In order to reach the third point of reference one must perceive two places at once. The third point of reference is freedom of perception; it is intent; it is the spirit; the somersault of thought into the miraculous; the act of reaching beyond our boundaries and touching the inconceivable. ~ Don Juan, The Power of Silence

The reference points of sorcerers are not the reference points of ordinary man. For ordinary man, points of reference are typically personal, what they’ve done and what they plan to do; a form of self-reflection and a way to justify present or future behaviors based on the past which ultimately leads to nothing more than repetitive patterns usually based on their own patterns, someone else’s patterns or interpretations of patterns complete with justification to those patterns.

For a sorcerer to perceive two places at once allows the assemblage point to reach the place of silent knowledge. Don’t confuse the two reference points as dualities such as in and out, black and white, up and down. I’m talking about connecting with points of reference that hold significant intent, points where, perhaps, you had at one time connected with intent. And to connect again with a previous intent or dream intent or projected intent or even another’s intent in order to deepen, loop it, and enter a third point of reference catapulting you into a completely new position of the assemblage point.

This completely new position of the assemblage point becomes the third point of reference, the freedom of perception, provided we do not allow our assemblage point to fixate. As don Juan said, it is intent, it is spirit. When I can sit in silent knowledge and touch upon the third point of reference, the freedom of perception, I refer to this as connecting with the infinite mystery while becoming the hollow bone through which all things flow. It is more than surrendering to intent, it is fully opening to intent.

One time this occurred without warning, a kind of spontaneous combustion. In 1997 of so, a good warrior friend of mine and I were talking about some Castaneda abstract cores in a corporate cafeteria, of all places, when I suddenly became very aware that something was rapidly shifting. I remember being animated and in mid-sentence when a few final words kind of fell out of my mouth. And then, I just sat in silence and awe while I moved through a swirling, illuminated tube of sorts for about 30 seconds that felt like 5 minutes. Pure silence. And then, as though nothing had happened I picked up right where I left off, continuing the sentence I was speaking and in full awareness of what just occurred. I stopped what I was saying, paused, and asked my friend, “what just happened?” He said, rather surprised, “you went too?”

Needless to say we were amazed and were unable to determine what occurred. The best we could come up with was that we entered a portal, a wormhole, yet we didn’t know why. We considered that we had accumulated enough personal power through recapitulation to open the portal and we willed ourselves to open it again over the course of many months without success and eventually giving up. To date, for each of us, that has not occurred again, at least not in that manner. Now, on hindsight, what I believe happened is that while we were talking about the abstract cores, we unwittingly and simultaneously reconnected with two places that held our combined intent and blasted into a third point of reference. I still can’t say for sure, I can only marvel at the fact that it occurred and we were each open enough to be a witness to it.

This is why I adore the sweat lodge because it is here that I can sit between two points of reference while fully open to the mystery, connect with intent, and see beyond the limited perceptions of that which is anchored in the daily world. I have come to realize that we cannot possibly dance awake a new dream based on our previously held perceptions and beliefs because then it wouldn’t be new. To dance awake a new dream we have to completely open ourselves and connect with intent so it can move through us. We must truly become the hollow bones through which the spirit moves. More than being in the flow we must let the flow move through us. This, to me, is the third reference point, a point of pure perception, pure magic and far beyond anything that we already know.