The different planes

[kuurt]

People talk about the different planes, such as the astral plane, the etheoric plane, the mental plane, etc.  When you astral project, how many different planes is it possible to go to? 

Are there any books out there that talk about people's experiences in these different planes? 

[Xanth]

People talk about the different planes, such as the astral plane, the etheoric plane, the mental plane, etc.  When you astral project, how many different planes is it possible to go to? 

Are there any books out there that talk about people's experiences in these different planes?

It depends ENTIRELY upon who you talk to. 

There's the classical theory of this stuff... which I simply don't subscribe to.  I believe the classical theory is all horribly wrong and too much based around ideological concepts and narrow-minded human observation.

In other words... just experience.  Create your own map for yourself.  It only applies to you anyway. 

[ThaomasOfGrey]

Fundamentally every plane of existence within out current frame of reference is a personal reality. To elaborate, the reality you experience is not pure, it is always an interpretation. We currently experience the human interpretation of one physical rule-set reality.

Discounting other intelligent entities for now, there is a myriad of realities you can create. Physical experiences like this one, hyper real experiences, completely abstract non-physical experiences.

Then there are realities similar to this one in this sense that other entities co-experience it, and they also come in the same flavours as I mentioned above and no doubt others that we don't understand yet.

There are near infinite states of existence to explore. We can't put any real numbers on it but the end game is to co-experience all of it - merge your consciousness with the frame of mind we would refer to as "god".

[Volgerle]

As we all know: A map never is the landscape. There are many different ways to experience the non-physical. Labels are approximations, sometimes they are useful, because differences exist. Sometimes they are metaphors, sometimes we like them because they are sheer poetry to us (such as the 'old' planes-view), sometimes they are 'conventions' because we need some signposts and concepts to speak about with other people. This is all okay. We just need not keep in mind to not get too dependent on labels and maps.

[Szaxx]

The various planes is an idealistic view from ages ago where 7 x 7 planes came about from the turn of the 1900's or so. They existed well before this time but we're never boxed up and an attempt at categorising them made. It's definitely a personal thing. I've been to many states of mind that defy existence as we know it, words fail to explain. Keep up with your own experiences and you'll find what you need to see to progress on your own level.