"Sometimes we have to go into the dark in order to see the light"

So now to bring you up to speed to what changed in such a short time, I have to build it from what first opened my mind up again to the possibility that all of this is true.

Last Sunday, I was sitting at home as usual at my computer. I randomly (or maybe not so randomly) get the idea to search if there was any scientific evidence for the existence of spirit or to see if anyone was really researching such phenomenon recently. I came across Dr. Gary Schwartz at Arizona University. I had read about him before and seen him on T.V. a couple of times but never really looked into his work. I watched a couple of his miniseries videos for his new book "The Sacred Promise." Here's the one that made the most impact on me:



As you can see, there was some kind of objective scientific evidence that suggested that a spiritual realm could be at work here. For me, this at least opened the door to the possibility that all this could be real. I think for myself, that's all I really needed to open up again to my spirituality. The analogy he gave about how when it's a clear dark night, we can see billions of stars in the sky; but when the sun is out, we can see none. It's not that all that light is gone, it's just it's blocked out by all the light from our closest star. His take home message, "Sometimes we have to go into the dark in order to see the light." This rang so true to me. It was with this philosophy that I decided that it was okay if I couldn't prove anything yet. I was going to try to go into the "dark" unknown and go out on a limb to see if I could find truth to spirituality- "the light."

The next day, at a sudden burst of "inspiration," I decided to go the meditation/ intuition development class I hadn't gone to in very long time that one of my best friends B puts on. On my drive there, I put out to the Universe that I wanted to make a connection. I guess you could say that the video helped me to accept the possibility that there was something out there listening to me whether that be angels, guides, or something good. I asked only for the highest good to connect with me as I was open and trusting; if I reached up, then they reach down. I got to the class and we began the meditation. I zoned out for a while until B started Om-ing which brought me back to reality. It was then that I sensed a presence standing behind me. This in and of itself was a big deal for me as I hadn't felt anything in a really long time. I felt the sensation of this being's hand on in my and on my shoulder. I found this interesting because a moment later, B began talking about masters surrounding us now and them placing a hand on our head. Not exactly the same but close enough. The being "expressed" a smile to me. He had no face, looked more a like an indigo colored silhouette. The thing that stood out to me the most was that he had no hair; not that he was bald, but he just didn't have hair. I asked him his name but he wouldn't tell me. He did however expressed a "knowing smile" and told me his name began with an "A". I thought nothing of it and just kept going with the meditation. When it was through, we went around sharing about what we got. I shared that I sensed a presence, that I felt it helped me energetically and that I was grateful for the experience. I did not describe this being anything more than "a presence" nor did I say male or female. Then the girl next to me shared. She said that she sensed several entities in the space and that she was having a hard time focusing because there was so many. She did pick up on one in particular whom she said was here for a male in the room. She went on to say that it was a male and began describing how he seemed to not have any hair or buzzed, not bald but just didn't have hair. This caught my attention because her description sounded just like the being I had sensed. She then said that his name was "Aaron." I was SHOCKED to say the least. To me, she had just validated that this being was real by describing him and that we had been in accurate communication by naming him with the correct letter. Now that knowing smile made sense to me! I interpret this now as Aaron knew that I needed this kind of outside validation which is why he didn't tell me his name to begin with. I am deeply grateful for that because it was the first form of evidence for myself that what I am experiencing could be real.

After this experience, I knew that I had to become serious about this search. I decided that aiming for real, undeniable (to myself) experiences such as the one I experienced that night was my new goal.

One of the few only undeniable experiences that I have had before was when I accidentally astral projected.
I was lying in bed just barely awake from a midday nap when I became aware that my body felt as if it was buzzing/ had electricity running all over it. My heart also felt as if it was about to pound out of my chest. I had been studying astral projection at the time and in my waking mind I knew that these were pre-projection symptoms however, in my half asleep mind, I wasn't thinking about that. Normally when this has happened before, I'd just pull myself out of it and get my body moving to make these feelings go away. For some reason this time I decided to "relax into the vibrations" which increased them to the point that I thought I was going to die. I remember mentally thinking "I don't care if I die" and increased them to the point where I thought I couldn't any more and then suddenly they stopped. My mind went black for a moment and then I was aware that I felt extremely light as if I was floating upwards towards the ceiling. All of a sudden, I could see my ceiling perfectly clear as I was rising up towards it. The weird part was that I could also sense the heat of my eyelids still closed touching one another on my body. It was as if my mind was aware of two consciousnesses at one time; my body and this projected double. Then my mind went completely into the projected double and I stood about three feet off the ground in my room looking around. It was midday so the room was very bright. The thing that stood out the most to me was that I was 110% conscious. By that I mean it was exactly like being fully awake and alert. My ability to reason, process, and understand what was going on around me was identical if not more keen as to my waking state! Even still, this part of the whole experience is the most fascinating. I remember thinking "Holy shit I'm out of my body! I can't believe this! This is amazing! It's so real! What do I do now?" So I remembered in my reading that you should walk around your room and reenter your body the first time you project so I floated around my room. I then decided to try to look at my body which I did. It was one of the most eerie experiences of my life. I saw myself with the covers pulled up to my chin sleeping. It was extremely surreal (but then again I guess this whole experience was). so I decided to go into my sister's room to see if I could make a connection with her or if she could see me. I jumped through the doors of our jack 'n jill bathrooms into my sister's room. There I saw my sister on her computer sitting on her bed. I tried to get her attention and I think I did and told her to follow me and see what I can do. I jumped from my upstairs to the downstairs and back up again but when I got back up she wasn't there. I ran back to my room where I saw what looked liked to me to be my younger brother at my body jokingly shaking me to wake me up. I was asking him to stop but he didn't hear me. I didn't want to be jolted back into my body so I jumped back inside. As I felt my bodies merging back together I could again see my ceiling with my "projected eyes." Then, what felt like a blink, I opened my physical eyes to the same exact image I was just looking at, only now I was awake. It was the most amazing experience of my life.

Remembering this experience, I decided to do further research into astral projection and see if I could come upon some technique I hadn't tried before or something that could help me to consciously astral project. I came across a website called spiritual.com.au which had a great, comprehensive article on astral projection by Robert Bruce. Link here. Within this article it talked about working on concentration and working on energy bodies/chakras. This became my next goal. Working on building energy and concentration to achieve a strong energy stores and developed trance state. Since I've discovered this I've been meditating and using the techniques found in this article with great success. I recommend it to anyone interested in astral projection or developing energy bodies.

All this back story is in preparation for how I attained some of the most convincing evidence for myself.

-Michael