Hi! I'm new but I need some help guys!

[ShyGuy23]

Hi all!  

This is my first post... so here goes:

All my life, I was raised Catholic.  I've read about saint's visions of Hell, Near Death Experiences and so on...

I've been trying to AP for a little over three months now, but there is a deep-rooted fear carried over from my Catholic raising of going to Hell.  I know from my reading that some think we create our own hell, some think that there is no hell (we just go on in another form) and so on.  But for some reason, I can't get this fear out of my subconscious.  It affects me to the point where when I lay down to practice AP, the fear and anxiety is so overwhelming that I can't concentrate, or I end up with that weird 'goosebumps' feeling.  This is proving to an extremely stubborn obstacle.

Is there anyone who has experience getting deep rooted beliefs 'out of your system'?  If so, I could really use the help!

Thanks!

P.S.  If Mr. Bruce is floating around in here, could you help me out here too!  You have tons more experience than I.

[ShyGuy23]

Thanks for the response man, I will take your advice and let you know how it goes!

[Heather B.]

If it makes you feel better, I'm a practicing Catholic, from a Catholic family, and as such, I do believe in Hell.  But I've never had any reason to feel that practicing astral projection would land me there.  In fact, I've only been benefitted by my studies, in many ways--spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional.  In my opinion, that's a pretty good indication that it can't be a bad thing.

If you can just relax (using the hypnosis, for instance) I think you will be able to work out your fears for yourself, and begin to realize that it is greatly beneficial for you as well!  

Good luck--don't give up--and have fun!

[CFTraveler]

Maybe you can do some historical research on where the ideas of hell came from and how it became a part of traditional christianity-  There are some excellent books written about it by bible researchers. (I wish I could remember the titles) there was one by Dominic Crossan about some of those ideas- This is what I recommend- If you have an ingrained belief in hell as eternal damnation and realize that it was adopted over the years for a specific reason, maybe it will free you from the belief of it- and by the way, you should know that he Catholic Church recently released a document changing some of the 'official' stances on the Bible's historicity and something about limbo also.  I have the link somewhere.  When I  find it I'll either edit it in this post or I'll make another.
Please don't fear.  Fear is hell.