The Mysteries of Occlumency - High and Low

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 148486

I was reading another persons comments about Voldemort blocking Harry
from his mind after OotP, and began to ponder the nature of Occlumency.

We have the examples that come to us from Harry's point of view,
primarily in the Occlumency lessons with Snape. Snape starts a cascade
of thoughts in Harry's mind, and Harry tries to stop them from coming.
It is all a very conscious act. Thoughts come, Harry realizes that
they are private, and through force of will, he stops them from
continuing. 

In the battle after the Duel with Draco in HBP, Snape is questioning
Harry about how he found out about a dark curse like Sectumsempra.
Harry tries to make his mind a complete blank which is one of the
tenets he was given in his Occlumency lessons. He tries to prevent a
conscious thought from appearing in his mind. But slowly against his
will the image or thought of his Potions Books appears in his mind and
Snape picked up on it. 

Since we only have Harry's point of view about Occlumency, with that
limited information, I have to wonder how Voldemort is able to
functionally use it. When Harry block a thought, it is in direct
response to attempts to penetrate his mind, and he blocks the
thoughts, by refusing to allow them into his conscious self-aware mind. 

But how can Voldemort do this? How can he plot and plan and scheme and
have internal thought processes if he has to deny them in order to
block his mind? 

We know that by definition Occlumency is the ability to block the mind
from external penetration.

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/magic/occlumency.html
"Occlumency is the art of magically defending the mind against
external penetration, sealing it against magical intrusion and
influence - the defensive counter to Legilimency. A practitioner of
Occlumency is referred to as an Occlumens."

Yet, Voldemort must be practicing this on a very high level, far
beyond what Harry is even able to comprehend. Voldemort, if we are to
assume he is still able to function after employing Occlumency, has
set up an on-going external barrier to his mind, but has done so in a
way the allows his internal thought processes to continue unseen. 

That is far and away above and beyond the level of Occlumency that
Harry is aware of, and I suspect, that even Draco, while able to
employ Occlumency sucessfully, is not able to preform. I suspect Draco
can block specific thoughts under direct confrontation, like being
questioned by Snape, but I can't imagine Draco being able to employ a
constant on-going block to all external attempts at access while still
maintaing his internal thought processes.

For example, in the confrontation between Draco and Snape, Draco
senses what Snape is trying to, and is able to guard specific thoughts
in that moment. But I doubt that when Draco is daydreaming in class,
and unaware of attempts to access his mind, that he is able to block
his conscious thoughts. 

So, Harry, and presumably Draco, block their minds by blanking all
conscious thoughts. Usually, by blocking very specific thoughts that
they are trying to guard. Yet with a blank mind, how can they think?
How can they make plans and process information? Voldemort on the
other hand, at least it is implied, is able to maintain all his
internal thought processes while at the same time block all external
access to those thoughts. That's quite a trick.

So, how could either Harry or Draco use this in a duel? That can't
block their next attack by making their mind blank because that
prevents them from forming a plan of attack. If they allow a plan of
attack to form in their conscious mind, by virtue of being in their
conscious mind, it is accessable to their opponent. A very messy
situation. To use this effectively, they both need to be opperating on
a much higher level. A level like Voldemort that does not hinge on
'blanking' your mind. I would very much like to know the details of
that internal/external duel process form of Occlumency.

I have no idea how or why this is significant. It was just a thought
that occurred to me. Indeed, the level of Occlumency that Voldemort is
practicing is far far far above anything we have ever seen
demonstrated in the books. 

Logically, I can equally assume that the level of Occlumency practiced
by Snape is far far above anything Harry or Draco can even comprehend.

Again, I wouldn't mind knowing the detail of this High Level Occlumency.

For what it's worth.

Steve/bboyminn