Shalom Place Community
third eye opening, angel, spirit, or God encounters

This topic can be found at:
https://shalomplace.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/19110765/m/320107261

23 July 2009, 03:08 AM
sad face thoughtful mind
third eye opening, angel, spirit, or God encounters
God loves us. He only does things that edify His church. If its not for His purpose its not something to indulge. If it is of His word and you have been in the light sharing it with lots of other strong, righteous believers in community and they agree that it is from Him then, its probably of God...otherwise steer clear and use discernment...if you dont have a constantly improving righteous life, and are going from glory to glory, then do not even desire this, it is a door to delusion.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sad face thoughtful mind,
23 July 2009, 10:02 AM
w.c.
sftm:

You might do a google search for angels, for instance, as they are mentioned throughout the Old and New Testaments. There is also Paul's "Third Heaven," the angel freeing Peter from jail and the community thinking they had encountered "Peter's angel." So there is a reference there to the notion of guardian angels, which is also expressed rather directly by Jesus when he states the angels of little children are always seeing the face of His Father in heaven. Peter also has visions, and the Old Testament isn't lacking in reference to dreams and visions as ways for God to communicate. The early church was steeped in this Jewish understanding of such things.

As for discernment, there seems to be various criteria biblically: does the spirit respond positively to the name of Jesus? There is also the emphasis on Christ having come in the flesh and those more gnostic-like who deny this, as the Johannine community seemed a generation removed from the original apostles who had among them eyewitnesses.

There is also the church's tradition of "the communion of saints," or the mystical body of Christ including the saints in heaven, those in purgatory and His church on earth, including the angels. You could google this as well.

We've discussed much of that on Shasha's thread. As for third eye experiences, it sounds like that for some there is considerable fear in this. We all come to it differently, it seems. To have this chakra open before or during our Christian conversion seems to be meaningful. You seem to describe experiences of light you aren't sure are holy or pure. My own first concern would be: how does this light respond to your invocation of Jesus? Does it bring you to greater love for others? More patience? More humility? Is there a kind of addiction for those experiences? And is there ongoing spiritual direction?

My own experience has been mainly positive, although I've experienced evil as well. Most of my third eye experiences come during meditation and sleep, and seem to mostly accompany felt perceptions of those dead who attend to us living for good purposes; this has been accelerated somewhat by doing years of hospice work where that "veil" between worlds gets thin. I do not recall seeing "evil" having its way with those at death. The Holy Spirit seems profoundly active during that very vulnerable time, and it seems true to say there are "no atheists on the death bed." Deep longing to give and receive love, forgive, etc . . . emerges from long-held pain and is transformative, allowing God much more room in our souls than when we were able to maintain our addictions, habits, avoidance of fear and intimacy, etc. Dreams also seem to be a major transitionary support for re-orienting from this world to the heavenly world. Many hospice patients tell us of seeing their deceased loved ones coming to bring comfort, to educate re: last important gestures of closure with others who will remain behind. Sometimes the dying push them away as they portend the end of this physical existence, but eventually there is a welcome for these visitors to do their job. And of course, many who go through this are in a coma and can't verbalize their experience; but some do reach out with their arms in a gesture of love and welcome that is quite beautiful. Hospice work has left me less fearful of evil in a certain sense, although I do believe Satan is active re: our attachment to extraordinary experiences, inasmuch as we might place more importance here than on the hard, basic work of loving neighbor when it doesn't feel so good to do so.
23 July 2009, 09:23 PM
Phil
What I experience as 3rd eye or witness consciousness might be different from the way others describe it. It is as though there is a seeing from the center of the forehead that happens in sync with the eyes and the front part of the brain (which grows warm). Attention is direct and non-reflective, though one can choose to think about what is seen if one so desires. There's no seeing into other spiritual realms, but there is heightened intuition, and, hence, an increased sensitivity to the feelings and motives of others. Sometimes one can sense a presence of extraordinary evil hanging around, though this is possible without the 3rd eye open as well. Overall, then, 3rd eye consciousness seems to me a capacity for clarity of attention and appreciation for the extraordinary nature of existence itself.

There is a scriptural resonance, where Jesus says, The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light; but when your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness. Lk 11:34. Some exegetes interpret this more in terms of purity of heart than as witness consciousness.
28 July 2009, 09:31 AM
Mt
Hi,
Since April towards the end of June of this year I encountered evil spirits in imaginative and intellectual visions, and also good ones - most often Mary, and Joseph, Francis, Ignatius and others. I described it somewhere at the forum, but I don't remember where exactly.
I don't know if it's connected to the 6th chakra - might be. I also suspect it's connected to the will transformation in the context of traditional three ways - purgative, illuminative and unitive, which can overlap with the chakras.
28 July 2009, 09:45 AM
Mt
my testimony is here:

https://shalomplace.org/eve/for.../18910625/m/66410098

("visions and visitations" thread in Christian Spiritual Issues)

I've never encountered any spirits before, like Shasha or W.C. Though I was very much into Eastern spirituality, I've never had any contact with anyone besides Jesus Christ. And I'm thankful for that.
I'm intrigued by the discussion between W.C. and Shasha, and I haven't made up my mind yet on that.

I also feel the energy in the forehead, or in the brain behind eyes, which accompanies the witness experience or great silence without thoughts, or being "imprisoned in the now". Sometimes being disaffected, but I don't know if being disaffected really belongs to the third eye, since Phil says different. Maybe it's more to do with the 7th?