I thought I would ask a very broad question that applies to everyone... It's a question that I feel will help me/everyone get to know everybody else just that much better, and I think that it would just be interesting to find out. -- I was wondering what brought you/everyone to this site. (i.e. was it a spiritual experience/an acquaintance/death of a loved one, etc.?) I ask this just out of pure curiosity, and because I don't really know everybody's background with regards to a question like this... (Forgive me if a question like this has already been asked prior to my arrival here.) I got this idea from one of dave's replies on the "Islamic view of Afterlife" thread...

Thanks for any replies! :)

PUL,
Cosmic_Ambitions

P.S.

Here's my story:

"I came across this site about 4 years ago when I started to question the full nature of all religious beliefs in general (I believe most of us have at some point or another...) I knew that there were common "truths" within all of them, but I couldn't quite figure out why all of them claimed that "theirs" was the one to be followed in order to be "saved". I got to wondering about the concepts even further after taking numerous philosophy/study of religion classes in college... I felt like I was wallowing in a blanket of fog and that there "had" to be some truth out there that tied all of "this" together. I couldn't accept the idea that a supreme consciousness would make the world in such a way as to create a random "luck" pool, so to speak... where you were just lucky if you were born into the "right" family that held the "right" religious beliefs, so that you could get to the "right" heaven/afterlife. Or that you were born into an area that exposed you to certain religious doctrine that led you into a specific religion by chance/choice. I have always felt that if there was any morsel of truth out there that it, in fact, had to be something that I could find out within myself. There simply was no other way... It had to be something that didn't need to be preached, but that I "felt", it had to be something that I could reach/understand even without being exposed to any types of religious teachings... something that over time would prove undeniably true to my notions of right and wrong, good and bad; as a result of seeing the effects that different types of actions/thought patterns had on the world around me, and the world within me. I thought about it all for awhile, and then I realized that most of the "spiritually" enlightened teachers that had come down to this physical planet were actually trying to preach these types of notions all along. (i.e. the kingdom of heaven is within you... it is in fact all around you.) You just have to look... Then I thought to myself, well? There are so many people out there that never even consider notions of God, religion, etc... but, they seem to be good, honest, nice people... What of them? I then realized that if the question/curiosity of "everything" does not reside within you, or you don't acknowledge that you in fact have this curiosity within you, then that's okay too because it takes time to experience the types of things that need to be experienced to have those kinds of questions surface. This could be likened to the "soul's" evolution so to speak. So, for me everything slowly began piecing together, bit by bit, curiosity by curiosity... until eventually I had some unexplainable experiences that eventually brought me to this site to figure out more on the subject. Many of the experiences I had were of brief surreal/whimsical visions of places I could have never imagine in my wildest dreams; these all happened while I was under tremendous amounts of stress. Other times it would be something like my friend noticing somebody (possibly my guardian) standing behind me and then vanishing. Then I heard numerous reports of NDE/OBE from friends/family. Most of these occurances were spanned over a period of time, but had built up my curiosity to such a degree that I decided to devote much of my time to what I like to call, "My Search for the Ultimate Truth/Light". My experiences with relaxation techniques while lying in my bed led to my heart beating rapidly; sweating; buzzing sounds; vibrations in my body; a floaty feeling; a "loosening" feeling; and occasionally a "suctioning" feeling of my (counterpart?)... This in turn led me to research various forms of meditation/chakras, of which I had previously no notions of. I then began to do some introspection/retrospection of everything that I have ever experienced/thought/(believed?)/heard/felt with regards to all religions/spirituality/physicality/the afterlife. I took all of this quite seriously because, in all matter of factness, this "me" of mine was all that I knew/had and I had to know the truth of my existence because this was the only existence I knew/know... and  it was quite frankly a VERY strange/overwhelming existence to me.
I had more questions than answers and the answers that I had always led to more questions which led to even more non-answers. It was a never ending coil of confusion and "lostness"... which only made things worse for me. Every time I looked around at everybody else I felt almost like an alien... I kept wondering, "Am I the only one with questions like this!?" "And how come everybody else is so content with the platter that they've been served, no questions asked?" "In fact, I almost envied other people at times, because I felt like they MUST know something that I don't know!" "But, WHAT!!?" Every time I asked somebody a question regarding religion/God/spirituality, I got a loaded answer that answered nothing for me. And most of the time the person I asked it to was fine/content with not knowing.. But I wasn't. All of it to me was very serious because I felt that if the eternity of my soul/everyone's soul rested on the vestiges of a "certain" religious doctrine/preaching, that I'd/we'd better have it right and flawlessly right for that matter... because if I/we don't have it right, then I/we could potentially spend a VERY long time making up for the "misunderstanding" that had occured during this brief lifetime. It just didn't seem right/make sense to me. Hence, here I sit. A few of Bruce Moen, and Robert Monroe, and various other books/websites later... More content than I ever have been... It seems the more that I search within myself for this elusive curiosity "creature", the closer I become to the "Truth/Light"... the "Search of a lifetime"."


Again, thanks for any replies! :)
(I hope there are a few...)

Dear Cosmic Ambitions,
Your 'question' is a wonderful description of the path of seeking that possibly many of us have followed to get here.  It's certainly true for me!
I'm sort of bookish so I'd add that books and reading other sites were very important sources for me, but  even if they gave me abit of an answer, it didn't last,  and the hunger to understand came back.
What struck me about this site was the sense of PUL I experienced---that i immediately wanted to send them love and that they seemed to exude that sense of loving. And that they were all sharing so openly a variety of opinions, united by the same search.  
I just re-read this and see by using 'they' and the past tense that zI have distanced myself abit. But i believe that will work out; I certainly wouldn't want to leave here. As you say, ca, it brings on a contentedness that never has been, altho the search will continue.
Thanks for the question. Thanks for the opportunity to say how great I think this place is.

Severe depression, fear and morbidity. It's all better now, though :D.

Hi Cosmic ambitions The reason i came on here is to learn about yours and all the others on here experience and veiws about the afterlife,to get more insight of  spirit,beleifs in god etc. Ireally enjoy reading all the different thoughts on here about it all and im also learning from it as well. But i first took interest of the afterlife when my Dad died and i started going to the spiritualist church. My beleif in God is very strong and the same with spirit. Love and god bless juditha

I came here in October 2000. I had read Bruce's first 3 books and taken Gateway Voyage at TMI. When my daughter met me at the airport, I asked her to take me to the Gateway store so I could buy a computer. When I got it, first thing I did was find this website and made it my homepage. ;-)

Love, Mairlyn ;-)

thanks CA. you continue to be inspiring to me here with the greatest sharings. came here 2000 abouts.its all a blur. had been sprung from a A course in Miracle's forum. the book had left me in search of the next pathway. discovered retrievals, began doing self retrievals as a way of self analysis. finally figured out I'd been living life programmed from false beliefs I held about who I was.
once had a Jehova Witness ask me why so many religions in the world Alysia? I had no answer for him, but subscribe to what is perhaps Monism. We are all one and all paths will lead to the same destination. is that destination death? well, yea, we are all going to experience termination so thats Monism I guess. Decided to die first so that I could live now. well, hope you understand belief system crashes are mini deaths. each mini death frees the heart to be able appreciate all of this around us which is appearing on the outside, these others, still you will view others through the lens of your own eyes, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, such as I see much beauty in many people here because I want to see it..whatever we want, we can have..we just ask.  and I thank you again for inspiring me..have yourself a marvelous spring season! http://images.bravenet.com/common/images/smilies/sunshine.gif

I came here after finding the website in Bruce's books (have read them all) and finding that all his experiences tie in with what I already have read and believe from other sources.
How much better can life be when you relate to people with similar beliefs and open minds?
I also love that I can seek valued opinions from all of you and you help me to see outside of my little square!
thanks to you all and much love

Hey!

I love threads like this. For me I feel like i have always had that curiosity about what is after this life, like it was built in. My Grandad died when i was young and this also built my curiosity up to the next level, is he really still here over there? Can i speak to him? I didn't know what to do about this though untill my family brought a PC and got the internet. A little while later (my curiosity had faded into the background a bit) i searched for the afterlife and started reading and thats where i took off! I read loads and the questions kept building up, mainly is all this true?

After a shortwhile I read about out of body experiences and they sounded amazing! I cannot describe in words how i felt/feel, a way to go out, make contact with the otherside, enjoy your dreams, meet people/places, fly! and just explore this new world. I tried but eventually gave up with no success, came back a little while later and in no time started experiencing OBE's.

I found this site early on in my searching and i am very grateful to find such a place. One of the main things were how helpful and nice the people are here and how great it is just to talk about this stuff and general stuff as well, i feel like i have been friends some people here longer than some of my friends in the physical. It has definatly been an amazing journey so far!

Thanks for listening,

Ryan

Ryan, we had our Pe and I gave you an old shoe. the old shoe meant that it would be very comfortable for you as time goes on, to slip in and out of your body to astral travel. so I'm glad I can restate what I've always felt about your talent for this. hugs, alysia

Thank you all for sharing! That was all very interesting/inspiring... :)

I forgot to put this under "Off Topic Posts"... I got so use to writing under the "Afterlife Knowledge" forum that I didn't really consider that this thread didn't fit the bill! (I've got to be more careful next time!) ;)

PUL,
Comsic_Ambitions

P.S. I look forward to hearing more stories!

P.S.S. It's SO warm and "light" outside today... It's like I can feel God smiling through our atmosphere!  8)

dear CA, this is on topic. when I first came here I always asked myself what I was doing here, posting. it really helped me to get a different perspective of various intentions for posting. you know, to know thyself idea. so you are on topic quite more so than you know. hugs, alysia

Hi Cosmic_Ambitions!
Read Monroes books, came on the TMI website, found that a TMI trainer lived near my hometown, visited him, he told me of Bruce's books, bought them, was amazed and visited this website the first time then, must have been 2002 or 2003. Read a bit across and turned away again, did the Gateway Voyage, then again came back here a short time, did Lifeline and last year (is it true, it's less than one year?! Not longer?) I posted the first time.

But like you, of course the story is longer, definitely an important date was when I read the NDE book by Raymond Moody when I was 12 or so. Had that important impressive dream, where time was flowing and hissing like the wind. Since then I was on my journey. (But well, it started earlier, you know, looking back you can read the signs)

Always wondered why are the other people such sincere and confident about what they do and plan? In fact, what are they doing and what the heck am I doing here? That's why I really had a deep grin when I read your version:
>>>"And how come everybody else is so content with the platter that they've been served, no questions asked?" "In fact, I almost envied other people at times, because I felt like they MUST know something that I don't know!" "But, WHAT!!?"<<<
so I sometimes wished being "normal", stop thinking, but it didn't work!

And what you wrote then, this is quite like Plato's "Socrates' Defense" (Apologeia), when Socrates was running around to disprove the oracle's saying, that he was the wisest, by searching for someone who was wiser than he. What he found were people who were talking loud, sweet, of gorgious things, but knew nothing, because they all were just trapped in their profession, and from this narrow viewpoint they thought they could tell about all things beyond their profession too and felt very wise but they couldn't and they weren't, so the oracle's saying turned out to be true, as Socrates knew nothing, but this he knew, while the others knew nothing but thought they would.

As for this website, many people told their stories here and many are amazing and credible, so they remind me of what is possible, which I need from time to time! And it seems I need writing too, sharing what I experienced. And of course it's true, many became my friends. I noticed I have friends here, since it feels like I walked together with them a part of the road and I could rely on them and we came along some good places and passed them cause there are even better and better!

Spooky

Thanks Chuckles and spooky!

Spooky wrote:

"As for this website, many people told their stories here and many are amazing and credible, so they remind me of what is possible, which I need from time to time! And it seems I need writing too, sharing what I experienced. And of course it's true, many became my friends. I noticed I have friends here, since it feels like I walked together with them a part of the road and I could rely on them and we came along some good places and passed them cause there are even better and better!"

This truly is a great place spooky. It's not easy finding people in day to day life who are so open and welcoming to new ideas/thoughts regarding the questions/thoughts that are posed/pondered on this forum... I'm very glad that I have found this place and that I am able to participate. What it feels like to me is like a closed door that was inside of my head that held all of these thoughts/question/wonderings/curiosities... and now that door has been swung wide open, and the air feels great! 8) It almost feels like a tropical breeze in my mind; like we are all walking with eachother to an amazing place of indescribable beauty and love. And at any time, If one falls down, someone else picks them up, brushes them off and helps them on their way again... One day we will all be forging a new birth of ground into even greater wonderings; it's an endless fullfillment of creative bliss/love; the fabric of our lives, the fabric of everything! I'm awe-stricken everyday that I am able to wake up... everyday that I open the curtains in the morning and see the sun peeking over the hills through breaks in the clouds... everyday that I close them to go to sleep at night... Because I know that I am experiencing all of this through the eyes of who I have unknowingly grown to be; myself and "everything/everyone"... always changing and always growing towards who I am/We are/Everything is to become! What a "mind blowing" perspective/reality we all share! For now this is where my grain of sand has landed, only to one day join the other grains of sand to become a rock once again!

Thanks again to all for sharing!

PUL,
Cosmic_Ambitions

I was lurking here for a while. I had done a workshop with Mr. Monroe and read his books; that eventually led me to read all of Bruce's books. I came here out of a spiritual crisis and felt that there was a possibility that some here might understand it, even have answers for me.

    I was having a recurring experience where I would cease being a separate indivual... this wasn't blissful. It terrified me. I noticed  a group of non-physical beings  watching when this happened, very familiar to me but my memory of who they were stayed in that state of consciousness.

Anyway, I began posting other stories and then eventually posted what I really came here to say. No one had any answers or clues. But just to get responses where it wasn't immediately assumed I was crazy was helpful. I think it was useful to me to ask for help too.

After a long process, over a year or so, I found the answers I needed on "my own".

I've met people important to me. I've learned from the likely sources here and the most unlikely.

I came here because it's very easy for me to relate to folks who have been touched by Bruce's work, who have read or met Mr. Monroe.

I'm not looking for answers right now. I come here these days to learn the signatures of bunches of you, should we meet "out there".

I love your stories.

My own connections are so buddhist-centered, my stories are about Padmasambhava and the copper colored mountain, the Heart Sutra, things like that.  Those aren't what this site is about.


I come here to know you all, so I can remember you.

In gratitude, Tim F.

I think what u said is beautiful Tim. I can relate. this spiritual stuff can be so serious, then life works you over. reminds me of Gibran where he speaks of love, you need not find love, if love finds you worthy, it finds you. something like that. looks like to me, love has found you worthy. and the things u talk of, I hunger to hear..the eastern philosophies..that are not mentioned here, I like to take two thought systems and put them together. vayaConDiosAmigo

My husband died last September 9th, and I was looking for sites about ADCs, in the classic "Am I just a crazy widow or is this really happening?" vein. (Kind of funny, since I've been aware of spirits etc. about forever, but when it's one of your own...)
This site popped up in some other site's links.

I hung around mostly to see what would happen next...story of my life... ;D

Thanks for sharing your stories Tim & Cricket!

Chuckles wrote:

"reminds me of Gibran where he speaks of love, you need not find love, if love finds you worthy, it finds you."

Hey Chuckles, is that Kahlil Gibran that you're referring to? I have his book and I think it's great! A lot of good writings/ideas in there...

PUL,
Cosmic_Ambitions

yup yup! tis he.

I like this topic and like reading what everyone has written.

What brought me here is pretty simple but I'm almost embarrassed to admit to it!!

When I was still reading Bruce's 1st book, I wanted desperately to contact him.  I felt so close to him and connected to him through his book.  I could even say I felt he wrote it for me--that is how much it meant to me.  

So I got on the Internet to find his website and to hopefully find a way to contact him.  I saw the Conversation Board and thought I better just join and then I could just ask someone how to find Bruce.  I didn't want to get involved with everyone here because I already spend way too much time on a few other message boards on the internet--so I thought I didn't have time to get involved with and care about another message board.  

As it turned out, I had trouble creating a membership on this site.  For some reason it gave me error messages and I wasn't able to log on.  I don't remember where I clicked, but I clicked on getting help from "the administrators" of this board asking for help to log on.  I got an email back giving me directions and it was from Bruce!  I was so happy I finally found him and with that satisfaction being met, I decided I would very much like to get to know the other people who decided to come to his site as well.  So I did start reading the Conversation Board and got hooked to all you people here!  A lot of folks have come and gone but there is a good base of folks here.  I wholeheartedly admit that I would not be where I am today if it weren't for the people I have come to know and care so much about through this site.  I have learned so much from so many of you.  Most of all, I have been accepted here and that is a great feeling.  No one called me crazy, no one laughed at me.  

Love, Vicky  :)

thats a cool story Vicky. you know, I just like to laff with you, not at ya! basically, I've always been crazy, but it keeps me from goin insane (country/western tune)  thanks Vicky, always enjoyed you since the first day you shared yourself here. love, alysia

wrote on May 16^th, 2006 at 11:13pm:

When I was still reading Bruce's 1st book, I wanted desperately to contact him.  I felt so close to him and connected to him through his book.  I could even say I felt he wrote it for me--that is how much it meant to me.   Love, Vicky  :)

Vicky, don't worry i felt the same way also..so when i hear that he was coming to Seattle for a weekend seminar on the Afterlife, i just right into it..even if it cost me quite a bit them with the conversion from Can to US $...but Vicky all i can say it was worth it, just being there with him and feeling his energy and learning from the horse mouth so to speak..lol

With love, romain