In this thread, I sometimes speak as if this is actually the case (in truth), but this is simply a working understanding...not a belief. I apologize ahead of time if I sully your view/fantasy of certain spiritual matters, but it's time these things are analysed with more pragmatism.

I feel like I have stumbled across something I should not have, as I seem to be getting night terrors for the first time in my life. This is likely going to sound very controversial, but I care enough about every human on this board (and this planet) to explain the possible situation anyway. This may not apply to all forms of spiritual experience, but only of the control-based/deceptive variety.

Spiritual Entities:

• Humans cannot readily grasp true understanding of what spiritual forces are because the way they function in a very counter-intuitive way. As far as I can tell, you can only know them through the influence they have on your mind, and finding an explanation for what they are has proven to be very difficult for me.

• Although there may be very rare exceptions, they do not reveal their appearance or presence in ordinarily physically tangible ways because their influence is detected separately from the 5 senses. They do not change/shift appearance in the way it is popularly believed. Spiritual forces create illusions in one's mind; imagery, sounds, ideas, emotions, and even the false reality we call "the astral". The impressions they generate - for instance, a monster, a friendly human-like being, alien, entity of light, ect...It is not their true nature. They shift the appearance of the illusions they create and not the actual form they inhabit. They do this with the perceived environment as well. So unless you're willing to admit that your "spiritual senses" are just as limited as your physical, is there any reason for such limited representations...ie: a room, or normal human figure?

• As humans, we are very easily deceived because of how we are conditioned to respond to the world around us...It does not work the same way here. Imagine an astral/dream scenario where one is being chased by a negative being. We struggle to permanently lose the (illusory) being that is chasing us. We treat our fear, our need to escape, the environment, and our aggressor as being separated concepts when they're actually not (because they're being generated by the same thing) and so we cannot overcome it in a way that is possible in the physical... It's the entire influence itself that needs to be dealt with because these (seemingly separate) impressions are actually compounded and controlled. It takes full advantage of how we are conditioned to respond. I'd imagine a single influence can easily dish out the illusion of multiple beings with different personas.

Another example would be seeing a dead relative when leaving your body...Why wouldn't it be your relative? The image and feeling seems to be enough "proof" for people, yet some admit to knowing that beings can change shape in that realm. How can you discern what is genuine? As far as I can tell, it is not possible to directly contact deceased human beings. These "spirits" seem to know the thoughts of humans very intimately, and so they can easily give a false representation.

With dreams/Astral Projection... It is not yet recognized or fully understood by science in any of its departments of study. I've been purposefully leaving myself open to influences in order to learn how it interacts with our minds.

Thought-forms:

• These are what we can be identified as elements from our own lives in our "spiritual" experiences. Many modernists/theosophists have attributed this to a phenomenon called "thought-form". I have strong reason to think that it's not actually thought-forms that are being used as an illusion, but some other tool/form that is being used (and being created) based on our own thought-forms. In other words, being inspired by our thoughts...thus why we recognize things in interference that we experience in our own lives. I'm not sure how it can be concluded that it is thought-form that is being used. To me, it doesn't seem like it is the same, but I could be wrong. I prefer to use to the term "meta-abstractions" rather than "thought-form complexes" even though they imply very similar things.

• In a rough sense, there seems to be a lot of loose associations made between certain ideas. We call this "symbolism". This goes for archetypes as well that seem to be used frequently, which are only associated with delusional concepts, and so our subjectivity and personal views seem be of strong influence.

• Supported behaviours don't seem to genuinely convey love, altruism, or any of the popular ideas of what is considered "good" in any way that is non ego-supportive or non-subversive. There are different versions of love, and it seems to only support certain types, such as bliss or infatuation, and other forms of "positive" emotion humans don't ordinarily feel which can be linked to forms of self-centeredness. These ideas/emotions probably support the source of the interference in some way or another (psychic vampirism could be an explanation).



Why we are receptive:

I'm still trying to develop a theory for this. There is undoubtedly changes in brain activity that accompanies spiritual/religious experiences, but there are clear differences between what a Buddhist monk is doing during their meditation, someone entering a trance to "leave their body" (it's likely they aren't), someone receiving the holy spirit, or having an NDE. If there is brain activity, this has to be the result of something and is most likely a physical cause - but if it is, it would have to work on a very subtle level. I'd imagine there is something that connects our awareness to our physical brain which uses the same connections to to perceive these influences, and can be likened to a 6th sense of some kind which opens a gateway. When you do certain types of meditation or go to sleep, these connections are opened up. It seems similar to how brain synapses work. If this is true, this can explain the presence of EM fields and the sensations of vibrations, tingles, buzzing in the ears, because it may be the result of neurological interference and not spiritual energy of any kind.

* These entities/forces seem to be extremely controlling and try to influence the mind in very underhanded ways. They seem to have the ability to read memories and can also understand how people learn/respond to certain things, how we recognize patterns, what we experience during our day, the list goes on... Their understanding can be extremely personal*

I've been learning to control my mind much better and can even manipulate these illusions to a limited extent as they seem to follow certain predictable patterns when confronted with certain thoughts/emotions...like a cat with a ball of yarn.

--- Anyway, that's all I can think of mentioning at the moment. I'm pretty tired right now and I might add more later. I'd be appreciative if you would leave comments and opinons...Remember, this is not a belief of mine, but only a working understanding (which is subject to change). Constructive criticism may include objective reasons/causes for why these notions may be incorrect.