ASTRAL PROJECTION NEWSLETTER – June 2005
A personal note to all OBE Forum members:
I am sad to report that the OBE Forum has closed. The ongoing security issues cannot be resolved adequately. This was a very difficult decision for I am well aware that the OBE Forum was an important part of many people's lives. If I can find a forum program that offers complete security, I will consider restarting.
I would like to thank all of the Forum members for their participation. Again I am deeply saddened by this event and wish all of you the very best.
William Buhlman
Mach 1 Audio sponsors another OBE group, if anyone is interested in joining. The link is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OBE_Newsletter/
Living in China and traveling through Asia has given me a fresh perception concerning many topics. We take so many things for granted and often accept a lifetime of assumptions and beliefs without question. There is a natural tendency to accept the beliefs that are popular and spoon-feed to us from birth. For example, the many religious beliefs that we accept as the norm in our lives are often viewed as a form of silly superstition by millions of people in other parts of the world. This leads us to one of the most frequent questions I am asked, "Why do I encounter blocks in my inner explorations?"
My answer is that we have created our own blocks by consciously and subconsciously accepting a lifetime of erroneous beliefs concerning our true self and our spiritual capabilities. We are all the victims of institutional indoctrination and it begins at birth. This conditioning process is so melded into our culture that few recognize the negative impact it exerts upon our individual state of consciousness. For example, the basic belief that we are our physical body is a false assumption that programs us to accept a dense human form as our self-conception. The belief that "money is the root of all evil" is another commonly heard lie that can negatively influence our subconscious mind. This is just the beginning of a lifetime of false assumptions and distorted beliefs. Some of these powerful beliefs are cultural and some are religious in nature.
Question: How and why are our beliefs a major block to our spiritual development?
1) What is a belief but the complete absence of personal knowledge? They are man-made ideas and without any solid evidence to support them. Yet billions of people accept them without question and build their entire self-concept and their spiritual life upon these unconfirmed theories.
2) Beliefs are always promoting or supporting an agenda. Their sole purpose is to influence, control and direct your state of consciousness. The blazing truth of our spiritual self remains constant and eternal, it does not require man-made beliefs, dogma and doctrine to support or promote it.
3) When you blindly accept any belief or assumption as a reality in your life, you have psychologically surrendered your free will to a man-made creation and have effectively delayed your quest for the spiritual truth of your existence. Countless millions depend upon beliefs without question and in doing so have become dependent upon the dictates and doctrine of organizations. By accepting a distorted or false belief as the totality of truth they have effectively made themselves incapable of obtaining the spiritual answers for themselves. A Peruvian shaman once told me, "You surrender your power to another when you seek the answers outside of yourself." How many times in your life have you surrendered your personal power? How many walls have you allowed to be built around your mind?
4) The blind acceptance of beliefs hold people in a prison of self-made limitations and perpetuates dependence upon the will and manipulation of others. For example, the belief that you need a priest to act as your connection or emissary to God concludes that you must be incapable of this personal inner connection or communication. How many millions have accepted this false premise? Another massive block is set in place. This "I'm powerless" mindset creates massive walls around your mind both in and out of the body.
5) Beliefs are inherently a form of institutionalized indoctrination and manipulation of your state of consciousness. Why are fear-based methods such as hell and damnation used to control the believers? Since the beginning of human history, beliefs have been used to control the masses. The immoral peddling of fear and punishment that is taught from birth creates more blocks then I can imagine. The most powerful and insidious block to our spiritual self-knowledge is fear.
6) Beliefs are often and easily distorted, manipulated and used for destructive, if not evil, purposes. Today, in ever-increasing numbers, religious leaders teach their believers that it is God's will to harm or kill their neighbor. Remember the 911 hijackers were all serious religious believers and in their mind doing "God's work". The same devout religious believer would gladly murder you, your family and the entire population of your city if they had the means. Beliefs by their nature continue to promote intolerance and ignorance worldwide and all in the name of God.
7) Beliefs lull people into a perpetual state of spiritual inaction within their daily lives. Is sitting in a church every week a spiritual experience or just a social gathering for the indoctrinated? Why would you seek your own spiritual experiences, when it is so much easier to just follow the herd and accept the word of your religious authorities?
8) Beliefs distort and color the true meaning of our experiences, our dreams, our perception and our very thought processes. I know from thirty-four years of personal out-of-body experiences that my expectations and assumptions will impact and frame my perception of reality. This is why I always stress the "clarity now' and "awareness now" mantra during my explorations. I assume nothing and question every thing. How can a completely indoctrinated mind immersed in a matrix of inaccurate beliefs ever clearly perceive the truth? If the foundation of your personal belief system is distorted so are the building blocks of your reality and your perception is contaminated.
9) Beliefs create massive consensus realities throughout the physical and astral dimensions. All religions, churches and group religious beliefs are examples of these consensus realities. The indoctrinated participants feel comfortable and supported while immersed in their group beliefs and doctrine. The masses remain content and may even feel superior within their self-made walls of distorted beliefs. After all, they are the chosen few of God. Just ask them. Yes, it's a sad situation, but those other religious believers (all five billion of them) are deceived and are unfortunately going to hell.
The bottom line, beliefs create group self-deception on a massive scale. The indoctrination of lies is so intense, so powerful that solid walls of beliefs now block all light of the truth from entering. The "true believers" have effectively locked themselves into their dense consensus realities and have assured themselves another reincarnation.
10) Beliefs effectively act to hold the individual and group consciousness within the reincarnation cycle. The invisible grip of beliefs so dominates the consciousness of believers it creates a consensus reality that binds humanity within it's dense confines. For example, the universal belief that we are our bodies effectively traps the believer within a form-based matrix. We limit and chain ourselves within the denser dimensions of reality by the very beliefs we hold dear.
Many of you are currently focusing upon your inner experiences and are attempting to accurately interpret your journeys of consciousness. Nothing is more damaging to this process than your unbending beliefs for they distort your inner vision and color the true nature of your experiences. Remember that your mind is always interpreting your experiences through the lens of your mind. This lens must be as clear and as unobstructed as possible in order to effectively comprehend and navigate the countless thought responsive realities. Clarity of perception is essential to accurately interpret our inner experiences. This applies to all of our experiences including our daily life, our dreams, meditations and out-of-body experiences.
Beliefs are the great deceiver of humanity. Examine human history; every war and genocide was caused by erroneous beliefs. Beliefs in nationalism and cultural supremacy led to 50 million deaths in World War Two. The gas chambers and ovens of the Nazis were fueled by beliefs. In fact beliefs have created more mass destruction and death then any single cause. How many people have been murdered in the name of religious beliefs? How many will be murdered in the near future?
For those of you who think I am over the top on this topic, let me bring your attention to the recent statements by Bishop Desmond Tutu, who in 1982 received the Nobel Peace Prize for his unwavering resistance to apartheid. During a recent interview with a major news network, he was asked his opinion concerning the new Pope. Instead of answering the question he clearly and passionately stated that the Church's doctrine forbidding birth control is helping to create a mass genocide of the African peoples. According to Bishop Tutu, countless millions are suffering and dying from AIDS because of the religious belief that it is a sin to use a condom. He was visibly disgusted by the blind ignorance and arrogance that continues in the name of God.
Bishop Tutu is one of the few that has the courage to publicly speak out against destructive religious beliefs. Most of the today's popular spiritual and religious writers and leaders remain silent about this and other important topics because they know it will alienate and anger their mass audiences, harm their popularity and damage their book sales. Like politicians, they skillfully evade the many important issues and beliefs that dominate the group conscious of humanity. The insidious institutional indoctrination and deception continues and the old entrenched lies remain largely unchecked.
Beliefs impact all of us. For example, why in this modern age do women continue to be excluded from religious power and are given second-class status in most major religions? The answer is shocking and undeniable, small groups of highly religious men created a dark ages belief system that males are superior to females. Today this single belief continues to influence all women in countless destructive ways.
The plague of ignorance and the arrogance of beliefs will continue until we have the courage to stand up and declare our independence; no more indoctrination, and no more lies. I will no longer support any organization or religion that hinders my spiritual development, promotes deception and demeans my very soul.
Never under estimate the powerful impact of beliefs within your life. They color your perception, manipulate your thoughts and hinder your spiritual progress in subtle and overt ways. Examine everything, believe nothing, and do your best to cleanse the lens of your mind. As for me, the word "belief" actually means "block" and I reject them all.
If you examine the founding fathers of every major religion, you will discover men who questioned and often rejected the prevailing religious beliefs of their day. They were not blind believers of the established religion but explorers of spirit. Many of these spiritual leaders paid a high price for not towing the religious line.
For many, the time has come to seek the truth and base our lives on our own spiritual experiences. This is why out-of-body experiences are so important; for they can provide the first-hand spiritual experience, knowledge and vision we need to escape from the insidious grip of beliefs that block our progress. In closing, I am well aware that beliefs provide emotional comfort and solace for millions of people, but the important question is, are they worth the price?
All my best,
William Buhlman
ITALY OUT-OF-BODY EXPLORATION WORKSHOPS
June 18-19, 2005
Central Italy OBE Workshop
Orvieto, near Rome
A fire ceremony will be conducted on Saturday evening at the Orvieto workshop.
June 25-26, 2005
Northern Italy OBE Workshop
Cessole (Acqui Terme - Alessandria)
Saturday, 10:30 am - 6:30 pm. Sunday, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
280 Euro plus accommodations (240 for registrations before April 1) For Information and Registration contact: Elena mbazzano@libero.it
Groups:
If you enjoy the group chat format, we have both Yahoo and MSN groups available.
These are great places if you have questions about Out-of-Body Experiences or would like to share your experiences with your fellow astral travelers.
Yahoo!: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OBE_Newsletter/
MSN: http://groups.msn.com/O-B-E-Newsletter
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If so, click here: http://www.mach1audio.com/resellers/index.html
or call 248-909-8895. Thank you!