Messages

Welcome to the forums.  Enjoy!  DH  

lenners,

You have my prayers.  Life is such that I guess we all have our bad moments, but I've found it's possible to stay positive most of the time.  I don't know if you believe in God or a higher power or whatever you want to call the Ultimate, but I've come to trust that God can and will use all of the experiences of my life -- good and bad -- to help me continue to evolve into someone who is better and stronger.  God even uses our screw ups to make us better, so don't be hard on yourself and your imperfections.
Blessings, DH  

She has my prayers.  DH

Skippy,

You have my prayers about the friend, and I'm also lifting up your paranoia. These fears can be deep rooted and hard to overcome, but you put out good energy on these forums. It will come back to you.

Blessings, DH  

I have been a hospital and prison chaplain and do counseling work.  You're right about  being sensitive about sharing with clients and families. I've never initiated any conversation about things like projecting, but in listening, some things have come up -- people describing NDE, lucid dreams, etc.  When I confirmed my own belief that such things were possible, they usually responded with relief -- like "Thank God I'm not crazy!"  DH  

VOS,
Thanks for sharing your awesome experience.  I meditate on mantra that is quite similar to yours when I'm preparing for OBE.  You are smart to record experiences immediately. I tend to forget a lot, even when I try writing it down when I first have the chance. I need to get something to record with.

In your hospice work, have you ever had a chance to talk to folks about near death experiences or anything related to these kind of spiritual experiences?  I have worked with a few dying folks who had some cool astral experiences before they died, and they really didn't know what was happening -- that is, they weren't trying to consciously go OB -- it just kind of happened.  These were folks who weren't suffering from dementia or having drug induced hallucinations.  DH

I think a day off for a "sabbath" is healthy for anyone.  I try to make it a day to be refreshed spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically.  For me, that means spending a large chunk of time playing with the grandkids or hanging out in the great outdoors.  Whenever I miss my "time out" for the week I feel out of sync all week , like my car when it needs a tune up.

You're right, that if a person sets aside a day as a holy day, he or she needs to live out that peace with God the rest of the week as well.  When I was a kid, I used to be amazed at the people I knew who "worshipped God on Sunday and lived like the devil on Monday."  It turned me off on "organized religion" for a long time.  DH

Welcome Arcturus!  This is a good place both to learn and share.  Glad you are here.  DH

The Sabbath of the Bible is a Jewish holy day, noted as the 7th day of creation in the poem of Genesis 1.  While the earliest Christians were Jews and continued to worship on the Jewish Sabbath, the Christian worship day later became Sunday (called the Lord's Day - Revelation 1:10), the day of the resurrection.  In the Jewish/Christian reckoning, Sunday is the first day of the week.  DH

[human nature]

Alaskans,

I think I feel your pain.  Witness my earlier post:

      Science and technology have done a lot to raise the quality of life for those who are fortunate enough to have it, but I can't see that human nature has changed.  In my reading of history it seems there have always been those who are radically self-centered, those who are radically self-giving, and the multitudes who slide somewhere in between.  Are we evolving into something better?  That's my hope, but there has been a lot of great spiritual teaching for the benefit of humankind in the past 3500 years, and as far as I can see, the jury is still out.  DH

Things are better some ways, and in other ways we (humanity) have screwed ourselves royally.  But I get back to the thought:  It's about human nature and the attempt to satisfy the ego.  Material things will satisfy us, and even help us (as in medical advances and human rights advances).  But what about the human desire to "get what I want and screw everyone else"?  Thus, the continued atrocities around the world.

I'm afraid, my friend, that you are a philosopher, and these deep questions will continue to haunt your mind.

Personally, I think there is hope.  The inclination of humanity is still toward the good, despite the ego.  My belief is that is God trying to get through our selfish ego filters.  It is a slow process, but one that will continue to move toward both justice and mercy -- the two sides of love (tough love versus kindness).  God has established love in all of its fullness.  Look inside and I believe you will hear God say, "Keep the faith and LIVE IT OUT".      DH

This is definitely another topic for discussion. The more I experience personally, the more I am uncertain what of us exactly survives death (that's if anything actually does).DNA is simply a mechanism to encode traits and predispositions of reactions to certain stimulus, this helps produce a large variety of personality traits, and in a way, helps reinforce the illusion that we are all unique individuals.
As mentioned previously, damage to specific areas of the brain over large numbers of people have shown the exact same symptoms. Such as people acting differently, their personality changing, their ability to act socially responsibly (i.e. not grope random people etc), becoming increasingly violent. And this doesn't even touch on the incapacities. What this shows is that even the most gentle, good natured soul can become a violent predator if his brain has specific damage. This at the very least has to make use question our concepts of souls and spiritual progression through lifetimes. If our brain affects our innate goodness to such an intricate level, what exactly would be left of us when our brain dies and rots away? Directionless, unknowing conscious potential?
Perhaps one day i'll have answers, but for now I'm willing to sit on the fence and see which way the wind blows.

This has been something I've been wrestling with for a long time.  I have a friend who is really into Vedanta, and he assures me it's only my own ego worried about its extinction!  I hope he's wrong, but there is the big "I" again.     DH

For me it was obe and meditation that helped with all of what i been threw. i started taking obe seriously about 3 years ago, and since then i have been able to get off the medication. now i just take an omega 3 supplement and I'm still under doctors supervision. but once i started being consciously aware of obe i was able to cope with reality alot better, it was like i gave myself the time in obe to experience the things that would have otherwise slipped into my everyday life. Its kinda like obe and meditation was exercising the very part of my brain that was causing the imbalance, like it grounded me in a sense.

Thanks for sharing this.  My son has been treated for schizophrenia for a long time and has done pretty well with the meds.  If he goes off though he gets really paranoid and delusional and dangerous to himself.  I don't think he has ever tried OBE or considered it as an option, but I'm going to show him your post.  He needs some kind of glimmer of hope that there might be some kind of life beyond meds or at least a different dimension to life than what he now knows.  DH

Great introduction!  Welcome to the group!  DH

Welcome to the forums, Richard.  I think you'll pick up some helpful tips on AP.  Check out the various threads.  DH

I can testify that it has helped to restore better blood flow to my feet after some surgery.  DH

I'll give you an A+ or maybe even put in for an extra star in your crown.  DH 

Personaly I don't agree with concepts of right and wrong. My perception of God may be seen in this "I am only man, how can I sin against God?"

  AM - I'm not following you here.  What do you mean?

I'll post you something I read that changed my mind about a lot of things, in this case I'll use it to explain the way I see religions. It originated in a paper by Bruce Lee on a philosophy on fighting.

" Just what is a classical style of martial art? First and foremost, we must realize the fact that man created styles. Disregard the many fancy historical origins of their founders---- by a wise ancient monk, by special messenger in dream, in a holy revelation, etc.---- a style should never be the gospel truth, the laws and principles of which can never be violated. Man, the human being is always more important than any style.

The founder of a style might be exposed to some partial truth, but as time passed by, especially after the passing away of its founder, this partial truth became a law, or worse still, a prejudiced faith against the "different" sects. In order to pass along this knowledge from generation to generation, the various responses had to be organised and classified, and presented in logical orders. So what might have started off as some personal fluidity of its founder is now solidified knowledge, a preserved cure of all for mass conditioning. In doing so, the followers have made this knowledge not only a holy shrine, but a tomb in which the founder's wisdom is buried. Because of the organization and preservation, the means would become so elaborated that tremendous attention must be given to them, and gradually the end is forgotten. The followers will then accept this "organised something" and the total reality of combat. Of course, many more "different" approached would spring up, probably as a direct reaction to "the other's truth". Pretty soon these approaches too would become large organisations with each claiming to possess "truth" to the exclusion of all other styles. More and more the style becomes more important that its practioner."

Sorry for it's length. If you ignore the reference towards martial arts and try to see a reality within the words that can be related to religion(s), there is something considerably imporant burried within.

If I was to subscribe to any religion it would be Buddhism or Taoism. Which are not really religions at all but more 'ways' of life.

If you don't think that Buddhism is an "organized something" take a closer look at its many forms.  Some schools of Buddhism are just as ritualistic and buried in ancient traditions as are the various of schools of Christianity, Islam etc.

Buddha the Hindu taught of way of life.  Jesus the Jew taught a way of life.  Earnest Holme the metaphycian taught a way of life.  But the followers of these guys made "religions" out of their teaching as your quote from Bruce Lee suggests.

LOL!!!

Never let it be said that the power of suggestion (not to mention a good shove) doesn't have an effect.

      It'd be funnier if it weren't so scary!!!   My mother dragged me to one of Benny's meetings several years ago, and whole sections of people were flying all over the place!  I hid on the floor under some seats for awhile.  It would have been more exciting if I had been 12 years old,  but I was thirty-something!     DH

[human nature]

      Science and technology have done a lot to raise the quality of life for those who are fortunate enough to have it, but I can't see that human nature has changed.  In my reading of history it seems there have always been those who are radically self-centered, those who are radically self-giving, and the multitudes who slide somewhere in between.  Are we evolving into something better?  That's my hope, but there has been a lot of great spiritual teaching for the benefit of humankind in the past 3500 years, and as far as I can see, the jury is still out.  DH

Controversal issue...

If the evidence proves these findings to be true, it could shake many peoples beliefs.
Left to re-explain their own religion.

The Leaders of the Church will definetly claim all of these findings to be false even if proven scientifically,
enless they are contemplating their explainations.

True.  If it proved to be true a lot of folks would try to re-frame their belief, as many Christians already have (like Marcus Borg in his recent book Jesus).  But I promise you there are millions who will never change their beliefs even if Jesus came back and said, "Guess, what folks, Mary Mag and I did have a great life together!"  I know some folks who already don't believe the news story and they haven't even heard it yet!  The mind is a terrible thing to clamp shut.  DH

When I was a college student, I was up like 5 days without sleep.   I went into the bathroom to at least brush my teeth before an 8:30 a.m. class.  As I looked in the mirror, the stubble of my beard and mustache suddenly grew out to a full beard -- then shrank back into my head -- then grew out again.  I stared at myself with a full beard for several seconds, and then POOF the hair all withdrew back into my face.  Not disappeared, mind you, but slowly rewound back into my face.  I was like -- holy crap!  Was it the mushrooms?  No, that was last week!  This was my poor sleep deprived mind in overdrive.  I've given up mushrooms and now take a lot of naps, but I'll never forget that illusion.  DH

It'll be interesting to see all of the debate that follows.  But one thing you can be sure of you, there'll be a lot of folks making BIG BUCKS off if it.  DH

That is similar to what a friend of mine does through Zen mindfulness meditation.  She has really bad back pain after a car wreck which has only gotten worse after surgeries.  Drugs don't help much either -- they leave her feeling whacked out without killing the pain much..  She says the only thing that brings her out of the pain completely is the meditation.  DH

No one can hurt through curses, spells, etc., you unless you let them into your head by believing in their abilities.  Don't do that.  Banish the negative mess from your mind and move on to positive things.  IMHO No one can hurt you  like that against your will.  DH

Thank you all for posting some resources on the subject.  Keep us posted on anything helpful you learn.    So will I. 

And Hans, I agree with your rant....been there, done that.  That's why I've been trying to find some more resources on sharpening skills.
DH