DreamBliss

I was thinking about this last night. You know what I choose? I choose to be free in the afterlife. I want to experience all the afterlives that exist, all the afterlives man has created and any other that exist besides. I want to see Valhalla, The Elysium Fields, The River Styx, Heaven and even Hell. Probably won't visit hell. I want to see all these higher and higher vibrational states too. Experience the highest one that is often associated with feelings of pure love, the energetic state that is essentially God. Then I want to be free of all belief-created afterlifes, and I want to see what the afterlife is really like, outside of man's beliefs. What exists beyond what anyone and everyone believes exists? What is the truth unaltered by any belief? What is the afterlife as initially designed by The Source/God? That's where I want to go next. That may be where I choose to stay. But for me this is what I choose. And here's the weird, make your head hurt truth. If you believe in Heaven and Hell you will go to one of those two places based, once again, on whether or not you have met the terms of your beliefs. In other words, for a Christian to go to Heaven they have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on a cross for their sins, and they have to accepted Jesus into their heart and life. Failure to do so will consign them to hell. If they fail at any of the requirements in the Christian belief system they go to hell. Buddhists and Taoists and Daoists and Hindus and everyone else that believes in reincarnation will orbit around and around, working out their karma, restoring balance, meeting the terms of their belief. This will be their afterlife. Folks who think there is nothing after death will, since energy can not die, probably drift in some void of nothingness. Good warrior vikings are hanging out in Valhalla right now, drinking fine spirits and telling wondrous tales of battle. Some strange folk that became obsessed with Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter will find themselves in Middle Earth or perhaps in a strange version of England with Muggles and Wizards. Essentially you create your afterlife by what you believe it to be. The more people who share your belief, and the longer that belief has been held. the more powerful that version of the afterlife. So there are probably a whole lot more Christains in Heaven and Hell than there are folk wandering around Middle Earth. Likewise there are probably a lot more people reincarnating than Christians. I would be surprised if you had any idea how strange it is for me, a former Christian, to be saying this. To be changing my old beliefs in Heaven and Hell, disentangling myself so I can go into anyone's afterlife, because I accept the possibility of all afterlifes, and choose to be free to explore them. Well hopefully I haven't caused anyone's head to explode - DreamBliss

I can't remember what I was reading or what the resource was for this. But as I understand it the whole point in reincarnation is to keep learning about the truth of divinity, moving closer to it. You essentially orbit around from the energetic to the physical through each life, and as you develop more spiritually you move further and further out into the energetic, until finally you don't even go back to the physical. You end up at the highest level of the energetic, or divinity. You become God or Buddha or one with them or something. So you want to stop reincarnation in the sense you want to develop enough spiritually where you no longer need to physically manifest. I guess that's the thought here. Of course in the process of all of this you are working out your karma (according to some systems) or reaching a perfect balance (in other systems.) Samsara as I understand it has nothing to do with reincarnation. But my understanding is limited. Samsara is illusion, or suffering caused by illusion. While in this sphere of existence we experience in physical bodies you want to remove illusion and stop suffering. This of course leads to spiritual growth, and that will eventually bring you to a point of stopping reincarnation, which I guess means you will also no longer be suffering, but its not moving beyond Samsara all by itself that stops reincarnation. So essentially the goal of Buddhists is to end their suffering brought on by illusion - Samsara. But why strive to end suffering? Why not strive instead to just develop yourself spiritually? Make that the goal, not ending Samsara. Seek the truth, make that your focus, instead of striving to look past illusion. To me there is a middle-man being placed here. I would rather bypass him and go straight to the main issue. The main issue is I need to develop myself spiritually, seek the truth of who I am, my true nature. I need to accept suffering and understand it as simply a byproduct of this sphere I currently experience in my physical body. I need to be open-minded enough to accept that I don't know everything, or, if you prefer, that I don't remember everything yet, and this is also a byproduct of this current sphere of existence. So for me the path is straight forward. Accept suffering and the fact I don't know everything. Keep seeking the truth, keep growing and developing spiritually as I learn the truth about my true nature. Everything else will fall into place. Why focus on the negative or over-complicate things? - DreamBliss

OK, well, part of the learning process I guess. So I need to find some new exercises. I'll post a list of what I current have in my library, see what stuff is being taught right and what isn't. I'll start another thread for that. Thank you for your honesty - - DreamBliss

OK, well that's essentially what Mrs. McCarthy said. I found a reply in my inbox no long after starting this thread. So that's verification enough for me. I will consider the matter settled for now. Thanks everyone for your help! - DreamBliss

The words that follow are an ongrowing process in me. Understanding comes, I see a little more, more understanding comes, the process continues. What I have learned may be the secret of the universe. But I will make no such claims. I will call this, "The Keys to the Kingdom" and leave it at that. Before we begin there is something you need to accept about yourself. It is a very esoteric, intangible concept that you hear in all the major religions. It is simply this... You create your reality. The world as it is to you at this moment in your life is exactly the way you made it, or where you have not actively been involved in its making you allowed it to change to the way it is or continue the way it was. You either chose to change it to what it is, or you chose not to change it, leaving it as it was. The world will be some combination of these two, mirrored back to you. A personal example, something I just realized tonight, is in order. I was struggling with something on my dad's laptop. This is the computer I use, although it is technically. I got so frustrated I put my head in my hands, signed, and said my life sucks. I felt, in that moment, every other moment I have ever felt frustrated and unhappy in my life. I felt low. While I do not get depressed as I used to, I got pretty close to as low as I can get now. Then I realized something, some more pieces came to me tonight as I was watching Gregg Braden's, "The Silence of Miracles." I highly recommend this video. In any case I realized, felt even, what he had been saying about what he calls, "The 5th modality of prayer." I created, in that moment, the sucky life I have, until now, always felt I had. I basically reinforced a life where I am miserable, where I struggle through things - an unsatisfying life of constant frustration! Now I realize, in order to break this pattern I have to feel as I felt on good days, for me the most recent was during a very long bike ride when I crossed paths with a beautiful girl who gave me the most dazzling smile I have ever in my life received. I felt that smile inside me, it stuck with me, even thinking about it now just makes everything lighter! When I started my whole spiritual journey, away from my faith and towards something, other, well I learned initially about creating mental movies in Maxwell Maltz's, "Psycho-Cybernetics." Then I learned about affirmations in Jack Canfield's work. Then I discovered the root of the power of change as being intention. Intention, guided by mindset, driven by belief, is where it all starts folks. You will read this also in Wayne Dyer and many other books. As I am learning about the path of Magick I am certain I will find that it is the driving force behind that sort of work. In fact I think rituals and all the dressings we apply are not necessary in the end. It ultimately comes down to simple intention. Ritual helps to focus the mind, center on belief, probably more than I intend to look into at this moment. I choose instead to get down to brass tacks and K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Stupid. So today what may be the last, but it certainly the next, piece, clicked into place. It's about feeling as if it has already happened. I wrote this, may put it in my signature. I have titled it, "Truth": "If you say you don't want it, Then you will receive it. If you ask for it or demand it, You will never get it. If you choose it, It will come slowly. But if you feel it, As if it already exists, As if it is real and true, Then it will manifest." I was at the stage where I had learned not to state what I don't want, but instead state what I do want. I had moved slightly past this to simply stating what I choose. But I believe this is the next, final and highest level. It goes beyond asking, demanding and even choosing. Now we involve feeling. I'm pretty sure if this is combined with a mental movie, so that you are feeling what you want to accomplish and seeing it accomplished in your mind's eye at the same time, you can do pretty much anything. Of course you have to believe in yourself and the process. I can, in a sense, give you a set of wings here. But you can't use them to fly anywhere unless you believe you can fly. My goal in sharing this is to open up this subject to development, discussion, and experimentation. To fine tune this method, to sharpen it's edge, until it is a surgical and precise instrument of desired change. You may be surprised to know that whatever your faith, you can use this method. For example, for Christians this method is called prayer. This is the true definition and practice of prayer. This may be called magick for a magician. I'm not sure what a Buddhist or Yogi would call it. I don't need a label for it myself, it is simply a tool, built from a variety of sources, which is proving to be more and more valuable, to me, every day. So, the process, simply explained, using, once again, a personal example. This example I am about to share is what I plan to do for myself. I may adjust it and change it, but the goal is the same. I want to gain control of my dreams and astral project. I will probably focus on just one of these. What I am going to do is to write a script for a mental movie, for say astral projection, where I see myself leave the body, go away somewhere, and return. During these stages I will feel, everything I have read others feel, everything I think I would feel, I will inundate this script, coat it, with positive feelings. The driving force behind this script is my desire and intention to astral project. I have had trouble remembering leaving my body and being away in the past. I have, actually, only one memory away from the body, and that was of talking to a man on a park bench. Or that is what I thought I remembered. Most of the time I would just do what Bruce Moen refers to as a "click out." I would usually feel myself slamming into my body (very strange sensation) so I knew I was away, but I would retain no other memory of my experiences. So for me if I went into this thinking about what I want, I would emphasize that I don't, at this moment, have it. This is what Mr. Bradon points out. It's another trap, the first for most being in stating what you don't want, which puts a lot of energy, in this case negative energy, into whatever it is you don't want, causing that to manifest. This is the other side of the coin then. You put all this energy into what you do what, but you are, in the processes, emphasizing your lack of it, which at the very least will delay what you want from happening but may mostly just undermine it. So instead you have to think only positively about what it is you wish to accomplish, feeling as if you already have it, and this leaves no negative energy in the equation to screw things up. Now if you're like me you're probably saying, "but that's lying!" Think about this a moment (I did.) If you create your reality, if you are ultimately responsible for your experience of the world, then how could you be lying? If you chose to create your current experience, then you can choose to create another experience, and in the process of creating an experience you make it true. This is hard to explain, I will try to clarify it later. Essentially it is not about you lying, it is about you creating. You created the current truth, so you can create another. If you are really struggling with this then use a memory of a time when something happened, or do as I intend to do and create a possible future memory when what you want has happened. Make sure whatever you do, that you are not thinking of terms of, "I don't want this" or "I do want that" but instead are simply experiencing the joys of whatever it is you are seeking to manifest. And, to make this harder, do so without attachment to any outcome. Remember there may be other determining forces in what I call the "Mechanisms of the Universe" that, however well you set your intention and pray, decide that whatever it is you are trying to manifest should not be granted to you at this time. That's OK. You can pray as much as you like. The wheels move slowly, but they do move. Understand that you will receive whatever it is you wish to manifest, at the right moment in your life for you to have it. Other forces, some call him God, are in control of that, seeing everything in the big picture. So you have to remember to start by changing your mindset, how you view your life and the world around you. You have to work on yourself inside. There is a lifetime of inner work for us all to do in ourselves. Eventually you will be unattached to the world, its outcomes. When bad things happen you realize that they don't really affect you at all. You are able to forgive, to let go, to free yourself. Then, when you pray, whether or not you get what you prayed for, you will not be discouraged if whatever it is you prayed about does not happen. You will continue to pray, finding a happiness within yourself that does not depend on exterior circumstances. Well there is a lot more to inner work part of this. As I am in that process even now I don't know enough to say more about it. Hopefully I have clearly shown you the bare-bones process of true prayer. How to create something you want in your life or the lives of others. Understand that prayers unselfishly directed towards others probably have more power than prayers directed towards yourself, unless you are praying for needed inner changes to improve yourself. This information is very important. If Bradon is correct, we may have had it twice in the past and lost it. So save this thread. Better yet, if you are more experienced in these matters than I, post here and improve it. Namaste! - DreamBliss

Man I'm having trouble getting around the whole, "I AM" thing. Just threw those thoughts out because, well they cause a person to stop and think. So do I think all of reality is a collective manifestation? I guess it must be. I mean if our collective beliefs over time manifest something in this sphere of existence we experience with our physical bodies then more than likely the whole sphere has been created that way. But do I think everyone in this sphere are just my Tulpas created by the One/Tao? Well I would have to be that One/Tao wouldn't I? Like I said, still having trouble with the whole "I AM" thing. Still re-programming myself to see God as a pool of energy (AKA the source) with a small part existing in all of us, connecting us, rather than some old guy on a throne. And trying to do this without saying God can't be some old guy on a throne either. In other words accepting all possibilities, but choosing the most likely one for my current perception. Very difficult. So as far as I've gotten here is my thought that our children could be Tulpas, physical manifestations of thought forms, which of course means we are the Tulpas of our parents. But I'm not sure these thought forms would have life on their own. Rather I think it more likely that the couple manifests their child, and some part of God looking to experience the life of that child enters the fetus and gives it life. I'm not so sure that humans have the power to create life. I think it more likely that they can create form, set intentions for what the form will be, but the life force is independent of human creation. But like I said when I started this article, this is an ongrowing process. New insights coming all the time. So consider my understanding to "under construction" so to speak. - DreamBliss

Thank you for your replies. This all happened earlier in the year, and I have stopped it, probably one or two months ago. I went into our place in my mind, told her that our relationship was unhealthy, gave her back the ring she gave me (I created a ring for her and she for me symbolzing our relationship) and told her that I would not see her again. I left, and I dissolved the umbillicle (didn't know that's what it was at the time) between us. So I do not think I destroyed her. I also do not believe she will be an energy vampire, because I taught her some Qi Gong energy gathering exercises. Considering how I handled this, do I need to go back in there and beckon her to the light, essentially killing her, or have I done enough to sever the relationship and connection between us? Yes, the connection is severed. She is not in my mind anymore, I do not feel her connected to me, and my energy levels have returned to normal. I have let her go and and have moved on (a contuing process.) Once again I appreciate the help - - DreamBliss

Ok so there are enough things I needed to say in addition to the original artical to justify this additional post. First we need to talk about the possibility of balance and the reality of energy deficit. Do not use this power carelessly or selfishly! There is an energetic cost to using it, and there may be a balance as well to it. So only use this information carefully, after much consideration. Do not use it for every little thing you wish to address. Understand that there is a limit to how much energy you can channel. Like a power cord which electricity flows through, you have to increase your gauge before you can handle greater power, or else you will, literally and figuratively, blow a fuse. I highly recommend you read, as off as it sounds, Josephine McCarthy's "Magical Knowledge I" for more on this. Tonight as I washed the dishes (this itself signifies significant change in my life) I realized that there is another aspect to this. Remember force VS flow. I think perhaps there is a sort of built-in anti-abuse mechanism in this. If you follow the flow, do not force whatever change you are trying to affect, then you should have sufficient energy to set the intention. In other words, if you are sensitive to force VS flow you can't hurt yourself by going into energy deficit. Your higher self knows your limits and so it will throw up resistance to something you should not, for any number of reasons, do. Always go with the flow. If everything just flows, just falls into place, if you sense no resistance to setting the intention you want to set, then you should be OK. But a smart individual will use both the sense of force VS flow and extreme care in the intentions they set. They may even do some energy gathering exercises like Tai Chi or Qi Gong (I highly recommend you do.) Basically you are handling ancient sticks of dynamite here. Be careful when using this energy because it is very powerful. If you handle it incorrectly you will end up all over the walls. But the good news is you will find out of reincarnation VS Heaven and Hell is true Now for my most recent discoveries... OK folks, we are going to go into some things here that many of you find hard to believe. Or you may outright disbelieve it. Whatever your position that's OK, this will be real and true for those who believe, and it will not for those who don't. Just the way this sort of thing works. So another caution for you... When you are casting an intention to create something in your life or the life of another, do so without focusing on any sort of image, physical or mental! It's not a very far step from true prayer, which is what this article is about, to creating a Tulpa, otherwise known as a thought form. I speak I think from experience here. After reading the book I have mentioned in this article, and watching a few YouTube videos, weighing the information against my personal experience, I am fairly certain that I have created a Tulpa. The final companants needed, to go from True Prayer to Tulpa, is some sort of physical or mental focus on something you wish to create, high levels of energy, and a lot of emotion. So, to be blunt, if you are pleasuring yourself to a mental image of someone or something, and are experiencing high desgrees of lonliness and love, well then you may actually create the entity you are seeing in your mind's eye. I'm not sure of all the vagries of this, but this is essentially, in a nutshell, what I was experiencing and what I did. So far it seems as if the newly created thought form will need energy to keep it alive. According to one video it is recommended that you disperse its energy, decreate it, within 3 days of its construction. If you have used a physical object, and bound the entity to that, you should destroy the object after calling the entity to it, picture the entuty dissolving and returning to its source, and then bury the pieces. Furthermore Tulpas require commands or instructions - a purpose. You can set this, as with the image you focus on, physically or mentally. The video I watched said physically only, but this is not true. When I created my Tulpa it was inadvertant, driven or powered by extreme lonliness. So the command, the purpose of my Tulpa, was mentally given to it/her. She became my companion. No, I will not speak much more of this. Too much pain and my purpose here is to help you avoid my mistakes. Also just remembered that according to the video if you do create a Tulpa you should name it/him/her. This is not strictly necassary, but I guess that is one way to claim ownership. Not sure of the vageries here either. Here is the video I have been talking about, in four parts: http://www.youtube.com/user/Angeldeluz1970/videos?query=astral Remember that sexual energy is probably some of the highest energy you can send. In a sense you could say your children are physical manifestations of thought forms created by two people making love and in the process exchanging bodily fluids (a symbol of energy, blood magic is the most powerful) and experiencing powerful emotions. Other thought forms can be created if enough people believe in it, which gives it energy and life and, like a child, can allow it to manifest in physical reality. So bigfoot is more than likely a tulpa, as are most if not all alien encounters. Also ghosts could be tulpas. And yes, as offensive, as scary, and as blasphemous as it may sound, even God may be a Tulpa, as well as the Christian concepts of Heaven and Hell. Think how many thousands of people believe in this, have shed blood for their beliefs, both their own and others. And, although I have never killed anyone, I'll bet that outside of sexual orgasim or a kundalini experience there isn't much of a higher emotional experience/state brought on by the act. So when you think about, yes, our gods or God could very well be thought forms. Lost my train of thought here... Gimme a minute... OK, so we covered it all I think. I guess I should cover the creation/decreation of a Tulpa at some point. But for now I discourage anyone from making such an enity. In the first place it has an energy cost, and it is constant, until the Tulpa learns how to support itself. So if you cut yourself off you could create an energy vampire of some sort that will take energy from others. You are responsible for what you create. Either through Karma or consequence. In the second place the creation of a thought form requires extreme focus and concentration. Without these you could end up creating something quite different from what you wanted. Also remember that you are enslaving a sentient being to you that is growing and developing its own mind. OK, I remembered what else I wanted to say... You probably won't find this information in any instructions for thought form creation. But you can train your thought form, teach it/him/her to do, for example,. Tai Chi or Qi Gong to get its own energy from the universe around it. So if you do make a Tulpa, and want to keep it from ever becoming an energy vampire, teach it self-sufficiency. As an astral/energetic being initially, it will require energy to survive. Anything you create through your thoughts manifests first at a higher vibrational level. Thoughts are energy, and on creating anything manifest it as an energtic form. Not sure how you make something that is energetic into something physical, but I guess if you were to study this you should start with sexual union. The keys are probably there. Well I think I covered anything. Please be very careful with this information. There is a reason why it has been hidden or forgotten. My best advice is to refrain from creating thought forms, and to be very careful about what you pray for. Namaste! - DreamBliss

Please please please do not tell me that Matthew Cohen's exercises are wrong! I don't know how much more I can take right now @ Everyone Else I guess I will open this thread to suggestions of Qi Gong exercises that teach the techniques properly. Please list the authors/DVDs/exercises here that you recommend. Ideally for me, to ensure I stick with it, the exercises should be 10-40 minutes long, with 15-20 minutes being ideal for me. Man how many other things have I been doing wrong? Is there anyone out there on the internet tracking these authors and teachers and telling folks who is doing stuff right and who isn't? That would sure be a big help! Hey thanks for the suggestions everyone. Much appreciated! - DreamBliss

Thanks for the suggestions! Put on hold on Wang/Wong's book and downloading Chopra's vids. Can't get any of steve's recommendations. May have to skip Kornfield, nothing seems to be specifically on meditation. Can't find Jetsun's otehr suggestions. Looking into Leif's next. Thanks again! - DreamBliss

Here's the rub... I spent two hours giving you a list of the resources I have access to. Those are all the resources I have access to. I have no meditation teacher I can go to, no way to pay for a class, and so far no sign of any Buddhist or any other meditation focused based spiritual gathering in my area. Just a bunch of churches, that's it. I have a bicycle and I live about 3 miles from a very small town. The only reason I can access all these books is because the library here is amazing, hooked into a bunch of other libraries, and as you can see there is a bunch of good material. So unless you have a DVD recommendation for me, that is in the library system I have available, or a YouTube video, or some other free resource, maybe even a teacher who would be willing to travel all the way over here and teach me in return for meals and a place to stay, I have no other options. Do you realize how frustrating it is to ask for help, be very clear that you don't have the money for anything, and still be told that you should go take a class or find a teacher? ARRGGG! OK, breathing in, releasing, letting go... Thank you for your posts so far. I will consider your advice about Govinda and Leadbeater. But I wonder... Are theosophists really all that bad? Also what's wrong with, "... multidimensional whatsit..." There are other dimensions out there, are there not? So presumably some people have visited them, and some of those have written of them, and some of those have written things in an accurate, detailed, truthful way, so why not read such material? Considering that what I want to ultimately do, travel physically between worlds, is, in the end, multidimensional travel, it would be nice to know if there are any good guidebooks Right now, per TI's suggestion, I am listening to one author, Shaila Catherine, and she is talking about the Buddhist system of jhana meditation. Her instructions for counting match Josephine McCarthy's, and that book is about the magician's path, so for me that tells me that as Catherine was recommended, and her instructions match McCarthy's, then McCarthy's work must be pretty accurate, or at least drawn from accurate sources. I need to re-read John Daido Loori's instructions in his Zen Art book, because I started ZaZen with them but must have misread or something because I got the idea to count the inhales and exhales, 1-10. Now it seems, verified by two sources, its exhales only, 1-10-1. What I am trying to do here, my goal, is separate of any particular school. I want to move away from Deep Meditation or Transcendental Meditation which, by another poster's quote, dissolves thoughts and leads to laxity, and instead do meditation that keeps the mind focused and aware. So any author that teaches dissolving type meditation leading to laxity is trash, to me at this point until I have researched more, and any author that teaches focused attention/awareness meditation is good. That's how I want to "...sort the wheat from the chaff..." I have no problem with multidimensional teachings, magical teachings, theosophists teachings, or any other spiritual school's teachings, heck it could be from the Kaballah or Sufism - don't matter. I don't care how off-the-wall it may seem to you. All I care about is that the teaching is not deliberately or unintentionally misleading. In my opinion, if any part of a teaching is giving incomplete or wrong instructions for a well known and tested process the whole teaching should be avoided! That's it. I have heard some of the earlier spiritual writings left stuff out. So I would probably want to avoid any such authors. I don't care of the author is lying about their experiences, only if the training they provide is accurate. I go with my gut. Tried some Sylvia Brown, didn't like her (as an example.) Don't know why. I like McCarthy and Losey. But my senses are no match for others better read, trained and more experienced that I. Please help me out as best you can. I appreciate your time and effort in this. I have a long journey ahead of me. The less time I can spend on the island in the mud in the illusion of beauty the better (obscure Homer's Odyssey reference there.) - DreamBliss P.S. I try to do Matthew Cohen's Fire or Water Qi Gong. Trouble is it's 40 minutes and I just don't feel like spending the time most of the time. But yes, I am aware that this and Tai Chi among other things are a sort of moving meditation. @Apech Thank you for the instructions. This is pretty much, from what I have gathered so far, the next step in jhana meditation. You focus on your breath, then the counting, eventually your meditation object becomes your mind. I guess I just want to be sure I understand the process crystal clearly, so I don't make another mistake. It seems I may have made a big one with Yogani's, "Deep Meditation."

A bit of an update here... I went through my own library, slowly built up from a few booksales over the last few years. I have two titles, one is by Lama Anagarika Govinda entitled, "Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness." The other is by Charles Leadbeater titled, "The Inner Life." These worth reading? Also off the subject of meditation, but on to authors in general, what are your thoughts on Josephine McCarthy and Meg Blackburn Losey? How about Robert Moss and Bruce Moen? What about Sandra Ingerman and Petey Stevens? My purpose for asking is to weed out the false or misleading teachers if I can. Thanks! - DreamBliss

One last thing here I should mention... I did not start on this path to become enlightened. I do not seek it. Not even sure I understand why it should be so desirable a thing to attain. I started on this simply seeking the truth, seeking freedom. I think freedom is my ultimate goal more than anything else. To free myself of any of my former beliefs which trouble me, like what Christianity says about the afterlife for example. To freely move in the energetic realms in lucid dreams and astral project, to freely move in the physical realms, to learn how to use portals to transport myself anywhere and anywhen. Even to master my body or the constrction of what we call reality to the point I could teleport myself anywhere. To be able to go anywhere, do anythng to the limits of my consiosness, and most importantly to be able to learn exciting new and interesting things. If in the process I become enlightened, then that would just be a potentially desirable side effect. If this is the process of becoming enlightened, what I have described, then I acknowlegde my ignorance. Whatever the case may be, I do not intend any offense to those seeking enlightenment. If that is your goal, awesome! My goal is freedom, to freely explore my own path outside the imposed limitations of the rest of humanity. - DreamBliss

@TI UPDATE! This post is about to be heavily edited because it seemed I misunderstood some things and I want to set the record straight. I have never visited the AYP forums and am not sure I will. I have no calling in that direction at this time. It is unfortunate if what you say is true and they are censoring people. However that does not mean that the teachers of the AYP curriculum are to blame. They may be as helpless to do anything about it as anyone else. Maybe they do speak up and are ignored, their posts deleted. I don't know. But if this sort of forum control is going in then it is probably due to the people in charge or the “public image” people. It would be nice to see the AYP teachers separate themselves from AYP if this sort of thinking is going on and do their own thing, outside censoring or worry about “public image.” As far as number 6 I have never compared any of these meditation techniques to anything else. I have read various texts on meditation, some books that weren't on meditation at all. I listened to George Noory's take on meditation. I read some books on chakra meditation. Even Wayne Dyer's book on it. I have tried new methods, dropped them, tried other ones, dropped those. But I find myself returning to “Deep Mediation” using my own mantra over and over again. My current mantra is, “Release, Flow.” I have recently dropped DM once again and started to use Josephine McCarthy's meditation as detailed in, “Magical Knowledge I.” It is like ZaZen, except you count the out breath to 10 and back down again. Later you add a visualization of black smoke coming out with each exhale, and white smoke coming in with each inhale. I don't know how long I will stick with this. But for now this is what I am practicing. As far as people going crazy using DM or TM I suppose you have proof of this statement? Any sort of research to back this up? How about 3 different, authentic, good resources for detailing the pros and cons of “dissolving attention”, “directed attention” and “focused awareness” in meditation? This would be a very fascinating field of study. In the interim I will look up the books you suggested. Unfortunately folks keep suggesting these books around here, but they are not at my library, and the last one, “Opening the Third Eye” which someone recommended., is $50.00 - $100.00+ used! McCarthy's book, which I got for information on portals, was about $25.00 with tax and shipping. My point is it does not good to recommend these texts if the average person can not get them inexpensively or easily through... Ahem... Other less ethical means using the wondrous internet. If I had the kind of money needed to buy all the books I should read as recommended here I would also have enough to enjoy my first real vacation in 20 years, a surf yoga retreat, a TM meditation retreat, a Buddhist meditation retreat, etc. As I do not have this sort of money, and it is unlikely at this time in my life that I will have it, well getting a book to teach me something is as impractical as going to India for me at this time. Thank you for sharing the information with me I requested. I have decided to remove the AYP books from my list for now. The possible issues with them were, as far as I'm concerned, brought to my attention for a reason. Thanks again! - DreamBliss

First I'm pulling out my whistle and asking everyone to watch this: Hopefully that will give the final word on some of what has been argued about here. @Tibetan_Ice I'm afraid I have been battling a migraine all day so I only scanned through all the posts here since my last visit. But I caught that you have an issue with AYP, I assume Advanced Yoga Practices? I would like to hear more about this, in PM or you can link to me stuff if you prefer. The reason why is I started meditation with Yogani's, "Deep Meditation" and this was one of the books in this series. I would like to know if these teachings are flawed and why you or others feel they are. I am not trying to argue with anyone on this here, PM or link to post or info contact only please! Thank you! - DreamBliss

This is a very hard thing to put into words clearly. Briefly I will start by giving you some background. Some months ago I had an experience, in my mind, after an experience I had, a feeling, after reading a book, that, essentially, messed me up. I won't go into details. Basically I thought I was in love with someone and it turned out to (most likely) not be what I thought. More study and some time since I ended this has provided a few possibilities: 1. The magician's perspective - I was dealing with power which had manifested in this form. 2. The Yogic/Buddha/Tao perspective - I was dealing with Kundalini energy manifested in female form. 3. The alternate Buddha perspective - I was dealing with a Tulpa I had created. 4. My original perspective - I was really in love and energetically connected to an alien being on another world. This thread is not to talk about that, only to give you background. You know the saying, "Once burned twice shy." Before this experience I was exploring the inner landscapes of my chakras with a spirit animal named Ayhunna, who came to me during a dream re-entry session to shamanic drumming. He left as suddendly as he came, aging before my eyes and disintigrating for lack of a better word. Now he's back. This brings me to what I need help with. Before with Ayhunna I would meditate on my chakras, enter its landscape, and then Ayhunna would lead me to something I had to deal with there. Usually this was done playing his favorite game, "Chase the fox." I have since ceased to meditate on my chakras. Now I do ZaZen when I get up and try to do Deep Meditation using the mantas, "Release, Flow" or "(my real name) a Center of Consiousness." With this last mantra I was trying to see myself as a center of consiousness per the first lesson in Raja yoga. Recently with Ayhunna's return he usually sort of tells me during ZaZen through a sort of glimpse of him in my mind's eye or a sense of his presence that he wants me to follow him. Generally he comes during my last meditation of the evening. But I am having an issue here. I need to figure out how to seperate that which my mind is manufacturing to distract me from meditating and that which is truly Ayhunna wanting me to follow him. I feel it is an honor to have his guidance and help once again, and I want to honor this by following his guidance. But I also need to make sure I'm not getting disracted by thoughts. You could argue that it's all thoughts. But for now let's try to keep it simple. There are thoughts generated by my mind, and there are thoughts my mind either locks onto or is given, like a message. I want to seperate what is message and what is just mind drivel. Understand? So how do I do this? How do I make sure that I am not getting lost in thoughts durring meditation? How to I tell when Ayhunna is genuinely calling to me? How can I distinguish a mental distraction from a summons? I need to be sure so if it is a mind distraction, I can simply ignore it and focus on my mantra. But if it is Ayhunna, then I must follow him. My inner landscape/inner world/chakra landscape - whatever the heck it is - is seriously f-d up right now. Hope nobody gets mad at the swear word. But it is very apt. With the loss of Ayhunna and the confusion around this, this relationship and its recent and raw end, as well as the fact that I was, not even a year ago, a simple church-going Christian with a few questions so this is all brand new to me, well I'm a mess. Ayhunna is trying to help. I had one other indivdual who was trying to help me, but we have unfortunately sort of come up at odds to each other. My problem is I never really understood a lot of what he said. I tried and for the most part I followed his instructions. But so many things he instructed me to do just didn't feel right, or I didn't want to do them or something. But he did direct me here, so perhaps someone can help me out. One last thing... As I read, "Magical Knowledge I" by Josephine McCarthy I am seeing much that could coorelate to my experiences. Later in the book she discusses meditation and inner worlds. I think I might have to drop my Raja yoga studies for now and adopt some sort of Inner Stillness Meditation based on her training as my last meditation of the day, and the time at which I work with Ayhunna. So this is what I tenatively plan to do. However I wouldn't mind getting some other viewpoints and advice here. I mean what is the best way to go inside and work with your spirit animal? Maybe the answer is to somehow have a session devoted simply to Ayhunna and inner working, seperate from meditation. That may even be the answer to my problem. Simple enough, just train him, as much as that seems like the wrong way to think about it or say it, that meditation time is seperate from our time and ignore any glimpses or senses of him I recieve. If there is a practicing shaman somewhere in here I would dearly love to hear from you. Above anyone else you would be able to shed light on a lot of this stuff. So please post if you can help me! OK, off to meditate then sleep. Thanks everyone, and Namaste! - DreamBliss

@-K- I know, the title of this forum sort of makes its focus very clear Do you have any shamanic/spiritual forums you would recommend? Anyone else? Hey thanks everyone for all your replies! It sounds like I need to observe my thoughts. If I am focused on my mantra and my thoughts flicker to Ayhunna, and if the image is not clear, then it most likely just a distracting thought. But if he comes in clear and strong, then I should consider that a sort of calling or something. @Tibetan_Ice I'll look for that book and go over your words a few times. Lots of good stuff there. I don't know how I feel about channeling. I haven't spent much time with Ayhunna trying to figure out if he's good or bad. I guess I just naturally feel I can trust him and so far he seems to only be trying to help me, even at the sacrifice of his own form. Anyhow I will remmeber your advice. As far as protection I infuse myself with my own energy spark from my center every day just before my first meditation. As everyone's energy signature is unique nothing can latch on to me once I am thus protected. Described in detail in Meg Blackburn Losey's, "Touching the Light." Gotta make this quick, need to do a few things on the computer but been fighting a migrain the whole day so my time is limited. - DreamBliss

In the end, barring recieving any other advice, this is what I will do. I already keep a journey of my time with Ayhunna and I was posting about it at my blog (accessible through my profile.) Fell a little behind though, will try to get back on it. Thank you for posting! - DreamBliss

All I have to say to this is, "I love you" and send you a big smile To be clear... I do not hear voices in my head, I have no need of any sort of councillor or headshrink, and I couldn't afford one anyway I was hoping that this forum may be the sort of place where strange folks like myself could get together, but if it is not that's fine. I'll just have to find another place. You have made a possible useful and valid point about the possibility I am confusing my meditation time and shamanic practices, and a good recommendation for how I should contact Ayhunna. Thank you. - DreamBliss

Well a couple of weeks back I biked out and went to the only Buddhist temple listed in the phonebook in my area. I know there are more than a few across the river in Portland, Oregon. But I'm not ready to go on pilgramge yet, so I'm trying to keep it under 40 miles round trip It's listed as the, "US Oregon Buddhist Association" but is really the, "Wei Shei (I probable have this wrong, going from memory) Buddhist Temple. And it's a house in poor repair with a Dish satellite sticking out of the roof. Not very encouraging. However on 18th in Vancouver, WA I did find a strange place that looks like some sort of temple, but there was no sign. It was very well maintained, bright colors, huge state of Buddha (I assume) next to a stone with strange writing on it, and another seated Buddha in meditation at a pool with a lotus flower in front of him. My guess is that this is some sort of Buddhist temple (not a huge stretch of the mind here), but I have no information on it. So is anyone at these forums a monk at either of these places, or do you know about either of them? I'd like to get some more information if I can. Also if there are any other places tucked away and unlisted in this area? Neither of the ones I have mentioned here are listed online at the Dharma Pages or whatever its called. So how do you find your local Buddhist monastary or retreat when they are not listed in the phone book? Is there a listing somewhere of every religious place for each US state, or more specifically a listing of all the known Buddhist centers in Washington? Oh and I would appreciate some good "first visitor" advice. Know I need to be wearing clothes without loud design, shouldn't have perfumes or strongly scented stuff on my body, that sort of thing. But beyond that I don't know general etiquette at all. So I would appreciate some advice, as well as the typical times for a service, in case I just have to bike down there and catch a service to learn more about them. Appreciate the help! - DreamBliss

Thank you for your help and information! - DreamBliss

On the one hand I feel I should not post, risking bringing this thread to the forefront again but on the other I feel I should post, to thank the posters for all the links and materials. Also to try to get this runaway train back on track, and to blow my referee's whistle. Can you hear it? OK in consideration of my desire to touch only positive seeds in myself and others, to cultivate positive or null karma, and to only set positive intentions for myself and others, could we please stop with the arguments? I would really appreciate it! Whatever your path is, whatever you may believe, I'm sure you can agree with me if you have been down the spiritual road very far at all, that attatchment to one's beliefs, and pretty much anything else, will only bring suffering. It's the beliefs in many of our religions that have brought us war and lost us much knowledge. So let's stick with discussing our beliefs as a Buddhist practioner for the remainder of the life of this thread. Try to clarify important insights you have gained or issues you are passionate about. But whatever you post do not be attatched to your words or the beliefs to which they may be connected. That way if someone comes in and challenges them you can do what I imagine the Buddha himself would do. Pretty much nothing. Maybe smile brilliantly at you. But he would view these opposing viewpoints as simply gifts, and he would decide whether or not he would accept them. Because the secret is any gift that is not accepted has to be taken back by the giver. So someone can insult you and spit in your face, and by not responding, or merely smilng at the person with love, all those negative feelings, all that garbage they tried to throw up on you, well it changes course and goes back to them. I used to love saying this to my brother, even before I started walking my current path. Drove him nuts. I would say something he didn't like, he would respond, usually defensively, and I would simply say, "You know I can't insult or offend you. You have to choose to be insulted or offended." OK I'm putting the whistle down for now. Please don't force me to use it again! Oh and BTW, thank you for all the information and posts! - DreamBliss

As I understand it it's not so much that it does or does not exist, it's more about that the object is more than the mere object. Mr. Hanh uses the illustration of a table. The table is really at a molecular level just atoms orbiting around. If you squeezed them all together they'd just be a tiny fraction of the table's original size, and look nothing like the table. As well the table isn't just its molecules. It is sun, air, earth, the people who made the table, the people who made the tools that made the table, etc. ad infinitum. If you take any of the non-table elements away from the table it would no longer exist. I thought about this, how someone would argue that the table would still be built, by a different tool or person or tree, but it would not be the same table at all. The table we are talking about is what it is based off its unique configuration of non-table elements. Any other table made in its place would be a completely different table even if it looked the same. So if the table's existance depends on changable elements, then it is not real in Buddhist thought, because, to paraphrase, "It is only real if it never changes." Anyhow that will either clarify or confuse, I hope for the former not the latter Thanks everyone for all your posts! @ the poster talking about leaving one's faith... I have already said it but I will repeat, I ran into a dead-end with my faith. Maybe there are branches off the Christian tree I could follow, like Chistian Mysticsm. But in the end it comes down to the fact that I don't believe the Bible is accurate and I want nothing to do with a God that consigns people to Heaven or Hell. A God that basically gives me free will then punishes me for using it and not following His chosen faith. Such a narrow-minded entity to my mind could not be God, could not be someone who conceptualized the designs of this planet and all the life on it, as well as the rest of Creation. Too many people project into the Astral Planes and bring back similar reports that are nothing like the afterlife described by the Bible for me to keep those old beliefs. Too many questions... Here;s another... In the Bible there is an uncrossable gulf between Heaven and Hell. Yet in Job what do we see? Satan has come before God, crossing an uncrossable gulf, to basically get God's permission to persecute Job, for not good reason at all, and God grants it! Yeah, that kind of God is no God for me. But I mean no offense to any Christians or returning Christians here. If this faith is what draws you go for it. As for me I will test the Magical, Buddhist, Taoist and Yogic paths for now, drawing from each whatever it is I need to learn to become more aware of what is real, I.E. what is unchanging in Creation. So I guess that'll make me what, a former Christian Mystical Shaman Taoist/Buddhist/Yogic Magician? Maybe I have to invent a catchy label for myself, since everyone loves labels so much... - DreamBliss

@lifeforce If you would be willing, I would dearly love to hear why you were considering a return to Christianity, through a PM of course because I am sure this is personal. I know that may be a strange request, but I think it will help me understand the limits of the options I am considering outside of Christianity. At this point, knowing what I know, seeing what I have seen, experiencing what I have experienced, illusion according to most Buddhists or not, I don't see how I could ever return to my former faith. I mean among other things I have the companionship of a spirit animal named Ayhunna, a red-tailed fox. I explore the landscapes of my chakras. I meditate and find it far more nourishing than any sermon or worship session. I'm about to start lucid dreaming again, and I have set an intention to leave my body and astral project, as well as physically cross to another reality. So for me I'm way too far down the rabbit hole to ever return. Took the, what was it, green pill? Haven't watched The Matrix in years. But you get the idea. So I have my answer. The Buddhists in general have no God. They are trying to break free of illusion and really, when you come down to it (and I mean no offense to anyone) the whole concept of God really is the ultimate illusion to become enslaved in, isn't it? I mean you can never know the absolute truth about God while you occupy a physical body. Only on leaving it will you know, and then you probably won't retain any memories of your previous life to compare it to, or have any way to bring the knowledge into your next life. So the only knoweldge any physical man can have about God is the words from other physical men. So subscribing to anyone's belief or holy book is to ensnare yourself in an illusion. Better than to give up any idea of God and work on getting rid of the illusions that trap you. Well this should help me understand some of the writtings that I have been reading. Thank you, everyone, for your help. Now I must make my decision, but, in true Buddhist matter, do so in a present minded state, taking my time, with no attatchment or aversion. A breath, a slow step, the setting of the foot down, and the next part of the journey will begin. - DreamBliss

You posted this as I was framing my reply. So if I grasp this correctly, the Buddhist system does not have a God per say? Instead they encourage the same looking inward of the yogic/advita traditions to find one's truth of one's self for one's self? Something like that? So really as far as a Buddhist is concerned, there is no God, outside or inside themselves, but this is not something a Buddhist directly asks, instead their focus is on freeing themselves of illusions? So basically a Buddhist does not worship any sort of God. They are inner-workers and inner-seekers only? I mean no disrespect here, my words are kind of clumsy here, just trying to see if I have this right. - DreamBliss