passing through shifting moods and personalities.
The guest within the host is a more mature level of attainment, at which
the individual can enjoy free access to thought and its products, including
ideas, moods, and personalities, without being deceived by them or bound
to them.
The host within the host is the original spirit itself, the primal source of
consciousness in which is found the hidden "turning point" on which
psychic liberty hinges. In one sense, conscious experience of the host within
the host follows realization of the host within the guest; yet in a deeper
sense the host within the host is not only at the pinnacle but even at the
basis of the total experience of golden flower practice.
There are also certain stories from Chan and Taoist tradition that are used
to orient and sensitize the mind to this "turning point" in such a way that the
capacity to "switch minds" is brought within reach of the ordinary
consciousness. A few have already been mentioned.
One of the more dramatic examples of such stories is based on a folk
tale about a young woman who was betrothed to a man she didn't love. She
ran away to live with her true lover, but eventually died. When her man
returned to their hometown after her death, he found that in the experience
of the people there she had been at home all the while, having taken to her
sickbed shortly after her betrothal.
