There is a deeper meaning connecting all of our life events together. Everything in our lives happens for a reason, and that reason is tied directly with our core being.

Now… I understand that when I start talking about “deep meaning”, that it sounds sort of spiritual and mystical… but please realize that I’ve come to this conclusion based on what I’ve seen. It’s the only logical conclusion I can come to based on the evidence I’ve been presented with. This isn’t a spiritual realization - this is an observation. Everything does have meaning.

Reality is just like a dream. When we dream, all these symbols and archetypes mesh together to form a strange experience. We wake up, and we might brush it away… or we might look for the deeper meaning. If I dream about building a tree house, this could mean that I’m trying to build an emotional sanctuary to escape to, in order to get away from my problems and feel at peace. There’s meaning. Reality is just like this.

For example, in my car I have two small rubiks cubes hanging from my rear view mirror. The heat made the stickers curl and fall off - so now they are just blank cubes. The rubiks cube represents difficult - but solvable - problems in my life. The stickers falling off represents that I won’t solve these problems in a conventional sense. I will solve the problems by transcending the rules of the game. The stickers fell to the floor in my car, and made a mess. This represents that by transcending the rules, I will create a mess as a result. The stickers had been on the floor for weeks in my car, and yesterday I finally took the time to pick them up and throw them out. This represents that I have finally cleaned up the resulting mess, and everything will work out.

Now - on the surface it just looks like I had some rubiks cubes in my car, the stickers fell off, and I didn’t clean it for a while. Who cares. But when you start treating things as if they have deeper meaning, then they start to actually have deeper meaning :-P.

You may argue that it’s my mind that’s creating this deeper meaning. That reality is random, and I’m just seeing something that isn’t there. You are correct - in a sense. You are correct that my mind is creating this deeper meaning. But the mistake is thinking that reality is random.

Reality is a mirror. There is no better way to put it. In fact, I was at the book store and I read a story highlighting this exact observation. I picked up a “random” book, and started reading “random” pages, and “stumbled” upon the following story (which I will attempt to recall from memory):

A dog entered a room. He spent some time in there, and upon leaving, he was gnarling, barking, growling, and overall just filled with anger. Another dog entered the same room. Upon leaving, he was happy, wagging his tail, with a huge smile on his face. What was in the room? It was a room of mirrors. THIS IS REALITY.

Some might argue that this is no big deal. I mean… everything has meaning. That’s great and everything, but ultimately - so what? That’s nothing new. I disagree with this apathetic response.

This is a big deal. The reason it’s a big deal is because it’s true :-P. This isn’t some philosophical inquiry about how reality might function. This isn’t some pot head drunk moment of clarity. It might come to the same conclusion - but the path is very different.

This is observable - 100% of the time. This is you reading this post. This is me writing this post. This is the keyboard under my fingertips. This is the fan next to my monitor. This is my roommate’s cats. This is my car. This is my relationships. This is my mother and father. This is my bed. This is my job. This is my body. It’s a reflection of myself. I am looking at myself. And therefore, all I can see is deep meaning.

So what’s the practicality of this observation? How does this realization actually help me? How can I actually use it in real life?

Well, for one, I’m going to use it to win the lottery :-P. I may go into the “how” in another post.

Ultimately, this realization helps me become a better person. By looking around me, I see where I am. Who I am. And the small problems that spring up in my life are reflections of problems in my own mind.

For example - I went through a time period of playing chess a little while ago. I bought chess books, studied chess, and tried to improve my chess skills. Looking back, I see deep meaning associated with this. I was attracted to chess for a lot of reasons, but one of the main ones was because I felt a lot of personal responsibility for where I was in my life. Chess intrigued me because in chess - you make all your own moves. No one forces you to move anywhere. The only difference between me and a Grandmaster is how we move. It’s not like poker, where we have to play the “cards were delt”. It’s not like trivia, where our knowledge dictates our success. It’s not football, where our physical strength is what counts. In chess, it’s a simple game, where we have to combine our intuition with our calculating abilities to make simple moves that win. That resonated with me. It’s a reflection.

By studying chess, what I was really trying to do was study the laws of reality. Figure out the game. Use intuition and reason to win.

Now - how does this observation help me? Well - let’s look at chess. For one person to win, another has to lose. As with most games. If I felt a strong connection with chess, and knew that my interest in chess was a reflection of my desire to learn the laws of reality and “win”, then I can see a problem. The problem is that in reality, I don’t have to make someone else lose for me to win. Everyone can win in reality. But if I feel that I must make someone else lose in order for me to win, then that uncovers an unhealthy belief that needs to be dealt with. So - by seeing the interest I had in chess, I can quickly see that I need to inspect my beliefs about the duality of winning and losing, and figure out why I feel that I need to make others lose in order for me to win. And once I root out the problem, I will stop resonating with chess, and become uninterested in it. Which is what happened.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t play chess :-P. Chess means different things to different people, at different times in their life. When I was younger, I used to play chess a lot. I played against a computer. That probably had a completely different meaning at the time :-P.

I’ve outlined two examples in my life on how simple things have deeper meaning (rubiks cube, and chess). I’ve made these observations in dozens, if not hundreds of things in my life in the past month. I am amazed at how everything fits together seamlessly. When we see one or two connections, things become curious. But when we start to unravel the entire web of meaning, then it’s … simply amazing at how accurate of a mirror reality is.

By looking at our interests, we can predict problems that will arise in different areas of our life. Why do we resonate with something? Are there some unhealthy reasons for why we enjoy what we enjoy? How will these unhealthy beliefs filter through to other areas of our lives and create discord? If I can predict all of this, can I start to actually create a better reality by making small - and seemingly unrelated - decisions in my life? Can I win the lottery by being nice to my roommate’s cat? (or am I just insane?! :-P)

Faith is tough.  Faith is something I struggle with.

Really, I believe there is only one application of faith.  Having faith that things will be ok.  Things will work out.

It’s interesting to see how different root beliefs will filter their way through to behavior.  I had a friend who was very controlling and manipulative.  She was two-face, and always had to take control of a situation and make things turn out exactly how she wanted them to.  One day we were talking about things we struggle with, and she mentioned that she knew she was controlling, but she couldn’t help it.

I asked her: Do you believe in God?  The question really threw her off balance.  She started saying that she was raised Christian, and while she didn’t take religion too seriously, she was pretty sure she believed in God.  I told her that her controlling behavior could be a byproduct of not believing in God - that when someone believes in God, they have faith that things will work out on their own.  But without a belief in God, things don’t work out on their own unless you control the situation and make them work out for you.

She looked at me in shock, then walked away.  (Telepathy, anyone?).

Without faith, we become controlling, or feel victimized.  With faith, we allow things to happen naturally, and we get through tough times knowing that everything will work out.  Faith is good.

I believe that modern religion has hijacked this idea of faith to include other things.  When someone doubts the Christian God, they are told to have more faith.  Faith shouldn’t be used to remove doubt about a subject.  If I start to doubt the existence of gravity, a scientist doesn’t tell me to have more faith.  If I doubt that President Bush is doing a good job, it’s not because I don’t have enough faith.  If you doubt something about Christianity, then explore the doubt.  Don’t bury it out of fear of not being “faithful”.

Faith in the future though… faith that things will work out and be ok.  That’s where the value is.  It stomps out fear and worry in a heartbeat.  It removes the desire to control everything.  It tells us that things happen for a reason.  It allows us to let go and move with time, instead of against it.

“We just had a near life experience.”

I’m going to give you the best method to become telepathic. This is a big secret, so please don’t tell anyone :-P.

The ability to read someone else’s mind is the same ability as reading your own mind. To read someone else’s mind, you need to simply read your own.

Now this might not make sense at first. You might argue, “That’s stupid, I’m thinking about things all the time, yet I can’t read anyone else’s mind.” Well, there is a difference between “thinking” and “reading your own mind”.

We all think. Thinking is easy. To read your own mind, it’s a question of: what are you thinking about right now? And why?

The degree to which you can answer those questions correctly is the degree to which you are consciously telepathic.

Please don’t discount this idea. I know it might seem simple on the surface. But it’s actually much more difficult than you might originally think. What are you thinking about right now? Have you ever looked?

Right now, I’m thinking about 100,000 different things, all at once. And so are you. What we’re immediately aware of is just scratching the surface. I’m thinking about my family, my job, females, food, money, the future, the past, my possessions, the time, my toe, this post… I’m planning, organizing, digging, covering up, learning, teaching, breathing, slouching. In an instant.

This is what meditation is all about. Or at least - one aspect of meditation. Sit down and look inside your own head. Look at what you’re thinking about. Trace it back. Why are you thinking about that? What is it connected to? What sparked your current train of thought? And what sparked the spark? Can you keep your mind quiet? Can you stop all thought? Probably not for long - so why not? What thoughts arise to fill the void?

After doing this for a long time, you start to get a hang for how your mind works. The surprising thing is that everyones mind is exactly the same. The people you hate and the people you love are all using the same mind. It’s the very mind that you use. It’s my mind as well.

Practice this if telepathy interests you. You’ll begin to see other people think inside your own mind. You’ll see their eyes, and your thoughts will be their thoughts. You’ll start seeing the future. Not because you’re “psychic” or anything like that - simply because you are aware.

On the down side, reality can become boring when you know what’s going to happen. It’s like watching a movie in slow motion. Seeing a sentence form in someone’s mind, only to hear them start to speak it; waiting patiently for them to finish what you’ve already seen. Doing something before you’re “suppose” to do it. Throwing off the natural order of events, and confusing people. Becoming offended by people’s thoughts, and them having no clue why you’re so pissed off at them. Becoming annoyed before an annoying person starts to annoy you - and then becoming even more annoyed when they do exactly what you knew they were going to do :-P.

On the plus side, there is a lot less worry. If something fails, you see it fail before it does… and you may see it succeed even further down the line. While everyone else is coming to terms with the failure, you already see the solution manifesting in the future, so it’s easy to stay positive. Now you just have to wait around for the present to catch up :-P.

Ironically, Jesse just e-mailed me the following news article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19875410/site/newsweek/

Happy reading :-).

In light of dealing with skeptics on ld4all.com’s message boards, I will offer multiple ways to prove psychic abilities are real. There are two main paths: do the research, or experience the phenomenon. Feel free to do both at the same time for double the proof.

Do the Research

Here are some links that JoeT provided (I hope he doesn’t mind I ripped them off from him):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
http://www.parapsychology.org/
http://www.parapsychologydegrees.com/
http://www.rhine.org/
http://perso.orange.fr/basuyaux/parapsy_eng/links/
http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/
http://www.espresearch.com/
http://www.parapsych.org/
http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/
http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0003044

Here are some links of my own that I’ve enjoyed:

http://www.ions.org/
http://www.lfr.org/LFR/csl/
http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~abraham/psy1.html
http://www.fmbr.org/
http://www.psywww.com/asc/obe/missz.html

Here are some books:

Out-of-Body Experiences - A Handbook, by Janet Lee Mitchell, Ph.D.
Remote Viewing Secrets - A Handbook, by Joseph McMoneagle
Journeys Out of the Body, by Robert Monroe
Altered States of Consciousness, by Charles T. Tart
The Invention of Telepathy, by Roger Luckhurst
Experimental Telepathy, by Rene Warcollier
Telepathy and Clairvoyance, by Rudolf Tischner

The links and books above give more than enough proof. How many of you searching for proof will actually read any of it though? The information is usually pretty dry, I admit. Nonetheless, if you really want that scientific proof - there you go. It’s all at your fingertips. The only thing holding you back is your ability to read.

Experience the Phenomenon

The path that I personally enjoy is to experience the phenomenon directly. You can’t really argue with personal experience! Oh sure, after you have a bunch of weird experiences, people will look at you differently. Some will call you crazy, and tell you what you experienced was simply impossible. Some will treat you like a circus animal, asking you to perform on cue for their personal amusement. Some will say you’re a liar, and that you’re trying to deceive people for profit. But hey - if you really want that proof - you’ll need to make some sacrifices.

Here are some links with “How-To” information:

http://psipog.net/articles.html (I like this one, personally)
http://www.psipalatium.com/
http://www.psc-online.org/sections/view.php?id=9
http://www.upconline.net/articles.php
http://zhkyrl.brinkster.net/psionline/allarticles.html
http://www.psipog.net/activepsy/contents.html (This is where I started)
http://www.fork-you.com/
http://www.crvmanual.com/
http://www.robertpeterson.org/obebook.html
http://www.firedocs.com/
http://alittleweird.com/2007/05/11/how-to-receive-anything/
http://alittleweird.com/2007/07/04/how-to-leave-your-body/

Here are some books with “How-To” information:

You Are Psychic!, by Pete A. Sanders
Astral Dynamics, by Robert Bruce
Astral Travel for Beginners, by Richard Webster
Out of Body Exploring, by Preston Dennett
Psychic Development for Beginners, by William W. Hewitt
Develop Your Psychic Skills, by Enid Hoffman
Kundalini Awakening, by John Selby and Zachary Zelig

Conclusion

There you go. There’s your proof. Everything you need - right there. A lot of the information is free on the web. Purchasing books does cost some money, but surely it’s not that much. Maybe $10 per book. If you’re going to invest in only one book, my personal favorite is You Are Psychic!, by Pete A. Sanders. It gives a lot of great exercises to try and has a nice explanation for how psychic phenomenon might work.

It’s really not that hard to prove psychic abilities are real. The actual work involved isn’t that much. Mainly it consists of reading. If you decide to try some exercises, they aren’t difficult either. What usually happens is that people refuse to do the research because they’re lazy, or they refuse to try an exercise because they feel silly. Then they proclaim that psychic abilities can’t exist because they’ve never seen proof. Well no duh.

One last thing: This is by no means an exhaustive list. Use Google. Search. Go to a library. Actually GO TO A LIBRARY. I spent countless hours at the University of Georgia’s library, reading random books on psi research. The main keywords to look for are “telepathy”, “clairvoyance”, “esp”, and “psychokinesis”. Searching for other terms doesn’t usually produce results.

That’s it.

Let’s say you won a couple million.  What would you do with the money?

“Two chicks at the same time.”

Thank you Office Space.  Nonetheless, despite the cliché, it’s a good question to ask.

When I first thought about winning the lottery, I imagined myself back at the University of Georgia, learning about everything.  Music theory, engineering, brain science, math, physics, psychology, religion, astronomy, computer animation… I wouldn’t have to focus on one major, and could go at my own pace.

For my lifestyle, I imagined myself exercising every day, having a cool place to live, lots of books, lots of cool gadgets, perhaps some hottie college girlfriend.  I’d be living close to some of my friends from Georgia, and it’d be great hanging out with them, having a good time.  I’d love to travel as well… see the different cultures and landmarks around Earth.  I imagined opening a book store where people could go to hang out.  I would have different events that would be fun… group discussions, debates, guest speakers, activities, etc.

Anyways - back to the point.  The question immediately becomes: why not work towards that right now?

So lately, that’s what I’ve been doing.  I pick something off the list of “if I had a shitton of money…”, and do it.  A lot of the things on my list don’t require any money.  For example, I can study all those topics on my own.  I don’t need to pay a teacher.  In fact, when I was in college, I rarely went to class because the teachers always did such a piss poor job.  These past two weeks I’ve been studying music theory, and composing different songs.  It’s fun :-).

I also started exercising a while ago (which I mentioned in another post).  Why wait until I have a big number in my bank account to go running in the sun?

I guess it all seems really obvious though.  Especially in hindsight.  99% of the things I listed don’t even require huge sums of money.  A lot of winning the money is just a boost in confidence.  I bet I could even open a book store without a ton of money, if that’s what I really want to do.  Traveling isn’t that expensive either (right Matt?).

I mean… fuck.  We are free.  Am I looking for the courage to win the lottery, or looking for the courage to live my life how I truly want to live it?  *shrugs*

What would you do with large sums of money?

I’ve been thinking about money and value lately with the purpose of trying to uncover limiting beliefs that could be holding me back from winning the lottery.

Before I get into it, let me say one thing.  The book, The Richest Man in Babylon, by George S. Clason, is an unbelievably awesome book on money.  I highly recommend it - it’s one of my favorites that I’ve read multiple times.

So anyways… on thinking about money and business, I notice that a lot of businesses are based on lies.  And that bothers me.  Just watch some commercials.  Not skinny enough?  We can fix that.  Not getting enough sleep?  We can fix that.  Dick isn’t big enough?  We can fix that.  Clothes not cool enough?  We can fix that.  Not happy enough?  We got some pills you can take!

I mean… so many businesses are based on convincing the customer that they won’t be happy until they buy a product.  They target an insecurity and exploit it for profit.  That’s pretty fucking rude :-P.

But then I suppose I should be fair.  There are businesses that actually provide a useful service, that deserve their success.  For example, FedEx, Google, NetFlix, Amazon, etc.  They provide a service without preying on their customers.

So where is the value?  I don’t think there is any value in exploiting insecurities.  But I do think there is value in providing an honest service.

I want to say that the value of something is ultimately created in the mind.  But I can’t see it clearly just yet.  Or maybe I can…

After all, if no one was insecure about how fat they are, then diet commercials that tried to target a non-existent insecurity would be ineffective.  Should I be blaming the business, or should I be blaming the customer for having the insecurity in the first place?  Where is the value created?

It’s the customer who creates the value.  It is the mind.

A mighty general was holding and admiring one of his antique cups. Suddenly, the cup slipped from his hands and fell. Although in shock, he quickly caught the cup before it hit the ground. Somewhat breathless from this incident, he thought to himself, “I have led tens of thousands of soldiers into battle without fear. Why did a cup cause me to become so frightened?” He then realized that it was his mind of attachment and loss that caused him such fright. With this comprehension, he casually threw the cup to the ground and let it break.

Today I present two short posts in one:

The first thing to note is that I just had an out-of-arm-experience.  I have these every once in a while.  Someone called me at 9:45am speaking Spanish that woke me up.  I went back to bed in a weird state of mind.  I did dream some, but I also experienced laying in bed messing around with my arms.

The experience went on and off for about 20 minutes.  I was laying in bed, looking at my wall, and my arms were “out” of my body.  I couldn’t see them, but I could sense where they were.  I moved them in front of my face, trying to see them, but no luck.  I felt my face with my hands, and my hands felt my face, but my face didn’t feel my hands.  It was pretty cool.  I had an experience like it before, years ago when I was 16 years old.

I almost decided not to post about it, because it was a mundane experience, but there was one important feature.  On my wall, I have playing cards taped to it for decoration.  While having these out of arm experiences, I focused on one of the playing cards to keep my consciousness aware.  When I woke up, it dawned on me that I should check that specific card to see if I perceived it correctly.  While in the bathroom, I predicted the card would be dark with two symbols on the front.  When I checked, I was correct - it was exactly as I remembered it.  This isn’t die-hard proof of anything, however it is an interesting thing to note.

In other news… Steorn, the guys who claim to have discovered perpetual motion, had a public demonstration July 6th, 2007.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t get their technology to work.  Here is a video of Sean McCarthy making excuses.  I didn’t watch the whole thing because of the bad quality and length, but maybe someone else is interested:

I lost this round. I spent $12 on lottery tickets for Friday’s drawing, and lost.

I went to bed pissed off. But I woke up with the solution. Funny how that works..?

For those that think I’m crazy, let me reassure you: no one questions my sanity more than myself :-). Perhaps it is all just random, and I’m putting myself through this for no good reason whatsoever. That thought certainly crosses my mind. However - I can’t deny my observations. And once I start thinking about my observations, I quickly regain my confidence, and realize that I can win the jackpot if I remain persistent. I’ve made intelligent decisions up to this point, and I’m confident in my logic so far. I’m just need to keep going.

Or maybe I’m addicted to gambling? Heh, that thought is truly ridiculous for anyone who knows me. I have a very non-addictive personality, and I aggressively avoid anything that just might cause an addiction. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons I stopped playing scratch off lottery tickets. I observed my emotions moving a millimeter towards addiction, and cut it off immediately.

Anyways, here is a list of ideas that I will have to resolve:

1. There is no such thing as randomness -or- Do I have the courage to live in a world without randomness?

Now I know I’ve addressed this topic before. However, parts of my mind still rely on this idea of randomness to “patch things up” that I’m not entirely aware of. For example, on July 4th I drove home from work differently so I could get some gas. I didn’t realize that the path I had chosen would result in a shit load of traffic because people were watching fireworks. This pissed me off, and it’s possible part of myself said that my suffering was random (or: it was random that I inadvertently decided to get gas at that specific day and time, where there was excessive traffic). To be pissed is to deny the order of the universe.

I find myself making decisions based on a belief in randomness. Let me outline exactly what I mean, because this is the main reason why I lost this past drawing. Imagine a chess game :-), and I’m white. Now, as I move my chess pieces around the board, and develop a strategy, I have to try to predict what my opponent is going to do, and prepare myself for their attacks, and also counter-attack at the same time. How does my prediction process work? At some point, I might try to think of random moves my opponent would make, in order to figure out how I would respond.

I do this with reality. It’s a wonderful tool for decision making. I think to myself, “When I get out of the Air Force, I will go back to college. However, if the Air Force refuses to pay for my college (even though they said they would), then I need to have a backup plan. And if I win the lottery, then I don’t need to worry about that. But if I don’t win the lottery, and the Air Force screws me over, then what do I do? In that case, I will find a good job with my decent resume. However, this choice isn’t optimal because my resume wouldn’t include a Bachelors degree.” Now look at how many paths I’ve outlined in my head, and how those paths rely on the idea of randomness.

I have no explanation for why the Air Force would screw me over, however - it is possible and probable, so I must prepare for it (just like in the chess game). But at the same time, if nothing is random, and everything happens for a reason, then why should I prepare? Or more accurately: since the reason I prepare is because I foreshadow possible stressful situations, and I want to alleviate that imaginary stress: why should the Air Force screwing me over stress me out if nothing is truly random?

2. What I will do with the money?

I’m starting to solve this issue, but I still need some work. It’s important for me to define (in a general sense) what I plan to do with the money - and start working towards that right now. For example, a few months ago I had visualized myself in Georgia with $33 mil, exercising daily and running in the sun. But while visualizing this, in reality I was a lazy bum, and didn’t exercise at all. So, internally, the idea of winning the jackpot meant I could start exercising. However, this is an unhealthy limitation, that puts a need on winning the jackpot. Like so: I need to be healthy = I need to exercise = I need to win the lottery. Associating a need with the jackpot introduces failure. The solution to that particular problem was to start running NOW. Which is what I do. I exercise 3-4 times a week.

Even though I solved that one problem, there are more. What will I do with the money? Is there a way I can start working towards my goals NOW? Is there a way I can relieve this need to win?

3. Am I cheating?

I have this issue mostly resolved, but I have some more work to do here as well. Am I cheating by winning the lottery? In a way, yes. I am betraying the trust of those who enter the lottery. We have a preconception that this is a game of chance… if everyone knew it wasn’t a game of chance, and that it was a game of choice, would people still play? Maybe more people would play :-P. But nonetheless, the issue still exists. If there exists one person who plays because it’s a game of chance, then I am cheating that person by using conscious choice to win.

Now the obvious solution to this is to realize that I can’t be accountable for someone else’s ignorance or misunderstanding. But there’s still some negativity in this line of argument that needs to be resolved.

4. Is it moral to get something for nothing?

This is an interesting problem which needs some attention indeed. I stumbled upon the Seven Blunders of the World, by Gandhi. (Flashback: by using the word “stumbled” in the previous sentence, am I affirming a form of randomness exists?). Gandhi lists seven blunders that humans make, one of them being: wealth without work.

Now, in my head I’m clearly working hard for this win. Look how much time and energy I’ve put into it so far. I’m working, according to my own standards. But I think I should give Gandhi a little more credit and think about this idea some more. I’ve heard other people claim it’s ethically wrong to use intention manifestation to win the lottery because you’re getting “something for nothing”, but I really don’t care what they think. However, when Gandhi says it, then perhaps I should perk up and pay attention :-P.

This brings up the topic of what is wealth, how society views wealth, the true value of something, what the natural order of things are regarding wealth and value, etc. A lot of issues that need to be addressed, and I’ve barely scratched the surface.

Overall

Looking over this list, and looking internally at the beliefs and thoughts in my head that need to be resolved, I still come to the same conclusion: I can do this. I can overcome these obstacles in a positive way that will conclude with me winning the jackpot. My goal is possible. But I do have work to do, and I’m not entirely sure how I’ll get there just yet. But the destination exists :-).

The great thing about out of body experiences is that ANYONE can learn and see it with their own eyes. Let’s start at ground zero:

What is an Out of Body Experience?

An out of body experience (OBE) is when you perceive your consciousness outside of your body. The basic outline is that you lay down, meditate or trance out, and at some point you start to float outside your body. Sometimes this feels so real that you’re not even sure if you’ve left your body. There have been times when I’ve fallen out of my body, and thought I actually fell out of my bed physically! Only to “wake up” back in my bed, slightly confused :-).

It’s hard to wrap our minds around what an OBE actually is. If you read about OBEs, then you might draw the simple idea that it’s like being a ghost, floating around going through things. This idea could be true to some extent, but you’ll be very disappointed if you think you can just get up and do whatever you want once you leave your body. Once you leave your body, motion, sight, logic, memory, and other basic functions need to be re-learned. I’ve been having OBEs for 8 years and I still can’t move around freely every time.

Other people might argue that OBEs are a form of hallucination or dream. After all - a lot of OBE techniques focus on going to sleep and messing around with altered states of consciousness. It seems like a logical explanation on the surface. However, just like the ghost explanation, it’s an oversimplification. It’s true that during an OBE you will probably experience hallucinations of some sort… there have been OBEs where I perceived my environment completely wrong. Garages in the wrong location, outdoor decks that don’t exist, paint cans that don’t exist, etc. But there are also experiences where I’ve perceived things accurately that I couldn’t have known otherwise - in my favorite experience, I saw a black plastic washer on the ground. Upon waking up, I realized it was really a black guitar pick that I had dropped.

Another piece of evidence that OBEs are real to some extent is that during my 8 years, I’ve always experienced the OBE in the same location as my physical body (except maybe once). You can’t say that about dreams. Nearly all dreams are in foreign locations, like schools, malls, fields, etc.

My point is that OBEs are weird :-). I hate when people try to simplify it without having personal experience or doing any research. It’s like being a ghost, but it’s not that simple. Some parts seem like hallucinations, but it’s not that simple. So whatever your opinion is, please be aware that this is not an easy thing to explain, and if you find yourself simplifying it in your mind, the most likely reason for that is that you haven’t researched it enough, and/or you’ve never had one.

Strong Desire Method

There are an unlimited number of techniques to achieve an OBE. There isn’t one set way to do it. Here is one method that I’ve had success with:

Have a burning desire and unhealthy obsession with wanting to leave your body. Want it more than you’ve ever wanted anything else in the world. If you can achieve that level of emotion, then you’ll have one.

Now why does this work? Perhaps you want it so much that you brainwash yourself into having one?! That’s not good! Well, relax for a second :-). I’ll explain why this works, and then maybe you can understand the sort of “desire” I’m talking about. I’m not talking about the “self-delusion desire”. I’m talking about the “every level of being desire”.

The reason this method works is because the gateway to an OBE is in an altered state of consciousness. When you’re in an altered state of consciousness, you think differently. You make different decisions. Logic functions differently. Memory functions differently. Emotion is different.

Everyone has experienced this. Has your alarm clock ever woken you up? You hit the snooze, laying in bed. The night before you decided to wake up at 6am to go for an early run, but now that you’re in your comfy warm bed, that logic simply doesn’t make any sense. Who cares about exercising? Screw that. More sleep.

When you were awake and alert the night before, you made a simple decision: get up early and exercise. Makes sense to me. But when you were in a groggy state of mind, a different part of yourself made the decision to stay in bed. If you think back to the exact moment you made your groggy decision, you can see how your mind functioned very differently.

The burning desire is necessary to overcome this. If every fiber of your being wants to have an OBE, then when you get into an altered state of consciousness, that altered decision making process will still want an OBE. This is extremely important. There are states of mind where it’s almost a completely subconscious decision. If you really want to have an OBE that’s great. But if your subconscious fears or desires are screaming “No way!”, then when you hit that altered state of consciousness, you will resist having an OBE.

To understand this method, simply understand that when you’re in an altered state of consciousness, you make different decisions. It’s that simple. As another example… have you ever had a weird dream? Of course! One of my dreams today consisted of me making sure no one contaminated the ingredients to a juice maker. Some guy was being a jerk and messing around with the equipment, and it was my job to get him out of there, so the juice would be free from contamination. Now that I’m awake, I see how silly the entire situation is. But at the time, I was in an altered state of consciousness, and my decision making process was completely different. My memory was different. My emotion was different.

Had I had a burning desire to leave my body, then even the part of myself that felt it was necessary to guard a juice maker would have wanted to leave.

In Conclusion…

OBEs are weird. We might be tempted to explain them using simple ideas, but we should remind ourselves that reality isn’t as simple as our beliefs would like reality to be. Research and personal experience can keep us rooted in reality.

One method to leave our body is to have a strong desire on every level of our being. The reason this works is because we need to make the decision to leave our body while in an altered state of consciousness. We’ve already seen in our past experiences how an altered state of consciousness usually makes strange decisions. Having a burning desire to leave our body will ensure that even our altered decision making will point us in the correct direction.

Thanks for reading!