Barbara's Blog & Essays from VisionEmrys
Recapitulation and Emotions
Student: In Toltec writings, the word recapitulation is mentioned. Various techniques are described regarding breathing, movement, location. What is the most salient element of recapitulation? Barbara: Number one, don’t let the number of syllables in the word intimidate you! It is just a word, and it refers to a review of events or people in [...]
[Click to Continue →]Point of View
Student: How does looking at the world with absolute awareness differ from the way you used to see, and how has that affected your relationships? Barbara: What I am able to perceive all around me no longer carries the baggage of meaning, no longer carries the taint of bad memories, or interpretations that were made [...]
[Click to Continue →]Honesty
In the process of every inspirational journey, certain words take on a tremendous importance – words like bliss, transcendence and ecstasy, for instance. It’s as if we were trying to reach the advanced levels of a video game – let’s call it the game of Enlightenment – by our most noteworthy moments of inarticulate mindlessness. [...]
[Click to Continue →]Never Gonna Let You Go
Romances seem destined to end – tragically or not. It seems that way, but romance can last as long as we do. It is our symbol to command. Our bodies will support the trauma of broken beliefs – and just about everyone has felt the acute pain that happens as a result. But, looking back [...]
[Click to Continue →]Personal History
Student: There is an expression in use by Toltecs called, “erasing personal history.” What does that expression mean to you? Barbara: Earlier we were discussing our investment in the meaning of events in our life and our interactions with individuals in our personal story, and really, “erasing personal history”, is the detaching from that investment. [...]
[Click to Continue →]What is a Nagual?
Student: What is a nagual? Barbara: The concept of a nagual is that which is non-material. In Toltec teachings, tonal is all that is material and can be known. So, from the legend of Smokey Mirror, seeing the night sky, seeing the stars and the space between the stars, we can say that the stars [...]
[Click to Continue →]Listening to Ourselves
Student: What instruments do people use to begin the process of listening? Barbara: Their ears! Everyone knows, I suppose, from reading don Miguel’s books that we have a voice that is constantly going in our heads, what he calls the Voice of Knowledge. You could call it thinking. It is happening all the time, and [...]
[Click to Continue →]Superstition
Superstition describes the power we give to certain beliefs. In giving power to a belief, you agree that it has control over your thinking and behavior. In giving power to a belief, you naturally surrender your own. And yes, fear and ignorance are at the heart of it. Perhaps you feel you’ve made peace with [...]
[Click to Continue →]On Dreaming
So, let’s talk more about dreaming, since that’s what we are doing, awake or asleep. We are receiving light as it bounces off matter and filled our eyes with images. These light images touch the brain and begin the process of creative interpretation with the help of the brain’s ethereal property, the mind. It takes [...]
[Click to Continue →]Listening with Impartiality
Student: Most of us understand that the hardest part of this teaching is getting to the point of listening with impartiality. What is impartiality, and how do we go about gaining an impartial point of view? Barbara: As you know, one of the fundamental suggestions in this teaching is that you come prepared not to [...]
[Click to Continue →]