originally published July 23, 2012
The following is a free-verse poem I wrote about astral projection. More important than its message is the message you can only see once you’ve mastered your own cerebral air-travel. Yes, this means there is a coded communication hidden within the poem. Seek it out if you can.
Astral projection. Believe it or don’t believe it.
Some call it (though not I)
Travel. Or Truth.
Religious interpretations abide and confess:
Afterlife, heaven, the soul’s ascent into Funkytown (lucky, lucky soul).
Life after death? The great clouded hall?
Probably not, young caribou.
Really, more likely the natural flick of a brain gone numb;
Out-of-body experience, but… can we just turn it on and off?
Just think. Yes or no.
Experience, having been experienced.
Classical thought scribbled in bloodstone Crayola,
(Theosophist, so and so)
Intermediate world between heaven and earth; earth and hell;
Only a way-station between launch and stretch; cosmic agoraphobia;
Nowhere and everywhere at once, none and all,
In the realm of devil and angel.
Sprits. Booya.
Could a link between the soul and the body exist then?
Occultists say the body travels through nested spheres – so
Maybe similar to concentric circles of koi…
Perhaps existence itself. Think on it.
Life beyond life; a cryptic
Esoteric existence formed between the
Thought and reality – a cosmic, trickling falaj –
Emanationism, yo.
Biblical lore embraces the notion, I swear;
Under Ecclesiastes, the concept of a silver cord trailing up,
Linking our physical body, muscular and skeletal,
Linking like sticky guava…
Subtle body (the soul, the guts, the oomph, the psychic river)
How is this possible? Is it legit?
Is the bible correct? No? Yes?
That is an argument for another argument, a guerilla
Cause for debate, a cause for those
ANGRY PEOPLE spewing BRIK-A-BRAK.
Not here. Not in this space. Not on this plate of verbal vermicelli.
You won’t even find agreement at all
On the bible mentioning Astral Projection – is it
Understood to be the soul’s sensei,
But maybe just a metaphor – the truth?
Ecclesiastes may be speaking of his
Literal spinal cord, man.
I think that makes more sense tho;
Even more sense than confusing
Visions of other worlds seen,
Emanating from the mouths of quasi-
Perfectly Respectable People who speak and think somewhat ill.
Epistle #2, y’all.
Orated by the Apostle
Paul, a wise fellow:
“Look, I knew this dude, Christ. Knew him good.
Except maybe I didn’t, you see?
Body or out of the body – Him or out-of-Him;
Understand I do not. Non, merci.
You don’t either. So be it!
I’m writing the book; I’ll worry about the proof;
Now you’re buying it, so…
Tell me, what are you going to do about it folks?”
Only God has writ
The truth tho.
He knows all.
Except he ain’t talking in my head.
If he even exists, and so on.
Don’t get me started – another debate
(Eloquent or crap –
Astoundingly full of yammers)
To be had on another site.
How
About we sip
The teachings of Islam? (aha!)
Oh, were it only the Bible, so many then
**Understandably** could call it mania;
Religions could cast it aside as simply dumb.
Says here Muhammad flew like a caracara
Off to Jerusalem. Over,
Under, Through, and among,
Literally around
Seven heavens. Fluid, unstill,
Though his body like a tableau
Remained. There you go.
Amazing, herewith.
Verily onward and backwards:
Egypt, the Ancients. The magi.
Layers of the foundation, seekers of truth,
Tinkerers of civilization, builders of Cairo
Honor the notion; astral projection gets respect.
Remember the ka? That spiritual zamboni?
Oh. Me neither. Any guesses?
Unsure of this concept – Ask your swami.
Go back to the notion of ‘subtle body’, you’ll see.
Heaven’s prelude – ethereal dim sum.
China offers their own theoretical potpourri.
Oriental wisdom (is that word offensive now? Shit…
No, I’m probably okay. I mean no hurt)
Chinese Taoism grows a conceptual hosta:
ENERGY BODY (paced by each breath)
Nurtured by meditation, breathing pure and raw,
Taught as an alchemical practice,
Reeling energy into a ‘pearl’.
I’ve got to wonder, to take a stab:
Can so many accounts be fully dismissed? Should I?
Can so much global spiritual embracing be faulty? Out of order?
I’m probably not the best one to refer.
Really, I doubt everything. It’s true.
Christ, I didn’t even fully understand the finale of Lost.
Look, I’m no student of these spiritual habber-jabber thingies.
Except I have a deadline. I have a commitment to reaching deeper into the fireball.
So I progress, so I tell:
Astral projection, spiritual swerve.
No stranger to Taoism;
Daoism sings;
Sage voices in India tell tales with a wild end.
Unbelievable… irrational… logical aberration…
Cosmic. Abracadabra.
Hindu scriptures that teach.
Hindu experience; Eastern aesthetic.
Osho: a man:
Oregon resident; mystic Hindu spiritual leader full of chutzpa,
Explains his own travels though the astral plane, et al.
You may not believe, but he sure as fuck does. Oui, merci.
Explanation by teacher Meher Baba (no doubt supported by Guru Dev):
“In the advancing stages leading to the beginning of the path’s gate,
The aspirant becomes spiritually prepared without panic,
Honing the free use of forces from the world’s inner guru,
Emanating outward, further,
Replete with Astral Bodies.” Such aplomb.
Travelling in sleep can occur, it’s true.
How to differentiate from a kick-ass dream, he won’t speak…
Explain… like cosmic octopi…
You must judge for yourself, all in all.
Astral travel during wakefulness is
Really meant to look
Exceptionally more potent. Think and do.
Full consciousness bleeds purity… unto…
Unto the journey of heaven and hell.
Life into life. Life into sky.
Life into other. Like Vishnu.
Other into beyond. Soaring.
Future into… well, you probably see where I’m coming from here.
Can the Japanese provide insight into astral traffic?
Really, why shouldn’t they take a stab? Are they not guru?
Astral projection can occur if one holds a grudge. If one hates and is hated.
Part of the soul can travel to curse (oh no!),
Or harm, or strike fear,
Really, whatever that part of the soul feels like mixing up,
Into the astral plane, the great OTHER.
Nemeses be warned. The soul is Houdini.
Eskimos – no wait… Inuits, dude,
(Even them I’d prefer not to offend though)
Dole out tales of souls in flight.
Taking flight also
Over mountains, oceans,
Greenland… Portugal…
Eskimos – sorry, Inuits (ya, ya)
Take back cures and superstitions to their waiting families, previously unknown.
Maybe down South America way, to Brazil and below –
Yaskomo of the Waiwai. Yes, Yaskomo.
(Honestly, I didn’t make that name up, officer.)
Amazonian tribe, astral travel has plenty of hubbub.
Names for new-born babies, boys and girls too,
Descend along with the soul of the traveler, like ‘Dave’ and ‘Gonzo’;
Skies hold cosmological beings, yet
Only they can speak within the astral.
No, that’s not suspicious. That sounds real.
Brother of the moon, I tell ya,
Emits tales of where food can be found. Yum!
Taught within caves of sacred mountains,
Taught to only a select few tho.
Etheric travel means out of the body – up, up and go ,
Real world voyages only, day or night.
Don’t confuse them with Astral Travels –
Reaches beyond space and time. Flighty.
Unfortunately, I’ve never tried either. Wha…?
Get out! I have? Wish I remembered what I saw.
So maybe we all have. Look deeper into the well:
Wild dreams of falling? Says academia:
“Hey, that could be astral projection.” Sure.
I’ve had these! I’ve fallen far!
Looks like a silver cord to those who – aha!
Experience (and don’t dismiss)
It. Look there!
That’s a second mention of the silver cord to travel up!
How could this be? Destiny? Euphoria?
I’m reading too deep into this, too far.
No, there are too many accounts to dismiss it (though I’m trying).
Knowledge is flittering like snowflakes.
Out-of-body could be a hallucination; trippy;
For minds greater than my own to explore the area.
I am but a mere internet writer with a hungry maw.
Taught by Wikipedia, a suspicious site.
Isolated from scholarly pursuit. On and off.
No, I must swallow my gullibility – mixed with skeptical saliva.
Embrace my doubts,
Enrich my awareness but never fully buy in. Inquiring…
Doubt. To question.
To another question (not I),
Only to add more questions. What luck.
Reality remains obscured. Like magic.
Even invisible. (like Vishnu)
My suspicions are valid, on or off.
Everyone wants to believe in Mystics.
Magic. Adventure.
But they won’t give up
Everyone has questions, ya?
Really, I’m not the source people look to for an answer.
This is a good thing.
On a good day I unearth some truth. Perhaps you should write what you know, guy.
Bacon. (not Vishnu)
1000 Albums, 1000 Dates 