III. The Preliminaries (3)
Presuming you remain in awakened sleep during your dream journey, you must remember that what you see in your dream is filtered through you own mindbrain. As your mindbrain is the apparatus needed to formulate and experience the content of the personal and the human collective consciousness, or objective species mind, it is the apparatus for experiencing all of the para-dream worlds.
The term “awakened sleep” refers to the state of cognitive functioning when we are simply observing the activities of our body or psychoempyreal self as it engages with the dream. The observing function resides in what I have called the mental ‘ergoegotic center.’ This center is the psychic organ allowing us to consciously observe our experiences without interference by an ego state, or jiva. The observing function realizes that it is operating within a particular ego state, but such realization is simply that of playing a role. It is acting on a stage and is independent of the characters.
Subsequently, what you see and hear is not necessarily what you believe it to be. Moreover, it is a well appreciated occult conclusion that the majority of empyreal entities you will contact are less than truthful or honest with you. To my knowledge, no occultist has clearly established why this is so commonly observed. I think there are a number of reasons.
First, a large percentage of entities you converse with in your dreams and astral journeys are actually unrecognized personas, or jivas, residing within your unconscious mind, which occupy your ergoegotic center (sense of being present) depending on your daily activities. We hardly pay attention to them, but their dominance at times is easily seen by our changing likes and dislikes, inability to keep promises, and atypical behavior.
As many of these egostates are disconnected from each other, they are not consciously aware that others exist. Whenever, one occupies or clothes the ergoegotic center, it is aware of being active, and when replaced by another falls asleep and has no memory until it is active again. Therefore, whenever, our observing ego function experiences one of its unrecognized egostates, it mistakes it for an external entity which is now sharing the ergoegotic center and so seems alive.
As each ego state is only partially present, it does not have full access to the totality of the individual’s semantic and autobiographical memory. So when it is asked a question for which it does not know the answer, it confabulates an answer so to comply with the request of the observing ego and its current operational state. I might add during daily functioning, our normal ego states will confabulate an answer which seems reasonable based upon the knowledge it has available.
So beware of your alter-egos, they will pestered you if you are not firm with them.
Second, one needs to be aware of what I call, retrograde falsification. Sometimes during normal dreaming or occult work, your unconscious mind modifies your actual experience so that it appears to be quite opposite to what was experienced. In other words, you saw what you saw, but you remember what you want to remember. Usually, such changes are meant to be protective of the conscious awareness, but often are harmful overall.
Third, initially, a new traveler to the empyreal world is overwhelmed by the rapidly changing scene as he or she is unable to maintain his or her concentration steady and focused. So though awake in the beginning, he or she falls asleep and that is that.
Fourth, the creatures you meet during your astral journeys are generally empyreal and NOT physical creatures, though some may indeed possess physical bodies, such as incarnate human beings. Subsequently, it is important to insist that such remain in the collective mind of humanity and outside of your day to day life. Do not allow them too become too familiar or they may decide to take up habitation in your personal unconsciousness, causing you any number of life problems.
If you remember these four fundamental principles, your journeys should be safe and perhaps more than mere entertainment. Empyreal traveling can provide useful information for enlightenment–if you are a sly man or sly woman.
Bon voyage!