Topics

This is odd because I usually find myself helping people rather than asking the questions, but I have something on my mind and I need opinions.  First off I need to express that if you are a noobee and still dealing with fear of getting out and that sort of thing, please keep things in perspective and realize that this is not a dangerous situation or anything to be afraid of.  I'm still here so there is the proof. 

My question is for experienced travelers that have found that they can comfortably be out for an extended period of time.  I have found that every once in awhile I can be out for a relatively long period of time and that my state is so relaxed that I don't get any urgent draw or pull to get back to my body.  Sometimes I get a little tired and feel like I would like to get back, but oddly I'm sort of in a position where I'm not exactly sure just how to go about it.  A couple nights ago I was in this position and I was sort of scratching my head trying to figure out how to get back.  I wasn't sure what to do.  After a minute or so I just figured if I jumped in the air and caught my familiar magnetic wind that things would take care of themselves and so I did just that, and sure enough, the wind picked me up and sent me soaring back with no problem (through the water as I explained in another post).  But about 2 years ago I was in a similar situation where I was pretty far away in a very unusual environment and I was trying to get back but could not figure out how and ended up spending a bit of time trying to work my way back.  I eventually did (obviously), but it freaked me out just a little (not a lot).  So my question is have any of you experienced this and what have you found yourself doing to correct the situation?

(Again for noobees.  This is not something to worry about, as it takes decades to get this comfortable, and you will find yourself struggling just to stay out, not get back.)

Thanks,

A little about me and them I'm looking forward to diving into some of the discussions.  First off, I'm glad I found this place.  I see by the number of members that I'm not the only one!  As I mentioned in my previous post I contributed quite a bit to the alt.out-of-body newsgroup many years ago for a number of years which was a great experience and I had an opportunity to meet many wonderful astral travelers.  I hope some of you here recognize me and say hello.  

I've been having OBEs since I was about 21 which was decades ago.   and I've had several hundred projections since then.  I've had a number of really intense, long, fantastic trips, a few of which I've documented and I'll share some of my favorites with you when I can.

I can certainly say that these experiences have totally changed my view of reality and the meaning of life.  I feel totally blessed that I've been given this "gift" although I do believe that anyone can develop this ability, just some more easily than others.  

Let's see, what else....I find it most easy to have an OBE early in the morning, and especially if I happen to wake up in the middle of the night, read (about astral projection of course), sometimes have a cup of coffee, then go back to bed.  The combination of waking my mind up (both with the coffee and by reading) seems to be a good combination and being in the middle of the night, my body will fall asleep, leaving my mind awake and giving me a good shot at an OBE.  I usually depend on the "vibes" to guide me into a projection and certainly I always listen for the sound of the wind in my ears which always proceeds the vibrations and use that as my first indicator to move into the best mental place so an OBE can happen easily.  

If anyone has any questions about my method, feel free to ask and I'll answer as best I can.

Happy traveling.

Ken ("The Original Ken" from alt.out-of-body)

Hello everyone.  I've been lurking for a few months and thought I'd make myself visible.  I used to post in the alt.out-of-body NG many years ago for a long time (around the time of Gunnar-of-the-Glacier for any of you that might have been there at that time).  I'm an experienced astral traveler, and I'll go into more of that later when I have more time, but right now, I was reading some posts and an idea struck me that I wanted to present.  

Before I preset the idea, I have to first preset what I believe or it won't make sense.  I believe in guided evolution, i.e.  Darwinian evolution that is guided by the Universal Consciousness.  Normally this would be called God, but my belief differs in that I think evolution and the awareness of the UC were simultaneous events, sort of a tit for tat kind of thing where the more conscious the universe became the more reality would manifest itself in order to develop this consciousness.  I guess this is a roundabout way of saying, "I can't see if I don't have an eye, and I can't have an eye if I haven't a clue what sight is."

Like many here, I sometimes think that the astral is a wide open place without bounds, and well, I still believe that, but something struck me today and that is the reason for this post.  

It occurred to me that reality might very well be the ideal and perfect tool for a universal consciousness to manifest itself fully, not partially, but fully and may be an end in itself.  One characteristic of reality that is not present in any other state (such as the astral plane) is that it is bound (mostly by the laws of physics) and is universal in nature.  That is to say it is experienced pretty much the same way for everyone.  Before reality these things did not exist, and again on the astral plane these things become boundless.

I was just reading another thread where someone described 3 men in red uniforms and something like a carnival going on just outside her window.  I've been to many carnivals like this so it caught my attention.  One thing about these carnivals or in fact about anything that goes on in the astral is that things change around you all the time, people come and go, places come and go, scenes change constantly and so on and this is what gives the astral traveler the sense that the astral plane is so boundless in such a magnificiently spiritual way.  And that's when it hit me.

If the astral is defined by whims and fancies of the astral traveler, then that holds true for every astral traveler that might be tooling around in the same realm as you.  This would make the astral environment morph as quickly as the whims of every traveler that happens to be there.  On the surface it looks like it's the astral realm that is dynamic and not the astral travelers, but I think it may be quite the opposite.  It might just be that the very fact that the astral traveler, which you could say is pure consciousness and not connected to reality as we know it in any way is the very reason that the astral realm is as dynamic and boundless as it is.

I'm not sure if I'm making my point, so let me put this another way.  One of the things that makes reality so real is that reality is something that binds the utter boundlessness of the consciousness and it is this binding that allows a reality to become the great thing that it is.  If the consciousness can't be bound, then reality cannot take place, instead it manifests more like the astral that we are familiar with.  Since evolution is the tool that the universal consciousness used to manifest itself into something it could understand, something that could allow self reflection, I think it's important to keep that in mind when comparing the value of reality to the value of the astral and in trying to determine which one is greater.  Sometimes this is hard to do because "the grass is always greener on the other side" and we all strive so hard to get to the astral and savor it when we do.  We love to fly and we love to smell the beautiful scent of the exotic flowers and to meet so many interesting fellow astral travelers, but maybe reality is the REAL holy grail.

Just one more thing.  Since I'm putting so much value on reality here it becomes a little scary because of the "what happens when I die" thing.  I don't have a problem with that because I think that reality will always be with us, even after we die, and the astral may very well not be the place we go too permanently, but rather always remains the playground of the mind for all eternity.  There, feel better?  

Ken ("The Original Ken" on alt.out-of-body)