Messages

yeah videre8, i'm wondering if maybe i attracted the attention of something by sitting around gawking at ghost pics, and it decided to play a joke on me and scare the poop out of me.  or maybe the ghost of hampton court was smacking the hell out of me for thinking it might be fake, haha.  

could heat possibly mean that it was a benevolent being, like maybe a deceased relative or something?  maybe it was my brother trying to freak me out.  I am using his room and his computer for working on all my projects.

Nay, i think maybe he's probably referring to my description of it being like a "blade of flames".  well, unless i'm aging at a very accelerated rate, i shouldn't be having any menopause symptoms.  i'm only 30.  well, i guess it's possible, but i highly doubt it.  besides, when i looked up a description of hot flashes, it didn't really fit the description.  and when i looked up symptoms of seizures, i didn't really find anything that describes what happened to me, but i guess it's possible it could be a precursor to seizure.  i hope not.  well, i'm not too worried anymore.  nothing similar has happened yet, and i'm not about to run to the doctor over one incident and find there's nothing wrong with me.  guess if it happens again, i'll seriously consider going to the doctor.

runlola, yeah lately i've been doing a lot of research on it lately, and looking at lots of ghostie photos and stuff.  sure, some of it's fake but then some of it isn't, and i find it all very intriguing.  so i've wondered if maybe all my putting my mind toward this stuff attracted the attention of something that decided to harass me and scare the poop out of me.

so no one here has experienced any heat when dealing with the supernatural?  maybe demons?  in runlola's post of that article of someone's encounter with some weird incubus/astral pet thing, the person describes the creature as having heat: "same heat, same energy".  also, on one site i found this info:  "Cold or hot spots - cold spots are classic haunting symptoms, but any instance of a noticeable variance in temperature without a discernable cause could be evidence."  i don't think my house is haunted, but i guess heat in not unheard of a sign of supernatural presences.

nope, i've NEVER had anything like this happen to me before, and nothing similar has happened since then.  all i can describe it as is just this feeling of heat rushing through me really fast, but it seemed to have a bit of substance to it (if that makes any sense), almost like i was being cut through with a blade of flames, but not really (it wasn't a sharp feeling).  it just it hit me on one side of the head, where it entered, and then swept through and came out the other side.  it is pretty difficult to explain.  but the sensation was powerful enough where it left me stunned for a minute, as if someone really had hit me on the side of the head.  i'm not even sure if i could describe it as ghostly, because i'm not sure what ghostly feels like, haha.  one thing that i can say is that very briefly, for a couple of seconds, i felt like i do when i'm in that half-sleep, half-wake state where i could have an OBE.

ok, i always hear about how ghosts and such are usually sensed as a coldness.  are they ever experienced as heat?  if so, is there any significance to why one presence is cold and one hot (or at least any theories on why this is so)?  thanks!

ok, maybe i should get into why i am asking this.  i had a really strange experience.   for some reason i feel kind of silly explaining it.  one night i was watching the really quick video clip of the hampton court ghost closing the double doors (who, interestingly, seemed to be having a bit of a time doing so).  i was sitting there studying the clip, quite amazed.  i thought to myself, "damn, it just looks too solid to be a ghost... it's gotta be a person dressed up!"  suddenly, i felt something hot whack the left side of my head and pass diagonally through my body and come out somewhere under my right arm.  i even heard a "thump" on the left side of my head when it happened, though i'm not sure if it was an actual audible sound in physical reality, or a sound heard in my mind.  i even heard my lips go "ppph" as i let out air through them (kind of like when you have a mouthful of air and someone comes over and smacks your cheeks).  

the blow actually left me stunned for a few seconds and when i snapped out of it, i didn't know what to think.  did some presence pass through me?  was the ghost of hampton court knocking sense into me?  was i having a seizure or a stroke that just happened to coincide with looking at ghost pics?  i'd like to think that it was a supernatural presence responsible instead of a brain tumor or something physically wrong with me that made me experience that.  i've never had anything like that happen before.  but my experience doesn't seem to match up with descriptions of seizures or strokes or even hot flashes (i'm nowhere near that age for hot flashes, but i had to make sure).

anyway, i've also read from a couple of sources that supposedly photos of ghosts carry energy.  i'll use a quote i found on ghoststudy.com: "Pictures such as the ones your sight features carry energy, especially in person. The energy is strongest in the film itself, and gets weaker the further from that source."  apparently sometimes people will experience strange things from viewing photos of ghosts, like feeling a presence or hearing voices or fainting or whatever.  i've looked at a zillion ghost photos and never had anything happen (besides feeling a bit creeped out), and now this happens.  i really don't know what to make of all this.  the experience has left me really confused and worried!  i hope there's nothing wrong with me! if anyone knows a medical condition that has symptoms that fit my description, please let me know!  thanks!

-

i have a friend who is taking classes to become a medium (mediumship classes as they call it).  one day in his class, he tried to communicate with his brother who just recently passed away.  the brother immediately came in, and they talked for a bit.  he said that it felt like his brother was sitting right next to him, with his arm around his shoulders, and that there was another presence that came with his brother that he did not know who it was.  he said it seemed like his brother's face was in his face, and they spoke telepathically, of course.  his presence was very strong, almost like in real life.  and my friend said that his brother told him that while grief is a terrible thing, this is all an illusion, that death is not how we think it is, and that the real world is where he's at, not the physical world.  the brother also said that "all was as it should be", and that he was feeling "blissful" in this place, and that he would be busy for a while, i suppose learning things in this astral realm.  he said something about being "in moonlight".  my friend was quite amazed at this experience.. he said it was awesome.

does anyone know if there is a particular astral location that fits this description?  i thought this was pretty interesting, and thought it would be neat if we knew where he's at in the astral world.

actually, i'm not sure what i'm trying to ask here...  i would like to hear what everyone's opinions are on how karma works, or if you even believe in it.  i'd especially like to hear from the ones who don't believe in it, and why you don't.  see, i have mixed feelings about it, and it seems like the more things i learn about life and spiritual things, the more confused i get.  to some extent i believe in it, but sometimes things about it just don't seem to make sense to me, or if i think about how it applies with other theories about life and stuff, it doesn't seem to fit right.  some people get really dogmatic about karma, or think of it in such extremes as "every little bitty bad thought or tiny thing you do will come back to you to torment you" and i can't really seem to believe that.  so, um, if anyone has some interesting thoughts to share about karma, please post!

ok, this story is my first (and last... i'm still working on having more) actual OBE where i knew what was happening, and i actually got up and walked around.  i mentioned it in an earlier topic i made, but left out a part, because i wasn't sure if it would be passed off as being "just a dream".  but i know in my heart that it wasn't a dream, that it was still part of my OBE, so i want to see what this was all about.  i'll give the full details, since it was my first experience (where i knew what the hell was going on, and what it was), and well, i like talking about it since it was just so weird and new to me!

i was staying at my brother's apartment for a holiday visit, and for the first couple of days i had hardly gotten any sleep because i kept staying up way too late playing video games and we'd have to get up early the next day to do activities.  well, this particular night i was too exhausted even for video games and went right to sleep.  

i was sleeping on my side on the "living room" floor in a sleeping bag (this place was really tiny, with just a mere partition for a wall to separate his "bedroom" from the living room).  i was having these disturbing dreams about ghosts, and being sexually assaulted by one.  then i woke up and sat there staring at the partition wall, thinking about my dreams, feeling kinda creeped out by them.  i felt like something was behind me, but i just kinda tried to ignore it... i figured i was just feeling spooked, like after watching a scary movie and then sitting in the dark.  so i continued to think about ghosts and spirits and all that, and i thought, "i wonder if spirits or ghosts can see each other on the plane they're on?" or something like that and suddenly i felt an electric bolt run through my body (if i had bothered to try to move, i guess i would have found myself paralyzed, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary: no vibrations, nothing. besides feeling slightly creeped out, i felt perfectly normal, so i just sat there thinking).  i was like "oh sh*t!  i'm having an OBE!" because i had read a couple of books about it beforehand.  

i couldn't see, but i could sense the things around me, and i slowly got up off my side and stood up.  i attempted flying through the ceiling into the apartment above, but only got partway through and then couldn't sense anything about that room, and couldn't get any higher.  a thought passed through my mind that the reason i couldn't fly any further and sense the details of the other apartment was because i was having trouble imagining it.  so i came back down and decided to explore the apartment, and see if i could wake my brother up.  now i could actually visually see, and i walked through the wall and popped up in a corner, still halfway in the wall, next to my brother.  i called out his name, trying to wake him up, but my voice sounded very faint and far away.  but then he did wake up, and he seemed to notice me in the corner.  he felt at the air where i was, then a thought seem to occur to him, and he got up and ran around the partition over to my body.  i followed him a bit, and saw him kneeling next to my body, shaking it, and getting very worried, because i wasn't moving or waking up.  i didn't want him to freak out, so i decided to go back to my body and wake up.  i skipped! happily over to my body (i was quite enthused that this was happening) and hopped back in.  i woke up feeling very tripped out, nauseated, disoriented, and shaky.  and my brother was in bed, snoring away.  i got up and turned on some lights, which woke him up, and he hadn't a clue that anything had happened.

so what happened here?  what was that whole sequence with my brother?  did i somehow wake up his astral self?  was it really just a dream (which i feel it just wasn't... it didn't feel like one at all!)?  or was my mind creating this hallucination in the astral realm?  anyone ever have something like this happen?  any ideas of what that was all about?  it's sooo weird.

[quotes from the infamous allanon:]

quotes from the infamous allanon:

quote:
I have had many, many OBE's and a few NDE experiences. I know of the being of Light. I have seen many worlds PERSONALLY that are beyond this dimension in space and time. I have seen things with the pineal gland or sixth chakra as you guys call it that I would bet only a few Shamans of the Amazon have any idea of.

Have any of you expert AP'ers ever talked with a Shaman from the rainforest and experienced the vine of the dead?

As far as Astral Projection is concerned I beleive that you must look at the fruits of what is being done. If you are being led to beleive that you will live forever without the blood of Chrsit than it is a FALSE SPIRIT that is influencing you. But if you are projecting around and have the Holy Spirit guiding you than there is less of a problem there. Leaving your body without supernatural interference like what happens to those in the Bible is like trying to walk on water without the help of God. YOU ARE NOT THE CAUSE OF ANY MIRACLE AND LEAVING YOUR BODY IS JUST THAT

I was once in your shoes and bought the lies. I practiced AP and delved into the world of the Shaman. I had entity contacts that I now realize were demons tricking me into a false sense of security. They don't want you to accept the blood of Christ because that means you get away.

I see your point completely Soulfire. I will post my testimony on another thread. But the topic here is Ascended Masters.

where's your testimony?  it is time you explained what all the above statements are about... you have me totally intrigued.[]  i am dying to know what you've been through, and what has brought you from "being in [our] shoes" to being a.... very enthusiastic bible-thumper.  i really think you need to tell us about your experiences.  if it is too painful or traumatic or something, you don't have to... just say so... we'll leave you alone about it.  but just realize that all the quotes in the bible are just getting you nowhere with most of us.  i'm sure you have to understand that, since you've said that you used to be like us.... you should know how we think, then.  but if you're not too uncomfortable with sharing your story with us, you have my full attention.  

just one thing:
i don't want to see a single bible quote, not one iota of a reference to it, not even a hint of the bible from you in this entire topic, unless it is an important part of the story!  i only want to hear "allanon's story"!  only your thoughts and feelings about things!  no preaching, no lecturing![!][B)]

is it possible to ask for people's help in giving strength to someone to quit smoking?  my dad is a chain-smoker.  he quit smoking for like 12 years, and then a few years ago he started again.  then he quit for a long while, and now recently he's started up yet again.  but now it's much much worse than before.  he smokes so much it's scary.  it almost seems like he's trying to commit suicide with smoking (i doubt that's what he's doing, but i'm just amazed at how many packs he goes through).  if my mom or i try to talk to him about it, he just gets angry and defensive, and says he'll try to quit soon.  but he just can't seem to do it.  and this is not only a health concern for him, but for everyone, because we're constantly inhaling his clouds of smoke, and he's not even considerate enough to smoke outside... he gets mad if we say anything about his smoking.

ANYWAY, is this simply just something he has to resolve completely on his own (which, from the looks of it means that we're all doomed) or is it possible to uh, send some energy to him to provide him with extra strength to quit?  i don't know much about this healing stuff, yet, so i don't know what is or isn't possible.  thanks!

allanon has GOT to be a joke... he's probably got tears of laughter rolling down his face every night from reading our furious posts.  he is just too much the stereotypical "hellfire and brimstone" or whatever you call it preacher.  it's just amazing to think of anyone like him still existing in this day and age (well, i know they exist somewhere, but come on, why the heck would they ever want to hang out in this forum?!?!)  this is just too ridiculous, this whole thing!  it's a total farce!  and even if he's for real, well, we're not getting anywhere with this... i'm gonna TRY to ignore him.... really...  ah who am i kidding, i'll probably think up another thing to say to him.[:I]  but i'm gonna darn well try to ignore him!  []

i tried uploading my own avatar a couple of days ago... it gave me a message that said that my avatar has successfully uploaded, and will be reviewed.  how long does that usually take?  i kinda got confused and thought maybe it didn't work, so i tried it 2 more times... so the same avatar got uploaded about 3 times.  the avatar legend says that i haven't uploaded anything, though.  and on my "edit profile" page, it says i haven't selected an avatar.  i'm confused... did my uploads work?  when will it finally show up?

ok, i hope i can explain myself well with this question... ok, people are always giving stories and examples of how they were saved or warned away from death by some mysterious sign, or a guardian angel or some such thing.  at the same time, when someone actually dies from a horrible accident or something, people say "well, i guess it was his/her time to go... god has called them home," or something like that.  why do guardian angels or mysterious occurences or miracles happen to some people, and not others?  why will one person be lifted up from a fall by an invisible force, while others will be left to plummet?  hmm how can i explain this...  

so if when someone dies, it was simply "their time to go", and then if someone gets rescued by a guardian angel, does that mean that they had a close call of dying before they were supposed to die?  could there be instances when the spirits that look out for us fail in rescuing people, and people end up dying before they were supposed to?  is there really any way of knowing if someone died "before their time" or when they were scheduled to go?  or is the "it was his/her time to go" just people's lame attempts at comforting each other?  i know this is a weird question.  it's just when a loved one dies, and then there's all these stories about people being saved by mysterious forces, you tend to wonder where the dead one's guardian was.  and if it really was their time to go.

ok, i've only had about 3 OBE experiences, but i noticed in each one there is a feeling of being watched, usually by something ominous.   my first experience, i didn't know i was having an OBE.  i just woke up, and saw my room so vividly clear and as it is in "real life", and found myself paralyzed.  i didn't see anyone in the room, but i felt like there was this presence, staring at me, and it was very scary and, uh, not friendly feeling at all.  then i found my body lifting off the bed against my will, except for my head & neck, which stayed on the pillow.  i woke up, and thought it was just the most mind-blowingly vivid dream i had ever had.  

years later, i was lying in bed and suddenly felt a terrifyingly scary presence immediately, and i could see my dark room around me, but not very well because there were all these colors swirling around in my vision and i could hear these whispery, swishy noises.  i was paralyzed, and through the colors, i could see these small, childlike dark figures standing around me, at least six of them, 3 on each side (which was weird, considering my bed was right up against the wall).  i figured that that evil staring feeling was coming from them.  i didn't know i was having an OBE, and figured they were aliens come to bring me to their ship and err, probe me.  i was terrified, but then i got angry that i should be so helpless and that they could do whatever they wanted to me.  i wasn't about to be an easy victim, and i started to struggle and tried to speak and tell them to leave me alone, but of course i couldn't speak, so i thought it at them, since supposedly aliens are telepathic.  eventually i managed to whisper "leave me alone" and i broke out of that state.  the experience was so scary i did some research and found out that it was an OBE (or the start of one), not an alien abduction.  

anyway, the third experience i had was after my research, and after having read a book about OBE's.  i was staying at my brother's apartment, and i was totally exhausted after two nights of getting hardly any sleep.  i woke up from some disturbing dreams, and i was on my side, thinking about my dreams.  i felt like someone was behind me, watching me, but i just kinda laughed at myself because i was letting my dreams creep me out and make me paranoid, like after watching a scary movie.  i just laid there and tried not to let the feeling get to me.  i continued to think, and then suddenly, an electric shock ran through my body.  i was like, "oh sh*t!  i'm having an OBE!" because i remembered that the book i read stated that sometimes you feel a shock go through you and you get "zapped" out of your body.  so i got up and explored the room, but didn't have too much of a feeling of being watched (perhaps i was ignoring it in my excitement).  

i had read somewhere that during OBE's, there is almost always a feeling of being watched.  why is that?  are we more paranoid in our astral bodies?  does it always feel like an ominous presence?  do you really always feel it, or does it eventually just go away?  what do you think this presence could possibly be?  it seems to come from nowhere and everywhere.  i'd like to hear some theories from everyone, especially more experienced OBE'ers, since i'm still a newbie at that stuff.  thanks!

ok, here's a situation:  let's say this person is curious about magick, and does research through many books, to make sure that he's not getting in over his head and doing something that is not for everyone.  he learns from various sources that magick:  is basically like prayer, that anyone can do it, and that it is mainly your intent that powers it... the materials used and all that aren't totally necessary, they just help you focus.  the books sound very positive toward anyone wanting to get involved (they are aimed at people who are new to the magick/wicca stuff), and contain simple, positive, harmless spells for beginners.  he learns about the 3-fold law and that as long as your spell is not harmful to anyone, and you remember to include in your thoughts that the spell should be for the good of all who may be involved, things should be ok. and he learns that spells should not be used for controlling others or for greedy, selfish motives.  the person decides to give it a try, since wicca sounds very positive & spiritual, and in touch with nature and he would like to try a spell and see if it works.  he decides to try a spell for better luck, since he tends to have not such great luck.  he finds a simple spell, where you light a candle at each direction of the compass, and say a "prayer" at each point.  the very next day, his luck goes totally downhill.  his house gets flooded while no one's home from a broken pipe under the sink, and a few days later a family member dies a very sudden, unpredictable death, and there's no improvement of his crappy luck in sight.  
   is this just mere coincidence, or did something go horribly wrong w/the spell?  was it possible for things to get twisted around into something horrible, and a spell for good luck got changed into a curse?  is it possible that some negative spirits could have stepped in and ruined things?  or is it a karma thing?  or could there be something wrong with this person spiritually that could have tainted his attempt?  or maybe he's being punished?  cursed by someone else?  now, i know that sometimes when bad things happen, sometimes it turns out for the best.  but nothing good that could happen could ever be good enough to make up for the death of a loved one.  was this just one big case of pure coincidence, or what?  he kind of feels that it may not have been his fault, but he still gets kind of worried that maybe something did go wrong.  needless to say, this person is afraid to touch another magick spell again!

i'm still in the process of trying to master having OBE's... only had a couple accidently, so unfortunately i have no experiences like that to share.  but anyway, maybe someone could try setting up a soft ball of clay or something that you could try manipulating during an OBE... maybe that wouldn't be as hard as trying to actually move an object somewhere else.

i definitely think that animals are sentient beings... it's pretty arrogant for humans to think that we are the only "intelligent" and "aware" creatures on the planet.  living with animals and studying them, there is no doubt in my mind that they are sentient.  i think it's pretty likely that animals project, because they tend to be more sensitive than us about "supernatural" occurances and such.  animals (and human children) tend to sense presences and all that more than adult humans do because they are more in touch with their feelings and spirit.  so i don't see why dogs shouldn't happen to visit the astral.  i don't know if they consciously do so, but probably they at least get there by mistake a lot.  i theorize that it's probably something they naturally do, that it's something that's as much a part of their life as anything else.  maybe what happened when you heard the voices is that when your dogs "spoke" to you, it was in their own "dog language", but your mind interpreted it into something that you would understand.  i think there's a good chance you encountered your dog.  maybe you should figure out some way to experiment with it, and find out for sure!  []

whoah, weird!  after i posted the previous response, suddenly the rabbit disappeared and now there's the photo.

well, i still see the bunny rabbit... i've seen it this whole time.  pretty weird that some people see a photo and others a rabbit.  i don't think i've ever seen the photo, though.  i always figured you picked the psycho-bunny on purpose.  it must have to do with our browsers or something.

interesting ideas.... thanks for sharing your thoughts!  []

[instead of stating it as if that's what YOU think we are]

all i can say is, point of view does not make something so.  i know that in his point of view we sound like we are nagging and annoying him, but that does not mean that YOU should be assuming that that's what we are doing in truth.  you came straight out and said that my mom and i are being aggressive and nagging.  if you want to "constructively" help me you should just kindly and tactfully point out that no matter what we do, he will see it as nagging or attacking, so we should just not even bother saying anything, instead of stating it as if that's what YOU think we are:  aggressive, nagging women.  your approach is rude, in my opinion.  maybe i'm overly sensitive, but i don't think that the "uh-uh, honey" approach is the best you could have taken.  some similar statements have been made in previous posts, and were done in a polite, nicely stated manner.  the below quotes just sound like you think these things about us, without even knowing exactly what my mom and i have done, or said, or anything.  they are stated as if they are your point of view, not my dad's.

quote:Taking an advesarial or a guilt-trip approach to him is not going to win you any favours. You only succeed in making this a combative situation.

Start to heal the rift between the two of you by telling him you're sorry for being an anti-smoking Nazi.That is basically how most smokers view aggresive non-smokers such as yourself

And despite what you may feel like doing, pushing him, nagging him, harrassing him, etc  

Tell him how you feel in a CONSTRUCTIVE manner, but a friendly manner and basically ask him to forgive you for being too agressive but that you only did it because you love him.  

Remind him that it's only fair (do it nicely and in a mature manner) that he conceed this to you guys if you and your mother are going to lay off him.  ("lay off him"... that's what we do most of the time.  my mom has only said things on occasion, particularly when he's having health problems.)

 

i understand what you are saying about his point of view, but his point of view is already very apparent to us in his reaction to even our friendliest rare attempts, that's why we don't even say anything to him anymore.  but in your statements there's not enough differentiation between his point of view and your own... that's where the problem comes in.

the truth of the matter is, we have said things so rarely to him (and when we do, we always "tiptoe" lightly around his feelings when we do to make sure he doesn't take it as nagging or guilt-tripping since he's so freakin' sensitive), and lately for a very long time we have not said a single word to him.  i think i've only said something once this whole time, and my mom usually only said something when he was having problems with his health and he was expressing his misery about how he can't breath or something like that!  she's only asked about his plans to quit (rather timidly) a couple of times. we never asked him to quit for our sake because we know it won't work, since he seems annoyed enough if we show any kind of suffering from his smoke.  my mom has asked him (politely, as always) a few times if he could smoke outside or in another room, or open a window, but he's too lazy to do it and just doesn't think about it unless we want to have to keep reminding him, which we don't want to, since we know he'll get annoyed.  we have left his quitting entirely up to him because we know that there is nothing we can do about it, and that doing it for our sakes is not enough to drive him to quit (it is very obvious from his lack of concern for us).  but we can't help but cough sometimes (i have sensitive lungs from some past lung infection) and it is not an attempt at guilt-tripping.  we just cough.  

the purpose of this topic was to ask for help for him outside of all those quitting-smoking techniques, because he tries them and they do not work.  he's successful at hypnotising other people for their problems, but i don't know what the deal is with hypnosis on him... it just doesn't seem to work.  we know that quitting is entirely up to him and his own inner strength, but from what i have seen there is simply not enough there for him, and my mom says he already has emphysema (sp?) and he has tons of other health problems, and well, his time is gonna run out all too soon.   he's been wanting to quit, and has been working at it, but failing pretty miserably.  i know he will succeed eventually, because he has succeeded a few times before.  this time around has just been particularly worrisome, and all i wanted was to see if it was a good or bad thing to ask for people's prayers or whatever to help him along.  i have this fear that time is kinda running out.

my statements about how the smoking is not just a problem for him, but for us, too, was to illustrate that it's important for more than one person.... i'm not just wanting to save someone who seems rather unconcerned about his own health, i'm also wanting this for the sake of the rest of the family, that's how intensely he smokes.  even the dogs smell like smoke!  the statements were not anything i've ever mentioned to him, ever.  i know he'd just get irritated, and so the complaints have never touched his ears.  the complaints were just to the people of this forum.  so he has never had to deal with that kind of guilt-trip.

anyway, since i first put up this topic a long while ago, it seems he's lightening up a bit on the smoking.  guess he's starting to gain some inner strength.  well, thanks again people for your helpful posts.

[you are jumping to conclusions about what we have been doing.]

WTF???  I never said that we were nagging, harassing or anything!  my mom has only just gently hinted at him quiting, and made subtle statements or jokes, and i never even say anything to him because i know he'll get mad.  even with my mom's subtlety and/or polite questioning on his plans to quit, he gets mad.  i was only pointing out that it does not OCCUR to him to be considerate to the rest of us.  my brother, who's a smoker, usually opens a window or goes outside, and whenever he notices his smoke bothering someone, he tries to find a way that it WON'T bother anyone.  there are smokers who think about others, and there are smokers who don't.  many smokers i have known usually consider others.  my dad doesn't... and if he notices that we're bothered by it, if we end up coughing or whatever, he either gets annoyed or ignores it.  some smokers get really snippy and defensive very easily, and he is one.  you are jumping to conclusions about what we have been doing.  we have been FAR from aggressive, hints at him quiting are only mentioned once in a while, and we always try to state things in a way that is polite and careful of his feelings.

this probably sounds like a stupid question, but, as many times as i've heard the phrase "know thyself", i always wonder exactly how does one go about knowing thyself?  like how do you know when you have achieved that level of knowing everything about yourself?  what exactly should you be looking for?  i mean, i have an idea of what it means, but it seems like we all have so many layers to ourselves, so many little contradictions and stuff.  how do we know when we know all that there is to know about ourselves?  argh, i hope this makes sense.

what do you define as being a person's "true name"?  is it simply just your full name, like first, middle and last?  or are you referring to something a little more... uhhh... "mystical"?  i mean, in this society, we're always having to give our full names out all the time, so anyone can access it whenever... they can just look at your driver's license, or ask someone who knows you well, or something like that.