Medhavi

I am afraid that it is stated on several places on the web that so far, both of them are only available in french. The best I could find is the outline presented here This quote, which I took from the article, caught my eye because I originally assumed that this was yet another branch of the Egyptian craze that was/is so popular since Blavatsky/R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz

To understand him better you would probably have to read the french journals that the Theon couple published before the demise of Alma(his wife; real name was presumably Mary Chrystine Woodroffe Ware) As far as I know, the doctrine(that allegedly stemmed from his wife)is laid out in six volumes entitled "La Tradition Cosmique". There were also journals under the general heading of "Revue cosmique" between the years 1902 and 1908.

I don't identify as Taoist per se and have little experience with the systems associated with them, which is one of my reasons for coming here. Therefore, I am not what you are directly looking for, but I have a thought that might help you, even if it may seem basic and often repeated: When working on problems, I mainly use my intellect to analyse. It is both a tool towards finding a solution and also a hindrance for accomplishing it. I am sure you are familiar with the idea of trying too hard to solve something and then missing the solution, which may be hidden in plain sight. Therefore, there might be other parts of the human being that can, at least in an "ordinary" man, only surface when the "lower" intellect comes to a rest- in the dream state for example. It is also rather obvious that many flashes of insight happen in a state of reverie, as you describe- which is another way to integrate more of your being towards finding a solution for a problem you are working on by letting you drift into another state of consciousness, which makes daydreaming and creative visualisation possible, amongst other things. With this thought, I think it is possible to say that solutions have a greater chance of being found once the tight grip of some part of yours- not just the intellect, mind you - loosens and opens up. Is is entirely possible that a part of "you" has the necessary piece of information that completes a puzzle you are working on- but you will not "access" it if you do not loosen up. Now all of this is nearly a given for everyone who has ever taken a step back to acquire a greater view of the overall picture. But I think you are asking for specific approaches to gaining these insights more often? If so, then I would have to say that there is probably no particular technique for making this more frequent as all correct meditation practises and energy developing practises open up the human being, making insights and breakthroughs more frequent. It is part of the natural process and can only be "influenced" in so far as one is ready to engage actively in those practises which, in the end, form a more coherent being. There might also be something to the idea that lifelong commitment to intellectual development and meditational practise develops your faculties for receiving such revelations as we can't receive what we don't have capacity for. What these faculties may be, beyond the five senses, may be tied to the receptor and ligand binding affinity and how they can be evolved to greater functioning in some way. I don't have the exact picture but that might be a clue as you have said that you have an affinity for chemistry. Therefore, it is necessary to increase -capacity to receive information -open up the body which is directly correlated to a more "functional" mind which, in turn, broadens your perception of what you assume to be the reality around you. It should be obvious how meditation and the various energy arts which- in the end- are indistinguishable from formal meditation, help with this. As such, I think that is possible to reduce most approaches to these basic points that aim to improve the sensory acuity of the human being beyond the five senses to receive more information until an objective view of reality is possible- that is at least the ideal I assume. EDIT: There might be a problem with this approach. I work as a linguist and researcher in mainly the yogic arts and I am aware of the problem of projecting a scientific mindset of categorisation and especially "extraction/isolation" on so-called "spiritual paths". It is tempting to go look for a specific "method" to improve a certain part of yourself that you desire to improve. But I have come to the realisation that a great amount of self-knowledge and critical thinking would be needed to accomplish that. This is not likely to happen until great proficiency in any art is reached. And the greatest problem is that few "methods" that you can find embedded into any religious tradition still carries the "why's and how's". You are mainly taught to follow a certain training until you reach gnosis- mainly because conceptualisation only gets you so far- this is a reverse to common western thinking which now demands the why's and how's in ready-made conceptual form before you undertake any practise. And as I have pointed out, the intellect is both a helper and hindrance- depending on how you use it and approach your overall being. How you go about this may trigger insights. But to "force" it with a "method" specifically designed to do that is projecting a very specific mindset on traditions which simply do not(and can not) work this way. Not because of the tradition but because of the make up of the human being- at least as I understand it at the moment. The only pattern that I can see is that flashes of insight needed for a breakthrough come through such a myriad amount of ways that one of the only common things about them is the idea that a long period of contemplation and hard work is crowned by the final insight gained in a- at times- non-ordinary(read: non-beta waves) state of consciousness. If I wanted to find out how, for example, Einstein in your quote came to that stroke of insight and how to repeat it with a method predictably it would be a kind of interference with what I assume to be the natural learning process. And you would have to assume a complete knowledge of the exact structure of all the bodies of man and how they work together. I would especially have to know where that flash of insight came from and how it entered my mind- in other words, how visions, synchronous events and all sorts of electromagnetic anomalia happen or how dreams can- at times- hold a key towars understanding a certain problem. As far as I know, there is no precise knowledge of that in western science and you only find allusions to it in the fragmentary traditions of the world. I see this discussion opening a can of worms as a wide array of concepts would have to be laid out to even correctly explain the dichotomies at work here, nevermind the problems you might encounter approaching eastern traditions with the motivation to make something predictably happen in a lab setting.

I think that approach is way too popular, even if there may be a grain of truth in it. The danger lies in association. Since it is generally hard to define exactly what constitutes "myself", most people, in my experience, interpret this statement in the sense of the "inside world-outside world" dichotomy. I think that thought penetrates more than one dimension, if through all of them, I don't know for sure. One possible interpretation of the old maxim "As above, so below" is to see thoughts reflecting through several planes of existence. Would it therefore be wise to only turn inward and reject the "outside" world? Why would we exist in this world if we preferred to just shut our eyes to sensory experience as additional information that may help us in our lessons?

I think that most people, who would say something like that, could never justify the misery that is in the mundane world. Of course, the follow up reaction to someone pointing to that issue would be "But that is the problem! We have to recognise that we are all already enlightened first!" Then I would ask how they would go about that. And that is when people would come up with a myriad of answers, depending on their background. All leading to the conclusion that something of a practise, ranging from critical thinking to the most obscure practises would have to precede such a realisation. As such, any such conversation would just lead back to the normal state, as it is. Hard work is required, no matter what. The phrase only reveals that the one issuing such words has some opinion of what enlightenment is. There is, of course, the danger of being "inspired" by such a statement to move into complacency. Hopefully for not too long.

Greetings, After a year of passive viewing, I have decided to actually jump off the fence and join the discussions here. For your interest, my main concerns are to increase my awareness of as many views as I can understand, to learn methods that are in my capacity, and to sharpen my intellect, until I may come to some hopefully humble conclusions about the nature of my lessons, and the reality, in which I experience them. My main focus is on Sanskrit(studying Indology), cultivation methods(mainly Water ones to balance my yang personality) and Vajrayana, with a focus on Nyingma/Kagyu methods and philosophy. Looking forward to find faults in my understanding!

I think you are on the right track as well. The keyword, in my personal observation, is the emotional significance that I attribute to a specific memory. If I want to "move on", certain programs in myself have made it seemingly necessary to do what you have suggested: "un-link" the emotional connection to an idea so that I may give myself the change to engage in practise and reflection, through which I may find a proper solution. In essence, to take my experiences as an example, I had to deceive my subconscious through trickery: the memory of an experience or idea is powered by emotion, and, at least in the beginning of my practise, emotion was stronger than my waking intellect, thus eventually overpowering willpower, which was in its infancy in myself and couldn't defend itself through successful application of knowledge. Thus, I had the habit of creating a ritual* that consisted in repeating the same experience that I wanted to get rid of in my memory because I wanted to escape from facing it in full knowledge and thereby "colouring" it again, hopefully in a better way(the only way which would convince my ego to "accept" the memory as part of my "personal image" that I hold in my mind) A sort of "reset" you may say. Emotional thinking, which is what I did the most in the beginning, has the quality of changing the "colour" of both my worldview and specific memory. And thus, you are right in saying that a trauma can replace another, if it is successfully done, depending on the perceived needs of your subconscious and intellect. Simple repetition of a particular behaviour might be slower because it is not as equally charged with emotion as traumas or acts that are important to us. But using such a trauma replacing device covers up the true cause of the original conflict, which will resurface sooner or later. By then, and so goes my idea, I have to have used the "borrowed time" to come up with a true solution to the problem, which, in my experience, always leads myself to find the courage to face the trauma as I can see it and derive enough information so that I attain applicable knowledge for myself, possibly leading to change. *(warning: this is the worst solution because rituals, never, ever, truly work by themselves. They can be a useful illusion(device) at best) Another point I would like to mention is the curious or, maybe, not so surprising find that, as thoughts can be powered by emotion, you can understand the concept of calm detachment. If you repeat a traumatic memory in your mind again and again, it becomes stronger and stronger. If you find that courage/calmness to look at it in detachment, it withers away(at least in my experience). But obviously, the knowledge and detachment route requires courage and awareness, and I can easily see how folks can be driven to create elaborate systems of ritual (magick) to deal with such problems and to fulfill desires that they wish to satisfy, even if they might be entirely illusory in nature. It is my(perhaps false) idea that, looking at my own rituals, many "escape" systems have been constructed around rather simple, but effective, systems of knowledge that work for those who have the capacity and qualities to move through their lessons gracefully.

I assume that you got this idea in the thread on the Online Practise Program. First of all, may I suggest that you look at any given craft or study and ponder whether or not it is possible to skip ahead of the first lessons and to become a "master" overnight? Secondly, if you determine that you can do so, what is the cause of that conclusion? You seem to be making a host of assumptions about both the people here and the arts that you seem to be chasing after. Looking at the specific words you used(ego, selfishness and greed) to complain about the ones that, in your view, hinder your development, I would like you to search yourself to see whether or not the same qualities are behind your complaint.