I appreciate your long answer and can only say that what I have found, what I have realized, is for me alone. And the same goes for you and everyone else. I simply cannot say what anyone else experiences or that everyone has OBEs or there are guides and mentors, and so on. So I cannot say that everyone has OBEs, conscious or otherwise.

Also, are you saying that the way you know that others have OBEs is because someone, a being, told you this? Or do you know in some way? It's not clear to me. Quite frankly, if I ever met a being referring to itself as Infinite Intelligence or an "energy personality essence" then I would move on. There is no one greater than I am, no one greater than you, and no one greater than anyone. In the ultimate state there is no hierarchy, which is what I realized as this state. But perhaps your goals and desires are different than mine were when I started out.

Like you, I have experienced all sorts of beings, from those who were quite impressive to the darkest forces. I have been in fights with the dark forces and at times I have hunted them until I became tired of doing so. I have also been beings other than myself. There is much more to this, and you understand that the territory beyond this physical realm is vast and full of amazing phenomena and beings.

I don't understand how you have connected the idea that life is recursive to the presumption that everyone must therefore have OBEs. It doesn't make sense to me, but then again, I just don't know what everyone experiences. Maybe they do and maybe they don't.

If I cannot see for myself then what others say, whether in this reality or any other, has absolutely no value to me. I am the proof of my own existence and that's that. Listening to the ideas and teachings of others can never give me the experience of being; and no one can give another person a "Aha!" moment or a realization. Such an experience must only come from the experiencer.

Next, there are interesting things that you have said and I always find it interesting to read what others have experienced.

My OBEs began at age 5 and now I am nearly 68. When I was in my 30s I started purposefully having OBEs and was having several a week. So that's a lifetime of these experiences.

What I have experienced is unbelievable to most people, as I am sure you can say of your own experiences. Still, I have not come away thinking I know more than others do, because I am not them. I can only speak for myself, and other than helping others I cannot act or know on their behalf. And the same is true the other way around.

I disagree with your definition of the egoic mind, something I have studied for a long time and have written about in books and articles. It's not a word I throw around, to use your words, but I do agree that it's often used inaccurately. The sense of self is the egoic mind. It is created out of an accretion of thoughts that creates the person one takes himself to be. And this self colors his opinions, beliefs, assumptions, fears, memories, and even thoughts when out of the body, as evidenced by how people speak about their experiences. The self seems to survive physical death if the claims of reincarnation are true. When we use the word "value" we are speaking of a value that is recognized and applied, and only the egoic self does this. There is no value in consciousness, because there is no distinction or separation of valuable and not-valuable. There just "is."

You seem to be saying that the egoic self is a function. This definition explains how the self interacts and behaves and things, but does not actually explain its illusory nature that obscures what we are at our essence. When you use the words "our," "my," "you," them," "me," etc., then you are speaking of the egoic self. The I AM is the first thought of the egoic self. It is the recognition that it exists and it stands between consciousness and the self that is attached to ideas and identities. It is the birth into the world of consciousness that becomes self-reflexive. When the entirety of what I am disappears completely there is nothing; when consciousness returns it does so on the wings of awareness and then out of this the I AM arises. This is my realization and it's for anyone else to find out. I have no interest in having anyone believe or accept what I say.

There is much more to say, but I do appreciate your answer and the time you took to write it.

Thanks much..