Astral Realm

You may have heard of terms such as the astral realm and lucid dreaming on your spiritual path. You may have heard of people meeting "other" entities/aliens/angels/ghosts in the astral realm and what not. These things are not as they seem. The world of human is the world of the "ego", where everything is made up and nothing matters. I have also explained that words aren't real. Anything that can be described using human langue (words) is not real. Reality is unexplainable to those who use words. Reality just is, reality is here and now, reality doesn't concern itself with "other" realties or dimensions or realms. Words don't exist, which in turns means EVERYTHING that we think we know, doesn't exist, because our knowledge is based off of nothing.

Humans have an amazing ability to use their imagination. Imagination has lead to the arts, which in themselves are beautiful and make the world a brighter and more enjoyable place. Art itself comes from our imagination as an attempt to recreate the real world. Everything that is an idea, concept, thought, or belief is simply not real, it is simply part of our imagination, since we share a collective dream, we also share a collective imagination. Since we share a collective imagination, we can "experience" similar events and or entities within our imagination.

When our physical bodies sleep at night, we dream, our dreams are our imagination that has been set free to do as it pleases. That's all dreams are; our imagination. When you have a lucid dream, you become aware of the fact that you are in a dream in your mind while your body is asleep. You are then free to do anything that you want in your lucid dream. You are in control of your dream (imagination), since your body is asleep and your mind is awake, it feels as if you left your body and are in some other realm or reality when in fact you are still in your body using your mind to imagine. One of my lucid dreams I flew over the ocean, flying is a common scenario in lucid dreams, I mean who doesn't want to fly, am I right? It felt very real, and I could swear that it was in fact real. The truth is the only place it was real was in my mind, in my imagination.

The astral realm is when you "leave your body" to go to another "realm" while your body stays awake. To go to the "astral realm" you imagine yourself leaving your body and going to the "astral realm" while your body is awake. Unlike the lucid dream where you know you're still in your body but it's asleep and you're in a dream. When you "go to" the "astral realm" you believe that you have left your physical body and gone to another reality/dimension/realm. The truth is you have not left your body, all you have done is gone deeply into your imagination. We humans have very active imaginations, just look around yourself in any human location and you will see millions of results of our collective imagination. Buildings, vehicles, arts, toys, tools, clothing, etc. Our imagination is so strong that it can seem very real when it is in fact not real. Reality is all that is real, and reality can't be described using words from the imagination. What is reality? It is simply what is happening here and now without using words or symbols.

Why do people who go to the "astral realm" have similar experiences, doesn't that prove it's real? The similar experiences come from our collective imagination, that is all.

Why do people who "go to" the "astral realm" swear that it is real? To them it seems very real, they believe it to be real, so it is, but only to them in their own minds. There are certain plants in this world that can induce different states of mind. Salvia divinorum has been used since ancient times by the Mazatec shamans of Mexico for divination, vision quests, and healing. I myself have used Salvia and when I did it felt as if I had instantly "left my body" and was floating in outer space. It felt as if I had left my body, which simply means I was no longer aware of it, and went to the "astral realm". The truth is, I never left my body, I just went very deep into my imagination. When I "went to the astral realm" during a mediation, I simply stopped being aware of my body and went deep into my mind/imagination. 

Think of your mind as a computer, it stores all of the information that you have ever collected. All your memories, experiences, feelings, beliefs, opinions, knowledge, personality, and character are stored in your mind. If you were to leave your physical body, you would leave your mind also, since your mind is inside of your body, you can't have mind without body they go together. Therefore, if you were to actually leave your body and your mind behind to go to another "realm", you wouldn't have your mind with you in order to remember anything that happened, let alone experience it. Our mind is what creates our experiences and without the mind there is no experience. If you could leave your physical body and return, there would be absolutely no knowledge of it, since your mind wasn't there to witness it. Anytime you "leave your physical body" you are simply not aware of your body; it doesn't mean that it vanishes. 

Some of us would claim that it is our soul that leaves our body and not our mind, therefore it is the soul that has the experience and brings it back to our mind. That is still the belief in separation. That is the belief that our mind, our body, and our soul are all separate. Our mind, body, and soul are not separate but in fact one in the same. Just as your fingernail, nipple, and liver all appear to be separate things, they are in fact part of the one human body. Your mind, body, and soul are not separate but all part of the whole of who you are. It is simply not possible to separate any part of yourself from another. If your soul left your body, your body would die, if your mind left your body, you would be brain dead, if your body vanished, you wouldn't exist. Our mind, body, and soul are eternally connected.

If you were to watch someone meditate and "go to the astral realm" you would just see someone sitting still being zoned out. They would "come back" and tell you about all the wonderful things they saw and all the entities they spoke with and how wonderful it was. You would be thinking, but you were here the whole time, I watched you, you never went anywhere, you were just daydreaming. That's essentially what the "astral realm" is, it's daydreaming. Just as we don't leave our body at night when we sleep, even though we have no knowledge of our body being there.

Why do some of us feel the need to go to the "astral realm" and why does it seem so real? Everyone has their own individual reason for doing something but in simple terms, it's because you're unhappy with your life or self and would rather spend your time living in your mind instead of facing reality. If you believe reality sucks, there is no motivation to be here experiencing it. Astral travel has been linked with dissociative disorder.

Astral Projection: A Strange Out-of-Body Experience in Dissociative Disorder. 

When we experience life threatening situations, we will attempt to leave the situation physically. When it is impossible to leave physically, such as when we are a child, during extended neglect and abuse, or when we are stuck in a war that we can't run away from. We will leave the situation using our mind. We will go somewhere deep into our mind to "leave" the situation. Our body is still there experiencing the traumatic situation, but our mind is elsewhere. We do this to survive. When finally free from the traumatic event, we can seek out a therapist to help us deal with the trauma and work through it in a safe environment. If we don't deal with the trauma it transforms into all sorts of mental health issues, such as PTSD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

People who live with years of abuse and trauma will develop the habit of going to their mind to escape their reality. Their mind is the only place they feel safe. Their mind is the only place the know. That is what tends to lead to Dissociative identity disorder. I myself experienced dissociative identity disorder for years. I grew up in an abusive neglectful environment in which I had no escape, I was just a child, I had no choice but to go into my mind to escape the torture and suffering. I escaped into my mind so many times, it eventually lead to dissociative identity disorder. Dissociative identity disorder for me felt as if I somehow wasn't in my body and I was watching myself from within myself. That wasn't actually happening, my mind was just trying to protect me. I was always one of the worst feeling imaginable. Eventually I was able to see that I couldn't actually leave my body and my mind was just trying to dissociate from certain people, places, and events that I would perceive as a threat because I associated it with the abuse I suffered.

When I experienced dissociative identity disorder it felt very real to me that I wasn't in my body, it felt real that I was in fact somewhere else. I wanted to believe that so I could be safe. The truth is, I have never once left my body and it was only my mind believing that I had. Our minds are extremely powerful tools that create the world around us. It is the mind that believes in pain. The more we believe in pain, the more it hurts. When we accept pain, we see there never was any. Our minds believe and make real whatever we want them to believe. If we want to believe that we leave our body and go to another realm, our mind will make that real for us. It is only real to you in your mind though, it's not actually happening.

The grounding technique is a first step in the healing process, as it uses your five senses to replace those that were over taken by trauma. When you start to process your trauma with a therapist, they will usually all start with grounding techniques. The purpose of this is to bring you back to reality. What is reality? Anything that your five senses can sense. Reality is not what's in your mind, reality is free from the constructs of the mind. When you experience dissociative identity disorder you live in your mind and go to places like the "astral realm" you are not living in reality. The grounding technique helps you to come back to reality. The more you live in reality, the less you live in your mind. The mind is meant to be a tool, not a location in which to live. 

The majority of the world lives in their minds, planning the future, thinking about the past, desiring, and suffering. Liberation from the mind is the key to "enlightenment". When we live in the mind, we suffer because we believe ourselves to be only our mind. When we see the mind for what it is, which is just a tool (a part of the whole) and not who we are, we are freed from suffering; we are awakened. I Love You and Peace Be With You!

Quotes from Lao Tzu:

“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”

“In meditation, go deep in the heart”