Gnostic Difficulty

wood

I was reading "The Paradigmal Pirate" by Josh Wetzel and he recommends more than once to switch up the methods of gnosis you use because the more you use one kind (mediation, dancing, drumming, etc) the longer you have to do them to achieve the same state.

I was wondering if anyone else had a perspective on this, because I've found the reverse to be true. The more I use a certain technique the easier it is to fall into a trance-state. I agree with him basically, in that I don't think it's ever good to get so attached to one method as to neglect others, but I disagree with his reasoning.

Anyone found that the more you meditate the harder it gets?

Agros

I only meditate for relaxation and the more I do it the better I get at it.

I assume that you are using the trance-state to project or something similar. If that's the case I have a little experience with this.

I have been projecting a couple times a month since September--I project from lucid dreams only, not trance-states. What I've found is that chakra meditation helps increase the duration of projections. If I neglect to spin my chakras my projections aren’t as lucid and don't last very long.

Perhaps it isn't so much that you become too dependent on one method; it's that if you only focus on one method you don't get the benefits of the others. Because each technique helps you in a different way.

wood

Yeah you're right, though I do some relaxation meditation I also use trance states for implanting my will into the collective unconscious... and stuff...

But the main thing I wanted to know was whether people thought it gets easier or harder the more you use a certain method. I agree with you that it generally gets easier the more you do it, and there's definitely something to be gained from not letting yourself stagnate in one technique.

Agros

How do you achieve a trance state from meditation?

wood

Agros wrote: »

How do you achieve a trance state from meditation?

Similar to any other trance-state. Take a cognitive object (breath, sound, image) and loop it. So pretty much any breath meditation will put you in a trance-like state. What makes the difference to the overall strength of the trance is how many cognitive loops you have going at once. If you add another layer to the breath concentration, e.g. when you exhale you say some sort of mantra, then that is going to strengthen the trance.

If you're interested in trance-state theory Dennis Weir's The Way of Trance is the most comprehensive account I've seen.

Morningside

In my experience the (generally easier) excitory methods diminish in effectiveness over time, while the (more difficult) inhibitory methods only improve with practice.

Imaginarium

Anyone found that the more you meditate the harder it gets?

Not...really. It's a skill, after all.

Devotion

If psychactives count, then yeah, overuse is going to reduce efficacy.