Psychic Ability: In The Psychic Realm

By Carl Brahe and Victoria Hall

"'What would it mean to me to perceive the energetic essence of all things?' I once asked Don Juan.

'It would mean that you perceive energy directly,' he replied. 'By separating the social part of perception, you'll perceive the essence of everything. Whatever we are perceiving is energy, but since we can't directly perceive energy, we process our perception to fit a mold. This mold is the social part of perception, which you have to separate.'

'Why do I have to separate it?'

'Because it deliberately reduces the scope of what can be perceived and makes us believe that the mold into which we fit our perception is all that exists. I am convinced that for man to survive now, his perception must change at its social base.'

'What is this social base of perception, Don Juan?'

'The physical certainty that the world is made of concrete objects. I call this a social base because a serious and fierce effort is put out by everybody to guide us to perceive the world the way we do.'

'How then should we perceive the world?'

'Everything is energy. The whole universe is energy. The social base of our perception should be the certainty that energy is all there is. A mighty effort should be made to guide us to perceive energy as energy. Then we would have both alternatives at our finger tips.'

'Is it possible to train people in such a fashion?' I asked.

Don Juan replied that it was possible and that was precisely what he was doing with me and his other apprentices. He was teaching us a new way of perceiving, first, by making us realize we process our perception to fit a mold and, second, by fiercely guiding us to perceive energy directly. He assured me that this method was very much like the one used to teach us to perceive the world of daily affairs.

Don Juan's conception was that our entrapment in processing our perception to fit a social mold loses its power when we realize we have accepted this mold, as an inheritance from our ancestors, without bothering to examine it.

'To perceive a world of hard objects that had either a positive or negative value must have been utterly necessary for our ancestors survival,' Don Juan said. 'After ages of perceiving in such a manner, we are now forced to believe that the world is made up of objects.'

'I can't conceive the world in any other way, Don Juan,' I complained. 'It's unquestionably a world of objects. To prove it, all we have to do is bump into them.'

'Of course it's a world of objects. We are not arguing that.'

'What are you saying then?'

'I am saying that this is first a world of energy; then it's a world of objects. If we don't start with the premise that it is a world of energy, we'll never be able to perceive energy directly. We'll always be stopped by the physical certainty of what you've just pointed out: the hardness of objects.'

    The Art of Dreaming, Carlos Casteneda

People sometimes ask why we're not all psychics. The truth is that we are. The universe is full of many subtle aspects that we simply don't notice. When we begin to notice what's all around us for everyone to perceive, those who don't notice are amazed and call us psychics. This is a way of fitting what we don't understand into the mold of beliefs. It can also be a trap for those who have begun to break out of the prison of our societal belief systems.

Our egos, fed by the admiration of others who believe we must have some special power, begin to convince us that it's true. We begin to believe that we are special and possess special understanding of the universe. At the moment when we give into this seduction we automatically become stuck in another prison of belief. We begin to accept our explanation of the world as truth. The ancient Hebrew admonishment puts into perspective our feeble attempts to express the "truth" of the world, "Man thinks; God laughs."

Psychic realms have a lot of explanations. Be careful of all explanations including this one. It's human nature to make anything and everything fit into the framework of our limited human belief systems. The way we see is a good example of this. The images that come into our brains through our eyes are upside down and squashed. These images are very distorted. We take these images, turn them right side up (is it really right side up?), stretch them and fill in the details according to how we believe the world is supposed to be. That which doesn't fit into our view of the world is discarded, ignored, or, like a square peg in a round hole, is forced to fit.

With that caveat stated, there are several ways in which we perceive what is commonly thought of as the psychic realm. All things are energy. All energy has consciousness. We are capable of grounding into any energy in the universe by simply intending it and causing it to flow through our own awareness. Energy exists in many forms that we are aware of and many more that we are not aware of. Energy that we encounter in our normal lives may take the form of animate beings, objects, concepts and emotions. When we perceive these things their energy flows through our awareness. We ground to them. We evaluate them with our senses. We use our vision, internal and external, to fit them into our beliefs about how the world appears. We use our hearing to listen to the energy and our internal dialogues to explain how this energy fits into the mold of our beliefs. We touch the energy to discover how the physical and emotional feel fits into our beliefs. We taste and smell the energy to help us categorize it. We accept what fits into our belief systems and discard the rest as if it didn't exist. Beyond this process there is always the subtle, nagging awareness that the range of our senses is greater than vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell and the internal equivalents.

Our experience tells us that at times we are aware of things beyond our normal senses. At times in our lives we know things we can't explain. We have intuitions about people, places or events. We experience Deja Vu. We feel the presence or emotions of others in subtle ways. We enter a place and feel the lingering of strong emotion.

We may even be able to name the location in our body where these other senses reside. We may say, "I had a gut feeling." "I knew it in my heart." " I did it by the seat of my pants." These are literally true. We may pull the energy of an object, a being, an idea, or a situation through our guts or our hearts in the same way we pull the energy through our eyes, ears, skin or noses. We may pull the energy through parts or all of our physical and/or energy bodies and notice the sensory resonance that results. While this vastly increases our range of awareness, and even increases the scope of our belief systems, we are still bound by the confines of our beliefs. We still force our perceptions of the world into the mold of our innately limited human belief systems.

Archetypes (symbols) offer a degree of clarity for interpreting psychic input by providing an impersonal filter. Archetypes have been used for centuries in many forms. Astrological signs, I Ching, and Tarot cards are a few systems of archetypes. Proponents of Tarot claim that the essence of all knowledge is contained in the pictures on the cards. Any perceivable energetic manifestation can be filtered through archetypes and related to a specific person, place or event.

Another source of perception that is thought of as psychic is communication with non-organic beings. In current terms these beings are referred to as 'spirit guides'. There are many forms of spirit guides. There are celestial beings such as angels, entities who were once in body in our world, entities who are, or were, embodied in other physical worlds, and others who are beyond our ability to conceive.

We often get information from the realm of inorganic beings. We usually mistake these voices as our own internal dialogue. Some of these beings are more trustworthy than others. All these beings, including angels, have their own agenda. They provide information for their own purposes. For example a deceased friend or relative may work to correct actions committed while still embodied.

Even in those cases where the inorganic being is truly trying to be helpful, for its own reasons, its understanding of the human realm is often as limited as our understanding of its realm. Those who rely on these beings for guidance can find themselves making foolish decisions and taking actions that lead to regret. Many people who experience these beings rely on those who have been incarnated in the human realm before for guidance. A fool who is no longer in body is likely to still be foolish. Simply being disembodied is not a guarantee of wisdom or goodness. Relying on those who are wise being from ancient cultures can also be troublesome. A person who understood an ancient culture doesn't automatically understand our culture.

Other entities may seek to trick a person into feeding the addictions that they still have from when they were embodied. Still others feed on suffering, fear and anger. These beings will try to lead a person into decisions and actions that create the misery that nourishes them.

Another kind of inorganic being is what Don Juan in the Casteneda books calls a dream emissary or ally. He says that these beings will tell you things about others as a ploy to seduce you. He says they seek energy. He also points out that the emissaries tell you only what you already know although they are incapable of lying. They will tell you anything you ask. Inorganic beings can be accessed simply by intending to contact them and listening.

Direct connections to emotional energies are the most accurate, but also have the greatest potential for inaccurate definitions. We seem to be so confused by emotions as a society that our interpretations tend to be bizarre to say the least.

Body workers commonly experience the phenomena of feeling the emotions of the person they are working on. They connect directly to the emotional energy in another person's body and may interpret it in terms of what it would mean to them if they felt this emotion. Of course this is very risky in terms of accuracy. To think that any of us who are products of our society are any less emotionally bizarre than anyone else is just blinding arrogance. Reading these emotions through the filter of the belief system of the client contributes to accuracy.

We all interpret events and sensory feedback in emotional ways which may totally obscure the "truth" of any event. This includes the person who approaches the world in a scientific manner perceiving through logical filters based on observable facts. Logic is seldom reasonable when viewed outside the belief system that it created. Observation facts are similarly flawed.

All psychic phenomena is available to all of us equally. We will each interpret it in ways that serve our own purposes. This may include ignoring it, or discounting it, according to a logical, scientific framework. When interpreting such phenomena ask yourself what your purpose is in the way you interpret it. Being honest about your intention is the best protection from foolish conclusions and actions.

Similarly, when consulting another on the nature, content or meaning of psychic phenomena be clear on this person's intentions. Like in any situation, accept only the advice of those you trust. Be open to the possibility that you, and/or your, advisor are foolish in your interpretations.

The universe is full of pure potential. The universal energy of the universe is unpotentiated until perception provides a mold for its manifestation. Interpret (manifest) all energetic events in the way that serves the highest and greatest good. Create your reality with heart.

Courtesy to the The Shaman's Voice at the Aesclepian Chronicles.