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"We are Shiva, but we are also Shakti. We are perfect, but we are also imperfect. We are the eternal Reality, but we are also the ephemeral image It projects on Its own screen. We are indeed the Dreamer, but we are also the dream. We are entitled to say, "I am Shiva," but so long as the Shakti-mind exists, it must sing the song of love and devotion to its Lord." -The Supreme Self, Swami Abhayananda

The sound of the Gion Shōja bells echoes the impermanence of all things. The colour of the sāla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; The mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind. ~ from 'The Tale of the Heike'

C T and A Seeker left this for edification and inspiration! This discussion of sameness from start to finish is addressing enlightening activity after seeing essence; after dropping off dropping off. After one has turned the light around to illuminate the self and attain suchness, there is still practicing suchness. This is where Dogen really shines. Having spoken almost exclusively of this for years now, it is not surprising to see that when describing advance practice, most people only want to conceive of before leading to noumenon, and have no idea of gradual practice after sudden realization— even though the bulk of what I have read of Dogen's work (or have read into his work) addresses enlightening activity after seeing one's original face. To be sure— IT IS ONLY AFTERWARDS WHICH IS TO BE TERMED ENTRY-LEVEL. Before is a dream because you don't know it is. Afterward is a dream too, but you know it. There are a few reasons for this lack of understanding— Obviously, the foremost would be having no idea what comes before, much less after— I only write about it because hardly anyone addresses the practical issues of enlightening being. I'm not being critical; I only offer the suggestion that one ponder the truth that nothing is gained by realization and that the point (before leading to after) is seamless simply because mind is one, not two. The realization is knowing there are no two minds— that there is no person nor has creation ever existed in perpetuity. One must still observe causelessness of the unmanifest as equal to causelessness of the manifest because this is the function of the tao. There is always that which is even beyond the tao. Who goes there? Enlightening practice is none other than employing the power of realization to match creation in ordinary situations in order to respond decisively and precisely. This is becoming the tao in reality~ it is also expertise. This is not about acting! This is about making creation nonexistent without negating phenomena in everyday ordinary situations because its true and it works. There is no doing. It works. One must enter the mystery oneself; there are no shortcuts and there is nothing to understand. The other main reason for not seeing the open secret plain as day before you, much less recognizing the ancients' description of its practical nature and inconceivable function is because it is mind. Therefore they (mundane and absolute) are not two. The same description suffices when talking about essence, function and substance. From my perspective, the value of the path and its derivative lore is learning that awareness is all the magical, mysterious, inconceivable world we live in. I am only an explorer sharing hard-won experience. Taoists steal potential and take over creation. I describe how to do it. Stealing potential is only possible for those who see it. One takes over creation by not using it. This ain't no TTC bullshit, kids. Laotzu the wizard wasn't just wise— the wizard knew the secret of non-existence and endeavored to leave its traces in this world. The method is soft; its application is open. There is no person. First it is necessary to drop off dropping off. Obviously, one must already have dropped off— hence the admonition for alchemists to first see essence, only then seek a teacher. Mind you, before and after isn't the critical juncture! What is most important in practice at any level is the order. I only say this because some rush ahead while others lag behind, missing the timing and bringing on harm to themselves and others where none existed. Knowing there is before and after; one yin and one yang equal change; make other the host and you be the guest, make the work possible and effective. I would like to say there is a moral exigency to the path and for some who must make that the point of it all~ that's fine, but I don't. See essence first. We ARE essence. When you see that~ what use is your own enlightenment?!! Don't worry about it at all! Enlightenment is useless. Enlightenment is seeing essence out of this world. But if you can see essence working in this world, you are already beyond entry-level enlightenment and the aftermath of dropping off dropping off and you already are in position to steal potential and take over creation in everyday ordinary situations unbeknownst to anyone. The only way to work with essence is to see it. Seeing it only happens according to celestial timing. In order to see essence, on must first be ready. Being ready is made possible by refining one's self. That is why the classic taoist saying is "Refine yourself and await the time." So it is not really necessary to be puffed up in your own little place of white-hot enlightenment~ on the contrary, the conceit of realization is to be dispensed with altogether. The Chan admonition is after you have washed off dirt with soap, rinse off the soap with water. Enlightenment is just as bad as delusion— that is why I talk about dropping off dropping off. Its also why the ancients say nothing is to be gained by enlightenment. Practicing suchness isn't going off to practice something; doing something. Suchness is the open secret here before your eyes right now. There are no two suchnessess; Reality IS hidden in our midst, but it's not different …it's the same. So when you hear "seek essence on your own, then seek a teacher", don't think you need complete perfect enlightenment. Seeing essence is seeing reality; only you know instantaneously for yourself. Your innate living awareness knows~ is the water cold or not? The meaning of seeking a teacher is (1), because your essential nature cannot be given by another nor can it be found outside of ones own body (which is inherently powerful) so it necessitates (2), employing wisdom so one shouldn't act on thoughts; one must resist the impulse to act. If you act, you turn potential into illusion (ei: not allowing it to naturally revert into nonpsychological awareness). You can't absorb illusion~ only potential. Buddhists call this "saving energy", So it is imperative not to act. The way to do that is to set up other as the host (ie: the teacher) and you be the guest (the student). One begins to see essence to the degree one is unwilling to use it. "Stealing potential" is code for dealing with phenomena without speculating on phenomena consciously, unconsciously or otherwise. When other becomes the host, one uses the world to refine oneself; not indulge oneself. Using illumination as a guide, one does not use the mind to create illusion. When one becomes the guest, one can then rest by not acting, awaiting the direction of potential while taking advantage of self-refinement in the context of not acting as a strategy for absorbing the undifferentiated. This is attaining suchness by practicing suchness. This set-up is created by you to hunt power. It's a trap. You don't know when and where the rabbit is going to pop up. No one is being fooled. You have the strategy and discipline is the means. This is the alchemy I practice. It is based on reality in reality as reality. Otherwise it is an illusion useless to all who have no mind for karmic shenanigans. There are those with the capacity to accomplish this process, that is all. I only write for those who want to hear this process. This is the same as the teaching of the Yin Convergence Classic. How is this so different from "attaining suchness by practicing suchness without delay"? This is neither false nor true. This is entry into the Inconceivable. Do you see essence or not? If you do then you can know stepping over eternity, stealing potential, taking over creation and make your abode under that tree in the homeland of nothing whatsoever. Making this your abode, you turn the Dharma wheel without leaving your place, and it is the same wherever you stay or go. ed note: acknowledge C T and A Seeker's contribution to this thread and also to parenthesize "before leading to after" in the fourth paragraph, added "without negating phenomena" in the fifth and embellished the biggest paragraph to my heart's desire~ haha!!❤

The essence of hexagram 33 is composure. It is the use of stillness to compose strength, which inherently requires a withdrawal/retreat. When we take a moment to compose ourselves, we are withdrawing into stillness to find our center and gather our strength. This is not a phase of doing, but a phase of returning. Each line within this hexagram describes a different phase of change within the overall dynamic of composure. Lines 3, 4, and 6 are the changing lines in this reading. However this doesn't necessarily mean all of these are going to change at once to produce something new. It could be point out the active participants in this dynamic of composure. Line 3 is a phase of withdrawal and composure where one is very likely to be personally entangled and weak to the task of developing composure. Line 4 describes the phase of withdrawal where one is able to withdraw and compose one's energies at the precise moment there are forces working against one's composure, precisely because one has no personal entanglements in the way. However if one does not understand how to dissolve personal entanglements, it becomes the phase where instead of becoming inwardly composed through withdrawal, one still does the work to retreat, but uses adamance to push the outside away rather than dissolving within. Line 6 describes the phase where, without subduing energy, energy is subdued. This is the richness of composure where one is able to work without bounds. Each of these lines is active, but I wouldn't say they all point to hexagram 8. From what I've read of the situation, it seems line 3 is related to your friend discovering the need for composure and centering, and being tested in how they are able to apply this retreat in line 4. Perhaps this will indeed result in your friend finding a higher type of composure as described in line 6. Or maybe line 6 describes your own participation. In any case... the reading isn't completely clear, as I don't know what question was asked by the friend, or, because it came via a dream, if we should interpret this as your question or your friend's. Beyond specifics, there does seem to be plenty of clarity we can all benefit from: Learn to develop composure through better management of one's center. When elements arise to take us away from our center, learn how to compose ourselves, knowing that our personal attachments will make this more difficult, that we will have an easier time being composed and centered when we are able to release personal attachments in a timely fashion, else we risk the use of force to push things away when our center is being attacked.

The absolutely classic definition of lucid dreaming is when you become both aware of that you are in a dream, and subsequently start to act consciously in the dream. Astral travel utilizes a displacement of consciousness - often into a body of prana - and one then explores other planes, even this one in realtime. Mandrake

So I have been listening to John Lennon and he sings, "The dream is over." I ask him, "What's left when the dream is over?" but get no reply but then I remembered that he had just said, "That's reality."

This is not the case (with memory gone) in many "non Hindu" traditions. No memory is more just seen as an early state (first of three). In other traditions, it is seen as more "seeing through" the attachment of memories, not that they disappear. From the Lankavatara sutra... .... The Blessed One replied: There are three kinds of such transcendental bodies: First, there is one in which the Bodhisattva attains enjoyment of the Samadhis and Samapattis. Second, there is the one which is assumed by the Tathagatas according to the class of beings to be sustained, and which achieves and perfects spontaneously with no attachment and no effort. Third, there is the one in which the Tathagatas receive their intuition of Dharmakaya. The transcendental personality that enters into the enjoyment of the Samadhis comes with the third, fourth and fifth stages as the mentations of the mind-system become quieted and waves of consciouness are no more stirred on the face of Universal Mind. In this state, the conscious-mind is still aware, in a measure, of the bliss being experienced by this cessation of the mind's activities. The second kind of transcendental personality is the kind assumed by Bodhisattvas and Tathagatas as bodies of transformation by which they demostrate their original vows in the work of achieving and perfecting; it comes with the eighth stage of Bodhisattvahood. When the Bodhisattva has a thorough-going penetration into the maya-like nature of things and understands the dharma of imagelessness, he will experience the "turning-about" in his deepest consciousness and will become able to experience the higher Samadhis even to the highest. By entering into these exalted Samadhis he attains a personality that transcends the conscious-mind, by reason of which he obtains supernatural powers of self-mastery and activities because of which he is able to move as he wishes, as quickly as a dream changes as quickly as an image changes in a mirror. This transcendental body is not a product of the elements and yet there is something in it that is analogous to what is so produced; it is furnished with all the differences appertaining to the world of form but without their limitations; possessed of this "mind-vision-body" he is able to be present in all the assemblages in all the Buddha-lands. Just as his thoughts move instantly and without hindrance over walls and rivers and trees and mountains, and just as in memory he recalls and visits the scenes of his past experiences, so, while his mind keeps fuctioning in the body, his thoughts may be a hundred thousand yojanas away. In the same fashion the trasncendental personality that experiences the Samadhi Vajravimbopama will be endowed with supernatural powers and psychic faculties and self-mastery by reason of which he will be able to follow the noble paths that lead to the assemblages of the Buddhas, moving about as freely as he may wish. But his wishes will no longer be self-centered nor tainted by discrimination and attachment, for this transcendental personality is not his old body, but is the transcendental embodiment of his original vows of self-yielding in order to bring all beings to maturity. The third kind of transcendental personality is so ineffable that it is able to attain intuitions of the Dharmakaya, that is, it attains intuitions of the boundless and inscrutable cognition of Universal Mind. As Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas attain the highest of the stages and become conversant with all the treasures to be realised in Noble Wisdom, they will attain this inconceivable transformation-body which is the true nature of all the Tathagatas past, present and future, and will participate in the blissful peace which pervades the Dharma of all the Buddhas.

I think I know what you mean. Lucid dreaming is like you were a spectator watching the event which was taken place in the dream. Astral travel is like you are actually participating the action yourself in the dream.

Much of my practice is a form of "mindfulness of relaxation", or a kind of mindfulness of something where progressive relaxation is the secondary purpose. The thing is, one is mainly on the threshold of consciousness, while not falling into dream consciousness. The idea is that the bar moves as one gets more used to sitting on the line between conscious and dream. Eventually it becomes easier to maintain a state of conscious awareness. Yogis do fall asleep ocassionally, and pop back up. Its not sinful. Its easy to get back into a meditation state from there even though the sleep temporarily ruins the high energy flow of deep meditation. The advantage to this type of meditation versus a stronger clinging to alertness is a quicker entry to a deeper state, because one's mind is looser, and thus a greater amount of energy flows. I think the disadvantage is that its easy to cheat oneself or one's teacher and think that sleep is meditation.

The Dark Goddess Returns An Interview with Marion Woodman by Michael Bertrand MB: Your book is called Dancing in the Flames: The Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness. I think that there's a lot of people who don't know what or who the Dark Goddess is. Why are we dealing with this image at this time? MW: Well, we're dealing with it because so many men and women are having dreams with a dark female figure, often bigger than lifesize and chocolate coloured, and they don't know what to make of this figure in their dreams. I think it's exceedingly important that she should be recognized because she's a transformative energy. In the book we're trying to trace that Dark Goddess back to Isis in Egypt or to the Dark Goddesses that were brought over into Europe when the crusaders went to Africa. What did those Dark Goddesses mean in the medieval period especially in contrast with the chaste, pure White Goddess up on the pedestal--what is the difference in the energy represented by those two images? The Dark Goddess has to do with the Earth, the humus, the humility, the human. She has to do with sexuality, with the sheer joy of the body, with fecundity and the lusciousness of the Earth and with the love that can honour the imperfections in the human being. Whereas the White Goddess tends to make people idealize themselves and therefore develop a huge shadow, the Black Goddess, through her sense of humour and immense love for humanity, helps us to accept our imperfections. Not only that, she helps us to see that a lot of things that we may have considered shameful in ourselves are not shameful at all. MB: So she's very accepting. MW: Of human beings, yes. She's very accepting, but in loving and honouring her we can accept our humanity. This is what is at the root of so many addictions and so much shame and guilt in our society. People cannot accept their humanity. They cannot forgive themselves for being human. If this figure comes into a dream and is kind to you or takes you in her arms and holds you, it is such a shocking shift of energy that I've known people who've radically changed after such a dream. It's not orthodox Christianity, but on the other hand in Europe many churches do have a Dark Goddess or Black Goddess right within the church walls. I've never seen one in Canada or the States, but they're not uncommon in Europe and they have been beloved for centuries. MB: Well, this accepting energy that allows us to be human is different than the all-encompassing Mother Goddess energy, I gather? MW: Yes, because she's not only mother. She does have a child always with her and that child is a god. We have to remember that. She is a madonna, but also, certainly throughout the middle ages, people worshipped her in their sexuality, in childbirth. They prayed to her that they would have children in marriage--very much related to sexuality. MB: So, one of the things that leads to transformation is this great acceptance of our humanity, and that's . . . MW: Yes, that's right. You see she's also a Goddess of chaos. Chaos is darkness. In India, for example, they call her Kali. We all know the pictures of Kali with the skulls around her neck and dancing on a dead corpse and carrying the knife and the cupful of blood and the head she's carrying--she has four arms and she carries the head and the cup underneath it with the blood. This figure is beloved in India because she lives in the moment. They will spend weeks in an Indian village creating a mud statue of her. They work very very hard to make her as beautiful as possible. Then on her day they celebrate and they sing and they dance and they carry the statue through the streets and when the day is over they throw it in the water. It's gone in a minute. That's their acceptance of death and the realization that life and death are two sides of one coin. That is something we have yet to learn in our culture. In our culture death is taboo and we don't really believe that new life comes out of death. So, we're very liable, when we lose our job or our marriage or our partner in death, to think that our life is over and we tend to get caught in dead imagery. Whereas with the honouring of the Dark Goddess we can accept life and death, rebirth, as part of an ongoing pattern. MB: When you say honouring or worshipping what do you really think we here in the West, in Canada, now in 1996, need to do to make that happen and why do we need to do it? MW: Well, we're faced with the breakdown of our old civilization, I think, and the institutions are collapsing. The morals and ethics that I valued throughout most of my life are not valued now. Our own country is collapsing because we cannot see anything but the opposites. The feminine perspective, the Dark Goddess perspective, would hold the opposites as paradox, not as oppositions. Death and life are simply the paradoxical reality. It seems to me that if we cannot move to that place, if we stay with our either/or patriarchal vision, our country is going to break apart. At a planetary level what possible hope is there of ever bringing anything together? How can we live on this planet if we don't develop a both/and vision. The other thing that's so important with this Goddess is her honouring of matter and her love of the Earth, this humus, this humility, the Oneness of every living thing, that we the animals and plants are all part of her. So, in honoring her you can't take a buzz saw and go out and start sawing down every tree you feel like massacring. You can't bear to see the sap weeping down the side of it, because you're cutting down part of yourself. That may sound exaggerated, but we have lost the unitary vision on which this planet depends. We are a global village now and we have no idea how to deal with that. MB: And to make it even more impossible to deal with these huge changes, much of the local has broken down. There are moves to amalgamate towns and school boards into greater and greater areas, to make society even more impersonal. There's such a huge tendency to go against what needs to happen instead of, for instance, honouring the local. MW: And honouring the individual. There's a huge move on the part of corporations to simply fire a third of their employees. What are those people going to do? There aren't going to be jobs for them because machines are going to be able to do those jobs. So, we're going through an immense transformation. I think it's even bigger than the industrial revolution. We have no idea where we're going. All we know is what we're losing. Our leaders don't know where we're going, obviously. So we're dependent on our own imagery to guide us. The BlackGoddess isassociated withchaos, but peoplewho don't go intochaos never findtheir owncreativity. MB: You see the Dark Goddess imagery emerging in dreams trying to tell us something that we need to have in our individuals lives. You're saying we need to move beyond both matriarchy and patriarchy. MW: That's right. A matriarchy was never brought to consciousness in the world, and I don't think patriarchy was very conscious either, but certainly patriarchy has become a controlling, power-over principle, and that cannot work any longer on this little planet. It will only destroy both the tyrant and the victim. MB: Many people, if they let this awareness in at all, know that everything is being destroyed and they are, I think, quite shattered and brought up short about what to do. MW: That's right. I think they're falling back into addictive behaviour as a result. They find it very hard to face the reality of what's happening. MB: Eat, drink and be merry. MW: Well, or even just depression, drinking or drugs. I think many people are isolating themselves because they are so frightened and with a patriarchal vision, for good reason, because they are losing their homes and jobs and identities that made them who they thought they were. The feminine principle will look to the being of the person, not to the persona or the doing. It will honour the beingness. This, of course, is where so many people feel empty. MB: Because they don't have a sense of their beingness? MW: No, they don't. They will say to you that they can't go home at night because the apartment is empty. I say, "But you're there", but to them that means emptiness, nobody there. Now that is tragic, for a person to experience themselves as nobody. We've lost the feminine you see and now that our structures are collapsing where is the beingness and where are the values of the feminine that could take hold now and make it possible for people to live in a different way? That's what this book is about. MB: And those values are the ones of honouring body, Earth, self? MW: Body, Earth and also honouring paradox. That's extemely important. If you get into either I have a job or I don't, and you've lost it, then you've got nothing but despair. Either I do or don't have my wife, there again despair if you've lost her. But, if you can accept paradox you can say, "Well, yes maybe I have lost this but maybe there's something else in my destiny here and maybe I can find the light in the darkness. Maybe there's another job that would be creative and if I go into this chaos I'll find the creative seeds." You see, the Black Goddess is associated with chaos, but people who don't go into chaos never find their own creativity. They follow the train tracks. They follow the collective values. They may never find themselves, but if the train takes off and starts going through the bush, they'd better find something else or they're going to die. MB: You're basically saying that in order for human beings to survive the only choice we're being offered--and I guess that's the paradox in the situation--is that we find ourselves so we will act in a way that is in accordance with the energy of what you call the Dark Goddess. MW: Yes, I would say it's the laws of the universal feminine. Now, we're not talking about the universal masculine at this point, but they are in union. The two go together. We're focusing on the feminine because it has been so lost for 2000 years. But the masculine that has also been so damaged and so profoundly emotionally wounded by the patriarchy is now beginning to come forward. When those two energies start working together it is so exciting in an individual. It's going to happen culturally, I think, as well, ultimately. I think the people who will become the leaders in the new century will have a balance of those energies. Otherwise they won't be able to hold this country together, for example. We are so disparate now that we have to find our unity in our diversity. That takes masculine and feminine union to bring that about. MB: The words masculine and feminine, like Goddess, are quite loaded, not necessarily understood. MW: In the lecture, I will carefully define what I mean by those terms. It's a whole different way of thinking. The feminine is interested in process, in living right here in the now. The Kali is here right now, she's thrown in the water, she's gone. You have to live in the moment. People who have lived through an addiction or faced death through an illness (and I think many people are facing that now with the immune systems that are breaking down), have to live in the now, right here, because there is no future. It just makes life so exquisite when you have today and maybe not tomorrow. Then you begin to see what you do have. That's the present tense feminine. It's based on matter and matter does not live forever. It is subject to life, death and rebirth.

I base it on the experience of my entire life. The words I use are indeed an intuitive guess or creative guidance of the imagination. I do use analogies, because I don't care about reality. It is meaningless to me, such as the words you read in my post. It is the message that I am offering. Not the words. I can even disproove and discredit all that I wrote in my post. I like it better this way. I like to think of it as code language. The words are pretty damn fake. Just like dreams are pretty damn fake, because the conscious mind tries to make the best of the nighttime experiences with what its got. This results in what appears to be dreams full of "nonsense." this is like unto such a dream. You do not doubt my post, just like you do not doubt a nonsensical dream. You just disregard it or interpret the meaning of it.

I consider that to be sleep paralysis. How did you achieve it? Did it just come from meditation? I will definitely look into going from a lucid dream to an astral projection. Thanks.

I think I do know what you mean :-) ... and if need be I would seek to validate if that I think to be corresponds to what be... so that in fact what I thought to be corresponded to what be... though most of the time I will just take it for granted... and flow with it... if you know what I mean :-) the reason I asked 'Are you sure about not being imprisoned' stems from a little cartoon I drew a while back in which the belief of freedom is used to keep some imprisoned... you know the saying 'the truth will set you free'... To know the truth one must choose to bind oneself to the truth... if one is free from truth one is imprisoned by delusion... in a way I like to say we are forced to believe while free to choose what to believe... similarly we are forced to choose while free to choose what to do... we each judge everything and each thing some do it nicely :-) the illusion of choosing not to choose just complicates things... the same with judging not to judge... it still is a judgement call one makes! this topic centers on a desire for a different reality... escaping this dream seeking another dream rather than transforming this one... I expect positive change I realize that it may take a while and me doing some things (and not doing other things) as well as the participation of others for it to happen... and eventually it will happen... it may seem a bit magical to some though its rather quite natural... My desire for a different reality focuses on transforming this reality now and here to make it better...

Hi Rex Thank you for the info and introducing me to the term "Delog". There is so much to learn! I also have a book by Alan Wallace about Dream Yoga which I haven't read yet. I have sort of skimmed it. It reminds me of the old practice of "looking at your hands" throughout the day, by Carlos Casteneda. By getting into the habit of doing that during the day, when you dream you will look at your hands and you will realize that you are dreaming. That is when the fun begins! I did that a few times when I was 15 yrs old. The first time I succeeded I found myself in an old style ghost town in a desert somewhere. All the colors were very bright and clear. Very crisp. Better than High Def TV. Once I was familiar with the surroundings and what state I was in, I told myself, "If I am dreaming I should be able to fly". So I soared up into the sky. When I was up there, I thought to myself "I should be able to fly through the ground". So I flew straight at the ground, like I was going to fly through it. But when I hit the ground, an outline of my body appeared and I experienced a kind of a shock wave which woke me up. It was so much fun! TI

Though there are methods that use sleep paralysis to start astral projection, Sleep paralysis if NOT required to do astral projection. Usually people start with lucid dreaming to become conscious while asleep. There are methods for transitioning from a lucid dream to astral projection. Again, no sleep paralysis required. Check out Robert Bruce (Astral Dynamics) for good instructions on how to astral project without sleep paralysis. If you really want to project while awake, check out Robert Monroe's mental projection. Note: they sell a hemi-sync device to aid the process, that is NOT required either.

Old Bones Out there walking round, looking out for food, a rootstock, a birdcall, a seed that you can crack plucking, digging, snaring, snagging, barely getting by, no food out there on dusty slopes of scree— carry some—look for some, go for a hungry dream. Deer bone, Dall sheep, bones hunger home. Out there somewhere a shrine for the old ones, the dust of the old bones, old songs and tales. What we ate—who ate what— how we all prevailed. --Gary Snyder

I decline your challenge, I love to sleep in as late as I can although it was a fun meditation and I feel quite cheerfull today. {start long and possibly boring post} Got to bed at 12:30 (curse you Tao Bums and your interesting posts. Finished watching Star Wars III {again} just after 11 and though I'll just spend a few seconds on the net) Anyhow woke up 5:30, excited about the meditation. Went to the loo and snoozed till the alarm went off at 6, waited till ~ the 3rd chime 6:08 and did my Chi Gungs. Was nice and relaxed, finished at 6:17:56. I had wanted a minute to get ready for the meditation and had set my timer for 22 min but I did not have time to change it so I just sat, closed my eyes and thought "feel a wave of energy up my spine" which I did. I put my hands on my belly, smiled and followed my breath into my belly. But I wanted my breathing to be free so I felt it coming in and out my nose instead. Then remembered needing to let got of all sensation in my body so I went with "let go" as a mantra for a bit then let that go and over time noticed that my vision through my closed eyes was slowly changing from dark blue to a lighter gold colour (BTW the sun was coming up) Felt nice, then the gold vision faded to a silver gray and the timer went off at 6:40. Note: none of this was as spectacular as it sounds, very subtle effects, and the time seemed to pass quickly, basically a good meditation. So I set my alarm for 7 and went back to my sleeping partner, feeling very loved and happy and cuddled her. And I had a Dream (unusual in 20 min) I was in a dorm room in Tully. No idea why it was Tully, that is where my partner grew up. I have not been there much, and it didn't really look like Tully but I knew that was where I was. The dorm was long room, like 2 motel rooms joined together and seemed to have about 6 beds. My bed was near the door with about 3 others, no people in them (the whole thing felt a bit like the band camps I went to as a teenager but it didn't look like any of the places I have actually been) the room had like a bathroom in the middle that sort of divided it with the other beds at the far end of the room. (They looked like the sleeping accommodation in the last dive boat I was on) My highschool friend, Jeffery, who I have not seen since Uni and don't often dream about, was in one of the beds at the end of the room and some other people were sleeping in the other beds. I was looking for something on my bed. I knew it was there, but I couldn't see it or really get a clear idea of what I was looking for. It wasn't that dark, but I didn't want to turn on the lights as I was not sure which switch would light up my end of the room and I didn't want to wake up the others who were sleeping. Then I was outside in a large empty field, like Charters Towers where I grew up, very dry, unlike the surroundings which were more rainforest / scrub like Tully. There was a bus stop in the middle of the field, which seemed normal. It had a large white wall in the middle with seats and a bit of shelter. (looked a bit like that strange architecture in a current ABC TV advert here in Aus) Jeff was there as was John, a good friend that played trumpet in our 7 piece jazz band in high school who usually turns up in my band camp dreams. There were very dark, blue / black rain clouds, very stormy looking weather but still air. Suddenly about 200m away there was a twister. I shouted "Twister" and immediately felt confused as we have cyclones here but not twisters. Jeffery said "Don't you mean Whirly Wind" till he came around the bus stop and saw the size of the funnel. He and John ran off to some large trees (which were in the field now) but I stayed at the bus stop on the other side of the wall to the twister as it started to get really windy. When the twister was about 50 m away and passing on the left. I decided the bus stop was not safe anymore and ran to one of the trees. Of course the wind was so strong that I couldn't move forward. There was a girl making for a tree on my left, so I tried to get to one on the right but couldn't move. (Unlike the normal "can't run" dream this wasn't scary) Then the twister was gone, as was the girl. I walked over to a uprooted tree on my right that Jeff was sitting on top of to see if he was o.k. Cue alarm clock.....

Yea, most are completely content with what they think about stuff and then use that as the basis for choosing, doing, thinking, feeling etc; few continue to wonder, ponder and explore the matters at hand ... In other words most think to be right and feel completely content with what they think and the notion of continuing on wondering and pondering and exploring to realize the truth becomes a burden rather than an opportunity to learn a bit more. Some do welcome the opportunity to learn even if it means giving up what they thought was right... to embrace what be right... though some just prefer to keep the complete contentment in what they think... Imagination can certainly bring about wonderful stuff ... just like dream.... just make sure you keep it bound within what be good stuff... least you get entangled and bring to be nightmares from which you can't escape...Oh and just in case you get into a nightmare that you can't escape, always remember that you can always change the direction of the dream into the bounds of what be good stuff... so instead of escaping it you experience it while doing many other stuff...

Well I had a dream a few days ago and this beautiful pink sphere explained that these things can cause an excess of energy which then becomes unbalanced and results in negative energy being created. The dream was rather hazy (semi lucid) but I don't think the message was don't use these things but rather don't use them to excess. Anyway it was just a dream and I personally don't have any experience of these pendants but I just thought I'd pass that message on.

"To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life" The melancholy Dane... (Act III, Scene 1)

The "search/dream of a power that doesn't exist" is the attempt to alter truth, to change ultimate reality. We can change our experience, but never absolute truth. A person may think they want eternal hell to exist, so their enemies can go there. I've known of such people. Fortunately, their desire for others to spend eternity in agony won't make it so.

Consider the sage tho--he is one with the dao, in perfect harmony, never disrupting the flow. Uncaused causes clearly are disruptive. What sage would initiate them? How can one be in harmony then assert ones 'own will' above that harmony? I think 'free will' (in the hard sense) is a search/dream of a power we dont possess and that only seems (in appearances) reasonable because we cant see the whole picture of our being. If we saw that clearly we'd see how silly the notion is in the end. Also, I'm not saying metaphysical facts are necessarily the best basis for social policies either, lol. 8)

great post Wayki I was getting off track slightly too "all you do on your spiritual path is to help other souls." aye - I am very tired of all the hypocrisy, contradictions and BS that comes with every religion (control) government (control) + corporation (control) ... I don't really see a difference in these things anymore.. speaking generally which brings me to the conclusion the only path is my path somebody posted before - if you look at the bitter state of the world etc etc you will become bitter etc so don't worry about it just think happy thoughts la la la ha ha ha (more or less) is willful ignorance worse than ignorance? I suppose one may be bitter at the start.. which turns to anger which turns to action eventually one skips bitter and anger etc and goes straight to action i think this is apart of the control though... suppress all emotion that would lead to action, compassion/ empathy making the world a better place... 60% of the world is starving to death as you read this... and how many folks are just staring into space? or just watching TV all in a trance... oh yeh but thats their karma so they deserve to suffer... who ever said reincarnation was real anyway? another control device keeping people in a state of fear? does having the belief in reincarnation make you reincarnate? so all those folks are in a state of fear trying to get out of hell... so they dont have to come back to hell... see Christians say if you are not good you go to hell - Buddhism says you already are in hell and you have to do this and this and this to get out of hell... so everyone is chasing this dream of getting out of hell while they are chasing this dream of getting out of hell, they are creating hell

Hi -K- , How is that book , would you reccomend it? Why does it say that penetration is not good and why wouldnt Western women be able to become white tigresses? I read what you said on the dream therad, I got an orgasm few times with flying in the dream.The reason happening for me was-- tierdness or eating loads before bed which is not the usual habit. Yeah MCO or some spinal breathing is helpful for refining .

Dream analysis is an art, it truly is, the most important thing to understand is that your dream is absolutely particular and specific to you alone, no one else. Some dreams will be precognitive, some will be past life, some will be psychological and have particular meaning to you only, and some will be created by the chilli prawns thats upsetting your stomach while you try to sleep or the fever you have when you have the flu (both are hallucinations and not always very meaningful). I have worked with dreams personally and with patients for many years, and it is never an easy task. Personally, for me, they are great adventures, some are within my own mind but some are external of me, they come from outside my dimension and as such could be called astral traveling in other dimensions and are quite weird. Then there are those that predict the future or explain the past, past lives. And then there are those ones that are dying and those of flying. The dying ones I have had have all had particular meaning, whether being shot in the back by a shotgun while running away from danger, having my throat slashed by a saracen during the Holy War as a knights page, betrayed and stabbed in the back by a friend during Roman times or being stoned by a rioting mob, they have all brought greater understanding and insight into my life through personal analysis. I can only suggest that death dreams are personally educational and most particular to the individual having them.