Cause or Effect?

          In some manner of other, I must attempt to unravel the many strands that are involved in an inner experience, whilst at the same time retaining as much as possible of the initial, composite, spiritual ambience. By so doing it is hoped that in times to come my posts will contain enough information to supply, at least, an adequate recall of that experience. Unlike a focused, conscious experience in which all 'extraneous' information passes by unnoticed, these inner journeys take place in a changing environment in which one must constantly and deliberately screen out, through meditation, that extraneous information. Yet there is ever an experiential nebulosity in which this process takes place. The attempt to unravel and interpret the information seems, on occasion, to be like extracting a filament of Dark Matter from its normal abode, knowing that in the process something will inevitably be lost in its passage through the veil that separates consciousness and beyond-consciousness. That the results of path-working often appear to materialise in consciousness on a timeline that runs counter to one's expectations, only adds to the confusion of these experiences.*
          I would like now to return to my previous post, "A Problem of Sleeping Consciousness." Bearing in mind that the interpretive ground under one's foot may only be transitory in its firmness, and that everything may change at a moment's notice, I concluded the following. Very far from the state of sleeping appearing to be the "cause" in a cause-and-effect scenario, that state later appeared to be the "effect." Thus the search began, by means of a path-working to find the cause of that effect. (Interestingly, on this occasion and in real time this latter path-working, the effect-ive journey, took place before the causal journey.)

..........Having entered the Secret Garden, and with the door closed behind me I began to walk along a gravel path in a direction away from the gazebo, noticing as I did so that I was being accompanied, and then led, by a cat. In a number of odd places around the garden, and seemingly placed at random, were statues of the black-cloaked, old man who had previously lighted my way through the fog to the inn. 
          Suddenly, I stumbled and fell on my face on the path. As I attempted to rise, I fell forward again. The cat returned to me and sat looking at my feet, the left one being tied at the ankle to an invisible nail, driven into the path. I have a problem, and that problem is that I have become bound or restricted in some way.
          After mulling the problem over for awhile, and half deciding to let it go, I noticed that the Gardener had reappeared. He stooped down and undid the bonds that tied me to the path. I stood up, looked around in a puzzled way, and discovered that once again I was on the move, but no longer restricted to a two-dimensional landscape. Ghostly doorways appeared in the air above the garden, and I realised that I had indeed become restricted in my thinking. There were more, and more ethereal, dimensions to be explored. 
          I sensed a certain tingling of excitement. Then everything disappeared except for the Gardener who 'stood' beside me, and the cat. Slowly, the cat was replaced by an image of the head of a lion, and I wondered about this transformation, or transfiguration. Perhaps the lion represented an image of which the cat is a manageable reflection, or that the strength I needed was not as great as before. In any case, my time in/above the garden was over for the day..........

          Thus it seems clear, or at least clearer than my original, and opposite, conclusion that my thinking about my inner life has become restricted by what I have studied, what I have become accustomed to. That restriction has led me into a false sense of security, a sense of dreaming whilst thinking I was still awake. Yet still I wished for more, to back up this conclusion. It was with that wish in mind that I undertook a second path-working to confirm my findings, a path-working that I will describe in my next post.

* There are some, including some counselling acquaintances of mine, who say that the investigation of this work in an attempt to discover meaning isn't worth the effort. Some say that it isn't even necessary to make any response. There are more important aspects of life to attend to. I take the view that if there is that within who, or which, is trying to communicate with my consciousness, it is a question, at the very least, of courtesy to try to respond.