Post by bhudharhita on Feb 25, 2013 4:11:26 GMT -5
Astral projection (or astral travel) is an interpretation of
out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of an "astral
body" separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside
it. Astral projection or travel denotes the astral body leaving the
physical body to travel in the astral plane.
The idea of astral travel is rooted in common worldwide religious
accounts of the afterlife in which the consciousness' or soul's
journey or "ascent" is described in such terms as "an... out-of body
experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body
and travels in his/her subtle body (or dreambody or astral body) into
‘higher’ realms." It is therefore associated with near death
experiences and is also frequently reported as spontaneously
experienced in association with sleep and dreams, illness,surgical
operations, drug experiences, sleep paralysis and forms of meditation.
It is sometimes attempted out of curiosity, or may be believed to be
necessary to, or the result of, some forms of spiritual practice. It
may involve "travel to higher realms" called astral planes but is
commonly used to describe any sensation of being "out of the body" in
the everyday world, even seeing one's body from outside or above. It
may be reported in the form of an apparitional experience, a supposed
encounter with a doppelgänger, some living person also seen somewhere
else at the same time.
Through the 1960s and 1970s, surveys reported percentages ranging from
8 percent to as many as 50 percent (in certain groups) of respondents
who state they had such an experience. The subjective nature of the
experience permits explanations that do not rely on the existence of
an "astral" body and plane.
The theme is treated in anthropological or ethnographic literature on
witchcraft and shamanism, in classical philosophy and in various myths
and religious scriptures.
Western philosophies
According to classical, medieval and renaissance Hermeticism,
Neoplatonism, and later Theosophist and Rosicrucian thought, the
astral body is an intermediate body of light linking the rational soul
to the physical body while the astral plane is an intermediate world
of light between Heaven and Earth, composed of the spheres of the
planets and stars. These astral spheres were held to be populated by
angels, demons and spirits.
The subtle bodies, and their associated planes of existence, form an
essential part of the esoteric systems that deal with astral
phenomena. In the neo-platonism of Plotinus, for example, the
individual is a microcosm ("small world") of the universe (the
macrocosm or "great world"). "The rational soul...is akin to the great
Soul of the World" while "the material universe, like the body, is
made as a faded image of the Intelligible". Each succeeding plane of
manifestation is causal to the next, a world-view called emanationism;
"from the One proceeds Intellect, from Intellect Soul, and from Soul -
in its lower phase, or Nature - the material universe".
Often these bodies and their planes of existence are depicted as a
series of concentric circles or nested spheres, with a separate body
traversing each realm.The idea of the astral figured prominently in
the work of the nineteenth-century French occultist Eliphas Levi,
whence it was adopted and developed further by Theosophy, and used
afterwards by other esoteric movements.
Bible
Some have claimed that the Bible contains mentions of astral projection.
Carrington, Muldoon, Peterson, and Williams claim that the subtle body
is attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver cord.
The final chapter of the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes is often cited
in this respect: "Before the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl
be broken, or the pitcher be shattered at the fountain, or the wheel
be broken at the cistern." Scherman, however, contends that the
context points to this being merely a metaphor, comparing the body to
a machine, with the silver cord referring to the spine.
Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians is more generally agreed to
refer to the astral planes; "I know a man in Christ, fourteen years
ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not,
God knows) such a one caught up to the third heaven..." This statement
gave rise to the Visio Pauli, a tract that offers a vision of heaven
and hell, a forerunner of visions attributed to Adomnan and Tnugdalus
as well as of Dante's Divine Comedy.
[edit]Islamic Mysticism
Many sects and offshoots belonging to Islamic mysticism interpret
Muhammad's night ascent- the Isra and Mi'raj - to be an out of body
experience through nonphysical environments, unlike the Sunni Muslims
or mainstream Islam. In view of the references from the Qur'an and
Hadith, the Sunni Muslims reject this saying the Isra and Mi'raj, the
night journey - mentioned in the Qur'an and Hadith was physical yet
spiritual. He was taken to the Masjid Al Aqsa, where he performed
prayer leading all previous prophets and then taken to the heavens in
a journey. The mystics claim Muhammad was transported to Jerusalem and
onward to seven heavens, even though "the apostle's body remained
where it was."
Islamic spiritual system called Sufism also have some similar
practices. There are stories about the sufis that they were seen on
multiple places at the same time. There are hundreds of such stories.
It is believed that the sufis make their soul pure and light by
surrendering themselves to Allah(God). And Allah in return gives them
some special powers including this.
Ancient Egypt
Similar concepts of "soul" travel appear in various other religious
traditions, for example ancient Egyptian teachings present the soul as
having the ability to hover outside the physical body in the ka, or
subtle body.
China
Taoist alchemical practice involves creation of an energy body by
breathing meditations, drawing energy into a 'pearl' that is then
"circulated". "Xiangzi ... with a drum as his pillow fell fast asleep,
snoring and motionless. His primordial spirit, however, went straight
into the banquet room and said, "My lords, here I am again." ... When
Tuizhi walked ... with the officials to take a look, there really was
a Daoist sleeping on the ground and snoring like thunder. Yet inside,
in the side room, there was another Daoist beating a fisher drum and
singing Daoist songs. The officials all said, “Although there are two
different people, their faces and clothes are exactly alike. Clearly
he is a divine immortal who can divide his body and appear in several
places at once. ..." ... At that moment, the Daoist in the side room
came walking out, and the Daoist sleeping on the ground woke up. The
two merged into one."
[edit]India
Similar ideas such as the Lin'ga S'ari-ra are found in ancient Hindu
scriptures such as the YogaVashishta-Maharamayana of Valmiki.Modern
Indians who have vouched for astral projection include Paramahansa
Yogananda who witnessed Swami Pranabananda doing a miracle through a
possible astral projection and Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) who
practiced it himself.
The Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba described one's use of astral
projection:
In the advancing stages leading to the beginning of the path, the
aspirant becomes spiritually prepared for being entrusted with free
use of the forces of the inner world of the astral bodies. He may then
undertake astral journeys in his astral body, leaving the physical
body in sleep or wakefulness. The astral journeys that are taken
unconsciously are much less important than those undertaken with full
consciousness and as a result of deliberate volition. This implies
conscious use of the astral body. Conscious separation of the astral
body from the outer vehicle of the gross body has its own value in
making the soul feel its distinction from the gross body and in
arriving at fuller control of the gross body. One can, at will, put on
and take off the external gross body as if it were a cloak, and use
the astral body for experiencing the inner world of the astral and for
undertaking journeys through it, if and when necessary....The ability
to undertake astral journeys therefore involves considerable expansion
of one’s scope for experience. It brings opportunities for promoting
one’s own spiritual advancement, which begins with the involution of
consciousness.
The Yogic tradition is an elaborate system of meditation and astral
projection and most other Chino-Tibetan systems are derived therefrom
through Buddhist channels.[citation needed] Astral projection is one
of the Siddhis considered achievable by yoga practitioners through
self-disciplined practice.
Japan
The ikiryō as illustrated by Toriyama Sekien.
In Japanese mythology, an ikiryō (生霊?) (also read shōryō, seirei, or
ikisudama) is a manifestation of the soul of a living person
separately from their body. Traditionally, if someone holds a
sufficient grudge against another person, it is believed that a part
or the whole of their soul can temporarily leave their body and appear
before the target of their hate in order to curse or otherwise harm
them, similar to an evil eye. Souls are also believed to leave a
living body when the body is extremely sick or comatose; such ikiryō
are not malevolent.
Material technology, without spiritual knowledge, is leading us to a
global catastrophe on Earth. Technology should ASSIST in the spiritual
development and not be used (as it is used now) to confine and enslave
people within a monetary system and materialistic world, which are
both temporary anyway.
The danger does NOT lie in the death of the physical body, as millions
believe: the danger exists in the WAY in which one LIVES. There is
nothing in the Universe to be afraid of, except our own ignorance and
its consequences. We live on Earth to develop our consciousness,
awareness and understanding of the specific aspects of laws of Nature
and the Universe. What we think we “know” on Earth is just a tiny drop
in the Ocean of Knowledge.
Reality is created by thought projection (consciousness) into the
physical gird. There are 5 subtle bodies In astral projection the
conscious mind leaves the physical body and moves into the astral body
to experience. In astral projection you remain attached to your
physical body by a 'silver umbilical type cord'. Some people are able
to see the cord when astral projecting. To astral project, as with all
out-of-body experiences, one must feel totally relaxed, clothing
fitting comfortable, reclining is best. Often a comforter is best over
the body as the physical body sometimes gets cold when you travel out.
When you astral project you are consciously aware of things you
encounter while out of your physical body.
Some people can astral project naturally. Others are afraid to remove
their consciousness from the physical body and never learn to astral
project.
Astral projection (or astral travel) is an out-of-body experience
achieved either awake or via lucid dreaming or deep meditation. People
who say they experience astral projection often say that their spirit
or astral body has left their physical body and moves in another
dimension known as the spirit world or astral plane. The concept of
astral projection has been around and practiced for thousands of
years, dating back to ancient China. It is currently often associated
with the New Age movement.
Psychics often say that the subconscious (or dreaming) mind contains
the spirit or astral body, resulting in falling dreams or waking up
with a falling sensation or sudden jerk. Most dreams are not
remembered by the conscious mind, making the experience of astral
projection a subject of subjectivity. Believers in astral projection
point out, though, that most ghost sightings often define the ghost as
a lucid or transparent apparition walking the earth.
out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of an "astral
body" separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside
it. Astral projection or travel denotes the astral body leaving the
physical body to travel in the astral plane.
The idea of astral travel is rooted in common worldwide religious
accounts of the afterlife in which the consciousness' or soul's
journey or "ascent" is described in such terms as "an... out-of body
experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body
and travels in his/her subtle body (or dreambody or astral body) into
‘higher’ realms." It is therefore associated with near death
experiences and is also frequently reported as spontaneously
experienced in association with sleep and dreams, illness,surgical
operations, drug experiences, sleep paralysis and forms of meditation.
It is sometimes attempted out of curiosity, or may be believed to be
necessary to, or the result of, some forms of spiritual practice. It
may involve "travel to higher realms" called astral planes but is
commonly used to describe any sensation of being "out of the body" in
the everyday world, even seeing one's body from outside or above. It
may be reported in the form of an apparitional experience, a supposed
encounter with a doppelgänger, some living person also seen somewhere
else at the same time.
Through the 1960s and 1970s, surveys reported percentages ranging from
8 percent to as many as 50 percent (in certain groups) of respondents
who state they had such an experience. The subjective nature of the
experience permits explanations that do not rely on the existence of
an "astral" body and plane.
The theme is treated in anthropological or ethnographic literature on
witchcraft and shamanism, in classical philosophy and in various myths
and religious scriptures.
Western philosophies
According to classical, medieval and renaissance Hermeticism,
Neoplatonism, and later Theosophist and Rosicrucian thought, the
astral body is an intermediate body of light linking the rational soul
to the physical body while the astral plane is an intermediate world
of light between Heaven and Earth, composed of the spheres of the
planets and stars. These astral spheres were held to be populated by
angels, demons and spirits.
The subtle bodies, and their associated planes of existence, form an
essential part of the esoteric systems that deal with astral
phenomena. In the neo-platonism of Plotinus, for example, the
individual is a microcosm ("small world") of the universe (the
macrocosm or "great world"). "The rational soul...is akin to the great
Soul of the World" while "the material universe, like the body, is
made as a faded image of the Intelligible". Each succeeding plane of
manifestation is causal to the next, a world-view called emanationism;
"from the One proceeds Intellect, from Intellect Soul, and from Soul -
in its lower phase, or Nature - the material universe".
Often these bodies and their planes of existence are depicted as a
series of concentric circles or nested spheres, with a separate body
traversing each realm.The idea of the astral figured prominently in
the work of the nineteenth-century French occultist Eliphas Levi,
whence it was adopted and developed further by Theosophy, and used
afterwards by other esoteric movements.
Bible
Some have claimed that the Bible contains mentions of astral projection.
Carrington, Muldoon, Peterson, and Williams claim that the subtle body
is attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver cord.
The final chapter of the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes is often cited
in this respect: "Before the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl
be broken, or the pitcher be shattered at the fountain, or the wheel
be broken at the cistern." Scherman, however, contends that the
context points to this being merely a metaphor, comparing the body to
a machine, with the silver cord referring to the spine.
Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians is more generally agreed to
refer to the astral planes; "I know a man in Christ, fourteen years
ago, (whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not,
God knows) such a one caught up to the third heaven..." This statement
gave rise to the Visio Pauli, a tract that offers a vision of heaven
and hell, a forerunner of visions attributed to Adomnan and Tnugdalus
as well as of Dante's Divine Comedy.
[edit]Islamic Mysticism
Many sects and offshoots belonging to Islamic mysticism interpret
Muhammad's night ascent- the Isra and Mi'raj - to be an out of body
experience through nonphysical environments, unlike the Sunni Muslims
or mainstream Islam. In view of the references from the Qur'an and
Hadith, the Sunni Muslims reject this saying the Isra and Mi'raj, the
night journey - mentioned in the Qur'an and Hadith was physical yet
spiritual. He was taken to the Masjid Al Aqsa, where he performed
prayer leading all previous prophets and then taken to the heavens in
a journey. The mystics claim Muhammad was transported to Jerusalem and
onward to seven heavens, even though "the apostle's body remained
where it was."
Islamic spiritual system called Sufism also have some similar
practices. There are stories about the sufis that they were seen on
multiple places at the same time. There are hundreds of such stories.
It is believed that the sufis make their soul pure and light by
surrendering themselves to Allah(God). And Allah in return gives them
some special powers including this.
Ancient Egypt
Similar concepts of "soul" travel appear in various other religious
traditions, for example ancient Egyptian teachings present the soul as
having the ability to hover outside the physical body in the ka, or
subtle body.
China
Taoist alchemical practice involves creation of an energy body by
breathing meditations, drawing energy into a 'pearl' that is then
"circulated". "Xiangzi ... with a drum as his pillow fell fast asleep,
snoring and motionless. His primordial spirit, however, went straight
into the banquet room and said, "My lords, here I am again." ... When
Tuizhi walked ... with the officials to take a look, there really was
a Daoist sleeping on the ground and snoring like thunder. Yet inside,
in the side room, there was another Daoist beating a fisher drum and
singing Daoist songs. The officials all said, “Although there are two
different people, their faces and clothes are exactly alike. Clearly
he is a divine immortal who can divide his body and appear in several
places at once. ..." ... At that moment, the Daoist in the side room
came walking out, and the Daoist sleeping on the ground woke up. The
two merged into one."
[edit]India
Similar ideas such as the Lin'ga S'ari-ra are found in ancient Hindu
scriptures such as the YogaVashishta-Maharamayana of Valmiki.Modern
Indians who have vouched for astral projection include Paramahansa
Yogananda who witnessed Swami Pranabananda doing a miracle through a
possible astral projection and Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) who
practiced it himself.
The Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba described one's use of astral
projection:
In the advancing stages leading to the beginning of the path, the
aspirant becomes spiritually prepared for being entrusted with free
use of the forces of the inner world of the astral bodies. He may then
undertake astral journeys in his astral body, leaving the physical
body in sleep or wakefulness. The astral journeys that are taken
unconsciously are much less important than those undertaken with full
consciousness and as a result of deliberate volition. This implies
conscious use of the astral body. Conscious separation of the astral
body from the outer vehicle of the gross body has its own value in
making the soul feel its distinction from the gross body and in
arriving at fuller control of the gross body. One can, at will, put on
and take off the external gross body as if it were a cloak, and use
the astral body for experiencing the inner world of the astral and for
undertaking journeys through it, if and when necessary....The ability
to undertake astral journeys therefore involves considerable expansion
of one’s scope for experience. It brings opportunities for promoting
one’s own spiritual advancement, which begins with the involution of
consciousness.
The Yogic tradition is an elaborate system of meditation and astral
projection and most other Chino-Tibetan systems are derived therefrom
through Buddhist channels.[citation needed] Astral projection is one
of the Siddhis considered achievable by yoga practitioners through
self-disciplined practice.
Japan
The ikiryō as illustrated by Toriyama Sekien.
In Japanese mythology, an ikiryō (生霊?) (also read shōryō, seirei, or
ikisudama) is a manifestation of the soul of a living person
separately from their body. Traditionally, if someone holds a
sufficient grudge against another person, it is believed that a part
or the whole of their soul can temporarily leave their body and appear
before the target of their hate in order to curse or otherwise harm
them, similar to an evil eye. Souls are also believed to leave a
living body when the body is extremely sick or comatose; such ikiryō
are not malevolent.
Material technology, without spiritual knowledge, is leading us to a
global catastrophe on Earth. Technology should ASSIST in the spiritual
development and not be used (as it is used now) to confine and enslave
people within a monetary system and materialistic world, which are
both temporary anyway.
The danger does NOT lie in the death of the physical body, as millions
believe: the danger exists in the WAY in which one LIVES. There is
nothing in the Universe to be afraid of, except our own ignorance and
its consequences. We live on Earth to develop our consciousness,
awareness and understanding of the specific aspects of laws of Nature
and the Universe. What we think we “know” on Earth is just a tiny drop
in the Ocean of Knowledge.
Reality is created by thought projection (consciousness) into the
physical gird. There are 5 subtle bodies In astral projection the
conscious mind leaves the physical body and moves into the astral body
to experience. In astral projection you remain attached to your
physical body by a 'silver umbilical type cord'. Some people are able
to see the cord when astral projecting. To astral project, as with all
out-of-body experiences, one must feel totally relaxed, clothing
fitting comfortable, reclining is best. Often a comforter is best over
the body as the physical body sometimes gets cold when you travel out.
When you astral project you are consciously aware of things you
encounter while out of your physical body.
Some people can astral project naturally. Others are afraid to remove
their consciousness from the physical body and never learn to astral
project.
Astral projection (or astral travel) is an out-of-body experience
achieved either awake or via lucid dreaming or deep meditation. People
who say they experience astral projection often say that their spirit
or astral body has left their physical body and moves in another
dimension known as the spirit world or astral plane. The concept of
astral projection has been around and practiced for thousands of
years, dating back to ancient China. It is currently often associated
with the New Age movement.
Psychics often say that the subconscious (or dreaming) mind contains
the spirit or astral body, resulting in falling dreams or waking up
with a falling sensation or sudden jerk. Most dreams are not
remembered by the conscious mind, making the experience of astral
projection a subject of subjectivity. Believers in astral projection
point out, though, that most ghost sightings often define the ghost as
a lucid or transparent apparition walking the earth.