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Yea, this is a good place to post this question.

I don't know of anyone that does. 

I have done Rune/Tarot readings for members in the past but I found that too much of myself was showing up in readings so I stopped.

What kind of reading did you have in mind?  What would you like to know? 

I still have pretty strong intuition, I can see what comes up I guess.

I've said it plenty of times, but experiencing SP is technically pathological, it shouldn't really happen.  so yea, echo bedeekin.

welcome back friend.

I, like our extraterrestrial overlord Bedeekin here, don't really give a $hit how people respond (or react).  It's my journey and I'm not telling them to follow, but maybe they would be interested and I inspire them.  Maybe they call me the devil, but what are they gonna do about it?

I gather that you really want to talk to people about this the8reader.  you should look at something like meetup.com and see if there are any local magic or AP or occult/mystic groups in your area, a place where you can meet people in person and discuss these things.  i wouldn't have come as far as I have if I didn't have a group of like minded friends growing up that would discuss this stuff with me.  It helps to talk to others about the feelings and insights you're having in your life.  It's good for everyone. 

good call apsinvo, i haven't seen a castaneda reference in a while.

he always comes back around somehow, lol.

there is no such thing as a "cure" for anything, because nothing needs to be cured, merely understood and accepted.

physical ailment can be treated, but the truth underlying the condition must be understood or you're still just treating symptoms.

there are deeper concerns regarding illness that our science doesn't recognize, energetic considerations.

I'll share what I wrote regarding this question on the Astral Pulse Facebook page

(Also, if you haven't joined and you're on facebook, search Astral Pulse and join the page!!)

I don't really have any beliefs in god that I'm consciously aware of. Perhaps deep down I have some belief from childhood or beyond this life or something. But honestly I really don't know. I wouldn't define what I am. Agnostic isn't right, atheistic isn't right, I'm certainly not religious, I recognize an animating force that some may call god, but i don't, i don't see it as beyond me. Obscure philosophies like animism and other remnants of the old religion are nice, but they still don't cover my feelings. If I need help, I don't pray, I use my personal power to effect the change I want. I use energy, but i don't see that energy as different from myself so i don't feel like i'm being "charged up by god" or anything. So...I guess I just don't care to make an opinion. I'm sure that when such a presence is meant to be known it will. Beyond that, seems an awful waste of time to worry about.

Steely Dan arouses me in a most delightful way.  I love them.

You might like this guy Stillwater,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gqh4e1S6j0

it's a little more funk/soul, but i like most of what you listed, so maybe you'll get down on this too.

In addition to a dream journal, it is also helpful to do a "daily review" every night when you go to bed.

Start from the moment you got into bed and go backwards on a review of your day. 

This helps because dreams and AP are remembered in the same way.  It trains you to pay attention to what you do and to remember it later.

Don't like Tool.

Well, I shouldn't say that.  I don't dislike Tool, but I never really got into them either.  They were too "hard rock" for my sensibilities.  I can enjoy a tool song nowadays though, because I recognize the musical genius involved in that band.

I think curing a schizophrenic (you need to say schizophrenic because there is a personality disorder called Schizoid Type Personality Disorder and they are often called schizos too.  well, not really, no one says schizo, it's kind of pejorative, offensive.) would be incredibly difficult because the problem isn't in their "disorder", the problem is that they have spent their entire lives (usually schizophrenia doesn't present until the early 20s) being programmed to view reality in the same way as everyone else.  Then suddenly everything changes and they don't know how to cope.  Perhaps if schizophrenia can be genetically identified at birth, proper perceptual training can be provided so that when the individual reaches maturity and presents with schizophrenic symptoms, their perception will already be suited to handle the schism in their mind.  This is actually exactly what a shaman does.  They go to the otherworlds where their guides help them identify the next apprentice (perhaps a child born with energetic markers for schizophrenia).  The child is then raised in the shamanic tradition so that when their visionary experience presents, they are prepared. 

This also raises and interesting insight.  Perhaps modern day schizophrenia is a genetic ghost of a lineage of shamans from the 'foretime', before our recorded history.  Naturally it has been mutated and transformed by pressures from society over the millenia, but the remnant still exists.

Mer De Nom rocks, all the other APC albums were bad.

Mer De Nom is still one of the only albums that I love every song on it.  That's rare for me, but every song on that album was great.  I don't even listen to rock music anymore and that is still one of my all time favorites.

Oh wow. Didn't think that would be noticed.

I've taken a break from AP attempts. I had been trying for almost a year and it got frustrating because I didn't seem to making any progress. I'm probably just not ready for it at this point. I've realised that "spiritual development" (or whatever you want to call it) in a more general sense is more important than flying through outer space in my sleep so I'm trying to realign my priorities, seeing Astral Projection more as a symptom of (and tool for) spiritual progress rather than the actual goal.

I started reading Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment by Rudolf Steiner (Stookie recommended it to me) and it left a great impression on me. It seems to be one of the most profound books I've ever read (haven't read many though ^^) and it really motivated me to work on myself. And that appeared to have a really good effect on my life for about three months. Unfortunately the progress I thought I had made seems to have diminished over the last two months or so. I always seem to lapse between ups and downs. I'm not a very disciplined person so it's difficult to get any form of consistency into my life. At the moment I'm in a phase where I hardly meditate (or take time for myself) and end up consuming all the time. Usually I'm reading or watching films or listening to music, etc., etc..

So actually, despite (or because of?) the fact I've tried to make spiritual progress more of a priority in my life I've become caught up in physical consumerism instead.

Sorry for going off-topic.

Me and Fourthdimension were just discussing the same topic on the Facebook Astral Pulse page.  Sometimes you have to take a break from AP and do something else.  I shared the story of my first successful exit.  I practiced every day for 6 months with no success.  I took a couple months off and as soon as I tried again I had my first exit.  And you're right, there is more to spiritual growth than just AP practice.  It is a tool, not a goal.  I commend your decision, many people have trouble letting go and moving on to something new, even when that is what they need more than anything else.

Stookie said the same thing about steiner's book.  I got it for free on my kindle but I haven't read it yet.  I will eventually.

It's good to see you. 

Look at L Ron Hubbard. 

low blow, lol. 

And once again, why did you say, " and the government has EVERYTHING to do with mental health."? oh...
I guess I phrased that badly. I did NOT mean to say the government had nothing to do with it in actual practice. My point is that mental health is not the Federal govt's job.

my mistake

That doesn't mean the Feds aren't doing all sorts of things wayyy outside their job description. Personally I think the FDA needs to be shut down and the job can be turned over to some sort of Underwriter's Laboratory type outfit. Get twice the performance for half the price.

I agree that they need to be shut down.  I also believe that the FDA is a part of the "thinning of the herds" and intentional weakening of the species so that when our alien overlords arrive we will be ripe for the picking.

i'm completely serious right now.

Seth is a channeled entity.

Channeled by Jane Roberts in the 60's and 70's and on until her death.

Good read.

i have had similar experiences and came to some similar conclusions.  it really does feel like you're watching a movie of yourself while you're simultaneously in the movie.  you are in the reality of the movie, but you're also watching the completed piece.  strange indeed.  i also had an experience in hypnosis once where my awareness expanded into three different copies simultaneously, like mental tri-location, super odd. 

clock meet face

lol!

the rest of the post was unnecessarily inflammatory, but that is hilarious.

I swear I started it with the best of intentions.

How are you manwesulimo2004?  haven't seen you around in a bit.

Modern scientific method in the medical field requires statistical significance and reliable repeatability.

There is nothing to stop anyone from starting The New Age Mumbo-Jumbo Clinic for Personality Disorder Research. And there are drugless mental training therapies in development and even in practice for milder cases. Just offhand I do not see how AP could help at all in such a case. Part of Conscious AP is consciously and knowingly and willingly exploring altered states while these poor souls are seriously lacking in those necessary attributes.

Reagan?! How is a guy who hasn't been president for over 20 years somehow relevant to a discussion about contemporary treatment options? What did Clinton do to rectify the action? Nothing. And it isn't even a back burner issue for the present president. Why not complain about them? Besides, when you get right down to it, what does the FEDERAL govt have to do with Mental Health? Nothing, that's what. The State Mental Hospital is a better target for your complaints. I suggest you take the matter up with them. But then that would require personal effort and is much more demanding then tossing out complaints about dead presidents.

man...

i want to like you so bad, i really do.  you're obviously intelligent and i appreciate that.

i have my bachelors (in the mail as we speak) in psychology and i can tell you from first hand experience (both as a patient in drug rehab for two years and as a counselor and intern at medical facilities for the past 4 years) that you are really missing the big picture.  yes, scientific studies require statistical significance, this is true.  the science isn't bad, the scope of vision as to what gets researched is bad.  beyond that, there is the proverbial black list effect.  if your research isn't seen as "socially acceptable" or capable of providing more money to the right people, then your research doesn't get published.  peer-review my butt, the editor of medical journals decides who gets published and who doesn't, and if they don't like your research, they tell all of their contacts at every other journal not to publish you and you get black listed.  you can't do research unless you get funding and you only get funding if you research is within orthodox parameters.  bottom line.

beyond that, in practice, the only mental health treatments that get supported are the ones that make money.  do you really think that the reason psychology and psychiatry prescribe more medications than ever before is because the meds really work!?  bullcrap.  it''s like that because that's where the money is.  and the government has EVERYTHING to do with mental health.  Who do you think approves the medications that are being shoved down people's throats with little to no concern for the side effects?  the FDA, ie, the government.  who control public mental health facilities?  the government.  even the private facilities abide by government sanctions and laws.  there is NOTHING in the USA that the government doesn't have their hands in. 

If your "innate response is to avoid violence at all costs" then it is a pretty safe guess that you are very close to being a pacifist. "At all costs"... hmmm, that cost gets very high, very fast.

I never called you a deep denial pacifist. But if the shoe fits....

You may not be a pacifist but much of what you say indicates that you are.

I'm compassionate too and recognize everyone's right to life too, until they turn into homicidal psychopathic terrorists, at which point they forfeit that right.

Everyone has a history. That is no excuse to turn into a homicidal psychopath. For every terrorist out there there are a hundred people with a nearly identical history that chose a decent lifestyle. Those who make excuses for the criminals only enable them further. I suspect that that is very bad karma (and not very compassionate).

karma shmarma. 

you continue to ignore my attempt at amends, but if you plan to continue to post on this forum about other topics, i'd like us to be friends.  so, just as a final statement, i harbor no ill will toward you friend.  we're cool.  i look forward to future conversations with you.

welcome

Well, the almost insurmountable obstacle you would face trying that is the prevailing scientific paradigm. The scientific community today believes almost unanomously in materialism (all of reality is explained by physical matter), and materialism does not leave any room at all for considering that everything out of the ordinary a schizophrenic experiences is not a hallucination- it is pretty much assumed at the outset. So you will never get funding for such an endeavor, since the bodies who could support such research would view it as exploitation of the mentally ill to further half-baked new age mumbo-jumbo that has no basis in reality. Getting a university to pay for research like that is like trying to convince a Southern Baptist that maybe he should donate some of his salary toward promoting Hinduism; there is just too much ideological friction for it to work.

!!!!

I'm sorry that my innate response is to avoid violence at all costs.

That doesn't make me a "deep denial pacifist" and I resent you constantly resorting to calling me that.

I'm not a pacifist.  I'm compassionate and recognize everyone's right to life, even if they don't agree with my ideology.  Everyone has a personal history and unique sets of circumstances that create the person they are.   Those psychopaths you mention, they have personal history that led them to that point, they don't have to be inherently evil.  Maybe they're mentally ill and never received proper treatment?

whatever.

I tried to make amends earlier, we aren't going to agree and we're just going in circles.  Seriously, let's stop and be friends. 

I found the book to be very well researched, very sober/lucid and very reasonable.  They try not to jump to conclusions and even if they seem to be presenting slightly biased information it's only because that's what the evidence implies.

I'm really trying to keep my cool, but it's people like you that make war inevitable.

Your first reaction to a threatening situation is to kill, to retaliate.

The people that you keep referencing as terrorists are not terrorists.  They are EXACTLY like you.  We instigated, they are defending themselves.  End of story.

And if we are naturally inclined to war, how is the end scenario anything but total annihilation?