Anticipate Not ... Examples in everyday life

[Truthseeker101]

I think it's not quite exactly what the thread is about, but, I always really liked that idea (probably because of the funny name), and I see it like: the universe will always place these little chance moments in front of you at some point, by which you can learn something, or have the way to achieve something pointed out to you.. So that's where faith can come into it - having the faith that reality/the universe/the divine cosmic mind is interactive, and directly interacts with us..

And anticipation can make us blind to those tiny chance moments because we're limiting our idea of what might happen. But when we're in a non-anticipatory state, we're open and ready for all possibilities, so can see and act on that moment when it does appear.

Perhaps I have a "cubic centimeter of chance" story from last Sunday night that is related to non-anticipation thanks to your post.

I had been in a non-anticipatory state and had a piece of music pop out suddenly. I worked this new idea a bit and decided that I would go back to it with fresh energy Monday morning. I was tired and it was late. So as I was brushing my teeth I noticed that there was a melody playing in my head ... I wasn't sure but I thought it might be one of many ideas I had just worked on earlier that didn't work out ... so tired I couldn't remember. At first I was going to ignore it. But then, based on previous experience, I somewhat reluctantly decided to march myself back out to my guest house and see what the melody was all about. It ended up being a nice surprise and turned out to be just what was needed for this piece. So it's good I was open to grab my stick of luck because I was almost too lazy. I was also anticipating that I would be able to find it the next day which probably would not have happened.

 

[Plum]

My partner and I were discussing about the difference between anticipation and expectation and how to be free from anticipation, but we couldn't quite come to a conclusion yet on that idea.This thread does provide multiple ideas, sources and experiences to consider and learn from.Thankyou for starting the thread Truthseeker101 and others for sharing their ideas/experiences!

 

[Truthseeker101]

Now, the reason I mention the concept of faith, and how it ties to the idea of not anticipating, is because it reminded me of an exercise that Laura mentioned once, where she explained how a good way to not anticipate but still focus oneself on an outcome, would be to find oneself imagining already experiencing the positive outcome, without trying to impose the path towards it on the universe.

That is, things will happen in a way that will culminate in a feeling of joy and fulfillment, but the path to get there is still unknown. I hope this makes sense.

I think it makes sense but could use an example if anyone has one??? Can't say I would really understand how to put this in practice ... since the devil is in the details. But I do feel like I could do this for an outcome for the group ... like imagining everyone in the group being in a non anticipatory flow state doing what they need to be doing, starting this thread and then seeing what happens. It feels easier when it is group related but if it is related to anything personal, say my personal health for example, then I wouldn't really know how to do it without feeling like I was imposing my desired outcome on the universe.

 

[Curious Beagle]

Spontaneity is one of the higher inner senses. It is quite difficult to attain consistently. We need to discuss the process of creation first to help you understand the concept better. First we reincarnate to experience/ value fulfillment also to learn regulating our energy in order to consistently create positive manifestation (durability). Your ability to perceive life/awareness all depend on your frequency (ideas) and intention otherwise physical life happen in front of you but you won't be able to see the lesson.
Example:
I love peace vs I hate war. This two sentence in metaphysics will give you opposite result as C mentioned in one of the session to Laura don't do things to escape suffering. The first sentence have positive energy love with positive intention peace while the second one is in reverse. If you produce negative energy hate while focusing on negative idea war you will actually attract a lot of aggressive people to attack you since you are hateful and defensive you will send negative signal to other psyche that trigger retaliation. Therefore, be mindful in your daily activity when producing emotion and intention.

Basically love produce the lifeforce/ energy which all things are made of (chemical or electric) while wisdom is the blueprint that create the structure/form. Sadly, if your frequency is low your available choices/blueprints are all mostly negative thus attracting a lot of suffering. Each cell/ atom contain consciousness that form things, so our cells aggregate to form human/animal/plants which form planetary consciousness, then form star, then galaxy, then universe, so on forming the ether. Remember a more advance soul with more powerful mind and awareness are connected to more cakras/scalar so you are not only playing on the physical level/ 3D, when you dream in 5D at night that realm is real and continuous even when you wake up, You can fly/teleport places, change ideas or move in time without aging. They are also of higher density so when you sleep and suddenly got an answer to your intention during REM that is because 5D is closer to the source and when we wake up we forgot most of it because high frequency ideas isn't a match to our 3D realm. Where do our excess negative energy go in this close system realm, mostly as natural disaster (storm, earthquake, etc) as our 4D astral realm. Since we are are only beginner creator, a lot of our cakras are block so our limited energy are mostly spent on creating material things on this planet, very little left are there for social memory progress/ individual growth (culture, tech, etc).

When you are progressing spiritually, you basically learned to use your inner senses more for survival instead of relying on your outer senses (actually inhibitor in this very distorted realm). Your frequency/ inner universe is the only things that matter as we reincarnate/ move from one realm to another to learn different lesson in realms with different rule of distortion/ law. There is only here space and now time. Your distortion time lag is due to your slow processing power and the vast empty space due to a lot of ideas that you have not learned. In separation your soul split to many pieces of reality/ alternate universe. A unified thought occur when we learned every lesson there is to learn by incorporating our life with other beings (need love, so start with empathy). Basically it work almost like color cube puzzle. When one block move all other reality move until their color are all aligned when you solve the game. If you solve a lesson now your pass will be less dark and your future will be brighter as all reality actually occur at the same time in horizontal plane. When you are doing a probability choices simulation in your head you are basically viewing your alternate reality in nearby range frequency. Like a chess grandmaster you can calculate more moves in advance as your skill grow. Growth occur in qualitative instead of quantitative/size. Basically when you reach more inner peace/balance by unblocking your cakras blockages your ability to connect to ether and other souls improve significantly, you don't have to trick your self for temporary connection in REM or using drugs, etc. Since you are undefended you won't be tense and be able to receive/create ideas spontaneously instead of using your preconceived distorted ideas (judgmental). Just as Ark said in one of his video when you have a preconceived hypothesis you tend to manipulate the data to fit your intended study instead of being objectively observing what actually occur.

 

[Alejo]

It sounds like he's sort of saying that 'doing' = the complete way we perceive reality, based on our filters and accustomed neural pathways.. and 'not-doing' would be to turn off the filters and stop following those neural pathways, which would make us perceive something different, like, the raw information of reality(?)...

That concept of not doing, reminded me of McGillchrist, and how he describes the way the left and the right hemispheres of the brain actually interpret reality, or how we inhabit the world created by one or the other.

The left hemisphere seems to like categorize things, coldly and orderly and divide things in order for them to exist where they ought to, according to it. While the right hemisphere tends to see the whole picture, more the in-between of things and how they all belong together. Roughly speaking that is, as it is a lot more complex.

But it struck me that this idea of Not-Doing, specially when he uses the rock as an example and the rock existing because of doing, is another way to describe how the world comes into being through the interpretation we have of reality, based on what hemisphere is predominant, and how much we allow for both of them to communicate.

It could be completely unrelated of course, but it was interesting to see it as such. For the left hemisphere the rock exists in its world as a very specific thing that falls within a category and it is reduced to a one dimensional thing within reality and it dismisses the remaining aspects of its existence which happens outside of our perception of it.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Arwenn]

That concept of not doing, reminded me of McGillchrist, and how he describes the way the left and the right hemispheres of the brain actually interpret reality, or how we inhabit the world created by one or the other.

You beat me to it Alejo, I was thinking the very same thing. I’m currently reading McGilchrist’s first book and it is very intriguing. From what I have discerned from his thesis thus far, is that the left hemisphere likes solid plans, abstraction, information that can be processed sequentially, and reliable/repeatable outcomes (ie predictability). Maybe that’s us as Castenada’s human doings.

The right hemisphere on the other hand is open to/aware of the unexpected, the unknown & the larger context (ie possibility). So to me it seems that’s us as Castenada’s non-doing ie human beings. Perhaps the role of being non-anticipatory is the domain of the right hemisphere? Which is hard to do as the left hemisphere thinks it knows more than it does and likes to impose its sets of values and exert control.

 

[Truthseeker101]

Dopamine and one's chemical balance would also factor into one's tendency to anticipate. The Molecule of More book goes into a lot of detail about dopamine. I am sure there are members here who could better sum up the authors findings than myself but I would like to mention a few things that would pertain to this thread.

First of all, most of what the author summarizes makes one realize that the C's advice about not anticipating will help a person keep their dopamine levels regulated to their benefit. The authors say:

"When an expected reward fails to materialize, the dopamine system shuts down. In scientific terms, when the dopamine system is at rest, it fires at a leisurely three to five times per second. When it's excited, it zooms up to twenty to thirty times per second. When an expected reward fails to materialize, the dopamine firing rate drops to zero, and that feels terrible.

........ Don't mess with dopamine. It hits back hard.

Secondly, if a person's chemical makeup is more dopaminergic than that of another person's, I would imagine they may have a tendency to anticipate more since it is related to planning and the future.

Thirdly, some of what he said aligns perfectly with what the C's were saying about realization having a tendency to throw one into anticipation ... if one's dopamine system starts firing at twenty to thirty times a second when one "realizes" they've tapped into something new creatively ... one could have chemical reasons making it more difficult to stay out of anticipation.

 

[brandon]

Oh very interesting Alejo and Arwenn! I really must check out McGilchrist.. (there's a recent thread about this book here, for anyone wondering: 'The master and his emissary' and 'The matter with things' by Iain McGilchrist.)

Also I see an earlier thread about that book, where someone made this same observation, linking McGilchrist's left/right brain info to the C's quote about anticipation! The Master and His Emissary

 

[brandon]

Another thing about that Castaneda book, I noted how in the bit I quoted, Don Juan uncharacteristically tells Carlos to keep writing while he's talking to him about not-doing.

This reminds me of automatic writing therapy where a therapist will have someone, for example, read a newspaper out loud, while simultaneously writing something with pen & paper - apparently a way of letting their subconscious/hidden aspect of self/non-dominant brain hemisphere(???) communicate directly - sorry I can't remember where I read or heard about this.

Further on in Journey to Ixtlan, Don Juan says it doesn't matter if Carlos understands what he's saying or not, because he's "presenting the case" to Carlos's body:

“Not-doing is very simple but very difficult,” he said. “It is not a matter of understanding it but of mastering it. Seeing, of course, is the final accomplishment of a man of knowledge, and seeing is attained only when one has stopped the world through the technique of not-doing.”
I smiled involuntarily. I had not understood what he meant. “When one does something with people,” he said, “the concern should be only with presenting the case to their bodies. That’s what I’ve been doing with you so far, letting your body know. Who cares whether or not you understand?”

Did Don Juan have Carlos keep writing in order to occupy the doing part of his mind and let his body really grok what he was being told? Later it mentions a seeing exercise involving crossing your eyes slightly, to superimpose two shadows:

“The end of the day is approaching, ” don Juan said, looking at the sky. “You have to use this brilliant sunlight to perform one last exercise.”
He led me to a place where there were two peaks the size of a man standing parallel to each other, about four or five feet apart. Don Juan stopped ten yards away from them, facing the west. He marked a spot for me to stand on and told me to look at the shadows of the peaks. He said that I should watch them and cross my eyes in the same manner I ordinarily crossed them when scanning the ground for a place to rest.
He clarified his directions by saying that when searching for a resting place one had to look without focusing but in observing shadows one had to cross the eyes and yet keep a sharp image in focus. The idea was to let one shadow be superimposed on the other by crossing the eyes. He explained that through that process one could ascertain a certain feeling which emanated from shadows. I commented on his vagueness, but he maintained that there was really no way of describing what he meant.

And there are other bits in his books where Don Juan and Genaro each speak into Castaneda's left and right ear respectively, saying different stuff at the same time. There's obviously something going on in those books involving the two brain halves..

I'm writing all this because the McGilchrist stuff reminded me of it...but I don't have any solid thoughts or anything...

One other thing all this reminded me of was, in this video talk series by Laura:

(part 1) and

(part 2).. about an hour into part 2, she talks about what Alejo mentioned:

Now, the reason I mention the concept of faith, and how it ties to the idea of not anticipating, is because it reminded me of an exercise that Laura mentioned once, where she explained how a good way to not anticipate but still focus oneself on an outcome, would be to find oneself imagining already experiencing the positive outcome, without trying to impose the path towards it on the universe.

That is, things will happen in a way that will culminate in a feeling of joy and fulfillment, but the path to get there is still unknown. I hope this makes sense.

But, she says a key point is, to do it while putting some sort of physical energy into it, e.g. swimming laps or walking on a treadmill. I thought that was SUPER interesting.

So, thinking about the thing where it's common to solve a problem (or come up with a melody, or what have you) while having a shower, or going for a walk. (Also, the thing where emotions from the past can be locked up in certain parts of the body). Doing some kind of physical motion seeming to let mental or emotional motions flow freely. Is it related to all this? Something to do with shifting the balance between the brain hemispheres?

 

[Arwenn]

I really must check out McGilchrist..

Worth checking out, I wholeheartedly agree.

And there are other bits in his books where Don Juan and Genaro each speak into Castaneda's left and right ear respectively, saying different stuff at the same time. There's obviously something going on in those books involving the two brain halves..

I'm writing all this because the McGilchrist stuff reminded me of it

That’s very interesting and thanks for posting those excerpts. In terms of anticipation, this passage in McGilchrist’s essay espouses what and how each hemisphere attends to reality, with the right hemisphere being open to possibility without preconceptions:

The left hemisphere, pays the narrow-beam, precisely focussed, attention which enables us to get and grasp: it is the left hemisphere that controls the right hand with which we grasp something, and controls the aspects of language (not all language) by virtue of which we say we have ‘grasped’ the meaning – made it certain and pinned it down. The right hemisphere underwrites sustained attention and vigilance for whatever may be, without preconception. Its attention is not in the service of manipulation, but in the service of connection, exploration and relation. That is, after all another reason why we reach out a hand – to connect, to create, to share in another's fate, or to explore the world for what it is. [,..]One way of looking at the difference would be to say that while the left hemisphere's raison d'être is to narrow things down to a certainty, the right hemisphere's is to open them up into possibility.

It may be that there is much more to being non anticipatory than hemisphere differences (such as neurotransmitters like dopamine posted above). But it is intriguing nonetheless.

 

[Alejo]

Did Don Juan have Carlos keep writing in order to occupy the doing part of his mind and let his body really grok what he was being told? Later it mentions a seeing exercise involving crossing your eyes slightly, to superimpose two shadows:

That's interesting, it reminded me of that other book called Insight, in which the author is describing how she was not the meditating type, she could not sit there quietly as her mind would race, something I felt identified with.

She mentioned that her meditation, or most of her insights took place while she was busy, occupied or her body was engaged in any activity, walking, running, working out etc. Same thing happens to me, even when I need to process emotional stuff, I seem to do better if I am moving, than if I sit still.

That's not to say either that sometimes one can use being busy as a way to ignore, and in such cases one ought to practice remaining still, but I think the difference is in the context and the purpose of the task.

So, thinking about the thing where it's common to solve a problem (or come up with a melody, or what have you) while having a shower, or going for a walk. (Also, the thing where emotions from the past can be locked up in certain parts of the body). Doing some kind of physical motion seeming to let mental or emotional motions flow freely. Is it related to all this? Something to do with shifting the balance between the brain hemispheres?

yes, I remember I attended a design conference a few years back and one of the presenters was asked "how do you overcome a creative block?" and her response was.. "think about something else" which was brilliant. And going back to McGillchrist, sometimes the answer isn't arrived at with the laser focus of the left brain, sometimes one needs to release the hold on whatever concept one is trying to work out, for the information to flow in.

Which connects us right back to anticipation, it's the laser focus of one's vision into a single point of all the possible branches of the universe, and the likelihood of that being what actually transpires, are tiny. On the other hand, there's also the concept of marrying imagination with faith, and the belief center the C's have alluded to, when striving for a goal.

Sometimes one also needs to have an aim and keep on going without loosing sight of it, and I suppose the difference is that when one strives towards an aim, one is aware of the rest of the possibilities, so the focus doesn't ignore reality, but when one is anticipating, one is ignoring reality.

 

[BlueKiwi]

it's the laser focus of one's vision into a single point of all the possible branches of the universe, and the likelihood of that being what actually transpires, are tiny.

That sounds to me like

A: Because we see it. We are able to see all, not just what we want to see. Their failing is that they see only what they want to see. In other words, it's the highest manifestation possible of that which you would refer to as wishful thinking.

Could Anticipation be similar to causing a wave function collapse, or something like that ? - Just guessing..

Aside from that, what is the difference between, say when I make a decision to achieve a goal, over say a few weeks, and I work towards that goal with the hope that I will achieve that, then would that not be anticipation ?

Or is the act of making a decision to do something anticipation in itself, since in deciding to do something done in anticipation that the goal will be achieved ?

There must be some distinction ?

 

[Wandering Star]

That sounds to me like



Could Anticipation be similar to causing a wave function collapse, or something like that ? - Just guessing..

Aside from that, what is the difference between, say when I make a decision to achieve a goal, over say a few weeks, and I work towards that goal with the hope that I will achieve that, then would that not be anticipation ?

Or is the act of making a decision to do something anticipation in itself, since in deciding to do something done in anticipation that the goal will be achieved ?

There must be some distinction ?

The people around us continuously and exhaustively use "bidding".

They ask for things in a context in which they believe they are sure they will be gladly obeyed. When they receive no for an answer, the aggressiveness they exhibit in response to their frustration is incredible.

My understanding is that taking action to do something is good, with our abilities we try to do the best we can, but the magic happens when you are "open" to all the results, including the fact that your "goal" is not met.

Maybe if we look back we see that in reality that was the best result and if we don't see it, maybe it was the best for someone else.

Lessons..., lessons.

 

[gottathink]

This is how I understand and practice creating without anticipation: it is a flow state. I think the ability to use a flow state can be achieved through development of skills and collection of knowledge. When these things are acquired as competencies then the brain has “things” which it can work with to produce a new interpretation or reality when it is in a flow state.

My personal experience is in my work in musculoskeletal rehabilitation. For a couple of decades I have been working with massage and reiki to help as best I can people who have musculoskeletal(MSk) pain, more recently non/specific and chronic MSk pain.
Through learning and study as well as observation and client feedback (what is and is not working) I have developed a method and way of working. When I apply this skill set (hands on therapy) I need to ensure I do not anticipate the outcome. In other words I must not try to fix or heal them. Instead I hold a clear intention in my mind, working with them to understand their pain story and pattern, to open the possibility for their healing. We go on a journey together exploring where this intention might take us. It is very definitely a state of mind. It also has a clear direction towards being pain free, we know where we want to end up but it is not a goal or expectation. It is a direction.

As a result I find my hands just go places, ideas pop into my mind that link their trauma history, what I’m feeling through palpating, my knowledge of muscles and nerves, human psychology, the sense of energy or lack of it in parts of the body, their emotional feedback on issues, things they may be seeing with their minds eye. All of this information in multiple dimensions weaves itself together to create a new way of being and seeing. In a very concrete real physiological sense.

What can manifest is limited by how much knowledge I and the client I working with collectively possess. I find myself needing to be vigilant to prevent my own state of anticipation, which is wanting to heal and fix. This straight away feels like my ego wanting to attain some self glorification rather than the experience of flow. This flow state aims at helping the client find a possibility of healing and stepping into that themselves. I also have to coach the client into this state of mind, they need to let go of trying to fix themselves. The fixing way seems to come with desperation and grabbing hold of things. This works completely counter to exploring possibility of healing.

The whole experience for me very much is reliant on non-anticipation. I find I need to flick a certain switch in my brain to get into that mode of working.

I also actually say to people, “let’s see what’s possible” (not anticipation). These words can have powerful effects just someone willing to take their hand and help
move towards the resolution of pain. No anticipation or expectation of how to get there.

Reading this thread makes me wonder if I can transfer the mind set I use in my work to other areas of my life.

 

[Maya]

For the last few years I practise 'I'll do my best / what is right according to situation and let's just see what happenes'
. And, trusting the universe that no matter what will be - it's good for me in some way.
Lessons and new opportunities.

And Lauras description in a story about buying a house where you guys are at pretty much sums it all up for me.
After the initial kick of clear intention and effort to imagine a feeling of happinnes and gratefulness because of best
possible outcome for you but
leave it to the universe how will or will it happen.