Hi forum!
My first post, and it is a question.

I have the home study course of Bruce,
and I wonder:
When "pretending" is mentioned, what is meant?
To mentally form images and sensation by me(visualize or something) or to  just let go and pretend everything goes well? (Like I see nothing but blackness but I say: cool, a helper is coming etc)


By "priming" the imagination I understand that I am the one who has to form sounds and images and feelings,
by pretending do I do this? Do I do the "priming" ?
Or do I let go and I believe that it happens?

I had some experiences but they are still too "star wars" like, and I get the feeling that I go on too much with priming my imagination. Is there a fine point where I should stop?

Thanks
(waiting answers with enthusiasm)

Hey Giannis!

Welcome to the board!

Well from what I understand and believe is that by 'pretending' we are merely creating the situation, or an opening if you like to let communication between both sides flow.

So for example when I'm meditating and specially in the beginning I would want to contact my Grandad who past over a few years back. Now I layed and relaxed (as I feel this aids communication, less distractions here and more open) and imagined I was outside sitting at the garden table, like Bruce advises. Now I hope I can answer your questions here, I didn't try to "see" my surroundings, I think this is hard to do to just see clearly just like that. So I would lay down and not worry about seeing but feeling, everything has to have feeing. This isn't physical either but is also, so for example I would try to feel myself sitting down, a slight wind, feel the table, but also non-physically so feel myself outside, feel myself really in this place, feel I am really outside sitting at this table. When I have done this enough (starting to primp the pump) I can imagine, feel my Grandad come into the scene. Now when I say imagine this is tricky because everyone imagines differently i guess?

But for me I don't have to "see" him, Its like imagining, hmm how to explain lol! Ok I imagine he walks in and sit down and its like you can see it in your head but not visually, does that make sense? or visually as you physically would. But don't get me wrong, if your really relaxed and imagine this scenario and feel it the images will flow and at the beginning you wont relise your seeing until the image disapeers and then your relise you've just seen something and eventually it may lead to a full 3D visual such as phasing and maybe even going Out Of Body. When this happens you have primed the pump and started it and now in this world where you don't need to imagine anymore, but this comes with time and experience.

You said "(Like I see nothing but blackness but I say: cool, a helper is coming etc)". To me this sounds really superficial, no offence! But what I mean is I can close my eyes right now and go ok a man there needs my help, ok a helper is coming in and now hes gone, but this for me is all made up and seems fake, which I believe it is. When doing this you can imagine a helper come in, but with feeling like I said before. So say you might relise you just saw a picture of a old lady or man you feel has passed but don't relise, and you feel like you have a conenction with this image now, feel the person near you, wel instead of just saying, thinking ok a helper has come in, ask for one, imagine someone walking it, feel them walking in and communicate with them, tell them the problem, feel their presense. You will know deep down if your making it up and if it isnt real. If you have any doubt at all that you might have not made it up, (because the helper did something unexpected, looked different to how you expect etc) you most probly ddnt make it up! Ok this is really hard to explain, I'll see what you got from that! lol please let me know if I am helping at all or making no sense, I know some people on here are far better and explaining and far more knowlegable.

Also I don't think priming the pump means you have to create the visuals and sounds, create the situation and feeling. You know you are doing OK when unexpected things happen, you didn't think or plan them so must be coming from somewhere! Also when you see things clearly in 3D which will just pop up, more vivid than normal imagination, also I remeber once hearing a voice suddenly shout something during one imagination/phasing experience and knew I could not have imagined that, it sounded and was real so this was more good signs and I knew I had primped the pump and was actually recieveing now.

By pretending you do primp the pump yes.

I think i know what you are saying in your last sentance as well and no you can't prime to much, what you can do is prime superficially, such as close your eyes and just imagine really quickly so that you are really still wide awake....what you need to do (from my experience) is lay down and realy relax, like your letting your body sleep and then prime, slowly imagine and build it up, this way your not just thinking like we are doing here and now wide awake, we are going into that stuation, world and letting communication come in, to go though we need to be free of here, distrations so relaxing is good which is the same for like OBE's because we let our bodys go to sleep and we can then forget about them while we go explore if you like.

Hope this makes sense and sorry for the long reply!

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask and maybe I can or someone else can help you out and maybe explain better!

Good luck!

Ryan

Hi

I think this sort of question is really interesting because it tells us something about how our minds work.

I think some things I wrote in another thread are related to this question.
http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/cgi-afterlife-knowledge/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=afterlife_knowledge;action=display;num=1126203194;start=0#0

And I think each of us has a unique answer.

Ryan's is interesting.

I think we learn as children by pretending. Of course, now that we are grown, we don't want to admit that! At least, we have to mimic the grownups to learn stuff. Here it is harder to mimic because we can't easily see what we are copying.

If things look like Star Wars now well don't worry things will change as you get more experience (unless maybe Star Wars has some deep meaning for you).

Hi Giannis,

These are great questions, ones that we all have to work through.

First of all, I'd like to say...Ryan, do you have any idea how much you've progressed in the past few months? Not only do you now have a good, deep understanding of all this, but you are also jumping right in there to explain it others.  I am impressed with your explanations.   :)


I think we all have the same capabilities of using the imagination, but we might not always know how other people experience things until we talk about it, label things, and give exact descriptions of what is going on.  

Recently I have starting using the term "day dreaming" to describe the method of pretending in your head.   This kind of imagination technique usually consists of "visual thinking" rather than visual seeing, but as Ryan said, when you "prime the pump" you will end up opening your perception to the point of actual seeing, like clairvoyant seeing, 3D visuals, OBE's, phasing, etc.  

By "visual thinking" I mean that we all have the ability to do this.  If I told you to think of what your mom looks like, you won't have to sit there pondering, geez, how in the world do I do that?  You pretty much will instantly be able to "picture" your mom without even having to close your eyes.  And it's not like you are actually having a 3D visual of her in your mind--you just have a knowing what she looks like.  Know what I mean?  That is one basic level of seeing, and you can call it pretending or imaginging.  Same thing.  

Now, if I told you to think of what your mom looks like juggling bananas while a monkey sits on her head, you could probably easily think of that too.  This is how we use our imaginations.  

When it comes to using your imagination for afterlife contact, you are combing your tools of imagination with your intention of contacting a loved one, a spirit, someone in the afterlife, etc, and that thought of intention is the key to making contact.  How you make contact and how you perceive information will vary, but inherent in the whole process is the intention of opening up your awareness to the non-physical world, and your tools for perception will open as well.  It may come easy or it may take lots of practice, but somewhere in there you will find yourself crossing the barrier between what is made up and what is real.  By real, I mean when you experience something that you know you did not make up.  Sometimes this new information you receive is something that you can verify, and in that way you learn to trust your perception.  

Love, Vicky

Hey Vicky!

Thankyou for the kind words! Well glad to hear your impressed because I wasn't sure how they came across, I always seem to explain really long winded and not sure if I get what I'm trying to put across in there. But I'm glad we have people like you who can come along and effortlessly in just a couple of sentances explain it pefectly! lol Really helps so I hope between us all were done some good!


wrote on Nov 25^th, 2005 at 1:08pm:

Now, if I told you to think of what your mom looks like juggling bananas while a monkey sits on her head, you could probably easily think of that too.

And this really made me laugh lol! I saw it in my head as i read it and made me smile ;D

Ryan

Thanks for the inspiration!

I had a kind of verification, so I guess it starts to make sense.

:)

Sounds good.  So what was your verification?  Do you mind sharing?   :)

I would love to hear also! And how did you go about it? And what has it done for you?

Glad its starting to make sense!

Ryan

Welcome Giannis. I too would love to hear of your verification. ;-)

Love, Mairlyn ;-)

Hi,
I made a post to this thread earlier...I modified it, but I then saved it again...and it seems to have disappeared.  Is there any way we could figure out what happened to it, does anyone know?

Ok, first verification was about a grandmother of my girlfriend who told me that her daughter keeps a cross at the first drawer of her closet beside her bed.
Indeed that is where my gf's mother keeps her jewls as I learned later.

As about my other "verification", it sounds totally stupid, but it touched me more.

I was trying to do a retrieval (it all took about half an hour).
I didn't perceive a helper, but something like an eye.
I saw a snowy mountain and a creature (human?) with more of a monkey face,he had put on a fur around his head, and something like a silver medallion around the neck.
He had a very typical and boring life as I sensed, full of costumes.
He bowed to me when I approached.
I introduced the helper who appeared like a grey wolf/snow dog.
They went to a cave below the ground where they all had some skin infection, but they were pretending actually, because they took off their skin (uniform like) and below they were shining beings with white hair.
Like standing sheep (lol)
I sensed that they didn't share the values of the lonely /boring /toughly religious society where the monkey man was before.
They were the "superior" outcasts...

Anyway, I asked the helper about clues to believe what I'm seeing and the number 169 came to my mind, the book it is closer to you, page 169 I understood.

I took Bruce's 5th book, that I had finished reading some time, and opened the page 169.
My eyes saw the words: longhaired dog. I also had a dejavu feeling as I saw the book..

Of course then I doubted and thought: I remembered subconsciously reading it before, the experience is stupid and movie like...

Anyway, as I said, it was "a kind of verification"
:-/

Hey Giannis...

I see this as BIG BIG proof....and its only natural  for you to doubt it, don't worry trust will come soon. I think its great your frist two experiences going so well, I haven't really had anything in the way of mindblowing stuff like this so maybe you don't relise it yet but you are doing really well!

I think you may not truly understand the wolf retrival yet, im not too sure, can't wait to hear others thoughts on this but it does sound real. And yes the helper doesn't have to be in a "human form", they can appear as whatever will suit the situation best, a wolf to guide its helper to this place maybe?

It sounds like shedding the skin was the awaking and shining beings with white hair was the man being awoken, i think you have done really well!

Keep i tup and continue to share, with time and practice and experience your be able to get more involved and maybe understand more? Not sure how confused you feel at the moment?

Anyway i think you were meant to see this and it is a great starting point! Cant wait to hear more!

Ryan

I agree completely with Ryan and trust is the key. Keep trusting what you get. ;-)

Love, Mairlyn ;-)