"Creative Visualization" experiments

[Tom Booth]

I started experimenting with "Creative Visualization" (for lack of a better term) when I was a teen. When I find the time I'd like to give a detailed account of the theory I was going on, methodology and results. Right now I'm posting from the library and I'm about out of time but I'll return when I get a chance.

In the mean time I'd love to hear about anyone elses thoughts or experiences.

Thanks

Tom

[Tom Booth]

The "Theory" or hypothesis I started out with had more to do with the question: under what circumstances does apparent "mind-over-matter" type phenomenon occur?

I wasn't so much interested in the question of is it real or not but to start out with, how can such experiences be elicited so that the alleged phenomenon could be reproduced and further studied.

[Paranormalcy]

I'm not sure I understand how these two posts tie together. Creative Visualization, at least from the New Agey terminology, means basically some form of perhaps meditation, using your creativity and perhaps spirituality to create within your mind, a scene or image, and focus your attention and do things like contact spirit guides, create a white light of protection, and things like that. How does this apply to mind over matter, or are you using the term in a completely different way, talking about about imagination manifest, creating or altering reality via your mental imagery, or "I create what I believe"?

This may be offtopic since I think we may have differing definitions of this term, but I'll share something I think is at least peripherally relevant.

I was in a group that did an experiment of "sending and receiving", sort of like Zenar or ESP cards, but much more accessible and a lot less boring.

0) Get your group of 2 to however many interested people together, and explain the below process, providing pencil and paper for everyone

1) One person chooses a book or magazine with simple or very clear visual images (usually hiding the magazine to prevent unconscious hints, ie, sports)

2) Flip through the magazine, choose one picture or an object in a picture that is clear, prominent and has a strong presence (not just speckled tile or something)

3) Focus on and study the image for a minute or so, tracing it mentally while looking at it, taking in its defining/prominent/identifying features, strongest lines, etc.

4) Close your eyes, recreate and imagine that image in your mind so you can essentially "see" your reproduction with your eyes closed

5) "Fold it up" into a mental envelope and "send it" and then don't think any more about it, putting it out of your mind, go get a snack or whatever else

6) The other people gathered at the table or living room then take whatever amount of time to put themselves into a receptive state and "receive" this image

7) The receivers can speak or write or draw whatever was sent, usually best to write and draw to prevent "cueing" or tainting each other's impressions

8) Compare and discuss the different images, and if you want to make it like a game, the best "receiver" then becomes the sender

It's fun, quick, simple, inclusive, social, inoffensive to almost any religion or philosophy and zero cost.

The most memorable I have was I got a very strong indication of a horse, and I kept seeing a strange sort of white glass bowl and a white glass rectangle behind it, like a strange vertical fishtank. The picture turned out to be an ad for a toilet bowl cleaner (Borax I'm pretty sure) that had a picture of a team of horses in a toilet bowl. Doesn't prove anything but was pretty neat! It might not have any bearing on mind over matter stuff, but it can't hurt.

[John from Lowell]

The "Theory" or hypothesis I started out with had more to do with the question: under what circumstances does apparent "mind-over-matter" type phenomenon occur?

I wasn't so much interested in the question of is it real or not but to start out with, how can such experiences be elicited so that the alleged phenomenon could be reproduced and further studied.

Hi,

In my view, most of what we need to know about these things has not yet been discovered. Based on a channeled Kryon message, these discoveries will take place over the next 300-500 years.

You've heard of quantum physics? Let us simplify that and not use the quantum that often. Instead, let us substitute multidimensional physics. So today, most of your physics is single-dimensional physics, up to four dimensions. You live in four (even though you call it three), and it is your common reality - linear 4D physics. The quantum physicists' work beyond the four with multidimensions. Simple. So right now, as you sit here, you're used to certain kinds of things and the way they work. This is about to change.

The link for the entire presentation is here.

http://www.kryon.com/CHAN2014/k_channel14_MOSCOW-14.html

Essentially we do not know enough about mind over matter at this time to investigate it properly.

John

[Tom Booth]

I'm not sure I understand how these two posts tie together. Creative Visualization, at least from the New Agey terminology, means basically some form of perhaps meditation, using your creativity and perhaps spirituality to create within your mind, a scene or image, and focus your attention and do things like contact spirit guides, create a white light of protection, and things like that. How does this apply to mind over matter, or are you using the term in a completely different way, talking about about imagination manifest, creating or altering reality via your mental imagery, or "I create what I believe"?

My first aquaintance with the term "Creative Visualization" came from the title of the book by Shakti Gawain. I use the term in the sense of, as you stated: "...imagination manifest, creating or altering reality via your mental imagery". I'm using it as a kind of catch-all phrase to describe "New Thought", "Possitive Thinking", "The Secret", "Law of Attraction", "Manifesting"

Generally, "...the practice of seeking to affect the outer world by changing one's thoughts and expectations." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_visualization

As far as your account. I would say it's in the general category. In using visualization to "send or receive" I would say that there is some presumption of some form of "energy" or signal being transfered that is to some degree "physical" - that is, as physical as say radio waves, though I suppose that's a matter of interpretation. I've done similar "ESP" type or "telepathy" experiments.

In my own experiments I've tried to push the limit toward such things as the "materialization" of a physical object or what is generally termed "macro-pk" phenomenon.

"Parapsychologists divide psychokinetic phenomenon into two categories: Macro-PK, which are large-scale psychokinetic effects that can be seen with the naked eye, (such as the levitation of objects and metal bending), and Micro-PK, which are small-scale psychokinetic effects that involve the movement of molecules and atoms and require the use of statistics to detect them, (such as influencing the output of a random number generator)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychokinesis

In other words, I'm mainly interested in what seem to be, by all appearances, unmistakable physical phenomenon. Things that IF REAL could be measured by pysical instruments.

[Tom Booth]

Hi,

In my view, most of what we need to know about these things has not yet been discovered. Based on a channeled Kryon message, these discoveries will take place over the next 300-500 years.

The link for the entire presentation is here.

http://www.kryon.com..._MOSCOW-14.html

Essentially we do not know enough about mind over matter at this time to investigate it properly.

John

Perhaps not, but maybe we can make some start. Take a stab in the dark.

We may only be at a stage comparable to Ben Franklin flying a kite in a thunderstorm to find out about electricity. That's a long way from building dynamo's and equiping our homes with electrical appliances, but one has to start someplace.

[Professor T]

I like this... I don't know if this is a psychic ability though? Personally I think of this as more of a innate human ability, or untapped resource waiting for the instruction manual to be discovered. Perhaps even the name "creative visualization" is just the equivalent of version 0.02 of the naming convention.. But, yeah, I think I know what y'all are talking about here, and the name makes sense to what can be achieved with visualization coupled with an appropriate energy to drive it..

I've done similar before, and I've used & use the law of attraction to manifest change in my life..

As far as a stab in the dark goes... a good example of this and what not to do can be experienced in creative writing.. Where I once had a fictitious character in a story who absolutely refused to go along with my plot because I had unwittingly though a single act of whim driven the characters life journey in the opposite direction of where I ultimately needed him to be.. I realize that this won't make any sense to anyone who has never bothered to try their hand at writing novels before. But it's a similar process, a similar meme or theme to what can go wrong if one is trying to creatively visualize something to happen..

I guess another way of describing this is that what is being manifested must meet certain criteria first.. If one's own thought forms refuse to obey your intention you've created yourself a problem, which is sweet because knowing these problems happen and exist usually peeves you off so much you invest the time and energy needed to understanding these problems.. For me, the criteria in the above case was time, background knowledge & intention... The Character was in the wrong place at the wrong time, also his background knowledge lacked the wisdom needed to complete the task, also he had no intention of doing what I wanted.. All of these things were out of place, hence, the creative visualization ceased to work.. refused to work.. and 16 chapters into a book and two weeks work had to be scrapped because a character refused to play my game.

Thought experiments are a good place to start to.. Impossible problems quite often have simple solutions.. Our imaginations are more powerful than people give them credit for.. And just because imagination can be a source of information, that doesn't meant that imagination can or is any less real..

[Tom Booth]

I'm not sure I understand how these two posts tie together. Creative Visualization, at least from the New Agey terminology, means basically some form of perhaps meditation, using your creativity and perhaps spirituality to create within your mind, a scene or image, and focus your attention and do things like contact spirit guides, create a white light of protection, and things like that. How does this apply to mind over matter, or are you using the term in a completely different way, talking about about imagination manifest, creating or altering reality via your mental imagery, or "I create what I believe"?

This may be offtopic since I think we may have differing definitions of this term, but I'll share something I think is at least peripherally relevant.

I was in a group that did an experiment of "sending and receiving", sort of like Zenar or ESP cards, but much more accessible and a lot less boring.

0) Get your group of 2 to however many interested people together, and explain the below process, providing pencil and paper for everyone

1) One person chooses a book or magazine with simple or very clear visual images (usually hiding the magazine to prevent unconscious hints, ie, sports)

2) Flip through the magazine, choose one picture or an object in a picture that is clear, prominent and has a strong presence (not just speckled tile or something)

3) Focus on and study the image for a minute or so, tracing it mentally while looking at it, taking in its defining/prominent/identifying features, strongest lines, etc.

4) Close your eyes, recreate and imagine that image in your mind so you can essentially "see" your reproduction with your eyes closed

5) "Fold it up" into a mental envelope and "send it" and then don't think any more about it, putting it out of your mind, go get a snack or whatever else

6) The other people gathered at the table or living room then take whatever amount of time to put themselves into a receptive state and "receive" this image

7) The receivers can speak or write or draw whatever was sent, usually best to write and draw to prevent "cueing" or tainting each other's impressions

8) Compare and discuss the different images, and if you want to make it like a game, the best "receiver" then becomes the sender

It's fun, quick, simple, inclusive, social, inoffensive to almost any religion or philosophy and zero cost.

The most memorable I have was I got a very strong indication of a horse, and I kept seeing a strange sort of white glass bowl and a white glass rectangle behind it, like a strange vertical fishtank. The picture turned out to be an ad for a toilet bowl cleaner (Borax I'm pretty sure) that had a picture of a team of horses in a toilet bowl. Doesn't prove anything but was pretty neat! It might not have any bearing on mind over matter stuff, but it can't hurt.

There are a few elements in the above procedure that I've found are of particular significance. I'll try to explain why and break the procedure down in different more generalized terms that I think are applicable to "creative visualization" in general.

1. There is some general overall INTENTION held by the group. In this case to send and receive a "telepathic" message.(In some other experiment, the intent could be different)

2. Both "sender" and "receiver" (that is, particdipants in the experiment generally) follow some possibly, more or less made-up procedure that has some logical rationale behind it that the group can agree on. A procedure which makes some sense or is acceptable to the group as a whole.

3. There is some deliberate control exercised over the participants thought process. In this case the "sender" engages in some rather complex use of the imagination while the "receivers": "put themselves into a receptive state". What that ("receptive state) means exactly, and how it might be accomplished could use some further elaboration perhaps.

4. Once the procedure is concluded: "...then don't think any more about it, putting it out of your mind, go get a snack or whatever else"

To summarize, the group of participants endevor to share, hold in mind or collectively believe some non-ordinary or unusual IDEA or conviction. They go through the motions, take some action which is calculated to demonstrate that idea and make it palpable or REAL. Some control over the participants mental processes is exercised, first to fix the idea or thought or intention to be realized through imagination, then to inhibit further thought on the subject: "don't think any more about it".

Further generalizing I would say that the idea is to create a non-ordinary or unusual group concensus about reality which the participants can agree on. Act in a prescribed fassion AS-IF that reality were real or actually possible, focusing full attention in it while also (or afterward) Inhibiting or preventing any critical or "negative" thinking on the subject by distracting the attention (with some mundane activity) once the new non-ordinary consensus has been reached and acted upon.

Perhaps, the more complex the "procedure" the more the participants attention will be forced to be exclusively focused on the task in exclussion to all else. If the exercise is then brought to a sudden conclussion and ended abruptly: "...then don't think any more about it, putting it out of your mind, go get a snack or whatever else" this has the effect of allowing the "non-ordinary consensus reality" opportunity to become "fixed" or to "sink in" without any contradictory thoughts arising.

[Tom Booth]

... If one's own thought forms refuse to obey your intention ..

This is a fairly common problem not confined, of course, to creative writing.

In the above ESP/telepathy exercise related by paranormalcy one is supposed to: "4) ... recreate and imagine that image in your mind so you can essentially "see" your reproduction with your eyes closed 5) "Fold it up" into a mental envelope and "send it" and then don't think any more about it,"

What if the image doesn't seem to cooperate ? Won't "fold up" or when you try to "send" it, it goes off in the wrong direction ?

The degree of control participants have over their own mental imagery would probably be a factor that should be taken into consideration in any such experiment. There are many types of meditation and visualization exercises that might be used for preliminary practice.

Visualizing simple colored geometric patterns, for example, moving them around, up, down, forward, backward etc.

Some suggest, if the visualized image tends to act unruly - going left when you intended it to go right, the suggestion is to make it go FURTHER RIGHT. Let it go the way it "wants" but make it go faster or slower. In that way you start to get some degree of control over it. If trying to visualize a red triangle and it insists on always turning yellow, - make it MORE YELLOW, then less yellow, then yellow-orange, turn it into a yellow square, then into a yellow circle etc. Kind of like breaking a horse I suppose.

Your average person doesn't generally spend much, if any real time exercising and disciplining their mind and imagination in such ways, but Yogis, mystics, occultists etc. may spend many hours or years at such exercises.

edit: This isn't an endorsement, but I just googled "visualization exercises red triangle" and found this website: http://www.clear-mind-meditation-techniques.com/visualization-exercises.html I don't know anything about the training program offered, but these kinds of exercises (visualizing geometric patterns) go way back to some very old Raja "mind yoga" practices.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Tom Booth

[Paranormalcy]

Interesting. I have done some reading and even personal experiments with the idea of thoughtforms or tulpas, and it is interesting to look at older accounts of some hauntings and such, from that perspective, but I admit I never really considered the possibility of the magazine-esp experiment "getting away from you", and refusing to be folded and sent off. That's intriguing, and never happened to any of us, though naturally getting anything remotely like a solid hit was fairly rare and some were just fails all the way around. I wonder if any of those were due to the visualization "not cooperating". Curious idea - kudos!

[Beany]

I've been thinking about visualizing/manifesting for a while, since the last time I participated in a ceremony about manifesting our future. Here's where I've currently landed: that we will not and probably should not get everything we ask for via prayer, visualization, or any other method. Some things we will get but that may depend more on our own actions & decisions than anything else. Other things won't manifest at all; we do not have enough control over other people or the forces of nature or the universe to facilitate our every wish coming into the physical world. What is more effective is our own actions, and in this arena we can be far more powerful than we think when we set our intention followed by action. And it's the doing that's key, acting in the physical world, without harming anyone, consciously negotiating our way through it, making decisions and taking actions that will likely result in manifesting that thing we want.

[Tom Booth]

The big question on my mind when I first decided to start experimenting with Visualization or Manifesting was, is it all just a matter of increasing confidence so that one sees and takes advantage of opportunities already available, or is it just a matter of changing ones perceptions so that they see the glass half full instead of half empty? Or maybe it has an influence by changing ones domeanor, or body language or vocal expressions so one becomes more persuasive and others are more likely to cooperate.

- OR -

Can such mental exercises actually have some kind of direct influence on physical reality in a mind-over-matter sense?

In all the literature I've read on the subject I'd say the majority focus mainly on the first category, but sometimes hint at the possibility of the second. A few make no bones about it and state emphatically that real mind-over-matter type phenomenon are possible, that what we perceive as "physical" reality is actually a kind of illusion - like a dream - created by thought or mind or "collective consciousness" and/or "the mind of God" and that we can, to one degree or another, participate in that creation. Have some real effect on it, mold or influence it,... that thought can have a direct formative influence on material substance itself, even going so far as to say that we can create matter. That is: cause a physical object to actually appear "out-of-thin-air" by visualizing it clearly and powerfully enough.

Personally, I didn't give a hoot about the first category. It just seemed too much, to me, like self deception. Strictly mind manipulation that had no real influence or effect on the outer world.

I wanted to focus strictly on the second category from a material science perspective. Is there some link between inner consciousness and outer material reality? Primarily I wanted to know one way or the other if real "miracles" were possible. The "siddhis" or magical powers of Yoga and Buddhism for example which are supposed to include "the ability to materialize objects".

I had no real interest in subjective phenomenon. I wanted to see or experience something concrete, something non-ambiguous. I thought that if physical objects could actually be materialized through mental or psychic means alone - that would be something that could even be studied in a lab under strict scientific conditions.

Maybe "astral traveling" to the "third heaven" or some such thing would be more interesting from a subjective point of view but what I was looking for was some concrete proof that would stand up to the scrutiny of the hard physical sciences.

I imagined something like having some Yogi or mystic "materialize" anything. A rock, a speck of matter, a crystal or whatever inside some hermetically sealed vacuum chamber ruling out all possibility of fraud, trickery, hypnosis, self deception etc.

If mind-over-matter type phenomenon was REALLY real then I didn't really see any reason why it couldn't be brought into the lab and studied under strict scientific conditions.

The problem was where to find any Yogi or mystic or whatever who had such ability and who was not already proven to be using slight of hand and who was also willing to have his "power" subject to scientific scrutiny under strict scientific conditions ?

[Beany]

You and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum, it seems. I'm more interested in effecting change in the material world through my own beliefs, actions, thoughts, deeds, of increasing my own sphere of influence, as it were. For me it's meant changing what I thought was possible, changing how I operate, what I say, who I hang out with, and a million other things. It's been very rewarding, creating a life that I love based on my own actions than on the hope or desire or effort to change the forces around me. And why should any of the forces around me be bent to my will or desire? They are not there to serve or to be manipulated by us with the goal of self-satisfaction. There's lots of ways to get what we want or need without trying to harness the forces of nature to our will.

[Tom Booth]

You and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum, it seems. I'm more interested in effecting change in the material world through my own beliefs, actions, thoughts, deeds, of increasing my own sphere of influence, as it were. For me it's meant changing what I thought was possible, changing how I operate, what I say, who I hang out with, and a million other things. It's been very rewarding, creating a life that I love based on my own actions than on the hope or desire or effort to change the forces around me. And why should any of the forces around me be bent to my will or desire? They are not there to serve or to be manipulated by us with the goal of self-satisfaction. There's lots of ways to get what we want or need without trying to harness the forces of nature to our will.

Not necessarily.

What I mean is, from what reading and research I've done, the METHOD for accomplishing the first category of phenomenon (Not literal mind-over-matter) and the second (Literal mind-over-matter causing change in material substance or apparent violations or physical "laws".) is pretty much identical.

You might say that the "manifestation" takes the path of least resistance. If it CAN take place in some more or less ordinary way, chances are it will. But if it is "impossible" through any ordinary means, then if the intent and belief or desire is clear and strong enough - it will still take place through some seeming "miracle" or REAL mind-over-matter type outlet.

In other words, simply apply the same methods you've been using to accomplish something that clearly just could not ever happen by chance or by coincidence or by any other known ordinary means.

It is still a matter of, as you say: "For me it's meant changing what I thought was possible..." but taken to the extreme of believing something you already know is impossible. Or rather, impossible according to general consensus.

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.

"Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes."

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) by Lewis Carroll

Edited September 21, 2014 by Tom Booth

[Beany]

I question the wisdom of attempting to change or wanting to change matter. I think mother nature does quite well on its own. Perhaps there are some learned and wise sages or holy people who do this responsibly and not as ego or self-gratification, I don't know. It's all hearsay, really. Within the last year or so I've given up most creative visualizations, and instead just offer up prayers of gratitude. I just set my intention and make sure my actions are congruent with that and let it go. What's been happening in my life is that those things I would have spent a lot of time visualizing in an attempt to manifest them are being manifest, and without a whole lot of work, simply through congruency of intention and action. I find it very strange that the less I work at it, the more I let go of it, the more I get. I'm still not understanding the dynamics of that, but I'm certainly pleased that it is happening. I'm thinking maybe part of it is making sure I leave room in my life for the unexpected to happen in ways that I could never imagine. I've stopped being the producer and director of my life and am just living it, with gratitude, and I have gotten far better results with this than anything else I've tried.

[Paranormalcy]

I have a personal anecdote that I'm honestly not confident in being an example of some of these ideas, but which from an outside perspective might be interpreted in such a way.

When I was much younger, I worked at a laundromat in my small town in Oklahoma for a year or so, and it was mostly hot in summer and cold in winter, and it could be very loud, with lots of people, which I don't do well with, having social-related anxiety and depression. Anyway I've been interested in paranormal stuff a long time, so I decided to try something I'd read about, specially something with a "negative" component to it, which people were advising *against* - naturally that makes some people want to do something just to be contrarian, though mine was just more to see if there was "anything to any of this stuff".

Using techniques from somewhere I've forgotten, I essentially set up a "thoughtform trigger" over the door of the laundry, visualized as a thick solid brick wall and I might have even added a "cloaking" effect, to try to keep people from coming tot he laundry. I "recharged" this by focusing and revisualizing this for about two weeks, and added the "bad" part - an "aura siphon" that would make the trigger self-perpetuating as it absorbed "0.01%" of the "energy" of anyone that came through the door. It is impossible to say if I saw any real difference for the next month or so, as it was becoming colder (and washing dies off a bit), but I also had a disagreement with the owner about scheduling and I was fired essentially.

A good six months or so later, the owner was visiting my uncle for something, and saw me and said "Boy howdy, things really went to pot! It wasn't two months after you left that business just died! I'm telling you, total honesty, I've probably seen five people total in there in the last week. I don't know what happened but the bottom just fell out of everything. And the even weirder thing is, I had an Indian (Native American) lady come up to me and tell me there was a curse on this place and asked if it was okay if she did a cleansing smudging ceremony. I told her it was fine, and she had this sage and a feather and walked around the building inside and out and doing whatever it was she was doing. Hopefully that will fix everything, it can't hurt!"

But it didn't and he eventually just closed the laundry and went to get another job, though he was way past retirement age. The more "open" believers would say this might be a good example of manifested "mind over matter", or "chaos magick" as I've seen some claim, while it would be for others, an example of gullibility and coincidence. For the record I did return there after the owner's visit and "reclaimed" and took responsibility for the energy and actions and disassembled the thoughtform.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Paranormalcy

[Tom Booth]

I came across this thread:

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=79880&st=0

I remember doing this experiment in social studies class in high school. The teacher brought a girl into the class I had not seen before to do the demonstration.

I got chosen as one of the participants. I stood at the teacher's left leg as he sat in the chair.

The girl walked us through the routine of putting our hands over the teacher's head, explaining what we were going to do but had us first try to lift the teacher without doing the hand over the head thing.

I tried lifting the leg under the knee but he was rather overweight. I'd guess about 300lbs. not very tall. My fingers just pressed into his flabby leg and he didn't budge.

After the little ritual with the hands over the head, I was really curious to see what would happen if I DIDN'T do any lifting. I just put my fingers under the knee to see what would happen.

To my surprise the teacher went up in the air anyway. I kind of followed with my fingers, but they weren't even creasing the leg of his pants. (I was watching very closely and comparing because on the first try my fingers sank about two inches into the fat of his leg but his body didn't budge) His leg didn't even droop though I didn't feel like I was doing any lifting at all. I wondered how the other three people were lifting him straight up without my help when the four of us together couldn't even budge him a moment ago.

We set him back down in the chair and I went back to my seat feeling extremely puzzled, unable to explain to myself what I had just experienced.

For some reason though, watching the various YouTube videos posted on that thread, it doesn't really look all that impressive. It SEEMED absolutely impossible while I was directly involved in it though.

[Tom Booth]

I question the wisdom of attempting to change or wanting to change matter. I think mother nature does quite well on its own.

I don't know if it's "wise" or not. My aim was to find out if it was even possible. I knew about, heard about, or read various accounts and claims to the effect. I just wanted to know, one way or the other if there was really anything to it or not.

Perhaps there are some learned and wise sages or holy people who do this responsibly and not as ego or self-gratification, I don't know. It's all hearsay,

I guess that is the situation I wanted to remedy. ("It's all hearsay") Many, or most of the accounts came from religious people, "holy people", mystics, gurus, religious leaders. writers... At the time I started experimenting I was at a turning point in my life and really just wanted to get to the real truth. See for myself if there was anything to it.

really. Within the last year or so I've given up most creative visualizations, and instead just offer up prayers of gratitude. I just set my intention and make sure my actions are congruent with that and let it go. What's been happening in my life is that those things I would have spent a lot of time visualizing in an attempt to manifest them are being manifest, and without a whole lot of work, simply through congruency of intention and action. I find it very strange that the less I work at it, the more I let go of it, the more I get. I'm still not understanding the dynamics of that, but I'm certainly pleased that it is happening. I'm thinking maybe part of it is making sure I leave room in my life for the unexpected to happen in ways that I could never imagine. I've stopped being the producer and director of my life and am just living it, with gratitude, and I have gotten far better results with this than anything else I've tried.

This is just a metaphor and I don't mean to imply that one approach is better than another, but I guess I'm a "nuts and bolts" type.

Take the question of: how does an automobile operate?

Most people are content with the fundamentals. Turn the key, press the gas pedal. Use the steering wheel to go in the direction they want to go in. They are quite content to drive the car and get to where they want to go and aren't really overly concerned with whats under the hood. The mechanical minded person on the other hand is just the opposite. He's consumed with and spends all his time in the garage with what's under the hood and doesn't ever really care to go anywhere except for an occasional test drive to test out the potential.

I'm in the later category, mainly interested in studying the mechanics. I do an occasional "experiment" to test things out and get some idea of the potentials and limitations but my destination it seems, is always back to the shop to do more tinkering and fine tuning.

[Tom Booth]

I have a personal anecdote that I'm honestly not confident in being an example of some of these ideas, but which from an outside perspective might be interpreted in such a way.

When I was much younger, I worked at a laundromat in my small town in Oklahoma for a year or so, and it was mostly hot in summer and cold in winter, and it could be very loud, with lots of people, which I don't do well with, having social-related anxiety and depression. Anyway I've been interested in paranormal stuff a long time, so I decided to try something I'd read about, specially something with a "negative" component to it, which people were advising *against* - naturally that makes some people want to do something just to be contrarian, though mine was just more to see if there was "anything to any of this stuff".

Using techniques from somewhere I've forgotten, I essentially set up a "thoughtform trigger" over the door of the laundry, visualized as a thick solid brick wall and I might have even added a "cloaking" effect, to try to keep people from coming to the laundry. I "recharged" this by focusing and revisualizing this for about two weeks, and added the "bad" part - an "aura siphon" that would make the trigger self-perpetuating as it absorbed "0.01%" of the "energy" of anyone that came through the door. It is impossible to say if I saw any real difference for the next month or so, as it was becoming colder (and washing dies off a bit), but I also had a disagreement with the owner about scheduling and I was fired essentially.

A good six months or so later, the owner was visiting my uncle for something, and saw me and said "Boy howdy, things really went to pot! It wasn't two months after you left that business just died! I'm telling you, total honesty, I've probably seen five people total in there in the last week. I don't know what happened but the bottom just fell out of everything. And the even weirder thing is, I had an Indian (Native American) lady come up to me and tell me there was a curse on this place and asked if it was okay if she did a cleansing smudging ceremony. I told her it was fine, and she had this sage and a feather and walked around the building inside and out and doing whatever it was she was doing. Hopefully that will fix everything, it can't hurt!"

But it didn't and he eventually just closed the laundry and went to get another job, though he was way past retirement age. The more "open" believers would say this might be a good example of manifested "mind over matter", or "chaos magick" as I've seen some claim, while it would be for others, an example of gullibility and coincidence. For the record I did return there after the owner's visit and "reclaimed" and took responsibility for the energy and actions and disassembled the thoughtform.

[Whisperer]

I've had quite a few successful attempts at this process but have to admit that it is extremely dangerous in many ways if you at first do not set up 'Key' phrases to initiate your determinations.

Example, by utilising it to 'score' a woman I was keenly interested in, the result of which is that I ended up with a Slave rather than a person.

Of course I immediately released the person and over the years tried it a few more times with great success however, because I didn't have a Key to start and end the process, it would manifest whenever I inadvertently applied the system.

As I don't have time to initialise a 'Key' process, I have since put it all on the back burner for my old age to explore.

Such visualisations also gave me many opportunities in acquisitions and 'life opportunities' and the reference to quantum dynamics hold true in every case I have found.

Currently, as I am a smoker, I experiment with directing ash fall to go where I want it to go, the process is a little different as it requires an instant intent to achieve and not a deliberate concentrated approach as the above example required.

Previously in my Military life, I was successful at generating a 'cloaking' effect where I became 'invisible' to all intents and purposes, at will and this was from an applied sequence of structured thought processes...so, there is a lot of merit in the entire subject in my experience and view and so I keenly advise for you to pursue it with a passion, that provides the energy to drive the results.

[Tom Booth]

I guess at this point I'd like to point out that the general "method" of how "creative visualization" seems to work in my own theoretical model outlined earlier:

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=272486entry5315143

Roughly corresponds with the specific case of the levitation exercise:

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=272486&st=15#entry5317219

1. There is a general group consensus or group expectation (we are going to levitate someone)

2. Some procedure is agreed upon that is supposed to effect the desired outcome. (Watching various YouTube videos, it can be seen that the "agreed-upon" procedure varies considerably. Some groups "press down" on the person's heat. In other cases the hands are kept separated - not touching the head at all, the order in which the hands are placed may vary and other modifications - none of which seem to influence the outcome, that is, all the variations work, what seems essential is that the group agree to a set procedure and follow it)

3 & 4. In this case, the "visualization" is not of some future event to happen later but rather the outcome is immediate so three and four are really combined.

The hand placing ritual and/or chanting ("light as a feather") etc. as the case may be, keeps the minds of the participants focused on the objective while simultaneously inhibiting ordinary rational/skeptical thinking that might ordinarily arise under such circumstances.

In reading and researching the subject and reading a very wide variety of accounts of all kinds of strange happenings, I hapened to notice this same general pattern.

I'll give some examples.

[Tom Booth]

I've had quite a few successful attempts at this process but have to admit that it is extremely dangerous in many ways if you at first do not set up 'Key' phrases to initiate your determinations.

Example, by utilising it to 'score' a woman I was keenly interested in, the result of which is that I ended up with a Slave rather than a person.

Of course I immediately released the person and over the years tried it a few more times with great success however, because I didn't have a Key to start and end the process, it would manifest whenever I inadvertently applied the system.

As I don't have time to initialise a 'Key' process, I have since put it all on the back burner for my old age to explore.

Such visualisations also gave me many opportunities in acquisitions and 'life opportunities' and the reference to quantum dynamics hold true in every case I have found.

Currently, as I am a smoker, I experiment with directing ash fall to go where I want it to go, the process is a little different as it requires an instant intent to achieve and not a deliberate concentrated approach as the above ex "the darample required.

Previously in my Military life, I was successful at generating a 'cloaking' effect where I became 'invisible' to all intents and purposes, at will and this was from an applied sequence of structured thought processes...so, there is a lot of merit in the entire subject in my experience and view and so I keenly advise for you to pursue it with a passion, that provides the energy to drive the results.

The responses to this thread seem to be ebbing towards "the dark side" but I have a few questions, maybe you can elaborate on:

What do you mean by "'key' phrase" or "'key' process" exactly, and what reference to "quantum dynamics" are you referring to?

[Whisperer]

Key Phrases are activating structures to initiate any form of process and keep those processes locked up with the intent of the objective so as not to inadvertently apply the process in an uncontrolled careless way.

There is no 'Dark Side' as intent will manifest its own as is willed without the manifestation of applied societal prejudice..

Quantum Dynamics harks to multidimensionality of the whole process...

[Beany]

I don't know if it's "wise" or not. My aim was to find out if it was even possible. I knew about, heard about, or read various accounts and claims to the effect. I just wanted to know, one way or the other if there was really anything to it or not.

I guess that is the situation I wanted to remedy. ("It's all hearsay") Many, or most of the accounts came from religious people, "holy people", mystics, gurus, religious leaders. writers... At the time I started experimenting I was at a turning point in my life and really just wanted to get to the real truth. See for myself if there was anything to it.

This is just a metaphor and I don't mean to imply that one approach is better than another, but I guess I'm a "nuts and bolts" type.

Take the question of: how does an automobile operate?

Most people are content with the fundamentals. Turn the key, press the gas pedal. Use the steering wheel to go in the direction they want to go in. They are quite content to drive the car and get to where they want to go and aren't really overly concerned with whats under the hood. The mechanical minded person on the other hand is just the opposite. He's consumed with and spends all his time in the garage with what's under the hood and doesn't ever really care to go anywhere except for an occasional test drive to test out the potential.

I'm in the later category, mainly interested in studying the mechanics. I do an occasional "experiment" to test things out and get some idea of the potentials and limitations but my destination it seems, is always back to the shop to do more tinkering and fine tuning.

I played with some of this stuff myself for a while. But I was concerned about getting caught up in the phenomena, the gee whiz aspect, and not giving enough attention or study to see how or if it fit in to a larger puzzle. I felt that for myself, treating it as a toy was trivializing it, and that I also didn't have the knowledge or experience or wisdom to manage it wisely; towards the end I felt like it was managing me and I didn't like that feeling, so I put it aside and focused on the spiritual aspects of my life & the world around me. It's still kinda cool, but not for me.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Beany

[Tom Booth]

Key Phrases are activating structures to initiate any form of process and keep those processes locked up with the intent of the objective so as not to inadvertently apply the process in an uncontrolled careless way.

That explanation or description still seems rather vague to me. I'm guessing that you are not talking about "affirmations", though that kind of fits the description. Could you give a specific example or point to some reference? My Googling the subject just seems to turn up a bunch of stuff about internet search engines and computer technology.

There is no 'Dark Side' as intent will manifest its own as is willed without the manifestation of applied societal prejudice..

And yet you mention:

"Example, by utilising it to 'score' a woman I was keenly interested in, the result of which is that I ended up with a Slave rather than a person. Of course I immediately released the person

There seems to be some recognition that how "visualization" was used in this case led to results that were inherently "wrong" by your own estimation, not just a "social prejudice" against putting a "spell" over someone to turn them into a willing (or unwilling) sex slave.

Quantum Dynamics harks to multidimensionality of the whole process...

Still a bit vague, though I'm familiar with the idea of "multidimensionality". Do you favor any particular cosmological model ?