a few questions

["xteph7" <inetsubs@...>]

Hello,

Rawn - please feel free to edit this post as necessary.

I've only recently found Rawn's excellent website and through that, 
this forum. Unfortunately a week after signing up, I was shocked to 
find it was closing :( I will take it as a sign that I must look 
within for my own answers as far as possible ;) 

I apologize in advance for the long post. If the questions have 
already been answered I will find them, but since time is short and 
nearly 4000 posts is a lot to get through, I thought I'd ask my 
questions while I still have time :)

I got up to step 2 in IIH but have backtracked as I felt that I had 
not quite mastered step 1, so my questions are a mixture of both 
steps.

1. Impregnation of a desire into food/drink. Bardon says that the 
more abstract the thought the better, so up to a couple of days ago I 
was using health as the desire, imagining this to be kind of full-
spectrum health, ie. physical, energy body, mental, emotional, 
etheric template, etc - in other words health in every respect on 
every level. I am realizing though that this could take years to 
manifest and Bardon says not to move to another desire until the 
first has been fully realized. I have now decided to use focus as my 
desire, thinking that this will help with attention, and also 
visualization. My question is: Am I being *too* abstract, and would 
I be better to concentrate on a particular quality such as attention 
or visualization or vacancy of mind (obviously I'd have to rephrase 
the last one as I wouldn't want to become a vegetable!).

Since Bardon says you should not move on until the desire is 
realized, and since something could take a few years, I wouldn't want 
to be stuck on Step 1 until my old age pension arrives! How long 
would you say is *too* long! And if you do begin to see results from 
a desire, should you carry on with that desire until you have 
completely accomplished it, or is it OK to move to another desire 
once you see that the first desire is beginning to take effect?

Another question on impregnation of food & drink: When I hold my 
hands over the food or drink, I can feel the energy going through my 
whole body and down my hands into the food, filling it up with my 
desire. If I am around people and can't do this, I still imagine my 
desire going into the food and drink but can't actually feel 
anything. Is this something that will come with time, or am I doing 
something wrong? 

2. Eliminating undesirable qualities. As above, is it better to be 
abstract such as "all my black mirror qualities are being washed 
away", or more precise such as "mind chatter is being washed away"? 
And if I would like frustration to be eliminated, should I 
concentrate on frustration in general, or be specific as to the type 
of frustration? Or in fact, by focusing on mind chatter, would this 
then take care of the frustration as a result (since frustration is a 
form of mind chatter)? Or would perhaps concentrating on "all 
blockages are being washed away" be better than all of the above? As 
you can see, I am quite confused as to how abstract is *too* 
abstract :(

3. The elements. Would it be helpful instead of impregnating food 
and drink with a desire, to instead impregnate it with the positive 
aspects of a particular element, eg to visualize or imagine only 
positive energy of one element coming into your food, dissolving the 
negative aspects of that particular element at the same time? Or am 
I completely off track here?

4. Vacancy of mind. I am not sure exactly what is meant by this. I 
have managed to achieve what I feel is vacancy of mind when in a one-
pointed focus state, such as when driving, where all thoughts other 
than the task at hand have gone. I have had some insights when a 
thought has actually arrived, more as an idea than a verbal thought 
or image. However, since the mind is never truly vacant, *is this 
the state I should be aiming for when practicing vacancy of mind*? 
Also, should I be moving on to the next exercise after this, or 
should I make sure that I have mastered this and can push all 
thoughts away at any time. This is something I can only achieve 
occasionally. Do I have to be able to master it at will *at any 
time* before moving on? Or at least every day in practice? And is 
this the state, or is it just a matter of eliminating mental (verbal) 
chatter?

5. Visualization and control of the senses. I understand from Rawn's 
site and correspondence excerpts that it is not necessary to 
literally see something, as long as you can hold the minds-eye 
image. Is this the same for the hearing, smelling, tasting & touch 
exercises? If so, some clarification on this would be really helpful.

Many thanks,
Stephanie