From theory to practice
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I was gonna suggest the One Year Manual myself. I haven't undertaken it, but it just looks like it could make quite a dent if taken seriously.
In general, I think that the whole step-by-step thing is one of the strong points of working with an Order.
93, 93/93.
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As Takamba has suggested Jim's "The Mystical and Magical System of the A.'.A.'." is a good one. I own this book and can tell you that it provides a great background on the Great Work, takes you step-by-step through the grades, and contains a syllabus of texts you need to read to advance through them.
@mojorisin44 thank you for suggesting the One Year Manual.
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The One Year Manual looks very interesting. I read the intro, epilogue, and perused the chapters. It looks like a really solid course. The book is well written and very practical. Has anyone here completed this course?
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I am working through The One Year Manual currently. I just received the digital audio recorder that I ordered and I am going to begin the Mind Awareness (free association) section tonight. So far I have had excellent results with the program, and even made an oath to myself that I would complete it before approaching any order for initation. Although, my personal experience so far has confirmed Regardie's assertion that a month is the minimum time to spend on each section and that it will take most students more than a year to finish the program.
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@The Old Guitaris said
"I am working through The One Year Manual currently."
Keep us posted and let us know how it's going. I am interested to hear the results and any commentary/advice you have to share.
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So I have been doing the Mind Awareness practice for a few days now, but last night was the first time I tried to go to sleep directly after "letting the reigns go" consequently I spent the next hour tossing and turning in bed with racing thoughts. Try as I might I could not reign in the thoughts so I decided to do a LBR and I fell asleep just minutes afterwards. I had work early the next morning, and I overslept. Lesson learned
so now I pass it on: if you intend to sleep after this practice you probably want to banish when you finish it. -
How's it going Old Guitarist?
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I have been having trouble motivating myself to do this practice for half an hour twice a day, which up until recenetly was the minimum amount of time I would let myself get away with. So I devised to begin giving my audio recorder special treatment and making a vow to it at the begining of each session that it will be my head shrink --- a mental mirror of sorts. This helps a lot and I find the 30 minutes much easier to bear.
Recently I have noticed a slowly trickling down of the thoughts that arise while I am watching my mind. So last night I devised a little experiment where I partook of hashish and then sat down to watch my mind. Consequently, the stream of thoughts didn't stop for more than about 1-2 seconds at a time, and even then my recollection is that the thoughts were so rapid that I could not articulate any one of them in time to perceive the next. The breaks in my verbal notes on this morning's practice were much longer than usual, spanning approximately 6-9 seconds where as it was perviously 3-6. I am not pointing out causation persay, only a correlation. Perhaps if one can speed up the flow of thoughts at certain times through external means, then when those means are not being utilized the thoughts will be more sparse, having been previously spent. Further experimentation is necasary but these are intersting results.