I Want To AP But I'm Scared

[Pyro21]

Some of you may remember me from when I posted here a while back and I was just starting to try to AP and I was having some of the pre-AP experiences (I was feeling the vibrations and it felt like my bed was shaking). After I started practicing I read a few terrifying experiences some other people had and it scared me a lot so I stopped practicing.

I still really want to AP so I was wondering if it is common to have scary experiences when you AP?

[T.L.]

I wouldn't say there is anything 'common' or 'normal' about projection. Most normal people that know what I do either think I am crazy or evil, depending if they are scientifically minded or if they are religious. I would also say if you are uneasy about it then don't do it. Fear is a limiting factor, plus if it is strong enough and you do succeed in getting out then you would create a bad experience for yourself. There really is nothing to fear about it, and nothing can hurt you while you are out period... it's not like the physical world where each day you have the chance of ending it all with one wrong choice, the worst case scenario is you end up emotionally rattled (I don't know like you see a dead relative or whatever). The only way you can have a bad experience is if you have some hand in making it a bad experience. I've been doing this for a while now and I have yet to have one bad experience. I think the worst thing that happened to me is I dropped out of the sky on a stray thought of falling, but I loved the feeling so much now I do that on purpose just for fun.

[nickspry]

I would disagree with T.L. on the point that if you feel uneasy about it you shouldn't do it. If you want to get rid of a fear in my opinion you have to face it head on, and if we backed away from everything in life that scared us initially, think of all the things we'd miss out on. There'd be no drivers, pilots, sex, exams etc, etc..... Once you learn (by going through it) that astral projection cannot harm you, it loses most of its power to terrify. You only have to go through the scary part once, and you'll realise that. The experiences you're having are common and happen to many people, especially when they're first learning. I used to look at it like getting on a frightening ride at at a theme park. Yeah it can be terrifying, but it's also exciting, exhillarating and fun. Go for it!...

[thirdeye26]

I have the same problem so I can sympathize with you. The first thing you have to do, if you still want to AP, is to get rid of fear. The best way to get rid of fear is to gain more knowledge about whatever you are afraid of. Read, read, and read about AP. Join forums and groups on it. Take a course on it. Interact with like-minded people. And then see if you don't sense some change in yourself.

If you feel better APing as part of a group, you could take a course. Check out the following link:

http://www.gnosticweb.com/

[Pyro21]

Thanks for the advice you guys! 

I hope most of my fears will go away after I project for the first time.

[T.L.]

I would disagree with T.L. on the point that if you feel uneasy about it you shouldn't do it. If you want to get rid of a fear in my opinion you have to face it head on, and if we backed away from everything in life that scared us initially, think of all the things we'd miss out on

I did not mean to quit altogether man. I just think he should first examine his feelings, and why he has such fears. Usually fear is a sign of some subconscious strife that should probably be dealt with first. After all if we do not understand why we have a certain fear then you have very little chance to learn from it, or rid yourself of it. Facing a construct of that fear really does little good in the way of learning why you had it in the first place, that is all. I do not advocate running away but just understanding it first.

[nickspry]

Yeah, fair point. I guess the more you can understand about your fear and the reasons for it, the easier it can be to deal with it.

[Valkry]

Hey Pyro,

I find if you can get past sleep paralysis you'll most likely be fine. I find sleep paralysis the scariest and it often turns me off of projecting at that time, but often when I do manage to project despite the voices and the frightening presences I find its very easy to escape them. They usually don't follow me; just go through a window or mirror, or even just leave the room normally if you have to, and you should be fine. 

If they do persist in scaring you, I would just suggest to try not be afraid. I've been attacked numerous times but even if its more intense I'm less afraid every time - after all, I'm still here and projecting aren't I? Don't let them stop you! Astral projection is incredible and you deserve to experience it.

[Pyro21]

Hey Pyro,

I find if you can get past sleep paralysis you'll most likely be fine. I find sleep paralysis the scariest and it often turns me off of projecting at that time, but often when I do manage to project despite the voices and the frightening presences I find its very easy to escape them. They usually don't follow me; just go through a window or mirror, or even just leave the room normally if you have to, and you should be fine. 

If they do persist in scaring you, I would just suggest to try not be afraid. I've been attacked numerous times but even if its more intense I'm less afraid every time - after all, I'm still here and projecting aren't I? Don't let them stop you! Astral projection is incredible and you deserve to experience it.

I've never actually had sleep paralysis for some reason 

Thanks for the advice! That was very helpful 

[personalreality]

You cannot be harmed from AP.  It may sound like a tall claim, but I will make it.  You cannot be harmed.  

There are a lot of different theories about what APing actually is.  Whether we are shifting conscious perspective from one reality to another, or if we literally have an astral body that is generated by the physical body and then takes on a copy of our consciousness, or if it's all a thought generated world that only exists subjectively.  No one really can say for sure, we can only share our experiences.  However, one thing is clear and that is that when APing, your thoughts, more specifically your emotions and the thoughts that follow, have a big effect on that reality.

This is kind of overlooked or not specifically talked about a lot of times, particularly in occult material, but you can find this basic premise in any kind of "Law of Attraction" Book.  You know the ones called things like "Creating Money", "Be Rich NOW!", "Get everything you ever wanted no matter what the moral, ethical, or philosophical considerations might be, NOW!".  Perhaps you can tell that I have a slightly bad taste in my mouth about magickal works being used for material gain with no thought about the spiritual implications.  Nevertheless, they are teaching a fundamental principle about magick, that is, in all of existence, emotional energy equals power.  You can effectively turn yourself into a magnet to attract whatever it is you want in the physical by visualizing.  Now, it's not just simply visualizing, but visualizing yourself in the situation that you want.  So for example, say I wanted a new car, I would visualize myself driving around in my new car and more importantly I would feel the emotions associated with my experience.  In the physical, these things move somewhat slowly compared to higher vibrational levels, or in the language of Frank/Monroe, in higher voltage phases.  There is a characteristic that I think is often overlooked when it comes to working with emotional energy.  That is that lower vibrational emotions, or heavy emotions tend to manifest more quickly.  So fear will manifest faster than happiness.  The reason is that emotional energy vibrates at a higher frequency than our physical reality (because it's a "nonphysical" phenomenon from our perspective).  If we consider "negative" emotions to be heavier, or vibrationally slower than lighter or "positive" emotions, then "negative" emotions (though still vibrating faster than physical matter) would be closer in frequency to the physical matter than we live in.  Therefore they have a faster effect on this reality.  Positive emotions just take a little longer to act here, but will ultimately have a more powerful effect because when they do manifest they raise the level of your energy.  

So when I want that new car, if I focus on crashing and dying and the fear and pain associated long enough, that very well may happen.  This also gives a little hint as to why bad things seem to happen to people all the time, it's probably because they see themselves as a victim.  They always place the blame for their "misfortune" on outside sources and their consciousness takes the cue and outside forces continue to manifest pain and fear for that person.  I call this victim consciousness.  On the flip side, you can attract anything you want if you can properly visualize with feeling.  

Because the "Astral Planes" are closer in vibratory frequency to our emotions (some theory, like eastern traditions, say that the astral planes are the next plane above the physical and that as you move up you go through different planes, like for example, the emotional planes) emotions manifest much faster.  Think of it like this, the emotion sets the stage for the specific thoughts.  You have an emotion, the power, and that brings the thoughts, the blueprint or the specific scenario.  It seems that (if you follow traditional Astral Theory) the vibrational frequencies naturally separate on the Astral into what people call the Astral Planes.  It is said that the lower planes are dark/scary places, they are places created by heavy emotional energy.  

So if you know that your emotional energy charges your thoughts which then manifest almost instantaneously in the Astral, then you know that if you are afraid, you will probably experience something frightening.  You created something frightening.  If you can suspend your emotions then you can go into the Astral and experience it "objectively".  But lets face it, it's probably really rare for someone to completely suspend their emotional state, unless they're like a 90 year old Buddhist monk.  If you know that your emotions impact your experience though, you can put more effort into consciously controlling what kind of emotions you have.  I would suggest then trying to stay positive during the experience.  If you do then you will have a positive experience.  If you're afraid then you'll create demons and possessions and all that jazz.

Personally I don't believe possession is possible, but I think that if you believe it is and fear it then you could trick your mind into thinking you were possessed.  No physical harm will come to you, you won't get trapped outside of your body, nothing can hurt you energetically, you aren't sinning, you are experiencing the full spectrum that is you.  And to be honest, when faced with the immensity that is the multidimensional you,  fear is probably a pretty appropriate response at first.  But soon you begin to understand and you'll become comfortable with the fact that "you are more than your physical self".  But nothing can hurt you outside of your body, just spook you and that is easy to overcome.

[Valkry]

*applauded above comment*

I agree completely.  I'm only now becoming a positive person, as I realize I've been gifted with an exceptionally loose connection of my astral body (manifested as extreme psychosis as first, but I'm channeling it now) and astral projection is my passion in every way. I think, live and breathe it! Its like I live a double life at night. 

Though I am so happy that I've finally found my calling, I was so negative for so long (virtually all my life before now), that now those inner demons have manifested in the astral realm, and they do try to impede me at every chance. They haven't yet dissipated, but I do feel with enough optimism I'll push them away!

So stay positive, everyone! 

[nickspry]

I'm only now becoming a positive person, as I realize I've been gifted with an exceptionally loose connection of my astral body (manifested as extreme psychosis as first, but I'm channeling it now)

Care to elaborate on that Valkry? It's interesting to me as it sounds somewhat like a similar experience of my own....

[personalreality]

Care to elaborate on that Valkry? It's interesting to me as it sounds somewhat like a similar experience of my own....

I'm not Valkry, but I have a pretty good explanation for what that is all about, particularly the part about extreme psychosis.

To really understand psychic experience in modern western culture you have to look at the way modern western culture treats not just psychic/metaphysical phenomena, but also but psychosis.  I share my opinion, not as someone who has dealt with psychosis, but as a psychology student who is not only disturbed but fed up with the way modern medical culture treats psychological disorder.

The perfect example is schizophrenia.  In the west, schizophrenia is treated as a scourge on the earth, but in indigenous cultures like tribal cultures schizophrenics are seen as individuals naturally attuned to the "other realms".  In these tribal cultures they are seen as prime candidates for the shaman's apprentice and are put in that program.  In the west, a schizophrenic is seen as a problem because their behavior isn't conducive to the way our society functions "properly".  So they do the worst thing that they could do to a schizophrenic, they pressure them and treat them like they're wrong and try to "fix" them, which causes an even deeper psychotic break.  A schizophrenic sees reality differently and when they are forced to try to see reality through the lens of western society it heightens their symptoms.  Now, in the tribal culture, the schizophrenic is taught how to balance their gift, how to channel it and use it for the betterment of the community.  They are one of the most important people in the tribe. 

Unfortunately, as western society moved toward science, they needed to find a way to separate themselves from the "superstitions" of religion, because it used to be religion that explained nature.  You see this the most in psychology because people's behavior was one of the biggest areas covered by the church.  When psychology began to take form, they wanted to quickly separate themselves from the church so they would be considered reputable.  The result is that nowadays there is very little room for a spiritual/metaphysical component in explaining people's behavior.  So what you get is a complete lack of understanding when it comes to psychosis that almost certainly has a spiritual component, whether that is karma from a previous life (which is a concept I see differently than most, but I'm open to the possibility), or an emotional scar from this life that is there because the person needs to learn a lesson from it in order to grow and evolve.  Whatever the case, in today's culture, these are seen as abnormalities that come from a chemical deficiency in the brain or a deformed/damaged brain.  Some psychologists have tried to grasp the full spiritual nature of people but it never pans out into anything paradigm busting.  So we are left with a culture that has such an aversion to spiritual expression that these people are considered whacko and treated as such.

What happens to the "whackos" then?  Well, when you grow up in a culture that demonizes spiritual/metaphysical experience you begin to feel intense pressure when trying to deal with experiences that you're told you're not supposed to have.  Either science says it's impossible and you must be psychotic, or the few superstitious ones left tell you that you're possessed because only "God" is allowed to have powers like that and if you do then you must be a minion of Satan.  If you're constantly told that what feels natural to you isn't (and you might have the most liberal family in the world that totally gets it, but the rest of society that you have to interact with every day doesn't) how will you handle it?  Some people get along just fine, they just hide it and get by.  But some people can't handle the pressure both from the world telling them they're wrong and from their internal conflict of "knowing what's right" and feeling differently.  In these cases you sometimes have a psychotic break.  I personally think that our whole culture is designed to be illogical in order to split our psyches and make us more "manageable". 

So people with metaphysical gifts sometimes have an experience of psychosis because they are struggling with their nature and what they're told their nature should be.  Or they have a gift that has been declared psychosis by the "great psychologists" of the world and their bible, the DSM-IV.

[nickspry]

Yeah, I agree with you completely there. It's quite depressing having to live in such an unenlightened society. I've pretty much given up sharing my views about this sort of subject (apart from in forums such as this), as most people can't see past American Idol and X-factor.
The closed-mindedness is amazing. I think people have truly been brainwashed and the funniest part is they all believe they're free.

[vladjackguy]

There's nothing to fear but fear.When you project you are not alone even if you feel disconnected or alone.The forces of light are always with you even if you don't realise it.I was scared at the start too but the fear thing now for me it's just like a tool designed to control us and restrain our progress.

[ancient_one]

Some of you may remember me from when I posted here a while back and I was just starting to try to AP and I was having some of the pre-AP experiences (I was feeling the vibrations and it felt like my bed was shaking). After I started practicing I read a few terrifying experiences some other people had and it scared me a lot so I stopped practicing.

I still really want to AP so I was wondering if it is common to have scary experiences when you AP?

Hi Pyro

I am not sure just how common it is to be scared in the beginnings- but you are- I was too.  If you go to my blog starting at the link below and read the first 4 entries or so, you will see that our experiences are similar in the beginnings and how I finally had a breakthrough dealing with my fear.  I was so scared when I started, I thought I was either dying or going crazy.  I, or anyone else for that matter, can tell you the fear is a needless impediment to success. But that does you no good.  You still have to deal with your own fear.   

http://otherrealityblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/beginnings-of-strangeness_29.html

[CFTraveler]

I can tell you that it is common to have 'scary' experiences- not just because the experiences are scary in and of themselves- but because when you are used to experiencing the world in one little box of very definite possibilities, regardless of how openminded you are about 'more' possibilities, the fact is that when you start to experience things that just don't fit in the box, and sometimes are way out of the box, even of the imagination, well, the human being (heck, any animal with any kind of imagination) has the tendency to fear the unknown.
And although nothing is unknown to spirit, when you start consciously experiencing, the human-animal part of you is involved in the interpretation and translation of the experience, which gives you one scary interpretation.
Fear is a natural part of being organically alive, and any 'new' experience will be scary.

[Questioner]

I agree with personal reality,though let me just say that i think you should be skeptical of some abilities because their are conmen in the world,and you don't know if someone is truly crazy or not.
What i really don't like is when people speak with this absoluteness about metaphysics.
I am of course talking about that "guy".Whenever something like this is involved he is always going to say"It doesn't exist" "Your a brainwashed idiot if you buy into this" "Souls don't exist,you are blind."
These people speak as though everything we know is set in stone and they are omniscient.I don't see why souls can't exisit with science.

So please,i ask all people be just a wee bit open-minded,and THEN you can decide for yourselves whats real.