Making contact with people who have died.

[garrett2]

I recently finished reading Journeys Out of the Body today and I remember one part where Robert Monroe visited his dead father while out of body. After reading it it made me wonder if anyone on this forum has ever done this. Please, I would like to hear about any experience anyone has had with this sort of thing.

[Summerlander]

02/04/2011:

I had a dream about a friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a long time. His name his Mark and I think he is currently living in Malaysia. In the dream, me, him and other friends were intruders in a big house where we found things that we liked. I was finding things that related to interests that me and Mark shared, especially to do with music. Then, Mark said that the owner of the house was coming and that he would not like to see me there so I left. Once I stepped outside, I became lucid. I was in a town full of casinos houses, arcade games and other entertainment. The scenery was no different to the waking world in quality. If I hadn't become lucid, I would have believed it to be physically real. I knelt down to feel the ground beneath me. The tactile sensation I experienced was realistic. I could still see things clearly in the dream even when I experienced a hissing pulsation in my head. I closed my eyes and opened them again to find myself in darkness. I decided to go somewhere random as I didn't have anything in mind and experienced motion before regaining physical awareness. I remained still in bed and it didn't take long for a strong vibrational surge to ensue. I rolled over and floated upwards and out of the body. Vision came not long after that. I hovered near the ceiling directly above the bed where Stacey lay, and, oddly, where I should be was my sister Vanessa tossing and turning as though she was having a nightmare. It didn't make any sense. Vanessa lives with my mother all the way across London from me. I started to explore the environment and glided into the hallway. I was in a metaphysical replica of my house. The atmosphere was sombre but the colours were sharpish and structures were well defined. I stepped into the hallway mirror slowly and went through it as though it was a portal to another world. On the other side I encountered what could be regarded as an small and darker extension of the dream house I was in. I scanned the room and found my deceased stepfather Sergio in the corner next to a luminescent mirror-entrance. He looked as young as a pre-teenager but he possessed a manly adult voice when he spoke. We greeted each other before he offered to play an acoustic guitar that was propped up against the wall. I noticed that the floor of that room was as soft as a mattress and was covered by blankets. As Sergio started to strum the guitar, I heard a funky bass line in my head which sounded like Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Then I heard the acoustic sounds which seemed to compliment the bass line well. I was overcome with emotion and started crying. He stopped playing and stared at me with his child-like face. He grabbed my arm and a tear escaped from his eye. We embraced and I felt that reality evanesce to be replaced by the awareness of laying in bed coupled with mild sizzling in my head.

[garrett2]

That's amazing. But it sounded very sad as well. Did you feel good about the experience afterwards? Almost like it assured you that he was ok after his death?
I'm asking because I sometimes worry about what will happen to my grandmother when she dies. And If making contact is possible, it might make me stop worrying if shes ok after death.

[Summerlander]

Don't worry. She will be fine. I've met my stepfather several times and he has even given me info which I didn't know and checked out...either that or I possessed the knowledge subconsciously and didn't even know about it. The first time I visited him in an OOBE was like catching him living out some sort of fantasy...he was surprised at my presence...like I was a ghost in his fantasy world. Then he surprised me in lucid dreams...

Btw, he killed himself! He was an alcoholic who developed cirrhosis. Nothing punished him in the afterlife. Your grandmother will be fine. The journey is easier to begin with if she maintains a peaceful state of mind. By the way, I've been reading The Tibetan Book of the Dead and it is interesting to note that one of the intermediate states upon death is like that of a lucid dream or astral projection where the individual acquires mirage like vision. A body like the physical is perceived and all five senses are retained because that is what one got used to during the Earthly life. In the non-physical realm, many apparitional fields can be experienced.

Buddhists consider death to be a great teacher and the greatest adventure of all. That could be something that your grandmother could look forward to when she's about to go. There really is nothing to worry about.

On the other hand, if you believe that death truly is the cessation of being - which doesn't make much sense to me anyway - your grandmother will still be all right because the cessation of being means no experience which equals no pain. In Buddhism this is nirvana, bliss, which is a very difficult state to attain. It is not given to you on a plate because the self has a tendency to cling to cyclical existence...also, no state of mind is permanent so even the state of not being is temporary - meaning that one way or another you will spring back into existence.

Buddhism is such a great philosophy. According to the Bardo Thodol, there really isn't anything to worry about death. Consciousness as the ground of all being is called Dharmakaya. Within this, the existence of several realms is made possible. The transcendent realm of archetypes is called Sambhogakaya and the manifest realm of experience is called Nirmanakaya. There are several states of consciousness through which the self can experience. These states are known as "bardos" in Tibet and they are categorised as follows:

1st BARDO - Birth.

2nd BARDO - Lifetime. This entails childhood, adulthood and the moment before death.

3rd BARDO - Death.

4th BARDO - The start of death's journey. The "clear" light of consciousness appears before the soul (surviving self) and, if recognised, liberation from the karmic wheel is attained.

5th BARDO - This state mimics the 2nd bardo in life. The self encounters the forms of the archetypal world (metaphysical ?). The clear light is now seen as "dull" and its recognition will embark you on a nirvanic path where one becomes liberated only in the non-material world of Sambhogakaya. You are still, however, bound by the karmic wheel of Samsara (the manifest world).

6th BARDO - If you fail to recognise the light at the 5th bardo, you will go through the samsaric path. This is the bardo of rebirth as the self has missed the opportunities to identify with pure consciousness.

[CFTraveler]

(I) wonder if anyone on this forum has ever done this. Please, I would like to hear about any experience anyone has had with this sort of thing.

Yep, my dad, my grandparents, and now my mom.  Although I haven't seen her in months.

[garrett2]

That's a releif. I thought sometimes people went to hell or some other place like that and they didn't know how to get out. That makes me feel much better about it. Thank you.

[NickisDank]

So let's say a serial killer ends up committing suicide upon being caught, what is his transition like once he dies? Does he go to a place that he creates for a little bit? And if so how would he end up realizing he actually died.

[CFTraveler]

There's another thread all about this- I'll see if I can find a link.
I found a link in which I explained how I see it.
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_projection_experiences/a_trip_to_hell-t32615.0.html;msg272639#msg272639

Obviously, there are others, it's just easier to find my own.

[Timandra]

I would like to hear about any experience anyone has had with this sort of thing.

I met a former friend when I was having a lucid dream last year, twice. She died several years ago, and she told me that she had visited me twice. I said to her that she was mistaken, because she never visited my house. But the next morning I knew she meant she had visited me twice after she passed on, in the house where I live now. In the dream I didn't have enough awareness to know that.
In the second LD she gave me something that I had to give to someone else, but I forgot completely what it was after I woke up.  
So in both cases she contacted me, I was quite happy to see her.