Hello all: While new to this forum, I have been a student of these matters for 30+ years--and I was impressed by the level of dialogue to be found here.
Brian: There are so many different models and metaphors one could use, but it seems to boil down to: do I stay (consciously) "in control" and continue to live a in halting, frustrated and diminished manner, or do I choose to have the results I want without being able to "take credit" for them?
All of our conditioning tells us to stay "in control," but experience has shown this to be an inefficient (and uncomfortable) way to operate...
Perhaps there is some middle ground--hey, why should we have to wait for the Big Enlightenment to enjoy the benefits?--of dancing with the para-conscious mind: gently playing with it, turning over more and more of our functioning to the faster and smarter parts of ourselves, and gradually expanding our trust in the process.
To use your analogy, we can gradually broaden our focus from laser to flashlight, and so forth, without scaring or straining ourselves in the process. I think I could handle that...
Gassho/Namaste!
[This message has been edited by shinsei (edited March 19, 2001).]
