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The non-existence and existence of self predicates an inherently, independently existing self-entity to be found, that could come into existence, cease, be, or not be, etc. In other words: if realization of anatta arises, that there is in seeing just the seen, in hearing just the heard, just the five skandhas in which no self can be pinned down or located within or apart from the five skandhas, then thoughts of the existence or non-existence (or both and neither) of a self is found to be baseless. In Buddha's words: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.086.than.html "What do you think: Do you regard the Tathagata as form-feeling-perception-fabrications-consciousness?" "No, lord." "Do you regard the Tathagata as that which is without form, without feeling, without perception, without fabrications, without consciousness?" "No, lord." "And so, Anuradha — when you can't pin down the Tathagata as a truth or reality even in the present life — is it proper for you to declare, 'Friends, the Tathagata — the supreme man, the superlative man, attainer of the superlative attainment — being described, is described otherwise than with these four positions: The Tathagata exists after death, does not exist after death, both does & does not exist after death, neither exists nor does not exist after death'?"" And no, I do not completely agree with Thanissaro Bhikkhu's article as his article failed to elucidate the realization of anatta. Seeing things as not-self does not imply the realization that you can't pin down a self as a truth or reality, that there is in seeing just the seen, in hearing just the heard. Like I said, I do not cling to any thoughts about anatta. 'I' woke up from a dream, a fabrication, that has no reality at all apart as a mental fabrication, a dream - to even say it exists or not exists would be ridiculous.

No, the realization of emptiness is not a view. The view must be distinguished from the realization, and from the practice. I wish you guys could read the very long Chinese article (which I wrote to my local and Taiwanese dharma teacher - it is an article about my recent realization of emptiness) which explains all these in details... but I don't have the time to translate so I will write in short a few points. View, realization, practice. View: understand dependent origination, emptiness. An indispensible factor that leads to realization. Do not think 'viewless view is highest, therefore I should abandon all views' - view that leads to realization itself will be abandoned by the realization. In other words, before you ride the raft to the other shore, don't jump into the river or abandon ship. But when you reach the shore, it is natural that you would abandon the raft. But not prematurely. Realization: realizing everything as being like an illusion but not an illusion. More later. Practice: if everything is like an illusion but not an illusion, there is nothing to grasp, since nothing to grasp, there is nothing to abandon, nothing to cling and abandon... this is the 'practice'. About the realization of emptiness: emptiness is twofold. (glossary) "Two emptinesses (二空) include (1) emptiness of self, the ātman, the soul, in a person composed of the five aggregates, constantly changing with causes and conditions; and (2) emptiness of selves in all dharmas—each of the five aggregates, each of the twelve fields, and each of the eighteen spheres, as well as everything else with no independent existence. No-self in any dharma implies no-self in a person, but the latter is separated out in the first category. Realization of the emptiness of self in a person will lead to attainment of Arhatship or Pratyekabuddhahood. Bodhisattvas who have realized both emptinesses ascend to the First Ground on their Way to Buddhahood." How does emptiness of dharmas help, you ask? They are necessary for deepening liberation. You said: only emptiness of self is necessary for liberation. Yes this is true, BUT Emptiness of Dharma IS the Emptiness of Self, it is the same insight but taken a lot further - Bodhisattvas apply the wisdom of emptiness in all aspects of life and daily encounters so they remain liberated while fully engaged in samsara. They realize the emptiness not only of selves but of all dharmas and phenomena. Bodhisattvas do not seek a Nirvana over samsara, they remain and return to samsara and yet remain liberated engaging and liberating others. They abide in the Nirvana of non-abiding, neither steering towards the Arhat's cessation nor towards clinging of samsara. Master Shen Kai (my Mahayana master) writes: "Bodhisattvas enter the world to save beings as their appointment. They require the four (entering-world) patience: 1) The patience of birthless dharma, 2) The patience of cessation-less dharma, 3) The patience of obtaining causes and conditions, 4) The patience of non-abiding. All dharmas, it's nature is empty and quiescent, originally it is without birth; since it is without birth, there is no cessation; all dharmas, depend on the aggregation of causes and conditions for its arising, and depends on the meeting of causes and conditions for its cessation; Bodhisattvas live in the world of arising and subsiding dharmas, transforming beings according to conditions, saving them from sufferings and difficulties, saving the world and its beings, not abiding in any dharmas, therefore it is called non-abiding. Bodhisattvas are able to attain the four patience dharmas, therefore they are also able to transcend all breaking of precepts and transgressions, therefore this is called 'liberate beings dharma patience." Because the nature of samsara is birthless, deathless, empty and quiescent, samsara is nirvana when rightly seen. This is the nirvana of bodhisattvas, not the cessation of feelings and perceptions (nirodha samapatti) that arhats enter after death. Now, about the realization of emptiness, I set up a new section in my e-book dedicated to the realization of emptiness... recently. http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-e-booke-journal.html Realization is not view. Loppon Namdrol: At base, the main fetter of self-grasping is predicated upon naive reification of existence and non-existence. Dependent origination is what allows us to see into the non-arising nature of dependently originated phenomena, i.e. the self-nature of our aggregates. Thus, right view is the direct seeing, in meditative equipoise, of this this non-arising nature of all phenomena. As such, it is not a "view" in the sense that is something we hold as concept, it is rather a wisdom which "flows" into our post-equipoise and causes us to truly perceive the world in the following way in Nagarjuna's Bodhicittavivarana: "Form is similar to a foam, Feeling is like water bubbles, Ideation is equivalent with a mirage, Formations are similar with a banana tree, Consciousness is like an illusion." ... "In other words, right view is the beginning of the noble path. It is certainly the case that dependent origination is "correct view"; when one analyzes a bit deeper, one discovers that in the case "view" means being free from views. The teaching of dependent origination is what permits this freedom from views. The teaching of dependent origination is what permits this freedom from views." Thusness: The real purpose is the ‘freedom’ from ‘inherent’ view and then releases itself from any forming of ‘views’ so that the magic of functioning can be realized and directly experienced. However during the journey, there is always attachment here and there… therefore the ‘emptying of emptiness’. We go through step by step in dissolving the knot of ‘inherency’ till we see that ‘mind’ is the full embodiment of the immediate marvelous activity. Just eating, seeing, sensing, tasting, thinking...simply sound, thoughts, scenery and scents. Nothing within and without, only this spontaneous miraculous functioning, an interplay of dharma. When we entertain conceptual knowledge and seek unchanging Awareness or Self, the marvelous ‘interconnectedness’ of functioning is being misunderstood as ‘something’ being transformed into ‘something’ as if ‘winter’ has been transformed into ‘spring’. It is also important to take note not to ascribe the functioning to a ‘higher’ power. That is because of ‘a thought of personality’ that creates the confusion. If there is no attachment to a self, identity, personality, then the functioning itself is marvellous without reification, or any form of personification. Also, to truly get into this ‘magic’ of functioning, the doing away of the ‘how’ is also important. It arises when we penetrate and look deeply the where-about of anything. Just magical appearances. My description of the realization: http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2011/06/unborn-dharma.html I should say the realization of the unborn dharma (from shunyata) arose the day after you sent me this PM - the details of which can be found in the last ten to twenty pages of my ebook - new materials just added on sunday, in a new chapter called "shunyata". The realization arose spontaneously while simultaneously reading and contemplating an article from a highly experienced mahamudra practitioner/blogger, Chodpa, owner of the blog luminous emptiness. The realization of unborn from the perspective of emptiness is the realization that everything experienced - thoughts and sensate perceptions are utterly unlocatable, ungraspable, empty. In investigation where did thought arise from, where is thought currently located, and where will thought go to, it is discovered that thoughts are indeed like a magician's trick! No source can be located, no destination can be found, and the thought is located nowhere at all - it is unfindable, ungraspable... Yet "it" magically and vividly appears! Out of nowhere, in nowhere, to nowhere, dependently originated and empty... A magical apparition appears, vividly luminously yet empty. When this is seen, there is an amazement, wonder, and great bliss arising out of direct cognition of the magic of empty luminosity. So how is this linked to unborn? It is realized that everything is literally an appearance, a display, a function, and this display is nowhere inherent or located anywhere - so like a dream, like a tv show, characters of the show may vividly appear to suffer birth and death and yet we know it is simply a show - it's undeniably there (vividly appearing) yet it's not really there. It has no actual birth, death, place of origin, place of abidance, place of destination, ground, core, substance. ... Lankavatara Sutra: Mahamati: How did the Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas abandon the view of an absolute arising, dwelling, or dissolving? [buddha]: They abandoned it in this manner. They cognized that all phenomena are like an ephemeral illusion and dream, that they are detached from the duality of self and others, and that they are therefore unborn [emptiness.] They focused on the mind's manifestations and cognized external reality as unreal. By perceiving the unreality of phenomena, they brought about the cessation of the outflowing sensory consciousness. Because they cognized the unreality of their psychosomatic aggregates and the interacting conditions of the three planes of cosmic existence as originating from their deluded mind, they saw external and internal phenomena as devoid of any inherent nature and as transcending all concepts. Having abandoned the view of an absolute arising [of phenomena,] they realized the illusory nature and thereby attained insight into the unborn Dharma [expanse of emptiness.] The text further states that by abandoning the view of arising, dwelling or dissolving through the realization, you attain the first (or even to the eighth) bhumi's patience of the birthlessness of dharma. .... Emptiness... emptiness.... In normal, everyday life, when someone uses the word “emptiness”, it usually has a negative connotion. Like a 'lack of something'... like as if life is lacking something (e.g. "life feels so empty nowadays"). If anything, things lack ‘inherent, unchanging, independent existence’… yet they are wondrously, intensely vividly luminous and apparent! Unfortunately, the teaching of 'emptiness', along with other teachings of Buddha (including the most common misperception of Buddha's teaching as 'Life is Suffering' which is certainly NOT what he said!*) gives the misconception of Buddhism as having a life-denying, pessimistic view of the world. But this is NOT the Buddhist understanding of Emptiness! Form is emptiness, emptiness IS form! Emptiness IS Fullness! I can assure you when you realize emptiness, you will marvel, be amazed, at the whole universe as a magical apparition... it's like Whoa, the universe is magic, luminous and empty, clearly manifest yet no-thing 'there'! No place of origin, place of abidance, and destination - to thoughts, to sensate experiences... just a clear display of luminous apparitions. Shunyata is a wonder. This is a wonderful truth... This is nothing dreadful... and is nothing short of Great Bliss. The luminous and empty universe is spontaneously perfected, lacking nothing, amazing! *The Buddha taught that suffering is a part and parcel of life, or to put it more simply, 'there is suffering in life', and that there is a way to end suffering. He did NOT say "Life is Suffering" or "Life can only be suffering" even though sadly, this is what many teachers are promoting - their own distortion of Buddha's original words. For more info see this well-written article: Life Isn't Just Suffering by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (update) p.s. found something from a great article, http://www.ktgrinpoche.org/KTGR%20Buddhadharm%20Flashing%20Lances.pdf "When you put the two truths together in this way, you get Milarepa’s two lines: E ma, the phenomena of the three realms of samsara, While not existing, they appear – how incredibly amazing! The three realms of samsara are dreamlike – while not existing they appear, while appearing they are empty of inherent nature, and so they are miraculous."

the problem is this dream/astral stuff could be anything, ie delusions or created from our own subconscious, perhaps valid enough but still not the ticket. best to find a human teacher/master, then the real work can begin. if you have had issues this applies x100. the difference in progress may be clearing things and reorganizing over days/weeks instead of years or never. getting grounded is the key, not accessing higher planes. my 2cents.

Thanks for sharing. Yeah, get off the drugs if you possibly can but don't rush things and listen to your doctor. Our dreams can sometimes be helpful, other times harmful. Don't put too much credence in them. Practice is good if you know perfectly what you are doing and especially why you are doing it. (BTW The "why" should have a link to reality, not some pipe dream.) May your journey have fewer obstacles.

Hello Mewtwo, I'll give it a wack, but remember I haven't analyzed dreams in ages, so I may be rusty. First since you became another character/person, and presumably a character/person much younger than yourself, I would say that could mean that you have a desire to change who you are, perhaps become someone more powerful and younger (or perhaps healthier). Second, since you were asking another person for help, it could mean that you are facing a problem and seeking guidance. In regards to the door being made of branches, in particular roots, I would say that you may feel that the problem you're facing is deeply rooted in your subconscious. Lastly, since you had to struggle to open the door, and once you did you believed that you had opened your sushumna nadi chakra, that most likely what you wish is to find balance and peace of mind (and of course spiritual progression). The dream doesn't necessarily mean you have opened this chakra, rather that you desire to open it. Note that this is my spiritual interpretation and does not necessarily mean anything. As others have said, dream analysis isn't necessarily accurate since images have different meanings culturally and personally, so take all of this with a grain of salt. Aaron edit- I missed your last post about the frustration and joy, but this really only adds to my view that you are seeking guidance, or at least someone who will pay attention to what you're saying, and that you have a sincere desire to open the sushumna chakra.

I just got Winn's post about "The Secret." It's a nice response and there's lots of truth in it. The Secret doesn't work easily for most of us... Hagar's experiences are like the experiences found in positive thinking and business achievement books: they work for a gifted subset in an aspect or two of their lives. If it was easy to manifest, it wouldn't be up for debate in the first place. (As an aside, people who are good at manifesting things are more likely to buy into "The Secret" type of a theory than are people who poo-poo it. They might change it from new agey to a more traditional religious flavor, but you'll find it.) Winn says that the meditative approach is the long term answer. (Although the same argument could be made about meditative practices... they work great for a gifted subset.) The nice thing about the meditative approach is that the pleasure is here and now whereas most people understand the Secret to imply that the pleasure will come from the manifestation of the house, relationship, state of health, etc. Here's the post: "The Secret" - A Harry Potter Manual for Adults? That is where so many of us fail to grasp the real Secret of manifesting something new. The popular film "The Secret" buzzing around the internet and Oprah these days gives the standard channelled new age nostrums: visualize what you want, and build a new energetic thought form. By seeing your thought as real, and relying on the Law of Attraction to get support, you will manifest the $3 million dollar dream house with the pool (that cost $300K a decade ago). There is nothing new here, this is an Old Secret, variations of which appear as sexual magic (charge up a thought form with sexual energy). The only thing that it is really new is that New Age visualization is getting into the mainstream media as a sign of changing times. The public is over its head in financial debt, and the film offers a magic solution to becoming one of the wealthy, worry-free elite. Its a Harry Potter manual, packaged for adults, promising instant riches. The focus is on material, not spiritual development. But the advice offered is useful in getting people to focus their energy, as many problems do arise from the fragmentation and scattering effects of modern life. What's not being fully dealt with is Our Resistance to Change. That is the main impediment to manifesting the life we truly want. No, Resistance is not a dark cloaked evil figure. It's not Satan trying to make our life difficult, forcing us to have a nervous break down, and then sobbingly surrender our free will to some religious group claiming a power greater than the Darkness. Our Resistance is Invested in the Past Our Resistance is the shadow aspect of our self, a.k.a. the Self-Saboteur. It is actually the part of our Energy Body that is invested in the past. The past represents the Known. The Self-Saboteur is a junkie for what's known, even if what's known doesn't really work and has us mired in suffering. Same problem arises when our past pleasures no longer really give us pleasure. The sex becomes mechanical, the rich food tastes like cardboard. Our past attachment becomes future suffering as our Shadow Junkie puts us through withdrawal pains if we try to change from what is known. So what's the Real Secret to manifesting while living in a habit-encrusted body with rigid personality traits? It's pretty simple, but there are three steps. The first step is to realize what and where you are currently investing your energy. Once you can see your old investments, you can choose to re-invest. But unlike investing money, where we have the feedback of numbers in a bank account to tell us if we are winning or losing, our Energy Body keeps tabs of its investment invisibly. We could say sexual bonding, emotions and mental beliefs are the most tangible aspects of those invisible energetic investments. What happens is that people want to invest in having new lives, new jobs, new homes, new relationships, new spiritual paths. But they forget where their past capital is unconsciously invested. It's like forgetting the number on your bank account, and never withdrawing the funds. Banks make a lot of money this way in real life. And the same loss occurs with our psychic capital. For the person trying to change, half of their "energetic money" is still invested in the past.This reduces by 50% the amount of energetic money they have available to invest in a new future. So when folks try implementing "The Secret" and visualize a new life, they may be dealing from half a deck of cards. It's hard to produce a royal flush or four aces playing with a half a deck - even if you are the dealer and the only player. That is why, by process of trial and error, I've concluded that Taoist energetic practices are the most valuable tools I've discovered for managing my "unconscious money". The money is hidden inside our body, in deep energetic patterns - right where we invested it and stored it years ago. Lots of people try to get rid of that money in therapy, because they don't recognize it as money. They try to discard the old self or deny the self even exists, or try to heal the old pattern by surgical-energetically removing these dysfunctional patterns. I've found you are best off simply remembering that the old pattern is there, and re-invest its chi into a new pattern that is now unfolding in your life. You turn what is a useless self-sabotage into something productive. Breaking the Vessel of the Old Self Sure, there is "big new money" floating all around us, in the general chi field of Nature. We could say infinite amounts of chi money has been pre-printed by Nature, waiting to be spent, if only we could attract it. Just like there are trillions of dollars floating around in the global economy. But there's no point chasing after those trillions until you break your old piggy bank and create a vessel that is big enough to hold what you really need. But if your Energy Body is habituated to being the size of child's toy piggy bank, then that is how much "money" you will allow yourself to receive and spend. Because that tiny piggy bank is the vibrational vessel for your wealth. You have to break the old toy piggy bank and build a bank-sized vault as big as the sun, moon, and stars if you want to hold the vibrational wealth of Nature. But again, visualizing the sun and moon won't do much if the tiny piggy bank is still the core investment that you are holding onto in your deep unconscious. The piggy bank represents something valuable to the subconscious child in you. That child is holding tight in its fist the first nickel you ever got, and only lets go of the nickel to store it in that little plastic piggy bank. That nickel seemed like huge wealth to the child - and back then it bought a juicy handful of candy. We know from the Law of Compounding that energy, just like money, grows over time if undisturbed and allowed to multiply steadily. Our Energy Body acts like a focusing vortex for the Life Force, and it will grow exponentially if we don't disperse it. That is why alchemists create inside their body a vessel for the elixir. They know the Life Force will compound over time if allowed to "cook" in a strong container. This internal cauldron space is the equivalent of the alchemist's piggy bank. Whatever we focus on, chi will keep pouring into it until we tell it to stop. We forget what commands we've issued in the past - but the Life Force doesn't forget. It keeps feeding your request until you take responsibility for changing it. That's how it gets us to grow up. So our first job in overcoming Our Resistance is recognizing what form that piggy bank takes inside us. It could be encoded as a small or weak self-image. It could be from a phrase like "You are worthless!" that someone unconsciously imbedded into our field at a vulnerable time. It helps to locate where in your body these old energies are stored, and note the shape, feeling, color, size, etc. Second step is to break the old piggy bank, now a dysfunctional energy pattern, but still a controlling one. There are many methods for this, available through study of qigong and inner alchemy and certain kinds of healing. The third step is to re-invest that nickel and the hundreds of dollars in interest it has unconsciously accumulated over the years. You invest the past "stuck" wealth into your new direction in life. Then you are investing from inner strength, not struggling against your old investments. You are putting the Shadow energy to work for you. In terms of Taoist energetic practice, you won't be able to hold much chi until you clear your inner space of old energetic patterns - it's like furniture blocking free flow of chi inside your body. That is what the Six Healing Sounds, Inner Smile, Orbit and Fusion of the Five Elemetns are all doing - clearing out old patterns while something new simultaneously is invited to flow in. Become a Moving Vessel for the Life Force In this way we each become a Moving Vessel for the Life Force. This is a flexible, process-centered identity that eliminates the rigid psychic battle between the dark Shadow Self vs. the good Light Self struggling over what gets manifested. Instead, we become aware of both aspects moving through outer time and space, while inviting the Life Force to move through our inner space. It's a dance. We wake up to the possibility of having a vast, spacious cauldron in our center of gravity, where before there was just the blood and guts of our physical belly. The notion of "dan tian" takes us into a deeper dimension of ourself, beyond the physical. The ancient chinese characters for "dan tian" are best interpreted to mean the "open field in which the elixir completes itself". The spiritual science of manifestation is focused on completing our soul's destiny - not on satisfying mere culturally stimulated desires - like chasing after 3 million dollar homes with swimming pools. Many people manifest the dream home, but how many also end up in divorce, loneliness, and dissipating their energy through drugs, power, lust, etc.? Ao one Secret is not to chase after the cultural dream, but to listen to your inner soul's desires. The inner elixir sought by alchemists is your soul's wealth, gathered from your life's experience. We can concentrate this essence in one very pure point of consciousness that fuses our yin-yang identity into a third force. But we need a very dynamic space, and that is why I describe it as a Moving Vessel, because the Life Force is always flowing in and out of it. When we are children, it feels like there's no past, so our chi is free to flow in all directions, a time of wonderful exploration. Because kids have no past to get attached to, little resistance has developed. It's easy to change direction, and do it often. But our Way in youth is a unrefined, unformed, a lump of clay waiting to be sculpted. Lao Tzu might say youth is carrying within itself the uncarved block - the pure potential of the situation or one's life, before we've shaped it into something new and beautiful. One translation of "lao tzu" is "ancient child", implying a sage that has learned to live in the moment with a child's fresh joy and wonder. Yet this child-sage simultaneously holds the wisdom of the past and future in this present moment. The Law of Attraction is also working on us, even as we think we can manipulate it. It is a difficult force for us adults to manage, because it impacts onto our own (unconscious) sexual energy. Sexual chi holds the yin-yang poles within our core self identity. They are constantly magnetizing everything in the field around us. Yin-yang sexual force causes the chi to flow towards us or be repelled out of our personal cauldron. Once we can witness this sexual inner push-pull, we can begin to shape our manifestation process. But that is not a quick visualization. It takes years of serious qigong and meditation cultivation practice. This is one application of the Kan & Li (Water and Fire) alchemical process. The Lesser Enlightenment of Kan and Li harnesses your sexually polarized soul force to re-shape your reality. It converts the yin-yang forces into neutral force, and then allows that to spontaneously unfold as needed in our body and our life. Because it works at the deep jing (sexual essence) level, I find all the Kan & Li meditation practices to be the most powerful way to shape the Law of Attraction and thus manifest what your soul REALLY needs. Visualization is Limited - Use Your Whole Energy Body Visualizing the manifestation process is too mental and too partial to produce the most profound results. We have to gather and reinvest our sexual and emotional and at higher levels of practice, our ancestral and astrological soul energies if we really want to shape the process of manifestation. This involves deep and long training of our energy body. We invest decades in school to acquire outer knowledge in order to earn outer wealth. Why not invest a few years to learn the secrets of your internal process, and how to invest your inner wealth? Otherwise, many spiritual seekers settle for becoming "spiritually detached", mere passive witnesses to the unfolding of life. This is first stage, letting go of their past. But they never get inside their body and its spiritual secrets - they have forgotten where the "money" is hiding in their little piggy bank. I feel many may never realize the next stage, they never re-invest their chi. Some become spacey and lacking worldly direction, pretending it doesn't matter, as long as their head is in the clouds of some other higher world. That is when their Self-Saboteur, The Resistance, starts acting out and they wonder why physical life doesn't conform to their idea of spiritual life. But in reality they have yet to learn the True Secret, the need to reinvest their old stuck energy into Life's new direction. This involves learning energetic skills that make this process much easier, like qigong. And developing skill in recognizing what you are really invested in, so you can re-direct that energy. Then we can realize the creative potential of the gift of Free Will that we each have.

I read your original post earnestly and wanted to give you my personal feedback, sorry I kind of hijacked your post to respond to people who responded to you without really trying to go back. On my side I have always been "weird" so I got used to not telling people. But I found that the "ordinary" persons I spoke to all had some kind of interest in the unseen. Mostly as long as I didn't put labels on it and kept to mainstream descriptions. Like dream instead of OOBE or laying of hands instead of reiki and so on. Now when it comes to romantic partners, it depends what culture you circulate in. I was attracted physically to "white" men but had the same concerns as you. I befriended men of more "exotic" origins and found no problem at all communicating who and what I was, to them. I learnt this way to get attracted to guys I would not have considered before. Now my husband is Moroccan and he knows all about me and though Islam is not favorable of "shirk", culturally Moroccans are used to talk about different dimensions of reality and "djinn" and some even consider that extra-terrestrial life exists. His grandfather was a traditional healer and he is hurt that all his stuff got destroyed even though for the sake of his religion, Islam. So he has tolerance and sympathy and even has his own premonitions and visits from ancestors in dreams. So he is never surprised at me. Have you tried seeing guys from other cultures?

That's because you think in a collective sense. You can't manage the collective, only your self. The highest reasoning is completely human, it is the apex of being a human being. This is where many will evade, they cannot conceive of it, so they act like they think everybody else does and make the excuse that logic denies humanity, or that humans are irrational anyway. They create a web of justification in order not to know. Instead they believe they can reach utopia by refusing to think, by drifting or inversion. They look for trance states or other levels of consciousness to avoid what seems base and harsh. Tolerance is evasion. It is to say we accept everything, we do not discriminate, we just go with the flow and sacrifice, or do our duty. It is to suppress and deny, to chain your mind, to use false reasoning to convince yourself that this 'isn't it', that there is something more and that this world is falsity. Everyday people wander around in this dream state, it is not because they can't break it, it's because they fear to break it.

Lunatic The rise and fall of an American asylum I just visited the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. Creepy. The building itself is the largest hand cut stone building in Western Hemisphere. I am reading the book now. It spans 150 years and goes as far back as Abe Lincoln time-so for me it is a real history lesson... My son and I took a walk through the asylum-sections were preserved like a museum. We did not take the offered tour-because it is not my thing...we saw plenty walking most of the first floor. A room had shackles so as to lock down in an x shape someone standing.binding the wrists and ankles. A long crib like cage where they would rock people to get them calm after raising it off the floor. Electrocution looking like chairs for some kind of shock therapy. Lobotomies were performed there as well. Framed straight jackets blown up newspaper article of escaped patients/convicts. They had in one room flags with quotes on them from staff or former patients. I took a photo of a few of these. My favorite: Well, see they would glance over at me, but no, I would just watch them and just dream about who they were And I kept thinking, "well I'm the king of this castle, here you know." "this is my home, you know. Come on in. I'll show you around." Fascinating but brutally sad some stories.

No one can wash away our karmic lessons. But we can go thru them without out undo suffering. To do this requires a physical rewiring of the nervous system and this is exactly what so many in the Oneness movement of Sri Bhagavan in southern India are experiencing as the Oneness energy is unique and has the ability to quiet the mind chatter/ego/neurotic social conditioning-unconscious influences of the past by effecting the parietal lobes and increasing the effect of the frontal lobe so that we then can witness events in the hear and now instead of projecting our past conditioning onto events. When in this state permanently it is called being Awakened. Then suffering bounces off of us instead of leaving imprints which block our flow of energy. Oneness works like this for most people and they now have a 100 percent success rate of becoming awakened when someone spends a few weeks at their Oneness University. It all sounds like a dream come true but I am the exception to the rule. I never felt anything from Oneness in th e10 years I have been involved with it. So I am hoping that working with the healer Ooi Kean Hin will change that so I can then become sensitive to the Oneness deeksha.

Not an amazingly thorough article, but backed up with sources and quite well-reasoned in the points it does make: https://www.facebook.com/nicholasjohncarter/posts/10153467946496736 Immigration has been in the news a lot lately, especially with the EU referendum coming up. So let's use the tools and data of political science to understand the topic better. Last year, 270,000 EU citizens immigrated to the UK, and 85,000 returned to the EU. So EU net migration was around 185,000 (1). Additionally, a similar number came from outside the EU, so 330,000 in total. That was the highest ever level of EU migration – going all the way back to when we joined the EEC in 1975. Indeed during the 1980s the trend was the other way – British workers moved overseas, particularly to Germany, as their economy was doing better than ours at that time. You might remember the TV show ‘Auf Wiedersehen Pet’. Currently our economy is doing better than many European ones so more people are coming than going. But there's no reason to think that will always be the case. The Leave campaign claim that EU migration is putting unsustainable pressure on our public services, worsening the housing crisis, putting pressure on the NHS, on schools and on our roads. Their latest TV broadcast for instance shows a sick older lady receiving NHS treatment much faster in an imaginary hospital if we leave the EU. Are they right? Imagine that we left the EU and banned EU immigration completely. Nobody else allowed – no footballers, no entertainers, no chefs, no businessmen, no nurses, no cleaners, nobody. And we kept that door shut for ten years. And for comparison let’s say that we stayed in the EU and immigration continues at this year’s record level (the highest ever) for the next ten years. How would that impact our population and our public services? In terms of population, we’d end up with 1.85m fewer people living in our country after the 10 years. That sounds like a lot of people, which it is. But we’re a big country – 64.6m in total at the moment (2). So even under these very extreme assumptions the difference is only 2.8%. Less than 1 in 35. Would you notice the difference if there were 34 instead of 35 people in your doctors’ waiting room? If there were 34 instead of 35 cars ahead of you in the traffic jam? Would your child’s education suffer in a class of 35 instead of 34? I doubt it. And don’t forget that we’re making crazily unrealistic assumptions about how much we could reduce immigration if we left the EU. Because even the most ardent Leave campaigners don’t say that we should stop immigration altogether. They usually talk of using a points system to reach the government’s net target of 100,000 per year. So the difference in population after 10 years wouldn’t be anything like as much as 1 in 35. Let’s say we could hit the net target of 100,000 – half from the EU and half from non-EU countries for the sake of argument. In that case, the difference in population after 10 years would be 1.35m or 1 in 49. And don’t forget that we’re also making another very aggressive assumption – that migration will continue at the same level as last year, our highest ever. It would be more realistic to take the average of the last five years migration (3). If we do that, then the difference in our population after ten years would be only 790,000 or 1 in 82. 1 in 82. I can’t tell the difference between a crowd of 81 and 82 people (even when they were my own wedding guests!). Can you? So here’s the thing: however you feel about EU immigration, even under extreme assumptions the impact on our overall population just isn’t very large. Now at this point some of you might be thinking – “This can't be right - step outside and look with your own eyes! Britain is full of foreigners! The place I grew up is like another country! How can you claim that EU immigration is not significant?”. I live in inner London so I can sense where you might be coming from. A few things to bear in mind: 1) The overwhelming majority of immigration to the UK over the last 40 years has been from outside the EU (3). However you feel about that, it has nothing to do with our EU membership; 2) Whether you like it or not, Britain has been a multicultural country for several generations at least. You can’t tell whether somebody is an immigrant just by looking at them (sorry if this is an obvious point). You might hazard a guess at their ethnicity or race but that’s a very different thing; 3) Historically, immigrants have clustered in particular areas of the country, so your neighbourhood may not be representative of the country at large; 4) British people from all backgrounds have become much more cosmopolitan in their tastes over the last 40 years. We drink in pubs much less, but enjoy wine at home or go to restaurants and cafes a lot more. Instead of just eating British food, we enjoy flavours from all over the world. So the retail and commercial landscape of our country has changed - to reflect our changing tastes, not just because of new arrivals. “But wait! What when Turkey, Montenegro and Albania join the EU? We’ll be swamped!” No we won’t. Mainly because Turkey and Albania are nowhere near being eligible to join the EU, and Montenegro is tiny. Also don't forget there are 27 other countries in the EU to choose from if residents of those countries did fancy a change of scene. And even if in the distant future many other countries did join and we did find ourselves swamped, Britain could leave. We’re free to leave the EU whenever we want. But if we leave and then want to rejoin, we’d need the consent of all 27 other member states. Better to stay and keep our options open than leave in fear of something that is very unlikely to happen. And so far we’ve also not factored in the contribution that immigrants make to our country, and specifically our public finances. EU migrants contribute more in taxes than they use in public services, as they are much more likely to be of working age than the general population (4). So if we used that extra tax revenue to hire more doctors, build more schools, invest in transport and so on, we’d actually have better public services than we would without any EU immigration. It takes time to hire and train teachers and doctors, build schools and roads, and so forth. So it’s true that a sudden influx of people into an area can put short-term pressure on services. But the fundamental reason for the issues we identified at the start – NHS pressure, oversubscribed schools, congested roads, the housing crisis – is not EU immigration. We are now six years into a government austerity programme to attempt to balance the books. So it’s not surprising that our public services are feeling the pinch. An ageing population and new advances in medicine put particular strain on the NHS. For the last thirty years, we have failed by a wide margin to build enough houses in the UK. Interest rates have been at an ‘emergency’ rate of 0.5% for the last seven years. That is why house prices are so high. And this story of decades of underinvestment is repeated for our roads and railways too. All of these issues are home-grown. And all of those policy areas are entirely within the control of our government in Westminster. They have nothing to do with the EU and are not the fault of EU migrants. Finally, there’s been plenty of academic research into this issue, including a summary paper just published by the London School of Economics (5). The research shows, contrary to many tabloid headlines, that 1) Immigrants do not take a disproportionate share of jobs created by our economy; 2) There is no evidence of an overall negative impact of immigration on wages; 3) There is no evidence that EU migrants affect the labour market performance of native-born workers (i.e. make it harder for native-born workers to get promoted, get a pay rise, etc) So it is clear from examining the evidence that fears of immigration have been blown out of all proportion by the Eurosceptic press and the Leave campaign. But what about all that money we send the EU? Couldn't we use that to improve public services? Yes, but it wouldn't go very far, and it would be outweighed by the economic damage from leaving. Our net contribution to the EU was £8.5bn last year (6) which works out at 36 pence per person per day. That is a drop in the ocean compared to our annual NHS budget of £116.4bn (7). And if you’re trying to work out the impact of leaving the EU on our public services, you can’t just look at our net contribution. You also need to consider the effect that leaving would have on the size of our economy, and hence the tax revenue the government can generate. Seven highly respected independent economic organisations have tried to work this out (8). And all seven of them have reached the same conclusion: that the economic damage caused by Brexit would more than offset the saving from our EU contribution. The best estimate suggests that the government would have between £20bn and £40bn less to spend on public services than if we remained in the EU (9). So our public services wouldn't be better if we left the EU - they would be much worse. So if we left the EU to ‘take control of immigration’, and then reduced it as discussed above, we’d still have all the same problems we have today – the housing crisis, an overstretched NHS, oversubscribed schools, heavy traffic, etc. But we’d also have two even more serious problems to add to the list: a recession and the unknown consequences of destabilising the very institution which has secured peace in Europe for the last 70 years. People are sceptical of economists’ forecasts. But you don’t even need to estimate many of the economic problems that will arise from Brexit – you can see them already in the currency markets. The pound suffered its biggest one day fall in seven years when Boris and other MPs joined the leave campaign (10). You can watch the impact of movements in the referendum opinion polls in the EUR/GBP exchange rate. A major bank recently warned that Brexit could wipe 20% off the value of the pound through devaluation (11). Devaluation sounds like a dry and abstract concept. So let me explain what that means: 20% of your life savings wiped out overnight. The numbers in your bank account will be the same, but what you can buy with it will be 20% less, since most things we buy these days come from overseas. Only the other day the Financial Times reported that hedge funds are planning to run their own private exit polls on referendum day to speculate on the currency markets ahead of the official result (12). Just as during the ERM crisis of 1992, the vultures are circling, waiting to feast on our self-inflicted wounds. And here’s another very clear threat: to our jobs. Only last Friday, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, warned his staff in Bournemouth that one, two or even four thousand of them would be made redundant if we leave the EU (13). Imagine how his staff are feeling today. And as a manager, let me tell you: that’s not the kind of thing you tell your employees unless you’re deadly serious. Even leading Leave campaigner Michael Gove admitted just a few days ago that jobs are at risk if we leave the EU (14). Multimillionaire UKIP donor Arron Banks described this economic damage as ‘a price worth paying’ (15). Arron Banks, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage might be rich enough to gamble their jobs on Brexit - but are you? It is quite possible that some of your friends and family will lose their jobs as a direct result of Britain leaving the EU. Do you want to be responsible for that? We took an evidence-based look at the immigration and EU issue above. But the Leave campaign and Eurosceptic press (Express, Sun and Mail in particular) choose to paint a very different picture. A picture which blows these statistics out of all proportion. 'Strangers in Our Own Country' 'Our borders are out of control!'. You know the stuff I mean. Pictures which invite us to eye our friends and neighbours with suspicion and even hostility. Editorial which pins the blame for every problem from housing to wages to traffic to NHS waiting times on immigrants. And it's not even because they don't know any better. The leaders of the Leave campaign and the political editors of those newspapers are clever, well-educated people. They know the facts I set out above just as well as I do. Yet instead of presenting a balanced view, they choose to deliberately whip up fear and suspicion of immigrants for their own political purposes. Shame on them. Why? Because appealing to people's basest prejudices sells newspapers and gathers votes. Just ask Donald Trump. And what greater contrast could there be between the divisive rhetoric of the leave campaign and the noble vision of the EU's founding fathers. Men who, amid the ashes of World War Two, set their national differences aside and dared - not just to dream but to build - a better Europe for us all. A Europe in which war was “not only unthinkable … but materially impossible” (16). Here’s Winston Churchill addressing the Congress of Europe in 1948: “A high and a solemn responsibility rests upon us here ... If we allow ourselves to be rent and disordered by pettiness and small disputes, if we fail in clarity of view or courage in action, a priceless occasion may be cast away for ever. But if we all pull together and pool the luck and the comradeship - and we shall need all the comradeship and not a little luck … then all the little children who are now growing up in this tormented world may find themselves not the victors nor the vanquished in the fleeting triumphs of one country over another in the bloody turmoil of … war, but the heirs of all the treasures of the past and the masters of all the science, the abundance and the glories of the future.” And - against all the odds - we did it. We pooled the luck and the comradeship and achieved Churchill’s vision. Those “little children” are now retired – the first generation in a thousand years to grow up without the horror of war in Europe. Instead of building weapons, our scientists work together to solve the greatest problems of our age. We enjoy a standard of living unimaginable to people in 1948. All the cities, art, history, people, food and culture of this wonderful continent are open to us whenever we want to visit, to live or to work. Hundreds of millions of European people who until only a few decades ago were ruled by dictators or communists now enjoy democracy, human rights, the rule of law and the abundance of the free market. I think that’s worth 36 pence a day. And yet here we stand, about to turn our backs on this great project, thanks to cynical newspaper owners and barefaced lies from the Leave campaign. Forget what the Sun says. Forget what’s good for Boris’ and Farage’s careers. Listen to every current and former British Prime Minister (17). Every other major UK political party leader (18). To Barack Obama, to Hillary Clinton, to Angela Merkel and a host of other world leaders (19). To Stephen Hawking and 83% of scientists (20). To 40 religious leaders (21). To 300 leading historians (22). To the Trades Union Congress and our six largest trades unions (23). To 88% of economists (24). To the National Farmers Union (25). To the Chief Executive of NHS England (26), to the Royal College of Midwives (27) To British businesses of all sizes (28). For there is an overwhelming consensus among experts of all kinds that Britain is stronger in Europe. And what does the Leave campaign say to this? “I think people in this country have had enough of experts” (Michael Gove, Friday 3rd June) What an extraordinary response. If you were sick, you’d want to see a doctor. If you had a plane to fly, you’d want a pilot. So when we have the most important political, economic and foreign policy decision of our lifetime to make I think we should listen to the people who are in the best position to evaluate what to do. And they’re all telling us the same thing – we’re much better off in Europe. It might not be what Michael Gove wants to hear. But it sounds like the right answer to me. So when you’re in the polling station on Thursday 23rd - with that stubby little pencil in your hand –Vote Remain. Not in fear, but with pride – about what we, the people of Europe, have achieved together. Not in ignorance, but with science firmly on our side. And not alone, but with the greatest statesmen of the past three generations urging us on. And then in years to come, when your children ask you how you voted in the referendum of 2016, you can look them in the eye and tell them you were on the right side of history. Thank you for reading (1) https://fullfact.org/immigration/eu-migration-and-uk/ (2) https://www.ons.gov.uk/…/populationandm…/populationestimates (3) http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/statistics-net-migration-…/… (4) http://www.economist.com/…/21631076-rather-lot-according-ne… (5) http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/ea019.pdf (6) https://fullfact.org/euro…/our-eu-membership-fee-55-million/ (7) http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngla…/thenhs/about/Pages/overview.aspx (8) http://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/comms/r116.pdf (9) http://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/comms/r116.pdf (10) https://next.ft.com/co…/7fa04d70-d911-11e5-a72f-1e7744c66818 (11) https://www.theguardian.com/…/brexit-could-wipe-20-percent-… (12) https://next.ft.com/co…/7e26d896-241c-11e6-9d4d-c11776a5124d (13) BBC Radio 4, 3rd June 2016; see also http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36450460 (14) http://www.thetimes.co.uk/…/i-can-t-guarantee-everyone-will… (15) https://www.politicshome.com/…/arron-banks-%C2%A34300-loss-… (16) http://www.robert-schuman.eu/en/declaration-of-9-may-1950 (17) David Cameron http://www.theguardian.com/…/david-cameron-launches-tory-ca… ; Gordon Brown http://www.theguardian.com/…/inspiring-view-britishness-def…; Tony Blair http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36408239; John Major http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/John-Major-Voting-to-leave-wil… (18) Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) http://labourlist.org/…/europe-needs-to-change-but-i-am-vo…/ Tim Farron (Lib Dem) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/Britain-impoverished-backwater… Caroline Lucas (Green) http://europe.newsweek.com/caroline-lucas-brexit-european-r… Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) http://www.thesun.co.uk/…/Nicola-Sturgeon-vows-to-back-argu… (19) Barack Obama http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/as-your-friend-let-me-tell-you… ; Hillary Clinton http://www.theguardian.com/…/hillary-clinton-britain-should… Angela Merkel http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36436726; Shinzo Abe http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/japanese-prime-minister-shinz…/ (20) https://www.theguardian.com/…/stephen-hawking-donald-trump-… ; http://www.nature.com/…/scientists-say-no-to-uk-exit-from-e… (21) http://www.theguardian.com/…/religious-leaders-oppose-brexit (22) http://www.theguardian.com/…/vote-to-leave-eu-will-condemn-… (23) http://uk.reuters.com/ar…/uk-britain-eu-unions-idUKKCN0V517D (24) http://www.itv.com/…/almost-nine-in-10-economists-believe-…/ (25) http://www.theguardian.com/…/british-farmers-uk-eu-nfu-brex… (26) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36353145 (27) https://www.rcm.org.uk/…/royal-college-of-midwives-supports… (28) http://www.independent.co.uk/…/brexit-eu-referendum-what-wi…

Well shit!!! What can I say as a follow-up after what Zerostao just said? Hehehe. But then if we look at Chuang Tzu's story about forgetting himself while walking in the park and walking on the grass where it was forbidden to walk and was chased off by the grounds-keeper we see that Chuang Tzu really knew that he wasn't a butterfly but it was only a dream that caused him to believe he was. Therefore I suggest that we must understand the difference between our illusions and delusions and our physical reality. Yes, it is nice to dream of being a butterfly living a care-free life, just fluttering around sipping on all the nectar of the gods. But a butterfly's life is so short and extremely limited. Better, I think, to be who and what we are.

I took Winn's dream class on CD a few years ago and did the practice for a while. Looking back now, I got more out of it than I realized. As of late... I went to a class with Robert Moss - http://www.mossdreams.com/ - in addition to dream teachings, we did some shamanic journeying (much like what is taught in Chia's K&L or by Kenneth Meadows, and others). So the class has got me keeping a dream journal again which has brought the necessary focus to it to be able to get back in touch with this amazing practice. Moss' work imo is more practically oriented (but doesn't have to be necessarily) vs using the practice for deep spiritual awareness. Which, by the way I feel can be facilitated with a zen like koan meditated on prior to going to sleep - something like "what is always there whether I am asleep or awake?" perhaps do it every night and see! when you wake up in the middle of the night, ask yourself again, keep focus on it, and be aware. A friend of mine did a practice that required setting an alarm clock to wake up at intervals to help to get in touch with being lucid or into another state somewhere between awake and asleep. This can take you also to "what is always there whether I am asleep or awake?" Sweet dreams all! Matt

Yes, of course...it depends on your realization to realize rigpa.... If not rigpa, at least, in the realm of "dream of clarity" in which objective information about the world or yourself is being revealed and conveyed to you.

You answered your own question but I do think it's important to have as stable a sleep cycle as possible, preferably with no meds, drugs, or alcohol, to get the most out of dream and sleep yoga teachings. That said, it is something we can learn in the moment and apply later when the circumstances permit. In my experience, no matter what the subject matter, Tenzin Rinpoche has a way of connecting to people in very practical ways that sometimes seem to transcend the specific subject matter of any given retreat. Glad to hear you're making progress!

You can use lucid dreaming to burn away traces of karma (dream yoga is the precursor to western lucid dreaming practices) - defragmentation if you will. It will generally help your practice by making your mind clearer and removing negative ingrained reactions. Clarity.

I don't dream. I guess I know everything I am supposed to know.

youtube and meditation in the hills of bandu republic aside. When I google "access akashic records". The links that show up seems to be in two categories. 1) hypnosis 2) prayer (new age types). Just wondering if the taoist and the buddhist have anything to say on this subject? Here is what one hypnosis exercise is like: Access the Akashic Records Exercise by Dr. Bruce Goldberg 1. Use any of the previous self-hypnosis or other exercises to relax and apply white light protection. Lie down or sit in an easy chair, and when you are relaxed turn your attention inward and center it on the area of the third eye. See it glow with a golden white radiance and feel it pulsate with energy. As you do this, your realization of the sounds, colors, and temperature in the room around you should gradually fade, and as they do so the subtle psychic stirring will become more noticeable. 2. At first, this may be only an impression of inner light or of brilliantly illuminated geometrical figures, or of stars shooting by in ordered procession, or some other visual appearance which will probably be meaningless. Or your first impression may be of sound, as I have previously described. 3. Focus your mind, not on the Akashic records themselves, but on a specific historical event for your initial trails. For example, I suggest you study first the discovery of radium by Marie Curie or the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. 4. Your next step is to go to that historical event and ask yourself: "What happed that afternoon?" If you have properly prepared yourself, you will find yourself drifting into a scenario-like dream. 5. In the earlier stages or your development you will not get clearly defined contacts that you can recognize as such, so don't expect them. Accept the dream-like sequence that passes before your consciousness as you sit in reverie. Remember what you observe and write it down as soon as possible thereafter. 6. During these practice sessions your should "feel" this connection between your waking consciousness and the Akasha. When this has been accomplished and you can recall and incident from the past as simply as you can look up an account in the encyclopedia, you are then ready to move on to next step. 7. The next step is to repeat the previous steps, omitting the preparation phase consisting of reading about the historical event. 8. Next, check your data with specialty books written about that event in detail, not merely an encyclopedia summary. 9. After successful completion of this step, move on to your own future. Begin with a short range, say one week to a month. Log all of your observations into a journal and occasionally verify the accuracy of your prophecies. 10. With a proven track record, you are now ready to venture much further ahead in time in your current life. Try five years, ten years, fifty years, and so on. 11. You may move several hundred years into the future and explore future lives. My book Past Lives--Future Lives (1988) and Soul Healing (1996) describe nearly twenty such cases as far forward as the thirty-eighth century! 12. Lastly, tap into the general Akasha and allow your consciousness to tune into future world events, inventions, lifestyle changes, and so on.

Yes, practicing during lucid dreaming is very valuable in my opinion. There are no restrictions in the dream so you have the opportunity to try some new things and expand your horizons.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is offering a 2 week retreat on sleep yoga starting on 6/19/16 in Virginia. Last year he covered dream yoga. I cannot recommend it highly enough. See you there!

Very nice suggestion, EP. This is not a work that I am as familiar with so I welcome the opportunity to get more acquainted with it. As Michael pointed out, the diagram depicts a "wake up call" for man. The angels are descending from the subtle realms and making an effort to rouse us from our slumber. We ordinarily come closest to spiritual consciousness when we dream... but even then, we are usually capable of exercising no personal volition and merely experience the internalized forms of our physical consciousness. The image depicts not one, but two angels, and thus implies cooperation... a chain of beings extending their hands from sublime heights down almost to our level. The angels have no ability to wake a man who does not wish to be woken from the mechanical routine of everyday life. Michael summed up the diagram nicely so there isn't much to add from a purely internal perspective. However, I will add that each internal interpretation has a corresponding outer (lab) interpretation as well. For instance, the Biblical quotes about dew and grain are enigmatic to an extreme, yet they are clear from a lab perspective. The next image offers one of at least two possible interpretations, the first being that of the alchemical "dew": In the upper half is shown the alchemical dew held by two angels. Above it, we find the Sun, emblem of fire. Within it, we find the Sun and the Moon under the arms of Neptune (water). The corresponding lab work is shown in the bottom half of the image ("As above, so below"). We encounter a typical difficulty of emblematic descriptions of the work, that of determining the exact process is being depicted (there are at least three possibilities that I can see). In this first possible interpretation, the dew is contained within a digestion furnace. Below that is a funnel, symbolizing purification. And below that is a small flame, the alchemist's first degree of heat. Tending to the operation are the classic alchemical embodiments of man's physical consciousness: Ruach and Nephesch, corresponding to the divine consciousness of Neschamah and Chiah shown above. Note that Nephesch is nearly touching Neschamah's foot, while there is a greater division depicted between Ruach and Chiah. Now there is another interpretation, perhaps a more obvious one. Instead of dew, we are being shown a special type of Hermetically sealed flask with the three principles contained within it. If this is the case, then it represents the latter half of the work. It is not uncommon in these old texts for the plates to be intentionally placed out of order, so this is a possibility. Perhaps we will find out which as we continue to investigate the remaining images. Right now, I am leaning towards the first interpretation due to a couple of curious details as well as the quotes which Michael shared previously. There could be other interpretations I haven't considered as well. I rather enjoy this image as it masterfully depicts both physical and spiritual processes occurring simultaneously. The author of this work did not experience the same division between inner and outer that we are indoctrinated into as moderns. UFA

Tao's great! In a way I'm quite glad I took the course from Santi because he didn't do any explaining. More 'experience'-based. But I also enjoy looking at the process from a lot of different angles, so adding the 'technical' stuff in is good too IMO. The stumbling blocks I get with technical explanations are more to do with my own lack of knowledge and education on these matters so I've been trying to remedy that. Still, I keep finding I come up with ideas about things (often after a 'teaching dream') that then get discussed and debated elsewhere. It's hard to know 'where' this stuff comes from. Is it something I read ages ago? A direct 'insight'? The 'teaching dream' sounds weird. But that's exactly what it is. 'Someone' comes along and teaches me about something while I sleep.

Newgrange - A Dream of Angus Oge by George Russell There must be a reason early, independent, Irish religious colleges built over older druidic institutions were renowned for producing 'Saints'... Is it something 'gold' resssonating through the ancient stone? Goodnight.

Hello, I am here to expand my knowledge of the dao. I have a few years of internal martial art training (Yang tai chi,xing yi,ba gua) and a fan of daoist philosophy. Recently however, I have been looking into religious daoism and the call to pursue priest training has been echoing. It has been my dream for years to train at Mt. Wudang and walk the same paths as great sages and warriors have done centuries before. If I could I would like to receive my training there, however I would be willing to travel where ever if I felt the teaching was what I am looking for. Thank you for your time, I hope to learn many things from all of you in my path of cultivation. AL

Yes dreams can definitely help us on our paths but when interpreting them we have a real tendency to color them or make what we want them to mean. If you are looking at a dream always remain conscious of what you are desiring from it. What makes you excited about the dream? What are you expecting and so anxious about finding? Detach from that and look at it from another point of view. I find it interesting that not only was the head of the buddha detached, but the head was actually standing in your way of finding true knowledge.