dreams,
the greater our cohesion."
He said
then that it was time for me to have a practical application of what I had
learned in dreaming . Without giving me a chance to ask anything, he
urged me to focus my attention, as if I were in a dream, on the foliage of a
desert tree growing nearby: a mesquite tree.
"Do
you want me to just gaze at it?" I asked.
"I
don't want you to just gaze at it; I want you to do something very special with
that foliage," he said. "Remember that, in your dreams, once you are
able to hold the view of any item, you are really holding the dreaming position of your assemblage point. Now, gaze at those leaves as if you were in
a dream, but with a slight yet most meaningful variation: you are going to hold
your dreaming attention on the leaves of the mesquite tree in the
awareness of our daily world."
My
nervousness made it impossible for me to follow his line of thought. He
patiently explained that by staring at the foliage, I would accomplish a minute
displacement of my assemblage point. Then, by summoning my dreaming attention through staring at individual leaves, I would actually fixate that
minute displacement, and my cohesion would make me perceive in terms of the
second attention. He added, with a chuckle, that the process was so simple it
was ridiculous.
Don Juan
was right. All I needed was to focus my sight on the leaves, maintain it, and
in one instant I was drawn into a vortex-like sensation, extremely like the
vortexes in my dreams. The foliage of the mesquite tree became a universe of
sensory data. It was as if the foliage had swallowed me, but it was not only my
sight that was engaged; if I touched the leaves, I actually felt them. I could
also smell them. My dreaming attention was multisensorial instead of
solely visual, as in my regular dreaming .
What had
begun as gazing at the foliage of the mesquite tree had turned into a dream. I
believed I was in a dreamt tree, as I had been in trees of countless dreams.
And, naturally, I behaved in this dreamt tree as I had learned to behave in my
dreams; I moved from item to item, pulled by the force of a vortex that took
shape on whatever part of the tree I focused my multisensorial dreaming attention. Vortexes were formed not only on gazing but also on touching
anything with any part of my body.
In the
midst of this vision or dream, I had an attack of rational doubts. I began to
wonder if I had really climbed the tree in a daze and was actually hugging the
leaves, lost in the foliage, without knowing what I was doing. Or perhaps I had
fallen asleep, possibly mesmerized by the fluttering of leaves in the wind, and
was having a dream. But just like in dreaming , I didn't have enough
energy to ponder for too long. My thoughts were fleeting. They lasted an
instant; then the force of direct experience blanketed them out completely. A
sudden motion around me shook everything and virtually made me emerge from a
clump of leaves, as if I had broken away from the tree's magnetic pull. I was
facing then, from an elevation, an immense horizon. Dark mountains and green
vegetation surrounded me. Another jolt of energy made me shake from my bones
out; then I was somewhere else. Enormous trees loomed everywhere. They were
bigger than the Douglas firs of Oregon and Washington State. Never had I seen a
forest like that. The scenery was such a contrast to the aridness of the
Sonoran desert that it left me with no doubt that I was having a dream.
I held on
to that extraordinary view, afraid to let go, knowing that it was indeed a
dream and would disappear once I had run out of dreaming attention. But
the images lasted, even when I thought I should have run out of dreaming attention. A horrifying thought crossed my mind then: what if this was neither
a dream nor the daily world?
Frightened,
as an animal must experience fright, I recoiled into the clump of leaves I had
emerged from. The momentum of my backward motion kept me going through the tree
foliage and
the greater our cohesion."
He said
then that it was time for me to have a practical application of what I had
learned in dreaming . Without giving me a chance to ask anything, he
urged me to focus my attention, as if I were in a dream, on the foliage of a
desert tree growing nearby: a mesquite tree.
"Do
you want me to just gaze at it?" I asked.
"I
don't want you to just gaze at it; I want you to do something very special with
that foliage," he said. "Remember that, in your dreams, once you are
able to hold the view of any item, you are really holding the dreaming position of your assemblage point. Now, gaze at those leaves as if you were in
a dream, but with a slight yet most meaningful variation: you are going to hold
your dreaming attention on the leaves of the mesquite tree in the
awareness of our daily world."
My
nervousness made it impossible for me to follow his line of thought. He
patiently explained that by staring at the foliage, I would accomplish a minute
displacement of my assemblage point. Then, by summoning my dreaming attention through staring at individual leaves, I would actually fixate that
minute displacement, and my cohesion would make me perceive in terms of the
second attention. He added, with a chuckle, that the process was so simple it
was ridiculous.
Don Juan
was right. All I needed was to focus my sight on the leaves, maintain it, and
in one instant I was drawn into a vortex-like sensation, extremely like the
vortexes in my dreams. The foliage of the mesquite tree became a universe of
sensory data. It was as if the foliage had swallowed me, but it was not only my
sight that was engaged; if I touched the leaves, I actually felt them. I could
also smell them. My dreaming attention was multisensorial instead of
solely visual, as in my regular dreaming .
What had
begun as gazing at the foliage of the mesquite tree had turned into a dream. I
believed I was in a dreamt tree, as I had been in trees of countless dreams.
And, naturally, I behaved in this dreamt tree as I had learned to behave in my
dreams; I moved from item to item, pulled by the force of a vortex that took
shape on whatever part of the tree I focused my multisensorial dreaming attention. Vortexes were formed not only on gazing but also on touching
anything with any part of my body.
In the
midst of this vision or dream, I had an attack of rational doubts. I began to
wonder if I had really climbed the tree in a daze and was actually hugging the
leaves, lost in the foliage, without knowing what I was doing. Or perhaps I had
fallen asleep, possibly mesmerized by the fluttering of leaves in the wind, and
was having a dream. But just like in dreaming , I didn't have enough
energy to ponder for too long. My thoughts were fleeting. They lasted an
instant; then the force of direct experience blanketed them out completely. A
sudden motion around me shook everything and virtually made me emerge from a
clump of leaves, as if I had broken away from the tree's magnetic pull. I was
facing then, from an elevation, an immense horizon. Dark mountains and green
vegetation surrounded me. Another jolt of energy made me shake from my bones
out; then I was somewhere else. Enormous trees loomed everywhere. They were
bigger than the Douglas firs of Oregon and Washington State. Never had I seen a
forest like that. The scenery was such a contrast to the aridness of the
Sonoran desert that it left me with no doubt that I was having a dream.
I held on
to that extraordinary view, afraid to let go, knowing that it was indeed a
dream and would disappear once I had run out of dreaming attention. But
the images lasted, even when I thought I should have run out of dreaming attention. A horrifying thought crossed my mind then: what if this was neither
a dream nor the daily world?
Frightened,
as an animal must experience fright, I recoiled into the clump of leaves I had
emerged from. The momentum of my backward motion kept me going through the tree
foliage and
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