More Q's for Frank

[halfphased]

Hello Frank,

I find that your model of consciousness is very user-friendly.  As of late, I have discovered that my mind is not located inside my head as I have usually placed it, but rather it lies elsewhere.  

It is strange to describe, but I believe that you have put it into words as best as possible in describing it as a 180 degree change in focus.  For me it seems that there is a screen "infront" of me that I can fix my awareness upon.   Maybe, more accureately, it is a screen within that I fix my awareness upon.  (something just past my thoughts, although those thoughts may imprint upon that screen)

However, I do have trouble.  I often slip into a dreamstate, when I start to focus on this screen.  I get caught up in those thoughts, which turn into a dream scenario. These dreams are especially intense in the morning when I first wake up and then go back to sleep.  Ocassionally, I will achieve a lucid state, but only momentarilly.  Then, I will fall back into the flow of my dream, without the realization that I am dreaming.  

I know I have posted similar posts before and yet I have still to move beyond my current limitations.  

Often, I will be fully awake and aware of my physical surroundings, yet I will also be aware of the dreamstate thoughts that I am having.  Is this what you would call f1/f2 overlay?  

I find it difficult to reach an f10 state without getting sidetracked into my thoughts and dreams.  Is this a hurdle to overcome or is there something else that I should be doing in order to maintain the f10 state while these dream thoughts are taking up my focus?

I am curious, how does f3 different from f10?  also, do you have any tips on how to avoid slipping into the dreamstate?  I find it so overwhelming,  in that I can not distinquish from dream and reality even though I may be trying to maintain my focus from a waking state to a f10 state.

[Frank]

Hi:

With the model, I tried to strip away everything except the bare bones that made it work, so to speak. Between my Primary Focus numbers and Monroe's more individual attention focuses, anyone should be able to get a good idea of what's what but in a more modern-day sense.

You are falling into the clutches of the Million Meanderings, I see. I know what you mean when you say you slip back into a dream without realising you are dreaming. This also happens to me sometimes. Especially if I'm feeling a little drowsy.

Yes, being aware of the physical, albeit perhaps with a reduced sensory input, and being aware of some "within" issue such as a dream, is an overlay experience. An overlay experience is where you are objectively viewing or otherwise experiencing more than one area of consciousness at the same time. So you could have an F1/F3 overlay, or an F2/F3 overlay, for instance. Note: I always put the dominant focus first. Generally, you will find in an overlay experience one focus will be more dominant than the other focus or focuses. It doesn't have to be between just two Primary Focus states. It is possible to have, say, an F1/F2/F3 overlay. He he, rather confusing but very possible.

At the moment, it sounds like you are in a solid Monroe focus 3 state. That is when you are viewing your screen or any other kind of pattern or image and you know you are in the physical, but with a reduced sensory input. Now, the next step is to "step into" that screen, or step into your mind. This is what you are doing, but, as you do so, you are engaging a dream action rather than the Phasing action of stepping within your mind with full conscious awareness.

Here is what I said about the differences between f3 and f10 in another post just recently:

The actual effects of the focus 10 state do vary from person to person. But the common factors are that you "become" within your own mind in a kind of twilight zone between the physical and the start of your own mind proper. The physical is "back there" somewhere. You are totally free of it and free to simply wander about in a kind of 3D space "within your head" so to speak. This is focus 10.

At focus 10, your body is NOT just very relaxed that you cannot feel it and you are perhaps seeing images in your mind that are grabbing your focus of attention. No, there is a definite shift, a definite withdrawal of your focus from the physical into your own mind. As your focus shifts, you feel it distinctly. The preliminary state, the feeling of being very relaxed and having your attention focused inwards is focus 3. At focus 3, you are still very much "in" the physical body but you have, in a sense, "forgotten" that you have one. Because what has happened is, your attention has turned inwards and you are now laying back looking at all the pretty patterns and things that a person typically offers themselves.

But at focus 10, there is a definite shift away from the physical. You are free to roam about within the 3D space within your mind. You have "stepped into" your mind, whereas at focus 3 you are in the position of looking into it after having turned your attention inwards. In other words, at focus 10 you have "stepped into" the area where you were looking at before at focus 3.

Okay, so your attention has turned inwards and you are laying back looking at all the pretty patterns you are offering yourself. So as I say you are at a definite focus 3 state. But when you come to make that "shift" within yourself, you are engaging the wrong action, i.e. you are engaging a dream action. I think you are doing this out of habit. Perhaps try focusing "beyond" the screen or whatever other imagery is in the foreground of your inner awareness. It would appear that your focusing on the screen itself is seducing your awareness and leading you into the region of the Million Meanderings.

I would say that the stepping into yourself to enter the focus 10 state is perhaps the trickiest part of this stage. You have to walk a very fine line between falling out of the state or falling into dreamland. There is that centre road that tends to get wider, hence easier to proceed along, the more you practice. So as I say, try focusing your attention a little way "beyond" the foreground imagery.

But you are definitely on the right track. Everything you talk about I recognise only too well. It's just that you are kinda walking a bit of a mental tightrope at this point. :)

I'm sure it will come with practice.

Yours,
Frank

[halfphased]

Ah...  Yes, it makes more sense to say that I am in an f3 state.  Good to know.  

I feel so loopy when I attempt to shift from f3 to f10.  But I believe you are correct in pointing out that I should try and look beyond this screen.  Heh, I guess it is kind of like quicksand.  Even just a brief moment of focusing on it can lead to me being fully engulfed by it.  I find that phenomenon to be amazing in itself, however it is keeping me from doing what I would like to do.

Thank you for your reply.  I found it to be most insightful.

[astralspinner]

Another question: When transitioning from "normally awake" to "mind awake, body asleep", do you stay mentally fully awake & aware?

I'm pretty sure I'm currently at about the same state as halfphased, able to reach a state where imagery happens, but struggling to stay alert enough not to fall into dreaming without getting so alert I wake up. I find that while I'm still aware & focussed, I'm not by any stretch "normally awake" - it's like its a very fragile state that normal waking thoughts are too "heavy" for so you have to keep a very clear mind.

e.g. Today I was trying to hold the awareness that once I reached F3, I wanted to try and get past it. I realized I was in F3, and I could feel the awareness of what I wanted to do, but I couldn't bring that awareness into the front of my mind without knocking myself out of the trance.

Is that something you have to deal with? From your posts I tend to get the impression you stay far more awake than that, not sure how accurate that impression is tho. . .