The Higher Self and transcendent experience, including OBEs

[TraineeHuman]

Where does intuition fit in the big scheme of things? Let’s take a quickish look – though this will take more than one post.

First of all, I’ve already said that intuition is basically the lowest level of the Higher Mind; but elsewhere in this thread I’ve said that intention (or what goes with the creation of at least very small changes to details in timelines) is the lowest level. That sounds like a contradiction. Well, let me give a brief explanation why in these realms seeming contradictions may happily exist.

Alexander Lowen was one of the founders of Western psychology (and the sole originator of concepts such as “process”, “cycle of action”, “resolution” (of such a cycle), and various related concepts I’ve listed earlier. For many decades many of Lowen’s ideas were ignored or downplayed by mainstream Western psychology. He called his type of psychology “gestalt [or wholistic] psychology”. One of its basic principles was:

>>>>> The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. <<<<<

Let’s briefly look at what this very interesting principle means with regard to Source – or, as Source is sometimes also called, the (ultimate) Self. Here we go. Source contains absolutely everything else inside it. It’s not only the sum of all these parts but also more than them, and different from any of them, because in its truest nature it’s inactive, it’s not born, it’s the stage on which absolutely everything takes place, and yet it is the deepest essence of literally everything else. All else exists (or, indeed, fails to exist) inside of It.

Actually, while we’re looking at contradictions etc, I’d like to also mention the fact that Source – somehow, unimaginably, folding in on itself – comes down and in certain ways actively works in between the Higher Mind and the physical. Devastatingly amazing. Anyone who has reached a certain “level” of spiritual enlightenment (including myself) can confirm that this is so. I’m not saying this as a belief or opinion or idea, but from direct incontrovertible experience/awareness. I don’t remember where I read someone say that “God is dancing on the tip of your tongue”, but there’s some truth in that because of this fact.

This kind of tolerance for the co-existence of contradictory or polarized differences extends to the Higher Mind as well. This is why there can be two, or three, or however many quite opposing strands of Higher Mind that ultimately turn out to be quite united as well, to the lower mind’s bewilderment.

The intuition is basically the lowest level of the Higher Mind where we have the individual consciousness being receptive to (some of) the universal consciousness. This has much in common with the “stillness” and “emptiness” side of the Higher Mind. The exercise in post #24 and even the exercise of feeling the aliveness in you were both intended as beginner training steps in immersing yourself in your intuition.

The way a sharpened intuition works is, the more “still” or “quiet” the lower nature becomes, the more it’s true that whatever is left is higher and finer and more balanced and true. Out of the exquisite poise of beautiful peace fine pearls are produced.

Intention, by contrast, is basically the individual consciousness communicating to the universal consciousness a specific choice of or perspective regarding making a state of affairs come true in the physical – along with the will for such to materialize.

Notice that black magic, of any kind, seems to be a type of negative willing. As far as I’m aware it can never really be a negative use of the Higher Mind. Instead (as far as I know) it can only create negative things in the mental, emotional or physical.

By contrast, pure intention is something performed by the Higher Mind and not by any lower “self”. Hence, pure intention will always be an intention for events to happen that are for the highest mutual good of all those legitimately involved. Because of the unselfishness of pure intention, it will be operating basically in approximate synergy with all. Black magic is no match for that.

However, what black magicians can do is to trick you with illusions, and exploit your negative imagination. They can create negative energy/thought entities that seem to have great higher awareness. They are bluffing all the way. But it can be a little like a convincing movie. The movie itself is a physical thing, bringing not only emotional and mental responses to you but also responses from your higher consciousness or which penetrate your subconscious. That’s the key to how black magic could even have a chance over you. In brief, it tricks you into the illusion that its entities are actually beings with higher consciousness which makes the negative power seem far, far greater than it factually is. It’s all about deceiving you into giving them hugely exaggerated power, which becomes real only because you’ve made it so.

[soleil]

[edit]
removed update.

[TraineeHuman]

I forgot to explain the relevance of Drunvalo’s Kahuna exercises, for extending the energy “antennas” from the middle of the head (see post #1181), to bringing down the Higher Mind and awakening the intuition. I’ll do so now.

Firstly, in brief, the exercises help one to transcend the lower mind, which associates itself with the head region down to the throat. When I say it associates itself, I mean it’s something like how a TV set picks up signals from a TV station. Much as the set isn’t the station, so the brain and head isn’t the (lower) mind. But these exercises nevertheless help to speed up a person’s transcendence of the lower mind to the next level, which is the beginning of the Higher Mind.

Actually, the Higher Mind associates itself with a region from the top of the head to maybe 25 centimeters above it. Similarly, say, the subconscious associates itself with everything in the human energy field from the bottom of the tailbone and lower, to several feet below the ground. We also shouldn’t forget that the human energy field also acts as one whole, and these associations are more emphases on certain aspects rather than sections of the field that are cut off from the other sections.

Two days ago I experienced a difficult physical-world situation which I noticed my ego was grabbing hold of and trying to use it to terrorize me a little. So I grounded myself and meditated, and quite soon felt immense pressure at the top of the head. I don’t normally feel that, but I believe it was simply my Higher Mind communicating that the ego had been put back in its place and there was nothing to worry about.

I usually experience the antennas at some stage almost every time I meditate. The (lower) mind needs to be freed of such things as attachment to some identity, or having very fixed opinions in control of one’s life, or any of the other activities it performs for the ego, such as being hurt and so on. In a nutshell, the more freed the mind becomes, the easier it is for communication with the Higher mind to flow.

Such communication may be very vague at first. Let me explain why. Firstly, the Higher Mind exists in a world that’s foreign to the physical, emotional and mental world we get born into. The Higher Mind’s world is a world that marches to a different drum. Secondly, initially we regard the Higher Mind’s world as being in a state of deep sleep. Indeed, initially we mostly only go there during deep (delta) sleep, and regard its communications as vague dreams, or wisps of dreams or hallucinations.

Secondly, in each level of reality or dimension or plane, we have to deal with Nature as it manifests on that particular level. So, at the Higher Mind level we start as beginners regarding Nature at that level.

As, for instance, all the schools of Yoga/Buddhism specifically teach, the truth is that Nature is not perfect. Also, as I’ve said, it has many levels – one for each level of existence.

Although the soul or Higher Mind carries full potential for becoming Source completely, it takes on and enters the imperfect world of Nature. The purpose of Nature, at each level, is to facilitate one’s evolution until one “graduates” from the lessons of Nature at that level. That’s when, having freed or recovered one’s (Source) essence at that level, one moves on to the class which is the next level of Nature. Of course, we also complete sections of classes at various different levels at once.

Finally, someone might wonder why in the video Drunvalo describes the antennas exercise as re-establishing the right connection between the head and the heart, when the exercise involves working mainly on the mid-head area. My reply to that question is that I believe Drunvalo could have expressed himself more accurately there. But that doesn’t take away from the value of the exercise.

[TraineeHuman]

Posted by ruthy (here)
I encourage everyone to try this basic first dreaming exercise that Castenada's book mentioned.., its actually incredible feeling when you get it to work. Go to bed, a little tired, but NOT exhausted. Again, you don't want to drop off too deep. When you are lying in bed, be very relaxed and focus on the thought "I want to feel myself fall asleep". If you have to repeat it over and over again in your head, do so, like you were counting sheep. Better yet, try this exercise in the afternoon, like a nap. You will feel your body start to tingle, and you will feel like you are falling through the mattress, and feel part by part of your body fall into sleep and get very heavy. It's really really cool to experience, and for me I did it on the first try, I was not expecting that!

Watching –and feeling – yourself go to sleep is a great exercise. I’d encourage everyone to try it.

In recent times I’ve only done it when I was trying to go to sleep while there was a great deal of noise around, such as a noisy neighbor. Or it can be if there is someone sleeping in the same room who is snoring very loudly, or you’re trying to sleep while traveling. If the noise is loud enough, I’ve found I usually needed to put attention on totally accepting the external noise. This is like finding a way to regard it all as pleasant or beautiful, or like getting deeply into harmony with it.

What I’ve found I then experience before falling asleep is, in part, that I’m watching myself, but also I experience joy, if not bliss, inside myself. Just as the lowest level of the Higher Mind is to do with intention and intuition, the next broad level can be said to do with bliss. Also, the feeling the aliveness exercise at least begins to take you to the same place.

This can also teach a person how to go OB into an astral world or, indeed, a higher world such as a world of bliss. My understanding is that many experienced astral travelers continue to use the vibrations, but they learn how to “make them” smoother and smoother. And that what they are really doing is learning to not-do anything in the form of resistance, which is what pure just-watching amounts to.

[TraineeHuman]

Castaneda’s book The Art of Dreaming contains fascinating ideas about what Castaneda considers “dreaming” to be. For him, “dreaming” means many more things than the fantastic scenes we experience while we’re sleeping. I would say his “dreaming” seems to mean roughly the same as what I (along with most major Eastern meditation traditions) would call the Higher Mind at work. On the first page of the Author’s Note, which is really the first chapter, he says:

With the perspective time gives, I now realize that the most fitting statement don Juan made about dreaming was to call it the “gateway to infinity”.

If what he means by “dreaming” means roughly the same as HM, then I couldn’t agree with this statement more. The whole purpose and action of the Higher Mind is indeed to gradually convert everything, including itself, into Source. That’s it’s whole ultimate purpose. And the taste and feeling and perception of “infinity” perhaps sums up better than any other word what the experience of/as Source is like – not only in my experience but in that of many others who have seen Source.

It may not be clear how what don Juan calls “dreaming” could be considered the same as the HM. After all, on the second page of the Author’s Note we have:

don Juan said to me, “Dreaming can only be experienced. Dreaming is not just having dreams; neither is it daydreaming or wishing or imagining. Through dreaming we can perceive other worlds, which we can certainly describe, but we can’t describe what makes us perceive them. Yet we can feel how dreaming opens up those other realms. Dreaming seems to be … an awareness in our minds.”

I know I’ve emphasized the great importance of practicing stillness in order to initially gain access to the Higher Mind. But I’d like to mention now that while in the higher realms (above “4D” and “5D”) we don’t just encounter nothing. We do encounter beings, and joys, and so on. But in order to put them into words we need to partly bring them down into “5D”, the realm of concepts and words (and pictures and symbols).

After I first had encounters with/as Source, I spent hours every week “downloading” bits of consciousness which were quite unsayable – or which I was content to leave in an unsayable state. Nevertheless, these seemed to give me enormous physical and mental/emotional energy, and to create what my school teachers regarded as an extraordinarily “good” attitude. (I was in high school at the time.) It was only later that I gradually realized that it was desirable to bring all the goodies I got from the higher worlds down into the world where I was living my physical life, and to find ways to practically apply them there.

One way one can experience beings in almost any dimension between “4D” and Source is as points or fields of light – though I would claim at higher dimensions it’s no longer physical light but it just looks similar and it’s really Light, whatever that is. During the same high school years several times every week I would find myself staring at a streetlight for twenty minutes or more, or at the stars in the sky in a state of intense concentration and delight. But I believe this was because these reminded me of part of what I had been experiencing in those higher realms.

ruthy has kindly offered to send anyone who’s interested a pdf version of Castaneda’s The Art of Dreaming. I assume the Avalon PM setup doesn’t allow the sending of such a large attachment, so you’ll need to provide an email address to ruthy – or to myself, as I’m also happy to send anyone a copy.

It’s fascinating to see where Castaneda or don Juan say things that seem to disagree with things I or others in this thread have said. Or that have a very different approach. I’d like to encourage everyone to begin reading that book. I’ll have some more comments relating to the Author’s Note (the first three pages) in my next post.

[Shamz]

Bumping this very important thread - so that it is visible on the first page - if new users are looking for some information.

TH - Please continue to share your thoughts

Much love

[TraineeHuman]

I haven’t posted in two weeks. I did send a PM to some members, explaining that I was taking a break. I didn’t mean to imply I was abandoning this thread, though. My apologies to anyone who was misled.

Thank you to the quite a few members who sent me extremely positive comments. Trust me, those comments are in every case as much a reflection of something wonderful in yourselves that you’re aware of – whether you clearly realize you’re aware of it or not!

One member sent a PM calling me a spiritual “teacher”. I prefer not to think of myself in that way, wherever possible. The truth is, we all (our Higher consciousness) can only teach ourselves. No-one else can, in the end. If you consider the fact (not really my opinion) that knowing is nearly always very incomplete and very partial, how could it be otherwise? No-one else can do your knowing for you. All they can do is point in a certain direction that seems particularly useful.

As everyone who isn’t new to this thread is aware, I’m interested in encouraging and suggesting experience of certain kinds, but beyond “the known”, and beyond various limitations, rather than just beyond the body. Many such experiences can also occur while one is in the body, or can be brought down into the body.

I suspect Castaneda’s “teacher” don Juan Matus may well have privately seen himself as more of a “pointer” than a “teacher”. For instance, in the Prefatory Note to The Art of Dreaming Castaneda describes how Castaneda eventually learnt at least some skills and talents through being a “teacher” of his own group of “apprentices”.

Interestingly, neither Castaneda nor any of the members of that group recognized one another at all, or were aware of ever having met, when they were eventually introduced to one another while in body. Presumably don Juan had at least been able to see them all together in the astral and at least to some degree observe what they were doing together.

This is a little reminiscent of the meeting in the astral I attempted to organize in late December. Although I experienced a group of Higher consciousnesses communicating and interacting somewhat, it seems by and large none of the others had been aware at all of what their Higher consciousness had been doing there, or even that it was there.

This no doubt has much to do with the fact that the Higher Mind sees no separation between itself and the rest of the world, until it has descended fully into an individual, that individual sees it as acting quite askew and mysteriously, or doesn’t normally manage to see how it is acting. In my next post I’ll say more about how this split is overcome in the initial experience of spiritual enlightenment.

Over the last few months I’ve had a number of PMs from very genuine and fine people who feel overcome, or almost overcome, by their suffering. Believe me, I’ve been there myself, in the past. It’s probably unavoidable to go through some considerable suffering, but the wise person will turn it all into “right suffering”, That concept is very important, but also shouldn’t be misinterpreted as an excuse for something masochistic or any sort of victim mentality whatsoever. By “right suffering” I mean using the experience in such a way as to become free of it forever.

Whenever you suffer, the universe is asking you: “Have you suffered enough yet? Are you truly willing to do something total about it, right now?” This is why I say, for instance, it’s a very good idea to give up all the “normal” desires. I just mean simply drop them, stop indulging them if you easily can find a “pause” button. If and when you do, you’ll find that they’re replaced by “higher desires”, which are far more pleasant, and indeed involve at least some bliss. It’s up to you, really. I appreciate you may not be ready yet. But I can assure you that the only way to make room for the higher “desires” (for lack of a better word) is to calmly give up desiring, if you’re ready, and then see what happens.

Similarly, giving up having identities, as far as practically possible – and in this world it’s not totally possible, but so what?

Again, simply give up taking anything personally, or personalizing meaning or being egocentric. Then you’ll find that the “vacuum” you’ve created doesn’t leave you stuck in a world of total impersonality – but you’re now just a free spirit there.

As I said, it’s all up to you, folks. The suffering, the fog, the meaninglessness seem like they’ll go on forever. And for a long but finite time, the ego fights harder and harder. It even, as a last resort, for probably a long time will get you to feel like you’re, say, a masochist and a spoilsport, or something similar to try and keep you extra uncomfortable in certain situations.

[soleil]

Th. its been about a yr now........i wish to express that ive grown more than i can say in words. and it has nothing to do with obe! even though that was my goal...at the time. my hs had piqued my interests for me to grow... you were the brave person who appeared to me, as who i was inspired to ask you to share any advice. your advice here has been pretty much on par with everything that resonates as true in all that ive read and listened to. (ive, since, steered clear of dark books since that one book....and right now am finishing the big toe trilogy, i bought it.

ive planned to give my notice at work for mid oct. and volunteer at the shop to start off. its going to be nice to not drive 1.5 hrs twice a day and spend more quality time with my family.

much love you guys

[TraineeHuman]

There’s another reason (well, there are many) why I’m always interested in emphasizing your direct experience – where possible. As mentioned earlier in this thread, I’m interested in promoting descension, and in people eventually realizing descension and making it a practical thing in their daily lives. As promised in my previous post, let me clarify some points regarding what this means in terms of enlightenment. As many (including myself) have observed, when a person has their first enlightenment experience – which is basically a full-on seeing of Source --, their oversoul chakra turns a gleaming silver or bright white color.

But in many traditions, such as the Taoist and Zen and Tibetan and certain Yoga/Vedanta traditions (including even TM) and the mainstream Western esoteric tradition as far as I understand --, this experience is only the beginning. For instance, in the Zen tradition they call it “kensho”. It’s well known that it may often take a further twenty years or more of meditation practice before the Zen Master recognizes (if he ever does) that the individual has achieved “satori”. Basically, “satori” means that the individual has integrated the content of his/her experience of Source into his/her everyday, ordinary life. Again, at that stage the oversoul chakra turns a bright gold color – and before that all the chakras below it come to acquire a golden background glow, one by one. In the terms I’ve used earlier, the “kensho” experience is the initial permanent entry of the Higher Mind as the individual’s central consciousness. The process which is going on as the chakras acquire the golden glow is the descension of the Higher Mind until it’s fully integrated with the physical world.

There’s then another, further descension process to go through, after “satori” has been reached. Once the Higher Mind has fully descended (and integrated with the physical), and only then, the Higher Mind itself experiences a higher level of enlightenment. This higher enlightenment begins the descent of Source itself into the individual, until in that individual Source becomes fully incarnated in the physical world – assuming the individual hasn’t physically died before this happens, of course.

These three stages are also described in the famous Taoist-Zen Ten Oxherding Pictures. The eighth picture describes the stage where one achieves “kensho”, and the ninth the stage where one achieves “satori”. In the hope that this may alleviate some confusion for some people, let me quote John M. Koller:

"The story of the ox and oxherd, separate at first, but united in the realization of the inner unity of all existence, is an old Taoist story, updated and modified by a twelfth century Chinese Buddhist master to explain the path to enlightenment. The ox symbolizes the ultimate, undivided reality, the Buddha-nature, which is the ground of all existence. The oxherd symbolizes the self, who initially identifies with the individuated ego, separate from the ox, but who, with progressive enlightenment, comes to realize the fundamental identity with the ultimate reality which transcends all distinctions. When this happens, the oxherd realizes the ultimacy of all existence; there is nothing that is not the Buddha-nature. He now understands the preciousness and profundity of the most ordinary things of life, illuminating ordinary living with his enlightenment.
…
"The eighth picture tells us that when the duality of self and reality has been overcome not only is reality (the ox) forgotten, but so is the self (the oxherd); the circle symbolizes the all-encompassing emptiness that constitutes the ground of all things. Now, in the awareness of unceasing transformation and total interconnectedness in every experience one is freed from … craving and hatred for the other. In this freedom there is a sense of the wholeness and perfection of ordinary things.

"As the ninth picture shows, when self and reality (as constructs) are left behind, then things are revealed to be just what they are in themselves; streams meander on of themselves and red flowers naturally bloom red. In the ordinary events of life are found the most profound truths. Only by seeking the ox as a separate ultimate reality could the oxherd discover that there is no separate reality; that the ultimate is to be found in the ordinary.

"Finally, the tenth picture shows the enlightened oxherd entering the town marketplace, doing all of the ordinary things that everyone else does. But because of his deep awareness everything he does is quite extraordinary. He does not retreat from the world, but shares his enlightened existence with everyone around him. Not only does he lead fishmongers and innkeepers in the way of the Buddha but, because of his creative energy and the radiance of his life, even withered trees bloom."


Incidentally, there seems to be considerable consensus that “satori” (by whatever name) is the point at which one becomes free of the requirement after death to reincarnate in the physical world (and, presumably, in “4D” or “5D” as well). As it happens I don’t fully agree with this, because the ego also needs to have been transcended to a certain level. And the ego doesn’t automatically drop off somehow just because one has a most profound realization. Rather, the ego requires lifelong vigilance, even if its influence becomes ever weaker. In the above descriptions of the oxherding pictures, it sounds as if one gets to a point of having no sense of a self separate from all else at all, but in reality one does have some sense of it, even if the insight is also there that it, like the body, is ultimately an illusion.

Traditionally, it was considered necessary to withdraw from society before one could attain even the lowest enlightenment experience, the “kensho” experience. But in Western society of recent times this is clearly no longer necessary in a substantial number of cases. Instead, we see the much more difficult – but, equally, much more profound – achievement of reaching “kensho” while remaining fully in the marketplace all the time. This is only possible, no doubt, because the consciousness of humanity as a whole has risen to a higher level. That consciousness is itself a very real thing, and everything we do contributes to it. Some say the consciousness level has risen because of long-term astronomical or astrological phenomena to do with the part of the universe the solar system is now in. Others claim it has risen so much because all the many Volunteers have incarnated here and so contributed to its overall uplifting just by being here. And so on.

So the journey (if it is a “journey”) is tougher in the modern Western society because the society doesn’t fund or approve of people who choose to drop out to seek enlightenment. But that does eventually make it easier for anyone who gets to Picture Eight to proceed more quickly through Picture Nine, and even, no doubt, through Picture Ten. It’s all good.

[TraineeHuman]

From the major broad levels of enlightenment, which my previous post considered, let's now look at things from the other end. What about the person who is starting out and has had no transcendental experiences? Why might such a person even be interested in something higher within themselves?

For some it will at first simply be a matter of accepting the pursuit of the Higher consciousness out of what amounts to faith, taking it on trust. Others will have been "bitten" by something that makes them conscious of a great yearning for something "beyond".

Some Avalonians might also perhaps start from the fact that "the matrix" is built out of thoughts. And that there is therefore an urgent need to get beyond any "wall" made out of thoughts, even though most people do live in a world constructed out of such thoughts (the thoughts structuring and containing all feelings, for instance)and mistake it for reality -- as J. Krishnamurti sometimes explained so clearly.

In my experience, people who meditate properly for an hour or more per day eventually get a real taste, after maybe a few months, of something so profoundly beyond the physical and the emotional ("4D") and the mental ("5D") that they cannot deny its power nor its beauty -- nor even an unshakeable knowing that this comes from Source, from the Divine.

For many people, the Higher Mind is veiled from their direct awareness -- or seems to be. It remains possible, though -- and necessary -- for the outwardly-based individual to agree to listen to the inner voice or the inner hunger -- to consent to that, commit to it.

Usually, people don't come to an awareness of the Higher Mind through consciously seeking it, or Source. But their soul, their HM, brings them to that point. It does so quite independent of what may be going on in the mind or personality.

There is this phenomenon of you in some way hearing the call. Once you've heard it, and given it your support and assent, you can be sure you'll bring the HM fully into you, sooner or later.

For some people it's simply a hunger for something "beyond" the emotional and mental and physical, though they don't know what that might be. But in this thread we've been looking, for example, at the world of intentions and the world of intuition somewhat. So we do already have some insight into what that "beyond" world might involve.

What I find amazing is that the full, permanent coming down of the HM coincides with the "kensho" level of spiritual enlightenment. And these days so many people seem to be getting there, or on the way. And it all starts with that assent, in response to that hunger or that inner voice.

Even when a person has no idea how to get there, they can simply let their response to the hunger carry them along, they can just go with it, and that will take them to the right places.

I also very much like the Soto Zen sect's notion of enlightenment as something that happens gradually and incrementally at every stage. (The Soto sect is the largest Zen school.) After all, the value of any stage of enlightenment is in how you integrate it with your life overall. And the Soto idea is that you just keep going with that hunger and with working on yourself until one day you've reached satori but to you by that stage it's just compeletely normal and ordinary.

[TraineeHuman]

Anyone who has read or begun reading Castaneda's The Art of Dreaming will be aware that what he calls "the first gate of dreaming" is to learn, through practice, to stay in contact with at least some feeling of yourself as you fall asleep -- as ruthy has already described above.

I'd like to add that Castaneda describes a prior skill he expects a person to develop. This is the skill of seeing auras, at least to some slight degree. The method for learning to see auras which he describes is that of looking cross-eyed (squinting) at the area around a person's head, preferably while in a dark or semi-dark room. I'd like to add that another way to develop this skill is to practice looking at a plant inside a darkened or completely dark room. I've found that many people after a short while become aware of seeing one or more colors above or around the plant. For most types of plants, these are usually one or more out of the colors blue, yellow and green, and also brown if the unfortunate plant is diseased or dying. Although these colors initially appear very pale indeed, with a little concentration they become easier to see. I've found that well over fifty per cent of interested individuals seem to acquire this skill straight away when starting off with a plant in a dark room.

It should be appreciated that in seeing auras we are looking at (our brain's representation of) pure energy -- at something which lies at least in the etheric dimension if not the astral dimension. It seems to be the case that auras are the brain's "translation" of pure energy into color. But it does this in exactly the same way as what occurs when one "sees" in the etheric or astral dimension. So, "the first gate of dreaming" evidently involves first learning to "see" in this higher way and, presumably, by learning to stay in touch with the feeling of one's extra-physical self as one's physical body falls asleep, learning to transfer the ability to see aura energy across the threshhold into sleep.

[Arejay]

This is detailed and excellent. Thank you for taking the time to post this.

[TraineeHuman]

The following exercise may sound trite, but it certainly isn't, as I'll explain.

Exercise At all times, as far as you can, take pains to be extremely honest with yourself about yourself.

There's that quote from Hamlet that goes something like this:
"This thing alone above all:
To thine own self be true,
And it follows, as certain as night follows day,
That thou canst not be false to any man."

I suppose most would assume that is saying have great integrity with yourself and then you'll automatically be treating others with integrity at all times. However, I suspect the author(s) of the above lines may have been aware of a diffferent reason.

For instance, in psychology we know that all defence mechanisms are forms of denial (to oneself). And that the subconscious only gets to exist in us at all because, often particularly in our childhood, we find some events so painful or otherwise undesirable that we wipe them from our conscious memory. Ditto with our dark side, and our ego. So we see that a person who is and has been totally honest with herself/himself at all times will be free of ever having had any ego or subconscious or dark side.

Maybe it's starting to become clear, therefore, that radical self-honesty in all moments -- or call it "total sincerity" if you like -- is a major gateway for opening up and bringing in the Higher Mind. Moreover, it's a very important example of how the Higher Mind always works. The importance of doing this quite intensely at all times, if you can, can hardly be underestimated.

I suppose our conditioning of various kinds prompts us to gloss over or hide many of our weaknesses or failures or defeats or areas in us which are unpleasant or weak. But the point is, we'll never be able to clear any of these away, or work on improving ourselves in the relevant ways, unless we first clearly and specifically face such things inside us, and accept them for what they are (which will always include being something that needs to be removed or repaired or replaced).

And so, in the quote from Hamlet I would suggest that being always true to oneself will open up or continually strengthen one's communication with one's Higher Mind. The "self" one is being so true to changes into the HM! And that's the reason why one can (almost) never then be false to anyone else.

[TraineeHuman]

Radical self-honesty is crucially important. You won't fully bring down your Higher Mind/consciousness without, eventually, continually practicing this -- at least, you won't be successful in realizing the HM in this lifetime. That's why I need to provide any pointers I can think of about how it's done.

Firstly, let's say for some crazy reason you'd decided to become the most extreme ascetic in the world. I'm not sure what that would involve -- sleeping on a bed of nails that really were sharp, perhaps? But anyway, just supposing you wanted to become that, you'd teach yourself to do it gradually. Wouldn't you!

Well, it's no exaggeration to say that mastering radical self-honesty is tougher than learning to be the world's biggest ascetic. And yet, many people manage to do it, especially these days. I hope this makes the point that it must be done sensibly, gradually -- but with great courage.

Eram eloquently made the point, in post #994 on the 23rd of June, that suffering only comes to us because we're resisting facing the truth, facing reality. In the sense he was speaking, that's very true. But it's also true that the truth hurts. I guess it only hurts our ego. But until we're absolutely, totally in mastery of every bit of our ego, the truth about our own self will quite often continue to really, really hurt -- like a knockout punch. That pain, that you have to learn how to get beyond, is what makes the art of true self-honesty tougher than extreme asceticism. It's also why you need to master this gradually, in stages that may initially seem to have no end to them.

The universe is constantly providing every one of us with feedback on how we are doing, on what lessons we could have handled better. You can learn to tune into this in various ways. It's something that I do almost continually. Because that's part of the true "way".

But I do find it necessary to spend at least ten minutes in meditation every morning. During that meditation I go into worlds of great peace and bliss. That provides me with a kind of "base" that's positive enough to bear all the slings and arrows of the day and not usually be overcome by them. That's the best advice I know: learn true meditation, and get that daily "hit" from it.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we wouldn't even have a subconscious, nor an ego (in the sense most speak of it in meditation traditions), if we had been able to bear the truth about ourselves and about all that we experienced. Now I am saying we need to gradually learn how to bear all that totally.

As a first step, may I suggest that you cultivate complete sincerity at all times -- at least, at all practical times, because we all need to be diplomats or keep our lips zipped shut at certain times, often for business reasons or compassionate reasons.

I've recently talked of "right" suffering -- which is suffering that helps you quickly get rid of the things that cause you suffering. I know of nothing that is a better example of right suffering than the practice of radical self-honesty. You have to cultivate an absolute sincerity in the center of all parts of your being. This means loving the Truth and nothing but the Truth (including all the small-t truth about yourself).

Take two different people and they will inwardly be more the same than they are different, if you really look at everything about them. Most people have broadly the same sorts of inner weaknesses, more or less. The question is, though, can they be sincere enough not to try to justify themselves, and not to delude themselves with disguises that cover up the Light from their Higher being that is doing all it can to break through.

Don't be discouraged if in the beginning you have a kind of "mixed" attitude to being sincere. The parts of you that hide in the dark have corrupted your self-"government" and set up all sorts of habits that won't break down in a day. They have to be steadily worked through. But the same problem occurs for everyone, so don't be discouraged.

Secondly, can you calmly get yourself switched on to the Truth? Can you voluntarily choose to commit to the things higher and with no drama to turn away from the things lower? Also, can you turn inwards? Can you listen to your own "heart", your inner Presence -- and as far as practicable turn your interest away from what's outer to you?

[TraineeHuman]

Permanently bringing the Higher Mind into your center involves a second type of change in you as well. It's necessary that at some stage this whole endeavor has to become the one and only most important subject in your life, bar none!

Not, say, becoming a champion sportsperson, not becoming a consummate professional in some field, not the overwhelming pursuit of your greatest passion or hobby, not even being the best possible parent or romantic partner, and so on. No, now you have to take the gloves off. You have to be really one-pointed about this.

There's a reason why this has to be so. Your HM is enormously powerful and great (and subtle). Assuming you haven't brought in the HM yet, you -- whatever you may currently suppose you are -- are no match for it. Hence, you really have no option but to surrender to a power greater than yourself (what you currently suppose is yourself).

All you can do is stand in a type of humility and awe in the face of it.

Ironically, though, you also need to have a certain type of ambition in combination with that humility. Many types of ambition can be counterproductive because of their egoity. But not this type of ambition, which involves you having the mindset that you can truly achieve enlightenment. It's necessary to "think big" and "feel big" on this point, and to unshakeably aspire to excellence.

Such an ambition overcomes the conditioning to be mediocre. The irony is that, once you have permanently achieved the HM, you realize you never were "special" after all, even though you're now much more connected to the ground of all reality everywhere. You now realize it's an "ordinary" condition to be in, and not special. And yet, to anyone who hasn't achieved it yet, it seems extraordinary. Reality is more extraordinary than fiction -- probably because no-one would believe some of these things could be so until they experienced them.

If you are indeed for a certain period willing to tread the "strait and narrow path" of making spiritual liberation the one and only priority in your life, congratulations. Sooner or later you'll get to that point in any case (though possibly not in this lifetime for certain people, I guess, unfortunately), once you've given assent with all your soul to the inner hunger, as in post #1230. But it's also important not to become obsessive in certain ways. -- Ah, the need to stay balanced in all ways, and even to keep all those ways in balance with one another! And how dare I bring that up when I'm talking about one-pointedness! --

For example, it does seem to be beneficial to (almost) everyone to attend a meditation retreat, provided it involves true and serious meditation (and assuming the person doesn't have emotional disorders/etc that need to be sorted out first). It even seems beneficial to most individuals to join an ashram or monastery / etc for several years. But I would question whether doing so for ten or twenty years was the quickest path. I would also strongly question anyone who has any youngish kids or who is in a marriage or long de facto relationship doing so -- unless accompanied there by family members. I find that the Universe is a higher power that is ultimately in charge. If the Universe provides a challenge "in the world" rather than in the artificial environment of an ashram/etc, I find the lesson always seems to be just as effective as if it were learnt in the relative quiet of the latter type of environment. (sway take heart, and Eram, and others.)

I could add many things about what that special ambition and singlemindedness involves. Put whatever attention you can on the HM or its light or the closest you can get to it at any time, and let it communicate to you its power, its light, its trust, and its unmistakeable sense that everything can be easily done, no matter how little you may have progressed up till now. It helps especially if you can learn to stay a little more calm, more detached, in all exciting situations. I'm sorry if that will make you go off the enjoyment of football matches and most movies for the rest of your life, but if you do I promise you eventually won't regret that sacrifice.

Many people who are seeking true spiritual liberation will still be living at the mental or emotional or physical level, lit up occasionally by insights or experiences coming from the HM or Source. Or else their experience of the HM is often veiled or undercut by mental or emotional distortions. But when the time is right, it's necessary for them to open up wholeheartedly to to their intuition and hence to their HM in a big way. That will then start to bring the light even of Source itself directly into their lives now and then -- provided they remain one-pointed at such a stage.

[Freed Fox]

Great stuff, TH. A lot to take in from the last page or so of posts (still have the self-assigned homework of reading the Casteneda book mentioned earlier here to get to).

Posted by TraineeHuman (here)
It helps especially if you can learn to stay a little more calm, more detached, in all exciting situations.

I've noticed this to be an issue for me, when things seem to start 'happening' during meditation. It's rare; I usually just have the initial stages of clearing my mind and releasing thoughts as they come, followed by the stillness itself. However, there are sometimes further sensations which arise from that stillness (which I've shared here), energetic feelings. One of those that I talked about felt distinctly like some kind of process, which furthermore I felt was interupted and moved away from by my own excitement in regard to it.




EDIT: Post #1175 was the specific example I was referring to, but having looked back I realize that in that particular instance, it actually occurred prior to clearing my mind, rather than proceeding it. Still, there are variations of this, but again they are exceedingly rare for me. I might chalk that infrequency up to my lack of diligence (haven't been meditating regularly these past few weeks!)

[TraineeHuman]

Posted by Freed Fox (here)
... during meditation ... I usually just have the initial stages of clearing my mind and releasing thoughts as they come, followed by the stillness itself. However, there are sometimes further sensations which arise from that stillness (which I've shared here), energetic feelings. One of those that I talked about felt distinctly like some kind of process, which furthermore I felt was interupted and moved away from by my own excitement in regard to it.

Let's see if we can clear up what I suspect is some possible confusion around the topic of meditation. Firstly, meditation of course isn't the only helpful means to liberation. There's also work, love, constructive relationships, and many other things.

Let's take work as an example. The "lowest" aspects of the ego are usually intertwined quite considerably with laziness of one kind or another. This means that if you're working properly on your spiritual evolution, probably one of the first "hurdles" you'll have found you overcame was as follows. Unlike the majority of the population, you're now not at all lazy at the work you do for a living. OK, everyone does need to spend some time "being lazy" in the sense of relaxing from all the pressures, such as on weekends or whenever they can. Even mothers of young children need to find some "down time", preferably every day. I know, easier said than done. But this conquest of laziness can be achieved more quickly precisely because of the pressure of work, or, even more so, the pressure of being the parent of a young child.

Somewhat similar remarks apply to "love" as a means of development, and the overcoming of fixed prejudices and of seeing situations from the point of view of others involved.

I suggest, however, that meditation often seems to be the best of the ways to accelerate your liberation. Let me clarify that there are a number of different things which people may sometimes use the term "meditation" to cover. (Incidentally, I did attempt to describe various aspects of what meditation and contemplation are around posts #283 (3rd February) to #298, and around #290 to #302, and elsewhere.)

The type of meditation I do for ten minutes or more each morning is something which from the beginning involved the stepping away from its slavery to the thought process, from the usual "compulsory" flow of thoughts. It involves the emptying of all thought out of the mind. Once one learns to do it properly, what one most often experiences is entirely or mostly formless -- and it's beyond physical (and emotional, and mental) space. It's exhilirating pure freedom (and real freedom to choose).

One also comes to clearly see and know, every time one meditates silently in this way, that this blissful world is the truest, realest reality -- at least in comparison to the ordinary world one lives in. (Not to deny that the latter is also certainly real.)

The point, though, Freed Fox, is that all this is entirely or mostly formless. That means it's quite beyond all concepts and pictures and words. (Can you imagine what freedom?) So, you saying you've only seen inner "movies" or whatever on several occasions doesn't mean you've been a failure at (silent) meditation at all.

Having said that, let me make it clear what the most helpful and broadly liberating practice seems to be, particularly as far as freeing you of ego goes. That practice is self-observation, or, if you like, self-enquiry. But this seems to work most successfully and intensely if it's combined with the formless type of meditation I described at the beginning -- or, at least, with a raising of your awareness level ideally to at least a formless level.

Although there are higher "levels" to doing this, initially you may find yourself watching some of the chains of thoughts or pictures that make up your ego, i.e. the emotional memories and programs in your lower mind. The end result of managing to do this over a long period will be that you will attain great emotional maturity, and considerable freedom from the influence of the ego.

If I interpret you correctly, Freed Fox, you'e saying you've managed to do something like this, but only on several occasions. If that's correct, then I would say congratulations on having taught yourself how to do it. That's impressive. I need some clarification. Are you saying you don't know how to keep doing it? Is that part of your issue?

Let me also stress that the more strongly one develops one's ability to do "formless meditation", the more potentially skillful and effective one becomes at this as well.

Is this relevant to what you were talking about, FF?

[Freed Fox]

Posted by TraineeHuman (here)
Although there are higher "levels" to doing this, initially you may find yourself watching some of the chains of thoughts or pictures that make up your ego, i.e. the emotional memories and programs in your lower mind. The end result of managing to do this over a long period will be that you will attain great emotional maturity, and considerable freedom from the influence of the ego.

Sorry for not being very clear, Trainee. The above is what I have noticed personally, since beginning at least semi-regular meditation. I've also noticed that emotional control/maturity seems to slip slightly, if I go too long without meditating (becoming frustrated, or impatient more easily is typically how it manifests for me).

From time to time, while initially beginning meditation, a painful or emotional memory will be among the thoughts which come up, and I try to use that opportunity to 'clear' myself of it (forgive myself and other parties involved, release the emotion tied to the memory, and essentially just 'move on' from being hung up over it).

If I interpret you correctly, Freed Fox, you'e saying you've managed to do something like this, but only on several occasions. If that's correct, then I would say congratulations on having taught yourself how to do it. That's impressive. I need some clarification. Are you saying you don't know how to keep doing it? Is that part of your issue?

Let me also stress that the more strongly one develops one's ability to do "formless meditation", the more potentially skillful and effective one becomes at this as well.

Is this relevant to what you were talking about, FF?

Yes and no, perhaps... I guess this tends to happen when discussing what words can scarcely describe.

The introspective element was not the rare occurence I was trying to describe. What I was talking about are times when I seem to be experiencing strange, energetic sensations (for lack of accurate or adequate terminology). The sensations aren't always the same, but they seem very distinct from the sort of peacefulness bordering on bliss that tends to come around, if and when I manage to clear my mind and sufficiently maintain that state of stillness.

For all I know, these could be onsets of consciously initiated OBE's, however they do not seem to match up with what people describe of those (vibrations, buzzing sounds, and an 'electric' feeling). I make this comparison only because, in the past, they have struck me as if I was passing through something, or changing in some way. Sometimes it even feels like a physical transformation, though of course that never seems to be the case, and in every instance it seems to stop or recede before reaching the 'destination', if you will.

I apologize for not doing a better job in describing these, but the sensations themselves vary, and again they are a rare occurrence for me.

[TraineeHuman]

I've received a PM from a member who writes of looking forward to experiencing the formless, "if it exists". Let me try to list some ways everyone already seems to know that the formless does exist.

People may not be aware that Buddhism and Hinduism take the the notion that the higher worlds or dimensions are all formless for granted as one of the most basic truths. So let's not count that.

Firstly, then, we know that the mechanical mind is something real in our lives. But everyone also seems to know that there's more to our mind or consciousness than the purely mechanical. Anything that's more or "beyond" the mechanical is formless. So, if you feel you know you're not just a (bioelectrochemical) robot, then you do feel that part of you -- the most important part -- is formless.

Secondly, consider how we can do virtually nothing without "looking". And how before we focus our attention on any particular object, we usually first just look at everything. In that initial moment we are using indeterminate attention -- i.e., we haven't determined yet what we want to focus on. You could also call this our "general awareness". The point is, it doesn't have any fixed perspective or bias -- any one form. Rather, it's something that fits all sizes, so to speak. In other words, it has no set form (or set content in advance) at all.

Thirdly, the formless is anything that lies on the other side of "me". By this I mean that we all seem to feel we know that "I" means something different from "me". We know where "me" is, because (unless we happen to have gone OB) it's where the physical body is. But where is "I"? Well, the type of world it lives in is always formless.

We may like to believe that we are only physical, emotional and mental beings. But the formless constantly impinges on our lives, not forcing anything but constantly supporting us.

[TraineeHuman]

Learning to communicate using just pictures or symbols instead of words is a skill which I'd suggest everyone interested in OB experience needs to learn thoroughly -- and therefore practice practice practice. You can't play a concerto if you haven't learnt your scales.

It's not so hard to do. After all, that was a very big part of how we communicated during age zero to about twelve months.

I've found that somewhere around the twelve month point of their lives, people begin to talk, at first using very telegraphic "sentences" some of which are full of private meanings at first. At that point they form a (false) identity, which needs to be eventually "blown" through psychotherapy or self-enquiry.

In my own case this happened at the age of ten months. At the time I had started wetting my bed. Although more than 50% of infants do this and, like me, grow out of the habit within several months, my mother was quite distraught about it. After all, I had an older brother who didn't develop a habit at any stage. Imagine, then, what it would be like for an infant to have many of his initial word-based communications be on the subject of bedwetting! My tactic was to upstage all that by creating and promoting an identity of being very cute and pleasant -- kind of the exact opposite of what one might expect from a bedwetter.

One thing that was different in my case was that my mother was very clairvoyant, even though she truly believed this was entirely "normal", having had a very clairvoyant mother herself. And clairvoyants mostly bypass using words. Like animals, they use symbols and pictures instead.

Incidentally, if you have a pet I can strongly recommend practicing with Diddums until you can hold very simple (approximate) conversations using mental pictures and feelings. I find that most cats and dogs who are complete strangers, and some birds, will be very pleased to pick up on any gesture of good will or friendliness if it's expressed in this "language". They will often instantly make themselves friends of yours for life.

Don't be surprised, though, if your pet assumes you're more fluent in that "language" than you initially find you are. But it can be loads of fun to learn how to communicate more fluently with your pet. You may discover that your pet faithfully copies all your mental pictures and feelings all the time anyway, positive or negative. You are the parent of your pet.

When I began primary school, I was more used to "speaking" with telepathic pictures than with words. In fact, I wasn't used to using just words alone at all. The teacher had the class divided into four rows. The row she put me at the front (the bottom position) of was the Turtles row. The teacher said more about Turtles than about the any of the three other animals of the other rows. Always nice things. She said how reliable they were, and how they might be slow and steady but they always got there in the end.

Still, after a while I realized I was at the bottom of the weakest row. From my classmates I got the idea that maybe it was more desirable to be an Eagle, or even a Kangaroo. That was even though I didn't know what any of these creatures were, and the Kangaroos were supposed to be able to leap what sounded to me like tall buildings -- which I felt was way too dangerous and silly. And after all, the Turtles had much stronger backs than any of the others, which couldn't be a bad thing. The only danger with being a Turtle was if you were unlucky enough never to learn to read. That one was huge. But I felt if it was so important, I'd find a way.

Two weeks before the end of the year I got moved to the Eagles row, and straight to the top of that row. One week before the end of the year the teacher explained I was now a Kangaroo. I didn't like the idea of being one of those, so she said that was OK, I could stay in the Eagles row if I wanted.

But the following year I found I had been promoted to skipping a whole year -- along with one of the Kangaroos. Maybe it might be OK to be a Kangaroo after all.

A little later, during my adolescence I became aware that the formless (and beyond) made up most of reality. But for some reason people didn't see this. That brought me to two-and-a-half long decades of being called "vague" or "idealistic" or "strange" or maybe "impractical" as I slowly learnt to adjust. That's adjust to seeing all aspects of life from what was really the much more limited angle, where you pretend the formless doesn't exist. Hmm.

I guess if you try being open-ended rather than closed, you're at least opening a door that can potentially let the formless in, into whatever situation you're in. I guess all sorts of things that are really there are "invisible" to us if we have the relevant blinkers on. I'm sure this has some connection with why some people have trouble "seeing" much other than darkness when they go OB. Though having mugwort under the pillow does seem to help some people like this, and it also protects against nasties.

Practice, practice, practice communicating with pictures and symbols, because you can do more with these than you can with English.

There's also a "language" ever so far beyond pictures too. It's a "language" I know and love. Most of my life it's been ever so frustrating not to be able to share it with people. One day. Or one beyond-time period in the "future", I'm sure.