Monday, April 26, 2010

Mental Games

I like to play with my consciousness. One of my favorite mind games is to move my point of awareness around my body. Most of the time I think of myself as sitting behind my eyes. That's the place in my body where "I" am. But I can move that around, after some practice, and it's fun to experience existence from my big toe, or hair follicles, or from my fingertips as I type. Our whole body is aware, but we tend to think of ourselves as "being" in the head. We're in the whole body though, and it's just a point of awareness that moves around.

This mind game has some useful practical applications. I commented on Jow's post (and Deb's) about how I move my awareness to the center of my migraine pain for a couple of seconds, and the pain just... goes away. It feels like I have to walk through waves of nausea to get there, but the end result is worth it.

In the comments on Jason's Why People Fail at Financial Magic, we got to talking about transcending the limits of practical magic. I agree with Jason that the type of stuff we were discussing is beyond the scope of "practical" magic, mainly because it's totally impractical for most of us to devote the time and effort it would take to attain that level of Mastery.

Don't get me wrong, I plan on getting there some day, sooner rather than later, and I plan to do it using Hermetic Conjure Magic. I expect the spirits to continue to teach me and transform the harmony of my sphere to the point where I can do the kinds of things Jesus and Rabbi Shimon did.*

One of the things Jason mentioned was:

It is really all based on consciousness itself being a basic building block of reality. When you get a glimpse "Beyond the Abyss" or at Rigpa, or a similar state of realization; the two points that I mentioned actually become seen as inseparable.
I think I get it. Reality and consciousness are inseparable at some levels of existence. I've caught that glimpse a time or two, from combined Solar-Saturn rites and while reading books like Heartdrops of Dharmakaya. It's a sense of awareness that has some kind of connection to the mental game of moving your awareness around your body and experiencing existence from abnormal points of view. In those moments, I want to believe I could have manifested 55 pounds of gold by being aware of it in the right way. I don't know if it's true or not, but I like to think so.

However, I suspect the level of awareness required to do this kind of thing takes place at levels of consciousness that are too deep, or too high to be able to think in terms of 55 pounds of gold manifesting on your desk at your cube. Just moving my awareness to my toes takes effort, concentration, and a certain level of no-mindedness to overcome the habitual placement of "me" behind my eyes. I can't maintain that awareness of the inseparability of matter and consciousness that I attain in rites and from magic books for longer than a few minutes during the reading or rite, and maybe a little while afterward. As soon as I start thinking about being aware of being in that state of mind, it's gone.

As Jason says:
Unfortunately to really do the kinds of things that we are talking about, bending and breaking physical laws, you need more than a glimpse into this state of awareness, you need to integrate it into your living levels. This is what separates the true masters from the rest of us.
Integrating it into my living levels may take some time. I sat here for about twenty minutes today trying to maintain the image of a pound of gold (that's a brick about 4cm wide x 4cm long x 1.5cm high, according to the web) while getting to that level of awareness at the same time, and I actually started sweating. And I started to get this weird warm feeling of rushing void in my chest while I was doing it, and that felt so cool and interesting that it distracted me from the goal completely.

And see, that's the thing. The "place" where thoughts about the stuff around us and the "place" where we are aware of the wholeness of all things and the physical truth of the Hermetic axiom "As above, so below" are so far apart and cluttered in between with garbage that synchronizing the two, being whole is difficult.

But so is moving my awareness around my body and experiencing life from the perspective of the tip of my dick. I managed that one after a couple hours of practice. How hard could it be?

* Did you ever notice that all the miracles ascribed to Jesus happen to be the abilities of the spirits, like turning water into wine? I figure he either conjured the spirits to get them to do the miracles on his behalf, or he learned the manifestation tricks from them. OR it may have been something else entirely. But he was limited to the same means to accomplish things that we are, according to the "fully man" part of the doctrine of the trinity, and he himself said we would do greater things than those that he did. God I hate building theories from theories. Hurts my wee brain.

22 comments:

  1. In case you're wondering, thinking with your dick is a lot harder than some women might have you think.

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  2. I tried putting my entire consciousness in my phallus for a while, but I realised I'd never, ever be as good at it as Crowley was.

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  3. Hi, what a great post. Rarely have Jesus and 'thinking from the tip of your dick' been mentionend along the same lines with such grace..... You mention Solar-Saturnal Rites in your entry? Can you expand on that a bit? It sounds like a very interesting concept. Where could I find more on that? Cheers, Acher

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  4. @Alex: I don't compare myself to Crowley. I don't like what we have in common, and I'm not pleased about where the differences lie.

    @Acher: Sometimes you gotta make a dick joke. It's the Law.
    Solar-Saturn rites are ... uh ... I'll reference some early posts. Falling in Love with Binah, and ... Maybe in the neo-platonics basics I talk a bit about it. It pops up as part of the SA course too.

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  5. @R.O. -- The Crowley comment was purely a joke -- probably not very well done :P. I have A wonderful article about his life that makes a very well defended point that he thought he should be a messiah because his big bad willy would save the world.

    Anyway, no insult intended -- you know I dig your groove R.O. (Note to Crowley fans: "I dig your groove" was intended to indicate only admiration and brotherhood; I do not possess the secret of the XI degree :P)

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  7. @Al, yeah, I didn't mean anything offensive toward you either. Guess Merc's still weird.

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  8. Damn retro merc strikes again!

    Everyone needs to communicate via a spontaneous, improvised semaphore until he spins the right way again.

    Mostly because I want to see how we all accomplish this online. We could invade chatroulette en masse and see what happens?

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  9. I think if we invaded Chatroulette, we'd have yet another chance to see what the world looks like from the penis' point of view.

    On a more serious note (totally unrelated to anything here), RO, is there any chance you could put together a post or package with your advice for those of us seeking K&CHGA (not full instructions like your course, necessarily, but just friendly advice and resources we might consult)? There's surprisingly little online, based on my searches, and I'd love to hear what you have to say.

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  10. @Alex, I spoke with Jason earlier, and there's been a change of plans regarding the Courses I was putting together. I'll be making an announcement when I get my ducks in a row, but basically I'm thinking I'll turn the course into a book, and then start running the courses again in a couple of months after I get back into my house and get settled. It'll be a month or so before I can have the book even close to rough draft form.

    If you really want to get started, start praying ecstatically every morning for ten to twenty minutes for God to prepare you to receive knowledge an conversation, to "cleanse you with hyssop and wash you white as snow," and generally reclaim your Divine race and Eternal value.

    Then figure out your Genius Name, conjure it, ask for assistance in contacting your HGA (optional, but it helps).

    Conjure Michael of the Sun and ask the same thing.

    Then start doing Liber Samekh (without all the GD stuff like the signs of the Grades and ignoring Crowley's interpretation of the Barbarous Words) every night in your body of light, and pray every morning for God to give you K&C.

    When you get the revelation moment, get the HGA's name and/or seal. Then start communing with it daily.

    Next, go through the spheres of the planets and ask for initiation from each of the planetary intelligences, and have your HGA help integrate that into your life.

    Once you've done that, start conjuring the Demonic Kings and put them to Work building the Temple instead of bringing pestilence and destruction into your life.

    Figure out your "True Will" or whatever you call your reason for existing, and then pursue it with all the aid of the HGA, Intelligences of the Spheres, and whatever Spirits you're led to conjure. Merge your Head, Heart, and Hands and everything that proceeds from them under the guidance of your Divine Nature, and accomplish the Great Work.

    There, I summarized it all in a single comment. In the book and courses, I'll get into a lot more detail.

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  11. Awesome! Thank you very much. I'm also very glad to hear the course and / or book will be coming out!

    Alex

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  12. Oh yeah, about a week or so after attaining K&C, if your HGA approves, do a Solar-Saturn ritual that is basically conjuring Michael, entering the Sphere of the Sun in your Body of Light, and then going to the Gate of Saturn from the Sphere of the Sun, conjure up Cassiel, ask for admittance to his sphere from the sphere of the sun, and enjoy the ride. This grounds the forces you've released in your sphere and focuses your Work within the boundaries of your life on Earth. Sort of.

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  13. RO,

    I've actually been working a lot along the lines you suggested for a while. While I can without a doubt feel the presence of the angels, and "hear" some thoughts transmitted to me, I don't have clear communications with them by any means. Would you recommend the Sun - Saturn operation even if the channels are not clear, or is it better to wait until I fully experience "hearing."

    Additionally, do you have recommended times for the Sun-Saturn working? The hour of Saturn on Sunday perhaps?

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  14. Sun-Saturn doesn't clear up communications much.

    If you want that, try conjuring Gabriel (or your preferred Intelligence of the Moon) and request enhanced spiritual senses.

    And yes, the Saturn hour of Sunday is best.

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  15. Thanks again RO. I appreciate your help.

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  16. I am going to post something in a similar vein tomorrow as its a really good topic. But I do have two comments for here.

    1. Heartdrops of the Dharmakaya doesnt have anything to do with movong consciousness through the physical body.

    2. Since Christ is the Logos, I think technically the Angels learned that stuff from him :-)

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  17. Jason, no, I didn't mean that Heartdrops talked about that at all. Reading it created a shift in consciousness, as a part of me tried to do what was being discussed in the text.

    But shifting awareness around the body is, I think, VERY, VERY DISTANTLY related to the shifting of awareness towards where thoughts come from and where they go, and where they reside. Moving "me" around my flesh gives me an experience to support the other types of awareness shifting.

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  18. Many years ago, I used to do something similar to the exercise you describe. I would sort of move my consciousness around the room or area I was physically in. Rather than try to shift my viewpoint -- which still seems quite a challenge -- I would just "feel" what it was like to be at that point. So I might move my mind down my hand to the table, from there down to the floor and out to the wall or some object in the vicinity. I could sense (or imagined, which is half the battle) the new location, almost like an empathy with inanimate things.

    It was a short-lived habit which I was good at, although I left it behind as it seemed more a game or self-delusion instead of something useful.

    Years later, I became aware that this shifting of consciousness as an accepted technique, described by Bardon and others. My approach was limited in comparison, as I relied on a chain of physical contact; and never "fully" translated into the point of consideration. Yet it was very effective in its own right.

    I find this whole exercise much more challenging nowadays. :( Still, for anyone who has trouble, perhaps they'd find my approach -- "feeling" one's way through to the object of interest -- a good start. Your post has reminded me that I should work on this, and its certainly an easy exercise for odd moments.

    Do you fully identify as being in the new seat of consciousness then?

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  19. Oh, and Jesus created the angels before he put on the meat suit. I think things changed for him after birth, and he had to learn how to manifest through the limitations of being "fully human."

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  20. I absolutely agree. Being able to move the seat of awareness to different points in the channels, power centers, and drops system is VERY useful in almost any spiritual practice.

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  21. @rif, I don't think I understand what you mean. If you mean, do I feel like I'm really in my fingertips and am experiencing reality as if I were positioned there as I type, then yes, I do. If you mean have I transcended to a permanently awesome seat of spiritual awareness where I can make lightning shoot out of my ass, then no, not yet. Working on that though.

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  22. "do I feel like I'm really in my fingertips and am experiencing reality as if I were positioned there as I type"

    Yes, that is what I meant. I'm still centered in my head behind my eyeballs for the most part, as you start off in your post. I've shifted awareness elsewhere, but not enough to change my actual vantage point.

    Lighting out of your ass would be quite unpleasant IMO. I understand you can duplicate that feeling by eating a large amount of super-ridiculously-spicy-hot wings. You know, the ones at a wing joint where people are applauded if they can eat just five or ten of them.

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Thanks for your comments, your opinions are valued, even if I disagree with them. Please feel free to criticize my ideas and arguments, question my observations, and push back if you disagree.