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Horizons Magazine
NOVEMBER 2001
Media input, societal programming, astral projection, initiation in the dream state
Hello and welcome to the November 2001 issue of Horizons Magazine. It's finally
beginning to feel like fall, with brisk northern winds giving us cool nights and less
humidity. The acorns fell from my oak trees a month late this year, hmmm, wonder
what that means? It's been an unusual growing season - for us, too. Many are feeling
a little off the mark recently, mostly in response to news reports, or hearing well meaning
friends talk about their concerns.
As a society, we're influenced not only by what we hear our friends and coworkers talk about all day long, but by what the media puts in front of us every day. When we're young, we watch tv and are influenced to act and talk and dress like our favorite actors. Whether we grew up with shows like Leave It To Beaver, All In The Family or Married With Children, we thought these shows portrayed typical family life. We tended to think things were like we saw on tv and in the movies unless we learned otherwise. I used to think every time an automobile got hit, it was going to catch fire and blow up. I was in my 30's when I realized that wasn't the case. Cartoons taught kids that you can hit someone over the head with a frying pan and it just makes a boing sound and they bounce right back. How many folks have learned otherwise?
Our minds are programmed by tv commercials that suggest which products to use to stay young and slim; which clothes to wear to look sexy and beautiful, and which car to drive to appear rich and powerful. Love songs on pop radio stations constantly send the subliminal message that while "love hurts," I "can't live without you, girl" and "I'm so lonesome I could die." (Jeez, how co-dependent is that?)
It doesn't matter whether we believe these things on a conscious level, it's just helpful to realize our subconscious minds are being programmed on a daily basis by what we see and hear.
At the checkout counters, the tabloids shout the latest shocking "news." Whether you think it's true or not, on some level every one of us is impacted on a subconscious level by whatever words or actions we see every day. If you watch tv, go to movies or read newspapers and magazines (this one included,) you are getting your daily dose of subconscious programming, or indoctrination into someone else's belief system and school of thought. Just because you're bombarded with it, however, doesn't mean you hafta take it in and accept it as your truth. The fact is, ALL media reports are biased.
Why do we hear mostly "bad news?" Because media sources get their information primarily from 911 calls, police reports, fire rescue reports, ambulance calls and hospital emergency room logs. It's not like reporters hang around street corners watching what's going on - they get their info from daily incident reports and leads. When was the last time you were stopped by a reporter on the street asking, "Do you know of any good news?"
Since what we focus on determines what we experience, it's helpful to guide and direct our focus. Despite the tragedy of Sept 11th, good news prevailed for those who had eyes to see: The four flights together held over 1,000 passengers and there was only 266 aboard. And although the buildings held over 50,000 workers, only around 20,000 were at the towers when it happened. And of those, almost ? lived to tell about it. So when you think of the event, where is your attention focused?
Now we're being bombarded in the news with scares of anthrax going thru the mail. You can choose to focus on something else instead. If you believe in your essential well-being, no matter what is presented before you, that attitude goes a long way in keeping you healthy. It's proven that hopeful thoughts boost your immune system. It's proven that whatever you're focusing on, you're attracting more of. It's proven that attitude is a critical factor in recovery from diseases formerly considered terminal. It's proven that expectation and belief influence outcome and physical manifestation.
"Well," you might ask, "how do my expectation and belief influence the outcome if I find myself surrounded by a gang of thugs trashing my car at midnight?" Good question. The answer is that if you're attracting that type of experience to you, you've got some momentum going from the past, and there's always time to change it. It may take a while to change your attitude and focus, which you must do in order to change your attraction. It may take some intense sessions of focusing on what you want and why you want it, focusing on appreciation and thanksgiving for what you already have, before you can be free of the momentum of your past thinking. You're the one who determines how long it takes to change what you're attracting to you. And it's as simple as turning your thoughts toward what that great guru, Pollyanna, told us all along: look for the good in every thing and every one; find something to appreciate and be grateful for in every situation.
In this issue, Laura Hyde tells us how to use dreams as a pathway to your soul. It's true that dreams can be a great healing tool and can be a pathway to higher consciousness, healed relationships and discovering your life's purpose. Much of what my life has turned out to be was first suggested by dreams. Solutions to problems have come to me during dreams. In dreams, I've felt the touch and heard the voice of long-departed loved ones, and awoke feeling as if it "really' happened. The comfort is real, whether the dream is or not. The solution is real, whether the dream is or not.
Some say the dream state is simply an astral projection, although you don't hafta be asleep to astral project. In Jerry Gross' article Astral Projection: Doorway to a New Dimension, he demystifies this process and gives insights into the benefits. One of the benefits is that it makes you aware of how powerful you are as a human being, and also conquers your fear of death. I practice astral projection on a regular basis and I regularly go into trance states. I've done a lot of out of body exercises, so it's pretty easy for me to envision my existence apart from my physical body. I think that when we die, we're just one moment here and in the next moment we blink ourselves into another existence, kind of like going to sleep in our bed and later waking up in a freer arena where travel and creation happen at the speed of thought. That's what I believe meditation, trance states and astral projection help prepare us for.
The more I practice separating my consciousness from my physical body, the less fear of "dying" I have. The less fear of dying I have, the more I see things from the higher perspective and the more I recognize how powerful we really are. The more I see things from the higher perspective, the more peace I have in my life. I become more proficient in when and where to place my energy. I'm less disturbed by emotional turmoil, and more capable of deep sensual pleasure in the simplest, most mundane happenings. While I'm often lucid in my dreams, I rarely take control and begin to steer the dream in a particular direction. I do, however, spend time each day in creative visualization, and I take total control there, so in dreams I just like to go with the flow and see where it takes me.
I had an interesting dream last new moon night. I'd fallen asleep listening to the soft sounds of Fairy NightSongs and then had vivid dreams of initiation in a tribal setting. I found myself in a circle of maybe 100 people, 2 rows deep, and everyone in the first row either had a musical instrument or had set up an altar in front of them. In the middle of the circle was a small fire around which the various practitioners would perform their rituals. We were next to a river. Some were dressed in ceremonial costume, others bare chested and bare legged; the colors were outrageously vivid. Some would go into the circle and dance furiously around the fire. Others would throw herbs and incenses into the fire and create smoke and smells. Some created tinctures with oils and water, and sprinkled it in all directions. A few merely stood in the circle and rotated slowly, gazing deeply into the eyes of each participant. Twice during the circle, I locked eyes with the central figure and saw a blinding flash of light and felt a shock go through my body. Just before the second time, I realized I was asleep and was being given initiation and healing in the dream state. I awoke shortly thereafter. I found I'd fallen asleep listening to the cd player, something I almost never do. And while the first cd was soft music, the next 4 hours were authentic trance music from various sacred traditions: a Sufi dervish rite, Tibetan overtone chanting, Moroccan healing ritual, Zimbabwe's Mbira spirit ceremony, a Hindu temple festival. Wow, talk about programming the subconscious!
.Alan Cohen says in this issue, "Boredom is not a condition, it's an attitude. Anything can be boring if you bring a closed mind to it. Anything can be fascinating if you bring an open mind to it." If we're bored with something, it might be that we keep choosing to look at it in the same old way. Due to past programming, we may have only one way to look at it.
I grew up in Florida and so all I knew was the Florida climate - hot and muggy. I'd see commercials on tv showing folks running along a beach, wearing sweaters and jackets and I'd wonder "why are they wearing such hot clothes?" On my beaches, even at sundown, it was hot and steamy. Or tv commercials for hair conditioner and all I could think of was "conditioner only weighs your hair down and the humidity already does enough of that." No one ever had fluffy hair for more than an hour after blow drying it anyway, everyone knew that. Or face makeup and powder, "Jeez who'd wear that? You're only gonna sweat it off as soon as the sun comes out." Forget body lotion, you'd be slipping and sliding by noon.
Then, the first time I travelled out of Florida and away from the humidity, I understood! Light bulbs went off, and I had insight into how limited my perception had been. In Colorado, I had to stop and buy hand lotion, for the first time - ever. Out of the humidity, my skin soaked it up. By Utah, my hair was fluffy and gigantic. In the cool, dry air, I felt more energetic than I'd ever felt, and wanted more physical activity . I'd been used to the sub tropical humidity of Florida, and that was all I was programmed for. All it took to de-program those beliefs was a cross country trip. Ah, if it only were all that easy!