Originally posted by Osiris1953
I very much appreciate your input, and actually I do enough about Shinto to perform rituals like the one you mentioned. Usually on my simple altar, I offer rice to Amaterasu and try to keep my practices as traditionally Japanese as possible while remaining true to myself. The way I see it, if I fall too much into the constructs of what others do I'd be missing the point of having any type of belief system.

Wonderful! As you already have rituals of your own, follow those, but the intention is STILL vitally important. Intention is utterly critical in every Japanese endeavor, as well as anything of a spiritual nature, reguardless of culture. I was not aware you recieved a solid enough initiation into Shinto to have full rituals. Most people in the US that engage in the practice of Shinto are sadly lacking in knowledge about their belief system. I love Japan and Japanese culture, everything there becomes an art, it's so beautiful to see such cultivation of one's craft. I'd be happy to hear more of your practice when the time is prudent, and I am sure that I will. I wish you the best, and hope that your awareness expands swiftly that your relationship with nature may be a more intimate one.

Thanks again

Thank you for this thread. At times, no, all the time, I felt as though it was speaking directly to me. I can tell this is happening because I get a tingling sensation toward the back of my head. Though I was born a Catholic, I have learned to pay attention to all beliefs and to continue to work with anything that resonates with me. There was not one word that did not have some meaning to me and, in fact, this acted as a bit of a catalyst to say to myself to continue to have an open mind and benevolent intentions at all times.

This is a wonderful post.

It is a shame there are not more people who are open to receiving the messages which are before our very eyes every moment of ever day.

I look forward to reading more of your posts - even if i do not agree with everything you said they are thought provoking

Hey TheGreySwordsman !!!!!

It is always good to see someone post of their experiences. What we can see with the eyes is only the smallest percentage of what goes on around us.
I was wondering if you could share a technique or suggest a subtle spirit energy to try and connect with as a beginner.
I am sure there must be some lonely spirits that would be glad to have someone take an interest in them that are always overlooked by people. With your experience what items of nature would fit into this category? I would think that trees are often overlooked and there are mysteries about them that would raise an eyebrow or two...lol
Did you say that cars even have a spirit energy? I sometimes get that feeling. They look very sad when they have been neglected. I didn't think that a man made object could take on a spirit though.
Your input would be appreciated.

awesome post! really you deserve an applause
I often think about everything you have just said and it makes perfect sense in my mind that we are all energy's and we just simply need to listen to every other energy! Its constantly giving signs, messages but as a race we have become seperate from the conciousness hense deny ourselves and all around us....sad really!

yet again awesome post

TheGerySwordsman, Thank you.

To be honest, I really needed to hear this today. Your words were the perfect inspiration for me to remember my spiritual side. Its been neglected recently, Its easily done I find, I get to wrapped up in the mundane day-to-day monotony, and memories of hurt and pain.

And then every so often I speak to someone or read something or just see a beautiful sky and its like coming up for a breath, all the other stuff melts away and I'm left feeling nothing but gratitude because I'm alive and I have the ability to appreciate every little part of my life and the world around me.

Your thread is one of these breaths. Beautifully written and sadly esoteric.
Thank you.

Originally posted by Cyber_Wasp
Hey TheGreySwordsman !!!!!

I was wondering if you could share a technique or suggest a subtle spirit energy to try and connect with as a beginner.


Did you say that cars even have a spirit energy? I sometimes get that feeling. They look very sad when they have been neglected. I didn't think that a man made object could take on a spirit though.
Your input would be appreciated.

Let me expand on something. Everything around us is indeed alive. As far as lonely, all of these other spirits have an interaction with one another, so they're not especially lonely. However, they would appreciate acknowledgment from there siblings (us) especially if we make use of them.

Second, so many spirits around us are neglected. Just because some human wanted to say hi doesn't mean that they will all jump on a relationship with them. Some have been burned in the past, and though forgiving, may want to see some dilligence in communication before they open up to us, much like people.

You see when you're communicating with spirits, talk is NOT cheap. Many people we talk to in our lives, we don't really care about. We talk to kill time, but we're not really interested. If a spirit feels you're not interested in really hearing from them, they won't open up to you.

It's also unwise to apply a wide blanket label as to what spirits may be more open to communication. It can vary quite a lot, as with people.

Now, as far as exercises for beginners, here's a basic one. Each week, pick one thing to befriend. Maybe a plant, or a rock, or a desk. Send a few minutes each day observing it, trying to enjoy it's company. Open up your heart to it. By the end of the week, as long as you practice daily, you will have established a higher level of relationship.

After that week is up, do not neglect your new friend. How would you like to get excited about being noticed by someone, making a new friend, only to be left in the dust behind them? It'd be sad. Understand this, and respect your new friend, don't ignore them after your exercise is complete.

I want to thank everyone for their continued support of this thread. I had a feeling this message would connect wih a lot of people. I am thankful if I could in my own small way bring illumination or relief to anyone.

Let me expand just a tad at the moment.

It is so easy to lose track in the world. We get wrapped up on our lives. Busy busy busy, rush rush rush. No time to enjoy a cloud. You don't even have time to talk to your "real" friends, let alone make a new one. We as a race rush around until our death. We try to fill our lives with trinkets and pretties.

I have a number of relatives who don't feel they have accomplished much in life unless they have a house full of decorations and rugs and furniture and so on and so forth. To the point that you have to walk around the furniture, and there is little room in the home for play.

When you stop playing, you start dying. This is important.

We need to take time out and listen to ourselves. Let us not be fooled but comfort. We are disconnected form nature. We need warm clothes, and heat, and a comfy chair and this and that to be comfortable. However, a man who is connected with nature can be perfectly comfortable, dirty, wet, stinky, sitting on the grass, resting on a rock.

Now, it is true. Life is all around us. As was touched on earlier, your car is alive. It is made up of metals and minerals, which had life before taking that form. It takes on spirit from it's creators, and it's users. Your car develops a personality, and lives. It lives to serve. You could learn much from your car.

We have many friends, more than we can count. But we cannot cling too hard, for we will live a life of heartache. It is impossible to bring every blade of grass you see with you. You cannot carry along every friend you've made. But do not be afraid, you haven't lost touch. You are simply removed from their physical manifestation.

That's the beauty of spirit. No matter what form one may take, they are never gone, removed, or out of reach, they are always right there.

It is up to you to also spread your own message. Do not be afarid to say as I am saying. And when you make a new friend, meet a new spirit, speak to it from your heart with feeling. Let your heart open and communicate, this will add a whole new dynamic to the conversation, and make the relationship that much richer and more fulfilling.

Listen to the story of a blade of grass, of a pencil. You'll be amazed at what you can learn.

Originally posted by TheGreySwordsmanWhen you see the same teachings line up across cultures, across the world, it is usually a good idea to take another squint at them.

Never a truer word spoken.

Superb thread. I welcome discussion of this subject so whole-heartedly and look forward to more sharing of knowledge.

Let me describe a problem many will have with this.

"So, I read your thread, and thought I'd give it a shot. So, I sat there all day talking to this GOD DAMNED rock and it didn't say anything! Bunch of BS is what this is. I was persistant. I tried ALL DAY!"

The Spirit World is not something you will see with your eyes or hear with your ears. You will see it with your imagination, and feel it with your heart. When we approach a relationship expecting a certain outcome, we are entering with a bias. We have a ceratin idea of what it should be like. But, when it doesn't meet our expectation, we don't appreciate it.

That rock could very well be talking to you, and trying it's heart out to be heard, but you're just not listening. We all have people like that. They're so set on getting their point across that they don't think they're understood, and don't really hear what anyone else is saying to them.

You'll never hear the poor rock over your shouting. You have to let it speak to your heart, and you will come to know the rock. Also, not everyone in the would jumps at the chance to be your friend. Sometimes you may ahve to try a different rock. But be persistant. I don't mean for hours one day, and never again, but a few minutes every day. You must show sometimes that you really care and it's not a passing interest. That is how you make friends. By being there for them.

Have fun, be playful, like a child. Have you ever seen a child play with someone, become real interested with it, then, once you tell them what it is, they put it down and are done with it? You can never lose interest! If you get bored with a friend, you are not a friend.

Nature is all around us, all the time giving us messages. The years go through the exact same physical as days do. The days go through the same cycle as a lifetime. You can know the whole world in a day, if only you could understand all the information nature is giving you.

Be patient. be repsectful. Be a good friend. This will carry you far, and lead you beyond the hurdles.

My only "ghost" was Pancho Villa. I looked up the stairs and saw a man dressed in a mexican revolutionary outfit. He was looking at me with distain. I looked down to get my footing and when I looked up he was gone. I was at Pancho Villa's girfriend's apartment where my girlfriend lived. He mom was from Villa's town. It was such a clear apparition. I was not on drugs.
I know paranormal things exist and some can see more than others but 99% of sightings are easily debunkable.

Flagged And Starred. I couldn't have put it better myself. IMHO.. You hit th nail on the head. Many have come to realize this, but you have done a great job putting it into words for understanding. Continue to spread the word.

- cpNJ




P.S. By definition you have reached enlightenment, but true enlightenment lies in the application. Congrats.

Originally posted by earthman4

I know paranormal things exist and some can see more than others but 99% of sightings are easily debunkable.

Sightings, debunkable, absolutely. When I talk to my car it's not as if the hood starts flapping like a jaw. I have never captured a spirit on photo or video. Never recorded any message. 1 in 10,000 or LESS that I have observed manifested in some way that the eyes can pick up.

The communication I am talking about could not be proven in any way shape or form. So, despite my experiences, I certainly have no points in the scientific community.

The level of communication is very different. The world of the spirit is not something the eyes can observe more than the slightest glimmer of. It's an internal place, very different than what we are familiar with.

I just wanted to make the distinction.

However, thank you for sharing your experience. These types of spirits that you mentioned belong to my first category (common) spirits, or quite possibly you saw a residual spirit. In any event, it is interesting, and would welcome any other comments that you'd like to share about your experience.

So your a sort of animist/Buddhist am I right?

I agree with you on many points, I am Christian but that is by birth, I do practice it and go to mass and I also realize that the church was corrupt and still is but what can you do, every organization these days is corrupt. If you are well versed in other religions brahman is the impersonal force that Buddhist's consider God.

Now if you think about this It is the most logical thing, why should God be a personal deity like most religions view it as. He is really an impersonal deity but if I tried to tell a fellow Christian that they may just bash me saying that you don't have enough faith or some weak explanation. I don't think that religion should be viewed from a scientific perspective but rather from a philosophical one. Many MANY people view it through blind faith like what other people tell them.

Please please please go out whether you are atheist, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, part of a cult w/e and try to see things from your own eyes and create a perspective. I am in some turmoil right now over what to belive because there are so many good explanations and I KNOW there must be a God.

If you are an atheist I am asking you to be compasionate toward people who belive in a God, don't try and convince them otherwise. And I ask if you do not believe in an ultimate creator then please try and see why there must be one try and look from the other side.

It's just that there must be a creator that at the least started the universe, I belive in a creation of the universe not that mankind was put here on this earth species by species. Anyone who disagrees with Darwin is almost crazy, the evidence is all there it is like saying that 2+2=4.

But what I really want to get in my post is for everyone to be compassionate because we are in for some very rough times, I wish you all the best brothers and sisters...

Originally posted by rhombus24
So your a sort of animist/Buddhist am I right?


But what I really want to get in my post is for everyone to be compassionate because we are in for some very rough times, I wish you all the best brothers and sisters...

I started out, my family loosely raised me as a Christian, but I haven't been to church since I was 10. Maybe around 12 I started doing heavier research into what else is out there. I found roughly the same type of teachings in Shamanism, Kabbalah, Buddhism, Daoism, Shinto, Western Occultism, etc etc. I dove into all of them, and found that each book and teacher I was exposed to was trying to convey the same principles. In my practice I seek to uncover truth. I use meditations, and follow practices of many different belief systems. If you want to label what it is I do, go for it, I don't mind.

I am really leary of talking about a Creator. It conjures up a certain image in the minds of my audience, and that is what I am trying to avoid. I appreciate your passion, and the message you are trying to spread. I wish you the best in your efforts. For now, I'm going to tiptoe around the mention of a Creator until I devise a way to deliver the message in a way that I wnat to convey it.

Your openmindedness is refreshing!

Originally posted by TheGreySwordsman
We are surrounded by life. Everything has life, a conciousness, an existance. Each of us do. Every plant, animal, rock..Every spark of fire, roar of thunder, drop of rain that has ever existed. All of this is conciousness. Within every conciousness exists on a tiny scale, every other conciousness.

Evidence? Didn't think so.

[edit on 10-3-2007 by worldwatcher]

HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE SPIRIT WORLD

Now, not many of us are not accustomed to talking to a plant. How does one go about opening up his or her heart to the spirit of the plant? It comes from intention, it comes from desire.

Before you approach an entity, it is important that you stop and consider a few things

#1 What am I trying to achieve with this communication?
#2 Am I trying to do this so I get a swelled head, having powers someone lacks?
#3 Am I REALLY going to keep this friend?
#4 If I am not answered right away, or if I don't get how to do it, how should I react?
#5 HOW do I do this in the first place?

Let's knock these babies out one by one.
#1 What am I trying to achieve with this communication?
If your answer is, make a friend, connect to the spirit world, learn more about myself, and someone else, or uncover information, please continue.

If on the other hand your purpose is to start a communication, and then neglect this entity, if you want to do this to gain powers, STOP. This is not for you


#2 Am I trying to do this to get a swelled head, or attain powers others lack?

If you want to have something to mentally elevate yourself above others, stop. If your primary objective is power and not companionship, stop. Many people think that once they start talking to spirits they can boss them around and become a demi-God. They don't like being controlled any more than people do, and are just as likely to burn you for being abused. You work with spirits, you do NOT control them.

#3 Am I REALLY going to keep this friend?

This one is important. If you just want to establish communication, only to then ignore this relationship, do not proceed. Doing so will not only give you a bad reputation among the spirits, but will also hurt friends. It is one thing to be ignored all the time. Quite another to make a friend and then find they truely do not care about you.

#4 If I am not answered right away, or if I do not get how to do it, how will I react?

If you will get upset about not having an immediate answer, this is not for you. Trust me, you are likely to be frustrated for awhile before you can communicate well. It's like going to another country where no one speaks your language. Understanding what is being said, or even if you are being communicated with can be a challenge.

Give it a few months. If you talk to your desk for 5 minutes a day every day for a month, you will know more about the desk than you can even imagine right now. In fact, you might not even know how you know about this desk, but you will. By the end of the season, the desk will be teaching you much about life, that you will be able to apply and use as you go through your day.

#5 HOW do I do this in the first place?

It's a matter of intention. Relax. Do it in a relatively calm state of mind. Approach the spirit with reverence. You don't need to worship it, it's the same as you. However, show it respect, give it time to answer. Try not to have an expectation.

Speak into your heart, tell the subject that you want to get to know them. Explain that you are not adept at this way of communication, and are trying something new. Try to make a friend. Speak in your mind to the spirit. Ask questions, answer any questions they may ask. Sometimes an actual phrase will appear in your mind, but usually you will get a feeling, or mental imagery to interpret. These messages are profound. They are not easily understood, especially when you begin.

As you practice, your skill to interpret these messages will increase. Your perception will become more accurate as you begin to let go of bias concerning what the message may be. Initially, some of the lessons you may learn will seem pretty obvious, and no big deal. EXAMINE THESE! What may seem common sense will always have hidden layers, and a depth that you cannot understand right away.

After your conversation, try to get as much information out of each bit of dialogue as possible.

This sense of reverence is critical! I cannot stress it enough! You may not realize it now, but approaching with a solid focus, and intention behind each question and exchange will make your own communication more powerful. The more frequently you interact with a given spirit, the more powerful your connection, the more protective the spirit will become of you, and will begin to bestow upon you some of their qualities.

As you build this relationship, you will be giving a bit of yourself, and the spirit will give a bit of itself in exchange. You will have a strong energetic connection. It is here that you will in a sense learn that you and the spirit function as one, yet seperate. We have a similar level of connection with every other spirit, HOWEVER, without the built up relationship, we are not concious of this connection, and the qualities that we share with each will not manifest to a noticable degree.

Be persistant. As you begin to understand your place in nature, you will learn to see life all around you. We are not alone. We are working with everything else in existance.

By building these relationships with spirits, with nature, our minds expand, and make us more aware of what we really are. It is then that we begin to really live, and live well.

When your life is in harmony with nature, your works will be powerful. When your qualities are those of abundance, and not lack, even 10,000 knives cannot make you fold. Nothing can be taken away from spirit, nothing.

Hey when you get some scientific EVIDENCE for anything you said, post it because you may be one of the most famous men in history then. Until then, you're just another nut making psychobabble without evidence (faith-based thought). It really makes ATS look bad; here you're supposed to deny ignorance yet you encourage it because faith, belief without evidence, is the definition and ultimate form of ignorance.

[edit on 10/3/07 by RedDragon]