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Determining the goal of the
pilgrimage
Before
setting out, the pilgrim must imagine, and therefore determine the outcome of
her pilgrimage; that is to say, she must define, and hence decide, as clearly
as possible the home (read: sanctuary,
enstasy) she wants to reach. If she
can’t imagine her destination, that is to say, the (true) self she wants to
be, she can’t arrive (i.e. be that true self). The image
she creates of (or accepts from someone else as) her goal, that is to say, of
her (future) self as identifiable (religious or secular) unit, can be verbal,
visual, emotional or physical, the more intense (i.e. realistic) the better.
The image may be intensified, i.e. powered up if the pilgrim also imagines
the affects of the whole range of pleasurable affects of goal achievement. Note: every mental act
(for instance, a thought or idea, sub-vocalised or visualised) happens as the
result of ‘physical’ (i.e. as a photonic, electronic or chemical) activity in
the brain, therefore produces a reality, albeit at very low output (therefore
usually below the threshold of high (intensity) everyday awareness). The
smart yogi or pilgrim pilgrims is aware of this fact. She systematically
reduces the intensity of everyday awareness (resulting from external action,
see Patanjali’s Yoga Aphorism No 2 and the Buddha’s Jhanas meditation method,
Zazen and so on) to access her internal reality generating operation (i.e.
her ‘genie’, serving as simulator for eventual external action). In short, by
accessing the reality (indeed stream of realities) generated by brain
activity, for instance imaging or ‘voicing’ (see Mohammad), then manipulating
the bits that make up that image (or ‘voice’), she can create and enter
(hence become) any reality of their choice, that is to say, she can become
any real shape she pleases. Abiding in such a created inner reality is called
a psychosis, if dangerous, a psychopathy). If the pilgrim
can’t imagine her goal (i.e. her desired true self, be that religious or
secular) clearly and in fine and limited detail, that is to say, as a
particular (indeed, unique), whole ‘as if’ reality, then she must attempt to
imagine it as clearly and intensely as possible. Defining, and therefore
deciding a goal can be hard and very unpleasant work. A pilgrim, for
instance, a religious pilgrim, may also decide to accept a clearly defined
religious goal. Already the
very act of imagining (or of visualising or feeling or talking about; or of
remembering, hence of ‘as if’ participating in or being ‘in the presence of’)
the goal (that is to say, of participating in the goal ‘as achieved’, hence
decided, hence ‘as is’), that is to say, the very act of focussing cleanly,
clearly and at full (i.e. 100%) capacity will produce a mild to strong
(relative to the intensity of focussing) self-fulfilment
(i.e. a filling up or upliftment (i.e. increase) of energy (hence and enlightenment))
experience. It is this understanding, namely that intense imagining of a goal
(actual or virtual, i.e. real or fictitious) achieved produces elation, that
allows some pilgrims to fake a pilgrimage yet achieve the reward of a
successfully completed pilgrimage (the reward being absolute certainty, hence
the sense of realness or truth, ‘fired up’ momentarily with rapturous joy or
warmed for a prolonged time with sweet bliss, dissipating suddenly or
gradually into an absolute inner calm (called Nirvana). Becoming
focussed on a clear and well-(indeed, perfectly) defined internal or external
image (therefore goal) de-fragments the pilgrim. What that means is that by
focussing on 1 goal (or on a complex goal appearing as a single whole unit)
she stops dissipating her energy into sidetracks, such dissipation (read:
fluctuation or turbulence) reducing her whole (hence unit capacity) energy
state. Focussing (meaning: concentrating (in fact, condensing, i.e.
downsizing, eventually to a point, that is to say, to fact (hence perfection)
status) the self, thereby concentrating the self’s energy by means of perfect
coherence, helps her revert to a higher energy state, experienced by her as a
‘high’, further interpreted by her as flowing, surfing or pulsating
elation/happiness, thereby ending her energy low, experienced by her as dark
or heavy depression, further interpreted by her as un-wellness or
unhappiness. The very
fact of deciding on a goal (hence on a new true
self (as persona)) infuses the pilgrim with a sense of purpose. Having a clear purpose makes the
pilgrim’s intentions and actions coherent. Increased coherence pays off in a
surge of energy, read: enlightenment,
interpreted by her as happiness; incoherence punishes with suffering. Setting a
limit is a creative act, hence wholly (self-)spiritual. Failing to set a
limit, i.e. to bring absolute closure to the image (hence ‘next’ life phase)
generating function, leaves the image (hence goal, hence to the future true
self) open, fuzzy, fragmented, incoherent and dissipating energy, hence difficult,
if not impossible, to achieve. Whether or not the pilgrim limits her
pilgrimage in time, space, place, as a relative or absolute personal capacity
or as a relative or absolute affect potential depends on the type of
self-transformation, that is to say, persona, she intends to achieve.
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