Yeah, I know of Carlos Castenda smile emoticon As a teenager, a
   friend REALLY REALLY wanted me to go through his books. He had a
   whole collection of them, all different colored fronts. I was
   like 14/15 I think, so had to be mid 80s. The one he was reading
   had something to do with fire. He was into shamanism and stuff.
   His whole bedroom had all sorts of artifacts and stuff. Neat
   stuff. I preferred to listen to him talk about it than reading
   the books though. My exposure to similar stuff was various
   prayer/meditation stuff. Church retreats, guided meditation for
   anxiety when I was 11 (biofeedback lessons with this therapist
   and homemade cassette tapes - they called it "QR") - that'd be
   1983... ... Vipassana meditation book I got late in my teens...
   and I could go on from there. All similar stuff to me. All quite
   useful. I'm very introspective by nature so the stuff was smooth
   for me. == Ok: one that got me was about a guy who was told by
   his master to sit by the river, listen and observe until there
   was no longer any listener and observer present. I don't
   remember the whole story: it was well written. But I could
   picture myself by the river and at some point in the story, I
   disappeared. The river kept flowing, the birds kept chirping.
   The wind kept blowing but i was no longer there. The seasons
   passed by and I was not there. I've used that one a lot through
   the years: I've made myself nobody - not hiding, not invisible
   just "not there". People continue to do what they do. I respond
   when talked to but I'm still not there. I'm not elsewhere
   either. I mean, I'm there but not there. Helps me see what's
   going on better - take in the whole picture of things at once
   and just flow through like a ghost rather than being some kind
   of "force". I don't want to be a force, unless i want to be.
   ==