Here's a Thought...
The second mental exercise in Step 1 of IIH is to hold a thought in your mind. I was asked today for suggestions regarding thoughts to hold in one's mind when practicing this exercise. Here's a thought I like to use.
"I am a mirror reflecting the perfect, infinite, and unconditional love of God."
If you are ever angry at someone and wish to get a grip on yourself, it's helpful to remember the assertion contained in this thought and to experience its validity by centering yourself and sensing the deeper and higher part of yourself that is indeed a mirror reflecting the perfect, infinite, and unconditional love of God.
"I am a mirror reflecting the perfect, infinite, and unconditional love of God."
If you are ever angry at someone and wish to get a grip on yourself, it's helpful to remember the assertion contained in this thought and to experience its validity by centering yourself and sensing the deeper and higher part of yourself that is indeed a mirror reflecting the perfect, infinite, and unconditional love of God.
Thank you so much Virgil.
ReplyDeleteHI Virgil,
ReplyDeleteWill you be writing any books that address the middle steps of IIH? I have enjoyed the depth and clarity of your writing on the early steps and I would be very interested in hearing what you have to say about your experiences working with the vital energy and elements.
Warm regards,
A
It's possible in the future I will write a book about the middle steps of IIH. However, as of now, it's not a priority for me. Intermediate students of Bardon's system usually have enough wisdom that they don't need external sources of guidance like books and teachers. It's the beginners who could benefit the most from helpful guidance, so I tend to write for them. Right now, I'm writing a fourth book that's also geared towards beginners. After that, I plan to go back and create improved second editions of The Spirit of Magic and The Covert Side of Initiation because I feel both books could be better organized. This is all going to take some time; maybe two to four years or longer depending on how busy I am. After that, I don't know what I'm going to do, so a book on the intermediate stages of training is a possibility.
DeleteI believe there's a sort of Bardonian hinterland between Steps 3 and 5 (before one obtains passive communication with one's genius/inner guru) that many people find themselves stuck in after a few years of IIH. Granted there are probably fewer of us than there are noobs interested in thinking about starting IIH, but at some point every newbie who puts some serious practice in will find themselves there sooner or later. There seems to be some guidance for those at the beginning of their journey, and some discussion about the results of completing IIH, but nothging for the inbetweeners.
DeleteSome of the things that were/are sticking points for me were/are as follows:
1. Working with the Vital Energy I found that after some practice (it took me several months - alot longer than most people spent on this step according to the results of RAwn Clark's questionnaire to the IIH practitoners) I could feel the VE as a distinct force when I pore breathed it into my whole body but struggled feeling anything with many organs. In one case, the VE accumulation actually started to cause physical pain. I feel it would have been useful to have some explanation for why this was the case.
2. Working with the elements I never really feel that I reached a point where the experience of the elements became distinct from my own imaginative creation of the feelings of their accumulation. Rawn Clark suggests that at some point one obtains connection with the elemental principle and, through accumulation of the principle, the feelings of the element arise on their own.
On occasion I can sense "something" within the imagined accumulation of the elements - e.g., I can feel a sense a sort of magnetic contraction into a point with the water element, and I can feel a sort of sense of being more permanent and still compared to the rest of the world with the earth element, but they do not arise of their own accord, and imaginatively accumulating this felt principle does not necessarily lead to the effects of the elements arising on their own. For me, it all felt alot more a mental than an astral exercise.
Also, despite having a degree of elemental equilibrium before working with the elements, I still found that working with the elements exacerbated some of the negative traits (and in some cases created new ones) such that it felt that I had to expend much more effort than before to maintain the equilibrium. I don't know if this is because I worked with one element for a long time before moving onto the next, or because one is naturally affected by one element more than another (despite the work with the soul mirrors prior), but I think being aware that this may be the case, and why it happens, would have prepared me better.
3. Some discussion of the downsides/pitfalls of Bardon's IIH (and at what stage they might occur) would have been helpful to me, also, even if they are entirely personal to the magician. For example I found that the meditation discipline had the affect of increasing my detachment and sense of aloneness which I was not expecting and which was quite painful. Reconnecting is still a work in progress.
Apologies for the long post. It is probably selfish of me, but I do hope you write that book. I am sure it will be very useful for those of us who are doing IIH.
Regards,
A
I see. Thank you for sharing your experiences. You mention a few very interesting issues. Some of them, such as the loneliness issue, I have struggled with and can offer a few suggestions. Others, like the pain you feel when pore breathing the vital force are issues that I haven't experienced. In magic, experience is really the only reliable source of information. Speculation isn't. I'm currently working on a series of essays for Tanya that will occupy my writing time for the next two months or so. After that, I will write an extended essay on the middle steps of IIH for intermediate students of Bardon's system and make an announcement on this blog and on my page when it's done. At a much later date, I can flesh the essay out into a book.
Delete