A transformative experience...

Hi Max. A few things occurred to me about your experience. In no particular order here: a response to a definite need at that moment (or during these times). A reminder of our nature as something greater and more powerful than we sometimes take ourselves for. The ability to be separate and literally rise above the activities and this world, perhaps at both a local e.g. work environment as well as wider e.g. international relations, levels.

When you described the physical feelings in the spine and rest of the body, I thought 'kundalini' too, but I don't have any expertise or knowledge, you are the expert in this case.

My guess is that there is something permanent about the effects of your experience. We tend to settle down after a while into a 'normal' routine but it may be a different version of 'normal'.


On a personal level, I would certainly remind myself of the need to sometimes do the things you described at the beginning, switch things off, unplug them, disconnect from all distractions, to give myself space to allow such possibilities. Without, I might add, hoping or expecting anything dramatic for myself, just a calming and releasing.

Thanks, I agree with much of that. Also thanks for taking the time to think and write about it.

The immediate run up to this experience involved me entering 'flow', letting-go of control, allowing unconscious guidance. That was also something that happened in the run up to my 2007 experience.

And on your last point.... In the past, whenever I made a major breakthrough in talking therapy, I noticed that I had often cleared-the-decks on the run up to the breakthrough manifesting. After a while, I began to anticipate these personal changes were on the way, by noticing my clearing-of-the decks that preceded them. The 'unplugging' in this experience had similarities with that, i.e. the creation of some sort of conscious state ready for change. But... this was also different... it was almost ritual-like, including purification.

My first childhood STE experience occured whilst asleep, as a dream. My second experience in 2007 occured as I moved from sleep to wakefulness. This latest experience occurred in full wakefulness. Dunno if it's significant, but I found that interesting when it was pointed out to me by a friend.

For years I've been interested in a similarity I've noticed between tricks/techniques we've discovered, which I believe allow us to open-up to gain knowledge... (i.e. Prayer - the belief in something greater than ourselves. Ouija - the belief we're not moving the puck. Drugs - entheogens), and spontaneous cases (i.e. Fear death, Near death), and the everyday tricks we take for granted (Patterns - brands, writing etc).

Two things I've been particularly struck by…

Immediately following the experience, the suggestion that this type of knowledge can't just be given to you, it can only be gained by one's act of searching. You can't be told 'here it is', or 'there it is', it can only be gained within the act of personal search. The suggestion being that this is because this knowledge is not 'here'. Our 'here' is only a subset of a much larger set that resides beyond 'here'. Only access to a larger context can put 'here' into a new context that reduces it's significance. That could be a trick to allow one to rise above things we cannot change, or it might provide knowledge hidden from us, I favour the latter for lots of other reasons :-), but either way, as you mentioned, it's still transformative, and for me, transformative in a hugely beneficial way.

The second, which I find profound and unexpected, is the suggestion that this type of knowledge can't be found in ease and comfort, but can only be found near to the fire.

My experience currently suggests to me that this is another method of opening-up to gain knowledge. This was not in a direction I had previously considered, but in hindsight makes some sense to me.