Visualisation, Imagination and Reality

[baloneyx]

This is a general question to all chi/ki/chakra/etc practitioners out there. I'm very curious to know how you can tell if what you're feeling whilst meditating or manipulating energy is real or not.

 

I believe in energy and stuff, but how can I know without a doubt that what I am feeling is energy whilst meditating and that its not not just a physical feeling I never had before because I had never sat so still before?

 

And Chakra systems where you visualise certain points in your body being certain colours and stuff, how can one know it's not just their imagination playing a trick on them because they've done such a great job visualising?

 

I feel slight tingling feeling when I send more energy to a certain part of the body, or at least I think I send more energy to a certain part of the body. But without being able to see the physical effects I can never be 100% sure what I do is real.

 

Maybe I've just not trained enough to understand, so I'm putting the question out there so I can get some of your points of view on this.

 

And any recommendations on how to put my doubts to rest or anything else are welcome

 

Thank you

[h.uriahr]

This is a general question to all chi/ki/chakra/etc practitioners out there. I'm very curious to know how you can tell if what you're feeling whilst meditating or manipulating energy is real or not.

 

I believe in energy and stuff, but how can I know without a doubt that what I am feeling is energy whilst meditating and that its not not just a physical feeling I never had before because I had never sat so still before?

 

And Chakra systems where you visualise certain points in your body being certain colours and stuff, how can one know it's not just their imagination playing a trick on them because they've done such a great job visualising?

 

I feel slight tingling feeling when I send more energy to a certain part of the body, or at least I think I send more energy to a certain part of the body. But without being able to see the physical effects I can never be 100% sure what I do is real.

 

Maybe I've just not trained enough to understand, so I'm putting the question out there so I can get some of your points of view on this.

 

And any recommendations on how to put my doubts to rest or anything else are welcome

 

Thank you

Any type of ant crawling sensation is pretty normal. It's not your imagination.

[baloneyx]

Any type of ant crawling sensation is pretty normal. It's not your imagination.

Thanks MPWay, can you tell me if this feeling should get stronger over time and practice? And should I direct this anywhere? like the DanTian or 3rd chakra area

[fizix]

Thanks MPWay, can you tell me if this feeling should get stronger over time and practice? And should I direct this anywhere? like the DanTian or 3rd chakra area

let the energy direct itself

[JackSquat]

I would say that if you have ever had a spontaneous experience, that could be an indicator. The bottom line, though, is if you keep at your cultivation you should know for sure one day. I had my doubts at first too (I just took it as an exercise) and those doubts have since been removed with a vengeance.

[h.uriahr]

Thanks MPWay, can you tell me if this feeling should get stronger over time and practice? And should I direct this anywhere? like the DanTian or 3rd chakra area

Depends on what your goals are. Starting out its ok to just continue to let it do what it's doing on it's own but again, what are your goals?

[baloneyx]

Thanks guys, as for my goals, well to find out the true human potential and then use it to benefit others as well as myself. And also if possible discover the true reason for being first hand, instead of reading about it.

 

Either way I guess I should just sit still for now

 

And Jack, could you share that spontaneous experience or whatever it was that took out your doubts with a vengeance?

 

I mean I've had one whilst trying an OBE but the meditation feeling doesn't even come close. The vibrations on that experience was very powerful, closest I had had was being electrocuted by a disposable camera whilst taking it apart (so dont let your kids take those apart, the shock is quite strong ). Having not felt anything like that in meditation was just making me wonder, sorry I think and ask questions a lot maybe too many

[JackSquat]

Don't worry, this is a pretty good place to think too much and ask too many questions

 

To answer, it was more of a journey than a single moment of utter revelation. I have a tendency to be rocked by a revelation or experience that bubbles up from below and then spend awhile out of touch with myself while I sort through what happened and attempt to prepare for the next round. I am skeptical by nature so it took many such experiences for me to convince myself that rather than going crazy, I was in fact going sane. I started losing touch with my normal mode of experiencing reality and my own accustomed personality. I began thinking of myself as a being of energy without even wanting to at first. Suddenly knowing my own multidimensional nature left me completely gob-smacked and physically wretched. The first time I witnessed the death of my conscious self was the most terrifying and awful experience of my life, bar none.

 

This is just me though; I feel that this is my path partly because I need to be able to explain certain things, both to myself and to others. Your experiences will likely have a very different nature and structure than mine. This may not be a very satisfying answer, but just keep at your cultivation; live a good life, be honest with yourself, be true to your nature, practice emptiness, keep an open mind and a full heart, conserve your energy, never stop looking upward, and so on and so forth, and one day you will be sure too. Of this I am fairly certain

[Mal]

[baloneyx]

Seems like you ve been through a lot of change Jack, if you dont mind could explain what happened and how concerning what you said? :

"The first time I witnessed the death of my conscious self was the most terrifying and awful experience of my life"

I ve seen some change myself, I try to eat healthier, and hardly eat any meat , and if I do have meat its usually chicken

 

 

Thanks for the lesson Mal. Bioelectricity seems like a good way of describing the feeling I've had whilst trying the OBE

 

And I ve tried the ball of chi, but when I feel the pressure I always think "is this my mind playing a trick", but i guess its not

If I were to like place some paper between my palms, could the pressure have any effect on the paper, or any other very light weight physical material?

 

I'd never thought about the kiss thing type thing, but it makes good sense i guess.

[Stigweard]

Heya baloneyx, this may help your inquiry.

 

At it's most basic level, imagination is simply the image forming faculty of our mind.

 

Consider though the possibility that your faculty of imagination is the 'scout' of your awareness; the forerunner of consciousness that explores the possibilities of existence before it comes into being. In truth the imagination is our own time travelling machine because we can travel forward in time and have a 'virtual experience' of how it would be, and it can also travel multi-dimensionally and explore other possibilities of reality (I so want to ride a dragon!).

 

And consider your imagination to be the 'babel fish' (i.e. translator) between your known and unknown minds; between your mundane and magical awareness, because, until we can accomplish ourselves properly, the direct flow of Universal knowledge has to be filtered for us so that we can comprehend it with our normal awareness. Thus these messages usually come in the form of symbols, imagery, feelings etc.

 

Furthermore consider that the image-forming faculty of the mind is the very template that our 'magical mind' uses to create our reality. And that this inner eye is the inner hand of our spirit used to direct the flow of energy and conduct our inner cultivation.

 

The problem is of course that we have polluted our imaginations with the plethora of images that bombard us every day, and we have abused this divine function of the mind in activities like computer games, movies, fiction novels etc.

 

So with so many images whirlwinding through our minds the 'true' imaginings, the ones linked with the flow of Universal knowledge, become lost in the maelstrom of static. So when, like you say, we encounter something mysterious our rational mind will kick in with the objection that it is all only imagination.

 

What to do about it?

 

Thus it is that the warrior behaves as if he is in control, even though he may be completely baffled, for to acknowledge this feeling of knowledge, and then to trust the knowledge as it arises from the heart is most threatening to the rational mind, which sees that its authority is being usurped. Consequently, the warrior experiences a fear of becoming irrational and of sinking into a quagmire of fantasy. The only way around this fear is to act as if he is in control, for as paradoxical as this may sound, acting as if is a most powerful way of placating the rational mind.

 

Mares, Theun, "Return of the Warriors", Lionheart Publishing, Cape Town, SA, 1995.

 

Limit the abuse of your mind by cutting down/out the artificial mental stimulants that we are so intoxicated with. Reduce the static so that you can better discriminate between what is 'real' imagination and what is false.

 

I have a saying in Taiji: "Don't move the move, let the move move you." This same principle can be applied to our usage of imagination.

 

Blessings,

Edited October 17, 2008 by Stigweard

[hyok]

I'll say this much, when my crown/third eye chakras were activated, the next day i felt a STRONG sensation of energy coursing on top of my head. It felt like a bunch of bugs were crawling around the top-center and I literally put a mirror above my head to check if I had lice or something.

 

After a few weeks, i felt like someone had a finger pressed against the third eye area, between the eyes. I thought i had some kinda bruise or something for the first few days, but it kept getting more intense. It wasn't subtle, and it's been months since and it still isn't subtle. In fact, i'm feeling pulses and gyrations all over my cranium now, and it's not subtle at all!

 

Mind you, prior to all this, I had no idea what chakras even were, let alone anything other than being an Athiest.

[fizix]

Very impressive post Stigweard, I agree wholeheartedly. All that is truly great was born from the seed of imagination.

[baloneyx]

Very impressive post Stigweard, I agree wholeheartedly. All that is truly great was born from the seed of imagination.

I couldn't have said it better myself

 

And hyok, what kinda positive effects has the opening of your third eye brought to your life for now?

And how did you open it as an atheist? did you meditate for stress purposes or anything like that?

[JackSquat]

[baloneyx]

Intense story there Jack thanks for sharing. You activated you kundalini without meaning to then lucky you

I dont think I ll be taking any acid or LSD anytime in the future, but if I ever do Ill be sure to keep your experience in mind and give kundalini awakening a try too

 

ANd get carried away all you want cause I love to read about other peoples supernatural experiences

So thanks for sharing your story man