I think part of our confusion, Matthew, is that we are seldom able to think in terms of a reality not confined to a beginning and ending.

We also often see ourselves as confined to one reality at a time.

It helps me to drop those concepts.

What if heaven is just one place that you are? What if you, here, are just someone You care for, and "hold" in many places in a multitasking kind of manner?

The Tibetan Buddhist Bardo system matches very closely with what you describe Doc, and makes a lot of sense to me too. (it fits with what we think we may know about the nature of mind, and with reported experience)

It teaches that shortly after death we find ourselves in a place where the creative effects of mind are much more immediate. (the natural state once freed of the physiclal)

That we initially bring into being pleasant realities, but that eventually whatever there is that's negative in us surfaces. And that this can become such a fearful experience that we run from it and so are driven into unfortunate rebirths.

We experience both the positive and negative aspects of our ego or karmic load in their entirety because somehow our awareness in this state is separated from it and is in a sense made a spectator that can't leave. We're not able as a result to hide from it by dreaming up another layer of belief to obscure it, as unlike in life we 'see' it all at once.

It's probably misleading to think that the afterlife is a set of objectively existing locations that we get processed through. (it certainly goes against the teaching of the more sophisticated traditions) More likely as we've often discussed it's a series of locations that actually manifest out of our shared beliefs. Hence the belief system territories and so on.

I'd be cautious about regarding F 27 as some sort of heaven either - for the same reason. It's probably based on just a different set of beliefs.

The progression through the bardos too (if true) may well be representative of what egotistical mind naturally does in the after death state - it starts to create nice stuff at first once it comes to terms with its own creativity, but maybe in some cases gets into the nasty.

Escape from the cycle of rebirth (we then can choose to ascend to a higher reality, or to be reborn for the good of others) is taught as being possible only if we can transcend ego - so that we're not influenced by our karma. i.e. we no longer believe in the ability of karmic experience to hurt us, or to exert a pull on us.

Sogyal's Rinpoche's Tibetan Book of Living and Dying contains a summary of this, the Tibetan Book of the Dead the whole lot although it's quite heavy reading....

Blink said: What if heaven is just one place that you are?
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heavy rote on Blink's statement. I feel a book is there.
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I think Doc, ego stroking is just a period of growth we go thru, as parents know, the child throws tantrums here, as a natural learning phase. U can look at the child screaming on the floor, and as a good parent would do, see that child as getting beyond that egotistical phase into maturity.
and so focus 27, some areas within it, can be seen as transitioning away from immaturity of center of the universe disease, towards the PUL reference, where serving life means also serving yourself, for if you are with the monism concept, all these others are also yourself, to help one, means you are selfishly helping yourself.
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as mystic, I have only my personal stories to tell, what I think or interpret being nonphysical really means.

btw Ian, I need to read Bardo system; I've heard so much about it and I like what you said.

from my perspective, all egos are in exactly where they need to be, and becoming always becoming more unlimited in their self hood.
No reason why it has to be all toil and no pleasure along the way.
Yet self discipline, developing charity, faith, patience, these virtues are not belief systems, but something this planet develops over lifetimes.

Bets puts me back on track, to say ego is a part of it all and can't skip step one and go directly to step three. but we try.

back to meeting my husband and sister, my stepfather, my foster father, my mother all within a world of my own symbology, aided by my interpretations, and my belief systems, which are ever changing, I trust what I've picked up there.

I trust it, because it's first hand experience rather than by anything I've heard from another. so I share it, while knowing it will never satisfy another's curiosity..it's the best I have to offer.

I have been told if I don't share it, I cannot grow into greater truth and then I've been told I hid my light under a bushel if I did not speak about these experiences..so it is with great pleasure I present the continuing saga of Alysia's pontification..smile.

It appears we are all in relationship. only relationship is important within after/before life circumstance. That expressing PUL is the goal, and consistently, and in reference serving one another as best we can based on our prevailing awareness of what that means.

back to communicating with those passed over: is it possible?
it is possible, but only if u believe it is possible. for many a dream contact is merely wishful thinking.

I choose to believe the symbols of dream contacts as providing information how that person actually is doing spiritually, which sets my mind at rest when I get back to C1. I observed both my sister and my husband as having built a house, a particular house they preferred. I observed that forgiveness is very important on the other side, as my stepfather came and requested forgiveness for his transgressions to my mother, and said he needed this forgiveness so he could continue to evolve into a better person.

same thing happens here, if u think about it. I observed within this dream area, which felt as if I were 100% there, or u could say I just tuned into their wavelength...I watched 2 CW persons (consciousness workers) employ Mike's attention to get him unstuck from his habitual lonliness, and not being able to relate to others. In this way, he could open up to life more and be happier, rather than feeling so separate from people. I assume it was focus 27, may have been some bst area he was in. these focus levels overlap each other. they are just meant for a general guideline I think.

Progress. people need people. and there will always be some that seem egotistical or more needy than others.
the quiet ones need the loud ones...we are all one.
the sick ones need the doctors, we are all one.

then I observed my mother needing my assistance after she passed on. I enjoyed being able to give it, even if I could not assist her when she was alive in body, as she would not allow me to help her then.
it's all part of that forgiveness/PUL thing, what happens after death.

I know we are all changing into better people, more loving people, because of these dreams. I observed a man who had overcome lust and he was giving me due credit for this, an expression of PUL; this was powerful confirmation of our ability to grow into better people here on Earth despite all the mayhem which we may be focused on.

as healers one and all, we can see PUL as healing the separation between God and man, and then the dream becomes the reality.

My view on 27 is that it sits at the far end of the physical existence BST's, yet is still attached to it. So when you make a decision that you desire a "home" there, it is most often a replication of an earthly desired home. Common is the cabin, by the lake or river, or the mountain retreat, always has good weather, etc.... Seeing those who love you, and whom you think you need to see in order for a smooth transition into the afterlife, is another common understanding of existence or experience in F27.Many people are seen as in body almost as this is the reality you would have just experienced and are most likely to relate to. All of these sights and sounds, experiences are necessary should your decision be to assist in further development to others of your disk group, or in your own development in physical reality. Service to yourself and to others on this earthly plane. Many are sort of cleaned up, and back they come, to do it all again. Hopefully getting it "right" on the next trip through. Others who have reached a level of spiritual advancement may go right on through F27 with no need to have the experience of "home". Some will be rerouted back, as Bruce saw them as..."curls". His so called "big fish" are most likely able to have moved on further, yet have made the decision to go another round to assist in bringing others further along. These "souls" for lack of a better word, are making the choice for service and are truly the cream of the crop. The ego is dropped for sacrifice and giving, and you then have something special. Perhaps once this "giving life" is finished, you may make the decision to move beyond the earthly experience and move on to a more spiritual existence beyond F27 and its strong attachments to this earthly existence.
Joe

Well, as some of you might remember I asked the same question even before I did Lifelines at Monroe Institute. I found Focus 27 as an advanced belief system territory which existed as (like they said at TMI) a Recycling Center for the Human Time-Space Illusion. Many decide to come back to the Earth for more life experiences, both physical and non-physical, and some decide to go on to other opportunities which do not involve the Earth system.

There is a Park, yes, but there is much more, and it seems to be getting larger and more extensive. It seems to me like more are getting all the way there instead of the other BSTs (in Monroe speak Focus 24,25,26) which I find are getting emptied out and are dissolving back into the Void from where they were fashioned. There is an Education Center, a Healing and Rejuvenation Center, A Planning Center (which ranges from Re-entry Director to the Planner), and quite literally anything one can think of to serve their needs. The idea is to decide what you want to do next.....

But it might be going on to things quite removed from the Human-Earth system. I just got home from Starlines, and let me assure you, there is a whole lot out there to explore. We are specks, and very teeny tiny specks at that. Beyond the M-band noise, as Monroe called it, out far enough to have no Earth vibrations, we meet our I-There clusters, our oversoul group, our Monad, our EXCOM (Executive Committee). This is also the area of The Gathering (Focus 34/35 in Monroe speak), the group of other intelligences which has gathered to witness the coming Earth changes expected when the Earth core aligns with the Galactic core. Some say this will be in 2012, but it has been the primary area of my interest and explorations since I went to Gateway in 2003. The Galactic Core is at 23 degrees Sagitarius and contains at least one huge black hole. It is a Stargate, and I think what Monroe called The Aperture. It is easy to find as it the point from which this Dream is coming to us (my opinion, anyhow).

We worked at Focus 42 and Focus 49 all week. Try counting yourself up to it.... it is like going home. I think you will find it familiar. It also involved retrievals, but of aspects of my self, aspects and parts of my I-there. The "All One of Us" I speak of sometimes awaits your return. Only when we reassemble all our various parts can we move on. And when we do there is SO MUCH MORE beyond THe Aperture; Joshua David Stone wrote that at that point we will be one inch up a twelve inch ruler.... The Mahatma I and II suggest we will be, then. seven initiations in to a 352 step process, with 345 more initiations to go!

So, yes, I think The Park and Focus 27 is just a stop along the way, a way station of familiar thought forms you can remain at as long as you wish. But if you are really paying attention, you will find that you are called by your Self to go farther and farther. I feel like I am just following those who have gone before me and left a trail of footprints of light in the Cosmos.

Seek, and you will find miracles. This, and more, will you also do.

Thomas