literature

Astral Projection Training

Deviation Actions

shufflng's avatar
By
Published:
704 Views

Literature Text

She sat on the ground across from him, cross-legged like he was in a classic meditation pose, mirroring him, down to the way he was posing his wrists on his knees with his forefinger touching his thumb and the rest of his fingers fanned out.  They breathed together, in through the nose and out through the mouth, silently attempting transcendence.  Just like he had told her, she allowed the thoughts in her mind to float by her, like clouds, acknowledging only their lining as they came close to her perception. This part was hardest for her, fighting the desire to think so hard all the time, to analyze each thing as it whizzed by. The first few times she had tried to meditate the thoughts whizzed by with incredible speed, like cars on a super highway.  He had told her it was her city living that had her mind wound so tightly, warned her that it would take a while to slow all that down, and told her to just be patient with it. It was worth it, he said. 

Now, when she closed her eyes the thoughts were still in high gear from her job at the bar, but she was able to slow them down pretty quickly as though she was turning down a stereo.  It was nice actually, to know that serenity didn't come from a naked field she would never see, but from the noise of her thoughts calming down from their natural din into something more soothing, something smoother.  It's ironic, she thought becoming aware of herself more clearly, how I feel like I feel more when I'm doing less.  She chuckled to herself, though not with her body --just with her mind; more of just a gently spreading pleasant sensation pulsing once from her core until it filled her whole being.  Isn't it just like zen to be so contradictory?  She shifted her focus, since telling jokes to herself was keeping her grounded and unable to really clear her mind, however funny and clever she might think they were at the time.  Maybe she'd tell him when the session was over, and they could share a laugh.  Yeah, ok now focus. Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth, focus on the passage of air filling the lungs and then leaving. The canvas of her thoughts began to whiten, spreading away like a dissipating fog.  She pictured her body in the center of the room, alone, though not really solid. 

You're doing well this time, she heard him say, even though she could no longer hear him. She could hear him all around her, in her head, but not in the booming stereo speaker kind of omni presence. It was as though his voice was a thought in her head.  

Wait, how can I hear you, she asked, projecting herself out to whatever she could fathom to be the source.

If I explain it to you, you'll lose it. Remember your training, he said to her in a soothing tone. Remember not to think right now, just feel. Don't analyze, observe. 

Am I projecting right now, she thought out loud. She tried as hard as she could to contain her excitement, since excitement causes the body to become more aware of itself. Her body was sitting on the floor across from his, slowing breathing in and out, doing nothing at all special. If she wasn't careful her mind would center its attention on her body rather and pull her out of her projection.  He'd told her all about it, the same reason it's so hard to wake up in your dreams, or to remember your dreams. Dreams are just ephemeral thought, raw energy output by your subconscious without the regulation of your conscious.  Your body will prioritize its physical self over its mental self because there are more immediate threats to the physical self than there are to the mental self, which is why she still has to trick her mind into ignoring her body. Breathing in and out, nice and regulated breaths in and out, until her mind is satisfied with the safe condition.  The early thoughts that she had to slow down were lines of defense taking over for her closing her eyes, analyzing her surrounding and keeping her updated on the state of danger around her. Intellectually she knew she was in no danger, but the brain isn't a two-way street. She didn't get to send a memo to her neocortex signaling the "all clear", it was something her mind had to satisfy itself of.  As she repeated the activity over and over again it became easier to trust the setting, and her mind became calm more and more quickly. Usually she got to a simple, peaceful state, each time some kind she brushed with any sensation of transcendence she always became too excited and sucked herself out of it. 

What do we do now, she thought. 

Anything you want, she felt him say.
It took about a half an hour, maybe closer to forty minutes, to get the whole thing down; the expedience for which I am now more pleased about the accumulation of so much hard-earned experience. I'm hoping first off that those who have not attempted meditation can get a lucid (haha) picture of what goes on through the whole process of disciplining your body with such an exercise. Maybe there's enough here to easily digest so that someone intimidated by the humdrummery and incoherently contradictory nature of meditation and zen in general as its generally put out in all the self-help renditions and how to guides might be more inclined to give it a shot. Finally I hope I do justice to the experiences of other people who have found interest in the higher mental practices of meditation, lucid dreaming, and astral projection.

I think the title is funny, though I'm open to suggestions. I have been watching a lot of The Tick lately, so my judgement of what's clever and what's excessive is a little unreliable right now. It seems to suit the general tone of the piece, though I hope it doesn't give too clinical a first impression or too sarcastic a final consideration. Really, I'm hoping that since it risks both of those conditions that it instead hits dead center between them. Small target, feed me back.

Edit 1: couldn't help but reread it and found some classic iPhone autocorrect and typo mistakes right in the first line that made the whole piece seem sloppy, amateurish, rushed, and disrespectful of the time the reader invested for a chuckle and maybe a new nougat of insight. To the first three anonymous readers, I apologize for subjecting you to that. You deserve better, and I'm capable of better. Please hear my psychic plea and come back so that I can entertain you as I originally intended. Love, Matthew

Edit 2: Critique for theWrittenRevolution [link] . The questions required are contained in the second paragraph and in the first, provided you have the experience required to have an opinion. I am most interested in how the people of the dream community find this piece in respect to their perspective of reality.
© 2012 - 2024 shufflng
Comments5
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
austinblan's avatar
This is very interesting. Is this a personal experience? It reminds me almost of a a mage/psychic story. (coming from a fantasy writer XD)
When I was a lad, I used to mediate for maybe half an hour or so in my room, once my homework was done. Just sit there, and be peaceful, and imagine whatever i wanted to, without focusing too much on it. It was very interesting.