The Aikido student visualizes that his arm is a firehose
spewing high pressure water, and suddenly that arm becomes twice as strong as
normal. A monk in Tibet visualizes a burning core suspended in a sphere of
dark, empty space, and his body produces so much heat that his pillow made of
ice not only melts, but steams throughout the night, where sleeps exposed to
the elements. The monk is able to get up in the morning and dry soaking wet
towels by holding them against the heat of his body. The professional athlete
drills visualization of winning scenarios and his stats improve
correspondingly. The hypnotist or neuro-linguistic programmer learns to word
things in certain ways that are more effective at reaching into the deepest
parts of the mind.
These are positive examples. Many people visualize the
things they fear or worry about. When we give the mind a scenario, it plays it
out in a kind of simulation. This wouldn't be so bad if we were clearer in
ourselves about how well we know others and ourselves. Many people think they
do not visualize, which is a highly doubtable thing.
Mental images can be fleeting and vague, and some people
don't understand that they are using the mind's eye in those cases.
Visualizations developed out of long habit can flit by in a microsecond, or be
so ingrained in us that we don't even notice them. These things can crop up
like memories, and probably are at least related to memories. We wouldn’t fear
things in the future without some kind of memory containing a warning to cause
us the anxiety. Even then, creative imagination isn't confined to the visual
realm; we can just as easily imagine a touch, or a voice, or a situation- all
are coming from the same source.
It is not common to intentionally visualize things, though
the practice has been around for a long time and is steadily growing. There are
any number of books on the subject now in the public domain, free for the
picking from online archives.
Some marginal success can probably be had from these old
techniques, but I am interested in a "beefed-up" version. What would
be the difference of result if we took a weight lifter and had him visualize
lifting his target weight, and also took another lifter and had him visualize
lifting wrecking balls, or planets, or neutron stars?
What happens when we greatly exaggerate elements of our
visualization? What happens if we visualize, not the specfic thing we want, but
the catalyst for our mind to reach a certain conclusion? One common mark of
genius is the use of creative imagination. Large equations have been rendered
into stories about the travels of some character, each part of the story a
symbolic representation of part of the equation. One can sit in meditation and
visualize stretching down and touching their toes and find themselves able to
bend deeper than they could only a moment before this visualization takes
place.
This kind of visualization helps set information in the
mind, both by helping to associate it with different things we know, as well as
directing our full attention at the new information. This ought to make it more
likely to transfer from information to actual knowledge we can use.
I am interested in what can be done, even more than what
once was. What can we do in our time
to make the world and life a better experience for everyone? It seems that this
is the common ideal set out as motivation for any book that discusses things
that could change the social order. The claim, however, is often followed by
content that restricts freedom, or promotes elite organizations and views, or
is racist, or generally has some kind of major flaw. Plato's republic inspired
this great dream of Utopia, inspiring dozens of snuffy academics and
philosophers to crown themselves the best fit to rule the earth.
Visualization isn't much different than dreaming. We can
learn in dreams (just the other night I had singing lessons, and I can make a
note much better!). There is no reason not to suppose that we can learn from
imagining just as easily as dreaming or observing others. Tesla claimed to
invent his devices completely in the mind first, before building a single thing!
When you visualize, try blowing it out of proportion. Make
it a little bit impossible, a little harder than you expect, or exaggerated in
some proportions. Draw upon modern imagery, especially if you were or are a fan
of cartoons, comic books, and anime. The tibetan monk can imagine a tiny sun in
a black sphere; that's fine for him. With our imagery, we can imagine ourselves
to be completely made of flame, or create that same heat-building sphere
between our hands. An ancient martial artist might imagine the wind behind him,
where we can concieve of a jet engine. A caster of chi can imagine that it
flows out and touches his target, but why can't we imagine a vast blade of chi-force
arcing out like a scimitar, travelling for a thousand yards?
The variations are as infinite as the imagination itself. We
can stay in the realm of reality, and go a little overboard here and there.
Imagine the weights as heavier, the running faster, the sight better, and the
breath deeper.
Add as much emotion as you can to a visualization. Make it
into a true spell with every part of you, and you will get the best possible
results. Make a sigil, concoct a ritual, chart a day and an hour, and visualize
the outcome.
In all texts, it is important to do things now. There is no
future, and the past is only background setting. "If it isn't good enough
today, then it wasn't good enough yesterday and won't be any good
tomorrow." If we want it today, then we need to make it possible yesterday
and receive it today. Tense is a major factor in magic or manifesting or
speaking the word. Our words have far reaching effects that would boggle the
unprepared mind.
A man named John C. Lilly wrote a book titled "Programming
and Meta-programming," that frames human development under terms of an
interactive bio-computer.Here, visualization is taken to a whole new level,
more in line with what I am thinking myself.
The idea is that the subconscious and imagination already
know how to perform any change we might desire or concieve, but to be effective
the concept for change has to fit certain requirements. First of all, the
conceptual vehicle for change must be adequate to meet the goal in mind.
Second, the conceptual vehicle must engage the mind and the emotions: that is,
it must be important enough to inspire change in every instance. Third, the
concept must speak the proper language for the recipient of the messages we
wish to send; it must speak the language of symbol, metaphor, myth, and legend.
Therefore, we have these three realms in which to divide and
organize a methodology. Each individual is uniquely coded in their structure,
sees things a little differently, so it makes little sense to look for a
universal method of spiritual unfoldment. Were such a thing possible for man,
he would have only ever had one religion, and no one would be able to shake his
faith in such a foundation. A perfect religion is the equivalent of a direct
doorway to Divinity, and while such a religion is sure to exist, it does not
appear to exist as a defined structure in any single tradition. It seems more
like each faith is a general roadmap by which a few, here and there, manage to
find their way out of the darkness.
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