6.

Feeling-Tones & Review-Committees

65-75

It is the essence of yourself. ... It is the feeling of yourself, inexhaustible.

This consciousness intrinsic to physical matter apparently could (according to Jane Roberts) be manifested to living beings through their psychic feelings and through their psychical perception of musical tones proceeding out of physical substances.} {This supposition is not accurate, however, for the sensations, sentiments, and emotions of living beings arise out of their souls and spirits, not out of the material substance of their bodies, however much that material substance may contain its own sensations associated, perhaps, with the elemental spirits.}

[quoted from Roberts 1974, session 613] "Everything that you experience has consciousness, and each consciousness is endowed with its own feeling-tone. ...

{This "feeling-tone", thus defined, would apparently indicate a quality of physical matter indicative of praesence within it of a consciousness inhaerent, intrinsic to it.}

The feeling-tone then is the ... fiber -- the timber -- ... devoted to ... physical experience. ...

{With this "the timber" (material substance, not to be distinguished, according to Jane Roberts, from musical timbre) contrast Hellenic /hule/ 'wood, material' (not inclusive of musical timbre). In Chinese philosophy, howbeit, wood ("timber") is a specific "element", rather than being a collective term for all the elements.} {This supposition is not accurate, however : for, the sensations, sentiments, and emotions of living beings arise out of their souls-and-spirits, not out of the material substance of their bodies, however much that material substance may contain its own sensations associated, perhaps, with the elemental spirits.}

It is the essence of yourself. ... It is the feeling of yourself, inexhaustible.

{This consciousness intrinsic to physical matter apparently could (according to Jane Roberts) be manifested to living beings through their psychic feelings and through their psychical perception of musical tones proceeding out of physical substances.}

It is ... inexhaustible."

{This inexhaustibility is likewise asserteded in the Tao Te C^>in, but in the context of Tao (one's 'way' of performance).}

p. 68

"Suddenly I notice brightly colored fish, about six of them, swimming through the air, about six feet off the ground! ...

{In a Zen metaphor, swimming fishes are said to be unaware of the water.}

I realize, "I'm dreaming! ..." ... I ... just look up in the mottled sky and yell out to the dreaming, "Hey!

I want to hear my feeling-tone!"

{Thus, instead of wishing psychically to sense, while awake, the consciousness intrinsic to the fibre of physical substances, the author rather sought to sense instead, while dreaming, the quality of consciousness intrinsic to soul-substance of mortals.}

Suddenly, a tiny black dot appears in the sky directly above me. From it comes a barely perceptible humming. ... Then the dot starts growing in the space above me. As it grows, the humming sound volume keeps sounding -- louder and louder. ...

Simultaneously with the expanding volume, a distinct conical shape begins forming and growing outward from the initial dot and it's headed toward me! The humming sound continues increasing, vibrating the space around me with enormous intensity, and as it does, the conical shape comes closer and closer. ... My whole being is reverberating with this energetic, vibrant humming sound as the cone encloses me!

{This is a lowering of the supernatural Cone of Power from the divine heaven of immortal aeternals to the sublunary realm of perfected mortals. Like all magickal powers, the Cone of Power is entirely of transcendental origin, splendiferously descending by divine grace from supernal planes-of-existence, to the awed wondrement of pious seers.}

I appear to collapse to a dot of aweness. At this point, "me," ... simply disappears. ... Oddly, a ... me doesn't exist in any normal sense any more ... . Yet, strangely, an awareness views the scene of the vibrating cone. ...

{The atman is assimilated to brahman. This is possible through means of absorption of the geometric pyramidal structure of the ahamkara (egoity) into the supernatural structure of the divine cone : in the Golden Dawn system, "the Pyramid of Power ... method of making the Wiccan cone of power ritual more efficient and more powerful." ("GD&BTWM") This is accomplished for us mortals by the divine grace of extraterrestrial immortals heeding our overtures for telepathic intercommunication : in order thus to communicate, some "visualize a great ... cone of LIGHT in which they sit, while some construct a PYRAMID OF LIGHT." (DCT, p. 158)

p. 69

At once, I ... again perceive, sitting in a lotus position ... . ... Suddenly ... again, ... the tone begins humming ... . I look down at my thumb and index finger, drawn together like in a yoga mudra, and I can feel the extraordinary energy vibrating through my whole body. I ... notice that my thumb and index finger are starting to glow with a golden light from within."

p. 70

"Years after this experience, on a ... trip to Columbus, Ohio, ... I began to read ... ancient ideas on ... the creation of all physical form through sound. Also, the black dot I [had] noticed above me [in the dream] seemed to be ... the "bindu," a ... "dot" or "point," from which it is believed the creative sound emerges to make the manifest realm of the world."

p. 71

"I become lucid and find myself flying around my bed.

I casually notice the bodies {his own and that of his wife} under the covers ... .

{This finding of a material body distinct from the immaterial body is quite unusual for a dream of false awakening, though usual in astral projection.}

The room looks exactly like it does in waking life. I remember Castan[~]eda's commenting [1993, p. 107] about "when a dreamer learns to wake up in another dream," so I align myself with my sleeping body (about four feet above it),

close my eyes

{Even this is quite a feat to do in a dream; on the lucid-dream occasion when I did it (decades ago) the result was weird : while mine eyen were shut a phlebotomist in the dreaming-world inserted into my vein (which I felt) a hollow needle, and began extracting blood [this evidently being related to dreaming of becoming a victim to ampirism]; until in some discomfiture at this turn of events, I oped mine eyen in the dream.}

and say, "I want to waken in the next dreaming world." ... Suddenly I feel energized and fly straight up out of the house. The night sky is brilliant with ... stars. ... I fly onward. Eventually, I descend and find myself

in an arid region. I notice what looks like some kind of fruit tree and touch its waxy leaves. A cat walks by.

{This is likely intended as Aiguptos (that arid region wherein, antiently, cats were adored). The fruit-tree may been intended as a persea-tree : "The persea, Mimusops Schimperi, is a smallish evergreen tree and has small yellow fruit. ... I am the Cat which fought near the Persea Tree" ("EBP").

p. 72

Lucid, ... I recall that others have flown to the stars ... . As I fly upward ..., the stars ... begin to rush together into patterns and symbols, forming interlocking circles, then pyramidal shapes and something like the Star of David. Other interlocking geometric figures begin to form, all composed of golden stars. ... This keeps happening -- more groups join, make a symbol, then fly away, until finally, almost all the stars are gone. ...

I descend back to the ground, only to find an attractive woman waiting for me. She comes up to me and insists that I follow. ... I follow her, and she leads me to

an older, dark-haired woman seated on a chair.

{evidently the constellation Chair of Kassiopeia, the mother-in-law of Perseus : "the name Persea is derived from the Greek mythological hero Perseus" ("PTAE").}

This woman begins asking me a series of questions, ... to know if I'm worthy of advancing deeper into dreaming ... . I respond".

p. 72

"Exactly one year to the day after my first review, another group appeared who wished to probe me further (October 1994) :

p. 73

I'm walking through a shopping mall and notice some young women. ... . ... many of the young women have on halter tops that are quite revealing, and that catches my attention. ... I realize "this is a dream" and become lucid.

... three orfour people approach ... intent on talking to me. ... I follow them into ... a library conference room, with windows. ... more people are there, all middle-aged, quite friendly, and very earnest. They ... know me ... . ... I ask, "What is my role in life?" And, "What is my future?" They smile at my questions, and I get ... encouragement ... . Then they begin with their questions ... . They have a long series of questions. I become amazed at how long this lucid dream is lasting ... . ... Then I hear one of the dream figures conclude that I'm not

"as good as Jerdee,"

{/Jerdin/ is 'the Earth' : in Mongolian, (TSS, p. 47) "as a deep hole" whereinto cattle can be herded, "Ere Chui is called Jerding Kindigi (the earth's navel or umbilical cord)." It is nigh unto crevices whence, as volcanic steam, (ibid., p. 48) "the Earth's breath (tynysh) appears." Mongolian /jerdin/ may be cognate with /s`ered/ 'scribing-awl' (Strong's 8279) for etching. If so, there may be a reference to the goodness of Sai Baba of S`irdi (/s`arid/ 'vagrant, vagabond' -- A-ED, p. 542a), founder of the C^isti order of S.ufism ("UE").}

but that I'm "conscious" ... . What did that means, I wondered. ...

{Evidently an allusion to the denial of another mortal dreamer's consciousness, as quoted from Tholey on p. 59 supra.}

At one point, I realize that I have bowl of little goldfish crackers in my hand ... . ...

{Intended as an allusion to the fishes swimming in the air on p. 68 supra.}

The middle-aged guy to my left ..., draws my attention to a book. ...

He ... points to a chapter by "Omar Shemet" or "Omar of Shemet" who has a chapter ... on the nature of ... decadence and corruption."

{The unrelated /<Omorah/, however, is a geographical name (Strong's 6017) [which is often used proverbially to refer excessive sexual practices], /<Omar/ modernly being used as a place-name mostly in Afghanistan.} {/Shemet/ is an Ukrainian family-name.}

p. 74

"I didn't know what to make of being reviewed by consciously aware dream figures. ...

{This divine review-committee witnessed in lucid dreaming is quite similar to the life-review conducted by a Council of Elders in hypnotic-regression between-lives experiences.}

While I was in the dream, gazing at the chapter title about ... decadence and corruption, ... I had begun to wonder ... . ... Would I finally encounter something evil? ... I had yet to experience anything remotely evil. ... So ..., in my next conscious adventure ... :

I find myself hurtling through the relative darkness of [outer] space. ... I fly past stars and constellations ... .

p. 75

... I continue deeper until, at last, I come to a place where stars no longer appear. In front of me looms the edge of the universe. ...

{This starless region, instead of being "the edge of the universe", may simply be the edge of the galaxy. (Beyond any particular galaxy, other galaxies are so distant that they are not visible without peering through a telescope.)}

Then ..., I hear a voice ... : "The light upholds the darkness." And suddenly I know that behind all apparent evil or darkness is light [or inhaerent goodness] ... .

Then I hear : "Everything is sacred and alive." I intuitively realize that the light [and inhaerent goodness] is in every living creature as a condition of its existence.

Then I hear ... : "Even the space between your fingers is sacred and alive.""

{Evidently an allusion to the golden light emitted from yaugik mudra of the tip of thumb touching tip of forefinger on p. 69 supra.}

7.

Experiencing the Light of Awareness

77-85

"My concept of my own "self" had been altered during these [dreaming and/or astral-projection] excursions ... . I now seemed a part of a larger {perhaps universe-wide} whole, always connected and aware.

Not that I personally am divine, but that everything, underneath it all, is divine."

{One will not be experiencing one's self as divine, but rather may perceive everything (and everyone) else (other than one's self) as divine; but thereupon, to the extent that one may be co-operating with everything else, to that extent one is participating in the divine.}

"in 1844. Elias Howe was working on the prototype of a sewing machine but felt perplexed by how the machine should manipulate the needle. He dreamt of being held by savages ... creating his sewing machine.

In the dream, he noticed that the spear tips had an eye-shaped hole and realized that the eye of the sewing machine needle needed tobe a the tip for the machine to work."

{The dream-world of dream-deities is too polite to detract from an inventor's pride; so that without telling directly how to devise an invention, it instead merely hinteth (in a riddle-like manner) at the invention, thereby allowing the mortal inventor the personal dignity of having participated in the inventing.}

p. 79

"Occasionally upon waking in the morning, ... all I could recall was this : blue light. ... In fact, thre was no action, no objects, no figures, no me, no nothing[ness] -- just blue light. ...

{This blue light is one of the several varieties of divine illuminations intrinsic to the states-of-consciousness (the states illumination of sleep, illumination of the path, and illumination of death) according to lore of vajra-yana yoga. It is, of dreamless sleep, the daytime sky; the other varieties of illumination of dreamless sleep being the sun, the moon, the starry sky, and darkness.}

It occurred to me that the blue light reminded of something else that was happening to me.

For many years, while awake, I would periodically notice a dot of blue light in my perceptual field, normally on the left side. The dot would move around, up and down ... . ...

{Evidently, this moving blue dot may have been a rudimentary form of what I have often witnessed (decades ago, in B, GA) while awake, mightily impressively : the sun in the cloudless daytime-sky becoming luminously blue [and in this condition suitable for its being gazed at], and thereupon moving about in the sky.} {In its rudimentary form, this dot could be another of the primordial bin.d.u-s of Pauran.ik cosmogony.}

Curiously, the dot seemed to appear most often when I was thinking about ... the nature of reality, [of] consciousness, or [of] lucid dreaming".

p. 80

"This series of ... [dreamless-sleep] blue light experiences finally led up to a lucid dream ... "The Blue Light Monster" (November 1995) :

I become lucid. The lighting is dim, so I shout out to the dream, "Turn on lights" and things become much brighter. ... I notice ... a white, empty sanctuary. Entering into it, I suddently see a figure composed of blue light. The figure is about three times larger than I am. ... I've encountered ... a blue light god ... . ... I run to get around it. Just as I pass it, though, a great noise occurs in the lucid dream and I wake up."

"I could think of ... Buddhist paintings, which often include a powerful figure composed of blue in each of the four corners."

{The praesiding blue god is (in Vajra-yana nomenclature) Vajra-dhara.}

"As if a floating point of light in an expanse of aware, living light, the self-less awareness exists. Here, all awareness connects. ...

Then, suddenly aware of the black-gray dream space and the lone figure standing there ..., I ask the robed figure, "Was that a lucid dream?" "No," the figure replies. "To enter a lucid dream, go this way." He points ... . Knowing intuitively that the entry to regular dreams is to the left, I move right, toward the entry space for lucid dreams. As I cross an invisible boundary, my awareness hurtles through a tunnel of whitish-blue light, along whose surface I see intermittently various raised [in relief] symbols -- ovals, triangles, double triangles, circles. ...

Heading toward lucid dreams, I feel something I've never before experienced. Around the crown of my head, I feel intense, explosive blasts of energy, localized but moving in a circular pattern. ...

Moments later ..., I emerge through the floor of a dream scene, fully lucid."

p. 82

"It wasn't until two years later, while at a conference in Hawaii,

on the north shore of Oahu,

{on the north shore of Oahu was where I first resided in the Pacific basin}

one of the featured speakers was Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a ... [b]lama from the Bon tradition of Tibet who had just written The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep. ... He mentioned his own intense practice of dream yoga ... . ... Tenzin Wangyal suggested that the deep practice of lucid dreaming, or yoga of dreams, could assist one in the intermediate bardo state, after physical death. ... He also noted that with many years of training and experience, the yogas of dream and sleep may "ultimately lead into one another,"

p. 83

if the lucid dreaming practice is "fully accomplished," and result in an experience of the "clear light." Unlike a lucid dream ..., in the clear ightr experience, "recognition is not of an object by a subject but is the non-dual recognition of pure awareness, the clear light, by awareness itself." (Tenzin Wanyal 1998, pp. 149-50) ... Ultimately, the common goal for those who go deeply into either dream yoga or sleep yoga would be to experience the clear light."

p. 83

"the German philosopher Thomas Metzinger ... asks [2004, p. 566], "How can you coherently report about a selfless state of consciousness from your own, autobiographical memory?" [p. 288, n. 7:4 : "Metzinger's question is a good one".] ... .

p. 84

... in my feeling-tone dream ..., ... When the feeling-tone engulfed, expressed, and became my sense of self, awareness stepped aside. Awareness found refuge within a larger awareness, until the feeling-tone ended, whereupon my self and awareness reunited. By this, ... awareness can step apart from self, then reunite with self, and that is how you coherently report about a self-less state of consciousness. The self does not experience it; the self's awareness experiences it. This movement suggests that consciousness of self exists as a quality arising from awareness, but does not constitute consciousness."

p. 85

"See yourself in your mind's eye. Now strip away all of your [material] possessions ... . ... So now strip away all your emotions, all your feelings, all your likes and dislikes; remove them all. Now all of your ideas, your conceptions, your beliefs, let them go; strip them away and cast them off. Now your memories and history must be stripped free, too. ...

[After] you strip away each layer, something remains -- because something preexists your possession and emotions; ... preexists your relationships and your memories ... . When you strip them all away, one final thing remains : Awareness. ...

Basically, ... we clothe awareness with layers of self conceptions. ... While awareness enlivens {or rather, complectifieth} the self conceptions, these self conceptions do not create the awareness."

"The experience of light {becoming divinely illuminated} has left me with deep feelings about the interconnectedness of all awareness and what underlies phenomenal reality. Occasionally, it rises to the surface, and I experience in waking reality the sense of interconnectedness.

Much of the remainder of this book involves my ... suggesting the existence of

profound interconnectedness and how lucid dreaming acts as a platform from which one might ... provide evidence of that interconnectedness."

{"Interconnectedness" would be meaningful if what are interconnected are the committees of divinities governing the universe; but not expecting any such, the author faileth to find them, leaving his extended effort as an exercise in, largely, sheer futility.}