TMO and MPE

["forestofsymbols" <forestofsymbols@...>]

 All,

I have been working of late with the TMO exercises and have been 
finding them to be very useful, suprisingly so. However, I do have 
some questions, partly out of idle curiousity, partly to see what 
other people's viewpoints are on this subject. These questions 
probably have been asked in the past, and I simply missed them paging 
through prior posts. 

First, TMO reminds me quite a bit of the Middle Pillar exercise 
(MPE), although the lessons in TMO seem to be better developed than 
anything I've seen on the MPE (not that I've seen much on the MPE). 
For example, practicing the different levels of speech seems to be 
crucial to both exercises, but I never heard about this until coming 
to the TMO exercises. I read in some prior posting that TMO can take 
the place of the MPE, but I am finding them to be somewhat different 
and useful in different ways. Since they both use the same basic map 
of the human body (the Tree of Life with the Pillar of Mercy to the 
Left), they seem to be complementary to one another and fit together 
quite well. 

Now it has been said that doing different practices is fine, but 
it can also be problematic, especially if repeated practice can 
change one's inner body or bodies. While different systems can map 
the same truths, different maps one could imagine might interfere 
with one another or even contradict one another. This is not to say 
that one system is right or the other wrong, but that internally, 
each system is different. David Sheinkin in his "Path of the 
Kabbalah" compares it to nutritional programs: in program A, one 
might be told to eat cereal and beans but no milk; while in program B 
milk is essential but beans are forbidden. Both programs result in a 
healthy body. Each system may be effective so long as one operates 
within it. Once we start comparing or combining systems, we might put 
them into conflict with one another in ways that only experiences 
practicioners might see.

I suppose this is a long, drawn out and complicated way of asking: 
should TMO and MPE be practiced together, and indeed, is it wise or 
unwise to explore other Hermetic techniques (for instance, the 
Kabbalistic Cross)? More generally, are there techniques that one 
would be ill-advised to practice along with Hermetics? Bardon gives 
many general principles, leaving the individual to fill it in as 
appropriate (for example, he advises daily physical exercise, but 
leaves it up to each individual to decide on what exercises to do). 

Secondly, brief questions reagarding TMO. Please know I am asking 
these questions for answers, and am not questioning TMO generally, 
which I find to be quite fantastic:

1. What is the difference between the I am ("ani") in TMO and the I 
am that I am ("eheyeh") in the MPE? Why the different words to 
establish Kether? 

2. Why does TMO establish the center of Tifereth at the solar 
plexus, rather than the heart? Would it be unwise to focus it on the 
heart? Does it really make a difference? I am thinking at this point 
that Hermetics is a system where individuals draw on the same basic 
core of theory and techniques, and then develop them differently 
depending on each individual (summed up by the observation that on 
the Tree of Life, the Sefira are objective, but the paths are 
subjective). I am also thinking that the practices change and develop 
with the individual. However, I don't want to cut the heart out a 
technique when I haven't mastered it, but I don't want to arbitrarily 
limit myself either. 

Just for the record, this post was supposed to be much shorter. 
Thanks!

mj