Dinner and a Dead Guy #44 ~ November 19, 2006
We held our 44th Dinner and a Dead Guy last evening. In Castaic, CA, myself, Joanne, Paul Tews, and Rumi the cat. In a very quiet Wilmington, DE, Ellen, and Jen. In Toronto, Mark, Serge, Myrna, John, Catherine, Dorothy, and Joshua. Rounding out the group was Tom in Oahu, HI, Odette in Quebec, Ella-bella in New Jersey, and Jim, Nicole, and Mevis in Calgary. A BIG group!
Paul (Antolian) was visiting from Seattle, home for the holidays to see family in Santa Clarita. Actually, he has been working there for a year now, and is selling his home here, and settling into his new condo in Seattle. His kitties now live there, so that makes it official in my book. When Paul visits, we usually meet at the best sushi bar in Southern California – Love’s Sushi. But we had to compromise because of this evening’s session. So Paul picked up a sushi tray full of delicious treats: yellowtail, shrimp, ahi, salmon, and albacore sushi, octopus (I don’t eat that, but Joanne loves it), and various cut rolls: spicy tuna, crab, tuna, and goddess knows what else.
We indulged before the session, and washed our meal down with plentiful quantities of heated Gekkeiman saki. So we were in a rather festive mood. We signed onto the conference call around 4:31 PM. and gabbed for a bit.
Kris entered the building at 4:46 PM and did something unusual, he opened with advice for our guest, essence name Antolian, which got his attention right away! Kris mentioned recent changes in Paul’s perspectives and that certain “desires and dreams” were going to take shape in the coming weeks so he should pay more attention to Self and flows of energy. We’ll follow up in the coming weeks and see what transpires.
What makes this exchange humorous is that Paul and Kris share a lifetime in ancient China, ca. 1,400 BCE where they are two curmudgeons who indulge in regular checkers and mahjongg. Paul is known for having bits of rice and who knows what else in his beard, which Kris teases him about. I found a picture in the LA Times that says it all, just have to imagine the beards!
Kris then sequed into the rest of the group and brought up the Who Are you? theme of the past four sessions. He confirmed that it was an ancient question used in the Vedic system, so much so that the individual is NOT considered a human (or mature adult) until they begin to ask these kinds of question. (In other words, it indicates a certain stage of over all development, perhaps even a metric to discern being in this stage from my developmental perspective).
Kris mentioned that certain aspects of the Vedic belief systems were extreme (and I immediately thought of the extreme denial and ascetic approaches the demean the flesh in all cases, and make the goal transcendence and getting out of body as much as possible), but shifting perspectives (i.e. development in Framework 1 terms) is necessary to begin to ask the deeper questions and reflections on our nature.
The intellectual approach is important but not enough. Direct experience is required to make the connection between the concept and their deeper meanings. We need to question the official line of consciousness (a Seth/Jane concept) and move “over the fence” toward the UNofficial line of consciousness. By questioning, our experience becomes the foundation for the new experience of Self (thinking of Elias’ shift and widening awareness).
Kris encouraged us to leave no stone, physical or metaphysical, unturned. All the info we hear or read is just a best attempt, a translation of, but never the experience of be-ing. As such, the last four weeks have been an attempt to directly experience who and what we are, and not just read about it second- and third-hand (I saw this as a call to practice, to embrace direct experience of the concepts through the various Practices and Adventures being given as part of his Avatar Yoga). This way we can begin to experience the vastness of Self (I-I-I or All-That-Is), and those experiences will help awaken us to our own greater potential.
Kris said yet again that doing one practice for 3-5 minutes and not getting instant results (like instant millions, health, soul mates, etc.) means this yoga of his is not to be approached as a magic bullet or quick-fix. We need to take our time, and allow for changes and awakening to take root.
The Who Are You? inquiry practices will set up cascading waves or sequences of awakenings in such a gentle manner that our perception will not only continue to widen but so we continue to grow with new found perspectives. (That’s quite a promise!)
Again, the question has been used as a method of awakening for thousands of years (I was reminded that Ramana Maharshi, one of the great Hindu sages of the 20th century who used this method to push deep into an understanding of ever-present Self). All the world’s great religions use this method of inquiry (or yoga).
The answers we get at the waking level through belief systems and language are only partial (thinking of the postmodern “true but partial” perception of all knowledge). The words can never provide a full definition because they are not the experience of be-ing, of consciousness in its human expression. (This is Kris’ way of reminding us that “the map is not the territory” though we need good, accurate maps!).
Words like soul, source self, inner self, oversoul, essence, entity, and the like are only words that attempt to describe the “much greater action and process” of what we are (as consciousness, sentient beings. I was also reminded that the maps serve a purpose, but as we grow and widen, we eventually leave the maps behind).
Kris made a reference to a theme from last Friday’s Kris Radio (Nov. 17th) show: we experience physical reality to better understand the dynamics of transformations of energy into our personal reality as we answer this question, “Who am I?” Further, this may be the common question between ALL our lifetimes, this is what we, as essence, seek to discover.
He riffed on causality, and I’ll wait for the transcript to comment on those couple of sentences, but he said that space-time itSelf may be the result of these kinds of fundamental questions, and the very motivation for essence to create.
(This hints at what are called “involutionary givens” and “blueprints for reality” – the “intelligent design” that guides all creation in our universe. But this is NOT to be confused with the fundamentalist Christian attempt to use pseudo-science to prove that the Bible is literally true. Ironically, the conscious creation sources promote a version of Intelligent Design that says Eternal Consciousness is directly involved in all physical constructions and evolutionary patterns).
BREAK 5:24 – 5:39 PM.
During break we discussed the opening comments geared towards Paul Tews, and the group from Calgary mentioned that they had heard about the sessions at the recent Elias group in Brattleboro (Ella also attended that event) and through the NWV newsletter. I waxed about “the call to practice” and the transformative potentials that Kris has been exploring all year long. (These are all pieces of his Avatar Yoga that he’s been presenting since the February workshop in the context of the year’s theme of enlightenment through compassion.)
Kris returned and said that we should put all answers aside that we have so far because the “main dish is yet to be served” (and while I don’t want to compare that kind of sentiment to some kind of reward and bliss in a heavenly after-life, I do intuit that there must be continued challenges and rewards to be reaped in this life and well as whatever comes after. So that was a nice carrot to dangle).
Kris then led us through yet another in this series of Practices & Adventures (good title for CD don’t you think? ;-). I can only describe this as being bathed in the light of Source and tuning deeply into our deepest layers of consciousness as a kind of energetic booster, as I felt quite good afterward. I noted that I briefly fell asleep during the practice, but Kris’ voice snapped me right out. Afterward I also noted that this reminded me of the Buddhist metta or lovingkindness practice in which we bath ourSelves and “others as Self” in the light of lovingkindness with wishes for safety, good health, abundance, and effortlessness.
BREAK 6:02 – 6:10 PM.
I was struck by how quiet the group becomes after these practices. Even certain rowdy groups! But I realized last night that it had to do with the power of introspection and Kris’ skill as a hypno-therapist.
Paul Tews talked about Genpo Roshi’s Big Mind practice, an integration of Eastern (Zen) and Western (developmental) psychology, and his sense of the Witness (The One in nondual teachings).
Kris came back and reminded us that there is no single right way to DO these practices. Our own experience is valid and we should not discount it. He then opened the floor for questions.
(I was pondering the Wilber-Combs Lattice, a simple grid that ballparks various types of altered states humans have recorded for thousands of years, but seen through the lens of developmental stages. This can help to situate our interpretations of altered focus as we go forward with these Practices and Adventures, because we interpret based upon the “center of gravity” of our combined intelligences (Aspects). I raise this issue because on the one hand, we very much want to open the door widely and say, “don’t discount ANY of your experiences.” But on the other, we also don’t want someone who believes that they are now Christ, or were told by God herSelf to go kill the Jews or her kids, etc. to claim to be acting from anything other than their overall stage of development.)
(What I like about this matrix is that it acknowledges STATES in relation to STAGES of development. It is very thorough, and includes waking, dreaming, deep dreamless, and nondual [the union of all] STATES, but also shows how STAGES come into play. It helps to explain why a Christian evangelist may encounter what they perceive to be an arch-angel or burning bush in a vision [Mythic], and why a more postmodern person may perceive something more like Oversoul Seven, Cyprus, or Avelokiteshvara [all are One-Made-of-Many]. But the differing perceptions and interpretations will be based upon the belief systems inherent in each stage of development. Mythic beliefs, in this context, are less complex, NOT less valid. But they are less formed, not fully formed. The basic idea is that we get closer to fullness or fully formed perception as we widen awareness. So widening, as Elias defines it, is the same as higher or wider stages of development, which means higher or wider belief systems that can integrate more perspectives, more complexity, more fullness when engaging an altered state.)
(So this was on my mind, but the time was not right to bring it up, as it contains a rather complex set of ideas. But I bring it up here, to share my own internal musings on what Kris was talking about all in the light of my own experiences with the lovingkindness meditation we just did.)
So the floor was opened to questions, and it’s funny when Mark automatically puts the call on mute, and Kris immediately asks him to unmute (he’s just doing his job moderating!). Again, Antolian asked about Witnessing, and Kris went into a Zen hall of mirrors by imagining ourSelves witnessing ourSelves witnessing ourSelves witnessing.
(If THAT doesn’t short-circuit the rational mind right out of the perception, nothing will! But it speaks to getting the intellect, thoughts, and feelings out of the way to get down to that which Simply Is Witnessing all that is arising in our awareness. Further, the litmus test of the Witness is what is constant in our awareness in ALL STATES, waking, dreaming, deep dreamless sleep, meditation, drug induced, other altered-focus. That sense of is-ness permeates ALL STATES. Just THAT is "the Witness," our gateway to The One.
(So what Witnessing practice does is to “push back” in awareness so that we begin to differentiate our thoughts and feelings from the “Thinker of the thought” to the Witness of the Thinker of the thought. At some point, if the mind quiets down enough, there is just Witnessing perception, just is-ness. And this is a direct connection to ourSelves as The One. It’s really simple, and ultimately doesn’t require long treatises, fancy charts, maps, or equations. I simply AM. I AM I. AUM.)
(Interesting, this IS a nondual teaching, but Kris doesn’t sell or teach it in linear terms as the end all point of development, since there never was a beginning! There can be no end to Consciousness. Kris also talks about differentiation and nondifferentiation and has confirmed that there are “species” or relative types of nondual experience all along I-I-I, from focus to essence to primary pyramid gestalts, so it’s not a singular experience anywhere within I-I-I. Kris reminded us that there are many kinds of “essence bodies.” So it is clearer to me that the focus personality is the first physical manifestation in evolutionary terms to be able to hold multiple perspectives. Rocks don’t do it, bacteria, plants, fish, and horses don’t either. Only focuses of essence begin to manifest this ability. This is what Teilhard de Chardin characterized as the noosphere, or the ability for self-reflexive awareness that takes on more and more perspectives, seeking unity with or remembrance of The One.)
Kris closed with a nice ocean metaphor to answer Ella’s question about the nature of essence, saying that from one perspective the ocean is One, and yet from another there are many creatures that live in it, many different kinds of waves, temperatures, consistencies of salt concentration, etc. (We’re BIG!)
Kris left the building at 6:35 PM. and I had a lovely case of after-glow, very mellow, very quiet, very introspective, and enjoyed the playfulness between Paul T. and Kris. Mark asked Kris Antolian’s “essence age,” and he said four cycles. That’s four BIG BANGs worth. That’s old! That’s BIG! We joked about the implications and vastness of it all.
Finally, I mentioned that the next big addition to the NWV website is going to be a Practices section that indexes ALL the Seth, Elias, and Kris practices within a larger framework called Integral Life Practice that provides a menu for cross-training that is tailored by each individual via self-guided practice. The role of community is to share results and compare notes, but the onus is on each person to DO the work and reap the benefits of transformation. Folks were open to explore that and see how it could work.
Paul, Jo, and I chatted over tea and pecan sandies for another couple hours. Good times!