Telepathy Basics by Frozen flame

How To Alter Your Signature
So what is a sig? It is a psychic fingerprint. Everyone has a unique sig, and it is permanently in their psi constructs as well as in themselves. Nobody can completely remove their sig, even from their constructs. If I want to scan Joey's shields, I must first locate them by using his sig. However, 99% of the time sig location is done, it is subconsious. Most people will simply think, "I wish to scan Joey," so they do. However, if Joey masks his sig, it will become extrememly difficult to accurately scan him. The same goes for sending constructs. Most will simply program, "Go to Joey," into their constructs. The construct will then find them by using their sig, and then go to them. However, if their psychic fingerprint is masked, the result is obvious. So that is for what the sig is and does. But what does a sig feel like? That is extremely difficult to describe. Lets use some test subjects: Take a few people you barely know. Maybe look in your school Year Book. Now pick out about five random people. Look at the first person's name, picture, or both. Concentrate on it, but stay relaxed. Think about their name. A feeling may come to you, something that is hard to put your finger on. Now do the same with the other four. All of them should have different "feelings". Some may be similar, but like a fingerprint, all are different. This is their sig.

Intro to Sig Alteration

Hiding one's sig (or "psionic signature" and "psychic fingerprint"), is probably one of the most overlooked skills. Yet, in my opinion, it also stands strong as one of the most important skills. Imagine yourself a combatant. Now let us hypothesize that you are currently trying to scan your enemy so you may learn about his defense systems. But as a twist, let us say that your enemy has a Masking Shield around him. This shield does not make him "invisible", nor does it make him "unnoticable", to the public eye. However, that only is true when discussing the aspect of face-to-face encounter. For when you attempt to scan your enemy with this particular shield, you find it impossible to "locate" him. It feels similar to attempting grabbing a fish in the water with your bare hands. It is near impossible to grasp the fish but once you do, it slips out of your grip and swims out of reach. It is very frustrating, to say the least. This is why masking your sig is so vital in certain situations.

A psionic signature is what all psions must use to locate you and scan you, hack you, attack you, etc. There is no other way. If that sig is "masked", then it is very hard to find. Thus, it is hard to do anything to that person. On the psionic/psychic "map", the person has virtually vanished. If one is more trained and better a psion than the person who is masked (or perhaps the Masking Shield was poorly made), it is possible to find them, but it still remains difficult.

Now let us delve deeper into this whole "sig business", and move onto the second topic of Sig Alteration. Imagine, yet again, that you are trying to find this enemy. You believe you have located your prey, when you come to realize that it is a signature dummy! You thought you had found your enemy, but in reality it was simply a replicant of their sig sitting somewhere else in time, space, and the psychic realm. So you discard of the dummy and attempt to find your real opponent, in which you cannot because he or she keeps "slipping" from your grasp (the Masking Shield). The whole ordeal would be quite frustrating to say the least.

There remains one more sig altering technique to address: Sig Replication. This is where you replicate a sig (your own or another's) onto something, whether it be yourself, a construct, or thoughtform. This can be useful in many ways for offensive combat. It can come in handy for defensive purposes as well. I will not discuss the offensive purposes, however the defensive purposes I will confabulate briefly here: One purpose is mentioned in my article on last minute defense constructs. I talk about a construct I entitled a "Stamper". This construct has programming to seek out any target construct you give it, and imprint your own sig into it. The senario is that an enemy created attack constructs to destroy your shielding:

"Send this Stamper out, aimed at the attacker's shields. It then goes to his shields and puts your sig into it (a lot of shields actually won't block this, as it isn't an attack). Now that shield has its programming, the sig of its creator (whether hidden a little or not), and your sig (which usually looks like its "smeared" all over it). Now all those nasty little constructs that are aimed at you (your sig) will fly to the assailant's shield as well! It will be quite confusing when the attacker launches a few mean constructs, and he ends up hitting himself. Then he will most likely realize that his shield now has your sig on it (as it will feel extremely different). So now he will have to either: (1.) Remove your sig from the shield (which takes a certain level of skill), (2.) Put special programming in his constructs to ignore anything with his sig in it as well (which takes extra time), or finally (3.) Take down his shielding completely, and then put it up again (which is obviously the most unrecommended plan of action). So Stampers are a quick way to delay the enemies attacks, whether for only seconds or minutes."

Now you see one way in which Sig Replication can come in handy, replicating your sig onto an enemy's shield to trick the enemy constructs. Another way in which this would come in handy is for defending a friend. If you know your friend is under attack, you can replicate his sig onto a simple psiball, then send the psiball away to a random location. This would be Sig Relocation on another person's sig, a form of Sig Replication.

Sig Masking: How-To

So how do you mask a sig? Easy, with a specially programmed shield. If you do not know how to make a basic shield (or how to program one), find out now by means of reading an article on that particular topic. If you already know how to make a basic shield, then continue reading and we shall discuss the proccess of constructing the shield in question.

You begin by thinking over the programming and the proccess in which you will construct the shield. All your visualizations and thoughts should be thought over before hand (as with any construct). Then you begin the construction. So first, you will start by picking your preffered shielding method. Once you have picked this out, you will think over your programming words, feelings, or if you prefere, concepts. Along the lines of words, your programming might be something like, "Hide/mask my sig from anyone and everyone". Tactile programming methods might be something like the feeling of invisibility from the psionic community. For visual programming methods, you might like to see yourself unshielded. Then visualize the shielding forming around you, and the shield suddenly turning invisible (along with you inside it). You might like to visualize a psionic/psychic "map" that encompasses every human psionic signature. Then visualize a dot that represents you and your sig. Then visualize that dot "disapearing" and becoming invisible. You might like to use both methods. For this particular shield-type, I prefere the visual method only. I like to visualize myself in a black space, and then the shield forming around me and turning black, masking me into the fabric of the void I reside in. Another visual method might be to visualize people attempting to scan you, and you may visualize those scans at links shooting from their minds. Then visualize those links searching around, but never being able to find you.

Once you pick your method, you can begin. You might also like to "mess around" with different methods, to find the one that works best for you. Start by raising your energy level. You might like to warm up by making a simple psiball, giving it a basic program, and then destroying it. Then begin to form the shield. Once it is formed, program it the way you thought of beforehand. Or if you prefer, form and program the shield at the same time. Some people prefere to do things that way. Once you're done, kindly ask a few people to scan you. If they mention it being difficult because they couldn't "locate" you, then you've had success! Also note that if you do not know how to program or create a shield, as mentioned earlier: read an article on it. Programming and shield creation is outside the scope of this manual.

Remember that it is still possible to locate you while you are masked (whether it be because of poor programming on your part, or because the psion locating you is more skilled). Also keep in mind that, unless programmed otherwise, this shield has no defense mechanisms. That means that if a psion is able to locate you, they can attack the shield and easily destroy it, leaving you openly "visible" once again. One way to rectify this problem is to add extra programming. This programming may be on the lines of: "Reflect all attacks away" -- "Block all bad energy" -- "Do not allow reprogramming from anyone other than me." You also might want to add in a program to made it more durable against attacks. This can be done by simply visualizing the shield hardening into an impenitrable surface, and programming something like, "Become hardened and unaffected by all attacks". These are just a few suggestions to try. This shield can be very usefull, don't forget about it.

There is one last method to hide your psychic fingerprint. This method involves the need to actually "tweak" your very energy field. I myself have done this once or twice, but I will not teach it here. Tweaking and messing with your field is a very dangerous thing to say the least. It is very easy to mess up, and even a little mistake makes for large damage (that is hard to fix, mind you). Although this method is very effective, it is very advanced and will not be taught in any article or manual.

Sig Relocation: How-To

So how do you relocate a sig? This involves taking a construct or thoughtform, and programming your sig into it. As you should know, any construct you make will have your fingerprint in it. Though it is possible to mask and partially remove this unique fingerprint from the construct, it is impossible to completely remove its trace. In this situation of Sig Relocation, you will want to purposely implant your sig into the energy in question. To accomplish this you must have a good grasp of two things: (1.) Being able to "just do" things (like the popular telekinesis method), and (2.) have a fair grasp of psionic signatures. Keep in mind that when I first learned this skill, I self-taught it. To be blunt, I "just did it", and then figured out how later on.

The easiest method is to simply take some energy, like a basic psiball, and put "yourself" into it. Think about this for a moment: What are "you"? When somebody scans you, they find "you". When people are around you, they "feel" you. This is the feeling that must be implanted into the psiball. Start by scanning yourself and trying to get a general "feel" for what you "feel" like, and strongly remember that feeling. Then take the psiball in your hand and "imprint" this feeling onto the energy. If you would like to use some visual programming methods, one might be to visualize your "essense". Then visualize part of this "essense" moving into the psiball and merging with the energy. Basically you want to just experiment and feel your way along, try some things out. Just try to "feel" your feeling imprinting onto the psiball. It is far simpler than it sounds once you understand it.

Once this is done, mask your sig (Above: Sig Masking). Then take the sig replicant (the psiball) and move it to a random location. Stick it in your backyard, send it to a friend's house, send it in the middle of the ocean if that's what you want. Then it will appear as if that is where you are located, and you will be effectively hidden. Once again, get some people to scan the psiball and test it out, make sure it all works well.

To make an even more affective "dummy", form the energy into a general shape that looks like you (something of a thoughtform). Take a very large pool of energy, and form it into your general size and shape. After that, add in some basic color (skin tone, pants, shirt, basic face parts). All this should be done by simply visualizing it and willing it to be, just like you make a psiball. Once that is done, program it to hold its general shape and color. Now lastly, imprint your sig using the above method. To make it even more believable, shield the fake "you". Once it is shielded with a simple bubble (or preferably mirror) shield, imprint "yourself" onto the shield as well. Then move the entire "you" replica to another location. This is the jist of Sig Relocation, a very interesting and useful skill.

Sig Replication: How-To

So how do you replicate a sig? The replication of a sig involves the beginning skills of Sig Relocation, but upped a notch. You will need a slightly better grasp of sigs. The basics of Sig Replication involves taking another's psychic fingerprint, and replicating it onto a construct or thoughtform. Applications are mentioned above, in the Intro to Sig Alteration.

You will begin by building a construct, such as a basic shelled psiball (once again). Keep in mind, though, that you can replicate a sig onto any energy, permitting that the energy does not resist (eg. a shield programmed to not allow anyone to replicate a sig onto its energy). Moving on, you will then find the target sig: Choose a person who's psionic signature you wish to replicate, then scan them. Get a strong impression of their "feeling" and their sig. Once this is done, it is very straightforward (if you can accomplish the previous Sig Alterations mentioned). Simply implant the sig in question, into the energy of your choosing (in this case, the psiball you just made). You do this by using the same method you used in Sig Relocation, but this time with another person's signature, not your own.

Various other applications exist, use your imagination. You can imprint any sig onto any thing made of psi (a shield, psiball, thoughtform, etc.). There also exists the possibility to replicate another's sig into your very energy field. This would be the very best method of making yourself appear to be somebody else (that somebody else being whoever's sig you chose to replicate into your field). This is a very usefull skill. However, as mentioned with Sig Masking, alteration of your field is advanced and extremely dangerous. Therefore, I will not teach this method either, period. I also do not recommend trying to figure it out on your own, as you may permanently damage your field.

Conclusion

I highly encourage you to read my "Emergency Defense Tactics" article found on this site. It utilizes many things mentioned in this manual in a slightly different way, among other things. It would be very usefull to read and learn. Remember, safety comes first. Try not to make enemies, but if you have one, know how to defend yourself by masking and relocating your sig. Other applications apply for all three Sig Alteration techniques as well, and as previously stated, use your imagination. Good luck and be well.

-FrozenFlames


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Maintaining Your Field
Your field is a very important aspect of life, especially for that of a psion. With a dirty, sickly field, one's psionics are greatly lessened from their full potential. You also will not feel your physical or mental "best". Although there are many paradigms on the subject, many are false. Quite a few people believe that everyone's field is clean and healthy, unless you are a "bad" person. This is, by far, the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. Just as your body collects dirt naturally (and you take showers to rid yourself of this dirt), your field also collects psionic "dirt" naturally, and you must also rid yourself of this "dirt". However, field cleanliness is the least of your worries. Your field's "health" is the most overlooked aspect of field maintenance, and in my opinion, the most important. Allow me to delve deeper into the subject, as there are three categories to field maintenance: Cleanliness, Condition, and Health. When one cleans their field, I call it simply cleaning the field. When one improves the condition of their field, I call it "buffing" the field. And lastly, when one keeps their field in proper health, I have no name for it. The reason for this being the fact that it is a much longer process. One may sit down, clean their field, and then buff their field. However, keeping the field in good health is something that happens over a span of days and weeks.

Field Cleanliness

Maintaining a healthy field will surely keep one's field clean. Proper shielding will also help the matter. However, even the most healthy of fields, with the best of shields, will regularly get dirty. So the question of "how do I clean my field?" surely comes to mind. There are many methods, all with the same result. Just as there are numerous methods for shielding (in which the same effect is brought about using different methods and visualizations), there are numerous methods for field cleaning. One popular visualization is to close ones eyes, and imagine yourself in a very peaceful place. You are sitting under a waterfall, and it is flowing gently over your body. You then see all the psionic "junk" and "debris" in your field being gently washed away, leaving a clean, glistening field. Another method used by a friend of mine is to visualize all the "dirt" in you field loosening. Then a huge rake comes from above and pulls all the dirt into the earth. Many times you must repeat these visualizations until you achieve the desired effect: a clean field. On rare occasions the debris in your field will not loosen. In these rare occasions, for some odd reason, rattles are known to loosen the debris. Yes, actual rattles. Musical rattles, baby rattles, etc. Just shake the rattle all around your field, then clean, then shake the rattle again, then clean, and repeat until your desired effect has been achieved.

Field Condition

One may boast the cleanest of fields, yet it may still look like garbage. Just as one may thoroughly clean their car, the car itself may still look like junk. Why? Because the car may have dents, holes, and the like. Sometimes a good wax will make a car look brand new, and keep the car clean for longer periods of time. The same applies to ones field. Fields are known to get "dents" and "scratches" in them. When one's field condition is improved, I call it "buffing" the shield. To buff the field, I do not know many visualizations that really work. I only know one, and it works quite well for me. I discovered it by simply experimenting. However, experimenting with a field is something I strongly do not recommend. You can easily make a mistake, screw up, and mess up your field for a long time. Although I believe this exercise to be safe, it is not a safe thing to start messing around with something as important as your field. So, I've been talking about the exercise for so long, how about I actually tell you what the exercise is. This should only be done after one has cleaned their field. Once your field is sufficiently clean, you may move on to buffing it. The method I found to work the best is to sit down, very relaxed, and feel your field. Feel and visualize the entire thing. Then pull the shield in close around you. A normal field may extend approx. two feet out in all directions. However, you want to pull all of that evenly inwards to your body. Then begin to very slowly and steadily spin your field around you. Then visualize all the energy equalizing. Think about it, what would a "dent" be in a field? It is more energy in one area, than another. So by doing this, you are making all the energy go from unequal (concentrated in some areas, not concentrated in others), to equal (evenly spread throughout the field). Then slowly see the energy coming to a stop. Then visualize the energy expanding back out into its original position, but now with no dents. You should now see a perfectly clean field, with energy that is now evenly spread throughout your entire field. However, even with all of this done, your field may still look like a piece of junk. Why you ask? Because there is still one topic we have not covered yet, and that is your field's health. This is something that cannot be fixed as quickly and easily as the other two topics we have covered.

Field Health

This is a much more in-depth topic to discuss. This is where my job gets a little harder. I will break this down into four main sections: Exercise, Diet, Sleep, and Energy Flow. All of these things put together will greatly increase the health of your field. As you will realize, your field is part of you. That means that your bodily health directly relates to your field health. And that means that if you are sick, your field gets sick, if you are very healthy, your field is very healthy, etc. Field health is something that cannot be fixed as quickly and easily as the other two topics we have covered because it takes time to improve your bodily health.

Exercise: Exercise, it is the scary word we fear so much. Not to worry, I'm not going to tell you to go out, buy a whole gym, and work out every day for hours. No, I don't expect that from you. Being a martial artist, I am a sort of "health nut". I am well educated in what you should put into your body, and how you should exercise. So although I myself exercise quite a lot, it is my profession, and I will not demand that of you. However, I do think it a good idea to consider jogging. I'm not talking about running a marathon every day. I mean that you should prioritize your schedule so you can fit in a little extra time. Then take that time to go outside, do a few stretches, a few push-ups, a few sit-ups, jog a mile, and then stretch again. If you can't do a mile yet, then do less and work your way up. You'll realize that you'll start feeling like you have more energy, and you'll feel a lot better physically. If you really don't have the time, than don't exercise. I'd rather you get hundreds on your test scores than be in better shape. But if you really prioritize and work out a schedule, I think you'll find that you have a little extra time that you can use to work out a bit.

Diet: Diet, another feared word by society. Perhaps even more feared than the word "exercise". In my life of martial arts, I have learned to like the blan tastes of proper food. Numerous diets exist, and 99% of these diets are complete crap. A person can be skinny and still be unhealthy. In fact, a person can be slightly overweight and still be healthier than a person who is the proper weight. It's all about putting the proper things in your body. This means following the dreaded food pyramid. The best diet is right in front of us. Just eat the proper things. This means much less sugar and fried foods. Also, try to spread your food throughout the day as much as possible. That means that instead of a big breakfast, lunch, and dinner (three big meals), you should have six small meals spread evenly throughout your day. Your body isn't made to digest large amounts of food at one period of time. Plus, eating like this (six small meals) keeps your metabolism going, which is a good thing. Also, try sticking to water, around eight glasses per day. If you are working out like I recommended, Gatorade is ok too. Now, I realize I just took all the fun out of eating and drinking, and made things really hard on you. I honestly don't expect you to follow this diet at all. But at least try to slim down on how much junk food you take in. Try to drink a few more glasses of water. Just try it out and see how you feel, you'll be surprised. Think before you eat. If you want to know more about the proper way to eat and excerise, check out www.bodyforlife.com . It's a great site and also contains a few healthy recipes, because cooking healthy isn't always easy. And remember, eat your veggies! ;-)

Sleep: Sleep, now that’s a word we understand! You're probably thinking, "Jogging I can maybe do. That diet thing is ridiculous, no way I'm doing that. But sleep, I can certainly use more of that!" And yes, you can. The average person needs a good eight hours worth of sleep. I remember there was one time, a few months ago, in which I got barely any sleep for an entire week. I could barely even make a decent psiball. I cannot stress how important sleep is to a good and healthy field. Once again, prioritize and find time to get more sleep. If that means missing your late night TV shows, than just tape them and watch them later! Not only do you need a good amount of sleep, but you need a schedule. Even if you get eight hours every day, you may still feel tired if you go to sleep early one day, and late the next. Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Once again, sleep is a huge factor in a good field.

Energy Flow: Our last topic is energy flow. The reason I saved this for the last topic is because it is not as important as the others. If you get good exercise, eat right, and get a nice amount of sleep, you energy flow will naturally improve. However, for some of you out there that want a really exceptional energy flow, this is something that can be improved further. However, this is no substitute for the previous three topics. Think of it as an extra. Once you do the first three, then you can put more focus on this last fourth topic. So how do you improve your energy flow? The answer is simple, an ancient art entitled: Daoist Qigong. Proper Qigong will improve posture, physical condition, and your energic flow. However, Qigong is an extremely broad topic and is outside the scope of this article. For more information try searching the internet on google for something like "Daoist Qigong" or "Zhuan Zhuang".

Conclusion

A clean field is marked by a field with no psionic "junk" floating around in it. A "buffed" field is marked by a field with energy that is evenly spread throughout the field. A healthy field is marked by a field that feels "good", looks dense and thick (not skinny, with barely any energy), and just somehow "healthy". When you put all of these things together, you get a perfect field. One that will feel healthy and vibrant. You will most likely feel physically and mentally better, and your psionics will most likely improve. I realize that diet and exercise might be a major pain for you, but if you can manage it, try to do it. For some of you, sleep might be equally as hard. Those of you with a lot of work on your hands may just not have the time. However, I encourage all of you to try to maintain the healthiest field that you can. As for cleaning and buffing, this only takes minutes to do, so I do not see how any of you can have an excuse not to do this. The best of luck to you all.

- FrozenFlames

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Lucid Dreaming

Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming is the ability or skill to consciously be aware that you are dreaming, while you are dreaming. This term was created in 1913 by Frederik van Eden, who used the word “lucid” as a term for describing mental clarity. Lucid dreaming occurs when the dreamer, in the midst of a dream, realizes they are dreaming. This at times, happens due to the dreamer noticing some events or occurrences that are more likely than not, impossible in the physical reality. When this occurs, a novice lucid dreamer may wake up due to excitement or fear, though with practice, it will become more natural and the dreamer will have several fun and exciting experiences. After all, when in a lucid dream you are limited only by your imagination.

There are levels of lucidity that one may reach when practicing or experimenting with lucid dreaming. These levels are both low and high. At a high level of lucidity, the dreamer will know they are dreaming, and be able to experiment and play freely without fears or concerns, knowing they will wake up shortly. At low levels of lucidity, one may acknowledge the fact that they are dreaming, but they may not have any control over the dream. Imagine knowing you are in a dream, having it feel extremely real, and have that dream turn into a nightmare that you have absolutely no control over. It’s not always the most fun of experiences, but interesting none the less.

Lucid dreaming occurs in the REM state (rapid eye movement; a recurrent period of sleep, typically totaling about two hours a night, during which most dreaming occurs as the eyes move under closed lids and the skeletal muscles are deeply relaxed.) Research has been done in this field, and they’ve learned a lot more about this state. They know that when in the REM state, the activity of the brains neurons are similar to that during waking hours. Due to this, the phenomenon has been termed paradoxical sleep. They also know that the most vividly recalled dreams are those which happen during the REM state. During a session of sleep (6-8 hours) we experience about 90-120 minutes of REM sleep, about 5 sessions in all. This time varies with age.

The Lucidity Institute is widely known for researching lucid dreaming, as well as developing commercially available lucid dream induction devices (Dream Link, Dream Light) in the hopes of making lucid dreaming universally accessible. Though these products are available, they are not the only way one can learn to lucid dream. Lucid dreaming can be learned by most, if not all, individuals. It does take a great deal of time, patience and effort to learn, though, but it is well worth it.

Why Learn Lucid Dreaming?

When in a lucid dream you are bound only by your imagination. You are free to do whatever it is that you wish to, be it fly, talk to fictional characters, create your own reality, practice physical things (martial arts, etc…), even run over business ideas; the list really goes on. People have overcome nightmares, solved problems by going over different outcomes of a scenario, and even done self healing. The true question is, with this much potential, fun and excitement, why wouldn’t you learn lucid dreaming?

Okay, So How Exactly Do I Lucid Dream?

We’ve learned that lucid dreaming is a learnable skill and like with most learnable skills, some people may have a slightly faster learning rate. We are all individuals, therefore do not rush your learning, and rather take your time and do things 100%. You get out of it what you put into it, as the saying goes. With that said, there are several different methods one can use to experience lucid dreaming. I will list a few of the methods that have worked for me here. But before you even start practicing, there’s one thing you should start to make habitual, and that’s keeping a Dream Journal. I don’t think there’s any coincidence that I didn’t start having good Lucid Dreaming experiences until I started keeping one. Not only does keeping one enable you to remember and look back on to your dreams easier, but it can, in effect, actually cause you to have Lucid Dreams.

In your dream journal you should mark down the time you woke up. Things like, how you feel (mood, physical feelings, etc…) can also go in the journal. Your main goal for the entry is to put down, in COMPLETE detail, everything you remember about the prior nights dream. Using as much detail as you can will not only help you remember your dreams on a daily basis, but eventually you’ll learn your own dreaming patterns, which can lead to a lucid dream. After a few days/weeks of keeping a Dream Journal, you may notice that you are writing over two pages each morning, this can get frustrating sometimes, I know it did with me, but it’s useful. You’ll be remembering your dreams like never before, and it’s incredibly entertaining. If you can’t remember your dreams on a particular morning, just mark down; “I chose not to remember my dreams today” for that entry.

Reality Testing

Reality testing is not only one of the most used methods, but one of, if not the most basic techniques used to induce lucid dreaming. Reality testing is both one of the most basic and one of the most commonly used techniques used to induce lucid dreaming. This habit eventually develops and you end up checking while you are dreaming. This in turn, allows you to lucid dream.

To begin with, during normal living hours through out the day, begin testing the world around you. If something unusual or strange happens, don’t ignore it, go over it again in your mind and ask if whatever happened was actually possible. If you’re awake, the answer will most likely be yes. Another good way is to carry a book, or wristwatch around with you through out the day. Periodically check the watch or text to see any abnormalities. If you are awake, despite how many times you look at it, the characters should all still remain stable, and “normal.” If you look at it repeatedly and you notice the characters changing, or the text seems to be different every time you check it, then you are most likely dreaming.

The first lucid dreaming experience I had in which I was completely lucid happened in a pretty funny way. In my dream I had been on a bus, and this bus went from one location to near my house in an incredible amount of time. This immediately had my thinking, "Wait, how is this possible? It normally takes..." The second I questioned my reality, it hit me that I was dreaming. Sadly, the second I realized that, I woke up. The reason that triggered a lucid dream for me was because I had been so used to taking public transportation everywhere that I innately knew that what was going on was completely impossible, therefore allowing me to lucid dream. Well, become lucid anyway.

Dream Activities and Surroundings

Activities:
During waking hours, try to imagine some of the activities you would enjoy doing if lucid dreaming. If it’s flying, imagine yourself flying, as vividly as possible, in the first person perspective. What you would do, how it would feel, etc… Get completely into it. Just imagine it, with the knowledge that you have no limits or boundaries in the dream world.

Surroundings:
Throughout the day, regardless of what you’re doing, imagine that everything that happening right now is a dream. Your surrounding area, the sights, smells, sensations, everything is a dream. Imagine your environment changing as randomly as a dream might. Create unexpected scenarios, like floating off of a chair, running through walls, etc… These exercises might seem like random and meaningless day dreams. That’s probably because, for the most part they are. But when you allow yourself to do this, it in turn may cause you to become more aware of these things while dreaming, which would allow you to question your environment and experience lucid dreaming.

Focused Intent

I personally didn’t have very much success with this method, though, I’m sure it helped me with my dream journal when I first started. There’s not much to actually say about this method, It’s very simple. While lying down, and before sleep, continue to focus on the intent that “I will remember my dreams when I wake up.” or “I will become lucid in my dream.”/”I will have a lucid dream tonight.” Basically anything that will trigger you to have a lucid dream. The goal is to repeat it in your head and/or out loud if you want, until that repetitive mantra follows you into your sleep.

Day Dreaming

Before you go to sleep, begin having a day dream. Keep the day dream going and going, as you feel yourself getting more and sleepier. Eventually, the goal is to fall asleep, with that same day dream going on, only now, it’s your actual dream. This is good because while you’re dreaming, you should recall falling asleep day dreaming the exact same thing, which could trigger you to have a lucid dream. This method personally works wonders for me on a nightly basis. Also, focusing on one object, or thought is said to help you have a lucid dream. It’s the same basic concept, you focus on an object or thought while falling asleep, and because you focused on it so attentively, you may remember that thought or object while sleeping, which in turn, causes you to acknowledge the fact that you are dreaming.

Mindfulness Meditation

No, I’m not referring to the actual practice of the meditation, but rather the after effects. Basically, in mindfulness meditation, it’s a practice of being/living in the moment. This is done by becoming aware of the breath periodically throughout the day. You follow the path of the breath, during walking, jogging, sitting, reading, etc… The longer you’re in the moment, the better. Doing this eventually builds a habit, and apart from being in the moment throughout most of the day, this habit I’ve found eventually follows you into sleep. And while you’re sleeping you lock onto the breath, and become aware of the moment. Naturally, if this happens while sleeping, you realize that more often than not, in my experience anyhow, and are able to have a lucid dream.

This is one of my favorite methods due to my being heavily into meditation, though I’d love to share more about it, the actual practice of the meditation, and of mindfulness period, is far outside the scope of this article. I do advise you to perhaps look it up, or buy some books on the subject; it’s interesting and extremely fun. Jon Kobat-Zinn wrote an excellent and highly acclaimed book titled “Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life” check it out.

Napping

Wake up about an hour earlier than you usually would and walk around, read a book, just occupy your time for about 15-30 minutes before heading back to the bed. Whichever dream you were having before you woke up, imagine starting that dream where you left off, and falling back asleep into the dream. If you however cannot remember your dream for whatever odd reason, just start with a day dream and go from there. Doing this is said to increase your chances of becoming lucid in a dream by 15 to 20 times. This method was apparently started in the late 1970s, and is still held in high regard by the Lucidity Institute for their training programs. It was also one of the first methods I came across, but didn’t actually start experimenting with it until I had those random occasions where I’d wake up for whatever odd reason, and head back to sleep. Though it’s not one of my favorite methods, due to the fact that I’m not a big morning person, it’s still incredibly useful, and tends to work pretty well.

Conclusion

Though there are a lot of other methods for inducing a lucid dream, I’ve only listed the ones that I have personally experimented with. Lucid dreaming is not only fun, but other psionic skills can be used from there, whether that be dream walking, astral projection, healing, etc… It’s not only a fun and exciting practice, but it’s useful too. My advice to you is to continue to practice, read about others’ experiences and methods, and have patience. I never knew how useful lucid dreaming was until I experienced it myself, I never even knew how to do it until years after I began my psionics practice. Aside from that, I think I’ve basically covered what this article was about and why you should practice, I guess the only thing left to decide is what you’ll do with this information, and how far you’ll take your lucid dreaming practice.


~Float

Re: Re: Telepathy vs Empathy

Itemizing to make sure I don’t miss anything. Too much good stuff to respond to. Quotes are in quotation marks. It's so very good to be itemizing for a rational discussion rather than a debate. Thank you!

“Hello. My sympathies. I am experiencing what appears to be at least similar, if not the same phenomenon myself, though about a year further down the line if this is recent for you.”

The Telepathy is relatively recent as a noticeable factor, and even more recent as a /useful/ factor.

“I *was* primarily an empath. I could not say for sure whether the change came about from my own extensive experimenting, its a natural (to be expected?) thing, or a result of frequent contact with telepaths.”

I’ve had very regular contact with a telepath and while my telepathy has grown my empathy has not diminished, then again I have a passive range measured in multiple miles so I’m not sure how that fits on the scale of what you are discussing.

“I am at a place now, that I hope you don't reach, and mostly like won't if you don't attempt some of the truly bizarre stunts I have. I find myself flipping back and forth from empath to telepathy dominance and vice versa fairly quickly, and without discernible warning. And though quick, there is a "between" state that is fairly uncomfortable, and different than another similar aspect of empathy.”

I find that interesting. I have not discovered Empathy and Telepathy warring for “dominance” for me. I am a much, much stronger empathy, currently, than I am a telepath, but they seem to augment one another most of the time rather than conflict. Then again I have 18 years of experience dealing with the Empathy so that probably helps. I don’t know what your full background is, could you elaborate on this point? I’ve had my own share of empathic headaches... given that most of the time I was a practicing empathy I didn’t know how to shield effectively (completely self taught for the first 16 of those years. Still mostly self taught.) How does this compare to the typical problems of consistent long term overload or is there no comparison?

“It all began with a change in empathic perception. For most of my life I was able to read the emotion of another, in general terms, picking up the dominant one, maybe a mix of one or two more underlying the top one. It was there, I could usually tell the persons general emotional state and reactions. Then I began feeling them. After a few overloads, and experiencing emotions that had nothing to do with me, I decided I REALLY didn't like this development and set about various 'fixes'. I tried filtering, layered shielding, blocking, even went so far as a complete shutdown. The only thing that had significant results was layered shielding, which takes effort to maintain. The most effective method I've found to date is to shield yourself and have two others layer a shield over the top. The mechanics of why it works are unknown to me, I only know its effective.”

We can discuss the mechanics of some shields in PM or chat if you like. I’ve found several quite effective. I have a multi-layered/Merged shield that I currently use. I can give you the general theory on that, though I would prefer not to give specifics on my own. I’ve been having issues with certain individuals trying to mess with my shields, and I’m not entirely certain they’ve given up so I am being cautious.

What you’re describing seems pretty normal for a macro-empath (unofficial term), that is someone with a range beyond just the person or group they are directly dealing with/line of site. I’m not sure when I hit that point... I’ve just always been there as far as I can remember, so I don’t remember that transition. How did this lead into your development as a Telepath as well? Or do you know?

“The between state could be a normal state that many rest in, perceiving both, and ignoring it, or a sloppy transition from one dominance to the other. I don't know. “

You’ve mentioned dominance of one over the other. Does this mean you can only use one OR the other? Or does one simply become more easy to perceive?

”Once dominance of one or the other is achieved, without enough input to be a nuisance, its fairly clear. Though for me, the telepathic input has changed in how it occurs over the last few months. I no longer pick up fragments or single thoughts. I now get a full concept. I get a rush of visuals too fast to interpret, and a min or two later I have a concept. Such as "you went on a date with a new person, and enjoyed it" In the short time it takes to process the incoming information, I feel like a proverbial deer in the headlights.”

I haven’t gotten to that point telepathically, at least not with any reliability. I tend to be cautious about assuming whether what I am perceiving is actually coming from Telepathy or just my own fool imagination. I tend to prefer to err on the side of imagination, so when I do claim to have picked up something from telepathy I /know/ I have. Again something I’d like to compare notes on you from.

“Physical distance seems to have no relevance in my experience. It's my belief that reception depends more on the strength and sensitivity of the sender and receiver.”

Physical distance has an impact on passive ranges. When you’re just lounging around you’re not picking up the emotions or thoughts of everyone on the planet all at once. That would be instant overload of unprecedented levels. Now what I can send/receive to specific individuals does not appear to be related to distance, or at least not on a large enough scale to measure at the current time. Their ability to receive is another story. I’ve got one acquaintance who is the psionic equivalent of a brick wall when it comes to Empathy.

“Your analogies and metaphors, btw, are quite good. I recognized the description of what is often referred to as "the wall of noise" when an empath overloads.”

Thank you. I’ve had a lot of practice making them comprehensible.

“While empathy and telepathy seem to be separate, and one usually dominates the other, I am not convinced they are truly separate. It has occurred to me that the subconscious may be blocking one at any given time, as a form of self-defense. When caught between dominance of the two, the amount of input for me is too much, from too many sources, to interpret. Logically, I think I would block one, enabling me to be able to make some sense of at least some of the incoming. And that is pure speculation. As to whether I switch dominance or revert back, when in the midline area, I cannot predict, and have done both. “

Yet, I can use both at will, though with varying degrees of strength. I choose which one I use, and shutting off my passive range with either is not an option. (Tried that, failed miserably... Someone else tried it, didn’t manage it all the way and it still almost ‘suffocated’ me.) Are your biceps and your triceps the same muscles? No, but they are very much related. Your biceps and your latismis(sp?) dorsi are also not the same muscle, nor are they completely dependant upon one another except when you’re trying to move your shoulder joint.

“I would be greatly interested in any ideas/theories as to what causes the dominance change. After many months of notes, I still have no idea, and no way to predict the switch.”

I’m still not entirely sure how you’re using Dominance in this instance. I definitely look forward to your replies. Though I think we may scare some of the folk on this site if we keep this up!

~The Devil’s Advocate


Sorry for the delay in responding, life intervenes.

"I don’t know what your full background is, could you elaborate on this point?"

I’m a natural telepath. A natural/normal state of being as far as I’m concerned. Somewhere in my late thirties I became predominantly empathic. I began researching information about it on the web about four years ago. As far as I have been able to determine, the use of psi is so integrated into my life, that the line between psi/nonpsi functioning is not a line I can draw definitively. It’s always been there.

"We can discuss the mechanics of some shields in PM or chat if you like. I’ve found several quite effective. I have a multi-layered/Merged shield that I currently use. I can give you the general theory on that, though I would prefer not to give specifics on my own."

I would be interested in that. Of course I don’t reveal the finer points of my shielding either.

"What you’re describing seems pretty normal for a macro-empath (unofficial term), that is someone with a range beyond just the person or group they are directly dealing with/line of site. I’m not sure when I hit that point... I’ve just always been there as far as I can remember, so I don’t remember that transition. How did this lead into your development as a Telepath as well? Or do you know?"

I’m a wide-band (slang) psi. Meaning that linear distance is of no real consequence. I actually receive better from those at a distance. Maybe because of less ambient noise, I havent given it much thought. As far as I can remember my development as a telepath came first. As a child I thought everyone was. I suppressed it to a great extent for several years, noticing heightened empathy later. My memory isnt really clear on it, its always been there, sort of thing. I didn’t pay much attention to it until my sensitivity level became uncomfortable.

"You’ve mentioned dominance of one over the other. Does this mean you can only use one OR the other? Or does one simply become more easy to perceive?"

I can use both, though that tends to be a muddled mess for me. Since I began actively attempting to control psi input/output, I usually suppress empathy. Suppression of one or the other does seem to make for clearer perception. When not attempting to control the input, one usually overrides the other. There have been times when neither was clear, both were noticably in use. Those were not happy times.

"I haven’t gotten to that point telepathically, at least not with any reliability. I tend to be cautious about assuming whether what I am perceiving is actually coming from Telepathy or just my own fool imagination. I tend to prefer to err on the side of imagination, so when I do claim to have picked up something from telepathy I /know/ I have. Again something I’d like to compare notes on you from."

To be honest, I frequently don’t examine how I “know” something. The knowledge/impression is there. Unless it’s something I am certain I didn’t learn from conversation, reading, etc. I would be hesitant to label it psi input. Too much of life is predictable to assume anything more than vague memory, a reasonable guess, or the most likely probability. Even scanning for information, analytical overlay must be factored in.

"Physical distance has an impact on passive ranges. When you’re just lounging around you’re not picking up the emotions or thoughts of everyone on the planet all at once. That would be instant overload of unprecedented levels."

Agreed. I’ve never investigated my passive range. Learning to shield has been a phenomenal help. I’ve been told several times that I tend to hold an overly large number of links at any given time. I have learned not to automatically tune in to everyone in my surrounding area. The few contacts I am comfortable with identifing as passive listening, without being linked, and are consistent, are at a distance of eight and ten floors above my floor. (yes, I am the master of overloading)


“I would be greatly interested in any ideas/theories as to what causes the dominance change. After many months of notes, I still have no idea, and no way to predict the switch.”

"I’m still not entirely sure how you’re using Dominance in this instance. I definitely look forward to your replies. Though I think we may scare some of the folk on this site if we keep this up!"

By dominance, I mean that one ability becomes significantly more apparent/functional than the other. I can attempt it purposefully, but of late it seems to change without warning or easily discernable cause.

Re: Telepathy vs Empathy by Interpid

Hello. My sympathies. I am experiencing what appears to be at least similar, if not the same phenomenon myself, though about a year further down the line if this is recent for you.

I *was* primarily an empath. I could not say for sure whether the change came about from my own extensive experimenting, its a natural (to be expected?) thing, or a result of frequent contact with telepaths.

I am at a place now, that I hope you don't reach, and mostly like won't if you don't attempt some of the truly bizarre stunts I have. I find myself flipping back and forth from empath to telepathy dominance and vice versa fairly quickly, and without discernible warning. And though quick, there is a "between" state that is fairly uncomfortable, and different than another similar aspect of empathy.

It all began with a change in empathic perception. For most of my life I was able to read the emotion of another, in general terms, picking up the dominant one, maybe a mix of one or two more underlying the top one. It was there, I could usually tell the persons general emotional state and reactions. Then I began feeling them. After a few overloads, and experiencing emotions that had nothing to do with me, I decided I REALLY didn't like this development and set about various 'fixes'. I tried filtering, layered shielding, blocking, even went so far as a complete shutdown. The only thing that had significant results was layered shielding, which takes effort to maintain. The most effective method I've found to date is to shield yourself and have two others layer a shield over the top. The mechanics of why it works are unknown to me , I only know its effective.

As time goes by, the difference between empathic/telepathic overload will become easier to identify. With empathy, I usually feel like I'm in a very crowded room, where everyone is talking, but I'm not hearing anything. Instead, the sound becomes a steadily increasing pressure, as though the air has become very thick, and I have trouble thinking clearly. If someone speaks to me, its like listening to sound under water. Now I know that as soon as people start to sound "far away" its time to run. Telepathy is harder to describe. An overload would be like standing on an invisible freeway, eyes closed, while cars moving fast, but at different rates of speed, zoom past you. As they go by, they toss something out the window for you to catch, but its all so fast and their aim is off.

In what I think of as the 'between' state, its a bit like empathy where you know the emotion but don't feel it , but not quite. I feel it, but its more vague and the source is not certain. And simultaneously surface thoughts of others will just kind of arrive. It's all simultaneous, and whether the thought fragments are coming from the same people the emotions are, is not clear, but I suspect not, they don't usually align logically. Physically I feel like I just woke up, and everything is foggy. This state usually lasts a few minutes (though it can be several hours) and then one becomes dominant and the disorientation disappears.

The between state could be a normal state that many rest in, perceiving both, and ignoring it, or a sloppy transition from one dominance to the other. I don't know.

Once dominance of one or the other is achieved, without enough input to be a nuisance, its fairly clear. Though for me, the telepathic input has changed in how it occurs over the last few months. I no longer pick up fragments or single thoughts. I now get a full concept. I get a rush of visuals too fast to interpret, and a min or two later I have a concept. Such as "you went on a date with a new person, and enjoyed it" In the short time it takes to process the incoming information, I feel like a proverbial deer in the headlights.

Physical distance seems to have no relevance in my experience. It's my belief that reception depends more on the strength and sensitivity of the sender and receiver.

Your analogies and metaphors, btw, are quite good. I recognized the description of what is often referred to as "the wall of noise" when an empath overloads.

While empathy and telepathy seem to be separate, and one usually dominates the other, I am not convinced they are truly separate. It has occurred to me that the subconscious may be blocking one at any given time, as a form of self-defense. When caught between dominance of the two, the amount of input for me is too much, from too many sources, to interpret. Logically, I think I would block one, enabling me to be able to make some sense of at least some of the incoming. And that is pure speculation. As to whether I switch dominance or revert back, when in the midline area, I cannot predict, and have done both.

I would be greatly interested in any ideas/theories as to what causes the dominance change. After many months of notes, I still have no idea, and no way to predict the switch.

Intrepid

Empathy vs Telepathy

Premise for this discussion: Compare and contrast Empathy and Telepathy.

I tried this discussion on the old pro boards and thought it might be worth another shot here. Some questions to consider when answering the above: What do they do differently? What kinds of data does each give? Is there a difference between telepathic overload and empathic overload? Does passive range affect each differently? These aren't questions you absolutely have to answer, nor are they all the aspects of this topic out there, they're just a few that came to mind to help give people a general idea of what I mean by this.

I am predominantly an Empath. I have begun developing telepathy, rather against my will. (I’ve stopped arguing with what my natural abilities decide they want to do. It’s too much headache, but that is another discussion.) I have noticed, two very different types of data come from the two. Empathy is a general ‘sense’ or read of a person, when not used in any specific way. Telepathy tends to gain more concepts than impressions. Empathy yields perceptive reactions like “that was a bad thing to say” or “he is upset”. Telepathy, receptive/perceptively, yields more concrete understanding. Example: When I was in my Russian class last semester, I discovered there were times I just ‘synched’ with the professor and started grasping the meanings of what he said, beyond phrases I knew. It took me a little while to correlate to Telepathy, because that’s how I naturally deal with languages anyway (in phrases or not at all.) But he was using phrases I and he both knew he hadn’t used with us, complicated constructions that were not readily deduced from the limited context he supplied. This was the first time I noticed Telepathy in /myself/.

Since then the differences have become more sharp. Empathy is very good, protectively and receptively, for influencing things, and determining how best to react. Telepathy seems to be more appropriate to inexplicable understanding rather than inexplicable ability to react to people. I have overloaded on both, though the telepathy overload was much milder than the Empathy overloads, it also was a completely different feeling. An empathy overload, for me, starts as just pressure, not an actual headache, but that feeling you get when there are just way too many people in a room that you’re stuck in the middle of. It grows to just a sensation of something constantly in your head pushing down. It usually does get interpreted as a headache at some point in the process, and get severe enough that thinking is nearly impossible. The telepathy overload started a little differently, it was like I was hearing snippets of conversations that weren’t there and wasn’t ‘catching’ it all. That grew to the perception of ‘noise’ rather than ‘pressure’, which got ‘too loud’ rather than ‘too much’.

Please note these are, to some degree, analogies and metaphors. I do understand that this is, in some ways, rather like trying to describe the difference between sight and sound, but I hope to get some useful discussion going on the nature of these two psionic skills, and see if there actually is any way to reference them in terms of eachother.

~The Devil's Advocate

Research in Telepathy

The Visual Workout
For those of you who have made any kind of energy construct before, you’ll know that the process takes a “mental picture”. This kind of visualization has to be performed many times in order to become stronger, as with any skill. However, visualization can go way beyond just picturing things for a construct. If done properly, first person visualization can be used as a very powerful exercise tool. How so?

If you’ve read any Remote Viewing articles, there is a technique in there that calls for you to “look” at your target in a first person setting. What does this mean? It means that what you are visualizing should be seen from your eyes. You should not be seeing your body from above, or from the side. Just from your eyes. If you don’t get the first person perspective down, this will not work. In order for you to understand this, you have to realize that you can trick your Subconscious into thinking something else.

The first step to this is keeping the visualization as real as you possibly can. In this article, we’ll use a weight room’s bench press as an example. I would assume most of you have been in a weight room at one time or another. Even if you haven’t, I’m sure you’ve seen a bench press. Although this is primarily a visual workout, try to use every sense possible. Try and smell that nasty man sweat, the old iron (or steel) bars. Listen to the clang of the plates, and the grunts of other people lifting way to much :-P. There’s nothing to taste in a weight room, unless you’re odd like that, anyway…

The visualization is the meat of this process. It is hard to explain without an example, so I’ll just take you through one repetition of a bench press. To further assist you in these visualizations, it is best to lay down, so you can concentrate fully on the visualization. Be sure to turn off all distractions, and silence all noise, in order to help you keep your focus. Now that you’re all comfortable, we can begin with the fun.

“You walk up to the press, and your friend has already set your preferred amount of weigh on the bar for you. They smile and say, ‘Ok three sets of ten, let’s go tough guy.’ You smirk back. You loosen up your shoulders, take a few deep breaths, and sit yourself on the end of the press. You lay down, and notice that the gym was too cheap to buy new padding, and can feel the imprint of the last guy to use the machine. Wiggling around a tad, you get in that perfect position. Your slightly sweaty hands grasp the bar and find their mark. The muscles in your arm tense up, as you push the bar off of its holders. Another deep breath is taken into your lungs, and you let the bar down onto your chest. Exhaling heavily, you thrust the bar up, feeling the burn. You hear the count of ‘one…’ by your spotter. Breathing in, you let the bar down again, slightly relaxing as the weight seems to feel a tad bit less. You exhale again, and a little grunt lets out as you extend your arms up again, and raise that heavy bar up into the air. ‘Damn light, it’s right over my face. What moron designed this?’ you say to yourself…”

Although that was a lengthy paragraph, you can see the type of detail you’re going to need in order to pull this off correctly. I’ve read articles about Olympic athletes who use this very same technique along with their training, in order to become stronger. How does this work? Your subconscious can be tricked into thinking that a visualization is real, and actually work your muscles in the process, even though you’re completely relaxed. Using this with regular exercise can boost your rate of improvement drastically. Even using this method alone, can make you stronger. This exercise can improve how your constructs react to your visualizations, and make them “listen” to you better. Remember, detail matters, and keep practicing!

Rants - telepathy

On the State of the Psionic Community Today
When I first started psionics about six years ago, everything was really quite simple. I would go onto PsiPog and read the articles there, hoping to find something I hadn’t before. It was all about learning and just having fun with it. But once the innocence of being a newbie at a new site started to wear, my understanding of “The Politics” began to change. No longer was this just a website with cool articles and cool people, it was an organization that was in limbo with many others just like it. I soon learned that things weren’t as simple as they appeared.

I’m not going to try and tell a life story of any individual site. By mentioning PsiPog, I’m not putting them down or giving them props in anyway, this is just where I spent my time as a newbie. However, I am going to describe the situation in the online psionic community as I see it. This doesn’t mean that’s how everything actually is to everyone, this is just my opinion. It wouldn’t be a rant otherwise.

No longer is the online psionic community made up of a few tiny sites on crappy servers, run by webmasters just because they could. No longer are sites made up of only 50 or so members, who all give in equally every day, just to try and find something new and fun. Today, the online psionic community is a huge place of interaction and information exchange. Places like PsiPog and Veritas have grown from small sites to mammoth “monopolies” on the information market. At the time of writing (6/28/2005) PsiPog had around 5000 people signed up in its databases. I’m sure the webmasters of these sites never dreamed that their little spare time project would turn out into the great hub of learning that it is.

Despite the huge sites, there are many medium and small organizations that are just as valid as a site with 5000 members. PsiOnline is nice small-medium site that has great articles and a good strong member base of 301. Our smaller numbers allow us to operate a forum, which ties the community closer together, and allows everyone to get to know each other. You can actually have “regulars” with a small community, as you don’t have to know as many people. Everything is easier to organize and afford, as it is on a smaller scale. But there is something that all organizations share if they have any “influence” in the online psionic community. They are share a part in “The Politics”.

As with any large group of people, there are goings on that seem to create that weird gut feeling you get whenever there is scandal, or secretive stuff going on. The same thing happens in this community, except that 90% of that group doesn’t even realize it. After a few years in an organization the moderators and owners should begin to know who you are and make you “in” (If you aren’t an asshole). When I say “in” I mean more in the ranks of a respected and valued member, rather than the regular Joe. It is this at this point that you begin to understand the ins and outs of what goes on behind all the articles and seminars. You begin to learn about the nitty-gritty of running a community. You begin to lean about grudges and past events that have shaped how the community is today.

The politics of a psionic community can run very deep. Small trivial events may end up in the whole website disbanding, if given enough time. But the politics of a website aren’t always with one person. There can be large scale conflicts with other sites that cause members to leave one site for another. There is one case in my mind in which this has gone to an extreme, but I will not name specifics for the sake of those involved. People have left the organizations that they volunteer at, to start their own sites. In many cases, they try to drag other members, usually their friends, with them. This has caused some people to stop visiting all communities, which is a real shame. Why all this turmoil? When you have this much contact, sometimes the stress is too much, or in some cases, you do not like the ideas that the webmaster has.

Part of the problem with many of the management systems in psionic communities is the establishment of totalitarian control of the site. This system, although instantly effective against rule breakers and bad behavior, eventually causes a rift in the community. The hierarchy usually runs Admin -> Moderators -> Respected Members/Oldies -> Everyone else, with there being a terrible large social gap between Respected Members and up, and the rest of the community. Some people are could care less about the “higher ups”, but some feel left out, and when they ask questions, they are usually kicked or banned. That said person now has a personal problem with the moderators of that website, so they go elsewhere with their hatred, and create a sense of tension in another community. If enough of this happens, banned members form groups in other communities, which forces the two sites to clash. The unfortunate problem, is that the most effective way of managing a website is the totalitarian approach.

A democracy in a website usually doesn’t turn out well, especially with a large member base. If members want something the webmaster doesn’t, chances are, the webmaster will just ignore the members, or water down what they voted for. This can cause members to distrust their webmaster, and leave the site. A way around this is a website council, which mediates between staff and the rest of the members, to try to find middle. This works in keeping order, but slows down the progress of the site to a crawl.

With such different systems of organization, no wonder it is so difficult to try to make communities share information with one another. Add this with internal problems such as staff disputes, and conflicts (which sometimes include attacks, stalking, and other assorted nasties), and nobody has time to work out issues. So the political issues fester until they explode, and people usually end up getting hurt in the process. So what are the solutions? What can we do to stop this political bickering and just get back to studying psionics? There are two solutions, and only one is viable.

Solution one would be for everyone to grow up and just drop all the complicated relationships and political aspects of running a community. This is not human nature, and is an impossible idea.

The only other step I see is for a creation of some kind of unified community. Not for everyone to be involved in, but just so staff and respected members can get together and solve the disputes that they have learned so much about. My attempts at UOPC (United Online Psionics Community) have been nearly stopped. Besides creating a website, there are logistical problems that need to be dealt with. You need to invite all the communities, or people are going to feel left out, which is exactly what you’re trying to eliminate. On the other hand, some communities do not like each other particularly well. If website A sees website B on the list, neither will join, causing another rift in the community. Catch 22. It is almost too late to create this kind of organization, because it would have to have been implemented years ago to prevent problems. But it is currently our best option as a community.

So after all this, what am I trying to say? I would like to step back and say “Hey, why can’t everything just be simple again? Stop all the crazy politics and old grudges. Stop worrying about if psychic X is going to come back and cause trouble. Why can’t we just go back to the way things used to be 2, 3, 4 years ago, when all we really wanted was to just practice and have a good time? Why does there have to be a system of such strict order in all the communities?”

When I used to go to PsiPog back in my earlier days, I could count on walking in and getting a greeting from my buddies, and just chilling out. I knew everyone, and everyone knew me, and when there was a newbie, we tried to assimilate them into our group, not keep them out of the “click”. I refer to PsiPog as if it’s the only place, it isn’t. This is the same in every community. I’m just using it as a good, large scale example. Its hard to see a group of “regulars”, they all leave so much. I would just like it to be easier, so we can actually get down to the real business.

It would be nice if we could drop all the hastle of community ranks and website relationship problems, and just get back to practicing and having fun. Can we do that?

Stony

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Observations Over Four Years
At the time of writing this article, I've been practicing psionics for four years. Granted, compared to naturals who have 20+ years experience on me, I'm just a toddler, but I'm starting to get a feel for how a "normal" psion would use their skills on a day-to-day basis. The following isn't really a "how-to" article, but rather an overview of how I've changed mentally over the past couple years to incorporate psionics into my life.

I've been asked countless times questions concerning my practice habits. How often I practice, how long are my practice sessions, what I practice, etc. When one first starts practicing psionics, these are important things to define. Here is a new skill that a newbie has to put time and effort into to learn. Whether it's constructs, shields, empathy, whatever - the skill is foreign to the body and has to be practiced regularly to be successful. Lately though, I have been practicing less, but still improving. Maybe that's poor wording - rather, I've had less scheduled practice sessions, but my skills are still increasing. When you finally accept the fact that psionics is just a part of life, you start to integrate it in everything without being aware of it. For example, if someone wants to know if their friend is feeling ok, they might ask how things are. While I still have that option, I also have the option of feeling the emotions of the target empathetically.

The thing is, to a newbie the option is conscious. To a psionic "toddler" as myself, it's more of a subconscious decision. I ask myself "I wonder how they are feeling?", and the information might be delivered to me in the form of an emotion (via empathy), or I might get an impulse to ask them "how are you?". Why is that useful? I find myself asking questions that I couldn't know without some form of ESP. Other times, information is presented to me without even asking the question. My friend walks by and my subconscious tells me, "he's fighting with his girlfriend." Or I wake up in the morning and hear "your father wants you to call him." My body performs psionic activities and learns without me telling it to, and alerts me of the results. This isn't exactly practicing, but explains why I would get better without really doing anything. Unfortunatley, for my body to perform psionics without my direct permission requires me to forfeit control. This doesn't mean I'm out of control, just that I trust my subconscious to act appropriately to gather information. But it does mean that I get unwanted side effects. Headaches are most common. I've gotten used to the constant slight pressure in my "third eye" area. Mood swings can be quite drastic at times. Excessive sleep from overworking. And while sleeping, I also tend to hit very strange states of consciousness, which can cause a lot of confusion. Nothing I can't deal with, but they're more than minor annoyances. While the "cons" get on my nerves every once in a while, the "pros" make it all worth it. I have the freedom to gather information on about anything I want. I have very good control over my body functions.

I can also manipulate my environment to achieve a certain goal. I'm having a hard time coming up with examples because, like I said, a lot of the decisions are made on a subconscious level. Let's say my friend is having a bad day. Why is he upset? Did something happen? Is the depression based off of an external variable? Let's say I want him to do something. What action should I perform to cheer him up and accomplish my goal at the same time? Should I say anything at all? Should I offer advice? Will he feel better tomorrow? When can I expect my goal to be accomplished? Can I get someone else to cheer him up? How? What do I need to do to most effectively accomplish my goal and make him feel better? These are very useful questions to know the answer to. It will dictate exactly how I should act around my friend. What's important is I never told my subconscious how to accomplish my goals. I list my goals to my subconscious and it will find the most efficient way to accomplish them, and report back to me what to do. I never say "empathetically link with my friend, and let me feel how he's doing". The psionic skills are on a lower level. While I still have access to them if I need something specific, my subconscious understands that it can use them as needed.

I don't know - I've been practicing for four years but I still have a little "inner-skeptic" that just finds a lot of this stuff unbelievable. Not in a sense that "you can't do that!" but in a sense that "wow, I would have never thought this would have happened". If you plan on practicing psionics for longer than a year or so, be prepared for permanent changes in your personallity and lifestyle.

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The Rules of Psionics
Original Idea by Charles J. Sykes
PsiOnline Modifications by stony1205

Some of the original text had to be modified in order to suit a psionics site, instead of a school, but much of the same applies. Such rules are good to follow in any career really. And now, the re-edited version of "Some rules kid's won't learn in school". All credit has been given to Charles J. Sykes for his fine work.

Unfortunately, there are some things that psychics should already know, but don't. Not all of them have to do with psionics. As a modest wake up call, here are some basic rules that may not have found their way into standard curriculum.

-Rule No. 1- Life is not fair. Get used to it.
The average teenager (which is also the average age for members at PsiOnline) uses the phrase "It's not fair." 8.6 times a day. You got it from other members or your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic person ever. When they started hearing it from others, they realized rule No. 1.
-Rule No. 2- PsiOnline doesn't care about your self-esteem as much as your school does.
We expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, members complain that it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1.)
-Rule No. 3.- Sorry, you won't get it the first time through.
And you won't be able to lift that knife or be able to flare either. You may even have to do this strange phenomonon called "practice"!
-Rule No. 4.- If you think the mods are tough, wait'til you get a boss.
He doesn't have a tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it. So quit your complaining, you've got it good here at PsiOnline.
-Rule No. 5.- Listing to a newbie's ideas or difficulties is not below your dignity.
The senior members have a different phrase for a newbie's difficulties. It's called "Help and Respect". They weren't embarassed to listen to someone who may not be as good as them. They would be embarassed to make an ass of themselves and PsiOnline by making rude remarks to those who are smart enough to ask for help.
-Rule No. 6.- It's not the mod's fault.
If you screw up, you are responsible. We aren't here to clean your messes. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other proclamations of your generation. When you do something not advised, it's on your dime. Don't whine or you'll eventually get a `ban line.
-Rule No. 7.- We were'nt as irritable before the idiots came to enlighten us.
We got this way by dealing with morons, deleting our countless ammounts of spam, banning radicals and DBZ'ers, and having an overall hard time... Oh, and by the way, before you proclaim yourself "God's gift to psychics" take the time to read the articles. Let me give you a quote, "I am better than all of you put together!" *Later* "How do u make a psyball?"
-Rule No. 8.- Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life and PsiOnline have not.
In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians have been scrapped, lest anyone's feelings get hurt. Effort is as important as results I suppose. This of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. Here at PsiOnline you can only make an ass of yourself so many times... (See rules 1,2, and 4)
-Rule No. 9.- Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off.
Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up everyday. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we're at it, I'd like to stress this: Very few psionics sites (Including PsiOnline) are interseted in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. Do that on your time, and don't waste ours. Truth is, we don't give a damn about your welfare. (See rules 1 and 2)
-Rule No. 10- Television is not real life.
Nobody here can stress this enough I suppose. If it isn't DBZ it's X-Men. Your life is not a sitcom or anime. Your problems will not be solved in 30 minutes, and you don't master a skill in 60. In real life --Now this is a shocker!-- people actually have to get off their buts and do something! OMG!! Nobody is as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston. Also on a side note you cannot blow anything up with psiballs, so please drop the subject wilst you still have some pride.
-Rule No. 11- Be nice to newbies.
They may be new today, but they may just show you up tomorrow.
-Rule No. 12- Bragging about your psychic powers does not make you cool.
Next time your out cruising, watch a pack of 5 year olds acting like they're goku. Well, that's what you look like to skeptics and non-psychics when you claim that you have amazing psychic abilities. Ditto for "expressing your inner power" when you join a cult.
-Rule No. 13- You are not immortal, nor are you god's gift to psychics.
If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young, and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic or gloryful, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately. Going around thinking that you are "somebody" and using TK all day will end up with you having a liver thermometer. (For those of you who are lost, you'll end up dead thinking you can preform psionics all day.)
-Rule No. 14- Enjoy this time while you can.
Sure, practicing is a pain, school's a bore, and life is depressing. But someday, when you've accomplished much, and are well known at PsiOnline, you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a newbie. Maybe you should start now.
You're Welcome