E.J. Gold - The Human Biological Machine As A Transformational Apparatus
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obyvatel
The Living Force
I have been recently reading some books by E J Gold. I found some portions of his writing very useful for clarifying and reemphasizing certain basic concepts outlined in ISOTM. These writings have a more experiential flavor to them rather than being overly intellectual or obtuse.
The chapter on alchemy in "The Human Biological Machine As A Transformational Apparatus" is interesting (quoted in the post above). Here I will be quoting some excerpts which lays down some explanation of terminology and concepts which may help to better understand the alchemy chapter for those who are interested.
[quote author=EJ Gold]
Contrary to popular belief, inner transformation does not produce behavioral and psychological results that can be easily recognized from outside.
[/quote]
So it seems that those attempting transformation are not going to appear like supermen with superpowers flying around battling villains to the thundering applause of an appreciative audience. :)
[quote author= EJ Gold]
We are in a way victims of several diseases of civilization, one strong symptom of which is the characteristic intellectual arrogance of our present culture. Intellectual arrogance can be defined as the assumption that we fully understand an idea the first time we hear it, just because we happen to recognize the words and think we understand their deep, subtle meanings.
.........
What we as civilized human beings may have trouble understanding is that ideas are fully grasped only when they reflect a corresponding inner change; we come to understand only what exists in ourselves, and nothing exists in ourselves which we have not taken within, digested and deeply considered with much more than the mental apparatus.
[/quote]
This is an important point to keep in mind and repeatedly remind oneself lest we fall in the trap of arrogance.
[quote author=EJ Gold]
In our beginning work, we will turn our first attention toward the body, with its mental, emotional and motor apparatuses, which when taken as a whole, is called in this system, the human biological machine.
Although it has countless inner subjective states which may give the impression of an unapproachable complexity, the human biological machine has only two definite objective states which are of any real interest to us in the transformational sense. The machine is either in the waking state or the sleeping state.
In the sleeping state, its attention is completely fixated on its own inner subjective thoughts, emotional states and sensations, or on those distractions and attractions outside itself which happen to impose themselves through the thick veil of its subjective fixation on itself, which is the real meaning of the ancient myth of Narcissus.
.....................................
The pitiful truth is that very few people, even very famous and highly acclaimed directors of work communities, actually know the basic fact of work: that only an awakened machine can produce a transformational effect upon the essential self - that part of us which is not the machine..
The majority of work communities are founded on the basis that it is the essential self which is asleep and which must be aroused from sleep. Because they remain unaware of the essential self's identification with the sleep of the machine, and the machine's potential as a transformational apparatus only when in the waking state, they have no hope of achieving any authentic transformation.
.................................
The human biological machine reflects the presence of the essential self in much the same way a Wilson Cloud Chamber can demonstrate the presence of unseen particles. Although we cannot see the essential self directly, we can see the results of the path it took, its effects on the machine. The Wilson Cloud Chamber is a device which graphically shows the path, not of what we are measuring, but of something invisible which collided with something we can see and measure.
Like the Cloud Chamber, the human biological machine is a reciprocal biofeedback apparatus in relation to the essential self.
..............................................
At its best, the human biological machine should function as a chemical and electrical factory through which we pass in a definite series of processes, entering at one end of the factory in what we call birth, emerging at the other end during the death of the machine as something quite different, in much the same way that any raw material would enter a factory and emerge as a finished product at the other end.
While in the human form we take upon ourselves all the attributes, aspects and knowledge of a human being. If the machine has been dead (sleeping) during our passage through it, when we leave it at the end of life, we lose everything, all the knowledge and all the experience we have accumulated.
If the electrical force of transformation is activated, the essential self is changed, transformed, so that we retain the knowledge, the attributes, of a human being. But this is true only if we have passed through something living, something which has had a definite electrical effect upon our essential self.
It is a terrible waste of opportunity of human life, a genuine sin, to have failed to use the human biological machine for our possible evolution.
[/quote]
The biological machine and the consciousness residing in it need to have a symbiotic relationship in order for consciousness to evolve in its journey. Perhaps an awakened vehicle inhabited by a consciousness would have been the natural (STO) starting point for consciousness taking the "short wave cycle" route of evolution. Thanks to the higher density STS manipulations, we in 3D STS have to start from a place where the vehicle has a STS installation - the predator's mind - which makes "sleep" the default state of the vehicle. For consciousness to evolve, the first need is to "wake up" the biological structure and then only can the consciousness inhabiting the biological structure really learn lessons and progress. If such progress is made during the physical lifetime, the consciousness can move on to other lessons inhabiting a different vehicle - what is termed as real reincarnation. If physical death comes with the biological structure having been asleep throughout, the consciousness is caught in a repeating loop - or what Mouravieff referred to as "repetition of the film of life" where a man once dead is reborn in the same circumstances.
[quote author=E J Gold]
We must keep in mind that our real aim is not transformation. Transformation is a stepping stone to the Work, a special way of life which is possible for us only after our essential selves have been transformed, and our machines are more or less stable in the awakened state.
The Work can only be seen and understood through an awakened machine. We cannot see the Work if our machine is asleep, so one of the purposes of awakening the machine is to be able to study the Work. We should take the opportunity to use the awakened state to study the Work, so that we will know what to do with our transformation once it is achieved.
[/quote]
Work starts in earnest only after transformation - when the "labourer is worthy of hire" for a higher cosmic purpose.
The chapter on alchemy in "The Human Biological Machine As A Transformational Apparatus" is interesting (quoted in the post above). Here I will be quoting some excerpts which lays down some explanation of terminology and concepts which may help to better understand the alchemy chapter for those who are interested.
[quote author=EJ Gold]
Contrary to popular belief, inner transformation does not produce behavioral and psychological results that can be easily recognized from outside.
[/quote]
So it seems that those attempting transformation are not going to appear like supermen with superpowers flying around battling villains to the thundering applause of an appreciative audience. :)
[quote author= EJ Gold]
We are in a way victims of several diseases of civilization, one strong symptom of which is the characteristic intellectual arrogance of our present culture. Intellectual arrogance can be defined as the assumption that we fully understand an idea the first time we hear it, just because we happen to recognize the words and think we understand their deep, subtle meanings.
.........
What we as civilized human beings may have trouble understanding is that ideas are fully grasped only when they reflect a corresponding inner change; we come to understand only what exists in ourselves, and nothing exists in ourselves which we have not taken within, digested and deeply considered with much more than the mental apparatus.
[/quote]
This is an important point to keep in mind and repeatedly remind oneself lest we fall in the trap of arrogance.
[quote author=EJ Gold]
In our beginning work, we will turn our first attention toward the body, with its mental, emotional and motor apparatuses, which when taken as a whole, is called in this system, the human biological machine.
Although it has countless inner subjective states which may give the impression of an unapproachable complexity, the human biological machine has only two definite objective states which are of any real interest to us in the transformational sense. The machine is either in the waking state or the sleeping state.
In the sleeping state, its attention is completely fixated on its own inner subjective thoughts, emotional states and sensations, or on those distractions and attractions outside itself which happen to impose themselves through the thick veil of its subjective fixation on itself, which is the real meaning of the ancient myth of Narcissus.
.....................................
The pitiful truth is that very few people, even very famous and highly acclaimed directors of work communities, actually know the basic fact of work: that only an awakened machine can produce a transformational effect upon the essential self - that part of us which is not the machine..
The majority of work communities are founded on the basis that it is the essential self which is asleep and which must be aroused from sleep. Because they remain unaware of the essential self's identification with the sleep of the machine, and the machine's potential as a transformational apparatus only when in the waking state, they have no hope of achieving any authentic transformation.
.................................
The human biological machine reflects the presence of the essential self in much the same way a Wilson Cloud Chamber can demonstrate the presence of unseen particles. Although we cannot see the essential self directly, we can see the results of the path it took, its effects on the machine. The Wilson Cloud Chamber is a device which graphically shows the path, not of what we are measuring, but of something invisible which collided with something we can see and measure.
Like the Cloud Chamber, the human biological machine is a reciprocal biofeedback apparatus in relation to the essential self.
..............................................
At its best, the human biological machine should function as a chemical and electrical factory through which we pass in a definite series of processes, entering at one end of the factory in what we call birth, emerging at the other end during the death of the machine as something quite different, in much the same way that any raw material would enter a factory and emerge as a finished product at the other end.
While in the human form we take upon ourselves all the attributes, aspects and knowledge of a human being. If the machine has been dead (sleeping) during our passage through it, when we leave it at the end of life, we lose everything, all the knowledge and all the experience we have accumulated.
If the electrical force of transformation is activated, the essential self is changed, transformed, so that we retain the knowledge, the attributes, of a human being. But this is true only if we have passed through something living, something which has had a definite electrical effect upon our essential self.
It is a terrible waste of opportunity of human life, a genuine sin, to have failed to use the human biological machine for our possible evolution.
[/quote]
The biological machine and the consciousness residing in it need to have a symbiotic relationship in order for consciousness to evolve in its journey. Perhaps an awakened vehicle inhabited by a consciousness would have been the natural (STO) starting point for consciousness taking the "short wave cycle" route of evolution. Thanks to the higher density STS manipulations, we in 3D STS have to start from a place where the vehicle has a STS installation - the predator's mind - which makes "sleep" the default state of the vehicle. For consciousness to evolve, the first need is to "wake up" the biological structure and then only can the consciousness inhabiting the biological structure really learn lessons and progress. If such progress is made during the physical lifetime, the consciousness can move on to other lessons inhabiting a different vehicle - what is termed as real reincarnation. If physical death comes with the biological structure having been asleep throughout, the consciousness is caught in a repeating loop - or what Mouravieff referred to as "repetition of the film of life" where a man once dead is reborn in the same circumstances.
[quote author=E J Gold]
We must keep in mind that our real aim is not transformation. Transformation is a stepping stone to the Work, a special way of life which is possible for us only after our essential selves have been transformed, and our machines are more or less stable in the awakened state.
The Work can only be seen and understood through an awakened machine. We cannot see the Work if our machine is asleep, so one of the purposes of awakening the machine is to be able to study the Work. We should take the opportunity to use the awakened state to study the Work, so that we will know what to do with our transformation once it is achieved.
[/quote]
Work starts in earnest only after transformation - when the "labourer is worthy of hire" for a higher cosmic purpose.
obyvatel
The Living Force
Attention
Those familiar with Jacob Needleman's "Lost Christianity" will be familiar with the pivotal role of attention in the process of waking up. E J Gold's views on attention are quite in line with Needleman's and even build on them in some ways imo.
[quote author=EJ Gold]
We will realize that in spite of its higher aims and aspirations, the essential self has no will in the ordinary sense by which it can compel the machine to live according to its higher nature. So we must use what we actually do have in the essential self, the two genuine attributes of the essential self - presence and will of attention - to bring the machine into the waking state.
We must recognize periods when the machine is awake and more importantly, when it is not. We could easily hurt ourselves and others by trying to do something in sleep as if we were awake.
.........
If we know the machine is asleep, we have one foot on the path. If we can sense that the machine is asleep, we have two feet on the path. From then on, at least things cannot get any worse, they can only get better.
We can use a special form of attention called sensing by which we can become intensely aware of the sensations of the machine, to convince ourselves of the sleep of the machine.
Our intellect can tell us that we are awake, but our sensing tells us that the machine is asleep.
Our beliefs may convince us that we are awake, but our sensing tells us that the machine is asleep.
Our vanity may insist that we are awake, but our sensing tells us that the machine is asleep.
Our higher philosophies and religions may insist that we are awake, but our sensing tells us that the machine is asleep.
If we can sense that the machine is asleep, we have taken the first real step toward awakening it. Until then, everything in our lives, especially our work, is imaginary, just fantasy.
..........................
The essential self has no will except the will of attention. It can place its attention on something, it can direct its attention. By bathing the machine in its attention, it awakens the machine. The force of attention of the essential self is slow and subtle. The subtle force of attention is our only weapon against sleep. It is a very effective weapon if we are able to see that because it is subtle, it has to be applied unremittingly, unwaveringly, over a very long period of time.
If someone else uses the force of attention to wake up our machine, the will of our essential self will not develop. An awakened machine is not enough. We also want to develop the will of the essential self so that when the machine is awake , and its will has been vaporized, we are able to exert our will toward our possible evolution.
............................
The additional force which gives us the extra will necessary to fixate our attention on the machine is called adoration. Adoration is an emotional ingredient, but not the emotion of the machine . It is a higher emotion which can be aroused in the essential self (provided the emotional center is in working condition and not dead or atrophied). It is the only genuine emotion that the essential self has developed prior to transformation.
By intentionally placing our unwavering attention directly upon the machine, and following its every motion with the emotional intensity of adoration, we develop a deeper relationship with the machine.
How can we really observe the machine under our fixed gaze of unwavering attention if we do not love what we are observing? We must follow the machine as a lover unrelentingly fixes his gaze upon his beloved, root our attention wholly upon the machine and not let it drift. We must clearly obtain glimpses of that part of the machine which is lazy and unwilling to work, and gradually separate ourselves from it, work our way out from under its influence.
[/quote]
False Waking State
[quote author=EJ Gold]
There's a state of exhilaration which is a false waking state. It's so close to the real waking state that it's almost undetectably different. However, there is a definite difference between the state of exhilaration and the waking state of the machine.
A good technique will take into account that there is a false waking state - a state of exhilaration, and/or ecstasy, and by taking that into account, will produce the waking state without touching those things which produce the state of exhilaration or ecstasy or both. In other words, good technique does not produce exhilaration, but it does produce the waking state.
[/quote]
Chronic
[quote author=EJ Gold]
The machine's Chronic is another name for the machine's defense mechanism, which acts as a warning that the machine is near or about to enter the waking state and, at the same time defends the machine against the waking state. We would soon see that this defense mechanism which we call the Chronic activates itself automatically, but only when the machine's established routine - which maintains its precarious balance - is threatened by the waking state.
As the waking state is approached more closely, the Chronic will manifest itself more and more dramatically. The barrier between the sleeping state and the waking state is maintained by the Chronic. We actually are quite frequently near the waking state, often bumping into the waking state without crossing over the line. As children, most of us were in the waking state most of the time; that is before the Chronic was developed by the machine to defend itself against the waking state so that it would be able to function acceptably in a social and cultural context.
This automatic defense mechanism against the waking state often takes the form of some Chronic negative emotion such as anger, sarcasm, cynicism, self-isolation, fear, paranoia, hysteria, resentment, envy, pettiness, jealousy, vengefulness, greed, piety, boredom, grief, loneliness, anxiety, helplessness, stupidity, hatred, compulsiveness, and so on, so that the machine can continue to function with significance and importance according to the expectation of others.
If we want to discover our Chronic, all we have to do is go into horizontal sleep and have somebody shake us awake in the wee hours of the night or sometime in the pre-dawn and observe our first reaction. That will be our Chronic.
Although the Chronic serves the sleeping state, the whole of the sleeping state with all its activities, attitudes and aima, also serves to reinforce the Chronic..........It manifests in behavior, in posture, in expression, and even in goals and purposes.
Almost every method of producing the waking state takes advantage of the fact that it is possible to use artificial means to prevent the Chronic to defend itself against the waking state.
This effect can be produced with psychoactive substances, but although the defense mechanism is effectively disarmed, the waking state is severely impaired. But in any case, whether through hypnosis or self-produced efforts, we cannot successfully bring the machine into the waking state until the machine is absolutely convinced of its ability to reconstruct the sleeping state. Part of a school's discipline is to learn several exact methods of reconstructing the sleeping state from the viewpoint of the waking state.
[/quote]
Trevrizent's post here has further elaboration of Gold's view on Chronic and suggested methods of working on it.
Those familiar with Jacob Needleman's "Lost Christianity" will be familiar with the pivotal role of attention in the process of waking up. E J Gold's views on attention are quite in line with Needleman's and even build on them in some ways imo.
[quote author=EJ Gold]
We will realize that in spite of its higher aims and aspirations, the essential self has no will in the ordinary sense by which it can compel the machine to live according to its higher nature. So we must use what we actually do have in the essential self, the two genuine attributes of the essential self - presence and will of attention - to bring the machine into the waking state.
We must recognize periods when the machine is awake and more importantly, when it is not. We could easily hurt ourselves and others by trying to do something in sleep as if we were awake.
.........
If we know the machine is asleep, we have one foot on the path. If we can sense that the machine is asleep, we have two feet on the path. From then on, at least things cannot get any worse, they can only get better.
We can use a special form of attention called sensing by which we can become intensely aware of the sensations of the machine, to convince ourselves of the sleep of the machine.
Our intellect can tell us that we are awake, but our sensing tells us that the machine is asleep.
Our beliefs may convince us that we are awake, but our sensing tells us that the machine is asleep.
Our vanity may insist that we are awake, but our sensing tells us that the machine is asleep.
Our higher philosophies and religions may insist that we are awake, but our sensing tells us that the machine is asleep.
If we can sense that the machine is asleep, we have taken the first real step toward awakening it. Until then, everything in our lives, especially our work, is imaginary, just fantasy.
..........................
The essential self has no will except the will of attention. It can place its attention on something, it can direct its attention. By bathing the machine in its attention, it awakens the machine. The force of attention of the essential self is slow and subtle. The subtle force of attention is our only weapon against sleep. It is a very effective weapon if we are able to see that because it is subtle, it has to be applied unremittingly, unwaveringly, over a very long period of time.
If someone else uses the force of attention to wake up our machine, the will of our essential self will not develop. An awakened machine is not enough. We also want to develop the will of the essential self so that when the machine is awake , and its will has been vaporized, we are able to exert our will toward our possible evolution.
............................
The additional force which gives us the extra will necessary to fixate our attention on the machine is called adoration. Adoration is an emotional ingredient, but not the emotion of the machine . It is a higher emotion which can be aroused in the essential self (provided the emotional center is in working condition and not dead or atrophied). It is the only genuine emotion that the essential self has developed prior to transformation.
By intentionally placing our unwavering attention directly upon the machine, and following its every motion with the emotional intensity of adoration, we develop a deeper relationship with the machine.
How can we really observe the machine under our fixed gaze of unwavering attention if we do not love what we are observing? We must follow the machine as a lover unrelentingly fixes his gaze upon his beloved, root our attention wholly upon the machine and not let it drift. We must clearly obtain glimpses of that part of the machine which is lazy and unwilling to work, and gradually separate ourselves from it, work our way out from under its influence.
[/quote]
False Waking State
[quote author=EJ Gold]
There's a state of exhilaration which is a false waking state. It's so close to the real waking state that it's almost undetectably different. However, there is a definite difference between the state of exhilaration and the waking state of the machine.
A good technique will take into account that there is a false waking state - a state of exhilaration, and/or ecstasy, and by taking that into account, will produce the waking state without touching those things which produce the state of exhilaration or ecstasy or both. In other words, good technique does not produce exhilaration, but it does produce the waking state.
[/quote]
Chronic
[quote author=EJ Gold]
The machine's Chronic is another name for the machine's defense mechanism, which acts as a warning that the machine is near or about to enter the waking state and, at the same time defends the machine against the waking state. We would soon see that this defense mechanism which we call the Chronic activates itself automatically, but only when the machine's established routine - which maintains its precarious balance - is threatened by the waking state.
As the waking state is approached more closely, the Chronic will manifest itself more and more dramatically. The barrier between the sleeping state and the waking state is maintained by the Chronic. We actually are quite frequently near the waking state, often bumping into the waking state without crossing over the line. As children, most of us were in the waking state most of the time; that is before the Chronic was developed by the machine to defend itself against the waking state so that it would be able to function acceptably in a social and cultural context.
This automatic defense mechanism against the waking state often takes the form of some Chronic negative emotion such as anger, sarcasm, cynicism, self-isolation, fear, paranoia, hysteria, resentment, envy, pettiness, jealousy, vengefulness, greed, piety, boredom, grief, loneliness, anxiety, helplessness, stupidity, hatred, compulsiveness, and so on, so that the machine can continue to function with significance and importance according to the expectation of others.
If we want to discover our Chronic, all we have to do is go into horizontal sleep and have somebody shake us awake in the wee hours of the night or sometime in the pre-dawn and observe our first reaction. That will be our Chronic.
Although the Chronic serves the sleeping state, the whole of the sleeping state with all its activities, attitudes and aima, also serves to reinforce the Chronic..........It manifests in behavior, in posture, in expression, and even in goals and purposes.
Almost every method of producing the waking state takes advantage of the fact that it is possible to use artificial means to prevent the Chronic to defend itself against the waking state.
This effect can be produced with psychoactive substances, but although the defense mechanism is effectively disarmed, the waking state is severely impaired. But in any case, whether through hypnosis or self-produced efforts, we cannot successfully bring the machine into the waking state until the machine is absolutely convinced of its ability to reconstruct the sleeping state. Part of a school's discipline is to learn several exact methods of reconstructing the sleeping state from the viewpoint of the waking state.
[/quote]
Trevrizent's post here has further elaboration of Gold's view on Chronic and suggested methods of working on it.
Paragon
Jedi Council Member
This is very interesting, thanks! :D
Some thoughts that come to mind for me is this process of distinguishing between the machine and this 'awakened' state. We think that we are awake when we are really just identifying with the machine and it's asleep state. We see the world from how it relates to ourselr, from inner to outer, with all the projections of our own thoughts and emotions onto others, thinking that is how they feel, when it is just subjective.
On the other hand, there is the awakened state, that which our 'attention' is focused on the outside and others enabling us to be present in the moment. It flows from the outside to the inside instead. We are not living in our 'heads' and interacting with the world from there, rather our attention, consciousness or whatever that 'thing' that let's us be alive, is living in the Outside. That is not to say we just completely ignore how we feel, since we need to be able to self observe and remember ourselfs, but that the outside world is where we live and that flows back to our internal states, and from there we can Do and Be. You could think of it as the opposite of what we are used to living like.
Perhaps some of the concepts and words I have used, don't fit with what is generally known in this forum, as the language that let's us all able to understand one another, so I could be talking absolute nonsense! ;)
Am I understanding this all correctly?
Some thoughts that come to mind for me is this process of distinguishing between the machine and this 'awakened' state. We think that we are awake when we are really just identifying with the machine and it's asleep state. We see the world from how it relates to ourselr, from inner to outer, with all the projections of our own thoughts and emotions onto others, thinking that is how they feel, when it is just subjective.
On the other hand, there is the awakened state, that which our 'attention' is focused on the outside and others enabling us to be present in the moment. It flows from the outside to the inside instead. We are not living in our 'heads' and interacting with the world from there, rather our attention, consciousness or whatever that 'thing' that let's us be alive, is living in the Outside. That is not to say we just completely ignore how we feel, since we need to be able to self observe and remember ourselfs, but that the outside world is where we live and that flows back to our internal states, and from there we can Do and Be. You could think of it as the opposite of what we are used to living like.
Perhaps some of the concepts and words I have used, don't fit with what is generally known in this forum, as the language that let's us all able to understand one another, so I could be talking absolute nonsense! ;)
Am I understanding this all correctly?
obyvatel
The Living Force
Paragon said:
It is the sleep state sand awakened state that can be distinguished according to Gold - not the machine (in his terminology it is the entire biological apparatus that we have) and the awakened state. A minor point perhaps but still maybe worth the clarification.
[quote author=Paragon]
We think that we are awake when we are really just identifying with the machine and it's asleep state. We see the world from how it relates to ourselr, from inner to outer, with all the projections of our own thoughts and emotions onto others, thinking that is how they feel, when it is just subjective.
[/quote]
I think that describes aspects of the sleeping state correctly.
[quote author=Paragon]
On the other hand, there is the awakened state, that which our 'attention' is focused on the outside and others enabling us to be present in the moment. It flows from the outside to the inside instead. We are not living in our 'heads' and interacting with the world from there, rather our attention, consciousness or whatever that 'thing' that let's us be alive, is living in the Outside. That is not to say we just completely ignore how we feel, since we need to be able to self observe and remember ourselfs, but that the outside world is where we live and that flows back to our internal states, and from there we can Do and Be. You could think of it as the opposite of what we are used to living like.
[/quote]
Here you are trying to describe the waking state. It can be safe to say that this waking state is what is referred to as the state of self-remembering or the third state of consciousness. While we may sometimes have short glimpses of this state, mostly we are far away from stabilizing in this state of consciousness for sustained periods of time. And being able to do that is the goal of alchemy - osit.
When we try to describe this state, we are mostly not doing it from an experiential level but rather a theoretical level based on what we have read. In other words, we are trying to describe the waking state from a state of sleep. While this effort by itself may not be a problem, it is worthwhile to remind oneself that these efforts are attempting to describe a state to which we do not have sufficient access - so it is speculative in nature.
We cannot really know what the waking state is like but we can have an idea of what is more sleep and what is less sleep as we attempt to reach the waking state and stabilize in it. It may be useful to look at signposts which we are likely to encounter in our efforts to go from sleep to awakened state. In Work terminology, it can be said that if we move from inner considering to external considering, we are moving from more sleep to less sleep. Personally, I have found Dabrowski's work on Positive Disintegration very valuable in identifying the signposts on the journey towards awakening. Dabrowski looked at this from the standpoint of development but I think that he has described the inner alchemical process as it proceeds through stages of disintegration and eventual reintegration of the personality structure. His works are referenced in many places in the forum - here are two threads
A Brief Overview Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration
Brief Look at Dabrowski's Multilevelness of Emotional And Instinctive Functions
My current understanding fwiw
