Clinical Energetics of the Astral Body; notes by ted
on: The Art of Dreaming a book by Carlos
Castaneda 1993
Sorcery and Supernatural powers and Shamanism
1. dreaming -- the act of embodying some specialized
theoretical and practical premises about the nature and role of
perception in moulding the universe around us.
2. the natural everyday world and the unseen world called
the 2nd Attention.
3. the most important art is called the art of dreaming.
4. we have been energetically conditioned to perceive
solely our world.
5. to enter (another reality) we have to {wish, desire,
intend} to and we have to have sufficient energy
6. their inaccessibility is entirely a consequence of our
energetic conditioning.
7. a set of practices, called the art of dreaming, devised
to correct our conditioning.
8. dreaming is the practical way of putting ordinary dreams
to use. It is not, having dreams, daydreaming, wishing, imagining.
Through it we can perceive other worlds.
9. energetic configurations of awareness.
Chpt 1
1. sorcerers -- dark Adepts of Atlantis, dark morbid minds.
2. obsessive fixation on practice and techniques, and
influence over people.
3. seeing -- to perceive the energetic essence of things; to
perceive energy directly. the social base of our perception should
be the physical certainty that energy is all there is.
4. first this is a world of energy, then its a world of
objects.
5. the essence of the universe resembles incandescent
threads stretched into infinity in every conceivable direction,
luminous filaments that are conscious of themselves. depicting human
beings as luminous giant spheroids.
6. a round spot of intense brilliance, the size of a tennis
ball, inside the luminous ball, flush with its surface, about 2 feet
back from the crest of a person's right shoulder blade, named the
assemblage point; perception takes place on that spot. The
universe's conscious luminous energy filaments (UCLEFS) which pass
through the assemblage point, glow with more luminosity. Each
assemblage point has a surrounding glow. assemblage points can move.
When they are in their normal position, perception and awareness
seem to be normal. when they move to another position ... awareness
is different.
7. the assemblage point automatically assembles a few
UCLEFS into a steady perception of the world. Millions of UCLEFS
pass through the assemblage point. The glow is dim in the
someone who is unconscious and in those near death.
9. Two kinds of assemblage point displacement:
a. a shift to any position on the surface or in the
interior of the luminous ball; all these are still within the
human domain.
b. a movement to a point outside the luminous ball,
beyond the human realm. Once we have energy, seeing happens to
us by itself. The hard part is convincing yourself it can be
done.
11. The luminous spheroid-egg is our energy self.
13. the indispensability of energetic uniformity and
cohesion for the purpose of perceiving.
14. the key is the fixation of the assemblage point. the
human domain when one is an energy ball is whatever filaments pass
through the space within the ball's boundaries. the larger the ball
(or line) the more one perceived.
15. When one sees the human energy shape, one sees one
single ball of energy. No crowds of balls. There are only single
individuals, alone, surrounded by the boundless.
16. to enter into the 2nd attention by retaining the
assemblage point on its new location.
17. a most disturbing state of unequaled clarity. to
remember is to relocate the assemblage point on the exact same
position when the 2nd attention occurred.
18. the assemblage point is very easily displaced during
sleep.
19. Dreaming - the art of displacing the assemblage point
at will from its habitual position. There are five conditions:
1- only the UCLEFS that pass through the assemblage
point can be assembled into coherent perception
2- the smallest displacement results in a change
3- during dreams the assemblage point is easily displaced
4- a movement of the assemblage point outside the luminous egg is possible
5- through discipline, during sleep and ordinary dreams,
a systematic displacement of the assemblage point is possible.
Chpt 2 The 2nd Attention as a progression:
1. as a curiosity rather than a possibility
2. then, it can only be felt
3. this evolves into a state of being, a realm of
practicalities, or a preeminent force that opens
worlds.
the 2nd attention does not happen naturally but must be intended
1. first as an idea
2, and ending up intending it as a steady and controlled
awareness of the assemblage point's displacement.
21. In your dreams you must look at your hands
22. Turning dreams into dreaming, attitude for:
1. integrity and seriousness
2. in laughter
3. with the confidence of someone who doesn't have a
worry in the world. the dreaming attention is a veiled
faculty. There are SEVEN GATES, experienced as
obstacles. We cross the first gate's threshold by
becoming aware of a particular sensation before deep
sleep, a heaviness, suspended in darkness.
24. to understand intending as a subject not for your
reason but for your energy body. to intend that your energy body
becomes aware that you are falling asleep.
25. Put your silent determination, without a single
thought, into convincing yourself that you have reached your energy
body and that you are a dreamer.
26. Intending is both the act of convincing yourself and
the act of being convinced. It requires imagination, discipline and
purpose.
27. Looking at your hands in a dream is a subterfuge. The
real issue is to become aware that one is falling asleep.
27. Sustaining the view in a dream. Constant earnest
determination to be aware that I was falling asleep.
28. Dreaming is a process of awakening, of gaining
control. Our dreaming attention must be systematically exercised.
29. Dreams are
a) a 2-way street,
b) a hatch/door into other realms of perception
30. shifting our glance from thing to thing in a dream;
able to sustain the sight of any item in our dreams
31. the energy body is the counterpart of the physical
body. A ghostlike configuration made of pure energy. Dreaming is
the art of condensing/tempering the energy body, of making it supple
and coherent by gradually exercising it. It is an independent
(perceiving body)
32. It sees or feels energy directly. We all have a
determined quantity of basic energy. As all our available energy is
already engaged (in ordinary perception) there is none left for
extraordinary perception.
33. We have to scrounge energy for ourselves, by cutting
out the superfluous in our lives.
33. moulding the awareness of being alive.
34. Everything new in our lives, such as the sorcerers' concepts,
must be repeated to us to the point of exhaustion before we open
ourselves to it.
35. gaining the capability of being thoroughly aware that I was
falling asleep. something dormant becomes suddenly functional.
35. exercising the dreaming attention
36. the active element in training oneself to be aware of the level
of dreams is persistence. Entering into the 2nd attention gives one
a sense of self-assurance
37. the energy needed to release our dreaming attention from its
socialization prison comes from redeploying our existing energy.
37. the most effective is "losing self-importance".
Self-importance is not only the sorcerers' supreme enemy but the
nemesis of mankind. Most of our energy goes into upholding our
importance. This is most obvious in our endless worry about the
presentation of the self, about whether or not we are admired or
liked or acknowledged.
40. You reach the 2nd Gate of Dreaming when you (wake up
from a dream into another dream) and are able to change dreams in an
orderly and precise manner.
42. You must intend a greater and more sober control over
your dreaming attention. Perfect control over the dreaming
attention makes it stop when needed.
43. I was pulled by every feature of the landscape
44. increasing interference, jolts of fear or discomfort
45. inorganic beings are slow, long, opaque and candle like
with long calm deep lives.
45. life means having consciousness; it means having an
assemblage point and surrounding glow of awareness
46. sooner or later the inorganic beings show up
47. send a feeling of power, confidence, strength, detachment to them
49. inorganic beings -- allies
51. his contention was that the 2nd attention is available
to all of us, but, by willfully holding on to our half- cocked
rationality, we keep the 2nd attention at arm's length.
52. friendship consists of a mutual exchange of energy
ch 4
58. manipulation of the assemblage point - a vast and
ominous subject. the inorganic beings love slavery and I love
freedom. they love to buy, and I don't sell.
59. my understanding is that the old sorcerers perhaps as
far back as 10,000 years ago (8000 bc). They ruled from 5000 bc to
1000 bc.
63. They were at their peak at 1000 bc.
64. the voice of the dreaming emissary, an impersonal
force; alien energy that purports to aid dreamers. It can only tell
what they already know or should know. most listeners take their
suggestions as sacred advice.
66. the whole realm of inorganic beings is always poised to
teach - but their price is too high - our lives, energy, devotion,
freedom.
67. They teach that which fulfills the needs of our basic
self, its fears, greed, envy, etc. Involvements of this nature
curtail our search for freedom by consuming all our available
energy.
68. clearing debris from ones dreaming attention - the
dreaming emissaries teachings and guidance in our world are
nonsense, for which it charges us enormities in terms of energy.
69. art of dreaming -- displacement of the assemblage point
art of stalking -- fixation of the assemblage point on a new point,
which results in acquiring cohesion, and clarity of perception
73. reason is only a by-product of the habitual position of
the assemblage point. By not knowing that the assemblage point
exists we are obliged to take the by-product of its habitual
position as something final and indisputable.
74. (lower self) expectations of power and gain
75. A voice (the emissary) that already and concisely told
me in three languages hidden things about anything or anyone I
focused my attention on.
75. children's assemblage points constantly fluttering, as
if moved by tremors
76. the act of countermanding ones perceptual habits and
perceiving energy directly is what transforms a person into a
sorcerer. Once our assemblage point is fixated at one point our
perception can be coached to interpret what we perceive more in
terms of our system than in terms of our senses. New categories of
sensory data renders our system inoperative.
77. Stalking perception -- acquiring cohesion outside the
normal world The Grand Adventure of the Unknown
78. Insane people have no preconceived purpose; they bring
chaos into chaos. sorcerers bring order to the chaos. their
preconceived, transcendental purpose is to free their perceptions.
79. the old sorcerers preferred the human unknown - we are
after the nonhuman unknown.
81. the nonhuman worlds require a great deal of detachment
and no self-importance whatsoever. What's the point, the % gain?
... spoken like a merchant. the merchant mind does commerce. But
freedom cannot be an investment. To seek freedom is the only
driving force I know.
Chapter 5
84. a current of foreign energy, a scout
85. Self -- the spirit
self -- our indulging propensity
86. scouts come in search of potential awareness; they have
consciousness and purpose. inorganic beings are stationary; their
appearance, voice, emissaries are projections.
88. the gigantic dark brown sponge, a spongy world,
countless tunnels going in every direction; tunnels of energy
90. There are endless advantages for you. each tunnel will
sell/teach you something different.
92. shared energy makes kinship. energy is like blood.
93. the emissaries are most subtle salesmen ... I
understand the old sorcerers' preference for concrete practices.
For perfect dreaming, the first thing you do is shut off your
internal dialogue.
94. Falling asleep at a moment of total internal dialogue
silence guarantees perfect entrance into dreaming, and it also
guarantees the enhancing of one's dreaming attention.
95. An enormous reservoir of attention is located behind
the roof of the mouth. press the tip of the tongue on the roof of
the mouth.
96. the inorganic beings are going to cater to our most
secret wishes.
97. our system of sensory input interpretation By living in
accordance with the sorcerers' way, dreamers save and store the
necessary energy to suspend judgement and thus facilitate deliberate
and careful attempts to enlarge the capabilities of our system of
sensory input interpretation. To intend its revamping,
reconditioning, reconstructing and enlarging.
98-99. assumptions and prejudices about the nature of man,
reality and perception.
99. the inorganic beings are after our awareness. they fish
for it. they are capable of catering to our desires, by pampering
and indulging us.. Beware of awareness that is immobile.
100. the labyrinth of penumbra. the pleasant, clear
sensation of being special, unique, exclusive.
101. power and uniqueness are unbeatable as corrupting
forces. watch out!
102. an increased capacity to intend.
103. the tricking of the inorganic beings
105. semi-prisoners of the realm of the inorganic beings
106. the inorganic beings set traps. undesirable dreamers
are effectively and permanently screened out
107. Whatever is given as the exercise to reach and cross
a gate is not really what that gate is all about. the 2nd gate of
dreaming is reached and crossed only when a dreamer learns to
isolate and follow the foreign energy of scouts.
109. to know what's needed is the virtuosity of sorcerers,
but to take only what's needed is the highest accomplishment.
110. energetic currents; circumstances more dreadful than
death
113. overpowered by a wave of profound friendship,
affection, trust, elation, curiosity for them
140 the inorganic beings are forever in search of awareness
and energy
Chapter 8
the 3rd gate of dreaming is reached when you see yourself
asleep. At the 3rd gate you begin to deliberately merge your
dreaming reality with the reality of the daily world,
completing/consolidating the energy body.
142. viewing with care and curiosity avoids being caught in
detail; to be mesmerized in irrelevant, minute detail.
143. the drill of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Gate. each gate is an
obstacle.
147. the recapitulation of one's life (autobiographical
exploration) is a prerequisite for a true merging of the dreaming
and daily realities. The reason average people lack volition in
their dreams is that they have never recapitulated and their lives
are filled to capacity with heavily loaded emotions like memories,
hopes, fears, etc
148. recapitulation: reliving the totality of one's life
experiences by remembering every possible minute detail of them ...
thereby redefining and redeploying energy, otherwise locked away.
149. (the last paragraph on this page seems odd)
151. the ability to concentrate, which I had acquired by
means of my dreaming practices. in your actual room, seeing your
actual body asleep.
155. to be impeccable -- put your life on the line in order
to back up your decisions, and then do quite a lot more than your
best to realize those decisions.
156. moving (glide, soar) in the energy body
159. his bedroom takes on the appearance of a giant cubist
painting, with obtuse & acute angles.
161. let your energy body intend to reach the ideal/optimum
dreaming position; intend to stay at that position. Intending is
the secret. There is no technique for intending.
162. the ideal spot and the fixation are metaphors
163. the 3rd Gate Drill -- moving your energy body by
itself Now, seeing energy with your energy body
164. worlds in which one sees the energy are more real than
worlds in which one doesn't. energy generating items. the issue of
your dreaming is to determine whether an item is
1. energy generating, i.e. real
2. a phantom projection, i.e. unreal
3. foreign energy generating, therefore real.
Chapter 9
171. Cynicism doesn't allow us to make drastic changes in
our understanding of the world
172. the hinge of sorcery is the mystery of the assemblage point
174. ordinary dreams are the honing devices used to train
the assemblage point to reach the position that creates this
energy-generating condition we call dreaming
175. regard dreaming as something extremely dangerous!
176. a whitish glow was always the initial impact of seeing
anything that generated energy
176. the Grand Task of sorcerers is to bring forth the idea
that, in order to evolve, man must first free his awareness from its
bindings to the social order.
177. three types of alien energy (there are many more)
1. mild fizzling, like preboil water, effervescent
2. vibrating from within as if filled with a pressurized gas
3. those that hide in dream images of our parents or
close friends - a bright orange type of scout
179. My energy body used to react with horror even before
I saw it.
181. Journeying to the world of the inorganic beings had
always meant to me, at an energetic level, a boost of dark energy.
???? There is no other viable energy for sorcerers. ?? To start
dreaming sorcerers need to redefine their premises and save their
energy, but that is only a start. To fly into other realms, to see
energy, to forge the energy body: for these maneuvers, sorcerers
need loads of dark alien energy. ??
Chapter 10
186. dealing with awareness, as an energetic element.
189. intending and having enough energy.
198. to use awareness as an element of the environment
states of perception for which I had no lexicon.
Chapter 11
200. At the 4th gate of dreaming the energy body travels
to specific concrete places:
1. in this world
2. out of this world
3. in the intent-worlds of others
203. the aberrant practices of the sorcerers of ancient
Mexico ... guided by extremely selfish interests.
204. Only if they remain totally detached can they have
the energy to be free; detachment not from fear or indulgence but
from conviction; detached enough to be able to put aside a gift of
power.
205. modern day sorcerers maneuver the assemblage point
through self-discipline.
214,. As payment for the energy taken from all those
naguals the tenant taught them exactly what to do to displace their
assemblage point to some specific positions, which it itself had
chosen.
215. the tenant knows only of indulging; a line of
indulging, dependant, sorcerers
218 as old and mysterious as the tenant.
Chapter 12
231. projecting intent -- the thought
projection/reproduction of my object, structure, landmark, scenery =
visualization
Chapter 13
249. intending in the 2nd attention is the only way to
cross the 4th gate of Dreaming.
254. we are dreaming ourselves; dream your intent of me;
intend me forward.
260 This is dreaming. the possibilities of flying on the
wings of intent.