nature of transcendence, and its implications

[Highflyerz]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the “astral plane” and the implications if it really exists. Personally im a little skeptical, but I’ve never had an OBE or anything and im open to the possibility. For this thread lets assume that it does exist. As humans its obviously sort of difficult to transcend planes of existence, but through practice and the right technique one can learn how to separate their consciousness from their physical body and visit this alternate level of existence. This got me thinking about what it would take for a being originally from the astral plane to visit ours. Our world is a very concrete place bound by the laws of physics, and at least for the most part “spirits” or entities from the astral plane would have a tough time here, interacting with anything would be difficult to say the least. We’ve all had a lot of time to get used to the rules here on earth and learned how to manipulate our surroundings to move around by walking, create air vibrations to communicate through sound, and detect objects around us by collecting light and decoding it into vision. These tasks sound mundane for a human but for a being who has never experienced physics as we know them and not to mention lacks a physical form, these seem like daunting obstacles to communicating with the residents of this plain (us), and that is given that this entity has discovered a way to get here in the first place! To me this seems fitting because it wouldn’t make sense to me if there were spirits and extra dimensional beings flying around skillfully manipulating a foreign reality. It would make more sense if once in a while you heard a rumor of some strange occurrence or a whisper of a demon or a ghost or a angel making subtle and unclear appearances...sound familiar? Im not saying all ghost stories and religious dogma are true but its definitely worth thinking about next time you wonder, “if ghosts were real, why wouldn’t they just show up and say hello?”. Its probably pretty difficult to do. Perhaps in the same way it takes some knowledge and skill to go from here to there for us, it takes some skill and knowledge to get from there to here. It would probably take a lot more skill to come here, because the rules here are extremely complicated. As fun and interesting as that thought is, it led me to an even cooler, and much more profound thought. Going from the astral plane, which from what I gather is a fairly free form place, to a world with strict and unbreakable rules of physics, could be very difficult. Manipulation is king in our world, in order to survive we, and all life, manipulate our surroundings to better suit our needs. With no means to manipulate the world around it, an astral being or a consciousness would need some kind of vehicle, some sort of intricate vessel that it could use...and that’s where we come in. This thought fits nicely with religious dogma. “God” in whichever variation you prefer, created life, a vessel through which a consciousness can enter this harsh plain of existence for a limited period of time, perhaps as a test. During the hardships of physical life ones true colors show, the choices we make show what kind of soul we have. When your vessel expires or breaks, you return to you original state of being, upon which you are judged on how well you did. If this is true, then we should stop thinking of our bodies as part of us, and see them for what they really are, a tool. A very tricky and infinitely complex tool, but not actually part of us. A liberating thought in my opinion. Personally I’ve only had a few LDs, and no OBEs, so I have no first hand insight as to the nature of the universe, but I plan on improving my skills. Once capable I will definitely be searching for some answers on this, and if anyone has had what they feel are real visits to another level of existence, please fill me in and offer any insight you can. Please comment and give me some feedback on this idea.

[Highflyerz]

this was my first thread by the way

[27]

Very insightful. I hadn't ever considered beings from other planes attempting to visit ours. I do agree with your view of our bodys being only tools.

[The Cusp]

Transcendence implies that we are all lazy, greedy, self centered, indulgent SOBs. Or at least that's how I see it in my case. Sometimes I hate it for that. That's a lot to overcome. A lot of work intangible goals.

[AHiddenSaint]

Transcendence implies that we are all lazy, greedy, self centered, indulgent SOBs. Or at least that's how I see it in my case. Sometimes I hate it for that. That's a lot to overcome. A lot of work intangible goals. Did you ever think it means overcoming ones own self? You see it as that, but I see it as reaching a high element of human understanding.

[The Cusp]

Same thing. Overcoming your self is just a fancy way of putting it. There are many levels of understanding. I usually aim for the higher ones, but from time to time I like to wallow in the baser ones.

[27]

Heh, I thought most of us were lazy, greedy, self centered, indulgent SOBs.