I meditate. There are times when I meditate more than others, but I
try to make efforts to keep up the practice regularly. Sometime ago I was
living in a fairly toxic environment. I had to move rather abruptly
and ended up living with some old roommates who didn't break the same
habits I'd broken the year prior. I knew what I was stepping into, and
I knew it would be temporary. I made the best of my time there, but it
didn't stop cigarette smoke from seeping into our shared spaces from
the cracks around their bedroom door, nor the late night, drunken shit
shows, nor their poor eating and cleaning habits from carrying on. I
meditated when I could find the peace to do so, but mostly I was able
to find peace in the bathroom. I began having salt baths. Sometimes I
would bathe twice a day. I could sink under the warm water and hear
distant warbling noises and remain unfazed in my state of calm. I used
candlelight for a further calming effect. One day, I entered the
bathroom and saw movement from the corner of my eye. I quickly locked
my gaze on said movement and discovered a small spider. I am not
really a weenie when it comes to spiders, but this one, be it little,
had massive mandibles with large menacing-looking balls on the ends. I
really wasn't keen on having the feller run wild while I lay in dim
light with my eyes closed attempting to focus on nothing, least of
all, spiders. I trapped him under my roommates' toothbrush mug and
carried on with my business. I sunk into the hot, salty water and
began deeply breathing. I hummed a little bit, and sank further into a
trance state. Lower and lower I drifted like a leaf falling to and fro
from the sky to land gently on the surface of a glassy pond where it would
make little to no ripples and gently float ceaselessly in total
tranquility. I was in my center. I began to expand my consciousness
beyond my physical body, first to the water, then to the rim of the
bathtub, and further and further out becoming aware of everything in
the room around me from my mind's eye. I was practicing doing out of
body work. A vision began to take root deep in my mind. I stilled
myself and watched it play out. I had been dropped into a cold tomb of
stone, my whole body. I was still, I couldn't move. Slowly a large
slab of stone was placed on top of this sarcophagus, and began to
slide over above me with a devastating grinding sound of heavy work. I
was being trapped inside total darkness, alone, and without any way of
removing this slab lid of my own strength. I jolted up and shook
myself of the thought while thinking to myself how strange a visual
experience that was. I settled back down into the tub and drifted down
again into a deeper state of mind. Again I found myself in the tomb
with the heavy, stone slab sliding over the top to trap out all light and seal me in forever.
Then it occurred to me what may be going on. Had I met with the
consciousness of the spider who I'd entombed myself? The poor little
guy. Right away I jumped out of the bath and removed the mug from over
the spider and set him free. I didn't return to the tub, I dried
myself and got dressed. Later I told my roommates there was a little
spider in the bathroom and to please not kill it. I'm not sure if they
agreed, but I never did see the it again. When I consider the 1st of the seven Hermetic Principles which states that
"The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental". This essentially means that
everything is consciousness. Did it became possible for me to experience a consciousness beyond my own?
I believe maybe so. I will be practicing further to learn more, and you bet I will write about any substantial findings or otherwise strange experiences.