Sleep

How we spend our time is indicative of something. This little digression is an attempt to discover a bit more of what that could be. In its simplest analysis we are awake or asleep and yet that isn’t as simple as it first appears.

 When one is aware from moment to moment of his degree of awakening, it is easy to find instances of when one is asleep even when eyes are open and seeing, ears are hearing, and there’s sensation. An example of this was just this morning when I took off in the direction of my appointment only to find myself going a familiar route instead of the necessary. I had lapsed into a sort of sleep and was going the habitual route. These “naps” occur to everyone and often.

The familiar sleep is when we go to bed and fall asleep. Yet if one spends a little effort recalling the events of the night, one can see that sleep is not necessarily unconsciousness. There are dreams, there are changes in position, digestion, reconstruction, getting up to relieve oneself, times during the night when one awakens but makes a decision to allow more slumber.

 We are disturbed by the temperature of the body as when the covers slip off or when the heat is set too high and the room gets uncomfortably warm. We are awakened by strange noises, however slight but can slumber through familiar noises no matter how loud. All of this would lead one to conclude that there are personae in here that are not asleep. These are probably personae primarily of the instinctive source that are charged with the safety and well-being of the body.

Then there is the repetitious movement sleep. This comes on when one is involved in a repetitive action that one or more of the personae know well enough that they can perform it without others being awake. This is the common phenomenon of driving a car and not remembering anything about the trip because it was routine. It happens when one is exercising, walking, cutting the grass, dancing, performing a movement in sport, even keying words as is now the case.

 There is no conscious effort going on to find keys to strike in order to form the words being seen. There is an almost direct link between the thinking persona and the one controlling the fingers hovering over the keyboard.

It is my opinion that there are personae predominantly of the intellectual source that have the notion they are somehow in charge of an action being taken by the being. IOW they get involved when other personae are more than capable of taking the action.

They interfere with movements that have been become routine to the being, such as the golf swing, and cause problems with performance. Every hole on MTGC has had par scored on it by me at one time or another. This proves that it can be done but there is enough interference with the process by some of the inappropriate personae that score is never below 90. The same can be said for almost any practiced repeated activity whether it is lines for a play, steps for a dance, pool shots; this interference causes problems.

How does one keep them out of the equation? This would be a study in mental discipline that would yield incredible results. If one could limit the participation to the appropo personae and push the inappropo into the background there would be no problem with routine activities. When this is accomplished the results are good. It is the daily, “In a conspicuous or competitive situation, I keep my mind on my objective and my senses on my surroundings.”

Rarely does one want to shut down every other persona and limit the field to the one without the possibility of usurping control. There are short intervals of times, however when it is not only desirable but possible. The span of time that is allowed to the performing persona, those who know the moves, can be kept to the minimum required to make the move and then let more of the personae into the “room.”

This works well on the golf course where I allow many personae into the room until swing time, then exclude them by saying a mantra until the ball has stopped rolling after the shot. While this is not always the case, in every instance where the process was successful the result was spectacular. As simple as it sounds, it is very difficult but it’s worth the effort to continue to make the attempt, not only at golf but in all endeavors.

There is the sleep of distraction/ procrastination. It comes on in the form of having time available, having developmental things to do but not doing them because there is a sense that there isn't enough psychic energy available to do whatever. A large amount of time passes and there will have been no progress made on any one of a number of worthwhile applications.

This is true no matter whether others are paying for one’s time or not. It is this type of sleep that drives bosses crazy. They see someone who is supposed to be applying his/her efforts to a project and not doing so. It is the same for me when I am not applying my efforts on aim. There is strong mental discipline required to combat this and allow progress to be made.

Then there’s time spent in the past; such as reviewing past actions/activities whether by reading old notes or viewing old photos, or being lost in reveries, or imagining the fighting of imaginary battles.  These are also sleep. We are lulled into a sort of stupor by being involved in this; it is the same stupor that comes on when we watch a movie, or TV program.

Consciousness is suspended and we retreat to a safe place where the action has already taken place and the result known, or at least we can safely let it unfold without feeling peril. Sometimes this is combined with the previous category when we engage in this instead of moving forward in our development.

Awake we are able to develop, asleep we cannot. Repetitious movement allows us to develop as/because they are being performed. The discipline required is to apply conscious effort to development and not interfere with the work of appropriate personae.