Chapter 10

OPENING THE CONSCIOUSNESS

You must bring light to yourself. I sometimes felt very strange in my work with Daniel. It was almost like landing on another planet and needing to know all about it. I felt like a person transplanted from the primitive life of the Amazon delta to the middle of a teeming American city; I was in culture shock, spiritually speaking. But the source speaking through Daniel made me and the other participants feel comfortable and answered all our questions patiently. We needed that patience. We phrased and rephrased our questions in order to understand The Eternals' ideas, which were new to most of us.
So, of all the topics in the Teachings, the one involving the opening of the consciousness was perhaps the most enlightening, because The Eternals gave us practical steps for achieving it.

In my experience, channelers must go through a process of unblocking the psychic energy and opening to the spirit of the universe in order to be receptacles for the messages that come through them. But all of us can benefit. Opening the consciousness brings knowledge, wisdom, peace, and a sense of empathy with the joys and sorrows of others. It can help us heal ourselves and others by helping us unblock, or move energy around. Later in my work, I incorporated information on opening into my hypnotic procedures and this made the process more dynamic; subjects responded far better with specific exercises to open their energy centers and bring new light into their beings. I now use opening procedures when I guide channelers and often when I guide past life regressions too.

A spiritual opening, which is what The Eternals are talking about, is not a physical experience or one that can be easily observed by others. It is an inner process at the soul level. Opening the consciousness is the same as opening the "Eye," but the eye is not the physical one we see through. Rather, it is a single invisible eye in about the center of the forehead. It relates to the "third eye" (familiar to us from Eastern thought) or the pineal gland in the brain (in Western science). In Western science, the pineal has been the least understood of the endocrine glands - also called ductless glands or neuro-hormonal energy centers. In Eastern thought, the third eye is one "center" in what is called the chakra system, corresponding roughly to the endocrine system.
Westerners have become familiar with the idea of the chakra system, and while there are variations in the names of the centers and their exact locations, the number (seven) and general locations are agreed on.

Opening the Consciousness

Participants at the Teachings interpreted The Eternals' information on opening the consciousness in individual, personal ways. I myself understand opening to be similar to opening a new door, a new book, or even a new dimension of reality. During the process we get in touch with new learning, understanding, and growth. We open to inner light by unblocking bricks from the dark walls we have built around our consciousness. Here is how The Eternals explained it to us.

What is the best way to open up our consciousness? To open up, what specific steps would help this group?
"..See the ball? [Making a motion with his hands, as if holding a ball.] No. What you think exists exists. What you do not believe does not exist. When you allow yourself to actually look inside deep, to simply believe that which you feel, then you shall be open. Look and see the gold ring? [Drawing a ring in the air.] No. You will see it only if you yourself make it. For if I make it, it is my ring; and if you make it, it is your ring. Place your hands upward in the air, and you will feel energy flow. First it will be a slight sensation. Now, some of this will be caused by the blood draining from the arms, so do not count entirely upon the physical. Then you will feel cold or hot, because the heat itself is cold and this is the energy that moves through. This is the energy that comes outward. As we allow this energy to flow outward and in, the energy flows downward through the arms, out through the bottoms of the feet and outward of the palms, and inward of the palms and inward of the feet, and outward of the eye. Now, if you will close your eyes and be in perfect peace, you will feel light. And that light will enter; and as it enters, it will enter into the forehead, over the forehead, and outward. And if you can see and feel this, then you have opened the eye. It is your right and your heritage to open it. It is the divine heritage which you have to see. Do not close yourself in, for you and only you close yourself. Now, at this time, when the eye opens, do not allow yourself to go outward, because this will cause a disorientation that you will not realize what it is.
At first you will feel like you are spinning, that your are completely unhooked from your body. And you are. You have set yourself free. This is your right, your divine heritage. From this state we work. From this state we are, for we are eternal. You are eternal. We are you and you are us..."

Why are some of us afraid to open up? Why do we hold back?
"..Because you must be willing to accept yourself totally: evil, good, fat, thin, tall, short, stupid, or brilliant. You must be able to accept every foible and whim that you have. If you cannot accept yourself in total and complete as you are, it is impossible to look inward. And if you cannot look in, you cannot look out. For if the glass is clear enough to see inward through it, then it is clear enough to see outward through it..."

Can the process of opening cause physical problems? Can it make you ill for a time, physically, as you adjust to it?
"..It can cause illness if it is not accepted and allowed to flow. If it stagnates within the being, then there is discomfort. For how can energy sit in one place? Energy must move about. It has been said already, once, that the energy itself is powerful enough to knock one out completely unconscious - an immediate bolt."

How be it if you open yourself and allow that energy to flow, and flow freely, then there is not a side effect?
"..Don't worry too much about what will be. Don't desire end results too hard. Allow it, and it will happen. Let go and let yourself - from your innermost recesses, guide - that you are not inhibited by the conscious mind. Allow that ball of flame, that ball of fire, allow that ball you have to radiate through your innermost being. For what good is it that one be baptized with fire if they allow the fire to burn down? For a toothpick smoldering will not heat a room."

Is there any sort of living, or lifestyle, that helps facilitate the opening of the eye - that prepares us for what is coming?
"..It depends individually on each individual. It depends on what has been done in life past. For obviously, if you spent much time in the monasteries during the 1600s preparing yourself - even if you live in the city and are greatly distracted today - it shall be much easier for you to reach out and grasp the truth than for one who has spent his whole life doing other things. Of all of their lives they have spent in the city, around people, not being allowed to meditate, or concentrate, or think. Peace is of the greatest essence. When you find peace with yourself, and accept yourself fully, it does not matter how you live. It matters that you have inner peace. And when you have inner peace, you shall have all things. For peace does not come without the opening; and neither does the opening come without peace. And yet many who live in peace would not go out and proclaim the opening, nor may they even recognize it at times. And many who are opened do not appreciate the peace that they dwell in."

Is this an endocrine process or is this just a spiritual process? Is there movement in the body in this process?
"..The shock can be strong enough to knock the body out. The shock will often lay a body flat. It depends on the openness, it depends on the trauma the shock gives to the body. For the chakras are already partially open; or if one or more of them are already open, then the shock is not as great as it would be otherwise. There are those who cannot receive at all, and those who can receive in part, and those who can receive in full. To receive in full is to open - to open - to open - open - open - open - and open - and open - totally and completely, that all might be released."

Does it relate to the endocrine system or the chakras? Is its path of opening through the chakras?
"..It must run through in order."

Beginning at the lower ones and coming up, or beginning at the higher chakras and coming down? Or does it matter?
"..To unclog - a total unclogging - we usually start upward, traveling downward, and back upward, at the same time. Even as you look in, you see out; and as you look out, you see in. So it is that they must be opened from both sides. For the energy flows not one way, but in both directions."

Energy Flows and Blocks

You speak of the energy around each of us. Are there rays of energy that come from our abdomens?
"..You are a total creative energy force. The energy flows downward over the body, downward from here [motions from the top of the left side of the body.] And down. The energy flows inward into the palms and outward from the palms. Inward to the feet and outward from the feet. You're much like a radiator in a heating system to a house. The energy is constantly flowing around and around and around. But you pick up more and more energy, much as there is a fire in the boiler, so there is a total force of energy for you to tap, to draw upon. Now, you may project yourself forward, upward, and outward. You move upward [motioning with hands], upward, upward, again and again and again [moves over the chakras], and outward [hands held above the head]. This is a way to project. You can project pure and raw energy, or this was also commonly called astral projection, if you wish to do so. The energy is complete, it is constantly circling about you, and yet in the far corner of this room is still energy moving about. There is nowhere there is not an energy flow moving. If there was no energy, there would be no life."

What causes chakras to be blocked?
"..Energy is meant to be flowing; it is meant to be a continuous moving thing. To try to hold that energy in is to cause a build-up, like a cork swelling, and then the energy cannot flow properly. In order to remove this, you take one who can heal, one with a green healing aura, and allow them to actually shock. The force will actually drive the force through. Now, in the normal stagnation of only slight bits, the gentle strokes from the crown chakra down is enough to simply bring the energy back to flow. But this is not always the case. If there is truly a stagnation, a stagnation near death, the hand or a part of the body that expells it, a free moving energy circuit must be set up. Take the healing vessel and realize that energy comes through, and out from the eye itself [hands held in front of the forehead]. This is the strongest point of healing. But also the energy flow can come down, you allow it and you allow the energy flow to travel complete this way [moves hands downward over the body]. And when contact is made, even with just the energy field, that close, when you touch the energy field itself, there is a shock and it will flow and the power will move downward through the healing vessel, and will be like ramming an electrical current of 220 volts straight into a fuse and it will blow, and the cork will shatter from the bottle, and the energy will begin to move."

Will meditation help one to discover things within himself?
"..Meditation is a doorway. But you cannot proceed through the doorway if you have fear. It is merely a way that you can travel to do this. You must look within yourself - deep within yourself - to see all things. And when you look within, all things shall proceed out, and you shall see all. Yet, if you cannot accept what is within you, and if you cannot look at yourself without prejudice, then it is not possible for any doorway that you picked to open, which you need. There are those people who would try to short circuit this by taking drugs that would open the consciousness. In effect, this creates what would be called Pandora's Box. By so doing, you open an awareness which you are not able to accept. You open a reality which you are not prepared for physically, mentally, or spiritually, and which, in essence, could turn upon you and destroy you. But yet, if you prepare yourself, and are ready, then no matter what method you use to open the door, then you shall proceed and learn as you would or come to know and accept."

What methods do you recommend for looking deep within oneself?
"..Now in this respect, we would say that the meditations are good. Any form of opening the awareness, the studies of the spiritual nature, looking at yourself in full, the studies of philosophies, any method of relaxation - that which you call mind control, hypnosis, meditation, yoga - these are all routes which may be traveled. These are all roads, and all these roads converge at one intersection, so to speak. Yet some of the roads are easier to travel than the others. And life in itself is also this road. For even if you are unaware, and even if you do not try to develop ability, or try to accept, you are still in balance and counterbalance; you are still constantly walking forward - always walking, always progressing, and always moving. One does not stand still. You must move or you are dead. That which is dead does not move. That which is alive moves."

Could hypnosis help open us up? Is that a useful path to look inward?
"..Yes. Hypnosis is a form of meditation; meditation is the key. Hypnosis gives you a talking guide in the full, physical, conscious level which you don't desire to leave. And since you don't desire to leave it, it gives you a guide with both feet on the ground, that you can depend on. And since you're not willing to depend on anything but have a little bit left to the physical world, then you must go the route of hypnosis. So, yes, it is good. And those here shall travel that way."

What are the first steps to open yourself up?
"..Look into the dream work. Keep a record. Keep that record over a period of time that it might be compiled together. Look at it and see. Translate and transcribe the meanings to yourself. Write this down when you wake, if you remember your dream, which you shall, then write it while it is there. This is good exercise for the mind and it is a good step for the beginning. When you realize that this same consciousness works through the day as well as through the night, then you are open. It works whether you are relaxed or not. Being in a relaxed state allows people to realize, to slow down and to see the process - and not to confuse it with the physical world that is around them."

How does [this] continue to expand our consciousness?
"..Your consciousness is a mechanism that works 24 hours a day. The subconscious mind - that which functions and seems to be unreal - is the real reality. It is what is real to you. It is your inner mind's workings. Now when you are aware that the dreams exist, when you begin a method of relaxation. This has been used in many different ways through the centuries but meditation, in essence, is what it is, no matter what you call it - whether you call it hypnosis, yoga, or mind control. Now if you find yourself with problems relaxing, first, expend your energy in strenuous exercise. If you do not find the trouble, you may go straight into a relaxed state. There accept every impression - they come as they will, in pictures, vivid in color; they come in pictures, black and white; and in pictures not quite tangible. They come in sounds - a voice that will speak to you, loud or soft, roaring as thunder, or as the chirping of a small bird. They come in feelings, and they come in vibrations. When you find that you have reached the point that they come in vibrations, you can simply say what is impressed upon you. The vibrations, themselves, are what you need. When the vibrations begin to flow freely, you will feel what others around you feel - you can feel their pain, you can feel their sorrow, you can feel their physical pain, and you can feel their joy. You will know what they need, and what they do not need. When they think, their voices will speak to you in your head. When you have reached this state, all things become open. In the state of meditation, or in the state of relaxation - let's call it relaxation to avoid prejudice - when you become open to your subconscious, and to the consciousness of all that is around you, the colors of the universe shall flood into your soul. There shall be a bright red energy and it shall lift itself and magnify itself and become intense. It shall center and come together. And after you have seen the colors come together, and after you have seen the colors scrambled and reflected and refracted together into this red, they shall shoot up, forming quickly, quickly through the colors of the scope until they turn an intense blue, and then a white. A blue-white beyond speech, and this shall reach out, and then you are part of that vibration and you see all things. You know, and yet you do not have to know anything to know this."

What will be the hardest part in expanding our consciousness?
"..It can't be an easy path. The path is easy. The path is straight. The path is narrow. And few travel it because they are not willing to look within and accept their own faults, to accept their own sins, their own foibles, to accept their own idiosyncrasies, their own unpleasantness, their own evil as well as their own good, their beauty, their wonderfulness, the serenity that lies within them, their greatness, and their power. If a person was willing to accept - but you must note: very, very few are willing to accept themselves, or anyone else for that matter - this is the hard part, to overcome your own self. Once you overcome yourself, you have overcome all things. The path is easy, but there is a great stumbling block in front of the path. It is those which travel the path who fall over their own feet."

What does that mean, that we stumble over our own feet?
"..You do it to your own self. You create your own doubts; they are of your own making. Without this doubt which you yourself create, there would be no problem. But your feet are attached to your own body and to fall over your own foot is your own fault - because you stick it in front of the other one, or you're too stupid to pick it up off the ground. In the same way, man is too foolish to believe that he has the power that he has, and he is too stupid to accept his own heritage. He is too ignorant to remove the doubt from the corners of his mind. Therefore, he is falling and stumbling on a smooth, straight road."

What about doubts and fears? When these come into your mind, how do you deal with them?
"..Why have a doubt or why have a fear? There is no such thing as that which you should be afraid of or doubt. These are of your own making, they are not external. There is no such thing as fear, there is no such thing as doubt. There is no such thing as unhappiness, it is how you respond to the situation. You can be happy or you can be sad of your own making. There is no such thing as any emotion, so to speak, in this sense, for you make your own reaction. And you can react any way that you condition yourself to. Or shall we say, "If Pavlov would allow it, you could foam at the mouth"? "

By what process are these doubts removed? Is it just a mental thing where we say, "I believe," and cancel out all doubts; or is there a growth process for belief?
"..The problem is that if you say to yourself, "I believe, I believe and I have cancelled out all doubts" - you are saying it because you don't believe. That in itself proves that you don't believe, or you would have no need to say it to start with. Belief has to be total, complete. Children have belief. The smallest children have belief because it has not been taken away from them. You have conditioned yourself to believe in the reality that other people have accepted and set - the unreal reality that they have adopted you have also adopted. If you were as children, if you were as the babes that had come from the womb of the mother, then you would have total belief. You must be able to cancel all doubt and yet do so without having to say, "I cancel that doubt." Because to do so is to admit that you doubt. And to doubt is to have no belief. None. "

Dreams

What can we do to make that final step to open it, if we are all on the threshold? What is the answer to get beyond that threshold?
"..We have told you to keep track of your dreams, to form a log. This is the first step, and the most vital step. Once this has been done for a term of time, progression will then become rapid.

Is the next step learning to control your dreams?
"At night, no. In the day, no. But the next step is learning to accept those impressions of dream quality day, night, morning, evening; awake, asleep, anything - those feelings come. For if a person stands beside you once you have been open, and they cut off their finger, you shall feel their pain. Therefore, you must be able to open and close at desire."

Should we strive to make our dreams more clear?
"..This will happen automatically once you begin to log them. Once you keep track, you will find they become clearer and clearer and clearer. And though there may be a period of six months that will all of a sudden be deleted, for no reason at all, you may remember nothing, there will come a time there again where it will just open and flow. While flowing, it is important that you keep track; and each time it will become clearer. And when you realize and understand what is really happening and can apply it to your waking state, then you have it mastered. People lay down, they let go, and they accept without prejudice when they sleep. And yet when you are willing to do this in a waking state, then you have reached that point where you shall perceive. "

Is there a dreaming self that can be developed; an awareness that can finally be developed to the point where it can move among what we perceive as the real world now, so that we can in effect be in two places at the same time?
"..You are where you lay when you sleep. If you move the energy upward and it comes together, and you see the lights, and then you will feel yourself, you rise up from this point [motions up from the top of the head]. This is the energy you speak of, it is what some term astral projection. It is what some would call being carried in spirit. You rise from this point [hands held above the head], and at that instant there is a whole disorientation, it is as if the whole world spins. It is because you are not used to that sense of perception. This can be done also in a waking state, but this is what you are speaking of. Of the dreaming self, so to speak, it is real, it is not a false perception and dwells within you. But when it is loose, when it is what you would consider floating, it is an altered state of reality from what you are now accepting. Therefore, your whole world seems to reel, at least for the first few times that you do this. Once that you have realized that it is possible, and that it is acceptable and easy, then you can move out with assuredness, and you can span any distance in an instant, and to any spot at will. "

Is your instruction to us to record our dreams and to try to improve our dreams an attempt to reduce that chaos, that disorientation at that stage or that point we speak of as astral projection?
"..No. It is to make you aware. Once you are aware, the chaos itself will automatically disappear, because once you realize what you are really perceiving, you will realize it is not really the scrambled mess you thought it was. It is like a person who is looking in a frying pan full of eggs and they are scrambled. A person walks in who has never had anything but a fried egg and he says, "What's that mess?" But to you it is a scrambled egg; it is very intelligible. In the same sense to a person who has never projected before, when he projects he goes: "Ahhh! What is this?" And yet, when it has happened, they can accept and they know what it is and they say, "Oh, I am projecting."

Auras

One of the benefits of opening the consciousness is to be able to perceive auras. An aura is an energy field that extends beyond the physical body. It can vary in size, shape, or color, though it is not normally seen by the naked eye. Some people in the conscious state can perceive the colors of an aura and some can do so after training. I question how meaningful the aura is, since the colors change with different moods and emotions. But sometimes hotspots in a person's aura give clues to specific areas that need healing; in those cases reading an aura can be valid and important.

Could you explain what the various colors of the aura mean? Sometimes I see blues and purples and different colors around things and around people. What do these different colors mean?
"..Sometimes they change.... Yes, it is energy and it is in a constant state of flux. This energy is also what was being asked of that [which] was being termed astral plane. This energy is not a solid to you, yet can be perceived as a solid. "

But do the different colors have a meaning? For example, do they signify different moods of a person?
"..when you see which you would perceive as whites, you are seeing pure, strong, full energy in its true purity. Look at distilled water - a vibrant, pure white. A person with a very pure mind. Gold, gold-yellow is a reflection of intellect, of joy and extreme happiness, of intelligence. A blue is of happiness, peace, and tranquility. Going deeper into purples, you are mixing red and blue; it's a more energetic peace. Greens are what you shall see around a healer - one who can reach out and heal, one who can perform miracles, or span time. The same green energy is used for all [of this]. Black is bad, very depressed, if not death. Brown is earthen and depressed. Spots or holes of black in the energy flow is often caused by alcoholism or excessive use of drugs. There are holes eaten into the energy and into the personality. Holes eaten into the mind. Spots are also often seen over cancerous or troublesome areas. Red will often be reflected over any organ that is causing pain, or infection. Red when surrounded by green shows that the pain or the infection is there, but that it is being healed. The brighter, the more intense the green, the stronger the healing. The duller, the weaker, the slower the process. Pine green is a weak system trying to heal itself. Jade green, bright green, is a system healing or healed, or a system that can heal those around it. It is frequent to see these colors mixed, for it is very seldom that one side of a personality shows, but that several at one time will show; that one type of energy flows at a time, and though a person might be a healer at one moment, they might not be at another. You may radiate total green at one minute, and the next minute radiate nothing but a pure gold. But it is not uncommon for a person to radiate two or three colors at the same time and usually there will be a blending of other colors closely knit together in between that."

How does one go about sharpening one's ability to perceive these colors?
"..If you were born an excellent [baseball] player, and spent all your time sitting in the locker room, chewing tobacco and throwing darts at Miss January [laughter from the group] - Hmmm - [more laughter] - you would stand very little chance of ever making it to the batter's cage, let alone the batting box. This is the same truth with every gift, whether you be skilled in working with metal or carpentry, or whether it is a gift of the spirit. It is the same. It is 99.9 per cent your effort, your work, and your desire. The best baseball player in the world goes to a coach to have that developed, more perfectly and more quickly."

Who can coach us?
"..It is true that you can gain guidance and direction. Now, people gain guidance and direction much in the same way as a ballplayer would. One ballplayer might go to his father and be taught, another might go to another ballplayer, yet a third would go to a coach, and a fourth would work it out on his own, slowly but surely, and yet that fourth would probably be your famous ballplayer in the long run. He will be the one who, after he has overcome all difficulties, really knows what he is doing. Yet the refining from the coach will still help him. In the same way, you may go to another that is so gifted as you would go to another ballplayer. You may go to one who purports to teach such knowledge -remember, this is usually a retired ballplayer or somebody who wasn't good enough to make it to begin with - or you may go to your father as a young child might, wanting to learn baseball, that original creative essence, or you may dig deep within your own subconscious, much as the player would teach his own self. And then when you have found and built, go to the coach and polish yourself slightly."