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Thanks for sharing your stories, Beth.  They are really interesting

I'm curious if others who have seen old pets in the astral felt anything in their presence?
I've had a number of experience now of meeting an old family pet. On every one of these occasions I felt a very deep coldness. It was felt in my bones (legs  - which is where the dog was located to me), and couldn't be felt by the skin. These experience were in LD's (I'm reluctant to call them projections) and they took place in a scenario which looked like the house I lived in when I had this pet.
I think on one occasion the dog seemed to be a semi-transparent blue colour.

I sensed straight away that it was the old cat. This particular cat used to do this quirky thing - it would jump up on my chest and swat me in the face with it's paw, then rub it's face into mine whilst doing this crazy purring thing. It only ever did this to me for some reason. When I was growing up it would do this every-time I left the bedroom door open, or when we couldn't be bothered locking her up in the garage. I actually flinched in anticipation of getting hit in the face again, but when I realized what was happening I became a bit startled, then I seemed to phase away from the cat rather than it phasing away from me.

Maybe the astral version of snowflake ( the cat) interacts with me on an on-going basis within the astral, but I'm just not remembering it. Definitely one of the strangest things that's ever happened to me, metaphysically speaking.

I just had an experience where I awoke in the astral plane and saw an old, deceased pet.

Our old white cat had a habit of jumping up onto my chest when I used to lay in bed. Now, the overwhelmingly majority of my OBE'S have been fairly dream like and hazy - even the conscious ones have seemed blurred and uncontrollable, but this time things were more clear and realistic than me sitting here typing at this moment. It only lasted about 15 - 20 seconds, but if that's how real the astral plane can be, I can see that I've only been grasping a tiny fraction of it's reality. And the transition back from the astral to physical happened seamlessly.

How bizarre it was to reach out and touch that old cat - one that I haven't thought about in years and years.

http://www.peakoil.com/gate.html?name=Forums

A good number of people believe that the world's current lack of refining capacity is essentially signaling a peak of sorts. If the current price rises are truly reflective of this, then the ramifications will be unprecedented.

Is Peak Oil really here in 2006?  

Maybe I'm just too astrally inexperienced - enough to render me ignorant?

I suppose one question I could ask, and this ties in with the afterlife thread - do you feel one and the same person within your astral travels, comparative to physical waking life?

Not so much with astral projection, but I was practicing Yoga Nidra once
http://swamij.com/yoga-nidra.htm ( some people may not distinguish between the two) and my level of consciousness heightened to such a degree, it was if I was meeting myself for the first time - pretty unbelievable - the most amazing experience I've ever had. I tried to reproduce the experience but without success. I haven't achieved the same level of awareness with AP.

I suppose the point I was trying to make is that there is no questioning the fact that a whole host of bizarre proto-humans have existed at one point or another during the history of the world. I'm not necessarily submitting to neo-Darwinism here, or even to the trend of the theistic evolutionists. We have another option in the Vedic texts ( human devolution ) , which is pretty much compatible with the concepts of the Theosophists. If their supposition is true, however, I have no idea how we arrive at their conclusion through the workings of scientism, which is pretty much a malady anyway IMHO. What else can we throw into the mix - UFO'S, the ancient astronaut theory/

Ah, it's all pretty much a mystery isn't it? And there's nothing we are usually more fascinated by than a good mystery.

Oh, and I have studied a little bit on the work of Turner but I've yet to come across that term. I'll have to check it out.

I do think than a continuation of life is worthy of consideration ( especially after experiencing AP, and reading accounts of the NDE), it's just I find the concept of an afterlife to be collectively in-congruent with our notions of personal identity.  To me, our understandings of personal identity, as we currently understand them, are grounded in a physicality; where the best evidence suggests that personal identity ( not necessarily spirit or consciousness) is centered in the brain. Otherwise, what becomes of a baby who is totally unconscious of his/her self ? What about mentally handicapped people, people suffering brain damage, or Alzheimer's disease?

What I am trying to say is that to me, an afterlife implies the kind of life that our physically based consciousness permits.  From an Anthropological and Sociological perspective,  it's easy to see how the concept is represented in so much cultural diversity throughout the span of human history. If we are centering everything around a certain continuation of our identity ( and that's what all these religions, cultures, shamans are essentially doing), then shouldn't we all pull out a gun right at this moment in order to let the continuation occur whilst we have relative conscious lucidity? I, for one, am not to keen on that idea.

I'll start this off by asking : how damaging do you think this picture is to religion, as a whole? It's a pretty good representation of the ( hypothesized) hominid evolutionary sequence.

It's worth noting that I've seen many of these cranial specimens first hand -  they replicate them, then ship them off to all the major Universities in the world.

As a student of Anthropology and Sociology, I have to say that any kind of fundamental belief in an afterlife is pretty much inconceivable to me right at this moment. An afterlife has to constitute a beginning of life, doesn't it? In this sense it's just as ( perhaps even more ) important for me to attempt to discern where we came from, rather than where we are headed.

Michael Cremo's Human Devolution is one of the best attempts at answering this question I've yet to see. It's certainly not without it's short -comings, though.

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/berga.php?articleid=8862

hmm... :think:  sneaky, sneaky..

Thanks.

Yes, that does make sense to me. Although, I can't have anyone acting as a proxy for me   . So, I will have to half believe you until I'm advanced enough to explore the notion further in the astral. Thanks again for the detailed response.

I suppose there's slightly more evidence supporting a historical Sid G, than for JC.

But if for instance you read a book such as Kenneth Rings "Lessons from the light", some of the accounts mentioned are pretty compelling. Isn't it a bit obstinate to make that kind of a judgment?

Has certainly put a bit of strain on some relationships, but I wouldn't stop for anything. AP seemed to come about just at the right moment for me. I don't know where I would be without it now.

Hi Beth.

Yes, I concluded for myself some time ago that Jesus (as portrayed in the New Testament) never truly existed. The same way that Buddha and Krishna never truly existed. What makes me feel a bit strange is the fact that so many people claim to meet/see Jesus when astralling, near-death, etc.

I don't know exactly what to think about that  :think:

What do people think about crop circles?

I think some of many of them are just too amazing to be the work of hoaxsters. Such persons would have to be mathematical geniuses wouldn't they?

Has anyone seen this doco? I have to wait a bit for its release here ( Australia)

If you have seen it, what did you think of it?

Thanks

http://www.thegodmovie.com/

I saw how bad fuel prices were in New Zealand a few months back. A barrel of oil almost topped $75 US this week. Stay tuned...

I wanted to know if anyone has taken a look at this site before:

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

A good way to initiate WW3.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060417fa_fact

I''d like to think it's not real

Thanks. I've been taking a look at your site.

It's very good.

Thanks TVOS.

Oh yes, AP will certainly be a life-long commitment ; I've only had a few 100% conscious projections - all short ones that have catapulted me into my room. However, these proved to be the ultimate convincers for me - amazing! When I think of what I derived from those short excursions, then contrast them to some of the experiences mentioned on this board, my head starts to spin a bit.

I do put in quite a good amount of time/work. I took a bit of a break between November of last year up until February of this year, as I started to go slightly mental from a lack of progress. . I did the relaxation/breathing exercises practically every night before that peroid though. I was really strict - I would become quite angry at myself for  missing just one nightly/morning practice. I've also tried every technique under the sun, but had most success with the most basic relaxation/concentration exercises.  

I've been practicing again basically every night in February/March, and had at least one really good OBE. I could probably do a few extra things like keeping a diary, and daily meditations. Perhaps these might might help me?