Thanks to Art's post about "Depression as Stepping Stone", I feel I've been making good progress regarding concentration of negative energy in the emotional centre. I'll quote something by Mouravieff that I'm sure many others will have read that I think is so true once we have begun self observation.
"The inner content of man is analogous to a vase full of iron filings in a state of mixture as a result of mechanical action. Every shock received by the vase causes displacement of the particles of iron filings. Thus real life remains hidden from the human being due to the constant changes occurring in his inner life."
"Even so, as we shall see later, this senseless and dangerous situation can be modified in a beneficial way. But this requires work; conscientious and sustained effort. Introspection carried out relentlessly results in enhanced internal sensibility. This improved sensibility in its turn intensifies the amplitude and frequency of movement whenever the iron filings are disturbed. As a result, shocks that previously were not noticed will now provoke vivid reactions. These movements, because of their continuous amplification, can create friction between particles of iron so intense that we may one day feel the interior fire igniting within us."
I'm realising the above information for myself. It's quite amazing just how often, if we observe carefully, we get an inflow of negative energy and as Mouravieff states above, continued practice highlights more and more subtle "movements of the fillings"
And this brings me to recapitulation. I don't know if what I'm about to suggest is the same as what casteneda means by "reclaiming energy through recapitulation", and I know that the main idea of the fourth way with this group is to do the work in real time; I mean to wait until something happens to us to trigger negative emotions, then trace the programme. It being our programmes which cause us to misuse our centres.
But now my vase has become more sensitive, I'm noticing just how much negative energy can flow in through remembering difficult or embarrasing situations. For example, when I've made a mistake, or said something I shouldn't have that made me look a fool, in the past when I rememberd these things it would make me cringe I would try to blank it out of my mind. Is it possible, if you've reached a high enough level of dicipline in not allowing the other centres to steal its energy, to use these past experiences to bring in negative energy and concentrate it in the emotional centre?
I know that if we expect something to happen then it won't, and I believe I've begun to practice the right attitude; when negative emotions arise, I try to feel them and not think about them or get worked up physically by heavy breathing or pacing up and down for instance, at the same time not doing it for any reason other than to increase my will, saying to myself immediately "dont think, feel" and seeing if I can do it. I think this also relates to what has been said in the past, I can't remember who by, that we should try to become more sensitive. By learning to use the emotional centre on it's own, I think this cultivates sensitivity.
Then somthing I was thinking about today was that when we are not trying to transmute, we are encouraged to use the intellectual centre and the emotional centre together. To regulate a thought with emotions and regulate an emotion with thoughts. This to me is like saying if were ever going to get to the ultimate point of a sacred marriage of the higher emotional and intellectual centres, we need to have married the lower emotional and intellectual centres before hand.
"The inner content of man is analogous to a vase full of iron filings in a state of mixture as a result of mechanical action. Every shock received by the vase causes displacement of the particles of iron filings. Thus real life remains hidden from the human being due to the constant changes occurring in his inner life."
"Even so, as we shall see later, this senseless and dangerous situation can be modified in a beneficial way. But this requires work; conscientious and sustained effort. Introspection carried out relentlessly results in enhanced internal sensibility. This improved sensibility in its turn intensifies the amplitude and frequency of movement whenever the iron filings are disturbed. As a result, shocks that previously were not noticed will now provoke vivid reactions. These movements, because of their continuous amplification, can create friction between particles of iron so intense that we may one day feel the interior fire igniting within us."
I'm realising the above information for myself. It's quite amazing just how often, if we observe carefully, we get an inflow of negative energy and as Mouravieff states above, continued practice highlights more and more subtle "movements of the fillings"
And this brings me to recapitulation. I don't know if what I'm about to suggest is the same as what casteneda means by "reclaiming energy through recapitulation", and I know that the main idea of the fourth way with this group is to do the work in real time; I mean to wait until something happens to us to trigger negative emotions, then trace the programme. It being our programmes which cause us to misuse our centres.
But now my vase has become more sensitive, I'm noticing just how much negative energy can flow in through remembering difficult or embarrasing situations. For example, when I've made a mistake, or said something I shouldn't have that made me look a fool, in the past when I rememberd these things it would make me cringe I would try to blank it out of my mind. Is it possible, if you've reached a high enough level of dicipline in not allowing the other centres to steal its energy, to use these past experiences to bring in negative energy and concentrate it in the emotional centre?
I know that if we expect something to happen then it won't, and I believe I've begun to practice the right attitude; when negative emotions arise, I try to feel them and not think about them or get worked up physically by heavy breathing or pacing up and down for instance, at the same time not doing it for any reason other than to increase my will, saying to myself immediately "dont think, feel" and seeing if I can do it. I think this also relates to what has been said in the past, I can't remember who by, that we should try to become more sensitive. By learning to use the emotional centre on it's own, I think this cultivates sensitivity.
Then somthing I was thinking about today was that when we are not trying to transmute, we are encouraged to use the intellectual centre and the emotional centre together. To regulate a thought with emotions and regulate an emotion with thoughts. This to me is like saying if were ever going to get to the ultimate point of a sacred marriage of the higher emotional and intellectual centres, we need to have married the lower emotional and intellectual centres before hand.