4 January 1994 (Tuesday)

There has been a certain method or habit which I have successfully
used in the past to undergo an OBE(out-of-body experience) or to
employ Castaneda's terminology, to enter into the dreaming body.

Actually, instead of Castaneda's "dreaming body", I much prefer to
use the German word:  Doppleganger.  Not only is it an acceptable
term in social science, psychology and psychiatry(each profession
has established a different interpretation of what that means), the
word "Doppleganger" also conveys to me a very real sense of fright
and apprehension, feelings that for whatever reasons invariably
accompany me when I am able to lapse into these states.

Be that as it may, I've had about thirty or forty of such
experiences in total, which most commonly occurred as a teenager
but continued off and on throughout my adult life so far.  It has
occurred often enough for me to recognize a definite pattern by
which I can follow to help me to enter such states again.

It simply consists of following a time-schedule of going to sleep
and waking.  As to why this specific routine produces the result of
having the conscious "spirit" being able to extricate itself from
the sleeping (physical)body, I can only tell you from my personal
experience that this is what it took for me.  At present, I have no
conjectures or theories to explain why these preconditions seem to
be necessary for me.

It is impossible to guarantee that this method will work for you,
but it should by all means be attempted if no other procedure is
available.  And it ought to be done in a consistent manner, without
giving up and expecting immediate results right away.  It should be
self-evident that there are no "get-rich-quick" schemes in the
spiritual world; it takes years of dedicated struggle and vigilance
to make any progress at all.

If nothing else, I believe intense methods of ascetic life, trauma,
fasting and/or stress can help induce the dreaming body, stopping
just short of suicide.  Yet I am a realist.  Some of you are too
rigid and locked into your material self.  Perhaps the only way you
will ever have an out-of-body experience(or have a dreaming body)
will be for a few moments in the end, right as you have laid down
for the last time, when your physical body becomes a fresh slab of
meat in the morgue.  Death is a one-way street; once is not enough
for me.  I want to experience it as many times as possible while I
am still among the living.

As for trouble-shooting the possible reasons for your spiritual
impotence or failure, one main requirement to arrive at your
dreaming body is the strict abstinence from drugs, especially
alcohol, marijuana and all the other freely-available prescriptions
and/or controlled substances.  Basically if you are not able to
have normal dreaming, you will not be able to enter into the
dreaming body.  Most any drug will wreck havoc on your attempts; it
will imprison you to your physical being, make no mistake about
that.  But enough for the lectures.  I will just add that, of all
the reasons the government and Big Business gives you to be "drug-
free"(it against the law, you'll have a police record, you won't be
hired for this job, damage to brain cells, AIDS, ect.), they fail
to mention the most important reason of all:  the genuine spiritual
devastation it has on your dreaming and your dreaming body.  They
obviously have based their reasoning from the reference of a
materialistic standpoint, a sad commentary on our collective
spiritual condition today.

Enough for that!  Here then is my procedure:

10 p.m.            Go to bed

2-4 a.m.           Wake up, set your alarm if necessary.  Do some
                   sort of activity during this time to grow weary
                   or sleepy again.  It is important that you be
                   able to fall asleep after about 1.5-2 hrs.

4 a.m. or approx:  Go back to sleep.

6-7  a.m.:         Expect to enter the dreaming body.

10 a.m.:           You should be physically awake by this time,
                   perhaps feeling a little tired.  Extended trips
                   in the dreaming body tends to drain your energy
                   considerably.

This procedure is so simple that some of you might question its
validity.  What did you expect, a sophisticated mantra technique or
an awkward yoga position?

The vast majority of my experiences have occurred right before or
about sunrise.  In fact, I gazed at the morning sun myself in my
dreaming body and this one particular incident is unforgettable to
me.  I'm sure it would be around 7 a.m. or so, about sunrise.

Castaneda points out something Don Juan said, that some people have
an affinity for the morning sun and others prefer the setting sun.
CC apparently preferred the dusktime.  My technique likely is
biased toward people who are amenable to the sunrise.  That may be
the only other prerequisite to successfully use this procedure.

I don't know why it is necessary to stay awake between approx. 2-4
a.m., but I appears to be highly correlated to my experiences in
reaching the dreaming body.  I seem to tumble headfirst out of the
front part of my forehead(CC's "somersault of thought"?).  As I
leave my sleeping(physical) body, I see my surroundings(bedroom,
windows, ect.) exactly as if my eyes were open and I was wide
awake.  Not exactly a dream, much more real than that!

Some other points to keep in mind:  You obviously need a lot of
free time to practice this method, minimum 12 hrs. per day.  The
more the better.  Go to sleep naturally, do not be forceful about
it.  Do not go to sleep any earlier or later than approx. 10 p.m.
Most likely, your work schedule will interfere with this schedule.
Most of my experiences in the dreaming body occurred on the
weekends:  when else do you get to sleep so late?

Time can not be replaced or reproduced.  The time you spend in the
material world reduces the time you have left to spend in the
spiritual world.  And it is infinitely better to live in abject
poverty with a highly-developed spiritual consciousness than to
live in material wealth with no spiritual knowledge whatsoever.

If you really want to experience the dreaming body, you must not
let your work and business take away all your precious free time.
Otherwise you will end up as completely hollow inside all your life
and never know what it is like to experience the dreaming body.
But once you have encountered the total freedom of the experience,
it is like a shark savoring the taste of blood for the first time.
Your thirst will never be completely quenched; you will always be
drawn back to it again and again.

Finally, let me state that I strongly believe we Americans must set
for ourselves a high spiritual "standard of living".  It is not
enough to be well-off by purely material standards.  It takes
precious time to attain success in either endeavor, perhaps even
more so for our spirits, because to be successful in the business
of our physical world requires absolutely none of the qualities
necessary for spiritual development.  They are in fact a hindrance
to it.

I am a member of the CGML in the NewAge Forum.  Currently I have an
address at CIS which is 73142,463.  My name is Nathan M. Gant.  My
postal address is:  P.O. Box 1912, Oviedo, FL  32765.  I am free to
discuss any subjects pertaining to this method mentioned above.  I
am of course a avid reader of all of CC's books, especially the
last one, "The Art of Dreaming(1993)".  I am freely propagating
this information to encourage the spiritual prosperity of the
American people.