Re-training your thoughts
Based upon my experience with psychedelics, some of the most radiant jewels of knowledge I have come across during my travels seem to come from very simple concepts.
The technique known as "gazing" is without a doubt one of the most powerful and effective methods of intentionally altering ones own level of consciousness that I know of. As an musician and artist "Gazing" been more than helpful to me.
I would ask any reader of this post to please indulge me for a moment while I attempt to further expound on the fundamentals behind this theory. I strongly believe that understanding the particular mechanisms behind what makes gazing work is very important to being able to effectively harness this ability.
Think for a moment about existence, I would imagine most of us here have all pondered at one time or another as to the meaning of our own personal existences. (psychedelics tend to make one do that.)
(I understand that individual definitions of the word existence may vary, please try to follow my definition of the word however, strictly for the purposes of illustration)
I would personally define existence as the act of being alive. For a human being to be properly "alive" in my opinion, requires the human to pay attention to their surroundings.
-So by this rationality...constant and unchecked internal dialogue serves to hinder the prime functions of human awareness.
Consider this-
How far would you make it in this world if you paid absolutely zero attention to your surroundings? Therefore it is safe to assume that as a human being it is necessary to pay attention to your surroundings in order to survive.
Ponder this as well-
If you are thinking to yourself habitually inside your head, how can you be fully "aware" of your surroundings?
I believe that if a person is having any thoughts whatsoever then they are only partially aware of there surroundings at best.
From my observation human beings generally ONLY pay close attention to their surroundings as a way to aid in their survival
So what I am proposing here is that I believe a human being can directly affect the degree of their awareness by learning to have a greater degree of discipline and control over their thought own process..
Now I am not at all suggesting that we just do away with thoughts altogether. I see nothing wrong with utilizing the functionality of our thoughts.
What I am saying however is that we take back control of our thoughts.
There is nothing to be gained by being permanently stuck in a habitual thought process loop. Like any addiction it is unhealthy for the mind body and spirit.
If you remember back as far as you can to the very beginning of your life you may even be able to recall some of your very first thoughts and why you had them.
For me personally I remember my first thoughts around the age of 3 or 4 occurring because I became angry about not being able to write my name the way grown ups had shown me.
My point is...Human beings were not meant to have thoughts. It is my belief that we as humans were designed to function as a silent apparatus at one with pure instinct instead of locked in a cumbersome system of constant over-analysis.
According to my viewpoint....
The story of Adam and Eve's famous fall from paradise" is an basically an allegory that eloquently describes what happened when humankind began habitually thinking to itself and lost touch with their natural connection to "The Creator". Whatever your beliefs, I believe certain metaphors are somewhat universal.
Silence is said to be the key to the doors of perception in just about every major ancient mystical philosophy I can think of.
From a more scientific point of view I believe that Inner silence helps to precipitate endogenous DMT release...this is why the silence technique is so very "visually" effective while on LSD or Mescaline.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- These are the different methods I have employed in order to reach states of inner silence.
First of all to answer the question of "can you do this sober?"
Yes. I can but it takes a good deal of effort more than it does while on psychedelics or Ganja.
Also I don't think I would have been able to do it while sober had I not practiced it while tripping first. Honestly I am stoned most of the time so I have rarely attempted sober meditation but that is a behavior flaw I'm working on....
As I have mentioned, LSD and mescaline work best to practice this technique with. I also believe that because Unlike DMT, Huasca and psilocybin, LSD and mescaline do not contain or resemble DMT. This means that endogenous DMT release while under the influence of mescaline or LSD creates a "special synergy".
Another reason LSD & MESC for gazing works so well is because of their stimulant like properties. It is just allot more comfortable to keep your eyes open for long periods of time on those substances.
By the same token I believe that if you become efficient at releasing your "own" DMT via gazing then that skill does help one let go and witness properly during the DMT experience increasing the vividness of the visuals by 100 fold.
One reason is most likely because of their stimulant like properties. It is just alot easier to keep your eyes open for long periods of time on those substances.
-Silent walk
This method is how I first got started and I do believe it is easiest way for beginners. it involves taking a nice quite walk by yourself.
The walker curls his fingers ever so slightly at the same time they keep their slightly unfocused eyes on the horizon. Also it is good to concentrate intensely on the sounds especially if they are nature like.
The idea here is to complete fill your senses to the point where there is no more sensory room to talk to yourself inside your head. This is one of the main techniques...that is to fill your senses with "existence" to the point where it is difficult to think anymore.
It's sort of akin to holding your breath underwater at first...you feel like your going to suffocate if you don't have a thought but eventually after you practice sustaining inner silence enough your brain changes gears and you find your comfort zone....It also gets allot easier to do after you begin experiencing paranormal types of visual phenomenon.
It is at this point when inner silence finally becomes a downhill battle....
when you find that it is actually more natural to be silent than it is to constantly think...
If you imagine for a moment that a human is like a machine and that it as a machine it only has so much energy to perform it's necessary functions,,,,
Using this analogy I am saying that it takes way more energy to have constant internal dialogue than it does to have to simply exist and have no thoughts. Once you "feel" the difference you will not want to think habitually again.
...there is no smoother and more economically running human machine than a inwardly silent human machine,
At the end of the day, it all boils down to breaking the oldest habit you have, perpetual internal dialogue. This can be difficult, even seem impossible at times but the key to this is realizing that ultimately it is just a habit and like any habit or addiction the number one tendency is to get nervous or feel uncomfortable when we attempt to stop the habit...
sort of like what happens when you yank the pacifier out of a sleeping infants mouth.
In "Gazing" another very effective method is to use a mirror along with a candle...
Before "mirror technology" ancient people would use various natural shiny surfaces to gaze upon. Things such as polished precious stones, metals or the sparkling surface of river water. The idea is to find something that captures your attention to the point where you cease to think. Most anything that you find to be hypnotically mesmerizing will work, even a beautiful tree works well to gaze upon...
Mirror gazing is by far one of the most potentially hazardous activities I know of..
Unless you are prepared to do battle with the darkest parts of your own psyche then don't mess around with this. K?
One has to gaze upon the surface of the mirror in a way that can be best described as looking without "staring". Staring is something that must be avoided.
I look at the entire mirror at once and to not focus my gaze on any particular one point, I create sort of a 180 degree peripheral vision for myself. Also I don't focus on my left eye but I do try to notice as it seems this is where most of the visions emenate from.
Once you have a comfortable gaze going, then comes the time to try and hold to inner silence and shut your thoughts off comepletely,,,
Do not have thoughts about not having thoughts either....
This is the point when your thoughts will actually try and defend themselves...If you do this enough you will find that your thoughts have they're own seperate awarenes and it will stop at nothing to foil your mission of silence,
This resistant force is something known as the "guardian" or "the foriegn installation". I'm not going to get to theological here so I will refer to this force as being simply a highly efficient spiritiual predator.
THis "predator" feeds off of negative energy.
It is intimately linked to each one of us from the time of our first thought. What it does is manipulate human beings perception of the world by controlling thier thought patterns in order to turn that human being into a "milk-cow" of negative enegry.
When you make your stand of silence the predator will see this as an action that threatens it's food source. This is because if you have inner silence the predator has nothing to work with and eventually must flee you. The predator is actually revolted by the vibrations that a silent human emits.
So the gardian is something that must be overcome if one desires to use the mirror. The predator is easy enough to beat becasue the only thing required to beat him is inner silence,
The only problem is the predator has thousands if not millions of years of experience vs. a human beings extreme rookie status. So as you can imagine it isn't to hard for the Predator to outsmart us most of the time. So that's why I say don't try this unless you have your bearings straight. The predator would rather make you kill your own self off than let you win.
So if you beat the predator the veil will be lifted so to speak and your third eye will be free to navigate the terrain of space and time like a psychedelic periscope in the sea of infinity.....
I have witnessed the anatomy of the human soul and countless visions this way.
The tendency may be to see visions of the future...if you see this then let it happen but take my advice and don't go trying to "peer" into the future out of insecurities of you will end up facing a new enemy...that of your own power. Nostradomus step back!
((with apologies to Carlos Castaneda for borrowing some of his ideas)
And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not percieve the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "brother let me remove the speck from your eye", when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye?-Yeshua ben Yoseph