12-02-2017, 12:02 AM
"Don Juan gave me this time a new recapitulation pattern. I was supposed to construct a jigsaw puzzle by recapitulating, without any apparent order, different events of my life.
"But it's going to be a mess," I protested.
"No, it won't be," he assured me. "It'll be a mess if you let your pettiness choose the events you are going to recapitulate. Instead, let the spirit decide. Be silent, and then get to the event the spirit points out."
The results of that pattern of recapitulation were shocking to me on many levels. I was very impressed to find out that, whenever I silenced my mind, a seemingly independent force immediately plunged me into a most detailed memory of some event in my life. But it was even more impressive that a very orderly configuration resulted. What I thought was going to be chaotic turned out to be extremely effective.
I asked don Juan why he had not made me recapitulate in this manner from the start. He replied that there are two basic rounds to the recapitulation; that the first is called formality and rigidity; and the second fluidity." CC's The Art of Dreaming
So, this is interesting.
Having done the formal retrograde list recapitulation (took about 5 years total) and now revisiting the recap, but was unsure about the procedure or format the 2nd go around....I just started sitting in silence to see what popped up into view. And, sure enough, just upholding that empty potential space brings in these moments of personal history pop up from out of nowhere, with deeper clarity than what I remember during the first round. And, these moments chain together.....so fast, its hard to slow down and recapitulate one at a time. I confess, sometimes I lump together a series of connected events that spring into view and recapitulate the overriding emotional signature that connects them at the same time. I can see now that the fluid arrangement of recapitulation is the way to continue until death do me part
"But it's going to be a mess," I protested.
"No, it won't be," he assured me. "It'll be a mess if you let your pettiness choose the events you are going to recapitulate. Instead, let the spirit decide. Be silent, and then get to the event the spirit points out."
The results of that pattern of recapitulation were shocking to me on many levels. I was very impressed to find out that, whenever I silenced my mind, a seemingly independent force immediately plunged me into a most detailed memory of some event in my life. But it was even more impressive that a very orderly configuration resulted. What I thought was going to be chaotic turned out to be extremely effective.
I asked don Juan why he had not made me recapitulate in this manner from the start. He replied that there are two basic rounds to the recapitulation; that the first is called formality and rigidity; and the second fluidity." CC's The Art of Dreaming
So, this is interesting.
Having done the formal retrograde list recapitulation (took about 5 years total) and now revisiting the recap, but was unsure about the procedure or format the 2nd go around....I just started sitting in silence to see what popped up into view. And, sure enough, just upholding that empty potential space brings in these moments of personal history pop up from out of nowhere, with deeper clarity than what I remember during the first round. And, these moments chain together.....so fast, its hard to slow down and recapitulate one at a time. I confess, sometimes I lump together a series of connected events that spring into view and recapitulate the overriding emotional signature that connects them at the same time. I can see now that the fluid arrangement of recapitulation is the way to continue until death do me part