4. Complications of Consciousness

Further examination of the mind-split effect leads to a very interesting concept:

that the majority of people probably succeed at conscious-exit projection when they attempt it, even during very early attempts.

Those who attempt OBE and feel projection-related symptoms, like the heaviness of trance, racing heartbeat, vibrations, torso rush, etc., are most probably successfully projecting out of body. They just are not aware of this at the time, and are therefore not remembering it afterward because of the mind-split effect and shadow memory recall problems.

A popular theory is that everyone projects out every night to play and explore and learn and do all kinds of neat spiritual stuff, as if we were the astral otters of the universe.

• Then why do 99 percent of people have no memories of any kind of out-of-body existence?

• Where are the memories of all these lost OBEs?

• If the average projectors remember one projection out of a hundred, then surely during that one successful projection they would have some memory of the ninety-nine forgotten experiences?

It is also quite common for projectors to become aware halfway through astral-plane projections, skipping the exit and first part of the projection entirely. Surely they would then have some recall of what they had been doing for the first half of their experience?

The simple truth is that they never do.

If you have been in the astral dimension for an hour, and you suddenly become aware you are in the astral, you never have any recollection of what you have been doing during the hour before you became aware. In a way, this is like waking up in the astral and taking over the astral body, which appears to have been operating independently up until that moment. The memory of what it had been doing for the previous hour is lost from that moment onward.

Are these the symptoms of yet another subtle body reintegration and shadow memory recall problem, but on the astral level?

The mind boggles at the potential complexities of inter-dimensional subtle body relationships and energetic conflicts. Further, consider the compatibility problems that could arise between different levels of consciousness, different levels of understanding, and memory sharing between these. And let's not forget basic reintegration problems and the fickle nature of the eventual shadow memory download into the only permanent storage medium all subtle bodies share, stretched between all aspects of the mind-split: the humble physical brain.

Everything experienced out of body must eventually be downloaded into the physical brain, in base level understandability format, if it is to generate recallable memory.

If you examine case histories, or have experienced this yourself, you find that every projection starts fresh, from the very beginning, just as if it were the very first OBE. Projectors never find available any continuing memories of astral-otter type of life, even if they suddenly shift into an astral projection that has been going on for some time. They remember other successful projections, sure, but absolutely nothing of their ninety-nine failures, and all the other nights when they just fell asleep.

Few people state that their experience contradicts this scenario. I consider dreams and overactive imagination to account for them.

• So, what does happen to all these lost astral- and higher-level memories?

• Do they download into inaccessible levels of the subconscious mind and hide in places where even the deepest level of hypnosis cannot dig them out?

• Why does one successful conscious-exit projection provide vivid and lasting memories while the other ninety-nine unconscious projections do nothing?

It seems possible that an intrusion by the base level of consciousness (the physical/etheric mind in its normal waking state) into the astral double causes the astral double's level of consciousness to drop sharply.

This causes the astral level of consciousness to revert to its lowest form, its fully integrated or base level of consciousness. The lowest and coarsest level of a consciousness unit appears, in all cases, to be far stronger than any higher level or aspect of that same consciousness unit (consciousness unit = the whole person or being).

When present, the base level thus replaces any higher levels of consciousness and overwrites any memories gained independently by those levels of consciousness on higher levels. This is what I believe happens when higher and lower levels of consciousness reintegrate on any dimensional level or level of consciousness. The stronger base level simply replaces and overwrites the higher level. The projection continues from that point at the base level of consciousness and understandability, neatly replacing higher-level experience memories.

The higher-level memories still exist after this event, but they are driven into inaccessible levels of the subconscious mind and memory. The overall effect is that a projection continues from that moment on as if it had just started.

This occurs whether reintegration occurs at the bottom end of the scale (in the waking physical body) or at a higher level, say in the astral body, when the projector suddenly becomes aware and wakes up inside the astral body mid projection. The lowest level of consciousness always replaces and overwrites any higher level of consciousness and effectively wipes out all trace of its memories at the moment of reintegration.

This same thing appears to happen every time during the re-integration of the real-time projected double with its physical counterpart. The real-time double contains the experience memories of all of its higher aspects within it. All memories of higher levels of existence are therefore usually lost, downloaded into inaccessible levels of subconscious mind and memory.

This shows there is an inherent problem with reintegration: downloading and storing shadow memories in accessible levels of the physical brain. By default, shadow memories must be accessible to the base level of waking consciousness, and stored in base-level format, if they are to be recognized by the physical brain as recallable memories.

While I think it is unlikely as a continually ongoing process during every moment of sleep, it does seem possible that the projected double and all of its higher selves could lead separate lives while they are out of their physical body. They could be, as is commonly believed, continually gathering experience memories that the base level of consciousness is simply not privy to. The physical brain is not capable of storing and recalling higher-level memories unless they are first converted into simple base-level format.

As a very rough guess, I'd say that less than one percent of high-level experience memories are potentially accessible to the physical brain at the base level of consciousness.

The great limiting factor of living a multidimensional existence would be the availability of energy to all higher projected aspects. It takes a lot of energy to maintain the integrity of a single projected double. It would take a great deal more, requiring a high level of energetic development, to simultaneously maintain multiple copies of awake consciousness on multiple dimensional levels.

Memories from higher levels of consciousness may not even be in sync with what the physical brain is capable of recognizing and storing as viable memories. This factor causes the full memories of high-level experiences to be stored deep within the subconscious mind. The only parts of high-level experiences that are storable as recallable memories are those parts the physical brain is capable of recognizing and converting into base-level format.

I believe the above factor accounts for the metaphorical abstracts, symbols, images, and feelings that are sometimes remembered after high-level OBEs and dreams, instead of more recognizable types of OBE and dream memories. This, if true, goes a long way toward explaining the abstract and metaphorical nature of prophetic OBEs, visions, and dreams and why these are so difficult to understand and interpret. The physical brain is only capable of storing the surface layer of high-level experience memories.

The thin surface layer of memories that can result from high-level experiences are the physical brain's interpretation of higher and more abstract levels of its own existence in higher dimensions, while it is operating at a correspondingly higher level of consciousness therein. I have found that the higher the level of consciousness attained, and the higher the dimensional level projected into, the more abstract and metaphorical existence becomes.

Dreams and lucid dreams can also be affected by high-level experiences. High-level experiences may not be able to download into accessible levels of memory, but they will impinge upon the dream mind and affect its environment and experiences. If these dreams are remembered, meaningful and prophetic elements will often be found within them.

This is very similar in cause and effect as to how akashic pulse episodes (see part 5) will often leave tantalizing fragments of high-level abstract metaphorical imagery inside normal dream memories. Because of this, the importance of dream memories to the life path of all individuals here in the physical dimension should never be undervalued.

This raises the very real possibility that conscious-exit projection causes a shift of the base level of consciousness (normal waking consciousness) into higher subtle bodies. This may be the only thing that allows any memories of existing in those levels to be captured and downloaded into the physical brain.

To even begin to work around the complexities of this event requires serious energetic, psychic, and spiritual development. It also requires a major rethink of the belief system of any aspiring high-level operator. High-level projectors must learn to handle all their experiences as a very young child would do, without prejudice or preconceived ideas. They must learn to see with the eyes of a child. For this purpose, their belief system must be pruned back to include only what they can do themselves, and what they have experienced for themselves.

Every experience should be accepted simply, as a child would, and not interpreted or explained and overcomplicated to death according to any belief system or dogma, as adults so often tend to do. An overcomplicated or faulty belief system not only blinds high-level seekers, it also effectively blocks their ascension into higher levels. Higher dimensional realities simply cannot be experienced if these realities are contradictory to the seeker's own foundation belief system.

This helps explain some of the enormous difficulties encountered when operating in dimensional levels above the mid-astral planes. It would seem that a fully conscious exit from the physical body would be the most basic requirement for conscious high-level projection. A fully conscious shift into the astral body, and from there into the high astral planes, and from there into the mental body and mental planes and so on, would also seem to be basic requirements to operating in those dimensional levels.

These basic requirements may be the only thing that allows conscious projectors to bring back anything resembling real memories from higher levels, even if these are only the surface layers of those memories.

Memories gained by the base level while operating at a higher level can then be recognized by the base level of consciousness. Keep in mind, this does not overcome the difficulties encountered with high-level abstract metaphorical imagery natural to all levels of existence higher than the base level of consciousness.

High-level surface-layer memories stored in base-level format will still be abstract and difficult to understand by the base level of consciousness.

Back to Contents