Riding the Waking Dream

There are word lessons and there are world lessons. Word lessons talk about experience and world lessons are the experiences. Word lessons are used to describe something or to suggest a way to experiment in order to experience something. Teaching provides a framework that puts boundaries around a subject and a procedure to follow so that a student might be able to experience something, but instructing a student to experience something specific leads to indoctrination.

Everybody has their own experiences and while they may have similarities to that of the teacher they are still unique to the person. A good teacher may recognise a state of being, or awareness within the student, but still the student has their unique experience and interpretation. Remembering this is of vital importance for both the student and the teacher.

How a teacher uses words to convey the value, understanding and the process of the lesson is unique to the teacher as is the ability of the student to absorb the material and translate it into the action required to complete the experience. The deeper and more profound the experience is the more reliant it is on both student and teacher. For this reason it is better to spend adequate time to delve into the subtleties of the exercise than to dive immediately into it.

Here is an interesting insight, a person has to switch off to the words before they can begin to experience. If you keep referring to the instructions, the words, you will only experience the words not the experience the words are pointing towards!

Many of the traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and others consider the experiential universe as illusory, Maya or as a dream. Toltec may go even further by perceiving the world as a waking dream. It is a dream but we are awake within it, and so it is a lucid dream. It is lucid but by assigning it a quality of realness it becomes limited by that same realness. The energy (E) is divided by its component parts (Time and Space) giving rise to solid form or matter (M). If we are to release the matter back into its original energetic state we must begin to see time and space as the basic limitations they truly are. By doing so we discover that material things are those things which have captured our attention.

Research into dream states has shown that every aspect of the dream is related to the interior structure of the dreamer's world. Techniques have been developed to help a person discover the meaning of these representations and arrange them in a cohesive manner in order to bring understanding to the overall message being conveyed from the unconscious fields of the psyche. The relevance of these messages can provide insights into the current conditions that the person is encountering in their daily life, and give direction on how to proceed, where decisions might lead.

It might be said that the dream landscape is free to explore when the conscious mind is in an asleep state and is not interfering. The exploration might consist of trials of different ways of approaching a developing situation, or even a reminder of the need to take strong and definitive action.

There have been many books written about dreaming and even dictionaries giving meanings to various symbols that often turn up in these dreams. Such dictionaries can be useful as a guidance to what a symbol can mean but they are often approached as if they are accurate and immutable.

Toltec is less interested in the meanings of the symbols as it is to the lucidity accomplished. The important value is to wake up in the dream, which is not the same as waking up from the dream. Waking up in the dream is becoming fully awake while dreaming, knowing that you are dreaming, and staying in the dream. By doing this you become able to do things which are not usually feasible in the physical world of limitations. Many people have remembered the experience of flying in their dreams but only the memory of it, not the actuality of doing it.

The Toltec view of the experiential world suggests that it too is a pure reflection of the individual and that every element in it is a symbolic representation of aspects of that person's illumination. We often hear that the world is one of duality, but it is better represented by the term polarity. The fundamental polarity is between light and dark. What you can see is the relativity between these two. If it were all light or all dark there would be nothing of distinction. In the same way if everything were background (or foreground) nothing would stand out, it is attention that brings it to the front. Something stands out because we give it attention, it captures our attention. Not only does it capture our attention, it captivates us, makes us captive to it. Ultimately it is this that makes the physical world solid.

During a normal day most things remain in the background. If you see the world from a point at the back of your head almost nothing will stand out. If something takes your attention streams outward and sticks onto it making it real. Voice dialogue works exceptionally well with bringing meaning to the literal world.

Contact the author if you would like coaching using this technique.

 

 

Origins of Toltec

The first question to answer when first arriving at the 28-Day Toltec Challenge is exactly what is or who are the Toltecs? There are lots of proposals that answer this, mostly leading to a variety of Meso-american cultures, and such shamanic practices outlined in books by Carlos Castaneda, Don Miguel Ruiz and Don Jose Ruiz. In the Nahuatl (Aztec) language Toltec means "a Person of Knowledge". It is likely that Toltec is far older than any of these suggest.

HP Blavatsky mentioned the "Toltecs" as the third sub-root of the fourth root race in her Secret Doctrine written in 1888. The fourth root race, she says are known as the Atlanteans. So the Toltec teachings are the legacy of what knowledge the Atlanteans had gathered and passed on.

There is plenty of evidence for this point of view, even from the reports that Carlos Castaneda makes of conversations with Don Juan and others. Don Juan says, "there were extraordinary Toltec seers, men capable of inconceivable deeds. They were the last link in a chain of knowledge that extended over thousands of years." In another place Don Juan claims “we are new seers” giving rise to the notion that there were much older seers. There are even Nahutl myths of a great flood that sank all the land. Toltec tradition has an even deeper history.

There is so much more to say about this, but our purpose here is simply to offer an introduction to the principles and practices left to us. To say this is a spiritual journey is to understate what is truly available through the ongoing study to which this short course opens. To say this is the Doorway to the Warrior's Dream is only to represent a peek through that door.

Often in Toltec instruction one comes across the term Intent. Where this makes sense is by distinguishing what is meant by growth from evolution. Let us say that ordinary human existence exposes us to many forms of experience. It is only of personal importance whether it is a “good” or a “bad” experience. All of these experiences cause us to grow in various ways. In an attempt to integrate experience we tend to suppress, repress, avoid and deny painful ones and hide them away in the unconscious areas of the mind. In this sense growth is 'eating experience' and a horizontal flow.

On the other hand evolution happens when the integration of experience is in a vertical flow that occurs by shifting perspectives, resulting in a alignment with higher frequencies. In Toltec terms this happens when a person shifts into what is called the second attention. The Toltec journey lies in releasing energy caught up in undigested hidden experiences through techniques such as stalking and recapitulation.

The 28-Day Toltec Challenge is a primer that introduces and guides participants into these techniques. It is never meant to be a full disclosure, but in saying this do not think that what you meet here cannot or will not change your life significantly if practiced as presented.

For the purpose of the Challenge all you need is to set aside 30 minutes each day. The suggestion is to read the exercise and let it sink into your unconscious mind during your normal day's activities, then do the exercise a little later on.

I hope this is enough incentive to take you to the next step, the introduction.

 

 

What is Toltec?

In order to adopt any process or path it is entirely necessary to define four aspects. Why should I have an interest? What,exactly is it? How can I apply this to my world and life? And finally, Where will this take me?

Starting with the first; there are many propositions for life, yet most people end up with the position that life is something one ultimately survives. Toltec provides a set of tools that once applied adjust the viewpoint to approach life as a wondrous sequence of events that arise from the moment of birth, through an experiential phase to the moment of closure. Toltec allows a person to move from simply existing to fully living.

So what is this Toltec we are describing? Toltec is a set of principles that can trace its origins into deepest antiquity, apparently to the Atlantean races, yet given this, it is of no importance at all. The principles, however, are married to activities that provide experiential certitude to the principles. Toltec then is not a book of information but a series of experiments that converts the information into knowledge. No description would be complete without noting that it is also a path; a path with two end-points, one is freedom, and the other is total awareness.

The how to apply this is a little more difficult to explain. Like many similar systems it is of the utmost simplicity, yet never easy to action. An apprentice begins the journey under the umbrella wing of an activated leader, and whatever aspirants have already joined the party or the unit. The unit is not hierarchical in design, but a true unit in which all members are accruing power. The power is that which they have wasted or lost during the course of their lives, so in a more realistic description they are simply regaining that which originally was theirs in the first place. In the process of regaining this power they eliminate the ideas and attitudes that wasted it in the first place. The ultimate result of regaining power is they become the author, and more properly, the authority of their own experience, and thus gain freedom and awareness.

The final question for consideration is where else does the attainment of Toltec Wisdom and Authority take me? On first glance Toltec seems to be a philosophical approach to living, in the same vein perhaps as Buddhism, Mystical Christianity, Sufism, or a host of New Age theosophies. While Toltec shares many of the conceptual basics (as must anything based on fundamental truths) Toltec deals with living in a different way. The results of applying its principles is that most, if not all, of fixed ideas you have entertained about the world are stripped away. There is no particular way that is prescribed that must be adhered to, and so life becomes a fluid, responsive, and creative activity. The stories that you surround yourself with, have no need to explain your past as you have continuously done, and as a result you do not have to conform to their destiny. The final result of this is that you can never be defined by anybody else, and attain ultimate freedom to define yourself.

 

What are the Benefits of Joining a Toltec Party?

There are a number of excellent Toltec books, and the number is growing. Many of you reading this have already experienced my online 28-day Toltec Challenge, yet there is a component missing when you do something on your own, or with someone else who has not had the advantage of guidance with an experienced nagual. A Toltec Party or Unit, is a group or team of dedicated warriors exploring, maturing and unfolding into masters of living. It would be inconceivable to suggest that someone could not do this by themselves, and at the same time I can say with surety that they will not attain the same degrees of power. The Toltec Party is not a container in which to mature, it is a living vessel that grows as a whole.

This is a container in which you surrender individuality and gain autonomy. You surrender existence and gain personal power to be absolutely alive. As you can see from the last two sentences words cannot accurately describe the shift in consciousness that is possible. Toltec then is not a practice, it is a way of living. It requires a willingness to challenge everything you have accepted as “the way things are; what is real; what is true; everything.”

The outcomes for the Toltec way are total awareness, and freedom. The real benefits are that right from the start one starts to become aware of gaining freedom. The old identities, habits, behaviours and addictions start rubbing off as if they are simple madnesses that you no longer ascribe to. You no longer have to prove, or survive, or protect or endure, or feel guilt, or shame, or distrust. The further down the path you get the greater the awareness gets and with it increased knowledge of freedom. You begin to understand how first attention differs from second attention, and that from third attention and finally total awareness.

The Toltec Party accepts a novice as a Stalker exploring the first attention of the right side. Once you have a grasp of what this means and how to manage it, you move into the realm of the second attention and the art of the Dreamer. In this state you are beginning to operate within the existing fields of experience, and as such ready to speak to and invite in new Stalkers. After training as a Dreamer, you activate a new skill as a Person of Knowledge. Knowledge is the skill needed to put what you know, or information into practice by deliberately influencing the fields of activity. Finally you become ready to excite and inspire your own Party as its leader or Nagual. The shift between Person of Knowledge and Nagual is extremely subtle, and certainly beyond description. However, it is as palpable as either of the other shifts in attention.

 

What is the Overall Vision?

The concept that structures these specific Toltec Parties is three-fold. Firstly, the plan is to offer a series of exercises, techniques and perspectives that build confidence and attitudes to better manage the world. The second aspect of the vision is to create a system that is self-perpetuating through the willingness for participants to continue and be richly compensated for their efforts. The third purpose, and as equally important, is to significantly shift all human consciousness to a higher state of awareness.

We realise this is a magnificent mission, and one that might initially seem overly ambitious. The very first Party might have to overcome some initial inertia and friction, but once it achieves its momentum it must snowball with the mount of enthusiasm and excitement it generates. There is no power greater than a movement whose time has come.

Invitation to the Challenge

Hello Toltec World!

Hello Toltec World!

Welcome to the World of Toltec. The Star Wars trilogy starts with the words "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,"..... Our Toltec story also starts in the distant past but on our own planet before the advent of summer and winter. In H.P. Blavatsky's "Secret Doctrine" she says that the Toltecs were of the Atlantean stream which began to break down about 850,000 years ago, prehistory as we understand it. These beings were at the end of the Dvapara Yuga as humanity descended into the Kali Yuga, and will return as we emerge back into the Dvapara Yuga in its reversal or in-breath back to the Golden age. Many people alive in the present time hold distant memories of the Age of Darkness, and experience the emergence as the balancing of the old karma.

Tradition tells us that the truths held by the Toltecs were dispersed all around the planet until the "Caller" arrived to rekindle its spirit and respark the flame. That "Caller" in all likelihood was Carlos Castaneda, with his many writings and the stories of his journey. Whether this is the case or not, he inspired many students to discover the path, and to find teachers with the memory, and who carried the parts of those truths they were entrusted with. We shall be forever grateful to all those who carried the knowledge and skills through the Aeons to the present time.

Now the time has arrived and we are awakening. The Toltec Challenge is a simple doorway, a very simple doorway to a very profound set of perceptions. For those who dip in and see beyond the obvious there are opportunities to go ever deeper, because Toltec is like the oceans with unexplored depths. As always, I say the first step is into the challenge. Maybe you will want to meet with me on the other side.

For now, imagine a love so profound that you cannot see it at all. Its boundaries so far beyond the limitations of language, that wraps you in its tenderness and keeps you safe as a baby in swaddling clothes. Only such a love will allow you to see when you have gained the maturity to safely handle power. Feel that love and know you are exactly where you need to be....

Francis