I like this one....
but it is the fist I read, within 15 pages it tels you now to. Thats all it took for me. The rest is good, but some people here say he talks too much of his own adventures, that may be true, but it's a good way to draw paralalells and know what to expect when you get better.
Our survival instinct is wound too tightly, which leads to this suffering. What you see as banalities are actually the distractions from this suffering, but the distractions themselves are as material as the source of distress; and distractions are, by nature, only temporary. A better satisfaction is probably tuning into a sense of compassion and right action. Meditation will help you cultivate this, and it will allow you to approach distractions and suffering with patience and love.
Our banalities are part of a nature we choose to accept when we take this form. The form is not ideal, as I said. Perhaps because its creator is not perfect, or perhaps because the flaws are by design. Whatever the case, when you are done here, it will be as if no time as passed at all. You will look back on it like the single blink of an eye. All the strife, the pain, the disease will be a page in a book without beginning or end.
There's a trilogy of books on this subject written by the late Robert Monroe that you may find illuminating. They're listed here. You may not believe what he has to say. But consider it food for thought.
Amazon link if anyone is tempted:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385008619/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_8MVBybW1RZFRM
This is truly fascinating -->Children Who Remember Past Lives by University of Virginia Professor of Psychiatry Jim B. Tucker
Jim’s bio link is here: https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/dops-staff/jim-tuckers-bio/
There is a bunch of stuff online about Jim’s research, but I personally think the most enjoyable way to learn about his work is by watching Episode 6 of Surviving Death on Netflix.
https://www.netflix.com/title/80998853
(Episode 1 is also good, which is about out of body experiences, episodes 2-5 are not that great in my opinion)
If you want to read something quick about Jim’s work, I would check out: https://uvamagazine.org/articles/the_science_of_reincarnation
There also has been several “random number generator studies” where participants consciously adjust the outcomes of results. Here are some of those studies:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22051562/ https://noosphere.princeton.edu/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRSBaq3vAeY
If you are new to quantum physics, I would suggest checking out this video that proves that matter is essentially “not rendered” until there is an observer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1YqgPAtzho
Here is another good video about a particular quantum physics theory:
The CIA Gateway Experience is a fascinating read about remote viewing and astral projection: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001700210016-5.pdf
(Astral projection is also something you can try yourself, check out https://www.amazon.com/Journeys-Out-Body-Out-Body/dp/0385008619 or Astral Club on YouTube).
Start with Journeys out of the Body:
https://www.amazon.com/Journeys-Out-Body-Out-Body/dp/0385008619
This starts from the beginning of when he started experiencing spontaneous OOBE's and goes from there towards developing curiosity and then studying it.
The other books in the trilogy expand and detail the formation of Hemi-sync and the Monroe Institute.
I would start by reading this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Journeys-Out-Body-Out-Body/dp/0385008619
Relevant Sources:
https://www.amazon.com/Journeys-Out-Body-Out-Body/dp/0385008619
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270004-2.pdf
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001200060018-5.pdf
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001700270006-0.pdf
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001700210016-5.pdf
Read Journeys Out of the Body by Robert Monroe ❤️✌️
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385008619/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glt_i_CZ779VH6CSDHD4P4J76X
Robert Monroe's Journeys Out Of The Body has a whole chapter on sex & astral beings trying to jump your bones.
Read Robert Monroe’s books on the subject. They’re really good, inspiring and informative. Journeys Out Of The Body
the hard part about it is that there's positive things mixed up with negative things. so you're left figuring out what's what--or maybe you're not. Are you her boyfriend? I get the sense you wish you were, or it's something like that, even if you're a same sex best friend. It sounds like it may be you who needs to let go.
But without being there to fully assess the situation, I would bet it's exactly what you called it: "some sort of shortcut with dealing with a lot of personal issues." It's not that the spiritual stuff doesn't have immense truth. But all to often people new to "the path" use "the path" as a way to avoid facing their real problems. And it definitely can be dangerous. But it also can be just the outlet they need. Sometimes people need a positive outlet whatever that is, to be obsessed about it, etc, if that takes them away from their problem. One of their primary problems before usually is that they are obsessed with their problem. Maybe later she can circle back and examine it (rather than avoid it) with new eyes.
Spirituality at its core is all about questioning your own motivations and intentions. I urge you to do just that, not just hers. If you're able to be open and honest with your intentions, you may be lucky (though its not a guarantee) and it rubs off on her and she gets honest about hers. But either way, you first. Make sure your intentions are straight.
If your intentions are straight, and your coming fully from a place of concern--why not immerse yourself and learn what she's learning. Here's your reading to do list:
-Robert Monroe (the grandfather of out-of-body experiences). Read his first book: Journeys out of Body
https://www.amazon.com/Journeys-Out-Body-Out-Body/dp/0385008619
-Drunvalo (The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life). This is likely stuff she's into. Along with stuff from the Spirit Science Videos (they pretty much borrowed Drunvalo's whole speel). Here's the youtube playlist of their animations that made them famous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmN2RL4VJsE&list=PL2C2FBAB7E002EE3E
-if you really want to get into it read Thomas Campbell's My Big Toe (Theory of Everything). Read the first book.
I could list a million more out-of-body experience slash astral projection authors. There literally is millions of people experiencing mystical states my friend, and tens of thousands writing books about it. Basically your dream nature (i.e. where you invent whole realities in your head while you sleep) is closer to your true nature than what you experience here on planet earth on a daily basis. That is to say you're a sort of imagination machine. That's what all these authors are saying. There's a whole movement around this stuff. Immerse yourself if you really care. Otherwise, you're a dilettante feigning concern for ulterior motives. Your friend is on to something big here.
Thomas Campbell pioneers a concept called "Open Minded Skepticism." In western secular culture, we're too skeptical. It destroys our ability to imagine, to tap into our true spiritual imagination capabilities that you experience every night when you sleep. However, some people like I think your friend here are too "open minded." According to Thomas Campbell--and from my own experience--this conversely is problematic because it leads people to feel as though they know things they did not experience for themselves, which kills any real motivation to ask questions and figure things out on their own. In short, these people that think they know everything about spirituality can become know-it-alls, doing it for the wrong reasons, and miss what they really should be learning. So you need a balance (as with everything). You need to be open minded, but you need to be skeptical until you verify possibilities through your own experience. I.e. your own experience out of body, in mystical states, etc.
You seem like the more rational one. In Drunvalo's Ancient Secret of the Flower Life, he champions a concept of "Left Brain vs Right Brain" and the idea that male thinking is the more rational left brain side whereas female thinking is the more imaginative intuitive heartfelt right brain side. Specifically what he champions is that we western scientific secular people need to use logic to convince the left brain that what the right brain intuits is true. You need to spiritual logic to convince yourself to live in your heart. Our logical minds need to consciously understand the consciousness system we are living in, in order to live up to our true more intuitive imaginative nature.
Again, you're an imagination machine, with more powers than we currently feel and know we are capable of. According to Campbell (who by the way worked at Robert Monroe's consciousness exploration facility), we are baby consciousness in a petri dish called "planet earth" designed specifically so we can grow ourselves into higher/greater consciousness. So we live in an experiment. It's an experiment that is trying to grow us. It's also trying to get better at growing us. It's a virtual reality. And outside of this reality is more virtual realities, and so on. That's how consciousness works. Like in Men in Black when you zoom out and see one reality inside another. Got it!
So your job is to convince your left brain that a shred of any of this is true by doing your homework and reading what the many who've gone before you have said. I invite you to amazon.com. Good luck!
I've never had one but this book was pretty fascinating.