You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
CHAPTER THREE ENTERING THE DARKNESS<br />
recreating them in a mental picture.. Make a conscious effort to keep<br />
your mind relaxed, allowing the sharpness of the image to form on its<br />
own. As your imagination hones into your surroundings, do not detach<br />
yourself from it. Do not see it as being some other place far away, or<br />
something in your imagination. Know that it is around you, in the<br />
place where you sit. It surrounds you, and you are a part of it. While<br />
you are imagining, recognize the reality of that which you see.<br />
The sharpness of your visualized surroundings having reached<br />
their peak, ease your mind deeper into the image, as if there is more<br />
there that is not yet seen. Let your mind drop into a more subtle state<br />
of awareness. Continue to see in your mind your surroundings, yet at<br />
the same time try to look through them. Relax yourself, allowing your<br />
eyes to rest comfortably and your mind to cease straining. In this<br />
relaxed state, unite that which you feel and that which you see in your<br />
mind. You can naturally feel the darkness around you at all times, but<br />
cannot see it or even imagine it. Here, you must do both.<br />
Some may have problems with this, while others will instantly<br />
feel as if they are literally falling through rings of reality, dropping<br />
into an unknown realm. Either way, do not allow this to distract your<br />
attention from the visualized image of your environment. Do not escape<br />
I<br />
into the ecstasy or the frustration of the experience, but know that<br />
your reality is here, now, in that chair in the Temple that you see in<br />
your mind and that exists around you. "'j"<br />
i<br />
As you begin to sink into the greater reality of your surroundings,<br />
the image in your mind will begin to change from its appearance when<br />
you first entered. The physical structure will remain the same, but<br />
something evil will begin to form. A black mist will seem to materialize<br />
in the room, growing thicker and blacker every second. Understand<br />
that this is not coming into being, but was always there yet was never<br />
before seen. Try to visualize this black mist forming, or at the very<br />
least become profoundly aware its presence.<br />
With your eyelids remaining lightly shut, inhale slowly as before.<br />
Sense the darkness around you contracting, constricting until it seems<br />
like a coagulated mass of midnight is resting just off of your skin. Hold<br />
the air in your chest, intuiting the surrounding darkness following<br />
cue, lingering close. Allow the sensation to smother you, to suffocate<br />
you in its blackness.<br />
Let the breath out. As it leaves your chest, sense the cumulative<br />
39