MisterJingo, I guess I worded it wrong.  But what I meant was "What is your religion?"
Sorry about that.

Cavernstoy

In that case, I have no religion .

Other. Everyone has a belief system, even if that belief system is to believe that they have none . 'Other' for me is that I do not subscribe to any one strict belief system; I try to keep an open mind about everything, and evaluate any new experience or knowledge in terms of this openmindedness and my experiences to date.

Hey Sorrow,

you should be able to find lots of threads around here to get you started. It's great to have you here .

Voices or imagery, it all stems from the same place. So utilising voices to help project should be possible. I guess experimentation is in order, focus on the voices to the exclusion of all else - perhaps incorporate some tactile visualisations too (these are much easier to create than visual or even aural visualisations) and see what happens.

Hi Gav,
I sometimes get 'attacked' around the F10 stage too - although I need to be in a deep F10 state (usually bordering on the equivalent of sleep paralysis).
For me at least, I’ve narrowed down these attack situations to a few possibilities.
Firstly, sometimes I get very uncomfortable tactile sensations, and while they don’t produce a strong fear reaction, they can produce uncomfortable sensations. In the suggestible state of F10, I think these uncomfortable (negative) sensations are sometimes interpreted as an attack.
Another possibility is that in the F10 state, we are letting down our natural defences, our mind is suggestible, and we are more in tune with our subconscious mind. Repressed, negative emotions/situations etc could ‘bubble’ to the surface mind and be interpreted and displayed by the mind as an attack. I don’t get this too frequently now, but for a few years during OBE practice I would get it frequently. We seem to repress a lot of things over our life time (it’s quite surprising how many things can cause fear reactions and then get buried in our mind in mundane day-to-day situations), and any form of ‘mind work’ (meditation, energy work, trance work etc) can bring it to the surface mind.
Literally accepting this, watching passively, and not getting caught up in it (or hooking into it with strong emotional response) seems to allow the mind to resolve whatever the repressed material is (in my experience anyway).

[yourself]

Something you will find is that if you go into the astral with preconcieved notions, those notions will be be proven to yourself (this doesn't necessarily mean they hold any truth outside of your own desires. I've known a lot of people who read about the astral long before they experienced it. Rather than maintaining an open mind, they imposed the writings and teachings the learnt upon their interpretation of their experience. They take this as justification such teachings are true - rather than seeing they interpreted the experience in terms of the teachings etc.
If someone wants to believe they are a 4000 year old fallen angel, leave them too it, but don't buy into it unless you want to. I'd be cautious for the simply fact the astral doesn't seem to have linear time, so age is irrelevant i.e. we are all timeless or so to speak. Secondly, talking about angels shows a belief in certain religious ideas - the astral is big enough to encompase all religions, beliefs and doctrines. This doesn't mean to say any of it has any truth outside of built up belief.
In these matters it can be best to err on the side of caution so you consider all possibilities rather than restrict yourself to one.

[nothing]

I am only now discovering the advice I received in the other thread is true, that one must keep a solid grounding in earthly life to practice this sort of thing.

I'm feeling reallllly shaken up, very badly after I had a bad natural (not drug-induced) experience... I came in contact with a being who seemed very powerful... He was very friendly and at first we were talking normally and then he reveals that he is a demon, so casually. Suddenly I get really frightened and I ask to go back, but he says, just as casual as he was talking earlier, he says that I can't leave and that I have to stay there forever. I then protest this and say he has no right to say that, and he gets really angry and says I am just a petty human and he could kill me if he wanted or take over my body. He then revealed his actual face and.... now I've been shaking the past couple hours.

I don't know where I went but it was a pretty deep place and... the thing is I now feel the reason he came in contact with me was because he knew that he could prey on my energies like a vampire, since I am a very open person. I already have disassociative issues and some mental problems, I don't know what I was looking for with all this tsuff but I feel now I'm on a path which I can't easily sway from... I'm still very drawn to it but now it's starting to be against my better judgment, like 'be careful what you wish for'

can you guys please tell me this wasn't real and I don't have THAT demon stalking after me?

Hey thenoob ,

Such experiences can be very scary, and can have an effect after they are over. Each and every one of us carries a lot of baggage. This can take the form of repressed emotions, fears, memories, beliefs – all these things are churning away in our subconscious mind, and they can colour our interpretation and view of the world.
I’ve had such experiences as yours, and I’ve been able to trace them back to fear responses which have played upon either dominant worries or things currently preoccupying my mind.
In previous experiences what seemed like a God, attacked me, I’ve been stalked by devils and deamons, and even had a sword fight with death (skeleton, scythe and all).
At the time I was terrified, and I’ll freely admit I used to prey to God and Jesus for help. This was a response to the religion of my upbringing. Such prayers made me feel better, but I was the one making myself feel better rather than any divine intervention.
Over time, such experiences faded as I didn’t feed them with fear, and now, even when I have what used to be terrifying experiences, I can on the whole watch them passively. I've also let go of my religious beliefs too - AP can be a very good tool at purging things we don't need .
The mind contains a lot of powerful energies, and AP can put us into contact with them, some will be pleasant, others will be negative and fear based. Something to keep in mind is that nothing can truly harm or destroy you in the astral – things can become very scary, but by holding on to these truths, you will come through unscathed.
Something I also did along the way was to learn shielding techniques (these really gain their effect through belief nothing can penetrate the shield, but they are very effective and can be utilised at will). One of them is called REBAL (resonant energy balloon), and to use it I will take a deep breath (seeing pure energy flowing into my mouth and lungs, and being held there), then I will visualise the number 10 in a bubble in my mouth, when I exhale, the bubble expands to surround me with a bright energy layer. Nothing can penetrate that layer unless I want it too.
This tool is from the Gateway Series Wave 1 (Monroe Insititute).
Anyway, I’ll stop meandering. If anything becomes too much, then take a break. But just remember that nothing can truly harm you, and that a lot of the bad things you face are parts of you. Facing these things, and going through them will reduce them over time. It’s like tidying up all the negativity leached up over a life time.

My definition of gravity is a multi-dimensional transcending force that is weak yet effective in our dimension.
If you think about gravity it is a force weaker then magnetic forces, yet strong enough to keep us grounded.

It truely is a amazing and complex force to understand, one beyond my comprehension.

I'd like to think of it as a force that seeps into our dimension,
yet its real origin stems from elsewhere and that is where its true nature and strength lyes.

In our dimension it must abide by different laws and rules of physics.

There was a theory that suggested our brane intersected (collided) with another brane (possibly causing the big bang due to the release of immense energy), and gravity itself is seeping from the other brane into our universe - which might explain gravities strange properties. But as yet, this is just one of countless ideas.
Perhaps when the LHC at CERN starts working (hopefully later this year) we will find more pieces of the puzzle.

Imagine a 2d plane.  If it is flat, there are no distortions in placement of the plane's grid.  However, if you have to wrap part of the grid around a sphere, it distorts the dimensions.

Assume the sphere has a radius of r, and the coordinate system is centered at the core of the sphere.

For simplicity, I'll limit the warp to one dimension on a hemisphere model.

Every x dimension between y's r and (-r) has the following displacement applied to it:

for |y|<=r and x>=r:
x'=x-(pi/2)*r*sin(acos(y))

The grid displacement would look similar to this:



(green lines = distorted x-lines, white circle = sphere, white horizontal lines = y-lines)

So imagine an object going along an imaginary or real string that has the same distortion applied to it as the the x-axis lines in the image.  A straight course would skew off into a tangent towards the sphere, when it reaches y=r or y=-r.

For example, look at a rollercoaster.  When an object is trying to go one way, and is forced to go another, g-forces (artificial gravity) are produced.

Imagine spheres in space causing rollercoaster-like warps in superstring 'track'.  Objects wanting to go 'straight' are being re-directed into another direction, thus producing gravity.

But such a view does not indicate how gravity propagates outside the immediate area of indentation. Also, the idea of a 2D plane is more a conceptual model used to help us understand rather than a direction translation of what is occurring (like ‘imaginary time’ in mathematics). In truth, the 'indentation' would propagate along the 3 physical dimensions (gravity is not only evident on a plane) and into the 4th (time) and, if we follow certain ideas from M-Theory (theory attempting to unite the 5 superstring theories), it is one of the only forces which can propagate across branes (our physical universe being a brane) and the other proposed dimensions – but this is mainly theoretical as yet.

Yes, I understand that belief plays the important role of whether or not one will approach this area of work. But is all of this based off the imagination? Do I imagine the energy flowing through me, doing as I want it to do, and it will happen? Will someone please elaborate?

If you practice energy raising/developing techniques you will feel what could be interpreted as energy. But one person’s energy sensations are another person’s increased awareness of natural body sensation being interpreted as energy through desire and belief (such sensations building over time as the belief is reinforced), and yet again this is another person’s increased awareness of surface blood flow through the area focused upon, feeling tingly and being interpreted as energy.
Whether this is truly energy or not might not be important, what is important is the reinforced belief that it is. This belief can then be used as a foundation for other beliefs which might trigger natural reserves of the body or mind.
Also, we don’t truly know what the imagination is, so yes it might be imagination, but our (basic) understanding of what imagination is might be flawed.
You will meet many people on forums such as these; some will believe totally in energy systems, others won’t. Read all areas from the mystical models to the phasing models, and then make your own judgements based upon your own experiences.

Are you talking about the enrgy systems and chakras? If so, there are many who believe such systems themselves are belief systems rather than innate 'energy' structures inherent in all life.
quoting myself from this thread:

http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_energy_body_development/reasonable_proof_on_the_existance_of_chakras-t25494.0.html

I don’t know of the historic origins of the chakra system, but I see striking similarities between it and other systems such as the Kabala. Both systems have nodes and paths (the kabala can be mapped to the body i.e. the middle pillar) and both map the macro and the micro to each node. The chakra system in the west seems to be moving away from these associations into more of a meditative object.
It seems that such systems map the psyche to specific abstract ideas (nodes), mapping the cosmos to such nodes too and drawing associations between them.
I see this as a tool for spiritual advancement because when the associations between the chakras/nodes and the underlying psychological/physiological is strong enough, working on the chakra system as a visualisation would actually effect change to the associated systems. The mind works well with abstract concepts, and visualisation of energy cleansing and charging chakras would have the intended positive effect on associated part so of the mind and body etc.
In this respect, I see the chakra system as a belief system which one can reinforce to work more easily with areas of the human psych/body on an abstract level, rather than an innate structure in all life.
As alluded to above, it seems the western ideas of chakras in the mainstream are simply chakras being energy nodes without the underlying associations taking place – this will render the system weak at best. Belief might derive some benefits from it, but it’s the belief rather than the system doing the work.

There are many systems of belief concerning reality, self and existence, and all or none of them might contain truth. Personal experience, a degree of skepticism (even concerning the interpretation of personal experience), and a willingness to be open minded to avenues which do not match what you want to be true are best utilised when searching for answers.

Details details....   Oh well back to the drawing board.

There is a link that i'm meaning to post (I just have to find it again ) that is interesting and along these lines. It concerns a possible new state of matter which has been discovered, and implications the universe might be string-net liquid .

Actually, here it is:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19325954.200

So liquid might be on the right track, just but the reality might be mind-bendingly complicated.

Why?  It seems to me that any disruption or ripple would affect everything in the medium, regardless of distance.  The effects would be tiny, but it still would exist.  Unless I'm not understanding what you mean.

Disturbances in a fluid take time to propagate throughout the fluid. The universe is so large that there are parts of it which we will never see even before it ends because its light will never reach us in time. Gravity instantly effects every object regardless of distance (such effects can be seen in entangled particles - that is information is instantly transmitted between such particles regardless of distance), if gravity was more the effects of a fluid space, such action would not occur.
Also, the expansion of the universe is increasing over time, if as in the post I replied to there was no empty space, this expansion would be crushing everything already (due to the significant mass of the universe pushing against itself in increasing intensity) or at the least overriding  the effects of minute atoms in its substrate.

that guy was in prison? where did you saw that readings about that i was lying?

The guys name is James Hydrick and googling about him brings up lots of stuff on this, some which includes interviews with him about his time in prision and explanation on why he pretended to have psychic powers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hydrick

http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/03/the_confession_.html

http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_2685.shtml

I didn't think you were lieing? I checked your link out and recognised it due to the guy in it eventually admitting he was a fraud (something I had come across a while back).

OK, I've read some ideas thrown around this (in books and elsewhere), here's my guess at what gravity is:

Instead of imagining space as "empty", and matter as "solid", try reversing the process.  Imagine space is a continuous fluid, and "matter" is a disturbance in the placid, endless ocean of space, similar to air bubbles in a soda can.

Each energy disturbance, known as an "atom",  pushes the space outwards.  But since space is already "endless", it can't get any bigger. So it attempts to "crush" this disturbance to restore the placid order.  A bigger disturbance causes a bigger reaction from the space pool.  When it gets to a certain level of supernova, it reaches a point where the mass can hold back the pressure no more, forms a black hole, and shrinks into a singularity.     

A gravity field can be seen as a spacial "repair zone" to restore/offset-to the placid state.  It diminishes the further away one gets from the object.

Every action requires a reaction, so gravity could be seen as the reaction to the action of spacial distortion.

This does sound interesting, but it doesnt account for the one property of gravity that is every object in the universe has an attraction to every other object - not just those in it's immediate area (of disturbance). So right at this instant me and you has a gravitational attraction (although it would be so minute as to be insignificant).