Camarena Consciousness Ceremony

The most frightening and the most enlightening PDP I have done was the Camarena Consciousness Ceremony. On Thursday, November 5th Rachel, Mia and I went to the NIRSA Room at the SAC to to learn more about our inner selves from the Honors Director, Phame Camarena.

I signed up for the Consciousness Ceremony because I was intimidated by the secretive nature of the meeting, and had never tried any form of meditation or lucid dreaming. I hoped to have a greater understanding of my self, and reflect on what my subconscious images mean to me.

As we arrived at the NIRSA room, we heard a loud, undulating and repetitive noise, low in tone and somewhat calming. After a few minutes, Phame appeared from the side door, wearing a kimono. He invited us into
We sat in a circle as we learned a little about the history of meditation and spiritual journeys in other cultures. We each took a sip of tea as we learned what might be achieved through our participation, and noticed how the rest of the room started to fade to black as we stared at the center candle flame. Phame then instructed us to lie down and put the blindfolds on. He turned the music up, and everyone was quiet. The music seemed to change as I listened intently. First high pitched, then slow and quiet. I did not even realize that I had fallen asleep before I opened my eyes. I could see people moving about, with the fire-light of the candle in the background. I thought for a moment that everyone was leaving without me, before I realized that I did not recognize any of the figures wearing dark cloaks moving silently around the room. I was imagining this whole scene in my subconciouness, I realized, as the quiet figures began to mill around me, and I could see that there was a fire lit behind them and they were eating out of small bowls. As I focused from left to right, small details began to appear, like stone walls of a