@Brandon I didn't read the books of Castaneda (yet) which talk about this, but I do have a book from
John Kreiter where he explains what is in his view the correct way to do it. He mentions that this technique is also known as 'Toltec recapitulation' or 'Tantric cleansing' so that's why I know it refers to this. His technique amounts basically to going into a memory as fully as you can and then employ energetic techniques that he talks about in his book. He presents his work through the lens of Inner Alchemy so he talks about the 'Cauldron' in our belly (other names are hara and dan tien) and teaches techniques aimed at sucking in energy into that area. He calls it an energetic pump and apparently certain Taoist tai-chi practicioners use similar techniques. So in his recapitulation, one would basically suck all the emotional energy of that memory into one's 'cauldron'.
As a side tangent; I've been actually thinking about writing a book review of that book and the
next one in the trilogy which I also have, and posting it here, since I can see a lot of parallels to the teachings of this forum. For example;
saving energy, mainly through not expressing negative emotions, but additionally through 'ingesting' (through the energetic techniques mentioned) negative energy from yourself and your surroundings, converting it to energy for yourself. He talks about examining our beliefs and emphasizes how they play a big role in creating our reality. He talks about the Lizzies (although he uses the term Archon) and pretty much has the same explanation as Castaneda about this ("They gave us their mind"). He talks about the hyperdimensional aspect of control. He also doesn't give much of anything away when it comes to 'truth', but instead urges the reader to - through the application of the techniques he teaches (which amount to no-nonsense, straightforward, focus based techniques) - find out for him-/herself what the truth about any given thing is.
There are some points though that I'm not so sure if they align with what this forum agrees with, for instance he says we can achieve immortality as a lone practicioner. He talks about having to maintain a 'predatory stance' when ingesting the negative energy in order to break the negative intent of the energy and transform it into energetic food for yourself (and this somehow has a STS-vibe to it, but then again, aren't we always exchanging and ingesting and dispersing energy?) . He places - in the second book - a lot of emphasis on what he terms projection of consciousness, which amounts to out of body work. He talks extensively about visualization exercises and of their importance (which for me, with aphantasia, of course is super fun). Also he mentions creation of servitors, so I guess some of it has aspects of a kind of 'magickal' practice to it.. I've read on the forum about this and have a basic idea of why not to go down that path.
I don't want to write a review and recommend these books not knowing if they would help anyone become more STO oriented, or if they fall in the category of mumbo-jumbo. It's a shame though, because I think many things he says line up really well with the general consensus of the forum and it does seem to me he knows what he's talking about and surely presents the information in a very universally applicable way. He makes a point about stripping away all the dogma from alchemical and esoteric teachings and only leaving the bare bones energetic-principles. For the time being though, I will probably just stick to Gurdjieff and Laura and the C's. If someone else here on the forum is familiar with Kreiters work I would love to hear your take on it.
But anyway, on the topic of recapitulation, actually I've been having a lot of memories resurface in the recent past and I do, as you say, really try to go into the memory and try to remember more and more details. If
that in fact is all that recapitulation entails, then it seems I've also started doing that naturally. I will lurk around for more on the forum, thanks for bringing that up in regards to the topic at hand.
Thanks for your thoughts
@hesperides , maybe you're right about not creating "guards" that get triggered by certain specific internal phenomena. It makes sense that it would create a kind of unnecessary workaround when the actual objective is
objectivity.
Before enough personal will is gathered to sustain and graciously accompany our ever changing states and moods in their initial steps, I had to learn that without applying the right attitude within the right context, the best of my intentions would lead me back right where I started, namely with repetitive doubts that said: Why can´t I AVOID the pain of finding myself stuck each time I try to observe myself when feeling uncomfortable or threatened. Much later it struck me, I was unwittingly more aligned with the effort of controlling my emotions than actually actively learning about them, or iow, I was experiencing one part of life negatively. And that was the turning point, I became more and more aware of the vital importance of the Attitude, coming from a place of sincerity and kindness that would then, and only then mysteriously collaborate in finding the will, the courage to witness whatever was going around and inward myself. A work in process for me, of course.
I hope this may also help you somewhat, MatiaS.
Could you maybe give examples of what would be
wrong attitude within wrong context?
Do you mean also that any time we're
forcing something, that automatically is counter productive? To me it seems sometimes like I'm "forcing myself" to self-remember.. As in "come on! just observe what's going on now, just for 5 seconds okay?". I get frustrated with myself when I keep drifting into other thoughts. This air of frustration probably isn't optimal. I think I need to cut myself some slack sometimes and not have such high expectations. Maybe that's my
wrong attitude.
