OK, so before January of this year, I was a devout atheist for 17 years. I would literally put people down for believing in anything outside the 5 senses. Then I went down a rabbit hole and learned a bunch of cool and not so cool stuff (stuff that made me so sick I had to go to the hospital). I learned a great deal about Earth and the nature of the Universe and have had several experiences that I cannot explain AT ALL using the 5 senses. I, the once critically devout atheist, am 100% convinced that there exists something about us that is outside the 5 senses, to say the least. There was a man in the 50s named Robert Monroe who had reoccurring out-of-body experiences, which peaked his interest. Being of a scientific mind, and having a background in sound technology, he discovered a way to induce OBEs using something called HemiSynchronization. He started an organization called the Monroe Institute and trained people to not only have OBEs consistently, but to also travel to the same places consistently, across different participants. They mapped out what they called "Focus Levels" which each have a "distinct subjective mental flavour". The whole idea behind OBEs is that you are made of your physical body and your astral body. Some people and most religions call this your "soul". When you experience an OBE with your astral body, you are free to explore the entire Universe without limit to time or space, but apparently it takes some training and discipline to not only know where to go, but to remember what happened when you wake up (something that most people have trouble with, since REM sleep is when we have OBEs every night). The most obvious place they started to explore was the afterlife. According to them, when you die, depending on your emotional state at the time of death and your belief system, you can go wherever you want. If you're a Catholic, you end up at the Pearly Gates with your relatives who believed the same thing. If you're a Buddhist, you meet with him. You can go anywhere but it depends entirely on your system of thought and beliefs. Some people believe in Hell, but apparently, you only go to Hell if you believe you're going to Hell. There's no way to force you there. I know that @Wayfaerer wants a more detailed explanation on this with sources and research papers, and I'm looking, but more importantly I want to have controlled and rememberable OBEs myself, so I can prove it to myself 100% first. The problem is that it's kind of hard to do without the right tools. The Monroe Institute has classes on this kind of stuff, but it's behind a huge paywall, which definitely calls into question the credibility of anything they do. I'm sure I can find all the tools I need for free if I try hard enough. There's also another reason why I'm hesitant to start. About a month ago I had a conversation with someone on this forum and this subject came up. I expressed my interest in this, but he warned me, because he said he had a friend who explored the exact same things I wanted to and discovered something so terrifying that he now lives in hiding and in a constant state of fear. I'm not going to give up based on that, but I am going to approach it carefully, because when it comes to things like the astral realm, thoughts and intentions matter as much as physical actions here in this 3d timespace. I don't think I'll be able to fully satisfy your curiousity, @Wayfaerer because in a world where seeing is believing, stuff like this just isn't officially academically provable until each person does it themselves - something I hope to accomplish. Like I said before, I've had several experiences that are, in no doubt to me, something spiritual, so even though you may not believe, that is not my concern. Believe what you want. I'm not the kind of person to push these things on people. I know I mention it here and there on this forum, but I never try to pry, if you know what I mean. So yea, life after death. Interesting stuff.
