FIFTEEN
EXERCISES FOR THE IMAGINATION
We’ve just completed a short, more or less theoretical, introduction to the imagination. But, what do we do with all this material? Are we able to disabuse ourselves of these old ideas? This is the basis of our work.
The first thing to do to be creative is the following: We live within spatial limitations. The intellect is compressed by the skull, and when your eyes are closed, it’s dark. To close the eyes is to be in a prison. Each time I close my eyes, I enter into a dungeon. This impression of space comes from the concept of private property. Society has created private property, the right to a particular space that pertains to me and to no one else. We are accustomed to not occupying too much space, to being narrow-minded. In our families, we’re each assigned a particular place at the table. In school, I have my own bench; I cannot leave my place. This is what they teach us.
“Who are you to tell me this?”: people who express themselves this way do it because they do not have their own space. They think that we are nothing. We must then, apparently, be in an absurd space. We are not big. Beginning this exercise, we are not yet big. What we have to do is tell ourselves: “This blackness that I see is the blackness of the universe, so that each time I close my eyes, I enter cosmic space.” We must give up this idea! We must create the space! I felt limited, mentally, and I said to myself, “How can I be more intelligent or more perceptive?” Then I closed my eyes, and I imagined myself as a light, and I put the light as far as possible into this infinite universe where I could not reach. I began with a rectangular universe. That is to say, I projected myself forward. I advanced and advanced. Each time further, lost in the space. Then I went to the right, each time further, reaching infinity. And to the left, each time further, to no one knows where. And then backwards, into remoteness. I put myself in a universe that had an in front of and a behind, a right and a left. And then I went up, each time higher, as high as possible, and then down, each time deeper down, into the deep abyss. This says that forward space is infinite, backward space is infinite, space to the right is infinite, space to the left is infinite, the space above is infinite, and the space below is infinite. I like the infinite a lot. I do not have mental fear. And now do this exercise: uncross your legs, sit straight up, and guide yourself with a light or simply think of yourself going forward. You have to do it. Even if you do not feel capable of doing it, you must try to get there. We are going to close our eyes and begin again.
GROW
Another exercise: imagine that you are looking at me. Look at me. There is the rectangular look: to the right, to the left, up, down. But also there is another look. When I concentrate on the center of myself, little by little, I grow. My whole being grows like a sphere. To do this well, you have to be completely straight. You will see that this is the posture of meditation. I grow like a sphere. I cover the whole planet and then the whole universe. I grow; I fill the universe. I feel that I am a sphere that occupies the entire universe. This describes a guru. I receive you into my sphere. Do you want me to hug you? When I hug you, it is the whole universe that hugs you. I have occupied all possible space to the infinite. I can tell you that if you do this, you will become a master. Still, to be a complete master is much more than this.
Now the far-off comes to me: the right comes to me, the left comes to me, that from below comes to me, that from above comes to me. The sphere comes to me. Doing this exercise, I am I and each is his own. This summarizes all the oriental disciplines. I occupy the entire universe, and then the universe comes to me. That is everything. One does not have to meditate for twenty years. Start doing this exercise, practice until you get good at it. You must sit upright and think with all your might about what you have imagined, in order to recognize all this power in yourself. When I am like that, I am invincible. Nothing can knock me down. I am a Buddha of stone. Nothing can knock me down, because I have recognized infinite space inside me. And I have the possibility to go to infinity. You are going to go as far as possible, and then you will reclaim everything. You are going to become completely creative.
The being that I perceive is not exactly the being that I am, because I have a sense of myself. My parents told me that I was ugly; so I saw myself as they saw me. And at times I saw myself according to the looks of others. But I really do have a sense of myself. And the sense of my own self changes! When I am depressed, all my physical senses are distorted by the depression I have. But I can see myself in different ways. I am not obligated to see myself the same way all the time. I can change my perception of myself. That is what shamanic magic is.
EXPAND
Now let’s consider shamanism. What we just talked about proceeded from Buddhism. I grow like the entire universe, and then I gather inside myself. I am a mountain, but which mountain? What am I?
Now we are going to work with the senses. Imagine that you look at me. Look at me a little. I am big, without limits. I am in the space. Then all of this space is completely inside me. Great comprehension, great compassion. I am reality. All of this strength — because to create space is to create strength — enters into you. Like they say in Star Wars: “May the force be with you.” I am going to create strength; the strength is in me. And when the strength is inside someone, it is like a sword. It is possible to draw it out through the ten fingers. I concentrate on myself; my fingers project out into infinity. My fingers have indeterminate power. And I strengthen my heart. In this concentrated body, I have a heart that grows to infinity. Now I do not need to grow like a sphere. A part of me can grow. I gather into myself, and my heart fills the world. And now that I have a solid base, my heart returns to me. That way, my sexuality can fill the world, my mind can fill the world, my strength can fill the world. This means I can do with the feeling of my body whatever I want to. Understood? You can do whatever you want to.
This I have applied, for example, to an initial massage. If one can open a heart, why not open it with the hand? Thus I make the body concentrate, and then it begins to open. And people begin to cry. Because they were living in a limited space.
SHINE
As you see, feelings can change. The idea of living in a prison prevails. For exactly this reason, I can remove what I want to from myself; I can release all that is heavy. Anything that is not clear, I do not allow. Now protect a part of yourself. You must protect only a bit of your body and move away any depressing nits. When we feel like we cannot do anymore, we act like boxers: “I am not defeated!” Like a dog, I expel the fleas, I expel everything that slows me down; and I will do what I have to do, simply that. Because the guards bother us, we must expel them. And we continue. You must grow like a sphere, return to your state, and then, when you feel solid — because this state gives a feeling of great solidity — let it out through whatever part of your body. Without limits! Your torso, your heart, your intestines, whatever you want. Fortify what you want.