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One thing that I don't completely grasp about your theory is that this must apply to everyone who dies, suicidal or not. So if an alcoholic dies in a car crash they will still have to deal with their addiction on the other side. If an old, miserable man dies but lived a long productive life, he will still be a miserable soul. Or do only suicides get the unhappy ending of living in torment on the other side?

I hadn't read this thread till today and wasn't intending to respond until thenoob asked these questions. I prefer not to share too many personal experiences. But the specific example of alcoholism makes me think I should speak up here.

Some background info:
My father was an alcoholic and verbally abusive and extremely controlling to my brother, sister and I while we were growing up. There was some physical abuse, but nothing major (even as I write this I realize that sounds contradictory). The point is it certainly was not a childhood you would ask for, at least not in physical form.

My father died when he was 45, about 13 years ago. I hadn't seen him in years before that. When I looked at him during the viewing his entire body looked like it was painted gold. That's how far gone his liver was. He had a lot of issues from his childhood he could not deal with and turned to alcohol as a solution. While he did not actively kill himself, his decision to drink to such excess was what caused his early death. So in my opinion it was an indirect route to suicide.


Relevant Experience:
Several years ago I had considered trying to visit him while in the astral. I had spent years and years reading various texts, meditating, practicing and as a result I had my own thoughts on where he would be and what condition he was in. However, I also have experienced enough to know that I was not strong enough to try and visit him myself. I was very wary of the energy that was surrounding him. I have experienced various types of energies while out and they really can affect you if you don't know how to repel them -- and I'm not that advanced yet.

One night earlier this year, a guide brought him to visit me and we had a very long talk. I won't go in to details of the conversation, but there are certain things I want to share with you. First, even though in physical life my father was about 5 inches taller than I was, in the astral he was about 1 foot shorter than me. He looked just the same as I remembered him when I first left home for college, except shorter/smaller in proportion to his whole body (so he still had his 'beer belly'). The other thing that immediately struck me was how absolutely dirty he was. He didn't look physically dirty.....I know there are no physical bodies in the astral. But I mean I didn't 'see' dirt on him. Rather his energy or vibration or whatever you want to call it was so thick and dirty I was literally repulsed. I could feel it around him and it made me queezy. I was able to put one arm around him to hug him, but I could not bring myself to kiss him. I then quickly let go from the hug and was able to talk to him just fine as long as I wasn't too close to him.

We talked about his life and his problems. Since his death, he'd been trying to deal with them from the astral and felt he was ready to make the next step and wanted to discuss it with me. The problem he was having was not taking responsibility for his actions though. He was very frustrated because the people working with him had given him a list of things that he caused to happen through his actions while in the physical and he disagreed with a lot of the items on the list. He showed me the list and wanted me to take his side so to speak, but I couldn't do it. I told him very sincerely I forgive him for everything he had done. But that my forgiveness doesn't mean that the things didn't happen. In the end, he realized he was not ready to move up because he still was not able to see his life and his actions objectively and take responsibility for what had happened and work to identify other ways to deal with his issues.

I guess I'm giving you an actual example of what Adrian and James were trying to relay. I personally have no fear of death any longer. And that in itself is a very liberating feeling. But I have no desire to end my life before its time. I am here for specific reasons. I have figured out what a few of them are already. I know there are many others that I still need to realize/experience. And ending life now does not take away the pain, desire, frustration, fears, etc that you feel while in physical form. In fact, all of those things follow you in to the astral. And from what I understand, it takes much longer to deal with them over there than facing them here.

So transitioning to the other side to get away from what is facing you in this lifetime, only puts you in an area with other people who think and feel exactly the way you do. There will be others there, guides to help, but the bulk of people you will be surrounded by are others with similar vibrations to yours. And vibrations are based on feelings and thoughts. So while you won't deal with the physical aspects of alcoholism or other addictions or desires or fears or whatever. Each of those feelings has an energetic component as well as a physical aspect and its those energies that comprise the area in which you end up after death. The only way you are able to go beyond those types of energies is to completely free yourself of them. They simply cannot resonate at higher vibrations/levels. And the only way to rid yourself from them is to identify other, more productive ways to deal with the issues causing those feelings.

Hope this helps clarify this question.

EDIT: I also wanted to explain that the consciousness you have while in the physical body is not the same as the consciousness you have while out of body or after death. Once you have died, you gain a little bit more access to your higher self, guardian angel, spirit, whatever word you want to use. The point is that while in the physical you decide you want to die and never return. When you do cross over, there is a VERY high probability that your request will be completely forgotten. Because when you are over there, you have a broader understanding of the universe and your place in it. All of this is hidden or forgotten when you incarnate. My guess is that your soul/spirit will decide to reincarnate again and in all probability will select at least a few of the issues causing you trouble this time around to appear in the next incarnation again.

Well first off, regardless of whether or not you are capable of doing something like this, the  last thing I would do to try and prove it would be to stop a person's heart. Just out of curiousity, what would you have done if you succeeded in stopping your brother's heart? Would you have been able to start it again? I think you need to think through the motivations for and possible consequences of your actions. Why do you "have to tell people"? Is it an ego thing, or are you looking for answers or support? You say you feel disgusted with yourself, so I'm guessing at present you are purely interested in showing people you can do stuff like this.

Power can be used for positive as well as negative actions. Are you trying to get powerful to help people or to show off? If you want to build up power, perhaps work on focusing your use of it on more positive things like healing, if you are able to do that. It may allow you to build the power you want, but provide you a positive means for expressing this power so that you feel better about yourself.

Just a thought.

Why is it, that the Baptist belief system beliefs so zealously in the "fact" that any and everyother religion, whether it's a denomonation of Christianity or not goes to Hell?

If it makes you feel any better, I know some catholic churches believe the same thing about other branches of christianity.

And zealous behavior is not necessarily a function of the church doctrine as much as individual perception/interpretation.

I do agree that you should try other branches. I've tried lutheran, episcopalian, and protestant. I know enough about catholocism to know it isn't for me. Eventually I realized none of them were for me. But that's my own personal choice. The point is that you seem to be quite bothered by what you perceive your church's teaching entail. If that's the case, then it sounds like you need to do some exploring to find something that rings true and feels right to you.

I've been to the moon a few times myself -- But to Gandalf's point, I ended up in the astral version of space each time. I know this simply by the vividness of the experience. Regardless of whether it was astral or etheric, it was so intense I was pumped energetically for days afterwards.

My first experience was incredible beyond words. Unlike tvos, I never met any other beings while traveling in space like this. But I zoomed past the milky way and just marveled at the blackness of the background, the depth and intensity of colors of the gaseous bodies I was passing, or the colorful rings or nebulous bodies. All of these sights as far as I could see. My poetic ability is greatly lacking when it comes to describing it.

Although there was one experience when I tried to head in to space in the etheric zone. I was able to remain in that zone and ended up in a chalky white structure that was used somewhat like a hospital -- obviously not for physical bodies though. There were a number of people hanging in the corrider's there that I could tell were sleeping and dreaming -- they were talking with others -- but none were aware of where they were or what they were doing. I recognized a friend from physical there and tried to talk to her. She got partially lucid only for a moment, and then just as quickly faded back in to her own little world. This place had other beings that 'worked' there and they explained that it was a temporary place for people to come to heal. That was the only space experience I had with other beings.

Why don't you ever see anybody refer to another human being by the color of their eyes?

lol  I have OFTEN said this exact same thing! Why stop at skin? Why not differentiate based on eye color or hair color. Although I guess blonds do have their fair share of jokes. I personally have never understood the whole concept that different colored skin makes you different but different colored hair or eyes is ok.   

If he is just kiding with the boys and not saying ugly things to black people its ok

But I think Interception is correct, his co-worker isn't kidding. If he was, he would not be conscientious enough NOT to make jokes with blacks in the same room because he knows they would be offended. If he is aware enough to watch what he says around whom, then I think there is more than 'good-natured' joking as the reason for the comments.

There is also something called "reverse racism"...... please think about that for a while.

I agree here as well. I haven't noticed it very often, but I have experienced it myself. I worked my way through college at a copy shop and there were both whites and blacks on staff at the store. One black man was very nice, but was blatantly prejudiced against whites. I don't know how many times he would pass by 3 or 4 white customers in line, to help the first black person in line. And he always began with something like "how can I help you my brother". None of the customers felt comfortable saying anything to him about it, but everyone looked annoyed. Then one day he did it to a black man, with that same greeting. The man pointed out that there were other people ahead of him in line. The co-worker didn't even look at the others. Instead he just gave his head a nod and repeated himself. By now the two other customers were being helped. The black customer finally looked at me, this small white girl, and in an exasperated voice asked "Miss, can you help me." It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. It was like a huge slap in the face to my co-worker.

I think its like anything else in life. Being proud and confident of who and what you are is a wonderful thing. But it needs to stop at the point at which it becomes uncomfortable or rude to others, regardless of their race, gender, nationality, etc. And I know I'm preaching to the choir here.

There are procedures yes, but I if I do go that route it is going to become very unpleasant. So much so that I will be forced to find alternative employment. He has a much more experience in what we do, than me. Its just me and him running the unit. So its likely he will stay, and I will go.
I dont want that either, if I can help it....not right now.

Actually, misterjingo's question was exactly what I was thinking as well. And I'm sure it depends upon the country and corresponding laws/tolerances. In the US, there needs to be proof of the offense. If it is proved, 'theoretically' the guilty person is punished, not the person making the claim. Of course, I said 'theoretically' because unfortunately, the person making the claim can become an unofficial target in retaliation if the person found guilty was popular or powerful within the company. Even though it is not supposed to happen like that here in the US, everyone knows that it does. And its usually done so inconspicuously that it is difficult to actually prove. I guess that's the kind of reprisal you are also worried about.

It isn't an easy to answer question and I think the solution is highly subjective. It basically comes down to "what is your comfort level?" Everyone has lines of their own that they won't cross. You need to determine what you will and will not tolerate. And then you need to figure out what your options are if/when you are faced with whatever it is you won't tolerate. Thus far, you verbalizing your discomfort at the remarks puts them at bay for awhile, but not permanently. Are you willing to simply keep mentioning this whenever he makes a comment? Or are you getting to the point where you need to take it one step further? Even if you don't want to officially 'report' him to HR (in the US the department that handles these types of issues is called Human Relations) or whatever the equivalent is in your country, the least you could do would be to talk to someone there about additional suggestions. You don't need to mention names, but tell them you are having this problem and ask them what they would suggest you do. They may be able to give you some other options you hadn't thought of yet.

I once had somebody come up to me and call me 'homeboy'. I remember thinking "homeboy? wait a minute, thats not my name. Its not what my mom named me. Has he lost his mind?" I don't like it either when people call me that dreaful N word.

I completely agree with everything you said. I've never heard anyone actually use the word homeboy, but I've heard it in movies. Its another word I would never use. Just like there are words used to describe/call women that I will never utter for the same reason. I find them rude beyond words.

And I simply cannot tolerate the N word either. I've seen it used in movies where a black person will call another one by that name. I cringe everytime I hear it. I don't care whose mouth utters it, I personally find it extremely offensive .... and I'm not even black. 

Robert Peterson has some very good info out there. There are also numerous techniques and experiences shared in the Astral FAQ and Permanent Astral Topic Sections of this forum.

Like many others who have posted, I'm not a fan of organizated religion. I'm not sure what I call myself.....actually I don't call myself anything!  I guess if I had to label it, I would probably fall in the category Beth called Seeker. I read many religious texts and pick out what resonates with me. I live my life with those beliefs, which are constantly changing and expanding based on the more I read, understand and experience in life. So definately not a static thing!

I agree with Stookie. There's a big difference between suppressing emotions and controlling emotions. Controlling emotions is where will is needed. One needs to understand that crying does not mean one is weak. There are many reasons for wanting to cry and everyone reacts differently to different situations. One may cry due to a death, sickness or injury to themselves or someone they care about. Sometimes stress can trigger someone to want to cry. But the crying is a way of releasing the emotion. The will is involved in knowing when the body needs to cry and versus when the emotions are trying to take over.

I think people who force themselves not to cry or laugh or release any emotions are actually the weak ones. To me it means they are afraid. Afraid of what others may think, afraid of letting themselves actually feel things, afraid of what they themselves think based on what they associate to the emotions. I think there is a lot of fear involved in suppressing emotions, and to me fear is weakness, not strength.

This topic has been moved to Welcome to Book Reviews!.

http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/index.php?topic=24338.0

You should probably do a search on exit techniques -- this topic comes up all of the time. Additionally, you can look through the Astral FAQ and Permanent Astral Topic sections. There are a lot of methods in there as well.

I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better now. 

Like you guys, I rarely have bad dreams. The last one I had was about 2 years ago or so. It was interesting because in it a shadow was standing against a wall in a dark room. I was there alone and it reached out and grabbed my hard from behind. While I didn't get lucid, I did remember enough to recognize that I needed to face the shadow. So I turned around in the dream to face it head on. I no sooner turned around and the dream disappeared and I was in a another dream during day light with a totally different theme. Not sure if that meant that whatever the shadow represented I accepted it or not.    But it hasn't appeared again since.

As for interpretations, I get a lot out of my dreams when I try and associate the feelings I have with the objects in the dream, because I think symbols speak to us individually -- based on how we perceive a certain symbol/object.

I'm not sure here, but a few things stuck out at me. First, you were in your childhood home. But you were trying to lock something out -- not yourself in -- and I think there is a difference. Apparently its been happening for a long time, so something is trying to break through to your conscious mind, but you are afraid and trying to lock it out. The fact that the doors refuse to lock to me means that whatever it is, you can't lock it out. Kind of along the lines of "like it or not, here it comes."

Perhaps whatever it is, you are now beginning to deal with it. I suggest that because this time around you were able to lock two doors with a green key. To me, green is a healing color. It is now no longer pitch black, but the moon is out and you can see outside of the house too. The animals in the yard with it could represent parts of you willing to venture out in to the yard at night. Lastly, instead of hiding from it, afraid it will see you, you climb on the sink ready to face it.

Not sure, but the last version you posted seems to show some acceptance of whatever It is.

but most of that will change by the time you hit 50! lol

Not now that Viagra's arrived!

But I do agree about sex. Its wonderful and intimate but like anything else in life, too much is never a good thing.

My thoughts are similar to runlola's. I'm not sure she intentionally focused on you, rather you were open enough to sense it.

You say you weren't particularly close to her, but I'm assuming that's compared to the rest of your family. However, compared to a colleague or a friend or someone you come across in your career (you mention you face this at work), I'm sure she's much closer than any of those. Perhaps that's why you felt her death more so than the others.

I gather what you felt and are still feeling are fear and anger from her, is that right? If so I'm not sure what to suggest. You've been on these forums long enough to know how will can affect a person after death. If she was a strong willed individual, it could be that she's struggling to hang on and you feel it because of your relationship to her and your sensitivity to these experiences. I've never tried retrieval work, but I know some people here have. When you feel strong enough, and it doesn't sound like that's the case right now, maybe you should try and contact her while AP. Maybe she would listen to you? Of course, you can also call a guide to help her or help you to help her.

I'm not sure if any of these thoughts help. I wish I could give you something definitive, but I can't. 

I'm with JubJub on this on. I couldnt' care less how many karma points someone has. Having more karma points means nothing to me. Its the same thing with quantity of posts. Just because someone posts a lot, doesn't mean they know a lot.  I go with quality of a person's posts over quantity of posts or quantity of points.

There are two sections in these forums you should look in to as well: Astral FAQ and Permanent Astral Topics. They detail many techniques as well as experiences by various members of the forum.

I personally had never done any type of energy work prior to having an OBE, but everyone is different. I understand that RB believes that one requires large amounts of energy to successfully retain consciousness for exit and re-entry, so to speak. However, I am not convinced of that myself. His methods may help, but perhaps not because of the energy you are raising, but instead as a result of the focus and attention you learn to maintain while practicing his methods.

My personal opinion is that awareness and consciousness are linked to all heightened senses/experiences (whether they be etheric, astral or other). If that is correct, then any exercises that help you maintain awareness/concentration on one item while also using your imagination to enhance the concentration helps to achieve the goal. NEW usess concentration and imagery focused solely on energy. But I think its the concentration and imagery that increase your ability to OBE, not necessarily the energy. The same concept of concentration/imagery is used in phasing to achieve astral projection. I think energy is involved and certainly exists on many levels and planes, but I do not believe it is a precursor to reaching altered states.

Just my two cents on the topic!

I started doing tai chi about 5 months ago and really enjoy it. Its like a moving meditation. Eyes are open and you are totally absorbed in each move. The eyes stay soft and unfocused, only aware of the movement of your body.

There is also a chi gong position (wu chi or standing position). This one doesn't move, but still the eyes are open as you hold the position for 5-10 minutes. I do sitting and lying meditation with eyes closed as well.

But I must admit that I really enjoy the differences between moving, standing and sitting meditations.

Parmenion
Rob's comment was referencing RB and Nita's seperation from Fraternitas Hermetica,which is completely unrelated to the Astral Pulse.

I haven't done it personally, but I remember seeing some posts on this somewhere awhile ago. From what I remember (and its sketchy) I think the consensus of those posting was that it wasn't worth it for several reasons. Some had issues with his name relative to religion (the devil and all that); others didn't feel they were learning anything.

Like I said, I don't know him and have never been to that website. Also, the above are not opinions, just what I remember reading from others some time ago. But if you've contacted the website and didn't like the way you were treated, then don't go back. I always go with what my gut tells me. But maybe others with firsthand knowledge about him/the course will reply.

I have been very interested in studying Tai Chi and Qi Gong for a few years, but have only found a couple of instructors in my area. My problem is I'm VERY picky about instructors. I think too many people teaching eastern practices these days study for a year or two and begin teaching themselves (I've seen this in yoga as as well as various martial arts). Sorry -- but I am NOT interested in learning from someone who is still only a beginner themselves. I'm not trying to offend anyone here who fits this profile, but in my opinion, so many eastern classes these days are watered down and fit what I call the 'fast food' approach to teaching. Basically get them in, get them out. I think there is SO much more in the teachings that is simply not possible to convey, let alone grasp, in only a few years time. And in western society, a few years is deemed an eternity, so people typically don't want to wait or decide that the rest of the stuff is irrelevant.

I finally found a man who started teaching in my area last fall. I've been taking lessons with him since March of this year. He's been pracicing martial arts for over 25 years and Tai Chi for about 13 years. I asked him several of my requisite questions and really liked his answers.

He admits he isn't a master, still a student himself. He studied under Dr. Yang, who has several books and videos published on Tai Chi, Qi Gong and Shaolin Kung Fu (and I owned a few before finding him as an instructor). He says anyone who teachings Tai Chi and doesn't teach Qi Gong doesn't know Tai Chi. All of his classes begin with Qi Gong exercises for the first 20 minutes or so, including Wu Qi which is a standing meditation. He explains the names of the moves (why they are called certain things) and what their martial application is. He also teaches about energy as it relates to Tai Chi and explains how each move affects the energy and vice-versa. Basically he provides a practical and metaphysical component to his lessons that none of the other teachers I visited had either understood or tried to incorporate.

I am posting this to explain that, in my opinion, not all Tai Chi instructors are necessarily qualified to teach. I would definately recommend researching why you are interested in Tai Chi and then form some questions that you feel are important to you (things you would like to learn). Then basically interview an instructor before taking a class and/or watch a class and see what you think. There are some good instructors out there, but my experience is that they are in the minority.

Runlola -- I went to see it ... by myself! So if I can go alone, so can you.

I thought it was quite thought provoking. How much is political? No clue. But I find it hard to believe that the 'facts' he states are only verifiable by him and 'his' experts. The other big question is relatd to his conclusions. Maybe everyone agrees on the facts, but not necessarily on what is causing them or what their outcome could be.

So I walked away with more information as well as more questions!   

I would still recommend seeing it though.

I agree with Job -- there isn't an "easy way" to get to the astral, no 'one stop shop' for a technique that works the same for everyone.

There are a BUNCH of techniques and exercises in the Permanent Astral Topics and Astral FAQs sections of the forum. I would suggest reading through those as well and seeing if something catches your attention.

Also, remember to be persistent with a methodology before determining it doesn't work for you. Trying it once, twice, or even 10 times really isn't enough time to say if it is working. This is something that, if you really want to achieve, you need to dedicate time and effort to it.

Good luck!

Colors and abstract shapes are very common as the body relaxes. If you keep going, you'll also start seeing scenes, like landscapes and so on too. If you scan some of the posts in the Permanent Astral Topics section as well as Astral FAQs, you will see this mentioned multiple times.

When you log in next time, there should be a place that you can check or select (forget which it is) to stay logged in forever or by session or something like that. Enter your username and password, then select whatever is close to the "forever" session before hitting enter. That should automatically log you in each time as before.