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Visionaries,visions, hallucinations and imagination

May 01, 2006 04:54 PM
by Jerry Hejka-Ekins


Dear Friends,

I posted this message about twenty days ago and, for some reason, it failed to go to distribution. So, for Cass (you asked in the first place) and others who might be interested in the subject, I am re-writing and reposting it as a new discussion string.

Dear Cass, Friends,

Cass, I'm not sure that visions for their own sake are all that interesting for a third party who does not actually experience them. In my case, I don't see beings on Mars or talk to ascended Masters. I do think that people experience a variety of different kinds of visual and mental phenomena that originate from a variety of states of consciousness that all people can potentially achieve. What the people actually relate in their experiences has, I think, more to do with the "reality" they attribute to it. For instance, I recently had entertained a visitor who trained for many years with a Brazilian spiritist from the Kardec school. For a couple of hours she related to me various visions she had. She told me in total seriousness of her meetings and conversations with the Archangel Michael and other such celestial celebrities. While she was telling me these things, I thought to myself: "now if she were from India and had the same experiences, she would probably be telling me of her meetings with Krishna etc.
So, I think the visions themselves are less important than the insights they point to for the person who has the experience. That is because the insights seem always to be around some personal context. That is, we experience certain things precisely because of there meaning to us, or because of our need to see them. For instance, I have had several people tell me of a time when they were in deep despair and a "Master" appeared in their room. Was the appearance physical; an astral projection; a waking dream? That would be hard to determine. Perhaps the importance of the vision is the meaning it conveys, or the reassurance it gives to the person at the time.
Another kind of vision is what I would call a waking lucent dream. That is, the person is completely awake and aware of the actual surroundings, yet is experiencing a vision of a place somewhere else with all of the sounds, smells, sensations etc. associated with it. These kinds of experiences sometimes occur in meditation.

Others fall into the clairvoyance category. There is a story that Swedenborg, while visiting in a distant town, clairvoyantly saw his own town on fire. He described to the other guests the progress of the fire and which buildings burned. The accuracy of his vision was confirmed in a newspaper story that appeared a couple of days later.
Other phenomena I have seen includes telepathy. About 35 years ago I used to work in an open setting Community Mental Health Center in Los Angeles. There, I ran into several patients who were remarkable telepaths, and would give voice to things that I was thinking. There were others who heard voices. They believed that God, or angels, or departed spirits were speaking to them.
Another phenomena I have witnessed is the presence of entities of some kind amidst extremely pathological situations. Some people seem to be particularly good a drawing such entities and are surrounded by them most all of the time.
There are other things too, but this might be enough to start off a discussion. What other kinds of phenomena have you witnessed? In these phenomena, what might be the difference between spiritual and psychic visions, hallucinations and imagination. How are these elements different, and how do they interact?
I hope this helps.
Best
Jerry



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