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The Field of Experience is everything that appears to me in this moment as the simple presence of being...

In my contemplations this came to me on the subject...

Are you aware of your thoughts?

What is this 'you' that is aware of the thoughts?

Science would say the 'brain'. The science community tells us that the brain is the source of awareness/consciousness. This unfounded principle is often the starting point for many forays into trying to understand awareness.

However, this presumption can be swept away as illogical in one very simple exploration.

Whatever is the source of awareness can not also be dependent upon awareness first for its own existence.

To explain - the scent of a flower requires the presence of awareness first to render its smell knowable in your experience.

The sight of a sunset requires the presence of awareness first to render the sight knowable.

And, the human body/mind/brain also requires the presence of awareness first to render it knowable in your experience.

So, if the existence of the brain (that which is supposedly the source of awareness) also requires the presence of awareness first to render it knowable it can not also be the source of awareness.

It can not be the source and simultaneously be entirely dependent upon that which it creates for its own sense of existence.

Therefore, the source of awareness can only be something that has no objective (object-like) qualities (because all objects require awareness first and foremost). Only awareness itself fits this criteria.

So, with this simple understanding in mind...

No human being has awareness because objects don't have awareness. Only awareness has awareness. We are all that same one awareness (people often present this last sentiment a lot but without explanation of why this is so).

The mind is presenting to us the illusion of separate awarenesses within all these human body's but the mind is really more like a small magnifying glass placed on the dimensionless field of awareness giving the impression of a small contracted individual person living with its own personal consciousness. Peel back the layers of thought that create the fiction and only one thing remains.

Now ask yourself again...

Are you aware of your thoughts?

What is this 'you' that is aware of the thoughts?

In my contemplations this came to me. Perhaps it will resonate. Perhaps not.

'True reality is that before thought arises.'

A thought is and can only ever be a minds interpretation of experience. If I look at the true knowns of my experience I know that whatever 'I am' is having an experience right now. What that experience is exactly is a little unknown. My mind is doing its best job to speculate on this experience.

For that reason alone my experience of this so called reality can only ever be a version of reality as long as mind is present to qualify it.

True reality is a thought away.

True reality requires no thoughts, ideas or concepts to be the way it is. It just is. As soon as a thought arises then that's not it. It becomes a version of reality. It may be beautiful and wonderful but it is still just a speculation on truth.

If I take my immediate experience right now... Thought has organized and labeled my visual field. It has divided up true reality into bite sized pieces for its own convenience. Here is a wall, a chair, my body, a computer (here is space and time) etc...Thought has done the same with sounds and sensations. Labeling everything.

Before thought arises True Reality might say experience is, single, whole, unitary, indivisible.

That's the elusive Oneness right there. Staring you in the face all along - just the absence of a thought away from you.

I find it curious that Wholeness seems to be all that we ever are and yet the mind divides experience up into 'me' and 'everything else' then we spend the next 80 years on this planet trying to reclaim some sense of wholeness.

And we look for it in things. If I just get this car, this house, this relationship, manifest this or that, have this spiritual experience...then this unending sense of lack will abate. I might have some semblance of wholeness.

It's already present in this moment. We are just misperceiving true reality. In so doing we are creating our own suffering.

I dont think truth can be found looking through the lens of the mind. You will only ever see an exquisite interpretation of reality.

A question out there for those interested. I have my own thoughts but wanted to see what others think on the matter.

I'm interested to know what is at the core of why you want to have OBEs/Astral Projections.

I am keen to hear what is the reason for people. Let me know your thoughts.

Hi,

I haven't been on in a while. Life and all that. Hope people are having lots of good spiritual experiences.

Really just came on to do some shameless advertising (but as an admin - what the hell. I guess i'm afforded certain liberties)...

I have been making a guided journey meditation progressive web app in my spare time. Takes you on 3d sound journeys to explore your consciousness. Might appeal to some people. If it interests you then take a peak...

(It's a mobile phone only situation)

www.lemonskies.app

Hey,

I haven't been on the forum for a long time. Life gets in the way I suppose.

I just wanted to offer remote healing to anyone that is in need. I have been working with healing energies for the last 15 years and just want to offer it to a wider audience.

Send me a PM and I'll let you know more

Here's what I filmed in my CHEC unit after a week spent in focus 49 at TMI. I'm still undecided so you be the judge. I've discounted bugs so maybe dust? But for me some of the movements have intelligence...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJIvd5EoOn4

Having gone through the fourms quite a lot over the years I've noticed certain trends in people's approaches to getting OoB - namely that a number of people rush into OB techniques without learning certain key mental concepts and exercises first then wonder why they never seem to get anywhere and ultimately get frustrated. A bit like constructing a building without laying the necessary foundations.

Typical things I see in threads are..."well I think my body feels relaxed. Am I relaxed enough? Am I thinking to much? I can't really feel my legs anymore but I can sense my arms...at what point am i supposed to roll out?...Am I there yet?...should I feel this at that stage...etc...." This may apply to you. It may not.

I don't personally think there's one specific technique that will work right off the bat for most people. I think over time you tailor a method to what works best for you so I'm not about to spam you with a revolutionary new OBE technique guaranteed success. It doesn't exist.. But what I do think is that a correct mental attitude is one of the most key things to going into meditation or OBE practice. I get the impression from a number of people who aren't successful they are going in blind, latching on to an OBE technique that sounds cool and going with it and hoping for the best.

So my personal tip is Peter Russell. He offers a short donation only course (pay $1. If you love it pay $20. Whatever suits you). First off, that tells you that this guy is not out to make money. But that's irrelevant because you can very quickly tell if someone knows their stuff and he is very wise. The course is all about letting go...of everything. It's okay to make mistakes in meditation. Just accepting it all as part of the process.

You won't get out of body on this course but it will mentally place you in a far better position for what you do afterwards and probably ultimately save you a lot of wasted OBE practice time further down the line.


http://www.peterrussell.com/HMWET/index.php

Looking through TMI's new programs for next year I see they have got Tom Campbell to do a My Big TOE workshop. Very cool

http://www.monroeinstitute.org/programs/my-big-toe-intensive


By the look of it it doesn't seem to be a one of either. That would be awesome if he was a regular trainer again at TMI

Has anyone seen the full documentary?

From the preview it looks good. Interviews with people like Tom Campbell, Bill Buhlman, and other TMI trainers.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GCnVJg_7ds

Just wanted to add a new take on the benefits of wearing an eye mask. Obviously it has the benefit of sensory deprivation but I found another very good use of an eye mask. To illustrate my point I will mention an example.

I am non-physically standing at the foot of my bed. This time there were no vibrations. I simply stood up like I would physically. I try to walk through the wall but this time it feels pretty solid so I use the door. Standing at my front door I look down to see I am just in my underpants. I am just about to step outside when I realise I have doubts as to whether I really am in the non-physical or this is just the physical. Sometimes it can be hard to tell especially in the initial stages when things can be a little hazy. What if this is the physical and I'm just about to step outside in my underpants. I can't risk it. I have to go back to the bed. And it is only when you get into bed and realign that you realise you were OoB all along but the seeming lack of disparity between the two realities causes you to end a perfectly good OBE for fear of your neighbours ridiculing your pants.

But if I am wearing a sleep mask before my projection attempt I can mentally quiz myself about any doubts I have about wondering outside. "I lay down with an eye mask on. Therefore if I have perception right now then this is definitely an OBE no matter how similar it may appear to be to the physical. If this was the physical I would just see the blackness of the eye mask"

Simple but useful.

Good talk from Bill at TMI on confronting personal beliefs in the OB state and how they inhibit consciousness exploration...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlZNmwCD1pA

["Has anyone had success in experiencing the same degree of meditation when you convert the hemisync CD's to an Ipod?"posted 1 month agoChiel Varkevisser 1 month ago • "The Monroe Institute recommends, when converting the CDs to MP3 format to use at least 196 Kbps bitrate for them to work."]

Thought this info was pretty important as some people may be wasting their time. This is an extract from a discussion on linkedin:


"Has anyone had success in experiencing the same degree of meditation when you convert the hemisync CD's to an Ipod?"
posted 1 month ago

Chiel Varkevisser 1 month ago • "The Monroe Institute recommends, when converting the CDs to MP3 format to use at least 196 Kbps bitrate for them to work."


I guess this only really applies to people who have downloaded hemi-sync under somewhat shady circumstances (and i'm guessing this accounts for a lot of people). If so chances are it aint working properly for you as a lot of downloadable hemi-sync out there is at only 128kpbs. Occasionally some is at 320 kpbs but not much.

In a way it's a good advert for not downloading illegally as you may have been wasting your time with it but never even realized.

Dont know if this resource has been posted before. This guys experiences are based on techniques he learned at TMI and the IAC. Interesting accounts and methods explored.

Enjoy.

http://www.obexperiences.com/

Hey,

I'm attending one of TMI's new mini weekend programs which gets you to master focus 10 and 12. I just wondered if anyone here had attended one and how good they were. After all if you can master focus 10 then this the springboard to so much more.

Cheers

I don't know if this works for everyone or just for me so I wanted to post it to see if anyone else can have success with it. The beauty of it is you simply go to sleep to induce it...

This indirect method works about 70 percent of the time which is pretty good considering it requires basically no technique. This morning I phased 4 times as a result of it.

1. First off it only works for me in the morning time due to the nature of the approach.
2. After being up for a while (sending my partner to work early) I go back to bed to do an exercise - this entails listening to a hemi-sync focus 10 exercise. Something like Freeflow 10. I only discovered this approach through the hemi-sync exercise failing.
3. So after a non-productive exercise to focus 10 I curl into a fetal position and simply relax with the intent to drift off to sleep.
4. From here I either fall asleep or I inadvertently project. I believe the reason I project so consistently at this point is because the hemi-sync has still left my brain in a certain state and all that is missing is for me is to let go a little more which attempting to go to sleep does (if I do fall asleep it is generally down to lack of sleep the night before),
5. The projection occurs one of two ways (obviously this is for me personally but who knows - this approach may yield a certain type of projection):

                         - As I reach the wake-sleep threshold there is a break in consciousness but my critical faculties are brought back to sharpness by certain pre-projection symptoms. For me this is not exactly vibrations but a slight buzzing mainly in my arms then a shift occurs. There is no rising out the body.
                         - Or I suddenly become conscious as an image appears before me that I suddenly become immersed in.

I am keen to see if this is the case for other people. For me another bonus of it (other than being a very simple projection method) is that it restores my confidence a little in my phasing progress. As you know progress can be slow and seem a little pointless at times when you have dry spells. For me this approach acts as something to spur me on and regain my excitement about the whole subject when things seem to have come to a stand still.

However, I do not consider it a long term approach simply because it is not controlled (sort of like the wake back to bed method. Good to get some under your belt and get some confidence up). I do stress though that doing this at night is pointless as you just go to sleep.

Hey,

I don't want this to be seen as spam as I'm not actualy affiliated with the course I'm promoting. I simply desperately want to attend but they need the numbers first so I thought I do some cavassessing for them.

It's an introductory 2 day hemi-sync course by TMI outreach facilitators near Bristol. In the 2 days they get you simpy to master moving freely between Focus 10 and 12. It costs 150 pounds which I think is very reasonable if you compare it with full TMI course (about 1300 pounds for 6 days).

Part of the reason why I have posted this is because the first dates are set for May, which for me is a long time to wait and I'd like them to bring it forward to maybe feb/march time. But to do this I think they may need to see evidence of interest (which is part of the problem. It seems people in the UK dont know much about TMI at present).

So if you are interested then comment back so I can give them an idea of how many people may want to attend.

For more info go here...

http://parsonagesideretreat.webs.com/apps/calendar/showEvent?calID=4320253&eventID=108363019&next=showMonth%3fcalID%3d4320253%26month%3d4%26year%3d2011

I have had a recurrence of this now perhaps four times. What I see is depth in the blackness a bit like I am looking at the inside of a very dark box (it definitely looks like it has shape - the inside of a cube). On the far side inner wall is a video screen playing some non-descript footage. One time it was like an old film from the turn of the century. Very grainy and jumpy. I think the content was a man handing a woman a large cake. This morning it was the credits of a film company with their logo.

Up until this morning I thought maybe I'd stumbled in the 3d blackness of Focus 21 and was just viewing a video screen but the are discrepancies with this. Firstly, the space feels cube-like rather that an infinite space and secondly, as I discovered this morning, I couldn't seem to alter it. By all accounts focus 21 is very pliable in regard to you intent. This was not. I seemed to be stuck there.

Anyone with similar account?

Of late I am noticing a trend in what I see in focus 10. This is non-alphabetic symbols either in the blackness before me or set against astral tunnels I seem to be flying through. I look closely at them but they really don't mean a thing to me. Anyone have similar experiences?

What led to my latest experience was in trying one of Franks techniques. This was the one to connect with guidance where you just imagine a guide coming to you and surrounding you with love and protection. After I had phased into my subjective landscape and messed around a little I suddenly got round to thinking I would try Franks method. As soon as I started thinking about a guide I saw a ball of light before me then the subjective landscape just dissolved to blackness (of focus 10 I think). Then what followed was pattern after pattern of non-alphabetic symbols before me. Couldn't make head nor tail of them.