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, 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, 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 non-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 the time of erotic “weakness” that
occurs just before dozing off—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
