8a2b1d31   
   XPost: alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.religion.hindu   
   XPost: alt.consciousness.mysticism   
   From: dalton@nfld.com   
      
   I have written a few times before of my hope that I will come out of my   
   low/wilderness years and achieve awakening/enlightenment, like the Buddha did   
   at the end of his seven ascetic years. I have said that I expect this   
   awakening/enlightenment to consist of sustained productive creativity and   
   mental stability, allowing me to taper off my medication without experiencing   
   adverse effects.   
      
   I think I have briefly come out of the low years twice before, once one early   
   evening when I was visiting Vancouver in September 2004, and once one New   
   Year’s Eve a few years ago here in St. John’s. In both cases I   
   experienced a feeling of luminous clarity, and it wasn’t similar to my   
   waning crescent highs.   
      
   I have three types of awakening so far:   
   1. my waning crescent highs (inspiration/call)   
   2. release from my waxing gibbous moon trials by full moon   
   3. the above-mentioned two brief incidents.   
      
   But anyway, while medication has eased my way, it seems that it has delayed   
   the final awakening/enlightenment since most past figures similar to me had   
   only seven years of low years, some had 14 years, and I have gone 22.78 years   
   so far. If an 11 year sunspot cycle variation holds, I might come out of the   
   low years 11 years after the 14 years, so 2.22 more years, or 22 years after   
   the 7 years, or 6.22 more years. But I hope it will be sooner than 2.22 more   
   years.   
      
   However, note that while my low years were quite bad in 1996 and 1997, these   
   days they are not very low except in terms of creativity while I am on my   
   current medication regimen of 1250 mg divalproex sodium and 7.5 mg of   
   olanzapine nightly and am abstaining from alcohol 1--9 days before full moon   
   and from marijuana during all of waxing moon, and am not blindly believing   
   perineum click divination, though I still play at it.   
      
   --   
   David Dalton dalton@nfld.com http://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)   
   http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)   
   “Don't get me wrong/If I come and go like fashion   
   I might be great tomorrow/But hopeless yesterday" (Chrissie Hynde)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)