-- from Rama's tapes

"I'm very serious about you attaining enlightenment."

"Did you keep the journal? Let me see it."

Journal writing is not just a technique that might be a good idea. Rama considered personal journal writing an essential part of self discovery.

Journal writing is an amazing way to help pull back pieces of dreams. When I have a dream and begin to write the dream in my journal, my memory for details of the dream returns. While I am writing the dream I often develop a new level of understanding, or have that "aha" regarding a lesson in the dream. The energy of the dream returns as I type.

If our "personal journey" includes mystical experiences, and we take the time to write those experiences down we store the power and energy of the experience. Meditation with a teacher has the potential of "gifting" a student with a powerful mystical experience. Journaling each experience forces students to bring each moment into the conscious mind.

Rama used Casteneda's terms "nagual" and "tonal" to help discuss the experiences into the mysteries of life. Nagual experiences are those mystical experiences that a student might have in meditation, in dreams, or in every day life. For example, when I first sat with Rama I saw his physical features change radically, I saw the room disappear, and I saw a tunnel of gold light. These were experiences in the nagual, the ocean of the unknown. I had no idea how to explain these phenomena, but I did write them down.

The "tonal" concept is everything that is "known". The tonal is everything that we experience through our senses, and process with our logical, rational mind.

Journal writing provides the student with an activity that brings the nagual experiences into the world of the tonal. We write, and by so doing we create a space to store the nagual experiences in the tonal. As I write, I relive the experience, and my tonal begins to process my incredible journeys into the unknown, the nagual.

Several months, and years later, I pick up my journal and read excerpts. Perhaps this is the most amazing piece of the discipline of journal writing. The energy behind those moments floods my awareness as I read my journal. My journal not only triggers my memory of the dream, or magical moment, it lights up that energy line. It literally takes me to that state of mind. Amazing!

Journal writing is of course not just limited to experiences you have in the nagual. Life presents you with moments that are worth recording. You may not perceive these moments as mystical, or extraordinary. But somehow the moments stand out, and they are worthy of writing.

I of course write religiously every week in my journal, and have thousands of pages. Not! However, I have written hundreds of pages over the years, and I will tell you that Rama was correct. It is a process that is worth your time and energy. It is a method whose practice strengthens your tonal, makes it stronger and tighter. You will see your writing change and improve. You will remember and access your moments of power. You will be reminded of your incredible journey into light!