Tag Archives: Wider Reality

Meditation – A Requirement To Exploring the Non-Physical

Tom Campbell (http://www.my-big-toe.com/forums/index.php) talks a bit in his books and lectures about “Belief Traps” and how they can trap us into a certain way of thinking or trap us into ignoring something fundamental to our journey here.

I was thinking about that yesterday and trying to figure out what kind of belief traps I’ve been trapped in over the past little while.  In a post I made back at the end of December (How I Came To My Beliefs), I made the distinction that there was a point where I didn’t know that I was allowed to believe something that ended up being very important towards what I needed to know in order to progress.

I’ve noticed that this is a Belief Trap… and it’s one that I’ve still been trapped in for a while as well.  I have to thank Tom for opening my eyes to such information and to realize that I am allowed know certain things in order to progress.  I notice it a lot in others now too, it’s those times when people post questions on the Astral Pulse asking if it’s okay if they do so-and-so.

As I’ve been progressing along my non-physical path as of late, I’ve slowly been coming to the conclusion that a base knowledge in meditation is a prerequisite for learning how to explore the wider reality.  This isn’t something I learned from Tom, it’s something that I’ve been slowly coming to terms with myself over the last few months.  However, Tom’s “Belief Trap” ideas were the catalyst for me to understand this.  I needed someone to tell me that I was allowed to know this, as strange as that might sound.  I can apply and confirm it by looking at my own past experience as I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life learning how to meditate.  Through that time, I never once considered how that has helped me along my current path of experiencing the non-physical.

Well, the truth is that it has greatly helped me.  This is why and how I found Frank Kepples Phasing exercises so much easier to do and learn from when compared to the classic separation OBEs (aka Monroe-style), because, in essence, they ARE meditation exercises.  I just took it for granted that certain things that I did when using the Noticing or Rundown exercises were normal and that everyone just automatically did them too.  Well, they’re not.  They’re something I’ve learned to do over the last decade and a half.  Stuff like learning how to quiet your mind (surface thoughts), fully relaxing the body upon command and being alone with your consciousness.  These are skills/tools that one *needs* to learn if “conscious exit” projections is on their list of things “to do”.

To do a conscious exit by Phasing, you have to meditate to get into the proper state first.  Sure, we have a couple of “exercises” which you can do to assist you to get there, but they’re not really “exercises”, they are “meditations”.  They’re designed to assist you to discover the act of quieting your thoughts and focusing your mind towards a single intent.  A byproduct of that is, when you get deep enough and good enough, the “point of consciousness” experience that Tom talks about.  This is, in essence, phasing to Focus 21 (the void), which is the Phasing/Projection experience.  That’s exactly what we’re doing when we practice Noticing or Mental Rundowns.  We’re quieting our mind and focusing it upon a single intent.  That intent takes the form of “noticing the blackness” or “visualizing a scene”.  <– They become TOOLS to move our consciousness away from this physical awareness and our physical senses… taking us to the “Point of Consciousness”.

So, if you want to experience the non-physical in all its larger glory… put down all your preconceived notions about methods this and techniques that, and just learn to be alone with your consciousness.  Master yourself before you try to master the larger reality, for that is the real journey.  The non-physical is only a small part of your being… and the fact you’re here in this physical reality in the first place is proof enough of that.

How To Experience The Larger Reality – Tom Campbell

This is a single part of a larger 38 part video lecture given by Tom Campbell from New York back in 2010, I believe. This particular part references Projection specifically, which is why I felt the need the post it here. He talks about what you can do to experience the larger reality for yourself.

There’s nothing said in this video that I disagree with.

Being lead to where I need to be…

I was just thinking about everything that’s been happening to me as of the last couple years… and thinking about what I’ve been experiencing and how I came about the realization to have those experiences, and I feel like MBT is the culmination of this “being lead around”.

It’s not a culmination as in “I’m now at the top of the mountain”, because that would be silly … that would be assuming that there’s no more to climb after this. It’s more like being at the top of the mountain, and then realizing that you have to climb back down so that you can climb another mountain again… an endless number of mountains.

I started off my journey on a forum called SpiritOnline, then it went down… and I found myself over on another forum called the Astral Society… then that went down… after which I found myself over on the Astral Pulse. Throughout all this I struggled over 10+ years to learn how to do Astral Projection, to experience the non-physical for myself. Not knowing that over the course of all that, I was slowly setting up my foundation through learning to meditate. Well, when I stumbled upon the Astral Pulse I found a dude there named Frank Kepple… I read and followed him in his experiments with trying to follow in the foot steps of Robert Monroe and he felt he was rather successful in doing so. His data was really my launchpad for my current situation of exploring the non-physical, so for that I’m grateful.

I still post there, and am a moderator there actually. Through posting there, I’ve now stumbled across my next challenge, the next mountain for me to climb… “My Big TOE” (MBT), by Thomas Campbell. As I’m reading MBT, I’m realizing just how much my own experiences relate to the larger reality that’s out there, and the reality that I find myself currently in, and I feel like I’m able to partake in it more. I’m learning more about myself, I’m learning how to control my emotions and my thoughts… making myself a better person, which is then reflected in the world around me. I’m able to see the GOOD in the world now, where before it was only “wow wtf is wrong with you!” kind of thing… just seeing the bad. I’ve made choices lately that have me reacting to situations in a more positive manner… although I’m still learning and still have a long way to go, as I’ve been prone to anger and being upset as well lately too.

But throughout this journey that I unknowingly set myself on the last couple years… as I reflect back on it, I see the trail of bread crumbs that, as Tom might put it, the system has left for me to grab in an effort to lower my entropy and bring myself into a greater state of consciousness. A more serene place… and I now starting to appreciate that, really, more than words could convey. :)

I guess I don’t really have a point in posting this… except to just get that out there. )

My Free 60 Page eBook, “The Basics of Astral Projection & Phasing”

I figured I’d update this post now that my Phasing Primer has kind of taken on a life of it’s own. It grew slowly from a 10 page mishmash of individual posts.

This eBook represents everything I’ve learned over my life, but mostly the last 2 – 3 years of my practices in Projection and Phasing. It’s now a 60 page eBook full of great information regarding how you can begin to explore the furthest reaches of reality on your own! All the information I provide in it was the same information that helped propel me towards the experiences I now enjoy.

Feel free to pass it around to where ever you wish, as long as the information remains intact and all credit is given where due.
I hope the information helps you as much as it has helped me.

You can download it from here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/39504726/Phasing_Primer.pdf

Or by going to “The Basics of Phasing” page at the top.

Thanks for reading! Please leave me some feedback on how you like the eBook, and if there was any parts of it that are unclear or confusing. I’m happy to re-write sections to make them easier to understand.

Phasing with Noticing – A More Detailed Explanation

I’ve received a few questions lately regarding the “Noticing” exercise.  Certain aspects of the explanation that Frank writes about seems to be confusing people slightly… so I’ll try my best to fully explain the process, at least how it relates to me and hopefully you can apply some of this knowledge to your own practices.

First, the entire point of the noticing exercise, as Frank puts it, is to “become fixated within”. That’s really the end goal, as THAT is where the non-physical lies… within us. It’s nothing exterior that you “go to”.

So, how do we “become fixated within” by using the Noticing exercise? That’s where the actual NOTICING part comes in. You can’t just sit/lie there and “look” at the blackness, because that will do absolutely nothing and you’ll eventually become frustrated thinking that it’s not working for you. You need to actually do something for this to work! Just like a binaural beat won’t project you automatically unless you do the actual work yourself… you won’t Phase with Noticing unless you actually Notice!

Now, here’s the confusing part… “to notice” is something you have to actively do… HOWEVER, you have to remain “passively aware” while actively noticing. I know, that sounds confusing… well, lemme describe how “I” notice and I’ll go from there.

When I actually get to the part of my routine when I begin “Noticing”, I stare into the blackness… it’s the same blackness that you see when you close your eyes. It’s just blackness (however nonuniform it may look). My goal is to notice any changes that happen within the blackness that is in my field of view. It can be literally anything, as Frank put it, it could be a flash of something, or perceiving some kind of movement in the blackness… when you begin to see ANYTHING (again, do not outright dismiss anything you see) consciously zero in on it. Your goal is to “Passively Observe”… this means (and this is VERY IMPORTANT) to keep an air of curiosity about what you’re seeing. As I see this stuff, I kind of talk to myself while observing it, but I do so without actually talking verbally or thinking it.

To explain that last part… take a piece of paper, this piece of paper is going to represent the “blackness behind your eyes”. Draw a single dot in the middle of that page then hold that page up to your face and stare at the dot (it’s okay to allow the dot to become unfocused). The dot represents your fixated gaze (depending upon how closely you’re holding the paper to your face, you could see two dots) within the blackness (or in this case the whiteness of the paper)… now, consciously take in the rest of what you can see of the paper, but don’t actually look around, use your peripheral vision. Try to see any irregularities in the paper… there might be a spec of something somewhere, or a small crease somewhere else that you didn’t notice before and you might be noticing that the paper isn’t uniformly white and you begin to focus in on these new-found items of interest. Notice these irregularities and retain that air of curiosity regarding them. Become consciously curious about each and every aspect that you notice in the paper… the more you do this, the more you begin to forget about the physical world around you and the more your consciousness shifts within what you’re gazing at. This is the act of becoming fixated within.

So now that you’ve just done that with a piece of paper and with your eyes open… close your eyes, visualize that dot in front of you… and do it again, this time staring at the blackness behind your eyes instead of a white piece of paper. Remember to NEVER verbalize or think about the things you’re seeing and noticing… try to keep that “air of curiosity” about it all.

The shift into Focus 12, where you start to really get visuals, for me, takes anywhere between 10 – 20 minutes. If I don’t get it after 20 minutes, then I know that my heart just isn’t in it for that session and I go do something else. But, give yourself whatever time you feel is necessary. It can take a while. Just remain relaxed and calm.

Once you do attain a solid Focus 12 and can hold it for a good period of time without losing it, the next shift to Focus 21 will more than likely happen naturally from a solid Focus 12. You simply have to drive your consciousness within just a bit more… the big point here though is that it’s nothing you can force. You have to ALLOW yourself to do this shift. From Focus 21, you can pretty much go and do whatever you want simply by visualizing the area you want to go to. :)

I hope that helps fill in some of the blanks as per the Noticing exercise. If you have any questions, please leave a comment here, on my own forums, or on the Astral Pulse. Thank you for reading!

Post Focus! Frank

I was just doing a bit of research on Focus 12 and I wanted to share this wonderful gem of a post.  It’s Frank responding to someone asking a few questions.  The following is from someone named Ash, back in March 28th, 2003:

okay i’ve started to notice a strange phenomenon during my practice sessions. Sometimes I feel like I might be about to phase, or obe, or I’m viewing hypnagogic imagery, and then I will “snap back”. This snapping back is something like being in a daydream and then realizing where you are in real life. It’s sort of a sudden change in your focus of awareness. What I realized is that every time I snap back it actually feels like a very subtle, quick movement down and to the left. After it happens I feel totally awake, just looking at the backs of my eyelids, my awareness centered behind my eyes. But if I drift off again, my awareness moves up and to the right. Once it moves there, if I can regain control without snapping back, I get all sorts of astral and dream-like symptoms. I may get astral sight, or if not I can easily visualize and actually see whatever I visualize (ordinarily my visualization is the pits)

A couple of things are interesting about this.
1) it absolutely cannot be forced. I only realize it has happened after I snap back. During the process it all seems perfectly natural. I can’t reproduce it if I actually try to move my awareness.

2) I’m wondering if this has something to do with the “Brain Method”

3) When people access memories, or try to imagine, they either look up and to the right, or up and to the left. I can’t remember which is which, but one is to remember facts and one is to imagine something. I wonder if this awareness shift is related to accessing a different part of my brain.

Comments or similar experiences?

And here is Franks reply:

quote:
Comments or similar experiences? 

Yes, definitely, what you are describing IS the Phasing process!

quote:
Okay i’ve started to notice a strange phenomenon during my practice sessions. Sometimes I feel like I might be about to phase, or obe, or I’m viewing hypnagogic imagery, and then I will “snap back”. This snapping back is something like being in a daydream and then realizing where you are in real life. It’s sort of a sudden change in your focus of awareness.

Yes, that’s what you should be experiencing. It’s a distinct shift in your focus of awareness. And there is no mistaking it too. Like, you are not placed in a situation where you are left wondering did you make the shift or not.

The reason why you currently keep snapping-back, is due to your protective sense of awareness kicking in. It’s not something you can consciously control as the protection aspect operates on a very base level. But it does stop happening the more you practice. As your protective sense of awareness gets used to the shift, it becomes a case of, yawn, here we go again.

quote:
What I realized is that every time I snap back it actually feels like a very subtle, quick movement down and to the left. After it happens I feel totally awake, just looking at the backs of my eyelids, my awareness centered behind my eyes. But if I drift off again, my awareness moves up and to the right.

Again, this is how it should feel. Although I only mainly feel an upwards movement, with just a slight hint of a twist to the right.

quote:
Once it moves there, if I can regain control without snapping back, I get all sorts of astral and dream-like symptoms. I may get astral sight, or if not I can easily visualize and actually see whatever I visualize (ordinarily my visualization is the pits)

At first the whole situation can be a bit of a muddle. But after a while you will be able to distinctly recognise the different states of conscious-awareness as you phase through them smoothly.

The point at which your focus of attention is completely directed inwards, this is Focus 10. Following which you then start to see all kinds of abstract movement (or hypnagogic imagery as you term it) this is Focus 12.

If you are in the position where, like you say, you can visualise and actually SEE what you are visualising, this is Focus 22. Note: Focus 22 is basically the same state of consciousness as Lucid Dreaming: only with a very much greater sense of mental control.

Also, Focus 22 is the first proper realm of conscious awareness where thought equals direct action. So, as you have discovered, it is easy to visualise anything simply by thinking about seeing it, and it immediately materialises.

quote:
A couple of things are interesting about this.
1) it absolutely cannot be forced. I only realize it has happened after I snap back. During the process it all seems perfectly natural. I can’t reproduce it if I actually try to move my awareness.

That’s right, and this part of it I find ever so tricky to explain. You cannot will yourself to have the experience. It’s something you mentally allow yourself to become open to.

It’s like where I’ve tried to explain it before by saying that Astral Projection is not about finding the right projection technique, but more to do with developing the right kind of mental understanding. Techniques can be very useful but, ultimately, I believe their effectiveness stems from them acting as a kind of mental primer that serves to kick-start the natural process.

quote:
2) I’m wondering if this has something to do with the “Brain Method”

I don’t know what the Brain Method is exactly. Someone coined the term a while ago and it seems to have stuck. What I can say for sure, however, is that what you are describing are characteristics of the beginning stage of the Phasing process.

If you keep practicing you will find that you will be able to ultimately make a complete smooth transition from Physical to Astral.

quote:
3) When people access memories, or try to imagine, they either look up and to the right, or up and to the left. I can’t remember which is which, but one is to remember facts and one is to imagine something. I wonder if this awareness shift is related to accessing a different part of my brain.

This phenomenon can vary between different people. I’m not sure if they are linked in any way. But the awareness shift you feel is due to the shift in your focal point of awareness. As it shifts it gives a sensation of movement like you were travelling in a particular direction.

If you keep practicing to the point where you can reach the Astral fairly reliably and keep your thoughts/emotions in check; you will be able to contact other members of your Astral Family who I’m sure will only be too happy to explain and give demonstrations and/or exercises that will show you how the Mind is a separate entity from the physical-body and the physical brain.

Yours,
Frank

Everything he explains here is just perfect to describe everything from the description of Focus 12 to the process of just ALLOWING yourself to Phase. So many insights in one post.

And I’m just figuring out today at how good the “noticing” exercise really is… and I think because of my experience at lunch time today, I might give it a better try again.

What are Astral Projections?

I’m ending this three-parter with my opinion on what Astral Projections are.

Astral Projections and Lucid Dreams are VERY similar, actually they’re the same experience with one difference:  You.  Sometimes it’s VERY HARD to determine which experience you are in because of it.  The difference is not the environment you’re in because the area of consciousness where the two (including normal dreams) take place is the same.  So, if the area of consciousness that these experiences happen in is the same, then what exactly IS that difference I mentioned?  I mentioned in the What are Lucid Dreams article that LD’s are when you recognize that you’re in the non-physical (dream).  That knowledge is really the ONLY requisite.  You probably won’t have any notion that you actually have a physical body somewhere else that is fast asleep.  Well, an Astral experience is when you recognize that you’re in the non-physical AND you retain all your waking faculties/awareness (or as close to it as possible).

Now, for me… this area you now find yourself in is, in essence, the same place where you dream.  This opens up a world of endless possibilities for you.  You’re limited, LITERALLY, only by your imagination.  If you want to fight demons or dragons?  Go right ahead!  If you want to talk to elven folk or perhaps visit some faeries?  You can do so!  You can also sift through every memory your physical senses have ever recorded… this is where it starts getting really interesting.  So yeah, whatever you want to do/experience, you’re able to do/experience.  This area, I call Focus 2 oC as per Frank Kepple’s model of reality.  It’s your own personal area of consciousness… sometimes referred to as your “imagination” or “subconscious”.

You can, however, use this area as a jumping board to Focus 3 oC (again F. Kepples Model), which is what I refer to as “Collective Consciousness” area.  Focus 3 oC is where you’ll meet other “people” who are either projecting, or even people who have already physically died and have no physical body anymore.  You may also call upon actual guides to come assist you.

To get to Focus 3 oC from your current Focus 2 oC area you need to clear your mind and stop your thoughts/emotions from fueling the Focus 2 scenario around you.  Doing this will cause the Focus 2 environment to fade away and you’ll start to see the Collective Focus 3 oC environment come into view.  From there, do what you want.  However, just remember that to remain in Focus 3 oC you need to always keep that tight grip on your thoughts and emotions, or you’ll start to get Focus 2/3 overlays happening.  Basically, this means that dream imagery will start to creep into your Focus 3 experience… and if you don’t stop it, you’ll be pulled back into Focus 2 oC until you can calm your mind down again.

Dream, Lucid and Astral Awareness… these three states of awareness are very important to understand if you care enough to define your experiences.  There are more than just these three levels though.  Between each state of awareness is a wide range.  Think of it as a spectrum with “Dream Awareness” on one end, “Astral Awareness” at the other end, and “Lucid Awareness” in the middle… your consciousness can be along that spectrum anywhere at any time and you can potentially go through the entire range within a single non-physical experience.

So happy traveling!  Enjoy every second of it!

I do not believe Demons exist!

From time to time on the Astral Pulse forums and lately in the Astral Pulse IRC channel (there are links for both locations on the right side of this website) I’ve been having to tackle the issue of demons.  People supposedly “fighting” with and just having general encounters with demons.

I’ll just say that “demons” (or other negative entities) in the astral is purely a matter of BELIEF.  They only exist in the minds and experiences of those who believe in them.

Now, how did I come to this conclusion?  Well, basically, I can’t remember a single time in my life where I’ve ever had an encounter with ANYTHING that could even remotely be considered evil that didn’t come directly from my subconscious mind.  No objective existence of a negative entity has ever cropped up in my experiences.
I’ve been Lucid Dreaming for pretty much my entire life and more recently into my Astral Projections, I have never experienced this phenomenon.

What can I infer from this?  Well one of two things.

If demons really do exist then they are afraid to interact with me for some unknown reason.  We know this can’t be the case due to demon-legend and folklore… and honestly, I’m nobody special.  Now the second option… they are the creation of those who believe and I do not believe that they exist so I don’t provide them with the chance to exist.  Makes sense, eh?

The only reason people experience demons in their astral projections is because either they outright believe in them or on some subconscious level outside their normally accepted conscious awareness, they believe in them.  Either way, it’s a fear-based belief that brings them into your projections.

And seriously… fighting them?  That’s giving them even more power to exist, because you are only further reinforcing the belief in yourself that they exist by engaging them.  Your best bet is to ignore them as best you can.  Close off your thoughts and emotions to the scenes playing out around you and they’ll fade away into the nothing they came from.

So, the next time you find yourself facing down “demons” in your astral projection, don’t be afraid, they are a simple fear-based self creation.

Frank talks about Robert Focus Model

I was doing a forum search earlier on the Astral Pulse trying to find mention of Focus 22, the area of consciousness where we dream and do other “non-physical” things… and I stumbled across a boat load of great information that I wish to share here.

I’m going to provide the links to the posts in question, but I’m only going to quote sections of each here for the purposes of this article.  I do fully encourage everyone to go to each link and read the threads in full as they have so much wonderful information in them.

At Focus 10, having difficulty going past Posted on June 19, 2005
This is a short post, so I figured I’d just put it all here anyways… he speaks a bit about the trouble of the “physical eyes” stealing a glance and how you can fix that. This is a problem that I still face constantly.

Hi:

In the early days the moment I’d see an image in mind, my physical eyes would suddenly “wake up” and try to snatch a glance at whatever it was. Of course, that would zap me right out of the state I’d just spent 30-40 minutes developing. I’ve said before that often I’d feel like gouging my eyes out in frustration. :)

A key to all of this is getting the physical eyes to relax and soften. So you are not actually looking out of them anymore. When you first close your eyes, you’ll still be looking out of them. So you need to let them relax so they just hold still in whatever position they feel comfortable. Mine tend to drift upwards and there is a point of rest that they naturally go to that is the same each time.

This relaxing of the eyes, coupled with the relaxation of the physical body is what allows the focus of attention to move away from the eyes so you can change your mental focus of attention into your mind. The physical is our Primary Focus so you need to try to seduce that focus of attention away from the physical, as I was talking about in a couple of posts over the past week. Once you break the connection to the physical, you are free to look into your mind. As I say, that is when the lights come on, in a manner of speaking, and all kinds of weird and wonderful imagery comes about at the beginning of Focus 2. If you wish, you can you pass through this stage and reach Fz, which is your gateway to Focus 3. Fz is Focus 21 of the Monroe model and Focus 3 encompasses Monroe Focus states F23 to F27 inclusive.

Yours,
Frank

The second part of the post he speaks about the Focus Zero (Fz) area of consciousness. Earlier in his time posting on the Pulse he referred to this area as the “Astral Bridge” and further along as the “3D Blackness”. It’s the area of consciousness that Robert Monroe labeled Focus 21 and is the area that we pass through to get to the dream area (Focus 22).  I believe I experience this each time I go from a Lucid Dream back to the Physical… as my vision goes to complete blackness before shifting back to the Physical.

Was this Phasing? Posted on January 02, 2003
This post was made just over a couple years before the one above, and from this one we find his understanding of the “Astral Bridge” which I referred to above.

Ralph: Phasing is a process that takes you from C1 consciousness… to the Astral bridge zone at Focus 21 (which I think we have now determined is the 3D Blackness stage) and beyond.

This next section he speaks about the Focus 22 state and how we get there via our physical bodies unconsciously fall asleep.

Generally, lucid dreams are created when a person has “phased” to the mental focus 22 state. This is the first Astral region you step into from the bridge zone at focus 21. When a person falls asleep, their sense of conscious awareness naturally phases out of the Physical, crosses the bridge zone and, as it does so, it enters the first main realm where thought equals direct action. (I say main-realm because, technically, the focus 21state is the first realm where thought has this effect. But this is more a buffer zone than a realm proper.)

Problem is, as the mind has little conscious control, all manner of thoughts and emotions can be released. Which goes to creating and fuelling the circumstances that come to surround the person. In other words, the person begins dreaming.

With a little practice, as most of us know, it is possible to teach your sense of consciousness to “come awake” within a dream. This then gives a person a degree of conscious control over their thoughts which, in turn, gives them the ability to manipulate their dreamscape. However, if a person can retain a high degree of conscious control, it is possible to skip focus 22 entirely.

Where I say, above, that while the physical body falls asleep the mind crosses the astral bridge zone and slips into the mental focus 22 state… that is only largely due to the fact there is little conscious control. If normal alert waking consciousness is retained while the physical body drops off to sleep, the mental focus 21 state can be used as a portal through which you can phase directly to a higher level.

The second paragraph is him referring to a normal dream. Where by you pass into the non-physical, past the Focus 21 Fz Bridge area all the while being unconscious of this shift.

Gateway Wave 1 pointers Posted on October 04, 2002
Another short one, so I’ll just quote it all.

The Astral screen effect comes about at Focus 21. When you step into it, this is the Phasing to Focus 22. As I said in an earlier post, Focus 22 is also known as the Lucid Dream state. But you are entering this state with full waking consciousness; as opposed to “waking up” within a Lucid Dream where you generally only have part conscious awareness, which makes a BIG difference.

If you Phase further and find yourself amongst all kinds of black and grey nasty stuff teaming with every manner of Human crud, then you are in Focus 23. And if you think Focus 23 is weird then Phase further and prepare to be weirded out to the n’th degree. Smiley

Yours,
Frank

The “Astral Screen” he refers to here is apparently an effect that comes out due to the Fz. A black screen of sorts which you pass through. As I’ve experienced it, it would be like a thick sheet of warm water that you would “walk through”. We don’t normally experience this when we fall asleep because you’re rather unconscious by that point.

Is an AP during a dream, a real AP? Posted on July 16, 2005
The part I liked best from this post is this:

All dreams, by mere definition, must surely be “projection” experiences. Plus, I concur with your meaning of project. Although I tend to use the word shift, as in shift one’s focus. But shift or move or whatever… it’s the same difference.

The problem with dreams is people often get to thinking that dreams are all “in your head” so to speak. That you are in some way walking about in your brain. This faulty thinking unfortunately occurs as a result of people thinking the mind is somehow a product of the brain. It is actually the other way around. :) This leads to people talking in terms of, “… I thought I was projecting… but it was just a dream.” [emphasis on the just]

In this sense, a person is thinking that the only “real” projection is a projection of consciousness that would present the impression of being “out” of body. And this all boils down to the mistaken notion that there can possibly be such a thing as “out” of body.

He mentions the misinterpretation that I believe most people do when they try to define their experiences… and they start questioning their experience and seem to think that it was “JUST” a dream. It’s never JUST a dream. :)

Astral Proper and Training Zone Posted on April 25, 2003
Without re-posting some information, I’ll quote this:

A technique I find very effective is, every now and again, I’ll come to a complete halt, focus on some detail or other and ask myself a simple question about it. What this serves to prevent is a situation where you begin getting excited. Getting excited has the effect of making you think and move too quickly. So you start flitting here, there and everywhere and your progress is stunted.

This effect is prevalent in accounts of people’s early experiences. They tend to follow along the lines of: suddenly I realise I was dreaming; and then I found myself [at some place or other]; and there was this [some kind of event]; and then I saw [some other event]; and then suddenly I was [transported to some other scene]; but before I knew it the thing had changed [to yet another scene]; and then it became [whatever]; and next moment I was awake.

The other pitfall to avoid, is making snap-judgements as to whatever comes about.

He starts off with the technique that I currently use to convert my Lucid Dreams into full Astral Projections. It works very well if you can remember enough to do it! LOL

The last line there about making Snap-Judgments is also very important. This is part and parcel of keeping your thoughts under strict control while projecting.

Retrieval Question Posted on January 10, 2003

Dreaming is done mostly in the Focus 22 state. Problem is, people who are sans physical-body can’t reach Focus 22. Their limit is Focus 23 which is where a lot of these retrievals take place. But they can also take place in the higher realms of Focus 24; 25 & 26.

This is a bit of information that I just recently figured out myself by looking at my ideas at how the Astral and the Wider Reality is actually formed. I see the Physical as a sort of bubble of “condensed astral matter” and to reach this matter one has to push their way through the barrier that separates the two. I believe this pushing of the barrier creates our Focus 22 environment. So, once we physically die, that Focus 22 section retracts back into the Astral whole again, unusable anymore by us. It’s ONLY available to us while we have our primary focus here in the physical.

A loop is simply where someone thinks in a certain way; which causes a particular mix of emotion to be released; which instantly creates a particular set of circumstances surrounding them; which causes the person to continue thinking in that same certain way; which causes the same mix of emotion to be released; which continues to fuel the same circumstances that surround them; which causes the person to continue thinking in that same certain way; which causes the same mix of emotion to be released…….

Here he speaks about the loops that one can get into. These are what “retrievers” save people from. They try to break the emotion loop that one has created so that they can bring the soul into the higher areas free of such loops.

I encourage you to read this thread as he goes on to explain the different TYPES of loops that you can get caught in.

Phasing/OBE What’s the difference? Posted on October 23, 2002
Just a quick small quote here, please do read the entire thread, it’s really good.

Yes, we are, but only when we have learned the basic ground-rules that apply, i.e. remaining emotionally closed with thoughts in check. Else we just get stuck at Focus 22.

He mentions here getting “stuck” at Focus 22 due to not remaining emotionally closed. This happens because if you allow your emotions and thought to run unchecked, they’ll simply be creating the environment around you. So if you want a more “Astral Proper” experience, in that you want to speak with other people deceased or spirits who even never incarnated here on Earth, then you’ll need to learn to remain emotionally closed and keep your thoughts under control. :)

Anyway, that’s all I wanted to go over… I know it’s a lot, but I think it’s well worth the read. Especially if you’re having troubles understanding Robert Monroes Focus Models. As for Franks Focus Model… Focus 21 and 22 reside in Franks Focus 3 oC. Robert’s Focus 23 and up coincide with Franks Focus 3 oC.

As always, if you have any questions pertaining to this or other articles here, please visit my forums and ask! Thanks!