Unofficial Notes for Sunday, June 10, 6247

Unofficial Notes for Sunday, June 10, 6247

This was an additional class held at the request of students.

Class Summary
• Is there a non-western way to approach meditation (communicating with Divine)
• Traced practice to Indus Valley civilization, around 3300 BCE (present day Iran, Pakistan and others); these civilization have an African substratum
o Most have been in an era when there was a common set of goals and practices
• For Africans; sleep was considered an opportunity for rest and to travel to parallel worlds via dreams
o Inducing sleep by botanical means with the water lily – which is said to be a mood enhancing plant
o Read a narrative about the Mandrake plant, and learned it was a hallucinogenic and if taken improperly can kill; Kemites were aware of the plant and its properties
• Explored four types of meditation including walking, supine (prone), sitting, and movement
o Stresses the importance of good breathing, towards a healthier lifestyle without stress

Completed class evaluation

Sharing Experiences with this course
• Has found meditating to be very useful, helping them to find stillness and learning to take time to reflect
• Has benefited from a number of ways including understanding the importance of breathing properly and posture
• Unsure of the role of meditation for achieving social action; seems individualistic
• Wants a group result when engaged in meditation; can it result in achieving a big goal; doesn’t feel that they can be still
• Comparing another form of meditation that used music, and finds the still meditation requires greater discipline
• Learned to understand body parts and energy

Unofficial Class Notes - Sunday, May 27

UNOFFICIAL NOTES - Sunday, May 27

Sitting Meditation

• Baba Nantambu provided an overview of seated meditation
• Emphasized need for good posture, lotus position is preferred if possible, but you can also sit in a chair
• From a chair position, you should sit at the front of the chair, and keep your feet flat on the surface and shoulder-width apart
• Shared "The Anapansati Sutta Instructions"
• 16 contemplations - we shared the first 8 contemplations together, and will explore the second 8 during the next class
  
• #1: While breathing in long, one knows: 'I breathe in long.' While breathing out long, one knows, 'I breathe out long.'
• #2: While breating in short, one knows: "I breathe in short." While breathing out short, one knows, 'I breathe out short."
• #3: "Sensitive to the whole body, I breathe in. Sensitive to the whole body, I breathe out."
• #4: "Calming the whole body, I breathe in. Calming the whole body, I breathe out."
• 
  
• Stressing to reduce attachments; people should experience happiness, but not attach themselves to it
  

Lying Meditation

• Useful to eliminate the pressure of gravity on our body; eventually causes the spine to buckle somewhat
• Can occur during the day or evening; however if you find yourself falling asleep, then it's best to just get some rest first
• Uses some small "neck" pillows, a rolled towel or book can serve the same purpose; can place it behind your neck or head, wherever it's comfortable
  
• While laying on your back, the knees are raised to remove stress from your neck and back
• Hands are placed on the stomach and chest; hands don't touch to reduce distraction
• Allows tongue to relax, and place it on the top of the roof of one's mouth; may help to channel vital energy
• Do slow abdominal breathing; eyes can be closed
• Beginning with your head, give parts of your body permission to relax; you may even verbalize this as you move down your body ("I give my forehead permission to relax" - my cheeks, jaws, chest, lungs, stomach...to the tip of your toes)
  
• Continue meditating for as long as necessary
• Baba Ray describes a technique for further relaxing the spine, but this would require a demonstration to avoid damaging the spine
• You should rise slowly, and ensure good support
  

Open Discussion

• It's important to not approach meditation with a specific timeframe, but give it as much time as you need
• Participants stress the need to be in community together, and understanding each person's concerns enhances the meditation

Assignment

• Students are asked to read "The Chapter of the Seven Gates", a handout provided by Baba Ray
• Identify any words that you believe are directly related to meditation
  

Notes - Sunday, May 20, 6247 (2007)

UNOFFICIAL NOTES for Sunday, May 20, 6247

Completed movement meditation

Reviewing the translation from the Book of Coming Forth

• Distinguishes translation and transliteration, which is a translation with context and meaning
• Budge's work is a translation; see Bro Ray's transliteration below
  
• Shows several images of lotus, including the blue lily, which is not a lotus, although it's often referred to as one; the blue lilly blums during the day
• Referred to as "sesheni" in the medu neter
• Budge, like others, has borrowed the word lotus, when in fact it's a water lily
  
• Compares this to lotus petals on the based of the Buddah
• Where Budge says field, this is impossible, since it is an aquatic plant
• The correct translation is marsh land, not field
• The flower comes forth and closes in conformity with the sun; not the other way around as suggested by Budge
• The flower gives a fragrance, and we see the neter coming forth from the lily
• It is not a known fact that lilys submerge under water; the original writers may have extended its opening/closing to adding its submergance under water
• See images of a man and wife wearing a water lily (at the top)
• Medicinal benefits
• Has been said that it can reduce tremblings (anti-sposmatic), and is a minor opiate
• Laboratory studies have not found these properties in the water lily, although it has been found in the Asian lotus
• It has been reported to provide a euphoric ("high") when placed in wine
• Used the water lily as a sign of rebirth, fragrance, and "perhaps" as a mind altering plant

Plants

• Shows an image of a mandrake (see the image above)
  
• Would use the root and leaves to create images of a man and woman
• Reviewing the narrative of the "Destruction of Humankind"
• SUMMARY: Ra here's humans saying he is getting old...and he get's made, and says 'bring me my eye I'm going to kill them'. He calls on his council (Shu, Tefnet, Get, Nut, etc.). Ask for the advice of the neteru. Nu says 'act like a ruler, but since you ask, send your eye'. The eye comes forth in the form of Ht Hrt, and she begins killing humans. Ra calls her back, but after nightfall, Skhmt goes into the hills and wades in the blood. Ra calls her back, and asks her to return with mandrake root and give them to the ones who make beer (in the medu neter it is sdjrt), and grind it in 7,000 containers of beer. The beer, spiked with mandrake, causes sleep. Ra asks her to pour the beer in the four sections of the sky. Skhmt drinks the beer and goes to sleep, halting the slaughter. Ra becomes weary and rides a cow (Nut) into the sky, and stretches himself out on his back (on the sky).

• How does this relate to meditation?
• Mandrake is the giver of the pupils of the eye; contains an anesthetic (relives pain), induces sleep (causes the pupils to dilate), slight hallucinogenic
  
• See images of woman giving sharing mandrake to widen their pupils (said to enhance their sexuality) [see nearby picture]
• Mandrake also contains atromine, hyoscyamine; causing delirium, makes you stretch out, can be dangerous; ancestors must have developed a method for prescribing proper doses, and suggests a fairly extensive understanding of medicine
  
• Silver is the moon, gold is his body; the people are not ridiculing his aging, merely stating that he will begin his rebirth, since Ra "dies" everyday
• Story appears to be written by someone who was making fun of Ra
  

Making Transformation into a Blue Water Lily
(Retranslated by Raymond Davis)

Words (to be) Said by (the) Asir Anu

I am (the) pure Water Lily coming forth with (the) Sunshine
The guardian (of the) nostrils of Ra
The guardian (of the) nose of Ht Hrt
I make my descent
I search (for) him who is Hru
I am the pure (one) coming forth from(the) marshland

Notes on Sunday, May 13

UNOFFICIAL NOTES
Short Summary

• Review class to date
• Participated in Movement Meditation, and covered several movements
• Check-in with participants to see how they're progressing with their goals
• Dreams are more vivid
• Elder says their memory of their dreams are more difficult to remember, and thinks it's associated with inconsistent sleep patterns - suggests making notes of dreams when possible
  
• "Dream Journals" should be kept and may reveal patterns over time, and possible predict events
  
• Reviews image of the shadow of Seti I
• dreams provide portal to the otherside
• The word for sleep is depicted as a person lying on a table, where the table has the feet of a lion; the more common form is "sedjr"

From Reading the Destruction of Manking (Jumoke)

• From page 182 from "The Egyptian Book of the Dead" by E.A. Wallis Budge
  
• "I am the lotus pure coming forth from the god of light, the guardian of the nostril of Ra, the guardian of the nose of Hathor. I make my journey, I run after him who is Heru. I am the pure one coming forth from the field"
• "guardian of the nostril"
• Spirit that protects the nostril, and provides the opportunity for Ra to come forth and for our daily breathes
• "nose of Hathor" (viewed as neter of love)
  
• Provides the female balance, both the fury of the lion as well as love
• "I make my journey"
• About seeing the neter, and having a purpose
  
• "I run after him who is Heru"
• Heru is about rebirth, in the eating of foods and loving one another, as we rebirth self
• Opportunity to connect with ourselves, but also other people - there is something that we offer each other; do we have the clarity to see the divinity in each other
• "I am the pure one"
• field reference was a bit confusing - did it represents work?
• The Lotus
• There are several types of lotus, red, white, blue; white lotus indigieous to Kemet and is the most sacred
• Lotus opens during the day (although some have different schedules - blue opens midday)
  
• The botany of the lotus is that its roots are in mud, and these beautiful leaves come forth; symbolic of beauty coming up from mud
  

Notes for Sunday, May 6

May 6, 6247 (2007)
UNOFFICIAL NOTES

Completed walking Meditation

• Baba Natambu explained the use and benefit of walking meditation
• Benefits of walking meditation include better health, greater "mindfulness", better digestion, greater strength and ability to walk longer distances, etc.
  
• Playing the Wo'se meditation CD, everyone participated in walking meditation
• Found it easier to maintain balance without shoes; makes reference to aligning ones energy with the ground
• With walking meditation, your steps should match your breathing, rather than forcing your breathing to match your steps
  

Background on Kemet and Indus Valley

• References a map of the area, and contrasts Kemet, Meopotamia, China and the Indus Valley
• Brief overview of the Ancient Indus chronology (see map above)
• Shared picture of Indian dancer (see image above)

Meditation

• Sharing early images of meditation from India; showing a figure which appears to be in a "lotus" position (the stone image is from about 4K years ago)
• The figure is depicted in nature, and this is a reoccuring theme
• Initially there was no one shown in meditation, but began as a pillar, with lions facing the four cardinal points

Buddha

• Early effort was to survive on a "nut" a day, shows picture of a "skinny buddha"; later we see the more common image (larger, disk in back, particular hand shapes)
• "Skinny" Buddha is from Tibet; one day he got so skinny and weak, that he almost drowned; having no one around to teach him
• Contrasts classic picture of Buddha with an image of Asar
• Shows columns, which are said to be the backbone of Asar, earliest images of the djed (column)
• The djed represents the tree which enclosed his body
• Tamarisk tree comes up often
• Aspect of the soul, which is the "shadow" (kaibit)

• Emphasizes that it is easy to get lost, if you're not willing to dig deeply into the teachings

Reasons for Practicing Meditation (Exercise)

• Everyone shared takehome exercise
• The exercises asked for participants to explain what they hoped to gain from the course, and to identify how they would measure whether they had obtained their goal
• Participants spoke to meditating more often, developing better technqiues, study in an environment with own "folks", get a better understanding of meditation

Exercise

• Need someone to read "The Destruction of Mankind" from Budge ("Gods of the Egyptians")
• Need "Coming Forth By Day" read the "I'm making a transformation into a Lotus"