Use of Language and Mapping

Mapping experiences inevitably involves using words.  By refining and expanding our use of language, we can widen our ability to map experiences.   

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The Deeper Mysteries of Language
 

• We normally think the purpose of language is to communicate.  But language is something much deeper.    It reifies and makes things more substantial.  It is a technology of incarnation, and should be regarded as sacred and mysterious.
   

• This is not just an esoteric concept.  We need adequate exposure to language as children or else our ability to think is severely retarded.  Language incarnates the thinking process in the mind.   
   

• Language is not just about words and how we speak and write.  Language in its most abstract sense is a noetic ordering principle that makes sense out of chaos.  Math is a language.  Music is a language.  The rules and laws that govern archetypes are a language.  And, arguably, any noetic principle or form can be expressed in a language of some type.  Anytime you use language you are activating a noetic part of yourself.  You want to catch and develop this part.
   

• It's true that some spiritual teachings denigrate the use of language.  Things like Lao Tze's "He who knows, does not speak.  He who speaks, does not know."  
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  • It's true that language and words can often lock people into a lower mode of thinking.  But that's because people confuse the map (the symbols of language) with the territory (the astral forms that language points to).  
     

  • Words can never completely capture an experience.  But that shouldn't be held against using them to describe spiritual experiences.  For that matter, you also really can't capture what sex feels like with words.  But that doesn't stop people from talking about sex in a meaningful way.  
     

  • Remember that things exist across a chain of emanations.  What words point to are astral forms that themselves can exist across a broad range of expression.  These astral forms make up what we think of as the meaning of a word, phrase or sentence.  When you speak you should feel like your words are just the tip of an inverted iceberg, and that you're using them to hold or point to a  much richer astral form above.
     

  •  Steiner believed that this type of "non-thinking" spirituality was actually a distraction and a result of Luciferic forces that wanted to stop human development.
     

• The throat envelope is involved even when you speaking in your head.  This is called subvocalization, and it actually involves tiny movements in your larynx and tongue. 
   

  • If you are having problems with an out of control OMC, try making your tongue absolutely still.  This prevents subvocalization, and results in a temporary silence of the inner dialogue.​​
    
     

 Some Tips for Mapping in Vision Spaces

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• Just get started!  When mapping, often the biggest mistake is not saying anything.  Hold verticality and begin speaking. 
   

• Probably the hardest thing in the beginning is knowing how to speak without dropping the space.  Its a skill that takes a lot of practice.  You have to start somewhere, though, and staying too silent can be a mistake as well.
   

  • Most beginners need to stay involuted, and that often means erring on the side of silence. 
     

  • If you're at the point where you can feel when spaces break or drop, then it's better to start practicing using the voice while in the space. 
     

  • At a certain stage, speaking deepens the space further and is sometimes required to do so.  This is the incarnating effect.   
     

• You want to use your voice to strengthen the link to the space or connection that's available.  You catch a subtle thread with your voice or words and then trace it to the source.  If your partner is in synch with you, then the effect is like triangulation.
   

Strive for Precision
 

• Precise language helps land spaces and astral forms.  This is because trying to be precise is difficult and requires engagement of the will, which is a force of incarnation.​​
   

• Using careful language activates the incarnating and shaping force of the throat envelope.  You can feel a flow or activity in the throat envelope that feels like a channeling from above.
   

• Perfect expression is usually not possible.  See the striving for precision as a never-ending process.
   

Facilitating Flows

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• Words can separate and detach, or foster intimacy and participation.  You want to feel language as a process, a flow of incarnation.
   

• Use direct language.  Be bold and embrace the experience.  Imagine your words are a beacon for connection, saying "I'm here- land on me!" Avoid qualifiers, hedges and other timid language.
   

• This isn't a poetry exercise.  We are not after eloquent expression, but whatever facilitates the flow.  Precise language does not have to be complicated.  Often simple language is the best.
   

• Compare:
   

  • "If I had to guess, I would say that from my point of view there is a real potential for opening here, perhaps from the heart."
     

  • "Let your heart open."

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Metaphors and Adjectives
 

• Adjectives are good starting points but lack precision.  They are best used as signposts to concisely mark a space or experience.
   

  • "The space is horizontal".  Even though 'horizontal' describes a space, there are many flavors of horizontal.
     

• Adjectives vary in terms of information content.  Very generic ones like 'rich' and 'deep' are not very helpful, as they apply to any meaningful experience.   Adjectives with more information, such as 'gold' or 'fiery' are better.  They are also easier to check with your partner in a vision space.
   

• Metaphor and simile involve a greater degree of specificity and can land spaces better.  While using them is more difficult, this also allows for more engagement of the will.
   

• Compare:
   

  • "The space is rich and warm"
     

  • "Strong qualities of light and heartness"
     

  • "It's as though the connection is playing a symphony of light in my heart"​
    
    Or:
     

  • "The space feels intense"
     

  • "There's a certain Plutonic density in the space."
     

  • "I feel an implosive pull, like my subtle bodies are collapsing on themselves and being transformed."

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