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As the subject line states.  Do they actually help?  Has anyone only used Binaural Beats and seen results when trying to open the 3rd eye?  Or am I just wasting my time here?

I'll second Szaxx's comment.

However, I'll also add this: Binaural Beats will do nothing *FOR* you.  You don't just sit down, hit the "on" button and are magically transported... they do assist you though, but YOU must do the work yourself.
The best analogy I can think of is that BB's will just kind of guide you, keeping you on the straight and narrow line towards your goal.  You have to take the steps forward though.

Xanth, this is one of those beliefs that I have and I don't particularly know why.  Maybe lack of knowledge.  But I definitely can see how this belief, maybe a completely unnecessary one, could hinder your ability to AP.  Maybe your not actually separating from your body?  Can you share your take on this one?

Well, I should have also added that it's not that really doesn't matter all that much... especially not when you're just starting out.
Project however you have to... just keep this bit of knowledge tucked away in the back of your mind for now.

But yeah, some people worry too much about "separating" from their body... perhaps not focusing so much on that aspect of it is the final key they need to push to the actual experience.

That's all. 

[The belief is that you are a spirit INSIDE a physical body.]

Many times on these forums I hear about how beliefs can hold you back from AP or anything in general.  My question to you is have you ever seriously and vigorously pinpointed these beliefs and made some change?  How did you do it?  And was there an effective outcome?  My experience was a fear inventory a long time ago.  I did it with a friend.  It was effective but I think that I want to take a more thorough inventory and see if I can evoke more change.  I would really like to hear about your experiences!  Thanks.

I'll give you a HUGE example of one of those "beliefs" (in this case, it's a subconscious belief part of most humans)...

The belief is that you are a spirit INSIDE a physical body.

Robert Monroe even coined the term "OUT OF BODY" experience... the term itself even fulfills that belief nicely.  It's why people think they have to "climb out of" of their body in order to project. 

It's nothing more than a belief... a limitation you place upon your own experience.

This topic has been moved to Welcome to World Cultures, Traditions and Religions!.

http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/index.php?topic=46414.0

@Xanth

Just because my conclusions are different than yours does not make them wrong.  But thank you for spitting in the face of my opinions, very nice of you.

Whoa there tiger.

You posted what I viewed as some major misconceptions regarding Tom Campbell and his work... I attempted to clear them up for you. 

I'm not exactly clear where the "spitting" part comes in...

Damn, you're a busy one, aren't ya? 

http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/2012/08/23/remembering-our-non-physical-adventures/
http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/2014/02/17/why-can-i-never-remember-my-dreams-in-the-morning/

Just a couple articles I wrote on that subject going back a few years now.

I have noticed a pattern in my astral projections where almost every time I gain dream control I immediately use it to manifest dream sex. It is never much fun, I have read that astral sex can be amazing, but this is usually some kind of weak emulation without much real sensation.

I have come to feel like these inclinations are somehow holding me back from doing something more significant in my dream time. Any ideas on how to proceed?

There's two kinds of "astral sex"... the kind where you re-create normal physical sex and then there's the kind where you actually merge your energy (your BEING) with another entity.
It's like the different between the "intellectual" level and the "being" level.

They *ARE* holding you back.  You need to learn to get past your sexual frustrations in order to move towards doing other, more productive things.

Thank you for the links, I'm halfway through your book right now
I never realized how many experiences I thought were lucid dreams, would actually be considered projections! I am confused on one front however-- when you gain astral awareness in a 'dream', is the scene supposed to change to a more realistic (real-time) scenario, or are you just more aware within the confines of the same dreamscape?

See how you're trying to force the use of the term "dream"?  It's such habit, that it's really hard for most people to ditch that terminology.
There is nothing which is "supposed to happen" when you gain a certain level of awareness... what does happen is entirely up to you and your Intent.  Whatever happens... happens! 
All of these experiences (dreams included) are just "non-physical experiences". 

Thus far I've read about planes, focuses, phases, and real time zones, but not really how to determine which I am in after projection, and how to shift between them.

Again, they're just labels... there are no different planes, focuses, phases, rtz, etc... these are just the way people describe the feelings associated with "different" experiences they have. 
For example, someone might experience/visit a reality which they FEEL as being full of Love.  The sensation they receive from that reality is just a warm, happy, Loving sense.  So, most people would then assume it's some HIGHER plane... when it's "just another" non-physical reality, neither higher nor lower than "anywhere" else.

See how we humans LOVE to organize things?  We love order and structure, so we take our experiences and create a hierarchy to make them easier for us to understand them... not realizing that the map doesn't equal the territory, it's only a representation (a METAPHOR) for the territory.

I've heard of people laying cards out, or opening books to specific pages, and reading them while projecting as a test, does that mean your awareness is going outward within the real world, or simply staying within a place your mind has created and being able to know what those cards are saying with some clairvoyant ability?

My experience is that you're re-creating a reality mirroring (as close as your consciousness can) this physical reality.  Remember, we are all connected.  So what information one person has access to, you ALSO have access to.  This is why we can project to remote places on Earth and see them (almost) as they really are.  The stronger our collective "knowledge" of a particular area is, the greater the chance you will visit that particular place and have it be as it truly is... barring any of your own expectations/beliefs filtering and changing the experience. 

All experience is ultimately an experience of what's "within".  Including this physical reality experience which we call "life".

It's all about becoming mindful. 

http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/2012/02/13/how-to-increase-your-chances-of-having-lucid-awareness-experiences-lucid-dreams/

I list several ways you can increase your chances of having a projection in the above article.

With 8 cats I should be good at projection then lol.

You're a regular cat lady!   Errr cat guy! 

Oh thank you, that is so helpful!
I'd heard the term phasing before, actually several weeks ago I spend quite a large chunk of time trying to research it on the internet without much avail-- What I'd gathered was that 'it's a thing that you can work on that is somehow related to astral projection, but nobody goes into detail on what it is, or how to do it'. Eventually I was lead to the Frank Kepple resource, but while interesting, it didn't seem like it fit with my experience thus far.

I infinitely appreciate the links I haven't read their entirety yet, but they look as though they'll be very helpful

My website is based almost entirely around phasing.  It's not just related to astral projection, it *IS* astral projection.  A wide variety of labels people like to use are astral projection, they just don't know it.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39504726/Phasing_Primer.pdf  <-- my book

http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/ <-- my website

Feel free to peruse if you haven't already. 

There's a saying (I don't remember it exactly)...
You can compare our spiritual selves to a boat.  A boat will only sink if it allows the water to get inside. 
Likewise, if you allow the negative energy of those around you in, you, too, will sink.

Most people don't realize this, but they have direct control over their life in this regard.  Without that realization, people let others emotionally walk all over them. 
This ends up with those individuals giving up their control others when they don't have to.

Xanth thanks for really usefull advices like always but really i am thankfull that u really take some time for the answers  

To be sure if i understood so your advice is to understand the real meaning why i dislike them and search for the problem inside me and change my view of world/people to possitive?

For the most part, yes. 

actually if u can answer here not to spam forums what you think about vibrations? and how they affect our daily life health and so on

Which "vibrations" are you referring to exactly?  The ones that some people experience when they try to project?  Or are you talking about the energy around you which people put out?
Can you clarify your question a bit please? 

There are a few things I want to touch on here...

First, you have some self-acceptance work to do within yourself.  You won't be able to completely give yourself to someone else in the way you want until you learn to love yourself first, wholly and completely.
Second, how you view the world around you *IS* a direct reflection of what you hold to be truth WITHIN yourself.  This includes the kind of people you find yourself interacting with (like attracts like).  To put it plainly, you have a very distrusting view of the world and those you meet... because (simplistically speaking) you distrust yourself.  When we can recognize how we view others, we can then begin to work on those very issues which are actually part of ourselves.  Take inventory of those things within the people around you which you dislike... then, being completely open and honest with yourself (because anything less is harmful to yourself), look for those traits within.  You can do this via meditation.

When you realize WHY your loneliness is of your own creation, you'll be able to begin your journey to heal yourself from the inside out and become that beacon of light YOU KNOW you are. 

There are two kinds of "loneliness": Being alone by choice, and being alone by force. 
They're different, with separate consequences upon your spiritual growth.

Unless someone is forcing you to be alone... like, you've been forcibly locked away, then it's usually by choice in one way or another.
Which are you experiencing?

Throughout my life, I have experienced "dreams" (duh, who hasn't?  hehe), "lucid dreams", and "astral projections/obes".
However, it wasn't until I experienced ALL of those "labels" within a single experience that everything began to make sense.
The FEELING of each "layer" was very much entirely different... the dream felt like a dream, the lucid dream felt like a lucid dream, and the astral projection felt like an astral projection.

I found that the key to going from one "level" (that's such a horrible term) to the next was a simple increasing of my awareness, becoming closer to what my waking awareness is.  The pinnacle being the point at which you attain your waking awareness, yet you're still non-physical (aka: an astral projection).

It's ALL based around how aware you are.  That's it.  People try to over-complicate the matter by adding all these supposed layers and requirements... when it's really just as simple as "how aware were you?"  We humans love our over-complications, don't we? 

So, from that... I determined that the terms we use to describe all these events (dream, LD, AP, OBE) are meaningless and truly do not even exist in the first place.
There really is only the experience of awareness.

The big question which comes to my mind then is... Where is my "waking awareness" when my consciousness is currently experiencing a "dream awareness"?  Why do I have to bother "increasing" my awareness in the first place?  I have yet been able to find a suitable answer for that one.  LOL

It's all good.  I'm still talking, aren't I? 

I hope to get to know you as you've gotten to know me. 

Of course. I never was the type to stand on a soapbox and preach, but I deeply felt like I knew the way spiritually, and it pained me that others were so misguided. Since then I have changed the way I feel about people and truly know they are where they need to be, and where they are has nothing to do with where I am. The desire to bring people to where I am has left and along with it, a heavy weight.

So now, instead of preaching directly TO people... you do it passive aggressively. 
You do realize that the only thing you've changed is HOW you preach to people, right?

As for myself... I post what I post simply to help anyone who wants to learn.  However, when I feel someone is just jerking me around, that interaction stops.  I have little time to waste satiating someone's ego. 

Ultimately, what I post is nothing but an opinion.  I'm but one voice in a crowd.  I'm a loud voice, for certain... but it's not loud because I think I'm right and everyone else is wrong.  It's loud because I speak with confidence and conviction in my experiences and perspective.  Because of that, nobody on this forum can claim to be more or less "spiritual" than anyone else.  It's a meaningless concept anyway.

One BIG thing I try to make sure as the administrator of this forum is that there are a wide variety of people sharing a wide variety of perspectives... because mine, obviously, isn't the only one.

I hope we can move past this pretense now and onto more meaningful things... such as teaching you to project. 

So you're saying that what is the ultimate underlying truth/reality of everything is different for each person? Tom's might be his Big Toe and reincarnating millions of times into his Sims game, lowering entropy etc etc; what he says is only really for him? Yours and mine are completely different?

Pardon me.  Not "ultimate truth"... I meant "experience".  "Experience" is different for each person.

My allergies are going crazy right now and up is down and left is right for me right now.  LOL 

Xanth, my man...

Why not? If it's not feeling good, then what is the driving force? This goes along with the whole enlightenment carrot and stick game.
I often do things for people without thinking "what am I going to get out of this" but I'm sure subconsciously I'm going to somehow feel better in the process of helping, or after the helping is done.

Being a physical entity requires you to be selfish.

If you don't understand what I'm saying at this point then it doesn't matter what answer I give you as it doesn't mesh with what you want to understand.
I wouldn't have understood what I'm saying a few years ago either.  In fact, I remember arguing with other Astral Pulse members against what I'm saying right now.  Funny how things come full circle.

You will eventually understand, but I can't take you there.

Why is selfishness not a good reason? And what do you mean by "good"? Is it something God deems as good? I know you don't mean that. Can you explain this enlightened "INTENT" of yours?

http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/2014/02/23/best-method-astral-projection-paths-spiritual-growth-2/
Read that.  It might not fully answer your question, but I can't think of any other way to answer it which I haven't already said.  In that article I explain Love-based learning and Fear-based learning.

Apart from that, I'm not sure what else you're looking for.  I can't help you anymore than what I've already said.  Sorry.

I'm a little confused. A scientific hypothesis, as I'm assuming Tom is wanting to present, is based on falsifiable and repeatable experiments. For example, I can stand on a building and drop rocks all day long and they will always fall DOWN. I can have all 7 billion of the earth's population do the same thing and they will all have the SAME experience. This is how we know things, we conduct many experiments and get predictable results and make predictions.

When we compare results within the constraints of this physical reality, yes, within a small variance (VERY SMALL, we're talking micrometer differences), experiences are going to measure out relatively accurately.
That's because we're all using, relatively speaking, the same measuring devices, which are all physical-based.

We can't make the same comparisons when it comes to the non-physical.  Science is physical.  We can only measure things using science in terms of how they interact "physically" with us.  Otherwise, there's nothing to do science on.  That's why, when we're doing 'science' in regards to things like projection, we attempt to bring a physical component to the mix which we can track.  It's not perfect and it, too, has it's problems, but it's the *ONLY* way we can do it.  For example, putting a playing card in a separate room and trying to read it while non-physical.  Even in such a scenario, there are variables which we don't even know exist working against it.  That's why most "scientists" shy away from this kind of research, because it's, as you said, not falsifiable.

Tom does derive most of his book in a scientific manner, as per the experiments and such he did with Monroe and the other explorers back in the day.  But in the end, we're still talking about something "non-physical" which is unique and personal to each person.  It's scientific in as much that he's brought as much physicality to the mix as he is able to.

I'm not sure if that answers your question, but it should provide you with some more context.

I haven't had the experiences you all have, but I realize that the experiences are different for different people and probably much of it is a metaphor and gets filtered through one's own interpretation. Correct me if I'm wrong.

That's correct.  The filters you use to interpret your experiences are based upon what you've already experienced throughout your life... and your life experience is YOUR life experience.  Different from anyone else's. 

Here's my beef. From what I have seen, Tom presents his Toe as a fact more or less. Consciousness is finite. You are a bacterium in a gut. Love is a process to lower entropy. This is what happens when you die. Reincarnation happens this way. Sims game, Yada yada yada. If these experiences are not repeatable st some level, what's the point? You can't have it both ways. You can't say "this is how it is" and than say you can never duplicate my experiences - i.e. test my conclusions. Why even bother? Like I said earlier, there is other information from various sources that dovetails together and paints a different picture than what Tom is saying. Isn't it more reasonable to craft a Toe from the experiences of many rather than just one? To see what is repeated over and over again? Unless of course, you are going to tell me that the ultimate reality is different for everyone, in which case whatever Tom has experienced is only for him and what has it to do with me?

*HIS* TOE is fact to him.  He's experienced it directly.

This is what always gets my goat (baaaaaaaaah) around here and why I, also, refuse to start discussions with phrases such as "in my opinion" (although I do sometimes, out of pure habit)...
*EVERYTHING* you read is an opinion.  It doesn't matter how strongly someone puts that opinion forward or how "factual" you feel they're trying to be... what someone says is nothing more than an opinion... and it should be treated as such.

If you understand that all experience is personal and unique to you, then you can understand why you can't craft a TOE from any experience other than your own.
For example, if I tell you something you *ONLY* have two ways of interacting with it: You either believe it or you don't believe it.  That's it.  It can never be part of your experience which you draw from, because YOU never experienced it.

Yes, the ultimate truth of reality IS different for each person.  The most you'll find are similarities between what YOU experience compared to what someone else experiences, but that's it.  That's the closest you can/will ever get to that.  Sometimes it's those similarities which help us to get over the next hurdle of understanding. 

But yes, you're essentially in this spiritual growth thing for yourself.  It's actually, in a way, a very selfish endevour.  hehe

Although, in the end, if you feel Tom's information has no value to you... then don't read it, don't listen to it.  It's all good.  I thought it had no value either when I watched my first lecture of his... then a couple years later I went back to it and gave it another shot and found I understood what he was trying to say much better.  Every so often, as I progress, I get a better and better handle on what he's trying to say.

Astralm, you have some misconceptions regarding Tom and his work... I'm not sure I have the time to fully address them right now, but I'll try to quickly.

The biggest problem I have with Tom's TOE is that he comes from a scientific background and yet does not talk at all, except very briefly at the beginning of his first book about his experiences.  This essentially means he is presenting the conclusion of his experiments without letting anyone see or have any idea of the experiments or resulting data which got him there.  Without seeing the experiment that led the conclusion you really have no way of making a judgement either way on the validity of the conclusion.

The "conclusions" from Tom's big toe are the derivatives.  He goes into full detail in his book HOW you he derives the results of his perspective.  

I understand his explanation for why he does not share this, but still it weakens his TOE quite a bit.

Without sounding condescending here... I don't think you do understand it.

It all goes back to the title of his book (and his perspective): *MY* Big Toe.  It's paramount to understand why that word "MY" is in there.  
Lumaza mentioned it earlier in this thread.  His Big Toe is based entirely (100%) on his own experiences... and you can NEVER have his experience. Never.  Many people try to have the experience which someone else has shared, and you'll never do it.

It's like when people try to visit the same Focus 27 "healing center" that Robert Monroe did.  Those people are trying to have the same experience Robert did, without realizing (or knowing) that they can't.  So when they don't ever visit that same healing center, they believe they failed.  Where by, they might have visited it, yet didn't realize it because they were too zoned into have Robert's experience.

Experience is personal and unique to the individual and should only, really (there are SOME exceptions), be shared with the mindset of entertaining.  You can't really use direct experience as a means of teaching, because you're only setting someone up to fail.

Second problem in particular that Robert Monroe and Tom Campbell (Who learned under Monroe) seem to have is a very tainted view of the models of reality presented by religion.  To the point of ignorance.  They seem to not grasp the idea behind religion at all.  Best example I can think of is Tom writes about how he dismisses the idea of God and the Holy Spirit and the notion they care about you or interact on your behalf at all.  I believe he says something along the lines of it is as silly as thinking you personally care about a single bacterium in your gut.  However in like the very same chapter he goes on to say how the greater computer or whatever he calls it, is open to and willing to help anyone who asks for it.  Wow an interface with what created us that can give us aid and understanding and help us, sounds like kind of a spot on analogy for the Holy Spirit.  It's not like 2000 years ago they would present the holy spirit as a computer interface, being they had no idea what a computer was.  Tom himself warns against having a predetermined bent against an idea and how that will limit your views, however he clearly has not taken his own advice and I believe this leads to a particular view of his experiences which are tainted by that.  But who knows since like I said he won't share the experiences which he makes his views based on.

Again, there is a very strong misunderstanding you have regarding Tom and his perspective. There's a video of Tom's which you should probably watch.
It's him... in a church panel... discussing that very subject with the congregation about god and his Big Toe.  It's very enlightening.  
I think this is the video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKQVbL5E6qU

Shoot I had one last point but I can't remember it.  Oh yes at the end of the day I really don't think Tom cares at all about giving people a true view of reality.  His goal is to have his Big TOE spark something that leads you to what he calls 'bettering your consciousness.'  His TOE is just the model he uses to try and jump start you to making a change to go about that.

He wouldn't have written his three books if he didn't care.  
But with that said, he knows/realizes/understands better than anyone else that it's *HIS* perspective.  With that said, you're 100% correct in your assessment.
He is more interested with providing that spark for you to find things out for yourself, because that's just how experience and reality works.  

That FIRST STEP is usually the hardest for people to get past.  He provides you with a quick and easy way to begin the process of taking that first step.  He wets your curiosity. 
At least that's how it worked with me.

So at the end of the day don't take too many of the fine points of his theory too literally or seriously, because I'm pretty sure he doesn't.

I'd say take NONE of it seriously.  But don't dismiss it either.  
Open-minded skepticism.  That's the ONLY thing you should really take away from his books.
Then... just experience the larger reality and see what you come up with.

when you are good, you still feel good about it in some respect.

Oh definitely.  No argument there.
It's just that... that "feeling good" shouldn't be the driving force for WHY you did the good act in the first place.

If you had sat there before you did the act and thought "oh, if I help that little old lady across the street, it's going to make me feel good"... then you're not really doing it for a good reason, you're doing it for a selfish reason really.  The INTENT behind the act is paramount to deciding whether it causes spiritual growth or the opposite.

I realise there is the story about Buddha and his pupil where the pupil asks him: So what is the sense in all of this when the desire not to desire is also a desire.

Nailed it.  Exactly.  Even the desire to not want to desire *IS* a desire in itself and, therefore, not really conductive to spiritual growth.
Everyone has to start somewhere though and it usually starts from a position of not wanting to do bad.  That's where what I mention above comes into play... do you have to THINK about doing your good deed before you do it?  Or do you just DO IT without even a first thought?

I see a great paralell with our discussion there. And obviously there is a significant difference between "desiring and desiring." But just like I am saying above, it still feels kind of good to let everything be as it is.

I see the "let everything be as it is" in this regards as not having that initial thought of "is my action good?".  
Learning to allow everything to be as it is, is probably as close to enlightenment or awakening as you can get without actually, fully defining it.

Anyway... I think that the language is a great barrier in this conversation. We are talking about something too subtle and intangible to be put down to words. And therefore, misunderstandings might occur. Especially since I am not a native English speaker. So chances are, our opinions (or rather feelings ) are not so different from each other.

HA!  As it is with everything non-physical we try to discuss here, eh?  

Can a person live an ethical life if they are being forced to do it? I feel like the key to ethics is choice.

Ha!  Yes. 

I'd shove morality and ethics so far down their throat it would feel like they decided to do it themselves.