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My path to spirituality
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My path to spirituality had a dubious beginning. It began when I was 12 years old, when I first experienced sleep paralysis. For those of you who are not familiar with sleep paralysis, it’s a spooky feeling. The following is an edited version of what I wrote in a health forum on sleep disorders to give you an idea how spooky it is:
“I become awake. Maybe I am dreaming. But the dream is so lucid that I can see clearly with a much wider vision, even with my eyes closed. Then I hear soft, intermittent buzzes, very much like electricity passing through the lines outside, except that it is passing through in my head with a “zing, zing, zing” sensation. My toes start to tingle with pins and needles, and then stiffen. I try to ward off the sensation by wiggling them and to wake myself up. Often I succeed. When I don’t, the buzz returns with a vengeance, as though I have made it angry. It‘s louder, and the stiffness starts to overcome my whole body. My body starts to pulsate. It seems that if the buzzing sound reaches its highest peak, so will the pulsation. Something drastic is going to happen. I feel totally helpless, I try screaming for help but can’t; my vocal chords are paralyzed. I still try desperately to twist and turn. I try to move my fingers, my legs. Now the buzzing sounds like gushing wind blowing over my head, over my ears. Has it reached its peak? My mind wonders. Am I going to die? Am I going to explode? Sometimes I hear bells and waterfalls at this point. Sometimes I see the dark shape a being at the foot of the bed unmoving. Sometimes I hear a ‘pop’ sound.”
I began spending a lot of time in the library trying to find out what was going on. The first book I ever read “The Search for Bridey Murphy” introduced me to reincarnation; the second “The three Faces of Eve” to multiple personalities. At that young age I didn’t know where to look, but I was being introduced to new ideas that fascinated me. The more I read, the more I was introduced to new ideas. At a very young age, when boys played basketball, learned surfing, went hiking, I was reading books in the library on esoteric subjects- death and dying, psychic phenomena, communication with the dead, lucid dreaming, false awakening, the astral body, etc. I even inquired about Eckankar (Soul travel). I soaked up books on Edgar Cayce like a sponge. I also read up on Robert Monroe who could willfully do OBE (out of body experience) while being studied by psychologists in the lab.
In the course of my inquiry, in the early 60’s, I came across Max Freedom Long who uncovered the ancient Hawaiian practice of Huna and introduced it to the western world. His book, “The Secret Science of Miracles, “ left a lasting impression on me. It says that the Hawaiians and Huna came from Egypt and Jesus Christ Himself was a Huna practitioner. According to Long, they were the Essenes.
In 1970 when Hawayo Takata introduced Reiki to Hawaii, I remember how disappointed I was at the price she had set for Reiki master training- $10,000. I was in my 20’s then, fresh out of college, barely making a living. Instead of at least taking the first two levels, which were affordable, I simply turned my head away, feeling the affordability was just a lure for the $10,000. I was upset at Takata. I felt she was trying to make Reiki a money-making venture. In the mean time, I continued studying Huna and Reiki on my own.
In the course of my inquiry, in the early 60’s, I came across Max Freedom Long who uncovered the ancient Hawaiian practice of Huna and introduced it to the western world. His book, “The Secret Science of Miracles, “ left a lasting impression on me. It says that the Hawaiians and Huna came from Egypt and Jesus Christ Himself was a Huna practitioner. According to Long, they were the Essenes.
In 1970 when Hawayo Takata introduced Reiki to Hawaii, I remember how disappointed I was at the price she had set for Reiki master training- $10,000. I was in my 20’s then, fresh out of college, barely making a living. Instead of at least taking the first two levels, which were affordable, I simply turned my head away, feeling the affordability was just a lure for the $10,000. I was upset at Takata. I felt she was trying to make Reiki a money-making venture. In the mean time, I continued studying Huna and Reiki on my own.
As I got older, I actually began to look forward to sleep paralysis. But, alas, it stopped coming on as often. In fact, the last episode I had occurred about 10 years ago, although I still get weak buzzes, short lived, every so often. Why was I so anxious? You will probably raise an eyebrow and wonder about my sanity after reading the next part.
The last time the buzzing occurred at full strength, 10 years ago, I was lying in bed half asleep in my in-laws' house in Indiana. From my sleep position on my back, I mindlessly saw light from the hallway seeping into the bedroom from the bottom of the closed door. It didn’t dawn on me that, from my supine position, it was not possible to see the bottom of the door, or that no lights should still be on as it was about 2:00 a.m. and everyone had gone to bed, or that the hallway light would not be that bright. Then my wife rose from the bed from her waist up and turned to me as though to wake me up. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Why did I scream? Didn’t I recognize her as my wife? First of all, to rise the way she did happens only in movies like "the Exorcist." Second, her body was different; it had of millions of tiny stars all over it and it was translucent. Her reaction? Instead of being jolted by my scream, she merely said, "oh, Charles..." then went back to sleep.
The next morning, at the breakfast table, I was expecting my in-laws to ask me about my "nightmare." I was surprised no one mentioned it. They didn't hear me scream, neither did my wife. This made me wonder if it was only a dream. What I saw, I think, was my wife’s astral body. Both of us were out of our bodies.
The last time the buzzing occurred at full strength, 10 years ago, I was lying in bed half asleep in my in-laws' house in Indiana. From my sleep position on my back, I mindlessly saw light from the hallway seeping into the bedroom from the bottom of the closed door. It didn’t dawn on me that, from my supine position, it was not possible to see the bottom of the door, or that no lights should still be on as it was about 2:00 a.m. and everyone had gone to bed, or that the hallway light would not be that bright. Then my wife rose from the bed from her waist up and turned to me as though to wake me up. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Why did I scream? Didn’t I recognize her as my wife? First of all, to rise the way she did happens only in movies like "the Exorcist." Second, her body was different; it had of millions of tiny stars all over it and it was translucent. Her reaction? Instead of being jolted by my scream, she merely said, "oh, Charles..." then went back to sleep.
The next morning, at the breakfast table, I was expecting my in-laws to ask me about my "nightmare." I was surprised no one mentioned it. They didn't hear me scream, neither did my wife. This made me wonder if it was only a dream. What I saw, I think, was my wife’s astral body. Both of us were out of our bodies.
I had been out of my body via sleep paralysis many times before that incident, but never before had I seen, what I believe, was an astral body (I cannot see my own when out of body). It was a beautiful sight, but still spooky because it was strange. I imagine that would be the same way I'd feel if, say, my spiritual guides (if they exist) appeared to me.
In another incident, I found myself walking in my house in the middle of the night. Everything was much clearer than normal. At the same time I saw furniture and other items in the house that didn‘t exist in real time, again making me wonder whether it was nothing but a dream.
I flew over the Golan Heights in Israel in my astral body during the war there with the Palestinians. I could clearly see the mountains, bright golden brown, although I didn’t see any people. I even flew over a beautiful forest which I believe was one of Japan‘s misty forests.
On one occasion, when the buzzing came on, I willed myself to go through the ceiling. I kept bouncing off. On another occasion, I was absentminded- I kept turning around in my body, didn't realize that I had an OBE. It was like an avocado separated from its shell but still left lying inside it.
In another incident, I found myself walking in my house in the middle of the night. Everything was much clearer than normal. At the same time I saw furniture and other items in the house that didn‘t exist in real time, again making me wonder whether it was nothing but a dream.
I flew over the Golan Heights in Israel in my astral body during the war there with the Palestinians. I could clearly see the mountains, bright golden brown, although I didn’t see any people. I even flew over a beautiful forest which I believe was one of Japan‘s misty forests.
On one occasion, when the buzzing came on, I willed myself to go through the ceiling. I kept bouncing off. On another occasion, I was absentminded- I kept turning around in my body, didn't realize that I had an OBE. It was like an avocado separated from its shell but still left lying inside it.
In college, when the buzzing didn't occur as often, on one episode I looked at the figure at the foot of the bed and wondered if it was me. Its shape was like mine. broad shoulders, short neck, round head. It never threatened me, it usually just stayed still like a shadowy statue. The fear I had of it was very similar to the feeling I had when I saw wife's astral body. On a couple of occasions, it came next to me on my left side. The feeling I had then was one of full resignation. I couldn't do anything. There was ambivalence: On the one hand, it were like being in the hospital with a nurse or doctor tending to me in the middle of the night with only night lights on; on the other hand, it felt like an extraterrestrial doing probes…or a lost soul attempting to take over my body.
If these experiences were not OBEs but just dreams, how fantastic dreams can get!
I finally decided to forgive Mrs. Takata and inquired about getting attuned. On June 1, 2000, A Reiki master from Alabama attuned me on the internet after she was satisfied that I had ample understanding of Reiki. A year later I went through hands on training and re-attunement in Honolulu. Then in 2002 I got my level II and became Reiki master in the same year.
I finally decided to forgive Mrs. Takata and inquired about getting attuned. On June 1, 2000, A Reiki master from Alabama attuned me on the internet after she was satisfied that I had ample understanding of Reiki. A year later I went through hands on training and re-attunement in Honolulu. Then in 2002 I got my level II and became Reiki master in the same year.
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