I was going through some old dream journal entries recently and came across one of the first times I made real progress with what I would now call beyond lucid dreaming. At this point, I had only just begun experimenting with the Monroe tapes and had been using them for a short time. For those who may not know, the Monroe Institute developed a method using binaural beats to help people learn how to leave their body—and, notably, the process is repeatable for most people. I believe this is referenced in the relevant On-topic media post “Did the CIA Discover the Spirit World?” Put as simply as possible, the training teaches your mind to remain awake while your body falls asleep. You are fully aware and cognizant of everything happening. Unlike lucid dreaming, this does not occur while you’re asleep. In the beginning—over the course of maybe five to ten sessions—I wasn’t having full out-of-body experiences, remote viewing, or anything particularly deep. Instead, I experienced visions: very simple at first. Mostly intense colors and amorphous, shifting blobs. After a few sessions, however, the visions became more detailed, eventually forming characters and landscapes. This all culminated in the following vision: ""At first, I saw only the sky—but it was different. It looked as though I was peering through a window into another world, where the sky shifted through different color hues. I could see the tops of what looked like pine trees, similar to the ones across the street from the house I was living in at the time. Then I noticed the edge of a large circular frame, almost like a window, made of something resembling concrete, with countless tiny grooves along its edge. I realized I was looking out through this opening, which was oriented straight up into the sky. Slowly, the “window” began to move away from me. As it did, I realized it wasn’t a window at all—it was a gigantic eye. Not just any eye, but the Eye of Providence itself. I was looking through its iris into another world—one that seemed familiar, yet distinctly different from our own.

Yesterday, I was thinking of my late parents and missing them terribly. They both loved Christmas, especially Daddy, and the holidays are just not the same without them. Then a text from my sis popped up on my phone. She had purchased an evergreen wreath to go at their gravesite, and had gone over to the cemetery yesterday to check on it. As she arrived, the late evening sun hit the wreath just so and made it look like a lantern or lit candle was glowing in the center. Physics…or something more? It’s comforting to think of this as a message from Mama and Daddy telling us they are near. Moments like this are not about proof but more about presence. My sister noticed, and then sent the photo to me…and that is what matters most.