The Ritual of Deep Sleep
Deep Sleeping is a moon
ritual. At least for most, that is, except those on the graveyard shift
and insomniacs. When the moon appears, folks begin to yawn, stretch
and think about retiring for a good night’s sleep.
For how many eons did folks gather around
the campfire and watch the stars appear, and then talk, possible augur
those mysterious lights, soon to retire to sleep “under
the stars”? Until the production of the electric
light bulb that is—which is a triumphant scientific moment
of the Warrior’s Quest which took place not too long ago. In the
modern Age of Technology, people forget about stars
and just keep artificial “sunshine”
around. One result is that you “stay awake” longer.
Moreover, you do consciousness activities well
beyond the dictates of your biological clock.
Late into the moon’s night, you read. You watch TV. You keep your
lighted consciousness humming. Then, weary, you collapse. Possibly you
pop a sleeping pill, and then go to bed. But, even before that, you
wind up the clock and/or set the timer to wake up. After all, you don’t
want to sleep too long! But, How long is too long? A millennium?
Possibly it is a bit romantic to say
that people in the Abrahamic culture and others used to prepare to go
to sleep. But let’s look at a core Western monastic practice.
This is something you should pay attention to and value. The monks created
Divine Hours for every hour of the day. There remains
a sleep preparation hour, called Compline.
Many Earthfolk who were monks prayed, “Be sober, be watchful!
For your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking
someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith.” (1 Peter
5:8-9)
This is appropriate to the Abrahamic Big Story
which has you live in an adversarial mode. So, you prepare to
sleep by alerting
yourself that in your dreams you will also encounter the demonically erotic Adversary—the devil, Satan.
You were trained to invoke angelic help
as you slept to avoid the sins of sexual pollution
so feared by the aspiring young monk! If you woke to a wet dream,
you had to confess
it. It was clear that even in your dreams
that you could sin. You were counseled
to be on guard during that time of erotic “weakness” that occurs just before dozing off—and
also just as you awake, the two times when the Devil especially likes
to slip in, appearing as a succubus of delicious beauty, nakedness and
pleasure, to tempt you to sin.
Continue—Deep sleep
