A number of posts about spirits and the like in various forums throughout this board have cropped up recently. Although my post here isn't exactly on the debate of evolution versus creationism, I thought some might find this interesting and noteworthy. It touches on the idea of spiritual entities, more or less. What I like about its sentiments is that, while essentially Buddhist in origin, it's a concept compatible with any religion (or none at all). It is, however, said to be a very dangerous practice (so don't try this at home, kids!)

Taken from a book on lucid dreaming, entitled 'The Lucid Dreamer' by Malcom Goodwin, he states the following.

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Certain Tibetan sects like the Kargyupa believe the entire universe to be the product of mind, created by the collective stuff of the thoughts of all beings. Some dream yogins, like Sariputta in India, even manage to create illusionistic entities which gradually take on what appear to be an independent existence. An eye-witness account by Alexandra David-Neel, in the earlier half of this century [now outdated, he means the 1900's], tells of certain adepts conjuring up demons and an image of themselves. The demons, or tolpas, then proceed to tear the illusory adept to pieces, as a dangerously symbolic enactment of the destruction of the ego. Understandably this practice is not without its perils, for many yogis, having created these monsters, can come to believe in their existence, which in turn gives the phantoms even more life. Alexandra was horrified to learn that yogis were frequently found murdered by their own creations.


Far fetched as this may sound, this intrepid French-woman managed, through persistent use of visualization techniques similar to those found in this book, to create a relatively harmless phantom of a monk who appeared to follow her on her travels. Many others witnessed him around the caravans, apparently living a completely independent existence, and Alexandra actually felt him - on occasion he was substantial enough to touch. However, when his creatrix attempted to dispel her creation, it took longer to do than when she conjured him up.


For readers who might be fascinated with this practice and the visualization techniques involved, and would like to try out what is called the Dance of Chod, it would be well to point out that not only is it likely to be suicidal for an untutored, curious Westerner to meddle with such methods, but that the Tibetan chodpas take at least fives years training in special schools, or with established practitioners, before they are ready to meet these demons, let alone allow them to rend the novice's dream body apart.