Re: Some questions

["Alan Cook" <fish_studios@...>]

Dear David,

>> - The second Step One mental exercise, on maintaining mental 
focus in everyday tasks: It seems to me that that is a lifetime task, 
and that sometimes I do that well but other times, like when there's 
something agitating that has just happened, not so well. What's the 
tep One goal of that exercise? Is it a greater mastery, or just to 
ave made a habit of the exercise, with the knowledge that it will be 
ontinuously improved upon? <<

Yes, that is the goal of all of the Step I exercises, that they 
become habits. Some of them will evolve over time, but it's the 
habit forming that is important. I'd say that as long as your "off" 
days don't happen too often, then you have got the exercise down.

>> - Vacancy of mind: Am I correct in thinking that it is the 
*process* of thinking that should be stopped at this stage, but not 
necessarily the *objects*? So that if the cloud of the thinking 
process were removed, the objects could be perceived for what they 
are (what I think might be what you all are referring to as essential 
meaning)?
Until a little while ago, I thought emptiness of mind referred to a 
lack of *object* -- ie an entirely blank mind, absolutely no 
perception of anything at all -- but now I'm beginning to think that 
it's more proper and reasonable at this stage to stop the *process* 
and perceive what exists beyond the thinking. Stop "thinking," 
not "thoughts" (ie objects). Is this correct? <<

The vacancy of mind includes thoughts and other abstract ideas. When 
you *perceive* something, you can't translate it into words or 
thoughts. Well, you can, but I've never been able to do so 
successfully and capture the whole of what I perceived. It's kind of 
like when you forget what you were just getting ready to say and are 
trying to remember. You know something was there, you just can't 
place your finger on it. (That's not the greatest analogy, I know, 
sorry about that)

>> - I know it's not crucial at this stage to correctly place soul 
mirror traits in their proper elements, but I'm confused nonetheless:
Bardon lists some very similar traits under different elements, for 
instance "diligence" under Air and "perseverance" under Earth. I 
guess I see diligence and perseverance as both belonging to Earth. 
Is this an issue that will probably be made clearer to me as I work 
more with the elements, or should I take some more time at this 
stage? <<

You might want to take a look at David Coleman's site: 
www.astralvisions.de
Specifically the essay on the elements here:
http://astralvisions.psychicblue.org/Elements.htm
As I've gained more insight into the elements recently, I see that 
quite a few of the personality traits that Bardon gives can be put 
under different elements and both be corrent. It's more of how the 
trait is manifest in you. There isn't any rule that says this trait 
belongs under only this element. That's what's so great and 
frustrating about the Mirrors ;)

>> - What is the specific reason for not allowing anyone else to eat 
your food when you are doing the magic of food? Does this also mean 
that it's not correct to leave a bit of food in my bowl (if, for 
instance, I feel like I've eaten too much) and, say, come back and 
eat it a few hours later, if I make sure no one else eats it? <<

I really haven't given this any considerable amount of thought 
before. When I first read the exercise, and the following times as 
well, I assumed it was because of the idea that you are impregnating 
the *whole* of the food with the wish/desire. Therefore, you would 
need to consume *all* of the food. It makes logical sense, at least 
to me, but whethere there is something else, I've never really 
thought about it that much.

>> - Is there a point at which the food/water/breathing exercises 
have reached a certain goal that is the goal of Step One, or can they 
be assumed to mesh with the Step Two exercises? In other words, do 
I, for instance, *have* to have successfully achieved one wish before 
moving on? <<

The important aspect of the food/water/breathing is for it to become 
a habit. The breathing evolves a bit later on it IIH, but the 
fundamentals are the same. I don't think there's any real "goal" for 
these other than for them to become habit.

I would suggest looking at your wish and see if you have made any 
progress with it. I've always used the food/water/breathing as aids 
to my wishes/desires as well as the direct approach. If you haven't 
done so already, look at the Step II Astral exercises for a bit of 
help.

>> - A question about the visualization exercise in Step Two: I know 
right off the bat that I'm pretty good at visualization. But the 
image I visualize tends to move around a little bit, or rather my 
eyes do; I can, for instance, imagine the image of a pen sitting in 
one place on my desk, but my physical eyes don't want to keep staring 
motionless at it all the time. Should the image I visualize be 
absolutely stationary? I don't find any mention in IIH of this. <<

One goal of the visualization is to be in control of it. If you 
can't control the visualization then that needs to be worked on. But 
there's nothing to say that objects have to be stationary. I decided 
to go a bit further with the visualization and have the objects move 
when I wanted them to. I brought up the image of a pencil simply 
floating in front of me. Then I'd spin it a bit and stop it 
immediately. This idea spawned out of a post someone had on here 
about not being able to keep their visualizations from spinning. So 
I figured what the heck? I'll give it a try. If the pen moves with 
your eyes and that's not what you want to happen, the I would suggest 
working on keeping your stationary in their focal point. It will 
become important later.


All Will Go Well,
--Alan