Do you feel spirit energies when meditating?

Does anyone feel "energies" when you meditate? I'm still trying to calm my brain down, getting a little better. I started feeling tingling on my right ear (right now actually, hmmm.). Outer part of the ear, same exact spot each time. Sometimes the crown, my nose or my upper body. Is this an indication (possibly) that a spirit is next to me? It's like a zap of cold that resonates or tingle. But it is something noticeable. No verbal unfortunately.

i was just meditating and as soon as i asked for my main spirit guide my whole body felt a warm surge through it. i asked male or female... no reply.... i asked for a name... no reply. im new to all this... so it was pretty amazing to experience even a little bit of something.


you possibly could have. who knows.... sorry i couldnt be more helpful.

Use a proper protection technique before meditation. meditation will open you up to all sorts of energies, it is essential that you be protected. As we are still in a very low vibration we could end up catching a wagabond's attention :-)

Golden light and white lights are good for protection.

Do you have a soul? by Christopher Calder

To know truth you must have a deep desire to see it, and a willingness to let go of the old lies.

When I was a child, I was an atheist and only believed in what I could see and touch. By age 19 I started to believe in the existence of souls and reincarnation as a result of my exposure to a number of famous Indian yogis and the majestic J. Krishnamurti, who once claimed to have remembered all of his past lives. At age 21 my belief in soul was dramatically reinforced by explosive experiences I had with Acharya Rajneesh, later known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Osho. I never believed in any "God," but for 35 years I lived under the shadow of the great meditation masters and was fairly certain that we all possessed souls that would survive our physical death. [This essay was written in 2004.]

Unlike Hindus, most Buddhists believe in some mysterious and poorly defined soulless form of personal karma which survives death. I never believed in the Buddhist concept of immortal personal karma without soul, because when you reject the idea of a soul you lose the only credible vehicle for the transference of karma from one lifetime to the next. To my mind, if there is no soul then there is no possibility of immortal personal karma and reincarnation.

When I met Acharya Rajneesh in 1970, he not only spoke of souls and reincarnation, but also claimed to have the power of astral projection. I believed his claim because of what I thought were authentic experiences I had with this "master" astrally projecting himself, not just into my room, but into my body while he was physically several miles away. After reading Matthew Alper's book, The "God" Part of the Brain, I wonder if those amazing experiences were really what I thought they were. Alper summarizes the latest scientific research into how the human brain functions while having religious experiences. In this essay I have added additional neurological data obtained from medical journals, and my own observations and theories regarding several of the main points of Alper's book.

Medical research has shown that if you stimulate certain areas of the brain with a small electric current, you can give people the experience of spiritual visitation. You may feel that Jesus is touching your heart, or that the soul of a dead relative is near you. There is no evidence to support a belief in authentic soul travel, however, as all studies indicate that consciousness only exists in the brain cells which create it. You cannot remove consciousness from the physical body because consciousness is a physical phenomena created by chemistry, just as a firefly's light is created by chemical reactions. That is why you can turn consciousness on or off by injecting a person with drugs to wake them up or to put them to sleep.

Near death experiences and even certain drugs, such as ketamine and sodium pentothal, can give you the feeling of being outside of your body, but researchers say that is just an illusion of the holographic nature of human consciousness, which is produced by the physical human brain. When neural communications between the body and brain are reduced, the brain is free to project your sense of self anywhere it chooses, and this can happen while under partial anesthesia, while partially asleep, or even during the preliminary (and reversible) stages of death. Prolonged fasting and isolation can also produce hallucinations and other distortions of reality, and such ascetic practices are a major source of the Asian myths of astral projection.

While true astral projection may be impossible, there is credible scientific evidence to suggest that telepathic communication is possible between human beings. The human brain is an organic electrochemical computer so complex that no existing silicon based supercomputer can approach its capabilities. Think of all the things your relatively simple cell phone can do. There is plenty of computer power in the human brain to imagine that some portion of its circuitry could be allocated to broadcasting and receiving messages, or at least sensing basic electromagnetic radiation from other human brains. Such an ability would have obvious survival value for the species, and thus would be understandable in terms of evolution and survival of the fittest. A rudimentary telepathic communicative ability may be the reason disciples feel the presence of their spiritual teachers so strongly.

The brain is the most metabolically active human organ, and requires a steady supply of oxygen and glucose as fuel. Although the brain represents less than 2% of the body's mass, it utilizes 20% of the body's oxygen consumption and 15% of its cardiac output, thus our brains produce an extraordinary amount of energy in relationship to the rest of the body. The human body uses chemical reactions to produce both mechanical movements and electrical currents, which flow through all of our living cells. Our brain acts as both an analog and digital computer, and the DNA code which creates our brains is digital. Brain cells communicate through electricity, and the average human brain contains approximately 100 billion neurons connected by approximately 50 trillion synapses, which can be viewed as naturally occurring transistors. Consciousness is born of the intricately woven flow of electrons created by brain cells, and this is true for all of earth's animals that have significant consciousness, from elephants to ants. It is not difficult to imagine that the fantastically complex human brain could have mysterious capabilities beyond our current level of understanding.

Perhaps what I thought was astral projection was simply Rajneesh concentrating on me, sending me his super-mental energy long distance. That powerful jolt of energy may have caused my brain to supply the added illusion of personal visitation on top of the strong telepathic transmission. There is no doubt that Rajneesh had tremendous mental powers, but was that power really supernatural or just a product of his own unique brain structure and meditative skill?

If you inject any human being with enough sedative, enlightened or not, they will become unconsciousness. If you damage certain areas of the brain you can drastically alter human behavior. You can turn a conservative bank president into a garbage eating bum just by killing off some of the brain cells that contain the biocomputer program for his personality. If you damage other areas of the brain, you can erase all memory.

If consciousness, personality, and memory are all physical phenomena of brain cells, then when your brain dies there is nothing left of your individual identity. Your permanent identity of time-energy-space (see The TES Hypothesis) continues unharmed, but there is no soul, no reincarnation, and no Buddhist transference of personal karma. If this is true, it means that all of the major world religions are wrong. It also means that we all achieve "moksha" (liberation) at the time of our death because there is no personal cycle of birth and death to escape from, and no magical afterlife. You are born once and you die once, and you will never come back.

One theory states that we have souls and/or personal karma which transmigrates from one life to the next, and another theory states that nothing survives death and only DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and the will of the living determines the future of our species. Which theory is correct? I once believed in reincarnation with a high level of certainty. After many years of seeing the rampant corruption of gurus, "enlightened" or not, the idiocy of disciples, cults, and organized religion, and with the new scientific evidence in hand, I find the soul-reincarnation-karma theory far less plausible.

You do not have to believe in anything supernatural to believe in cosmic consciousness (satori). Anyone can take the drug psilocybin and get a dramatic imitation of the natural religious experience. Clinical research shows that our brains are built to have religious experiences. As time-energy-space is one singular phenomena, it is only natural that we occasionally experience the grand cosmic unity. I personally suspect that even animals have satoris, though they apparently have no ability to give it a name or understand its implications.

One of the most interesting concepts of Matthew Alper's book concerns the rise of self-consciousness in human animal, and how knowledge of our impending death has affected our brains, and even our DNA code. If you put a dog in front of a mirror, he will never figure out that he is looking at his own reflection. If you put a higher primate in front of a mirror, such as a chimpanzee or human child, the higher primate will eventually use the mirror for grooming purposes because he recognizes himself in the reflection. Man's self-consciousness is so highly developed that humans have come to realize that our life expectancy is short, and that our personal demise is inevitable.

Other animals fear death, danger, and pain, but most have no real understanding of time and the inevitability of their own destruction. Non-human higher primates and elephants may possibly have some perception of the time-death equation, but that has not been proven scientifically as far as I know. The time-death equation that adult human animals understand becomes a constant source of anguish. A strong survival instinct is built into our DNA code from our long evolutionary journey from bacteria to man. When the survival instinct collides with the self-conscious knowledge of our impending death, the human brain needs both a psychological and a neurological barrier to block the conflict and tension. That barrier we call religious belief and "the God part of the brain." The theory states that man has invented myths of God, soul, reincarnation, karma, and afterlife as a way to provide the brain with mental opium, a buffer to the constant ticking clock inside our heads that tells us that our inevitable destruction and decomposition is getting closer every day.

The psychological need for a feeling of immortality is so great that our religious tendencies have become part of our DNA code. Humans who believe in the supernatural religions tend to be calmer, healthier, and thus live longer than the nonreligious. Believers also tend to show more bravery when courage is needed to protect their tribe. Genetic tendencies to have religious feelings are fortified over thousands of years of evolution through survival of the religiously fittest.

If your religious beliefs feel exactly right to you, it may be because your subconscious mind wants you to believe them so that you will have a better chance for health and a long lifespan. If you intuitively sense that you have been alive on planet earth before, perhaps that feeling of déja vu comes from your DNA code, not from a reincarnating soul, because DNA has been active on planet earth for at least 3.8 billion years, and we are all created and united by its existence.

Scientists know that there is only one real life form on planet earth, and that is DNA itself. DNA is like a giant vine that has taken over the world. Through the never ending chain of DNA code we are not only closely related to other mammals, but also intimately related to insects, plants, and even bacteria. Many times in earth history the higher life forms have been wiped out by impacts of asteroids and comets, and by massive volcanic eruptions which made our atmosphere toxic, yet the surviving bacteria have always evolved upward into more complex plants and animals. DNA is not just a helpful chemical substance that resides inside us. DNA is our biological level identity, our three dimensional physical 'soul.'

All over the world, wherever you find man, you will find supernatural religions promising some form of life after death. Muslim extremists gladly kill themselves in the name of their religion. American war heroes have died fighting Japanese and Germans in the name of Jesus, and no doubt many felt they were going to heaven for their heroic efforts. God is a pretty handy device to have when your tribe is in trouble. Almost all of us, atheist and theist alike, instinctively call out to God for help when we are in grave personal danger.

Man's philosophical beliefs have also been shaped by a survival contest of world religions to see which religion can most completely satisfy our emotional needs for a feeling of comfort and safety. Organized religion is a business and must have money and public support to survive. If your spouse or child dies, you want a priest, rabbi, monk, or swami to tell you that your loved one's soul is going to a better place. Can you imagine a funeral service where a holy man bluntly states that the deceased has no soul and is gone forever? That would seem cruel, and any religion that provided such a terse death ritual would not last long in the religious marketplace.

Why do so many enlightened teachers believe in souls and karma? It has been my observation that even the enlightened are affected by cultural conditioning and have a tendency to pass on the religious teachings of those who came before them with only minor modifications. For example, the famous enlightened teachers from meat eating societies in Tibet, China, and Japan also ate meat, while the great sages from strictly vegetarian India believe that eating meat is a horrible unspiritual practice. So I ask, did Rajneesh and J. Krishnamurti believe in souls because of some direct experience, or simply because they grew up in soul oriented India? Rajneesh once stated that even plants have souls, and that if an enlightened man (Rajneesh himself) sat next to a plant, that plant would be so graced that in its next incarnation it might be born as a human being. I find that grandiose and self-serving statement difficult to believe, and I suspect a significant amount of the time Rajneesh was simply shooting his mouth off without even thinking about what he was saying.

On another occasion, Rajneesh stated that we are attracted to beautiful people because their outer beauty represents the inner beauty of their souls, as it is the soul which creates the physical body and mind. Science has proven conclusively that DNA creates the body and brain, not any mysterious and immaterial "soul." Outward beauty does not always mean inward beauty, or even a sane mind. The infamous serial killer Ted Bundy was quite handsome physically, yet he is estimated to have murdered between 35 and 50 women just for the thrill of it. If the great "enlightened" Rajneesh could be mistaken about something this basic, then couldn't he be wrong about anything?

The "master" Rajneesh presented many idiotic theories about life right here and now, so why should anyone believe his theories about souls and reincarnation? It is only because of his great psychic presence that his disciples refrained from laughing out loud at some of his ridiculous ideas. Rajneesh was living proof that enlightenment, intelligence, and honesty are separate phenomena. You can be a fool, a liar, and a criminal, and also become a great energy channeler (enlightened) if that is your predisposition and desire. Freedom means free choice to be good or bad, and you have that choice no matter how powerful your meditation skills have become. George Gurdjieff, the famous Greek-Armenian mystic, was an alcoholic. Rajneesh became a drug addict, yet both men could channel great cosmic presence that inspired thousands of spiritual seekers.

Rajneesh's use of drugs, especially Valium, nitrous oxide, and LSD, also casts doubt on his soul theory of enlightenment. Rajneesh once stated that from his own personal experience, LSD can produce the same consciousness as a Buddha. During his younger sober days, Rajneesh stated that LSD produced a "false samadhi" and that consciousness was the product of "soul," not just physical chemistry. Rajneesh changed his teaching to rationalize his drug use by stating that "You are nothing but chemistry." He thus implied that it is acceptable to use chemicals to alter consciousness because you are chemicals bonded together in an organic biological machine. One could ask that if Rajneesh really had the power of astral projection as claimed, wouldn't flying around the world in his soul body be more entertaining than getting cheap thrills from taking LSD and nitrous oxide?

Rajneesh claimed to be as enlightened as the historic Buddha, and I believe that he was, but why does a Buddha need to take hallucinogenic drugs? My answer is that Rajneesh became bored with the Void because the Void can only provide peacefulness long term, but not an eternal buzz of blissfulness. Judging from my own meditative practice and reading of science, the buzz and bliss of meditation comes from a buildup of excess neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine in the brain. When you meditate in formal sessions, you are conserving the chemical energy of your brain by not wasting it on thoughts and sensory distraction. Thus, you become blissful and may experience nonsexual orgasms during meditation sessions, but that ecstasy gradually dissipates after you return to your normal work routine. The feeling of spaciousness and peacefulness continue, but the buzz settles down to a feeling of neutrality and quiet emptiness. There is no eternal orgasm-ecstasy-buzz-bliss possible because any human feeling that has a beginning must also have an end due to the inherent chemical nature of the brain.

The Buddha is reported to have said that there is "no bliss." Rajneesh at times admitted that he himself felt "no energy," though those around him felt awash in his energy. U.G. Krishnamurti stated that there is "no bliss." When I meditate in formal sessions, I experience bliss and nonsexual orgasms felt in the hara (belly center), the heart center, the forehead center, and in the center of the head directly behind the eyes. The problem is, the orgasmic feelings never lasts. I have to go back to my meditation room and sit to regain the neurochemical energy that dissipates during the daily routine of work. Using my brain for utilitarian proposes eats up those neurotransmitters rather quickly. It may also be that the brain itself wants to bring us back to a state of neutrality, because a neutral brain has the greatest ability to ensure our physical survival. A man distracted with a blissed-out brain is likely to be the first member of the tribe eaten by the lion, not the last. Meditation and enlightenment may be a neuro-chemical experience, not a magical soul experience outside the laws of chemistry and physics.

Rajneesh changed his name to "Osho" and ended his life in a state of dementia due to illness and drug addiction. J. Krishnamurti avoided major scandals, stayed sober, and is still highly revered long after his death. But was J. Krishnamurti really a saint and somehow better ethically than any normal human being? I know many people who lead virtuous lives who don't meditate at all. What made J. Krishnamurti different was not how he lived, which was ordinary, but his tremendous presence of being. You stood next to him and felt flooded in cosmic energy which pushed you high into the sky, destroying all feelings of limitation. Was J. Krishnamurti's grand presence the result of many past lifetimes of spiritual effort, or was it the result of modest effort in meditation combined with a genetic gift for cosmic consciousness?

Matthew Alper points out in his book that some forms of epilepsy cause hyper-religiousness and mystical experiences. J. Krishnamurti's mother was an epileptic, and we know epilepsy can be genetically transferred. J. Krishnamurti never had fits, but he often mysteriously passed out, giving those near him warning that he was about to lose consciousness. The Indian sage Ramakrishna was reported to have had fits in which he thrashed on the ground uncontrollably. The universally revered Ramana Maharshi claimed that his emotional heart center was located in the "right side" of his chest, which I suspect represents a brain abnormality. In normal human beings the emotional heart center is located in the exact center of the chest.

Is it possible that natural variations in our genetic code could produce in each century a handful of people with brains perfectly adapted for enlightenment, thus making meditative practice so easy that they reached the goal with little effort? Ramana Maharshi is reported to have achieved "God consciousness" at the tender age of 17! Rajneesh claims to have become enlightened at age 21. J. Krishnamurti was in his early twenties when people around him started to feel that he was fully enlightened. Ramakrishna was reported to have been "born enlightened," as was the ancient Chinese mystic, Lao-Tse.

Are the spiritually gifted among us the rare but naturally occurring result of genetic variation? Of the 20,000 to 25,000 genes that make up a human being, roughly half are suspected of being devoted to blueprinting our central nervous system. Thus, with 10,000 to 12,500 individual genes controlling the formation of our brain and spinal cord, the potential for major variations in the level of human consciousness is enormous. For example, scientists have found that changes in just a few human genes can have a dramatic affect on the level of our intelligence. Is it therefore logical that human gene combinations exist that control the amount of raw consciousness we possess as well.

Few humans have the artistic talent of Michelangelo, or the mathematical genius of Albert Einstein. If there is a natural genetic "bell curve" for intelligence, then why not a natural genetically driven bell curve for psychic power as well? [See The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray.] Research has shown that identical twins tend to have the same level of interest in religion and/or mystical experience. This suggests that there is a strong genetic component to our personal meditative potential. If DNA can explain the vast differences between a mosquito and a man, then why can't genetic variations also explain the vast mental differences between a Hitler and a Buddha?