artifacts that pertain to that place. No, it‟s something you select from a myriad of areas. You see, the Phasing model I purport is very different from the Monroe “linear focus” model. With the Phasing model, you tend to end up in a place where you feel like you are, “in the midst of everything”. Like you are at a centre in the midst of all possible conditions (which you are!). Now, from that place you select the area you wish to focus your attention upon. At first, when you experience this, it does feel like you are in the midst of total confusion! But if you work at it, like I did, you will realise that there are, in fact, four primary focuses of attention you can point towards. One of them is the physical, of course, and there are three others that are non-physical. Yours, Frank 682 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Attaining F21 on: March 25, 2005, 22:28:42 Andali: Your very action of attaining the F21 state widened your awareness to encompass all manner of other states. The more you know, the more you encompass and the more you encompass the more you know. You never actually get to a point where you think, "Yes, I know it." There is always a mystery to be solved. Which is all part of the fun, of course. Yours, Frank 673 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / SO MAD at myself on: March 26, 2005, 20:24:56 Hi: Fear tends to always lurk in the background. It's never something you can conquer entirely. Fear of the unknown is quite a major, deeply ingrained fear. Only this morning I came across an instance where something happened so fast it got me very scared, very quickly and I zapped back to physical. It was just the suddenness of the happening that took me completely by surprise. A part of your mind reacts too fast to control it and you get thrown off balance. There is always something new to encompass. Once you get over all the initial bits then you'll have more to contend with. Which is all part of the fun, of course. Yours, Frank 672 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / It's been a year now... help. on: March 27, 2005, 15:59:57 Hi: I note you are taking what might be called the more traditional "energy work" route. In which case the sensations you talk about are, in fact, very normal. Which is, of course, one of the big problems with these kinds of techniques. Personally, I love setting off my heart energy centre. The intense energy sensations I find a big laugh, and I revel in them personally. But that's only because I've been doing this for so long I got used to it all. Beginners, however, tend to get totally freaked out by it. The main problem with traditional obe work is, I feel, the "separation from the physical body" construct. This tends to make the person freak out thinking they have "died" and all manner of mixed-up realities start coming into play. Yours, Frank PS Your English is perfectly understandable and "noobs" are very welcome here. Everyone has to start somewhere! 671 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / It's been a year now... help. on: March 27, 2005, 16:03:38 "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I read a post by Frank that said he has been at this for over 20 years!" Hi: That's correct, 22 years in total this year. Yours, Frank 670 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Phasing methods on: March 27, 2005, 17:21:53 "This afternoon I was attempting a exit, or phasing as you also prefer to call it" There is no such thing as an "exit" with the Phasing approach. Traditional obe constructs rest on the notion that "consciousness" somehow "leaves the body" and enters what is commonly called an "astral body". The whole process of which the traditionalists term "the exit". I would argue the whole process of all that is the engagement of a belief construct and bears little relation the facts of the wider reality. Phasing is based on the notion that consciousness is never "in" the body in the first place; and that what we term to be the Physical is merely a particular Focus of Attention that we choose to adopt for the purposes of creating a physical experience, in the place we call here. Phasing entertains the reality of there being 4 primary focuses of attention, or areas of consciousness, all of which we already occupy. This is the primary reason why there cannot possibly be any kind of "exit". Exit implies separation, the placing of a boundary between here and there. One of the foundation principles of Phasing is there is no separation or boundaries within consciousness (something which your god-friend I'm sure will be happy to confirm). I could go on to explain much more, but I feel I have given sufficient to present an understanding that Phasing is not merely the adoption of different terminology that essentially describes the same actions in consciousness. Phasing is an entirely different model of consciousness that bears no relation whatsoever to the traditional mystical models. In fact, it was my dissatisfaction with the traditional mystical models that caused me to define what I would say is an approach that is aligned to the reality of what actually exists in consciousness, but in a wider sense. So the Phasing model was born. If you'd like to find out more regarding the wider reality then perhaps you might ask your god- friend. The person in question, from the sounds of it, is resident within the area I would describe (in accordance with the Phasing model) as Focus-4 of consciousness. In which case they should be able to tell you all about it. :) Yours, Frank 669 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hypnogogic to vibrations to exit technique? on: March 27, 2005, 22:17:02 Hi: There is no exact science and there is no particular necessity for any order of states. That doesn't stop people thinking that way, of course. :) I'm not what you might call a fan of RTZ projection, but as a demonstration to myself, a few times I have projected in a traditional sense directly from the physical (no "trance state" or any other state) into the real-time zone. What this practice of RTZ projection actually entails is a particular kind of energy interaction between the yellow and purple energy centres. You need to be fairly relaxed, I suppose, so you can focus on the matter in hand. But if you set off the purple centre and let it throb away you'll feel a vibrational energy travel down your body and interact with the yellow centre. When you feel the two start to "talk to each other" then you'll find you can simply rollout of the physical. When I say "talk to each other", after a short while there comes a point when you feel waves of a tingling, buzzing kind of energy travelling up and down your body. At which point you should feel incredibly light and airy, and feel "static electicity" type symptoms. You might hear a static kind of crackling or hissing and feel tingles and stuff. When I say you'll feel light and airy, it's like you are in a tiny boat bobbing up and down on the waves of an ocean. At which point you should be able to just roll to one side and "exit" into the real-time zone. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was always under the impression all the so-called "exit techniques" were designed to bring you to the point where you could "exit". This is not the first time I've seen a post of late where I'm seeing evidence that people are beginning to think that some kind of technique is necessary in order to "exit." If you fire-off the two energy centres as I described then you'll simply plop out of your own accord. In answer to the question of, "How do I know when to exit?" The simple answer is: when you feel like you can. Once the requisite conditions have been met, there is no trying... it just happens. You say you are feeling strong vibrations. So you have obviously set something off. I always used to tell people that once they are at the vibrational stage then they should be able to just rollout. But then I realised people who do "energy work" tend to get all manner of vibrations as a result. Not just the particular kind of vibrations that occur as a result of the energy interation between the yellow and the purple centres as I have described. Apart from setting off my heart centre for a bit of fun now and again, I never engage in any kind of specific "energy work". A such, if I were you I'd try and find out what, exactly, you have energised in order to get the vibrations you are getting. Because you can try all the "exit techniques" in the world, but if you do not have the necessary centres energised and the requisite engagement between them, you will go nowhere unfortunately. I feel too much emphasis is placed on techniques these days. Problem with that is Astral Projection is an art, not a science. It's the difference between creating music using computer software and playing the actual instruments, painting your house and painting someone's portrait, that kind of thing. Yours, Frank 668 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Phasing methods on: March 27, 2005, 23:41:11 Ha ha ha, you have the "main man" on tap and you are asking ME questions! LOL. Perhaps I should take that as an incredibly kind compliment. :) Notions such as "exit" and "separation" are mystical constructs that people engage as an action in consciousness. Bob Bruce openly describes himself as a mystic, so it comes as no surprise that he incorporates these models in his thinking. These actions are all very well, but the models of consciousness they represent do have particular limitations when it comes to incorporating the entirety of our system. These mystical models were formed based on people's understanding as existed at the times the models were formed. Bob Bruce openly admits to leaning heavily on the more Eastern mystical traditions when it comes to his presentation of a more general overview. Which again is not surprising as his speciality is more real-time zone and astral exploration in the traditional sense. Plus his healing work, of course. But my background is strictly Monroe School, which is how it all began for me. Plus, I have absolutely no inherent religious bias, as my family did not engage any kind of religion at all and neither did I (I still don‟t in fact). I‟ve since moved on from the Monroe model and developed the Phasing model. In doing so I have attempted to formulate a model of consciousness that fits as closely as possible to the actual structure of our system. In other words, I wanted to "fill in the blanks" so to speak, of the Monroe multi-focus model. The traditional models have core differences to the Monroe and the Phasing models. As such, very little can be compared between them. F21 is not "astral sight" as you say. The two are radically different constructs. Astral sight is a construct that is related to the notion of a "third eye". I suppose to the early explorers, that is how it looked in an objective sense. But we don't actually have a "third eye". It's just a construct that came about from people forming a conclusion based on their objective viewing of a particular phenomenon. Like when people objectively viewed the sun moving around Earth. It was obvious to them that the sun revolved around us. After all, anyone could view the phenomenon for himself or herself… so it must be right! Unfortunately, the traditional mystical models are riddled with these kinds of inherent mistakes in perception, caused by people having objectified the various phenomena; thinking that it must be right, because that‟s how it looked. Regarding reincarnation, I have not read Bob Bruce's essay on the matter so it would not be right for me to comment. But I can say the Phasing model incorporates the notion of both Simultaneous-Time and Linear-Time frameworks. My stance is that from people's misunderstanding of the interaction between these two basic time frameworks, the religious notions of reincarnation came about (as I've looked at it all ways and can see no other reason). All of which your god-friend should be able to clarify for you (along with the other bits and bobs you mention). Yours, Frank 666 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Higher self verification (Corey) on: March 28, 2005, 18:36:02 Andali: Higher Self is many things to many people. Whatever people choose to believe is their business, of course. But, ultimately, Higher Self is a mystical and/or religious belief construct. People who adhere to the more traditional mystical models tend to think in terms of "higher" and "lower" in consciousness. Like there are “higher beings” and stuff like that. But in truth, there is no such thing... consciousness is not higher or lower, it just IS. Unfortunately, what people in the main have yet to realise is that if you are going to talk in terms of higher and lower, then we are ALREADY our highest expression of Self. But thousands of years of religious conditioning is not going to go away overnight. In the past, people have created actions in consciousness, such as “higher self” and “gods” and such like, to the extent where they have become what are known as Group Constructs. These group constructs are lodged within the area of Focus 2 of consciousness, in an individual sense, and en masse within a particular “layer” of Focus 3. Many of these constructs keep being repeatedly played out both within Focus 1oC and, following disengagement from physical focus, Focus 3oC. Within F3oC you can view all manner of people engaged in the old heaven/hell constructs. But because people today are now "dying" with different ideas about what is going to happen to them, you can see all manner of other circumstances besides. When people talk about notions such as “higher self” or “higher beings” what they really mean (although most people don‟t actually know what they really mean, as they just read about it and subscribed to the belief) are people resident within Focus 4 of consciousness. This is a purely subjective area of consciousness and, if you are not careful, all manner of distortions in energy translation can take place. You‟ll start seeing angels and gods and stuff, lol. Which is whacky, it's wild and a whole lot of fun. But not something that is meant to be taken literally. They are just distortions in energy translation between the purely subjective and the objective. Focus 4 of consciousness is the very source of all that exists within our total system. The energetic blueprints or archetypes of all possible actions in consciousness are “stored” there. This is basically why people have misunderstood over the years and thought of an almighty creator that creates every “thing” on the planet. Well, in a sense they are right *if* you hold out a huge allowance for their limited viewpoint, and people‟s ever-present tendency to objectify every subjective phenomenon they come across. Every “thing” or action-in-consciousness that we engage on our planet does, in fact, have a particular subjective “source” yes. This is because we are known as a, "source/manifest system". The subjective source of the objective actions pertaining to the creation of any one individual, is Focus 2 of consciousness. However, the ultimate source, or the actual "blueprints" for all possible actions in consciousness that can possibly be brought about within our physical reality, is Focus 4 of consciousness. So when people talk of “god” what they really mean is Focus 4oC, which they have objectified as people tend to do (but I guess there is no telling them that, of course!) This area of consciousness is the ultimate source of ALL actions in consciousness within our system. Therefore, your own actions will have their source there as well. Hence the reason why some people subscribe to the idea of a “higher self” as a notion of some kind of “source” pertaining to the person. Within Focus 4 of consciousness is also where you can find all your “connections” to your other focuses, which will be resident within other physical realities within our system. There are a huge number of other physical realities and you will have many, many other focuses resident within them. This has led many mystics to believe in the idea of your Higher Self being a kind of “collective entity” that somehow encompasses all of your focuses. Some mystics even take this notion a stage further saying that, at present, i.e. while physical, you are a kind of “fragment” of some kind of “whole”. Then, when you die, you kind of become “one” again and “rejoin” this all-encompassing whole entity or Higher Self. This is, of course, a complete load of dingo droppings. But I do, of course, very much understand why these people have come to these kinds of conclusions over the years. Some more modern-day mystics have even taken this contorted notion yet a stage further. To the extent where, they are claiming that when your “final” incarnation is complete, you “gather together” all the various “fragments” of yourself. Then the whole of you, sort of, comes together within a kind of huge “mothership of beingness” and off you travel to your next adventure. This is, again, just yet more dingo droppings. What the people who subscribe to these notions all completely fail to take account of, is the rather significant matter of Simultaneous Time that exists within subjective consciousness. To grasp the notion of Simultaneous Time, in your thinking you have to get a good grasp of the idea of Infinity. You see, everything that ever will be, has already been. Because in infinity, everything happens an infinite number of times. In infinity, notions such as Beginning and End are meaningless. That is why I always chuckle when I hear people talk about consciousness “expanding”. All of consciousness is all of consciousness. Consciousness already encompasses all that is. There is nothing consciousness could possibly “expand” into, therefore, that it would not already encompass. We may well consider ourselves to be expanding, but we are expanding within consciousness. Consciousness itself is not expanding. Consciousness is how it has always been, and is how it always will be... infinite. There are no boundaries or limitations within consciousness. The only limitations that exist are those we place for the purposes of our experience. Which is all very well, no harm in doing that I suppose, but major difficulties arise when people subscribe to beliefs about consciousness (and the way we set up particular areas within our system) that don't actually concur with what really takes place. HTH Yours, Frank PS I‟ll have an answer to the dream question a little later on. There is something I need to double check before posting a reply. 665 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Higher self verification (Corey) on: March 28, 2005, 20:10:36 Andali: Corey is not her “higher self” as Amie is her higher self, that is, if we are to speak in terms of higher and lower, which I would prefer we didn‟t; as there is no such thing within subjective reality. I am, say, 90% sure Corey is another focus (this is what I needed to confirm with myself, whether Corey was another focus or an Aspect). But no, Corey I‟m fairly certain is another focus. For some reason, which I have no knowledge of at present but it must be due to some kind of subjective agreement, Amie and Corey are merging consciousnesses. It could be that the boy is what is known as a parallel focus. In other words, another focus of the Essence of Amie who is currently living within this particular physical reality. But that doesn‟t necessarily have to be the case. I‟m getting a picture of something of a difficult subjective-to-objective transition for Amie. Lots of grasping and trying to hold onto something that is moving away from her, while being pulled in another direction. Sort of like a child caught in a situation between parents who do not get on. I‟d be very interested in reading the dream scenario. Sounds to me like an overlay between several areas of consciousness. Particularly, I would say, Focus 2 and Focus 4. Where her transition difficulties are continually being replayed within F2 and Corey in the overlaid F4 experience. Yours, Frank 664 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Alien Abduction? on: March 28, 2005, 20:31:22 BNG: Yes, I too have thought the same way for a number of years after reading a number of people's accounts. I found myself sitting there shaking my head thinking, these people are having obe experiences and simply don't realise it! One of the biggest surprises people typically have when entering non-physical realms for the first time is they meet other people. But I suppose if someone happened to "come awake" within, say, Focus 3 of consciousness and find themselves within some kind of strange-looking town where people were walking around wearing non-conventional clothing... what else are they to think? But that somehow they have been transported to another planet. Of course, if that be the case then "aliens" must surely have been the "cause". And once you start entertaining that notion then all manner of events will begin coming into play, simply due to the nature of the environment. Before you know it there will be "alien spacecraft" landing all over the place, and you'll end up surrounded by little green men making meep-meep noises, lol. At which point blind fear and total panic is going to set in, and again because of the nature of the environment you are then going to find yourself in situations where that blind fear and total panic is justified... and so it goes on. Yours, Frank 663 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hypnogogic to vibrations to exit technique? on: March 28, 2005, 22:18:01 Ben: He he, I tend to avoid the word "chakra" like I avoid bathing in sulphuric acid, lol. As there are just way too many belief constructs attached. That's why I tend to go by the colours. Purple is the one at the top of your head and the yellow is the one about between your breastbone and belly button. MT: I find that by concentrating attention to the area of the top of my head typically sets it off provided I'm feeling fairly relaxed. If it is slow in coming then I do some deep breathing out exercises to try to relax my abdomen as much as possible and “open” the yellow centre, then I go back to the head again. I say “open” the yellow centre because that‟s how it feels. It‟s like all the muscles in your abdomen have totally relaxed and a big hole has opened up in the middle of your belly, lol. When this happens I have to get on the head side of things quick, else I‟ll feel an energy rush upwards to my heart centre (green) which will set off that centre. Once that sets off then it ruins any projection attempt. Unless, of course, I actually want to set the green going (which I do now and again, as it‟s fun to do) in which case I work solely on the yellow and let the energy flood to the green. I can never set the green off directly for some reason. I always have to go yellow to green, but that‟s probably just me. I feel the initial inklings of the purple most mornings just after I awake. But I can't always be bothered setting it going as it happens too often, and the novelty has worn off. But once I feel the start of it, depending on how “strong” it feels in the way it is pulsing, I might do some slow, deep breaths while concentrating on the top of my head. Doing that will increase the frequency of the pulses considerably. All the while this is happening I am totally in the physical, i.e. I‟m not in any kind of “trance” at all. I'm sure you too must have sensed this before, but maybe you never associated the sensation with anything, or maybe you have. Typically, I‟ll be lying down just thinking to myself and I‟ll feel a particular kind of stroking sensation that feels like it is coming inside my head. There is a light sound associated with it, almost like a gentle release of air sound at the same time as I feel the stroking. It is a very subtle sensation and any kind of sudden movement, like if I turn around or sit up, it will immediately go away. The feeling I first described on the forum not long after joining, saying it felt like someone was stroking my brain with a feather. Along with the stroking I hear a gentle shooing sound. Like the sound of shhhew… shhhew… shhhew… that will repeat about every second or two. I used to relate this sensation to my old “cannonball exit” of years ago. This is where I‟d get intense vibrations, and it felt like I was shot from a cannon from the physical and I‟d land in the “astral” somewhere. At the time I was working on trying to slow that exit process down to try and find out what was going on, exactly. In doing so I discovered that the vibrations began initially with the stroking sensation in my head. Now, if I gently concentrate on the area of the top of my head and breathe very gently and deeply, the frequency of the stroking will increase to a definite pulsing, which feels exactly like my physical brain was contracting and releasing. But it‟s not, of course, but that is how it feels. Sometimes, I‟d say about a third of the time, I‟ll “lose it”. Which means the sensation will go away and I‟ll have to start again. As I say, at the beginning it is an ever so subtle sensation that needs a little “nurturing” to set it going. Once it is going then it is fairly difficult to stop as it tends to take on a life of its own! The pulsing will turn into a high-pitched buzzing kind of high-frequency vibration and you will lose the ability to control your physical body. This is where you feel a definite interaction between the yellow and the purple. At this stage I can still have my physical eyes open and view the dim light of the room. But I do tend to get visual overlays where I‟ll see the room with my physical eyes, and overlaid on that might be the view of the same room but from an RTZ perspective, with all the attendant visual distortions. This is kinda freaky but a lot of fun, and reminds me of visual effects people have written about while under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs. At some point I can choose to “let go” of the physical completely and “rollout” into the real-time zone. This last bit I only learnt to do fairly recently. My RTZ projections before (not that I‟m really into doing them anyway) were performed from the technique of “coming back” from my holding-off at the Monroe F21 state, as I‟ve mentioned before. But now I found it‟s best to use my old cannonball exit, to a point, but concentrate on not letting the vibrations get too intense. Otherwise I end up shooting off again. But having my physical eyes open, for example, I feel keeps me more physically grounded and helps retain a higher degree of control. Yours, Frank 662 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Alien Abduction? on: March 28, 2005, 23:14:51 Doug: Correct. What you are saying actually crossed my mind when I put up my previous post. I thought someone is bound to mention the more physical aspects of the phenomena, caught on radar, etc. This is what is known as interdimensional bleed-through. Which is basically what you are saying. There are a huge number of other physical dimensions (possibly infinite number) and the most amazing thing is, they all occupy much the same physical space. Between them, so to speak, is a Trans-Dimensional area of consciousness that acts as a kind of buffer between each physical world. So each one is separate but connected at the same time. It's all amazing stuff. Yours, Frank 661 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Shapes surrounding me with eyes closed - upper focus lvls? on: March 29, 2005, 00:23:21 Kyle: There is no saying you have to “raise energy” or “meditate” these are by no means prerequisites. So don't worry about the fact you can do it without them. As far as I am concerned, they are a distraction because that is how they would feel for me. Other people, of course, have different views/experiences, which I fully accept. I just wish I found it so easy to slip into the 3D blackness a few seconds after closing my eyes! That‟s quite a good deal you are offering yourself. Willing yourself to do it is counter-productive. Many people these days try to bring it all down to techniques and willpower. When that doesn‟t work they usually blame the technique, lol, rather than the whole approach. That is why my Phasing model incorporates the action of Noticing, as opposed to any kind of technique. You subjectively know what you want to do. So you take what you offer yourself, without judgement. So no need to bombard your hearing with all manner of funny buzzing sounds, undertake complex breathing exercises, or sit in funny positions for hours on end! But, ultimately, it‟s whatever turns a person on. Shapes, outline drawings, things that come and go, etc. Yes, what you describe is very typical of the Monroe focus 12 state. This is a great sign as the next main step, so to speak, is focus 21, or the 3D blackness stage. The transition between F12 and F21 usually involves losing all physical- body sensations. This can seem rather frightening, but you have to get over that by becoming familiar with the process. So it all boils down to practice, practice and yet more practice. There‟s just no way around it. Best way to learn how to do all this, is by actually doing. That‟s because Astral Projection is an art, not a science. So carry on with what you are doing, it all sounds good to me, and get yourself to the 3D blackness stage. Here you are at the boundary between, in Phasing terms, Focus 2 and Focus 3 of consciousness. When the blackness is fully formed you will find you can mentally step into it. Here you can just float around as a point of consciousness, but that can be a bit disconcerting (at first) as being without “a body” can feel too strange. In which case you can create a body merely by thinking about it. If you need to, you can create a lovely thick Silver Chord too with all the trimmings! In this state you‟ll need to think of something to do. You “navigate” by merely concentrating on a fixed thought, or placing the Intent as we call it. When you do this, you‟ll see some kind of change taking place. With me a kind of portal typically opens up in the blackness and I mentally head towards it. As I say, you are between F2 and F3 of consciousness. F3 is known as the Transition Area. This is where people go to when they permanently disengage physical focus, or, in more conventional terms, when they die. This is where you find all the heaven/hell constructs of old, plus so much else besides. You could actually spend a whole lifetime exploring this region it‟s so darned interesting. You meet some thoroughly amazing characters. But stick to all the “bright colours” and avoid the large expanses of grey. You‟ll see what I mean when you enter this region and look at it from a distance. Once you get used to the place you can go anywhere, of course. But some of the hells are, well, pretty hellish. In other words, definitely not beginner‟s material. But the upper branches, as I call them, of Focus 3 would be an excellent start. Yours, Frank 660 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Alien Abduction? on: March 29, 2005, 04:23:44 Mindfreak: I'm not sure if this is on-topic for the thread, if not tell me someone and I shall subject myself to a severe moderating. :) I don't know what it is about people in the way they suddenly jump to conclusions when coming to a thought about an action they consider would be impossible for an "ancient" civilisation. Like, you take a big heavy slab of rock and think, wow, that would have been impossible, etc., etc., so "aliens" must have done it. So what, they built a few pyramids? Maybe they were just bored. After all, there was no telly, no videos, no Internet. Lots of short winter days, standing around in the cold with nothing to do. What better than a long-term pyramid project to occupy people's minds and keep them warm in the winter? Yours, Frank 658 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My experiance thus far on: March 29, 2005, 04:48:45 Hi: You appear to be doing very well. A few slight hiccups but nothing out of the ordinary for someone just starting out. The fear aspect is quite present, but that is normal and will subside with practice. Pehaps try to take things a little more steady next time, rather than rushing here and there. Keep up the running commentary, that's always a good thing. But try walking next time. :) The thing to be careful of is to watch what you are thinking when in that state. You are bginning to enter realms of reality where thought equals action. So you don't want to be getting fearful, else you will end up in the very circumstances that serve to justify the level of fear you are releasing. So if you release a little fear (very common) you can easily find yourself in a mildly fearful circumstance. Then you'll find your experience starts rapidly deteriorating, as you tend to get locked in a downward spiral of ever more fearful circumstances. Eventually you end up getting zapped back to your physical state. The key state to all astral exploration is to remain emotionally neutral, but just release a mild feeling of curiosity. If you can hold that state you should make better progress. So next time try keeping that mental state, keep the running commentary and move about much more slowly. Take slow definite steps. Also, you will tend to find it easier if you walk a little distance away from your physical body initially, as the physical body can tend to exert a kind of "pull". Almost like a kind of magnetic attraction. So move smartly away from your physical, then, once you are outside your house, say, slow down a bit and do some definite exploring. Best of luck! Yours, Frank 656 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Channeling God!! on: March 29, 2005, 22:22:17 Tombo: You will find the posts here: http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5685&start=50 Yours, Frank 655 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Channeling God!! on: March 29, 2005, 22:38:05 Mustardseed: I was a little disappointed with god's response, I was hoping for a bit more confirmation from him/her about the current structure of our system. I realise there are limitations in this particular style of engagement, and I would like to thank you for sharing. Also, it was not my intention to upset you in any way. I spent a long time developing my Phasing Model of Consciousness, so naturally I am a tad "protective" of it. :) If I have caused you upset then I apologise. Yours, Frank 654 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hypnogogic to vibrations to exit technique? on: March 29, 2005, 23:32:30 Hi: Thanks for the PM and for the kind comments. My advice would be to concentrate on what you have set-off that is causing you to feel vibrations. That is a very definite sign. When people are having longer-term problems I always try and find something in the range of feelings they are having that I can say, yep, that's a definite that should be worked on. Problem is, ever so many people are caught in a situation where they keep trying and perhaps are getting sensations, but they don't know how far they are getting, i.e. are they close, about halfway, or nowhere near? Thing is, there are no actual roadsigns along the way. But I would concentrate more on what it is that is giving you those vibrations. Can you say any more about them? Are they all over, or just in your head, or...? Yours, Frank 649 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Alien Abduction? on: March 30, 2005, 02:23:51 "most buildings settle 6 inches in a year" Huh? But the house I'm living in, like most houses in the village, dates from the 16th century. By your reckoning we should all be living over 200ft underground then? I think someone's got their sums wrong. Also, correct me if I am wrong but granite is pretty hard stuff, is it not? Like, you if you were to build something on a humongous multi-zillion-ton slab of granite, wouldn't you kind of expect it not to sink? Yours, Frank 648 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Hypnogogic to vibrations to exit technique? on: March 30, 2005, 02:49:42 Okay, so more of a tingling electricity-type of feeling than actual vibrations. When people speak of feeling vibrations it feels like your whole body is vibrating. Before I began developing my Phasing approach, for example, I used to feel vibrations that literally felt like I was sitting on a very unbalanced spin-dryer revolving at top speed. Do you know, or can you tell where the source of this tingling is? I know you say they filter through your whole body, but can you actually ascertain a source? Problem is, as I have come across before, people who do "energy work" tend to get all manner of energy rushes and tingling sensations. So it gets a bit confusing trying to translate energetic impulses that are seemingly coming from here, there and everywhere, into some kind of helpful pointers towards projection. That's why I say for you to try and find the source. What you are describing sounds very much like your Yellow energy centre springing to life. That tends to give a high-pitched vibration type of tingling, static-electricity kind of effect, especially around the frontal area of your body, but it can quickly spread downwards through your legs and at the same time, upwards into your chest like a kind of energy rush. You feel it travel through your neck too, which is a whacky feeling, lol. Now, *if* it is your Yellow energy centre coming alive and the flame, so to speak, is blowing out after a few seconds... then this is almost certainly tension in the muscles of the abdomen; which could also be coupled to your breathing as, of course, the muscles of the abdomen should move in and out with the breath. So the two are quite connected. But all this is merely speculation as we don't yet know the actual source. Yours, Frank 647 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Channeling God!! on: March 30, 2005, 20:21:14 Mustardseed: Thank you for your informative response. I wish you every success in your future "channelling" work. This kind of approach is fraught with all manner of problems to do with the interpretation of received information, and I wish you every success in "cracking the code" so to speak. Yours, Frank 642 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: March 31, 2005, 16:55:59 Hi: I gave it a go this morning thinking it was Friday and met someone at what I felt was the API location. We had a chat and the person kept mentioning this forum and to say the world "cambridge". I don't know why, the person was a little excited and incoherent, but this part of it came through loud and clear. From what I could perceive I'd say youngish male, possibly around 18 to 22 years. Quite slim build, fair skin, dark hair and about 5ft 9" tall. Well, that's how the energy translated. The place was all a bit dark and gloomy. At a guess I'd say, in terms of the Phasing model, I was focused within the lower branches of F3. I tried to put some music on to liven the place up. A bit of Drum & Bass followed by a little R'nB for the ladies would go down very well I reckon (in place of the dreary Tropicana stuff, lol). Yours, Frank 641 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Throw out your hi-fi! on: March 31, 2005, 18:26:27 Doug: I‟m pleased that other people are experiencing this now. When I first mentioned this several years ago about how I often float in the blackness listening to my favourite music, I‟m sure people must have thought I was a bit crazy. But it‟s true! And the sound, as you mention, is just phenomenal. It is also highly addictive. He he, I had to stop doing it because that is all I was doing, lol. So now I ration myself to once or twice a week. Sometimes I spend hours just floating and having all kinds of wondrous music envelop me. It‟s incredible when you think about it, that the “place” where we do this is actually the infamous Void, of old mystical fame; the place where all the demons and devils are meant to be. Getting “trapped in the void” is still a primary fear of many who follow the more traditional mystical works. As always, they totally miss the point (because they objectify everything) and fail to realise the Void is a wondrously magical place. But when I say magical, I don‟t mean all the black-magic tosh. I mean magical as in having nice things come about. Lot‟s of peace and harmony, and integration with nature and all that. But I don‟t mean going to the other extreme either with all the fluffy-bunny brigade. They are just as clueless as the doom and gloom boys, because again they objectify everything, blah, blah, blah. The only “problem” with the Void is whatever you think about automatically comes true for you. This is so wonderful because it‟s like a real live Wishing Well. Whatever you want to come true, you just create! And it doesn‟t cost you anything! The other thing I have found, that you might like to experiment with, which relates to why I call it a Wishing Well, is this is the place where you can generate all manner of “probabilities” for insertion into your future physical timeline. It‟s quite tricky and involved, takes a lot of explanation, and I am by no means an expert at it (yet, he he). You already came across the “screen” effect. Well, rather than watching any old movie, place the Intent to see a movie of some part of your life. You will find you are able to playback all manner of scenes from your past. Okay, so in brief, here‟s what you do for the “future”: The future is by no means “fixed in stone”. The future comes about as a particular mix of probabilities you choose to bring into physical existence from Focus 2oC (which is where the Void is, right on the “edge” of Focus 2). The way you can start giving yourself a future advantage, then, is to specifically create future probabilities that you wish to come about. The place where you do this is in the Void, as it were. Rather than playing back the past, simply play back your desired future. Realise I‟m skirting over a LOT of detail here and I go into it much more in my book. But all you need to do is use your imagination to create as detailed a scene as possible, about whatever it is you want to come true for you. In doing this it helps to be practical, after all, you don‟t want to be going against your existing belief constructs too strongly. So if you create a reality where the next day you physically fly to the moon, then, chances are, it will not come about as a physical reality. I found this works best with small details. Your perception creates your reality, but heavily influencing of your perception are all the belief constructs that you currently subscribe to. This means you can easily get into a situation where one part of you is happy to experiment and go along with the new process. But another more commanding part of you is looking on with bemusement at what on earth you are trying to do, and will actively resist any change in your internal status quo. So that‟s why I find it best to make small incursions into the active reality-creation process. This is about where I am with this at the moment. Take a small area of your life where you may be having difficulties. Go to the Void, set the scene and have the characters engage in a kind of stage-play. You will be the director of that stage-play as well as playing the central character (which is a bit freaky at first but you get used to it). Now direct the stage-play in accordance with your chosen directions. I‟m not saying absolutely everything you create will come true as a matter of fact. But the past year that I have been experimenting with this, I have had circumstances regularly come about that were definitely beyond coincidence. Anyhow, if you get the time have a play and see what comes about. Yours, Frank 640 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Throw out your hi-fi! on: April 01, 2005, 06:30:43 Doug: This doesn‟t surprise me. As you know I don‟t entangle myself in any belief-constructs such as “witchcraft” or “devil worship” or that kind of stuff. But the odd one or two publications that I have come across, mainly just bits and bobs I‟ve flipped through on the Internet, I can usually see where they are basically coming from. All they appear to be doing, ultimately, is the same basic action but they lay on it a whole load of objectified religious or quasi-religious beliefs. This wouldn‟t be too bad, I suppose, if it were just one layer. But layer upon layer of objectified crud has been heaped on top of one another over thousands of years. To the point where the pure actions have largely been lost. Well, not lost as far as you and I are concerned (and others of the same ilk, of course), as we don‟t carry around all that superfluous emotional baggage. The biddy who wrote the book was largely correct. But still there is no need for “giant pentagrams” and doorways and stuff, and you are not actually at “the inner sanctum” of your mind (merely Focus 2 of consciousness). But these constructs, while they are unnecessary and/or incorrect, would not detract from the effectiveness of the core action of bettering ones future. The simple fact is, that the physical is what is known as a source/manifest system. The source of all individual actions in consciousness, in terms of the Phasing model, is Focus 2. The manifest actions come about within Focus 1. It gets a little more complex with group actions as Focus 3 starts coming into play to an extent and the ultimate source, or the blueprints of all actions in consciousness within our system is Focus 4. But that is all quite complex, and people don‟t need to understand it all before they can make a start. So to begin, people who were attempting to align their thinking to the Phasing model of consciousness, if they would simply think of individual actions (for now) and think of the source as being Focus 2, and the actions of which are manifest within Focus 1. The Void can be thought of as a blank sheet of paper. Instead of writing or drawing on it, you superimpose your thoughts on it. The Void has no prejudices at all, it has no real “life of its own” so to speak. So whatever thoughts you superimpose on it will become manifest in the moment. Thinking about it, a modern-day term is long overdue. We can‟t keep calling it the Void and 3D Blackness, as these terms fall way short, IMO. Plus, my pet term of “Wishing Well” is just way too girlie. So we need a nice macho name for it, LOL. Anyhow, the best way of perceiving the images presented is to create some kind of video screen. Doing this creates an overall element of being in control; as you can “stand back” from it all, and watch events being played on a screen rather than being immersed in them. If events come about that you don‟t like, then it becomes a simple matter of “switching channels” on your “remote”. Unfortunately, in the past, people did not have this kind of handy visualisation example, as there were no tellys, of course. So they ended up being immersed in all kinds of superstitious mumbo- jumbo. Once you get embroiled, it is extremely difficult to extricate yourself from the circumstances of it. Note: a number of times I have experimented with allowing circumstances to get very out of control by generating lots of fear, for example. That was actually quite a difficult thing for me to do as I kept laughing. But once I got myself being chased by a few giant tigers that seemed to do the trick, lol. It is surprising, actually, how you can readily get yourself “caught” in circumstances where you appear “trapped” and you can‟t get out of it! Give it a go yourself, just for the experience, and you‟ll see what I mean. But I would stress to anyone else reading this, you need to be fully comfortable in your own mind before playing around in this way, as it can be very unsettling *if* you are not entirely confident about what you are doing. But I do suggest people practice letting circumstances get “out of control” so it gives them an idea of where all the talk of devils and demons came from, lol. But, as I say, the very best way of protecting yourself from becoming immersed in the circumstances is to bring them up “on screen” as it were. All we are basically doing here is having a highly controlled “lucid dream” where absolutely every element of our dreamscape is under our control. The Void is part of F2oC, in a manner of speaking, and this is also the area of consciousness where most people do their dreaming. You can think of an ordinary dream as the action of entering the Void, if you like, but with no real degree of conscious control. This is where people are just wandering about and releasing a huge mix of thoughts and feelings and it‟s all becoming manifest all around them, moment by moment, as they do so. Once you start getting an understanding of the Void, great chunks of knowledge starts falling into place and you begin realising how our system is constructed. Well, that is what happened with me. The Void can be thought of as raw consciousness if you like. You will no-doubt have heard me talk about “actions in consciousness”. Well, what we perceive as “Void” is, in fact, raw consciousness, for want of a better term. Or you might think of it as the ultimate Base Material from which everything is ultimately constructed. Void has many uses. For example, it holds all manner of individual and group constructs. One of the most popular actions it performs is that of memory, particularly what we call our short-term memory. When we want to remember something we are merely impressing those thoughts within a personal section of Void. You can also “travel” within areas of the void you have set aside for individual use, for example. All your core belief constructs are held there. You can also manifest the objective actions of belief constructs such as “astral travel”. Or whatever else takes your fancy: fighting with devils and demons, slaying dragons, and all manner of stuff. You can chat to “god” or to the “devil” or to any construct you happen to subscribe to. There are no limits. If you want to bring these constructs into objective reality you can. As I say, there are no ultimate limits. The only “limits” are the ones we place on ourselves for the purposes of our experience. One handy metaphor I use for how Void is set up, is it‟s like a computer and computer memory. Some of the memory is taken up by the actual system, which goes to ultimately objectively displaying information on a screen (this is your physical life). Then you have a spare section of memory that can be used for ad-hoc tasks (this is what we perceive as Void). Then, say, you had a top-section of memory that was connected to everyone else‟s top-section of memory that formed a part of memory that was common to all. In this top section was held all manner of group constructs, or group actions in consciousness. The details of all these actions are available to you, and you can choose which of them to “bring into” your personal area for ultimate manifestation on the screen, i.e. into your physical reality. The memory part taken up by the system, so to speak, are your personal areas where you hold all manner of information about actions in consciousness pertaining to your own self; the workings of your own physical body, your beliefs, your memory, your personality traits, habits, likes and dislikes, and so on. All these private actions-in-consciousness are held in a “used” or “reserved” section of Void that pertains to you as a physical individual, and this used area opens out into an unused area, or consciousness “workspace” if you like. In its entirety, that is all Focus 2 of consciousness. The personal, unused area opens out into a group area. When religious types, particularly new- age religious subscribers talk about all of us “being one”. Essentially, they are talking about our group connection that “begins” at Focus 3 of consciousness. We are not “all one” as we retain our individuality throughout. But we are not as disconnected as it would appear in our physical lives either. Again, I think of it in computer terms. If I connect my computer to the Internet, I still retain the individuality of my machine! Even though I can now “dip into” the areas of group computer memory that have been made available for that purpose. In doing so, I may choose to download certain information and store it in an area of memory on my machine for private use. We human beings are remarkably similar. Both you and I are individuals, but we are connected to a variety of group constructs that have been made available for our group use. Ultimately, we can choose to “download” this information and bring it into our physical manifestation or not. With most people, however, and that includes you and I, this process is largely automatic as it is highly influenced by peer-group behaviour, together with other social factors. Changing your future reality, then, is all a question of generating new probable actions, rather than continuing with existing actions or subscribing to other group actions. In a sense, you begin to “pave your own way” by creating your own probable actions within your blank workspace. Which is the place mystics call the Void. Note: any action generated within F2oC that has not been manifest into F1oC is known as a probable action. Then you allow these probable actions to bleed into your physical life. Which sounds real easy in theory, but in practice you are battling against all the deeply held, long-standing belief constructs that you already hold in your individual “system” areas. These beliefs are highly influencing of your perception. The intransigent nature of these actions unfortunately tends to override anything you try and put in their place. But once you know about how the system works, together with what factors influence what, you can then form a kind of “action plan” that allows you to make gradual inroads into yourself. The Void continues on and forms the Transition Area. This is where we “go to” when we die, or rather, permanently disengage physical focus. This is the area mystics generally call the Afterlife. All it is, is a section of Void we have reserved for our particular use of engaging transition back into subjective reality. This, in terms of the Phasing Model, is Focus 3. And the subjective reality we eventually “go back” to is Focus 4. And that completes the model of our system. As I have said before, these Focuses are NOT places! They are focuses of attention. We already “occupy” these areas. They are of our own mind, so to speak. They are not, in any way, separate from ourselves. They ARE ourselves, but in a wider sense. It‟s just that there are parts of ourselves that we “occupy” as a singular construct and there are parts of ourselves that we occupy as a group construct. So when you find yourself within the 3D Blackness, you are not at some separate place. You are still within your own mind. All that has changed is your focus of attention. Okay, well, that‟s a summary as brief as I can make it. Problem is the subject of reality creation and the interaction between F2 and F1 of consciousness is a complex topic. In other words, it‟s not something you can readily explain within the boundaries of a post to a thread. But I hope I‟ve given you a good overview of the process so you can have a “play”. Yours, Frank 628 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Fear on: April 03, 2005, 13:13:32 Hi: Instead of getting scared simply learn to laugh at it all. Don't take it too seriously. Look in the mirror and laugh at yourself. I don't know what it is about this topic that people think a humour bypass is a compulsory prerequisite. Taking it too seriously causes all manner of problems and eventually you can end up riding a ghost train that never ends. People are also way too quick to judge what is happening around them. They see something and instantly think it's potentially harmful. Even the slightest movement or a shadow or whatever, immediately they judge it to be harmful. So they get scared and then, because of the nature of the environment, everything starts going haywire. But if they would just laugh off whatever it was in the first place, there would be no problem. The big hurdle everyone has to get over is the fact that within Focus 2 of consciousness (which is where most people do their projecting) everything that is normally within yourself, while physical, becomes outside of yourself. The whole setup reverses. What was once within is now without, and what was without before is now within. Problem is, people don‟t see themselves as being within their own mind. They think they have “travelled” to “astral realms” like they have gone to some separate place. But you‟re nothing of the kind. You are actually within your own mind engaged in the fulfilment of a belief construct called astral-travel. So all those niggling little fears that you‟d normally hold inside of you, while physical, are now on the outside of you! So you can often end up meeting the objective manifestations of those fears face to face, as it were. Unfortunately, in the past, people have failed to understand the way your reality reverses. This is mainly because, as I say, they saw themselves as being in some kind of separate place (the Astral) rather than actually being within their own mind. When they came upon the objective manifestations of their fears, they saw these manifestations as being in some way “resident” within that place. Which is, after all, exactly how it looked. So all kinds of ideas about devils and demons were created, which just makes the situation worse. This is because the more you subscribe to the notions of these constructs the more “real” they become for you. So you hold them in mind more… the very same mind that you are projecting within. So the more you hold them in mind, the more you meet up with them when you go there. And the more you meet up with them, the more you hold them in mind. So the more you hold them in mind, the more you meet up with them when you go there. That‟s why I say, you end up riding a ghost train that never ends. But if you just laugh at it, hold laughter in mind, so to speak. When you project within, you meet all the objective manifestations of your laughter. In other words, you meet up with fun circumstances rather than the scary awful stuff many people create for themselves, but without realising it. Yours, Frank 624 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / where do i start for an Astral Projection on: April 03, 2005, 21:37:11 Hi: It is because the 4-focuses pertain to my Phasing Model of consciousness. Whereas Focus 10 pertains to the Monroe linear model. Which, of course, begs the question of why do we have these models? And why are they different? First, simply because it's not possible to explain it any other way. In the physical, if I wanted to explain to you about water, for example, I don't need to present you with a model of its properties. Because anyone can just turn on a tap, or go for a swim in a lake, or stand in the rain, or something. But with inner realms of reality you can't just point to an objective example and say there, take a look at that. So to explain what we mean, we have to develop a model that represents the inner, i.e. subjective, reality. Monroe was the first person, to my knowledge, to realise that the areas of consciousness we project to are not places, as mystics typically (and wrongly) assume. They are focuses of attention. Monroe, therefore, developed a model of consciousness that took account of this. In his work, he noticed that the various focuses of attention had certain individual properties, which were objectively viewable and repeatable. So he labelled these states with an arbitrary series of numbers, in an effort to help other people understand the wider reality. The Monroe model is really good in many ways, but it still falls short of taking account of the true extent of the wider reality. For example, the Monroe model is excessively individualistic. This makes it ideal for beginners, but each of us is a focus-personality participating in a simultaneous cycle of manifestation. As opposed to the reincarnational cycle that Monroe appears to support, along with mainstream religious and New Age models. Not that I actually know much about mainstream religion or New Age, but from what I gather they generally support the somewhat incorrect reincarnational model, as opposed to the correct simultaneous model. So the challenge, then, for anyone like myself, trying to map the inner reality in a more straighforward scientific sense (as opposed to the somewhat convoluted religious and mystical constructs) is how to translate the typology of all-that-is in a true sense, into some kind of model that people can relate to. The Monroe model is very good. For a first attempt by a lone explorer it was something special, and it is still very applicable today. But it was my frustration with the Monroe model in my attempts to “go beyond” Focus 27 that led me to develop a completely new model that I call the Phasing Model. The Phasing Model does away with the arbitrary numbers of the Monroe model and labels just the 4 primary focuses of mental attention, within our system as a whole. It can be loosely related to the Monroe model as follows: Monroe C1 – Phasing Model Focus 1 Monroe Focus‟s 3;10;12;15 & 21 – Phasing Model Focus 2 Monroe Focus‟s 23; 24; 25; 26 & 27 – Phasing Model Focus 3 No direct translation with Monroe – Phasing Model Focus 4 Like I say, it was my frustration in trying to go “beyond” F27 of the Monroe model that led me to discover Focus 4 of consciousness. Nothing about this area of consciousness, as far as I can tell, directly relates to anything Monroe published in Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey. So on that basis I am assuming it was not part of his knowledge. Which should not be taken as a criticism, as there was just so darned much of the wider reality that was a part of his knowledge. And I, for one, would never have got as far as I did without having Monroe's work as a launch pad. From knowledge gained from my being able to “plug into” Focus 4, I‟ve managed to find out facts such as how the 4-Focus model can be related to early religious models. Amazingly, it would appear that all the major religious schools of thought based their thinking on a 4-Focus model of some description. Or what I mean is they held the notion of 4 primary areas in consciousness. For example, Focus‟s 1 to 4 can be directly related to the early Christian model of Body; Psyche; Soul; Spirit, respectively. Though I‟m not saying that everything they said from then on was necessarily correct, lol. Just that their primary thinking was based on the right lines, at least at some stage in the beginnings of their quest. But it all just developed into the ideological mess we see today. The idea you always have to hold in mind when adopting any kind of model, is that the words and the models are NOT the actual territory! My Phasing Model, is merely my best attempt yet at presenting a map of the wider reality, or what some people call “all that is”. In your explorations, you must hold the idea of the map or model in mind, while simultaneously seeking to “remember” what that model signifies. Never forget, the map is NOT the territory. I‟m making a particular point of this because I see people fall into this trap all the time with the more mystical models. Which is all very well, I suppose, but I don‟t want people making that mistake with my own model, as it would defeat the whole purpose of my developing it. Yours, Frank 623 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Questions on: April 03, 2005, 22:28:38 ”and it was dark, and i just zoomed trhough it. It wasn't an OBE, because it felt different, my it also felt like my conscious was there, and could direct it back to my room when ever I wanted. Is that Focus 23?” This is Phasing. What you are doing is shifting your focus of attention to another realm of reality apart from the physical. It doesn‟t feel like you are actually “travelling” anywhere. Just shifting your attention about. That is also why there is very little fear associated with it. There are no feeling of separation and all that jazz, no thinking you have died and fighting and grappling to “get back” to your physical body. It‟s just a smooth switch in mental focus. This is also why it‟s perfect for beginners. Is that Focus 23? Chances are, from what you describe, no. From what you say you phased from Focus 1oC to Focus 2oC. This is perhaps the most common initial shift that people offer themselves. In terms of the Monroe focus states, Focus 2oC doesn‟t actually translate all that well. This area encompasses the Monroe focus states of F3; F10; F12; F15 and F21. Focus 2oC is what psychologists would call your sub-conscious. It‟s also the place where your faculty of creative imagination is held (that‟s where you were by the sounds of it), and the area of consciousness that mystics call the Astral. So it‟s the place where most people do their astral projecting. It sounds to me like you were situated somewhere in the upper branches of your imagination. If there were such a thing, then call it perhaps Monroe focus 19. Problem is, like I say, there is no real direct translation. Monroe kind of missed it out, lol, which is one of the slight problems with the model. Yours, Frank 621 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to the Astral FAQ! / What is Phasing and how can I do it? on: April 03, 2005, 23:02:46 The following is a question and answer from another thread that I'm reproducing here, as I believe it may be relevant: ----------------------- "In MajorTom's "What are the focus levels?" thread in the FAQ forum, there does'nt seem to be anything on focus 2oC, why is that? I managed to find an explanation in Frank's "What is Phasing and how can I do it?" however." Hi: It is because the 4-focuses pertain to my Phasing Model of consciousness. Whereas Focus 10 pertains to the Monroe linear model. Which, of course, begs the question of why do we have these models? And why are they different? First, simply because it's not possible to explain it any other way. In the physical, if I wanted to explain to you about water, for example, I don't need to present you with a model of its properties. Because anyone can just turn on a tap, or go for a swim in a lake, or stand in the rain, or something. But with inner realms of reality you can't just point to an objective example and say there, take a look at that. So to explain what we mean, we have to develop a model that represents the inner, i.e. subjective, reality. Monroe was the first person, to my knowledge, to realise that the areas of consciousness we project to are not places, as mystics typically (and wrongly) assume. They are focuses of attention. Monroe, therefore, developed a model of consciousness that took account of this. In his work, he noticed that the various focuses of attention had certain individual properties, which were objectively viewable and repeatable. So he labelled these states with an arbitrary series of numbers, in an effort to help other people understand the wider reality. The Monroe model is really good in many ways, but it still falls short of taking account of the true extent of the wider reality. For example, the Monroe model is excessively individualistic. This makes it ideal for beginners, but each of us is a focus-personality participating in a simultaneous cycle of manifestation. As opposed to the reincarnational cycle that Monroe appears to support, along with mainstream religious and New Age models. Not that I actually know much about mainstream religion or New Age, but from what I gather they generally support the somewhat incorrect reincarnational model, as opposed to the correct simultaneous model. So the challenge, then, for anyone like myself, trying to map the inner reality in a more straighforward scientific sense (as opposed to the somewhat convoluted religious and mystical constructs) is how to translate the typology of all-that-is in a true sense, into some kind of model that people can relate to. The Monroe model is very good. For a first attempt by a lone explorer it was something special, and it is still very applicable today. But it was my frustration with the Monroe model in my attempts to “go beyond” Focus 27 that led me to develop a completely new model that I call the Phasing Model. The Phasing Model does away with the arbitrary numbers of the Monroe model and labels just the 4 primary focuses of mental attention, within our system as a whole. It can be loosely related to the Monroe model as follows: Monroe C1 – Phasing Model Focus 1 Monroe Focus‟s 3;10;12;15 & 21 – Phasing Model Focus 2 Monroe Focus‟s 23; 24; 25; 26 & 27 – Phasing Model Focus 3 No direct translation with Monroe – Phasing Model Focus 4 Like I say, it was my frustration in trying to go “beyond” F27 of the Monroe model that led me to discover Focus 4 of consciousness. Nothing about this area of consciousness, as far as I can tell, directly relates to anything Monroe published in Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey. So on that basis I am assuming it was not part of his knowledge. Which should not be taken as a criticism, as there was just so darned much of the wider reality that was a part of his knowledge. And I, for one, would never have got as far as I did without having Monroe's work as a launch pad. From knowledge gained from my being able to “plug into” Focus 4, I‟ve managed to find out facts such as how the 4-Focus model can be related to early religious models. Amazingly, it would appear that all the major religious schools of thought based their thinking on a 4-Focus model of some description. Or what I mean is they held the notion of 4 primary areas in consciousness. For example, Focus‟s 1 to 4 can be directly related to the early Christian model of Body; Psyche; Soul; Spirit, respectively. Though I‟m not saying that everything they said from then on was necessarily correct, lol. Just that their primary thinking was based on the right lines, at least at some stage in the beginnings of their quest. But it all just developed into the ideological mess we see today. The idea you always have to hold in mind when adopting any kind of model, is that the words and the models are NOT the actual territory! My Phasing Model, is merely my best attempt yet at presenting a map of the wider reality, or what some people call “all that is”. In your explorations, you must hold the idea of the map or model in mind, while simultaneously seeking to “remember” what that model signifies. Never forget, the map is NOT the territory. I‟m making a particular point of this because I see people fall into this trap all the time with the more mystical models. Which is all very well, I suppose, but I don‟t want people making that mistake with my own model, as it would defeat the whole purpose of my developing it. Yours, Frank ------------------------------------------------------------------- Monroe C1 = Frank's Phasing Model Focus 1 (The physical world) Monroe Focus‟s 3;10;12;15 & 21 = Frank's Phasing Model Focus 2 (the person‟s imagination) Focus 3: State of increased mental coherency and balance Focus 10: Mind Awake/Body Asleep Focus 12: A state of expanded awareness Focus 15: State of no time Focus 21: The edge of time/space/3D blackness Monroe Focus‟s 23; 24; 25; 26 & 27 = Frank's Phasing Model Focus 3 (consciousness/transition area) Focus 22: Within Focus 22 we often find those perhaps still physically alive who are in an unconscious state. Focus 23: In Focus 23, the human inhabitants tend to be those no longer physically alive who have become "stuck" alone for one reason or another. Focus 24,25,26: Inhabitants of The Belief System Territories. All inhabitants of a specific Territory are in contact with all others sharing their beliefs. Focus 27: Focus 27 is the Afterlife area of greatest free will choice for its inhabitants. It's an area created by humans and often resembles physical earth environments. Contact and communication is open between all inhabitants. No direct translation with Monroe – Frank's Phasing Model Focus 4 (energy consciousness) Outside the realm of human consciousness. The people who reside within Focus 4 have no form at all. They exist as energy essences, or what we might call a point of consciousness. Telepathic communication. The ultimate creative source of all that exists within our entire system 620 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / where do i start for an Astral Projection on: April 04, 2005, 01:09:22 Ha ha ha ha, thanks for the link, passing through solid objects, lol. I'd like to see a demo of that. Here, take a run at this brick wall... splat! Astral projection is a belief construct that people typically engage within the region of (in Phasing terms) Focus 2 of consciousness. The engagement of this action in consciousness sounds really easy... until... you actually come to try and do it. But even if you do overcome all the inherent problems (as I did, for example, over a period of about 10 years) then what do you do next? As much as it may sound appealing, floating around your neighbourhood, for example, it does get boring after a while. The novelty of just projecting to the same area in consciousness does wear off, I assure you. So what then? Well, if you are like me you will want to venture further "out" and discover all kinds of different realities. Try to get some answers to questions such as, why are we here? What is our purpose? How was the universe really formed? What really happens to people when they die? And all that kind of stuff. In doing so you will eventually develop a wholly new mental framework as to the nature of the wider reality. To beginners, this may appear complex. Because to a certain extent the more intricate constructs are quite complex. At the moment, for example, I am studying the interelationships between physical universes, in particular the Trans-Dimensional areas of consciousness that link these areas, and provide an interface between the simultaneous-time construct of Focus 4oC, and the various linear-time constructs pertaining to the physical realms in question. I can tell you, for a start, the construct of simultaneous time is rather mind-blowing (to say the least). But the way in which simultaneous time interacts with physical-world linear time, and the interface that makes that interaction possible, is just unexplainable. Well, for me, at the moment that is. So the challenge is to somehow "build a model" that accurately represents this section of the wider reality. Assuming I do that, I can then add this section to the existing model and go to work on understanding another section, then add that to the main model, and so forth. Eventually, I will have created an accurate picture or plan of the entire wider reality. Or at least as much of it as I can perceive. But complete knowledge of the wider reality is by no means necessary in order to have experiences. Simply relax and start to use the Noticing exercise, for example. That's about as straightforward as it's possible to get. Yours, Frank 618 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Mystic Web on: April 04, 2005, 21:57:52 Hi: The bloke comes across as a bit of a weirdo, but that's his problem I suppose. He just takes exception (or so it seems) when people point it out to him. Not sure why, but it takes all kinds to make a world. He's probably a nice guy at heart, and just fancies himself as a bit of a keyboard warrior. Little-Man syndrome in another guise, and all that. Reportedly, he likes people to call him "master" and he thinks of himself as some kind of "devil incarnate" (whatever that means). Like I say, it all sounds a bit weird. But my advice to you would be that if you find the course helpful, then by all means have fun with it. Just be a little wary as to what might land in your Inbox next. Yours, Frank 616 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: April 04, 2005, 22:37:15 MT: I wondered if we might make it bi-monthly? Surely the last one wasn't a whole month ago? Okay, to everyone else who wants to leave objects, please consider there is an ENERGY TRANSLATION involved in doing this. API exists as a SUBJECTIVE reality that each of us translates and brings into our objective awareness. Each person's objective awareness is UNIQUE TO THE INDIVIDUAL IN QUESTION. So you have to consider, for example, you might leave a bottle of orange juice for another person to pick up. But that may not necessarily translate the same. Orange juice, may be translated by someone else as some kind of comfort, for example. Unfortunately, the possible differences in translation can be so darned vast that you have to be content with wide variances, but that have common threads. In my work within subjective reality I have scored a number of direct hits, when it came to proof. Which, over the years, has convinced me beyond doubt of the reality of what we are attempting. But please do understand that, for now at least, the much desired "direct hit" is the exception rather than the rule. Regards, Frank PS My turn to play frivolously with Sarah on the next one... lol. 614 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: April 04, 2005, 23:09:40 Ah, Hannah, you are the member who is aligned to the Bruce Moen School, in which case, yes, you will obviously realise this. I was speaking generally, forgive me for not making that clear. The mind boggles as to what you may have "left out" for me. :) Yours, Frank 613 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: April 04, 2005, 23:20:12 MT: Ha ha ha ha, nope, you can't get away with that. It's my turn to play with Sarah next time, LOL LOL LOL. False flattery will get you nowhere, she is the *prettiest* one in our group. He he... Is it a whole month? Oh well, yes, I guess you are right. Regards, Frank 612 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: April 04, 2005, 23:30:06 Hanna: This is actually the first weekend I have actively tried to make a consciousness shift to API and have thoroughly enjoyed it, even if I have scored no real "hits" so to speak. If you are going to be "on board" our little ship in the future then we should certainly make it bi-weekly. So come on Major Tom, bi-weekly it must be! Yours, Frank PS Now I'm for it, Major Tom rules the Mod. Forum with a rod of iron. He he he... 611 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: April 04, 2005, 23:30:58 Major Tom: We just cross posted. Yours, Frank 610 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: April 04, 2005, 23:36:25 MT: Can we make it ending on the 19th with my birthday party? Yours, Frank 608 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: April 05, 2005, 02:43:34 Ha ha, that's great. Thanks for shifting the end date. He he, a subjective birthday party on API. First time ever. (Now everyone will want one, lol) Yours, Frank 607 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP Adventures outside the norm on: April 05, 2005, 03:49:13 "1. You obtained this information from a 'higher being' either encountered" There are no "higher beings" if you had studied my past posts you would not be accusing me of receiving information from higher beings. There is no higher or lower in consciousness, beings or otherwise. Consciousness is not a place that is occupied by different "levels" of personality. Many people subscribe to the notion of "higher" whatever... self, beings, blah, blah, blah, some have money taken from them in pursuit of that belief, more blah, blah, blah... that's their problem. You say you are not a "conscious projector" which is kind-of obvious. I've been at this 22 years. During which time I have gone through every question you have presented myself, and loads of others besides. I take NOTHING at face value. I am a scientist, not a mystic. I take no offence whatever at what you say. On the contrary, you ask some *very* valid questions that I have asked myself oodles of times. Your construction is very sound to the extent where, I can definitely say, that if you would learn to explore the wider reality with the kind of attitude you have, you will go a long way. I only wish I could present to you an objective provable model. Oh, wow, that is my ultimate dream. Alas, at present I cannot. All I can do is present an unproven model, and others will have to take my word for it. Yep, I understand exactly how short that is of what is necessary. I live with the frustration of that thought on a daily basis. That's why I am trying my hardest to teach people the same as I have discovered. Hopefully, a number of others will be able to "follow in my footsteps" so to speak, and see the same reality that I see on what is now, almost a daily basis. Hopefully, one day, we will be able to present that objective, provable model. How that can be possible I do not yet know, but I will always live in hope that that one day it can be accomplished. Yours, Frank 605 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / phasing- ap question on: April 05, 2005, 22:13:52 Hi: I don't meditate at all and I'm not actually sure what meditation is. People talk in conventional terms of achieving a "trance state" and I'm not sure what that is either. All I know is the more hurdles you place in your way the more difficult it will be. Phasing pertains to a particular model of consciousness. It does not rely upon achieving any particular focus state relating to the Monroe model. Though there are often similarities in experience, and relating certain of these similarities to particular Monroe focus states such as F10, F12, F21 (i.e. the 3 most useful to beginners) can often be helpful, but it is by no means necessary. My success rate is not something I measure. Phasing to F2 I'd say is 99% provided I can be fairly relaxed and comfortable. So if I were outside in a rainstorm and it was blowing a gale, then I'd have little chance. But lying in bed with no distractions, then chances of F2 are near certain. F3 is about 90% and F4 about 30%. It's not really any harder to phase from F1 to F4 it's just my familiarity with the F4 state is a lot less than the F2 state, because I have been doing it nowhere near as long. I'm assuming you can fall asleep. In which case, next time you arrange to do so, go to bed an hour earlier than you would normally do and, rather than letting your mind just drift off, simply look within yourself and notice what goes on. You don't need to bother about what your physical body is doing, simply focus within yourself and let that take your attention. You need to get your imagination working (this is a most important aspect) and create some kind of mental scene within your mind. Keep noticing it. Notice how the picture builds and becomes more lifelike the more you concentrate on it. Notice how your attention wanders sometimes, notice how the internal landscape changes. Notice how you are noticing yourself in the action of noticing. See yourself on several different “levels” of noticing. Notice how it often feels like there are several of you all noticing each other at once. You need to get your senses involved within you. Notice how you can see things, hear things, touch things, have it all going on inside your imagination while you notice it happening. Then, at some point, your attention will become captured by it. You'll notice changes taking place, people will start talking to you and you will begin conversing back to them. Events will start taking place, they‟ll take on a life of their own and, for a short while, you will join in. Then, chances are, you will suddenly freak out thinking, hang on a minute, I'm not creating this! You'll feel yourself “return” to the physical and you will be thinking back to a moment ago, when it was like you were in another world, a different realm of reality (because you were!). This is Phasing. It needs no trance, no meditation, no energy work, and no other "body". There is no feeling of separation, no immense fear, no “out of body” sensations, no vibrations, and no other weird feelings at all. All the while you feel like you are the same you, and all that changed is your environment. It‟s all sparked off through the simple act of noticing together with a huge dollop of imagination as a kick-start. It‟s not something you sit and wait for, it‟s something you actively work towards achieving. People who sit around waiting usually a) get bored, or b) fall asleep. Yours, Frank 604 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / where do i start for an Astral Projection on: April 05, 2005, 23:48:52 Hi: I'm not sure about the answer to the Monroe question. I can follow the model up to F27. It all checks out brilliantly. Then, Monroe and I veer off, unfortunately. At some stage, late in his career, Monroe came up with the F35 concept. He called it "The Gathering". Apparently, there is meant to be some kind of collection of alien spacecraft there monitoring "Earth changes". Now, while I am a great fan of Monroe, anyone starts talking to me about little green men in flying saucers I tend to hit the brakes and engage reverse gear pretty quick. :) Monroe could well have made incursions into F4oC. There are parts where I think he perceived F4. Or at least an F4 overlay. All the 4 primary focus states are massively intertwined. They are not separate places all neatly laid out alongside each other. That's how I came to find out about F4 in the first place. Once you recognise there are these 4 primary focus states, and you learn about the typical AIC's (actions in consciousness) that go on there, you can then pick out any overlays. Like, there was a member the other day who wrote about being in the RTZ and seeing WW1 soldiers. That's a typical F1/F3 overlay. People who project into the RTZ and have all kinds of "weird stuff" going on as well, meaning, they can see their room, but at the same time they perceive other stuff happening, are having an overlay experience between F1 and wherever. WW1 soldiers marching about is a typical F3 AIC as F3 is the Transition Area. Meaning, the place everyone ends up after disengaging from the physical. So if you see a person or groups of people wearing soldier's uniforms wandering around lost, looking for their unit; or still attempting to fight a war, that kind of thing, you know that's an F3 AIC. I mean, all kinds of other stuff goes on there besides, but people in soldier‟s uniforms are a common and fairly obvious indicator of where you are. If you think of something and it immediately comes to life, then you know you are focused within F2oC. So a typical overlay is an F1/F2 overlay. Where a person can perceive their room, but all kinds of fearful things are happening besides. That‟s because they are feeling fearful and they are seeing the objective manifestations of their fear coming to life, as it were, within F2oC but overlaid within F1. Many people who are classed as mentally ill, are stuck in a kind of permanent overlay experience between F1 and wherever. People who “hear voices” and “see things that aren‟t there” that kind of thing. These are typical overlay experiences. Because, as I say, the 4 primary focuses of attention are massively entwined. It‟s just normally we place a kind of separation between here and there, so to speak. Which is a handy thing to do as it makes typical F1 AIC‟s a lot easier to perform. You don‟t want to be driving along in your car having all manner of F2 visual overlays, for example. There are two basic types of perception in consciousness: subjective and objective. When transitioning between the two there is a period of adjustment necessary. It takes about 10 years to become fully accustomed to objective reality. Until such time as a person is fully integrated, they will have all kinds of F1 coupled with wherever, overlay experiences. Typically, children experience F1 and F2 overlays. Playing with an “imaginary friend” is an extremely common F1/F2 overlay. Not that your average child psychologist or parent sees it that way, of course. But that‟s what it is. When you transition the other way, it all comes about in reverse. Instead of being primarily focused within objective reality and experiencing subjective-reality overlays, you are primarily focused within subjective reality experiencing objective-reality overlays. The time it takes to shake off the adoption of the constructs that cause these overlay experiences varies massively between individuals. Someone, such as myself, who more or less fully understands the process, will spend basically as little or as long as they want in Transition. But there are people, generally highly religious types, who have typically joined their particular idea of heaven, who I imagine have hundreds of years equivalent to go yet, before they finally realise it‟s all a construct they are subscribing to within F3oC. We cannot help but be bound by our beliefs. Every AIC we engage within F1 relates to a construct of one type or another. Our perception creates our reality and one of the MAJOR factors influencing of our perception are the beliefs that we subscribe to. The key is to realise that. So it becomes not a question of trying to get to a state where you hold no beliefs, no, it becomes an exercise in being very careful about the kinds of beliefs you take on board! Changing your beliefs quite literally changes your physical reality. You will hear many spiritual “new age” types talking about how true change comes from within. Yes, that is true. But do these people actually know WHY that is the case? Not really. It is because your perception is creating your reality, not merely viewing it as virtually all people assume. And, as I say, the main factor that is heavily influencing of your perception are the core beliefs that you hold. So again, it‟s not a question of dropping all beliefs, it‟s a question of only taking on board the core beliefs that influence our perception in ways that are beneficial, both to ourselves as individuals and to society as a whole. Yours, Frank 603 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / phasing- ap question on: April 06, 2005, 00:14:23 Tombo: Then how do you fall asleep? You don't "pull awareness" away from the body. You just let the physical body get on with what it wants to do. Many times I'll be focused within F2oC and be totally aware of being in the physical. I think people generally have got too latched on to the idea that the physical must be out of the picture completely, first, before any other thing can take place. Then, what happens is they get some physical-body issue come up and they think, drat that's blown it. With me, I'll be noticing within myself and I may get some uncomfortableness to do with my physical, say, my left knee starts itching. So I'll scratch it. But I'll still be noticing what's going on within. You don't have to let your concentration be broken. Okay, perhaps there are elements that are easier said than done. I am particularly sensitive to outside sounds. If I don't have silence then I find it incredibly difficult. But I get around this by wearing earplugs when project during the day. At night, where I live is deathly quiet, so there is no problem for me. But many times I'll have physical issues to deal with. Even going for a pee in the middle of a projection. I can still hold the feeling and project right back into it. I haven't always been able to do that. There was a time I thought, oh heck, that's ruined it... and so it did. But now I'm far more laid back about the whole process. Yours, Frank 602 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Transition Area (F3oC) on: April 06, 2005, 01:10:50 Hi: The big problem with trying to do anything from a lucid dream (as I'm sure Doug aka Gandalf, will testify) is you can never really get the high level of awareness necessary to make full progress. It is far better to Phase from the physical direct to F3oC. This area is equivalent to the Monroe focus states F23; 24; 25; 26 & 27. Basically, this covers the Transition Area as it is called. Experiences in this area are extremely lucid and are not subject to anywhere near the kinds of fluctuations that are typically experienced within F2oC. Problem is, F2 is essentially your imagination. So anything you think automatically comes about all around you. This is darned inconvenient and confusing for a large majority of people. But it is perhaps the easiest non- physical state to Phase into, which is the plus side. In terms of reliability in objective perception, F3 is the focus state to head for. The experiences to be had here are generally as stable and as clear as your physical experiences. Provided, of course, you can hold yourself in check. I mean, if you ran down your village high street shouting and swearing like a maniac then you are likely to meet with some opposition. :) In a sense the same applies with F3 experiences. Provided you can act as normal as you would while physical, then your surroundings will be very physical-like also. Within F3 you are free to think basically what you like, and you don't get all your surroundings chopping and changing to suit. But still, if you start releasing lots of emotion then you will be subject to F2 overlay experiences (chances are). If you fail to check this right away, you will transition to F2. I like F3, it was my favourite area but I‟m now totally intrigued by F4. Thing is with F3 are the wide variety of experiences you can have. The lower branches are to be avoided in the beginning as these are typically the “hell” constructs. But get to F26 and F27 and you meet all manner of jolly characters all “dead and proud of it” as I call them. Because the people on the top branches are so lucid, you can generally ask them about their physical lives and, now and again, you can get info you can check on. It‟s really amazing getting info you know nothing about. Then keying it into a search-engine and having the evidence come up before your very eyes! Yours, Frank 601 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing V Astral projecting on: April 06, 2005, 01:36:11 Hi: Phasing is all about focusing, yes. As to whether that is any easier for any one particular individual depends on the person in question. There are people who take the more traditional routes and do very well with them. But if you are hitting a wall, there is no sense in keep hitting it. Time to try a new approach I would say is the logical course, which is about where you are at. With Phasing the experiences typically last half an hour, or thereabouts. But I have been “out” so to speak, for several hours of physical time many, many times before. Often, I am out so long it feels a bit strange coming back to physical reality again. You want to just fly to the shops rather than drive. :) Problem is, the more hurdles you present yourself with, the more difficult it will become for you. If you feel that having to go through many different practices is necessary beforehand then, after a while, this can seem like a bit of a burden when all you really want to do is have some meaningful, non-physical experiences. The Phasing approach holds the promise of being a short-circuit to rapid non-physical experiences. But always remember you can “convert” these experiences into the more esoteric, real-time zone, second-body, floating around your neighbourhood types of experiences at a later date. So it‟s not like any Phasing practice you put in will be wasted. On the contrary, the Phasing model does incorporate the more traditional RTZ projections, but just goes about it in a different way. I never had any problems with memory recall with the Phasing approach. I think this is only really an issue with the more traditional approaches due to the "separation" factors involved. Yours, Frank 600 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / where do i start for an Astral Projection on: April 06, 2005, 02:11:28 Aww, I like the numbers, that's my little "tribute" to Monroe. :) Yours, Frank 598 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Transition Area (F3oC) on: April 06, 2005, 07:17:09 Hi: Just want to make a small point here: when you say to go past F2oC, that's go past in a manner of speaking. Or at least it should be. The 4 primary focus states are immeasurably entwined, so there is no need to go from one to the other. You probably realise this as I've mentioned it a number of times. But thought I'd mention it just to qualify for others who may develop a different understanding thinking they necessarily have to go from one to the next. Best of luck in your attempts. Yours, Frank 594 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Detached? on: April 07, 2005, 21:40:49 Ha ha, yes, it's amazing people spend all that time trying to get "out" then they complain when they can't get "in". Why bother trying? Stay out and enjoy yourself, revel in it. MT is, of course, quite right. You are engaging in a belief construct. There is no actual "in or "out" these are objective translations of the experience. You are never actually out of anywhere, so there is no getting in to struggle with. You are already where you want to be at any moment. Simply realise that and that's how it will become for you. Yours, Frank 592 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Possible Demonic Extraterrestrials? on: April 07, 2005, 23:12:32 Hmm, we need a new section... Astral Ridiculousness. How is it the purveyors of this tosh always tend to claim they are challenging OUR belief systems? More like it's their own sense of sanity is being challenged, lol. Yours, Frank 591 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Possible Demonic Extraterrestrials? on: April 07, 2005, 23:39:13 MT: To be honest, now you come to mention it, I think it needs it's own little world, lol. On a serious note, the core problem (as we have discussed before) is everyone always objectifies everything. They don't see it as an objective interpretation of the underlying subjective reality. So when I read stuff like this, most of the time I can understand exactly where they are coming from. So I'm not totally dismissing it out of hand like some people have mistakenly believed. I can almost feel sorry for this David Icke bloke. And I don't mean that in a patronising way. But they just can't get it! It's like there is a missing link in the interpretation of the subjective events. I guess they don't see them as subjective events... because they only see the objective. I said to you a while ago, that probably the biggest inner challenge people are faced with is objectively viewing subjective reality. It is the trickiest thing in the world, physical or non- physical world that is. And in the past, I have made just about every mistake there is to make, so I can't blame these people. There is a big question of realisation that comes into it. If they would only look at their own notices about challenging belief constructs and apply them to themselves... they would do rather well. But those notices only apply to "others" of course. Because they view themselves as having "made it". They haven't made it at all. They just became a one-eye in the land of the blind. They still have their other eye to find yet, lol. Yours, Frank 588 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Possible Demonic Extraterrestrials? on: April 08, 2005, 02:00:06 Yep, there should be... I just checked the domain-name and it's available so be my guest. :) Yours, Frank 587 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Pioneers in OBE on: April 08, 2005, 05:00:51 Hi: Within 50 years it will all be done and dusted. In about 20 years the science of Physics will prove that all matter is made of the same base material of consciousness. This will take a few years to sink in. Funny that Telos mentions people meeting in dreams because that is exactly what starts happening. This is the consciousness shift that will take place. Of course, every religion interprets that the "shift" will be towards them. Don't they always. But religions are set to go out like the dinosours (at last). Yours, Frank 583 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / New Poolside area just completed... on: April 09, 2005, 03:50:51 Dear all: We have a new pool on API. It's rather nice as you have the pyramid as a backdrop. Has been a bit of a rush to get it finished in time for the up and coming weekend, but the lads completed it as promised, lol. Yours, Frank 582 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Qs for Frank on: April 09, 2005, 06:04:33 Hi: Thank you for your post. I don't know a thing about Yoga but I always believed that the traditional mystical teachings did have an informed start. It's just that layer upon layer of mystical crud has been heaped on top of each other over thousands of years, so the original messages have largely been lost. I can see where you are coming from, especially in your definition or idea of Spirituality. Problem is, so many of these words like spirituality, and chakra, etc. are overloaded with attached belief constructs. Many of which are just plain wrong. Problem is everyone tends to parrot everyone else. So you get a situation where people think that because everyone is saying the same thing then it must be right, lol. Thing is, there is only one wider reality that is constructed in a particular way. So in theory everyone‟s basic explanation should be largely the same, provided they have managed to hack their way through all the crud and have reached the base reality, so to speak. When you speak of Ultimate Reality, it‟s fairly obvious you mean the same as when I say Wider Reality, for example, or where you say Conceptual Frameworks, I say Belief Constructs. Science and religion are both belief constructs that we created to provide us with information about our reality. We are steadily ditching the religious stuff and replacing it with science-based constructs. I suppose, as a race, we just got sick of hearing about stuff we couldn‟t “prove” and so we created constructs that would fulfil those definitions of proof. Such as, double-blind testing, for example. So now that‟s become the reality yardstick, if you like. That‟s why science and religion can never “come together”. We created science constructs to replace the previous religious constructs. You could think of religion as being the Physics of the day. In another sense, the Model T Ford will never “come together” with the cars of today. It‟s time has passed; it‟s something we‟ve moved away from. We look back and think what a quaint little thing and laugh when we think about having to drive one. In years to come, people will look back and think of our beliefs in the same way. There will be science constructs in a hundred years, but, as I say, in about 20 years the science of Physics will make the discovery I talk about. This will pave the way to our development of a completely new science. This will be our current science of Physics *plus* the incorporation of subjective frameworks of reality. So in my mind I always think of it as “Physics plus” First, there will be an acknowledgement of the area that I label Focus 2 of consciousness. This will lead to a completely new study of the role of the imagination and dreams. This will lead science to conclude that the brain is merely a physical interface. That what we call “our mind” is in fact remotely located from the body. Once this fact is accepted then all manner of major discoveries are made. As these new discoveries are being made, people begin to accept less and less the old explanations such as those presented by mystics and religion. These constructs simply get pushed further into the background of our awareness. One exciting aspect that you could say is a bit of a turning point, especially where ordinary people are concerned, is a new “machine” is invented that enables people to reliably project into F2oC. It uses particular sound and video patterns and acts like a far more advanced Hemi-Sync or Binaural Beat setup that we have today. Scientists discover there are certain “unlocking keys” in the brain that can be triggered from using certain patterns of light and colour. These machines start off a new craze. Every kid wants one for Christmas, that kind of thing. Adults pay little attention at first, but soon they catch on and begin to realise the power of being able to create future probabilities in F2oC that can be brought into physical existence. Steadily, the concept of us creating our physical reality is accepted. Suddenly, people are meeting up within F2oC and having fun, realising the enormous possibilities of the place. Very quickly, it becomes accepted. Then people begin discovering F3oC. Following which it is only a matter of time that the riddle of “life after death” is solved. As this is happening, all the old mystical and religious constructs get pushed further and further behind us. Some die-hard religious types start a kind of counter-revolution trying to stop people from interfering with what they claim are sacrosanct areas reserved only for god and angels, and that kind of thing. But everyone just dismisses it as tosh. Thing is, science and spirituality never really come together either. Science just takes off and leaves all the old constructs in its wake, as people get more and more curious about exploring the wider reality for themselves. And that latter point is the key to it all. People realise the truth for themselves. In realising that truth, they also realise how wrong the early constructs were. How far off the mark they were, etc. I hear all you say regarding your Chakra point, but I shudder at the mere mention of the word! There are just SO many belief constructs attached to it I avoid all talk of Chakras, lol. Yours, Frank 581 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Damn it, I'm getting nowhere! on: April 09, 2005, 07:05:11 Andali: Perhaps you need to be a lot kinder to yourself, maybe not judge yourself so harshly. There are frustrations to be overcome in this. For example, in the beginning it took me five years before I realised that I was projecting into a region where thought equals action. During which time I fought in all manner of "wars", met every kind of "demon" imaginable, and slayed "dragons" galore! I look back and laugh about it now, but at the time, it was very frustrating. I forget how many times I gave up, only to go back and give it another go. Then, one morning, I cracked it. But then there are other challenges to face. It never really gets any easier. What you are experiencing is how it tends to be... but in reality. Not the fictional dream-land reality of these new-age types that create the fancy-sounding web-sites and just parrot everyone else. I doubt any of them can actually DO any of this. Sure, they‟ll have a few lucid dreams and smoke a little whacky-baccy, or eat some funny-fungus, but that's all they are doing. Controlled, conscious-exit projection is a tricky mental balancing act. You need a particular clarity of mind to achieve it. Unfortunately, often it's only by working through the frustrations that the necessary particular clarity of mind is achieved. You see, once you can recognise the correct frame of mind then you can concentrate on keeping it, or only making attempts when you have it. That‟s why my main projection time is after I wake up. Because my thinking is clear, but there is a certain relaxed quality about myself that makes me happy just to lie back while I go off into myself. But when I‟m not in that particular frame of mind, it‟s a lot harder for me. I can do it, but it takes longer to achieve. So I think your solution is to think less in terms of projecting or Phasing and more in terms of getting yourself into a productive frame of mind. Think back to your frame of mind, how it was when you were starting out and then you had those successes. That‟s the frame of mind you need to find again. Once you do that, the experiences will come to you rather than you chasing them like you are doing at the moment. Find that productive state of mind and let the experiences come to you. You can‟t start trying to “chase” these experiences. Many people make the mistake of trying to use too much determination and will-power. Like they were trying to accomplish some arduous physical circumstance. While that kind of attitude can work well within the physical world, it can easily have the opposite effect when you apply it to your non-physical work. The more you try to chase the experiences the more they run away from you. So, as I say, find that productive state of mind and have them come back to you. You don‟t need to “travel” or “go” anywhere to have these experiences. We already occupy all of consciousness. You just need to work on becoming more receptive and your mind will open to them again. Yours, Frank 578 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Some thoughts on timing of practice on: April 09, 2005, 22:17:49 MT: Let's sort-of privately move away from Phasing as being a kind of adaptation of the Monroe construct. How does it fit in to the various xxx phenomena. In a sense it doesn't. It's a different model of consciousness. In which case there is no F21, there is no F10-F12. There is only a direct Phasing into the awareness of the reality you wish to experience. Such is the promise held by the Phasing model. Everything you see is an objective representation of what you want it to be, so to speak. We all occupy all of consciousness already, and all the four Focus-states of the Phasing model are heavily intertwined. In a sense, the knowingness of all this is Focus 4 of consciousness. But in another sense, it's not that simple. There is a certain complexity, a separateness about it if you like that you only realise the truth of when you "get there" (and language just isn't yet geared up to explain it fully). Look at your wife. To you, there is just something appealing about her that words simply cannot explain, yes? Well, there you go, that's how F4 of consciousness is to the n'th extent when it comes to concrete explanations. Ha ha, all this does involve F2oC. How very perceptive of you! F2oC is the springboard if you like. The big problem is, F2oC can be both a springboard and a net. It captured me for about 5 years. I was lucky. Most people at present never get "beyond" F2oC. In a conventional sense, once that "net" grabs you it is very difficult to get out of. Depending on a person's character they can end up riding a ghost train that never ends, or a "god" train that never ends. And when it's all over you end up "dumped" in F3 for however many years to recover from it until you can become "normal" again. LOL, it's a funny old life. Yours, Frank 577 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Qs for Frank on: April 09, 2005, 23:32:48 I can understand why people would conclude that spirituality is the quest for truth. But the fact remains we created our current belief constructs of science as a quest for a better sense of truth than our previous more “spiritual” constructs were providing. I can also understand how people hold an entirely different definition of certain words like Spirituality. But these isolated definitions unfortunately bear no relation (and hold little influence over) the mainstream constructs that determine the relevant changes, en masse, that are taking place. It has been suggested that “science” is merely discovering what (as is generally termed “eastern”) philosophy has known for years. But people forget that we developed our modern-day sciences to present us with provable repeatable constructs. To me it‟s kinda like someone making multiple entries in a lottery. They look at the winning numbers, say, 6, 16, 22, 23, 26 and 42. They see their total card and exclaim to their friend, “Hey, I had 6 and 16, oh, and 22 and 23, 26 and 42.” But the key thing is, of course, not only do you have to guess 6 winning numbers but you have to guess them all correct, on the one line, on the relevant week. In other words, it‟s all very well cherry picking certain aspects from previous belief constructs, saying, hey look, these guys were right on this aspect. But that‟s like me betting on a hundred spins of a roulette wheel. I won‟t make money overall. But I‟m not going to be wrong every time either. In the same sense it‟s like the people who continually claim the world is going to end. Yes, it will eventually end one day, and someone will be right. But only in the same way a broken clock tells the right time at least once a day. Our belief constructs of science were created to provide us with definitive answers. This is why science, in the main, is emphasised over what is typically judged to be spirituality. People will accept less and less the old explanations given by scientists. Of course they will. For there is nothing knew in that. I remember some body of scientists saying the practical limit for the clock-speed of microprocessors was 250 megahertz! Ha ha ha ha, what a laugh. Within the body of science as a whole, there is at least the concept of “time moves on”, new discoveries are made, and it‟s out with the old and in with the new. Science has embraced this concept admirably and passed in on to the mainstream. After all, who uses the same mobile phone of 20 years ago? Come to think of it, who uses any technology from 20 years ago? Yet as far as Spiritual and religious understanding is concerned, most people are still in the Dark Ages. That‟s the core problem. In the sense that religions have yet to give way to the “new technology”. What new technology have we had in religion in 2000 years? Nothing, it‟s the same old claptrap. But they will move on (or rather move aside) eventually. It‟s a bit messy in the way it happens but so what. Humankind lives on to create some immense discoveries. That‟s why I always chuckle when I hear people talking about the end of the world. What nonsense. It‟s finally the end of people talking about the end of the world, and all other such ridiculousness. Yours, Frank 576 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Some thoughts on timing of practice on: April 10, 2005, 00:03:30 That's what I love about this topic. You spend years and years to realise the sheer simplicity of the whole thing. When you do so you just want to kick yourself at how simple it is, looking back and realising it was right in your face all the time. But that's the appeal of it all. Even today I look at the progression of inventions and think why didn't they just go from this point to that point? Why did they have to go through all the intermediary stages. But that's the way it is. Just human nature I guess, and this topic is no different. Anyhow, the "key" lies in your actions within F2oC. That's where you can lay the probabilities to open the "doors" to the other focus states. I look at F2oC as the place where the foundations are laid. I think you are falling asleep because that's where most people do their dreaming. So there is a kind of sleep connection that is getting the better of you. There is a faculty that needs to be developed which comes with practice I guess. Within this area I tend not to step too fully in a 1st person perspective. I always tend to keep a watch over myself. Sort-of see myself seeing in 1st- person but not entirely. Yours, Frank 574 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / where do i start for an Astral Projection on: April 10, 2005, 00:18:34 Your perception creates your reality and is heavily influenced by your beliefs. You cannot get around that. So the only real choice you have is to monitor very carefully the beliefs that you take on board, so to speak. For your beliefs are, in a sense, creating your reality. So in true terms, if you don't like the reality you are creating then change your beliefs. It's a little more complex that that, because we do have interactions with others we need to take account of. But that's the basics of it. Yours, Frank 572 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My Higher Self on: April 10, 2005, 23:52:58 Hi: I'm not sure how you feel in any way lower than the self you are already. There is a mystical belief construct that would suggest you are just a lessor part of some kind of whole. But that's just a mystical belief construct. The people that thought up that nonsense also thought the sun revolved around the earth, that the world was flat, and if a person travelled at greater than 15mph their body would disintegrate. :) People who "make contact" with their "higher self" usually contact an aspect of themselves they create in Focus 2 of consciousness to satisfy that purpose. Which is what you did by the sounds of it. Yours, Frank 569 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Qs for Frank on: April 11, 2005, 04:54:18 TheJza: I'm grateful for your opinion which I read with interest. It's a little late in my time zone so a full reply is not possible right now. I just wanted to confirm, quite categorically, that there is no sense of self that is ever extinguished. Not within our system anyway. Anyone who claims to the contrary is quite simply wrong. I'm guessing as to the cause of their misunderstanding, but it is likely they are misunderstanding the whole F4 setup, and the notion of simultaneous time. Never is the sense of self extinguished. I want to confirm that absolutely. I cannot, however, prove that objectively (yet) but take it from me it is true. Yours, Frank 566 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Damn it, I'm getting nowhere! on: April 11, 2005, 06:45:58 Andali: You're a natural. You don't have to get hooked on techniques. You are part of the new generation. All you need to do is simply get on and do it. That's the stage I'm at now, I just lay back and get on with it. I'm not thinking of if/could/maybe I just get on and do it. The difference is it took me 20 years to realise I could do that. But there are young people today who can just get on and do it. Without all the years of faffing about inbetween. That's human progress. So love it! Just lay back and do it! Be open to it, and it'll come to you. That's the big problem people have with all these "techniques". They keep trying to chase it. They are not noticing what's going on right in front of them. It's all there. Just lay back and notice what comes to you. That's all I do. I just lay back and after a short while... there it is... because it's there all the time. It's just that the harder people try the more they push it away from themselves. Yours, Frank 565 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Phasing? What is really taking place and where am I at? on: April 11, 2005, 21:28:14 Is this Phasing? Phasing is not so much a technique but an approach that relates to a particular model of consciousness. The Phasing model holds the promise of being able to circumvent traditional "exit symptoms" such as vibrations and so forth. As you appear not to have had those kinds of symptoms, so to speak, then your experience could be said to have been aligned to the Phasing model in certain respects. The Monroe focus level, from what you describe, I would judge to be Focus 24. In terms of the Phasing model, I would say you were experiencing Focus 3 as your primary focus but with the occasional Focus 2 overlay. Was this the lower Astral? The astral realms model is a more traditional, i.e. mystical, belief construct. There are no actual "astral realms" as such. What mystics generally term astral-realms is Focus 2 of consciousness. But there are all manner of variations that have been created over the many, many years these notions have been propagating to the extent where it's impossible to make sense of it all. Which is why people such as myself and no-doubt Monroe, rather than try to untangle the mess, found it far easier to simply create a more modern-day model of consciousness, and one that actually related to the wider reality... rather than peoples old-age superstitions about the wider reality. Yours, Frank 563 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Locating People Or Enities. on: April 12, 2005, 05:12:30 Hi: Again, many people fail to realise that it is perfectly possible to shift your perception in consciousness but not actually change your area of consciousness. All you are doing, it sounds like, is shifting your perception within (according to the Phasing model) Focus 2 of consciousness. Here is where most people have their dreams/lucid dreams/astral projections. The only "people" you will generally come across in this region are your own aspects of yourself. Like most people, you will have quite a number. If you want to meet people who are, how shall I say, "independent" of you, then you have to shift to Focus 3 of consciousness. This is known as the Transition Area and it's chock full of all manner of people. Yours, Frank 562 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Quick Question for Frank :) on: April 12, 2005, 05:31:47 Hi: There is nothing wrong in focusing within this region provided you know the basic ground rules. People are getting far more knowledgeable now, but people in the past have projected into this region and met with all manner of devils, demons, scary circumstances, and that kind of thing. Problem is, these people have not realised exactly where they were at in the general scheme of things. They have mistakenly thought they were actually "travelling" to some weird and whacky place where all kinds of nasty things would take place. But all they were doing was meeting with the objective representations of their own fears. Myself, I spent almost 5 years projecting to this region not knowing where the heck I was. I too thought I was in some weird and whacky place. I worked it out eventually. But in doing so I battled with every kind of demon I could imagine, fought in countless wars and slayed dragons galore! Then, one morning, the penny dropped. So by all means go and have a "play". Whatever you can imagine, you can experience. But the key word here is "whatever". I mean that literally. You actually experience it as clear and as lifelike as if it were an actual physical circumstance. So your mind can get a little freaked out if you take it too far. But provided you know exactly where you are, i.e. within the realms of your imagination, and that thought equals action, then you should have no problems. I just wouldn't get too frivolous with it. You need to treat the energies involved with a little respect as they can be highly influencing. Ha ha, it can be quite addictive too. Yours, Frank 561 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Locating People Or Enities. on: April 12, 2005, 05:46:25 Hi: You need to look for what I call "overlay" experiences where you might be experiencing your own subjective activity within F2 and overlayed on that may be images of people and places that you sense are not directly connected to you. From what you say you have come across this already. These are the experiences you need to aim for. When people know basically what goes on in the two areas F2 and F3 it becomes very easy to recognise them. That's basically what Monroe did, but he wasn't too clear on the difference between F2 and F3. His model tends to go direct to F3. Whereas what I have concentrated on doing is spending time making distinctions that people can recognise between F2 and F3, so they know where they are. I'm taking my work up a gear over the next few months, on the teaching front. I've got a newsletter in the pipeline, and the book as well, so I'm hoping to get a good group of us concentrating more on the modern-day concepts that I concentrate on exclusively. Everything is slow going, it's taking me much longer than I thought it would. But once it is up and running then the great majority of beginner's questions will be answered. Yours, Frank 554 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Doubts on: April 12, 2005, 19:55:54 Hi: People who have never properly done it before always misunderstand the true nature of the process. They tend to come up with statements like, "If this, then surely you'd be able to do that," etc. There are difficulties to be encountered in all ventures. One day people will no doubt be able to nip here and there "out of body". But it's not quite so simple as it sounds. What you need to do is give it a try and you'll see what I mean. In a way it's like saying to someone, but if you can drive a car then surely you'd be able to take a Formula 1 car around a track no problem? You can fly a microlight, surely you should be able to take off in a Jumbo Jet and land without difficulty? You say it yourself in your opening statement, "I've never had an OBE..." Well, there you go. Get some practice under your belt and all your opening questions will be answered. Yours, Frank 553 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I ALMOST DID IT!!! on: April 12, 2005, 20:16:21 Hi: One of the most shocking experiences for beginners is having what I call "overlay" experiences. There are 4 primary areas of consciousness and they are heavily intertwined. You may be projected into the RTZ and viewing your room, yet you may see fleeting glimpses of other people here and there. They are not "in your room" in the normal physical sense. You may be viewing an overlay of several areas of consciousness at once. This is perhaps one of the most confusing aspects of this art and it has lead to all manner of weird and whacky theories of hauntings and so on. The presence you felt was probably just another aspect of yourself. Other aspects of yourself are one of the first "entities" people tend to meet as they are resident within Focus 2 of consciousness. It would appear the most common overlay for beginners is a Focus 1 & 2 overlay. This causes the typical reaction of, "Help, there is someone in my room!" Yep, it's yourself, lol. Many people are, unfortunately, riding a never-ending ghost-train, fighting all manner of different aspects of themselves in a kind of perpetual F1/F2 overlay. Many people who project never seem to actually get away from Focus 2. In a sense that's why I like the Monroe model as it skirts past F2 and leads direct to F3, i.e. Monroe F21. This neatly eliminates all the confusion that typically arises within F2 of consciousness, which is where most "mystics" typically hang out; either doing "battle" with their fears, or they engage in all manner of mystical roll-plays such as "pathworking". Yours, Frank 552 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Qs for Frank on: April 12, 2005, 20:50:25 Hi: People should please realise that I simply haven't got a mystical or religious bone in my body. So any talk about "god" or "mystics" just goes right over my head. I simply try and find out what is not what I believe is, or what I think should be. I'm simply reporting my findings in the most objective way I can muster (which is pretty objective, let me assure you). I have said all along that I am a scientist, not a mystic. When I speak of a "machine" that enables people to enter Focus 2 of consciousness, I put the term machine in double quotes as I use that term loosely. In a sense it is actually a piece of software that you insert into your "computer" (as it will be then) and off it runs. You watch the video display and it plays sounds to you also. It has a kind of hypnotic effect (but a particular kind of hypnotic effect) and you go off "into the screen" as it were. Then you emerge within yourself. But please don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about some kind of "enter the matrix" tosh. That was just a movie (and a pretty dumb one, in my opinion). We are not a part of some whole that we in any way rejoin. We are all of consciousness already. That fact is what people are set to realise over the next 50 years or so. Concepts such as "enlightenment" are just mystical/religious belief constructs that people currently subscribe to. Once I get my current book finished, which will clear up (I hope) all the beginning questions on Phasing and the 4 areas of consciousness I speak of. My next book will be detailing all the various changes that are set to take place over the coming decades. I can't go into this in a thread. There are just too many base concepts I have to put forward first. Without those it leads to all manner of misunderstandings. But why wait for the book? Get to grips with the Phasing model and project to F4oC. All the core actions that are set to come about are lodged there. Anyone who doesn't believe me, don't waste time arguing, put your energies into finding out for yourself like I did! Yours, Frank 550 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Doubts on: April 13, 2005, 00:20:34 Basajaun: Margin of error is the name of the game. But sceptics always demand 100% from everyone but themselves. In the physical, if I asked you to turn a piece of solid bar down to exactly 6mm you couldn't do it. You'd have to work to a tolerance. Well, this is the same, there is no such thing as exact. Your questions are severely flawed, but to you they'll seem like moving pearls of wisdom, lol. But, then again, you have no experience. Which explains everything. So my advice is for you to go and get some experience. Then come back and tell us what should and should not be possible. Until such time arises try to refrain from telling the knowledgeable people here what they should, or should not be able to do. If you want to find out more then use the Search function or visit the FAQ forum. This should be pretty obvious to someone of your insight, surely. :) Yours, Frank 549 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I ALMOST DID IT!!! on: April 13, 2005, 02:07:04 Look, thing is you are going to meet up with all manner of presences, feelings, sensations, etc., etc. Everyone should put this up as a huge banner in their minds. You ARE going to meet with other aspects of yourself. You ARE going to meet with other people, especially "dead" people, lol. And you ARE going to have all manner of weird and whacky unexplainable feelings. That is what this whole game is all about. Okay, I realise you are not, but if anyone should start complaining about any of the basics above then they should get another hobby! :) The vibrations in the area of your chest is the energy centre that exists in the region of your heart. Mystics call it the heart Chakra but I hesitate to use the word Chakra as there are just too many belief constructs attached. Airplane noises, whooshings and whirrings and all manner of things besides. Yep, it's all very normal, lol. The heart centre is particularly weird (which is why I like it so much) I set it off for fun about once a week. As for guides, these can take many forms. The old mystical texts tend to detail all manner of blurb. But my advice is to get out there and see for yourself. I came across two very interesting people who have helped me a lot. They are not specifically "my guides" as such. One is a different focus who actually sought me out. He is physical within another timeline and he projects to see me. The other person is a bit of a mystery, though she has always maintained that my attempts to find out the origin of our association would be an interesting path for me to follow. Knightlight sounds like he's found an interesting chap. That's a typical example of what I mean. Just keep an open mind and see who makes your acquaintance. Oh, knightlight, you say you have not gone beyond Focus 2, but the meeting at the person's house you describe was a typical Focus 3 experience. Ha ha, yes, maybe next time maybe play it a little cooler, lol. But the place you were whisked off to was, I would say, Focus 3 of consciousness. So an interesting avenue to explore I would say. Yours, Frank 547 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / An Electrified Dog/Wolf on: April 13, 2005, 02:33:07 It sounds to me like the energy centre in the region of your chest came alive in the middle of a lucid dream, and you were viewing the objective manifestations of this within Focus 2 of consciousness. Many times I will have a lucid dream and certain energy centres will be active. When my solar- plexus centre comes alive, for example, I always tend to dream that I am standing on the edge of some precipice, looking down at the ground hundreds of feet below. That's because this energy- centre gives me the same feelings when I look down from a great height in the physical. So the feeling is duplicated in the dream. When I was younger, I used to have a recurring dream that I was standing on the edge of a huge suspension bridge looking down at the water a couple of hundred feet below. It was years later that I discovered what is was... just the objective manifestation of the feeling being played out within F2oC. But if you'd take that notion to your average child psychologist they'd think bridge, edge, looking down, hmm, must be thoughts of suicide, depression, blah, blah, blah... no, nothing like it. It was just my solar-plexus (yellow) energy centre tingling away that caused the imagery to come about. Yours, Frank 546 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / phasing- ap question on: April 13, 2005, 23:53:39 "...the locale, trying to remember not to get over-involved with creating it all, but just enough to remain fixed in it." Right, you got it. Like I've said it is a very tricky mental balancing act. Get too involved and it doesn't work, get not too involved and you fall asleep, or if you are not tired, you get bored. "Naturally, I kept wanting to check on the status of my body, but tried to keep that to a minimum (I'm sure it'll get better with practice)." You said it, yep, you keep wanting to check but that keeps you out of falling into it. You've got to just forget the physical. Yes, it does come with practice. "I also had some inner dialog, but I did pretty well at keeping that to a minimum, too." Yep, inner dialogue that too can be distracting but the key is to keep your focus on whatever it is. It's not easy, I agree. But if you try too hard to keep your focus, you will lose it. Now, when this happens to someone they tend to "fight" to get it back. But the more they try, the more they lose it. So that is what I mean when you should not-try. It's like, your focus has gone away from you because you have tried too hard to grasp it. The more you try grasping for it, the more it runs away from you. So you have to take a big step back and let come back to you again. "After a while, I began to feel much more relaxed than I've ever before in those instances when my mind went back to my body. I felt almost paralyzed ... and my arms felt like they were drifting above my body. I tried not to get caught up in this, but to keep engaged in the island." Great, whatever happens to your physical, don't get caught up in it, just keep your focus. "At one point, I drifted off for a few moments. When I came to, I wasn't sure where I was. I still had the island imagery running. Then, I thought I'd spontaneously opened my eyes. I realized soon, however, that I was seeing through my eyelids!" Ha ha ha, this is a typical overlay experience. From what you say it was an F2/F1 overlay. In that you were primarily focused within F2 which was your Island Imagery and then you suddenly realised you could see through your closed eyes, which is F1 (physical). "To get back on track, I tried to become passive of these effects and keep focused on the island once again. This works very well. Soon I began to have a really strange feeling like I was in two places at the same time." Okay, that's good, keep your primary focus. The fact that you keep losing it for moments here and there is normal at first (I still do it sometimes even now!). Two places at the same time, again, this is a typical overlay experience. " I got pretty confused at this. I started feeling nervous about the weird sensations I was feeling (plus that kind of paranoid sense that I wasn't alone). By this time, I'd been laying there for about 1.5 hours. I decided to end the session there." Yep, as I said just yesterday on another thread, or was it the day before? Anyway, as I said, overlay experiences are perhaps the MOST confusing for beginners. In the physical we are SO used to being in just ONE place at once. But once you step outside physical reality, so to speak, that's when the fun starts! LOL. The feeling that you are in "two places at once" the fact that you feel there is "someone in the room with you" these are very natural overlay experiences. There is no one actually in the room with you. It's just that you are perceiving two or more areas of consciousness at the same time. This is VERY NORMAL. But yes, at first it IS very freaky, lol. Well done for holding in there. It can't have been easy for you. Yours, Frank 545 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Suggestions? on: April 14, 2005, 00:09:03 Try going to bed an hour before you would normally do and trying then. Or try during the day sometime if possible. These days I've taken on some odd hours so I've been grabbing projection practice when I can. This was strange at first but you quickly get used to it. Yours, Frank 544 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Does APing leave people really tired? on: April 15, 2005, 00:31:16 Hi: Sounds are something which bother me even now. Personally, I don't know how people manage to project while listening to music, for example. Fortunately, where I live it's deathly quiet at night. During the day there is a little hustle and bustle. I found wearing ear-plugs helps enormously. Even though it's deathly quiet at night, earplugs still help for some reason. I think it's because my attention is more easily directed inwards. You can't shut your ears off as easily as you can your sight, for example. So the action of shutting your ears down has some kind of definite beneficial effect. Well, it does with me. I suppose it has become a little ritual. The action of putting ear-plugs in sends a powerful message to myself, saying right, time to turn my attention inwards. Yours, Frank 543 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / ANYONE AP IN THE DAYTIME?? on: April 15, 2005, 00:41:03 Hi: Depends on your definition of "day", are you saying in daylight or between certain times? With me, it doesn't matter whether it is night or day. Provided the room I am in is not too light and it's quiet then there is no problem. If you were to project into the RTZ while there were people about then you would see those people, yes. But you might not see them absolutely exact as you are generally subjected to all manner of varying reality sensations. Yours, Frank 542 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / The GATEWAY Expierience on: April 15, 2005, 00:49:18 Hi: There's a post in the Sticky section I wrote a couple of years ago on my use of the Wave-1 CD. I've moved away from the Monroe model the past year as I began hitting certain limitations with it, so I developed my own. But the Monroe linear-focus model is still very valid and should take you a long way. I wish you every success in the use of the CDs. Yours, Frank 539 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I leave FoC 2? on: April 15, 2005, 05:45:09 Hi: What you are doing is transitioning from (phasing model) Focus 1 to Focus 2 of consciousness. The doorway (or something) that you objectively perceive is an objective representation of the underlying subjective shift in area of consciousness. Always bear in mind that it is possible to shift your perception in consciousness and to not actually change your area of consciousness. I keep stressing this point to people because this alone has caused an infinite number of difficulties in the interpreting of experiences for thousands of years, lol. Each area or focus of attention can usually be identified by the sorts of actions that are being objectively perceived. Focus 2 is where most people do their dreaming. You say that once you have transitioned your experience is very lucid-dream like. Great, so this confirms your focus of attention is Focus 2 of consciousness. So knowing where you are at in the general scheme of things you want to then make another transition. What you need to find, if you can, is the 3D blackness, or the Void as mystics tend to call it. This is the “border” between Focus 2 and Focus 3 of consciousness. You should be able to “see through” your dreamscape and intertwined with it will be a kind of aperture. Remember, the Focus areas are not places. When you mentioned this word, you put it in double quotes so it looks like you realise this already. But I‟m stressing it again here for the benefit of anyone who hasn‟t yet picked this up. They are not places, they are focuses of attention. Not only that, these primary areas or focuses of attention are heavily intertwined with each other. So when you are “in” one area you are actually “in” all the areas at the same time. How can this be? Well, when formulating their models in the past, mystics have thought of different “layers” that are “separated” by “vibrating” at a different “frequency”. You can use this construct if you want to. It‟s not strictly correct but as a model, in itself, it‟s not too bad. The BIG problem, however, is that mystics also tend to wrap the whole thing up with all manner of other rather whacky constructs such as the notions of progressively “higher” levels with a requisite degree of “spiritual enlightenment” necessary for each. And so the model descends into the realms of fictional fantasy. We now know that what “separates” the 4 primary areas of consciousness is not a frequency. What “separates” them is their Phase Relationship to each other. This is where the Phasing Model gets its name, of course. So you need to “detune” your focus of attention from Focus 2. In a way, it‟s like looking at one of those subliminal pictures that were all the rage a number of years ago. The ones where you apply a soft focus and the picture comes into view. Take the same idea and do this within Focus 2. What we are creating, in effect, is a highly controlled overlay experience. As you do this, you should start to see, like, slats with a blackness inbetween them. Imagine a large vertical Venetian blind that was in front of an identical Venetian blind. Each blind had a large picture painted over the slats. Imagine this picture being representative of you objectively viewing a focus area or focus of attention. Now fully close both blinds. So now, you can see the whole picture of blind one and nothing of the picture painted on blind two behind it. Imagine the picture you can see now as your current dreamscape, i.e. Focus 2. Imagine the picture painted over the slats of the blind behind as Focus 3. Now slowly open the first blind and turn the slats through 45 degrees. At which point you can still see the picture but it‟s broken up. Now the picture is interspersed with the picture on the slats of the blind behind it. The act of opening the blind is like “detuning” your focus of attention. This is what I mean when I say you should start to see “slats” with a blackness between them. You can still see your dreamscape but it is interspersed with the 3D-Blackness, which is the “border” between Focus 2 and Focus 3 of consciousness. If you were to open the imaginary blind so the thin edge of each slat is now directly facing you, you would not be able to see the initial picture at all now. All you would see is the picture painted on the second blind, which takes up your full focus of attention. Note: when this happens you don‟t actually “travel” anywhere. You can if you want to. You can start “flying” around all over the place if you want to. But doing that just gets in the way of any kind of serious work. Now and again, it‟s good to have a fly around. However, if you want to start making good inroads you must resist the urge to play around within Focus 2. So “detune” your focus and when you see the slat-effect appear, keep your attention focused on the blackness between the slats. The slats should seem to turn wider open to the point where your previous dreamscape will fall away entirely. Now you will be standing on what feels like a precipice. It will feel like that “behind you” is where you have just “come from” and before you is the infamous Void, the bane of many a mystic, lol. But this is just the 3D-Blackness at Focus 21 of the Monroe model. Okay, so now take a deep breath and mentally “step into” the blackness and just float around for a bit. I want to mention here that you may miss this 3D Blackness stage entirely and transition to Focus 3 directly. This is what I do now. In which case when you see the slat-effect, interspersed between the slats of your dreamscape will be another scene rather than just blackness. So concentrate or focus on that scene and your dreamscape with fall away entirely and you‟ll be within completely different circumstances. Yet you won‟t have moved as much as a millimetre! This can freak some people out so that‟s why I advise you to plumb for the 3D Blackness at the “border” first, as it‟s a familiar milepost that will give you the confidence to make the full transition. The other thing you need to watch with a direct transition from this point is you may create a direct transition experience within Focus 2. In which case, you will think you have transitioned but you will still actually be within Focus 2. This can happen because you are within a highly fluid environment where thought equals action. Remember, it is perfectly possible to shift your perception in consciousness and not actually change your area of consciousness. However, once you have a little experience of Focus 3 there is no way you could be fooled by your own creation of your ideas of Focus 3. But as a beginner, without an objective knowing of this area, you could possibly be led astray. The 3D-Blackness, however, is unmistakeable. You‟ll know it when you get there as it‟s a pretty awesome experience the first few times. The novelty does wear off though. Now, assuming you are floating in the blackness. Think of making the transition to Focus 3. Make it a concentrated thought and hold that focus. As you do so, some change should take place. What you are looking for is some kind of portal to appear in the blackness. This could take many forms. With me, before I started making direct transitions, I‟d typically get a bright point of light that kept getting closer, or I would “head towards” it. Then I‟d find myself “travelling” down a narrow tunnel and I would emerge into F3. Anyhow, the portal you create could take any form, as each individual creates whatever objective representation of the underlying subjective action they feel is necessary. It‟s not actually necessary at all. As I say, you can simply transition directly, but this is the more traditional Monroe/Moen-school way. And is the way I used to do it until, one day, I tried a direct transition and it worked. So that‟s what I do now. So whatever comes about in the blackness simply step through it, or travel down it, all in a manner of speaking, of course, as you are not actually travelling anywhere. What you are experiencing is an objective translation of the underlying subjective change in area of consciousness. If you directly transition from the slat-effect then you don‟t get any of the typical 3D-Blackness portals and things like that. But do it whichever way you feel comfortable. Later on, I would practice directly transitioning because that‟s the key to reaching Focus 4. As regards your boiler scene: whatever people “hate” or otherwise feel strongly about, they build a little “shrine” in F2oC that holds an objective representation of that hate, or severe dislike, or whatever it is they feel strongly about. It sounds from what you say that you offered yourself an objective knowing of your little boiler-shrine that you‟ve built. :) Yours, Frank 538 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Phasing on: April 15, 2005, 06:05:03 Hi: I mentioned in another thread recently, in case you missed it, I have a book in the pipeline but I'll soon be starting a free monthly newsletter which will concentrate solely on my Phasing model and on the Monroe model (to a certain extent the two are related). I'll be making an announcement in selected forums once the technicalities are in place. The newsletter will contain a digest of the replies I have made to various posts that month, plus any other comments and snippets of info. Yours, Frank 537 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Questions on: April 15, 2005, 17:05:54 Hi: Phasing is not a method or technique. It is a particular kind of approach that relates to a totally different model of consciousness. What you did was enter the region known as Focus 2 of consciousness. This is where most people do their lucid dreaming and astral projecting and have all kinds of other whacky experiences such as fighting with "demons" and so on. Basically, you are within the realms of your individual area of mind. The place where you imagination is, where all your personalised belief constructs are held. Here is where you meet all these faculties as an objective reality. As a model of consciousness, the Phasing Model acknowledges what a great percentage of people have overlooked over the years, which is: it's perfectly possibly to shift your perception in consciousness, and not actually change your area of consciousness. For the first time ever, in a model of consciousness (well, to my knowledge, let's say) the 4 primary areas of consciousness have been incorporated. These primary areas of consciousness are not places that you travel to. (This also have been very misunderstood for perhaps thousands of years.) They are focuses of attention. Monroe was the first person, to my knowledge, to latch onto this, and the development of his linear focus model was his attempt (and a very good one it was too) to incorporate the wider reality in a more scientific way. The Phasing Model was built on the Monroe model and is designed to eliminate the "missing areas" or the parts where Monroe had difficulties explaining and/or comprehending or perhaps didn't know about. The Phasing Model incorporates the action of Noticing. This is the little technique, if you want to call it that, that acts as a kind of kick-starter to set the process going. Yours, Frank 536 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I leave FoC 2? on: April 15, 2005, 17:40:31 Hi: The area just has a completely different character. F3oC is what is known as the Transition Area. It's where everyone goes to initially when they "die". This is the place where you will find all the heavens and the hells of the religious types. But you come across a load more besides. The upper branches (as I call them) of F3 is where you want to head for. Here you meet people who are very lucid "dead and proud of it" as I call them. You can chat to these people and often they'll tell you about their physical lifetime. Now and again you can find out some info you can check, say, by keying it into a search engine. If ever a person wanted concrete "proof" of the whole experience, particularly the fact that there is no "death" then this is the place to do it. I was chatting to a guy not so long ago and he told me his name and that he was an engineer in his physical life. He invented this steam hammer whatever it was. I didn't understand much of it, to be honest, I'm an ex-engineer but I have zero interest in steam engines. I nodded politely, as you do, while clarifying the key points. Anyhow, I keyed the name into Google and, sure enough, what he said was absolutely true. But that's just one example of quite a few I've had. After a while you move on from the "proof thing" so to speak, you just learn to accept it and get on with other things. There was a time once I came across an Arabic place, it was a kind of eating place sort-of like a cafe. Anyhow, I was asking the "owner" there what the name meant. It was a weird sounding name, very unusual. Well, I guess anything Arabic would be unusual to me as I understand not even one word. But he said that one of the words in the two-word name (aagh, I forget what it was now as it was about 3 years ago this happened). Anyhow, one of the words was this ancient arabic word for... ? And that's what I forget now, but at the time I made careful mental note. I searched for this word all over the Internet. I kept looking and looking and finally I came across this one website and there was this word. I was gobsmacked when I saw it because the description of its useage or meaning was exactly as the old Arab man had described. It was a very unusual very ancient word. In other words, it was just nothing that I could ever even have imagined. But again, these are the kinds of experiences you get in this area, as you are dealing with people who are "separate" from you as opposed to aspects of yourself, which is what you come across in F2. Yours, Frank 535 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I leave FoC 2? on: April 15, 2005, 19:13:52 MT: Yes, though in theory you should be able to do it directly from F1. Problem is the physical captures our focus to a great extent. Which I suppose is a good thing in many ways. After all, you don't want to be driving down the freeway and suddenly transition to F4. :) It is much easier to do from F2 as you don't have the strong kind of magnetic attraction of your focus that the physical presents. Unfortunately, you do have other problems due to the sheer fluidity of the F2 environment. But these can be overcome with practice. Each area of consciousness or focus of attention is greatly intertwined with another. So from F2, simply stand still and "detune" your focus and you should get a controlled overlay experience of the kind I describe. People get what I call "overlay" experiences all the time. This is where you might perceive 2 or 3 areas of consciousness at the same time. In other words, one is overlaid on the other. A typical one is an F2/F1 overlay where someone is engaged in an objective viewing of their subjective activity and they can also see their room "through closed eyes" as it is often described. This also happens in reverse a lot, so an F1/F2 overlay (I always put the primary focus first, followed by the overlay area). Someone may plop out into the RTZ, which is F1, but they may begin seeing snippets of the objective manifestations of their subjective activity with F2 at the same time. Hence an F1/F2 overlay. Wherever you focus your attention becomes your reality. So by creating a controlled overlay, we cause elements of the other area to intersperse with our current area. As it does so, we point our focus of attention at the other area, which then becomes our reality. We don't actually "travel" anywhere. This is what I mean when we occupy all of consciousness already. If you are "in" one area, you are automatically "in" all the areas. The key is, of course, to realise that. Problem is a lot of people keep trying to "travel" to places and in doing so they end up just going around in circles. This is part of also when I say to people to let the experience come to them, as opposed to in some way trying to "chase" it. By creating a controlled overlay, we can bring into our objective awareness elements of the other areas. We then focus our attention on the elements pertaining to the area we wish to perceive. This area then becomes our reality. That's the theory and it does work quite smoothly in practice too, given some practice, of course. Accessing Focus 4 of consciousness is the same. Only be prepared for a total disintegration of your sense of individualness of mind. :) Problem is we are so very used to having only ourselves in our mind. It's very freaky having what you initially perceive as "others" that you can come to believe are "invading" your mind. Plus you become a pure point of consciousness, occupying no actual space at all. The first tendency is to panic and to start frantically looking around for yourself, because it feels like you have entirely disintegrated into nothing. You haven‟t, of course, all you have done is revert to your natural state. It‟s just that as humans we get ever so hung up over the notions of “bodies” and occupying areas of “space”. This is where all the mystics completely misunderstood it, and where all the talk about losing our individuality comes from. Together with the notions of joining some kind of amorphous “whole”. The amorphous whole is not some kind of objective entity, such as “god”. It‟s just Focus 4 of consciousness. But again, people tend to objectify everything. Focus 4 is a more or less entirely subjective area of consciousness. I say more or less because you can experience objectivity as a concept. But not objectivity as we know it to be within the physical. Remember, Focus 4 holds the blueprints for all the objective actions we ultimately experience within F1. So within F4 you can experience anything you like, but as a concept. Not as an actual objective reality. So within F4, for example, and this is one of my favourites, I can become harmony, as a musical concept. I can become a musical chord, and in doing that I can interact with other minds who enjoy playing the same game, as a concept. So between us we can become harmony. Once you get used to the place, as it were, you can have fun mixing and matching concepts. Another favourite of mine is to become the concept of a colour, another mind may become a contrasting colour. So between you, you become the concept of “pleasant contrast”. Now, to make it really interesting, introduce the concept of musical harmony. So now you can become the concept of musical harmony while also becoming the concept of “pleasant colour contrast”. And so it continues. You can become anything, as a concept. You cannot objectively experience these concepts, you actually BECOME them. Now, and this is the whacky thing, you can also become your current physical life… but as a concept! In other words, you become your current physical life as the ongoing objective manifestation of a linear series of concepts you are choosing to experience. In fact, you realise that absolutely everything that exists is founded on an original concept lodged within the area of Focus 4. Like I say, anything can be experienced as a concept. Another one of my favourites is Tuesday. This one really tickles me. I start off by becoming the concept of linear time, then condense it to years, months and weeks. Now down to days. So I become the concept of a day, now give them names, so I introduce the concept of “a name” and form them into a circle. So I introduce the concept of a circle, and so on. But the day that makes me chuckle the most is Tuesday. With me, everything starts and ends with Tuesday for some reason. So to come around “again” you have to introduce the concept of repetition, plus the concept of beginning and end, and by that time I‟m losing it because becoming the concept of beginning and end - within a completely timeless area - just cracks me up laughing so I lose it and transition to F1. Problem is, once you start experiencing all this kind if thing, you will never look at your physical life in the same way again. You go through phases where you just can‟t take anything seriously any more because you know the underlying truth behind it all. Yours, Frank 534 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Some thoughts on timing of practice on: April 15, 2005, 19:58:01 MT: Relative stability of the environment and the actions that take place there. You meet all manner of people just going about their everyday lives. It's very physical-world like in many ways, but not in others. In some ways it's quite whacky, but nowhere near as whacky as F2 can be because the environment doesn't chop and change so much. Everything tends to come across like it is happening "at a distance" from you, again, very physical-world like. Whereas F2 is right in your face all the time. Which is fine, provided you can control it. But most people have a lot of difficulty doing that. All people have to do is once they become lucid within F2 is "detune" their focus, create that controlled overlay experience, and focus on the overlay elements to the extent where the overlay becomes their reality. So easy to say, but a devil of a job to do at the time. At the time all manner of distractions begin coming into play. One distraction leads to the next and, before you know it, you're "back" at F1 kicking yourself thinking why didn't I just do this and that? It just takes practice, practice and more practice. Yours, Frank 533 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Some thoughts on timing of practice on: April 16, 2005, 00:04:02 Yes, that sounds very F3-like. You get all kinds of towns and places, or you might just come across people living alone. It all depends on the person in question. Lots of people are "dying" these days with no particular religious beliefs so they end up in transition just basically doing what they have always done. Many end up living in circumstances very much the same as they did while physical. Loads of people are living their lives within F3 and they don't fully realise they have actually physically died. There is a part of them that is well aware, but they just get wrapped up in their day to day affairs just like they would have done while physical. This is why F3 is very physical-world like in many ways. Once you get the hang of recognising the two areas things become a LOT easier, because you start to realise where you are in the general scheme of things. That's where the model comes in handy. Think of it like a basic map. Problem is, people are only now realising there are these different areas in consciousness, which are not "places" but actual focuses of attention. Monroe was the first, to my knowledge, to realise this to a degree and he developed his linear-focus model. Which is great but it doesn't, IMO, address the true relationship between the 4 areas that form our total reality. F2 is not fully represented and F4 isn't mentioned. There is a vague notion of an F35 in the Monroe model, which came very late in the day and is meant to be a gathering of alien flying saucers monitoring "earth changes". Yeah, right, I think that stands as an all-time definition of overstretching the narrative, lol. Yours, Frank 530 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Damn it, I'm getting nowhere! on: April 16, 2005, 08:47:48 Dean: I‟m not exactly sure what meditation is. According to my understanding, people are in some way trying to create a kind of “empty mind” situation but I‟ve never really looked into it. I began “astral projecting” in a more conventional sense from reading Monroe‟s JOB 20-odd years ago and practised the technique he gave in the book. After about three months, I began experiencing some definite effects and the rest, as they say, is history. The kick-start, so to speak, that I recommend people to use is the Noticing exercise. This is designed to get people through the initial reluctance they tend to have. Perhaps the biggest initial obstacle is being presented with just a wall of blackness upon closing their eyes. So the Noticing exercise is designed to get people over that hurdle. This exercise is designed also to stop people making another big mistake of coming to snap judgements about what they may perceive. It trains them to accept the inner reality as it is presented to them, rather than trying to force anything, or something like that. This is basically along the lines of what you are saying it looks like. Once a person becomes comfortable with the action of looking within, they will naturally want to start looking at something in particular else they‟ll either get bored, or fall asleep. So next I recommend the creation of some kind of mental rundown in your imagination. Doing this has the effect of capturing a person‟s focus of attention. Once their attention has been captured, they make the switch from 3rd person to 1st person view and find themselves (normally) within Focus 2 of consciousness. Reason why it‟s normally F2 is because this area is where your imagination is, which is the faculty that a person uses to create their mental rundown. When I talk about engaging the senses, I mean engage them in the imaginary rundown. Doing this makes the whole scenario appear more “real” and helps capture a person‟s focus more easily so they can make the switch. As I say, “the switch” is the change in area of consciousness from Focus 1 to Focus 2, in terms of the Phasing Model that is. Okay, so you ask how I go from this stage to Astral Projection? Realise that Focus 2 of consciousness is the region that mystics typically call the “astral”. Only difference being is practitioners of the more traditional ideology are engaged in the action of the objective manifestation of a particular “out of body” style construct. Whereas we are engaging in a mental-rundown type of construct. It is essentially the same area of consciousness, the difference being the person‟s perception. Remember, it is perfectly possible to shift your perception in consciousness and to not actually change your area of consciousness. So even though two people may be having radically different experiences, they are still within the same area of consciousness. In other words, once you have made the shift in area of consciousness to Focus 2, you are then free to engage in whatever mental construct you like. That‟s also one of the big benefits with the Phasing Model, in that it is primarily geared to get you to Focus 2 of consciousness. Now, once focused within F2, it is FAR easier to enact even a conventional projection “technique”. In my view, after trying it both ways (I originally began “astral projecting” in a conventional sense, don‟t forget) it is much easier to first get to Focus 2 of consciousness and then decide what you want to do from there. If you want to play around with bodily energy, or stimulate various “chakras” or even project into the RTZ you can. It‟s not really my thing as I prefer to change areas again to Focus 3 and Focus 4. But if a person wishes to remain within Focus 2, i.e. the “astral” and start flying around here and there and having a typical “astral projection” experience, then they can quite easily. Alternatively, then can allow their focus to come back towards the physical, or Focus 1, to a degree and experience an RTZ projection just the same as if they had used a conventional “projection technique”. For people who can do this from the physical, i.e. Focus 1, then all well and good. But for someone who has tried projecting in a conventional sense, and who would still like to do that but is having difficulties with the conventional “techniques” then I would suggest for them to first try shifting their area of consciousness to Focus 2, as I describe as part of the Phasing Model. Then, once at Focus 2, think about “separating” from your physical body in a conventional sense. Because, for me, it is much easier to do this from Focus 2 of consciousness rather than Focus 1. So I‟m guessing it will be for others too. From Focus 2, if you with to continue along the lines of the Phasing Model then this leaves you open to change your focus of attention to Focus 3 or Focus 4 of consciousness. Yours, Frank 524 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on: April 16, 2005, 23:39:12 Yep, you did it alright. But don't start questioning it too much at this stage, practice having more and more of them and the answers will come to you as a matter of course. Yours, Frank 519 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / 1st successful phasing attempt! on: April 18, 2005, 02:37:25 Astralwych: At first, you tend to see it in your mind and then comes what I call "the switch". This is where you switch from looking from a distance to actually being there in first-person. At this point, you are no longer focused within the physical: you are within Focus 2 of consciousness. This is the region that mystics typically call the astral and is, therefore, the area of consciousness where people do their "obe-ing" together with their dreaming, lucid dreaming, and whatever else besides. Do it right and there are no "exit" symptoms at all, no vibrations or feelings of separation. It's just one smooth transition, or phase-shift from Focus 1 to Focus 2. Think of it as a highly controlled lucid dream where you know exactly where you are and what you are doing, and every element of the experience is under your control. Once you are at Focus 2 you have two basic choices: 1) you can have fun doing whatever it is you want to do, or, 2) you can phase-shift to another area of consciousness. Phase shifting to other focuses of attention or areas of consciousness is a LOT easier from Focus 2 than it is from Focus 1, i.e. the physical. However, the BIG problem with Focus 2 in the past has been the fact that people have not fully realised that they are within the realms of their own imagination. If you arrive within Focus 2 with certain expectations then those expectations will be fulfilled, or will come about. Obviously, you might say, as it is your own imagination. Well, it‟s starting to become obvious now to more and more people. But in the past, people have thought of this area as some weird and whacky separate kind of place that they "travel to". Once you realise that you are actually within your own imagination, the area becomes a lot tamer, so to speak. In other words, it becomes a *lot* easier to handle being in the environment. Once a person learns how to handle the environment, this offers them a big benefit. Like I say, it is a LOT easier to phase-shift from F2 to F3 or F4 than it is to phase-shift from F1 to F3 or F1 to F4. This is because the physical captures our focus of attention quite a bit and we don‟t really access these areas much. We occupy them, but we don‟t objectively access them normally. Some people do, but the vast majority of people don‟t. Once we are away from that physical capture- effect, we offer ourselves a great deal more fluidity in our movement in consciousness. The easiest phase shift that can be enacted from the physical is F1 to F2. This is because we engage F2 on an ongoing basis already. All the core belief constructs that we hold, our day-to- day thinking, our imagination, our memory, and so forth, these are all held within Focus 2 of consciousness and we access this area every minute of the day. Plus, it‟s usually where we go to dream. So that‟s why it is easier to phase-shift to F2 as it‟s something we habitually do anyway. So that's the core strategy. You take the relatively easy phase-shift to F2oC, then, instead of getting totally wrapped up in your own spurious imaginings and totally losing it, as people typically have done in the past, you retain a high degree of control and use F2oC as a launch-pad into the other 2 areas, i.e. F3 and F4 of consciousness. Or, you can "backtrack" a little and enter the RTZ from the "other direction" as it were. Well, that's if you want to do any of this. You can stay where you are and just play around shifting your perception if you like. Have an "astral projection" experience, or engage in a little "pathworking" in the traditional sense, or you can just have fun flying around. It's entirely up to you. You see, that's the beauty of the Phasing Model. It presents you with a valid structure in which you can engage your experiences, and you always know where you are in the general scheme of things. Think of it like having an accurate map. You can drive around in a strange town if you want. Just go here and there at random to see what comes up, as that's often the most exciting way of exploring. But at any time you can consult the map and find out where you are. Yours, Frank 518 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / 1st successful phasing attempt! on: April 18, 2005, 03:43:07 Ben: Yes, I always recommend that when you create the mental rundown, you will make "the switch" from 3rd person to 1st person much quicker and/or more reliably, if you simultaneously engage a number of physical senses in the rundown. Smell, I have found is a powerful one with me. I love to imagine smelling freshly baked bread. I imagine an old country kitchen with an aga-style stove and there's a freshly baked loaf on the top cooling off. Even just typing this I can smell it within me and I want to go to it, lol. So you will also make better progress if you imagine something you enjoy doing. Well, apart from the obvious, of course... ha ha ha... sex, I have found, has a very powerful pull but it has the detrimental effect of also engaging the physical. The two can easily end up in conflict, i.e. the physical is pulling you one way, and your non-physical rundown is pulling you the other, so to speak, and you end up locked in the middle of them. Music is another powerful one I find, particularly flute. I imagine I can hear a distant flute and it's getting closer and closer. Before I know it, I've turned a corner in my mind and I come across the someone who is playing. This kind of technique is great for transitioning directly to Focus 3, where you engage a rundown with a "party unknown". It's kinda freaky coming across them. The first time I tried the flute idea, I suddenly found myself in the company of a person playing. As I approached, they stopped playing to introduce themselves and we started chatting. Then I suddenly realised, hang on a minute, I'm not imagining this! At which point I realised I had transitioned to Focus 3, not Focus 2 as I had originally planned. It's a very powerful technique, engaging a party-unknown, and you can quite easily phase-shift directly to F3 from using it. But I don't recommend it for beginners. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to create an Aspect of yourself within F2oC and you engage yourself in a kind of facsimile experience. In other words, you engage in a scenario you create within F2 rather than engaging in an interaction with someone "separate" to yourself within F3. Once you have a little experience of F3 then it's easy to tell the difference, but quite tricky if you haven't. Many traditionalists who try to engage in the objective action of viewing one‟s “higher self” for example, create all manner of Aspects of themselves within F2oC as a result. They think they‟ve gone off on some deep-meaning “journey” and found “god” and all that kind of thing, and they are just engaging in wish-fulfilment actions within F2oC. So, generally, you need to be careful you aren‟t fooled when meeting “people”. We all have many, many other Aspects of ourselves within F2oC. We each hold an enormous number of belief constructs, we create all manner of “shrines” to our likes and dislikes, etc., etc. So it‟s very easy to be sucked in and, before you know it, you‟ll be chewing crystals for breakfast and going to work in a manure-powered car… ha ha ha… I‟m just kidding on the latter. But many people you can tell from some of the stuff they write, that what they are doing is engaging aspects of their own self within F2oC without realising it. Not that there is anything wrong in engaging aspects of your own self, it‟s great fun, and there‟s nothing wrong with a nice bit of wish fulfilment. The key is whether you actually realise and know whether that‟s what you are doing or not. You can engage in some mock battle between all manner of demons and devils, for example, if that is your thing. Severe problems can arise, however, when people come to believe (as millions have done in the past) that those demons and devils have a kind of reality of their own. So at first it is probably best to keep your rundown very simple and perhaps not try to reach too far too quickly, so to speak. Focus 2 of consciousness can be used as a handy launch pad to the other areas quite easily, so there is no disadvantage in phase-shifting from F1 to F2 first, then aiming for F3. Yours, Frank 517 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Collective Subconsciousness?? on: April 18, 2005, 04:27:16 Ben: Yeah, that's right. In a way, we are all very much individuals but we're plugged into the same "network". Just like my computer is connected to the Internet and can communicate to other computers on the network, but I do not lose the individuality of my machine. Our minds are surprisingly similar. The main connections, so to speak, are held within Focus 4 of consciousness. I've never taken any drugs apart from the odd prescription medicine and a moderate amount of alcohol. I certainly wouldn't recommend people take drugs in order to have experiences. Fresh mushrooms are legal in the UK, and when I used to live there, I have known people who have taken mushrooms. Unfortunately, they all simply end up having whacky experiences that they are not mentally and emotionally prepared to handle. Plus, I cannot for the life of me understand how people can eat those things. They actually smell of rotting flesh and blood. Just smelling them makes me want to puke. In any event, the crux of this whole thing is not merely to have whacky experiences. It‟s all about learning how to become a serious practitioner of the art. In my view, the drugs aspect is highly detrimental to our credibility in our becoming of a legitimate science. Yours, Frank 516 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / 3D dimensional space on: April 18, 2005, 04:53:10 Hans Solo: That sounds about right. If you look back through some of my past posts you'll see I mention about seeing these kinds of "textures" all the time. It's very normal and they tend to come about just before the 3D-Blackness stage. Plus the feeling of a shift, the feeling of movement, not just a tiny something or other, but an unmistakeable happening! Yep, that's exactly how it is. Now, I tend to see a kind of starscape effect where the blackness is punctuated by thousands of tiny points of light. You saw a number of red points of light, someone else may see nothing. It all depends. You are correct also in saying about if you "think" you may have seen the 3D Blackness then you haven't. It really is unmistakeable. About as subtle as a car crash. :) Here you were at the "boundary" between F2 and F3 of consciousness. Once you get used to the awesomeness of it, then mentally step into the blackness and become used to just floating about. Then think of doing something. Keep it simple, perhaps just imagine walking by the ocean or something like that. Simply hold the thought and you should see some kind of change take place. A "portal" should open in the blackness and all you need do is to head towards it and go through. Then you should emerge within F3 of consciousness. In the Monroe model this is the region encompassed by focus levels 23 through to 27. Enjoy! Yours, Frank 515 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / 1st successful phasing attempt! on: April 18, 2005, 05:24:17 Mactombs: That's how it is, like you are the same person but the only thing that changed is your environment. You are just your normal self, but you've come about somewhere else. This is the phase-shift from F1 to F2 of consciousness. It's an initial "switch" from seeing a person in your mind engaged in some action or other to do with your rundown, and then to actually becoming that person you were previously seeing. Ha ha ha, it's so very tempting to want to force it! That's why I'm of the opinion that it's better to think of the experience coming to you, rather than you going to it. Because if you are thinking of going to it, as it were, when it doesn't quite gel there is a tendency to try to want to chase it. And the more you try and do that the more elusive it becomes. So when you find yourself losing it, simply take a step back from it and allow it to come back to you. It's only tension, I suppose, that tends to throw a spoke in the works. A part of you is observing all the while and once you think you're close this little voice pipes up saying something like, "Yes, I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" Of course, next moment you lose focus and end up back where you started. :) Yours, Frank 514 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / grabbing vibrations??? on: April 18, 2005, 05:52:05 Hi: I used to get vibrations all the time up until a few years ago when I began the initial work on what became my Phasing Model. I found the vibrations came from a particular interaction between the two energy centres purple and yellow. Nowadays I hardly ever get them unless I activate these areas, which I have no real need to do. In my Phasing approach, you should not get any vibrations or any kind of exit-symptoms at all. Vibrations tend to come as a result of people shifting their perception about within Focus 1 of consciousness, for example, energy-work or RTZ projection. These are actions that take place within F1oC. Vibrations are symptomatic of the various perception shifts that people can initiate within this area of consciousness. With Phasing, you seek not to merely shift your perception within one particular area in consciousness. With Phasing, you keep your perception as it is, and set-out to initiate a phase- shift in your actual area in consciousness. This is a different action entirely. It is interesting that if you phase-shift to Focus 2 of consciousness and then start shifting your perception about within Focus 2, in a similar way to how people do within Focus 1, you can also get vibrations, still remain within Focus 2 of consciousness, but experience them as an F2/F1 overlay. Yours, Frank 512 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: April 18, 2005, 21:42:10 Abba, hmm, you guys can do your "Abba" thing by the pool. We got drum & bass going on by the pyramid and skinny-dipping in the sea at midnight. That old shark that normally pops his head up is night-blind anyway, so there'll be no leaving your head and shoulders on the beach for us to find in the morning, lol. Yours, Frank 511 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 18, 2005, 23:14:56 Hi: I'm sorry but I always avoid "chakra talk" as there are just too many belief constructs attached and it all gets a bit messy. Almost like a religion you might say. Where the original idea was kinda good but the whole message has long-since been lost. There are 4 primary areas of consciousness in our system, labelled F1 to F4 inclusive. I've talked a lot about these the past few weeks in answer to members questions. So please look up my previous posts and I'm sure you'll get some info that will be of interest. I'm not sure why you are trying to attain a vibrational state in particular. It is simply not necessary. Plus, we all go through these dry spells once in a while, especially when we are first setting out. Yours, Frank 509 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Quick Monroe Question :) on: April 18, 2005, 23:45:07 Hi: The problem with Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey is you have to have some experience to understand them. Which is great, in a sense, because when I read them, for instance, I found them a great qualification for my experiences. But if you have only a little experience, then you are going to have to read it all and bear it in mind for when you do get to that stage. Yours, Frank 507 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 19, 2005, 01:46:35 Andali: One of the main reasons I wanted to write the book is because a lot of the info I'm publishing on the forum is becoming fragmented. So people don't quite know which bit fits where. In the book it‟s all integrated so you can follow it easier. Monroe was the first person, to my knowledge, who discovered that these areas of consciousness are not places, as traditional mystics had previously assumed... they are focuses of attention. On that basis, he created a model of consciousness that has become known as the Monroe linear- focus model. It starts at C1, which is the physical, then F3, F10, F12, F15, F21, F23-24-25-26 & F27. Much later on there came an F35 but it's a bit whacky for words, so I tend to forget that one. My Phasing Model is loosely based on the Monroe model. My F1oC is Monroe C1. Monroe F3 to F21 inclusive is my F2oC. But please note the Monroe model does not translate too well in this respect, which is one of the reasons why I developed a new model in the first place. My F3 is Monroe F21 to F27 inclusive. These translate pretty much exact. My F4 of consciousness has no direct translation with the Monroe model, which is the other main reason why I came to develop my own model of consciousness. Briefly, to make the initial shift to F2oC you start the Noticing exercise, which gets you looking within you. Once you get the hang of doing that, you start creating a mental rundown. This is a series of mental images. It can be anything you enjoy, apart from the obvious, i.e. sex. Reason being this engages the physical also, which you do not want. Well, it does with men in an obvious way. :) You are beyond the Noticing exercise stage so start with the rundown. The Noticing exercise is for complete beginners. When you start your mental rundown, it will appear as if you are looking at yourself in mind from a distance. This is what I call 3rd-person view. During your rundown, you should engage your senses within the rundown as much as possible. In other words, don't just try to "see" but touch, taste, smell, feel... as much as you can. It's not easy but work on trying as much as you can. The more you engage your senses the more likely you will reach the next stage, as follows… At some point, you get what I call, "the switch". This is where you will switch from third-person, looking-at-a-distance to actually viewing what you were previously imagining as a first-person view. In other words, it‟ll be like it‟s you, Andali, looking out of your own eyes in your own body, but your environment will have changed. Note: when I say your own body, I don‟t mean your actual physical body. But it will be a replica of your physical and it will feel like your physical body in all respects. Once you make the switch, you are now within Focus 2 of consciousness. (According to the Phasing Model that is.) As I say, there is no direct correlation to the Monroe Model. Once you are within F2oC you then decide where you want to go. You can have a look around where you are, or shift to another area, it‟s entirely up to you. I posted the technique of shifting areas from F2 to F3 just recently. Do a search on slat-effect and that should bring up the post. If you want to move to F3oC then I would advise you to seek out the 3D Blackness, which is at the “border” between F2 and F3. This you have come across before so you should recognise it again. Best of luck! Yours, Frank 505 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 19, 2005, 06:42:11 MT: I‟m not sure if you picked it up, but I just noticed I made a typo in my previous post. I said my F2oC is up to F15. It's not, it's up to F21. I'll nip back in a moment to edit that. When I use the term “border”, I tend to put it in double quotes because I use the term loosely. The 3D Blackness is not really a border, as such, but it can be thought of that way. Just as I often think of the RTZ being a kind of border between F1 and F2. It's not really. In the Phasing model the RTZ is F1 and the 3D Blackness is F2. But they are right on the "edge" of these areas, so to speak. And because of the nature of them being at the “edge”, they can be thought of as a border. (But only in a manner of speaking, of course.) I concluded that the 3D Blackness is situated in the place that I suggest from my own empirical analysis. According to the Phasing Model of consciousness, if you are within the 3D Blackness then you are already at F2. Now, what is difficult is actually trying to, in some way, "sub map" F2. I find the area just so responsive to thoughts, beliefs, and whatnot, I just can't any definites I can latch onto as pointers. In F3 it's different as you are dealing with other people who are "separate" from you. So this enables you to make an objective analysis and catalogue various actions in common. This is what Monroe did, of course, and why we now have a number of sub- focuses for this area and none elsewhere; because it‟s really the only inner area that you can “objectively map”. Between Focus10 and Focus 21 of the Monroe model there is a region that in my Phasing Model is the guts of F2. If you think of Monroe F10 at one edge of F2oC as a whole, with Monroe‟s F21 at the other, in the middle are the “guts” of it, so to speak. But my saying “in the middle” I‟m not trying to imply Focus 15. Unfortunately, there is a large lump of consciousness that simply doesn‟t relate to the Monroe Model. I think I have mentioned to you before that translate it into what I call a wider Focus 12. Anyhow, when people make what I call “the switch” that‟s where they typically end up, in their imagination. This is kind-of slap-bang in the middle of F2oC that I translate into Monroe terms, as the notion of a wider Focus 12. For some reason Monroe left this area out. I suppose he did it for good reason as this region of consciousness (traditionally the Astral) has been a major source of misunderstanding in the past. Plus, there is no reason why you can‟t sort-of skip past the guts of F2, in other words only entertain a traditional, more narrowly defined Focus 12, and proceed directly to the 3D Blackness at Monroe F21… which is basically what you are doing it sounds like. However, with my Phasing Model, I feel it is easier for beginners to phase-shift into the region of their imagination first. Simply because I feel the action of doing that can be described more thoroughly, and each individual can create a mental rundown that suits them - rather than trying to follow any kind of rigid structure. Not that the Monroe model is rigid to start with, but still, I feel the ability for each individual to tailor their own rundown gives the Phasing Model the edge for beginners especially. When you enter the 3D Blackness directly, you just enter the blackness. You tend to get a few swirling clouds of colour and some screen effects or texture effects maybe. I see these and get a feeling of forwards movement and there I am, slap-bang in the middle of the blackness. Well, that‟s what happens to me when I follow the traditional Monroe model. However, in cases where you enter the 3D Blackness from “coming out” of an imaginative rundown: as the scenery of your imaginary scenario falls away, it feels like you are standing on some kind of a precipice. But if you enter the 3D Blackness directly, there is no imaginary scenery to fall away, as such. Though, if not a full rundown, there could be some kind of portal- effect created by the person in question that could give a similar sensation to what I‟m about to describe. But if there is nothing to “fall away”, then I can see that you would not likely come across the kind of precipice-effect that I describe. The effect of a precipice comes about because, within your rundown, you feel as if you are within a solid kind of reality. And to all intents and purposes you are. Now, when the scenery of your rundown falls away to reveal the 3D Blackness, it feels like the only piece of solid ground that‟s left is the square foot or two that you are actually “standing on”. Everything else just falls away and you often end up standing in mid air looking dumbstruck, at this amazing expanse of 3-dimensional nothingness in front of you. To the person‟s mind, it also feels like “behind you” is where you just came from. This also reinforces the effect of standing on a precipice. It‟s quite a big thing just to allow yourself to float off into the blackness. Because you feel that if you take a step “forwards” or in a sense steps-off this tiny piece of solid ground the person feels they are standing on, then they are going to fall into a humongous black hole of nothing. This again serves to reinforce the precipice effect. Once a person becomes used to the scenery falling away, they will automatically allow themselves to float in the blackness and the sense of standing on a precipice will no longer be felt. Or at least it will not be anywhere near as acute an effect. But at first it can be quite daunting. F4oC can be thought of an “umbrella” area and the other 3 areas are nested within that overall umbrella. Again, all in a manner of speaking. It is perfectly possible to “navigate” within an area. So you can be on the “edge” of F2, at the 3D Blackness, for example, and you may shift your perception and, as you do so, you will change your surroundings… but not necessarily change your actual area in consciousness. And this is an important fact that beginners must fully understand. So you are at the 3D Blackness, say, so you shift your perception slightly and you could go and dwell within one of your belief constructs that you hold within F2oC. You could spend a whole session objectively viewing all manner of constructs and phase-shift back to F1oC. Or, if you became bored of dwelling within your subjective areas within F2oC, you could shift your perception once again back to the 3D Blackness. Then, you could phase-shift into F3oC and shift your perception around to begin navigating this area. Beginners should please note here that you shift or change your perception in consciousness to navigate within a particular area of consciousness. But phase-shifting between different areas of consciousness is a different action. Basically, say London is F2 and New York is F3. You could be navigating your way around London. So you are shifting or changing your perception within London, and whatever you do, see or come across, you are still within London. Now hop on a plane to New York. This is like phase-shifting to another area in consciousness. So now you are shifting or changing your perception within New York, and whatever you do, see or come across, you are within New York. The important point I‟m trying to get across is your scenery may be changing and you may be experiencing different events, but it does not necessarily follow that you have changed your area in consciousness. Note: I also just want to say here, as I‟ve mentioned before now and again, I‟m a great fan of using the 3D Blackness as a kind of marker post that tells you where you are in the general scheme of things. From what you say, you are doing this automatically as you tend to use it as a kind of start point. Problem is, as F2oC is so very fluid an environment, it‟s all too easy to become totally lost in what I call the “million meanderings”. But when this happens simply shift your perception back to the 3D Blackness and, chances are, you‟ll right yourself. Not always, but a lot of the time. It is also possible to shift your perception right “back” to Focus 12 of the Monroe model and I‟ve even slipped into the real-time zone by shifting my perception “back” down the line from Focus 21. Not that there is a “line”, as such. But with the Monroe linear-focus model you can think of it as shifting up and down the line, in a manner of speaking. Yours, Frank 504 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 19, 2005, 08:01:26 Andali: You have hit on the very reason why I call it looking from a distance and that‟s what I am calling a third-person view. But I realise that my definition is not strictly correct. Technically, it can come across as not quite true third person, but more like actual first-person view but looking from a distance. With some people it can be a true third person, however. Okay, regarding the sense question: let‟s choose a simple rundown. You are sitting at a table peeling potatoes. Right, so you‟ll be lying in bed, aware of your physical body, yet in your mind you will be imagining there is another “you” who is sitting at a table peeling potatoes. Now, chances are this image will not be too clear at first. If you are like most people you will sense the image that you are creating, rather than actually see it. All you will likely be seeing is the blackness behind your closed eyes. So the image of this other “you” will be indistinct and hazy and none of it will make much sense. Now, what we do is start to engage the senses of the “you” who you are creating in your imagination. Remember, your imagination is where you want to go to. Your imagination is situated within Focus 2 of consciousness. Once you are there, you can use F2oC as a launch-pad to get you to Focus 3 or Focus 4. Alternatively, you can stay within Focus 2 and have a nosy around, or you can come away towards the physical and have an RTZ experience. It‟s entirely up to you. But first you have to get yourself within Focus 2, and to do that we need to initiate “the switch”. So what you do is look at the table that you imagine this imaginary “you” is sitting at, see the wood it is made from, and feel the texture of it. In other words, engage the senses of the imaginary “you” sitting at that that table. It may not be a wooden table, it may be plastic. The detail is yours to decide and to imagine. You are not engaging the senses of your physical body lying on the bed. But the physical senses of the “you” who you are creating sitting at that table, in your mind. Doing that causes you to be more creative and shifts your focus of attention towards this imaginary person. So you‟ve felt the table and to the side of you is a bucket of potatoes and to the other side of you is another bucket with water in it. On the table is a peeling knife. What colour is the handle? See the colour, pick up the knife and feel it in the person‟s hand. Again, you are not feeling it with your own physical hand. The hand doing the feeling is the hand of the imaginary person you are creating in your mind. Take one of the potatoes from the bucket and start to peel it. How does it smell, what sound does the knife make as it shaves-off the potato skin? When you have finished peeling then plop the potato in the bucket with the water. Did you hear the splash? Are you getting what I mean now? The idea is to create something not too elaborate, but not something so simple that you get bored and fall asleep or give up. Make it something that you enjoy doing, something simple that you can engage your senses, but make it a little repetitive so you can progressively build on the imagery, but not so repetitive that it become tedious and boring. In a rundown example published the other day, a member built a log cabin for himself. This kind of thing is ideal, because you have a series of repetitive actions but you are building something at the same time, which makes it far more interesting than merely doing some repetitive action on its own. The more you practice this, the closer you will get to initiating “the switch”. This happens when your focus of attention is captured by the imaginary imagery. You actually become the person you are imagining. Or you may end up in the same room as them and start talking to one another. This is kinda freaky when it first happens, lol, but you quickly get used to it. Initially it‟s a little shocking, or at least it can be. Suddenly it‟ll be you sitting there peeling the potatoes within the same non-physical reality you were previously imagining from a distance. At which point you‟ll think, “Aagh, hang about, I‟m not imagining this!” This realisation will tend to shock you out of the state. But after a few attempts you get used to it and you‟ll be able to remain where you are. Once you are comfortable remaining in the state, then you can change your perception slightly and you‟ll see the current scenery give way to something else. Then you can practice doing this for a while. Don‟t try actually moving around. Just stand still and practice changing your perception and having your environment change to suit. The BIG mistake people make is they immediately go flying off here and there. Unfortunately, doing that just creates havoc that can quickly get out of control, and all manner of misunderstandings can arise in your mind about the nature of the environment. People tend to want to travel to places in the normal physical sense, so they set off walking, lol. But the secret to successful navigation of Focus 2 of consciousness, is realising you don‟t have to “travel” anywhere. You experience things by simply standing or sitting still and changing your perception. In other words, have your environment come to you rather than you trying to go to it. Yours, Frank 503 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 19, 2005, 19:23:57 MT: I'm reading what you say with interest. The big temptation in the past has been to create a linear progression of levels or steps. I have subscribed to these kinds of notions in the past, mainly due to their convenience, but I can see no actual empirical evidence that would suggest these notions are in any way technically correct. I'm trying to take great pains to point out that the Phasing Model is not a linear progression. We don't in any way "graduate" from F1 to F4 after successfully "achieving" F2 and F3. This is one of the reasons why, in my model, I have kept the separate-sounding states to an absolute minimum. Because the more there are, the more the temptation is to put them all in a line and think of them as a linear progression. Which is what people do with the Monroe model. But saying that, the Monroe model does kinda check out as a linear progression. This is great for beginners. But then what happens is people think the linear-progression "idea" is how it is. Because it works that way, then that's how it must be... nope... that's not how it actually is. So the challenge then becomes (or at least it was for me) to create a model that does accurately reflect what is as opposed to what anyone thinks is. I still do not have the terminology to describe accurately the interaction between the 4 primary areas of consciousness. I will, of course, take on board your comments regarding the Void state, or the 3D Blackness, and see if this area can be incorporated as a kind of mental focal point around which certain objectified elements of the underlying subjective activity can revolve (so to speak). The concept of "revolving around" is a good one. After all, a large part of our reality revolves around one thing or another. But I'm not sure this concept could accurately be applied to the interaction between areas of consciousness. The archetype for the interaction in consciousness is held within Focus 4 (as are all archetypes). But it‟s one thing accessing them, so to speak, and quite another actually explaining them! Explaining this interaction is perhaps my biggest challenge at the moment and occupies most of my “projection time”. I hope to comment further in a little while. Yours, Frank 502 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 19, 2005, 20:33:04 MT: And it's ultimately beyond my grasp too at present. My ultimate dream is to create a mathematical model and be able to display this as an interactive graphical demonstration on a video. That would really be something, but it's at least 3 years away for me, at a guess. Problem is funding is always a burden. There are no juicy goverment grants available for this kind of, what they see as , way out and whacky theoretical work. But it would lay the foundations of our new way of thinking that is set to come. Because that's what people don't have. They don't have that interactive model they can look at and play with on a computer screen. If they had that, then it would be the ultimate. It would just explain everything. All the old tosh would just become redundant. We will formally acknowledge Focus 2 of consciouness (in addition to Focus 1 as people will see it then) in about 30 years or so. Then people will look back and realise where "us guys" were coming from. But it's getting people to realise that now that's the difficult bit. Of course, it doesn't help being incorporated in the same boat as every weird and whacky old and new "age" theorist that ever fought a devil or sucked a crystal, lol. I'm dearly hoping to be able to form some kind of foundation to concentrate solely on research and to develop some computer models. If the book is a financial success then I'm hoping to plough the profits back into research. If I can produce something viable then, who knows, I may attract some kind of funding to take things further on a wider scale. Ha ha, dream on, Frank. It would be nice, though. Yours, Frank 501 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 19, 2005, 20:58:23 Hi: You have to appreciate the fundamental difference between shifting or changing your perception in consciousness and actually changing your area of consciousness. The two are very different actions. Once you get a grasp of the way these two actions interact then perhaps some of the confusion you are feeling will dissipate. The action of Phasing relates to an entirely different model of consciousness. The "astral" is, in fact, part of Focus 2 of consciousness of the Phasing Model. Within this area of consciousness you can objectively experience any belief construct you happen to hold, including that of “astral projection”. People who read all the books tend to be a bit obsessed with the “out of body” idea. I‟m not into flying here and there myself. It just creates a lot of confusion. I‟ve been there and done it, but nothing substantial ever really comes out of it. You end up having all kinds of whacky experiences, which is great… until the novelty wears off and you want to do something of real benefit… but you can‟t work out how. Yours, Frank 500 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 20, 2005, 01:57:37 MT: F2 is alright I suppose, but I know what you mean. With me, it's just all a bit too self-fulfilling for my science-style research. Essentially, you go there and, whatever you believe you're right! And to the n'th degree too. There is nothing you can try and independently map, because whatever you think... is. I do believe that computer modelling is definitely the way forward with this. I can see the whole thing now on an interactive DVD. That would be mind blowing. A multiple projection experience taken step by step with high resolution graphics and sound. There's just nothing else like it in the world. I like Jouni's kaleidoscope idea too. That idea of twisting to represent a phase shift. Hmm, I'm going to think on that one. Yours, Frank 498 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / "Eerie"..but luscious..feeling during LD and OBE on: April 20, 2005, 02:26:07 Hi: It's hardly surprising people get these feelings as you are actually within your own individual areas of consciousness. The "astral" is a part of Focus 2 of consciousness and it is the area where most people do their dreaming, lucid dreaming and all manner of things besides. You are actually dwelling within your own imagination, your own family of belief constructs, you own sense of ideology, sense of being, etc., etc. Everything about this area pertains to the individual in question. Yours, Frank 497 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Am I astral travelling or just dreaming? on: April 20, 2005, 02:29:31 Hi: From what you say you, are objectively engaging in a number of types of belief constructs within the area known as Focus 2 of consciousness. Yours, Frank 495 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 20, 2005, 05:52:58 MT: What I don't like about the place is the way it saps your focus. Like the physical captures it and F2 tries to sap all the acute energy out of it. If you are not careful everything just turns to jelly, as I think of it. Like it loses it's acuteness, then off you go wallowing in some lucid dream or any one of the other million meanderings. But if you enter the region with a high degree of alertness and work to keep it, then you are okay (usually). But once you start losing it I feel it's better to step outside of the environment, rather than try to recapture your focus while within it. So that's again why the 3D Blackness can come in handy. We really do need a good name for the place, you know, unless everyone actually likes calling it the 3D Blackness. Surely we can think of something more scientific. We can't call it the Void because that's too Dark Age mystical. We could get all poncified and call it The Region of Individual Conscious Hiatus, or the TROICH, lol. (You know how Monroe loved his acronyms.) It also depends, I have found, what kind of constructs you are viewing. If it is something that would emotionally affect you in the physical, then it would be nigh on uncontrollable within F2. This is unfortunately what gets the ghost-train and the god bods. It is interesting viewing all your different "layers" of conscious understanding. I particularly like dwelling within concepts I formulated in my youth. I chuckle at some of the structures I created when I was small. I was very creative as a child and had an incredibly vivid imagination. I still do, but it's a LOT more structured now. Some of my early stuff really makes me chuckle. I'd give a few examples but it wouldn't actually mean anything to anyone as it's too personalised. Plus, it's something I feel more than it can be explained in words. Yours, Frank 494 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 20, 2005, 06:05:25 Danny: Done right it shouldn't take you more than about 45 minutes. Individuals vary, of course, but I think trying for a continuous period of more than 45 minutes would start to become self- defeating. Half an hour every day is far better than a marathon 3.5 hour session one day a week. Some people suggest that this kind of thing is best done at the same time every day, as your body learns to anticipate it and so forth. But in doing that you just end up curve-fitting yourself into a mental box. There's no sense in only being able to do it under some particularly exacting conditions. You want to create a degree of flexibility for yourself. Generally you will find it easier if the physical is relaxed to start with. The relaxed and slightly dreamy state that comes about after coming awake from a number of hours of sleep is a good state to try in. It generally takes me 15 to 30 minutes. Sometimes it can take up to an hour. But if I'm relaxed and in just the right mental frame of mind the switch to F2 from F1 can take just a few minutes. Yours, Frank 493 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 20, 2005, 19:00:16 Andali: All the primary areas of consciousness are intertwined with each other. So you can easily have an RTZ projection from a dream or even an RTZ projection at the same time as being in a dream. Anyone who really wishes to confuse themselves should phase-shift into all 4 primary areas at the same time. Ha ha ha… a few times I managed to have an F1/F4 overlay. Now that is really freaky, lol. When you talk about F12 and black space in front of your eyes taking on depth, this is the 3D Blackness at the Monroe focus 21 state. It‟s just that it does not necessarily have to come about as a profound experience. It usually does the first few times and then you get used to it. But for future reference, if you perceive a 3D Blackness then stop what you are doing and just allow that blackness to unfold and then mentally step into it. Some people may begin the Noticing exercise, for example, and then after 10 minutes or so they may perceive the 3D Blackness. This may cause questions to arise such as, “Hang on, but I haven‟t even started my mental rundown yet, how come I‟m at the 3D Blackness already?” It doesn‟t matter. It‟s just that most people don‟t find it quite so easy. In which case they have to take an additional step. They create a mental rundown, then step into the scene of that after making “the switch” and then they make the step to the 3D Blackness stage. But if someone can make the transition to the 3D Blackness in one go then so much the better. At the later stage, when you were pretending to be asleep in the dream you were having and then you got vibrations, this was an F2/F1 overlay experience. In other words, your primary focus was the region of consciousness known as F2 and you were receiving input from your physical, which was F1 being overlaid upon your F2 experience. People often have experiences they don‟t remember at the time but they do remember sometime later. This can be a little freaky and I understand your concerns. But next time try and be prepared to just roll with it and see what‟s offered. The optimum state is to be a passive observer and you release an air of mild curiosity. But I know very well how difficult that is to do in the beginning. Within the F2 environment if your mind is racing, you tend to zoom off with it too. Like, you‟ll go shooting off into “space” at a million miles an hour and that kind of thing. Problem is it causes your mind to race even more so you just keep zooming about here and there. Next moment you are back in the physical wondering what the heck happened. Many times I have had people say to me that they projected for the first time and they got really excited and then suddenly they got hit my this force of energy that caused them to zoom off. They ask me what is this mysterious force that they got hit by, is it a “neg” or something? Nope, it was just the force of their excitement. They released that energy within the F2 environment and whoosh; they zoomed off on their own sense of excitement. Yours, Frank 492 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 20, 2005, 20:30:51 Hi: Danny: anyone who has an input regardless of depth of experience should do so, as that's what we are all about here. The concept of F0 is actually a good one. Or at least I think so. Jouni, I like that in the sense of not so much a pivotal area but a pivotal point. What you said yesterday really got me thinking as regards my computer model idea and your kaleidoscope analogy. There are a few points I want to make on the 3D Blackness and I'm hoping to find a spare hour later to write a short piece and publish to this thread. Yours, Frank 490 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE on: April 21, 2005, 04:05:14 Ash: I'm not sure what you mean by "actual obe". You obviously want to knowingly project your focus of awareness someplace other than the physical. But could you be a little more specific about what, exactly, you want to do? Yours, Frank 489 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 21, 2005, 04:20:07 Hmm, F0 won't that just confuse the F1 to F4 Phasing construct? I just had it real neat, LOL. Especially after Monroe and his totally arbitrary numbers. Look, I just had an idea (everyone dives for cover, he he): How about taking the "zero" bit of the F-concept, and mixing it with what Jouni said about a Pivot Point? Let's call it P0. Now that would be sweet. So we start from point Zero, or head to point zero. That's quite good I reckon, calling the 3D Blackness Point Zero. So Point Zero becomes an internal reference point from which we phase-shift to other areas of consciousness. Ha ha, I like it already. Even though I realise I'm saying so myself at the minute, lol. Yours, Frank 488 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 21, 2005, 04:37:20 Ha ha ha, I just thought of that as I hit Submit. I thought, oh heck, I'm gonna have to rewrite a whole section, lol. Seriously, though, I always liked the idea of the 3D Blackness as an internal reference point and it does deserve some kind of label of its own. I never got around to the post I wanted to write on this point tonight as I've been working on my website and got entangled with that. But what I wanted to say is the 3D Blackness is not a kind of common focus area, as such, it is a part of F2 so it's an individual thing. Everyone has their own 3D Blackness, so to speak. But it does appear to be something we do have in common and, because of the nature of the phenomenon, it is an area of 100% potential. So a start point, a pivot point or a point zero, which describes it perfectly. So are we saying that Point Zero is the new 3D Blackness then? Yours, Frank PS Now don't change your minds will you otherwise it'll be another rewrite, lol. 487 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / more of a question about the time of departure on: April 21, 2005, 05:24:03 Yep, I'll second that. No particular time really. It's just that the sleepy state that comes about after being asleep after a number of hours can help. But people do it in the afternoon or evenings just as easy. Depends on the person I guess. No particular rules, as such. It's just whatever works for the individual in question. Yours, Frank 486 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 21, 2005, 20:47:39 I think Andali has a point, forgive the pun, lol, about abbreviating it to P0. I reckon PZ would be a better bet, IMO. Yours, Frank 485 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Being Rocket Launched Out of My Body on: April 21, 2005, 20:54:03 Sarah: This used to happen to me all the time. I called it my "cannonball exit" because it literally felt like I had been shot from a cannon. If you do a search on that term it should throw up a number of posts. Yours, Frank 483 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Am I astral travelling or just dreaming? on: April 22, 2005, 01:55:16 Hi: Check out some of my Phasing posts. Focus 2 of consciousness is the place where most of us do our dreaming, lucid dreaming, astral projecting and a load more besides. Yours, Frank 482 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 22, 2005, 02:10:27 Hi: I'm not a fan of anything that implies a "source" as the 3D blackness is most definitely not a source. Focus 4 of consciousness contains all the archetypes, so there's the source of all that is within the other 3 areas. The 3D Blackness is a kind of handy starting point, a sign that people can recognise, that kind of thing. A kind of Point Zero or Point Zed he he, I do like it! No longer will I have to type "3D Blackness" a hundred times a month, lol. It's just PZ, great. Yours, Frank 480 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / 3 Short experiences this morning on: April 22, 2005, 03:33:22 Hi: The thing with experiences posts is people read them and think, hmm that was interesting, make any mental notes to themselves they feel significant, and then move on. In other words, they read it but don't necessarily comment. I certainly read your post with interest and no doubt others did too. So I wouldn't take the lack of actual response as any kind of indication as to the actual worth of your post(s). Yours, Frank 474 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / racing heart,white light on: April 23, 2005, 17:25:27 Hi: It sounds like one of the energy-rush sensations people typically get when they follow the more traditional "techniques". Sounds like you ignited the energy centre in the region of your chest. What usually happens is you get a huge rush of energy and you feel like you are flying off here, there and everywhere. Before you know it, you'll then snap back to the physical and wonder what the heck happened. :) I'm not really into the energy-work side of things but I do fire off the odd energy-centre now and again as the energy-rushes are a big laugh, quite exhilarating in fact. Especially the chest one! I set this off about once a week to experience the great sensations it gives. If I want to project in the traditional sense then, with me, I switch on the energy centre at the top of the head. Just ignite it enough so it buzzes and crackles. Sort of like a static electricity sensation which travels up and down my body from my head to my solar plexus region and back again. I suppose if you are not used to it then you might find it unpleasant. If I switch it in too much then I get pretty harsh vibrations and I end up just zooming off uncontrollably. Which is what I used to do for years until I realised it could be controlled. Now I can steadily increase the energy of it and bring it to the point where I can roll-out into the RTZ. When I'm doing any basic Monroe work such as the kind if thing he wrote about in JOURNEYS then I will project this way. Yours, Frank 473 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / First OBE/Projection on: April 23, 2005, 17:29:33 Hi: From what you say it would appear the solution is to stop getting all excited and that will hopefully mean you won't keep snapping out of it, as you say. With the traditional "techniques" excitement and fear, tend to feature predominantly. Yours, Frank 472 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / FoCs, chakras and vibes on: April 23, 2005, 19:37:28 Hi all: I'm sorry but this thread has gone a little weird at the end. We had a good discussion and came to some interesting conclusions. Naturally, I am grateful for having had the opportunity of interacting with all who contributed, but it's gone a bit loopy. I'm gonna lock the thread here for the online safety of the member currently having probems, and try to sort out what that problem is, exactly. Okay, so let's quit while we're ahead. Thanks for your contributions. We actually made a little history, I reckon, with our decision regarding FZ. Here's to the next time folks! Yours, Frank PS Major Tom, We just cross-posted, sorry for any confusion. 471 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How do you know you are in trance state? on: April 24, 2005, 00:58:46 Hi: I'm not sure what meditation is. Someone once described it to me as thinking more and more about less and less. I think Tom is the meditation "guru" on the forum. Hopefully he'll be along in a bit and point you in the right direction. I doubt what you are feeling is a "trance" state. I think what the mystical bods call trance is more like the modern-day Monroe Focus 10, MABA state. After all, if "trance" is just sitting there fully aware of the physical then we'd all be in "trance". I'm not sure what it is you are attempting to do. But at a guess, there is something about pointing your focus of attention inwards that you have yet to get to grips with. Yours, Frank 470 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Pioneers in OBE on: April 24, 2005, 03:37:47 Telos: I wish you every success in your ventures. Stay in touch as necessary, PM for email if need be. Yours, Frank 469 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / What can and cannot do with 3D darkness? on: April 24, 2005, 03:41:29 Hi: The Internet is full of info on 3D Blackness. Here we now call it Fzero or the FZ state for short. It's a very common phenomenon. Yours, Frank 466 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Being out of body, but the body still awake. on: April 24, 2005, 06:01:29 Hi: That's just the normal transition from subjective to objective reality. When you decide to "leave" you will do the same but in reverse. Yours, Frank 465 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Being out of body, but the body still awake. on: April 24, 2005, 17:55:37 Hi: I've never actually read any books on it. Virtually all my info comes from my own hands-on research, perhaps someone else may come along and recommend a book to you, or maybe ask a question in the book-reviews section. All children go through a stage of transition. It takes about 8 years or so to become fully integrated within objective reality. During transition, children will still have what you might call a dual awareness of both subjective (inner) and objective (outer) reality. At some stage they make a switch to become fully integrated within objective reality. This is a case of adopting various mass belief constructs about what people typically call "reality". Basically, the child learns what is, or is not permissable, and most simply fall into alignment with it. Not all, but most do. People who don't we typically call schizophrenic, or one of the myriad of other names we have for people who see and hear things that "aren't there". As this switch is thrown, a kind of "veil" is placed between here and there, so to speak, and the individual becomes fully immersed within the physical. When you choose to disengage physical focus, you have the same transition but in reverse. There is an area of consciousness set aside for the purposes of the transition action. In my Phasing Model of consciousness I labelled it focus 3 of consciousness. The reverse transition is where you are shaking off the notions of objectivity and adopting a subjective lifestyle again. Whereas when a person is "born" they have to shake off the notions of subjectivity and adopt a fully objective lifestyle. If you have heard people talk of some kind of up and coming "shift" in consciousness, then what is meant by this is people are moving over to the idea of being immersed within objective reality... while still holding an objective knowing of their actions within subjective reality. We are at the beginning stages of that shift. Some people are calling it the beginning of a New Age and all that gubbins. But basically, all it means is as I've described. No longer will we place a strict "veil" between here and there. Not that there is really any here or there, I use these terms in a manner of speaking. Yours, Frank 464 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / MABA and short Phasing this morning on: April 24, 2005, 21:20:41 Hi: A great experience and thanks for sharing. I am pleased to note the reports from people who are trying my approach, and who are managing to duplicate my experiences. From the sounds of it, you made the switch into Focus 1 of consciousness, not Focus 2. It doesn‟t matter, I‟m not saying you blew it or anything, quite the contrary I‟d say. One of the great aspects about the Phasing model is you can use it as a basic map that let‟s you know where you are within consciousness. But at first, you need to get some experience of recognising the kinds of actions that typically take place within each area. The tingling kind of energy sensation you feel is the same as I have talked about before. Or at least something very similar. It‟s where I say that I often get a particular type of energy interaction between my head and my stomach area (purple and yellow energy centres). It feels almost like I‟m charged-up with static electricity that crackles and tingles. If you concentrate on your head, it should intensify. Or at least, that is what happens to me. I think you are the first person to report that sensation as, when I‟ve mentioned about it before, I never got any feedback. Problem is, sometimes you can‟t be sure whether a sensation is a personal one, or if it is universal. So now I know there is another person who can do it, the sensation could well be universal. If you build the “pressure” of the energy by concentrating on it, at some point you will feel yourself “take off”. When it happens with me, I just let myself go into the darkness and it‟s as if you travel here and there and eventually emerge somewhere. For a while, I might feel like I am moving upwards, then I might suddenly go to the left for a bit, then maybe down, and then up again. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the movement. All the while this movement is taking place I have no sight at all. Everything is just pitch black. It would be interesting if the next time you felt this, to try what I am suggesting and see if the same effect comes about. Simply concentrate at the region in your head where you feel the “pressure” of the tingling and the buzzing and it should intensify. At some stage, as I say, you should take off into the darkness. It feels a bit scary, but you get used to it. As you take off, keep focused on the same point in your head to keep the energy buzzing else you‟ll “fall back” into the physical. After about 15 seconds or so, of “travelling” here and there, I‟ll emerge into some place or other. I tend to come across a lot of the little flat suckerfish thingies that Monroe talks about in his first book. I‟m not sure what they represent, but they must be some objective interpretation of an underlying energy flow within the physical. When I say “fish” they are not actually fish. But imagine the shape of a typical flatfish only thinner, about the thickness of a piece of card. They float and shimmer in what looks like a huge shoal of flatfish. When you walk through they stick to you. The temptation is to think ugh, and start trying to get them off you. But the more you try the more they‟ll stick to you. But if you just ignore them totally they will ignore you. So, as I say, they must be some kind of objective representation of your subjective energy. The other place I see often is right “alongside” the suckerfish. I call it the Hall of a Thousand Spiders. Again, this must be some kind of objective representation of the underlying subjective energy. But it does look like a large open hall and all you can see are these huge spider‟s webs all over the place. On each web is a big spider and they are all scurrying about here and there. It‟s quite a sight. And there are loads of other “places” too that I have visited. Often while in the “travelling” phase I have gone through all kinds of tunnels and other structures. At first it‟ll be pitch black and then I might find myself showered in a wondrous light that appears to be coming from some point ahead of me, or often “above”. And it takes you like a kind of “tractor beam” effect and you emerge into some world or other. If you ever find yourself having these kinds of experiences you will realise where all the talk of angels and u.f.o. abductions stuff comes from. So I just thought it would be interesting if you could try what I am suggesting and see if the same effects come about. The kinds of effects I am describing are not necessarily part of the Monroe F10 MABA state. The energy interaction is something else that is being superimposed on the F10/F12 experience, in that you don‟t necessarily have to feel the energy interaction. When I make “the switch” in a strict Phasing sense, there are no energy feelings at all. But I can initiate the energy feelings if I want to a large part of the time, and they come with some very interesting effects. Yours, Frank 463 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Being out of body, but the body still awake. on: April 24, 2005, 22:44:23 Hi: We engage in mass belief constructs that say it is alright for a child to have "imaginary friends" and such like, but not adults. An adult we would typically call them "crazy" and such like, but with a child people typically go aww, the child is so creative. Many times people come on and talk about the frustration of being able to remember being able to focus within aother areas in consciousness as a child, but now they find it difficult. So you are definitely not alone in your thinking. It would appear to be a fairly common thing. Yours, Frank 462 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / MABA and short Phasing this morning on: April 25, 2005, 00:19:35 Hi: I‟ve mentioned it now and again and it must have slipped your notice. Anyhow, from what you are saying the sensation is very similar. I‟ve come across people having “vibrations” before but never this particular interaction from the head to the solar plexus region. With me it is a particular interaction between the purple and the yellow energy centres. If you are not aware of their location then do an Internet search on Chakras and you are bound to come across a diagram. The diagrams are largely correct, it‟s just all the bumf that people have attached to these energy centres over the years gets rather confusing. If you project into the RTZ that would be F1 of the Phasing Model as I place the RTZ on the “edge” of the physical. Some people more mystically inclined call it a boundary region between physical and astral, or some even say it‟s the first astral “level” from the physical. Well, either way, we are talking about the same, or a very similar location in consciousness. My empirical analysis would place the RTZ within the physical. Plus, the notion of linear time is a physical- realm notion. In terms of the Phasing Model, an RTZ projection would be the action of changing your perception within F1oC. As your perception changes, your experience changes, but all the while you are primarily focused within the same area in consciousness. When you do the action of creating a mental rundown, you create “the switch”. The action of the switch is you shifting your area in consciousness from F1 to F2. You switch to F2 because that is where your imagination is held in consciousness, and you use the faculty of your imagination to create the rundown. But you can actually switch from F1 to F3 or even F4. But for beginners it is easier, IMO, to go from F1 to F2 first. You mention about Bruce Moen, well, his approach is similar in some ways and very different in others. His model of consciousness is rather different, as it closely follows the Monroe, linear- focus model. His approach uses the imagination as a kind of primer exercise to make the switch directly to Focus 3. But his approach differs in the way the switch is made. What he is doing is creating a dual awareness of F1 and F3. F3 is the transition area, or the area in consciousness that incorporates the region that BM calls the Afterlife. Creating an awareness of multiple focuses of attention at the same time is perfectly possible. I‟ve said before that if someone really wants to confuse themselves silly, then offer an awareness of all 4 primary focuses of attention at once, lol. The experience of deja-vu is a dual awareness of F1 and F2, for example. We are what is known as a source/manifest reality system. The local source for our actions in consciousness within F1 is F2. So by offering yourself a dual awareness of F1 and F2 brings about the deja-vu effect. All you need to do is: when you feel that crackling static-electricity feeling in your head, then concentrate on the point where you feel it is coming from in your head. Then you should feel it intensify, like the pressure gets turned up a bit. Keep turning it up and, at some point, you will “take off”. Just allow this to happen. In a way it‟s like being on a roller coaster that runs absolutely silently in the pitch darkness. With me I keep switching direction here and there. Sometimes it chops and changes direction a lot, and other times not so much. Often you will feel yourself hurtling in one direction at an incredible speed and you‟ll get fearful of hitting something, lol. Eventually, you will come to a stop. Don‟t try to force it to stop, just let the experience unfold as it wants. Don‟t be surprised also to come across all manner of tunnel or tube formations. Doing this you are still within the physical, it‟s just that the physical encompasses a far wider extent of actions than people suppose. At some point in your travel experience you‟ll make a switch. You don‟t have to, but chances are you will. At which point you will appear at some place. Where that may be is anyone‟s guess, which is all part of the fun! Usually I “emerge” within F3 somewhere. But not always. Often I might hang around the physical. But when I say the physical I don‟t mean some kind of RTZ experience. As I say, there are many, many wondrous phenomena to be enjoyed within F1oC. If you have a copy of Astral Dynamics, on the back there is a graphical representation of what mystics typically call an Astral Plane Entrance Structure. These “structures” are a remarkable sight, totally awe inspiring, in fact. Yours, Frank 461 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / OBE and vibrations on: April 25, 2005, 21:56:33 Hi: There is no such thing as pre-obe vibrations. There are a number of bodily phenomena that can give vibrational-type states. It has been, in the past, that people may have experienced a vibrational state and subsequently "exited" their physical body. But this is by no means necessary. Times move on, technology changes. This work is no different. Unfortunately, in this we are a bit behind the times, so to speak. If you wait long enough then a bus may well turn up. But you could just as well set off walking and get there just as quick. In other words, look to your own guidance and not to some outdated mystical stuff that may well be just nonsense dressed up as a legitimate technique. Yours, Frank 457 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Moving forwards into FZ on: April 26, 2005, 06:52:11 Hmm, we've had this surrender definition debate before and it is right, in a sense. I think people's idea of the concept of surrender, though, gets in the way. People take it like you are involved in some kind of fight that you have lost, so you have to surrender. Almost like it's a kind of negative thing. Waving a white flag shouting "Don't Shoot!" and all that. I'm not suggesting that is what you are saying necessarily. It's just that is the impression the word can engender. Yours, Frank 456 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / MABA and short Phasing this morning on: April 26, 2005, 07:24:22 F1 is the physical, yes. You would still be in the physical while viewing such "entrance structures" though I use that term loosely as they are not actually entrance structures, as such. But it does seem that way at first glance. Yours, Frank 455 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / MABA and short Phasing this morning on: April 26, 2005, 07:59:11 Hi: They are not actually "levels" they are focuses of attention. I understand what you mean though. I think it's good that you are recognising these experiences for what they are. A few hundred years ago, depending upon where you lived you could have been burnt at the stake or worshiped as some kind of god. You appear to have a natural ability, and if you are getting repeated F1/F2 overlays then you have to be pretty careful on the fear aspect as you'll start seeing all manner of "devils and demons" else. Yours, Frank 454 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / OBE to RTZ or not on: April 29, 2005, 08:07:12 Hi: We all have many, many aspects of ourselves. People tend to think of themselves as a singular person but we are anything but. Within Focus 2 of consciousness we create all manner of aspects for all manner of different actions. It sounds like the person experienced a normal F1/F2 overlay with another aspect of the person in question. When I say aspect I'm not talking about other focuses. Each focus will have many, many aspects that are created by the focus in question. Yours, Frank 452 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Astral projection and reoccouring dreams on: April 30, 2005, 19:16:10 Hi: Yes, it will appear similar because you are actually within the same area within consciousness. The wider reality has 4 primary focuses of attention. In my Phasing Model of consciousness I call them Focus 1 to Focus 4. Focus 1 is the physical and Focus 2 is where most people do their dreaming, lucid dreaming, astral projecting, pathworking, and a whole load of other things besides. What you are doing in your case, is changing your perception within the same area of consciousness, i.e. Focus 2. As I've said a number of times, it is perfectly possible to change your perception in consciousness and to not actually change your area within consciousness. So people can quite easily switch from a lucid dream to an astral projection-style experience and back again or view them both at once if they want. I think this aspect is perhaps one of the most confusing for people to get to grips with, which is why I keep stressing the point. When we are in the physical we are so used to actually having to "travel" from one place to another in order to get somewhere. But once we step within, there is no longer any need to "travel" anywhere. We simply shift our perception and our environment will change accordingly. The problem has been that when the early explorers started to do this, they objectified what they were viewing. In other words they looked at it as some kind of other world that they were travelling to. In much the same way as we travel within the physical. So concepts such as "astral travel" was born. But we don't actually "travel" anywhere. Yours, Frank 451 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Drugs on: May 02, 2005, 00:44:23 Hi: The "problem" with drugs is they give people experiences they are not psychologically equipped to handle. I've said a number of times there is a humongeous difference between a drug-fuelled whacky experience and a controlled conscious-exit projection. For example, focusing one's attention within Focus 4 of consciousness you see your whole physical life "as a concept". This changes you considerably, your whole attitude towards physical life is never the same after such an experience. I shudder to think what unbalancing effects this would have on a person if they had not received proper instruction about what to expect. Fortunately, it would appear that drugs have a kind of self-limiting effect that prevents people from focusing within this area. From what I can gauge, they limit people to Focus 1 and Focus 2 of consciousness. Which is very fortunate I guess. Yours, Frank 439 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / YAY 1st OBE on: May 02, 2005, 03:56:55 Hi: Congrats on the experience. Many people have all manner of difficulties in movement and so on. These go away with practice and after a while you'll be able to change your perception in a more controlled way. It's best if you resist the urge to fly here and there. Flying around is enjoyable, but I only do it now if I want to just have fun flying around. You need to start trying to ground your thinking and learn to change your perception gradually. I found the best most productive state is to remain emotionally neutral, just release a mild curiosity and see what turns up. Otherwise events can easily start running away with you and you lose it. I lost it for the first time in ages the other morning. I was moving forwards fairly quickly and the "ground" suddenly came to a stop, like a cliff edge, and I suddenly found myself hanging in mid air looking down at the "water" about 300 feet below. The change was so quick it caught me off guard and I actually zapped right back to physical. This hasn't happened for ages, and would not have happened if I hadn't been impatient to get to where I was going. You don't want the changes to take place too quickly else a part of you can freak and zap you back to physical. Yours, Frank 438 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / MABA and short Phasing this morning on: May 02, 2005, 04:08:43 Hi: I can see from several of your posts that the fear aspect is a bit of a tricky thing with you. I think you are handling it very well in being careful not to scare yourself, but sometimes it might be good to push the boat out, so to speak. Sort of be a little bit more daring. In small doses of course. It's interesting you felt the tingling again. So it wasn't just a one off. With me I get the head to solar plexus interaction direct from the physical. I need to be in a particular state of relaxation, which comes about after I've slept for a while and I'm in that slightly dreamy but largely awake state. Yours, Frank 437 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Bug under a microscope? on: May 02, 2005, 07:36:24 Hi: One of the most eerie aspects of the Monroe focus 12 state is you can start to see all manner of random images that can be translated as being faces. Plus, all of us have many, many aspects of ourself located in Focus 2 of consciousness of my Phasing Model (that I loosely translate as a wider Monroe focus 12). Within Focus 2 of consciousness you can meet up with all manner of aspects of yourself, or what is quite common is you become different aspects of yourself. In other words, it is possible to view these aspects objectively or we can "step into" them and become them. Also, within Focus 2 of consciousness you are in the position of being able to objectively view the internals of your own mind. You can view any thought, belief, etc. In fact, anything you think about will become all around you. So religious types tend to view all manner of religious scenarios, people who believe in devils and demons will engage in whatever devils and demons do, etc. Focus 2 of consciousness is also the region of consciousness mystics call the Astral. So depending on your beliefs about that you can have all manner of astral projection experiences, experience all kinds of different "levels" and "planes" etc. Basically, whatever you believe in, that is what will come about. Simply because you are focused within the area of consciousness where your beliefs are held. Yours, Frank 434 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / More Progress! My First Conscious "Is This a Dream?&quo on: May 04, 2005, 20:48:11 Hi: What gives me a lot of consistency is I know when my body is most receptive to this kind of work. It's after I've been sleeping for about 6 hours. I'll wake up, have a pee, drift off for about half an hour then come awake, but not completely. My mind will be awake but my body will be in a dreamy kind of relaxed state. By now I know exactly how the state feels so I work on achieving that state first. If I'm a little too sleepy, then I'll have a little sleep for, maybe, another 15 mins and see how I feel then. It sounds a bit convoluted but I've done it so long I tend to just fall into it most mornings. Once these conditions come about, I start looking within and going through some kind of basic mental rundown. Within about 10 minutes I make "the switch". Sometimes it can take a little longer, sometimes shorter. But the key, for me, is to get into that preparatory state first. Because that's what makes it "easy" for me. I can do it other ways, I've even done it whilst sitting in a semi-darkened room with other people around in a kind of "joint sitting" as I think it's called. Which felt a bit weird the first time I did it but the same principles apply. But I find it easiest doing it following sleep. So I tend to just concentrate on the way I find it easiest. Of course, to make this work you have to get into a little routine of going to bed at a certain time, sleeping for x-number of hours, then finding that naturally relaxed state. If you try when you are too tired, you'll tend to fall asleep, and if you are too awake then you'll have difficulty making the switch. But if you can get it just right (or thereabouts) then the switch should come fairly easily. In a sense you can think about it as falling asleep but not quite. You let your body fall back to sleep but your conscious faculties remain entirely under your control. In which case you will find yourself fully awake and alert, but you will be focused within F2 of consciousness instead of Focus 1 (the physical). Yours, Frank 433 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Newbie questions (again) :) on: May 04, 2005, 22:16:18 Hi: I'm not sure on the exact answer to your question as a lot of the mystical stuff is highly convoluted and lots of it seems to get lost in translation. For example, witness how people argue over various meanings in the bible caused through various translators putting the accent on various aspects, etc. There are 4 primary areas of consciousness that I labelled Focus 1 to Focus 4. Since coming across this, I've flipped through various mystical works and it would appear, in the midst of all the ornately-worded stuff, that some of the early teachings also point out that consciousness is sort-of "divided" into 4 primary areas also. For example, I do very much believe that the Christian: Body, Psyche, Soul and Spirit originally referred to the 4 primary areas or focuses of attention. But like much of the old mystical works, the original teachings have just gotten lost under layer upon layer of confusion. Always remember these areas are not places, they are focuses of attention. Lot's of people make the mistake of thinking they are "travelling" to another place. What you are actually doing is going within you own self. So when you project you are not actually within "the astral" you are within you. It's just that people tend to objectify their experiences. You have areas of consciousness that are singular to you. Which would be Focus 2 of the Phasing Model and you have common areas in consciousness, for example, Focus 3. But these areas are not separate from you, they are all you in the sense of the Wider You. One of the works I studied was about Judaism, not that I know much about it. But in the midst of all the ornate lingo it was sort-of obvious (well, to me at any rate) that what they are calling the World of Emanation sounds like Focus 4 of the Phasing Model. But what they are saying is all wrapped up with the notions of God being the creator and stuff. When Focus 4 is simply our archetype, the area that contains the source of all possible actions in consciousness within our system. But again, what they have done is objectify everything. I always think it doubly ironic how people can objectify Focus 4 of consciousness, as Focus 4 is a purely subjective area. The Judaism World of Creation, World of Formation and World of Action, I reckon is virtually certain to be Focus 3, 2 and 1 of the Phasing Model, respectively. But as to whether the “planes” you are talking about bear any relevance to the Phasing Model to be honest, I doubt it. Problem is, these “astral planes” vary depending on which mystic or book you happen to believe. One of the main reasons for that is because people have not realised they were projecting within their own individual areas in consciousness, or Focus 2 of the Phasing Model. You can always tell this because mystics tend to speak in terms of “levels”. Anything “below” the level they say that the heavens and hells are situated but "above" the physical, is Focus 2 of the Phasing Model, which is your own individual area in consciousness. Here you typically see the objective manifestations of your own belief constructs. So if you believe that there are 7 planes with 7 sub-planes, or demons and devils, or whatever, whatever then that is what will become your reality. So people project with the notion of xyz, they see the objective manifestation of their belief in the notion of xyz. Then so, as far as they are concerned, their belief was confirmed. So the more they believe it, the more they project and see it, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Problem is, they don't actually realise they are projecting within their own mind. :) So astral planes typically do not actually relate directly to the primary areas. More like the primary areas “contain” these notions of astral planes, or whatever notions you happen to subscribe to are all contained within these areas. To give you an idea, a Primary Area you can think of like a town. An “astral plane” would be a district within that town, an “astral sub plane” would be a street within that district. So the street would relate to the district, as the street would be contained within the district, in turn, the district would be contained within the town. When you lie down and nothing happens, this is kinda typical of what happens to many people. What I would suggest you do is to try turning your focus of attention inwards. Because it is the act of turning your attention inwards that kicks everything off. You don‟t actually have to think of your body or your breathing at all. People do, and if that works then all well and good. But what I found far more productive, for me, was to utilise the Noticing exercise I have talked about in the FAQ section, together with creating a simple mental rundown in order to make what I call “the switch” to Focus 2 of consciousness. That way you turn your focus inwards and forget about your breathing or your physical body. You just “let them go” and turn your attention within yourself. Yours, Frank 432 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Drugs on: May 04, 2005, 23:23:13 NLC: Yep, that's a typical example, unfortunately. Someone suddenly finds themselves “out of body” and they totally freak. Now, this happens naturally during sleep, for example, where someone may become lucid in a dream, they freak and zap back to physical. Whereupon they sit up in bed, breath a sigh of relief thinking, phew, it was all “just a dream”. The problem with the drug-fuelled experience is there is no stopping it! They end up immersed within Focus 2 of consciousness with all their thoughts (usually fearful) coming to life all around them… and there‟s no zapping back to physical as an escape. The core problem is they don‟t realise where they are in consciousness. If they knew they were actually within their own mind then they would know how to control it… simply stop thinking! And it would all just dissipate. But because people do not realise where in consciousness they are, the phenomenon of the “bad trip” has been brought into being. There is no such “thing” as a bad-trip, per se. You are just within Focus 2 of consciousness. So all your thoughts and feelings come to life all around you. If you are in a bad mood, then you are going to be immersed in the objective representations of that bad mood. Chances are that will make you feel worse, and so you are going to find yourself in worse circumstances. Which makes you feel worse, and so you are going to find yourself in progressively worsening circumstances. Hence the term “bad trip” was born. However, the whole experience is entirely generated by the individual, and all they need do to stop it is to simply stop thinking, or think of something happy, and so it will become. I've never done any of these drugs, but some are quite powerful substances and I can understand why a government would make them illegal. But I simply cannot agree that that is the right course. I just want to make clear, here, that I am speaking purely as a member not as a moderator, as there may be possible legal technicalities else; and you can't be too careful these days, with the sheer hysteria that abounds from all the scaremongering in the mainstream media. But making these substances illegal, simply prevents people from experimenting safely. There should be reliable, unbiased official information that educates people as to the effects of, for example LSD. Otherwise, you engender the very situations that other people use to point the finger saying all these substances are dangerous. So by making them illegal and punishable by punitive prison terms, you prevent people from getting proper information, which causes all these horror stories to arise, and so they use the details of these horror stories to justify their continued illegality. It's just a continuous, highly self-defeating vicious circle. They should be decriminalised forthwith, and dispensed from licensed outlets in known concentrations just like alcohol. In my personal view, if people want to eat mushrooms, or smoke whacky baccy, or take LSD, or whatever, it‟s their body and their business. I choose not to, but that‟s my choice. People should not be forced to take for example, LSD any more than they should be forced not to. Anything can be dangerous if it‟s uncontrolled. You can‟t just get in a car and drive it any old how. There are strict rules that must be observed. Cars have killed far more people than LSD ever will. But people still drive and cars are more popular than ever. Drugs should not be just available willy nilly, but they should not be banned either. They should be able to be purchased through properly licensed outlets in strictly controlled concentrations. As I say, just like alcohol and like, for example, in Amsterdam where you have the coffee shops that sell a variety of different types of weed and what they call “space cakes” which I think are mushroom cakes. Yours, Frank 430 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Newbie questions (again) :) on: May 05, 2005, 01:03:46 Hi: Astral Projection exists as a belief construct that is usually enacted within Focus 2 of consciousness. But there is no such separate place that is “the astral”. You could say that “the astral” was your wider self. It‟s all you, and you are actually projecting within your own mind. So not only “APers” but anyone else too. It‟s just that 1) people believe the mind is somehow contained within the physical brain, 2) people objectify everything and, 3) people don‟t realise the sheer extent to which their own mind extends. People will wander around “the astral” and not actually realise they are wandering around their own mind. Plus, consciousness is not merely a product of the physical brain, although please don‟t ask me to prove that unless you have at least a £10,000,000 research grant available, lol. And people fail to realise that what they see as an objective scenario, is merely an objective translation of the underlying subjective experience. Within the wider you, you have areas of individual consciousness and areas of consciousness in common with others. So if you want to meet up with someone, then you‟d meet in a common area, such as Focus 3 or in the physical within Focus 1. When I say the physical this would include an RTZ projection, yes. My years of empirical experience of astral projection –versus- lucid dreaming, would suggest to me, as I‟ve mentioned oodles of times, there is no real difference between the two. The deciding or determining factors are the person‟s expectations and their relative level of awareness. Though I don‟t concur with the separation theories. Problem is, people believe in “separation” because they are still thinking in terms of going to some “other place” and they don‟t realise that when they are wandering around what they call “the astral” they are, in fact, within their own mind. You cannot separate yourself from yourself, as it is all yourself. There is no place in consciousness that you do not already occupy. So there is nowhere you can go where you were not already at before you set off. Because it‟s all you. It‟s just that people get body-fixated and, in doing so, they fail to realise how “far” they extend. But a body is merely an objective representation of the accumulation of a particular set of expectations regarding the enactment of certain types of actions within particular areas of consciousness. It holds no other purpose. Yours, Frank 428 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Drugs on: May 06, 2005, 07:00:27 NLC: That's a good question and not one that I can really comment on with any degree of authority, as it is way beyond my experience. I have never actually taken any of these drugs. But knowing the nature of the wider reality, when I read people's reports on mushroom and LSD "trips" I can readily see that what is happening is the drug is causing a kind-of “forced” focus of attention shift into Focus 2 of consciousness. The big problem with that is people do not actually realise the nature of the environment and the fact that they are now sitting slap-bang within their own personal area of mind. Which means all their thoughts will come to life all around them. People tend to believe that the drug itself has caused some kind of weird "trip". When in reality, the person themselves have caused the trip. All the drug has done is to cause them to focus away from the physical into Focus 2 of consciousness instead of Focus 1. Saying that, I have also read a number of reports that clearly show these drugs can also cause an F1/F2 overlay experience. I suppose it depends on the dosage, but I‟m guessing there, as I‟ve never taken them, as I say. But an overlay experience is where people perceive 2 or more areas of consciousness at the same time. So people are seeing the physical, but superimposed on their vision of that are visions they are picking up from F2 of consciousness also. Again, people tend to think it is the drug itself that has caused this. But they are causing it. The drug has simply broken down the "barrier" so to speak, that the person would normally place between the two areas of consciousness. Someone who is schizophrenic, for example, has not erected the same “barrier” between F1 and F2 that most other people have placed. So they see these kinds of visions all the time. Yours, Frank 426 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / questions about my recent experiences on: May 06, 2005, 09:45:26 Kim: First, your experiences are not “weird”. What you are doing is very natural. You are consciously shifting your focus of attention to a different area in consciousness than the physical. You ask what this is called. Unfortunately, the answer you get will vary depending on what beliefs the person in question subscribes to. A person who subscribes to mystical belief constructs would perhaps say it was an astral projection. Myself, I prefer to describe the actual actions in consciousness that are taking place. From what you describe, you focused your attention within what is known as the Transition Area. In my Phasing Model of consciousness, this is Focus 3. When someone “dies” they don‟t actually die, they merely revert to living in the Transition Area in consciousness. This is where your brother will be now. It is still possible to project your focus of attention to this area. Perhaps take a look at Bruce Moen‟s work as he is a bit of a specialist in this kind of thing. He specialises in teaching people how to make contact with loved one‟s who have permanently disengaged physical focus, and who are now resident within Focus 3 of consciousness or The Afterlife, as Bruce calls it. He has a fairly simple Focused Attention approach that anyone can do and it‟s all very straightforward and in plain English. So you don‟t have to be a mystic or have any special powers or anything. I haven‟t got his web address to hand, but from memory I think it‟s afterlifeknowledge.com. Yours, Frank 420 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral Entities on: May 06, 2005, 17:11:52 Hi: There are many belief constructs surrounding "entities" and "beings" and such like. But at the end of the day they are just people, but people who live in a different environment. The real-time zone is a common area in consciousness so you'll meet other people there. The next phase away from the physical is Focus 2, which is an individual area so here you meet all the other aspects of yourself and dwell within your own belief constructs, thoughts etc. All of which become objectively manifest all around you. This is also where you'll meet all your fears only you'll meet them in an objective sense. People who believe in devils and demons will meet devils and demons, people who fear being chased by giant alligators, will be chased by giant alligators, and so on. Next phase from that is Focus 3. This is the Transition Area where people withdraw to initially when they "die" physically. Not that they actually die, they merely disengage physical focus on a permanent basis and adopt Focus 3 as their main focus of attention instead of Focus 1. Focus 3 is another common area so here you'll come across millions of people, many of whom are living lives that are very physical-world like in nature. Sometimes incredibly so. Within Focus 3 you still get all the heavens and hells of the old religious and other mystical belief constructs. But more and more people are dying these days with no particular religious beliefs and these people tend to set up home and live lives that are incredibly physical-like. Within the upper branches of Focus 3, within what are called the Exchange Territories, are towns and villages and such like, to the extent where you have to pinch yourself sometimes to remind yourself that you are within Focus 3 and not Focus 1. Yours, Frank 419 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Drugs on: May 06, 2005, 17:43:03 Ben: Yes, that‟s correct. Problem is, mystics typically call anything non-physical “the astral” and to them this “astral” is a separate place that is inhabited by all manner of “beings” often monster- type beings like devils and demons and stuff. They don‟t actually see it as being their own mind. Even when you are within Focus 3, it is still your own mind. It‟s just that within your mind you have individual sections and common sections where you allow a subjective energy interaction with others who are doing the same. So it looks like a common area in consciousness, but it‟s not actually a common area that has been set out. It just looks that way because of all the subjective energy interactions that take place. In reality, you are still within your own mind but you are “sharing” a part of it with others, so to speak. Focus 3 is very much like the physical in the subjective interactions that take place. This is why people such as Bruce Moen think of Focus 3 as the Afterlife. Because you do get people, millions of people, simply living a life that is very physical-like. In a drug experience, from what I have read, people typically experience Focus 2 of consciousness. This is the place where they go on their individual “trip”. All the visuals, hearing voices, flying around, etc. this is Focus 2. Now, if you were to actually realise that right “next door”, in a manner of speaking, is your common area, i.e. Focus 3, then within the experience you should be able to cause a phase shift to Focus 3. If you are in a group of people doing the same thing, in theory, if you all get it right, then you should all be able to meet-up within Focus 3 and have a laugh. Yours, Frank 418 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trying to explain to mystic minded on: May 06, 2005, 18:05:00 Andali: I really feel for you as I come across this kind of closedmindedness all the time. I do like your phraseology, "stuck in a groove", yep, that explains it nicely. I shall use that in future! With many people there is nothing you can do to change their opinion. A high percentage of adults are just stuck in their ways, they have their beliefs and woe betide anyone who would dare challenge them. Look out at the world, people fight wars to protect their beliefs. Countries are armed to the teeth with missiles and bombs together with all manner of delivery systems and armies of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, all to protect the presumed sanctity of people's belief constructs about how reality should be. This kind of enforced imposition of beliefs, i.e. believe what I tell you or else, infects every level of human society. Yours, Frank 417 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Drugs on: May 06, 2005, 22:28:01 Ben: Yes, I was about to say that you are not actually under the influence of the LSD. All the drug has done it to remove the "veil" that people typically place between here and there, in a manner of speaking. I say that because there is no here and there as separate places. It's all you as one continuum in consciousness. But we place these "barriers" for the purposes of our experience. You talk about separate "entities" but in reality, they are just other people whose primary focus is Focus 3 of consciousness instead of Focus 1. People must surely have had these experiences but, as you say, they chalk it up to the drugs. Again, unfortunately, the drugs introduce people to concepts they are not able to comprehend, which does create complications in certain types of people. One day we will realise that our consciousness extends way “beyond” the physical and people will stop seeing this phenomenon as some kind of separate place that people “travel” to. All you have to keep in mind is Focus 2 (the place mystics commonly call the Astral) is your individual area, and Focus 3 is a “common" area. So if you are meeting people who are independent of you then that‟s Focus 3. If you are dwelling within your own belief constructs then that is Focus 2. Mega complications have come about in the past because people have not realised that Focus 2 is their own individual area in consciousness. They have gone to this place and seen their own belief constructs come to life but have failed to recognise them as such. So they have come away thinking they are right! Well, they are bound to be right because it‟s their own area of mind. So whatever you think will come about, and if you are thinking of it as a separate place, unconnected with you, then you will believe the Astral is so and so. Then you get groups of people subscribing to the same beliefs all going to the “astral” and they all have similar experiences. So then, you get the group consensus coming into play. They all believe it all the more because they all have similar experiences. But they all hold similar beliefs! Remember the golden rule: thought follows belief. Not the other way around. So, within Focus 2, their thoughts come to life, but those thoughts are based on their beliefs and all they are viewing are the objective manifestations of their group consensus beliefs within Focus 2. So then one group of one set of beliefs have one set of experiences, and announces that their beliefs are the “truth”. But other groups with other beliefs are saying the same thing... because everyone is dwelling within their own individual area of mind. Everyone is seeing their own “truth” being manifest and everyone is thinking they are travelling to some separate place. But all they are doing is dwelling within Focus 2. And that‟s how humankind has been for thousands of years! That‟s why people like Monroe were pioneers in this field. I think people just don‟t realise just how profound Monroe‟s work has been in furthering the knowledge of the wider reality. His linear-focus model virtually eliminates Focus 2 of consciousness. Instead, it directs the user towards Focus 3 of consciousness. Thus neatly bypassing the highly negative sense of mystical misunderstanding that has haunted this planet for thousands of years. Yours, Frank 416 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Astral Entities on: May 07, 2005, 00:19:58 Yes, this is correct. I often become so immersed in this area of consciousness that I totally forget I am projecting as opposed to being resident there. The place is just so physical-like it's unreal at times. Yours, Frank 415 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Drugs on: May 07, 2005, 03:23:24 Doug: Yes, I am aware of Ginny‟s recount and I‟m not at variance. Focus 3 is very physical-like as it is an area of common consensus reality, as opposed to Focus 2, which is an area of individual creation. But in all these areas, the reality exists whether you are focused there or not. The only difference is the nature of the subjective energy interactions. Ultimately, it‟s a question of what you are moving through. Each of us moves through our own individual continuum of consciousness from Focus 1 to Focus 4. Or more rather Focus 4 to Focus 1 (as Focus 1 is the end result). This is our focus stream of attention. We can move “up and down” this continuum of consciousness and view the events that we offer ourselves. But all the while, we are moving within our own mind. We may subjectively interact with another focus that we objectively view as another person, or we may subjectively interact with a pool of energy that has been deposited that we objectively view as a building. But all the while we are situated within our own continuum of consciousness. We are never “independent” of our own mind. All that changes is the nature of the subjective energy interaction. The individual continuum(s) of consciousness that related to the person/people who constructed the buildings of which you speak, still exist. The continuum still holds the energy deposits, and it is that which the people were subjectively interacting with, that they objectively viewed as buildings. What it all boils down to, is what we perceive as objective reality is, in fact, a translation of the underlying subjective energy expression. In the physical, we may sit on the toilet, drive a car, or go down the pub with the lads, but we are still within our own body. All that changes is the nature of the interaction. Problem is, people get a bit “body” fixated and fail to realise that a body is merely an objective representation of the accumulation of a particular set of expectations regarding the enactment of certain types of actions within particular areas of consciousness. It holds no other purpose. Ultimately, we are not a body but a focus personality moving along a particular stream of attention within the wider reality. Someone made a point against me the other day, saying, how can it possibly be subjective reality when you can view it objectively? Unfortunately, this is the equivalent of watching the sun and concluding the sun revolves around the earth. It‟s obvious the sun revolves around the earth, I can see it does therefore it must. Well, science makes its living cutting great swathes through stuff like that. Objectivity, in fact, is a translation of the underlying subjective energy expression. I stop short of saying that objective reality is an illusion, because it is very real. Anyone who thinks objective reality is an illusion should teach themselves better by walking into the nearest lamppost. But objective reality does not exist as an independent entity. It is a translation of the underlying subjective energy. Without that underlying subjective energy, objective reality would just black out. It would be the equivalent of pulling the plug on a piece of electrical equipment. Everything physical would just disintegrate into individual atoms and then individual atoms themselves would disintegrate into progressively smaller particles (including us). This would hold true within Focus 3 also, even though structures within Focus 3 are not made of atoms, but of what are commonly called “finer” states of matter. Reading this people may perhaps be wondering where all this subjective energy comes from... it comes from Focus 4 of consciousness. Focus 4 is the subjective energy source that “fuels” our whole sense of objective reality. Yours, Frank 414 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Drugs on: May 07, 2005, 03:25:47 Ben: This is possible, though I have never done it myself, but in theory it is possible and telepathy is an interaction within F2. Yours, Frank NOTE: I edited this post as I initially said F1 in error, I meant F2. 413 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / possibility of physical immortality on: May 07, 2005, 03:44:56 Hi: Death is the last great taboo. I think when people begin to realise the truth of the wider reality they will progressively learn to accept the process more and more. Then perhaps they won't be quite so fearful in their physical lives, and then they'll live longer as a result. Yours, Frank 411 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I leave FoC 2? on: May 07, 2005, 05:57:15 Hi: I like posts like this because I've never read Bruce's latest book, but his work runs along similar lines and he is describing similar techniques. This gives people a handy confirmation of the fact that we are dealing with reality here, and not make believe. You went the wrong way! From Focus 1 you can only go one way. Focus 1 is an end result so you can only back up from there. But at Focus 2 you have the choice of Focus 3 or Focus 1 (and F4, of course, but let‟s put that area aside for now). I guess you sort-of took the most natural route. The physical captures our focus quite considerably. Many times it grabs me and it's a devil of a job to focus away from it. But it's really weird because if I find myself within the RTZ, which is actually the physical, I find it incredibly difficult to stay there as I'll almost immediately transition directly to F3. Sometimes I'll make the switch to F2 and transition accidentally back to the RTZ and then almost immediately transition to F3. It's kind of a roundabout way of doing it, but that's the way it is sometimes. I think once you get more used to making these transitions then you‟ll be able to recover a projection that doesn‟t quite go to plan. It‟s a question of being able to quickly gauge precisely where you are in the general scheme of things. The moment you start getting confused and wondering where you are, then there seems to be an automatic mechanism that just zaps you back to physical. And if you happen to go wrong and end up in the physical, and then start wondering where you are, then it‟s like you stand little chance of getting out of it. It‟s just one of those things where practice makes perfect. I can do it fairly easily but I‟ve done it loads of times and can always recognise where I am no problem. After a while you just get the feel of the places. But I know when I was first working on this it was very hit and miss. Yours, Frank 410 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I leave FoC 2? on: May 07, 2005, 18:36:50 Tombo: That's excellent, you got the slat effect and made the transition to Fz. Note: Fz is the new label for the 3D Blackness. That's the first time anyone has been able to report that. I'm really getting confident now that in a few years we'll all be meeting up within Focus 3. I was wondering if the reason why you lost the thread of it was because you got a bit too excited? Any kind of excitement tends to zap you back to physical. You can get a little excited, that's only normal, but the key word is little. But congratulations, that's excellent. Yours, Frank 409 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I leave FoC 2? on: May 21, 2005, 21:48:46 Hi: I figured that if the slats appear for me then in theory they should appear for anyone. I have no particular talent for this kind of thing. I wasn‟t born with any kind of “gift” or anything. I guess where I am different is I just keep plugging away until I get whatever it is to work. I think what happened in your case is you were about to make the transition to Fz and then you lost focus and slipped back to F2. With people there tends to be a “protection mechanism” that prevents them from making wild steps into the unknown, as it were. It doesn‟t bother me much now as my protective sense of awareness has long since got used to my escapades. But take baby steps in the beginning. It always seems that the slower you tread the faster you make progress. Which sounds a bit topsy turvy but non-physical exploration is very like that. The other thing to realise is you don‟t actually have to walk or “travel” anywhere. You can simply stay in the same position and shift your perception. In other words, rather than you walk to it, simply have “it” come to you. It‟s much more controlled to do it that way. Once people start moving about that‟s when they tend to lose control of it. They start flying around here and there and have a whacky experience that perhaps they enjoyed immensely. But you are not going to make any real progress that way. The whole idea of “travel” is a mystical belief construct that came about from the early explorers making the assumption that they were travelling to some separate place from themselves. But what you are actually doing is shifting your perception within your own mind, or your own continuum of consciousness. Yours, Frank 405 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Is it possible... on: May 22, 2005, 05:41:26 Hi: It sounds like you are offering yourself a typical F1/F2 overlay experience. This is where your primary focus is Focus 1, i.e. the physical, but over that you superimpose images from your areas of individual consciousness that is Focus 2 (of the Phasing model of consciousness). A lot of artists do this naturally. They can overlay the image they want to draw, paint, model (or whatever) onto the blank paper, canvas or whatever it is they are modelling with. So to them they are just duplicating physically what they can already see as an F2 overlay. Yours, Frank 403 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Researching OBE/Astral Projection on: May 22, 2005, 18:25:46 Hi: I don't know how you can research any of it without actually doing it. The way I teach is not that hard. It doesn't require any particular beliefs. In fact beliefs just get in the way mostly and I think that‟s what scuppers a lot of people. So much so I'd even suggest you drop your beliefs of "astral" projection and merely learn to switch your focus of attention from the physical to Focus 2 of consciousness, and go from there. I first got into this from by chance coming across Monroe‟s Journeys OotB some 22 years ago. After reading it a couple of times I figured the guy was either insane, or he had come across something important. I had no religious beliefs at all. I thought religion was just a load of bunkum, just an excuse to wage war with each other, and had never come across anything like it before. I hadn‟t got a “new age bone” in my body, and still don‟t have. But just happened to see the book and thought the cover looked interesting. On sheer impulse I bought it. Like I say, I thought the guy was either insane or he had cottoned onto something important. I wasn‟t sure which conclusion was the most apt so I gave his technique a try. Much to my surprise I began getting some definite effects and the rest, as they say, is history. So you could say that on the one hand I was not a believer, as such. But on the other hand I was not dismissing it entirely. I was merely curious as to which of my conclusions was the most apt. I had no particular favour for either one. Okay, it was surprising that I received some definite effects. But this was more light-hearted surprise as opposed to a surprise founded on a definite bias to the contrary. Because knowing what I know now, I think that if I had begun from the standpoint of being biased towards Monroe being insane, this would have precluded me from having the experiences that I did. My saying that is pure conjecture, of course. But it does appear the case that a person‟s ability to perceive is directly proportional to their willingness to believe. So if you are simply not willing to believe it, then you close off any channel of communication. Here we get a steady throughput of sceptics who have locked themselves in this kind of mode. No matter what the evidence to the contrary, they are simply not willing to believe it, so none of it they shall experience, simple as that. But you have to be very careful when treading to the contrary. If you are willing to believe the “astral” is populated by all manner of “angels” and “gods” and whatever, if that is what you are willing to believe then all manner of angels and gods you shall perceive. Likewise with “devils and demons” too. And this is unfortunately what scuppers many of the mystics and their followers alike. So somehow you have to tread that fine line. You have to be open to it, so you don‟t close yourself off from having these experiences. But don‟t be willing to believe to the point of gullibility. In a way it‟s like the physical. If you never trust anyone, not one iota, not ever. Then you would have a very strange and difficult life. We have to trust people to a degree. So if I were in a strange town and politely asked a stranger for directions to the nearest bank for the £10,000 cash deposit I needed to make, then it would be reasonable to trust that person to direct me in a genuine fashion. But to hand them the money and a credit slip, and ask them to pay it in for me, on account of the fact that I had to rush off somewhere, would be the height of folly. So the same principle applies in your willingness to believe. That is why I follow a more scientific line of enquiry. This has stood me in good stead in my attempts to find out what actually IS, as opposed to merely revelling in my own belief constructs ABOUT what is. Hence the notion of astral travel or astral projection is a mystical belief construct with layer upon layer of all manner of (often) weird and whacky notions attached. But what I always suggest for people to do is drop all that, and simply learn how to switch your focus of attention from Focus 1 to Focus 2. Nothing more than that. Just practice that simple transition. Once you get in the habit of being able to do that, you can then use Focus 2 of consciousness as a launch-pad to doing whatever else it is you want to do. I can teach you how to transition to other areas from Focus 2. For example, you will find it a *lot* easier transitioning into what is often called a real-time- zone projection from Focus 2, than Focus 1. Many people plug away trying to do this from the physical. But transitioning to Focus 2 *first* and then transitioning back to the physical into the “real time zone” may sound a bit of a roundabout way of doing it. But I say it‟s a lot easier, overall. But why bother messing about in the physical? After all, we live in the physical normally and the novelty of walking through walls and floating on the ceiling, if my experience is any yardstick, is it simply gets boring. Far better to transition to Focus 3. This is where people shift their Primary Focus to when they “die” physically. What we objectively view as death is, in fact, the action of a person permanently disengaging their Primary Focus from Focus 1 of consciousness to Focus 3. You can shift your focus of attention to the upper branches of Focus 3 and chat to these people. Many times I have received information from people about their lives and have managed to check its authenticity from searching the Internet. So if you are into research then Focus 3 is where you want to be. You will have a fun time researching there. Yours, Frank 402 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Success with Phasing on: May 22, 2005, 21:27:20 Sarah: An excellent experience that highlights a number of important issues. Firstly, you say that you didn‟t think it could be so easy. Perhaps easy is not quite the word I should be using in my narrative, maybe “straightforward” would be more apt for the point I wish to make. Obviously it is going to be easier for some people more than others. But that doesn‟t change the straightforwardness of the whole thing. For a while now I have steadfastly maintained that this whole issue has been unnecessarily complicated by layer upon layer of mystical crud that has infected this topic to the extent where there is no longer any cure. To me it‟s like a rampaging cancer where the only option left is to simply cut the whole thing out in order to try and get rid of it. When you do that, and you learn the basic structure of the wider reality, about how each person truly relates to that wider reality… everything becomes MUCH more straightforward! The other important point your post exemplifies is the fact that the best mental rundown to make the switch from Focus 1 to Focus 2 of consciousness is simply the rundown that is the best for you. One of the most popular questions I get is, “Frank, what‟s the best rundown to use?” Problem is, all the empirical evidence I have to date would strongly indicate that there is no universal “best”. There are, however, certain factors that stand out as being more beneficial than others. I can say that what you need is something fairly simple and repetitive but interesting at the same time. If it‟s too repetitive then you‟ll get bored and either give up, or fall asleep. But make it too complicated and you‟ll lose the thread of it all. You need to engage your senses to as high a degree as possible, but make it personal and direct. Someone said the other week about engaging their hearing by imagining a bird singing in the distance. Well, that‟s a start but it‟s not really all that engaging. Why not play a drum? That way you get a sense of feeling, sound and sight… and it‟s direct. All you need now is to chew some gum while you are doing it to get even your sense of taste involved and hey presto, you‟ll be making the switch before you know it. Bouncing on a trampoline is ideal. Perhaps not everyone‟s thing but it‟s very engaging all the same. In other words it‟s a fun thing to do, it‟s a full on, in your face kind of activity and it directly engages the senses. The other point I wished to stress I‟ve just touched on in the paragraph above, which is the FUN aspect. I don‟t know what it is about all these mystical and other religious notions. To me it‟s almost like anyone wanting to take a more traditional course has to first have a total humour bypass in order to qualify. Your rundown should be directly engaging and it also should be FUN. Not frivolous, and I want to stress this: we are not engaging in some frivolous act. But it should be fun, all the same. But again I am doubly stressing because I don‟t want anyone getting the idea that we don‟t take any of this seriously. I, for one, take this topic very seriously. It has been a part of my life for over 20 years, so I take it seriously alright, but I also have fun while I‟m doing it. The other point you exemplify is the way people are typically jolted out of the state the moment they step into it. Often it is the case that you get jolted out of it so fast that you only really realise that you had made the transition to Focus 2 after you get jolted back to Focus 1. You are left lying there thinking back to a moment ago, realising you had stepped into your rundown and got zapped out of it. Normally the excitement of realising you made the switch prevents you from making any further attempts that session. After a while of practice (actual time varies from person to person) you become comfortable with the process to the extent where you no longer get zapped out of it. Once you are comfortable in making the switch to Focus 2, then the next step is to learn how to transition to Focus 3 as that‟s where all the “fun stuff” is. The transition to Focus 3 is not all that difficult. But like the transition to Focus 2, it just takes a little practice. Overall, it is not the actual doing that is difficult and your post is a perfect example of that even considering you are not exactly a complete beginner. I thing the most difficult aspect of this whole thing has been coming to the realisation of what the wider reality actually entails, rather than trying to sift through all the varying beliefs about what the wider reality entails. Once you realise the structure and that there is a Focus 2, a Focus 3 and a Focus 4, and what you have to do in order to Phase to these areas (though everyone please let‟s put aside F4 for a while as it‟s mighty complex, we‟ll stick to F2 and F3 for now) then the actual doing isn‟t all that difficult. Again, strip away all the mystical beliefs that have clouded the simplicity of it all and people will be Phasing for fun in no time. Well, that‟s what I sincerely hope. Yours, Frank 400 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Does Phasing consume energy ? on: May 23, 2005, 01:33:08 Hi: Welcome to the forum and if I may say I think yours is one of the most impressive first posts I have seen anyone make to this forum. I like to fire off the old energy centres now and again, especially the “heart” centre, just for the weird and whacky feelings it gives. I have noticed that when I try projecting in a more conventional sense I get a specific kind of interaction between my purple and yellow EC‟s, which I was referring to in the post you quoted. But this is only when I try projecting directly from the physical into what mystics call the real-time zone. With my Phasing work I don‟t get that specific interaction at all. Sometimes I can feel a kind of buzzing and crackling in the background, often static electricity types of crackling and sizzling, which I guess is one or two energy centres working away but it‟s all very much in the background of my awareness. You can use Fz as a launch-pad to other areas in consciousness. The fact that you can attain the Fz state is a major hurdle overcome in itself. I really wouldn‟t worry about whatever EC‟s happen to be buzzing away. Once you reach Fz, you can place the Intent (i.e. a concentrated thought) on what you want to do next. When you are at Fz you are, in a manner of speaking, at the “border” between F2 and F3 of the Phasing Model of consciousness. If you want to slip into the RTZ then you‟ll have to take a step “back” a tad as the RTZ is right on the “edge” of the physical, i.e. sort of between F1 and F2 of consciousness. So in a sense you have gone too far. I don‟t know what “astral voyage” is. I‟m not sure what people are going on about saying so and so is “extremely dangerous”. But I guess it‟s just a case of people parroting one another to the point of panic. If people truly realised just how straightforward this whole thing is, okay, I step short of saying it is easy… easy it isn‟t, but it‟s not all that difficult either. But if people realised just how straightforward this whole thing is, then they wouldn‟t be so fearful. I think mystics and “gurus” have a vested interest in continuing the hysteria a lot of people feel, as it keeps people clamouring around gurus looking for guidance and “protection”. But to me, I feel that a lot of what passes for Psychic Self-Defence is mere borderline paranoia, spread by people who have little real experience of the wider reality. The term “obe” relates more to the traditional belief constructs of astral projection. Whereas Phasing is a term that directly relates to my Phasing Model of consciousness. There is no role of “energy gathering” in Phasing. Any kind of “energy work” just doesn‟t come into to it. Phasing, in a sense, you could say is a more modern technology that just bypasses the need for any kind of energy work. In the old days people would subscribe to what I call the split and separate means of projection. They thought of an “energy body” as a kind of capacitor that needed charging in order to bring it to life, as it were, so it could separate from your physical body and part of your mind would split and go into this energy body. Hence my term split-and-separate. And this energy body was a kind of vehicle that you would use in order to roam around the real-time zone. In order to charge this body, you had to in some way “raise energy”. If you failed in your attempt then it was because you hadn‟t raised enough energy to cause it to separate. So you had all these techniques you had to perform that were said to help in raising enough energy to charge your energy body. You can go down that traditional route if you want. As an application model it was okay in its day, I suppose, but now it‟s all a bit clunky. Sort of like using a late 80‟s 286 PC. It‟ll still kinda do what you want it to do, but it‟s slow and clunky. The projection technology we have today does away with the energy raising idea. Monroe was the forerunner with his linear focus model. His later work was just brilliant. He was the first person, to my knowledge, who realised that these areas we project to are not places, but are actually focuses of attention. This was a BIG breakthrough. I have basically followed in his footsteps over the years and eventually created a new model that incorporates a number of issues Monroe chose not to incorporate in his model. Plus, I have clarified and added a lot that just doesn‟t come out in Monroe‟s 2 later books. He put a lot of clues in those books but you need quite a bit of experience already to follow what he is going on about. Ultimately, it‟s up to you which route you take. But if you are already focusing within Fz fairly easily then why not plumb for a transition to Focus 3? Far more interesting an area, IMO, than the old real-time zone. Yours, Frank 398 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Trying to explain to mystic minded on: May 23, 2005, 06:47:47 Hi: Nope, not edited at all. In case you missed it we had a problem last week and had to restore the whole forum from the last full backup. So we lost about 1000 posts. See Adrian's notice in Chat: http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18948 Yours, Frank 397 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Questions about phasing on: May 24, 2005, 19:56:52 Hi: The mind should not be clear of thoughts. I‟m not sure where people get this idea. It‟s probably through some kind of meditation something or other. You need to create a mental rundown in order to make “the switch”. Reason being, your imagination is held within Focus 2 of consciousness. This is the area where most people dream, or act out some other construct such as “astral projection”, and a whole load of things besides. They all tend to be actions that take place within Focus 2 of consciousness. The approach I suggest uses Focus 2 of consciousness as a kind of “launch pad” to take you to other areas of consciousness. In particular Focus 3. This is where the fun stuff takes place. Anyone wanting “proof” about “life after death” and such like needs to project to Focus 3 of consciousness. You can project direct to Focus 3 of consciousness but beginners have to begin somewhere and I believe it is far easier and far more understandable for beginners to comprehend the transition to Focus 2 first. Then use this as a launch pad to Focus 3. So it doesn‟t just help to use a technique like Sarah described, the whole transition is formed on the basis of it. Otherwise how are you going to make the transition? You can try “coming awake” within a dream and then attempt to Phase-shift to Focus 3 of consciousness, but this is unreliable due to the fact that no matter how hard you try, most people simply cannot quite “come awake” to the extent necessary to make a controlled transition. So what we do, in effect, is create a highly controlled and highly conscious “dream” if you like. Where you find yourself stepping into your “dream”. But you do that fully conscious and fully knowing exactly what it is you are doing. This puts you right in the middle of Focus 2 of consciousness. Here you have two choices: 1) you can go and fly around, and revel in your belief constructs about whatever it is takes your fancy. Have an astral projection experience, or experience any other belief construct you happen to subscribe to… or… 2) you can transition to another area in your consciousness continuum. If you want to step outside of the typical traditional mystical experience, then you need to transition to Focus 3. This is the essential difference between what Monroe was typically experiencing in his later work, versus the people who subscribe to the more traditionalist views. If you are having thoughts that turn into dreams then you are not creating an absorbing enough rundown for yourself. Or you are trying when you are too tired and ready for sleep, or a combination of the two. If you get bored in your rundown then simply make it more interesting for yourself. Yours, Frank 396 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing, noticing and hypnogogic on: May 25, 2005, 01:45:34 Hi: This is a good question. The Noticing exercise is for complete beginners. It gets people used to simply looking within themselves. If you got the first issue of my newsletter then you will have read about how I made this particular point that everything you want to do, Phasing or otherwise, is all WITHIN you. Some people have been so used to in some way “exteriorising” their awareness trying to “obe” in a conventional sense they simply cannot get to grips with the creating of a mental rundown thing. They need a little practice first just learning how to look within themselves. So that‟s when I recommend the Noticing exercise. At first, people close their eyes and all they see is blackness. Unfortunately, this can put people off thinking they are never going to do it. When I close my eyes all I see is blackness at first. But if people learn to actually notice what is taking place they may see that one area of black is not quite so black as the rest. Then they may kind of sense something. Then there might be a little fleeting something or other that just passed by. Perhaps a swirl of colour, maybe you just heard a sound, or think you heard a sound but it‟s confusing because you didn‟t hear it with your ears. Perhaps you just heard your name. Then maybe there was a flash, or was there? Now there‟s that sound again. And there‟s this swirling purple colour with a hint of yellow and red in the middle. Now someone‟s singing something… at which point people tend to get overwhelmed thinking, “Hey, I‟m doing it! I‟m doing it!” Then they get zapped right out of the state, all excited realising that it‟s working for them. Eventually, people get to the stage where they see what is commonly called “hypnogogic imagery” (this is the Monroe Focus 12 state). Many people ask me, “What do I see?” Well, at first all I see is blackness. But as my eyes and face start to relax I see a light in my mind. It is in an upwards direction, almost straight up but cranked back a bit. It‟s not a pinpoint light like a torch, it is more like an area of light, like a light-grey/white cloudy area. I focus my attention on this cloudy area and after about 10 or 15 minutes it‟s like the cloud descends on me and I‟m surrounded by this grey/white cloud. At this point I‟m almost at the stage where I have made the switch. Once I make the switch, the whiteness generally changes to swirling clouds of colour. Then there is a feeling of forwards movement for a second or two, at which point I emerge into the 3D-Blackness at the Monroe Focus 21 state (or Fz of the Phasing Model). I rarely have to do any kind of mental rundown from the physical, as I have now found that “point” in my mind where my “connection” is. So now all I need to do is look to that. If I want to transition to Focus 2 then I will think of going through a mental rundown at Fz and I‟ll immediately transition to Focus 2. I do not recommend anyone attempt making this direct transition, unless they find they happen to have a knack for it. I‟m not sure how much of a general yardstick my experience is. But I only started to find this “connection” after going through the creating of a mental rundown stage for at least a couple of years. It‟s difficult to say exactly because now I look back and realise that I was sort of half-and-half for ages before I realised about this “connection”. What I‟m saying is it didn‟t just suddenly come about one day and I thought, ah, I will do it this way from now on. It was a gradual realisation thing. Anyhow, once a person has gotten to the stage where they are used to looking within themselves, it‟s time to make the switch to Focus 2. So then you create a mental rundown of your choosing, engage your senses and step into it. Doing this puts you slap bang in the middle of Focus 2 of consciousness. Yours, Frank 395 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Success with Phasing on: May 25, 2005, 02:46:05 Sarah: Another great point that you exemplify. It‟s where I mentioned in my previous post, “If it‟s too repetitive then you‟ll get bored and either give up, or fall asleep. But make it too complicated and you’ll lose the thread of it all.” Your experience is typical of what happens when you make it too complicated for yourself. There is just too much to hold in mind and you lose the thread of it. Yours, Frank 394 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Success with Phasing on: May 25, 2005, 02:46:28 This sounds just what I‟ve been looking for a realistic approach to experiencing other states of consciousness. Franks phasing method is simple and easy to apply with a bit of fun thrown in as well. Hi: What I have tried to do is simplify the whole thing to get people rolling and experiencing what it is like consciously entering another focus of attention along your consciousness continuum. Personally, I stop short of saying it is easy. I prefer the term straightforward. Because that‟s what I have tried to do, make it as straightforward as possible, so people can understand it. There is MUCH that I leave out that would only complicate things for beginners. For example, I put aside Focus 4 of consciousness more or less completely. If my experience is anything to go by, Focus 4 of consciousness is complex, mind blowing, totally freaky and at the same time can be highly amusing. Experiencing my whole physical life as a concept was one of the most profound experiences I have ever had and changed my whole outlook on life literally overnight. So it‟s not for the unwary. You need to get a little experience under your belt first. Within Focus 4 you can experience anything you like as a concept. You don‟t experience it objectively, you actually become the concept. So you can actually become a musical note, or a colour. You can experience what it is like to be the colour blue, for example. One of the funniest experiences I‟ve had is becoming the word “because”. I could go on but it get‟s just too way out to explain with words. I doubt these experiences can be explained with words as we have no objective references to these kinds of highly subjective events. Major Tom touched on this recently when he was saying about how, in years to come, we‟ll have new words that specifically describe these experiences and we‟ll all know what we mean. And I‟m sure that‟s how it will turn out. The easiest transition to make is from Focus 1 to Focus 2 of consciousness. This is mainly because we communicate with Focus 2 of consciousness virtually continually without realising it. Our imagination and memory, for example, is located within Focus 2. So anytime you imagine or remember something you are accessing Focus 2 of consciousness. Our imagination is actually the very source of all that we create within the physical. Simply put, if you cannot imagine it then you cannot create it. It is no coincidence that successful people also tend to be highly creative individuals. If anyone wants to start changing their life then they have to start imagining differently to what they are doing now. To me, it‟s like teaching someone to drive. I could go in all day about the intricacies surrounding the engine. Electronics and mechanics I know a lot about and I could harp on all day about the technicalities of the engine, the gearbox and the myriad of control systems. But that doesn‟t actually teach people how to drive. To do that what we need to do is sit the person in the driving seat, teach them how to switch it on, get it in gear, and start rolling forwards. It doesn‟t matter what all the switches are for, or what‟s under the bonnet, we just need to get rolling and we‟ll take it all step by step. And that‟s how I view projection. I need to get people consciously switching their attention to Focus 2. That‟s what gets you rolling. Later on, if you want to do a bit of “energy work” for example, you‟ll find it a lot easier and more effective if you do it as an F2/F1 overlay experience within Focus 2 of consciousness. Anything you experience within Focus 1 you can also experience within Focus 2, only the effects are much more magnified within Focus 2. This can work against you if you subscribe to all the “neg” stuff. But for people following the Phasing Model we bypass all that fear-based stuff anyway, as all that tends to come about from the notion of “separation”. With Phasing, it feels exactly like you were in your physical body only your environment changed. In other words, no scary sleep paralysis, vibrations or separation to scare you out of your wits. Yours, Frank 392 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Recommended length of time for using Gateway on: May 25, 2005, 03:42:05 Hi: I only ever used Wave 1 as I found that did all I needed at the time. My main difficulty in achieving a controlled, conscious-exit projection was achieving the Focus 12 state. Once I'd reached this state then everything would roll more or less by itself from there. I would say that Focus 10 and Focus 12 of the Monroe model are the essential pre-requisite states. In my opinion the rest of the series are a bit of a commercial exercise. If you can achieve a definite Focus 12 then you should be able to reach Focus 21 with little difficulty. From there the non-physical world's your oyster, so to speak. Any kind of CD going off in your ears wouldn't make any difference as you wouldn't be physical to hear it. Unless you switched to an overlay experience but what's the point? Then you'd be listening to a CD so called taking you to a place you'd be at already. So if I were you I'd concentrate more on the beginning CDs and try to reach a definite Focus 12 and you should find the experience takes on a life of its own. Yours, Frank 390 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing...Getting really confused here on: May 26, 2005, 00:55:38 Hi: One of the problems with making posts to a forum is replies tend to get fragmented and people start losing the thread of the process. This is why, I‟m sure, people have been calling on me for a while to write a book, and why I too have wanted to: because it presents the whole approach in a seamless fashion. Everyone is different, but we have events in common. Now, if you create a rundown of sufficient character for yourself you will be able to step into it. But just because trampolining works for one doesn‟t mean to say it will work for another. That‟s the big problem with the climbing the Rope idea that was first presented by Sylvan Muldoon reiterated later by Robert Bruce. As a mental rundown, it‟s a great idea and it happens to work well for some people. But ever so many people have reported problems with it. This is unfortunately what happens when you adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. So as I‟ve said a number of times, you need to adopt a mental rundown that has all the qualities of engaging the senses, but not something so simple you get bored and not something so complex you lose the thread of it. Once you hit on it just right, that‟s when you‟ll step into it. But having said that, you don‟t actually have to step into your rundown absolutely perfectly. We need to take a little step back here and ask ourselves why are we creating this rundown in the first place? Reason being we are wanting to help ourselves make “the switch” from Focus 1 to Focus 2 of consciousness. The mental rundown we create is simply to aid us in doing that. But the stepping into our mental rundown is not the end point of the exercise. It is merely an aid to the transition between Focus 1 and Focus 2 of consciousness. After a while you should be able to find your internal “connection” I mentioned on another thread yesterday. Think of the rundown as using stabilisers on a bicycle or using some kind of buoyancy aid while learning to swim. The ultimate aim is to be able to ride or swim without the aids. Well, our ultimate aim is to be able to simply relax and look for that place in our minds and make the switch. I would say you are actually making good progress considering you have only been practicing 2 weeks. You are already at the stage where you are making your connection with your wider self. You say you got some really strong images and moving scenes. Well, that‟s it, you are making that connection. I‟ve said many times there is no real difference between a dream, a lucid dream, or a typical astral projection style of experience. All these events typically take place within Focus 2 of consciousness. All that changes is your perception and the expectations of your experience. Again, what we are attempting to do in the creation of our rundown is to formulate a highly controlled lucid dream. Only a lucid dream where we are absolutely awake and alert at all stages in the process. If you catch yourself dreaming you will typically become lucid. Someone may ask then what is the difference between having a highly lucid dream and stepping into a mental rundown? And the answer is, essentially nothing. The problem, however, is dreaming is a slightly different action that takes place within the same area of consciousness, Focus 2, but it is not exactly the same action. You will find that in the case of a lucid dream, you will have rather a lot of difficulty becoming conscious enough to the extent necessary to make a reliable switch to Focus 3. You will no doubt have a great experience. Revelling within your own mind, flying here and there. But typically coming awake within a dream is not the way forward. If it were, everyone would be doing it already as having a lucid dream is one of the most popular Focus 2 experiences. You need to enter Focus 2 absolutely consciously for this to work reliably. So we create the mental rundown while being awake and alert within the physical but with the physical body totally relaxed and out of the picture. This is the Monroe MABA state or Focus 10. There is no direct correlation between the Monroe focus numbers and Focus 2 of the Phasing Model. This is one of the two main reasons why I changed to using the Phasing Model. Focus 2 of the Phasing Model I would describe as a wider Monroe Focus 12. Once a person starts getting into this, they will realise that following the Monroe Model you more or less skip Focus 2 entirely. The Monroe focus 12 leads through focus 15 onto focus 21, which is the 3D Blackness stage. Here you are at the “junction” let‟s say between your own individual areas of mind (Focus 2 of the Phasing Model) and the Transition Area, which is Focus 3 of the Phasing Model or Monroe‟s focuses 23, 24, 25, 26 & 27. Or the equivalent of what Bruce Moen followers call The Afterlife area. This does beg the question if our own goal is to switch to Focus 3 and the Monroe model leads more or less directly to Focus 3… then why not simply use the Monroe model? You can, there is nothing stopping you. However, as I‟ve said a number of times, making that direct transition to Focus 3 is tricky. I always maintain that it is far easier for people to first make the switch from Focus 1 to Focus 2 and then decide what they want to do. Energy work is far easier within Focus 2, for example, you only have to think about firing off some energy centre and it starts buzzing away merrily. Just this morning, for example, I was floating around in Focus 2 just firing off energy centres and having them buzz merrily away, while giving myself ideas about a section I am writing in my book. As I was saying on a post yesterday, we access Focus 2 from the physical all the time. Our memory and our imagination is contained there. So anytime you remember something or imagine something you are accessing Focus 2 of consciousness. This is why it is the easiest transition to make. And we also make this transition upon sleep, of course, although sleep is again a different action in consciousness. But it is primarily an activity that involves Focus 2 of consciousness. Now, bearing all that in mind, you say that you were about to give up for the evening and you got a series of really strong images and moving scenes. One was of you inside a train carriage and looking out at some mountain range. Then you say you were not sure if this was the beginning of a lucid dream, or maybe a Focus 2 experience… There is essentially no difference. If you were still aware of being in the physical at the time of having these images then you were experiencing an F1/F2 overlay experience where you offer yourself an objective knowing of two different areas of consciousness at the same time. Typically, a person will be lying or sitting physical-body relaxed in the physical. They will still be aware of being in the physical to an extent, like, they haven‟t fully stepped into their mind, but they will be having some kind of visions in their mind. This is a typical F1/F? overlay experience where if you are seeing products of your own imagination it will be F1/F2. Or, typically, the people we call “mediums” will have an F1/F3 overlay experience, because these people (assuming they are genuine, of course) communicate to people in what is generally known as the Afterlife area. This is what Bruce Moen teaches, for example. His Focused Attention method is essentially a method of teaching people how to have an F1/F3 overlay experience. But the way I do things is slightly different in that I teach you to actually step into F3 and have a walk around. This is a darned sight trickier but far more rewarding an experience, in my view. I‟m not saying that to in any way denigrate Bruce Moen‟s work because his work is very genuine. He himself states quite categorically that the actual stepping into these areas is rather tricky, so he teaches people the easier option, if you like, which can be very rewarding. But there is nothing like fully stepping into the area. So because it‟s rather trickier, we have to take a slightly different approach. That‟s why we first practice stepping into Focus 2 and we don‟t consider anything else until we can step into Focus 2 and then transition to Fz. This is what we call our base state and the ability to project to Fz reliably is the first main milestone in the Phasing process. In your case, you may find that the creation of a mental rundown stimulates an F1/F2 overlay experience. So the next step is to let the experience ride, enjoy it, and then learn to step into it. Simply concentrate on it and imagine stepping into it. This is again how having a basic map of the structure of consciousness helps in knowing what is happening to you. One of my goals in publishing the book is a person having read it will be able to have any experience, or combination of experiences, and they will be able to pick out exactly what is happening to them. In other words, even though they may not be able to fully control the experience (yet) at least they will know where they are at in their consciousness continuum. Which makes the whole thing a darned sight less confusing. You question about how the Noticing exercise fits into the process I answered yesterday here: http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19023 Yours, Frank 389 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / A scarily strange state of mind on: May 26, 2005, 02:00:13 Hi: From what you say it's a fairly typical highly lucid dream experience that took place within Focus 2 of consciousness. What you are viewing objectively is not an actual circumstance as such, but is an objective translation of the underlying subjective events. Many people have dreams about war, or other such upsets. This is representative of the underlying conflicts caused when we create aspects of ourselves that could be said to be in opposition with each other. This is typically objectively manifest when a person is caught in a circumstance where one aspect of them is saying to take one route in life, and another aspect is saying to take another, and they would appear to be in opposing (or near opposing) directions. So we find it safer to tackle these issues within what we call the dream state. In this state we experiment and indulge in all manner of scenarios. It‟s a state where we can do basically whatever we like and “get away with it” as it were. So we often use it as a kind of release for all manner of things depending on the character of the person in question. This is how people have come to figure out that their dreams might actually mean something. They do, but in my view people take it too far when they publish books that claim if you dream about, say, water, then that means X, or if you dream about the colour red, then that means Y. Because in reality there is no such universal translation that can be applied. Dreams are a highly subjective experience and, as such, are as individual as fingerprints. In the dream state, we allow ourselves an awareness of the subjective and the objective (in terms of states) and we let them flow freely and intertwine in harmony. In this state we allow ourselves an interaction that we would not normally engage within Focus 1, the physical. And it is an interaction that is free of all linear-time constraints. We can experiment and indulge in all manner of creative options, for example, an artist may create a piece of work in Focus 2, take a look at it, make all manner of adjustments and changes, and then bring that work into objective reality. In interacting with the subjective aspects of ourselves, we often create a series of objective images in order to produce a reference framework for our understanding. So while this imagery is presented to us as a reality, it is also symbolism at the same time. Plus, it is a very unique symbolism that is presented in a language that only the individual can understand, and maybe one or two other individuals, relatively speaking, who are genuinely psychic and have the ability to translate a person‟s inner-sense activity from the imagery in question. This is why many of us have experienced a situation where we remember a dream, or some element of it, and then at some stage in waking life, could be an hour later or even a month or two, some physical situation will come about and the instance it does we will remember the element of a particular dream. Yours, Frank 385 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Questions for Frank (Then and Now) on: May 26, 2005, 05:05:26 Hi: Some good questions you present, which I take pleasure in replying to, as follows: Things have certainly developed over the years. I‟ve spent a while trying to get my terminology organised and cataloguing my experiences in order to try and present my material in as organised and as congruent a way possible. As you know I take a scientific approach to all of this and part and parcel of it is getting your paperwork in order, so to speak. Laying down your definitions and all that kind of thing. The big problem with this topic is we‟ve had many people all exploring and reporting back after having “done their thing”. This is all very well, but at some stage we‟ve got to start pinning things down. Training Ground and Learning Zone these would be Focus 2 of consciousness, yes. But thinking back later on there were other experiences the character of which would suggest to me these were F2/F3 overlay experiences or F3 experiences proper. At the time these experiences were happening I had little idea of the actual structure of the wider reality and how each area is intertwined with another. In a way, I too was still thinking of “the astral” as a kind of separate place that I was travelling to. But it‟s not something I really thought about all that much. In the early days it was just some huge adventure playground that I used to go to several times a week. The only book I had read at that time was Monroe‟s Journeys OotB. He mentions about “dead” people in the book. But I could never work out what he was going on about in that respect. Truth is I never thought about it all that much and, as far as I was concerned, I never saw any dead people. Everyone I ever met within this strange kind of reality was very much alive. I just assumed they were people doing the same as me. I had no religious beliefs at all, I thought all the “life after death” stuff was just religious tosh. As far as I was concerned once you‟re dead that‟s it, you‟re dead. Of course, my idea of dead people were stiffs lying in a coffin. It never occurred to me that the people I was interacting with within this reality were actually physically dead. Well, perhaps not all of them because in the early days they would have been aspects of myself in Focus 2. But later on I began interacting with others more and more. Regarding guides, yes, I still communicate with the two I mentioned. But these people are not “higher beings”. I now know that Harath is another focus who lives in a different physical system. Freda is not physical at all. Freda‟s Primary Focus is Focus 3 of consciousness. I interact with these people several times a week. What has happened is the primary thrust of my work on the Astral Pulse has changed to the extent where my priority now is to teach people the Phasing Approach (those that want to, obviously) so we can get projecting and hopefully meet up within Focus 3 of consciousness. Then I‟ll be able to show people around and whatnot. Whereas before I used to go into the details of my actual experiences a little more. What I want to do now is to actually show people, as opposed to me keep trying to explain what I mean. I want to concentrate on getting people projecting for real, then we need to work out ways we can start meeting up. I have introduced the concept of my Virtual Classroom to subscribers of my newsletter and I am hoping this will lead eventually to a core group of around 20 or 30 people who are quite competent at projecting within Focus 3 of consciousness. This is the key to all of this, being able to project within Focus 3 as it is an area of common consensus reality. Once we can start meeting up then I‟m sure things are really going to take off for us here at the Astral Pulse. Regarding the “higher beings” concept: I maintain there is no higher or lower in consciousness (beings or otherwise) for reasons due to the structure of the way consciousness is set out. We are each a focus personality that exists as a continuum of consciousness from Focus 4 through to Focus 1. Everyone has the same subjective structure. So it‟s not like some people‟s continuum of consciousness stops at a certain “level”. We all have the same basic structure in consciousness. So no one is any more spiritually “advanced” than any other person, although we do obviously differ in our objective knowing of this and that. But, subjectively, in terms of energy, our structure is the same. If we were to view ourselves as physical beings entirely without separation, and I‟m very much stressing the word entirely, then we would see that each of us is an individual focus of the very same energy essence that is contained within Focus 4 of consciousness. I accept that there are people resident within Focus 4, who are pure energy essences, you might call them, that you can tap into. These people are quite knowledgeable and do come across as kind of “godlike” you could say. But that‟s only because they are subjective energy essences that exist primarily as a point of consciousness, so to speak. When we each (for want of a better word) “complete” our current movement through consciousness, we too will reside within Focus 4 solely as an energy essence, or a point of consciousness. This is simply part and parcel of adopting Focus 4 as your Primary Focus, instead of Focus 1 or Focus 3. But I guess people in the past have just misunderstood what‟s what. I can say that if I had come across Focus 4 before Freda and Harath had given me a detailed briefing of what to expect, then even I could well have mistaken my interactions as some kind of communication with divine being(s). :) There are also people who reside within areas that are what I call semi-subjective. In the sense they are not entirely the subjective point-of-consciousness, characteristic of people who have adopted Focus 4 as their Primary Focus, but they are not exactly physical either. Sort of half-and- half, you could say. I have met quite a few of these people and they certainly could come across as if they were gods and whatnot. They are not, it‟s just the way the energy translates. The thought always sticks in mind that perhaps these are the people the early explorers came across. One day I might study more of the old mystical works to try and make sense of them. I mentioned a couple of times on other posts that I flipped through some material on Judaism and I was amazed because in amongst all the religious blurb was talk about what I distinctly saw was a 4-area structure of consciousness very much like I am speaking off. I was kinda gob smacked, in fact. But it‟s all hidden under layer upon layer of mystical blurb to the extent where no one could make head or tail of it unless you had good knowledge of the structure already. Regarding energy work: There are obviously specific energy centres. I can set them off more or less at will within Focus 2 and now and again within Focus 1. Sort of when I‟m in the mood. I ignite my heart-centre about once a week for the whacky feelings it gives, for example. During a projection experience, I can often sense a light buzzing and kind of static electricity hissing and crackling sensations that I recognise as energy sensations from the various centres. If I project in a conventional sense into the RTZ then I get a specific kind of interaction between my purple and yellow centre that I talked about a few times. But generally, I just let my energy centres simply get on with whatever they need to get on with. To me, the energy centres are like the engine in a car. You don‟t need to know what‟s under the bonnet to get in and drive it. Projection is all about driving. That is what I teach people to do, get into their selves and drive off into another reality. Plus, I give them an accurate map they can follow. So they‟ll always know basically where they are in the general consciousness scheme of things. The energy work approach is a valid approach. It‟s just that to me it all looks a little esoteric. Some people like it, obviously, and people do gain benefit from it. But the Phasing Approach does not rely on any specific energy work. I will say to anyone having difficulty with energy work to try doing it all within Focus 2 of consciousness. Here you only have to think about moving energy around your body and you feel it instantly. No lying there for months trying with no results in the physical. Anything you can do in the physical you can do within Focus 2 of consciousness. Only the effects are much more direct and more stunning to experience. But I warn you, it can get addictive. :) Regarding the eyes: I consider the ability to allow the eyes to relax as crucial to success in this. Some people appear to have a knack for it, others, such as myself, have difficulties. My eyes will always try to “snatch a glance” at whatever it is I am perceiving in mind. Not so much now because I got over it. But it took me ages. When my eyes would try to snatch a glance I‟d be zapped right out of the state I had worked so darned hard to achieve. It was most frustrating. But, I suppose that‟s where being a complete, stubborn SOB comes in handy. :) I always maintain that I do not have any particular talent for this. I just keep trying until I work it out somehow. I think a lot of these people who have written books tend to have a natural talent for what they do. I reckon, however, the majority of people are like me, we struggle often with the simplest of things. That‟s why I have simplified the Phasing approach to as high a degree as possible but still keeping it effective. And always remember that a person can project even into the RTZ (Focus 1 in the Phasing Model) from anywhere within consciousness. People like the idea of projecting within the RTZ because it qualifies as an experience they can believe in. They are seeing familiar surroundings only from a totally different physical perspective. They can spy on their neighbours and stuff. Okay, I‟m joking on that last point. But, all in all, it seems far more concrete. None of that wild and whacky “astral stuff”. Yeah, I can understand that point of view. But by realising that all of consciousness is intertwined, you can detune your awareness from your current state and even “convert” a lucid dream into an RTZ projection. It‟s tricky due to the inherent nature of the dream action but it is by no means impossible. I think the problem has been in the past that people simply didn‟t realise that it could be done. You know, after Rodger Bannister ran that sub 4-minute mile, around 20-something people also ran a sub 4-minute mile in the twelve-months that followed. Which is pretty amazing statistic since no one had done it in all the years up until then. But that‟s the difference. You see, Rodger Bannister showed that it could be done. Once people realise that it is actually possible, they start to take off with it. Once people realise that it is actually possible to detune one‟s awareness and convert a lucid dream into any other projection they like, even an RTZ projection, then we are going to see more and more people actually doing it I‟m sure. Or at least that is my hope. State of mind is very important: Hardly a minute goes by that I don‟t think about something or other to do with projection. It has become my life, teaching people about the wider reality and making further discoveries for myself that I can pass on to people. So my own state of mind is not something I really have to think about as it‟s fully geared towards projection. I was talking about this in a post just recently. Where it does appear that our ability to perceive is proportionate to our ability to believe. So what a person believes is very important. Having the wrong beliefs can scupper your progress quite easily. As the post is relevant I‟ll paraphrase it, as follows: I first got into this from by chance coming across Monroe‟s Journeys OotB some 22 years ago. After reading it a couple of times I figured the guy was either insane, or he had come across something important. I had no religious beliefs at all. I thought religion was just a load of bunkum, just an excuse to wage war with each other, and had never come across anything like it before. I hadn‟t got a “new age bone” in my body, and still don‟t have. But just happened to see the book and thought the cover looked interesting. On sheer impulse I bought it. Like I say, I thought the Monroe was either insane or he had cottoned onto something important. I wasn‟t sure which conclusion was the most apt so I gave his technique a try. Much to my surprise I began getting some definite effects and the rest, as they say, is history. So you could say that on the one hand I was not a believer, as such. But on the other hand I was not dismissing it entirely. I was merely curious as to which of my conclusions was the most apt. I had no particular favour for either one. Okay, it was surprising that I received some definite effects. But this was more light-hearted surprise as opposed to a surprise founded on a definite bias to the contrary. Because knowing what I know now, I think that if I had begun from the standpoint of being biased towards Monroe being insane, this would have precluded me from having the experiences that I did. My saying that is pure conjecture, of course. But it does appear the case that a person‟s ability to perceive is directly proportional to their willingness to believe. So if you are simply not willing to believe it, then you close off any channel of communication. Here we get a steady throughput of sceptics who have locked themselves in this kind of mode. No matter what the evidence to the contrary, they are simply not willing to believe it, so none of it they shall experience, simple as that. But you have to be very careful when treading to the contrary. If you are willing to believe the “astral” is populated by all manner of “angels” and “gods” and whatever, if that is what you are willing to believe then all manner of angels and gods you shall perceive. Likewise with “devils and demons” too. And this is unfortunately what scuppers many of the mystics and their followers alike. So somehow you have to tread that fine line. You have to be open to it, so you don‟t close yourself off from having these experiences. But don‟t be willing to believe to the point of gullibility. That is why I follow a more scientific line of enquiry. This has stood me in good stead in my attempts to find out what actually IS, as opposed to merely revelling in my own belief constructs ABOUT what is. Okay, I think I have covered everything as best I can. I‟ve tried to provide a fuller explanation than perhaps you were expecting, as when I have the time I‟ll often let my thoughts run. I‟ve found doing this helps people with what I call side issues. Little things that have been niggling people that just plop into place when they read something or other. I have seen your post up for a few days and had it earmarked as one I wanted to put aside an appropriate amount of time for, where I could expand on my replies to as high a degree as possible. Yours, Frank 383 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Astral Pulse Island Weekend on: May 26, 2005, 05:44:18 Yep: I'll try and make it too. I'll be lying on the beach sunbathing in my skimpy speedos, lol. Yours, Frank 377 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Questions for Frank (Then and Now) on: May 27, 2005, 01:13:28 Doug: The Graduates that Monroe is talking about must surely be people who have adopted Focus 4 of consciousness as their Primary Focus, yes. I can see no other explanation. I am also convinced that Monroe touched on Focus 4 quite a number of times during his experiences but for some reason the penny didn‟t quite drop with him. With me, it was my frustration in my attempts to go “beyond” F27 of his model that led me into the discovering of Focus 4 of consciousness. Not that I actually saw it as Focus 4 at that time. The label came later. But it was obvious that the area was a completely different area to the Transition area of focuses 23 through 27 of the Monroe model. To feel your whole sense of “body” totally disintegrate is not something you forget in a hurry. :) This is why I do not recommend beginners attempt Phasing to focus 4. There are no “dangers” don‟t get me wrong. But the effects are mind blowing and I do not say this lightly. Seeing my whole physical life as a concept changed my outcome on life significantly overnight. But reading Monroe‟s later work he was right on the brink of it in many ways. As I said in my previous post, I accept there are people resident within Focus 4. Pure energy essences you might call them that you can tap into. These people are quite knowledgeable and do come across as kind of “godlike” you could say. But that‟s only because they are subjective energy essences that exist primarily as a point of consciousness, so to speak. When we each (for want of a better word) “complete” our current movement through consciousness, or as Monroe was saying “graduate” we too will reside within Focus 4 solely as an energy essence, or a point of consciousness. This is simply part and parcel of adopting Focus 4 as your Primary Focus, instead of Focus 1 or Focus 3. But I guess people in the past have just misunderstood what‟s what. The strange thing is, we actually are now resident as a point of consciousness within Focus 4. We have not in any way “left” Focus 4. What we have done is to adopt a different Primary Focus for the purposes of our experience. You can imagine it as one continuum of consciousness that extends, like a telephoto lens, if you like, from Focus 4 through to Focus 1. What we objectively view as “death” in subjective energy terms is an objective translation of the action of a person shifting their Primary Focus from Focus 1 to Focus 3. After your life within Focus 3 you, in a manner of speaking, die again, when you shift your Primary Focus from Focus 3 to Focus 4. And that completes your cycle, you could say. Note: I have to be wary of using terms such as beginning or end, because when you are speaking within the context of Focus 4 these terms simply don‟t exist. From the point of view of Focus 4, your life here is a movement that you initiate in consciousness for the purposes of your experience. So, again, if I had come across Focus 4 before Freda and Harath had given me a detailed briefing of what to expect, then even I could well have mistaken my interactions as some kind of communication with divine being(s). Because that‟s precisely the way they come across. They radiate a kind of energy that tends to turn you to emotional jelly. But they are not “gods” as such. The energy they radiate is merely a product of adopting Focus 4 as your primary focus. If any of us chose to do the same, we would radiate the same energetic signature. Well, that is what I am told. I won‟t actually know until I try it myself, of course. :) What Monroe and company call the Prime Energy of the universe, this is my subjective energy the source of which, as I‟ve mentioned a few times, is Focus 4 of consciousness. I do not subscribe to the “unconditional love” idea as it stems from a more poetic description of the underlying facts of the matter. Which are all I am interested in. Though I should make very clear at this juncture, that many pieces of the Focus 4 jigsaw have yet to fall into place for me. In order to fill in the blanks, as it were, I agree there is the temptation to begin stretching the narrative. It would be a handy release if I did offer myself a degree of poetic license. But I am resisting this temptation entirely in favour of following a strictly scientific approach. Monroe (unfortunately in my view) did occasionally display a love for poetic metaphor and I am determined not to make that mistake. The energy essences that hold Focus 4 as their Primary Focus are not themselves responsible for the radiation of this energy, nor are they the source of this energy. They each are an energetic personality essence and, as such, they are a focus of this energy, just as we all are. The only real difference being between us and them, so to speak, is the Primary Focus we choose to hold. I have tried to find out where this energy comes from but no one appears to know. We obviously all evolved from it. Somehow this subjective energy became focused and developed into a kind of primary energetic personality essence and this is, I believe, what all the old mystical works are objectifying and calling “god”. Now this primary energetic personality essence somehow began to develop into many, many individual focuses that somehow became us, and all we have created. But as to how it all began, originally, I don‟t mean how the physical universe began, but how all of it began, I simply do not know. I think it never did ever begin. I think the subjective side of things have just always been, which is a pretty mind-blowing concept. Regarding “guides” I dislike using the actual term these days as it‟s like the word “chakra” in a way. There are just too many mystical belief constructs attached to the point where it all starts getting silly. People talking about everyone having “guardian angels” assigned to them and all that kind of thing. But there are people who will be taking an interest in your journey, let‟s say. Members of what I call your non-physical family who you can contact within Monroe‟s focus 27. Here, you will come across all kinds of people who will greet you like an old friend and you haven‟t the faintest idea who they are. But that‟s just another thing you get used to. With the whole guide thing you have to be very careful you don‟t trip up over yourself and start creating various aspects of yourself within Focus 2 in order to fill the need for a “guide”. Each of us has many, many different aspects of ourselves that we create within Focus 2 for all manner of purposes. People who subscribe to mystical belief constructs such as a “higher self” often meet aspects they have created within Focus 2 in order to satisfy this purpose (not that they actually see it that way). As a general rule, you have to be very, very careful regarding Focus 2. It‟s a real sneaky area that can catch you out if you are not careful. The key to not getting caught out is to realise it exists. Many mystics have spoken of this area in terms of its “Alice in Wonderland” effect. But few people have actually stopped to ask WHY that is, exactly. Why do your thoughts come to life? why do these scenarios come about? The simple answer, as we now know, is this place they are calling “the astral” to a large degree is everyone‟s individual area of mind. That‟s why your thoughts come to life, that‟s why you end up in fearful circumstances if you release emotions such as fear. That‟s why you become embroiled within your own belief constructs. That‟s why you start seeing devils and demons if you subscribe to the devils and demons constructs and why people never come across them if they don‟t believe in them, and so on and so on. It didn‟t actually dawn on people (and it still hasn‟t with many of the traditionalists) that they are actually within their own mind. You have no higher or lower self. There is only yourself. But people view not only other people in terms of separation, but they even view their own self in that way as well. I can understand the former, but the latter is stretching it a bit. I have sort of subscribed to more modern-day notions of a higher self in the past. But now I realise that what I was doing in my search for my “higher self” was either merging with other focuses or meeting members of my non-physical family as I call them. But still, even though I was a little off track in my thinking. I did come to meet my two guide friends Freda and Harath who ended up helping me loads. So now I‟m glad I went off track, which is how it happens sometimes. Many times I have found myself simply lost and stuck for answers so I‟ll just follow my own nose and see where it leads me. I‟ve had some of my most amazing experiences this way. Problem is, finding yourself very alone and lost in some wider reality somewhere, there is always the tendency to panic. I know only too well how Monroe felt when he hit that wall. I got myself in a similar pickle once and no matter what I tried I simply couldn‟t get out of it. I pushed every panic button known and nothing was working. I didn‟t go so far as to start praying and stuff but I admit the thought crossed my mind, which did make me chuckle in the midst of it all the madness that was the situation. The problem is there is no “time” to speak of. You think, oh it doesn‟t matter my alarm will be going off in an hour, or whatever, and my physical will just zap me back. But linear time simply doesn‟t apply. You could live within subjective reality for what might seem like a hundred years in just a second or two of linear time. But if you can resist the temptation to panic, which I‟ve got pretty good at over the years as all it takes is practice, then following your own nose can throw up some very interesting experiences. So it does pay to try and get in touch with a knowledgeable person or two within you. But watch out you are not merely engaging in wish fulfilment within Focus 2. Not that there is anything inherently wrong in doing this. Revel in Focus 2 by all means, provided you know that‟s what you are doing. Much confusion can occur, however, when you think you are meeting “guides” and stuff and you are just revelling within Focus 2 without realising it. Yours, Frank 376 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Questions for Frank (Then and Now) on: May 27, 2005, 02:33:14 ”With a small twist, it would seem that I could reframe that mindset to experience everything during the day as an intentional Focusing of Consciousness in F1. Am I missing anything with that kind of thought?” Shinobi: The above is basically how I tend to look at things now. The physical is our Primary Focus so it does capture our focus to a high degree. With many people it captures it to the extent that it precludes them from experiencing anything of the wider reality. But by using various techniques we can gradually break down the barriers between here and there, so to speak. I have got to the stage now where hardly a minute goes by that I‟m not thinking about this topic in some way or another. I am not saying that that is strictly necessary in order to be successful. It‟s just that this topic has become my life now, which is what I wanted. But there is no reason why people cannot be successful from spending less time at it. I do think it important, though, that a person assigns at least a couple of times in the day to just sit quietly and focus within themselves just for 5 or 10 minutes. Even if it‟s just to create a little rundown in mind aiming to have an F1/F2 overlay experience. This is in addition to the person‟s main practice, which should be for about 30 to 60 minutes. 45 minutes I‟d say is about optimum in one main session each day. Regarding your other point about Image Streaming: F2 images tend to be very symbolic as they are an objective translation of the underlying subjective actions. So I wouldn‟t bother trying to work them out as you‟d spend weeks trying to decipher one. :) I get these kinds of abstract images all the time. Occasionally I get something that‟s vaguely meaningful but usually pass it all off as just my own subjective ramblings. What I like is to actually make the transition or the switch to Focus 2 and immerse myself within the area. This enables me to revel in all kinds of belief constructs, think up ideas for present and future books, etc. I find it a great workspace. Sometimes I‟ll get someone wanting answers to something and I might need ideas on how best to present the answer, so I‟ll put it on my mental list of things to sort out in my next transition to Focus 2. I‟ll put aside a quiet hour to make the transition, work through what I need to do, and nip back to physical and work on it physically. I actually like the running commentary idea, though I tend to recommend doing it with an internal mental voice. I cannot see anything wrong with actually verbalising except that it will interfere with making the switch. As when you do so, you leave the physical behind, so to speak. So on that basis I guess it could only be the means to an F1/F2 overlay. But it actually sounds like a good idea. I often verbalise concepts or whatever, as I find it can settle things in my mind. Especially with something I‟m having difficulties getting to grips with. I find if I actually verbalise it then things can start slotting into place where I was having difficulties before. Though I agree people can often get the wrong idea if they happen to see you doing it! But I think many creative people must use this kind of verbal “tool” as a means of getting ideas straight in one‟s mind. Perhaps continue with the verbalisation, and then try it the same only using a mental voice. See which one suits. But the actual idea of keeping up a running commentary on what you are perceiving is a good one, IMO. In some of my posts I recommend people do this when “coming awake” within a dream. Keep up a running commentary and ask basic questions about the environment they find themselves in. This helps to bring all their mental faculties on stream. Plus, it also helps to keep the old thoughts in check and concentrates attention on the task in hand. There is no reason why you cannot plumb for an F1/F3 overlay experience. Doing this will enable you to interact with other people within the Transition Area. Bruce Moen‟s Focused Attention approach teaches people how to have F1/F3 overlay experiences. Bruce‟s terminology is a little different to my own, but the basic action is the same. Using your verbal technique you could announce, in words that you felt comfortable with, that you wanted to “make contact” with someone and keep up a verbal commentary that was, in a sense, biased along those lines. So you‟d still do the noticing aspect and comment on that, but in the verbal commentary you‟d throw in hints that to come was some kind of F3 contact, and keep pushing along those lines. The only real difficulty with F1/F3 overlays is believing you are doing it. With me, my imagination keeps stepping in to fill in the blanks, so to speak. I can make a vague contact with not too much difficulty. So then I might ask for the person‟s name but, as I say, the contact will be a bit vague and the transmission of the information will be indistinct. No problem, says my imagination, I‟ll fill you in on what I feel is the most likely name. And so it goes. Each time end up in a kind of fight with my imagination that just keeps swamping over the weaker signal, as it were. That‟s why I find it far clearer to project there. Which is a LOT trickier, I admit. So that‟s why I teach people to make the F1>F2 switch first, then use F2 as a kind of launch pad to F3. But you never know, you may find you have a bit of a knack for these overlay experiences. If you are seeing abstract images then that‟s a sure sign of F2, so you only have to pop next door, in a manner of speaking. Yours, Frank 375 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How can I leave FoC 2? on: May 27, 2005, 03:04:58 Tom: I think you are not actually doing anything wrong. I think all you need is more practice. It sounds to me like there is some protective aspect of your awareness that is getting a little fearful or maybe you are getting too excited. I‟m assuming that when you ended up back at the physical there was no problem like you needed to use the bathroom or you were too hot or something. Or there was not some kind of unusual sound or whatever that had disturbed you. Because the physical can often bring you back, so to speak, for all manner of niggling little reasons. It‟s just something you have to accept. But in your case, as you do not mention anything specific regarding the physical, then I think a part of you is perhaps getting a little fearful or excited. Unfortunately, any kind of fear or excitement can put a spoke in the works. Maybe instead of zooming into the blackness take a little walk, or let the blackness come to you. In other words, slow down a little. You can attempt a direct transition and bypass Fz entirely. But that is possibly trickier than what you are attempting now. I say possibly because you can never always tell in any individual case. But the transition F2>Fz>F3 is normally the easiest route even though it would appear a slightly more roundabout way of doing it. You can always try bypassing F2 altogether and making an F1>F3 transition, but that‟s typically even trickier still. Please realise in all this that people will have their individual stumbling blocks that may take a while for them to overcome. Some people may have difficulties in other areas that you may find straight forward and vice versa. Yours, Frank 372 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / My phasing experiences on: May 27, 2005, 22:25:32 Hi: What an interesting post! You have a nice turn of phrase and I'm sure many here would be interested in your further experiences. Yours, Frank 371 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing...Getting really confused here on: May 27, 2005, 23:15:06 Steve: Yeah, ultimately you are going through this process so you can develop/find/create that point in your mind that you can just relax and "look to" in order to make that transition. But that's a while away yet, I suspect. But don't let what I say stop you trying now and again. You see, people who are genuine "mediums" have that point in their mind already. But us guys who were born not so lucky, have to go through all this rigmarole in order to develop it. But it's a lot of fun and you can have quite a few good experiences while you are doing it. But I have reached the stage now where I can, more or less, find that place in mind. The frustrating thing is that I cannot do it while entirely physical. I would love to be able to just look in mind and have a perfect F1 to F2/F3/F4 overlay experience. But realistically that's perhaps 5 years or more away for me. One of the most popular "realisation" style of PM's and emails I get is from people saying, “Frank, I just read your post and it suddenly struck me about what you were saying and I get the same thing but I never knew what they were." That kind of thing. This I am finding is one of the big benefits of finally being able to offer people a "map" of the structure of the wider reality and the characteristics of the experiences you can have in the different areas. Because it allows people to catalogue their experiences and at least they know where they are in the general scheme of things. Loads of times I‟ve talked to people and they‟ve just discounted something that‟s really important. So this is the main reason why I set out with the intention of trying to present people with a “map” they could understand. Having that they can at least know where they are in the wider scheme of things. They may not be able to fully control their experience, but at least they can recognise the various elements of what they are experiencing. Otherwise, you end up in a situation where you cannot control the experience and you simply don‟t know what‟s happening to you either. So it‟s all doubly confusing. In your case it looks like your rundown leads you to an F1/F2 overlay experience. This is okay, it‟s one step removed from the front-line physical so it‟s a definite sign of progress. Once you detect this happening then let the overlay experience ride and try to step into the mental scene that way. So your route would be: F1>F1/F2ov>F2>Fz>F3. I know very well how much easier that was to type than it is to do. But you are making definite progress. A little more pushing in the right direction, coupled with a little patience, should see you at F2 before not too long. Yours, Frank 368 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Questions for Frank (Then and Now) on: May 28, 2005, 02:12:01 MT: With that little cutie you happen to be married to by your side I'm not surprised you forever have sex on the brain. :) Yours, Frank 367 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Questions for Frank (Then and Now) on: May 28, 2005, 04:36:37 Is that the Focus 10 in the Sticky section? That's a nice post from the Major that is. One of the best on the Internet I reckon. Yours, Frank 365 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Questions for Frank (Then and Now) on: May 28, 2005, 05:45:00 Ha ha, you sound like I felt when I started projecting for real the first times. Kid in a candy shop, that's about it. Just wait 'til you start switching focus. That's something else again. Yours, Frank 364 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Wave I experiences 8 days in on: May 28, 2005, 06:42:22 Jeff: What you are describing sounds good so far. You sound like you are on the verge of the Monroe focus 12 state. Watch the excitement factor and try to stay emotionally neutral. You are getting to the stage where excitement or fear can start putting a spoke in the works. Not trying to wish it on you obviously and maybe you'll not have a problem at all, but it's something to bear in mind for the coming stages. Yours, Frank 363 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / He claims he lives without ...his soul! on: May 29, 2005, 03:30:29 Hi: They were probably just drunk or high on drugs, or they simply had no idea of what they were talking about, or more likely a combination of all three. Yours, Frank 348 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 2????? on: May 31, 2005, 06:28:54 Hi: That's a typical spontaneous burst of Focus 2. Yours, Frank 346 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / 3 places at once... on: May 31, 2005, 22:14:42 Hi: I'm never sure why people would think this kind of thing impossible. There are 4 basic focuses of mental attention within our wider reality and if you want to offer yourself an objective knowing of all 4 at the same time and confuse yourself silly in the process then why not. Most people get confused with just an F1/F2 or an F2/F3 overlay. But if someone really must then shoot for an F1/F2/F3/F4 overlay. It's not for any normal person to place strict limitations on another person's expectations of inner possibilities. That's the job of old-fashioned mystics and religious zealots. They kinda specialise in that kind of thing. Yours, Frank 344 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Stories of Focus 4... or any other focus on: June 01, 2005, 00:50:10 Hi: You don't want to get me on the topic of Focus 4. It's too whacky, it's too wild. I wanna get people projecting to Focus 2 and then Focus 3. But Focus 4, it's something else. One day I hope we'll all write a book on it. Or at least that's what I hope. In my teachings I'm putting aside Focus 4. That's your prize, as it were. The icing on the cake, the end goal. I'll direct you to Focus 2, show you the way to Focus 3 and then introduce you to Focus 4. I'll stand by you on the edge of the transition, even give you a little push, lol, 'cos that's me. But once you step over that edge you are on your own. That's the way Focus 4 is. It's not for the unwary. Your life will simply not be the same when you come back. This is no joke, this is Frank being very serious. Yours, Frank 342 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Stories of Focus 4... or any other focus on: June 01, 2005, 04:09:34 Hi: Peeking at Chistmas presents, yep, that's me all over. I understand. But there is no short cut to Focus 4, please do not underestimate the Focus 4 experience. Like I say, this is Frank being serious. Focus 4 is just something else. If someone worked at it they could be having F4 experiences within a year. I'm not saying it's gonna take mega time. Okay, they'd have to be a little dedicated to get that far in such a short time, but it is by no means impossible. But please, realise, your whole sense of "body" is totally blown away. You will never, ever look at physical life the same way again. Yours, Frank 341 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Stories of Focus 4... or any other focus on: June 01, 2005, 04:22:38 Drew: No the Gateway experience will not get you to Focus 4. Focus 3, yes. The Monroe linear focus model of consciousness upon which the Gateway experience is based ends at the top branches of Focus 3, which is focus 27 of the Monroe Model. As I've mentioned a few times, it was my frustration in trying to go "beyond" F27 of the Monroe model that ended up in me creating a whole new model of consciousness that incorporated what we now call F4 of consciousness. But the Gateway series of CD's will take you a long way. It's just that when you get there, I'll be waiting to push you over that "edge" that is F4. :) So whether you get there through my methods or the Gateway CD's is irrelevant. Everything I did was based on the Monroe model so I support that model in addition to my own. After all, it's what I grew up with so I kinda know it inside out. Yours, Frank 335 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Stories of Focus 4... or any other focus on: June 01, 2005, 22:57:12 Hi: Focus 4 makes you insane, yes, with no hope of recovery. :) Seriously, please no one underestimate the sheer gravity of a Focus 4 experience. Monroe was touching on it a few times. He gave me the clues, so to speak. Focus 4 experiences are one of the most profound experiences anyone can have in this system. All sense of "body" is totally disintegrated. You will not return from a Focus 4 experience as the same person who went. There is no turning back from a Focus 4 experience. You get to realise what your life is all about. Things that perhaps no one should know become known to you. You come back realising the truth, the stark truth. Every belief you have ever believed in, every known that you have ever known just gets zapped. In a sense it makes you realise what is truly important. Yours, Frank 334 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / F2oC ? on: June 02, 2005, 01:21:09 Hi: Adrian tends to take a more outreaching approach whereas I am more nitty-gritty. I'm not sure how detailed you would like an explanation of F2 to be. Ben kinda hit the nail on the head explanation wise. Yours, Frank 333 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Questions for Frank (Then and Now) on: June 02, 2005, 03:55:32 I have "met" with people I did not know within F3 and have, on occasion swapped information I could not otherwise have known, yes. Which is why I want to now do it on a more wider scale. So we can all feel the benefit of having that same kind of knowledge. Yours, Frank 331 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Does time exist? on: June 03, 2005, 23:49:29 Hi: Time obviously exists, but the notion of linear time is a physical realm construct only. Experiences within subjective reality are outside of any time constraints. Within Focus 2 and Focus 3 you can see people showing evidence of a kind of legacy of having lived within linear time constraints within the physical. But that's a local event that is all to do with the individuals in question, just the continuation of a habit rather than a specific function of the environment. One of the most mind-blowing concepts to take in mind about the wider reality is the notion of infinity, i.e. the notion of there having been no beginning, nor will there be any end. Also, within infinity, everything happens an infinite number of times. Which is another one of those mind- blowing aspects. Also, the wider reality occupies no space. As there is no time, there is no space and distance either. Yours, Frank 330 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Experience: Going into the light on: June 04, 2005, 01:25:36 Doug: Ha ha ha, I wondered if someone would work it out! I cannot be 100% certain, but from what you say you were about to make the transition to Focus 4. You have to always bear in mind that we tend to objectify everything. The light that you see is YOU it is YOUR light that you are radiating and reflecting. It is sentient, it is living, it‟s you, lol, and it‟s your light. But the problem is, everyone always objectifies everything. So they call it “gods love” or “pure, unconditional love”. But there is no such thing, it‟s all you. But you in a wider sense. People project to Focus 27. They feel this “mysterious energy”. So they try to figure out what it must be. They label it based on the emotional effect that it has on them. To me that is a mistake, because then people start objectifying further and begin thinking there must be a kind of source of this mysterious energy. It never actually occurs to people that everyone feels it because everyone radiates it! But because people objectify everything and are normally totally body fixated, they think there is one source of this mysterious energy somewhere. So the whole “god” concept was born. The other primary mistake people make is they think the focus numbers are different places. But they are focuses of attention along your own continuum of consciousness. All this is on the basis that it was an attempted F4 transition, of course. You are, I think, experienced enough to know the difference between that and mere wish fulfilment within Focus 2. After all, it's not that difficult to differentiate the two once you have a little experience. It's just where you say that you feared losing your sense of individuality. That is what happens when you make the transition. All sense of "body" is just totally blown away. Had you progressed I reckon you would have “become” that light. In other words, you would have offered yourself an objective knowing of your very source. These are incredibly profound experiences so tread carefully. Revelling in these highly subjective energies could turn even the most hardened axe-murderer release serial chainsaw killer into a sobbing heap of emotional jelly in just seconds. And I‟m not joking. In case you missed it, I was stressing this very point in another thread recently. Yours, Frank 329 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focuses of attention Question on: June 04, 2005, 01:34:14 Steve: It is still part of our continuum of consciousness, yes, but Focus 2 is largely redundant once we switch our Primary Focus to Focus 3. I have no direct experience of the process, obviously, as my Primary Focus is within the physical. But from what I can gather after talking to a lot of people within Focus 3, it would appear that our "previous" physical life becomes in a sense like a dream, a very vivid dream. We still hold all the memories of our experiences within Focus 1, but people in the main appear quite happy with that. Like, people generally are happy being dead, “Dead and proud of it” as I call them. Following our second physical-style life within Focus 3, we eventually shake off all notions of objectivity and transition to Focus 4, which becomes our Primary Focus. In which case we experience our "previous" physical life as a concept, together will all our other focuses of which we all have very many. All the other focuses are all us, as such, in terms of each being a focus of our collective Essence. But they are different people. What people are calling “past lives” they are confusing with the action of merging with one or other of their other focuses. You have never been and never will be any of your other focuses. You can merge with them, but you cannot become them as they are a “separate” individual. We create Focus 2 in order to service our needs within the physical. The whole setup is what is known as a “source/manifest” reality. Focus 2 serves as the subjective source of our objective actions within Focus 1. So when you permanently withdraw from Focus 1, i.e. when you die, there is no longer any need for a Focus 2. But the focused energy pool that you created will always be a part of you. You don't have to switch to Focus 4, you can continue living within Focus 3 if you wish. But eventually you might decide on creating other concepts for your experience. All this is done from Focus 4. In the old days, they thought that when you died you went to heaven if you were a "good" person, or to some place called hell if you were naughty. And naughty usually meant subscribe to the prevailing mass belief constructs the ruling elite of the day told you to. So a mere suppression tool in other words. We now know that what these people were calling heaven and hell is, in fact, Focus 3 of consciousness. There you can still find loads of heavens and hells of the religious and other mystical-release-spiritual constructs if you wish. But you get a whole lot more besides. A quick point I'd like to stress is we don't "return" to F4 as we never left it in the first place. We adopt Focus 4 as our Primary Focus. Perhaps you are aware of this anyway. But I want to stress this so people are not mistaken. Yours, Frank 328 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Does time exist? on: June 04, 2005, 02:18:23 Hi: I don't want to sound picky, but you cannot enter the real-time zone in a different time dimension as that would be a contradiction in terms. The real time zone is so called precisely because it directly relates to the current physical circumstances. Within subjective reality there is simply no time. So there can be no such thing as "time travel" as we understand it, as time just doesn't exist. You can, however, merge with other focuses that live within different physical dimensions. I find doing this rather difficult, a bit hit and miss and takes a lot of mental effort for no real benefit. So it's not really something I am working on perfecting at the moment as I have a number of other non-physical projects on the go. One of the freakiest facts I came across, that I personally find fascinating, is there are a HUGE number of other physical universes, possibly an infinite number. But get this, they all occupy the same physical space! That's freaky. Now, in my attempts to understand how this is possible, I discovered there are what are called Trans-Dimensional Areas in consciousness that allow actual physical universes to overlay each other, and each physical universe is on it's own timeline, so to speak, but in a sense they are all "connected" to Focus 4 of consciousness. Knowing this hold the promise that one day it may be possible, using some kind of bio- technology craft, to actually physically transport ourselves between physical dimensions. If we could somehow crack the code, so to speak, and understand how these Trans-Dimensional Areas function, we could one day create a device that would allow us to produce a kind of wormhole effect so we could objectively observe a portion of another physical reality. Like we were looking at it through a window. Then later we may well develop the technology to physically transport us there. I can well imagine the day when communicating with people living within a different physical dimension will be as easy as dialling a telephone. But we merely add a different suffix depending on their physical dimension identifier. Yours, Frank 327 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Experience: Going into the light on: June 04, 2005, 02:39:10 Doug: Actually making the transition is a bit tricky and is laden with all manner of fear-based repercussions. Getting through the total bodily disintegration stage is quite a task. Well, it was for me. Focus 3 hits nowhere near the number of belief constructs. It‟s all very “objective” and physical like. Focus 3 often comes across as more physical than the physical. It is the Transition Area after all. But Focus 4 just zaps you. Still, I wouldn‟t let that put you off. Tread a little carefully, though, else the old emotions will be shooting through the roof. Yours, Frank 326 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Time on: June 04, 2005, 02:49:41 Hi: I had an idea this deja-vu topic was going to come up again. Yours, Frank 325 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focuses of attention Question on: June 04, 2005, 04:04:15 Doug: There are no restrictions or limitations as I can see. Problem is in the understanding of the ongoing relationship between the conceptual of Focus 4 and the actual of Focus 1. Focus 4 is very new to me relatively speaking so it‟ll take me a while to pin it down. Well, the parts that relate to this system let‟s say. When you adopt Focus 4 as your Primary Focus you “connect” with your total self. I use the word connect guardedly as you are not disconnected now. No one is. All we have done is chosen to focus our mental attention along a particular path. I always think of it as the difference between a very wide-angle lens (F4) and a telephoto (F1). Here we have chosen to focus our sense of mental attention along a very specific path for the purposes of our experiencing a particular course of objective events. The concepts of which are formulated individually and en masse by us all within Focus 4, simply for the purposes of our experience. Now, if you were to offer yourself a Focus 4 experience of the same kind as I have then, from within that experience, you would view your current physical life as a concept. What I‟m trying to get across is it‟s “just” a concept. That‟s all, nothing more than that. Your whole physical existence is reduced to a mere concept. Just one of zillions of possibilities. A physical life filled with experiences over, say, 80 years, from the Focus 4 perspective is a tiny drop in a huge ocean of experience. The general thrust is on the expansion of experience, not a repetition of experience. One experience leads to another and another. Within Focus 4 there are many, many conceptual opportunities open to a person, including, I am assuming, the ability to repeat the experience of your current focus if you wanted. After all, there are no limits. But I very much doubt you would want to looking at it from the Focus 4 perspective. According to my knowledge it‟s not something that happens. Yours, Frank 324 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Death on: June 04, 2005, 04:12:34 Hi: What we observe as physical body death is the objective translation of the subjective action of a person shifting their Primary Focus of mental attention from Focus 1 to Focus 3 of consciousness. Reincarnation is a religious belief construct formed from the early explorers' misunderstandings of the nature of the subjective/objective relationship (in terms of energy) between Focus 4 and Focus 1 of consciousness. In particular, misunderstandings regarding the relationship between Simultaneous Time and Linear Time. Yours, Frank 323 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Time on: June 04, 2005, 08:50:26 Hi: Just as the deja-vu topic comes up we get the 2012 topic. Happens every time. It's like deja-vu but all over again. Yours, Frank 321 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is OBEs real or is it just a controlled dream? on: June 05, 2005, 05:40:24 Hi: This question comes up repeatedly, please see here... http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17357 Yours, Frank 320 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / dangerous to astral project, obe, and or phase? on: June 05, 2005, 08:32:50 Hi: The BIG problem has been that in the past people were thinking they were projecting into a different kind of world or "astral realm". We now know there are 4 primary areas of consciousness and the one next door to the physical, in a manner of speaking, where most people are doing their "astral projecting", is in fact your own individual area of mind. Mystics in the past have talked about this "place" as having a kind of Alice in Wonderland effect, where all your thoughts come to life and so forth. Problem is, they never seemed to question it any further than that by asking the question of WHY all your thoughts came to life. Well, as I say, we now know that you are actually projecting within your own area of mind. This means as you believe then so it becomes, literally. So if you subscribe to all the notions of demons and dragons and such like, then demons and dragons you shall perceive. Because it's your own area of mind you are projecting into. Whatever you believe then that's what you will perceive simply because you are perceiving your own beliefs. Any kind of notion of "protection" is merely a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe that performing some kind of "protection ritual" will protect you then protection you will receive. Problem is, one of the core mistakes people make is they objectify everything. Yours, Frank 319 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Regression through OBE? on: June 06, 2005, 02:07:57 Hi: The concept of "past lives" is an interesting one. Problem is, once you step outside of the physical "time", as such, doesn't exist. So there can be no past or future outside of a physical- system linear time construct. So to fly directly in the face of the zillions of mystics who claim otherwise, none of us can possibly have a "past" life. It's just that these people do not realise that we can, of course, merge with other focuses. But our other focuses are not us, as such. We can merge with them, but we are not them. We have never been them and we will never become them. Sorry to anyone who ever paid good money for a "past life reading" and all that. Yours, Frank 318 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / dangerous to astral project, obe, and or phase? on: June 06, 2005, 02:41:58 Souljah: More and more people are now actually experiencing the truth for themselves. As they do so the old pardigms will give way to the new. I guess we are used to all this change in terms of new and faster computers and mobile phones with yet more features. Computer games ever more sophisticated and so on. But non-physical reality technology has been a bit in the doldrums until about 15 years ago and it has finally started to take off. In these times of fast changing circumstances, it is only natural that many, unfortunately still the majority, are transfixed by the outgoing paradigm. It's the same with any new technology. Yours, Frank 317 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / dangerous to astral project, obe, and or phase? on: June 06, 2005, 03:01:20 Kaja: I'm not sure why anyone would need protecting against their own mind. Perhaps they should maybe change their beliefs on some things so they view different constructs if they feel that is necessary in terms of their experience. Or not if they wish to continue. If people feel they are being attacked and so forth then we have a section for that in the PSD forum. No one's mind can possibly play tricks on them. To accept that is to accept that a person's mind can exist independently and in contradiction to the person in question. Problem is, to the mystics it would appear that everything that is non-physical is therefore "astral" and in their terms is a separate place. They haven't yet come up to speed on the fact that we now know there are 4 primary areas in consciousness and each area has different characteristics and so forth. This is a fast-changing technology. Anything published 5 years ago is old news already. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to publish in eBook format. So I could keep up to date with even my own developments. With my very latest work in making inroads into Focus 4, I have made developments now to the extent where if I had published a book on my Focus 4 experiences 6 months ago I'd want to scrap it already. Yours, Frank 316 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Seperation Crazyness on: June 06, 2005, 03:15:46 Hi: After looking into the matter of the "exit" for a while, and after experiencing all manner of "exit sensations" over the years, there is no specific need, in my view, for any particular sensations other than you are free of your physical body. It is quite possible to simply find yourself in that state merely by wishing it. But there are specific belief constructs that people typically hold that do get in the way. The concept of "exit sensations" does help to overcome concerns regarding the attachment to contrary beliefs. In a sense these sensations help to introduce people to the "out of body" concept in a time scale and in a manner that is acceptable to them. Yours, Frank 315 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Regression through OBE? on: June 06, 2005, 04:52:28 Doug: I understand your questioning because this very aspect has been on my mind for two years. All this time I have been trying to form an understanding based on the facts of what actually happens. The big, BIG difficulty is in the understanding of the nature of the relationship between Simultaneous Time and Linear Time. The other major problem is in the understanding of that relationship in terms of the comprehension of these Trans-Dimensional areas of consciousness that I mentioned a few times in other threads. These Trans-Dimensional areas in consciousness not only provide a kind of continuity interface between a Simultaneous and a Linear time construct they also allow each physical-reality universe to overlay each other and yet (for the most part) remain separate. Which is quite a tall order both in terms of understanding and in effect. To cap it all, there is a third major problem in the understanding of the relationship between the subjective and the objective in terms of translation of energy. On all these counts, presently, I do very much fall down in my explanation. I fully admit that I do not know the answers. I don‟t even know the questions to ask at times. I said a little while ago that if I had written a book on Focus 4 six months ago I‟d want to scrap it already. My knowledge gets updated every week to the point where I look back to a month ago and I think, wow. Your total self is a term I use knowing that the term “self” is related to a bodily construct. People do get body fixated but as I‟ve said a number of times, a body is merely an objective representation of the accumulation of a particular set of expectations regarding the enactment of certain types of actions within particular areas of consciousness. It holds no other purpose. When you adopt Focus 4 as your Primary Focus, you become a point of consciousness that encompasses all your reality. Your focuses never, ever “rejoin” you. You simply become a kind of “umbrella self” that views all your focuses as a conceptual reality, not as a reality in themselves in terms that we, here, would understand it. That is what you are doing now. You are engaging the focus of Doug as a reality in objective terms within a linear time framework. Once you have completed your current venture, you may (or may not) engage the focus of xxx within yyy linear time framework. Or not, as I say, as you choose. But while we talk about the linear engagement of these ventures in such actions in consciousness, from a “total self” viewpoint they are all concepts, all possibilities that are open to us at any one moment. Because from that Focus 4 perspective, there is no “time”. And that, my friend, is the big stumbling block. The explanation of how can there be no-time and time occurring simultaneously. Once I work out how those Trans-Dimensional areas function then hopefully I‟ll be able to present a solid explanation. I am hoping that as more people engage Focus 4 and present themselves with an objective knowing of their current focus as a concept then a completely rational explanation shall emerge. Rather in the same way we now call the 3D-Blackness Fz. In the meantime, I introduce the concept as best I can and hope for the best. :) Yours, Frank 314 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / dangerous to astral project, obe, and or phase? on: June 06, 2005, 05:22:27 Souljah: For someone to say that their mind was not their own would be a contradiction in terms. You cannot claim with any degree of rationality that your mind is not your mind. These kinds of questions and answers have nothing to do with the wider reality, they are simple questions of logical analysis. The foundations of which have been established for a long while. Yours, Frank 313 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Need advice on: June 07, 2005, 09:07:29 Giselle: Yes, you need to start doing the Noticing exercise that I outline in the FAQ section and I've mentioned in a few posts of the past months. Don't worry about not being good at visualising, you don't need it with the Noticing exercise. One of the key aspects is allowing your eyes and face to relax. Try and take a step back from your eyes and look upwards into your mind from a point that is either above or below your physical eyes. What you are trying to do is break that connection between looking and your physical eyes. If you feel for it, you will realise that initially you are looking from a point right behind your eyes. Somehow you have to let the eyes totally relax and then you sneak that point away from them and look in a totally different direction in your mind while the eyes just remain relaxed. Don't worry about trying to achieve any of the Focus numbers, they are just signposts that can help you. If you find them confusing then put them all aside for now. All that will come later. You need to get into the basic habit of looking within you. Simply that. Put aside all thoughts of "leaving your body" or whatever and simply look within your mind and start noticing what goes on in there. Try to choose a time when your physical body is fairly relaxed anyway if possible. That will help. There is a particular direction that you need to look in your mind. After a while of practice you'll be able to reach for it fairly easily. But at first it takes a bit of finding. With me it is almost directly upwards but slanted back a bit. Once you find that spot, changes will begin to take place. Rather than just black, you'll start seeing all kinds of patterns. To give you an idea, this was me yesterday morning. I began and all I could see was blackness. So I got comfy over the next 10 minutes or so and then felt very relaxed. My eyes were closed and all I could see was blackness just like most of us when we close our eyes. So I let my imagination wander (but not too much else I lose focus and fall asleep). A few random thoughts crossed my mind. I tried to picture Monroe and how he was doing, I thought of the forum and Sarah bouncing on her trampoline. I wondered about how many others were trying the same and pictured a huge trampoline with hundreds of us all bouncing on it. Then I saw an area of greyness develop in front of me. I said hello greyness how's it going? It changed to a whiteness and enveloped me. That's interesting, I thought. Then I got what I call the ink blots. It's like I see a texture of a cream coloured soft paper with great splashes of black ink over it. Next moment I was "travelling" through the 3D Blackness of Fz. Total time from physical to Fz was about 20 minutes. Pretty much normal in other words. Tried to Phase Shift to Focus 4 several times and failed. Had all manner of overlay experiences that were recognised and noted. Phase Shifted to Focus 2. Objectively analysed a few recent new beliefs about the wider reality. Worked on my current studies regarding Trans-Dimensional areas in consciousness. Tried to Phase Shift to Focus 4 again and failed. Phase Shifted to Focus 3 as a result of an idea I had while in Focus 2 just before. Interacted with a few people but had little idea of why I was having the interaction. Felt there were clues in this area that would help me but nothing in particular was coming to light, so Phase Shifted back to Focus 2 and ended up having an F2/F1 overlay. In my imagination I could see a truck making a delivery to the local bakery. Thought it would be interesting to check so focused back to normal physical and threw a few clothes on, took a walk down the road and there was the truck as I had seen it. Total time from physical perspective about 20 minutes to Fz and around another hour to the point where I fully "returned". Actual time perception of the experience was around 4 or 5 hours. Yours, Frank 312 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / dangerous to astral project, obe, and or phase? on: June 07, 2005, 22:33:56 Telos: Welcome back from me as well. I noted your subheading that the topic might benefit from a split but thought the original question was open enough to incorporate the current discussion. However, if your good self or anyone else should insist then we are happy to split the discussion accordingly. Just starting to get interesting I thought. Building into one of those debates the AP is famous for. :) Regards, Frank PS Tombo, that post count was something else, lol. 311 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / dangerous to astral project, obe, and or phase? on: June 08, 2005, 00:16:48 Souljah: For the record, Frank's statements can be looked at in any light a person wishes. I try to teach people to see my statements in a light that is understandable. That's just my nature. But if someone wants to choose a different light then that's their prerogative. Yours, Frank 310 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing, but no out-of-body on: June 08, 2005, 01:05:24 Hi: The Phasing Model of Consciousness does not incorporate mystical notions such as "out of body". Nothing can possibly occur outside of ourselves. I understand that so-called "gurus" will charge often well over a thousand USD a week to tell you otherwise but that's just BS. Take it from me, nothing happens outside of yourself. Years ago they looked at the rising and the setting of the sun. It was obvious the sun moves around the earth. Anyone could see the sun moves around the earth. It rises, it falls, it must therefore move around us. Well, science makes its living cutting great swathes through nonsense like that, and this topic is set to be no different. Yours, Frank 306 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / dangerous to astral project, obe, and or phase? on: June 08, 2005, 04:03:40 Souljah: I'm not sure how blindfolding ourselves would make us progress faster. None of us would be able to get to work, and those that tried would just crash into each other. There would be complete confusion. We'd all be banging into each other wondering where the heck we were going. I don't know what it is about people. We spend all that time developing and refining our senses to have this physical experience and you want us to step back a zillion years. Come to think of it, I reckon my woman would think it quite erotic if I were to suggest she should spend a weekend blindfolded and gagged. But I'm not sure if she'd think it anywhere near as much fun if I would insist on the same. :) Yours, Frank 305 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / My second trip so far! on: June 08, 2005, 04:17:40 Daan: I read your post with interest and will think on it some more. Very nice account of your experience, thank you. Yours, Frank 304 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / dangerous to astral project, obe, and or phase? on: June 08, 2005, 04:35:59 Souljah: I was being lighthearted, yes, while resisting the temptation to ask you to actually do as you preach. And you don't need to apologise because I'm chuckling at your humour. I actually think you have made some good points and I'm hoping there is a good debate to be had here. In the land of the blind one eye is king. I guess it would be nice if everyone blinded themselves and only you were left with sight. Would be quite a trip. But like all these wishful, fanciful theories it 'aint gonna happen. You will just have to live as normal like the rest of us. Yours, Frank 303 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / dangerous to astral project, obe, and or phase? on: June 08, 2005, 05:59:17 Ha ha ha, trust to you, Major Tom, for the "devil's" insight into the sensory depravation thing. :) Yours, Frank 302 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / brainwave generator focus 10 presets on: June 08, 2005, 07:35:38 Hi: I think this may be a question for Adrian. The Brainwave generator I remember looking at ages ago but it wasn't something I explored. I'm not saying it isn't any good or anything. I was just on another tangent, that's all. Yours, Frank 299 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing, but no out-of-body on: June 09, 2005, 01:44:02 Hi: Take a look at the sun. It rises in the east and sets in the west. You follow its movement from one point to the next and it appears to be revolving around us. This is obvious, because we can see it does. Unfortunately, it is us that is revolving around it. Now, you project into the wider physical. I do not like using the term "real-time zone" because there is no such thing as "real" time and it is not a "zone". But we all kinda get what we mean so let's not complicate the issue on that score. So we project into the RTZ. You see yourself out of body. It is obvious you are out of body because you can see that you are. But what you are seeing is the equivalent of watching the sun revolving around the planet. You have not actually gone "out" of body at all. You have simply taken a step "back", so to speak, from the front-line physical in terms of your current focus, into the wider physical. You cannot go "out" of someplace where you were never "in" in the first place. If someone moves their location from point a to point b, this logically presupposes the person was actually at point a to begin with. If I want to go out of one room into another room I have to initially be in that first room. In terms of the body, we are not located in that first room, we are merely focused within it, as if from a distance, if you like. The analogy falls down rather quickly but imagine looking into room one from a distance through a telephoto lens, then you shift your focus to room two. In a sense, and only in a sense, this is what we are doing. As I have said many times, people get body fixated to the extent where their whole sense of thinking becomes relative to it. But a body is merely an objective representation of the accumulation of a particular set of expectations regarding the enactment of certain types of actions within particular areas of consciousness. It holds no other purpose. One of the most popular questions people ask me is, "Frank, what is the easiest way of me leaving my body?" You can't, there is no way at all you can leave your body. You can shift your focus of attention into the wider physical, you can shift it to Focus 2/3/4 but you cannot leave your body. There is no way you can step beyond the physical. The physical is an end result. Nothing exists outside of ourselves. Some people accept this but then start taking it way too far the other way and begin calling physical reality an illusion. I step short of that by a long way. Anyone who thinks physical reality is an illusion should walk into the nearest lamppost. It's not that physical reality is an illusion, it's the notion of objectivity that is the illusion. To understand what I mean by that you need to study the way the subjective translates into the objective, in terms of energy. This knowledge can be gained from Focus 4 and Focus 2 experiences. Particularly in regard to the way our perception creates our reality. Yours, Frank 297 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My First Lucid dream!! on: June 09, 2005, 04:10:53 Hi: That sounds really great. Let's hope it leads to bigger and better things. Yours, Frank 296 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Tesla and Phasing on: June 09, 2005, 04:14:58 Hans Solo: I've only just picked up on this thread. Very interesting. Yours, Frank 294 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Need advice on: June 09, 2005, 05:29:20 Hi: Please do let me know. I'm not sure if you read my first newsletter or not but I stressed the point that everything you do, whether it is projection in a traditional sense or Phasing in a more state of the art sense, the first step is looking WITHIN you, not outside of you. I come across many, many people who have become totally confused by this whole "out of body" thing. It is very misleading terminology that just appears to get many ordinary people confused. It's alright if you were born with some kind of knack for it. But people not so fortunate tend to struggle getting to grips with the basics. You don't have to do any energy-work, or pray 5 times a day, get a collection of crystals and start running your car on chicken manure... All you really have to do is find that point in your mind. It's like you have to reach for it mentally. Once you find that certain point from then on it gets easier. But then there are other hurdles to overcome, but at least you are motoring then, so you are having fun while doing it. But sparking it off in the first place can be tricky. But always keep in mind that everything is WITHIN you, you just need to reach in mind for that particular spot and then it's like all the lights come on. Yours, Frank 293 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / What Happened? on: June 09, 2005, 06:20:32 Hi: Sounds to me like you projected within Focus 2 of consciousness. This is the area in consciousness where most of us do our dreaming and astral projecting and so forth. Focus 2 projections are very "dream like" or can be very dream like as you are within the same area of consciousness where you would normally do your dreaming. In many cases the only basic differences between a dream or an astral projection are your level of awareness and expectations as regards the fulfillment of your experience. This latter element is a very strong guiding or determining factor within this area of consciousness. Perhaps more so than many people realise. Yours, Frank 292 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Regarding Focus 3 on: June 09, 2005, 06:34:06 Hi: Once of the most fantastic qualities of Focus 3 of consciousness is that people immediately gravitate to those sections that most fit their particular expectations about their experience. So all the people who expect to go to hell actually do. All the people who expect to go to heaven go to heaven and many, many other situations besides. You simply gravitate towards what you believe will come about. Focus 3 is an area of common consensus reality so everything within that reality is, by definition, created in a joint sense. Whereas Focus 2 is an individual consensus reality. If you are projecting and you begin getting fearful then you will typically have multiple Focus 2 overlay experiences about whatever it is you are fearful about. You mention “negs” but I‟m not exactly sure what “negs” are, as I do not subscribe to that belief construct. Yours, Frank 291 Integral Philosophy / Welcome to Integral Philosophy! / Duality Dilemma: on: June 09, 2005, 06:40:34 Beth: I just need to establish that when I give that definition of death then I am taking about the subjective/objective in terms of translation of energy. Not in terms of our awareness in the viewing of events. And it's not my theory, that is actually what happens. Anyone can prove it for themselves by projecting there, which is why I (for one) am trying to teach people how to to do it. I do understand that this type of debate has been raging in the subject of theology. But this is Astral Consciousness. Here we tend to get on and do it rather than debate quotes from books printed x-thousand years ago. Here we are more into the nitty-gritty doing, you could say. In fact, thinking about it, this is more of a Spiritual discussion/debating issue as opposed to actual techniques and methods and such, so I'll shift it to a more appropriate section. Yours, Frank 290 Astral Chat / Welcome to News and Media! / Been trying to find out why Bruce isn't here anymore on: June 09, 2005, 20:29:30 Hello: You are way behind the times and this discussion has been done to the death over the past 4 weeks. We are all rather tired of it, it's old news. If you wish to know: about 6 months ago, Robert Bruce decided to open his own website and about 6 weeks ago he decided to open his own discussion forum on that website. The reasons stemmed from a personal matter, something of a disagreement it would appear, that took place between our administrator, Adrian, and Robert Bruce. If you wish to know what Robert Bruce has to say, or his reasons for leaving or whatever, whatever, whatever, then EMAIL ROBERT BRUCE. We all know already that Robert Bruce's discussion forum is now open. Anyone who was interested has long since earmarked the website as he had a big notice up the past month. Robert Bruce has clearly stated he no longer wishes to in any way be associated with this forum. In respect of his wishes and to avoid creating any possible legal complications, we are having to remove anything on this forum that would suggest in any way an association. Therefore any direct links or direct references, etc., are having to be removed. It is inconvenient but that is what Robert Bruce has specifically stated. Again, if you have any questions at all as to Robert Bruce's motivations regarding this or his motivations regarding any other matter, then simply email Robert Bruce. Yours, Frank 289 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing and trance on: June 09, 2005, 21:28:14 Hi: No real idea on that one. I've always said that I could never get to grips with what people were meaning when talking about being in a "trance". There are so many varying definitions of the word trance it could largely mean any state that was not physical. In contrast, the Focus 12 state is a specific state that people can recognise. But, like I say, there appears to be so many varying definitions of what a trance is, it would seem that anyone who projects their consciousness to anywhere but the front-line physical is in a trance. Yours, Frank 287 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / What Happened? on: June 09, 2005, 22:58:29 Hi: The best of luck with your relationship. Within areas of subjective reality, we have areas of singular consensus and areas of common consensus reality. All these areas are part of your reality and no one area is any more or any less "real" than the other. Also, all these areas of our consciousness are heavily intertwined. We can also perceive several different areas all at the same time, where each "level" of experience is overlaid upon another. So you and your boyfriend can meet but each of you can be having a different dream. Hence the typical question we get ever so many times from beginners, “Was this real or just a dream?” Problem is, in the physical, if two people physically meet then they are at one place and each perceives their surroundings much the same. This does not have to be the case within the non- physical and is the source of much confusion. Typically, what happens is people are having some kind of dream then, in the midst of it, appears their old aunt Sally who passed over x-years ago. They exchange a few words and the person snaps out of it, reverts to full physical focus again wondering whether they were actually seeing old aunt Sally or whether they were “just” dreaming. This is a typical overlay experience. The person is dreaming within Focus 2 of consciousness and then, due to some kind of trigger experience, begins to perceive Focus 3 of consciousness in addition to their current dreamscape occurring within Focus 2. Within the non-physical, doing this is perfectly normal. In your case, what it sounds like you may have done is transitioned from Focus 2 into Focus 3 of consciousness and met your boyfriend, who had unknowingly done the same. Focus 3 is an area of common consensus reality. This is an area in consciousness where people can objectively meet and it is very much like the physical in many basic respects especially in terms of being able to share the same, or at least a perceptually very similar experience. Your first post sounded like a typical Focus 2 experience but comparing it now to your second experience, it was more likely an F2/F3 overlay. It is often rather difficult to tell from a basic account and I usually err on the side of caution while explaining the basic background to people, in the hope they will be able to start recognising where they are at the time. The second experience sounds like an F3/F2 overlay (I always put what I gauge to be the predominant area first). It would be interesting if you could get the actual details from your boyfriend‟s perspective and compare them to your own. If your respective experiences are in fact very similar, then you both could well have transitioned fully into Focus 3. In other words, you were not having an overlay experience at all, but a full Focus 3 experience. This I find very interesting, as it is precisely what I am trying to teach people to do. Yours, Frank 285 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing and trance on: June 09, 2005, 23:08:24 Hi: If you do find out anything useful then please post it up here because this question, or at least this "trance type" question comes up now and again. Yours, Frank 284 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Afterlife knowledge guidebook by Bruce Moen on: June 10, 2005, 07:02:34 Hi: Cannot comment on that particular book of his as I've never read it. But regarding his exercises, yes. I have read about his work in other books. He is not actually Phasing. Well, not in accordance with the Phasing Model of consciousness that is. His work is based on what he calls his Focused Attention concept. In terms of my Phasing Model, he would be teaching people how to achieve an F1/F3 overlay experience. Which, in a sense, you could say is a little easier as you are not making a full "switch". One of the ways in which Bruce's Focused Attention concept is similar to the Phasing Model is in the way he uses the imagination to get things underway. From memory Bruce calls this "priming the pump". The Phasing Model uses a person's faculty of imagination to create a mental rundown that they "step into" in other words they make The Switch from Focus 1 into Focus 2 of consciousness. What Bruce is doing is rather than seeking to make The Switch to Focus 2, he skirts around that and looks to remaining within F1 primarily, but to overlay that, in the mind, with an experience of F3 using the imagination as a kind of primer or kickstarter. Quite a nifty technique that does certainly work as I've researched it myself. But at the end of the day, even though it is a little trickier, there is nothing like fully "stepping into" the area proper, IMO. But if you are looking for a straightforward, non mystical approach then it's certainly one worth considering. Has been tried and tested too as this is the approach Bruce teaches in his seminars. Yours, Frank 283 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Can it be dangerous? on: June 10, 2005, 20:53:26 Hi: The only "danger" in all this is if you read the blurb pushed out by all the mystics who love to generate hysteria surrounding the concept of psychic attack. To me, their strategy appears to be scare people sh*tless… so they actually begin to have these scary experiences. Problem is, within Focus 2 of consciousness (which is where virtually ALL beginners start doing their “astral projecting”) there is a foundation rule that says as-you-think-then-so-it-becomes. Thought equals action in other words. This is obvious really, as you are actually within your very own individual area of mind. I was one of the forerunners of this research here and I, myself, many years ago, spent almost 5 years fighting every devil and demon that ever existed… until the penny finally dropped. But the doom and gloom-style mystics don‟t tell you this because either 1) they simply do not know or 2) their little “scam” „aint gonna work because people will start to put two and two together, when it comes to the sting, so to speak. Now, considering what I have said above, look at it from the other direction. If you can actually convince someone there are dangers, then they will actually start to perceive those very same dangers! However, these people will not then turn around and say, “Ha ha, I „aint falling for that trick! You put the belief in my mind and caused it!” Nope, they are gonna believe that the mystic/guru was right. They are not going to view these unpleasant situations as their own mind-created reality that has actually been formed from their very own subscription to the belief that has been implanted into them by the mystic or guru. As I say, they are going to rally around that mystic/guru thinking he is god‟s gift to projection-danger solutions. So, if that mystic/guru happens to have some kind of book for sale that claims to be able to rid a person of these “dangers” then the person in question will buy it right away. And there, in my opinion, is the fraud. What let‟s these mystics/gurus off is no one can actually prove it in a court of law. If anyone could actually find some way of proving it, many of these mystics and gurus would end up in jail for perpetuating psychic fraud. It‟s a seedy, horrid situation that has actually been taking place for thousands of years from what I can see. In the early days, it appears to have been used to scare people into compliance with the ruling regime. Anyone not falling into line would be dunked as a “witch” or burnt at the stake, or whatever. Nowadays, it is used as a method of creating a “following” and extracting money from people. No matter what belief you instil in a person, they will perceive it. So some mystics/gurus follow the psychic-attack style of route (fear is an extremely powerful suppression and/or compliance tool) and others try more subtle avenues like being closer to god, and all that jazz. The core element to bear in mind is that the mystic or guru only has to get you convinced initially so you believe it and therefore perceive it. Then the person doing the perceiving will think the mystic/guru is right. So they start believing that particular mystic/guru even more, and become open to even more suggestions by the mystic/guru in question. So they will perceive this even more and they become even more open to their suggestions! And so they believe it more, and so on and so on… before they know it they are completely hooked. But they don‟t actually realise they‟ve been hooked, and that‟s the nature of psychic fraud. These mystics and/or gurus tend to prey on the more vulnerable in society. Young people a little lost in life wanting “direction” or a person may have had a few really scary projection experiences, and they get fearful thinking they need some kind of “protection”. These mystics/gurus specialise in preying on the more vulnerable. For example, I saw a TV program a while ago where members of a paedophile-style sect would look around railway stations in major cities looking for youngsters who had run away from home, that kind of thing. They would take these youngsters in their care and sexually abuse them. You say you are only 13 years of age. So please be careful and keep your age to yourself while online. Many of these abusers can be very open and friendly and even hold down responsible public positions, may even be public faces, someone who presents himself as an authority on whatever it is. But the moment they start to lure you into somewhere more “private” then watch out. When I say private I mean in terms of a physical location, or maybe even a private section of a website. If it is to do with some kind of mystic or guru or sect… it could be a cover for child abuse. Yours, Frank 282 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Use of imagination on: June 12, 2005, 00:52:09 Jeff: In addition to what the Major has said, you need to be a little bit careful that you do not begin merely entering into a kind of creative visualisation action. This, in Phasing Model terms, would be an F1/F2 overlay. For example, I have an extremely vivid imagination. I can sit here now and imagine all manner of scenes "in my head" so to speak. But this is not making what I call "the switch", which is the action of transitioning your focus of mental attention out of Focus 1 and into Focus 2 of consciousness. Your imagination faculty is situated in Focus 2 of consciousness. This is the area of consciousness where most people dream and have their basic "astral projection" style experiences, lucid dream experiences, etc. Focus 2 of consciousness is also the region where people meet all their devils and demons, and whatever else besides. Now, knowing that your imagination is situated in Focus 2 of consciousness, what we do is create a little mental rundown that engages our senses within the rundown to the extent where it captures our focus of attention. As it captures our focus of attention we make "the switch" and kind of, go to "meet" our imagination. So the idea is not to just simply remain in the physical creating all manner of pretty pictures in our imagination. What we want to do is to actually "step into" our imagination. Not just lie back and view it as if from a distance. Generally, if a person is losing concentration in their rundown then they need to make the rundown more engaging, more captivating. I mean, provided your physical body is fairly relaxed. You could make your rundown as captivating as you like, but if you were riding pillion on a motorbike then not much is going to happen in the way of making a transition. :) That is why I tend to practice this only when my physical body is fairly relaxed anyway. After about 6 or 7 hours of sleep is my most common time and often I do it now about 2 hours before I would normally want to sleep. If I want to be active, physically, then I get restless and give up. I can't be bothered doing it, I'll have a list of things to do and a full day and I want to get active and get on with it. So under those circumstances I would find it next to impossible because I simply want to be physically focused. But later on, when I've done all I can for the day, then that's the time to lie back, relax, and take a trip over to the other place and see what's what. Yours, Frank 281 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / i've no idea if i'm doing this right. on: June 12, 2005, 00:59:58 Hi: You are on the verge of projecting into the area I call the wider physical. You are about half way between being "in" your body and projecting within the area commonly called the real-time- zone. You are sort of being buffeted around a bit half and half. What do you do to actually get to this state? Yours, Frank 280 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Pulse Island! / Do you think that API it exists by itself? on: June 12, 2005, 01:03:21 Hi: It will begin as an individual thing, a creation of each person's individual area within Focus 2. But the more people think about it as being an objective entity it will begin to form within Focus 3 "for real" as it were. Yours, Frank 279 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing and trance on: June 12, 2005, 03:39:44 Major Tom: I take your last point. I've been reading up on the old mystical stuff the past few months and, from what I have seen, I would readily concur. One day I'm going to decipher some of this old work to point out just how limited some of these people were in their thinking. The higher branches of Focus 3, that Monroe, et al, would reach nightly, may of these Buddhist-style fellas would think you were gods or something. :) Yours, Frank 278 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Having trouble Astral Projecting, please help! on: June 12, 2005, 03:44:08 Hi: If I may suggest, you need to perhaps take a big step back from all the "techniques" and just get used to looking within you first. Nothing more than that, just get used to looking within you and noticing what goes on. Do a search of my posts over the past few months on the "noticing" exercise. Take a look at that and see how you go. Yours, Frank 276 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Phasing Progress? on: June 12, 2005, 19:25:49 9981: I've got a few comments to make on your post, which I read with interest. I'll get back to you in a few days if I may. It's just that I'm really pushed for time at the moment with all that ordinary life stuff. Yours, Frank 275 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Phasing rundown question for Frank on: June 14, 2005, 21:46:32 Hi: Haven't been on the forum for the past couple of days as I've been a tad pushed for time trying to organise my new Virtual Classroom and a few other ordinary-life bits and bobs. I just copied your post into my "to answer" file and I'll get back to you in a day or two. In the meantime if anyone else has any ideas then please feel free to respond. Yours, Frank 274 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / OBE was actually a lucid dream? on: June 14, 2005, 21:56:17 Hi: We are now realising that people do their dreaming, lucid dreaming, basic astral projecting and a number of other things besides in the very SAME area of consciousness. Such that the only real differences between them all are your beliefs and your expectations regarding your experience. Yours, Frank 273 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Can it be dangerous? on: June 14, 2005, 22:21:21 Darkhorse: No problem, just trying to advise you. Please keep your age to yourself as it can be a bit of a weird old world. Especially where these sects and gurus are concerned. There is a famous one in India called Sai Baba and he has been implicated in child abuse and things. The British Foreign Office were warning about him several years ago. So please be wary of announcing your age. Stay safe online my friend. Like I say, it's a weird old world. Even people you would think totally legitimate could be implicated in all manner of sordid practices. This Sai Baba bloke sounds a right weirdo and I would be very wary, personally, of anyone who was a fan of his or who claimed some kind of friendship or association. But he is merely the tip of the iceberg. There are sects in the USA that have fed their members poison, and there have been mass deaths. It's just incredible what these weirdos and their followers get up to. Yours, Frank 272 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / What does Fz mean? on: June 14, 2005, 22:30:08 Hi: It's the 3D-Blackness at the Monroe Focus 21 state. We call it Fz after all interested parties here took a vote on it. Writing out "3D-Blackness" every time was becoming a little tiresome, lol. Yours, Frank 271 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 5? on: June 14, 2005, 23:59:40 Hi: I'm rushing a tad as I've got a lot of ordinary life stuff to deal with right now trying to get things together for my Virtual Classroom together with a number of other issues. So please forgive the short response. I've talked about my frustrations with the Monroe linear focus model and my frustrations in my attempts to go "beyond" focus 27 of the Monroe model, which is the upper branches, as I call them, of my Focus 3. So a search on my posts of the past 6 months should bring these issues I talked about to the fore. I touched on the Focus 5 issue in my latest newsletter as a few people have asked. As far as I am aware, within our Wider System, there is no Focus 5. Focus 4 appears to be a kind of "umbrella focus" that encompasses the other focuses. As to what is "outside" of that, well, we have these Trans-Dimensional areas in consciousness that I have been trying to get to grips with for about a year now. Who knows where they lead, to be honest. Ultimately, I am not sure if we can actually “project” outside of our Wider System. I have never done it. I think Monroe tried it, from what I can gauge, but it entailed the withdrawal of his subjective physical-body consciousness. In which case your physical body has about an hour of life in it before it expires (seriously). To be honest, I‟m really not sure. You have to understand that this kind of thing is way, way, out “on the edge” as it were. You are SO far “out” it‟s unreal. There are so few people who have ever encountered this kind of problem. Monroe appears to have tried to encounter it. I am sort of teetering on the edge wondering whether to take the plunge and see. Yours, Frank 270 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 5? on: June 15, 2005, 01:26:35 Major Tom: I have been on the brink of this for about 6 months wondering. I came to the conclusion a few days ago that I would re-read Monroe's work completely and retrace everything he was mentioning. It's funny that this point has come up. The Interstate, yes, but it's the end bit that I could never quite grasp. So I am going to recap. Yours, Frank 269 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 5? on: June 15, 2005, 01:37:21 LOTB: Thank you for your input, but the people that you are quoting are involved in "astral" constructs which are Focus 2 of consciousness of the Phasing Model or what I would call the wider Focus 12 of the Monroe model. Being at the end of the Interstate, in Monroe terms, is being at the very edge of our Wider System. I'm not sure if any mystical constructs relate to this point. They'd all call it "god" I guess. Something you'd have to attain some kind of superior "incarnation" to achieve in their terms. Yours, Frank 264 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Most beautiful thing you have seen? on: June 15, 2005, 07:45:40 Hi: I have seen many, many beautiful things. But the most beautiful thing, to me, was when I saw my future relationship unfold before my very eyes. It was unbelievable even though I had been "astral projecting" for years and years, it was simply unreal. I guess nothing can prepare you for those times. Yours, Frank 263 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 5? on: June 15, 2005, 08:44:37 MT: Monroe was right there, I am sure of it. I think it was his interpretation of events that was different. But I am going to try and retrace those outward steps. It is something that has always bothered me. A kind of last link in the jigsaw that was missing with Monroe. I wonder where the heck he was. He was way out, but not in Focus 4 terms. There was something else. You cannot objectify Focus 4. It is a TOTAL disintegration of “self”. Or maybe he was about to step into that. I wonder. Seriously, I reckon he was about to attempt to step into *another* dimension of consciousness from Focus 3. Entering into a complete “Trans-Dimensional” state. And that is what I have been trying to study for ages, these Trans-Dimensional areas. I reckon that is why his physical was put at risk. Okay, I‟m guessing now, I admit. But I am going to completely retrace his footsteps over the next few months. If he were trying to enter another dimension, then that is just incredible. That is not Focus 3, 4 or 5, that is just completely into the total unknown. And I mean unknown. Unless he was attempting to enter focus 4 while holding a complete objective knowing of that fact. That would just be crazy. You‟d just be short-circuiting every subjective energy circuit that ever was. I doubt anyone could have the objective will to do that. Just too many natural laws against you. It couldn‟t happen. I just wonder what on earth he found, what secrets there are still to be unlocked from Monroe. So I‟m going to begin again from page one and work through it until that final piece of the jigsaw falls into place. Yours, Frank 262 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Focus 5? on: June 15, 2005, 22:29:36 Smilodon: If you withdraw your subjective connection to your physical body then your physical will die in about 20 minutes to an hour. Under all normal projection circumstances the physical is perfectly safe and no-one need worry about a thing. There was just one aspect of Monroe's work that has intrigued me for ages where he took a step "out" of our system, or so it would appear, and his physical body was put at some risk. The only way his physical could have been put at risk is by withdrawing his subjective energetic connection, or the action he was attempting to perform meant that his connection to his physical was cut off for the duration of that action. Quite what he was doing has always been something of a mystery, so I'm going to see if I can shed some light on it over the next month or two. Yours, Frank 261 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / What does Fz mean? on: June 16, 2005, 00:53:10 Hi: Focus 21 is a particular focus of mental attention that is characterised by the objective action of "stepping into" or becoming surrounded by a 3 dimensional blackness that can often be punctuated by a kind of starscape effect. Yours, Frank 260 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Most beautiful thing you have seen? on: June 16, 2005, 05:58:32 Hi: It was with someone I did not know. Well, I know her now but not at the time it all unfolded. Yours, Frank 259 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Phasing rundown question for Frank on: June 16, 2005, 06:01:26 Hi: You are concentrating too much on these fleeting images, IMO, so it is causing you to lose your mental focus. Normally, as we fall asleep our mental focus dissipates and we go off to dreamland. I feel that by you paying attention to these images, you are helping yourself fall asleep more than anything. The images are too fleeting in nature to make sense of usually. I once tried but gave up as they are just too nonsensical and I was spending study-time on a phenomenon that wasn‟t bringing me any benefits. I think you have 2 choices of approach… 1) You can try to hold your mental focus by attempting to think through, or think beyond the random imagery. Try to pitch your focus somewhere in the distance “behind” the imagery. I say this because the imagery tends to be right in your face, as it were. All manner of this and that in the foreground. So try to think through it all and pitch your focus of attention into the background of the image scene and try to keep your focus concentrated there as your physical body falls asleep. If you can hold this, it wouldn‟t surprise me if you were to suddenly find yourself in Fz. 2) You can simply ignore the imagery and create a basic rundown for yourself and concentrate on that. Riding a horse is a good one. Walking is not too engaging, I find, but a nice rising-trot is ideal. With me I tend to limit myself to a schooling situation rather than hacking out. That way I can do a few full circuits; change across the diagonal and onto the other leg then a few circles and figures of eight, that kind of thing. Works rather well for me I find. As regards the people you are seeing, you have to begin to accept that when you shift to Focus 3 you WILL come across all manner of other people. These people are not “figments of your imagination” they are actually other people engaged within Transition. One of the freakiest things that would happen to me is people would greet me like a close friend and I simply would not have a clue who they were. But all of us have what I call a non-physical family. These are people that know us and we tend to gravitate towards them for all manner of reasons. In time you will learn to overcome your fears and simply get used to meeting and greeting these people. The simplest way to find out who they are is to stick around long enough to ask. :) Yours, Frank 258 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Phasing Progress? on: June 16, 2005, 06:09:11 Hi: The Noticing exercise is deigned to help complete beginners start looking within themselves. No matter what you wish to do, it all takes place WITHIN you, not outside of you. Even an RTZ projection is taking place within you, not outside of you though I admit that is how it looks. But in an RTZ projection you have taken a step BACK, so to speak, from what I call the frontline physical. You have not in any way gone beyond the physical as many people think. This can cause a person to give themselves mixed messages in their attempts to somehow go outside of themselves when in fact they need to be going WITHIN themselves. There are no “levels” in consciousness. I want to make clear that Focus 4 is not in any way “higher level” than focus 3. It is simply different. In the same way an apple is not a higher fruit than an orange, it is just a different fruit. What you are doing is shifting your focus to a different area in your consciousness continuum. The very act of looking within you is the act of shifting your focus to a different area. There is nothing in particular you need tell yourself though sometimes it helps to verbalise things for a while beforehand, get your mind settled on the task in hand and all that. Becoming conscious in a dream to the extent where you can operate with all mental faculties fully engaged is a little tricky. That is why I take the approach of Focusing within F2 from a fully conscious state beforehand. The dream action is very similar to the action of finding yourself stepping into your mental rundown, but not quite the same. The latter keeps your mental faculties switched on throughout so you don‟t have the tricky problem of trying to “come awake” within the dream environment. Practice is what it takes to make good with this. In my opinion, it is actually easier to learn to switch focus from the Physical than it is to try to develop the skill of “coming awake” from within a dream. The images you are seeing are probably just images of other aspects of yourself within Focus 2 of consciousness that you are offering to yourself for your amusement. When we do this, we tend to offer ourselves all manner of snippets of this and that. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to it all. These images I tend to look at like road signs that tell you that you are getting close to where you want to go. In the past I have tried to pin down these images in order to try to study them. But there is nothing really worth mentioning about them. They appear to be just fleeting packets of energy, random subjective noise that we interpret as all manner of nonsensical imagery. I‟m glad you are having fun in experimenting. That is exactly the right attitude. Simply lie back and have fun seeing what you offer yourself. I feel people tend to take this whole thing too seriously. I think that is because mystics have tended to overcomplicate everything and present this as something we each need to “qualify” for and be reverent towards, almost like worshipping. Not a bit, I go within myself to have FUN in the process of learning about the wider reality. It should be a fun exercise. The Phasing Approach takes on board no element of “spirituality” and recognises that each of us has the SAME subjective energy structure. So if you get someone preaching to you that to be successful you have to be of a particular “high level” of “development” then… laugh! All that kind of stuff is mere spiritual snobbery from people who probably cannot get out of Focus 2 of consciousness. Yours, Frank 257 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / In the room away from the body yet within myself on: June 16, 2005, 07:55:54 Hi: The physical is our Primary Focus so it captures our focus of attention to a high degree. This in many ways is great. You don't want to be driving down the freeway and suddenly start projecting to Focus 3. The hurdle you have met up with is the one all beginner's face and that is, how to break that capturing of your focus. Some people find it easy, some people rather difficult and most people sit somewhere in the middle. The good news is it gets easier with practice. So even if you find it difficult, you can look forward to it becoming progressively easier the more you do it. You need to seek out that point in your mind that you can mentally look towards in order to sense the wider reality. That is your end goal, as it were. When we first try to look within us all we see is darkness. Darkness is not all that engaging. By comparison, the physical-body senses are far more engaging. So we remain “in the physical” so to speak. To get around this we take two channels of approach. 1) We choose times when the sensory input from the physical body is dulled. In other words we let the physical body relax. This gives us a big advantage as our mental focus has less sensory input to latch onto. So we lie down or sit in the quiet, dim the lights, don‟t move around at all, and so forth. We do this in order to minimise sensory input to as high a degree as possible. 2) In addition to the above, we create a competing element for our mental focus of attention by using our imagination. Your mental focus of attention is a totally separate faculty that can be shifted or pointed at other areas within your consciousness continuum. Normally, this mental faculty sits behind the physical eyes. Not literally, but that is how it feels in mind if you seek it out. With me, if you imagine two parallel lines passing into the eyes and, as they enter each eye, they converge quickly and meet at a point central between the eyes about 10cm in from each eyeball. That is the point where, to me, my focus of mental attention is situated while I am awake and alert within the physical. So the goal is, to take this point and shift it away from where is normally sits while captured by the physical, into another area of mind. But to do this, we need to create that competing element for our mental focus of attention. Otherwise we will not make the switch to Focus 2. We create that competing element in one of two ways… 1) We can use our curiosity, which holds a powerful influence over us. 2) Using our imagination we can create a desirable and engaging scenario. The Noticing exercise is designed to fire off our curiosity. By noticing various changes taking place in mind, we set up a kind of domino effect where one change leads to another and another, and so forth. As we steadily become more and more curious regarding these changes it, in a sense, seduces our mental focus of attention into going down a particular mental path that leads away from the physical. The other way is to use our imagination to help us. But even so, when most of us imagine we feel the images as if they were some distance away. So to bring them closer and make them more lifelike, we engage our senses within the imagery. Plus, we create something not so simple that we get bored, and not something so complex that we lose the thread of it. Doing this makes the imagery more compelling so it stands a greater chance of capturing our mental focus. If we can reduce sensory input from the physical to as high degree as possible, while creating an engaging and appealing scenario in mind then, at some point, the seemingly unbreakable, inescapable capture of our Primary Focus will be broken and we will be free to shift our focus of attention into another area of consciousness. Remember the Golden Rule, wherever we point our mental focus of attention becomes our reality. You need to believe in that point in mind. You need to reach into the blackness and seek it out. This is what helps you shift your focus. At the moment you are still focusing on the physical. In a sense it is like you are expecting your physical to somehow “go away” and then you will be left with an objective knowing of the wider reality. But the physical never does just go away except, of course, when you fall asleep. :) To overcome this, what you have to do is actively work on shifting focus, as I describe above. In other words, put all thought of the physical aside and actively concentrate on seeking that point in your mind where your “connection” is. When you hit on it that is when all the lights come on and you begin to see images in your mind that are clear and vivid. Imagine having a routine day at work. You‟re a bit bored and nothing much is taking place (little sensory input). Your holiday is coming up. You fly off next week to some exotic tropical destination. You are imagining laying out on the beach, that blue ocean, the hot sun but a relaxing breeze is refreshing. You can imagine it now and it‟s all going through your mind. Then, suddenly, someone is tapping your arm saying your name. You snap out of it and next moment you realise you are back at work and had been daydreaming. For a moment there you were in the depths of your imagination. In other words, you had shifted your focus of attention to Focus 2 of consciousness and you were engaged in your “holiday” rundown. Although it was not intentional, of course, in this case people would typically say you were “daydreaming”. Well, creating a rundown and stepping into it is like having a controlled daydream. Basically you have a situation where all sensory input from the physical is put at a minimum. Then you create a very engaging and appealing scenario in mind. Your mental focus of attention thrives on input, and wherever you point your mental focus of attention becomes your reality. Your MFA will tend to gravitate to whichever area of consciousness looks the most appealing in terms of receiving sensations. If nothing much is doing physical-wise and right next door, so to speak, is a really engaging scenario taking place then it will tend to gravitate towards that. As it does so, your whole sense of reality will change from the physical, to Focus 2 of consciousness. This is what we call making “the switch”. Once you make the switch, you can use Focus 2 as a kind of launch-pad to get you to the other areas, or you can stay and explore Focus 2, it‟s your choice. Yours, Frank 256 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / . on: June 16, 2005, 08:31:47 Hi: Our wider reality is apportioned into 4 Primary Areas that, in my Phasing Model of Consciousness, I label Focus 1 to Focus 4 inclusive. Within these 4 Primary Areas are many, many of what might be called "planes" of reality. No offence meant, but I always chuckle when I hear mystics and their followers parroting the usual astral is, "7 planes and 7 sub-planes" stuff. There are millions and millions of them! The wider reality is humongous, it is infinite. I don't know where all this 7x7 talk originated. I guess it's just traditional mystics trying to encapsulate it all in terms they can understand so they can present it to their followers. Keeps your publisher happy I suppose. :) For the record, a Focus of Attention is not a Dimension. A Dimension is something completely different. From what I can gather from some of the mystical bits and bobs I have read, a "plane" could possibly be a Focus of Attention. But a plane could not be a Primary Area. Yours, Frank 255 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / In the room away from the body yet within myself on: June 16, 2005, 20:39:08 Hi: The conscious shifting of that theoretical point of awareness is the key to your lucidity problems, yes. I cannot stress this too highly. Once you lose your lucidity, you get lost down what I call the Million Meanderings, which is my euphemism for the dream world. But if you have your lucidity all there from the outset you make things much easier for yourself. This is why I say that it is easier, in my judgement, to practice making the switch into Focus 2 from the physical, F1>F2, than it is to try practicing “coming awake” within a dream. Years ago, that used to be my primary method. I got coming awake within a dream off to a fine art. I used to project 2 or 3 times a week for years using this approach. But it still did NOT give me the “awake and alert in the physical” style of conscious ability that I have now with the Phasing Approach that has been the culmination of more recent developments over the past 5 years. What I am finding now, is people are writing to me saying about how they were actually making progress and didn‟t realise it. All the while people pass off things as “just a dream” or “just imagination”. Now, as they are beginning to realise how the Wider Reality is set out, as they are getting a basic “map” in their minds of the subjective structure, they are beginning to see how the imagination fits in, how dreams play their part. But too many people are still asking that basic question: “Was this an OBE or just a dream?” Too many people are still thinking that dreaming is all “in the head” and isn‟t real. They are not seeing it as an actual shift in conscious awareness into another area of their consciousness continuum. Dreaming is a very base-level shift into Focus 2. Your Will is dissipated all over the place and your sense of self is split into a million different meanderings. What you have to do is step into that Aspect of yourself that you typically step into while physical. It‟s not easy when the very mental faculty you need to do that is dissipated all over the place. Now, if you make the switch to Focus 2 with your faculties intact, then you will automatically enter Focus 2 well “above” that very base level. Each area in consciousness has many, many sub areas that mystics typically call “planes”. Mystics reckon there are 7 planes, which is simply laughable as there are MILLIONS and MILLIONS of them. You could spend a whole lifetime exploring all the different “planes” of awareness within your Focus 2 alone! A teeter-totter, yes, or as I call it: a very tricky mental balancing act. But a very rewarding one when you get it right. Because then all your wider self is laid open for you and you can revel in the excitement and the enjoyment of it all. Stand transfixed by the sheer awesomeness of it all. Find out who you truly are, know there is no death. Know that life is just one continuous cycle of knowing that has always been. Engage the concept of Infinity. Become that concept within Focus 4 and you will never be the same person again. Imagine the sheer ecstasy of a million orgasms all happening at once. Those are the kind of sensations Focus 4 gives you, and that‟s just scratching the surface. You can use Focus 2 as a launch pad merely by thinking about it. By placing the Intent. But to do this you need your Will fully engaged. Many followers of the Bruce Moen School will tell you about the need to place your Intent. But they don‟t actually explain to people exactly what that entails. Placing a strong Intent is summoning your two faculties of Desire and Will that culminates into an achievement of a particular outcome. But there is a third essential element that comes into play and that is your Belief that you will achieve this intended outcome. When you stand within Focus 2 and start summoning that kind of Intent, that‟s when sparks really begin to fly. :) Yours, Frank 254 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Most beautiful thing you have seen? on: June 16, 2005, 21:02:11 Hi: Yes, I first saw her as a connection to my Primary Essence within Focus 4 of consciousness. I called her my One and named her Biscuit. Not literally a biscuit, but that is how the subjective energy translated into an objective sense. About 8 months ago she walked right into my life. I knew right away it was her, she had been coming into my dreams for a while. I went through a little denial phase at first not believing and all that. Only natural I suppose, even for me. The way these subjective energies can immediately translate into actual physical reality does still bowl me over with something so profound and as personal as this. The smaller stuff I have gotten used to now. To the extent where I have lost count of the number of times I have dreamt something and the exact scene has been played out within physical reality. Sometimes I know what is going to happen that day by the dreams I have had the previous night. Now I just need to start dreaming about the lottery. :) Yours, Frank 252 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Is this a RTZ Obe? on: June 16, 2005, 21:20:26 Hi: Your experience is very typical. You suddenly find yourself "out" and instantly you feel very vulnerable. But that's not what the books tell you. The books are full of amazing stories of travelling here and there like it is as easy as getting on a jet plane. But that's just authors pampering to the capitalist needs of publishers. Frankly, finding yourself "out of body" is rather frightening and confusing. But the good news is, the more you practice the more used to it your become. Try to keep a cool head, try to stay emotionally neutral. This is very important otherwise you will begin actually meeting the objective representations of your fears head on. Then you'll start clamouring for "protection" and, before you know it, you will be like a number of rather unfortunate people who end up riding an Astral ghost train that never ends. Yours, Frank 251 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Most beautiful thing you have seen? on: June 16, 2005, 21:52:15 Kazbadan: I only saw her mouth, there was just something about that mouth. The top lip, the angle of the front teeth. The cute smile. It was a bit like Cinderella and trying to find the foot that fit the shoe. Well, with me it was the mouth. I doubted it for a while. But when I saw a picture of her face then I knew it was her. I had seen that mouth so many times in my dreams. Yours, Frank 250 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Most beautiful thing you have seen? on: June 16, 2005, 22:01:45 Han: We often talk about the wider reality as she is kinda into it funnily enough. Not to the same extent as I but she is coming along very well and is very receptive to taking on new concepts. I do believe in the concept of "soul mate" and would like to present my thoughts on the matter in the book. If my experiences in this regard will help others then I will do my utmost to give pointers where possible. This side of life is very important to all of us and the religious "marriage" constructs are letting us down badly. I strongly feel that it is time we moved to the next level, so to speak, in all things. Even in our thinking as regards our relationships. I see you are a bit of a pioneer in that regard and I congratulate you for your courage in speaking outside of the "norm" as it were. I hope that one day you too will meet your One. Yours, Frank 249 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Phasing rundown question for Frank on: June 16, 2005, 22:37:59 Hi: Think of your mental focus of attention as a dynamic entity. A point of awareness that revels in sensation. While physical, your physical circumstances are a hive of sensation. All those emotions, thoughts and feelings are what your mental focus of attention revels in. It‟s why you became physical, to revel in all these physical sensations. Your mental focus of attention becomes attracted to the physical body like a powerful magnet. This is what makes the physical our Primary Focus. Okay, so somehow you have to seduce this point of awareness away from the physical into another area of your conscious continuum. How are you going to do that? You have to entice it with an alternative set of sensationalist criteria. Now, if you are laying back with very little input from the physical… but… you have this rather exciting random imagery all going in right in front of your face, as it were. Your mental focus of attention is going to really revel in that instead. Lot‟s of “scary” imagery, wow, look at all this coming and going, yeah, this is great let‟s revel in it. So it captures your attention and, before you know it that is all you are doing. These effects, such as the random imagery we see at the Focus 12 state (in Monroe terms) are to be used like road signs that give us an indication of forwards progress. Stopping to look is like driving down the freeway, seeing your exit sign in one mile but, instead of carrying on, you stop and look at the sign and keep on reading it. Once you do that, all forward progress is stopped. Some of these signs can be really interesting. But the moment you stop to look then all forwards progress is halted. This is why I say that in your perception, you should attempt to look “beyond” the signs, not concentrate on the signs themselves. Try to pitch your awareness behind all the imagery and make a progressing through it, and this touches on what Ben has just said also about Intent. Because Intent is a strong driving force that keeps you progressing. When I see this random imagery at Focus 12, my whole mindset is geared towards a forwards progression. With the result, the imagery is a stage that I “pass through”. Yours, Frank 248 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Most beautiful thing you have seen? on: June 16, 2005, 23:52:01 Kazbadan: Well, marriage is a nice idea, don‟t get me wrong. But the fact is that most marriages now end in divorce (where divorce is recognised and available). So in that sense they are not fulfilling the needs of the people in question. I believe that people should try to seek out those we would call our “soul mates”, as an end goal, as it were, but at the same time have a lot of fun. I dearly would like to see even more freedoms in terms of women‟s rights in society. I firmly believe that women should hold their rightful place in society, as equals, with men. I fail to see what right the government has to interfere with our personal relationships. If I wish to marry two or more women then that is my personal business. I resent the fact that some Nanny government sees fit to tell me what I can or cannot do in the privacy of my bedroom, or sees fit to tell me where I can choose to stick my penis. My penis and my erection is my private affair. What I choose to do with my body should be my business, and no-one else‟s, but certainly not the business of a government. To suggest such is blatant oppression. But as most of us live under such oppressive regimes, we tend to consider it normal. I think the word they use, in the main, is “democracy” or tyranny of the majority as the more enlightened observers would suggest. Frankly, I think the state should just BUTT-OUT, let us get on with exploring our sexuality and just leave us be. I do not recognise the concept of “gay” or “lesbian”. They are merely people exploring their sexuality. The labels are just mass-media hype that governments use as an excuse to oppress various sectors in society for their own ends. Labels such as “gay”, “lesbian”, “terrorist” they are all sheep-dog terms to get the herd moving in the same direction. Hopefully, one day we will all recognise that. In times when we have in the past, we have revolted in terms of social unrest, in terms of violence. But I am dearly looking forward to the day when we all turn around and laugh. Yours, Frank 240 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Silver chord? on: June 17, 2005, 01:57:14 Yes, let us not forget the faimed "silver chord". It is a belief construct that people engage within due to the fact that we tend to become body fixated. There is no actual need for it. It's just mental reinforcement that's all. Yours, Frank 239 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / . on: June 17, 2005, 03:11:27 Frank - if you already posted in this thread, I would really like to see your opinion about this topic. Witan: Erm, what can I say. I think Hans Solo kinda made the point. It's all a bit "Focus 2" for my tastes. Yours, Frank 238 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How do YOU astral project on: June 17, 2005, 03:55:44 Hi: I have placed a number of posts in the FAQ section as well as my replies to posts generally. I realise that my Phasing Approach is one of many but if what I say strikes a responsive chord and you have any further questions then I will do my best to answer. Yours, Frank 236 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / F2oC ? on: June 17, 2005, 05:02:29 AS: What you are attempting to do is very much the same as when you have had OBEs in the past, only you are not falling asleep first and then waking up to take control. You let your physical body fall asleep, but you keep your actual mind awake. Hence the term Mind Awake Body Asleep of the Monroe Focus 10 state, or MABA for short. To do this, you have to look WITHIN yourself, yes. No matter whether you want to project into the RTZ in a conventional sense or Phase in a more modern-day sense, it is all within you. The whole idea of all the exercises is to seek out that point in your mind that you can look to and feel that connection with your wider reality. I promise you it is there, in your mind. It just takes a little practice to find that exact point. With me it is almost straight up and back a bit. Once you find that point it‟s like, wow, and all the lights come on. You start seeing all manner of images and that‟s when the fun begins. Yours, Frank 233 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How long can you project for? on: June 17, 2005, 21:47:01 Hi: Longest ever, that's difficult to say. Perhaps about 3 to 4 hours. Though I'd say the majority of my projections last about 30 minutes to an hour of linear time. Yours, Frank 232 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Most beautiful thing you have seen? on: June 17, 2005, 21:56:22 Kazbadan: At the moment I only have my eyes on one woman in particular. But I do believe that women or men should be able to marry whoever they like and however they like. It is my firm belief that the state has no right to impose laws upon us that restrict us under threat of imprisonment from firmly obliging ourselves to one person only and strictly of the other gender. It is archaic, a product of Dark Age religious conditioning and the sooner it is thrown on the scrap heap the better in my view. If a person wishes to adopt a particular religion, fair enough, that is the choice of the individual in question. I do not agree with religion but I respect individual choice. But these people have no right imposing their religious conditioning and/or beliefs upon others. Yours, Frank 231 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Switching places on: June 17, 2005, 22:04:59 Hi: You cannot switch bodies, not in a literal physical sense as you will both have a different bio- energetic signature. You can merge with your other focuses as the energetic signature is developed from the same Primary Essence. Well, thinking about it, if your man is a parallel focus then you could merge with his physical. Not impossible, but in sheer statistical terms the chances of your man being a parallel focus is rather slight. Yours, Frank 230 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How long can you project for? on: June 17, 2005, 23:05:00 Hi: Projections usually end with what I feel as a familiar tugging. It feels suddenly like someone has got me on a lead and is pulling me back. I recognise it straight away as my physical making some kind of demand or other. So it's like, okay, what now? So I'll pop back, so to speak, or refocus within the physical and see what's what. Perhaps it's time to get up and get on with my day, maybe I need to use the bathroom, or whatever. When my physical brings me back I generally call it quits for the day, as there is always another time tomorrow. No sense in trying to force it. In answer to Lente's question I think between 30 minutes to an hour is about right. Like I say no sense in trying to force it. Within subjective reality there is no time. So you can be projecting for what feels like hours and hours and only 30 minutes have passed of actual physical time. The other thing is, the further "out" you go, the longer it takes for you to orientate yourself in the physical again. When I have a Focus 4 experience I normally have to endure a number of what are generally called false awakenings, or “false physicals” as I call them before I get properly oriented. After which is takes about 2 hours of moving about in the physical to fully get used to being “back”. Yours, Frank 229 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / connecting with dead loved ones in the astral plane on: June 17, 2005, 23:40:43 Hi: You say you have been projecting for years within your dreams so I would suggest you use this route as a mode of contact with your husband after he chooses to disengage. As he does so, he will enter Transition for real, as it were. At the moment, the visions you are seeing are overlay experiences that help both of you prepare for the time when that final disengagement comes about. This is very normal. Your husband will enter Transition at a point where he feels best able. He will be a little fearful so it is essential that you offer as much reinforcement as you can. Especially as it gets nearer to the time. If you can, you need to keep things as light-hearted as possible as any fear will only drag him down. To connect with him after he disengages is as easy as thinking about him. You have been projecting in dreams so keep doing that and all you will have to do is picture him and you will meet just as you would while physical. It happened to me only in a different way. It was very sudden and rather shocking. It can be confusing, I agree, but you have time on your side. Time to say what you need to say and prepare for that final moment of disengagement. Yours, Frank 228 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Talking in the Astral on: June 18, 2005, 01:18:34 Hi: Depends what you mean by astral plane. But for the most part it's your choice. You can communicate mind to mind or verbalise as per normal. This holds true until you reach Focus 4 (in Phasing Model terms) then you are within an entirely subjective area of reality so it's mind to mind only. Well, saying that it goes even beyond mind to mind. Everything just is, it all becomes you, as a concept. So you don't "communicate" as such, you engage communication as a concept and so communication becomes you. Yours, Frank 227 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / . on: June 18, 2005, 04:10:38 Sapphire: All this Buddism or not Buddism and Gods or not Gods is really not my thing. I moved the post to chat so you can argue your respective belief constructs until the sun converts all available hydrogen to helium if that's what you want. I would invite you to consider that we all have the very same subjective energetic structure. So no one can rightfully claim to be any more "enlightened" than any other. We are all created equal and that is how we are. I am no more enlightened than anyone else. The only difference is I have come to teach myself more of an objective knowing of that fact than most people who subscribe to this forum. And that, my friend, is the key to all of this and will be the subject of my next newsletter. Anyone who claims they are some kind of "god", with respect, is just ego tripping on whatever fantasies they have chosen to create within Focus 2 of consciousness. Yours, Frank 226 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / . on: June 18, 2005, 04:26:40 Hi: As you wish, but for the record I did not ask you to actually remove them. I just felt they were not appropriate for OBE Discussions and that was what I meant by closing it down and moving the whole thing to Chat. You talk about coming in peace and about humans having their own destiny like you just stepped out of a UFO. Let's please not forget that we are all part of the human sisterhood and brotherhood on this planet and we each have the very same subjective structure. We are all equal, here (despite all our flaws) so let us please all embrace that and not let petty religious differences come between us. Yours, Frank 225 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How long can you project for? on: June 18, 2005, 04:41:00 Hi: Please don't try and fight that "tugging". I know it only too well. It's just that the physical is our Primary Focus and it cannot be fought. Gentle pursuation is the key to staying "out" longer. Yours, Frank 222 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Silver chord? on: June 18, 2005, 07:53:38 Hi: It is an internal question, not a "religious" issue. Yours, Frank 221 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Silver chord? on: June 18, 2005, 08:23:10 That's right, the whole chord thing, it is an internal question. An issue each individual faces on their terms. It's not a "mass belief" (religious) issue. Yours, Frank 220 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / How long can you project for? on: June 19, 2005, 00:20:57 Major Tom: In my book I call them recognition states, which is what you are terming dwelling stages. The somewhat wishy-washy hypnogogic states unfortunately absorb our focus of attention like a dry sponge soaking up water. The images present themselves as a kind of tantalising alternative, an exercise in attention seduction that leads us down that slippery slope to sleep. Somehow, the neophyte practitioner of the art has to find a way of mentally “looking beyond” the imagery in order to get a fix somewhere in the distance. Not that there is any distance in that state, but all in a manner of speaking. It‟s difficult to explain in words. One day I hope to develop some computer graphical simulations of typical experiences. But that‟s a couple of years away. Yours, Frank 213 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / How to Contact Higher Self?? on: June 19, 2005, 06:43:19 Hi: I'm not sure whom you mean by your higher self. I guess you have been reading a few mystical books or websites and you are trying to find the solution to some problem or other. Yours, Frank 212 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / F2 to F1 to F2 on: June 19, 2005, 18:49:55 Sarah: Not sure if you will be the same but I tend to see textures just before the 3D Blackness (Fz) state. Not always, sometimes I Phase right through it but often I'll take the transitions really slowly and it's greyish cloudy formations, swirls of coloured cloudy formations, textures and ink blots, and then Fz. My 3D Blackness is almost always punctuated by loads of stars. Well, they look like stars but they are not really. The view is like looking at the night sky. Yours, Frank 210 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / How to Contact Higher Self?? on: June 19, 2005, 19:53:56 Hi: What you are trying to do, it sounds like, is get in tune with your inner or subjective senses. We have 5 objective and 9 subjective senses. Problem is the inner senses tend to become swamped by the signals hitting us from the outer or objective senses. So that is why to hear the signals from your inner senses most people have to quieten the outer senses to a high degree first. But as Lola also mentions, the more you listen to your inner senses the stronger the signals become. I'm guessing a little here in what I am about to say. I do try reading all the mystical blurb to get a basic idea of where they are coming from. But I always get bored by the first 2 or 3 pages as it's all so trite in this day and age. I suppose it all made some kind of sense in the 1st century. But we are 2000 years on now. But I think that what mystics are calling "higher self", bearing in mind these people tend to objectify everything, is an objective representation of the accumulation of their inner senses they are viewing within Focus 2 of consciousness. Because people with these kinds of beliefs tend to be very "body" fixated, the objective representations they create tend to be an alternative representation of their own physical. Either a younger, perhaps more handsome version, or an older perhaps more wiser version, etc. All manner of varying representations abound it would appear. Some people even go so far as to create an angelic or god-like representation. Doing this is their prerogative, of course. But then what happens is they try to impose that experience on others by engaging the action of a leader/follower construct and so cults of all descriptions are formed. The notion of "higher" self comes about due to a number of mystical belief constructs. But there is no "higher" or "lower" in consciousness. Consciousness just IS. Notions such as high or low come about due to mystics imposing their beliefs of what they believe consciousness should be. I mean, if someone is in the business of selling "past life readings" you need to get people believing in the notion that they have had "past" lives. If everyone were to realise that within subjective reality there is no time, so there can be no past or future, then anyone trying to sell a "past-life reading" would be a laughing stock. But there is nothing to the contrary you can prove in a court of law (yet) so the mystics get away with it. I call it Psychic Fraud. If we were to entertain the concept of higher and lower for a moment whilst looking at our whole structure within consciousness, we would see that our physical manifestation is, in fact, our "highest" representation of self. Certainly in terms of complexity in its creation and application. But to the mystics, we are but lowly sheep needing direction and, surprise surprise, they are the ones who self-appoint themselves to provide it. I wouldn't mind if these people had something new to offer. But they just keep on churning out the same BS. Though many are getting clued up nowadays and we are seeing them putting a modern-day spin on all the old junk. Yours, Frank 208 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / F2 to F1 to F2 on: June 19, 2005, 20:37:27 Sarah: There is always a progression to the experience. Mystics tend to call them "levels" but then that term becomes morphed into the idea of lower and higher and angels and demons, etc. But think of it like you were stripping off layers. Focusing your attention on different layers of experience. As you encounter a layer, peel it away and that will reveal the next layer, and so on. There are an infinite number of layers so it all depends upon what grabs your attention. You can just keep peeling them away forever. Of course, the more you peel away the deeper "in" to yourself you go, until you reach the entirely subjective layers. Then you become the concept of a layer. Which is rather whacky and fun. Yours, Frank 205 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / F2 to F1 to F2 on: June 20, 2005, 02:45:12 Hi: It's not a "level" it is a state, a particular mental focus of attention known as the 3D-Blackness at the Monroe Focus 21 state or Fz of my Phasing Model of consciousness. Yours, Frank 201 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / at F10, having difficulty going past. on: June 20, 2005, 05:42:48 Hi: In the early days the moment I'd see an image in mind, my physical eyes would suddenly "wake up" and try to snatch a glance at whatever it was. Of course, that would zap me right out of the state I'd just spent 30-40 minutes developing. I've said before that often I'd feel like gouging my eyes out in frustration. :) A key to all of this is getting the physical eyes to relax and soften. So you are not actually looking out of them anymore. When you first close your eyes, you‟ll still be looking out of them. So you need to let them relax so they just hold still in whatever position they feel comfortable. Mine tend to drift upwards and there is a point of rest that they naturally go to that is the same each time. This relaxing of the eyes, coupled with the relaxation of the physical body is what allows the focus of attention to move away from the eyes so you can change your mental focus of attention into your mind. The physical is our Primary Focus so you need to try to seduce that focus of attention away from the physical, as I was talking about in a couple of posts over the past week. Once you break the connection to the physical, you are free to look into your mind. As I say, that is when the lights come on, in a manner of speaking, and all kinds of weird and wonderful imagery comes about at the beginning of Focus 2. If you wish, you can you pass through this stage and reach Fz, which is your gateway to Focus 3. Fz is Focus 21 of the Monroe model and Focus 3 encompasses Monroe Focus states F23 to F27 inclusive. Yours, Frank 199 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / at F10, having difficulty going past. on: June 20, 2005, 17:40:09 Hi: I am pleased you like the Wave 1 CD as I too found it very useful in getting over a little hurdle I was having. It cut my time down to getting to Focus 10 considerably. Once at Focus 10 everything just lights up for me and I make the progression no problem. But originally I was finding it difficult achieving a good fix on the Focus 10 state. The BIG downer, of course, is the price, which stops me from actively recommending it to others. Unfortunately, the CD is by no means certain to work. I'm not sure what the general statistics are but it's a lot of money to take a chance on. Yours, Frank 197 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / at F10, having difficulty going past. on: June 20, 2005, 18:02:04 MT: I can see where you are coming from but I am not sure if it is just the actual "frequencies" on the CD. What I found very beneficial was the guided rundown. It was just what I needed at the time. I have tried a couple of other CDs that had a load of buzzing sounds but they just got on my nerves. All the buzzing and stuff just drove me nuts. In contrast, with the Gateway Wave 1 CD the accent is more on the discipline side of things and getting the mind focused on the task in hand. The actual "hemi-sync" side in terms of the various tones that are presented to each ear, and all that brainwave blah, blah, blah, is well in the background, which is nice, IMO. Yours, Frank 196 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP and Reeincarnation on: June 20, 2005, 22:33:34 Hi: "Past Lives" is a belief construct that is gaining popularity. But within subjective reality there is no such thing as linear time. You DO have other focuses that you can merge with, but they are NOT you. You are you and they are they. But people are SO transfixed with the notion of linear time they cannot think beyond it. Past-Life readings are gaining popularity and, as usual, the mystics are raking in the mega-bucks on whatever happens to be the latest New Age fraud, sorry, fad. But it's all just (what I call) an offset of convenience… it‟s not my fault, it‟s a past life. Just the usual sound-good blurb in other words that happens to make no sense to people who actually go within themselves and learn the facts. Yours, Frank 194 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP and Reeincarnation on: June 21, 2005, 00:38:30 Hi: Focus 4 of consciousness holds what you might call our individual Primary Essence. Each individual is a focus of his or her Primary Essence. Stemming from each of our Primary Essences, if you like, are many, many other focuses. A person may have thousands of other focuses. But these other focuses are NOT us. But they are directly connected to us, if you like, as they are a focus of the same Primary Essence. We can MERGE with these other focuses as they are of the same Primary Essence and they can MERGE with us. When I say merge I mean we can search within us and experience them. They are, most certainly "other lives" and other lives we can merge with and experience. But they are NOT us. They are other focuses of our Primary Essence. Again, within subjective reality there is NO time. There is no such thing as past and future. All is present. This aspect of subjective reality is one of the most misunderstood aspects and causes a LOT of confusion. I've said a number of times that all this is to do with the way these, what are called, Trans-Dimensional Areas in consciousness function. I've been studying them for a while and they are mighty complex to get to grips with. I still have not managed to suss them out, yet. But what people are calling "past lives" are, in fact, encounters with other focuses of their Primary Essence. The basic mistake people make is they assume the other person is them. How can it not be them? People think to themselves, after all, they know SO much about them. They can sense them inside, so it must have been another life, they assume. Just like when people looked to the sun and tracked its movements. It was OBVIOUS the sun revolved around the earth. Of course, the sun does not actually move around the earth at all. Quite the opposite. In a similar vein, these people are assuming that the people they are merging with are them. But the people that we encounter within us, in this particular respect, are NOT us. They are other focuses of our Primary Essence that we can merge with. I have done this a number of times. All you need do is project to Focus 4 and all will become apparent to you. What people are calling “past-life regression” is, in fact, a merging with another focus in the action of an F1/F4 overlay experience. But I actually doubt that even these are all true mergings with other focuses. It may just be people observing other people within Focus 3 and not understanding that there is even a Focus 3. There is a difference between merging and observing. When you merge with another focus you actually feel as if you have become that person. You haven't actually become them, all you have done is to merge with them. But it does feel like you have become them for the duration of the merging. Hence the reason why people mistakenly assume the other person was them at some stage. Again, there is NO TIME within subjective reality. I cannot stress this point too highly. It is the source of MUCH confusion and misunderstanding. I am NOT saying that the people who are thinking they are connecting with “past lives” are talking a complete load of BS. Nope, I am saying they are making the basic misassumption that they were once the other person. They are making the mistake of assuming their lives are occurring in a linear time framework. i.e. occurring in a sequential manner. In other words, that each life proceeds one after the other. Nope, all your focuses are living simultaneously and every one of your focuses is a different person. What “connects” them all, if you like, is they are a focus of the same Primary Essence within Focus 4 of consciousness and that is what makes it possible to merge with them. Yours, Frank 192 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Can it be dangerous? on: June 21, 2005, 07:46:52 MT: You hit on it with the availability of information thing. Younger people simply don't realise what it was like before, and long may they not have to. But I have lived right through the start of the digital age and now the sheer benefits I can get just mouse-clicks away, when it would have been a heck of a treck around the houses before. Of course, I am not taking account of any downers such as the addictive nature of Chat-rooms, computer games and the like, because these elements of the overall equation have never been part of my experience. Perhaps I would see it differently in that event. Yours, Frank 191 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP and Reeincarnation on: June 21, 2005, 20:40:35 Kaz: I can do better than give my opinion, I can tell you exactly what happens as I‟ve been to these places and met people who have done it. And this is why the whole thrust of my work now is to get people focusing within Focus 3 of consciousness so they can discover all this for themselves. It‟s no use messing about in the real-time zone, it‟s no use playing around doing “energy work” these are nothing but parlour tricks. If you want to learn the real truth about life, you need to get projecting within Focus 3 of consciousness. Or in Monroe‟s terms Focuses 23 to 27 inclusive. This is why Monroe‟s work was streets ahead of the mystics. If you notice, his model virtually bypasses Focus 2 of consciousness. This is the area where most mystics revel in. This is where people have all their weird and whacky “astral projection” style experiences. In my model, I have actually brought Focus 2 of consciousness back into the general scheme of things, and introduced Focus 4. This latter area Monroe was touching on but could never quite get his head around it. I have introduced Focus 2 because I believe the students of this art today will have the wherewithal, the sense of maturity, to realise the true nature of the place. As such, they will not become wrapped up in their own belief constructs to the extent where they become walking, talking self-fulfilling prophecies like the mystics and their followers of old. This is great, because Focus 2 is a handy springboard to the other areas. Plus, you can learn to manipulate your chances of success within the physical from within Focus 2 of consciousness, as we are a source/manifest reality system and Focus 2 is our source in that respect. The notion of “soul” is a mystical and or belief construct that has come about because these people are forever fixated with “things”. They objectify everything and turn it into a “thing”. They talk about “separation” and “rejoining” for example, yet there is NO separation in consciousness! They talk about us being “part of a whole” yet we ARE the whole already! Ultimately, what befalls these people is they are completely blinded by BODY FIXATION and, as I have said repeatedly on this forum, a body is merely an objective representation of the accumulation of a particular set of expectations regarding the enactment of certain types of actions within particular areas of consciousness. It holds no other purpose! We DO NOT die. We actually shed our physical bodies as a tree sheds its leaves. I‟ve said before a number of times that what we objectively view as death is the action of a person shifting their Primary Focus [of attention] from Focus 1 to Focus 3 of consciousness. There is NO death! We are NOT our physical bodies! Our body is merely a biological machine that contains various senses, motor capabilities and communications facilities that allow us to create the experience of being physically oriented. We point our focus of attention at it and we can experience wherever the body happens to be. Due to the nature of the way the physical body is constructed, we *must* keep a subjective energetic connection with the body at all times. If we withdraw this energetic connection then the physical body *will* cease to function within about 20 minutes to an hour. Because of this necessity, there is a particularly strong attraction between the physical body and ourselves. More so, for example, between yourself and an “etheric body” you might happen to create while projecting within the “real-time zone”. Generally, when an individual focus personality wishes to experience a particular area of consciousness they create a “bodily vehicle” that is tailored for use within that particular area. When you focus within the real-time zone, you typically create what mystics call an “etheric- body”. I agree but it is not strictly necessary as they always try to make out, and even go so far as to create weird and whacky “silver chord”. I mean, as an aside, why silver? I once created a really nice thick translucent gold one with a red lining. It was gorgeous and dead sexy. Silver is BORING in my opinion. These mystics just have NO imagination! I reckon this comes about from them following all the deeply boring, staid and stale teachings from the times when we used to dunk witches and burn people at the stake. Anyhow, for complete involvement within the RTZ you can create an “etheric body”. When you refocus within the physical your etheric body then “dies” it dissipates, it‟s no longer required, and the experience is over, finished, etheric-body gone. Next time you want to experience the RTZ you simply create another one, experience what you want to experience and, when you have finished with the body you created it dissipates (dies) and so on and so forth, ad infinitum. The physical is NO different. Only the cycle of creation and dissipation is different in its effect because you are involving the act of creation and dissipation on a much wider scale of events. But the underlying principle is the same. You want a physical experience then you create a body with which to do it. You do not have to, but for complete involvement then you would want to, which we do. When the time comes to cease your involvement, you withdraw your focus and allow the physical body to dissipate. As you do so, you switch your focus of attention from Focus 1 to Focus 3 of consciousness and get on with your life there. You do not change at all. The you of you, as I call it, remains the same. The only problem or spoke-in-the-works of this natural transition has been placed by religions and mystics who attempt to control people within the physical. With religion, in the olden days, it was working hand in hand with the ruling hierarchy to achieve mass subservience amongst the general populace. Today it usually all boils down to money. Either in the pockets of the mystics and their hangers on, or religions like the Catholic Church funding places like the Vatican State, one of the richest places in the world. Religions and mystics typically pitch themselves as an aid to the whole process, a boon that you can buy into while physical. Yet, anyone actually viewing the complete MESS their tacky beliefs have created within the lower branches of Focus 3 of consciousness will instantly see them as a barrier, not an aid. They are nothing but Psychic Frauds, in my personal opinion and I long for the day that people will start to see that. Yours, Frank 190 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP and Reeincarnation on: June 21, 2005, 20:49:42 And if each focus is indeed an independent entity and the primary essence is what conects them all, what do you think it happens to a focus after he/her dies? Hi: Please see the post above. A focus does not die. The focus personality merely shifts its Primary Focus. It is impossible for a focus to die. There is no time within subjective reality. There is no beginning or end. All simply IS. Yours, Frank 189 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Is anyone happy for the suicides? on: June 21, 2005, 21:22:02 Hi: I think people ought to consider there is a difference nowadays between what we call “suicide” and an act of self-deliverance. An act of self-deliverance is classed as a logical decision by the person in question. Whereas a suicide is generally classed as an irrational decision by someone in dire need of psychological help as a result of clinical depression and/or what we would class as mental illness. In my experience, some forms of mental illness are tantamount to torture. It can very easily reach the stage where the person in question feels they simply have no alternative but death [as a form of escape]. It is all very well for the sociologically comfortable to pass their judgement upon these people. Social snobbery takes many forms I suppose. But go and actually work with these people and then see how you feel. The whole question, I would suggest, is a LOT more complex than most people assume. In the first instance, I would recommend people read Final Exit by Derek Humphry. He touches on a number of important basic issues regarding this. Plus, I would respectfully suggest people try to gain an understanding of this issue by actually working with people who feel a psychological need to do away with themselves, as it were, as I did for a number of years. I think you would find it rather enlightening, but enlightening in a real sense, not in a happy-clappy we all are all one and oh so [pseudo] enlightened New-Age sense. Yours, Frank 188 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Mind sick? on: June 21, 2005, 21:48:51 Steve: Ha ha, I couldn't help but laugh but what you are doing sounds very much like "Frank's squishy ball technique". If you do a search then it may still throw up a few posts from the beginning days. When I very first joined this forum I was experimenting trying to "slow down" my usual projection technique and trying to find that place in mind, and I would go through experiences very much like you are describing now. I would say you are bang on target and will, before not too long, start making the same kinds of mental breakthroughs as I did. Yours, Frank 187 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP and Reeincarnation on: June 22, 2005, 01:32:34 Kaz: Reincarnation is a religious/mystical belief construct and has nothing to do with focuses, “levels” or otherwise. I have said repeatedly that the focuses I present are NOT levels or places they are focuses of attention. There is a difference between a focus of attention and an individual focus personality. A focus personality is a person who engages particular focuses of attention within their available consciousness continuum, and is an individual focus of their Primary Essence. But they are NOT the ONLY focus of their Primary Essence. We each have many, many individual focuses of our Primary Essence resident within many, many other physical-like dimensions including this one. Many of us will have a small number of either “parallel focuses” or “near focuses” resident within this dimension of reality. This is only normal. In a very simplistic view, looking at it from the point of view of thinking within linear time constraints, I can see how the notion of “reincarnation” could have come about. But that is just mystics and other religious types making the same old mistakes of the past. To understand the reality of this issue entails a complete understanding of the functioning of what are known as Trans-Dimensional areas in consciousness. As I have said a number of times, I cannot yet provide a full explanation of the workings of these as the understanding of these areas is darned tricky and it is a subject I have been working on only for about a year. It‟s a Focus 4 thing and it would appear that anything to do with Focus 4 stretches the ability of people to explain in mere words. Little wonder Monroe left it alone. I am hoping to provide some computer graphic simulations within a year or two that will explain things better than mere words. Well, this depends on other things falling into place. Last week the Frank Kepple Foundation was set up, but if no one subscribes to my Virtual Classroom and no one were to buy my book, then I‟m gonna be stumped as I am not a wealthy person. I live a very frugal life and I am hoping to plough back the lion‟s share of any profits into further research for the benefit of us all. In a few years time I am hoping that the answers to these basic questions will be known to a substantial number of us. Not just in terms of learning, but in terms of actual hands-on experience. Essentially, you are a focus personality adopting particular focuses of attention. You never “cease to exist”. There is NO TIME within subjective reality. As such, there can be NO beginning or end. I keep trying to stress this but people are SO transfixed with the idea of linear time they just cannot seem to step out of it in their thinking. As regards Monroe and the translation of respective focus states between my model of consciousness and his, I have posted on this a number of times but it is a subject I will be covering in the next edition of the newsletter due out at the end of this current month. Yours, Frank PS Hans: I'm obliged, thank you. 186 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / The One on: June 22, 2005, 01:41:27 Hi: Congratulations regarding the experience. I was attracted to the title as I had a similar kind of "The One" experience about 7 months ago and it's an experience I will always be living for life. Yours, Frank 184 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP and Reeincarnation on: June 22, 2005, 22:27:16 Shinobi: These are excellent questions that I must have overlooked on the other thread you mention. I freely admit that I (for one) do not have the full answers. I will not get them until I can take in the full picture of Focus 4 of consciousness. I am not even sure whether it is actually possible for a physically focused individual to take in that full picture. Focus 2 and Focus 3 are easy by comparison, as they are so “earth like” or “human like” and people have usually just made something up for the rest. In the olden days they called it “god” in significance of all they couldn‟t explain. But technology moves on, our understanding widens, and this topic is no different. Listening to some of the mystics anyone would be forgiven for thinking we were still in the Dark Ages. Dunking witches, burning people at the stake and wearing garlic necklaces to ward off demons. But today we are attempting to broaden our understanding and pave the way for the new paradigm. So here we are calling it Focus 4 of consciousness. An area in consciousness that we can now learn to experience for ourselves (with a little effort in the right direction, of course). Now, anything involving Focus 4 of consciousness is completely mind blowing, and I do not say this lightly. It is an area I have not been able to “explore” as fully as I would like. It is my current challenge, you could say. The BIG difficulty with Focus 4 is that it‟s an area of fully subjective reality. There is no notion of Time, so in turn there is no notion of Space either. Focus 4 occupies no Space at all and yet it encompasses the other areas, namely, Focus 1, 2 and 3. So our whole physical universe (and all the other universes besides, but let‟s put them aside for a moment) is encompassed by Focus 4. Yet “outside” of Focus 4 there is nothing because Focus 4 encompasses all that is within our system. Focus 4 occupies no space, yet it encompasses our whole physical universe. Okay, so that‟s the first hurdle. Problem is, to us, if something occupies no space then it cannot possibly exist. Reason being we are so attached to “things”. Second hurdle: to understand Focus 4 it is necessary to take on board an understanding of infinity. This latter aspect is perhaps the most mind-blowing of all. Because, in infinity, everything happens an infinite number of times. Which means everything that has or will come about, has already happened. From our somewhat limited linear-time perspective, we may consider a life began, it ended, and it began again. But from the perspective of Focus 4, nothing has begun and nothing has ended. All simply IS. The whole notion of beginning and end is a physical construct. From this restricted, highly limited viewpoint, people make far-reaching assumptions about the Wider Reality. Thus, constructs such as “reincarnation” come about. But when you actually look at the FACTS of the matter. When you actually step within Focus 4 and experience it for yourself, all begins falling into place. Well, that is what is steadily happening to me and I cannot be the only person in the world today who has stepped into Focus 4 of consciousness. I realise this kind of thing is quite rare and, hopefully, it will start to become more common as people begin duplicating my work. Most “life regression” if you wish to call it that (I personally don‟t mind as I can see what you mean) comes through in the way it does, simply because people present themselves with the opportunities to notice what they choose to address. In that sense, people develop a tastefulness for certain aspects that resonate amongst us. We feel it “makes sense” so we believe it. But this phenomenon can readily occur entirely independently of the facts of the matter in hand; as it does in this case in the light of my hands-on experience. When we project within subjective reality, each of us typically places ourselves in the position or anticipation of facing objects. But when you enter Focus 4, you cast off all notions of “things” and begin merging with the underlying subjective energy. That same energy, down the line, as it were, will ultimately split off here and there (again all in a manner of speaking) and create a “thing”. That thing could be a soccer ball, a human being, a house, a plant, a giraffe, or whatever. Now, in merging with energy, I do not mean you are merging into a vast pool of nothingness. On the contrary. Typically you are merging with a specific action of energy. I suppose you could say, in a very broad sense (and only in a very broad sense) you are merging with a “thing” but a thing in terms of its conceptualisation, or it‟s source in other words. And that source of all that is within our system is Focus 4 of consciousness. So, ultimately, all “things” can be traced to an action in energy, the ultimate source of which is Focus 4. In other words, you could say, Focus 4 is the area of the action of the thought before it is created. But again, only in a manner of speaking because, from the Focus 4 standpoint, there is no before. All simply is. The concept of “before” comes into it as the action is engaged further “down the line” as it were… and that is where the primary mistake is made regarding the notion of reincarnation and past-lives. All our sense of objectivity revolves around a linear time framework. To the extent where it is, currently, virtually impossible for a person to “step out” of this mode of thought. It is FAR EASIER to believe in the false notion of reincarnation, and so it becomes! (Better the devil you know, I suppose.) Myself, I am currently finding that disassociating myself from the notion of linear time is next to impossible and takes tremendous mental effort. Okay, maybe I‟m just a bit thick and other people would get it more quickly. Either way, the pursuit of this type of experience is not to be sneezed at. Naturally I am hoping that, at some future stage, a clear set of guidelines can be presented that would make it easier for people to encompass and understand the Focus 4 experience. Yours, Frank 183 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Frank- "objective reality is an objective translation of on: June 22, 2005, 23:21:50 Nay, thank you. KL: I'm sorry, I am at a loss to explain why I have overlooked this thread. I would like to express that I am on dial-up and I do not have the luxury of working "on screen" as it were. Posts do get missed, unfortunately, as by the time I come back to my screen the "latest posts" feature has refreshed itself. I can understand your frustration and again I can only apologise for having overlooked it. You are quite correct, I have answered a number of posts at length following yours. I assure you it is nothing personal. I would like to suggest to anyone who feels they may have been overlooked on a Phasing question to please post a PM to jog my memory. Yours, Frank 182 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Did I phase? on: June 23, 2005, 00:03:40 AMM: Your posts are wonderful because they typify the ease at which we can Phase in and out of the wider reality. The funny shapes, the moving colours, yep, I know those. That's the Monroe Focus 12 state but as a child it would have seemed so natural (as these states are). Your fiancée will always be connected to you, because there is no separation within consciousness. Those of us who have lost a loved one so close are best placed to know this, because they enter our "dreams" and we know we are with them. We know it is more than "just a dream". Yep, that's right, you can travel around the universe or the universe can travel around you. This latter point I am attempting to bring into the objective awareness of my students. Simply standing still and shifting one's perception is a whole load easier and more controlled than flying around here, there and everywhere. You say you cannot wait to checkout Focus 3 but you are already having Focus 3 experiences. Okay, it sounds from what you say a little bit of an F2/F3 overlay experience but you are absolutely right there. Next time you see your fiancée simply hold his hand and ask him to take you with him, ask him to take you “home”. Yours, Frank 181 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Hey Frank, got a Fz question... on: June 23, 2005, 00:33:37 Hi: In my case the 3D-Blackness at the Monroe Focus 21 state is punctuated by points of light that look like stars in the clear night sky. I am not sure what these points of light represent. I have gone up close to them on occasion and they just look like a point of light simply suspended in mid air. I am not sure whether they are a particular product of my imagination or what. Not everyone sees them, so it could be me providing a little Focus 2 infill to make the scene more interesting. After all, the 3D-Blackness is right on the “edge” of the Focus 2 state, before you trip over into Focus 3. Thing is, the 3D-Blackness state, for me, has always been a transition state into Focus 3. It is not a state I have really any connection with. I do enjoy, now and again, just floating in the blackness. It got quite addictive a few years ago but once I discovered Focus 3 then I moved on and it became largely a transition state, as I say. I know what you mean about the intensity. I feel that now with every Focus 4 experience I come across. I feel a little fear, not because I am scared, but it is the sheer awesomeness of the experience that gets you. You‟d have to be totally brain-dead not to feel excitement or apprehension. And if you were so inclined you wouldn‟t be having these experiences in the first place. So it is something we all have to encompass at all stages in our experience. The semi-transparent clouds in the foreground sound like a remnant from the prior Focus 12 state. As you proceed to the full Focus 21 experience these clouds should fall away to reveal the 3D Blackness in its entirety. Yours, Frank 180 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Did I phase? on: June 23, 2005, 00:53:21 AMM: Yes, I know what you mean about the missing physical presence bit. But it‟s all an experience process that is designed to introduce us to a wider knowing of ourselves and others. Sometimes events come about that bowl you over at first, and then you realise the complete picture. After such an event, you cannot help but relate to an expanded knowing of the wider reality. Things that people without such experience would simply overlook. Elements of nature are highlighted specifically. I know only too well what you mean. Yours, Frank 179 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Hey Frank, got a Fz question... on: June 23, 2005, 01:07:40 Hi: Energy points, yeah, definitely but as to whether they are portals, hmm, next time I might try Phasing through one and see where it leads! Yours, Frank 178 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Hey Frank, got a Fz question... on: June 23, 2005, 03:29:38 Hi: No problems in speculating. I would never have got as "far" as I have if I didn't keep pitching myself in a speculative mode. I'll give your theory a try and see what comes about for me. Realise that Fz is right on the "border" of each person's individual consensus reality so the "stars" could mean differently for each person though it is likely there would be some similarities as I am sure you would expect. As I say, I always saw Fz as more of a transitional state so there is no doubt a lot to discover just at Fz alone. It's just that at Fz I am always itching to make the transition to Focus 4 these days. I only manage it on about 3 tries in 10 attempts and even then it's not what I hoped for. I often end up just scratching the surface. But I'll get there before not too long. Patience and persistence is the key to all of this, both for me and for everyone. Unless you happen to have been born with some kind of "gift" but these people are few and far between. Genuine ones I mean. For every genuine one there are probably a thousand fakes. Yours, Frank 176 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Is anyone happy for the suicides? on: June 23, 2005, 22:30:15 Hi: To my mind, the problem here is in the original question. Could any thinking, feeling, compassionate human-being feel HAPPY for someone who has gone through the mental trauma that let to their self-inflicted demise? I just think not. Happiness is the wrong word, IMO. Compassion, yes, but happiness? I have worked with these people and have empathised with their pain too often to think it is something I should feel happy about. Yours, Frank 175 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Is anyone happy for the suicides? on: June 24, 2005, 03:19:20 This nominal if narrow sense of "completeness" is a tangible and consistent hope of a much larger completeness. Hmm, that sentence got me thinking. I appreciate your direction. Yours, Frank 174 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / Using Fz state to download worldwide languages? on: June 24, 2005, 03:26:15 Hi: You need to step "back" a touch from the Fz state and enter the realms of your imagination. Then create the construct within your imagination and imagine living that reality within the physical. You will be able to create a completely lifelike construct (with a little practice). Then imagine that construct bleeding through into your physical life at the appropriate times. Do it right and it will come about, in stages. There is a very strong side-effect to this you have to be aware of. You will need to be prepared for a LOT of quite severe deja-vu feelings as the bleed-through is taking place. But as you will know it is you, and you will be understanding of the process, it will make you chuckle rather than make you feel weird or freaky. But still, you need to be prepared for it. Yours, Frank 170 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / The One on: June 24, 2005, 23:01:51 Telos: Are you asking about my experience or the original poster Nathan's experience? If it is the latter then from what I can gauge this is a typical Focus 2 experience of meeting your belief constructs head-on type of thing. The very fact that someone can write about it suggests Focus 2. Focus 4 experiences tend to be beyond words. :) Yours, Frank 169 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / The One on: June 24, 2005, 23:03:37 Telos: We cross posted and it's obvious now you are speaking of the latter. It's Focus 2, IMO. Yours, Frank 166 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Frank- "objective reality is an objective translation of on: June 25, 2005, 03:09:36 Hi: Thank you to all for your observations. I'm a bit pushed for time to answer this at present as it's quite a complex question. I have touched on this before in some detail and it would appear some of the posts have been lost. I'll do my best to try to recap from my notes over the next few days as the question of subjective and objective both in terms of awareness and in terms of the translation of energy is quite a complex topic, particularly the latter. Though I believe the former is what is being asked about by the original poster which makes it easier to encapsulate. The latter I will be making the subject of a series of newsletters. It is too in depth to go into in one go, and way too much for a post to a thread here. Yours, Frank 164 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / What is a thought? on: June 25, 2005, 19:13:52 Hi: To answer your question a thought is a communication. As to stocks, I think Gann was perhaps the forerunner of this weird and whacky idea that a kind of geometry existed in stock-market movements. Pity it only becomes perfectly clear after the event. :) Would make an interesting discussion but that's way off-topic for this section. But as to thought, as I say it's a communication. Yours, Frank 162 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Is the imagination in F2? on: June 25, 2005, 23:04:30 Hi: The brain is an interface, that's all. All your personal thought processes are located within the area of consciousness I label Focus 2 in my Phasing Model. It's not really represented in the Monroe model but I call it a wider Focus 12. No thoughts, memories, thinking processes, etc, take place "in the brain" at all. The brain is a mere interface. Yours, Frank 161 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / What is a thought? on: June 25, 2005, 23:15:15 Hi: Yes, self communication. Thought is a communication. If I were not so pushed for time right now I'd expand on it but I need to get this Virtual Classroom launched and write the newsletter for the end of the month. So after that, if you are still interested then let's swap a few posts. As regards the forecasting, it's a pity that those pretty diagrams you see on the charts are only available AFTER the event. Gann lines, Cup and Handle formations, Head and Shoulders Tops, etc., etc., it's all AFTER the event. Problem is, stockbrokers, commodity brokers, et al, absolutely insist you trade (gamble) BEFORE the event you are laying your money on. A tad inconvenient, but that's life. It's easy to forget that in the midst of all the mathematical hype. It's like an advert on the Internet I saw last week that stuck in mind. The advert said "Trading the Euro is Easy!" Yes, actually trading the Euro is very easy. But that is not the point. There is a vast difference between trading the Euro and actually making a profit month in month out, from trading the Euro. The latter is the difficult bit and the former is child's play. Yours, Frank 160 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Is the imagination in F2? on: June 26, 2005, 01:05:56 Knightlight: Yes you would and that is exactly the thinking behind creating the mental rundown of the Phasing Approach and making the switch into Focus 2 of consciousness. That is precisely it. You create that internal reality and go and "join it" as it were. The going to join it is the very switch from Focus 1 to Focus 2. Then, you can use Focus 2 of consciousness as a launch pad to the other areas. I tell you now, the physical is NOT a handy launch pad. It is our Primary Focus and it captures us intently. It is darned difficult in other words. Far better to make the relatively easier transition to Focus 2 (by use of the imagination) and do it all from there. Either Phasing into the RTZ (for a conventional OBE experience) or Focus 3 or even 4, or just doing "energy work". It's a whole load more responsive within Focus 2. Yours, Frank 152 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / phasing wierdness on: June 26, 2005, 22:54:35 Hi: Perhaps I should point out again that while dreaming and stepping into your imagination during a mental rundown, or other more traditional "astral projection" experiences, typically all take place within the area of consciousness I label Focus 2, in my Phasing Model of Consciousness... they are NOT the same action in consciousness. There are what might be called sub-divisions of Focus 2 that each individual will incorporate for their purposes. Mystics in the past have called them "levels" but there are no levels in consciousness. They are merely regions in consciousness that we create for the convenience of our individual experiences. Yours, Frank 148 Spiritual Evolution / Welcome to Spiritual Evolution! / Is anyone happy for the suicides? on: June 27, 2005, 01:45:29 Nay: Yes, very close experience. She was a youngster, female, boyfriend left her and her world fell apart. She died in my arms as I heard the ambulance arriving. Something I will never forget. Still got the whacking great scar on my inner forearm from punching my fist through the side window to get the front door open. Tore my inner forearm in half. 20 years later I still remember it like it was yesterday. Yours, Frank 142 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Is the imagination in F2? on: June 27, 2005, 06:56:26 James: From F2 you need to detune your awareness and create the "slat effect" do a search on posts of the past couple of months and that should fill you in. Someone will come along and provide a link soon, hopefully. If not then I'll trawl my notes for the relevant bits and let you know. I'm just a tad pushed for time at the moment. Yours, Frank 141 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Is the imagination in F2? on: June 27, 2005, 07:09:01 Hi: You do not lose memories when the brain is damaged. You may lose the ability to remember that fact in an objective knowing sense, which can be rather confusing. But such is only a temporary condition and is wrapped up with the way energy translates between the subjective and the objective. The brain is an interface to the knowing sense in terms of the objective physical. Without that, there would be no objective physical for the individual in question. Brain damage causes translatory effects which are often misunderstood. Yours, Frank 140 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Is the imagination in F2? on: June 28, 2005, 08:20:51 Froglet: I think there is no better way, ultimately. Talk to a dozen gurus and they will all say that their way is best. What I am attempting to do, and the people of the same mind, is simply to present the Wider Reality as it is... so people can make up their own mind. I believe the transition from Focus 1 to Focus 2 is the easiest step to make as we access Focus 2 almost continually in our daily life. To present ourselves with an objective knowing of Focus 2 is just a little step on from what we do anyway. The BIG problem, however, with Focus 2 is if we approach it without realising the full nature of where we are. In that event we can so very easily get led off on a tangent. Which is what has happened in the past with the gurus and the mystics. But people are steadily getting the idea now and the old pitfalls are being filled in. As such, Focus 2 can be used as a handy launch-pad to the other focuses of attention. Yours, Frank 139 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Finding the off button? on: June 28, 2005, 09:06:57 I always was aware of muscle tension in the face being a bigger barrier than anywhere else in the body, but the idea of "brain tension" is quite interesting. Yes, tension in the eyes especially. Is it possible that muscle tension in the scalp, eyes, and forehead is experienced as "inside the brain tension", or are we actually dealing with something different like a mental tension of sorts? I respect the question and would say not, in my experience. I would say that after the "outer" tension has been dealt with there is an inner "brain" tension that needs to be overcome. In my experience this is the key to achieving the MABA state. Too much sheer emphasis is placed on physical-body happenings, IMO, and there is much internal work to be done afterwards. Far better, in my experience, to simply do the "internal" work first and then the physical-body just falls into place. Well, providing you are not taking a parachute-jump or driving down the freeway at the time. :) Yours, Frank 134 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Commentary on Franks 2nd Newsletter on: June 29, 2005, 08:49:30 James S: Robert Bruce is clearly on record as saying that when it comes to the "Astral" side of things he relied heavily on Eastern esoteric thinking. His expertise is "energy work" and "real-time zone". This is obvious from anyone reading Astral Dynamics. For someone into that kind of thing, his book is perhaps the definitive work, no doubt about it. It is just that none of this is actually necessary to learn about the wider reality. A bricklayer is not an architect. For the record, the real-time zone is actually the physical. In that respect I‟m not sure why he called it “Astral” Dynamics but Robert appears to think the area of consciousness he calls the “RTZ” is the “first astral plane” from the physical. An easy mistake to make I suppose as I myself used to think in terms of those belief constructs until I widened my awareness. But, then again, I don‟t have a publisher to pamper to and fifty luxury seminar places to fill at 1,400 US dollars a shot every however months or so. For the record also, I have actually checked out much of what RB reports in his area of expertise and it's great. Energy-work is weird and whacky. It gives sensation after sensation. But none of it is strictly necessary at the end of the day. Creating an "energy body" is just a belief construct and I have projected into the RTZ as a point of consciousness. Once I created a "silver chord" but I made it translucent gold with a red lining. Dead sexy it was too. Don't know why these mystics would want to restrict a person's creativity. It‟s probably a result of them still living in the Dark Ages. As for the rest, Robert Bruce introduces his "Alice in Wonderland" effect. You go to this miraculous place where thoughts actually come to life, really, they do... WOW... No kidding! Really, your thoughts actually come to life??? In maybe a thousand years (perhaps) the mystics will actually start asking WHY your own thoughts come to life in this (to them) seemingly miraculous place. Ha ha ha... In my work, I present people with a "map" of the Wider Reality. I surely cannot be the only person in the world presenting the same map. I have already said a number of times that I happened to scan through a number of teachings on Judaism and I was amazed. Amidst all the religious and mystical mumbo jumbo, it would appear that the original people who wrote those works many thousands of years ago were explaining a model of consciousness very similar to my own that took me over 20 years to realise from my own trial and error. This was a very humbling realisation that stimulated me into looking into a number of other works, and I am truly amazed at what I see. There are actually a number of other very basic religions that spell out the same. Okay, we call them "religions" now but, thousands of years ago, when they were first broadcasting those teachings, then they were not religions. That "religious mistake" came later on with mysticism and spirituality. The latter two are just belief constructs that make a person feel good and superior to the rest of us (ego tripping nonsense in my view). It would appear that for the past couple of thousand years or so we have gone through a mystical and religious phase that has sent us right off track. In that vein, the New-Age religionists of today would have us going to work in manure-powered cars and sucking crystals for breakfast. It is high time all the rot was halted. It is high time the mystics were stopped in their tracks and either we revert to either the original or the contemporary teachings about the Wider Reality. Because what has happened in “the middle” is not worth a bean. Just ego-tripping nonsense about individuals wanting to feel superior. Yours, Frank 133 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Suicide on: June 29, 2005, 09:30:35 Heter: We are all one but we present these difficulties to ourselves in terms of separation. I would like to explain this to you in person. But I have a hundred other things I must do. This is not to say that your cause is any less or any more important. It's just that we are all in the same boat. We all feel for you, yet at the same time we all have to make progress. I doubt there is a person alive who hasn't thought about suicide at some stage or other in their lives. Depression is horrid and I would not wish it upon anyone. But you have a part to play. However insignificant you feel, you DO have a part to play. It just takes time, that's all. I am 46 years of age and I never thought I would last beyond 20. When I became 20 then it was 30, and so on. I cannot imagine myself at 50. Seriously, I look at myself sometimes and cannot believe I have lived this long. I tell you, the age thing is weird. It hits some people in weird ways, like me. In ten years time you'll be looking back thinking, wow, did I really think that? To you, now, ten years is like an age. It's not, I promise you. Yours, Frank 128 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / HELP HELP on: July 02, 2005, 12:35:44 Hi: As has been previously suggested, please read the FAQ section and we have a handy Search facility also. Naturally if you have points that you cannot get to grips with on any topic then by all means ask in the appropriate forum. All the best. Yours, Frank 127 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Meeting dead relatives... on: July 02, 2005, 12:48:26 Hi: You need to shift your focus of awareness to the Transition Area in consciousness. This is Focus 3 of my Phasing Model of consciousness or focus states F23 to F27 inclusive of the Monroe model. I've had direct experience of this many times and I can assure you it is perfectly possible. You might like to try checking out Bruce Moen's work (if you haven't done so already) as Bruce specialises in teaching people his Focused Attention approach that is specifically designed to contact people in what he calls the Afterlife. This is the same area in consciousness I am speaking of above. He has a course and conducts seminars in the USA and Europe and is highly recommended as Nick, our senior moderator, actually attended a seminar not too long ago (see the Sticky Post section for details). The other way would be to study the work of Monroe. His two later books Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey gives clues but no real instruction unfortunately. Or we have a number of posts here from members interested in the Monroe approach that you can dig out using the search facility. Best of luck. Yours, Frank 126 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / guides? on: July 02, 2005, 12:58:03 Hi: I tend to stay away from the whole notion of "guides" in a mystical sense. I used to use the word but dropped it a while ago as there is just too many mystical belief constructs attached. The plain and simple fact is, if you lend yourself open to the concept of guidance then there are many "people" non-physical who will give you a helping hand. If you listen to the mystics it's like we are all "assigned" guides and we each have a guardian angel, blah, blah, blah. Simply, if you hold yourself open to the concept you will guide you, it really is as simple as that. It'll take a little while perhaps for the idea to become comfortable but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it before not too long. Yours, Frank 125 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Is the imagination in F2? on: July 02, 2005, 13:40:27 Hi: I‟m pleased to hear things are starting to make sense to you because that is half the battle won. There is just too much misinformation on this topic, not on the topic of Phasing, I mean on this topic as a whole. In my Phasing Model, I try to keep things as simple as humanly possible while still keeping the approach effective. If you wish to Phase to the RTZ then you will find it a LOT easier to do from Focus 2 of consciousness, typically speaking. You make the switch and step into your rundown. Now, the BIG problem with Focus 2 is all your thoughts start coming to life all around you. That has what has trapped people in the past. They just become wrapped up in their own belief constructs and blammo; they get nowhere but la la land, thinking they met the god of their dreams. Or they end up fighting their own fears. But now, people are steadily getting the message about Focus 2. Okay, so once you REALISE where you are, and the nature of the area, then you know what to do, or, more importantly, what NOT to do. Once you know that you can then utilise Focus 2 as a handy springboard to the other areas… WHY?... simple! Because within this area of consciousness thought equals action (literally). So all you need do is simply THINK about what you want to do and, hey presto, you are doing it! Right, so you find yourself in the midst of your rundown within Focus 2. So you immediately stop thinking about that, and so it stops. You remain entirely neutral, and so your surroundings remain entirely neutral. Then you detune your awareness of your surroundings, so your awareness of your surroundings is detuned. You place the intent to step into the RTZ, and so you do. Okay, that‟s the theory. It‟ll take a bit of practice to do, as you will likely be flitting about all over the place at first. But that‟s the great reason why F2 is such a handy launch pad. Because as you think then so it becomes… literally… and so that is, of course, the big PROBLEM as well. But, like I say, now people are beginning to cut through all the mystical crud and get to grips with the true nature of this area, they are beginning to learn how they can use it to their advantage. When your are within the RTZ it is likely you will have what are called “overlay” experiences, yes. Chances are you will see your room, but overlaid upon the scene of that may be circumstances like objects and things, or all kinds of distortions that you know are not “really” there, in the physical I mean. But this kind of thing is normal. Many people tend to describe this effect as “reality fluctuations” but I never describe it like this anymore as, against the background of the wider reality, it is a contradiction in terms. Your reality cannot fluctuate, your reality simply is. Yours, Frank 124 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Contact III on: July 02, 2005, 16:27:07 Hi: As regards people, yes, I have managed to make a number of verifications of people I met within Focus 3 of consciousness of my Phasing Model. This relates to focuses 23 to 27 inclusive of the Monroe model or the "Afterlife" region of the Bruce Moen approach. Having said that, you cannot always speak to people and get verifiable information. I was speaking just yesterday to a very interesting lady called Mary who had built herself a wooden church and was waiting for “god” to come and bless it for her. You cannot help but have compassion for these people. She had held her faith all her life that one day she would be meeting “god” after she died and there she was, waiting for “him”. She asked me if I was waiting for god too, and if I was lost. I said I was a traveller passing through (as I do). She invited me in and offered to share what she had. Saying if I was lost then I could stay in her little place while waiting for “him” and he would bless me as “he” would her. Once I was “blessed” then off I‟d go to “heaven” and all that jazz. I gave her my thanks and, once I was out of sight, Phased back to physical to make notes. There are no easy answers to these kinds of situations. To people who have never experienced Focus 3 of consciousness all tends to be cut and dried. A bit black and white you could say. But 99.99% of the time, you come across situations that there are no real answers to. But occasionally, very occasionally, you get this little nugget of info you can check and it becomes real. And the first time that happens to you, you will have a big silly grin on your face for weeks. Yours, Frank 123 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / guides? on: July 02, 2005, 17:05:37 Ha ha ha, my guardian angel, don't make me laugh. Next you'll be saying Santa Clause will be coming down my chimney at Christmas. It's obvious you are a person who still needs a mystical guiding-spirit concept and I don't. Understand that these days people are rapidly moving away from these constructs. It's old technology. Yours, Frank 122 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Inside out golf ball? on: July 02, 2005, 17:22:44 Major Tom: I take your point but do you not think there is a MAJOR contradiction with this "edge of the physical system" idea at focus 21? I mean, how can it be? No criticism aimed at you personally as you are merely quoting the norm I realise. Focus 15 is meant to be an area of "no time". So the physical must "end" before focus 15. It is illogical to have a pinpoint area of "no time". So you have time, then no-time, and then time again. It's something that never, ever sat right with me and does not concur with my experience. Yours, Frank 119 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Good Rundown? on: July 03, 2005, 14:22:00 Hi: A good rundown is something that captures the attention and engages the senses. Make it too simple and you'll get bored and give up or fall asleep. Make it too complex and you'll likely lose the thread of it, then get bored or fall asleep. Also, it would be helpful engaging the Monroe focus 3 state before initiating your rundown. Yours, Frank 118 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Model Question on: July 03, 2005, 14:38:27 Hi: Dreaming is a particular action in consciousness that typically takes place within the area of Focus 2, in terms of the Phasing Model. Focus 2 is an area of individual consensus reality "next door" to the physical you could say. Every action in consciousness has certain characteristics that pertain to the action in question. It is a characteristic of dreaming that we typically do not offer ourselves an objective knowing of this action. Such actions in consciousness have fairly powerful belief constructs attached that are linked to all manner of desires, intents, expectations and outcomes. We can offer ourselves an objective knowing of the dreaming action if we choose to. Though it is rather tricky overcoming the underlying beliefs that are determining our current circumstances surrounding the action. Keeping a dream-diary is one way of changing your beliefs in this area in order to create a different outcome through adopting the expression of a changed expectation. Primary beliefs, desires, intents, expectations and outcomes are all inextricably linked in the same action-equation in consciousness. This means if you change one then everything changes to some extent. Yours, Frank 117 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Phasing I had or was it on: July 03, 2005, 15:05:25 I remember I was lying down in bed. When I was imagining walking down my hall way.. anyway next thing that happend was I was walking down the hall way... Hi: The above is a classic example of you making what I term "the switch". You create an imaginary scenario and then, at some stage, you find yourself actually acting out that scenario from a 1st- person perspective. In other words you have switched your focus of attention to another area in your consciousness continuum. The faculty of your imagination is a very powerful aid to you doing this. Yours, Frank 116 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / 11-Astral visit to Puerto Rico- 02-13-2005-2:49:43 AM on: July 03, 2005, 15:11:41 Hi: This is a great experience and well done for achieving such accuracy in your projection. Yours, Frank 115 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / phasing and vibrations on: July 03, 2005, 15:19:34 Hi: The classic vibrations are the energetic sensations felt from the various energy centres that act as an interface between the pure subjective energy of consciousness and the physical brain and body. People who specifically practice "energy work" regularly experience all manner of energetic sensations including vibrations of various types. Practicing the Phasing approach can lead a person to feeling mild energetic sensations that are typically felt as a slight static-electricity type of feeling. Tingling and crackling sounds that can sound rather like the hissing of high voltage electricity pylons when it's damp and the air is very humid. But that's about it. Yours, Frank 114 Integral Philosophy / Welcome to Integral Philosophy! / Question about Phasing as a explanation model. on: July 03, 2005, 15:46:31 Mustardseed: Like the Major, I'm really not sure what you are on about. Monroe realised later there was no such thing as "out of body". Moreover, I have repeatedly stated on this forum that all my early work was based on Monroe and I regard him as a great pioneer. So how you can rightfully accuse me of being against Monroe on some significant or fundamental issue such as this, I'm at a loss to fathom. Yours, Frank 112 Integral Philosophy / Welcome to Integral Philosophy! / Question about Phasing as a explanation model. on: July 03, 2005, 16:34:05 Nay: I've got a load of work to get on with so I'm gonna just get on and do that and leave Mustardseed to it. As I said I simply don't know what he is going on about anyway in claiming that I am somehow running contrary to Monroe. My other concern is this was not an Astral Consciousness issue and today I see the post has now been moved to a more appropriate forum. By definition our private chats should remain private and not referred to in the public forum. I'm surprised you even mention it. Rest assured there shall be no more private chats in future. Yours, Frank 111 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Model Question on: July 04, 2005, 05:24:21 Hi: I still do not know what Monroe was trying to do exactly, I've been ever so busy on other things. He got up to so much did Monroe. I've been flipping through Ultimate Journey over the past few days just reading snippets here and there inbetween my other work and he makes me chuckle. He was so far out at times it's unreal in places. I guess as I'm flipping through I'll eventually come across the relevant section. Self-reflection would be a type of objective knowing. Offering yourself an objective knowing is the basic action. This is where you view a thing, could be a circumstance a person or whatever as separate or outside of yourself. A subjective knowing would be, for example, having a feeling, an inkling, a hunch, an instinct, etc. An objective knowing is to do with meeting some person or "thing" within either F1/F2 or F3. You can present yourself with an objective knowing of the the fact that Focus 4 of consciousness exists, but you cannot step into Focus 4 without all sense of "body" disintegrating. So you cannot stand in the mist of Focus 4 and start walking about exploring like you can in the other 3 Primary Areas. The Phasing Model provides a basic map of the Wider Reality and presents the idea that our wider system is apportioned into 4 Primary Areas for specific purposes. "Dreamless sleep" is an action in consciousness that typically takes place within the area of Focus 2, an area of individual consensus reality. Yours, Frank PS Sorry, but I cannot recall the thread either but here is the post from my notes so you can do a Search on a specific phrase and it should come up. MT: Monroe was right there, I am sure of it. I think it was his interpretation of events that was different. But I am going to try and retrace those outward steps. It is something that has always bothered me. A kind of last link in the jigsaw that was missing with Monroe. I wonder where the heck he was. He was way out, but not in Focus 4 terms. There was something else. You cannot objectify Focus 4. It is a TOTAL disintegration of “self”. Or maybe he was about to step into that. I wonder. Seriously, I reckon he was about to attempt to step into *another* dimension of consciousness from Focus 3. Entering into a complete “Trans-Dimensional” state. And that is what I have been trying to study for ages, these Trans-Dimensional areas. I reckon that is why his physical was put at risk. Okay, I‟m guessing now, I admit. But I am going to completely retrace his footsteps over the next few months. If he were trying to enter another dimension, then that is just incredible. That is not Focus 3, 4 or 5, that is just completely into the total unknown. And I mean unknown. Unless he was attempting to enter focus 4 while holding a complete objective knowing of that fact. That would just be crazy. You‟d just be short-circuiting every subjective energy circuit that ever was. I doubt anyone could have the objective will to do that. Just too many natural laws against you. It couldn‟t happen. I just wonder what on earth he found, what secrets there are still to be unlocked from Monroe. So I‟m going to begin again from page one and work through it until that final piece of the jigsaw falls into place. 110 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Is the imagination in F2? on: July 04, 2005, 06:11:36 Hi: Glad to hear you are making progress. Be careful though with the F2 environment, it can be a bit volatile. You will find there are different regions in F2 that you have apportioned to hold all manner of memories, beliefs, fears emotions and allsorts. If you happen to stray into a region where you are holding all manner of fear constructs then you are going to meet your worst fears head on, in glorious 3D Technicolor. :) That is unfortunately what happens to a LOT of people who subscribe to the old mystical demon and devil style constructs. They end up in Focus 2 and meet these constructs head on. In the old days, generally, the explorers of the day didn‟t actually realise they were in an area of individual consensus reality. Unfortunately, some people today still do not realise this. In the old days, they thought they were actually “travelling” to a separate place they named “the astral”. Whatever belief constructs they subscribed to about this weird and wonderful world, as they saw it, they met head on, of course. Whatever you believe that is what you see. And I really do mean “whatever”. Unfortunately that is the big danger of the place. But once you realise that you are actually within your own individual area of mind then it becomes *much* easier to manage. I say there are “dangers” but there are tremendous joys to be had as well. Myself, I love running through all my childhood memories, for example. Anything you ever felt, saw, experienced, etc., etc., in your life, you can “relive” again within Focus 2 and in stunning detail. Absolutely anything and everything your physical senses have ever experienced, and I mean that LITERALLY, is recorded by your senses and “stored” within Focus 2, plus all your dreams too. Now, if you shift your focus of attention to Focus 3 of consciousness, please understand that you are still not in a separate place. You are still within your own consciousness continuum. But Focus 3 is an area of common consensus reality, so things are very much like the physical. Within Focus 3, you can construct whatever you like. I made a tree house in a dense forest that ran to the edge of a lake. I made an ocean and a lovely open-plan house with a veranda that led out onto the sand. I‟ve created all manner of plants, grasses, fish and other animals. Now, the great thing is, within Focus 3, once you create it, it remains until you choose to change it. So you can go to it whenever you like. People in the know, so to speak, construct a place for themselves so, when they permanently disengage in a physical sense, i.e. when they “die” that is where they go... to their own place within F27, or the upper branches of Focus 3 as I call it. It‟s quite tricky learning to create things in F27. You have to merge with the underlying subjective energy. It is not like F2 where your thoughts immediately come to life. You have to concentrate a little harder. But there is a knack to it that you soon pick up and then it becomes second nature. If you get stuck, simply ask someone to help you. You‟ll find people are ever so helpful. Also, at focus 27 do not be surprised to get all manner of people who obviously know you very well, coming up to say hello. Yet you haven‟t got the foggiest idea who they are! Yours, Frank 109 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Inside out golf ball? on: July 04, 2005, 06:20:10 MT: According to Monroe he is perfectly clear and states that the first area he "enters" after phasing away from the physical is his "mainframe" his own individual area of mind in other words. This accords perfectly with my experience. I think Monroe just considered his own mind to be part of the "time/space" arena. And then anything beyond his "hole in the wall" was outside of that. Yours, Frank 107 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Finding the off button? on: July 04, 2005, 06:35:45 MT: That's interesting because I have been having a LOT of RTZ experiences recently. As you know this has never really been my thing but I've been practising stepping into Focus 2, and then detuning my awareness to take a step "back" into the wider physical. Mainly just for research for the book. It's not my thing but other people may want to know and all that. So anyway I've been zooming around all over the place. I don't recall any meeting between us but, then again, I've got so many aspects of me milling about here, there and everywhere it's unreal. I step into Focus 2 and I'm surrounded by me. :) Yours, Frank 106 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Finding the off button? on: July 04, 2005, 18:21:05 I'm just amazed by the amount of tension there is in the eyes, the overall tension in the brain seems to be fairly straight forward to deal with, but getting the eyes to relax fully is pretty tricky! Yesterday afternoon I'd gotten to edge of f1/f2, or perhaps Monroes F10? Hi: Now you are beginning to get to grips with what‟s what. Normally your eyes will relax and that‟s a cue for you to fall asleep. Well, not just you but with people generally. You will notice, as you fall asleep, your eyes relax and your focus automatically shifts into what I call the “million meanderings”, then that‟s it, you are off into dreamland. Once you get caught in the million meanderings you are screwed. The way you avoid slipping into this state is by keeping your focus of attention as the eyes relax and you make the shift to Primary Focus 2 only into a different region of PF2, preferably into the core, i.e. your imagination. Problem is the eyes relaxing is a kind of cue that triggers the sleep reflex. So what you have to do is teach yourself to relax the eyes even though you are not really ready for sleep. As the eyes, and the general facial area relaxes (but particularly the eyes), your focus of attention should shift, or at least begin to shift. This you are doing as per the next quote… I could feel it relax(Muscular), then there was an additional darkening, guess this is the receptors actually powering down and going into 'sleep' mode. At this point I'm getting random images, find at the moment they're getting in the way, as soon as they appear the physical eyes try to power up again and focus/look at the image, which destroys the overall effect I'm try to get. The random images are a sign that your focus of attention is beginning to make the shift. But the moment you see some internal image your physical eyes are trying to snatch a glance at whatever it was. As I‟ve said a number of times over the years, I used to be plagued by this problem and often I‟d feel like gouging my eyes out in frustration! Because the moment your eyes try to snatch a glance it pulls you right out of the very state you have tried so hard to attain. The key to progress is to focus your mental attention not on the images but beyond the images. I mentioned the other day that there are no definite boundaries between these states. What I mean is there is a transition, but it is never a black and white transition. You get what I call boundary layers as a kind of link-state between the transitions proper. Monroe would call it a differential phasing, where he was receiving 2 inputs at once for a short while before he fully made the transition. I call them boundary-layer effects. The random imagery you are seeing are boundary- layer effects. The “place” you want to be is “beyond” that boundary layer. If you concentrate upon the boundary layer then at the boundary layer you will remain. :) From what you describe, you have successfully managed to attain the Monroe focus 3 state and you are on the edge of the transition to focus 10. Now you need to make the shift and achieve a full focus 10. Then it starts getting a bit lively normally. If you can stay calm, i.e. not get fearful or excited then you should get a major sensation of a transition. Now, depending on your momentum at this point, you will either plop out into your individual area of mind (the area of Primary Focus 2, or typically “the astral” of the mystics) or your momentum will take you right through this area and you will perceive this as a major shift where you are seeing all manner of swirling clouds of colour and maybe hearing all manner of random pops, bangs, noises, screeches; flashes of all kinds of images of perhaps past memories, feelings, sexual urges, etc. Or you may see your whole life “flash before you” and that kind of thing. Reason being you have just zipped right through your own mind in just a few ticks. If your momentum is pretty strong then you should end up at about the focus 21 state. In terms of overall area in consciousness, this is at the “boundary” so to speak, between Primary Focus 2 and Primary Focus 3. If you are really ”flying” then you could even zip through this stage and “crash land” within the area of Primary Focus 3 somewhere. This area encompasses the Monroe attention-states of focuses 23 through to 27 inclusive. But if this happens to you then you need to slow it all down a bit else you‟ll get into some bad control habits that will not stand you in good stead. Crash landings normally result in you getting zapped back to physical. As a general rule, you should always be aiming for ever higher degrees of control. Unless you have that control, you can‟t really do anything productive. All you will have is a whacky experience. Perhaps a really exciting and fun whacky experience but it‟s still a whacky experience. Yours, Frank 103 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Finding the off button? on: July 05, 2005, 02:47:22 Will: Sounds very focus 3 from your description. I wanted to ask, though, what is your awareness of your physical body and your physical surroundings after the "click"? And after this click where do you perceive "you" to be... still in the physical or have you become manifest within your mind? Yours, Frank 102 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / A question for Frank on: July 07, 2005, 04:00:25 Hi: The imagery you were seeing I would gauge was indicative of you entering or phasing into the Monroe focus 3 state. Hmm, as for the painful feelings that has me stumped, unfortunately. I have never experienced anything like it. I've felt possibly every kind of fear, I've fought all manner of "devils" and "demons" and slayed countless "dragons". I have felt all manner of energetic sensations from the mild to the insanely wild. I have reached heights of elation that I would never have previously thought possible and all manner of sensations besides. But in all my years of attempts I have never felt actual physical pain. Yours, Frank 101 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Death and consciousness on: July 07, 2005, 04:05:21 Hi: Yes, you do, although I have no hands-on experience of that yet. :) But from the many studies I have conducted within the area I call Primary Focus 3 of consciousness, it is apparent that you do in fact retain all memories and so forth of your physical life here. Yours, Frank 100 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Finding the off button? on: July 07, 2005, 04:32:48 Will: I'm 99% certain what you describe is focus 3 of the Monroe model. Yes, I too like the Monroe focus states as they are great for beginners especially. You need to think of the Monroe states as individual focus states that take place within specific areas in consciousness. My Phasing Model specifies actual areas. So, for example, the area in consciousness I label Primary Focus 3 (note: I have now added the word Primary as people were becoming confused between the Monroe states and the Phasing Model states) this would incorporate the individual Monroe attention focuses of F23 to F27 inclusive. So my model sets out to determine the Primary Area focuses and Monroe has determined the main individual focuses within each primary area. This is why both models compliment each other so well. Because between the two you always know where you are within consciousness. Think of a Primary Focus area as a whole town and the individual focuses would be, say, the main buildings in that town. Changing your Primary Focus Area would be like going to another town and the individual focuses would change to the main buildings in the new town. Please Note: I use this analogy sparingly because I am always stressing these focuses are not places, they are focuses of mental attention within an overall structure of consciousness. But you can think of them, in a sense, as places when coming to trying to understand the layout... but it's all strictly in a manner of speaking. The moment you phase away from the physical you enter your own mind which is Primary Focus 2 of the Phasing Model. This area in consciousness would incorporate the Monroe individual attention focuses of the top branches of F10 (or F11 as I personally think of it though Monroe never specified an F11) F12, F15 and, at F21, you are right on the "outer edge" of your own mind. The idea of your own area of mind being the first phase away from the physical accords exactly with Monroe's experience, but he never put any labels on actual areas in consciousness. He was more into labelling the individual focus states for some reason. You are right, none of this is a true picture, but it does give us a handy "map" we can follow. Of course, just like all physical maps, the map is not the actual terrain. But it serves to provide us with a handy tool we can use for direction. Yours, Frank 99 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Finding the off button? on: July 07, 2005, 05:02:41 Steve: The actual effects of the focus 10 state do vary from person to person. But the common factors are that you "become" within your own mind in a kind of twilight zone between the physical and the start of your own mind proper. The physical is "back there" somewhere. You are totally free of it and free to simply wander about in a kind of 3D space "within your head" so to speak. This is focus 10. At focus 10, your body is NOT just very relaxed that you cannot feel it and you are perhaps seeing images in your mind that are grabbing your focus of attention. No, there is a definite shift, a definite withdrawal of your focus from the physical into your own mind. As your focus shifts, you feel it distinctly. The preliminary state, the feeling of being very relaxed and having your attention focused inwards is focus 3. At focus 3, you are still very much “in” the physical body but you have, in a sense, “forgotten” that you have one. Because what has happened is, your attention has turned inwards and you are now laying back looking at all the pretty patterns and things that a person typically offers themselves. But at focus 10, there is a definite shift away from the physical. You are free to roam about within the 3D space within your mind. You have “stepped into” your mind, whereas at focus 3 you are in the position of looking into it after having turned your attention inwards. In other words, at focus 10 you have “stepped into” the area where you were looking at before at focus 3. The other thing I think you are getting to grips with now is these focus states are something you have to mentally "reach" for. I think the modernism would be being "pro-active". You need to fuel it by looking ahead and anticipating with a high degree of expectation. But at the same time you can't force it. It's a tricky kind of mental balancing act. Yours, Frank 98 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / beings in the non-physical on: July 07, 2005, 05:17:50 Hi: This is one of the big benefits of realising there are primary areas in consciousness. Primary Focus 2 is an area of individual consensus reality. So here you are viewing your own constructs. The only "communication" possible within this area from the "outside" so to speak, is telepathy. You can receive impressions or feelings, and such like, that you could say are not your own. In doing so, you can convert these mental impressions into images. For example, if you receive a telepathic communication from a close friend then, as the signal comes into mind, you may create a picture of your friend, and that kind of thing. But these images are your mind-created realities. As you step into Primary Focus 3 then this is an area of common consensus reality much like the physical is. Here you can meet people in a totally objective sense exactly as you can while physical. Within this region it is obvious these people are not merely creations of your own imagination. It is as obvious as it is apparent that other people are not merely creations of your imagination within the physical. Yours, Frank 97 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Model Question on: July 07, 2005, 05:36:12 Hi: I'm not all that aware of the details of TMI courses or research other than what Monroe writes about in his later books. Monroe created a system of focus states as a teaching aid but he never had to use them personally as his skill was beyond using them. The focus states are used as a beginner's introduction that breaks everything down into stages. Once a person becomes proficient they get to the stage where they can simply phase to wherever they want to be. In answer to the other question about contacting Monroe, I have on a number of occasions tried and have come across someone who could be Monroe, but I have not (yet) managed to confirm that to myself. Note: Unless I can actually confirm things to myself I don't like commenting as it all gets a too speculative for my tastes. Within focus 27 there is also meant to be a kind of "TMI-There" which is a concept written about by Bruce Moen in one of his books that I read. Again, this is something I have yet to find any real evidence of. I'm not saying there isn't. Just that I haven't managed to find any satisfactory evidence (satisfactory to me I mean) that would confirm it for me. I have received distinct impressions but not enough to be able to comment with any degree of sureness. Yours, Frank 96 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / My 2nd OBE! on: July 07, 2005, 06:39:05 Potatis: Glad to see you back and thanks for publishing a great experience. Yours, Frank 94 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Finding the off button? on: July 08, 2005, 05:49:31 Steve: In answer to your question about reaching, to make progress it is only necessary to think just a little ahead of yourself. After a while of practice you will be able to reach to Primary Focus 3 and make the transition in one fell swoop. But for now it would be best to take it in small steps. Regarding the other material, I am finding it fascinating realising that many of the very early teachings also apportion consciousness into 4 primary areas. Judaism was one set of teachings I looked at in particular and I've mentioned a few times how, when I cleared away all the layers of religious waffle, when I dug through to the core teachings, you could see they too were saying that consciousness was apportioned into 4 primary areas and I find that fascinating. But then people came along and made a religion out of it and all the original teachings were lost under layer upon layer of ego-tripping dogma in the form of all the religious conditioning. Yours, Frank 89 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Unlimited Ideas (Was Frank's Ideas.) on: July 08, 2005, 14:07:42 Hi: The topic of the laying of probabilities in order to influence your reality within the physical requires quite extensive explanation coupled with some explanatory diagrams. It is not easy to get to grips with in the sense that it is not like taking a walk in the park. But anyone with a modicum of intelligence should be able to do it with practice. Unfortunately, it is way beyond what I can present in a post to the forum. But it will all be thoroughly detailed in my up and coming book. I do not yet have a date when it will be ready. I had hoped it would all be finished by now, but I have been especially busy this year. Everything seems to be taking 3 or 4 times longer than I anticipate. It has all been very positive but very time consuming. :) Yes, I agree on the leaving the body thing. In fact, one of the greatest, most successful pioneers of this art, Robert Monroe who founded the Monroe Institute, later concluded too that there was no such thing as "out of body". It was Monroe, I believe, who actually first coined the term "out of body" in his experiments with Dr Charles Tart in the 1960's or thereabouts. It was Monroe who also originally discovered the phasing approach, which I adopted and developed. This led me to discovering the subjective structure of our Wider Reality. I named my model of the wider reality the Phasing Model of consciousness in memory and honour of Monroe, in his remarkable work and the incredible legacy he left us. He was a great pioneer. Yours, Frank 88 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Finding the off button? on: July 08, 2005, 17:00:57 Steve: It's VAST possibly infinite, who knows. Yours, Frank 87 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Finding the off button? on: July 08, 2005, 18:07:49 Willis: Yeah, I too like the Monroe model for beginners as it labels the more individual attention states, whereas my model gives the Primary areas. The latter comes into it more later on. The combination of the two holds the promise that, no matter where you are within our wider system, you will always be able to pinpoint where you are focused. As a beginner's teaching aid the Monroe model is still streets ahead of anything out there. Reason being it was developed by a genuine expert, a true professional at this art. Someone who actually knew what he was doing rather than these pretenders who make it up as they go along. Monroe studied and taught (literally) many thousands of people over many years. He truly was a great pioneer and his legacy sets the groundwork and provides the roadmap for anyone wanting to learn this art. And I have no doubt that is how it will continue for many more years yet. Okay, so regarding the eyes thing: What usually happens is, when a person relaxes and begins to see inner visions they tend to be flashes of this and that. As a flash of something comes about, the physical eyes tend to want to snatch a glance at whatever it was. This, of course, snaps you right out of the state you have tried so hard to achieve. This problem, as I've said a number of times, used to plague me to the extent that I'd feel like gouging my eyes out in frustration. :) This effect typically comes about at the Monroe focus 3 state and can happen on entry to focus 10 also. Once progress is made from focus 10 the problem goes away as your focus has turned well away from the physical and you are then situated within your own mind. So your physical body should we well asleep and out of it by that stage. After all, focus 10 is described by Monroe as mind awake, body asleep and that is how I experience it now. Originally there were all manner of niggling problems I had to deal with including the confusion of focus 3 with focus 10. But those kind of things iron out fairly quickly and, fortunately, there is lots more information available to people now. At focus 10 you are situated in a kind of twilight zone, right on the edge of the physical and your own mind. This is what I call a deep focus 10. Monroe never specified one but I call it focus 11. With a little practice you can actually slip into the RTZ from this point. Rather than mentally reaching forwards you kinda slip sideways and enter the RTZ as a point of consciousness rather than developing the usual energy-body construct. Though you can create an "energy body" if you want to, if that makes you feel more secure or more comfortable. You can even create it complete with silver chord if you wish (don't forget the silver chord, lol). But I prefer to be a point of consciousness as it feels a whole lot less cumbersome. But having said that it is rather tricky to do. But in my experience it is a darned sight less tricky than trying to do it from the physical. Doing this also dispenses with the notions being in any way "out" of your physical body. That's the great thing about the Phasing approach, unlike the more traditional "techniques", you can go anywhere you want with it. Once you experience first hand, as I have, slipping into the RTZ after having stepped within yourself you will also conclude, as Monroe did later on, you have not stepped "out" of your body at all. You have actually taken one step back from it. Anyhow, if you keep looking and mentally reaching forwards you reach focus 12. This is where things start getting more lively. All manner of sounds, swirling clouds of colour, a distinct feeling of progression like something *big* is about to happen. At this point people tend to lose it as they get too excited and zap back to physical. But if you can roll along with it then you will step into your own mind. This is immense fun, of course, as it's like stepping into a huge adventure playground. Unless, of course, you have been indoctrinated into thinking that you are going to meet with all manner of devils and demons. In which case you are in for a hard time due to the nature of the environment. If you keep mentally reaching forwards, or simply remain still and detune your awareness, you will at some point phase through your own area of mind and end up on the "other side" of it, as it were. At focus 12 you are at the beginning of it, and the other end is focus 21 (all in a manner of speaking, of course). At focus 21 you are situated in an area of 3-dimensional blackness. Here you are at the "border" between Primary Focus 2 and 3 of consciousness. Whereas, at focus 10/12, you are at the "border" between Primary Focus 1 and 2 of consciousness. Yours, Frank 85 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Update on: July 09, 2005, 16:23:01 Hi: This is another great example of someone making spontaneous progress by mentally reaching for the particular focus state. I was saying on a thread the other day that the approach I teach is very pro-active in nature. I have had people write to me with problems and, when we've analysed it all in detail, it became obvious that these people were merely laying back and hoping that the physical would go away somehow and then it would all start to happen. The key to this whole approach is getting your focus turned inwards. Your mental rundown is the tool that assists you in doing this. You will note how Sarah says that her attention was completely taken up by her mental rundown to the point where it captured her focus completely. This is exactly what you need to aim for. Of course, as she made the switch and then realised she had made the switch, her eyes went to try and snatch a glance at what she was perceiving. This is usually the next problem that needs to be overcome. :) Yours, Frank 76 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Looking inwards on: July 10, 2005, 23:48:38 Sarah: Monroe would call it "differential phasing" where he would phase shift from the physical but, for some seconds, he would be a bit half in the physical and half in the non-physical. In this state you get situations where your physical body will react to any non-physical stimulus. Typically, you will see a flash of an image in mind and the physical eyes try to snatch a glance, that kind of thing. One of the most noticeable effects of this, I find, is with an F1/F3 overlay experience. As I make contact with someone my physical body will react to the emotional state of the person I am contacting. If the person is excited, for example, I will feel that excitement flowing through my own physical system. Conversely, if the person is emotionallyupset, my own eyes will begin to form tears. It's quite a freaky feeling at first because you observe your body displaying all the outward signs of being happy or sad or whatever, and it's out of your control. Well, I say out of my control but ultimately I can control it simply by breaking the connection. I don't want anyone thinking you become "possessed" or anything. Sometimes, when trying to reach people on the lower branches of F3, their emotional state is so screwed it takes perhaps half a dozen attempts before I can get a lock on them. The moment I try to get near my physical will be hit by overwhelming bursts of emotion. After a few attempts eventually I managed to ground the emotional energy enough to act as a kind of "sink" and that enables me to get closer and work out a way to break the construct the person had gotten themselves "trapped" in. Yours, Frank 75 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Looking inwards on: July 11, 2005, 00:14:47 Knightlight: Yeah, I love noticing too. I can lay back for maybe an hour just viewing all the pretty colours and scenes and allsorts. I find the focus 3 state to be very inspirational. I mentioned not so long ago that whenever I'm stuck for inspiration, I enter the focus 3 state and almost always I get what I'm trying to reach for. Another great thing about focus 3 is once you can enter this state and remain there comfortably, it's a great launch-pad to focus 10. You simply project your focus beyond the images and think of making the "shift" and it should come about before not too long. Or, you can continue to create the overlay experience where you remain largely within the physical. Note: at the Monroe f3 state your Primary Focus is still F1 and your individual Attention Focus is f3. So from the f3 state you can give yourself an objective knowing of PF2 without actually switching fully within F2. You appear to be able to do this fairly readily, although you say it takes you a little by surprise and excites your physical eyes. But maybe practice this state for a while until you are completely comfortable with it, then aim to make the full transition and shift your Primary Focus fully into F2. I couldn't help but laugh where you say, "I jumped a little and it went away, I wasnt expecting that!" Ha ha ha, the inner environment is VERY responsive if you are open to just letting the experience flow. One of the hardest things I'm finding is trying to convince people to just simply lie back and notice what goes on within them. Many people come back and say all they can see is blackness. But you need to forget that you have physical eyes. Here we are not looking with physical eyes. If a person were to seach around within their mind they would see some area or other that perhaps wasn't quite so black. If they were to mentally focus on that area they would see that perhaps it wasn't fixed either. It may be like a dark grey cloud, gently drifting. As they focused their attention on that cloud they would see that in the centre, maybe, it was lighter than around the edge. As they focused in on that centre they might now see some colours, a few swirling areas of a feint redness. Whoops, suddenly they saw a flash of an image and zap, out of it they come. At which point they find themselves back fully in the physical realising, "Hey, wait a minute, I was doing it!" At this point people typically react one of two ways. They get excited realising they can do it and their mind races of along the line of all the possibilities that can become open to them. Or they dismiss it, find an excuse as to why doing that is "not it". People are still using phrases such as "just a dream" or "just my imagination". People say these things without realising the nature of dreams or the nature of their imagination. They are still, unfortunately, believing that dreams and imagination are "just in their heads". Instead, as they look at it, they want to have a "real" experience, or a "proper obe" while not actually realising that it is all connected and they can use the switch to PF2 as a launch-pad to doing whatever it is they want to do. Instead, they are still thinking of this "astral" as being someplace separate from themselves. Yours, Frank 74 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Is this a problem? on: July 11, 2005, 00:26:48 Hi: I too was going to say the same thing. There is an energy centre in the region of your chest. Mystics call it a "heart Chakra" but it has nothing to do with your physical heart. Oh, and not that Sarah is a mystic either but she's saying that just to identify it. When this energy-centre starts getting excited you feel a sensation of a very fast heartbeat in your mind. This sensation can very easily be confused with your physical heart. In that you think your physical heart is beating at 200 beats per minute or something. So people typically get scared and that brings them out of the state. This energy centre I fire off about once a week just for the effects it gives. If you roll with it you will find it gives some great sensations. With me I go all light, as if I am floating. It feels like my physical body has expanded to about 4 times the size and like I'm made of foam rubber. Plus there is all the energetic sensations going on at the same time. It's really whacky and great fun. Yours, Frank 72 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / questions about hemi-sync's gateway experiences on: July 11, 2005, 01:53:43 Hi: I cannot help you with the “god” thing but if you want some assistance with the Wave 1 CD, I reckon I could give you some pointers. :) You say you are not sure what “expanding your consciousness” is. Firstly, you cannot expand your consciousness. You can widen your awareness but consciousness cannot be expanded. Consciousness is what moves us, what gives us life. Consciousness is to us as water is to a fish. Widening your awareness is all to do with offering yourself an objective knowing of the Wider Reality. In other words, gaining familiarity with other areas of consciousness in addition to the physical, rather than instead of the physical. As regards your use of the CDs, I would suggest you take a BIG step back. You say you have trouble with being relaxed in focus 10. This is a contradiction in terms as focus 10 is the MABA (mind awake, body asleep) state. If you are not relaxed then you cannot be at the focus 10 state. It is useless trying to progress without being able to achieve the previous state. The CDs are an aid to achieving the various states. They in no way force the state upon you. I always say that everything kicks-off proper at focus 10. So it‟s a bit of a milestone state is focus 10. The key to achieving focus 10 is achieving the focus 3 state. If you cannot achieve focus 3 then you will have problems achieving all the other states. You will simply lay back and nothing will happen (as is happening in your case). Personally, I say all you need is Wave 1 because once you can achieve a solid focus 10 that‟s it, you‟re off. You are having difficulties relaxing your physical body for some reason. Your face and eyes need to be relaxed particularly, else you will never achieve focus 3. If you want creative inspiration then focus 3 is the state for getting in touch with this aspect of you. Any time I‟m stuck for an idea I slip into the focus 3 state and I can usually get all the inspiration I need while in this state. My advice is to put the CDs aside for a little while and spend a few weeks practicing the Noticing exercise I talk about in the FAQ section under the “What is Phasing?” topic. This little exercise gets you relaxed and looking within you and is designed to take you to the focus 3 state. Once you are comfortable with the idea of focus 3 then start with the CD and see how you go. I just feel that listening to the CD without any concrete results is simply going to frustrate you more than anything. At the focus 10 state you "become" within your own mind in a kind of twilight zone between the physical and the start of your own mind proper. The physical is "back there" somewhere. You are totally free of it and free to simply wander about in a kind of 3D space "within your head" so to speak. This is focus 10. At focus 10, your body is NOT just very relaxed that you cannot feel it and you are perhaps seeing images in your mind that are grabbing your focus of attention. No, there is a definite shift, a definite withdrawal of your focus from the physical into your own mind. As your focus shifts, you feel it distinctly. The preliminary state, focus 3, is a feeling of being very relaxed and having your attention focused inwards. At focus 3, you are still very much “in” the physical body but you have, in a sense, “forgotten” that you have one. Because what has happened is, your attention has turned inwards and you are now lying back looking at all the pretty patterns and things that a person typically offers themselves. But at focus 10, there is a definite shift away from the physical. You are free to roam about within the 3D space within your mind. You have “stepped into” your mind, whereas at focus 3 you are in the position of looking into it after having turned your attention inwards. In other words, at focus 10 you have “stepped into” the area where you were looking at before at focus 3. Yours, Frank 69 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Caffiene? on: July 12, 2005, 07:43:43 Hi: I think this is one of those things that effect people one way and other people the other way and some people not at all. I used to drink tea and a couple of years ago I stopped and there was no difference at all to my abilities. I have only drunk herbal tea since I have lived in France as you can't get the particular brand of leaf tea here that I used to drink in England. Anyhow, I happened to be shopping a couple of weeks ago in one of the supermarkets in town and they have a new "English shelf" where they have typically English products. Amazingly, there it was, my favourite brand of tea. The only one I would drink. So I bought some and have been enjoying several cups a day ever since. It has made not one scrap of difference to my projection ability. What I do believe is the real danger with these mild social types of drugs is the cocktail effect that comes about when they are mixed with all manner of other drugs and toxic substances that people typically ingest. Caffeine of course places a toxic-load on the body and, depending on the toxins a person is exposed to in addition, then caffeine may be the drug to tip a person over the edge, so to speak. In the sense of being the last straw that broke the camel's back. But in terms of the typical cocktail of highly toxic chemicals people (in western society particularly) typically ingest then I would think that a mild stimulant such as caffeine would be the least of our concerns. :) Yours, Frank 68 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Healthy Astral Projectionist on: July 12, 2005, 08:04:35 Hi: Great topic though I shall refrain from publishing details about my lifestyle. People wouldn't believe it anyway and it would appear rather extreme when compared to the average eating habits and activities of a person living in modern-day western society. :) In any event, perhaps people would get the wrong idea. They'd maybe get to thinking that living as I choose to do, is a necessity to being good at this. Of course it isn't. In my experience, the main factors that significantly affect a person's success at this art, are their Beliefs, coupled with their Intent, Expectation and Desire. These factors are inextricably linked in the same action-equation in consciousness, with the overiding accent on beliefs I would say. Yours, Frank 67 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Meditation vs Astral Phasing on: July 12, 2005, 08:46:04 Hi: I, personally, don't know the differences because, as I have said a number of times, I'm not exactly sure what meditation is. I tried to find out once but the descriptions vary depending on the beliefs of whoever was putting forward the description. If anyone has any links to particular studies, I mean studies of an objective nature, then I'd be grateful. This is a topic I wish to cover in my book to help people who can already meditate, convert to the more modern-day Phasing ideology. On one website, for example, one with a primarily Buddhist slant, they were talking about no less than 500 different types of meditation. I mean, that's just daft in my view. How can there seriously be 500 types? If each type took a person just 3 months to learn it would be 125 years before that person could form any conclusion as to which type was best for them. A highly impractical proposition. Anyhow, I gave up in the end. I came to a kind of loose consensus about this and concluded that meditation is probably some kind of state similar to the Monroe focus 3 state. Only with a different balance of elements in the underlying action-equation in consciousness. I note you use the term "astral" Phasing. In effect it would depend on what you are calling "astral". Astral is a label with mystical origins and Phasing does not incorporate any "astral" belief constructs. The term Phasing was brought about originally by the author Robert Monroe who went on to found the Monroe Institute. I named my model the Phasing Model of consciousness in honour of his work. Monroe was the world's foremost modern-day pioneer at this art, and his work dispels many of the old mystical notions and assumptions... including that of "astral". He he, "astral phasing" that would have Monroe turning in his grave that would. :) Problem is, to the mystics anything non-physical is "astral". They haven't yet realised that consciousness is apportioned into 4 Primary Areas. It is now coming to light that the very early teachings from thousands of years ago would basically agree with the above. Plus, the more modern-day practitioners would agree also. It's just the mystics in the middle who remain at variance. But I guess even they might encompass this reality in a few hundred years or so. :) Yours, Frank 66 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Lost To The Ages - Monroe-Muldoon-Castanada-Leadbeater on: July 12, 2005, 09:33:00 Hi: A few people asked me about possibly contacting Monroe recently, which sparked my interest again. I have come across what looks to me like Monroe a number of times, but I still have not been able to prove that to myself yet so I tend to refrain from commenting. I never managed to find the supposed TMI-There either. Anyhow, I've been giving it a go the past couple of mornings and this morning I made contact with a person again who, to all intents and purposes looked, sounded and spoke like Monroe. We chatted for about half an hour (as it felt like there). We were outside a light-coloured stone building, which I am assuming was his "house". We were sitting talking about his work mainly and I was telling him about the developments that were taking place here. He appeared interested and delighted about particular aspects. He confirmed to me the importance of the focus 3 state and the need to achieve a deep focus 10 in order to set the process rolling. He confirmed that he created the focus model as a teaching aid and he did not use it himself as he was beyond using it. I asked him about more technical aspects regarding Focus 4 of my model and explained about my problems in going "beyond" focus 27, which I won't go into here as it's all just my technical research stuff and irrelevant to the thread. But one interesting thing he stated that his focus 34/35 is in the physical (i.e. the wider physical or what mystics would term the RTZ) which was interesting. In all, though, I did not manage to get any kind of infomation that I could use to objectively check whether this person was who he said he was. The energies can translate in all manner of ways and it is a minefield for the unwary and for those who enjoy jumping to conclusions. I'll be trying again and perhaps next time talk about more general matters, to see if I can get some snippets of info I can perhaps check with people at TMI for authenticity. Whoever it was I can definitely say was resident within the upper branches of Primary Focus 3 of my model. In other words, I am 100% certain it was not my own construct. But as to whether it was actually Monroe, I cannot say. Yours, Frank 64 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Very confused on: July 12, 2005, 12:22:43 Hi: When you “astral project” a person typically engages an action-equation within the area known as Primary Focus 2 of consciousness that incorporates a particular mix of the elements of Beliefs, Desires, Expectations and Intents for a given Outcome. Phasing is also an action-equation in consciousness, but the balance of the elements that go to forming that equation are rather different. This is because Phasing is a term that represents an entirely different, more modern-day ideology. An ideology that does not incorporate any "spiritual" belief constructs, or any other religious or mystical belief constructs. Your explanation presupposes a number of traditional, more mystical factors that are simply not part of the Phasing Model action-equation. The "astral plains" model is a more traditional model of consciousness where, in the formation of the model, people assumed a number of aspects about the Wider Reality that we are realising now don't quite add up. As such, there is often no direct correlation between the traditional models and the modern-day models of consciousness. Phasing does not lead a person to any kind of “plain”, spiritual or otherwise. Nor is Phasing about placing value judgements on any particular experience. Phasing, in a nutshell, is the action of a person shifting their mental focus of attention to a different part of their own consciousness continuum. Yours, Frank 63 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Being blocked by some force on: July 12, 2005, 12:38:02 Hi: The "restriction" as you call it, is just the normal difficulties people typically have when attemting something new. This is an art that takes some practice to perform with a degree of competency, and we all tend to get in the way of ourselves at first. Feelings, sensations, seeing colours, hearing odd sounds, all that is very normal. From what you say you are touching on the Monroe focus 3 state. So you are obviously making some progress. Yours, Frank 62 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / More Q's for Frank on: July 12, 2005, 13:25:36 Hi: With the model, I tried to strip away everything except the bare bones that made it work, so to speak. Between my Primary Focus numbers and Monroe‟s more individual attention focuses, anyone should be able to get a good idea of what‟s what but in a more modern-day sense. You are falling into the clutches of the Million Meanderings, I see. I know what you mean when you say you slip back into a dream without realising you are dreaming. This also happens to me sometimes. Especially if I‟m feeling a little drowsy. Yes, being aware of the physical, albeit perhaps with a reduced sensory input, and being aware of some “within” issue such as a dream, is an overlay experience. An overlay experience is where you are objectively viewing or otherwise experiencing more than one area of consciousness at the same time. So you could have an F1/F3 overlay, or an F2/F3 overlay, for instance. Note: I always put the dominant focus first. Generally, you will find in an overlay experience one focus will be more dominant than the other focus or focuses. It doesn‟t have to be between just two Primary Focus states. It is possible to have, say, an F1/F2/F3 overlay. He he, rather confusing but very possible. At the moment, it sounds like you are in a solid Monroe focus 3 state. That is when you are viewing your screen or any other kind of pattern or image and you know you are in the physical, but with a reduced sensory input. Now, the next step is to “step into” that screen, or step into your mind. This is what you are doing, but, as you do so, you are engaging a dream action rather than the Phasing action of stepping within your mind with full conscious awareness. Here is what I said about the differences between f3 and f10 in another post just recently: The actual effects of the focus 10 state do vary from person to person. But the common factors are that you "become" within your own mind in a kind of twilight zone between the physical and the start of your own mind proper. The physical is "back there" somewhere. You are totally free of it and free to simply wander about in a kind of 3D space "within your head" so to speak. This is focus 10. At focus 10, your body is NOT just very relaxed that you cannot feel it and you are perhaps seeing images in your mind that are grabbing your focus of attention. No, there is a definite shift, a definite withdrawal of your focus from the physical into your own mind. As your focus shifts, you feel it distinctly. The preliminary state, the feeling of being very relaxed and having your attention focused inwards is focus 3. At focus 3, you are still very much “in” the physical body but you have, in a sense, “forgotten” that you have one. Because what has happened is, your attention has turned inwards and you are now laying back looking at all the pretty patterns and things that a person typically offers themselves. But at focus 10, there is a definite shift away from the physical. You are free to roam about within the 3D space within your mind. You have “stepped into” your mind, whereas at focus 3 you are in the position of looking into it after having turned your attention inwards. In other words, at focus 10 you have “stepped into” the area where you were looking at before at focus 3. Okay, so your attention has turned inwards and you are laying back looking at all the pretty patterns you are offering yourself. So as I say you are at a definite focus 3 state. But when you come to make that “shift” within yourself, you are engaging the wrong action, i.e. you are engaging a dream action. I think you are doing this out of habit. Perhaps try focusing “beyond” the screen or whatever other imagery is in the foreground of your inner awareness. It would appear that your focusing on the screen itself is seducing your awareness and leading you into the region of the Million Meanderings. I would say that the stepping into yourself to enter the focus 10 state is perhaps the trickiest part of this stage. You have to walk a very fine line between falling out of the state or falling into dreamland. There is that centre road that tends to get wider, hence easier to proceed along, the more you practice. So as I say, try focusing your attention a little way “beyond” the foreground imagery. But you are definitely on the right track. Everything you talk about I recognise only too well. It‟s just that you are kinda walking a bit of a mental tightrope at this point. :) I‟m sure it will come with practice. Yours, Frank 61 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Healthy Astral Projectionist on: July 12, 2005, 13:37:55 Hi: I can set up a Poll for you no problem but I'm not sure how you would want to arrange it questions wise. The Poll feature allows a question with a number of options. In it's simplest form it would be something like, "Do you prefer to project mornings or evenings?" Then you would have two options "Morning" and "Evening" and people would vote their preference. You can have multiple answer options to a single question, basically. That is the Poll format. I'm not sure if that will suit your needs. If it will then let me know the question and the answer options you require and I'll set it up for you. Yep, the Major mentioned you to me in a PM. Seems like you two go back a while. All the best to you. Yours, Frank 60 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Meditation vs Astral Phasing on: July 13, 2005, 02:02:21 Great links guys! Thank you, Frank 59 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Meditation vs Astral Phasing on: July 13, 2005, 11:21:23 Ha ha, no need to apologise. I was having a hearty chuckle at the thought of Monroe "turning in his grave" at the astral-phasing bit. :) Yours, Frank 58 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Meditation vs Astral Phasing on: July 13, 2005, 11:30:29 Hi: I'm sorry but I cannot accept that meditation is just focusing on any thought or idea in general. I focus on many, many thoughts and ideas in general throughout the course of my normal day. I'm not "meditating" I'm simply going about my ordinary business. No offence intended, but there MUST surely be more to it than that. To my mind, it's that "more than" factor that I still haven't yet got to grips with. I've read many accounts of people saying what meditation means to them. But what I am searching for is a simple description of what meditation is[/i]. I need a authorititive description of the core action in consciousness in other words. Yours, Frank 57 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / What is the correct way to rotate a chakra? on: July 13, 2005, 12:20:21 Hi: In nature, creative energies tend to spin clockwise as we would call it. These energy centres are whorls of energetic movement, they are not fixed in stone. But you can imagine them as a kind of sphere in the approximate locations you see typically presented. They spin clockwise and are oriented such that they spin along the axis of the spine. The further "up" you go the faster they spin. It starts at the root (red) and you could think of this red centre spinning at about 10 or 12 times a second. Then add that factor for each one going up. The strongest vibrational colour is, therefore, Purple. This energy centre has a strong directing influence on all the others. They are translated as different colours, as colour has different vibrational qualities that are affecting, in terms of energy, in different ways. Colour is a Truth. Meaning, there is a representation of colour within all dimensions. Energy has specific qualities that objectively translate in particular ways, and one of those ways in which we objectively view these particular differences or translations is in terms of colour. Each energy centre is affecting of various functions of the body. But this is to be thought of, again, as not absolutely fixed in stone. Because all the energy centres are affecting of each other to varying degrees. They are NOT acting in isolation, in the sense of each energy centre doing their particular bit (as I have seen many websites trying to make out). They are all influencing of each other and all work in combination. But there is a particular accent placed on each centre to the extent where a particular energy centre could be said to be more influencing of certain factors over another. In the instance of "healing" oneself, for example, which is what I suspect you are thinking of, then the energy centre that is the most affecting is the 4th one up, which is the green or the heart centre as it is often called. Yours, Frank 56 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Permanent Astral Topics! / Lost To The Ages - Monroe-Muldoon-Castanada-Leadbeater on: July 13, 2005, 14:35:24 MT: I agree, very interesting. In terms of the original model, it would be assumed that a focus state higher than focus 27 would be "further out" in terms of an area of mental focus. But it would appear that everything just becomes muddled with this focus 34/35 concept that I always said just didn't add up. Well, not for me at any rate as it simply did not concur with my experience. In my experience, there is nothing "beyond" focus 27 in the sense of the continuation of a series of objectively oriented focus states that are in some way more profound or meaningful, let's say, than focus 27. Focus 27 is on the "edge" of that area in consciousness that "begins" at focus 23. It was my attempts to go "beyond" focus 27 that led me to formulating the view that the structure of consciousness was laid out into what I now call Primary Areas of Focus. As you know I'm not religious at all but the very early teachings would appear to concur with this type of structure. That is, when you cut through all the layers of religious conditioning that has been laid on them by generations. I studied Judaism in some detail and I have had a number of AP members who have come back to me saying how they have looked at other basic teachings. Now they know what to look for, they've been digging through all the mystical and religious conditioning that has been heaped on them over hundreds of generations and, sure enough, in the midst of all the flowery lingo many basic teachings from several sources appear to be talking of this 4-area structure of consciousness as well. On the surface, then, it would appear that the whole religious "thing" that all these generations have been getting off on the past 2000 years or so, has been a mere distraction, a tangent to nowhere you could say. Anyhow, getting back to the f34/f35 thing, it would seem this is not a focus state "beyond" focus 27 at all. But the label attached to a particular focus within the wider physical. Ha ha, no wonder I couldn't find it. But it still sounds a tad weird. All those little green men in flying saucers making meep-meep noises monitoring Earth changes. It all sounds more than a little far-fetched to me. But now I know where in the structure of consciousness this focus state is meant to be, I suppose I now have a better chance of checking it out. The interesting aspect about his, for me, is to do with my investigation into the workings of these Trans-Dimensional areas in consciousness. There are many, many other physical worlds (could be an infinite number) and the weird thing is they all occupy the same physical space. The actual characteristics of the different dimensions can be wildly different but they all have this one thing in common, in that they occupy the same space. Anyhow, what "separates" them, if you like, are these Trans-Dimensional areas in consciousness that allows each physical universe to overlay on one another. Now, I have it on good authority that it IS possible to "travel" between Trans-Dimensional areas. When I say travel I mean actual physical travel. It is also possible to do this non-physically as well I am told. So my theory is that these UFO sightings are, in fact, a kind of "bleed through" from another Trans-Dimensional area. An area that has people living within it who have already learnt how to design some kind of craft with the ability to travel between physical dimensions. I also feel I am on the verge of solving the mystery surrounding the mystical notions of reincarnation, and this is wrapped up in the above I feel. There is something about linear time that just doesn't add-up to me, there's something freaky about it that I cannot yet explain. So many times I have felt on the verge of a major realisation about it, but it won't come through into my area of objective knowing. I can experience it, as a concept, within Primary Focus 4 of consciousness, but I cannot bring it into my area of Primary Focus 2. Linear time could well be completely mind created and every aspect of our lives could actually be occurring at the same point in time. Plus, I'm getting to the stage where I'm becoming convinced that each person exists in his or her very own dimension of existence. Anyhow, it‟s all early days yet but it is an exciting prospect (or it is for me at least) that the realisation or the knowing of how these Trans-Dimensional areas function, could hold the key to the eventual development of some kind of interdimensional craft. Not that I am saying that I personally could ever build one (perchance to dream!) but even to just get the theory down on paper would be a major step forwards. Yours, Frank 55 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Phasing Model Question on: July 13, 2005, 14:41:44 Hi: Yep, got it, that's just the kind of thing I needed. Yours, Frank 54 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / What is the correct way to rotate a chakra? on: July 13, 2005, 23:14:25 Ha ha ha, yes, you are quite correct, my mistake, which I just corrected. It is green and cannot for the life of me think why I said blue. :) Yours, Frank 53 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / How did I get to F3oc.. I think? on: July 13, 2005, 23:41:41 Hi: It is okay to skip any number of inbetween states and directly transition to whatever area you like. It is not what you might call normal as, at first, people tend to make staged transitions rather than direct transitions. But as a person becomes more experienced the prospect of making direct transitions becomes more likely. With beginners I tend to prefer talking in terms of the Monroe individual attention states. Simply because they are quite easy to understand and, with a little practice, they become immediately recognisable. From what you say you were in the midst of achieving the Monroe focus 3 state, which I would say is a definite sign of progress. Your post also provides a great demonstration of a point I have been trying to get across for a while now about how pointing your focus of attention within you, tends to have the effect of “switching off” the feeling of the physical. Yours, Frank 52 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Healthy Astral Projectionist on: July 14, 2005, 01:42:01 Tvos: Again, I think this is an interesting idea but the Poll facility we have is not good enough to do what you want. You want a multi-question, multi-answer poll and that's not possible. I'm sorry. The only type of Poll I can set up is a single question with one possible response from a number of possible responses. I can see exactly what you are asking for, you want a kind of survey Poll, rather than a Poll determining the most favourable response to one question. You want multi- questions as well as multi response options. Unfortunately the forum software does not give us that facility. Yours, Frank 51 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Is an AP during a dream, a real AP? on: July 14, 2005, 02:49:12 Hi: Many people get these kinds of experiences and it is only natural to question the "reality" of them. The question that often comes about is the classic, "Was this real or just a dream?" In this respect, people are making the assumption that the physical is the "real" reality against which they judge the realness of any other experience they may happen to have. But a person's reality is wherever they happen to focus their attention. That is why, these days, I especially avoid the use of the term "reality fluctuations". I have used it in the past in a manner of speaking, but I specifically avoid using it at all now, as it can be highly misleading regardless of the context in which it is used. Quite simply, a person's reality cannot fluctuate. A person's reality simply is. It is, however, natural to question the validity of any particular experience and to ask all manner of other questions. This is something I do with myself ALL the time. In fact, I would say that this is what separates the genuine explorer of the Wider Reality from the mystics. For mystics, by definition, love to revel in mysticism. Asking questions and delving into the experience in order to uncover the facts, to discover the simple truth, to roll up your sleeves and get down to the plain and simple nitty-gritty… doing that is all to do with dispelling mysticism… which is an anathema to the mystic, as it is contrary to everything they believe in, against everything they stand for. However, it is one thing to ask a question, and it is quite another thing getting an answer that makes sense. :) Your situation neatly exemplifies the difficulties people often have when trying to come to terms with, or otherwise make sense of these experiences. In a nutshell, it all boils down to a question of focus. This is something Monroe‟s work highlighted to a great extent. In truth, reality is a question of focus. Hence, where you point your focus of attention becomes your reality. In the old days they would try to get this idea across by pointing out classic questions like, “If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?” Okay, stuff like that is a bit old-hat now because we know it does, we can record it on tape. But when these kinds of questions were first being banded about there was no such thing as recording. So I guess that in their day these questions were quite effective in getting people thinking along the right lines. I always chuckle at the modern-day variant that says, if a man does something wrong and there isn‟t a woman around to point it out, does that mean he‟s right? Anyhow, these days the more modern-day practitioners of this art tend not to think in terms of certain kinds of realities being any more, or any less “real” than any other. They think in terms of “focus” and “attention”. Yours, Frank 50 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / The Healthy Astral Projectionist on: July 14, 2005, 03:16:47 Hi: The data unfortunately cannot be exported automatically. But the Poll will keep tabs of how many people voted in total and give a little graphical display of how many people have voted for each answer option. So I guess it wouldn't be all that difficult to enter by hand. The essential thing to remember is in each Poll the software will only let us have 1 question. However, we can have multi answers to that one question. So rather than Yes/No if you wanted you could have something like, Definitely/Sometimes/Rarely/Never and that kind of thing. Basically it's up to you. Now, to get around the fact that each Poll can only ask 1 question, we can set up any number of polls as you say. However, we don't want to be swamping a main section with Polls. So what I'm thinking is, we can set up all the Polls in a largely unused section like Forum Bugs and Reports. Then we make a sticky announcement in the more popular sections like OBE Discussions and Chat inviting members to pop to Forum Bugs and Reports to place their vote. All I need is a list of questions and the answer variations for each question and I'll set it up. Yours, Frank 49 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Is an AP during a dream, a real AP? on: July 14, 2005, 05:42:33 Hi: My response was largely in answer to the specific question asked in the opening paragraph of the original post, namely, “…These APs seem the same as others that didn't involve dreaming, but were they a real AP or just a dream?” [my italics] This “realness” question is a popular beginner‟s question, as it happens, and my answer is largely the same in each case, i.e. it all boils down to the basic rule that where you point your focus of attention becomes your reality. Against the background of the Wider Reality there is no area of consciousness, or point of individual focus that is any more or any less “real” than another. Obviously, as we are all here, the physical is our Resident Focus. Being such it has the effect of capturing our attention to a high degree. This effect, I agree, can certainly give the impression that the area of the physical is perhaps more “real” than any other. But this is merely a distortion and all Resident Focuses tend to have that effect on a person. People who are normally resident within Primary Focus 3 have the same kind of magnetic attraction to that Focus as we have within the physical. I can see where you are going with this in introducing the idea of different categories of reality and noting various differences, for example, in terms of accessibility. On that basis it could be argued that a reality that was more accessible, perhaps, was more of a “real” reality than something that wasn‟t. I would suggest the differences in that context are not in terms of realness of reality, but in terms of the meaningfulness or the convenience that the event, phenomena or thing, presents to the individual in question. There is, of course, the other aspect where it could be argued that a thing, such as the Empire State Building, for example, is a reality and that such a reality exists independent of anyone focusing upon it. But then this comes back to the age-old question of the tree falling in the forest. In the terms and the context in which my response was given, the concept of a person‟s reality is an all-encompassing notion that includes all minor categories and/or circumstances that an individual is focusing upon at any given moment. In other words, whatever a person happens to be focusing their attention upon becomes their reality. Individual reality, therefore, is a unique product of a person‟s perception that is highly dynamic and intrinsically focus dependent. In closing you ask, “… how do we account for 'the implications of a living reality' that is not shared by those around us?” On the basis of my explanation above, an individual‟s reality is a unique and dynamic product of their perception and not something that can be shared in any event. Your final explanations present me with a clue as to context and I feel you are talking in terms of there being a physical world, i.e. a physical reality, on the one hand, and a non-physical world, or non-physical reality, on the other. The knowledge of these two entities or “realities” some you can share with some people and some you feel you cannot share. But in this I feel we are speaking at cross-purposes. Again, I am specifically speaking in terms of individual reality, i.e. that part of a person‟s make up that is created by their perception at any given moment. Yours, Frank 46 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / What is the correct way to rotate a chakra? on: July 15, 2005, 13:10:30 Hi: Yes, agreed on the general points. With this kind of thing it's often difficult to offer a beginner clear guidlines while allowing for the fact that there are no hard and fast rules, and to do that within the space of a post to a thread. When I was first investigating this area of study I never visualised my energy centres "spinning" at all as I found it a little tiresome and distracting. I found that when I simply visualised a coloured sphere in the approximate area this was *way* more effective for me. Problem is, this is quite a complex area of study and the experienced people here could no doubt all write pages and pages just on this one question alone. But in my view, for a beginner just setting out, simply imagining these energy centres as a coloured sphere rotating clockwise would be a good start. Of course, and this is true with MANY things in life, once you become experienced then you will find all manner of differences can apply in your particular case. I liken it to when I used to race motorcycles. We all had what we would call our "Racer's Bible". It was a very thick looseleaf book that gave exact details of every section of every racetrack in the UK. In particular it gave details of the optimum racing line for every curve. It was all very well studying this, but when you actually came to do it there were around 20 or so other people battling for that same optimum racing line! Of course, it was sheer experience that taught a person how to remain competitive and hold a dominant position virtually regardless of where on the track they were positioned. But it would be sheer folly for a beginner to think they could attempt this. So everyone tended to first learn the theory, then they began to put that theory into practice. Then, as they developed some experience, they could start to be creative as to their dynamic positioning. I feel this is similar in that once you become experienced you could imagine your energy centres any old how and they would spark off for you. Well, that is how it is with me now. For example, I can spark off my Yellow centre in about 5 seconds just by thinking about sparking it off. I don't have to visualise anything. Yet when I first started it took me ages to find this one centre, and now it's the easiest to ignite for me. Weird. Yours, Frank 44 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / What is the correct way to rotate a chakra? on: July 15, 2005, 14:13:26 Hi: Thanks for the link. The problem is, and this is one of the main reasons why I never now use the word Chakra, are the sheer amount of religious and other belief constructs that have been built up over the thousands of years. There are bodily energy centres that pertain to our physical form. Now, superimposed upon that phenomenon are all manner of belief constructs about these bodily energy centres. With myself, I pay close attention to the former and simply ignore the latter. I took a look at the link you gave and, if I may say, the website is typical of the many that do the rounds. With me, as I say, I make a clear distinction between the simple movement of energy throughout the body that I can see and measure, and many people's religious or other beliefs[/b] about the way energy is utilised by the physical body. The two are VASTLY different. Again, I present the notion that creative energies tend to spin clockwise. That is how nature is aligned generally and we are a part of nature. Plus, there is no real difference between male and female when it comes to their energetic construction. There is obviously a slightly different accent on one or two factors that ultimately serve to cause a diferent balance of bodily hormones. But our basic energetic makeup is the same. It's unfortunate that, in the past and I still see evidence of that today, in mystical and religious circles sexism has been allowed to run rife and women have been seen to be inferior. Pretty awful when you think about it. Yours, Frank 43 Metaphysics / Welcome to Metaphysics! / The danger of metaphysics? on: July 15, 2005, 14:32:43 Hi: I mean no offence but I do believe that someone with your kind of mindset should not engage in this kind of practice. I have no desire whatsoever to impose limitations upon your experience. But I can say that if you begin projecting with that kind of mindset, running into deep water is not a question of if, but when. Myself, I went down the "negs" route when I first set out. It took me almost 5 years before the penny dropped and I've had no problems ever since. I've said here a number of times before about how I used to kick myself thinking of how it took me almost 5 years to realise something so darned obvious. But now, looking back, I realise how lucky I was for it to have only have taken me 5 years. Many people I suspect never realise and suffer all manner of problems as a result. That is why I detest the mystics who perpetuate this kind of thing. They package people's fears in a form they can buy while claiming to present a solution. Yours, Frank 42 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Shopping around for an AP related book. on: July 15, 2005, 14:39:37 Hi: I would recommend the two Monroe books Far Journeys and Ultimate Journey and two Seth books, Seth Speaks and The Seth Material. Jane Roberts gets a little tiresome in parts and grates on the nerves, and Monroe lets slip a little in places. Apart from that I can vouch for the material's accuracy. My experience largely concurs with both authors' work. Yours, Frank 41 Energy Body and The Chakras / Welcome to Energy Body and The Chakras / Improving one's energy organs on: July 16, 2005, 02:31:24 Hi: Simply do a search on Google or other search engine. There are many websites giving the details. Yours, Frank 39 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Re: New and needing a few questions answered :). on: July 16, 2005, 12:36:18 1. Will you see ghosts the very first few times you AP,and if so will they try to talk to you or glare and stuff? Also,what do they look like? What do you mean by "ghosts"? 2. Is it really true that you will see colors that are not normally seen by the human eye? Ex. I get my first OBE and my room has colors that I've never seen before. No, colours are essentially the same although you may well view your room differently as a result of overlay experiences. 3. Are the sounds while entering/exiting your body so loud that they scare you right back in? Because I have a tendancy to get freaked easily,lol. Then prepare to be freaked quite a few times at first. 4. If you have one at night,will it be night in the AP world? Same for day to? Night and day are physical realm constructs only and the notions do not correlate between areas of consciousness. 5. Is your first OBE scary,or is it so cool that you forget your freaked out? Many people get freaked out. Some people take it in their stride. The latter I'd guess are in the minority. But I think they are a steadily growing minority as we progressively shake off the Dark Age doom and gloom that has haunted this topic for many, many generations perpetuated by religious zealots and mystics. 6. I heard that when you look at your physical body while APing,it looks so wierd that it scares you right back into your body. True? If that is what you believe then true. If you believe otherwise then true. 7. Will you see other APers while APing if you leave your home? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on your abilities to perceive. 8. How long did it take you to have your first OBE? About 6 months. 9. Do you feel all your normal emotions? Or are some eliminated? Quite the opposite. Yours, Frank 36 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / New and needing a few questions answered :). on: July 17, 2005, 00:56:42 Hi: If you start getting afraid that you will find yourself in a gloomy and scary environment then... you will! You can create whatever environment you like, though people will always be subject to fears. There is no getting around this. I still lose it now and again. Okay it‟s quite a rare event for me now but it still happens where I get zapped back to physical, and I end up chuckling my socks off for being so stupid. The key is to recognise these effects for what they are rather than keep thinking of them as some “thing” separate from yourself. Unfortunately, this topic is still haunted by Dark Age doom and gloom and I really do not know what it is about religious zealots and mystics who feel they have some kind of monopoly on the Wider Reality and seek to continually impose their brand of non- physical prejudice upon us. I get 2 or 3 emails every week from religious zealots telling me I‟m going to “burn in hell” and calling upon me to repent for my “heathen” ways. Or typically I get the mystics writing to me about “Karma” and how I‟m gonna have to pay for all this in “later lives”. You just wouldn‟t believe how pathetic and vindictive some of these people are, while at the same time claiming to be so “enlightened”. It‟s all water off a ducks back to me, in fact, it gives me a big laugh. But I know only too well how ever so many people get swayed by all of this. The problem is, when people read all the gobbledegook they take it in, and many get scared out of their wits even just thinking of projecting never mind doing it! I lost count of the number of times someone wrote to me after reading all the mystical blurb and now they are scared stiff, asking me if this “neg” stuff is truly all in your own mind or what. The only way you can get around this is to develop a PROPER understanding of the way consciousness is structured within our system. Once you learn the facts of the matter, rather than listening to all the half-baked rumours and the ridiculously antiquated mystical innuendo, things do begin falling into place. I promise you. Ultimately, you‟ve just got to get on and do it. As I‟ve said oodles of times, the best most productive state of mind is to remain emotionally neutral, but hold just an air of mild curiosity. But if your emotions are flitting about here and there, then YOU are going to be flitting about here and there also. The key to controlling the whole experience is to keep your emotions under control, and to realise where you are in the consciousness scheme of things. Yours, Frank 35 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Another question for Frank on: July 17, 2005, 01:02:53 Hi: F1/F4 overlays are very profound events. I only ever managed to do it twice so far. It's wild, whacky and freaks you out. Well, it sure does me! You see the physical, and overlayed on that you perceive the concepts behind the actions you are currently experiencing. Sort of like deja-vu on steroids. :) Yours, Frank 31 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Is an AP during a dream, a real AP? on: July 17, 2005, 01:53:35 Hi: In answer to 1: All dreams, by mere definition, must surely be “projection” experiences. Plus, I concur with your meaning of project. Although I tend to use the word shift, as in shift one‟s focus. But shift or move or whatever… it‟s the same difference. The problem with dreams is people often get to thinking that dreams are all “in your head” so to speak. That you are in some way walking about in your brain. This faulty thinking unfortunately occurs as a result of people thinking the mind is somehow a product of the brain. It is actually the other way around. :) This leads to people talking in terms of, “… I thought I was projecting… but it was just a dream.” [emphasis on the just] In this sense, a person is thinking that the only “real” projection is a projection of consciousness that would present the impression of being “out” of body. And this all boils down to the mistaken notion that there can possibly be such a thing as “out” of body. Okay, I agree, that is exactly what it looks like. I know exactly what it looks like because I‟ve done it many times. But as I have tried to make clear, thinking that you are “out” of your body because that is how it looks, is like monitoring the movement of the sun and concluding (as you would) that the sun moves around Earth. It is obvious the sun moves around Earth, anyone can see that it does. It is so obvious that people may conclude only an insane person could think otherwise. Well, science earns its bread and butter income cutting great swathes through that kind of thinking. In terms of being distanced, in a sense, from the front-line physical, you are actually “further” from the physical, in a manner of speaking, than you are when projected within the area known as the real-time-zone. Personally I dislike using this term, as I‟ve made clear before. There is no such thing as “real” time and it is not a “zone”. But that‟s how people describe it so I tend to go along with it. But in the RTZ you are still within the physical, or Primary Focus 1 of my Phasing Model of consciousness. When you are dreaming you are focused within Primary Focus 2 of consciousness. In other words, you are more “out” of your body, in terms of being more focused away from it when dreaming than when projecting within the RTZ. But, like I say, people tend to think that when dreaming you are within your brain somehow, and the only real projection is to get “out” of that entrapment and, in a sense “escape” from the clutches of your physical. The thoughts people tend to muster from the culmination of thinking the above typically leads people into thinking that dreams are in some way disconnected from all of this. That they are weird kinds of mental aberrations that merely serve to get in the way and confuse the issue. Dreams actually go to forming our physical reality to a high degree. Plus, I have said many times that it is far easier to project into the RTZ from Primary Focus 2 of consciousness than it is to do from within the physical. Okay, it is still tricky but a darned sight easier in my view. All manner of stuff is easier too such as energy work. Primary Focus 2 is a great launch-pad to experiencing all manner of things. But there is one big downer with PF2 that has trapped ever so many people in the past, and this has prevented them from exploiting the tremendous advantages this area can offer. In the past, people have unfortunately failed to realise PF2 is an area of individual consensus reality. Moreover, there are no boundaries or barriers within consciousness. Everything is connected in one continuum. Problem is people tend to get body-fixated. They think if they are in one area of consciousness then they cannot be in another area at the same time. So if you are dreaming, people think, then you can‟t be in the RTZ at the same time… why not? It all comes back to the thinking that dreaming is somehow “in your head” and people‟s misunderstanding of the way the Wider Reality is structured. Fortunately, the more modern-day practitioners of this art are realising that all these experiences come about as a result of the enactment of a specific action-equation in consciousness. An equation that holds a particular balance between Beliefs, Desires, Intents and Expectations for any given Outcome. So when you look at the difference between a lucid dream or an astral projection, for example, both experiences come about from enacting the same basic action equation. The only difference being there is a slightly different balance in the equation elements that naturally leads to a different Outcome. So same basic action, same basic area in consciousness, just a slightly different balance of elements in the underlying action equation. That is also why it‟s one of the most popular questions, i.e. was this an astral projection or just a dream? Okay, let‟s put aside the “just” here as we‟ve covered that. But realising how the two experiences are so very similar explains why this is one of the most popular beginner‟s questions. And it also explains why they is an ever growing school of thought that would suggest all astral projection experiences are, in fact, lucid dreams. I too would concur with this, but for the reasons I explain above. Again, dreams (especially lucid dreams) and astral-projections are the same basic action taking place in the same basic area in consciousness, just with a slightly different balance of elements in the underlying action equation. This is precisely the reason why they are SO similar. In answer to 2: Please understand that Primary Focus 3 of consciousness is massive. Millions and millions of people live in this region. People I have met on the upper branches, as I call them, of this area, realise they have no need of sleep. However, I have come across people on the lower branches locked in a sleep-construct. Some people, for instance, think that “death” is like going to sleep and never waking up. And so that‟s how it becomes for them. Until eventually, of course, after the equivalent of perhaps 500 of our years, they wake up and try to make sense of what has happened to them. They eventually end up wandering around and they‟ll meet others in a similar predicament and, after another 100- 200 years or so equivalent, they perhaps gravitate to the higher branches, and so meet others who will be able to fill them in on what happened. There is no need to eat yet loads of times I have come across people eating. There is no need to breath yet people still go through the motions of breathing. Some people think they will go to heaven or hell, and so they end up in a heaven or a hell of their expectations. In fact, there is no need to adopt a bodily form at all, but everyone does. I met people on the upper branches who play around adopting different forms and things. But people generally adopt a bodily expression that is much like their previous physical. Until they come to realise there is no specific need. But there are untold numbers of people living their lives within Primary Focus 3 of consciousness who don‟t even realise they have died, physically. They simply carry on within the same construct they created for themselves within the physical. Only difference is they switched from Primary Focus 1 of consciousness to Primary Focus 3. I‟ve met people who have been going through the same old loop for decades of our physical time, sometimes even for what looks like possibly a couple of hundred years or more. Some of the constructs you perceive could have been created by the person even a thousand years ago in our time equivalent. Generally, however, you can shift your focus of mental attention to any area in consciousness from any other area. Provided, of course, the belief constructs you choose to adopt at any particular stage in the process would include an acceptance of you being able to do so. Else you wouldn‟t be able to. But that would be through choice, albeit inadvertently, and not through any general impossibility in the wider scheme of things. In answer to 3: Unfortunately this is impossible to say, as it would vary on a case by case basis. I imagine in some cases the answer would be always yes, some cases always no, coupled with every variation inbetween. I‟m sorry I cannot be any more specific. Yours, Frank 30 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP and determinism on: July 17, 2005, 02:25:08 Hi: This is turning out to be an interesting discussion. I prefer to think of the brain as an interface. Nothing in particular originates from it. It merely interfaces and converts a person's subjective consciousness into a form the physical body can use/comprehend/understand. Plus, it translates signals from the 5 physical senses the other way. The main energetic interface is the energy centre at the crown. This has a directing effect on the other energy centres. Each energy centre “talks” both to the brain and directly to various cells in the body. But the brain is the main physical subjective/objective interface and, as I say, it‟s also bi-directional. That is also the reason why we have these energy centres in the first place, i.e. to interface the subjective with the objective. If we were truly were just a physical body in the sense of being an entirely self-contained biological machine, and consciousness was strictly a brain- created mechanism then no need for any interface between subjective and objective (in terms of energy). Yours, Frank 29 Astral Chat / Welcome to Astral Chat! / Shopping around for an AP related book. on: July 17, 2005, 02:37:52 Hi: I appreciate your concern regarding the fraud aspect and some of the "channeled" stuff I have read just makes me laugh. It is just people channeling aspects of their own self from Primary Focus 2 of consciousness thinking they are in touch with "aliens" from outer space and all that jazz. But the two Seth books I read I can vouch for their accuracy. Too much concurs with my own experience, particularly in the way Seth talks about the structure of consciousness. When I first read the books it was a revalation to me as hardly a page went by that didn't qualify something or other from my own experience. Although, again, Jane Roberts gets more than a little tiresome in places. But I suppose it was the 1960's or whenever. Yours, Frank 27 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / AP and determinism on: July 17, 2005, 05:41:28 Hi: As I've said a number of times, one of the most frustrating things about this whole thing, for me, is I cannot actually prove any of it to any semblance of a scientific standard. I am hoping that between all interested parties we can at least bring this topic into the 21st century, by clearing away this Dark Age legacy that forever seems to haunt this topic. Plus, we can at least get something down on paper, written in a way that makes logical sense. Given that this is the 21st century and all that. Also, I am hoping that in a couple of years we will have a number of people here who have steadily worked through all the various stages and pitfalls to the extent where we will be able to come to some kind of common consensus as regards our experiences. Perhaps by then we will be able to report some kind of actual meeting within Primary Focus 3 of consciousness and develop some kind of objective proof of that fact. Perhaps not to the standard required of science in a strict sense, but more in an objectively held group-consensus sense. Personally, I believe the wider reality will never actually be proved. As I've said before, for example, that unless you are some kind of engineering scientist no-one ever actually "proved" the existence of electricity before you used it. People simply switch on a light or plug the kettle in. It's there simply to use as you see fit. I think that is how knowledge of the Wider Reality will start to become. The more people have these experiences then the more people will start to accept them, and so the more people who will have them, and so on. To my mind, it all boils down to getting this topic wrapped up in an air of public acceptability. People generally still think it's all very freaky and mystical, or on the other side of the coin they think it's dangerous. But the more we try to explain it in a sane and sensible fashion, then the more people will come to accept it, and the more they will want to give it a try. Yours, Frank 25 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Another question for Frank on: July 17, 2005, 09:22:40 Hi: I realise you were joking but, for the record, I've never actually taken any of the mind-altering drugs, or smoked weed, that kind of thing. I used to drink moderate amounts of alcohol on a strictly social basis. But that's about it. In terms of actions I was doing, I'm talking about just simple ordinary stuff like breathing, moving a finger, that kind of thing. Yours, Frank 24 Astral Chat / Welcome to News and Media! / 1 in 3 Americans believe in GHOSTS? on: July 17, 2005, 09:37:41 Telos: I just spoke to Doug and he says he's fine and it's definitely not me. :) Yours, Frank 23 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Another question for Frank on: July 17, 2005, 09:55:14 Hi: Yeah, I know but thought I'd better mention it as people might start getting the wrong idea, especially where talk of Primary Focus 4 is concerned. :) Thing is, it's darned difficult for me to explain as these kinds of experiences are relatively new for me, not so much PF1/PF4 overlays but PF4 experiences proper. Note: I now use the term Primary Focus for the main areas, as people were getting a tad confused between those and the Monroe individual focus states. Primary Focus 4 of consciousness is the subjective source of all the actions in consciousness. You see, the energy for our actions has to come from somewhere. We don't just create something from nothing. An idea, for example, is an action in consciousness. It is energy with a particular direction, you could say. Now that energetic action had to be sourced from somewhere, in the sense that the raw energy didn‟t just come from nowhere. When we look at ourselves in terms of energy, what we are is essentially a human energetic transducer that converts raw subjective energy into objective becomings of all manner of description. I wrote a little piece on PF4 in relation to a question about reincarnation a little while ago and much of what I said in that piece is relevant. So here it is: When we project within subjective reality, each of us typically places ourselves in the position or anticipation of facing objects. But when you enter Primary Focus 4, you cast off all notions of “things” and begin merging with the underlying subjective energy. That same energy, down the line, as it were, will ultimately split off here and there (again all in a manner of speaking) and create a “thing”. That thing could be a soccer ball, a human being, a house, a plant, a giraffe, or whatever. Now, in merging with energy, I do not mean you are merging into a vast pool of nothingness. On the contrary, typically, you are merging with a specific action of energy. I suppose you could say, in a very broad sense (and only in a very broad sense) you are merging with a “thing” but a thing in terms of its conceptualisation, or it‟s source in other words. And that source of all that is within our system is Primary Focus 4 of consciousness. So, ultimately, all “things” can be traced to an action in energy, the ultimate source of which is Primary Focus 4. So you could say that Primary Focus 4 is the area of the action of the thought before it is created. But again, only in a manner of speaking because, from the Primary Focus 4 standpoint, there is no before. All simply is. The concept of “before” comes into it as the action is engaged further “down the line” as it were. Yours, Frank 22 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Is an AP during a dream, a real AP? on: July 17, 2005, 13:21:02 Hi Ben: I have to be careful here to make clear that I have no way of knowing how representative my Primary Focus 3 experiences are in this respect. Quite simply, the area is HUGE. So say I have had experience with 2 thousand people on the lower branches, as I call them, of the PF3 tree. This 2 thousand may account for 10% of people (highly unlikely!), 1%, or 0.0000000000001% (perhaps looking more likely). I really have no way of knowing. Well, not yet at any rate. So when talking about what happens, please realise I currently have no way of knowing how representative my experiences are. What I can say is my experiences broadly tally with both the experiences of Robert Monroe and Bruce Moen. Plus, all manner of experience is represented there. Within Primary Focus 3, a mystic will typically see all manner of fantastic mysticism. A religious zealot will see all manner of religious zealotry, members of the fluffy-bunny brigade will see fluffy bunnies galore, and all manner of other circumstances are represented. Not that there is anything inherently wrong in this. Each to their own I suppose. The problems have only arisen due to one bunch of mystics or religious zealots claiming that their particular slant on reality is the only one or the “right” one. When in reality none of them are right at all. When you come to learn how the subjective structure is actually set out, within the lower branches of PF3 absolutely every action, idea or thing is represented, no matter how whacky and wild it may be. Eventually, of course, people move on from engaging in this kind of action. They get it all out of their system and gradually gravitate to the upper branches of this area. They may revel in some hollow-heaven for what we would gauge as a time period, which could range from just months to maybe a thousand years, or whatever. There are no time constraints as there is simply no time. Now, as regards the people I have come across engaged in some kind of construct, yes, from what I have seen they create the characters for themselves. Together with all manner of buildings, furnishings, decorative effects, etc., etc. Never underestimate the power of the mind in terms of its creative abilities! Though I have no way of knowing whether the characters people are creating are actually representations of the very same people they were living with in their physical life, but generally I guess it would be safe to assume so. Often you cannot actually objectively perceive the other characters that people are creating. You can latch onto the idea that the person believes they are interacting with another person around them. But it is their own mind created reality. As such, it is not always possible to merge with the same energies they are aligned to, in order to see what they are seeing exactly. Sometimes you can but often you can‟t. With experience, you can gauge their general circumstances as you begin detecting the energetic signature of the people you come across. This is an ability you pick up after a while that enables you to tell what their emotional state is. You can often “see” their emotional state as well through the colours that surround them. People who are fearful often have great whorls of grey clouds around them. The other thing is I can actually “taste” fear. Sounds a bit daft when I say it but it makes a lot of sense when I‟m actually in the circumstance. If I come across a person locked in a fearful construct, I can often “taste” the whorl of fearful emotion before I see it. However, that does not mean that every other person that people interact with in this area of consciousness is their own mind created reality. No, I am now talking primarily about the beginning branches. There are zillions of people on the mid to upper branches all interacting with each other in an objective sense, just as we all do within the physical. The upper branches of PF3 are VERY physical-world like indeed, even better in fact on the top-most branches. In my mind I call it the supra physical. Sort of like the physical on steroids, lol. Yours, Frank 21 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Projection Experiences! / Is an AP during a dream, a real AP? on: July 17, 2005, 15:06:14 Hi Beth: To an extent, I would agree with you regarding the sensations. But with many, many people, the experience is not quite so clear-cut. I would suggest that the character or nature of the original poster‟s experience is fairly typical, and one is often left wondering that classic question. I would liken it to the phenomenon known as a “false awakening” where a person, to all intents and purposes, absolutely believes they are awake and alert within the physical. They have gotten out of bed and going about their normal day… and then they wake up for real. Myself I have even had false awakenings where I have dreamt I had a false awakening and woke up for real, chuckling about thinking of remembering when I had a previous false awakening, but I was definitely not fooled this time. But the whole thing was a false awakening. :) As such, the only way a person can “prove” the experience to himself or herself is to gain knowledge of an action that is unconnected with themselves. For example, in one RTZ projection I had fairly recently I was outside and saw a large van making a delivery to the bakery. I popped back to physical, threw on some clothes, walked down the road to the bakery to check and there was the van. The feelings people perceive are largely a question of expectation. My projection experiences for years were characterised by heavy vibrations and some terrifically intense sensations of movement. These symptoms occurred no matter where in the general consciousness scheme of things I was projecting to. RTZ or “astral it didn‟t matter. In those days I still subscribed to the “all is astral” construct, but even when I began expanding my knowledge about the wider reality and began encompassing the idea that there might be different primary areas in consciousness, the intense sensations remained. The intense symptoms only started to subside when I began seriously analysing the process in an attempt to understand it more fully, and to try to slow the whole “exit” process down. In doing this I realised these intense sensations were all largely unnecessary. I had gotten myself locked in a mental construct where I was having sensations because I believed sensations were necessary. This realisation that I could have non-physical experiences sans sensations came as some relief. Now my experiences are accompanied with an absolute minimum of sensation. In the background, I typically perceive a very light buzzing kind of crackling slightly hissing sound. I describe it as the sound that high-voltage electricity pylons make when the air is very humid, which is about all I get these days in the first 3 areas. Primary Focus 4 is something else again. In this area it is not possible to objectively perceive anything, although you can become a sound if you wish, which is rather entertaining. As regards the question of being locked in a PF3 construct or not, there are a few things you can do to check. :) A person locked in a construct is in the unfortunate situation where they are releasing a particular mix of emotion that is creating a certain kind of objective scenario. Then they are reacting to that scenario in a particular way. But that particular way of reacting causes that same particular mix of emotions to be released, which causes the person to react to the scenario in that same particular way. So that same particular mix of emotions are released, so they react to the scenario in that same particular way… etc., etc. Of course, within the physical people can become locked in these kinds of weird circumstances in dreams. But it isn‟t long before the alarm clock goes off, or some physical demand comes along and the person snaps out of it. But once someone is sans physical then different rules apply. There is no need to eat or to excrete, no need for sleep, and so forth. So for someone caught in a loop there is nothing much that will come along and make a demand, break their attention, thus snap them out of it. For example, if there was a need for sleep then, after 20 hours or so, the person would get tired, fall asleep, and thus break the construct. Or they would end up starving hungry, or eventually get a severe need to use the bathroom, or whatever. But no such thing applies and people can become locked in these kinds of constructs for what we would gauge as a time period. This time period could be from minutes to even hundreds of years. There are no hard and fast rules. The solution is to somehow interrupt a person‟s thought patterns to make them start thinking of something else. As they do so, the objective circumstances they keep repetitively finding themselves wrapped up in will dissipate. There are many people resident within the upper branches of PF3 who try to help people free themselves from this kind of predicament. Plus, you get people such as myself who regularly project to this area and see it as a challenge to break some of these constructs in which people become entangled. Some people call it “retrieval” work and I too use that term loosely. But in doing so I need to make clear that I do not subscribe to all these whacky notions that these people are “stuck” and that “souls can get left behind” or “souls can die” and all that jazz. That‟s just a load of mystical bunkum. No one gets “stuck” and everyone will eventually realise they are in a construct of one description or another! You don‟t have to be caught in a “loop” as I call it. You can be of the view that when you die you go to “heaven”. So you end up living in a “heaven” construct that fulfils your expectations and/or is in accordance with a person‟s particular religion. But eventually people start to question the validity of their circumstances. Thus the framework of the construct is gradually laid bare and people progressively gravitate to the upper branches. Many times with the help of the people already resident within this top region. Note: when I use the term “top” or “upper” to describe this region I don‟t mean in a superior sense, like this top region is more “spiritual”. If anything, quite the opposite is the case. The people who are engaged in the spiritual/religious/mystical constructs are the ones caught lower down, which is kinda ironic when you think about it. This is the main reason why I, personally, detest any kind of religion or mysticism. These kinds of belief constructs are presented within the physical as a boon to progression in the non-physical, when in fact they turn out to be a barrier. But within Primary Focus 3, you can also see that many more people are disengaging these days with no particular mystical or religious beliefs, and are thus finding the progression through transition very much easier to achieve. Yours, Frank 20 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Astral Consciousness! / Odd Experience... on: July 17, 2005, 15:17:46 Hi: You need to prepare to hear all manner of pops, bangs, shouts, roars, screeches, tearing sounds; people calling your name, hearing music coming from nowhere; all manner of taps, knocks, sounds like a door slamming, booms, whistles, whispers, laughter, screams, etc., etc., etc. As Knightlight says, don't read into it too much as these random events tend to be all par for the course. :) Naturally, if you start to get something that sounds significant then by all means spend a little time trying to track its source, or whatever. Perhaps it may lead to something interesting perhaps it won't. Nothing ventured then nothing gained as they say. But random stuff is to be expected and it's best to simply ignore it as these are, by definition, just one off events, just meaningless random noise. Yours, Frank 18 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / newbie: AP's / physical emotions and fear on: July 19, 2005, 00:52:03 I feel that perhaps I'm alone in protecting myself against more powerful and darker forces. Hi: The above belief construct you have subscribed to is the root cause of your problem. Cancel your subscription to that construct and it will all simply go away. Yours, Frank 15 Astral Projection & Out of Body Experiences / Welcome to Out of Body Experiences! / Projection or injection? are we using the wrong word? on: July 22, 2005, 02:38:42 Hi: I've been absent the past few days as I'm having awful computer problems at the moment. I think my old laptop is finally giving up the ghost after nearly 7 years. I'm really surprised to see the latest crack-pot idea that I am in some way against the book Astral Dynamics. Anyone who would care to search through my past posts will see that I have actually recommended this book over the years. In fact, I have never said a bad word against it and it is the only traditional kinda mystical-orientated book that I actually recommend. Problem is, fanatics of any description are never really interested in the truth. They only see the world through their own very limited perspective and the original poster is certainly no exception. Also, could I please remind "themandude" that registration on my newsletter is a voluntary act. If you do not like it then DO NOT SUBSCRIBE. In other words, do not choose to subscribe to my newsletter and then play the martyr. Like you are reading it under duress. That's a tactic the religious zealots have played over the years and people like myself simply do not fall for it anymore. Unsubscribe yourself by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page and follow the simple instructions. It takes just 3 mouse clicks. Anyone subscribing to my newsletter gets a link to the previous issues that they can read at their leisure. If they do not like what they see they can readily unsubscribe. No one is in any way "forced" to read my newsletter. I have made my anti-mystical position very clear and have given a number of reasons why I dislike mystics-release-gurus. For example, I present evidence of the situation regarding the mystic-release-guru known by the name of Sai Baba that Robert Bruce has associated himself with in the past together with his followers, such as the member we used to have here who called herself "red catherine". Sia Baba is a suspected sex offender, child molester and serial rapist who has been the subject of reports by the British Foreign Office and UNICEF (among other agencies such as the French government) warning people of his devient activities. I reckon, however, this is just the tip of a very large iceberg of sexual and other devients who abuse their positions of presumed authority to prey on the unwary in all manner of respects. Below I present just one of my posts of many, on the subject of the book Astral Dynamics: ---------------------------- Hello: I found the book very useful in that it got me projecting into the RTZ for the very first time. Prior to reading the book I had had hundreds of "astral projections" over many years, but the RTZ had always eluded me. Astral Dynamics contains ever so many hints and tips and good all-round general information, you cannot help but pick up benefits from it. I'm not at all into the mystical or energy-work side of things, but the book piqued my curiosity about "chakras" and I had a whale of a time exciting these energy centres. It's immense fun. Yours, Frank -------------------------------