If this is true-if there is an inner and outer world, both of which mirror the entire creation in any of its parts-then we, as parts, contain the information of the whole, as does everything around us. Not only does a grain of sand describe the universe in which it occurs, but each of our minds also contains the encoded information of a greater intelligence, just waiting for the right reference beam to trigger the image. Perhaps this is why gurus can trigger shaktipat, and sympathetic vibration can trigger altered states of consciousness.
If both inner and outer worlds appear to function holographically, then the question must be asked: Is there any difference between them? Are we, ourselves, also holograms? As we slowly dissolve our self-created ego boundaries and embrace more universal states of being, are we merging our consciousness with a greater hologram? If each piece of the hologram contains information about the whole, though less clearly, is that why we gain clarity each time a new piece of information fits into the puzzle? As we grow and expand our understanding, do we not see things more and more as one interpenetrating web of energies, one picture?
At this time these questions have no definitive answers. Few could argue that what is considered "external" does influence our perceptions, thoughts, and memories, becoming "internal." Few could argue that there is a structure inside of us which encompasses energies above and beyond the external world. Doesn't this internal structure, in turn, influence the external world? Can the construction of our mental holograms be projected outward to take form on the material planes? Karl Pribram seems to think so, and in a most down-to-earth fashion:
Not only do we construct our perceptions of the world, but we also go out and construct those perceptions IN the world. We make tables and bicycles and musical instruments because we can think of them.27
It is this principle that best illustrates the abilities of the ajna chakra-to perceive and to command-and the psychic reception and projection of imagery with the outside world.
SEEING
All that we see are our visualizations. We see not with the eye, but with the soul.28
It has been estimated that in the sighted person ninety percent of our information comes through our eyes-more than through any other organ or sensory means. It follows then that a large portion of our memory and thought processes are also coded with visual information. This of course varies from person to person, as some people are more visually oriented than others. While the visual experience of the world may often be limited or misleading, there is no doubt that it is a fundamentally important level of consciousness.
Visual information can be defined as a pattern which communicates spatial relationships, reaching us without the necessity of physical contact (as in touch). These relationships describe form, as in size and shape, color, intensity, location, movement, and behavior.
The physical eyes see by focusing reflected rays of light onto the retina. The focusing is done by the cornea, which takes a larger pattern of light and reduces it, inverted, onto the retina. The retina is made up of rods and cones which are stimulated by varying intensities of light. When light hits these cells, a chemical reaction takes place, triggering nerve impulses. These impulses are then conducted along the optic chiasm to the cerebral cortex of the brain, in the form of electrical impulses. No actual light enters the brain.
It is not really our eyes that see, but our minds. The eyes are merely focal lenses for transcribing information from the outer world to the inner. The brain does not actually receive photons of light, but rather encoded electrical impulses. It is up to the mind/brain to interpret the electrical impulses traveling along the optic nerves into meaningful patterns. This is a learned ability. In persons blind from birth whose sight is later restored by surgery, it is found that their first perceptions are only of light and they must struggle to learn to make meaningful images of this perception.z9
We also must remember that it is not matter that we perceive, but light. When we look at the world around us, we think that we see objects, but what we are really seeing is the light reflected by these objects-we see what they are not, we see the spaces between them, the spaces around them, but we cannot see into the actual objects. If we see red, then the object absorbs all frequencies except red light. We confirm its presence by touch-but our hand moves through the empty space. It too cannot feel the object, but only the edge of the object. What it feels is the textured boundaries of the empty space. From this perspective, matter can be seen as a kind of no man's land-a world we cannot enter except perhaps in very thin slices-penetrable by light under a microscope, or through glass and crystals. We experience our world through a dimension of empty space.
CLAIRVOYANCE
In order to see, you have to stop being in the middle of the picture.
-Sri Aurobindo30
The most significant aspect of consciousness at the level of the sixth chakra is the development of psychic abilities. While psychic perception is not always visual, as in clairaudience (from chakra five), or clairsentience (chakra two), the timelessness of clairvoyant information allows it to encompass a greater scope than any psychic abilities discussed thus far.
The term clairvoyance means clear seeing. This is seeing that is not muddled by the opaque world of material objects normally defining our limited sense of space and time. The words clear and seeing quite accurately describe the processes involved: to be clairvoyant, we need to look in the spaces that are clear-to look at the fields of energy, not at the objects themselves; to look at relationships, not things; to see the world as a whole, and to reach with our minds directly and clearly for the information we want. The more clarity we have within ourselves, the better we're able to see the subtle properties of the world around us.
To see implies a far deeper perception than to look-as exemplified by Don Juan in the Carlos Castaneda series. When Castaneda looked at a person, he only perceived a body, facial expressions, clothing. When he learned to see, he perceived a luminous egg surrounding the bodythe web of interpenetrating energies we call the aura. When Don Juan looked at his brother dying, he was deeply grieved, but when he instead changed his mode to seeing, he understood the greater process involved and could learn from it.
Looking is the action of seeing, but seeing is the internalizing of the image into understanding. Take, for example, the common expression, "I see." It generally means that someone has been able to take a small part of information and fit it into a scheme of the whole. Just as each bit of a hologram clarifies the whole picture, each new thing we look at becomes immediately incorporated into our sense of wholeness, bringing more clarity to our internal picture.
How do we do this? According to Pribram's model of the hologram, our mind/brain acts as a kind of stage upon which our visual images play. When the proper cue is given (the holographic reference beam), the images appear on the stage. But where and what are the actors?
The actors are the slides, stored holographically, as colors, shapes, sounds, and tactile patterns. There is no carousel in the brain keeping complete and separate images, but instead portions of the brain may produce qualities such as red, warm, fast, or quiet. These qualities combine in unique ways to create the images we see.
We can think of the third eye as a mental screen upon which we cast our slides for viewing. If you close your eyes and remember your first car, you may be able to see the color, the texture of the upholstery, perhaps a small dent on one side. In your mind's eye you can walk around the car, seeing the front and the back as you choose, just like the three-dimensional effect of a hologram. The actual car need not currently exist. The image exists apart from it. By focusing our attention, the image is retrieved.
In your mind's eye, you can see what you choose to look at. If I ask you the color of your lover's hair, you can mentally retrieve that "slide," look at it, and tell me what it is. Our memories are holographic.
Can you create an equally vivid picture of a car you would like to have? Can you picture the color, the make, the vanity plate
on the back? Can you visualize yourself driving it, going down a country road, the feel of the steering wheel in your hand?
That car may never be yours to own, so your visualization is called imagination, even though it may seem just as real as your memory. If, however, you won a sweepstakes, and a car such as the one you just visualized came to you, then your visualization could be considered precognitive-a form of clairvoyance. The difference lies in the result, but the process is the same. Through development of visualization and imagination, we simultaneously develop the means for clairvoyance.
The process of clairvoyance is one of specified visualization. It is a matter of systematically being able to call up relevant information on demand, regardless of whether it had been previously known. Our minds are using a self-made reference beam in the form of a question, to retrieve previously unknown data from the holographic memory bank. For instance, you may ask yourself to look at the area around someone's heart chakra with a specific question that needs answering, such as something about their health or relationship. That question becomes the reference beam that "lights up" that particular piece of information in the holographic pattern.
We have stated that we transcend time in the sixth chakra. We need not limit accessible information to what has been learned in the pastwe can also retrieve information from the future. The only difference is that we are actively creating the reference beam that will bring forth the image, rather than waiting for some point in future time where circumstance will call it forth. To quote novelist Marion Zimmer Bradley, "I don't decide where my stories are going. I just peek into the future and write down what happened.""
Few people believe they can see something outside ordinary knowing, something they haven't literally seen or been told. There is no permission to have that information and no current explanation for it, so most people don't even bother to look for it. In order to see something, one needs to know where and how to look. We look for things in places where they are likely to be. We need not have put them there ourselves-we need only understand the basic order in which those things occur. The decimal system at the library is a prime example. So is finding the appropriate item in an unfamiliar grocery store. You survey the store, noting its general layout, you know what category the item belongs in, you superimpose the two mental images and head to that section to look more closely. Voila! Your mental cross-referencing clicks in place as the sight of the item fits into your precreated mental niche.
Accessing mental information is really no different. If you tried to remember who told you a particular joke at a party, you would review the people at the party, the people you had personal conversations with, all the time keeping the joke in your mind, waiting for the right piece of data to fall into place. When you hit the correct memory, the image would "light up" in your mind-as if illuminated by a clarity that the other images did not have. In this process we look through thousands of bits of data, sorting and deciphering, until we "see" the pieces that fit.
Once we know where to look for data, we need to know how to look. How many times have you looked for something you knew was in a particular place and still been unable to find it? How many times have you looked right at something and failed to see it? How many times have you accessed your memory and failed to bring forth the information you knew was there?
Accessing memory is a process of finding the right code (the right reference beam) to bring the holographic image back to life. Just as a computer contains data that is accessible only with the right command, so do our mental images require the proper mental image to unlock them.
The development of clairvoyance depends on the development of the visual screen and the creation of an ordering system with which to access information for the screen. If we don't label our slides, we won't know what it is we're looking at. The development of visualization is the ability to retrieve, create, and project images onto the mental screen. Once this is done, seeing depends largely on asking the right questions.
We are not limited to slides we have "holographed" ourselves. If the holographic model has any validity, then we have access to an infinity of images, each created by an infinity of brain wave patterns. We need only call it up by finding the correct "reference beam."
Many people begin with Tarot cards, palmistry, or astrology to use as a structure that can provide the reference beam. The card brings up a variety of images, the person you are reading brings up another variety of images. What points seem most important? What points seem to "light up"? Where do the waves of information cross and become strongest?
To look at something clairvoyantly, we not only need a reference point with which to retrieve the data, but also a blank screen to view the information. This comes with practice, patience, and a quiet and open mind. Emptying the mind of images, through meditation, paradoxically allows one to better see what images there are. Learning to focus the mind, creating a one-pointedness, allows one to look deeper, and therefore see more. In clairvoyance there are no substitutes for a clear and quiet mind.
Because these nuances are so subtle, it is common to ignore or invalidate them. Just as we cannot hear the whispers of telepathy in a noisy world, we can't see the subtle movements of the etheric realms if we expect them to be outlined in neon. Following is a typical exchange involving a new student of clairvoyance:
Third Person: Well, I was running in the sunshine today, which I love doing, but I tripped on a root and fell. I kinda banged my knee a little and it's still sore. I guess that's relevant.
(enter validation!)
Third Person: Yes, as a matter of fact. But not as hard.
Whether a parapsychologist would consider this kind of seeing to be a "hit" or a fraud is beside the point because this exchange is not with a developed clairvoyant, but with a beginning student just learning to see. The process begins with learning to notice what you already see. This is heightened by validation of subtleties. The best way to obtain legitimate validation is to ask! The more we test our perceptions, the more we learn about our abilities and the more we can trust our strong points and develop our weak ones. In a world so bombarded with physical visual stimuli, and so ignorant of the internal images, validation is crucial.
In searching for validation, it is also important to realize that it's O.K. to be wrong-at least while learning. Being wrong doesn't mean that it is impossible, or that you have no psychic ability. Instead use that feedback to refine the seeing: look over what you thought you saw; search for the grain of truth; see if you can find some correlation in your mind's eye to the objective information you've been given. So often when people "guess" wrongly their reaction is, "Darn! That answer was my first impression but I discarded it!" Unless you are purely shooting in the dark, there is usually some grain of truth to all honest perceptions.
Clairvoyance, then, is a matter of seeing the inner relationships of things-the fitting of the part into the whole. It is done by searching for the cross-point, or interference pattern between our question (the reference beam) and the piece of information that best fits the space we have created for it. The potency of the image that clicks into place sets it apart from the infinite number of other possible answers. Through meditation, visualization, and training, we can develop our abilities to perceive the subtle difference between the information we request and the countless other possibilities.
CHAKRA SIX EXERCISES
Yogic Eye Exercise
This is an exercise for strengthening and centering the physical eyes; also good for eyestrain, vision improvement, and general fatigue from doing a lot of paperwork or heavy reading.
Begin in a seated meditation position, spine straight. Close your eyes and bathe them in the darkness. Bring your awareness to the point between your eyes, in the center of the head. Feel the darkness there, and let yourself bask in its quiet calm.
When you feel centered, open your eyes and gaze straight ahead. Slowly look upward, stretching your eyes skyward, without moving your head. Then trace a straigh
t line downward, gazing as low as your vision can reach, still without moving your head. Repeat upward, and then downward again, then return your eyes to center, and close them, returning to the darkness.
Open your eyes again and center them. Then repeat the above movements, going instead from corner to corner, first from upper right to lower left, two times, then from upper left to lower right, also two times. Return again to darkness.
Repeat again, moving from far right to far left, returning to darkness after two times. The final time, after centering your eyes, make half circles, first on the top, then on the bottom, and finish by rolling your eyes "around the clock," making a complete rotation, stretching your eyes as far as they can go, both clockwise and counterclockwise.
Close your eyes again. Rub your palms together briskly, until you feel your hands become warm. When the heat feels sufficient, place your warmed palms over your eyelids and let your eyes bask in the warmth and darkness. (See Figure 7.3, page 307.) As the heat dissipates, slowly stroke your eyelids, massaging your forehead and face. From here you can either go into a deeper meditation or return to the outside world.
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