Memory Anchors

Something has been nagging at me for a while. I really only started to pay attention to it recently, but I can tell I’ve been noticing “inner flinches” during certain moments of my meditation practice. When I first started The Gateway tapes I remember thinking, “Oh man I gotta memorize affirmations? Is this grade school?” So, like a good grade school student that I once was, I began a nightly practice of reciting the primary affirmation that you repeat before the start of each session on every single tape.

That little practice led to bedtime meditation sessions, which led to realizing that you don’t need binaural beats to do this at all. As a dear friend of mine would say, “At some point you begin to see the training wheels start to fall off.” So, as this progressed I became not only extremely fast and efficient in my prep process but also began to lose the meaning, emotion, and intention of the prep process. Oh, no…

The “red alert” for this came in the form of me beginning to question just exactly what I was achieving and accomplishing with repeating this same exact affirmation every single time I began “the practice” so to speak. This is very much in line with one of the oldest recursive loops in my life: questioning religion, god, universe, why the hell did I get the unremarkably short height gene? It’s unremarkable because it’s just “yea he’s short,” not like “omg do you guys know how short Anton is???” This is a very important distinction that my ego insisted I include in this section.

Anyways, moving on! Another angle I took about this sudden questioning of things that were once incredibly important to me was tuning in to my intuition and inquiring about what was going on with me. The answer was simple, as always, and I’m going to write more words than needed about it, as always. Not that long ago I got obsessed with meditating with stones and crystals. One day as I was laying down for a session I heard myself say, “You don’t need those stones.” Naturally I had to verify this advice by taking mental notes after several sessions with and without the stones to really gauge if there was even a tiny bit of difference. There wasn’t.

When I asked about my trepidations with Monroe’s famous affirmation that I never thought I would abandon I heard, “You don’t need those words.” I was puzzled, but I’ve learned to take this inner voice seriously. Meditating on this message in F15 was always a good idea, especially since I couldn’t really get it out of my mind anymore at any given time. I don’t need those words because I know those words. Just like I don’t need to recreate the image of my mother and her name every night that I go to sleep, no matter how much she’d prefer that I would do exactly that.

Just as ready and willing as I was to let go of those words I was also conflicted. Maybe while I am ready and understand what’s happening here with clear vision I also know something about myself: I collect things that are important to me. You’re absolutely right, there’s nothing special about that, most people do this. The more I think about it the more it makes sense why we keep such “memory anchors” around, be it physical or third density data such as spoken or written words.

By allowing myself to transform this beloved affirmation into a much smaller phrase, or word, I am condensing the meaning and knowledge behind it. I’m not getting rid of it, I’m making it more efficient and effective. I’ve already got some other little phrases and words that I like to recite as well, so together with those powerful words (to me) I am making my intent that much more robust, grounded, and intricate.

Monroe’s Gateway Affirmation

I am more than my physical body. Because I am more than physical matter, I can perceive that which is greater than the physical world. Therefore, I deeply desire to Expand, to Experience; to Know, to Understand; to Control, to Use such greater energies and energy systems as may be beneficial and constructive to me and to those who follow me. Also, I deeply desire the help and cooperation, the assistance, the understanding of those individuals whose wisdom, development, and experience are equal to or greater than my own. I ask their guidance and protection from any influence or any source that might provide me with less than my stated desires.

My Affirmation Of Many Colors

I am more than my physical body.
Спаси и Сохрани.
Dum spiro spero.
Thank you.

“Спаси и Сохрани” meaning: “Save and Protect”; pronunciation: spah-see ee sakh-rah-nee.

“Dum spiro spero” meaning: “While I breathe, I hope”; pronunciation: doom speero spero.

That’s it, just four lines. The first line carries the meaning and intent of the entire Gateway Affirmation. Second line I’ve recited as long as I can remember. Third line was communicated during a meditation, it is popular nonetheless so the origin for me could be cultural cross-pollination, but how it came to me it will always be special. Last line is something I don’t say often enough.

None of this is ground-breaking knowledge. I’m positive that this isn’t a new technique and something that most people pick up throughout their practice naturally. One of the hallmarks of any exploration of consciousness and any practice surrounding the non-local and subjective subtle spaces is understanding that change isn’t something you have to deal with, that would mean resistance on some level. Change is fundamental to reality and the existence of anything and everything. Believe it or not, the sun might not rise one morning, and that means that change is always underway.

So, if anything is a given in this universe it is that things change, and that is perfectly ok.