For those who think that by killing themselves they will end their problems: I'm afraid you are in for a big shock.

Whatever issues you have here, you will still have them over there when you transition, and you will still have to deal with them. That is the reality. You may wish just to 'end it all', but the concept of  'ending it all' is just a fallacy of our materialist society. You won't 'end it all'. *You will still be you* and you will still have to work through your emotional problems. There is no escape I am afraid. The astral is full of people who thought they had escaped their emotional problems by ending their physical lives. In the end they still have to deal with their problems, and help, while available, is by no means easier to come by as people can get so wrapped up in their own emotional mess that those from the outside find it very difficult to get through to them.

Your best chance of help is actually here and now. I'm sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear, but take it from me, that's the reality.

A detailed rundown of Frank's Model for the Wider Reality will be posted on a new section of this site shortly.

I have been working on this for some time. It should hopefully give you a detailed overview of the main facts you need to know about our Wider Reality or the astral world.

For practical phasing advice, all you need to look at is the all time classic 'Gateway Wave 1 Pointers' thread.

Even if you do not use the Gateway CDs, there is enough info there to get your phasing adventure off to a great start.

Doug

Yes. All dreams, lucid dreams, astral projections and out of body experiences are all facets of the same thing. The only thing that differs is your level of conscious awareness.

As for being 'all in the mind'. I would agree completely. It's just that you need to understand that there is a LOT MORE to 'the mind' than a lot of people realise... a lot more.

Frank's model for the Wider Reality will be posted on this forum shortly. I have been working on this for some time and will hopefully provide you with a detailed picture of where 'the mind' fits in with the bigger picture, that is - The Wider Reality.

Doug

In my experience of anesthetics, the drug puts you so far under that there is no conscious awareness.

There is no sense of time so basically you get the injection and next moment you're waking up again (groggily in my experience!). So , I don't really see that you will have much chance to do anything.

I'm interested by MisterJingo's account as he appears to have had some level of awareness while under. I think this is pretty unusual. Perhaps the drug level was lower.

Doug

Well, because he was such a good writer, it is hard to know what he made up himself and what he got from elsewhere so there will always be a question mark over exactly what was what, I think.

Doug

There is no doubt he was an amazing writer, added to that he had a genuine knowledge of Mexican culture and shamanic practice. So all he had to do was graft in some esoteric concepts and practices from a variety of other sources and walaah! 'The art of dreaming' etc

I guess his work still has genuine value because many of the concepts are from other works and still have spiritual value. Its just that he has given then a Mexican 'flavour' as it were... hmm feeling hungry now.

Still feel a bit conned though!

Doug

It was on BBC 4.

Pretty tragic story really. In the end, the Yaqui tribe have ended up being screwed over by countless hippies over the years who have misinterpreted their culture, and 5 of Castenada's closest followers, 'the witches' are believed to have killed themselves.

The body of one of them has since been found in the desert.

Doug

I watched it and it was pretty interesting. I know a little of the man and have skimmed his books but this documentary was pretty damning. There is no real doubt that he had turned into your typical cult leader/guru by the end, complete with sex slaves etc.

There was also not a shred of evidence for any Yaqui shamans being remotely involved in the kind of things Castaneda was talking about (i.e. conquering death and turning into pure energy etc). He appears to have culled most of his teachings from other sources and then rearranged them in a Mexican shaman style 'flavour'. Researchers did manage to track down the widow of the man who was probably the name behind 'don Juan' but she said that although Castaneda and her husband (who was a shaman) did indeed talk a lot, nothing concerning the kind of things in his books were talked about and also Castaneda would be pretty unlikely to be a shaman himself (as he later claimed) since shamans have to engage in long periods of fasting and abstinence from sex which she says Castaneda was unwilling to do as he liked his women!

Also his work is not representative of Yaqui or indeed any other Mexican shamanic practice.
Real shamanic practice is actually more concerned with more practical matters, like changing the weather for better harvests, and so on.

I suppose his hardened believers will always counter with the claim that his enemies have conspired against him to fabricate all the negative evidence, but even if you do accept this, the evidence is pretty solid that there was something fishy going on.

The wierd thing is, even if it is all made up, it is still amazing writing and many people have found genuine spiritual value in it. Mind you, if he has culled his work from countless esoteric works then maybe it is not suprising that there are some genuine spiritual truths in there.

I would recommend any of Frank's posts. In particular, the classic 'Gateway wave 1 pointers' thread. You don't need to have a copy of the  Wave 1 cd as the info in the thread is so informative anyway.

Doug

Etheric travel is when you create a second body to project to the real time zone (physical).

You do not actually need to create a second body but most people do automatically as it is more comfortable to have the sensation of a body around you as you travel. The form this body takes various on the individual's expectations. It may resemble a ball of energy or it may be a duplicate of your physical form.

Etheric bodies are created from etheric energy which is created by the physical body's energy centres. The body only exists for the duration of your experience and then dissolves once your focus re-centres on your physical body again.

However once you get to understand the mechanism you can also dispence with the etheric completely and project as a point of consciousness alone.

Doug

Skippy,

You can have an obe in any position, even sitting up in a chair, as I have!

However you also have to remember psychological conditioning. If sleeping on your side is your usual position for falling asleep then this is very likely to happen if you lie on your side and try to project. If you do not normally sleep on your back, then perhaps you should choose this position to project.

This means that when you lie on your back you are sending a message to yourself that you want to project. Once this becomes ingrained then it can lead to a higher rate of obes as the obe sequence can be triggered in your sleep if you happen to role over on your back during the night.

Doug

Drift,

The blackness you describe is what others refer to as FZ or the '3d blackness' and this state is basically the bridge, the point at which your own mind meets the wider astral. It is the launch pad for exploring Wifer Reality.

Doug

I agree with Enoch, if you've experienced AP then how can you become a skeptic when you've experienced the proof
---------------------------------------------

Actually, it is possible for this to happen if somebody does not have any results for ages. Eventially the doubt and scepticism do start to creep in, especially when the individual is constantly bombarded with sceptical reports and the general cynicism of modern society. It is amazing how quickly the human mind forgets things. That is why it is important to keep practicing all the time.

PatternsComingToLife_

You do appear to talk a complete load of nonsense although you may think that what you are saying is incredibly witty, but anyway, on to more important matters...

I'm sorry that we can not be any more specific about Frank. This is not due to some grand conspiracy. Quite honestly, we do not know any more about his condition than you. In fact, we are not even aware what his condition was apart from the fact that it was very serious and life threatening. He stated at one point that he believed he only had a 15% chance of making it through to October... last year!




   

Sorry, that sounded a bit official!