|
|
Recapitulation
is a technique used to regain energy lost in the world. It is a technique
associated with stalking [cc6,
Florindas chapter], but it is very important to dreamers as well [cc9].
The basic premises (axioms about the world) on which the theory behind
recapitulation is based is as follows:
| 1. |
By acting and interacting
in the world a person binds up alot of energy. There is an exchange of
energy between people, and this locks up alot of energy. The greatest source
of such energy expenditure is in sexual encounters. |
| 2. |
This locked up energy
can be restored by a special technique called recapitulating. |
This
is, however, not the only explanation/reason to why one should recapitulate.
Another reason given in 'The Eagles Gift' [cc6]
is that recapitulation is a key to freedom given to every living creature.
The
Eagle is, according to what Castaneda tells us, the force in universe
from which everything emanates. Awareness is given to to us from the Eagle,
and when we die our awareness returns to the source and are 'consumed'.
By recapitulating our lives, the Eagle may accept this as a substitute
for our awareness. The Eagle only wants our life experiences. This is called
"the Eagles gift". Victor Sanchez
draws the conclusion that the 'seeing ones life passing before ones eyes',
reported by people believing they are about to die, is the natural form
of recapitulation [The Teachings of don Carlos].
Castaneda says that when we die, we enter, for a short moment, into the
third awareness to be cleaned, before the Eagle consumes us.
Recapitulation
also serves the purpose of making one aware of the routines and patterns
of ones life.
The Technique
The
technique is described in a number of places, and there actually seems
to be different descriptions in different places. There have even been
some diversity between the team around Castaneda about the direction of
the 'fanning' movement of the head.
The
clearest description in my opinion is the one in 'Art of Dreaming', chapter
eight 'The Third Gate of Dreaming' [cc9, p148]:
| " |
Don
Juan had given me very detailed and explicit instructions about the recapitulation.
It consisted of reliving the totality of one's life experiences by remembering
every possible minute detail of them. He saw the recapitulation as the
essential factor in a dreamer's redefinition and redeployment of energy.
"The recapitulation sets free energy imprisoned within us, and without
this liberated energy dreaming is not possible." That was his statement.
Years
before, don Juan had coached me to make a list of all the people I had
met in my life, starting at the present. He helped me to arrange my list
in an orderly fashion, breaking it down into areas of activity, such as
jobs I had had, schools I had attended. Then he guided me to go, without
deviation, from the first person on my list to the last one, reliving every
one of my interactions with them. He explained that recapitulating an event
starts with one's mind arranging everything pertinent to what is being
recapitulated. Arranging means reconstructing the event, piece by piece,
starting by recollecting the physical details of the surroundings, then
going to the person with whom one shared the interaction, and then going
to oneself, to the examination of one's feelings.
Don
Juan taught me that the recapitulation is coupled with a natural, rhythmical
breathing. Long exhalations are performed as the head moves gently and
slowly from right to left; and long inhalations are taken as the head moves
back from left to right. He called this act of moving the head from side
to side "fanning the event." The mind examines the event from beginning
to end while the body fans, on and on, everything the mind focuses on.
Don Juan said that the sorcerers of antiquity, the inventors of the recapitulation,
viewed breathing as a magical, life-giving act and used it, accordingly,
as a magical vehicle; the exhalation, to eject the foreign energy left
in them during the interaction being recapitulated and the inhalation to
pull back the energy that they themselves left behind during the interaction."
-The Art of Dreaming
|
|
|
|