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”

Imagination

Everyone is "enlightened", everyone is a buddha (awakened), and everyone is Christ (God's perfect son). We are all simply pretending that we don't know this fact.  Humans were given the gift of imagination; we use our imagination to create a collective dream. A dream in which we have rules, laws, and societal standards. We humans Love to dress up and pretend to be someone else, Halloween is a prime example of playing dress up. We have actors that play roles in movies and characters that play roles in books. We all know that our favorite movie character is just a fictional character and yet we Love them just as if they were a real person. We Love the character just as much as the actor, sometimes we Love the character more than the actor that plays the character. 

Each and every one of us have a role that we play in this world. We wear costumes and masks in this world. We all wear different costumes in the world. Some of the costumes that we wear include "parent", "athlete", "doctor", "nerd", "guru", "paramedic", "lawyer", "enlightened" and so on, pretty sure you get the point. We also wear masks on top of our costumes, masks can include "anger", "grief", "sadness", "joy", "contentment", "judgement", "innocence", "evil" yada, yada, yada. We are perfect, eternal beings that are living in heaven. We created the world we live in to mix things up. We like to use our imagination to feel things, we watch horror movies to feel afraid, we listen to sad music to cry, and we watch porn to cum. We even Love to play games like the sims, where we create characters and live their lives out. We do the same thing with ourselves. 

We pretend to be "Jon Q. Williams" from "Omaha, NE" who is an "engineer" and is a "family man" who is "56 years old" and has "heart disease" and has "a good sense of humor". It's just a character that we pretend to be. We like our characters so much that we refuse to wake up from our role. The truth is anyone who is "enlightened" is just someone who didn't like to wear any costumes or masks. They found it more fun to just be authentically and unapologetically themselves, so they gave up all their masks, woke up from the collective dream and realized they were "enlightened" all along. Realizing "enlightenment" isn't luck, it isn't a divine gift from God, it isn't something you can even attain. There is nothing anyone can do to achieve "enlightenment". It is simply our natural state that can't be expressed using words from the collective dream of humans. 

It's like trying to tell our favorite character that they are only a character in a movie and they aren't real. For starters we have no way to talk to a fictional character, and secondly even if we could communicate with the character, they would refuse to believe us. They would be convinced that they were in fact real. To the character, the bullet that shot them would feel pretty real, the pain they felt would feel real to them, since the character did feel the pain. That's why people in the dream can't understand what it means that they are dreaming. They are too attached to the character they created; they don't want to let go of their character. 

As long as you like your character that you created for yourself you will stay in the dream as that character. If you decide you don't feel like playing your character anymore you could change characters but still stay in the dream. It's only when you get sick of playing characters all together can you wake up from the dream, there will be nothing left to hold you to it. The truth is we all Love our characters that we created for ourselves, if we didn't, we would immediately wake up and realize "enlightenment". Christ says to give up everything and everyone and follow me, for most of us that is an impossible task, we Love our characters way too much. 

Do you want to wake up? Do you want to be "enlightened"? Cast off your character and throw away all your masks. Give up everything, give up yourself. Die before you die, simply means slaughter your character that you created for yourself before your earthly physical body dies. You don't have "trauma" your character does. You aren't a "victim" your character is. You aren't "ugly" your character is. You aren't "stupid", your character is. You are not "broken", your character is. There is nothing "wrong" with you, there is plenty wrong with your character. Our characters have a lot of flaws, we overcomplicate our characters with too many backstories and side quests and become overwhelmed, which leads to stress, anxiety, depression, and even suicide.

Synchronicities are seeing past our character and into the real world. Think of synchronicities as your favorite movie character being able to get a glimpse outside the television into our world for just an instant and seeing something in our world that seems to synchronize with the characters world. The reason the characters world seems to synchronize with our world is because the characters world comes from our world, the characters world can only exist in our world so obviously it's going to be synchronized. When we see synchronicities, it's because we're getting a glimpse into the real world. to us it appears to be a synchronicity but it's simply our character becoming aware of the real world and seeing past the illusion of being that character. Our characters can even use synchronicities as part of the role we play, anything about you that can be explained using words is just part of your character that you created for yourself. The real you can't be explained using words. The real you isn't a character, the real you doesn't have any masks, the real you is holy, perfect, and eternal. 

Some characters are "angry and bitter", some are "nice and polite", some are "loud and like to be seen" some are "sensitive and insecure", and others are "evil and filled with hate". I've got to say, everyone is so cute walking around everyday trying to make sure no one finds out their secret, which is the same secret as everyone else, that we're all just pretending to be who we are. Once you get rid of the attachment to your character, you're able to be any character that you want to be and not become attached to it. Being "enlightened" is like the character in the movie realizing that they are just a character and waking up only to realize they were the actor in the real world all along.

I Love all of your characters so much; you are all so cute and you are all doing such a great job playing your roles. Keep playing your character as long as you want, when you get bored of it just cast it aside and you'll wake up to your true self. I Love You All So Very Much, and Peace Be With You!

Wake Up!

“My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and they live in a state of constant total amazement.” - John Patrick Shanley

"Most of the world is either asleep or dead." - Thomas Merton

“I awoke, only to see that the rest of the world is still asleep.” - Leonardo da Vinci

"I was asleep, but my heart was awake." - Song of Solomon 5:2

"In an Insane World, it is the Sane who are called crazy." - Lumalee

The human world that most of us live in can be considered a matrix or a dream or an illusion. If you're anything like me, you didn't seek out the spiritual path, it just came to you one day and you don't know why. The universe kept telling me that I was dreaming and the world that I saw was not the real world. Boy howdy did that ever get me terrified. I had no idea what the hell that meant. I kept thinking I was going to wake up in another reality or world just like in the matrix movie. I thought I was going to die in this world and wake up in heaven. I thought I was going to go insane for eternity. Basically, anything I could imagine became real to me. I couldn't understand what the hell anyone meant when they said the world is a dream and you're asleep. 

I couldn't ever find anyone to just explain it to me like I was five. Just plain and simple without the spiritual mumbo jumbo bullshit. I just wanted someone to explain it to my logical thinking brain how I was supposed to wake the hell up from this supposed dream that I was living in. Since I couldn't find anyone who would just explain it to me and let me decide if I even wanted to wake up from this dream or not. I had no choice but to figure out how to wake up myself and then if I didn't like it, I could always fall back asleep if I wanted to. I didn't have a teacher, a master, or a guide. I just had myself and that was all I needed. Now I can explain what the dream is and how to wake up to "others". Then you can decide if you would want to wake up or not, you are the only one that can decide. We will all wake up eventually but you get to decide for yourself what you want. Noone will force you to wake up if you don't want to.

So, what the hell is this dream we are all living in? Anything made by humans. I'll explain as plain and simple as I can, the dream is made by humans. It is every word, idea, thought, concept, form and belief that man has created. It is your belief about yourself and the world. You can't see the awakened world through your belief of what the world is. The awakened world can't be put into words, it is beyond anything words can say about it. Words aren't real. God the ultimate creator gave human the ability to create also. Human created the world humans live in with the word. The human world is created upon rules, laws, concepts, and ideas. Everything that human has made is part of the dream, including time, wealth, social hierarchy, relationships, buildings, vehicles, cages, etc. etc. etc. Yes, we can physically touch human made physical objects, they won't suddenly disappear when you wake up, they just aren't part of the awakened world.

What is it like to be awake from the dream? Our physical body remains in this world, we don't transport to another reality or dimension. People who are awake, live in the same world as those who are asleep. It's just a different perspective. Think of those 3d art posters, when you stand back it looks like one picture, when you move closer and focus your eyes just right, you can see another picture. The other picture was always there in the original, you just couldn't see it. The awakened world works the same way, it's simply a change of perspective. The biggest differences is you no longer see duality or separation when you're awake. You see past the illusion of the ego. You have eternal peace and release from fear and suffering. Just to clarify, when people talk about freedom from fear and suffering, it's not meant that fear and suffering just vanish from your life suddenly when you become enlightened enough. Fear and suffering are still there, you just learn to accept them and when you accept them, there is no longer fear or suffering. You have to put the work in, to be free from fear and suffering.

How do I wake up? Sadly, there is no answer to this question as of yet. The truth is not a lot of humans have woken up. The earlier humans who woke up were considered messiahs or prophets and some of our current religions were inspired by them. In the future, enough humans will have woken up from the dream that we will have enough data to see if there is an easy method for waking us up that works for most humans. In the even further future of humans, we will all be awake, and no one will be asleep anymore. We have methods that help us to wake up, but the truth is that at this time, it seems to be pretty random as to who decides to wake up and who doesn't.

One proven method that helps is meditation, there is a reason most religions incorporate some form of meditation into the religion. Meditation does not guarantee that you will wake up, but you will at least be happier and calmer. Ultimately, it's about trusting yourself, and following your gut. Since everyone is living their own individual "separate" dream while having collective dream with everyone else, someone who is still dreaming can't tell another person how to wake up while they are still dreaming themselves. We all live in a collective dream, almost like a dream within a dream. Yes, you can be many levels deep in the dream of human, don't worry though, it doesn't matter how deep you are, you will wake up if you really want to. Nothing and no one can stop you from waking up but you.

Do I have to wake up or can I keep dreaming? You do not have to wake up. If you enjoy living in the world of human and playing by all the rules of the dream, feel free to stay asleep. I will say that every human that has woken up all say that waking up is worth it. I myself was terrified for most of the process. Eventually I got exhausted from being afraid all the time and let go of fear, I decided I would let whatever happen to happen and I was just going to accept it. I let go of everything and everyone. It was only then that I woke up.  "In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." - Luke 14:33. You don't have to give up anything, most of us all have things or people we don't want to give up. Whatever you cling to in the human made dream world binds you to the dream. If you want to wake up from the dream you have to give up every part of the dream. As long as you still enjoy the dream, you won't want to wake up, you get what you want.

How do I tell if someone if awake or if they are still asleep? Trust your gut. When you are in the dream, everything can be really confusing. The only person you can truly trust is yourself. You are the only one who knows yourself. You'll know when someone is helping you and you'll also know when someone is trying to force you to do something that benefits them.  The truth is, when we decide to wake up, the universe will give us everything that we need, including any people we might need. Just because someone may be dreaming themselves, doesn't mean the universe can't use them as a method of helping you wake up. 

I truly hope this clears the subject up at least a little bit for you. If you want to stay asleep and continue being part of the collective human dream, I wish you the best. Those of us who are awake will be here right next to you looking out for you while you are still dreaming. If you decide you would like to wake up, all I can say is hold on for the ride of your life baby! The awakening process is very much like a metaphorical roller coaster, some of you may already understand this statement. No need to fear though, it may seem terrifying at times, and you may feel insane at times, but I promise you that you are safe, no harm can come to you, and you will make it through. I Love You and Peace Be With You!

Suffering

People who believe they have a weak character need God. People who believe they have a strong character don't need God. People who are free from character desire nothing but God.

Why do people believe they need God? They don't believe they are strong enough on their own and need some sort of divine interference in order for them to survive. Why do people believe they don't need God? They believe that they are strong enough to handle everything that comes at them on their own and don't need any type of divine interference. 

Being weak isn't something to fear or be ashamed of. We all start out weak, we all start out as babies and babies are about as weak as you can get, we can't even hold our own head up for a couple months after being born. You can only learn your own strength by acknowledging your weakness and changing it.

When we suffer and believe that we are weak, we get crushed under the weight of the suffering. "I'm broken", "I'm weak", "I can't do it", "I have trauma", "I have a shitty life", "It's not my fault". It is because we believe these things about ourselves that we believe that we are weak and since we believe we are weak, we long for a "God" to come save us from ourselves.

When we suffer and believe that we are strong, the suffering feels as light as a feather that will disappear with a simple exhalation of breath. "I got this", "nothing can hold me down", I am strong", I am brave", "I can do this". It is because we believe these things about ourselves that we believe that we are strong and since we believe we are strong, we don't need anyone to save us.

How do you make yourself believe that you are strong when you truly believe that you are weak? Prove it to yourself. Allow yourself to suffer. Whatever form of suffering comes your way, allow yourself to feel it. The more suffering you experience the stronger you believe yourself to be. Fear is a form of suffering. Face your fears to overcome them. The truth is you are infinitely stronger than you believe yourself to be. I Love You and Peace Be With You!

Sax Man

It was one of those days that you would like every other day to be like. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, the sun was shining, and the clouds were scattered perfectly for a day of cloud gazing. This was the kind of day where you don't think about the temperature, you have no reason to, as you're neither cold nor hot.

Nestled within the landscape of the city were the sounds of a saxophone. The closeness of the buildings created just enough echo to create the perfect sound. You could also hear the noise of traffic, but the beauty of the music encapsulates you so entirely that the traffic noise ceases to exist.

There's a black metal bench and on that bench lays a Saxophone case and a reusable grocery bag. Within the bag is personal belongings along with a speaker. The speaker is playing soft jazz. You can think of the speaker in the same way you would think of a background singer. The speaker is not the star of the show.

Sitting ever so humbly next to the items is Walter. Walter did not go to Juilliard or Berkeley. If you were to ask Walter, he would tell you he's not very good. Walter doesn't know much about music; he doesn't know a lot about melodies or timbres. Walter just improvises, he puts some soft music on the speaker, and he simply plays along. 

People pass Walter by as he plays. Most pass by without a word spoken and simply enjoy the sounds passing through their ears. Some stop and watch while they listen, as if their ears said to the eyes "this is amazing, you have to check this out", and a few people give Walter some money to show him gratitude for blessing them with his performance.

A little girl around the age of five enters the scene. She runs up to Walter and stops dead in her tracks. Her eyes were bulging, her smile encompassed her entire face, and she along with time vanished into the music...

The little girl’s mother gives her some money to give to Walter, she approaches him as if he were a superhero. Her mother tells Walter how much the little girl Loves music and how she just had to come listen to it up close. The little girl brings Walter back to the time he was just a little boy and the first time he heard a street musician. He remembers the feeling he got when he heard live music for the first time and the day he fell in Love with music. 

You could say that Walter plays music for the tips, or that he plays music because he has nothing better to do. It would be a very persuasive argument that he does it simply because he Loves music. Walter would probably even say that he does it for the Love of music. Somewhere deep down inside of Walter, he does it for the moments like what he had with the little girl. Her life forever changed in that moment, and he got to witness the beauty of someone falling in Love with music for the first time.