Remote Sensing

Let us start a new thread to explore this subject. My original message #42 that started this discussion is found here:

kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/thread/46...set=40&maxResults=20

AlexWeith:

When you can feel a kind of electro-magnetic field between your palms when you move them closer (about one foot away from each other), you can learn to feel the energy of large trees and human beings. During meditation, you can also starts to sense your whole body and then extend this awareness to the cushion, the floor, the walls and the furniture. As strange as it may sound, we soon become able to sense the room as an extension of the body, or the body as an object amongst other objects. In the course of everyday life, we then become able to extend our awareness and fell other people as we feel our own body during vipassana. With practice, we may become able to pick up their general mood, and in a way feel their emotions or know what they are about to say before the express it.

With spirits, it works in a similar way. A spirit or deity is evoked through prayers and/or ritual and is then experenced as a presence before us. We may then invite it within our aura (invocation, arising as the yidam, ritual possession). As a result, the body may shake or jerk a bit and we start experiencing being another person, with emotions and feelings alien to our normal experience. We also learn how to see and communicate with them, hearing their voice as something similar yet distinct from normal thoughts.

JLaurelC:

I have a blind friend who can sense things in this way, but I'm not sure whether it's the same phenomenon. She has absolutely no concept of vision at all (blind from birth), but feels her surroundings, and is unusually sensitive to the mind-states of other people. However her capabilities stem partly from anxiety, needing to know exactly what's going on around her, not insight. She is a very anxious person. I'm just wondering whether people who've never practiced insight, who might in fact be acutely sensitive in ways that make it hard for them to function, could have similar capabilities, or whether their experiences are unrelated to what you're describing here.

I learned this kind of work (spirit communication/sensing) long before I had a meditation practice. I found that as my meditation practice deepened, my skills in spirit work tended to become a little easier and fluid. The basic sensing didn't change, but new skills like vision developed, and it became ever easier to drop into trance and do the spirit work with much less ritual preparation.

"I learned this kind of work (spirit communication/sensing) long before I had a meditation practice. I found that as my meditation practice deepened, my skills in spirit work tended to become a little easier and fluid. The basic sensing didn't change, but new skills like vision developed, and it became ever easier to drop into trance and do the spirit work with much less ritual preparation. "

I have to admit ignorance about what "spirit work" is. If someone could elaborate, I'd appreciate it.

Interacting with non-physical entities like spirits, gods, etc. - such as is done in various religious traditions, from shamanism to esoteric buddhism... usually done to either gain wisdom or to ask for help with some mundane concerns. That is, in some traditions you might ask a deity to be part of your spiritual awakening process, by using rituals and mantras to work with the deity (like in Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, etc.); or you might ask a deity to help you get a job or heal your sick child etc. (as is found in most every part of the world, from Christian prayers to God to Hindus doing offerings to Ganesha, etc.)

"JLaurelC:

I have a blind friend who can sense things in this way, but I'm not sure whether it's the same phenomenon. She has absolutely no concept of vision at all (blind from birth), but feels her surroundings, and is unusually sensitive to the mind-states of other people. However her capabilities stem partly from anxiety, needing to know exactly what's going on around her, not insight. She is a very anxious person. I'm just wondering whether people who've never practiced insight, who might in fact be acutely sensitive in ways that make it hard for them to function, could have similar capabilities, or whether their experiences are unrelated to what you're describing here.

"

There's some interesting research showing that in certain circumstances, blind people can actually "see" non-visually. The phenomenon, called "blindsight," was explored in a recent episode of "Through the Wormhole, with Morgan Freeman."

Those who are interested can try this:

Practice body sweeping vipassana for a while, sensing your entire body from the head down and back a few times. Then sense your feet and rise up slowly until you feel like being located within your head. Then sense the crown of your head and rise higher until you eventually pop out of your physical head (so to speak). It is deceptively simple, but may trigger a full blown out-of-body experience (this has been the case for a student who found herself out-of-body the first time she tried).

If you did it correctly, you will feel like an abstract blob of consciousness floating above and slightly behind your physical head. Get used to this location and, from there, try to sense your physical head with imaginary hands. When you can do it, you don't need to imagine (astral) hands and become able to simply sense things with your attention. You can then scan your physical body from this out-of-body location a foot above your physical head. When you can sense your whole physical body, try to include the cushion or chair first and then the floor. The more you do it, the more you will become able to sense your physical body, as well as the floor, the walls and the furniture in the room.

When this starts to become easy with closed eyes, try to do it with open eyes. When you can do it, you become able to sense the room with your psychic sensing skills. Sensing objects in this way, may develop psychometric skills. Sensing people allows you to connect on a deeper level.

This is basically a variation of Sayagi U Ba Khin's 'body sweeping vipassana' extending it beyond the body. It opens to door to remote sensing, astral projection (the Buddha's "manokaya" or "mind-made-body") as well as to the arupa jhana, keeping in mind that when we are able to sense the space within the room we are technically close to the 5th Jhana (sphere of boundless space).

Do you think this kind of stuff could not just extend itself in space but in time as well? Meaning seeing into the past or future? Since I started meditating I am noticing more and more precognition in daily life. I guess as awareness expands it can also expand through time.

"Do you think this kind of stuff could not just extend itself in space but in time as well? Meaning seeing into the past or future? Since I started meditating I am noticing more and more precognition in daily life. I guess as awareness expands it can also expand through time."


As far as i can tell, yes, but not in the same way. Precognition comes via visions, dreams and in some cases a little voice in our head.

With a couple of friends, we had visions about a tsunami and a nuclear catastrophy a while ago. A week later, we saw the news about Japan: spooky! The problem it that it is not useful in the sense that the information is not complete (we didn't know that it would happen in North Japan) and you never know whether it is symbolic (our initial guess) or literal.

That sounds pretty intense, Alex! I know what you mean though about it not being complete, as that has been my experience mostly.