By Michael
Tell me a dream you remember. It can be an old one
There’s an underground room, like a shrine, like a catacomb, There are books in there, and there’s a meeting of a religious sect. Christian. It’s like a Pentecostal, or seventh day Adventists. It’s both old Gnostic, from the early centuries CE and a newer born again type religion. The room is full of candles and people. And a voice is saying that it was unfortunate that some books of the bible were ‘lost to the devil, by only being translated in to Aramic’, so that while the books were ok, the fact that they were only translated in to this one idiom was problematic and so this form of religion grew up there which was unorthodox, schismatic, heretical. I’m destroying the place and I am pulling down the books from alcoves.
I am a warrior and I am fighting people that approach me in a courtyard. And there is no competition in powers of battle. Until one character turns up and what I do has no effect on him. And he says ‘see, we’re not all ‘… He’s differently trained. He’s in a martial spiritual discipline like Shaolin, his powers of fighting are spiritual and different to mine. This guy is a master.
I’m asleep, it’s night time and I sense this character has come back. He’s come back in the form of a Hindu hunter with a bow. I’m to avoid the arrows and there’s more involved than mere speed to successfully avoid the arrows. I’m to avoid three attempt but with each attempt he can use more than one arrow, there’s an intuition and awareness mixed with speed so I barely avoid each arrow and do so, there’s a ‘no-mind’ almost like feeling the chi, He can shoot at all manner of angles, I don’t need to be in his line of sight, I can be behind a wall etc. The arrows are impossibly fast and accurate. I’m am almost done dodging them, until I begin thinking I’m almost done, and then I really am done, I’m hit.
The World in which its set
Underground, catacombs. Outside at night.
These are the characters in the dream, beside yourself
The archer, the catacombs, the books, the arrows, the people, the bow, the wall
Initial interpretation
Early scripting. There’s something in early Theology where only books in Greek were allowed in to the New Testament, only on this basis alone, much other material was let out. The books in my dream didn’t… fit the script? Heresis means a splitting. These scripts were heretical and had to go underground. The destruction by the dream ego seems excessive, why the emphasis on doctrinal purity?
The ‘going to sleep’ and being awakened by the archer seems relevant. And the test to rely on intuitive feeling rather than … what’s being relied on with the books, conceptual. The teaching is harsh, but merciful. In seems like karma… echoed by the Hindu nature of the archer, for the destruction of the books in the catacomb. Destruction of old books is anathema to me in waking life, as is ‘orthodoxy’ bracketing texts out on the basis of language.
What are three fundamental life issues that you are dealing with in your life right now?
1. Bringing the outside in to harmony with the inside,
2. Ordering the mundane details of life, they feel at odds and something I have to pretend are important; I do not always feel invested in ‘my’ life
3. Entropy, age, feeling of things being too late
Questions for Archer
If one character had something especially important to tell you, what would that be?
Archer, how to shoot the arrow from the heart and from the energy not the head
Now become the feelings and actions of that character. Act it out! Experience life from its perspective. What does that feel like?
A cosmic principle, balance. Unfettered by oughts and should. Cold as star light and as old. Natural law and justice.
Archer, would you please tell me about yourself, and what you are doing?
The pupil has destroyed the sanctuary. There is no need for this. Because he has he has brought me forward. I am to teach him, my teaching is a mercy though it is hard. I am Saturn, I am karma. I am the initiator. I have blue skin and gold on my forehead. I am the action without thought that is not ‘thoughtless’ in every martial art. I am calm cool expertise untrammelled.
(Character), what do you like most about yourself? What are your strengths?
Clarity. Calm. Poise. No falsification.
Archer what do you dislike most about yourself, what do you dislike most about yourself? Do you have weaknesses? What are they?
No, I fulfil the function perfectly. I am here as a teacher.
Archer, what aspect of this dreamer do you represent or most closely personify?
His clarity beyond illusion, the doing and not the thinking. Commitment to a course of action with no hesitation.
Archer if you could be anywhere you wanted to be and take any form you desired, would you change? If so, how?
I would continue in this situation, I am mixture of a Samurai and Shiva.
(Continue, answering as the transformed object, if you chose to change. Otherwise, continue as the character.)
(Character), how would you score yourself 0-10, in
Confidence (fearlessness) , 0-10. Why?
I am an instrument, my confidence is not my own, it comes from quietude, I am an instrument of the universe and I’m here to teach you. I’m a hollow tube in line with the sun. Like an arrow, the suns rays. 9 , 9 is the divine part, 1 is the human. When taken by the divine part there’s no hand releasing the arrow it releases itself.
Empathy, (your ability or interest, as the character to look at the world from the perspective of other characters in the dream) 0-10. Why?
I am empathetic, but it is not a sentimental empathy, it takes clarity to be a harsh taskmaster because you can see the outcome and the situation, empathy is high, 9
I must be somewhat antipathic towards them, but it is in service of greater empathy, I give what is needed not what is wanted. Who wants to wake up and be chased by the arrows of a man with a bow!
Wisdom, (is not intelligence, but rather insight and good judgement) 0-10. Why?
My wisdom is timeless, 10, but it is not mine, I am a force of nature, it’s not about ego. And what I am showing the dreamer is that it is not about ego either. Ego got him killed in this simulation. Get out of the way. This is what this is about. The arrows rain down, think about yourself and your success and victory and they’ll hit you like a thunderbolt. The discipline is something else.
Acceptance (is assent to the reality of the situation) 0-10. Why?
9. I am a force a principle. Fulfilling a function. My face here is severe but even this he knows is not malice or capriciousness.
Inner Peace, (equanimity, tranquility0-10. Why?
Inner peace is zen. But it’s not bound up in any morality about goodness, it’s alignment with the force of gravity, like a dropping arrow.
Witnessing, (objectivity, including towards oneself) 0-10. Why?
9 I see him wherever he moves to dodge the arrow, I can shoot around corners and over buildings in an instant, my aim is true
(Character), if you scored tens in all six of these qualities, would you be different? If so, how?
Questions For Catacomb
If Catacomb character had something especially important to tell you, what would that be?
Catacomb
Now become the feelings and actions of that character. Act it out! Experience life from its perspective What does that feel like?
Rough, hewed stone, mud, low ceiling, crowded with the heat and steam of people. Hidden. Covert. A rat hole, ways to get out in case of attack.
Catacomb would you please tell me about yourself and what you are doing?
I am meeting place for this sect. They come together and read their texts, they hide the texts in my walls. It is Roman times. Persecutions are high. They cleave to their texts.
Catacomb what do you like most about yourself? What are your strengths?
I am underground, I am spacious but low ceiling, I am shaded and dark, allowing them to steal away if need be
Catacomb what do you dislike most about yourself. Do you have weaknesses? What are they?
If I am discovered by the Romans I could be demolished, blown up, dug out
Catacomb, what aspect of this dreamer do you represent or most closely personify?
Hidden place for hidden heretical aspects to gather. Underground they practice forms that were given originally, there’s nothing innately wrong, but the language deemed acceptable is other than the language they read their texts and celebrate their rites in. The more time goes on the more these forms will seem idiosyncratic, but that’s because all forms change, and what was once widespread is later isolated.
Catacomb if you could be anywhere you wanted to be and take any form you desired, would you change? If so, how?
I would be the Parthenon in modern form with a memory of the rites and people that moved through. There’s a sense of two times at once. I would not be back in Ancient Greece, and I would not be only a tourist attraction. It’s spring and the myrtle and olives and laurels are fragrant. The spirits of all that went before are there, it’s like an illustration in a book.
(Continue, answering as the transformed object, if it chose to change. Otherwise, continue as the character.)
Parthenon how would you score yourself 0-10, in
Confidence (fearlessness), 0-10. Why?
7, I am concerned with time the destroyer of all things. My form is weathered from many centuries, some parts are in ruins,
10. If I were ten, I would be eternal, the rarefied mathematical form. Geometry. The Platonic ideas.
Empathy, (ability or interest, as character, to look at the world from the perspective of other characters in the dream. 0-10. Why?
I am dedicated to Athena, she is the goddess of wisdom, I think empathy and wisdom are very closely related. Empathy is high, rites that happened here are changed by each generation. And the rites of centuries ago ring through. I am
happy to house them, happy to see the blue sky where once was my roof. Happy to smell the fragrant plants.
Empathy is pretty good. Poor Greece in modern times!
Wisdom, 0-10. (Is not intelligence but rather insight and good judgement) Why?
You can come here for wisdom, I am one of those sites, I am a place of wisdom, I am a space to open to that wider wisdom. The telluric currents. You need to make space to hear the telluric currents.
Wisdom is an ongoing process, it comes from stillness in all of the movement around, and in participation. Opening a space at the centre of my self for the activity of the people.
Acceptance (is assent to the reality of a situation), 0-10. Why?
In my physical form, I have qualms and reservations. As an eternal form I am imperishable, like the spirits of the people.
I would be more geometry and less marble.
Inner Peace (is equanimity, tranquility 0-10. Why?
Inner peace is spacious, even more now, because I have no roof, and I am a temple to nature.
Witnessing, (objectivity, including towards oneself) 0-10. Why?
I have witnessed all manner of rites. Some high some low, these are human working out their rites, humanity is an evolving thing, risen apes not fallen angels.
Parthenon
Parthenon if you could live Michael’s waking life for him/her today, would you handle the 3 life issues differently?
1. Bringing the outside in to harmony with the inside, I
2. Ordering the mundane details of life, they feel at odds and something I have to pretend are important; I do not always feel invested in ‘my’ life
3. Entropy, age, feeling of things being too late
Parthenon, what life issues would you focus on if you were in charge of Michael’s life?
1. I would bring the outside in to the interior, I would make the boundary between the two clear. I would renovate such that there was invisible glass, I would be congruent with the landscape while adapted to human need. Once he had a dream where there was an ultra modern house made of glass, but it was in harmony with the landscape being almost invisible from outside. Beside it was a megalith, a standing stone in a rural field. Standing in the house the person could stand right beside the megalith, but with a wall of glass and wood floors, thoroughly comfortable but as close as possible to nature while living in a house, warm and cosy. Technology in harmony with the natural world. This is the way we should build. The ultramodern hardly noticeable, and the very old given pride of place. Both of these the megaliths and house are human centred. Centre the human and build around it. Centre what other humans have built in the past and build what you build in harmony with them enhancing them. The inside needs a certain amount of protective cosiness. It needs to see what is around it. Standing by the stone, it’s a windswept cold field except on the most beautiful of days, with the adaptive structure, it is possible to be in touch with this ancient stone marker and the people and consciousness who put it there. It honours them.
2. The people who build the Parthenon did so according to classical designs of order. Creating according to this order both shows it out didactically, and aesthetically just looking at it has a harmonising effect. It is the same with looking at geometry or listening to music. Looking at ordered things, listening to ordered things, creates inner order. Soak yourself in higher order like this, your soul takes on the shapes that it is exposed to and it calls them out. Put Bach on your iPod, drink Green tea. Look at the fibonnaci and golden mean. Make a ‘yoga’ of ordering things, in and of itself this ordering is therapeutic, and when these things are put in to place they will suggest their use.
3. The antidote to entropy is aesthetics as spoken about. The very act of ordering is meaningful in itself, stay with the ordering not the ‘what I will do with this when it is ordered’ —that end follows out of the ordering process itself. Age brings paring away seeing the pattern clearly, because much that isn’t pattern becomes uninteresting, distracting nonsense, endlessly repeated.
Parthenon in what life situations would it be most beneficial for Michael to imagine that he/she is you and act as you would?
When he needs to order, there are many situations in his life he could make a yoga of, mess is disturbing, order is calming. Order what can be ordered, do some every day. This could be tidying your physical space, doing house repairs, ordering Endnote. Do it as a yoga and your brain will focus on the process
(Character), what do you think your function was in the dream?
I’m a place of ceremony and sanctuary . In transformation I go from underground to overground, I go from hidden in the bowel of the earth running to something sought out. I’m not like official Roman religion, though Iaccommodated that later. There’s no coercion to come to the Pathenon, there’s no need to show outward compliance as in Roman state religion. The question of heresies doesn’t apply. This is polytheistic, there are many forms, ultimately they all come from the same place, like the constellations circling the pole star, like the drawing on the inside of the tepee walls. These are natural places in the landscape fashioned by human as a place of the gods, to meet with the gods. It makes no sense for one human to force another human to justify his or her relationship with the gods, I am a sanctuary in the soul.
The ‘heretics’ were feared of heresy, the ‘orthodox’ keen to maintain doctrinal purity. All of these are guesses, and based on hearsay. What’s needed is for each person to discover the relationship anew. The books in the catacombs were dusty. The beliefs as moribund as the people persecuting them. Both should step down, their hostilities.
I’m there as a place of neutral sanctuary for all to meet. The society is predicated on such places. Independent of factional squabbles. It’s nomos natural law, just as much as the patterns and number in the architecture.
Parthenon what do you think about the part of the dream with archer?
The archer is that hole in the coin. I am the Vitruvian man. He’s the urge and pattern coming from the emptiness, I’m the flowering. He’s the signature of things; I’m the manifestation.
He’s bringing the pupil in to line with this so that his arrows can be fast and true. It’s severe but important. It’s Zen.
Parthenon do you do drama? Do you get into playing the victim, persecutor or Rescuer?
I am a protector, but not a rescuer. I am a sacred space.
Parthenon if you don’t, what is your secret for staying out of drama?
I do drama when it is Greek drama, the first religious rites were drama. Melodrama I do not do because it is a silly debasement of the real purpose of drama which is transformation, catharsis. I remind him that he can look at the techniques of drama with regards dreams This has been shown to him in his dreams in different ways.
Parthenon you are imaginary. Why should Michael pay attention to anything you say?
I am the sacred space for the people to come together. The Mooksies and the Gripes ha ha ha (Joyce images for every warring ‘brother’ thoughout history)
Parthenon how is Michael most likely to ignore what you are saying to him/her?
He is likely to get busy, and neglect space.
We get lost in our habits, routines, addictions, dramas. No one is immune. Parthenon what would you recommend that he/she do about that? Remember the vitruvian man, order comes out of space.
Thank you, Parthenon Now here are a couple of questions for Michael
What recommendations that were made seem important or helpful?
Renovate the interior, design it according to classical form. Immerse in beauty, your soul takes on the order of what it is immersed in. Bring this pattern up on the hill and hold it as a space for people and external to come to
Would you like to make a plan to put them into effect in your life
The ordering of the inner space of my house is an ongoing meditative process. It’s been neglected for a long time. I plan to approach this as a yoga. Organise from the inside of the house out.
The organising of written material is the same. Ongoing as a meditative thing in itself. Order as to what to do with that material will come out of that. What needs to be established is ordering in and of itself as a yoga.
For the ordering internally according to classical pattern, a diet of good classical music. When I lived in Florence and was reading Godel, Escher Bach. I would walk around Florence listening to Kunst Der Fugue. Listen to good quality music first thing, drink green tea.
When internal house is ordered, then some external repairs. Then building menu, around health goals. Much material on both in library being labelled and will be ready for use. Then comes rebuilding the body.
ARCHER if you could live Michael’s life for him, how would you live it differently?
1. Bringing the outside in to harmony with the inside, I
2. Ordering the mundane details of life, they feel at odds and something I have to pretend areimportant; I do not always feel invested in ‘my’ life
3. Entropy, age, feeling of things being too late
Archer, if you could live Michael’s waking life for him/her today, would you handle the 3 life issues differently? If so, how?
1: This is quietude, resolving the inner conflicts. In your dream it was orthodox and heretics with their different languages and traditions. What is needed is the space of a temple, in your dream the parthenon. No concept of the ultimate can get it. This is the hole at the centre of the vitruvian man. There must be a certain emptiness, that isn’t any form of craving, when this is so the outside doesn’t get tangled, and what needs to be done is done without prevarication. The arrow is released, nobody releases it. This is practicing form, and practicing form again. You should take ordering as a yoga, and soak yourself in things that are beautifully wrought. Soak them in. The outer order comes from the inner, space. Zen and the art of whatever it is that you need to do.
2: Take it as a yoga. Ordering itself is a discipline and very satisfying. More than anything it is training yourself to order. It becomes hardwired in to your being.
3: Working on the physical body and on diet is a big part of this feeling of age. On the Entropy, entropy is things coming apart, which everything will, and yet this is order while you are in this body and alive. It is the ordering coming from space within. Otherwise the flow is wrong, empty chaos outside and forced order inside, it’s emptiness, non action, sunyata inside and form coming from attention outside.
Archer, what life issues would you focus on if you were in charge of his/her life?
1: These are essentially the same question. Feel the internal space, order the external one, take it as a yoga. Reflect again on the vitruvian man.
Probably be good to have the Vitruvian Man as a visual at hand when you are doing your yogic organizing.
Archer, in what life situations would it be most beneficial for ____ to imagine that he/she is you and act as you would?
Everyday, decisive action.
Archer, what do you think your function was in the dream?
To show him expert masterful action coming from emptiness and clarity.
Archer, what do you think about the part of the dream with catacomb- temple_?
The catacomb was furtive because of the civil war between the orthodox and the heretics. Both want to be right. Mu un-ask the question. Rather space. The acropolis is spacious and there is no compulsion to adhere to understandings of the ultimate. Each worships and offers in their own way.
Archer, do you do drama? Do you get into playing the victim, persecutor or Rescuer?
I’m seen as a persecutor but that’s not my function.
Archer, if you don’t, what is your secret for staying out of drama?
I’ll play the role to free the dreamer, when I do it’s what I do. I am a teacher in this instance.
Archer, you are imaginary. Why should Michael pay attention to anything you say?
If he wants to learn he would do well to pay attention, the dream was about the QUALITY of his attention, the attention was on the doing, not the evaluation or anticipation of result.
Archer, how is Michael most likely to ignore what you are saying to him/her?
To gauge his progress, he’ll step outside the doing
Archer, what would you recommend that he/she do about that?
When he’s doing do. Look more to characters in dream for evaluation. When he says I will consider this or I will consider that, this should be rather listening to what a part has to say on a given question. It’s not him on one side and all of the characters in the other; they are all him and he is them. ‘Thinking’ is listening to what the parts say. For pros and cons he can invite both to the acropolis and hear what they have to say
Thank you, Archer, Now here are a couple of questions
Look back over the interview and list the specific recommendations that were made:
Ordering is the yoga. The parts come together to order. Quiet internally is to be had from brokering peace between warring parts. Keep coming back to the Vitruvian man. Quality of attention when doing.
Thinking is a matter of listening to different parts
Would you like to make a plan to put them into effect
The plan is similar to the one already stated from the catacomb temple.
A sacred space, where conflict is resolved and the parts gather. This is the IDL work.
Externally, ordering bit by bit, from internal to external.
Take the IDL resolving of conflict and the ordering of external circumstances first as a yoga, it is the actual ordering process to focus on.
Soak the mind and soul in beautifully ordered things—music in particular
