Transcription
Good morning, everyone. To start to get into, present more of the specifics, the nuts and bolts around imaginal practice, and instructions about meditative practice with images. But just before we actually do, to help to put that again in context, and make a couple of more general points.
We said, again, there are so many possibilities regarding imaginal practice in terms of the ways of approaching, the attitudes, inclinations, directions, and sort of theories, if you like, that support or help direct that practice and set it in different frameworks, slightly different or very different. Just to point out (some of you may be aware): many of the modern psychotherapies and psychologies that do include images in the way they work, in their approaches, often suggest or hold to the view that it's really important to, in some ways, kind of make the images concrete, actualize them or make something solid out of them in some way or other -- so for instance, a painting, or a sculpture, or something like that, sand play, if you know that, or some kind of psychodrama or mime, or even, for instance, in the way sometimes Gestalt psychologists work, setting up different chairs in a room, and moving, the individual moving between these different chairs, and in each chair embodying an imaginal figure or a dream figure, embodying and speaking as if they were or from that embodiment of that imaginal figure, and then dialoguing between different imaginal figures, or between the ego and the imaginal figure, by moving between these chairs and dialoguing and embodying.
In those ways of working, oftentimes -- not always, but oftentimes -- it's postulated or posited or supposed that in doing that, the whole work with the images is allowed to move into greater depth. It goes deeper. It is given and allowed more power. It becomes more powerful and has greater effects on the whole being, on the psyche.
So just to point that out, and say that here, on this retreat, it's not so much what we're doing. I'm more interested in the meditative work with images, just for this retreat, here, now. And particularly, as I did say and I will say again and again, the tuning to the energy body, and the resonances and effects on the energy body, the inclusion of the energy body awareness and sensitivity is very much a thread and a basis of the imaginal practice. Why? Partly because we're limited in time. Partly because that more meditative approach and the sensitivity to the energy body is just more a bias resulting from my particular training and what I have spent the most time developing, etc.
But I do also, in addition to that, sometimes wonder whether a making concrete -- through sand play, or this moving between chairs and having spoken dialogues -- whether sometimes, not always, sometimes, rather than allowing the images to have more effect, it actually circumscribes the effect, and limits it in different ways, sometimes. The advantage of the more meditatively focused work, and especially the sensitivity to the energy body, is that it allows a degree of subtlety and nuance of awareness and work and navigation that isn't really that possible outside of meditation, outside of sensitivity to the energy body. It may be sometimes that this kind of concretizing -- I should have a better word, because I know I use that word to mean 'taking the images too literally' sometimes -- but this kind of concretizing sometimes may keep things a little too gross, and keeps the whole imaginal practice and awarenesses that are involved at a more gross level than what may be allowed through the meditative exploration with the subtle body, with the energy body.
Having said that, of course, to reiterate the point that images, as we are talking about them, generally speaking they won't be separate from our lives, separate from our acts, and what we embody in the world, and the way we move, and the way we speak, and what happens in life, and also not separate from our perceptions. So there isn't really a division here. And then something, for instance, like ritual, that whole huge area of beautiful potential with ritual, we're not really going to get into it at all on this retreat, unfortunately. It's also something where I don't consider myself an expert. But that would be an example, again, of perhaps the possibility of an embodiment, a making concrete (in the good sense, positive sense), an acting out, and a transformation of perception that's somewhere between, let's say, the more meditative and the more gross, or rather includes both.
So just to point out, there are lots of possibilities, again. We're leaning towards the more subtle end of the spectrum in terms of the awarenesses and the navigation, so that's one thing. Secondly, and I mentioned this briefly, but I want to reiterate it: on the whole, on this course, mostly we will be spending or you will be spending in your meditations more time with the energy body. Whether that's in the groove of the intention of cultivating the samādhi and developing that well-being through the energy body, or whether it's in the groove of this subtle attention to the emotional manifestations in the energy body, or just the energy manifestations, you'll be spending, generally speaking, more time working directly with the energy body and focused on that than you will with images, just in terms of actual minutes on the clock or whatever.
Sometimes with images, it's the case that even two minutes with an image, meditatively with an image, can be extremely fruitful. It doesn't always need to be this long, sort of forty-five minute stretch with an image. Sometimes that's helpful. Sometimes two minutes has so much in it in terms of what it gives the being, how it transforms things, what's possible there, the richness of it. Of course, again, there are exceptions to that, and sometimes a person, for instance, practising, let's say, mettā or compassion, and using an image such as Kuan Yin or Jesus or whoever as their principal method for developing and cultivating that particular brahmavihāra, mettā or compassion or whatever, or even for someone where an image of Kuan Yin, for instance, or some compassion-imbued imaginal figure arises more spontaneously, that may require a more steady bathing. But it's very grounded, as all these images are, in the energy body, as I'll talk more about. But generally speaking, there will be more time spent working, I think, on this retreat, with the energy body than with the images. One moves back and forth, and I'll explain a bit about that also. And of course, as always, there are exceptions to that.
So let's say a little bit about possibilities for -- what should we say? -- eliciting images, or receiving images. I want to run through seven possibilities that can be employed in order to contact images.
(1) The first: we've talked a lot about, put a lot of emphasis on this track of intention of the direction of samādhi, of cultivating the well-being in the energy body, and that spreading and harmonizing to whatever degree, and the mind kind of pervading that space of the energy body, filling it out and hanging out and marinating a little bit in the well-being. A lot of samādhi practice has to do with this what I call 'marinating,' just filling out and really being there, very alive, soaking it up, the mind, the body soaking up whatever degree of well-being is there more steadily, and learning how to do that, learning how to play with the images, etc. So within that, we can delineate two possibilities, in terms of eliciting images.
(1.1) One is, either deliberately or spontaneously, images can be deliberately evoked or created, or may just arise in relation to the energy body itself. We talked about all kinds of examples: lines of energy or breath energy in certain ways, or clouds of light, or fire, all kinds of things, and many more possibilities. But deliberately or spontaneously, images are created or conjured, if you like, or arise themselves in relation to the energy body itself.
(1.2) In addition to that, the samādhi itself is also quite a fruitful sort of territory, if you like, of the being -- a realm, range of experience, for the arising of other images of a much wider range than just about the energy body itself or images of the energy body. So as we go in and out of some depth of samādhi, whatever that range is -- and as I said, it's an infinite range there. Going in and emerging a little, after a while, emerging from whatever depth of samādhi just a little, and perhaps slightly relaxing the intensity of the attention (in some cases, that can be helpful), emerging a little from this marination in that space of well-being, relaxing the intensity very slightly of the attention, and relaxing also the sort of exclusive focus on the energy and texture. That exclusive focus is really what makes it more of a samādhi state. Relaxing that exclusivity. So we're very much in touch with the energy and texture of the energy body, but we're not solely paying attention to that. And in this slightly emerging, that state, then, is, generally speaking, a state of consciousness with more softness, and it's more diffused in terms of perception and the quality and the feel. This is a very fertile state. It's like fertile soil for images to arise in, can be.
I can't remember if I've mentioned it on this retreat already, but some of you have heard me refer to a kind of maxim from the alchemical tradition in the West. I've forgotten who wrote it, but it says, "Don't proceed," with your alchemical operation, "Don't proceed until everything has become liquid." So what does that mean? How can we, if you like, translate that to the alchemy of imaginal practice? What does this mean, liquid, everything to become liquid? In the way I would like to interpret that, 'liquid' does not mean 'flow.' We tend to think liquid, flow; it has something to do with impermanence, when you see impermanence or something. Or things are changing a lot, very fast; one's in touch with the process or the flow of phenomena or whatever. No, that's not really what's meant, I think, or the way I want to mean this phrase. It's more the liquidity has to do with the insubstantiality. So liquidity as opposed to solidity: "Do not proceed until there's a sense of insubstantiality to things."
Now, states of samādhi, whatever their range, or deep mettā, etc., these are states where the perception then -- on emerging a little, or in the state itself -- is of less substantiality, less sort of density, if you like, of solidity. So that's part of what this "everything has become liquid" means. Where the perception of things, of body, of world, etc., is a bit less substantial, it's more fertile for images.
But the second aspect of this sort of "everything becoming liquid," this perception and sense of everything becoming liquid, is not just the insubstantiality, but the sense of not quite being real or literalized. So, sometimes actually the perception of the world and the self and the body, but particularly the sense of images, as well, in this case -- that we know this is not something to be literalized. Also, we know it doesn't exist independently of the mind and the way of looking, as we've said several times. In Dharma language, it means it's empty. It doesn't exist independently of the mind and the way of looking.
So there's an insubstantiality to things, and we know that things, and in this case particularly images, are not to be taken with the same kind -- emphasis on kind -- same kind of reality as, say, tables and chairs and physical bodies. Neither are we literalizing an image. We recognize it's image and it's not independent of mind. This sense of the insubstantiality, and this attitude or view, realization, make up this "everything becomes liquid."
So that's the first: the samādhi either in relation to the energy body itself specifically, or just emerging a little bit, having more this sense of everything becoming liquid, and then that's a fertile space for images to arise. Just hanging out, and images can arise in that space.
(2) This attitude or view that doesn't literalize or solidify or concretize images, and realizes they're not independent of mind, and insubstantiality of things -- that also, that attitude and view and perception comes out of and is implied in emptiness practices. I know I keep referring to emptiness on this retreat. We don't have time to talk too much about emptiness. Let's just say this: if you're familiar with emptiness practices, different emptiness practices, then you will recognize that both this sense of insubstantiality, and the attitude or view or understanding imbuing the perception that "this is not independent of mind," of not taking it literally, of not giving it that kind of concretizing reality in the perception, those factors, those aspects are always there in emptiness practices.
Like so many things, there's a range of degrees of how much they are there, what is the degree of insubstantiality imbuing perception, and what is the depth and comprehensiveness of that deeper view and attitude that realizes everything has become liquid. In becoming liquid, it can be, as I said, the world itself becomes liquid in this sense: it's not so concretized in the understanding and the perception as we usually do in our culture, of course, and the human mind naturally. So there's a range of degrees certainly of depth of emptiness practice and samādhi, etc., but of how much everything becomes liquid in this sense, so that the more familiar you are with and the more you understand and develop skill with emptiness practices, all the way down to really knowing that time past, time future, and time present are thoroughly empty, space is empty, as well as the self and all things -- all of it is empty; everything, if you like, is liquid. These emptiness practices themselves, again, emerging a little from the depth of those meditations, everything is rendered insubstantial, that view of emptiness, of liquidity is really there, and again, it's a very fertile space or range of consciousness for the images to arise.
With a lot of practice with emptiness practices, there can be a very fluid movement -- and with the samādhi as well -- a fluid movement between either the samādhi or the emptiness practices and the imaginal practices. Particularly with a lot of practice with the emptiness practices, sometimes we can sort of, if you like, decide to go deeper into the imaginal realm, just by invoking some emptiness practice, engaging some emptiness practice, or invoking the felt insight there, the memory of the insight, or the memory of that depth of emptiness, to let go in that moment of the perception of substantiality, particularly with regard to the body.
So with a lot of practice with emptiness practices, one just leans into letting go of the perception of substantiality, and that can take us deeper into the imaginal realm, more vividly, more alive, more stable. And that comes as a fruit of, in most cases, quite a lot of emptiness practice. And then one can play with a fluid movement between different realms, if you like. Very, very possible. It's just a result of learning the right practices, and taking the time to do that, and then learning some skill that way. So that's a second. There's (1) the samādhi and then (2) the emptiness practices.
(3) A third possibility for eliciting, or, let's say, receiving images, is actually when we're emotionally upset, when there's some kind of emotional upset around for us, then it's possible to feel that emotional upset -- we've alluded to this already -- feel the emotional upset, and let it constellate an image. So let the very emotion sort of take form to constellate an image. It's not necessary that the emotion that we're feeling is even clear or definable. We may not have a label for it. It might feel quite a vague emotion. Completely okay. Not important. Or it might be very clear, and we might have a word for it. It doesn't matter. Sometimes it might be that an image constellates or comes out of -- again, we alluded to this -- a sort of more nebulous, low-energy or contracted state. Strangely, that can also be a fertile place for images. Something is, if you like, tied up in there, and that's tying up the energy in this contraction, and it's, we could say, waiting to be discovered. That state of low energy or a contracted state may not be about anything in particular: "I'm sad about this," or "I'm depressed about that." It may not feel to be about anything in particular. It doesn't need to be. Or, again, we might feel, for instance, beset by the inner critic, harangued and harassed by the inner critic, and in that kind of emotional upset with that. It might be that we let -- or even encourage -- that inner critic to take form as an image, to constellate as an image. Maybe there's a dialogue with that image of the inner critic. These territories of the psyche where we're quite upset with something emotionally are also themselves very fertile, can be very fertile.
There's an important factor here. It has to do with -- again, we've touched on this, and I want to say more about it later on -- but the importance then of trusting the, if you like, intelligence of the image. Perhaps even in this inner critic there's some kind of intelligence operating, maybe. But in the image that comes from other kinds of upset, etc., there may be some kind of intelligence that the image is coming with and expressing, some kind of soul-intelligence. And we used this word telos, as well, this "Where is it pulling me, directing me, showing me the way to?" And that might not be clear. But there's something about trusting that telos is operating in and through and with the image, an intelligence, a soul-intelligence is operating, a psychic or an intelligence of the psyche is operating in and through and with the image -- even though it might seem that what's going on for us is egoic, or this image is an image that we would tend to think of it as not very noble, as egoic, maybe as a defilement, to use a Buddhist word, or something that looks kind of strangely antisocial in its behaviour or whatever, in the image. Something so crucial about trusting, trusting the image, even if it might not fit my picture. I'm going to come back to this. It might not fit my picture, in terms of the smaller frames that the mind has arrived at for deciding what's good and bad. We'll come back to that.
But it's interesting here, then, because we have on the one side, so to speak, these states of samādhi and the whole range of that, and states that come through emptiness practices, states of emptiness (if we can use that phrase), on the one side being quite fertile territory. And sometimes there doesn't have to be a lot of samādhi or really deep emptiness practice or whatever, but that whole range. And on the other side, there's the whole territory of upset, feeling emotionally upset. These two ends, if you like, of the spectrum are quite fertile. Sometimes, what's a little more tricky in terms of images arising, or it seems a bit harder for images to constellate, a little less fertile, is that midrange between the two -- between these more lovely, deep states of samādhi or emptiness or mettā going deep, on the one hand; and on the other hand, the more upset states. Sometimes the midrange is a little more difficult, in terms of spontaneous images arising.
That's three so far: samādhi in both those ways that we talked about, the emptiness practices if you're familiar with them, and thirdly the emotions themselves when they're quite strong and perhaps there's some upset.
(4) A fourth is simply eliciting an image, or opening that doorway, if you like, just deliberately. We said this, but just to spell it out clearly. It could be a deity, perhaps a tantric deity, or Jesus, or whatever, that one's deliberately imagining, conjuring, and then meditating on. It could be a previous image that has come spontaneously that we want to deliberately revisit, deliberately dwell with and meditate on again. It could be a dream figure, or a fragment of a dream that has made quite an impression on the psyche, perhaps from the night before or even a long time ago or whatever.
We deliberately recall, summon up that dream figure, and meditate on that as an imaginal figure. It could be a memory, as we've alluded to, that through the way we relate to it and meditate on it, we turn that into an image. It could be a person that we're meditating on, that we know or don't know, alive or dead, that the way we're relating to them, the way we're meditating on them, deliberately bringing them to mind, deliberately imagining them, that we're making an image out of that or letting them become an image for the psyche. So, as I said, it could be Jesus, it could be Kuan Yin. Could be someone like someone who comes to me, John Coltrane, quite a lot. Could be Nelson Mandela. Could be, if you know the beautiful Etty Hillesum, who left diaries in Nazi-occupied Holland in the Second World War, and was killed, murdered at Auschwitz. Beautiful, beautiful chronicles. I know I felt, very much, reading and re-reading, going back to her diaries -- one feels like she's a friend. She's alive for me in the psyche. She's close, as if I knew her. She is a person for me, through her imaginal figure.
But when there's a deliberate imagining, a deliberate constellating of an imaginal figure -- we've alluded to this several times -- then partly wrapped up in that is the question of, "What's the intention? Why am I doing this?" Is it for the cultivation of mettā? Is it for advice, that I'll ask this person for advice about this or that choice, etc.? Is it just because there's so much soul-resonance that we want to be with this image and see what it does? So there's a range, as we said, of why we would even do that. And that's tied into the whole conceptual framework. We've talked about that, and we'll return to that whole question. But in terms of practice, there's the possibility of deliberately imagining and then staying with that image. So that's four.
(5) The fifth is, for some people, or sometimes for some people, they use their imagination to sort of enter into or go to a certain place in the imagination where, in that place, it's the place where they receive images. They're somehow going, for instance, down a stairwell and through a door at the bottom of the stairwell, into -- I don't know -- some kind of basement or something. That may work very powerfully for many people. Some people don't like that. Or sometimes a monastery cell, if you like -- entering into that monastery cell, that sort of place of intense practice, that contained chamber, like an alchemical cooking chamber -- sometimes that, in the imagination, gives rise as a place for receiving different images, all kinds of images. It might be a clearing in a forest, that one's in a dense forest and comes to a little clearing. In that clearing, perhaps, other figures come out of the forest to meet you or whatever. Maybe a beach, a much more open space and sky. Maybe even a sort of corridor that one walks down that is open air, and then from each side there may be corridors that join that corridor, sort of at right angles. Perhaps you're walking down the central corridor, and out of these other corridors comes an imaginal figure. The possibilities are infinite. Sometimes people cross a bridge into a sort of imaginal [realm], the realm of the imaginal.
But again, here I would caution a little bit. Not so much caution as just put it into words to point out a differentiation and to state an inclination. The difference in entering an imaginal realm, and then, within that realm, going on a shamanic journey -- which involves moving across great swaths of territory, and meeting different figures at different points; it's really moving, there's a narrative journey -- that will tend towards more of the narrative image just by virtue of moving in time, over a long period of time or over a lot of space. Sometimes the downside of that is it kind of a little bit solidifies, sometimes, or can. The danger is it a little bit solidifies the ego that is making, the self that is making that journey. It's the journey of the self on this shamanic journey. Sometimes can [solidify], versus actually being in a much smaller, contained space, a room or something like that, with an image, or this clearing in a forest or whatever it is, with an image, and just staying there with that image in a smaller space. There's less narrative structure, often, there, and so there's a chance for the image to be more iconic/poetic. And there's more relativizing or equalizing of the self and the imaginal figure, potentially. It's not so much the self's journey, etc. So that's the fifth one: to imaginatively enter a place of receiving images.
(6) The sixth one, and this might sound funny, is catching yourself daydreaming in the meditation or another time. So daydreaming actually as a way in, paradoxically for a meditative practice. Daydreaming as a way in. One finds oneself daydreaming, and then one notices that at that point in the daydream the resonances are more pregnant, more soulful, they're much more meaningful than a usual daydream, where often it's quite contracted or disconnected, or not very meaningful, not very soulful. One might be daydreaming even in the meditation, on the cushion or whatever, and then realize, "Oh, hold on. This has a different quality to it. There's really some meaningfulness and soulfulness here. I can feel the energy opened, and the energy body opened."
So, okay, no need to just cut it then, but actually to bring a different quality of attention in relationship to that, right there, what's happening, in that daydream. And just stay with that. We turn a daydream into a meditation. I'll say more about that later on. But that's a possibility. I wouldn't use it as the sort of possibility of choice, your principal way of working. It's more just knowing, opportunistically, sometimes of course that's going to happen, and then we realize, "Oh, hold on, this is something quite important happening at this moment, even though for the last X minutes it was just daydreaming and there wasn't any meaningfulness at all. Somehow a corner got turned in the daydream, and now something through the daydream is coming that's actually quite soulful and important." It feels different, and one notices the resonances and stays with that. So that would be number six.
(7) Lastly, again, we mentioned this, but really to reiterate it. The seventh possibility is to open one's eyes in the meditation, because image, as I'm using that word on this retreat, as I said last night, the image can be the world, or, if we say, it comes through the world. It's imbued and wrapped up in the very sense perception of the world. It's not so much that an image is present as some inner, separate visual object, or even any kind of sense object, as something separate from the world that we are perceiving right now. So opening the eyes and seeing the world as image, imbued with everything that that word means, as I talked about the other night.
Doing that may or may not lead to an inner, separate imaginal object. It may do that, and that's fine if it does, and good. But it may not. It may just be staying with that sense of, the perception and the sense of the world as image. And it's fine either way. Both of them are good. In a way, this seventh possibility becomes, if you like, one of the most important openings and dimensions of imaginal practice. Whether it does lead to a separate inner image, or whether it doesn't, both are good.
So that's seven possibilities there. One last thing, more general. To reiterate: probably most people on this course will be spending more time with the samādhi, with the energy body, cultivating that, attending to either developing the well-being or just tuning to what's going on in the emotional and energetic manifestation of the energy body. There will be more time doing that.
But also to say with imaginal practices, sort of waiting for images to arise, it's just really important to be patient. Once you do this a little bit, you realize that images can arise really suddenly in any moment. It may seem like nothing's happening, or nothing's coming, if I'm waiting for some kind of image, and then suddenly it arises, or something arises. Or it might seem like nothing is staying, there's flotsam and jetsam in the mind, none of it really seems right or important, and then something comes. So really what I'm saying is to be patient. Anyway, you're spending more time with the samādhi and the energy body and that kind of attunement. But within that, within the context of imaginal practice, to be patient. Again, just a few minutes with an image -- two, three minutes -- can be very rich and very fruitful, and it will feel like "I don't need or even want too much more," because there's so much to resonate with, and so many echoes left over from this image that I don't necessarily want this two-hour imaginal thing going on, necessarily.
Again, the images may, as we said last night, they may come outside of the formal meditation, sitting in the lounge or the library, or standing on the lawn, or having a cup of tea, whatever. Just recognize, know, that they can come at any time and in any place, whether that's formal or informal meditation.
The last thing for now, I think, is just, again, I want to reiterate: sometimes not to get so locked into this idea of an image as an object, so much as a separate, discrete object. Rather, we can practise by recognizing and noticing and beginning to be interested in, and even inquire a little bit or feel, "Where is image/mythos/fantasy alive for me in my life? In what dimension, in what realm of experience and perception?" And in that sense, the image is not necessarily an object, as some kind of separate object that we then perceive. So it's recognizing, "In my love for this person, in my different kind of love for that person -- different image, different fantasy, different mythos alive there." And entering into that, feeling it, recognizing it, and sensitizing oneself to it. Or in my relationship to Dharma and practice, and the self on that journey, and in relationship to that tradition, and the Buddha, and whatever it is. Or a particular place. All kinds of possibilities there. And again, this, if you like, is the deeper and subtler end of imaginal practice, and I think, in many ways, one of the more important aspects of it.
Okay. Let's stop there for now, and then I'm going to add a little bit more later on, or quite a bit more, actually, in terms of practice. Let's stop there for now.
