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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 18 2016 : 11:31:42 AM
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I wanted to write about a phrase that resonates with me right now: “staying connected with spirit”. I always find it best to take the conceptual meanings of words very lightly, to just hold a faint, fuzzy sense of their meaning, a vague idea. In this way, one avoids having a mind which is rigid, a dead mind which believes it knows what things are and what things mean. Then the mind remains very alive, very open, and very curious, not knowing very much and being excited to discover, like the mind of a child.
Having said this, I’ll still try to convey a sense of what being connected with spirit means to me. “Staying connected with spirit” is a phrase which keeps coming into my consciousness recently, in a kind of samyama, and I allow it to percolate in my consciousness, and teach me.
My spirit feels wholly free and untamed, and completely spontaneous. It doesn’t have any rules or conceptual ideals about how it should or shouldn’t express itself. At one moment, staying connected with spirit might mean sitting in silence for ten minutes or half an hour or an hour, just simply being aware, allowing everything to come and go.
In the next minute, staying connected with spirit might mean being very animated and laughing and joking with people and being outwardly quite flamboyant. Still in the next minute, it might mean allowing a sadness which is present to be there, and gently holding that sadness without any desire to manipulate it into a more positive feeling.
In another moment, spirit may express by running and jumping into a swimming pool and shrieking with joy as I do it, or simply noticing the feeling of the sun on my skin. Sometimes staying connected with spirit might mean breaking a rule that I normally follow, for example I virtually never eat anything with refined sugar in it, but if I go to my friend’s home and his mother has baked a beautiful cake and I am offered a piece of it, this piece of cake which is a labor of love, I’ll break my rule about no sugar and gratefully accept this delight that the universe has presented.
Staying connected with spirit often involves a willingness to stop and smell the roses, to enjoy the pleasures of life, but staying connected with spirit also can mean letting go of selfish attachment to these pleasures, and choosing to refrain from selfish over-indulgence.
When one feels one has deviated from being connected with spirit, there’s no need to worry. Sometimes we can get angry and be unkind, sometimes we can overindulge, sometimes we can harm ourselves or others through foolishness or conditioned reactions. When this happens, beating one’s self up doesn’t help, but being ready to fully feel the consequences of one’s actions does help. If I go off course, I’ll sit in silence and feel. When I’ve strayed from being connected with spirit, there are often negative emotions present, there might be shame, anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness. I’ll allow myself to become very still and quiet and feel these emotions. The energy these raw emotions contains teaches me in a way words and concepts can’t.
Ultimately, I don’t know what staying connected with spirit means. There’s no way the mind can grasp its meaning and turn it into a trite formula or a set of rules to obey. I know that the phrase resonates with me, but how it expresses is a mystery, it’s completely unpredictable, unknowable. So I hold the phrase very gently in mind, not grasping at any particular meaning, and allow it to show me what is next!
The mind hates this sort of thing, vague meanings, the unknowable, a lack of certainty, and ungraspable indefinable-ness - but allowing the discomfort that comes with this, brings one to a very spontaneous and much more joyful state of being.
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kumar ul islam
United Kingdom
791 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2016 : 2:10:16 PM
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peace on your journey |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2016 : 4:59:49 PM
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I like the phrase. I don't think there's anything more miserable or painful than feeling disconnected from spirit. On the flip side, to be connected and in tune is the most blissful feeling there is.
My theory is that pain is a self-regulating mechanism to bring us back on course, and like you say, if we fully feel the emotion and accept the consequences, then we can make a conscious decision to move in another direction. I guess the best direction to move in is towards stillness (spirit)...easily favoring our way into purity.
One thing I'm learning to discern is the difference between a sick pleasure and a healthy pleasure. I've indulged in some sick pleasures, and they always end up burning me. The healthy pleasures, however, pay much better dividends. That's why Yogani calls yoga a divine addiction, because our thirst for happiness is being satiated in a way that is lasting and in tune with spirit.
Always a pleasure to read your writing, Mr. Anderson! Thank you. |
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colours
Sweden
108 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2016 : 5:31:56 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by mr_anderson
...Sometimes we can get angry and be unkind, sometimes we can overindulge, sometimes we can harm ourselves or others through foolishness or conditioned reactions. When this happens, beating one’s self up doesn’t help, but being ready to fully feel the consequences of one’s actions does help...
Thank you for the post, I like it. When reading what I have quoted above, forgiveness comes to mind, what Jesus and others talked/talk about. I find it easy to forgive others, but more troublesome forgiving my self.
But if I get angry, how to be angry without harming others? I am seldom angry, but sometimes irritated and I try not to harm others because of it.
Maybe it is good to sit down, feel the angry feelings and just observe without shutting off...?
It is something to think about... :) |
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parvati9
USA
587 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2016 : 7:42:30 PM
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Thank you for that lovely post Josh.
Lately I've been finding more courage to act on what my heart is telling me. I don't know if this is "staying connected with spirit", but it may be similar. I've often not listened to my intuitive sense because it is sometimes off. But now I find that there is not much choice in the matter ... I must not only listen but act on it too. And yes, of course it helps to have a willingness to fully feel the consequences; do-able, but not always easy.
As you've stated or implied, the mind loves to grasp at things. My mind struggles with precision, with being concise. I tend to ramble a lot in thinking, speech and writing. Dealing with this directly - to be more precise - usually isn't very effective. However, being more true to my feelings seems to calm and slow everything down ... my life becomes more simple and effortless. Even with owning the consequences, which is sometimes rough, there is still this underlying kind of euphoria from being true to my heart, to myself. Acting from the heart is like a betrayal to the mind and it becomes sullen. Sullen and quiet. Allowing that mental pouting or discomfort seems to be very freeing for the spirit.
love
parvati |
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sunyata
USA
1513 Posts |
Posted - Nov 18 2016 : 10:23:11 PM
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Hi Mr. Anderson,
This post deeply resonates here. Thank you. |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Nov 19 2016 : 02:21:18 AM
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| Beautiful written post, thank you Mr. Anderson |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Nov 19 2016 : 09:15:28 AM
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Kumar - thank you
Bodhi - Yup, me too. I've found that when I'm reaching for sick pleasures (meaning to me something which might bring temporary pleasure or enjoyment, but which ultimately isn't spiritually fulfilling/harmonious, or perhaps even has a damaging result) I'm often trying to avoid painful or difficult emotions that are held deeply within the body. I agree that learning to favor the path of the spirit, rather than the path of more self-centered desires, is very important.
Scott Kiloby writes a lot on the subject of dropping unhealthy pleasures (which are often addictions), and I like what he has to say. More than ever before recently I've felt called to make this distinction and drop unhealthy pleasures, I feel like life is forcing me to live in greater integrity with spirit, and I'm very pleased that this is happening.
People ask me, "Scott, why are you now focusing on addiction, rather than awakening?"
The answer: the two are intrinsically tied together. My message is still about awakening. But dropping addictions is necessary with regard to awakening. That may be unpopular to say, since we like to have our vices, but it is true in my experience and others I've worked with.
One simple reason: Addiction creates a craving and withdrawal cycle along with an avoidance pattern that keeps the mind busier and the body agitated. As you drop each addiction, you experience a deeper level of quietness and stillness within. In contrast, if you are currently addicted to alcohol, drugs, sugar, caffeine, gambling, gaming or any number of other addictions, the addiction's operating system, if you will, is to take you out of the restful present moment and into future seeking. It's a turbulent way to live. Trust me, I've lived it.
Colours - quote:
Maybe it is good to sit down, feel the angry feelings and just observe without shutting off...?
Yes, I think you have your own answer there. I will also inquire into why the anger is arising. Anger tends to arise when we a perceiving through a lens of separation, seeing others as separate to ourselves.
Parvati - I know exactly what you mean, and we are talking about the same thing. Often the mind can get a little misguided, and as has been said before, the mind is a great servant but a terrible master. It can have you chasing after all the wrong things. This is why stillness is so important, because in stillness, we tend to drop out of the mind and into a deeper somatic and emotional awareness. The heart is quieter, it needs to be listened to, whereas the mind will shout and clamor for attention.
Sunyata, Charliedog - thanks
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Nov 19 2016 : 5:44:25 PM
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Thank you for the Scott Kiloby quote. 
The motto of AYP for Recovery is: Transforming Addiction. Transcending Suffering.
If I were to add one more little phrase to that slogan, it would probably be: Mastering Desire.
Yogani's magic formula is: Vision + Desire + Action = Achievement (with persistence and consistency being the underlying qualities on the left side of the equation).
So, in some sense, a very raw and primal craving is still there--it's just that the object of craving changes/refines/elevates, including the corresponding methods of pursuit. Bhakti is the craving for spirit. We crave to be in a state of abiding stillness, and to move within that space, right? And the craving will naturally lead to this imperative dynamic to share the space, to cohabitate, to merge with the space itself.
Some styles and traditions try to eliminate desire completely, but in AYP, we take desire to its highest level by directing it to a healthy ideal, thereby using the cyclical nature of craving and satisfaction to our advantage.
Do you have a craving to stay connected with spirit, Mr. Anderson?  |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Nov 19 2016 : 8:57:26 PM
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Absolutely! That powerful desire is an essential element in progress. Without it, it's like trying to get a car from a) to b) without having any fuel inside it. It becomes a one-pointed desire, simplifying life.  |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Nov 19 2016 : 9:20:35 PM
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Yes! One-pointedness!
Onward. |
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Ecdyonurus
Switzerland
479 Posts |
Posted - Nov 20 2016 : 07:56:41 AM
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| Thank you for your beautiful post, Mr Anderson! |
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Staying connected with spirit
