Walsh, Hughes and Pearce

Altered States, Chapter 4
For Coleridge and Ginsberg, and many others have used dreams as a framework for creativity, according to Hughes. Personally, I have many unbelievable dreams that have left great impressions on me or have taught me something profound. Of course, these dreams remain personal, so I feel no need to share them with you. Nevertheless, dreams do facilitate creativity. I enjoyed reading the techniques used to develop the ability to control the events of a dream. Further, once one decides where to go, he or she can bring back insights that might facilitate works of art songs or transmit supernatural messages to the community, like the shamans. This to me seems to be the most plausible technique of the Shaman, since dreams are a window to the other side.

OBE's have also fascinated me, but they also scare me. I have a close friend (who now lives in Poland) who claimed to have the ability to travel outside his body during meditative states. I will leave this for a later discussion.

Charles T. Tart's experiments in the late 60's gave a lot of credibility to the subject. I think the card test was pretty fascinating.

I have also experience many lucid dreams (the awareness that one is dreaming)

"Neuroscientist have established that neurons located in the primitive brainstem, the "Reptilian Brain" at the base of the cerebral hemispheres, play a central role in sleep—wake alternation." (Hughes, Page 55)

As for Sigmund Freud's explanation of dreams as a representation of unacceptable sexual and aggressive desires, I guess this is true in many cases, but I'd like to think dreams are more substantial than that. Thank goodness for Carl Jung, who rejected Freud's limited philosophy. His parallels between dreams and ancient myths, reminds me a class discussion we had a few weeks ago when we talked about the link between the hallucinations and the ancient cave paintings, including the strange half man/half beast figures that many report.

Often I think about a collective conscious, but how about a collective unconscious! Perhaps, as Jung suggested, these processed DO shape our mental and spiritual growth.

"The bizarreness of dreams, the surreal shifts of person, place and thought, include pathological elements such as: motor and visual hallucinations (including flying), spatial and temporal cognitive distortion (including flagrant violations of physical law); delusional acceptance of hallucinoid experience (acceptance of "impossible" events as experientially real); intensification of affect (strong emotion); and amnesia" (Hughes, pg. 47)

The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Chapter 4
In The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Chapter 4, Pearce recounts the illumination of Kazantzakis. In a very Zen-like monastic manner, Kazantzakis retreated to the mountain and endured two years of water, food, sleep, and sensory deprivation to cleanse his spirit, and attain enlightenment.

On the next page, Pearce discusses new ideas, which is certainly relevant to our recent discussions. "A new idea fails if it involves too great a sacrifice of invested belief. If the new idea triggers a passionate enough pursuit to make suspension or abandonment of previous beliefs or current criteria worth the risk, however, the new idea can change the reality structure."

The World of Shamanism, Chapter 5
The first paragraph was really important. We ARE the first generation to have all the worlds spiritual and religious traditions at our finger tips. Whether it's martial arts or the mystical arts, there is a sea of information that we all have access to. Not only can this information be access, but it can be practiced without reprisal.

We are in a unique point in history. Surely, as our collective understanding of the universe widens, the masses will be more accepting of these crafts. In this age of enlightenment, religious prejudice and persecution might subside, and a new world order can emerge.

I was happy to read The Seven Central Practices on page 28, because these practices are central in martial arts as well. For the most part, I have lived with these practices as a central theme in my life. I continue to refine myself in these areas through martial arts and my interaction with others.

As Pearce lists, the seven practices are as follows:1) Living Ethically2) Transformating Emotions3) Redirecting Motivation4) Training Attention5) Refining Awareness6) Cultivating Wisdomand 7) Serving Others.

Obviously, all of the practices are an important part of martial art training... Budo in particular— where martial arts is not just about fighting, but it is a way of life. Even living ethically is a central theme in martial arts (as opposed to martial combat). Proper ethics are crucial. In time, an adept martial artist recognizes that martial arts in not about war (offensive), it's about peace (defensive). It's not about anger, it is about being calm (in our actions). Hopefully with a great understanding of these truths, these practices can be translated into our everyday life.

I believe that healthy behavior cultivates healthy qualities.

Conversely, unethical behavior is naturally recorded by karmic imprint, according to Pearce. Karma being the psychological residue left by past behavior.

It was great to see that Pearce has a great understanding of Eastern philosophy. In this chapter, he mentioned Lao Tzu, Taoism, Confucius, Buddha and more— often overlooked by Westerners.