I am new to this chat room and I am looking forward to reading everyone's views on the spiritual and I hope to attain a level of spirituality that will enhance my life.  I was brought up without religion and my parents don't believe in afterlife and all that goes with it.  I started to believe when I was around 11 yo when I mucked around with ouija boards and to my surprise I had many eye opening experiences.  This was how I came to believe in the everafter despite not being brought up to pay any interest.  I then began to read up on the subject and of course found out that oujia boards are generally a no no unless you really know what you are doing.  I believe in reincarnation and that we go through many lives in order to learn what we must.  I hope to find out from other people's experiences when we have learned what we need to and stop being reincarnated.  From books I have read, once we have finished with the material world, we are no longer reincarnated and enter the spiritual realms and there are levels there as well and we stay on each level until we are ready for the next.  I wonder if we have a choice, when we die, whether we want to come back to the material world or not.  I also often wonder that if we don't have the choice, do we have to practically be saints before we no longer have to bear the material plane.  I don't want to come back - when I die I want to go the the spiritual world as I'm not that keen on the material one.  I get scared because I think that as I'm not enjoying life all that much, I'll have to come back until I do.  I have soooo many questions, but  feel it wise to go slowly.  Any views on all of this are VERY WELCOME.  Lesley.

Hi Leslie and welcome to the board!

You have some very good questions and I think many... if not all of us have asked these same questions.  In answer to one of your questions... yes I think we always have free will choice in everything both here and in the afterlife.  

With each thought we have in each and every moment we are making a choice and those choices are dictating what our life is like.  I'm sensing that you are perhaps not very happy with the way you have created your life to be.  That happens with all of us from time to time.

What works for me is to slow my thoughts down so that I can become aware of what unconscious decisions I'm making.  That way if I'm choosing something that I don't really want, I can consciously make a decision to choose something else.  The same goes for how we feel about something.  We can choose how we want to feel at any given moment in time.  This sounds like a simple solution, but it does work.

Please continue to share with us.

Love and peace,
Kathy :-)

Thank you Kathy for welcoming me to this website.  I appreciate your words of wisdom and I truly, truly hope that we have choices once we leave the body we are in.  If this is the case, when I die, I will be choosing not to come back to the material world.  I might not be a particularly happy person, but I am a good person.  I have learned many things through my belief in the spiritual and "hate" has left me and I rarely get angry anymore.  I live in a small town and I am a single woman.  I am the town pariah because I feel it's important to look ones best and many woman find me a threat.  I have had some terrible, nasty rumours spread about me and I used to get so angry, rant and rave, all that, but I now understand that these people are suffering from insecurities and these days I can seem to forgive most things.  It doesn't mean I have to hang out with them though.  I would consider myself to be a good and loyal friend and believe it or not have become quite wise.  My friends often come to me to unload.  At least I am of some help in this life.  I feel like my soul is just soooo tired of this material plane - it's had enough.  I guess this could be misinterpreted as depression, but it isn't - it's a soul thing.
Anyway, thank you again for welcoming me.
Love,
Lesley.
???  :-/

Your description of your life seems a bit like the Buddhist description, paraphrased: (1) Life is suffering (because it is imperfect), (2) Suffering comes from attachments (to stuff that doesn't work), (3) Ending attachment ends suffering, (4) The 8-fold path (and other methods) end attachments.

The first step is to decide to do it. The second step is to find a path that agrees with you. The West focusses on spiritualism, ghosts, past life, spirit world exploration etc, leading to prgressively greater awareness. The East focusses on direct attainment of God-awareness through relatively intense effort. Take your pick and read a bit.

For the Western approach, you might try reading about astral projection and entities. Bruce has a number of books, and a training program that is quite decent -  well worth my money, and autographed too!  Or try a past life regression with a competent hypnotist (try the IARRT, IBH or IHF sites).

For the Eastern, try Hatha Yoga Pradipika, or the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, orfor classical reading, the Upanishads. Tibetan Buddhism offers excellent material, and the venerable Evans-Wentz book Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines is a great overview.  If you feel inclined toward yoga, Swami Sivananda used to tell his disciples that they would attain samadhi (basic enlightemtnt) in six months if they worked at it. His school is probably a good place to investigate.

The Sufis in the Middle East have a number of approaches as well, of which Kirpal Singh's book Surat Shabd Yoga, The Cosmic Sound Stream (I may have the title wrong) is an excellent reference. Most large cities have yoga centers oriented about Surat Shabd yoga, or an equivalent. Some of them are from the Kashmir and have a Saivite flavor. The goal is to place awareness into the heart chakra and allow the sound of the gong to carry you into awareness. It's also mentioned in the Upanishads.

The key is to DO IT. Spiritual growth does not occur through thinking, nor through understanding esoteric philosophy, but through DOing. Pick a path, try it out, change when appropriate, but keep on DOing. You'll get what you need. Enjoy!

dave

wrote on Mar 1^st, 2005 at 2:34am:

Thank you Kathy for welcoming me to this website.  I appreciate your words of wisdom and I truly, truly hope that we have choices once we leave the body we are in.  If this is the case, when I die, I will be choosing not to come back to the material world.  I might not be a particularly happy person, but I am a good person.   Love, Lesley. ???  :-/

The statement above..about not choosing to come back ..makes me chuckle..not laughing at you, but something that happens everytime I make the following statement:
"I'm not coming back to the physical again."  
Each time I say that, I hear the following statement:
"That's what you said last time."

It would just follow..it wasn't "me" saying it..I just heard it.

So..I don't say that anymore..and that's why I chuckle when I read that.

For myself, I'm quite curious.  I don't think I could "not" come again..and seeing what I have from both sides..makes it all the more interesting.

Now..if I can just remember this life next time...with what I've learned this time around..and..I have a feeling I've said that before too..which perhaps is an indication that I am remembering some of it at least?