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Anthem
1608 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 04 2007 : 10:28:14 PM
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Two concepts I hear a lot from realized teachers is that any control we believe we have in life is an illusion and that life will bring us everything we need. I understand that enlightenment is being in the here and now that we don't need to do anything but be, but to me it takes some doing for a while in order to be able to eventually not do, if that makes any sense.
I agree that there is no control in the moment, but there are plenty of things you can do ahead of time like practice/ rehearse and ensure you are mentally prepared etc. to maximize performance or increase your likelihood of success. So to me there is plenty of control over outcomes, like wearing seat-belts to avoid injury in the event of a crash. Or meditating regularly to increase inner peace and self realization. To me it is just delayed effects from an initial cause. Any comments here?
Finally the idea of creating our own realities is often said to be a path to pain and suffering and that the key is to sit back relax and find the beauty and joy in what life brings our way. I have no problem loving what is as people like Nisargadatta, Adyashanti and Byron Katie council is the only path to lasting happiness but where does that leave doing things to encourage certain outcomes? Is the fact that we have things we would like to experience in life an impediment to enlightenment? (Yogani if you have the time would love to hear your insight on this particular question).
What about taking action to achieve a desired outcome, sounds like a recipe for suffering to me unless we love the actions. Does self realization mean giving up all desires? I think this is a block for me at the moment.
Any comments on any of the above are welcome.
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Balance
USA
967 Posts |
Posted - Jul 04 2007 : 11:30:47 PM
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Hi Anthem
It helps me lately to relax and "be myself". Taking the path of being involved in action without expecting an outcome; without desiring an outcome with which to create a false self-identification of a someone doing a something to get a desired something in an end result. Freeing myself from any end result, because there really is not an end result to be known. It is just moment by moment engagement or non-engagement where my enjoyment is, even in the midst of activities that were once seen as bothersome to me. Action, and even planning properly are okay, and those are separate from grasping an illusion of any imagined outcome. It is all a letting go, letting go, expecting nothing. Trying to describe what has been working for me.
Hope it helps,
Alan |
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Katrine
Norway
1813 Posts |
Posted - Jul 05 2007 : 11:00:30 AM
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Dear Andrew
quote:
I understand that enlightenment is being in the here and now that we don't need to do anything but be, but to me it takes some doing for a while in order to be able to eventually not do, if that makes any sense.
Yes....
To realize that we are already here.......to see that we have no option but being.....when resistance to this fact is dissolved - then what is in the heart is not the story of how we should stop doing, but rather.....the Shines implicitness that we never did anything in the first place. It is not the eye that sees.....it is something within it. It always was.
quote:
but where does that leave doing things to encourage certain outcomes?
We do things to encourage certain outcomes all the time. Today is a manifestation of yesterdays "doing". What I think of the most, becomes manifest. Whether it is "bad" thoughts or "good" thoughts. You always get what you want. It is just that we are not aware of our wantings.
When good thoughts become manifest.....the happiness of this lasts for a while. But this result is bound to come to an end. All things manifest.... do end.
quote:
Does self realization mean giving up all desires? I think this is a block for me at the moment.
When the pain of not being open to the light passes the pain of being open to the light - then this is when you start aligning your desires with what is already here. You cannot help it. It is then that reality can teach you thoroughly.....through Joy.
Through deep meditation.......what is - and what you wish for - becomes one and the same. You cannot "give up" a desire. But a desire can dissolve when you see the futility of it. That it will never give you lasting peace and joy. Nothing outside of you lasts. Usually....this takes time to realize. Because the knot of doubt is so solid....And the pleasures are many......And the Love is not deep enough tasted.
As more and more desires dissolves, you are left with only one major desire: the desire to be opened to love. When this is all you wish for....all you pray for.....then as love pours in....it will eventually have to spill over....it will have to move out from you. Only then is here room for more.
I do believe that we shape our lives with our desires. I also believe that there are many, many happy and prosperous ways you can live your life....also socalled "unenlightened life". But - the intelligence of Being, will always draw you closer to love. This is what intelligence is! It does that. So noone "escapes" stark reality for ever. Noone. We all realize ourselves eventually.
However....
To enjoy life.....is something precious. One who enjoys - truly enjoys - will always be lighthearted. Will - in a way - always be realized. Intimacy with joy....is intimacy with love. No matter the context.
Therefore - there are many ways to Rome.
It is a paradox.....Rome is found only in one place; and yet - it is everywhere.
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Jul 05 2007 : 1:23:57 PM
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Thank you Alan for the wise words, very helpful to me. Living without expectation is a great reminder. Just doing and enjoying the entirety of that.
Thank you Katrine for replying too. The support feels wonderful, I wonder why I deprive myself of that sometimes? Might be a man thing...
To see that we have no option but being
So true, this helps me go quiet inside.
But a desire can dissolve when you see the futility of it. That it will never give you lasting peace and joy. Nothing outside of you lasts.
It's funny this is the crux of the matter for me. Over the last few weeks I have come to know this about the couple of desires I have left and it felt so funny not wanting them all of a sudden. Realizing inside that they weren't going to be this great source of happiness and joy that I imagined after-all. At first this felt a little odd wondering where the "wanting" had gone, but with your words (the reminder I needed), I come back to what I've always been looking for….of course, what is looking! It’s always “of course” after the fact isn’t it??? Thank you, leaving is devastating!
I know what I'll be praying for tonight!
thank you both again, I am grateful.
A
ps- ...and by the way, I pray now, if you knew me and how "un-religious" I've always been my whole life, the more remarkable this would seem. Meditation takes us in many unexpected directions! Just thought to throw this "out there". |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Jul 08 2007 : 08:24:02 AM
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"I agree that there is no control in the moment, but there are plenty of things you can do ahead of time like practice/ rehearse and ensure you are mentally prepared etc."
What always comes to my mind when I ponder on this issue, when I feel that the stillness is sort of only running my life when I am "connected" and feel the power of the force, and the rest of the time I have to DO and create my life, otherwise nothing will happen... is... Jim's metaphore of sitting in the passanger seat with a toy steering wheel. We get the insane idea of controlling the car because sometimes the car turns when we happened to turn the wheel. When the car don't turn the way we intended we get pissed and blame life for not going our way. It is such a hilarious image that reminds me, that the car is always turning the way it should, no matter of my efforts.
I have recently had several experiences of being able to just "log on" to the moment. It is absolutely fabulous to just see my arm reaching the cup and moving toward my mouth without me interfering. I do nothing. It happens anyway. My mind can observe and comment. It doesn't matter. The hand moves and I follow with curiousity what it will do, and I am open, open, open and just get so excited. I think I start to get to know what Byron means with getting excited about life. What will it do the next moment? That is instant surrender, landing in pure joy. |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Jul 08 2007 : 6:58:05 PM
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quote:
Jim's metaphore of sitting in the passanger seat with a toy steering wheel. We get the insane idea of controlling the car because sometimes the car turns when we happened to turn the wheel. When the car don't turn the way we intended we get pissed and blame life for not going our way. It is such a hilarious image that reminds me, that the car is always turning the way it should, no matter of my efforts.
I agree it's a great metaphor. Reminds me of the opening scene in "the Simpsons". |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 12:58:02 AM
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quote:
Jim's metaphor of sitting in the passanger seat with a toy steering wheel. We get the insane idea of controlling the car because sometimes the car turns when we happened to turn the wheel. When the car don't turn the way we intended we get pissed and blame life for not going our way.
Glad you guys like the analogy. But I just want to clarify something. Yes, we get pissed and blame life when we turn right but the car goes straight (or turns left!). But that's just the BIG moments. The real problem is the ongoingness of the delusion...we grip the wheel with such stress, such concentration. We pour so much energy into our delusion of driving (like the toddler with the toy wheel). We are imprisoned as it saps our strength and disturbs our peace... even when there's no major discord between our intents and the results!
And it's not the big discords that really get you. it's the aggregate of the teeny ones. We all have this pervasive, unending feeling of uneasiness, like things are just never quite right. It's the underlying problem with the human condition. "Dukkha" is almost always translated, in English, as "suffering", but I know some distinguished scholars who prefer "dis-ease", or uneasiness. We think we're driving, but mounting evidence to the contrary (i.e. the disconnection between our desires and our results) makes us tremendously uneasy, nauseous, disoriented, and frustrated (this mounting evidence, alas, only very rarely makes people snap out of the delusion...mostly it just makes us miserable and neurotic). We go searching for God's love (steering our little wheel!). We go searching for enlightenment (steering our little wheel!). We ask "why hath though forsaken, me, Lord?" as we strengthen the delusion that we're independent contractors in the first place.
Buddha said the cause of dukkha is attachment. Yes, the attachment to the steering wheel. The attachment to the notion that we're driving the car; the attachment to the things we grasp at and recoil from, steering to and fro with grave seriousness yet dubious success. Buddha is stressing not the unreality of our steering, but, rather, our utter absorption with it.
So when Buddhists suggest being less attached, they don't mean you should walk naked through the woods, giving up your SUV and your TIVO. Such gestures are just different sorts of twists to that damned toy steering wheel! It's about letting go of your mistaken notion of control. It's about letting go and letting God.
We are as foolish as the idiot who stands on a speeding train clutching heavy, heavy baggage, sweating and miserable from the exertion, never realizing that he is FREE to let it all drop because the train will efortlessly carry it (just as the train carries him). In fact, you can't make it NOT carry it!
When wise men say there's nothing to seek, nothing to change - that you're already there (and always have been) - that's what they mean. Go ahead and clutch the luggage. Fine. Flail desperately with your little steering wheel during every waking moment. Whatever. Regardless of whether you declare surrender to What Is, What Is is always and forever What Is, and you are not divorced from it. So you might as well frigging relax.
All the spiritual wisdom of the ages boils down to "you might as well frigging relax." I'm not kidding.
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Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Jul 16 2007 01:35:08 AM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 01:39:13 AM
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Q: Why doesn't the reed suffer as the wind violently knocks it around, 24/7?
A: The reed doesn't deem the wind to be something separate. |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 01:48:54 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by emc
It is absolutely fabulous to just see my arm reaching the cup and moving toward my mouth without me interfering. I do nothing. It happens anyway.
It's doing this all the time...every moment. It ALL just "happens anyway". It's not that you successfully RELINQUISHED THE CONTROL. I mean...did you hear God murmur "Thanks!" as he, like, took over?
I didn't think so! The control was never yours in the first place. So might as well relax.... |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Jul 16 2007 01:51:55 AM |
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Manipura
USA
870 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 08:05:51 AM
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This thread is particularly poignant for me. I'm in one of those exceedingly difficult moments in life where nothing is 'flowing' and there is that cemented feeling of trying to swim upstream. Everything feels so incredibly difficult! I know that I'm not in sync with the 'greater plan', but for the life of me, I don't know what to do about it. Surrender, surrender, surrender - I do it daily, hourly. There's no need to give up control because I don't seem to have any left. I'm totally at the mercy of God & Co., and am praying that grace will set me on the right path soon, as the stress level is at times unbearable.
"You may as well relax", Jim says, and "let go of the luggage". Pearls of wisdom! I'm giving it all I got, and then I try NOT giving it all I got - setting down the luggage, so to speak. But thus far, it's all upstream. The odd thing is that in spite of all the confusion, my heart is wide open! Which sounds great, but in fact it makes this passage all the more painful.
How does one get back into the flow of God? Any suggestions? I hope that my post isn't a wrench in the thread, but frankly, all of the above feel like platitudes (to me) unless they can be put into some kind of useful practice. Thanks for any help. :) |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 09:52:49 AM
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You're trying really hard to surrender. Steering that wheel really hard! Trying to get synched (turn right!). Trying to get back into god (turn left!). You're off God's plan, out of the flow, out of grace. Gotta do something. Steer. Flail. Turn.
WHAT???
Read my postings again. How can you get out of the flow??? How can you remove yourself from God? How can you be removed from God? You don't have control, and you never did. You can't get in or out of the flow. YOU'RE SOAKING IN IT! Just let go of it all, and stop asking yourself whether you "have it" or "don't have it". There is nothing but flow. You are not outside it. You are not an independent contracter for God & Co.
The reed needn't devise ways to synch up more intimately with the wind. It doesn't pray for the wind to stop, nor does it post sticky notes with inspirational homilies about acceptance of that big bad wind. It bats around violently and it doesn't mind - never curses its fate or dismays over its lot - because it never deemed itself seperate in the first place. It never conceived of a steering wheel.
Don't manage these concepts. Don't analyze them to try to get somewhere. Listen closely: don't use these or other concepts (or practices) in order to try to steer your puny, pathetic toy steering wheel more effectively! Drop all that. Be sick of all that. Realize that none of that has ever gotten you anywhere. Recognize that it's insane. Just relax utterly into What Is, exactly as it is just right now, even if you just found six lumps in your breast and the police towed your car and you just vaguely feel crappy and uneasy. The reed doesn't wait for a windless moment to relax into reed-hood. |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Jul 16 2007 09:59:29 AM |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 09:58:00 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Jim and His Karma
All the spiritual wisdom of the ages boils down to "you might as well frigging relax." I'm not kidding.
Good one Jim... and sooo very true...
quote:
EMC Said:
I have recently had several experiences of being able to just "log on" to the moment. It is absolutely fabulous to just see my arm reaching the cup and moving toward my mouth without me interfering. I do nothing. It happens anyway. My mind can observe and comment. It doesn't matter. The hand moves and I follow with curiousity what it will do, and I am open, open, open and just get so excited.
Awesome EMC.. really.. when you have that moment.. when you actually see yourself watching yourself without the mind.
Thanks for sharing this.
quote:
Meg said: Which sounds great, but in fact it makes this passage all the more painful.
How does one get back into the flow of God?
Meg, I am no expert at this. The only thing I can say is from what I have experienced. If you are feeling pain.. you still have resistance.. still trying to control.. still have expectations to turn the situation to what you think it should be.
I did go through a situation when I completely let go..and was ready to accept whatever was send my way.. good or bad.. absolutely no resistance.. and actually let it be in God's hands. It was the hardest thing I ever did "Trust Life".. it is so hard to just relax and let go.. But if you get it.. just once.. just once feel the freedom that comes with it.. you may go back to your old ways of thinking/controlling but it wont stick around for long.. Once you feel the "stresslessness" (not sure if that is a word) that comes with it.. when you find yourself getting all tight and stressed over things in life.. you can actually "re-lax" and let go and let flow.
BTW so far, whenever I have completely let go and put my trust in God to take me through.. it has never had a bad outcome.. the only time I have suffered through it.. is when I did put up resistance.. That is why I say.. if you are feeling "pain".. you still have resistance of not being able to accept "what is" as is.
How do you "let go".. well.. it is not something you can do with the mind.. it is something you have to feel.. and the best thing I can say is "Trust".. complete blind Trust... that life knows what its doing.. just trust God.. whatever has to happen will happen.. when you try to control it.. you put up resistance and feel pain.. when you give up ... the outcome will be the same (and that is what you have to have faith in.. that when you try to control it.. or when you just let go.. the outcome is going to be the same.. that is where trust and believing in God/Life comes in)... but without pain.
Not possible right? I mean that small part of you will still say.., "but.. but.. ". But.. but.. there really is no other way to experience this feeling of liberation from "control".
Surrender... surrender to what is.. accept, allow, let go and let flow.
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Edited by - Shanti on Jul 16 2007 09:59:52 AM |
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david_obsidian
USA
2602 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 12:11:41 PM
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I would agree that it is all about being deeply relaxed. 99% of the suffering experienced is directly related to not being sufficiently relaxed in some dimension.
At times I would have thought that was an overstatement, but it isn't. If this appears to be a mistake, it is probably because the true scope of the meaning of being deeply relaxed is not understood: We're often unrelaxed on certain levels without knowing it; we can also be unrelaxed on levels we know nothing about. Further, we can be relaxed or unrelaxed on levels that others aren't and both we and those others aren't conscious of that.
Just to give a few examples, one dimension of being relaxed is being able to accept that you have vision that is inadequate and imperfect in certain ways and that you have made, or are continually making mistakes . Somewhat elated to that, being able to 'cut your losses' is another dimension of being relaxed. So is the ability to take measured and appropriate risks, and to live with a 'sense of adventure'. Being able to apologize is a dimension of being relaxed. And yet, being assertive at the right time in the right way is another dimension of being relaxed (since inability to be assertive is often related to the feeling of having too much at stake, which is the opposite to being relaxed).
Having a laugh and fun is an obvious element of being relaxed. But so too, paradoxically, is working hard at the right time and in balance: if you are suffering because you have to work while you'd prefer to be at the beach, you are inadequately relaxed about missing the beach.
Then there is relaxed-ness on the personal level and on the 'identity' or group level. Just as one dimension of being relaxed is recognizing that you have imperfect vision, another dimension of being relaxed is recognizing that your 'tribe' or group has imperfect vision. 'Tribe' or group here can be many things, including ethnic group, nation, religious affiliation, political group, or the group adhering to any doctrine to which you subscribe. This particular kind of relaxedness has become very important in the modern world. Older religious teachings are quite incomplete in this dimension.
I've only scratched the surface of what I can come up with on the many dimensions of 'being relaxed'. And there are certainly many other dimensions of being relaxed that I am completely unconscious of right now.
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Manipura
USA
870 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 12:48:11 PM
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I appreciate your responses to my stress and Andrew's question. I know that what you've written is correct, and can feel its truth in my heart; no buts. But......back to the original post:
Andrew - "What about taking action to achieve a desired outcome, sounds like a recipe for suffering to me unless we love the actions."
I'll modify that question a bit: What about taking action to achieve a desired outcome which has nothing to do with ego or illusion, but with survival? What about a mother who, in spite of all her efforts, cannot feed her starving children? I wouldn't dare tell her to relax. I wouldn't THINK of telling her that all she needs is love. And - God forbid - I wouldn't dream of telling her that she's created her own reality.
It's interesting to me that "All You Need Is Love" was written by 2 guys who were raking in millions for each song they wrote.
Needless to say, I have no starving children to reckon with, and so my drama is a bit misplaced. But the issues I'm dealing with require more than surrender, relaxation, and ineffable joy. Life's exigencies, whatever they may be, require action, and a lot of it. Andrew, I DO believe that life will bring me everything I need. The trouble is, I need it now! :) Okay, time for me to go relax... |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 2:08:55 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by meg
I know that I'm not in sync with the 'greater plan', but for the life of me, I don't know what to do about it. Surrender, surrender, surrender - I do it daily, hourly. There's no need to give up control because I don't seem to have any left. I'm totally at the mercy of God & Co., and am praying that grace will set me on the right path soon, as the stress level is at times unbearable.
How does one get back into the flow of God? Any suggestions? I hope that my post isn't a wrench in the thread, but frankly, all of the above feel like platitudes (to me) unless they can be put into some kind of useful practice. Thanks for any help. :)
Hi Meg,
I think your post fits in this thread pretty perfectly.
Reading over what you wrote, I don't think we can know what the greater plan is, we can only deal and face what is in front of us right now. Stress can come from being at odds with what is happening in your life here and now, rather than accepting it and finding the value (learning experience in it) for you. That doesn't mean you won't take action to deal with what is occurring in your life, it simply means you stop wishing for what is currently happening in your life to be otherwise.
Stress can also come from being at odds with something that has occurred in the past or that you are afraid might come about in the future, in these cases either what is done is done or it doesn’t exist yet, neither are here and now. Our stress comes from thinking about these things that aren’t current reality.
You ask what can we do to get back into the flow of God. Great question. As the others have mentioned, the obvious but not so obvious answer is of course we never leave the flow of life, it is flowing with or without our consent. The feeling of leaving that flow comes from being at odds with it, thinking it should be otherwise and getting caught up in the accompanying emotional upheaval that goes with wanting life to be another way than what it is at the moment.
So when I find myself away in thoughts and caught up with emotions I make a very conscious effort to come back into the here and now. I become very present with what I am doing now or simply with the now in general. I don't feel better immediately, but with sustained effort to be here and now, by continuously bringing my attention back whenever I notice it has left, the upheaval begins to pass. This really works for me.
When I have the time, even more effective for me, is to identify exactly what is making me feel out of sync. Why am I stressed? There is usually an accompanying thought or idea of the way I think things should be. When I identify the stressful thought I inquire if it's true, it never is. For example, this past weekend, I was stressed out that I wouldn't perform well and let my team-mates down. I realized somewhere along the line that I was fearful about something that hadn't even happened yet, an imaginary future that didn't exist. Once I became aware of this I realized that the stressful thought wasn't true and I was able to let it go.
You can have things that are in front of you to do like feeding a starving child. You will do everything in your ability to succeed, stress comes from the dire thoughts that arrive that you won't succeed. All you can do is do your best. Maybe you weren't meant to succeed maybe you were, there is no stress in it other than the story we tell about it.
all the best,
A
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Edited by - Anthem on Jul 16 2007 4:25:24 PM |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 5:21:37 PM
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I love this topic. Beautiful posts, everyone!
I know the flow is there all the time. I used the term "I log on/off". Katrine said once: "It's YOU who come and go". Meg tries to "get back" to the flow. Even though we know the flow/the now/the presence is what we ARE all the time, that's how it is experienced until we are there 24/7. We have the "contact" or not, we have deeper "openings" or moments of total being, then we fall back into mind... I appreciate the deep understanding of that process from all of you!
Shanti's suggestions of finding the TRUST is one of my doorways back to peace. It's like, if I don't know what to do to resolve a complicated situation I trust life will come up with something, and then I find my ability to WAIT!
"If you don't know what to do - do nothing and wait!"
My experience is that something always happens that solves the situation perfectly. Not always the way I wanted or expected, but perfectly anyway. Without me doing anything but wait. And the result can come instantly. Meg wrote: "I DO believe that life will bring me everything I need. The trouble is, I need it now!" Well, that's how it happens for me - it comes EXACTLY when I need it! Not sooner, not later. Exactly at the right time. Sometimes instantly. Just a simple example: I was standing at a bus stop waiting for a bus. I was already 10 min late, and the bus was not to come in another 13 min. I just saw I'd be much, much too late! I built up stress, and didn't see any solution. I had to fix the situation NOW, and couldn't. I remembered to relax, to trust and to wait. I dropped the stress, and accepted I'd be sadly late! Then a car just stops right by me, and the driver asks the way to the place I was going to! I said I was going there as well. He said: Jump in and show me the way! Small miracles like that happen to me every day now, especially when I remember to relax, trust and accept the situation and let the outcome lie in the hands of God. After many such experiences it's easier to remember to trust!!! A new conditioning is taking place. The mind can drop some of its protection neuroticism. I'm sure a mum with starving kids would experience the same miracles if she relaxed!
Meg, I don't know how you do when you "connect"/log on/come back normally. I am blessed with a functioning trick that is just to focus on the solar plexus point just in the center where the ribs meet. I breath into that point and let it go up to the bindu, and connect with the source. Then I just have to call the I AM and it's there and fills me up, and when I feel the energies coming I remember that I'm not in control and the peace takes over. The ego might still be there, I don't fully dissolve or anything. Doesn't matter. It works anyway. I fake it until I make it! Accepting the mind expressing itself as "Oh, look I did that - I called God down to me." being utterly aware of the illusion of that! 
I hope your situation will change rapidly after having written your posts, meg. Just writing about it, asking for help and accept the feelings of powerlessness and helplessness is a great first step toward accepting! Thank you for being so frank, straight and bold! You are wonderful! 
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Edited by - emc on Jul 16 2007 5:25:57 PM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 11:28:02 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by meg
What about taking action to achieve a desired outcome which has nothing to do with ego or illusion, but with survival? What about a mother who, in spite of all her efforts, cannot feed her starving children? I wouldn't dare tell her to relax. I wouldn't THINK of telling her that all she needs is love.
Relaxation is not paralysis. And love isn't an opiate for the passive. This isn't about going immobile, sinking into the couch and doing spiritual bong hits all day.
If running around like a maniac is what the moment calls for, that's what we do. Most of us, though, run around pretty much 24/7, even though it's totally uncalled for and won't help.
Actions are taken....that never stops. If our children are in trouble, we hope to do a smart, competent job in fixing the problem, and that requires super-clear thinking and non-spastic, non-freaked out, non-dramatic action. If we're not relaxed, if we get all geared up in it all, we may crash the car on the way to the doctor, miss some subtle symptom in our kids, etc etc. I've seen it a thousand times, and you have, too: people in an emergency who get so wound up that they horribly compound the problem. Half of all silent film comedies build on this, in fact.
So if you're making a case that anguish, panic, and a feeling of aggrieved separation are somehow necessary, I'd argue quite to the contrary. Dramatic scenes and panic never help. 99% of what we do doesn't help! All that wasted energy. Whereas if we relax, 100% of our actions are helpful.
And by "relax", I don't mean drop your shoulders and unfurrow your brow. I'd hope that, at this point in the thread, that's somewhat clear :)
As for the love part, man. That's the answer, the question, the whole thing.
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With a boundless heart
Should one cherish all beings:
Radiating love over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths
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We don't take time out from that for stubbed toes or dying uncles. In fact, that's when we (and the world) need it most. |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Jul 16 2007 11:34:54 PM |
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david_obsidian
USA
2602 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2007 : 11:43:26 PM
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Meg said:
What about a mother who, in spite of all her efforts, cannot feed her starving children? I wouldn't dare tell her to relax. I wouldn't THINK of telling her that all she needs is love. And - God forbid - I wouldn't dream of telling her that she's created her own reality.
I wouldn't either. One doesn't want to present spiritual teachings as if they were the remedy for every situation. That would be outrageous, as your examples show. Those would be examples of inappropriately delivered teachings -- not an indication of faults in the (properly-contextualized) teachings though.
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Manipura
USA
870 Posts |
Posted - Jul 17 2007 : 12:09:40 PM
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| I appreciate your responses. I know that what everyone has written is true, and would have written similar kinds of things to you. The test comes when you're in the middle of it, which I am. But of course, the presumed problem is only a mask for something much deeper; a complete remodeling of how I perceive myself in relation to the whole. It feels like a battleground, but it's probably more of a construction zone. I'm thankful for the support. |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jul 17 2007 : 12:58:47 PM
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Not remodeling. That's just more steering.
Let go of the remodeling, let go of the constructing, let go of the battleground, let go of the whole thing. Opt out. You won't fall, you'll float. |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Jul 17 2007 12:59:51 PM |
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Manipura
USA
870 Posts |
Posted - Jul 17 2007 : 1:08:54 PM
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| It's okay, Jim - I've got a great interior decorator doing all the work. I'm in the TV room watching soaps. |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jul 17 2007 : 1:22:41 PM
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| Yeah! |
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Control or not? Create or not? Doing v. not doing
