Reflecting upon the past several sessions, two out of the three times I met with the Mantis, I could sense his presence at the deepest point of my hypnotic induction. Not once did I feel the presence of a Gray. This indicates to me that only an entity with a soul can somehow enter that partition between the physical and the astral.
Indeed, when I arrive on the ship, I find the tall Gray again waiting for me. Unable to see where I am and it is difficult to breathe; the Gray tells me I am still too connected to my physical body and that I should focus on my breathing for a bit. I do so and feel more present than before. Ask if this results from the mushrooms I ingested. He answers it may be, or it may be because of the setting (he knows I am physically at home with my wife working in the living room, resulting in a small amount of ambient noise).
Wondering how a higher dosage of mushrooms would affect the experience, he tells me I could not focus enough to project. Looking at him while I focus on my breathing, his appearance takes me aback; his face is more reminiscent of an ant than the smaller grays. There is a clear insectoid quality to him, even down to the shine on the outermost surface layer. He notices this and affirms that he differs slightly from the small Grays while implying there is some sort of connection in design between his kind and the ants we have on Earth. Curious, but at the moment I do not think to question him further.
The room comes into focus and I realize we are in the laboratory space where he manipulates souls. He brings me to the object I saw him working with before; a molded white standing workbench with a tube connected to the ceiling. Telepathically, he refers to this as a machine, and as often happens, the idea imparted is more confusing that the use of actual words. I am behind the machine. Slightly behind the position I saw him standing at the first time. When perspective shifts like this happen aboard the craft, it creates a dissonance that results in confusion. Spatial relationships in rooms and between objects clearly have a unique quality to them we are not used to.
I can tell there is a window or display behind me and next to the machine, as well as a window across the room very similar in shape and position to that I saw when given control of the ship. Are these rooms the same? He tells me not to worry about that and to focus on the machine. Up close, I can see some details I could not from afar. A capsule arrives, but it does not descend from the ceiling. There is some sort of movement I cannot discern, but it appears in a flash. Below the area, the capsule arrives. There is an indentation where the capsule rests as he works on it. The gray shows me a roughly 12-inch long, slender metal rod, which he explains he will use to manipulate the capsule. Because I am present in an astral form, it is surprising to see the rod as a clearly material item. Amused, he reminds me that everything around me is physical, including himself. I should intuitively know this from the process by which I check my progression from the physical to the astral on Earth, but this is an otherworldly environment and I see everything through the eyes of a newborn.
He tells me that despite being a physical being, he can also interact with the astral plane. I realize that he and are alike in that. He reminds me he doesn’t have a soul, however. This makes me pity him a bit, but he interrupts this feeling to tell there is no need for pity. He is a combination of a biological entity and a created entity, something so advanced humanity will not fully understand for quite some time. To be honest, it seems like a fairly straightforward concept, a “biological robot”, but perhaps there is something more to it.
Looking at the capsule, he points out that it is not lively, or active. Indeed, it is moving rather slowly compared to those I have seen before. He tells me he will add something to make it more lively. Asking if he is adding something to the capsule, I’m told that “adding” is not the correct way to think about it. A better description would be that he is manipulating material already in the capsule to create what it needs. I see the rod doing something barely perceptible as it moves about in the capsule; this reminds me of university textbooks showing neuronal activation in the brain. After completion, the soul inside the capsule moves about with more zest.
I notice that this soul is almost pure white. He tells me that this being had achieved enlightenment, but was not lively. I ask if achieving both enlightenment and liveliness is the goal condition, and he explains that are a wide variety of conditions considered positive (he adds emotion and morals as examples). I ask him if there are negative conditions, such as people who kill others. He says that “negative” is the wrong way to look at it, rather they are underdeveloped. I ask if my soul is white, as I have witnessed an almost painful white light in earlier journeys, and told that was my soul reflecting. His answer is that I should not ask about my soul and that he will not tell me such information. He shows me an example of why I should not ask via their immersive technique, but it is incomprehensible and very uncomfortable. I lack any reference point about what just happened. Very disorienting.
The manipulation is complete. The capsule whisks away from its indentation, and through the window behind me I see it shoot off into space. I wonder if, since this was an enlightened entity, if he or she will go to a different planet or perhaps a different realm. He tells me there is no time today to explain that. I ask him if different realms even exist, and he again tells me there is no time today. Perhaps in the future. Closure pulls me out.
-Pete