Questions about OOBEs

[Jhanananda]

Thanks, Jhananda for further explanation.

Would you agree that as we develop more goodness in our mind, it sooner or later reflects in the external life in some form such as accidentally meeting kind people or finding teachings that one has been looking for, etc.?

This has not been my experience. 71 years ago I was born into a highly abusive family. 55 years ago I took up a life that is dedicated to peace, social justice and the environment. 51 years ago I took up a daily meditation practice which results in consistent access to samma-samadhi. 50 years ago I took up a sober life and began experiencing nightly OOBEs. However, I have been demonized by every contemplative movement I was ever involved with. The priests of all religions put on a costume and pretend to be holy, and they are supported financially if they continue to preach lies. The history and literature of all religions shows they have been preaching lies throughout their history, and were active participants in wars and immense cruelty. The priests of the three vehicles of Buddhism have no idea what the 8th fold of the Noble Eightfold Path is, and they have demonized the experience of samma-samadhi and anyone who experiences it.

I met my 2 successive wives at 10-day meditation retreats, but they did not turn out to be dedicated contemplatives; and instead were abusive to me and my children.

If we examine closely the empires of the past we find the ruling class were cruel and corrupt, and created the religions of today, and wars to distract the population. Proof of this can be found in WWI. WWI was a war perpetrated by the kings of England, Germany and Russia, who were first cousins. They used poison gas against each others armies exterminating millions of their own population in the process. Why? because socialism was on the rise.

So, I find it only reasonable that this is hell, and believing that this is not hell requires deep delusion.

[Alexander]

Hello Jeff,

What do you think of past life regressions? Basically a form of hypnosis to recall past lives? There are some like Brian Weiss who are doing this.

[Jhanananda]

I've done it several times. While it was helpful; nonetheless, therapists are generally not as useful as a daily meditation practice that results in depth and daily OOBEs.

My first time with regression hypnosis was about 24 years ago I was in couples therapy with a woman who was severely disturbed, so a hopeless case. On her recommendation we went to a woman who did regression therapy out of her home. My guess is she didn't do it out of her house again after regressing me, because, while she thought she was regressing me back to early childhood, I went back to my most recent previous lifetime where I was being kicked to death by an SS officer in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII.

The first thing that happened when I clicked into the regression was I literally flew backwards out of the chair I was sitting in during the regression, and literally bounced around the floor of her living room, meanwhile screaming at the top of my lungs. She tried suggesting me to come back but her voice was in the distance while the SS officer's voice was in the foreground demanding I tell him where my wife and our resistance cell was and who they were. It went on for quite sometime. Eventually I came back to the present. The regression brought me to a part of a recurring dream of being tortured.

After that I went to another therapist who was more comfortable with regressing me. Eventually I made it through the whole story to the end of dying freezing to death in the snow in Switzerland, where I had escaped when they tossed me into a pile of bodies thinking I was dead. The story is both horrible and fantastic.

[Alexander]

Ah, so you have had regressions -- and that have verified what you learned when OOB. I had reached a point where I had given up all confidence in intuition, but perhaps I have gone too far.

You know the L. Ron Hubbard soup cans can be used to do past life regressions. It's one of the ways they embed people in Scientology, with apparent knowledge of past lives.

I do wonder how accurate it is, and the extent to which imagination can corrupt it. I think I would have to lean on the side of skepticism unless I learned something in the nonphysical world.

I wonder if any of my preferences have a past life origin; I've always felt connections to places like Germany, Greece, France, India, and Spain.

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Another question:

So previously you wrote that a woman had been your wife in a past life, and you knew her in another. How did you obtain this knowledge? And how do you verify it is true and not a delusion?

[Jhanananda]

Ah, so you have had regressions -- and that have verified what you learned when OOB. I had reached a point where I had given up all confidence in intuition, but perhaps I have gone too far.

You know the L. Ron Hubbard soup cans can be used to do past life regressions. It's one of the ways they embed people in Scientology, with apparent knowledge of past lives.

I do wonder how accurate it is, and the extent to which imagination can corrupt it. I think I would have to lean on the side of skepticism unless I learned something in the nonphysical world.

I wonder if any of my preferences have a past life origin; I've always felt connections to places like Germany, Greece, France, India, and Spain.

##

I never got the impression that the science fiction author L Ron Hubbard or his cult Scientology had any wisdom worth paying attention to

Another question:

So previously you wrote that a woman had been your wife in a past life, and you knew her in another. How did you obtain this knowledge? And how do you verify it is true and not a delusion?

My experience of being Out-of-Body is the cognitive mind is not present, so I tend to take the experiences of being in an OOBE on face value. Especially when the content is so lucid and detailed such as literally reliving an entire lifetime.

[Alexander]

I never got the impression that the science fiction author L Ron Hubbard or his cult Scientology had any wisdom worth paying attention to

Agreed

Over the years, have you discerned the after-death fate of any famous figures? Are Hitler, Stalin, and Hubbard in hell states? Or is the afterlife fate of people different than we imagine?

[Jhanananda]

Agreed

Over the years, have you discerned the after-death fate of any famous figures? Are Hitler, Stalin, and Hubbard in hell states? Or is the afterlife fate of people different than we imagine?

When traveling Out-of-Body most of the people we encounter are in between lives, but I have had no interest in exploring the post life experience of the rich, powerful or famous.

[Alexander]

I have a question about people who die young. If you die at 3 or as an infant how does the afterlife function? Do you “return” in memory to your most recent past life?

[Jhanananda]

I have a question about people who die young. If you die at 3 or as an infant how does the afterlife function? Do you “return” in memory to your most recent past life?

The variables are infinite, but the current lifetime does not necessarily control the afterlife.

[Alexander]

Interesting. So what is it like to correspond on the level of an “angel,” who might remember many different lives?

What exactly does a transcendental being like an angel “do all day”? “Do with its time”?

[Jhanananda]

Interesting. So what is it like to correspond on the level of an “angel,” who might remember many different lives?

In my experience communicating in the higher domains is direct transmission and continuous. It is not just communication as we know it in this domain. It is a domain that is saturated with bliss, joy and ecstasy; which I experienced as the most intense experience of pure love. At the same time transmission of whole lifetimes of information and experience in just an instant.

What exactly does a transcendental being like an angel “do all day”? “Do with its time”?

There is no "day" or "night" there. There is no sleep, or need to sleep, but eternal consciousness which is saturated in light and love 100% of the time, so there is no craving, nor a need to crave there.

[Alexander]

Great responses, thank you. A few more questions:

1 I love it as it is as I would have expected... that deva-hood would be the desired end goal. But, why does Buddhism seem to emphasize the "finite lifespan" of devas if they are eternally existing?

2 Related to this is the idea it's best to be born as a human --- not a deva --- to practice the dharma. What do you make of this?

3 Buddhism puts some emphasis on becoming a nonreturner, and teaches there are "anagami worlds" or "pure abodes" where one achieves enlightenment in the post-death state. Have you encountered any of these anagami worlds? Is there any truth to this?

[Jhanananda]

Great responses, thank you. A few more questions:

1 I love it as it is as I would have expected... that deva-hood would be the desired end goal. But, why does Buddhism seem to emphasize the "finite lifespan" of devas if they are eternally existing?

2 Related to this is the idea it's best to be born as a human --- not a deva --- to practice the dharma. What do you make of this?

3 Buddhism puts some emphasis on becoming a nonreturner, and teaches there are "anagami worlds" or "pure abodes" where one achieves enlightenment in the post-death state. Have you encountered any of these anagami worlds? Is there any truth to this?

1) The fact that Buddhism has rejected the 8 stages of samma-samadhi for over 2,000 years serves as all of the proof I need that the institution of Buddhism has not understood the Noble Eightfold Path that long.

2&3) as long as we have craving for the material world we will continue to return; however, I see no reason to believe that we need the material world for anything.

[Alexander]

Thank you A couple more questions:

1 OOBErs often state there are “reality fluctuations” when they are projecting in the physical world. Ie, small changes like a door being red rather than blue, or an object being in a different place. Have you encountered this? (I know you mentioned in one of your old videos the “real time zone” is like the “collective unconscious”?) What might account for this?

2 I’ve read about people creating “thought forms” that can have a kind of independent existence in the spirit world. Have you encountered this at all?

[Jhanananda]

In answer to both of your questions the lower astral plane is just another delusional domain, so anything goes. On the other hand, one of the first things I did when I first started traveling Out-of-Body was to search for some lost keys, which I found right away, so that doesn't fit the complete delusion model.