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9 Jul 2004 @ 12:27, by craiglang. Altered States
I had a fascinating dream, which I suspect has some very important meanings. In the dream, I was part of a volunteer program which provided people to escort prisoners from one place to another in Europe (yes, I know, it makes no sense, but remember that it WAS a dream...). More >
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 30 Jun 2004 @ 11:37, by skookum. Altered States
My Personal Monster
Sometimes a person can have an experience that really defies the things you’ve been taught all your life. Human beings are very prone to self-deception, and I am not immune from this malady. I have not recently been able to do much meditation or reflection lately. My life seems to have taken a hectic turn recently. I do, however, try to remember the lessons I have been taught. More >
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 11 Jun 2004 @ 00:46, by ashanti. Altered States
Note the image here is copyright to the artist Colin Atkins. (Click on the link to see more of his stunning art). Dreams and the Dreaming is a subject that seems to be emerging more and more frequently. Ming writes about it here. I was privileged to be inducted into the Aboriginal Dreamtime by a small community living out in the great red desert in Western Australia. Reality is much more fluid, flexible, and yes, you can fly. It is a place, more than anything. Magical, dream-fluid, it is very beautiful indeed. Some traditional Aborigines live in the Dreamtime both when they are asleep, and awake. Interestingly, this is very similar to the !Num state that the San (Bushmen) of the Kalahari reach. The San are Africa's First people, before the Africans arrived. The San and the Aborigines are amazingly similar in ability to physically survive in harsh desert conditions that would kill off softened modern humans in a few days. For them, dreaming is integrally related to survival - they need to access this state of being in order to survive.
Perhaps that is what is starting to happen in the world now. More people are remembering their dreams, noting that they often go to the same places, have lucid dreams, and more and more is being exposed, layer upon layer lifting out old evils that have always been, but remained hidden. The layers of illusion are shifting, and a return to a more fluid reality - not so rigid and solidified - seems to be on the cards. With this more fluid state, less can be hidden - and that is perhaps why the denser, more rigid forces attempt to try and exterminate the Dreaming. But the Dreaming can never be exterminated. It is a deeper level of Being that is eternal, and well beyond the reach of the dense. More >
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 10 Jun 2004 @ 09:01, by ming. Altered States
More people seem to be writing about dreams they've had recently. And I've noticed myself that I'm suddenly dreaming a lot again. Every morning when I wake up, I've just been in an intensive dream. If I lie down for a nap, I dream very quickly. The dreamworld is suddenly much closer. And I have signs again of the more lucid kind of dreaming. Like flying dreams. Over the years I've had many dreams where I can fly. And in that kind of dream it always works the same way. Not like superman, but more like my body is really light, and if I kind of jump a certain way, I can then glide along for quite some time, only hitting the ground rarely. And once I get into the hang of it, I can take off a bit further over the ground. Always having to watch out for wires and that kind of thing. It requies quite some concentration and there's a certain aprehension involved in it. It is more like being able to miss the ground by a tricky balancing act than it is any rocket-powered superhero thing. But very cool, nevertheless.
I used to work much more deliberately on dreaming. I was into astral projection, lucid dreaming, Monroe's out of body experiences, Castaneda, Seth on Personal Reality, and whatever else I could get hold of that helped me dream more consciously or travel more deliberately in alternative realities. And one can quickly take it further if one puts one's mind to it. The most simple thing to start with is to write down one's dreams immediately, so one can get used to remembering them and being conscious of them. One can very well wake up several times every night and do that.
Then there are tricks for becoming more lucid. Lucid dreaming is essentially when you wake up inside the dream, being aware that you're dreaming, without leaving the reality you're in, but able to navigate around in it and explore it. One approach is to remind oneself frequently to check whether one is dreaming, even while awake. Then one might also remember to do so while in a dream. And then there are tricks like Castaneda's approach of trying to find one's hands when inside the dream. Which isn't easy. But if you can consciously become aware of your hands, then you can probably go a step further and do something with them.
For several years I had a job that allowed me to sit down and meditate for a few minutes every hour. And when I came home from the job I took a nap every day. This allowed me to be much closer to the dreamworld in general. I started frequently dreaming while awake. I'd sit by the computer and the wall to my side would dissolve and turn into a corridor or something, which I could walk down and interesting things would happen.
Or I would start dreaming by deliberately visualizing some other place before falling asleep. Frequently it turns into a dream reality, and things would start happening by themselves. And I would thus both fall asleep and wake up dreaming.
I would find that in the more lucid types of dreams, there would be certain places I'd frequently come back to. Not always the same place, but I'd often be aware that the place where I was a couple of nights before is "right over there". And the reality was very consistent. There's this place which is quite a bit like the society in the movie Brazil. It is very overcrowded, and there's like wires and cables and pipes everywhere, and shoddy building codes. I had a house and an appartment there. I'd often be driving or walking around looking for a place to sleep, ironically. And even if I found my own house, there would often be somebody else sleeping in my bed already. Very hard to hold on to one's property there.
Oh, and the more astral projection types of dreams that I could pretty much step into at will, where there were a number of consistencies too. My favorite approach of getting around was this surfboard, which I could fly on, like the Silver Surfer. Very different flying than the previously mentioned jumping and not hitting the ground type. And there was this blue-skinned Egyptian goddess ladyfriend I had there, whom I'd run into in all sorts of places.
Robert Monroe's out-of-body techniques is another approach again. I went through his various hemi-sync tapes, which essentially does some synchronization thing with the brain, to make it easy to let the body fall asleep while one stays awake. That part worked ok, but I didn't have any great success in going interesting places that way. You first have to drag your energy body out of your physical body, which isn't that straightforward. I didn't manage much more than lifting an arm or a leg that way. When I did manage by other means to do out-of-body experiences, I'd tend to be bouncing around and hitting walls in the darkness, finding it very hard to navigate.
Anyway, I do happen to believe that the worlds we can visit in dreaming is much more than just some recooked memories from one's day, or some random chemistry in the brain. I've seen too much to believe that kind of stuff. Although, sure, normal unconscious dreams have something to do with that. But the more interesting kinds of dreaming is something quite different. Something real.
I usually have found that my waking time is of higher quality when I spend more time dreaming. Solutions tend to appear by themselves, and inspiration is always close. Sometimes the full text of something I need to write appears fully formed.
So, I'm trying to form the intention here to dream more consciously again. I think we need to access more dimensions to solve our problems in the world. The reason we get stuck in things is usually that we think too one- or two-dimensionally about it. More fluidity and wholistic awareness is needed. And imagination and the ability to jump between diverse worlds and world views. Live, complex experience. More >
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9 Mar 2004 @ 11:51, by craiglang. Altered States
In the process of writing my article: "the Indigo Hypothesis" for the February MUFON Journal, I reread material from several researchers who have examined what it might be like to live in a psychic society. The pictures portrayed of life in such a society range from very postive, to very much less-so.
The darkest of these is probably from the author of the book "The Threat". In a number of remarks, both within the book, and in presentations at the international MUFON Symposium, etc., Dr. David Jacobs quotes descriptions by abductees, of what it seems to be like to be in the domain of the UFO/Close-Encounter phenomenon, and what it is like to be in frequent/continual psychic contact with the phenomenon. Dr. Jacobs draws some warnings about what it would be like to be in a psychic society, based upon what he has learned from the description of the phenomenal realm by many UFO abductees.
In verbal remarks at a past MUFON conference, more than one author portrayed a picture of a possible psychic society that was largely non-positive - principally because there would be no escape from it. To at least one author, the biggest downside of a psychic society would a large number of psychic voices - all audible to the mind, and of psychic ears that could hear your very thoughts. Like the Borg of Star Trek fame, or PSI-corps of the Babylon 5 world, we would be in some way collectivized or regimented. In short, unless one were somehow able to firewall off their own private thoughts and to partition public and private portions of one's mind, there would be little personal privacy.
Other authors are considerably more positive about the future of our mental/spiritual/psychic evolution. Authors such as Barbara Marx Hubbard in "Conscious Evolution", and Barbara Harris Whitfield in "Spiritual Awakening" present a much brighter picture of spiritual and psychic awakening. But in reading both of their books, I did not note them addressing this mental privacy issue which Dr. Jacobs and others have raised.
In a number of private conversations, people have suggested to me that the internet might be a prototype of the coming emergence of field consciousness. Could the internet be a model for a psychic society? What would the ramifications of this be?
I can think of upsides to this, but I can also think of some significant issues. On the positive side, it would allow perception of the human world around us much more clearly. A "broadband" view of human consciousness might (if used for benevolent purposes) be a very positive thing. In general, it is usually better to know more, rather than to know less.
The downside of the "internet" model however, is something that has been very prominent in recent times. The rapid ability to communicate with others allows us to send our thoughts all over the world on a moments notice. This can be positive, but it can also be quite negative.
At one time, in ages past, we wrote letters long-hand, sealed them with wax, and then posted them to our distant correspondants. Communication (especially written) was a relatively long, involved process, and allowed lots of time to think about what you had written, before sealing and sending it - in short, lots of time to count to 10. Now, as communications have tightened, this count-to-10 time has decreased more and more, until there is barely time to count at all... :-) Thus, as I have seen the growth of the internet over my adult lifetime, I have observed many positive and non-positive thoughts (as well as advertizements for penny stocks and anatomical enhancements, etc.) travelling the e-bandwidth at nearly the speed of light.
So, by extension, What would it be like if we were each connected to eachother: mind-to-mind. If someone didn't like you, for whatever reason, would you be continually exposed to their non-positive vibes? If you got into a disagreement - perhaps one that got out of hand - how would you manage that? How would you resolve issues? How could you ever escape people trying to sell something to you? What would psychic spam be like?
We can perhaps imagine living a psychic society as if we were - all six billion of us - enclosed together for a long time in a small room, maybe wintering-over at the South Pole. In such a case, the importance of interpersonal behavior skills is paramount. The balance between ego, honesty and empathy becomes critically important. A balance must be struck between the lower-chakra human needs and higher-level spirituality. How do we gracefully disagree with eachother, express emotion, etc., without causing painful disruption to the rest of humanity? How do we all live in the room, and yet all have our own rooms to live in? In short, how do we all get along huddled together on this tiny spaceship we call Earth?
My sense is that before we are truly ready for a global conscious awakening, these questions need to be addressed. I am very sure that there are ways to do this, and humanity [including this writer] needs to learn them better. And as we learn these key facets of enlightenment, we will be travelling yet another giant step down the road to the universal awakening that I believe is the human destiny. More >
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 8 Feb 2004 @ 14:00, by koravya. Altered States
Saturday morning, February seventh, Two sets of dreams. More >
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23 Jan 2004 @ 18:45, by celestial. Altered States
Man Figures Out He Has No Fur More >
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14 Jan 2004 @ 09:49, by craiglang. Altered States
We just got an upgrade to our cable service - and last night, just before going to bed, I was channel surfing on some of the newer upper-band digital cable channels. One channel (one of the few, actually) that really seems to be worth it's bandwitdth is the Science channel. It has refreshingly little editorialism, relatively few commercials, and alot of very interesting content. It does an excellent job of describing some of the leading edge topics in science.
Last night, what captured my attention was a documentary on some of the current questions in cosomology. How did we start? And where are we headed? The effect it had on me was to get my mind into a beautiful "searching mode". This was the state of mind I was in just before I went to sleep. And in the morning as I awoke, I found this "searching" sensation continuing.
I can only describe it as the compelling sense of there being so much more beyond what we know now and the powerful desire to somehow be a part of that. It is a feeling that I can only describe as a yearning for the sky - to opening to the something beyond. I felt as though if I opened or expanded my mind, I could sense the presence of something just beyond the known.
I imagine that this is the sense that all through history, has driven explorers, scientists and mystics. It moves us to push the envelope, to look over the next hill, to allow our minds to "boldy go" beyond the boundaries of our world. It is the compulsion to explore, the need to see, experience and understand just a little bit more.
This morning I also read some more in the newspaper about the possible US plans for a rejuvinated space program (which I think is fascinating, regardless of political views), and the latest photographs from the Mars rover. Checking my e-mail in the morning, I noted that there was another report of something fascinating that another UFO witness had observed in the sky (the Minnesota skies have been somewhat busy as of late). The effect was to fill me with a great sense of mystery, wonder and hope.
As I continued through the day, I again thanked God for the sense of curiosity and questing, the love of mystery, and the joyous feel of "something beyond" the known. And I can only rejoice in this wonderful property of the mind and soul that helps make us so uniquely and beautifully human. More >
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22 Dec 2003 @ 11:44, by craiglang. Altered States
Over the last few months, I have noticed the degree of polarity that has shown up in many spiritually-oriented groups. I have seen this on NCN, as well, and until recently, I did not really understand how it could come about. Then something happenned that showed me that the only way to truly understand something is to experience it yourself. And so I did...
A little background: Over the last year or so, I had been casting about trying to regain my career direction (as many readers of my newslog will note...:-). In the last few months, that direction has been reaffirmed. It is the development of healing technology, and bridging the gulf between the material and the spiritual. But one effect of this is that I have become much more involved in my day job, working in the development of medical technology.
Several experiences I have had in this arena have brought tears of joy to my eye. To see someone's quality of life improve to the point where life is again liveable. Where a previously unbearable pain-filled life is replaced by one in which the old joy has returned. I literally get a tear in my eye as I think about it.
And now I am again part of a team of deeply dedicated workers - engineers who live their work day in the world of healing technology. I don't think I have ever met a more dedicated group of people. And when I think of the mission we are involved in, somehow the fact that I sit in a "Dilbert" cube somewhere in Corporate CubeWorld seems to fade away. At this moment, this effort has meaning...
And then I saw a post a few days ago which was very critical of medical companies. Suddenly what little progress I had made on the road to enlightenment was eclipsed by anger and a general sense of orneriness. While I don't believe that the intent of the post was to criticize the intentions of myself or my coworkers, in some ways that is what it felt like. In many ways our work-team is very close, and so it was as if someone had dishonored my family. Up went the "home guard" defenses... :-)
So what does that tell me? It tells me that when something challenges that which we hold dear, there is a big danger that the gains of the new civilization can be erased in a moment. At the core of each of us is the primitive reptile, the territorial animal. Or, looking at it another way: along with our higher chakras, we all have a very active first chakra - the center of polarity and survival, agression and defense.
And so for just a moment, the warrior came out. I felt the shadow cast by the dark side - that chill wind which has so often carried us into war, and has been the casue of so much pain and struggle throughout history. The dark side lives within each of us - the other end of the teeter-totter, the counterweight to enlightenment.
We all disagree on many things, and this will always be true. And what this tells me is that there is a fine art to disagreement that one must learn in order to preserve the harmony of civilization. Disagreement needs to be a proactive, win-win process. In this dangerous time, such a process becomes increasingly important.
As we approach the Awakening, my sense is that we will see ever more turmoil, disagreement and polarity. I believe that the Awakening will only occur when we suddenly reach a critical mass of understanding, and can transcend the polarity - to see it for what it is, two views of the same question. And now, I have just a little bit more understanding of what this really means and just how important it really is... More >
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2 Dec 2003 @ 06:39, by craiglang. Altered States
Just wondering: has anyone else had a powerful sense of "warning" in the last day or so? I awoke this morning with a powerful sense of "something-wrong". It was the same feeling I had just before 9/11.
Followup: What was the warning?
...... More >
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