The Predator

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Michael

First you're an unknown, then you write one book and you move up to obscurity. ~ Martin Myers

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[Francis]

"The sorcerers of ancient Mexico saw those shadows, and saw them as energy that flows in the universe. And they did discover something transcendental."

"They discovered that we have a companion for life," he said. "We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos, and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don't do so."

"You have arrived, by your effort alone, at what the shamans of ancient Mexico called the topic of topics," don Juan said. "I have been beating around the bush all this time, insinuating to you that something is holding us prisoner. Indeed we are held prisoner! This was an energetic fact for the sorcerers of ancient Mexico."

"Why has this predator taken over in this fashion, don Juan?" I asked. "There must be a logical explanation."

"There is an explanation," don Juan replied, "which is the simplest explanation in the world. They took over because we are food for them, and they squeeze us mercilessly because we are their sustenance. Just as we rear chickens in chicken coops, the predators rear us in human coops. Therefore, their food is always available to them."

"No, no, no, no," I heard myself saying. "This is absurd, don Juan. What you're saying is something monstrous. It simply can't be true, for sorcerers or for average men, or for anyone."

"Why not?" don Juan asked calmly. "Why not? Because it infuriates you."

"Well," he said, "you haven't heard all the claims yet. Wait a bit longer and see how you feel. I'm going to subject you to a blitz. That is, I'm going to subject your mind to tremendous onslaughts, and you cannot get up and leave because you're caught. Not because I'm holding you prisoner, but because something in you will prevent you from leaving, while another part of you is going to go completely berserk. So brace yourself!"

"I want to appeal to your analytical mind," don Juan said. "Think for a moment, and tell me how you would explain the contradiction between man the engineer and the stupidity of his systems of beliefs, or the stupidity of his contradictory behavior. Sorcerers believe that the predators have given us our systems of beliefs, our ideas of good and evil, our social mores. They are the ones who set up our hopes and expectations and dreams of success and failure. They have given us covetousness, greed, and cowardice. It is the predators who make us complacent, routinary, and egomaniacal."

"But how can they do this, don Juan?" I asked. "Do they whisper all that in our ears while we sleep?"

"No, they don't do it that way. That's idiotic!" don Juan said, smiling. "They are infinitely more efficient and organized than that. In order to keep us obedient and meek and weak, the predators engaged themselves in a stupendous maneuver - stupendous, of course, from the point of view of a fighting strategist. A horrendous maneuver from the point of view of those who suffer it. They gave us their mind! Do you hear me! The predators give us their mind, which becomes our mind. The predators mind is baroque, contradictory, morose, filled with fear of being discovered any minute now."

"I know that even though you have never experienced hunger," he went on, "you have food anxiety, which is none other than the anxiety of the predator who fears that any minute now its maneuver is going to be uncovered and food is going to be denied. Through the mind, which, after all, is their mind, the predators inject into the lives of human beings whatever is convenient for them. And they ensure, in this manner, a degree of security to act as a buffer against their fear."

He explained that sorcerers see infant human beings as strange luminous balls of energy, covered from the top to the bottom with a glowing coat, something like a plastic cover that is adjusted tightly over their cocoon of energy. He said that that glowing coat of awareness was what the predators consumed, and that when a human being reached adulthood, all that was left of that glowing coat of awareness was a narrow fringe that went from the ground to the top of the toes. That fringe permitted mankind to continue living, but only barely.

He then made the most damaging statement he had made so far. He said that this narrow fringe of awareness was the epicenter of self-reflection, where man is irremediably caught. By playing on our self-refection, which is the only point of awareness left to us, the predators create flares of awareness that they proceed to consume in a ruthless, predatory fashion. They give us inane problems that force those flares of awareness to rise, and in this manner they keep us alive in order for them to be fed with the energetic flare of our pseudoconcerns.

"But why is it that the sorcerers of ancient Mexico and all sorcerers today, although they see the predators, don't do anything about it?" I asked.

"There's nothing that you and I can do about it," don Juan said in a grave, sad voice. "All we can do is discipline ourselves to the point where they will not touch us. How can you ask your fellow men to go through those rigors of discipline? They'll laugh and make fun of you, and the more aggressive ones will beat the shit out of you. And not so much because they don't believe it. Down in the depths of every human being, there's an ancestral, visceral knowledge about the predators' existence."

"The sorcerers of ancient Mexico," he said, "saw the predator. The called it the flyer because it leaps through the air. It is a not a pretty sight. It is a big shadow, impenetrably dark, a black shadow that jumps through the air. Then, it lands flat on the ground. The sorcerers of ancient Mexico were quite ill at ease with the idea of when it made its appearance on Earth. They reasoned that man must have been a complete being at one point, with stupendous insights, feats of awareness that are mythological legends nowadays. And then everything seems to disappear, and we have now a sedated man."

"What I'm saying is that what we have against us is not a simple predator. It is very smart, and organized. It follows a methodical system to render us useless. Man, the magical being that he is destined to be, is no longer magical. He's an average piece of meat. There are no more dreams for man but the dreams of an animal who is being raised to become a piece of meat: trite, conventional, imbecilic."

"This predator is not altogether invisible to us. I think as children we do see it and decide it's so horrific that we don't want to think about it. Children, of course, could insist on focusing on the sight, but everybody else around them dissuades them from doing so."

"The only alternative left for mankind, " he continued, "is discipline. Discipline is the only deterrent. But by discipline I don't mean harsh routines. I don't mean waking up every morning at five-thirty and throwing cold water on yourself until you're blue. Sorcerers understand discipline as the capacity to face with serenity odds that are not included in our expectations. For them, discipline is an art: the art of facing infinity without flinching, not because they are strong and tough but because they are filled with awe."

"Sorcerers say that discipline makes the glowing coat of awareness unpalatable to the flyer," don Juan said, scrutinizing my face as if to discover any signs of disbelief. "The result is that the predators become bewildered. An inedible glowing coat of awareness is not part of their cognition, I suppose. After being bewildered, they don't have any recourse other than refraining from continuing their nefarious task."

"If the predators don't eat our glowing coat of awareness for a while, " he went on, "it'll keep on growing. Simplifying this matter to the extreme, I can say that sorcerers, by means of their disciple, push the predators away long enough to allow their glowing coat of awareness to grow beyond the level of the toes. Once it goes beyond the level of the toes, it grows back to it natural size. The sorcerers of ancient Mexico used to say that the glowing coat of awareness is like a tree. If it is not pruned, it grows to its natural size and volume. As awareness reaches levels higher than the toes, tremendous maneuvers of perception become a matter of course."

"The grand trick of those sorcerers of ancient times," don Juan continued, "was to burden the flyers' mind with discipline. They found out that if they taxed the flyers' mind with inner silence, the foreign installation would flee; giving to any one of the practitioners involved in this maneuver the total certainty of the mind's foreign origin. The foreign installation comes back, I assure you, but not as strong, and a process begins in which the fleeing of the flyers' mind becomes routine, until one day it flees permanently. A sad day indeed! That's the day when you have to rely on your own devices, which are nearly zero. There's no one to tell you what to do. There's no mind of foreign origin to dictate the imbecilities you're accustomed to."

"My teacher, the nagual Julian, used to warn all his disciples," don Juan continued, "that this was the toughest day in a sorcerer's life, for the real mind that belongs to us, the sum total of our experience, after a lifetime of domination has been rendered shy, insecure, and shifty. Personally, I would say that the real battle of sorcerers begins at that moment. The rest is merely preparation."

"Discipline taxes the foreign mind no end," he replied. "So, through their discipline, sorcerers vanquish the foreign installation."

"I am going to give the flyer's mind, which you carry inside you, one more jolt. I am going to reveal to you one of the most extraordinary secrets of sorcery. I am going to describe to you a finding that took sorcerers thousands of years to verify and consolidate."

He looked at me and smiled maliciously. "The flyer's mind flees forever," he said, "when a sorcerer succeeds in grabbing on to the vibrating force that holds us together as a conglomerate of energy fields. If a sorcerer maintains that pressure long enough, the flyer's mind flees in defeat. And that's exactly what you are going to do: hold on to the energy that binds you together."

"Tonight, you have really succeeded in getting me lost," I said.

"You're being torn by an internal struggle," don Juan said. "Down in the depths of you, you know that you are incapable of refusing the agreement that an indispensable part of you, your glowing coat of awareness, is going to serve as an incomprehensible source of nourishment to, naturally, incomprehensible entities. And another part of you will stand against this situation with all its might."

"The sorcerers' revolution," he continued, "is that they refuse to honor agreements in which they did not participate. Nobody ever asked me if I would consent to be eaten by beings of a different kind of awareness. My parents just brought me into this world to be food, like themselves, and that's the end of the story."

The Active Side of Infinity
By Carlos Castaneda


Someone, Somewhere (or both, in millions, or uncountable) requires, likes, needs, values, collects, drinks, eats, or uses as a drug a substance ident Loosh. (Electricity, oil, oxygen, gold, wheat, water, land, old coins, uranium.) This is a rare substance in Somewhere, and those who possess Loosh find it vital for whatever it is used for. Faced with this question of Supply and Demand (a universal law of Somewhere), Someone decided to produce it artificially, so to speak, rather than search for it in its “natural” form. He decided to build a Garden and grow Loosh. 
From experience, the Collectors have evolved an entire technology with complementary tools for the harvesting of Loosh from the Type 4M [i.e. human] units. The most common have been named love, friendship, family, greed, hate, pain, guilt, disease, pride, ambition, ownership, possession, sacrifice – and on a larger scale, nations, provincialism, wars, famine, religion, machines, freedom, industry, trade, to list just a few. Loosh production is higher than ever before...But now, at sunset, it is time again. She must go to His place. There is a goading pain on her underside that tells her this... While she eats, He will relieve the pain until morning. After that the Man will walk away with white water in a round container. The Guernsey does not know where he got the white water nor why He desires it. Not knowing, she doesn’t care.

Far Journeys, Robert Monroe

[Michael]

Thanks for putting this back up Francis.  I wanted a friend to be able to read those passages, which I was looking for a few weeks ago.  So that's damned convenient, and thanks again for that.

I suppose I should offer some opinion or other about this stuff.  Not sure what to say exactly....other than both those authors, and both those passages were quite important to me at various times in my past...and it's interesting to revisit them.

As I re-read the Castaneda passage, I'm irresistibly reminded of another one, that I can't find unfortunately, but one that I posted on another forum years ago...but sadly gone now.  And I don't know where the book has gone, and don't have the time to try to find it now.  It was another great one; The World Within the World by John D. Barrow.  In it there was one of the finest examples of alternate explanatory systems I've ever come across...mainly because of the humorous absurd aspect of the writing.  It was a conversation between two perspectives, or paradigms if you like, and the point was to explain the whys and hows of FRICTION.

It was the scientific paradigm talking to another and more absurd (from the modern POV) paradigm based on the invisible influence of tiny demons intervening in ordinary affairs.  For example, the explanation of the resistance one feels when pushing a brick across a tabletop, can be accounted for by the physical law of friction, or equally unprovable, it can be accounted for by lots of tiny demons, living inside the table-surface, pushing against the brick in the opposite direction.

The fun part of this conversation was that it made crystal clear how one system of interpretation/explanation/understanding was as good as the other, in terms of actual explanatory power within its own paradigm or worldview.  I wish I could find that now... I don't suppose you can pull that passage out of your hat Francis?

Anyway, there have been so many times in this life that the notion of invisible parasites or predators or the like has been irresistible, by way of explaining things that have happened to me, or things I've felt going on.  I've read a lot of science fiction, and that theme was fleshed out in all sorts of creative ways in the genre...

But I think it all came to a head for me in my time with Stan Grof, and the Holotropic Breathwork seesions and aftermaths.  Where yet another and more immediate and convincing paradigm was presented...that of the transpersonal perinatal dimensions...and how the birth process has such a profound effect on one's interpretive system.

At this point, I'm more uncertain than ever about such invisible phenomena, yet more at peace and somehow appreciative and amused by the whole deal...

And I still have a lot of regard and perhaps sentimental feelings about such authors and books as by Castaneda and Monroe and co.

Thanks again Francis...

[Francis]

Both pieces are alternative metaphors for the pervasive 'neurosis' of socialization. I like the castaneda piece especially because of its compelling literary form and psychological punch. Don't forget that they also laughed at van Leeuwenhoek and Lord Lister when they claimed that microbes were living beings.

[Michael]

Both pieces are alternative metaphors for the pervasive 'neurosis' of socialization.

Can you please expand on this Francis.  How is it that the pervasive 'neurosis' of socialization can be viewed as an invisible predator who feeds off of our experience, or as an invisible farmer of an indefinable valuable substance unknowingly generated by developing humans?

Seems a bit of a stretch to me, but maybe you can explain it.

[Francis]

Ok, it involves the idea that psychic thoughtforms (e.g. psycological complexes) can syphon off psychic energy from someone as 'food' for themselves. The other aspect is the idea that socialization involves the transmission and sharing of thoughtforms between people. Analogous to a mother that might pass on a microbial parasite to her child through close physical contact with her child, but in this case it is the astral body parasite, not the physical.

[Michael]

Thanks.  Yes I see now.  Though I still think it's a bit of a stretch...but a pleasant stretch nonetheless...

I'm quite familiar with the notion and phenomena of the 'psychic vampire', as well as the notion of thoughtforms siphoning energy.  I guess one can interpret those passages in such a light...

As to the idea of passing a parasite intergenerationally, this too makes sense to me.  I've certainly had to deal with my share of intergenerational familial dysfunction.  And can easily see it being passed from generation to generation.  And I've seen all too well how destructive it can be... so it's not too much of a stretch to call it a parasite being passed along, though I don't think that's necessarily the most useful metaphor available.  But it does beat the idea of 'original sin' I suppose.

One thing I really don't like about Castaneda's version, is the way he attributes all of our woes (in this passage anyway) to an outside agency which must be fought tooth and nail.  This smacks of a rather childish externalization of what might be better viewed as internal.  In the sense of owning the causes of our woes, ala shadow and the Byron Katie sort of thing...

I'm curious Francis...when you stated that

Both pieces are alternative metaphors for the pervasive 'neurosis' of socialization.

Did you mean that this was the authors intended meaning?

[Jana]

"How is it that the pervasive 'neurosis' of socialization can be viewed as an invisible predator who feeds off of our experience, or as an invisible farmer of an indefinable valuable substance unknowingly generated by developing humans?"

PROACTIVE MIRROR SOLUTIONS
Our personality-armor-resistance is largely built in reaction to the agendas and projections of others. Thus to transcend the confines of our limited ego, we can use the daily social world as a ladder of ascension. Following is a method of using our experience of the world to pinpoint the work we need to do on ourselves. For example if we find ourselves repeatedly encountering parasitic people we do a comprehensive parasite cleans on our own body.

Parasites—Paracleanse, strengthen self-identity and determination
Predators—Martial arts, aerobic and strength training
Bullies—Boxing, kick boxing, pillow punching, growling, humor
Rude—Detox liver and colon, hanging and rubbing scalp to wake up
Codependent—Redefine life mission and actively pursue spiritual vocation
Witch—Reduce dependency through learning new skills
Saboteur—Address your addictions and replace with healthy alternatives
Lost Ones—Center, Breathe, Stretch, Sungaze, Upgrade dreamtime
Sleepers—Face denial, jump in cold water, run, reduce food load on body
Petty Bureaucrates—Role play mature self-authority scenes with parental figures

That which is weak is parasitized, and open to predation. To a large extent, because the culture is not soul driven, genius respecting and shuts down emotional/intuitive knowledge, psi and spiritual sovereignty...the human culture itself is parasitic. However one can attempt to transcend the gross mechanism of the degenerative culture and be relatively free of its gravitational pull by raising ones energy, detoxification, breathing and waking up. We are only parasitized to the level that we parasitize or "use" ourself. Thus to break free from the force of Thanatos (material usury) we have to be willing to love and liberate ourselves from the suppressive and abusive memes that perpetuate the degenerate culture. To do this we have to hone our sensitivity to the felt-sense of the Life principle...and we do this by "waking up" the body, and therefore the mind and soul also.

Socialization into the regenerative culture is a whole other ball game.

[Francis]

This Awareness indicates that the beings that are of a darker force, a more negative type, will need to have energies from lower forces, and they can take that Mana, or take energies that are available through humans, and gain personally from that, and in that sense drain energies from entities. This is what is referred to as psychic vampires of the inner planes. This Awareness indicates there are also psychic vampires who are living in human bodies who drain energy from those who are around them; this not only in terms of taking things that are symbolic of energy expenses, such as something valuable which took much energy to acquire or make, and a thief taking that from you, which in a sense is likened unto a vampire, for it steals energy, but this Awareness refers to psychic vampires more in terms of those entities who actually drain the physical Mana or vibrations and energies from another entity by taking their attention and leaving them with nothing in return.- Passionate Lion


There is an invisible psychic energy economy that everyone is involved in, but most people are largely unaware of it. Just google 'psychic protection' or 'psychic vampires' Perhaps the simplest example is when someone talks about themselves all the time and makes people feel 'drained' after a conversation because there was no 'give' from the parasite in the conversation but just 'take' The host was the only one 'giving'

The technology that's needed would offer a way to identify and bring the energy exchanges into consciousness. In the regular monetary economy, we would call this sort of thing embezzlement and we'd hire a cpa to audit the books. So for psychic embezzlement we need a psychic/sensitive to audit our energy economy. But since we don't keep detailed records of energetic transactions per se, the best approach would be to become aware of it ourselves through training, and then to be vigilant. So we need a science that allows this invisible activity to become more conscious. Then again, 'expanded awareness' seems to be my answer to everything.

[Francis]

Parasites—Paracleanse, strengthen self-identity and determination
Predators—Martial arts, aerobic and strength training
Bullies—Boxing, kick boxing, pillow punching, growling, humor
Rude—Detox liver and colon, hanging and rubbing scalp to wake up
Codependent—Redefine life mission and actively pursue spiritual vocation
Witch—Reduce dependency through learning new skills
Saboteur—Address your addictions and replace with healthy alternatives
Lost Ones—Center, Breathe, Stretch, Sungaze, Upgrade dreamtime
Sleepers—Face denial, jump in cold water, run, reduce food load on body
Petty Bureaucrates—Role play mature self-authority scenes with parental figures

You're saying that all these different types drain energy? It seems like there should be a way to recognize and avoid these types as they initially come on to us, but I suppose they avoid being detected by using stealth tactics. By the time we realize it, we're already losing energy fast. So we have to trust the entities that come on to us until they betray us? Then have some stop-gap measures like you suggest to patch ourselves up and stop the bleeding?

I think that there must certainly be some kind of practice that closes up the energy field so that none of these creeps that you list can get at the goods. Perhaps in doing so we end up cloistered and inaccessible, but there must be some way to lock up the aura. I was reading about some postures that supposedly help.

[Jana]

These "negative" psychic forms (internal and external) prey on the weak...therefore one needs to get physically/energetically/psychically strong in order to not present a tasty morsel to these energy draining forces. You need to come from a well oxygenated, low cortisol condition and exude a sense of personal power, focus and determination in order to not attract negativity.

I am getting better at throwing peoples negativity back into their own faces...not thru any "mastery" but out of sheer exhaustion and intolerance for taking it anymore. Americans must surely be the rudest people in the world, or at least the most open about showing their shadow in the light of day and even delight in an audience with no shame as to their behavior. How "sweetness" can survive here I don't know.

[Francis]

Throwing negativity back, like a kind of judo. You are a most humble master. 

So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.- Sun Tzu

We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.- Sun Tzu

[Jana]

Well there is a certain amount of compassion in feeling sorry for people that find it more exhilerating to be nasty than nice. I feel that way about the whole of America at present...there are so many here that I admire in their fight against the stupidity of the machine...that it kind of makes up for the massive bad character of the rest.

Basically if you can call a toad a toad to its face, it tends to slink away into the shadows.

[jimtzu]

i think most people are so un-self-conscious that the only way to wake them up is to be the veritable mirror for them see themselves, of course there are those that will look in the mirror and admire the illusion the see reflected back
 

[Jana]

I work with such a bunch of illogical people who project all kinds of mythic stuff on me, things that have absolutely no bearing on who I am and that I have no interest in. I am going to start calling them on every projection and explain to them why I am not interested in that facet of the archetypal cake.
I mean like clearing the fact that I am not the reincarnation of Alister Crowley...because I laugh at magic, hate ritual, don't believe in reincarnation, don't have sex for nearly a decade, don't do drugs except 1 bottle of beer a month and are the opposite of practically everything Crowley stood for. I do however go for his sense of determinancy in individualism.

It will be fun to see what kind of projection they can come up with next!