Notes On Writing With The Light
Light Poems make sense by making a difference
not only to the author but also to others
who enter into these poems dramatically,
through empathy imaging,
to shed new light on their inside story
and enjoy reunions with creation.
I used to write poems to express and console myself. Now I write poems to discover and transform myself through eidetic imaging, and describe this in ways that show others how they can do likewise for themselves.
In reading the Light Poems here, selected from my ongoing Transformational Autobiography, you are eavesdropping on my eidetic imaging practice; seeing how I befriend and develop growing familiarity with the beneficent and benevolent powers of imagination.
For over twenty-five years I’ve written my poems almost exclusively from eidetic imaging, always hoping to show others into this wondrous process so they too will realize how many wonders they can work themselves, healing major as well as minor ills.
Essentially my writing illustrates how Ahsen’s method of self-analytic consciousness lets an eidetic imager’s imagination grow dramatically, prompting the imager to outgrow disabling habits in heroic ways.
To enjoy this progressive self-revelation I call Soul Progressions, an eidetic imager must stay in touch with how his or her body, as audience to the image, is responding meaningfully to the action in the image. Staying in touch in this way keeps eidetic imaging real, so real, in fact, that you can sometimes see that it is more real to us than what we call reality.
Ahsen’s approach to exploring imagination opens a vast new range of self-healing to anyone who feels the need for it; who is willing to believe that there must be a better, faster, easier way to get out of trouble; and who is willing to practice imaging scrupulously.
You will see that writing with the light – from vision, from the transformational vein of imagination as eidetic imaging lets us understand it – is quite different than writing from metaphor, memory, fantasy, dream and free association. Essentially you are riding a different, forward-looking animal that goes to different places, taking different strides than you are used to, leading you beyond replay into new adventures.
Through practicing imaging an eidetic imager develops soul tone in much the same way that performers and athletes develop body tone. Sustained practice keeps an imager in good enough shape to enjoy profoundly exhilarating transformational experiences more a frequently and gain confidence in his or her ability to give commanding performances.
You will often see me absorbing the positive influence of a beneficent character playing in front of my mind’s eye, becoming what I see by dwelling deeply on that character in action. I am absorbing that good influence in much the same way that children absorb the positive characteristics of their parents.
You will also see me freeing myself of bad influences by concentrating on negative images playing in front of my mind’s eye, and feeling the worst of each situation in such a way that it prompts my imagination to swing to an opposite, positive, antidote image that has the power to release me from the grip of the negative spell I was under. This leaves me in a better position, having a better attitude. Accentuating the positive and jumping out of the negative are two of the many moves my training has taught me to make while concentrating on my images in order to get the most out of them.
The more I image the more I experience the coherent collaboration of the inner beings I didn’t know I had in me, whose mission is clearly to keep on making my life freer and easier and brighter and more compassionate and effective.
Akhter Ahsen’s approach to vision enables us to see familiar and unfamiliar scriptural and mythical and spiritual figures as responsive companions. I am grateful to know Ganesh and Shiva and Eagle and The Mahanta and Aphrodite and Jesus and Buddha through this medium; to see them interact with each other and me, and enjoy the coherence of these interactions. Although some may initially look askance at getting familiar with this array of divine figures, students of several faiths have, in fact, told me that eidetic imaging has deepened and strengthened their faith.
By documenting the rewarding process of eidetic imaging in my ongoing Transformational Autobiography, I have enjoyed outgrowing both my dependency on alcohol and smoking and being subject to narcissism and manic depression, which talk and pill therapy over many years did not free me from.
If you want to enter into any of my scenes eidetically in order to see how they may begin to free you from some uncomfortable status quo, you will find demonstrations of eidetic empathy imaging on this site: in “Finding The Father You Always Wanted,” (video); “Creation Stories,” (audio); or “Lucid Improvisations Explore New Ground In Imagination Bringing Compassionate Interaction to Light” (transcript).
Essentially, to enter into my scenes eidetically and enjoy empathy imaging, you picture yourself in my shoes, and see comparable characters from your life in my scenes. Using my scene as a point of departure, you let your image go your way. As each new move takes place in your image, you ask your body as imager: Where do I feel this? How is it moving me? You interpret your image by registering the dramatic changes it makes in your mind and body. By getting in practice doing this, you will not only see your ability to outgrow difficult states of mind and body develop dramatically. You will see into other people so much more accurately that you will be able to relate to them more effectively and enjoyably.