What if you were fully educated about all the countries of the Earth; the good and the bad, the standard of living, the political views, the happiness quotient. Then, after being fully educated about all the places of the Earth, what if you could choose to live in any country? As it stands, we seem to default to a country and are greatly shaped to believe the beliefs of our country.

Would life be different if we chose where to live? If we chose what country to live in. If we chose what people to associate with. If we chose a place with a political ideology that resonated with us. To a certain extent we can make these choices, but the cost of doing so it high, having to uproot our families, our jobs, our entire life to make the change. Some people do this, leaving their home countries and coming to countries like the United States, England, and Australia.

I wonder if things would be different if we all made that choice. If we all chose where to live, and there were no worries about border crossings and illegal aliens.

One thing I really wonder about is if there would be still be war. Would people still want to fight each other if they could choose their country of origin without having lived in one by default? If we decided where to live based on any number of things we feel to be important, without having our ideology influenced by the land, area, country, or people beforehand.

Hold that thought for a minute while I take a slight turn to another thought.

Consider reincarnation. The belief that the soul lives on after death and then reenters another body during birth. With reincarnation, it is possible that you could come back as anyone. What if you reincarnated as the enemy of your previous life self? What if in one life you were Trojan and the next life you were Greek. What if in one life you were a part of the Qing Dynasty and in the next life you were part of the Ming dynasty? What if in one life you were Jewish and the next life you were a German during World War II? What if in one life you were Christian and the next life you were Muslim?

Would knowledge of your past lives change your view of the people of the world? If you knew that you could be reincarnated in the future as your enemy of today, would that change your perception of the enemy? You could actually be your own worst enemy in a literal sense. How would that shape your thoughts and actions?

Let’s bring the first though back around and combine it with the second. What if you are able choose the life you reincarnate into. Assuming we have free will, there is a distinct possibility that choosing your reincarnate is reality. Would it change our outlook on life and war knowing that you chose your country, religion, and place of origin?

Take all the history together and give the solution to people’s spiritual unrest: From where do we come from? What is the purpose of our lives? Why is there injustice and why some of us have greater abilities than the others?  So much the world advanced but one single answer to satisfy everybody couldn’t be found.

One of the superior attributes that distinguish humans from animals is his thinking potential.  (Remember Descartes “I think, therefore I am” -this was his argument for proving to himself he is real and the world around him.)  Be it ancient or modern times the search for the truth has occupied human consciousness.  Some of them preferred to answer with the mind, others with their heart. 

Though there is so much debate on this matter, some things are common among different civilizations and people of all times – spirituality and religiousness.  Around these concepts, ancient people passed beliefs, faith and practices from generation to generation.  I don’t wish to relate to any form of religion specifically, but rather remain focused on the common feelings that people try to understand:  a meaning, a way to be happy, or to feel you have reached your best and do not have desires that overpass your possibilities and capabilities. Well, we do want you be honest with yourself!

Even more we need to dig the holes of the past, to grasp the mystery of the celestial home and to understand the very small things that make up our everyday life.  Yet at the same time we feel an everyday monotony and we often run to keep up with life, making it feel like energy is being pulled out and leaving you with little.

Schooling, parenting, working, fighting with illness, aiming to become top sportive or best employee, whichever ambition and goal you might have is not a linear path you get to know before you start. You will have ups and downs, so old people say “such is life”. Even so, people are so distinct from one another that some of them don’t feel the need to inquire what the reason is for all this.  Rather, they accept peacefully the realities of life and just take life as it comes.

But for others (and many people) the desire to know the unknowns comes during the “age crisis” as psychologists name it (usually for women during their 30s and for men during their 40s.)  Around this time we often reflect upon life and try to better understand our role and evaluate how happy we are with what we have achieved so far.  In such cases people search answers in different places: church, friends, nature, within himself/herself, witches, astrology, and any number of other areas.

Chinese Astrology – Some Hidden Meanings

It’s not that I would suggest astrology as a means of finding the philosophical stone but I always thought we can learn from anything, and an old saying was “in every lie there is a piece of truth.” I figure if lies can have a bit of truth, then there must be bits of truth everywhere.

I am personally fascinated wit Chinese culture; it has such a long history and is an empire today like it was a thousand years ago.  It represents a civilization by itself and brings to the world culture, great legends, and stories.

As it can be presumed the ancient Chinese people were inquisitive and interested in human destiny foreseeability or fortunetelling.  In fact astrology was meant to foretell a person’s life events and personality traits.  The way they did that was by understanding, through observation, the movement of the planets and how they influence the life on Earth.

One of the nicest stories (from my point of view) about the Chinese horoscope was as it follows:

One day gods decided to give the years (corresponding to the twelve months within a year) to the twelve animals that make the opposite bank of a river.  Thus, the rat being clever had jumped on the ambitious ox and when he was near the shore, he leaped and won the contest. The rat won the first year being followed by the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and the lazy pig.

So since their gods decided to give the years to these twelve animals, the Chinese people had found in each animal symbols and inspiration to define their fellows’ character: some are clever, others lazy, fragile, strong, determined, and so on; they did so because the date of birth which coincided with the ruling animal (the animal that lead the specific year according to the twelve range) was meant to give insights about that individual, assuming he shared the animal characteristics.

Though it didn’t mean that people born in the same year were alike but they were different by the influence of the five elements had on them: water, fire, metal, wood and Earth.  The reasoning of the horoscope is more complex, involving different connections between the elements with the planets and it requires more in depth research and study to be correctly understood and applied.

Conclusions

Maybe one of the beautiful things in life is diversity; having to choose which way to go it gives us freedom and the kind of freedom undertaken says who we are.

The purpose of the article is to give you work for reflection: What do you think? As a modern person do you find astrology a source for your questions? If not, what else?

After leaving Bible college, it took me several months of incredibly difficult introspection and self-scrutiny to “become” an atheist.

I put “become” in quotes because my atheism was the only natural and logical conclusion to the problems I had to solve, so it felt more like I realized my inner atheism, rather than “becoming” an atheist.

When I realized my innate atheism, then, it felt like a huge weight dropped off my shoulders. Like I could finally stop trying to cram myself into a rigid box, and could relax into my natural form.

It also hurt. A lot. 

It hurt because I realized that everything I had believed up until that point—about my purpose in life, and, most importantly, what would happen to me when I die—was a lie.

I was angry. So, so angry; at my parents for bringing me to church when I was young, at my dad for giving me those Kent Hovind creation “science” videos, at my high school best friend who had convinced me to go back to church, at the church that made me knock on strangers’ doors and scare them into a salvation prayer.

Mostly I was angry not at specific people or events, but at the culture of religion that I live in. That all these beliefs are considered sacred and not to be questioned. That it was considered normal to brainwash a child into believing fairy tales.

I’m bitter.

In the first year or so of my unshackled state, I devoured every atheist blog and website I could find. I knew the top New Atheists by name, and would nod sagely at every pithy quote.

After a while, though, every blog post sounded the same. Always about what the Christians are doing now—the prayers they forced in public schools, the billboards, the lawsuits, the politics.

I decided a long time ago not to have regrets in my life. It’s illogical if you think about it. Every decision I made in the past, I made with the best information and intuition I had at the time. And why waste time regretting what you can’t change? Better to learn from it. Besides, without my total past experiences, I wouldn’t be quite the same person I am today, and I am pretty awesome today.

So that’s how I felt about my excursion to Bible college. I don’t regret it, I told myself. I couldn’t have made any other decision at the time, so why bother regretting it?

I told myself that, and yet… I was embarrassed to tell anyone. I felt stupid. I felt like a failure. Like I had wasted the best years of my life on meaninglessness.

But I don’t regret. So I started to think of benefits. What had I learned? How had the experience changed me?

And I remembered some things. Some sermons about not judging others. About bitterness. Baptists are actually very good at persuasive sermons. Maybe it’s the alliteration.

I realized the hold that bitterness had on me, and the nature of its poison.

I won’t lie to you; I’m still bitter.

But every day, I let go of a little bit more of that poison.

I started the blog, The Spiritual Skeptic, not only to explore metaphysical, paranormal, and spiritual topics that interested me, but also as an exercise in overcoming my bitterness. I know it doesn’t help anyone, least of all myself. I want to reach a point where I can be grateful for all my experiences, and not blame my past pain on any of the people who were in my life at the time. They, like me, were only making the best decisions at the time with all the information and intuition they had.

Letting go of bitterness isn’t like dropping the weight of my Christianity. It wasn’t an epiphany. It’s a learning process, one that any of us can decide to begin at any time, and one that we choose to continue each day.

What bitterness are you choosing to hold onto? How can you learn to let it go?

Modern environmentalism was born in the 1960s with Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book Silent Spring. The book detailed the effects that the chemical DDT was having on the avian food chain.

We as a society had thought that all these new chemicals we had been developing and using in the twentieth century could only bring good things for mankind. Carson’s book changed all that, pointing out that one day if we keep doing what we are doing we could wake up to a world without birds, a silent spring.

Now suddenly, thanks to Carson, we realized that mankind’s actions could and did have a damaging effect on the environment. Did that stop our environmental destruction? No, but it gave rise the modern environmental movement.

Environmentalists have rallied, argued and formed political parties. They have protested, lobbied and persuaded. Their cause is good but the effect has been minimal. Industrialization and the slow poisoning of the planet has marched on in the four decades since Silent Spring, our knowledge of what we are doing not enough to make us change our ways.

New Approaches?

The fact that environmentalism has not been able to halt the steadily increasing destruction has led many to lose faith in it. People switch off because it has all become too hard. They see the inherent flaw in rampant growth but mainstream environmentalism doesn’t provide an adequate alternative solution.

Others are looking for new reasons as to the cause of our problem and new answers for the solution.

Mainstream environmental thinking focuses on “greening up” our current ways. Not on making any major fundamental cultural shifts, rather just keep doing what we are doing albeit in a more eco friendly way. We have been trying this for decades and despite it not having worked before, we keep persisting with it.

New approaches will get us to look far more deeply at our cultural outlook and how this affects the way we see ourselves as humanity in relation to the biosphere. Instead of merely greening up our current lifestyle this approach is looking at how we can fundamentally change our way of living.

Many people are inherently afraid of this, they fear all the amazing things we would have to give up. But this isn’t how people of the new approach see it. They see more than just an ecologically troubled world. They see a socially troubled world and they see it as two different symptoms of the same problem.

Instead of giving things up we are instead looking to all the things we could gain, not just for the planet, but for ourselves as a spiritually redundant and socially disconnected people.

Where Is The Future Going?

I predict that more people will change the way they think about ecology as they lose faith in the mainstream green movement that has delivered very little.

It is a harder pill to swallow, because it argues for bigger change, not just in the way we do things but in our hearts and minds. This is hard and it is scary. It requires bravery to leap out into the unknown, and change a cultural mindset that has been operating for a long time.

This is where you have to take a good hard look at your personal views. Do you see the environment as an isolated issue? Or do you see the problems there as being the same problems that we are facing in a social context?

I argue that we are destroying the environment for the same reason we are destroying ourselves by trapping our minds in a society that sucks the will to live out of us. Because we have forgotten any other way. This is the only one we know now.

Anyone can improve their lot. The problem is that not everyone can. Things are structured so that some people win and some people lose despite our best efforts to create equality. The same way that things are structured for the environment to suffer every time, despite our best efforts to go green.

So you have to make a choice. Are you going to just go along with life and support the status quo? Are you going to hope that we can save ourselves from oblivion by “greening up” our destructive ways and that you can somehow find satisfaction from within this society and culture through personal development?

Or are you going to find another solution?

A World Without Personal Development

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a world without personal development. Not a world of misery but one of joy and happiness where things were just awesome by default. Where you didn’t need to struggle with trying to change your thoughts or battle with affirmations. Because life was just good without you having to try.

That’s the same vision for the environment. A world that is just naturally healthy. Not one where we have to fight against the tide of destruction, the way an enlightened person has to rise above the river of despair.

It all comes down to vision. If our cultural vision creates environmental destruction, social inequality and a world where you need personal development to be happy then no matter how hard you fight it, it won’t change.

The only way to change it is to change the vision.

Our current cultural vision is this: “the world was made for man and man was made to rule it.” Something we take for granted but the thing that is at the heart of all our problems.

If the next generation grew up believing that man walked this earth as an equal but not as its ruler then everything would change. The way we built our societies, the way we relate to the environment and the way each individual lives their lives and derives their personal satisfaction.

We have to change the vision. It is the only way.

There are different paths that lead to the same goal of bettering oneself. Some people follow the rules of their religion, others read over hundreds of self-improvement books. Like you, I also want to be a better person, and I made my choice regarding the path I walk. While many people prefer religious activities or psychological approach, I decided to become psychic. And I succeeded. And even more - everyone can succeed on this path with a little bit of effort.

People are often surprised when I tell them I wasn’t born psychic.  I trained my abilities over the past 6 years. At first, it was just for fun. Then, it became a goal. And finally, as it turned out, me being psychic was just a side effect of spiritual growth. As I said, at first it was fun.  I thought it would be cool to learn telekinesis and telepathy – you know – throw things with your mind and things like that. Then, it became a goal, meaning I wanted to learn psychic abilities because… I wanted to learn them . Finally, I took more spiritual approach, one focused on spiritual development, because I had learned that walking the path of psychic just for fun can be slightly dangerous, and the spiritual approach provides us with additional protection.

What Spiritual Development Is Really About?

What is spiritual development anyway? Here’s my private short description: Spiritual development is the process of learning how the Universe really works, and learning how to apply the universal laws for your current life to live each day as good person. Some say it’s becoming closer to God.  This is also correct, but one cannot perceive God as the guy from Bible, wrathful and destructive. From a spiritual point of view, God is the ultimate power that rules the Universe.  It’s the mystical Force from Star Wars, full of kindness, helpful to everyone who seeks “its” help.

The point is to understand how the Universe works – how God works. This can be achieved by studies and by experiencing life. It leads to learning simple laws like the law of exchange, law of attraction (more complex that the one described in The Secret), and the law of pure love. But learning these things is just the beginning.  Spiritual development is also about dealing with your personal problems, bad memories, experiences, negative mind patterns, facing your fears, and learning to overcome them. Through this you learn that life can be a really exciting adventure – for you and for people around you.

When hearing that word “spirituality,” people often think they have to memorize, or at least read sacred books; that they need to go to church; or when considering more New Age approach, that they need to meditate, become vegetarian and things like that. The truth is – No – you don’t need any of this. What you really need is:

• The will to make changes in your life – to face your fears and problems, to learn how to deal with them, to study books and gain knowledge, to work with your mind, to learn how to live a happy life, and how to make others happy as well.

You don’t need to meditate if you don’t feel you should. You don’t need to become vegetarian if you don’t feel you should. You don’t need to visit your church if you don’t feel you should. All of that is just against the esoteric arts.

How Does Spirituality Relate To Psychic Abilities?

We are talking here about esoteric arts – as I used to say, the answers you seek, lie within. Within you! As someone who teaches others about psychic development and spiritual growth, I can’t deal with your problems directly – I can only teach you how to use affirmations, regression, core images, rebirthing and other truly esoteric arts by yourself. What does “esoteric” really mean? The raw translation would be “inside.” It’s about searching for enlightenment inside yourself, because you can’t find it within books. Books, articles and other people can only give you tips and information.  True knowledge, and more importantly, true experience is yours alone to find within. It’s the essence of Buddhism – the Buddha is already within you, all you have to do is to find him.

How does spirituality relate to psychic abilities? Quite simply – in order to truly unleash your psychic potential, develop intuition and intuitive creativity, psychic sensitivity and all these fancy abilities like psychic scanning or psychometry, one must work with both his mind and etheric bodies. This can be accomplished through esoteric techniques, the same techniques that are used for spiritual development. In reality, psychic abilities are side effect of spiritual growth. And spiritual growth can be also a side effect of psychic development.  In a way that are two parts of a whole.

Does it mean that everyone who walks the path of spiritual development will receive psychic “gifts” at some point? Well, yes and no. Yes, because you will open yourself for the guidance from above – some people call it God, others The Source. The term doesn’t matter, the point is, you will become more intuitive. And basically, that’s all. Whether you will be able to perceive etheric bodies and spirits or do psychic readings depends on your will and your goal.  If you don’t want to develop such abilities, they won’t develop on their own. Only you can develop them, consciously.

Why Did I Become Psychic?

Because that was my path.  It might be your path as well, but it doesn’t have to be. For me, learning psychic abilities was motivating me for improving myself, and it worked out pretty well I guess. But you need to answer yourself, do you want to become psychic?

Should You Become Psychic?

• First, you don’t have to learn how to see ghosts – a common misunderstanding.  Being psychic means you have knowledge and potential to learn different abilities, but not every psychic can see ghosts, and you don’t have to learn this if you don’t want to. Your psychic path might be focused on improving your intuition and psychic sensitivity and that’s all. And for you, this may be enough.
• Second, you need to feel rather than think. You need to work with your heart chakra, not your third eye, which means you should feel what’s good for you. Really, you probably already feel it – you just need to listen to your feelings, listen to your heart. It’s that simple. And when you walk that path a little and learn few useful skills, you will get another feeling – and you will know if you should continue this path or not.

The same way you will feel if you should become vegetarian, or pray, or visit church, or meditate for few hours. This is esoteric growth, your inner growth, and this is your spiritual development – step by step, very simple, very zen.

Like my Reiki teacher used to say “everyone should become attuned to first degree Reiki and the world would become a better place.”  I like to  say that everyone should learn at least the basics of psychic work – affirmations, core images work, and some energy work. I say this because these skills are useful, opening you the door to many useful abilities in your daily life – starting with intuition.

• I receive inspiration through my intuition – I simply know what to do, and usually, it works .
• I make choices with my intuition, in both personal health and business.
• I help people by scanning their energy bodies and telling them about possible energetic problems that might influence their physical and emotional states.

Additionally, a healthy mind and healthy energy body result in healthy physical body – it’s what Chinese Medicine is based upon.

For me, these are simple useful things which I’m using on daily basis. Most psychics I know apply intuition in their day jobs, that aren’t necessarily paranormal-focused. I know a lawyer who uses her psychic sensitivity to sense if her customers are guilty or not. I know a nurse that uses her psychic sight to help her patients.

If the practice of intuition sounds too advanced to start with, then consider starting with the Law of Attraction.  “The Secret” is a good primer for this.  The Law of Attraction is a  simple to understand law that can be unleashed when you understand the rules behind it.  When you learn how to remove your subconscious blockages during your psychic/spiritual training, then it truly rocks!

The Path Of Spirituality And Intuitive Working

Psychic development leads to spirituality, spirituality leads to psychic development, and the basics of psychic potential are defined by single word – intuition.  Intuition leads to true miracles. Through intuition you make right choices, choices that are in balance with God’s will – and God’s will is the goodness of everyone and everything.

Psychics and esoteric workers that I know are so kind, so peaceful, so helpful to others. I will always recommend learning the basics of psychic development, especially as it is often more appealing than religion, especially young. Not every teenager want to be spiritually enlightened, but I’m sure there’s a lot of teenagers who would like to learn psychic powers. The good thing is that psychic development can really help people on their spiritual path.

How To Actually Become Psychic

Some of you would like a “how-to” right now, hmm? Well, I could say “purchase my workbook!” or “go read the articles on my website” – but even this requires an explanation. For the purpose of this article, let’s keep in simple and say in order to become psychic, all you have to do is to say to yourself, here and now:

I want to become psychic – God, please guide me.

And that’s it. This is how you can open yourself for spiritual guidance.  You speak aloud what you truly want, and you wait for guidance. If you don’t believe in God, you can refer to your spiritual master (for example Buddha), The Source, The Force or whatever you prefer. And then just wait, and observe your life. Spiritual forces might guide you through many things. You might stumble upon books, websites, articles, and people, that might not even discuss psychic development at all, but they will somehow guide you further. Who knows, maybe this article is also an answer to your question? Maybe you thought “it would be awesome to become psychic” and the Universe directed you to this article? People, events, experiences, and cool songs on the radio can all be signs – signs you should follow.

It’s important to open yourself for spiritual guidance.  For some people, my articles and workbooks will be perfect.  Others might prefer different approach or other books or psychic workshops. Others might prefer a religious approach.  Some might convert to Esoteric Taoism, or some might explore the subject of practical magick and that will be their path. Some people might prefer to just follow personal development tips and that will be great too.

Open yourself, follow the signs, and stay positive – search the Buddha inside you, for whatever reason you have. Because psychic development is just one path, one of many. You might want to walk it or you might not, but the choice is yours, and, as with all your choices, this one should come from your hear rather than your logical brain.

What do you think? Is becoming psychic your path towards illumination?

Every day I look in the mirror ever so briefly to comb my hair and to make sure I look presentable.  Several times a day I glance in the mirror as I wash my hands.  I might as well since a giant mirror spans the length of sinks in the restroom at work. 

Most days it’s nothing more than a cursory glance, but every once in a while I’ll look deeper.  I did this today, and even so the deep look was brief, it always shocks me.  Who is that guy staring back at me?  I stare deep into his eyes.  What is he thinking, what is he doing, where is he going, where did he come from?  All these questions wash over me.  I see life in his eyes, but that life doesn’t exist on the surface.  It’s hidden deep within. 

As I stare into those eyes in the mirror, I feel a being lives within.  This housing, the physical body, is only temporary.  It is temporary, and actually quite restricting.  He is more than a physical body.  The bounds of his being are beyond comprehension.  He has been purposely limited while occupying this vessel.  His thoughts are limited by what can be processed by the physical brain.  His movement is greatly restricted by a physical world ruled by Earthly laws of physics.  His place is limited by what he is able to provide for himself and his family.  His position is limited by what he can learn and practice while limited by time.

He feels caged. 

People talk of the spirit, but rarely consider the full connation of such an idea.  Christ based religions teach us that the soul live on after death, traveling to heaven or hell.  Many eastern religions teach that we will leave for a short time and then reenter through reincarnation. 

Most people are rigorously vested in the physical world and physical body.  They consider this to be “reality” when in fact the world we are in, this physical world, may not be reality at all.  It may be a type of virtual reality, with the actual reality to be the realm of the non-physical.  Do you suspect that your body is your reality?  Do you look at yourself in the mirror and know that person looking back is you? 

Look a little deeper.  Stare into the eyes.  Stare further, stare deep within, beyond the eyes.  Do you get the feeling that the real you is locked in there? 

What if the real you is locked within.  Is the essence of your being caged within this physical vessel we call the body?  Does our spirit, soul, or essence drive this vessel about like a man drives a tractor? How would that change your outlook on life?

Does the physical body become less important?  Does your time here on Earth take on more importance?  Or maybe less importance?  If the body is just a vehicle for our soul, what does that mean for us?

I wonder if it changes anything at all.  Many would still choose to run that vehicle rough and hard, so that it’s completely battered and broken when it’s time for the scrap heap.  Other’s might change the oil regularly, wash and wax it, and take really good care of it, proud to have had the opportunity to drive it.  Is one wrong and the other right, or are they two sides of the same coin?

As I stare into the mirror, I sense the limitations of time-space.  We only have possession of this vessel for a short time and we are severely limited in our use of it.  At the same time, I am inspired to seek out the joys and experiences that can be had while I occupy the physical.  Ultimately, I place a little less value in the vessel itself, and a little more value in the experiences it allows me to partake.

Did you know that you can set intentions before you fall asleep to be carried out as you are sleeping?  You can program yourself to do things while you are sleeping.  Sounds pretty strange huh?  I have experimented with it on and off over the course of a few years, and I want to share some of my experiences.

Ditch the Alarm Clock – Program a Wake-Up Time

This is pretty fun actually.  Imagine programing yourself to wake up without an alarm clock.  During the week I need to wake up pretty early in the morning to go to work.  I always use an alarm clock, and I often hit snooze once or twice before rolling out of bed.  Every once in a while though, I have something really important at work requiring me be sure I get there on time.  Also, sometimes on the weekend I want to get up at a certain time, maybe for a trip or to beat the crowds at a theme park.  On days like this, I program myself to wake up at a certain time.

Here is how to do it.

1. Decide what time you want to wake up.
2. Tell yourself, “I need to wake up at this time.”
3. Go over in your head the reason to wake up at this time. (I think having a good reason helps cement the intention.)
4. Visualize yourself waking up, looking at the alarm clock and seeing the intended time.
5. Tell yourself, “I will wake up at this time feeling refreshed and ready to start the day.”

A good reason could be anything.  Maybe you just want to prove to yourself that it can be done.  That’s a good reason.  Maybe you need to wake up for an important meeting.  That’s a good reason.  Or maybe you want to get a jump on your favorite fishing hole.  That’s a good reason too.  I like to use visualization because the mind works mostly in pictures, and by seeing a picture of what you want, it’s easier for it to set into your subconscious.  Telling yourself that you need to and that you will are two different things.  I like to establish the fact that I have the need, and then follow it up with the fact that I will do it.  I also like to add on the intention that I will feel refreshed, because it’s easier to wake up when you’ve had a good night’s sleep.

Wake up refreshed

Sometimes I don’t care about waking up on my own, but I do want to wake up feeling refreshed.  I like to use this when I know I have a long day ahead.

1. Tell yourself, “I will have a good night’s sleep and I will wake up refreshed and ready to start the day.”
2. Think about how it feels to wake up when you’ve had a great night’s sleep.
3. Visualize yourself jumping out of bed ready to meet the new day.

Dream Recall

Would you like to get better at remembering your dreams?  Maybe you think you never dream, or if you do, you’re sure you never remember them.  You can choose to remember your dreams.  It’s not something that is always left to chance; you can program yourself to remember your dreams.

Before I explain the method I use, let me share a story.  I had been practicing dream recall by keeping a log of my dreams.  Whenever I’d happen to wake up from a dream I’d reach for my dream journal.  Sometimes I’d just write some keywords to help my recall later and other times I’d write out the full details.  Practicing with the recall of dreams made it easier for me to remember them upon waking.

To take it a step further I began setting the intention to remember my dreams.  I simply told myself that I would remember my dreams.  Many nights that worked.  One night I changed the intention a little and told myself that I would remember all of my dreams.

That one little word really changed the intention.  Apparently we dream a lot while we are sleeping.  That night was exhausting.  I would dream, and then wake up to establish the recall.  Then I would drift off and dream some more.  Between dreams I would either wake completely or just enter a lighter sleep.  I was completely aware of every single dream and had complete recall of them.  At about 3am I finally decided that I had enough and I change my intention to get to sleep.

Don’t let that scare you though, that was only one night and it was still a very interesting experience.  Heck it might even be worth trying once in a while, as long as you don’t have to be up early the next day.

1. Decide what you want to recall.  Do you want to remember all your dreams, dreams that are beneficial, dreams that have a message, etc?
2. Once you’ve decided, set the intention by telling yourself that you will remember these dreams.
3. I find it hard to visualize what a dream recall looks like, so I typically repeat my intention several times.  You can also try visualization if you’d like.

Beyond the basics

I have also experimented with Lucid dreaming and Out of Body Experiences.  In a lucid dream, you get to control the dream.  It’s like your awake in your dream and you can explore the dream world.  I have only done it a few times, and every time has been very exciting.  Everything is possible in a lucid dream.  You are only limited by your own beliefs.

In an out of body experience (OBE), your spirit body detaches from your physical body and you get to move about the physical and non-physical planes of existence.  As I mentioned in my last post, I had a spontaneous OBE when I was young, and some years later I tried to reproduce this experience.

For things like lucid dreaming and OBEs, I find it’s helpful to immerse yourself in the topic.  My favorite way to do this is to read about it just before bedtime.  That helps drive the ideas into your subconscious.  Then after reading I set my intentions like I describe for the other topics above.

Now I’d like to hear from you.  Do you ever set intentions before bed?  What kinds of things do you program into your subconscious?

As far as I can tell, May 21 / October 21 is the next upcoming popularized date of the Apocalypse.  I hoped to kick of my Apocalypse series with a bang by going into detail on the method used to derive this date and provide supporting evidence, but the information turns out to be rather controversial and hard to decipher.

The fact that the dates are tied to biblical interpretation make them very difficult to prove or disprove, after all, debates on biblical interpretations have raged for centuries and have often been the genesis for new religions or sects.

So, I’ll share with you what I know about these dates, and I’ll provide some links to information supporting this prediction and some disagreeing or disproving this prediction so you may research it further on your own.

The prediction of May 21, 2011 for Judgement Day and October 21, 2011 as the end of the world is made by Harold Camping.  Camping is a Christian radio broadcaster and president of Family Stations, Inc., a California based religious broadcasting network.  In 1970, Harold Camping published “The Biblical Calendar of History” which chronicled major biblical events.  His calendar dated the Creation of the world as 11,013 BC and the Flood at 4990 BC.

Here are some of the more recent dates from Camping’s calendar as referenced from http://biblecalculator.com/calculator.html

1988 End of Church Age [Sat May 21] / Beginning of great tribulation
1992 Unsealed: end times approach, 1994 & 2011 key dates
1994 Beginning of second jubilee (latter rain) [Wed Sep 7]
2001 Unsealed: 1988 Was end of church age: depart out now
2003 World history: Ur/Babylon/Nineveh (Iraq) liberated
2004 Unsealed: End of World in 2011 (7-year warning)
2007 Unsealed: Believers to be raptured 5-21-2011 / 5 mo.s hell on earth, then annihilation of unsaved 10-21-2011
2008 Unsealed: Actual payment for sins of the elect was made before foundation of world
2011 Rapture of believers [Sat May 21] / End of world [Fri Oct 21]

The methods used to arrive at these dates can be found in Camping’s book, “Adam When?” You can download a free pdf copy of “Adam When?” from the Family Radio website.

The Math Behind the Prediction

The explanation of the dates associated with Judgment Day can be found in his booklet “Another Infallible Proof.”

Camping provides a couple of different methods to come to the May 11 date.

First he references the date of the Flood at 4990 B.C. and a passage that says the flood will begin in 7 days, and another passage that says a day is as a thousand years.  So essentially saying 7000 years.  2011 is 7000 years after 4990 B.C.

Another proof is provided based on the date that Jesus was crucified, April 1, 33 A.D.  (This is a date that Camping arrived at and is not necessarily global accepted.)  Camping uses some numbers from the Bible which he says convey spiritual truth.  3 meaning God’s purpose, 5 meaning atonement, and 17 meaning heaven.  Do a little math: (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500.  Add these days to the date of the crucifixion and you come to May 21, 2011.

The math seems a bit fuzzy to me.  Again, if you want to see the details for yourself, check out the booklet mentioned above.

Judgment Day and Beyond

Let’s move ahead and discuss Judgment Day, also commonly referred to as the Rapture.  According to Harold Camping, Judgment Day will be on May 21, 2011.  This is the day when “true believers” are to be caught up (raptured) to be forever with Christ.

All those remaining will suffer through 5 months of hell on Earth and ultimately the end of the world on October 21, 2011.  You can read Harold Camping’s book “We Are Almost There!” to learn more about his view and predictions for the Rapture and the End of the World.  “We Are Almost There!” is available for free download from the Family Radio website.  Start on page 58 if you want to jump right to the Judgment Day section.

I have also found plenty of evidence to refute Camping’s claims.  You can read more here and here.

Harold Camping’s predictions are certainly interesting and controversial.  I’ll leave it up to you to decide if you believe in his predictions.  I wish I could have provided more solid information, but after looking into it, it all seems kinda fuzzy.

If you’d like to read more about Harold Camping’s ideas, you might want to check out some of his published works.

If you’d like to additional reading that refutes Camping’s claims, here are a few books to get you started:  Should We Leave Our Churches?: A Biblical Response to Harold Camping and Dangerous Airwaves: Harold Camping Refuted and Christ’s Church Defended.

It seems we are living in the era of Apocalypse.   We had Y2K and now were coming up on a May 21, 2011 Judgment Day, an October 21, 2011 Apocalypse, and the more commonly known End of the Mayan Calendar December 21, 2012 Apocalypse.  What better way to kick off 2011 that to talk about Earth’s demise?

I find the idea of Global Apocalypse to be rather interesting so I thought I’d dive into it here.  I’m certainly no expert on the Apocalypse, but I figure I can research it and report back with my findings.  I want to look at some of the upcoming Apocalypse dates in more detail.  I also want to look at some of the history of various Apocalypse predictions, especially some of those that have come and gone already.

I also plan to look at some of the ways our planet or our human race can meet its ultimate demise.  There are really quite a few ways life on this planet can be snuffed out.  I’m not sure if you remember this, but there were a few days last year or the year before when there was a rice shortage.  People were panicked over this.  To some countries that rely heavily on rice and have few alternatives, this could be a big deal, but here in the US there would seem to be plenty of alternatives.

Food availability, climate change, rising fuel costs, and tales of the Mayan calendar have floated some thoughts around in my head over the past couple of years.  I think it’s high time I flesh these out, and I’m looking forward to sharing my findings here.

I’m not sure if I’ll run this series one post after another or if I’ll intersperse them amongst other posts.  It depends how much time it takes me to research each area.  Some may be combined into single posts and some may warrant their own post.

Here is a peak at what I plan to look into.

• Future Apocalypse predictions
• Past Apocalypse predictions
• Teachings and predictions of religion
• Econopocalypse / Global economic crash
• Foodpocalypse / Food shortages
• Fuelpocalypse / Fuel costs / Fuel shortages
• Planet crushing asteroids
• Global warming / Climate change
• Pole shift
• Animal extinctions
• Zombie apocalypse / Disease / Petulance
• Alien invasion
• How to prepare for an Apocalypse / Pack clean underwear

If you can think of any other ways all humanity can perish in the bowels of disaster, post them up in the comments.  If you have any good sources for research on this topic, I’d love to hear about them.

I’ve been continuing my experiment of manifesting by seeing my world as a dream world.  It’s a view through the lens of subjective reality, and manifesting becomes much easier by using this view.  You can read my posts on subjective reality to get a better idea of where this view developed.  Basically, I go through my day imagining reality as a dream world.  In this dream world I have complete control over every aspect of my life.  I don’t do this all day every day, but I do it often enough that I often see results even when I’m not actively creating or manifesting in my dream world.

Manifesting Fast Service

We have gone to Dunkin Donuts twice in the last month.  Once on a busy Sunday morning, and once on a busy Saturday morning.  I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a Dunkin Donuts in the morning on a weekend, but the place is always packed with people eager to stuff their faces with donuts and coffee.  On these two occasions I joined these people in the glorious sweetness of Boston Cream and Jelly Filled donuts.

As I was leaving the house, I knew what I wanted from my dream world.  I wanted to enter Dunkin Donuts, walk right up to the counter, and with no waiting at all, place my order for donuts.

As I pull into the parking lot on both occasions, I find an empty parking space right in front of the door.  I’ve gotten pretty good at manifesting parking spots.  I don’t even have to think about it ahead of time anymore; I’ve just come to expect that every time I pull into a parking lot, I will get a prime parking spot.

On the first occasion, I walked in and my family and I were the only ones in line.  There wasn’t a single patron standing at the counter when we walked in.  We walked right up and placed our orders.  We had arrived at the end of the breakfast rush, so I wasn’t too surprised that we were able to do this, however as we were ordering a small line did form behind us.

On the second occasion, we arrived right in the middle of the breakfast rush.  We walked in and found one cashier taking an order from one patron.  They were actually just finishing up.  There was one more patron in front of us.  Within seconds the cashier finished with the first patron, and the second patron stepped up to place their order.  Just as that person stepped forward a second cashier opened up and greeted us to take our order.  This wasn’t exactly how I pictured it in my mind, but the results were the same; being able to place my order quickly upon entering.

Manifesting Friendly Service

Another aspect of my dream world thinking which has become automatic is my interaction with sales clerks and service staff.  Early in my dream world experiment I set the belief that I should have pleasant conversations with sales clerks, and that I would be treated in a friendly and courteous manner.  When I’m actively manifesting this treatment, the results are amazing.  Sales staff will happily chat while scanning my items in the checkout.  Since I’ve spent some time manifesting this, the good (and sometimes VIP style) treatment has continued.

It’s even spilled over into my wife’s life.  Every time I get a good result I tell my wife, “That’s how it happens in my dream.”  So the other day, she asks me if I’ve been manifesting good sales clerk treatment for her life.  Apparently sales staff have been very nice to her lately.  We both smiled when I said, “no, you must have been doing that on your own. “

Manifesting Birthday Party Invites

She is actually really good at manifesting.  About a year ago, she was concerned that our daughter wasn’t getting invited to many birthday parties.  As a caring mother, she didn’t want our daughter to be left out.  She wants our daughter to have many good friends and to be able to participate in their celebrations.  Our daughter wasn’t in preschool or daycare, and the circle of friends was relatively small.  She was in some playgroups, but it always seemed as though the kids in these groups already had a tight circle of friends.  This seemed to be good reason for a low number of birthday party invites.

Without trying to manifest anything she did spend some time thinking about the idea of birthday party invites.  Well, let me tell you, this year has been party central.  We have been invited to two or three birthday parties a month for the last several months.  We even had a Saturday with back to back parties, and most recently we had three parties in one weekend.

I am often amazed at how skilled my wife is at manifesting, and the non-stop birthday parties is now a running joke in our family, as well as a constant reminder of the Law of Attraction.

A Sleeping Dream

I want to share another short story here.  It’s related to dream world manifesting, but this true story is about an actual dream while I was  sleeping.  The story begins yesterday evening.  We’ve been having some cold nights here, with temperatures dipping below freezing.  When that happens in Florida we have to cover our tropical plants to keep them alive.    So last night I went outside and covered our plants with sheets and blankets.  I also have a couple large paint tarps that work great for covering our long expanse of bushes along the front of the house.

Covered Plants

The wind was really blowing last night as I was covering the plants.  I usually talk to the plants as I cover them.  I tell them, “I’m bundling you up to keep you nice and warm,” or “there you go, this will keep you warm tonight.”  Stuff like that, simply letting the plants know that I’m trying to keep them warm and healthy during the cold weather.

Last night, a couple hours after falling asleep I had a horrible dream.  I dreamt that it was really cold outside and that someone stolen the paint tarps that were covering our bushes in front of the house.  I was really angry about this.  Those bushes are really sensitive to cold weather, and a night in the cold would surely turn them brown and kill much of the outer growth.  And, I really like those paint tarps for covering the plants, so without them I’d have to find a bunch of sheets, and it really wouldn’t work as well.  I was so angry that I woke up.

I lay in bed for a few minutes after that thinking about the dream.  It was about 1:00 am when I decided to get up and check on the plants.  To my surprise the strong winds had blown the paint tarps off the plants and onto the ground.  I bundled up and braved the cold to go back outside and cover those plants back up, and I this time I laid some bricks around the edges to hold the tarps down.

I am amazed to get such a literal message in a dream.  I don’t know if the plants were sending me the message that they were cold, or if I got the message from somewhere else, but it the message was clear.  It was a pretty cool experience.

Now it’s your turn.  I want to hear of something you have manifested recently. Respond in the comment section below with something you have manifested.  It can be anything large or small.  Thanks for sharing!