| | I had an experience 5 years ago that I still don't know what to make of. After 3 years of fairly rigorous zen practice, I was thinking about an out-of-body experience I'd had about 30 years earlier as a teen, during which I tried a technique out of an astral projection book and started spinning out of my head and had gotten frightened and snapped back into the body. So one night 5 years ago, fed up with my lack of "progress" in zen, I lay down perfectly still around midnight, and mixed a bunch of techniques. I did the microcosmic orbit, "So Hum" pranayama, my zen koans, self-inquiry a la Ramana Maharshi, "centering" (on the space between the in and out breaths) as per Swami Lakshmanjoo, and had it out with God regarding what the point was of not showing me the "real thing" though I clearly knew that there was more than usually meets the eye. I told Him that show me or not, I was on to His game, and was going to persist for as long as it took, i.e., 30 years, or whatever. Did all that for about 30 minutes, nothing happened, and so I went to sleep. Woke up at 5:00 A.M. and did the same. After about 30 minutes, still nothing, so turned my head to the side to go to sleep and suddenly there was a surge of energy from my base chakra up my spine to the back of my head, down to my heart and then a roaring noise and I started spinning upwards through a dark tunnel. I tried to remain calm not wanting to repeat my teenage error, and the after spinning up for what must have been a few seconds, suddenly I was suspended in space, with a sense of perfect stillness all around me, with stars shimmering in the distance and seeming to be the source of beautiful harmonies. I looked and listened carefully to see if it would all fade upon scrutiny, but it remained stable. I was clearly suspended in space, looking at stars and hearing their harmonies. A little in front of me to the right I sensed a female presence, though invisible, and telepathically asked her if I could try some flying. She gave me permission, so I flew around. I came back to where she was a few times, each time asking for permission to fly some more (did I ask her where I was? my true name? who she was? For some reason that I can't figure out, I didn't ask even one meaningful question, I just wanted to fly around). A few times I dove back into my body, down to the base chakra and back up again and into space, though without all of the thunder that had accompanied the first ascent. Eventually, it seemed like time to come back, and I kind of melted into my head and opened my eyes. About 2 hours had passed.
All of this was clearly an "experience," with an "I" and an "It" (the environment), and with a "Thou" (the invisible lady) as well. It had more of the flavor of an OBE than of a lucid dream, both of which I've experienced in a variety of forms over the last 7 years. But as it was much different in content from most OBE's/LD's, with a distinctly spiritual flavor and having been triggered using techniques from a variety of mystical traditions, I'm wondering if someone out there with more experience of the various consciousness states might know where this fits in on the more traditional stage-like "Path."
Thanks! |