Matthew,

Yes, my most influential and life-changing mystical experiences have not been amenable to verification.   These experiences involve an ineffable sweetness and an unprecedented intensity and purity of loving communion with some ultimate (that I call God) which is impossible to explain, let alone test.  My experiences of this sort have been so powerful and unique that they cannot be recreated in memory in the same way that, say, a romantic infatuation can.  They are simply too disanalogous to life's more "normal" experiences.   There are two central truths about spiritual quests: (1) the most important truths are self-authenticating, but unverifiable to others.       (2) Yet every important spiritual or paranormal experience has its counterfeit; so we are all capable of self-deception fueled by wishful thinking.

On the one hand, I can't expect others to pursue the equivalent of my most sacred experiences when I can't verify them or even describe them well.  On the other hand, I'm confident that if others had equivalent experiences, they would be transformed by them, would deem them their most important life experiences and would long for more of the same.  Yet it feels presumptuous and manipulative even to say that much.  

So I try to contribute to the spiritual journeys of others by seeking commen ground in the form of well-verified experiences.   But here there is a sad irony.  I am by nature a skeptic, despite my status as a devout Christian.  My skepticism is such that if I were left only with my many "verified" paranormal experiences,  I would probably not be a Christian or even believe in a loving God, despite all the evidence!  So I am tolerant of this site's skeptics despite my confrontational style.  

A well-honed spiritual discernment is essential to any productive spiritual quest.  Two major enemies of discernment are wishful thinking and the pursuit of comfort as an unconsciously higher priority than the pursuit of truth.  So I argue, encourage, and share relevant experiences in the hope of broadening horizons to break up Ghetto mentalities and prevent belief systems from prematurely fossilizing and then atrophying.  But in doing so, I ultimately hope that my fellow travelers will retain sufficient curiosity and puzzlement to rigorously pursue a spiritual discipline like prayer or meditation that will ultimately enable them to have their own self-authenticating experiences.   Second-hand spirituality is the booby prize!    

One of the most important questions to ask oneself is whether there is a fine line between the latent powers of the mind (ESP, etc.) and both divine guidance and contact with other dimensions.  Matthew, I've been heavily involved in movements like EST and Dimensional Mind Approach which explore the extent to which we can create our own experience.   I'm now convinced that this potential is much more limited than I had originally hoped.  What I wish for you is this: that when the time feels right, you might explore the possibility of a distinct loving God and His/Her potential to establish an intimate and empowering relationship with you.  I suspect that such a shift in your focus must wait until your current focus on the potential of creating your own reality becomes a bit stale.  

One fact is certain: none of us has a monopoly on the truth.  So we all need to be open to each other's insights.

Don  

Your right matt,
                      We are all just trying to prove to ourself that our beliefs ring true. What really puts the stopper on my own work, is the constant inconsistancey between everyone/thing thats visited the afterlife.

It seems to me, people who have had mystical experiences, give up on trying to prove things scientifically, and only focus upon there spirituality.

People who hav'nt had mystical experiences, focus upon the science, and can be blind to obvious proof.

Im trying to find peace, i need to solve puzzles, i want a clear cut guide of the afterlife to read - you die - you float out - you have a life review- you go to a big white city-etc, but when you put people's peices of infomation together from obe's/nde's etc you get a frankinstien monster.

For me, if a psychic came and said, i have your grandmother here - her name is so and so- she died aged 88- her husbands name was- she was born here- her cars colour was- she departed on so and so. lets just say, i would truely believe there was something to it, if you stuck bruce in a cell in one end of the world, and you stuck another obe candidate in another cell across the world, and they passed a sentence to each other, lets just say i would change my whole view of obe's, that one peice of evidence would be so strong and un forgable i could base my beliefs upon it. But i would need to attend/ have camera's on them during the experiment. Not just have someone wright in down in a book and expect me to believe it.

Im doing my own research constantly - ive seen 2 psychics. both were crap. Ive tried oujija board, and i got nothing. Ive been in haunted house's, got nothing there. Ive read many books, and don is right that monroe - really did start going off the rails, when he started meeting umpa lumpa's and meeting future and past versions of himself. I dont believe our conscious can affect reality to a great extent, someone who had there leg blown off aint gonna grow a new one - just because he really thinks about it all the time.

I should add, Don that I feel that there is something self indulgent and selfish about creating your own reality and meditating on it regularly if it is not in line with noble aspirations, and love.  Materialism and fleeting bliss are not worthy of any of us.   There is something hollow in trying to create your reality for superficial gain - something empty. 

It is a problematic issue if we are "co-creators" with God.  So yes, don't think of me as one dimensional.  I would like to think that once one accepts the idea that mind and spirit are the movers of our universe, then we are open to many more concepts about our true nature.

Matthew

Spitfire,

(And by this time, fond as I am of your Doberman picture with perked up ears, and the Churchill quote - I think you should give us all a first name to call you)

The nature of thought creating reality really belongs on an older thread.  But I will answer your question this way.  We all have thoughts and conscious wishes.  This is not thought creating reality.  A  student wants to do well on a test and is nervous.  He does miserably.  To him/her, thought did not create a wished for outcome. Our everyday fleeting thoughts are not beliefs.  The student worries and has both positive and negative intentions.   But there is a difference between fleeting thoughts and deep, ingrained thought which when it becomes belief works on the template of the unconscious and creates a change in our world.

Now thought creating reality does not mean that you should not change yourself for the better.  Idle wishing is unlikely to pay off.  And if it did, you would not have evolved in any way.  No, part of meditating on thoughts to change reality involves changing your actions and behaviour.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Lost interest, right?  You shouldn't.  How many people know that to stop smoking is vital but can't do it?  They indulge themselves in behaviours and associated thoughts that go against good health.  Then, they bemoan thier fate when their  health fails(emphysema, lung cancer, etc.).

So, yes I have had success in meditation and seen real events transpire for the better that I am absolutely certain are related to my thoughts.  However, I am and was willing to change my behaviour to support "right action," and to evolve.  

While I have described the accomplishments of some meditations as "almost magical," when intent is achieved, it is meaningless unless accompanied by a change for the better in your own actions and behaviour.

I am not certain if positive thoughts are stronger than negative ones; I am sure, however that negative intentions usually bring about negative consequences to the meditator, as their bad intentions are likely to put them out of balance.

I can PM you with my specific accomplishments; some are quite personal to me and my family, so that I normally wouldn't post them.  But Spit, if I were you, I'd look into this area first way before Ouija boards - because it is a personal exploration of your very being.

As for my belief in God, I have no complex answer; it is deep in my bones, my being.  There is a connectedness of all things, all of us.  This notion transcends our petty squabbles, and seemingly disconnected lives.  This connectedness and yes, love is God.

Matthew

That dog, is a german pinscher, a very rare dog which was included into the dobermans 100 years ago, thus adding pinscher to the doberman, loyalest dog ive ever owned btw, but back on track 

Aye, my name is craig - just get used to using alias's these days 

I believe in changes in our actions to represent our beliefs, i actually believe in that very strongly.

i understand what you say about smokers, but what about secondary smoke? is a child of the perpertraitor responsible for there actions? When they do not have the knowledge to know it's bad for them?

Thought leads to action and re-action. But when it comes to thought operating outside the body without any physical machine doing it's bidding, thats what i find hard to believe.

I feel secure in somethings, my core tells me - we survive death, but then my brain counters that, with - does my brain reassure me that we do, just to stop me being paniced/rash.

I dont believe in god - certainly not the christian one anyway, i can believe theres beings in existance which have a greater knowledge then i, if i did'nt i would be a fool.

Interesting thread!

Only have time for one comment to something Matthew said that popped out at me.

Quote:


While I would agree that growing a new leg in this current time period may not be possible, I'd be willing to bet that it will be at some point in the future of mankind as consciousness continues to expand and experience more of the spiritual projections that I have seen that we truly are.

Love you guys!  Carry on!

Kathy

Craig,

I am going to send you two links in an email later today.  They are both rudimentary, but they can show, better perhaps than my posts the creative potential of our deepest beliefs on the universal subconscious to create real events/effects.  I'll also put in such things as I can about my own experiences.

You can access some of these powers easily by giving yourself two suggestions while going to sleep.  The first is, while relaxed to tell yourself that you will remember your dreams.  Do it three nights in a row.  Guaranteed to work.  You may say "that's just hypnosis, power of suggestion."  However, we are talking about accessing ideas, images and concepts, not electrical impulses here.  You will succeed, and when you do, you will say "hmmm.... I can now remember my dreams, simply by willing it.  Why couldn't I before?

You also can give yourself suggestions by setting an intent at what time to wake up.  I've done this many times, and it is as if an internal clock had gone off. 

As far as seeing more tangible effects from strong intentions - I'll PM you about the rest.  There are many situations you can explore, not just these simplistic ones.  These simple suggestion techniques, if done correctly, clue you in to the fact that there is something separate from the brain that is "mind/spirit," and that our conscious thoughts may make an impression that is translated into reality. 

M