Following through: an expansion of gnosis
Sometimes I work with gnosis as what amounts to an ongoing conversation over several days. After working with Orlando's comments here and reading what others had to say, I decided to return to this line of thinking. Over a period of perhaps 48 hours, moving fluidly in and out of gnosis, this is the conversation which occurred between myself & Orlando.
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Della: You say that when we think of ourselves as biological entities, we are already defeated. I agree with this from a philosophical vantage point, and yet I look in the mirror and see my body deteriorating. Another illusion, yes, but a powerful one. So my question is: what/where/how is the trigger mechanism that gives us the ability to EXPERIENCE ourselves as an energy being as opposed to a biological entity? Is there a process, a mechanism, a method?
Orlando: Ah, you want to be the man behind the curtain instead of playing the role of Dorothy looking on in wonder. The trick is simply this: what is involved in doing the impossible is to first ALLOW the impossible, and second to force a seemingly drastic shift of the assemblage pointt which is, in reality, only a minor nudge.
Della: Say more about 'the impossible'. What is meant by 'allow the impossible'.
Orlando: Examine your own belief matrix, and you will find (as all humans do) that certain things have been filed under the category of impossible, largely as a result of your programming. You would say it is impossible to fly, for example, yet you do it in Dreaming, and certain men of knowledge may levitate or even fly within their (seemingly) biological forms - which, of course, are not really biological at all. You may believe it is impossible to become transformed while in corporeal form, again because that is the programming with which you have been fitted within the consensus. Turn your mind around and look at it like this: it is commonly believed even among spiritual adepts that transformation occurs at death because most spiritual adepts accept that program and, in doing so, wait around to die. Yes, the transformation you seek may occur at death, because THEN there is no alternative, if it is to occur at all. And yet, it is a humanform belief/program that tells you it is necessary to die first. The most difficult death you will ever experience is the one while you are still alive, and that is the death of which Goethe spoke: "die and be transformed."
Della: So, then boiling all of that down, it's a shift of the assemblage point. Like the holymen who walk through fiery furnaces without being consumed, with no ill effects. Certainly that is some sort of movement of the assemblage point, too, right?
Orlando: Yes. What you are seeking, however - complete and lasting transformation - is a shift of the assemblage point that would not allow for a complete return to ordinary awareness. That is why fear and doubt stops most humans from ever making the attempt - and so, they follow the course of least resistance, accepting their transformation only after going through the humanform act of dying.
Della: You said that the belief that we are beings who are going to die is sufficient to kill us, yet don Juan said something to the effect that only when we realize we are beings who are going to die do we have sufficient motivation to create our path. Can you speak to that?
Orlando: It might be said that don Juan knew Carlos did not have sufficient personal power to force the movement of the assemblage point beyond certain limits, which Carlos had imposed upon himself. To accept that you are a being who is going to die is to place upon yourself a limitation. To believe 'all things die' is to live in a predeterminant reality, a limited one which does not allow the impossible. To accept that you are a being who is going to die is to accept the death sentence without ever trying to escape from the prison.
Della: You said that a complete and lasting transformation would not allow for a complete return to ordinary awareness. Can you be more specific?
Orlando: Those few who achieve this transformation at the level you are seeking it do not tend to return to their ordinary lives for the same reason that humans do not often choose to live in the jungle with the apes. Though there would remain some similarity of appearance, any commonality of language, vision, and state-of-being would no longer exist. And it is there that fear stops most humans from ever making the attempt - attachments to the trappings of their humanform lives.
***
It was here that I had to put the gnosis on hold to attend to those very trappings, and to contemplate what is being communicated. As I really allow my mind to wrap around some of this, I must confess that it brings me face to face with those attachments in ways that are both enlightening and perhaps disheartening. Nobody said this was going to be easy, which is why I only get into gnosis exercises with advanced warriors who are (hopefully) sufficiently fluid to flow with the punches.
When Orlando speaks about our fears, doubts and attachments, I find myself wanting to say, "But that's such an elitist and maybe even defeatist attitude!" and yet I wholly realize that he is 100% correct in his assessments. If we are honest with ourselves, we really don't want to live with the apes, and a massive shift of the assemblage point would have the immediate and profound effect of making us, essentially, "no longer human" - and far beyond what CC inferred when he spoke of "losing the human form."
I was also especially intrigued with Orlando's comments about "allow the impossible", as this is a subject I have been working with for a couple of months now - examining my own beliefs/comfort zones with regard to what I am willing to "allow". Case in point: if I were to engage this massive shift of the assemblage point and simply "die and be transformed", to what extent would it affect my ordinary life? Huge question - and anyone who says otherwise is most likely not being entirely honest with him/herself. Point being, our attachments are often the things we are not even aware of until we are faced with the possibility of losing them.
This is one of the byproducts of gnosis as well - by allowing ourselves to focus "outside the box", by permitting ourselves to experience our personal connection to the infinite, we expand our awareness outside of our existing comfort zones & belief systems, to the extent that we then find ourselves face to face with them.
Ask the next question, Orlando says. If there is any one thing that will stave off complacency and invite expansion, that is it: always ask the next question, even if the answer shakes your foundation to its core and destroys it, or even if there is no answer at all.
All material in this blog (essays, rants, images, poetry, et al) is copyright © by Della Van Hise, and may not be reprinted elsewhere without the prior written permission of the author. Quantum ShamanTM is a trademark of QuantumShaman.ComTM and reserves all rights
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Della: You say that when we think of ourselves as biological entities, we are already defeated. I agree with this from a philosophical vantage point, and yet I look in the mirror and see my body deteriorating. Another illusion, yes, but a powerful one. So my question is: what/where/how is the trigger mechanism that gives us the ability to EXPERIENCE ourselves as an energy being as opposed to a biological entity? Is there a process, a mechanism, a method?
Orlando: Ah, you want to be the man behind the curtain instead of playing the role of Dorothy looking on in wonder. The trick is simply this: what is involved in doing the impossible is to first ALLOW the impossible, and second to force a seemingly drastic shift of the assemblage pointt which is, in reality, only a minor nudge.
Della: Say more about 'the impossible'. What is meant by 'allow the impossible'.
Orlando: Examine your own belief matrix, and you will find (as all humans do) that certain things have been filed under the category of impossible, largely as a result of your programming. You would say it is impossible to fly, for example, yet you do it in Dreaming, and certain men of knowledge may levitate or even fly within their (seemingly) biological forms - which, of course, are not really biological at all. You may believe it is impossible to become transformed while in corporeal form, again because that is the programming with which you have been fitted within the consensus. Turn your mind around and look at it like this: it is commonly believed even among spiritual adepts that transformation occurs at death because most spiritual adepts accept that program and, in doing so, wait around to die. Yes, the transformation you seek may occur at death, because THEN there is no alternative, if it is to occur at all. And yet, it is a humanform belief/program that tells you it is necessary to die first. The most difficult death you will ever experience is the one while you are still alive, and that is the death of which Goethe spoke: "die and be transformed."
Della: So, then boiling all of that down, it's a shift of the assemblage point. Like the holymen who walk through fiery furnaces without being consumed, with no ill effects. Certainly that is some sort of movement of the assemblage point, too, right?
Orlando: Yes. What you are seeking, however - complete and lasting transformation - is a shift of the assemblage point that would not allow for a complete return to ordinary awareness. That is why fear and doubt stops most humans from ever making the attempt - and so, they follow the course of least resistance, accepting their transformation only after going through the humanform act of dying.
Della: You said that the belief that we are beings who are going to die is sufficient to kill us, yet don Juan said something to the effect that only when we realize we are beings who are going to die do we have sufficient motivation to create our path. Can you speak to that?
Orlando: It might be said that don Juan knew Carlos did not have sufficient personal power to force the movement of the assemblage point beyond certain limits, which Carlos had imposed upon himself. To accept that you are a being who is going to die is to place upon yourself a limitation. To believe 'all things die' is to live in a predeterminant reality, a limited one which does not allow the impossible. To accept that you are a being who is going to die is to accept the death sentence without ever trying to escape from the prison.
Della: You said that a complete and lasting transformation would not allow for a complete return to ordinary awareness. Can you be more specific?
Orlando: Those few who achieve this transformation at the level you are seeking it do not tend to return to their ordinary lives for the same reason that humans do not often choose to live in the jungle with the apes. Though there would remain some similarity of appearance, any commonality of language, vision, and state-of-being would no longer exist. And it is there that fear stops most humans from ever making the attempt - attachments to the trappings of their humanform lives.
***
It was here that I had to put the gnosis on hold to attend to those very trappings, and to contemplate what is being communicated. As I really allow my mind to wrap around some of this, I must confess that it brings me face to face with those attachments in ways that are both enlightening and perhaps disheartening. Nobody said this was going to be easy, which is why I only get into gnosis exercises with advanced warriors who are (hopefully) sufficiently fluid to flow with the punches.
When Orlando speaks about our fears, doubts and attachments, I find myself wanting to say, "But that's such an elitist and maybe even defeatist attitude!" and yet I wholly realize that he is 100% correct in his assessments. If we are honest with ourselves, we really don't want to live with the apes, and a massive shift of the assemblage point would have the immediate and profound effect of making us, essentially, "no longer human" - and far beyond what CC inferred when he spoke of "losing the human form."
I was also especially intrigued with Orlando's comments about "allow the impossible", as this is a subject I have been working with for a couple of months now - examining my own beliefs/comfort zones with regard to what I am willing to "allow". Case in point: if I were to engage this massive shift of the assemblage point and simply "die and be transformed", to what extent would it affect my ordinary life? Huge question - and anyone who says otherwise is most likely not being entirely honest with him/herself. Point being, our attachments are often the things we are not even aware of until we are faced with the possibility of losing them.
This is one of the byproducts of gnosis as well - by allowing ourselves to focus "outside the box", by permitting ourselves to experience our personal connection to the infinite, we expand our awareness outside of our existing comfort zones & belief systems, to the extent that we then find ourselves face to face with them.
Ask the next question, Orlando says. If there is any one thing that will stave off complacency and invite expansion, that is it: always ask the next question, even if the answer shakes your foundation to its core and destroys it, or even if there is no answer at all.
All material in this blog (essays, rants, images, poetry, et al) is copyright © by Della Van Hise, and may not be reprinted elsewhere without the prior written permission of the author. Quantum ShamanTM is a trademark of QuantumShaman.ComTM and reserves all rights