Re: [BardonPraxis] A nice, sweet, mental sleep.

[Robert Spaulding <firstrobroy2000@...>]

Dear S2:

"Realizing that you are asleep is not only cardinal points of the 4th Way, but 
Hermetic philosophy and the philosophy of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. The 
fact that most human beings are in a state of psychological sleep was not 
unknown by ancient philosophers. They taught that one had to die before they 
could be born. This was called the first death. The process of dying was the 
mystical process of transformation which was encouraged to take place before 
the death of the physical body, which would be the second death. The process of 
initiation, which is the elevation of spiritual consciousness, is actually a 
change of mind. In the Christian Gospels the word Metanoia is used which has 
been misinterpreted to mean Repent. But another translation means change. 
Actually what is needed is transformation. People make many changes in their 
lives, but actually transformation is a renewing process of the mind, which 
apparently many people hesitate to undergo. It requires a shift
in consciousness and identity. "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind".

Robert





A student <arbiter@...> wrote:
Dear NB

What you describe sounds to me like "realizing that you are asleep", one of
the cardinal points of the 4-th way (Gurdjieff). To me it sounds like a
fine, deep realization at that ;-)

Personally I have been thinking about an other side of this coin.

Magic seems to be very much about will. In the step I. exercises (and
generally in IIH) you are always having the element of will present. You
are either observing your stream of thoughts, stopping it altogether,
focusing on a specific object, etc. You are always DOING something.

Sometimes I find, to use your words, a "nice, sweet, mental", not SLEEP but
REST. That is, I don't DO anything at all. First, I have to *try to not do*
anything, but after a while, this seems to be a real not-doing. It is as if
my thoughts, and after a while myself, ceased to exist. Life goes on, and I
know it, but almost without me. Mind you, this state I only keep for short
periods of time.

My rationalization is that perhaps for some people this comes easy, while
for more nervous temperaments (busy-bodies) this can be difficult thing. I
wonder how relevant this Will-less state is in the Bardon system. It feels
more like a Taoist kind of thing.

S2





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