Dimensionality
Dimensions of Conscious Experience
by Daniel Neiman
Note: Don’t miss another subject related article
by Daniel Neiman: A New View of Consciousness and Reality
You find yourself in this rich world of stars, planets, and numerous other objects. Is this all there is, or is this just a small slice of infinity? We live on the crest of something deeply profound. An infinite ocean lies below the surface. The depths of this ocean we have only begun to explore.
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A dimension, as I will use the term, is a domain of conscious experience. Each dimension is an energetic construction operating on a certain energy level and frequency. Intelligent consciousness creates dimensions in order to experience itself, or part of its potential. The physics of this process is much like movie projection, whereby white light from the projector is filtered to portray the shapes you see on the screen. Similarly, the one supreme consciousness of pure light filters itself to create the matter of the physical world. The physical world, then, is one level of energy vibrating in a certain frequency range. It is the pure light of God slowed down, condensed, and filtered to create all of the different elemental constituents that make up the universe. But really, in the final analysis, it is like a projected hologram, or a whirlpool in the ocean. Yes, it has distinct characteristics and can be viewed separately from the source consciousness of pure light, but it is still part of, and inseparable from, that consciousness. Like the hologram, the physical world is not fundamentally real, but a projection of an underlying source. Like the ocean whirlpool, the physical world has a distinct identity, but is an integral part of the source consciousness. It exists within that consciousness, depending on it for its existence, and cannot be separated from it. But why would there just be one whirlpool in the ocean? Why just one holographic projection? Indeed it sounds like a silly idea. Common sense tells us that if this infinite intelligent consciousness can create any reality by manipulating its pure light, then there could be huge numbers of those realities or domains in existence. And indeed, this is exactly what we find to be the case, as vast numbers of individuals have experienced interaction with other levels of reality. |
One preliminary question that needs to be answered is how we can experience those realities. Ultimately, consciousness pervades everything because it is the energy itself. Thus, all things can be consciously experienced. Every cell, every rock, and every molecule has a subjective experience. But we are not simply the energy of our bodies. We possess a higher level consciousness of light, like little pieces, or children, of the source consciousness. The physical body acts as a vehicle for our conscious light to manifest in and experience the physical. The brain is like a big transceiver relaying information about the world to our consciousness, which then acts on that information relaying thought, emotional, and action potential energy patterns back to the brain. But this body only works in the physical dimension. What if we want to go out of body to explore other dimensions?
When we go to other dimensions, our consciousness manifests bodies through which to experience those dimensions. Rosalind McKnight, who worked with Robert Monroe to go out of body, describes five different energetic bodies that our consciousness projects and operates through in each dimension. The physical we are well aware of and operate through on a daily basis. Going deeper, there are the etheric-substance, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies.1 Each of these bodies exists at different energy levels to allow us to explore higher and higher dimensions. Interestingly, William Buhlman, long time out of body explorer, has a near identical chart of the energy bodies of the soul in his book The Secret of the Soul.2 He, as well as Rosalind, contend that these dimensional bodies and indeed the experiential dimensions they provide access to, exist within us. It’s not as if these other dimensions are “out there” somewhere beyond the physical universe. They could be said to be deeper and deeper levels of reality.
Switching conscious awareness to another dimension is like going to a new universe. It can be populated with beings, landscapes, and cities that you previously only dreamed of. It’s like changing the radio station. You could be driving down the road listening to a classical music station and hearing all kinds of classical favorites from Beethoven to Chopin. All of a sudden your passenger reaches down and changes to a hip-hop/pop station and suddenly it’s like entering an entirely new realm of music. The sounds are different, the rhythm is different, and it provides a whole new and different listening experience. It may take some time to adjust to this new listening experience, but you can now explore the world of Britney Spears and Rihanna. Suffice it to say, it’s quite different than the world of Beethoven and Chopin! This is maybe an extreme example because the differences between the two styles of music are quite vast, but we will see when exploring other dimensions that the experience in these other dimensions can be quite different than the physical.
So, when you enter another dimensional body, you are changing frequencies, much like changing stations on a radio. You are then operating on a different level of energy than the physical, in a different realm of being. Your physical body, of course, is still fully functional on the physical plane. However, your conscious awareness has shifted dimensions and is no longer operating through the physical body, but instead through a higher dimensional body. People operating through the physical will no longer be able to see you or communicate with you, although you may be able to see them and communicate with them on an inner psychic level.
The Archetypal Dimension
The archetypal realm is the first to be explored. The realm of the archetypes represents the dimension of little “g” gods. These are powerful forms of energy that desire expression, whereby they manifest through the psyches of individuals and groups of people. Some people believe that these devas are simply fanciful creations of humans who want to project their complexes onto an external force, or persona. The argument might go that we create a god of war to justify and give greater meaning to our wars. However, others including Carl Jung and Stanislav Grof (photo to the right), two imminent thinkers in modern times who have studied the psyche extensively, have come to the conclusion that it’s the other way around. The archetypes come first, as they are on a higher energetic plane than the physical. They have an independent existence apart from their human representations. They are forces that manifest through each of our psyches, impelling us to act out roles like actors on a stage.
Grof himself had a powerful encounter with the archetypes in an altered state of consciousness. Somewhere beyond the confines of time and space he saw a magnificently lit stage with an exquisite curtain containing detailed patterns which seemed to represent the entire history of the world. Across this stage paraded personified universal archetypes, the forces that shape human history. He seemed to be viewing a personified holographic version of these archetypes which contained their essence and their many specific and varied manifestations. Grof states:
“as I was observing them, they kept changing in unbelievably intricate holographic interpenetration. Each of them seemed to represent the essence of his or her function and simultaneously all the concrete manifestations of this principle in the phenomenal world. While they were clearly individual entities, they compromised an enormous number of other beings and situations from all times and places in history.”3
Archetypal figures can be experienced in altered states of consciousness as very real forces. Grof states that:
“People who experienced these encounters usually viewed these archetypal figures with great awe and respect, as beings that belonged to a superior order, were endowed with extraordinary energies and power, and had the capacity to shape events in our material world.”4
Also, encounters with archetypes of other cultures than ones own can occur in altered states. The important thing is that through the encounters, archetypes are recognized as real forces that exist independently of us, yet shape the events in our lives. They are energies that operate through our subconscious psyches impelling us to do what we do.
The archetypes are many, including Mother, Father, Hermit, Lovers, Warrior, Emperor, and Trickster, and are portrayed in various ways throughout cultures of the world. Each archetype has an essence, representing it’s essential qualities or attributes. For example, the Mother archetype has the qualities of nurturing, protectiveness, guidance and all the other essential characteristics of this role without regard to race, religion, culture, or specific circumstances. The personified version of the archetype, usually in the form of a deity that is worshipped or prayed to, is a culture specific form of the archetype. The archetype in itself is simply a powerful conscious force that is independent of any human portrayal. It’s not as if the Hindu’s have one warrior deity and the Greek’s another. This is only superficially true. In their specific portrayals, they are putting their own unique form of expression on the same underlying conscious force.
Each archetype, then, is an independent force operating on a higher energy level within consciousness. So, when we are impelled to go to war or take a stand against injustice, the warrior archetype is manifesting through our psyches. When we have a child, the mother or father archetype manifests and so on. The archetypes can manifest individually or collectively. These forces can be so overwhelming that people who wouldn’t normally act a certain way will be driven to do so. One tragic example of this was in Rwandan during the genocide that occurred there. There were mainly two tribes living in Rwanda, the Tutsi’s and the Hutu’s. Even though they lived side by side, went to the same schools, worked, and played together, there were deep underlying animosities running back for generations. This genocide was spurred by a wave of Tutsi refugees who were fighting to get back into their homeland. Many had fled Rwanda to neighboring countries during past killing sprees and tensions between the two groups. At the time, the Rwandan president, who was Hutu, banned exiles from ever returning to Rwanda. So once these refugees started fighting to get back in, the then Hutu government fueled a campaign to kill Tutsi’s. Radio broadcasts day and night referred to Tutsi’s as “cockroaches” and “snakes.” Hutu’s, who were ordinarily hard-working citizens, were encouraged to kill their Tutsi neighbors so that: “If the RPF [the invading Tutsi] rebels come back to our country, let them find only the corpses of their families.”5
One of the best books I’ve ever read, Left to Tell, is a personal story about survival of this wicked event. Immaculee Ilibagiza survived by hiding in a pastor’s secret bathroom which was covered by a large dresser to conceal the door. In her brave account she describes how ordinary, innocent, kind citizens who she had known and had relations with all her life turned into merciless killing machines.
One day when a band of Hutu killers showed up to search the Pastors house for Tutsi’s, she decided to peak through a hole in the curtain of the small bathroom window. She describes the following scene:
“Hundreds of people surrounded the house, many of whom were dressed like devils, wearing skirts of tree bark and shirts of dried banana leaves, and some even had goat horns strapped onto their heads. Despite their demonic costumes, their faces were easily recognizable, and there was murder in their eyes.
They whooped and hollered. They jumped about, waving spears, machetes, and knives in the air. They chanted a chilling song of genocide while doing a dance of death: “Kill them, kill them, kill them all; kill them big and kill them small! Kill the old and kill the young . . . a baby snake is still a snake, kill it, too, let none escape! Kill them, kill them, kill them all!”
It wasn’t the soldiers who were chanting, nor was it the trained militiamen who had been tormenting us for days. No, these were my neighbors, people I’d grown up and gone to school with–some had even been to our house for dinner.
I spotted Kananga, a young man I’d known since childhood. He was a high school dropout my dad had tried to help straighten out. I saw Philip, a young man who’d been too shy to look anyone in the eye, but who now seemed completely at home in this group of killers. At the front of the pack I could make out two local schoolteachers who were friends of Damascene [her brother who was also a teacher before he was murdered in the genocide]. I recognized dozens of Mataba’s most prominent citizens in the mob, all of whom were in a killing frenzy, ranting and screaming for Tutsi blood.”6
Obviously, a powerful force had swept over those people, a force so powerful as to turn ordinary kind citizens into murderers. As you can see from Immaculee’s account, the murderers themselves were not innately cruel people. Instead, their psyche’s had been moved for a time by a powerful energy that was sweeping over the land. Not everyone, of course, succumbed to this force. The Hutu pastor who was hiding Immaculee obviously knew better. But it is telling that thousands of upstanding rational people were swept away by it, blinded from realizing the true horror and destruction of what they were doing. But this is like any good actor who gets so involved in his role that he allows his role in the movie to overtake his self.
The above is an example of the projection of the shadow archetype. The shadow represents the dark and destructive elements within our psyche. Everything we dislike about ourselves or others, our weaknesses, guilts, fears, and misgivings compromise the shadow. The Tutsi rebels fighting to get back into the country threatened the government with having to face the shadow of their oppression of Tutsi peoples for so long. Instead of coming to terms with this guilt and making amends, they projected this inner torment onto the Tutsi’s, who were subsequently seen as the evil which must be annihilated. Their own inner feelings of weakness and inferiority were projected, portraying the Tutsi’s as subhuman “cockroaches.” So, instead of recognizing the evil within them, they projected it outwards and an attempt was made to kill it.
Furthermore, in altered states of consciousness, when we shift our awareness to this underlying archetypal dimension we can experience this destructive energy as a powerful anthropomorphic being, snake, or monstrous creature endowed with incredible energy. In the archetypal dimension these energies take on symbolic form and are recognized as universal forces affecting not just us, but all of humanity. Each individual may express this archetype slightly different in terms of their own fears, dislikes, and so forth, just as a mother may have her own individual way of nurturing her baby or a warrior his unique style in fighting a battle, but the basic underlying energy matrix fueling these personality traits is the same the world over.
When we are in love we also project an archetype. We often don’t think rationally about our relationships when we first fall in love and overlook the negative. You become under the spell of the archetype, represented by your lover. According to Jung, the mates we choose are an expression of our Animus or Anima. That is, the male representation in a woman’s psyche and the female representation in the man’s psyche respectively. This is an image of man or woman formed from all previous interactions with men/women in one’s history. Jung says, “Since this image is unconscious, it is always unconsciously projected upon the person of the beloved, and is one of the chief reasons for passionate attraction or aversion.”7 These archetypes, again, represent powerful unconscious forces that direct our outer lives.
Another example of an archetypal theme manifesting in an individual’s life comes from Dr. Stanislav Grof’s research using LSD. His patient, Martha, was complaining of strange sensations in her legs and body which she had a hard time describing. The strange sensations began after a handsome young co-worker of hers engaged in what Martha termed as “repeated sexual harassment.” Martha, being an attractive woman, had many men interested in her, but she strongly resisted the idea of a committed relationship and marriage.8
During her LSD session, the sensations in her body and legs intensified and she had the experience of becoming a tree. In fact, she completely identified with the consciousness of a tree, so that she experienced the process of photosynthesis on a cellular level and could feel “the flow of the sap through the system of veins traversing the sapwood.”9 Furthermore, as Grof explains:
“She identified with Daphne, a young, beautiful nymph, daughter of the river god Peneus. According to Greek mythology, Daphne dedicated herself to Artemis and, like the goddess, refused to marry. She was pursued by many admirers, but rejected every lover, including the god Apollo. When the god pursued her, Daphne prayed to the Earth and to her father to rescue her, whereupon she was transformed into a laurel tree.”10
This archetype was powerfully manifesting through her psyche and her life experiences perfectly fit this archetypal theme. The strange sensations that she was experiencing in her legs and body prior to the session were authentic experiences of being a tree. This came after unwanted advances from her attractive co-worker, who represents the god Apollo in the Greek tale. Unbeknownst to her, her life including her many potential suitors and aversion to marriage, was an enactment of an archetypal theme. She was not consciously aware of this of course. But these forces are there compelling us to act as we do. Conscious acceptance or awareness of their presence is not a prerequisite.
Existing on a higher plane of energy, the archetypes can be consciously experienced if we shift our conscious awareness to this inner realm. Grof himself had a powerful encounter with the mythic beings of the Aboriginals in Australia. He had traveled to the site of Uluru, a sacred rock formation jutting from the surface of the desert. On his first day there he went for a walk in the desert to get a good view of the rock and then took some LSD. LSD, of course, is known to most as a hallucinogen. But if used properly, it can be a catalyst to shift your conscious awareness to experience other dimensions.
He then meditated for forty-five minutes before his experience began. He witnessed many mythic figures, including many giant anthropomorphic figures which he did not previously know were part of Aborigine mythology. These beings turned against him and wanted to know why he was trespassing in their realm. He explained to them that he was only seeking knowledge and his intentions were pure. He further describes how they put him through a vigorous psychological and spiritual examination before finally allowing him access to explore their domain. He then witnessed the Uluru rock as a giant crouching reptile and the volcanic magma within its maw as the universal principle of creation and destruction. He thereby witnessed firsthand much of Aborigine mythology that he did not previously know.11
The following day as him and his wife Christina were climbing the sacred rock, his wife suddenly felt that she could not continue the climb. It was as if an “impenetrable force field” were blocking her and “invisible hands were pushing her off the rock.”12 Stanislav finished the climb and when he returned to her, she said that she got a clear message that meant: “You are a woman; you should not be here.”13 Probably, this was an inner feeling or intuition. She realized that this rock was a place of male initiation for the Aborigines. It was a place that women were not allowed to go.
While other women who were not sensitive to this dimension of the place had no trouble climbing the rock, she felt that she could not. Her consciousness was very perceptive to the higher plane of energy of the archetypes of the Aborigines. Therefore she was influenced by them and could not go on.
We may experience a rock as a rock, a tree as a tree, and the sun as a sun. This is all very good and well, but we are only seeing surface appearances. Underneath the surface these objects are symbolic expressions of a higher energy. Archetypes are symbolic expressions representing just that higher energy. They are higher forms of energy, existing on a higher plane of consciousness, that manifest, or express themselves, through the physical world, whether through humans and animals or though physical structures such as Uluru rock in Australia.
The sun for instance gives us warmth, life, and energy. It is where the planets are born–the giver of all life. Symbolically though it points to the cosmic source. The sun, in other words, is a physical expression of the cosmic source that gives birth to the universe and our souls. It is the source that is experienced as pure loving, all-knowing energy. It contains all of existence within itself and projects all things into being in the everlasting dance of creation. This is the source experienced after we die and return to the Light.
The Afterlife Dimension
The next significant dimension is the dimension of the afterlife. This is the dimension of deceased spirits, guides, and high level master souls. In the afterlife dimension, reality is much more open to possibility. We can create things just by thought. There are two main types of afterlife realities that people may end up in.
The first and most pleasing is the beatific realm. This is a realm filled with wonderful landscapes and vibrant colors. Often natural landscapes are experienced, such as a lush valley and mountains with a running stream or pond. What separates these landscapes from their Earthly counterparts is the intensity and level of the energy here. Everything exudes light, love, and warmth. All of the forms are more vibrant and energetic and are experienced with a great degree of pleasure. There is no fear or negative emotions here. All is love. There is nothing to hide, no secrets. Communication is open and direct, done by way of direct telepathy.
For a taste of this reality I will quote from the NDE of Yvette who experienced an NDE after many days of having a high fever. At first she goes to a dark realm, which we will get to later, but for now I will focus on when she entered the Light and experienced a beatific realm.
“Nature was rich, glistening and luxurious. The green pastures were filled with flowers with fancy petals, subtle shades, delicious smells, so beautiful that our most prized gardens would have been green with envy. Estates of crystals adorned with precious gems shined everywhere. Sky-blue lakes had a silvery reflection. Forests offered a myriad of elegant trees, their leaves were sumptuous and were of many shades of fluorescent green. Beings of an exceptional glory expressed the power of Everlasting Love in all its Pure Truth. I had never seen anything so extraordinarily harmonious, never had been through such a comprehensive and intelligent sensory experience. I never felt so free to express myself, never felt such an intense flood of love.”14
It seems that we can create our own realities in this dimension, usually those that made us happy on Earth. One interesting experience to illustrate this is from the Near-Death Experience of a woman who passed over and came back in 1969. She describes being met by a being of light who shows her around.
“The second time we were walking in a beautiful mountain with so many gorgeous flowers, plants and animals. He told me that I didn’t have to be afraid of the animals because He had made them as well as me. So many of them were funny, and others just talked. When we had walked down the path quite a bit we were walking by a farm. A woman walked out and gave us a loaf of 12 grain bread that was fresh out of her oven. We thanked her and began eating the bread. He said that it was His favorite type of bread. We walked further and we began going a little lower again. We went inside a small cabin to talk with a woman who was sweeping her floor. We sat down and she brought each of us a glass of apple juice. She said her son was down by the creek fishing, and her husband and his friends were hunting. As we were walking down further I mentioned that I had not thought anyone would have a gun, let alone kill anything in heaven. He laughed and said Cindy’s Heaven is made of whatever makes her soul happy and comfortable.”15
There are also cities in the afterlife. Sometimes they are described as fantasy-like, being filled with crystal buildings or made out of pure stone with streets of gold. Others may be more or less Earth-like, but everything is much purer in essence and pulsates energy. It’s as if everything has consciousness and is alive. This is also true of our physical world, however we fail to experience it this way. But in the afterlife, operating on higher levels of energy, it’s much easier to connect with and feel the energy of everything around you. Everything is so dense here that we’re often cut off from consciously experiencing the energy of the trees and things around us. But in the afterlife, everything vibrates with pure energy.
Famous psychic medium James Van Praagh states that the spirit world consists of many energy dimensions each with its own distinct vibration.16 Also, one of the spirits he talked to told him that “there are different spheres where people who think alike reside.”17 This makes sense if we understand that at higher levels of energy, we create by projecting our thoughts instead of manipulating things physically. So, if you’re in the afterlife dimension and think about something, it is brought immediately into your awareness. If we want to create a specific home for ourselves, then we can visualize it and that energy will manifest in the dimension that we’re in. Furthermore, William Buhlman states that many dimensions are “consensus realities created by the thoughts of large numbers of beings.”18 So, if you and others want to live in a crystal city, then your collective thought vibrations can manifest that city.
Accordingly, however, there are dimensions within the afterlife constituted of individuals on a more negative wavelength of thought. For instance, Near Death Experiencer Yvette, who we met earlier, spent some time in a negative place before going to the Light and experiencing a beautiful place. After spending a little time out of body she says,
“Suddenly, I was violently sucked in by an uncontrollable force. It felt like it ripped my heart out and it swiftly took me into a dark place. I was in pain and terribly scared: it was some sort of wide-open and unstable abyss, with glowing walls and it was terrifyingly dark. The unpleasant smell of sulfur was making me nauseous. Hideous shadows appeared from everywhere and fidgeted in every direction, their moans were dreadful. They were touching me lightly, trying to catch me, to hold me back. I was horrified and my fear was at its worse. Then, a bright and intense constellation enthralled me. I radiated and was attracted by it.”19
It seems as though she somehow ended up in the wrong place. The beings there are moaning, meaning they are probably very depressed about something. She describes them as hideous shadows, meaning that the light of their souls is muddied by dark and negative thoughts. However, this is not a realm she’s subjected to for very long. She soon sees light and is attracted to it. This is because she doesn’t have a desire to stay in this dark realm. Her thoughts are not the negative thoughts of these beings. These shadow beings who are there are not there because of any kind of punishment. It is their selves that keep them there. They are there by choice. They choose to stay in the darkness of their foreboding thoughts.
Medium and Psychic James Van Praagh has also communicated with spirits who were in a dark place. One spirit named Peter was from a loving family but nonetheless got mixed up with the wrong people, started doing heroin and estranged himself from his loving parents. Blaming his mother for his actions, he told her that it was her fault that he ended up being a junkie because she never loved him as he was. As he was before an honor student and a leader, he was under the misguided idea that she only loved him for his achievements and for being “perfect.”20 After dying from a heroin overdose, he was under an immense amount of regret for his actions. Describing his situation in the afterlife, he communicated to Praagh that it “felt like he was in a nightmare.” He said, “It’s very dark here, and people are crying . . . I feel imprisoned by my own thoughts, and it’s hell. I feel so guilty for blaming my mother for my own problems.” He refused to go to the Light because he felt that he didn’t deserve happiness. He desperately needed his mother to know the depth of his sorrow for what he had done with his life and for not loving her in the way she deserved. After receiving his mother’s forgiveness, he was finally able to move out of the dark place he was in.21
Here again, we have the experience of being in a dark place where people are crying this time instead of moaning. Trapped in the negative cloud of his guilt and remorse, he stays in this dark place thinking that he doesn’t deserve anything better. It’s important to remember that we are connected to all dimensions and can contact the deceased simply through our thoughts. If you know someone who has died and want to forgive that person, all you have to do is think about them and mentally, or out loud, say that you forgive them. Wherever they are, they will receive this message. And if you are very perceptive, you might just get a message back.
In the afterlife, you can meet many different kinds of spirits, not only those of deceased humans, but also highly evolved spiritual beings that serve special purposes. Some of these beings are Masters or highly evolved souls, such as Jesus. These beings emit very powerful love energy. Sometimes they may be viewed as wearing robes. These are beings who can read your energy and know everything about you and your path. They are very wise and know what is best for you, whether you should stay or go back.
Other times people describe going before a council of robed beings. These beings are also highly evolved and wise. Each council member has mastered some trait, whether it be courage, forgiveness, loyalty, etc… Near-Death Experiencer David Oakford, author of Journey Through the World of Spirit, says that each council member has their own specialty to represent in terms of the human personality.22 In-between lives regressionist Michael Newton states that “Individual Elders seem to identify with a soul’s character, strengths and weaknesses, interests and purposes.”23 They help us analyze our lives and to decide what’s best for our learning needs in future lives. In other words, they help us decide what we need to learn and what experiences will help us learn those things.
UFO’s and Aliens
Another important dimension is the dimension of UFO’s and alien, or extra-dimensional, beings. I refer to them as extra-dimensional because these “aliens” seem to be able to travel interdimensionally. An interesting experience in this regard comes from a police officer, as reported in a book of strange police encounters entitled Spirit of the Badge. He remembers watching TV on the couch and the next thing he remembers is standing in the yard outside of his home. He says, “I saw a pin-sized light, then all of a sudden a very bright wave-like flash that seemed to move through and pass me, almost knocking me back a step.”24 That’s when he felt the presence of someone behind him and turned around to see three small gray beings who asked him telepathically to help them. After the experience was over, which he doesn’t remember except for the beginning and end, he describes the following:
“The next thing I remember is looking up at the craft in the night sky. There is a thunderous sound and an opening two to three hundred feet wide appears in the sky. It is amazing! I can see blue sky and clouds through the opening–but it is still night time where I stand. Clouds are “turning into themselves” around the opening. I can think of no other way to explain it; the clouds are “turning into” themselves around the opening which is round. Then, in the blink of an eye, the largest craft flies into the opening, followed instantly by the second ship. Then the sky closes up”25
Are they moving to the other side of the Earth, where it’s bright and sunny? Or are they ripping a hole through the fabric of space-time to go to another dimension? It all sounds fantastic, but one UFO abductee, Jim Sparks, thinks they have the technology to do just that, namely rip a hole into another dimension. On one occasion the aliens communicated telepathically to Sparks that he should watch them enter the atmosphere. He looks and sees a diamond-shaped ship hanging in the sky. He also says, “it looked as though the sky had partially opened up to let it in because directly behind the ship was a streak of bright white light with a hue of blue.”26
UFO’s have the uncanny ability to cross back and forth between dimensions. Take for instance another of Spark’s encounters, this time as a young child. Remembering a strange childhood encounter of being lost and a strange man offering to drive him around to find his mom, Sparks was persuaded by legendary UFO researcher Budd Hopkins to undergo hypnosis to uncover more details of the incident. Under hypnosis, he recalled looking down at the people on the street from the square window of the vehicle. He is able to see the tops of men’s hats because he is viewing the street from up in the air. Although he remembers being flown around for at least an hour, his mom swore that he was only gone a couple of minutes. Upon seeing that he was missing, his mom panicked and looking around saw that he was holding the hand of a man in a dark suit.27
His mom having actually seen the man in the dark suit suggests that this figure was a physical entity, or at least could manifest physically. But, their travel in the UFO must have taken place in another dimension. It has more of the quality of a dream than a real physical event. For instance, there is the slow passage of time as compared to physical time. In a dream much time may pass in just a few minutes of Earth time. Then, there is the fact that the people down below on the street were oblivious to the supposed flying vehicle. It’s as if he dreamed the whole encounter, and one might well pass it off as such, without the curious fact that the man who took him aboard the craft was seen by his mother holding his hand. And here we have the mind boggling component of the UFO phenomenon; the crossing of boundaries. We go from the physical to an obviously other dimensional experience and back again to the physical.
While Sparks was flying around with the man, they were most likely operating in another dimension. They were able to see the people down below on the street, but those people were not able to see them. As an analogy, say there is a world of 2D people who are oblivious to the third dimension of space. Their entire life is a 2D grid. they can look in any direction on the grid, but have no awareness of up or down. But someone traveling in the third dimension of space can surely see them. Sparks, while flying with the man must have been in a similar situation. Furthermore, outside of our familiar time/space dimension, time passed slower for him because he was operating in a higher dimension, at a higher rate of vibration than the physical.
The muckiness comes in when we try to separate the physical from the other dimensional aspects. Questions such as: Where was his physical body when his consciousness was projecting into this higher dimension? Or is the physical body able to be taken into other dimensions? The man, on the other hand, may be easier to explain. If he is an extra-dimensional being then he may be able to project into the physical and back out again. This could be similar to a holographic projection. Although he resides in a higher dimension, he may be able to project part of his consciousness into the physical, manifesting a temporary physical body. In the final analysis, this entire universe may be a holographic projection from an underlying source of reality. Our bodies may be no more than very dense projections of our own consciousness.
We must, in the end, however, live with the paradox that the without is also within. Even though they may be able to rip holes in the sky and seemingly project in and out of other dimensions, these dimensions are not actually outside of us. All dimensions are domains of consciousness and are within, not without. We experience them as outside of us, but higher dimensions are simply deeper and deeper levels of the psyche. Even the physical is this way. You see the same tree that I see standing in the yard. But that’s because we are both participating in the same domain of consciousness, the same inner experience. The physical, like all other dimensions, is a domain of conscious experience. It’s not without, but within us. What we see out there is simply a projection of consciousness, a projection from within. So, it is “out there”, but it emanates from within. It’s very much like a hologram. The hologram seems to exist outside of the holographic plate. But what you are seeing is really just a projection from the underlying source of the plate.
When you dream, you are experiencing reality on a deeper level within yourself, on a deeper domain of consciousness. Again, like the physical, it seems like the characters in your dream are “out there”, but they are all within consciousness. Also, when people have experiences with Aliens aboard alien spacecraft, they may be operating on a higher plane of consciousness within themselves. The same could be said about the realm of the archetypes. they also operate and can be experienced on a higher plane of consciousness within. The Aliens, however, have the ability to go from that deeper level of consciousness to the physical and back again. In other words, they can shift dimensions at will. This is what sets them apart from our dreams and archetypes.
As an inner, or higher, dimension of the psyche, they are able to influence our minds just like the archetypes do, particularly by giving us a sudden urge to do something we wouldn’t normally do.
One example of this is found in Jacques Vallee’s book, Confrontations. It is a case that he himself investigated. It involves a doctor who witnessed a UFO after noticing some flashes outside. He went onto his balcony and observed two large discs, which eventually merged together to form a single object. The object then came towards him. A white beam of light was emitted from the underside of the object, which projected onto the doctor just before the object vanished with the sound of a bang.28 After the experience, many strange things happened to the doctor. One time, he was going to go move his car out of the sun. However, when he got in the car he had a sudden urge to drive into town. There, he met a strange man who he had met before during another strange occurrence. This person was tall, with brown hair and striking blue eyes. On this occasion the stranger, Mr. Bied, told him that they had to go somewhere. Subsequently, the doctor found himself lying in a bed somewhere. Upon looking out the window he saw that he was near the Ministry of the Interior in the city of Paris. He also saw the guards saluting Mr. Bied as his car entered the courtyard. He decided to call his wife from the phone in the room. Talking to his wife he found out that only 20 minutes had gone by since his departure from their home. Another twenty minutes later Mr. Bied’s car drove out and the doctor once again found himself back in his hometown and safely with his family, who were thoroughly perplexed by the incident. The doctors wife confirmed that she had received a phone call from him from Paris.29
So, here again we have a seemingly impossible scenario. It is again dream like, especially when considering the abrupt transitions. One moment he’s in Paris calling his wife and the next thing he knows is that he’s in Mr. Bied’s car again and back in his hometown. Apparently, there is no memory of the in-between time. And once again we may pass it off as a hallucination, except for the phone call. There is that element of physical reality that can’t be denied or brushed under the carpet. So it begins to look like not only can the aliens project in and out of our dimension, but that they can take our physical bodies in and out as well.
This is a hard number to crunch. It’s much easier to believe that your consciousness could project in and out of different dimensions, but a lot harder to imagine your physical self disappearing and then reappearing. A possible explanation is given in the book Cosmic Journey’s by out of body explorer Rosalind Mcknight. In the book, McKnight is discussing the five different dimensional bodies of the human self. This is not to say there are only five dimensions, just that there are five different energetic vehicles, so to speak, for human consciousness to operate through in order to experience other dimensions.
When discussing the fifth, or spiritual dimension, she states that “The self has control of all the bodily dimensions below the fifth level, and can be in more than one place at once.”30 Think of the different levels of energy, or dimensions, as giving progressively more freedom and control over reality. Also, try to imagine a projector projecting out a hologram with many different layers. At the level of the physical, or the outer layer of the hologram, there isn’t much control over reality. But as we go deeper and get closer to the projector we have a little more control. And finally when we reach the level of the projector we have full control over reality and what we want to project. So, if you’re operating from the highest level of your self, which is directly connected to God, or Source, Consciousness, you could technically manipulate physical reality. Since you would be operating at the highest level, or base of the projector, you could control what got projected into the other dimensions. If your consciousness is fully operating on that high of a level then you would be on the level of a Jesus, per say. And, like Jesus says in the bible, if you told a mountain to remove itself and cast itself into the sea, then it would happen. From the base of the hologram, from the projector itself, you are in control of reality, or what gets projected. Although we have physical laws that control our physical world, these are no more than ideas about how to run the universe in the mind of God. So, these laws can be overriden when we operate from this level.
So if Mr. Bied or the alien who took Sparks were operating from the spiritual dimension, they could come in and out of this dimension at will and even take us in and out if they wanted. Now, thinking from the level of our corrupted physical selves, we might imagine that this would be a great opportunity to really do some mischief. We could project ourselves a million dollars or take revenge on an enemy by un-projecting his car. However, I assure you that at that level you would have much greater knowledge and see things with a much higher understanding than you do now. Evil thoughts or selfish desires would not be in operation.
Further evidence of the spiritual, or highest vibratory dimension, being in control of the physical comes from spontaneous healings following Near Death Experiences. One such case involves a woman who contracted the hepatitis virus, likely due to blood transfusions she received in the hospital. Subsequently her liver became “severely distended.” One night shortly after this she had an out of body experience and went through a dark tunnel.
“At the end of the tunnel she saw a light, which she described now as the “god force.” After leaving the tunnel, she met a “guy” dressed in a burlap robe, and she asked him, “Are you Jesus?” He stated he was not Jesus, but he did not identify himself, other than to say that he was there to “assist” her. Mrs. C then held a conversation with this being. They discussed the fact that death is a choice, and she could decide whether she would stay in this realm or go back to her body. [. . .] She was then told that her liver could be “fixed,” but her kidneys wouldn’t be repaired, due to the fact that her renal problems were a “karmic carryover” that were destined to remain with her.”31
Upon awakening, she quickly noticed that her stomach was flat, implying that her liver was healed and no longer extended. The medical staff were equally amazed at this quick and unexpected recovery. They couldn’t explain what happened and asked her mother if someone had given her something. A day later, laboratory studies confirmed that she no longer had the hepatitis antibody. Another test years later again found no evidence of hepatitis antibodies.32
The man she met was obviously operating in the spiritual dimension. He is what I would consider to be one of the Masters, a highly evolved spiritual being. He informs her that her liver could be “fixed” if she returned and indeed it was; immediately. She was healed immediately through the will of God, or at least through the will of this being in the spiritual dimension. This was not the result of a physical operation to cure her. No, her liver simply returned to normal in the snap of ones fingers. The physical laws of this universe were overridden by the higher spiritual level. If God’s the projector, God can alter the projection.
This Near Death Experience brings us to our next observation that there is a curious connection between UFO’s and robed entities that resemble the Masters of the afterlife dimension. For starters, Betty Andreasson Luca, the subject of many of Raymond Fowler’s books, describes meeting tall human-looking entities that wear a robe many times working alongside the typical grey aliens. She refers to them as “Elders” and describes them as being tall, with white hair and blue eyes.33 According to Betty, these Elders control the greys and can see through their eyes like remote cameras. Therefore, the stereotypical grey beings are merely workers who are directed by tall robed human like personages.34
The famous Harvard psychiatrist and abduction researcher John Mack also found this connection. One of the abductees he worked with, Karen, experienced one night a blue light that came into her room.
“[. . .] the next thing she remembered was seeing an orange light at the bottom of a ship, into which she was brought quickly. Once in the ship, she found herself inside of what appeared to be a small metal ball with a piece of metal that came up around her head. Next to her was a tall blond being who appeared to be wearing an odd monklike robe. She recognized this being as her tutor, mentor, teacher, and guide–all words that she used–and it was he who had put her inside the ball, “for transport to the light,” he explained.”35
She goes on to say that this tall robed being was at “a very different energetic level than any of the other beings I’ve been around.” She further states, “He resonated very deeply, very wisely, and I couldn’t see his face.”36 Furthermore, during this experience she was taken through a tunnel and into the presence of light, “just light, like being in the core,” she states.37 In fact, she was even given the choice to stay in that place or come back and complete her Earthly mission. This experience is basically identical to a Near-Death Experience. Except in this experience, she doesn’t come close to death, but is instead taken aboard a “ship” and transported to the light by a tall robed being.
Another key component of her experience relates to the discussion earlier about all dimensions being within us. We don’t really have to “go” anywhere to experience other dimensions because they are inside our very psyche’s. She describes being taken to a place by the tall robed being and,
“standing in a kind of odd spread-out position. A powerful force of light and vibration seemed to explode and rip through her like “the force of water coming out of a dam. Water doesn’t even describe it.” As this force tore through her, she felt as if she would be knocked over backward, and she sensed that she was becoming smaller and smaller. She was taken through a tunnel and found herself “in presence,” where there were no walls or rooms but “just light, like being in the core.” [. . .] “It’s weird to come back into my body,” she said. [. . .] “I went from being expansive and formless in shape to a pinpoint dot, and then I’m standing there in my body, and my body has not changed position.“”38
She experiences going inward to the “core.” Then she comes back to bodily awareness, but finds that her body has gone nowhere. Her conscious awareness had shifted dimensions, but this did not require any outward movement. To experience another dimension you simply have to raise your conscious vibration from the physical to a higher energy level. And at that higher level, your consciousness will project a body in which to experience that dimension. Some people can do this easier than others. And as discussed earlier, UFO’s/Aliens seem to have the capability of vibrating in and out of our physical dimension.
Shifting Dimensions
So briefly before I conclude I will say a little bit about shifting dimensions. When we shift dimensions we are raising the vibration of our consciousness. Many times during this process a loud internal roaring or buzzing sound will be heard.
Sometimes an intricate matrix of colorful geometrical designs will be seen which one must break through to get to the other side. Other times electrical sensations in the body will be felt prior to the shift. However these preliminary effects of switching dimensions are not set in stone and may be experienced variously by different people, if at all.
The most common methods for changing dimensions are meditation and dreaming. During meditation, when the mind is still or concentration is focused on a single object, consciousness has the ability to expand and awareness can shift to another dimension. During dreaming we are also consciously projecting into other dimensions. Our dreaming experiencing is not happening on the physical level, but within on a higher energetic plane.
The methods for shifting dimensions include mirror gazing, made famous in recent times by Raymond Moody. This process involves sitting in a comfortable chair with a mirror or other polished surface to gaze into. It works best according to Moody when the room is dimly lit from behind. The mirror itself simply acts as a projection medium allowing the inner dimensions of the psyche to project into the mirror and be given an apparent spatial location.39 In other words, the inner realms of the mind are able to manifest outward. People often encountered meetings with deceased loved ones who sometimes came out of the mirror and into the room itself. In this sense, they projected themselves from the inner dimension of consciousness outward to the physical, first projecting into the mirror but then fully manifesting in the outer physical realm. This does not mean they are merely a creation of the gazing subject’s mind. In his/her relaxed state gazing into the mirror, the subject is simply allowing the inner dimensions of consciousness to come out. We are all connected to the larger ocean of consciousness, which Jung aptly named the “collective unconscious.” This collective unconscious is within all of us. We just have to remember that all dimensions are within us.
Another avenue to exploring extra-dimensionally is through the use of a psychoactive substance. This is best done under the direction of a trained Shaman or experienced practitioner because it could bring to fruition negative elements which if not properly understood or worked through might cause psychological problems in the future. Many of these “psychedelics” take you on an inner journey, producing strong visionary experiences and contact with other dimensions. One theory of their use is that they break down filters of the human brain which normally obstruct one from experiencing other levels of reality. They are chemical catalysts helping ones consciousness to tune into the energy of other dimensions. They seem to make the transition of consciousness from the physical body to higher-dimensional bodies easier.
Another way to effect a shift of consciousness into other dimensions is through putting oneself through extreme situations. This could be taking a trek across the north pole, thereby exposing oneself to long hours of travel and freezing temperatures. It could be finding yourself trapped in a burning building struggling to get out. Or it might be fasting for a long period of time or spending a month inside of a dark cave. I’m certainly not going to be the first to volunteer, but if you would like to read about these kinds of situations, I would recommend reading The Third Man Factor by John Geiger.
Finally, there are traditional shamanic means of drumming, chanting, and dancing. Drumming for a long period of time seems to effect a shift in consciousness away from the sensations of the physical world and into the higher, or inner, realms of consciousness. This is because the monotonous and rhythmic activity of drumming removes one from the normally varied sensory experience it is used to. Therefore, your conscious awareness loses touch with the physical world and is free to explore other realms. Chanting or dancing for a long period of time similarly can effect a shift in consciousness.
Conclusion
The exploration of the inner dimensions of consciousness is the next frontier in our search for knowledge. Recognizing that everything emanates from within and going inward to tap that knowledge is truly an incredible adventure that has only just begun. I invite you to look at reality from a different perspective and see if you can tap into the inner dimensions of the conscious universe. And if you succeed make sure to share the knowledge you obtain with the world to make sure that people are not asleep in this world, but awakened to its everlasting mystery.
Notes
- McKnight, R. A. 1999. Cosmic Journeys. Hampton Roads: Charlottesville, page 169.
- Buhlman, W. 2001. The Secret of the Soul. HarperSanFrancisco: New York, page 157.
- Grof, S. 1993. The Holotropic Mind. HarperSanFrancisco: New York, pages 153-154.
- Grof, S. 1998. The Cosmic Game. State University of New York Press: Albany, page 24.
- Ilibagiza, I. 2006. Left to Tell. Hay House: New York, page 88.
- Ibid., p. 77.
- Jung, C. G. 1961. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Vintage: New York, page 391.
- Grof, S. 2006. When the Impossible Happens. Sounds True: Boulder, page 295.
- Ibid., p. 296.
- Ibid., p.297.
- Grof, S. 2006. When the Impossible Happens. Sounds True: Boulder, pages 212-213.
- Ibid., p. 214.
- Ibid., p. 215.
- Near Death Experience Research Foundation. Yvette R Possible NDE 4999. Accessed on June 11, 2011. .
- Near Death Experience Research Foundation. Cynthia H NDE 5071. Accessed on June 11, 2011. .
- Van Praagh, J. 2008. Ghosts Among Us. Harper Collins: New York, page 67.
- Ibid., p. 33.
- Buhlman, W. 2001. The Secret of the Soul. HarperSanFrancisco: New York, page 250.
- Near Death Experience Research Foundation. Yvette R Possible NDE 4999. Accessed on June 11, 2011. .
- Van Praagh, J. 2008. Ghosts Among Us. Harper Collins: New York, page 48-49.
- Ibid., p. 50.
- Oakford, D. L. 2007. Journey Through the World of Spirit. Reality Press: Foresthill, page 49.
- Newton, M. 2000. Destiny of Souls. Llewellyn: Woodbury, page 216.
- Dean, I. P. 2009. Spirit of the Badge. Topaz Heart: Traverse City, page 183.
- Ibid., p. 184.
- Sparks, J. 2008. The Keepers. Wild Flower Press: Columbus, page 158.
- Ibid., pp. 148-149.
- Vallee, J. 2008. Confrontations. Anomalist: San Antonio, page 114-115.
- Ibid., p. 118.
- McKnight, R. A. 1999. Cosmic Journeys. Hampton Roads: Charlottesville, page 172.
- Liester, M. B. (1998). Inner Communications Following the Near-Death Experience. Journal of Near- Death Studies16(4), 241.
- Ibid., p. 241
- See: Fowler, R. 1990. The Watchers. Bantam: New York, page 150. Also: Fowler, R. E. 1995. The Watchers II. Wild Flower Press: Newberg, pages 89 & 102.
- Fowler, R. E. 1995. The Watchers II. Wild Flower Press: Newberg, pages 106 & 109.
- Mack, J. E. 1999. Passport to the Cosmos. Three Rivers Press: New York, page 250.
- Ibid., p. 250.
- Ibid., p. 251.
- Ibid., p. 251.
- Moody, R. 1993. Reunions. Ivy: New York, page 141.
Copyright 2011 by Daniel Neiman
All rights reserved. Presented with permission.
About the Author
Daniel Neiman holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He is currently an independent researcher with a focus on altered states of consciousness and life after death.
He currently lives in Seoul, South Korea where he teaches English and researches in his spare time.
Author’s website:
http://www.
Contact address:
danneiman”AT”gmail”DOT”com
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