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Metta
Sweden
24 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 5:26:56 PM
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So, today I run over a hare (It seems that the name of that animal is the same in swedish and english) with my car. It went very fast and it must have been a qucik death for the hare.
My girlfriend looked more pragmatic on the situation and I felt sorrow for the life I had taken. I guess it sound silly but I started crying for killing the hare.
Well...I just wanted to share.
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JDas
USA
74 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 8:19:01 PM
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| Hi. The car ran over the hare, no you. Plus, the hare had a role in this, too, don't you think? And the wind, perhaps? Blowing in its direction, with a smell to the hare's liking, to which it followed? The sun blinding it momentarily from the car's approach as it crossed the road? Perhaps. |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 8:44:46 PM
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Yes I would have felt sad too. Some people would say you should have eaten the hare because power brought it to you.
But since you had no choice in the matter there is really no reason to feel bad. Perhaps the hare was ready to be reborn as a human now (for which you should really feel sad - Ha!). |
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Yonatan
Israel
849 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 9:05:49 PM
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Hi, it is sad when you accidentally do something like that to another being.. I had some times when it happened and one time a small lizard was in my shoe and I put my foot in, and I felt it wriggle and got the foot out and saw its last breaths.. So yeah.. It's sad.. But the way I see it there is nothing that we can do when we don't even know that something like this is going to happen, accept maybe be more mindful in the future, but even that might not help.. I think best to continue on the path with good intentions..
I think it's no ones' fault, just karma. |
Edited by - Yonatan on Oct 12 2009 9:08:11 PM |
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Kirtanman
USA
1651 Posts |
Posted - Oct 12 2009 : 10:41:42 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Metta
So, today I run over a hare (It seems that the name of that animal is the same in swedish and english) with my car. It went very fast and it must have been a qucik death for the hare.
My girlfriend looked more pragmatic on the situation and I felt sorrow for the life I had taken. I guess it sound silly but I started crying for killing the hare.
Well...I just wanted to share.
Hi Metta,
I can sympathize with this -- I tend to be very soft-hearted in situations like this, myself. I hope you're feeling better, now.
A couple of comments I hope might help:
First, I read a while back, that because of lack of self-awareness, that animals don't particularly notice dropping of the physical form.
For instance, if a hare is hopping across the road, and a car hits it, the physical form may be shed, but the astral/etheric/subtle form keeps on hopping, without even noticing ... much like, when falling asleep at night, we could "all of a sudden" be dreaming, without being aware of the shift.
We humans are very attached to mental concepts, and so we tend to constrict around ideas concerning "dying" - and we tend to project those ideas - but animals, as far as we know, have no ideas, and so, no attachment to the physical state.
Intuitively this feels true, and I've had enough experiencing with shifts between various states to say that it could be true ... but mostly, I just wanted to pass it on, from the standpoint that there are always more possibilities than we think.
Secondly, death is, ultimately a fictitious idea.
To this, I can attest.
Realizing this is liberating.
The only things that could die are form or attachment to form (physical, mental, etc.) -- and these do die -- every day -- every year (is the five year old "you" alive now? How about the "earlier today" you?).
When attachment to physical and subtle form is released ... it is experienced that Awareness IS .... and We Are That .... all of Us .... including hares.
Constriction around form creates time, conceiving of being frozen in time creates birth and death.
Relax all the way into now ... and be free.
Awareness is; babies aren't particularly identified with a given body-mind; awareness only experiences, as the space and form and flow between the two back and forth --- form-into-space, space-into-form, Shiva and Shakti, making love eternally, now.
The constriction-identification with a given body-mind is *thought* of as child-development (quote-unquote) -- from the natural state, it looks a lot more like child imprisonment; the bars formed by language, concept and social reinforcement.
Simply put: there's really only consciousness here, and consciousness is the space, not the form.
Conditioning says form is primary; it's simply not true -- just notice -- form changes; it's an ever-oscillating display, whether measured in microseconds or eons (both concepts, by the way; have you noticed?)
Enlightenment is the releasing of attachment to form.
All attachment, all form.
For instance: you feel bad (Metta), for hitting the hare with your car.
Would every human feel *exactly* the same?
Not only wouldn't they; they couldn't --- the exact conditioning you are creates the exact reactions you feel.
Conditioning acting upon conditioning.
And again: I'm not saying "you're conditioning", and I'm not; if "I" ran over a hare, "I" would likely react, too ..... but when it's known that *all* reaction - including the one reacting -- "goes with the body-mind" --- awareness inherently self-liberates, every moment .... even in the moments where there's sadness or doubt, or whatever.
That's what "inherently free" means.
Life can't be lost, Metta.
Not yours, not a hare's, not anyone's.
Only Life Is.
And to anyone reading: if that statement feels untrue, it's untrue to the conditioning around the form (of your"self", of ideas or memories connected with anyone you know or love who has died, or who will die, including the idea of yourself, and so on).
I've "lost loved ones", too ..... the difference is (compared to memories of not feeling this way) .. the one who perceives death is seen as a conditioned reaction-idea in the body mind, and not real.
Awareness - this awareness - is ever freshly living unbound.
Have you ever been on a train, and felt, as the train moved away from the platform ... that you were still ... and the platform was moving?
"Like That."
Awareness is only ever actually space, now; emptiness.
Matter (as Einstein said) is simply "condensed emptiness".
Emptiness flows into form, form flows into emptiness; always now - always now - always now.
Constriction around form, attachment to form ... is like squinting with the mind; a good way to get a headache -- not great for much else.
Relax mind/awareness as you would relax eyes from squinting, and rest in peace, now.
Open, spacious liberated awareness is as natural to the mind as light flowing in is natural to the eyes.
I hope this helps, Metta.
I hope this helps, all.
_/\_ |
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NagoyaSea
424 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 12:02:28 AM
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Dear Metta, you didn't do anything intentionally to the hare. It was just an accident. I would have wept too... Please try to put it behind you.
light and love,
Kathy
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Metta
Sweden
24 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 06:37:40 AM
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Thank you all for your warm and loving replies. Your support makes me warm.
The sadness left later in the evening and I am glad for the sadness as well as that for me means that I am connected with myself and my actions.
JDas: The Hare was blinded from the lights from the car and probable confused since I had a meeting car with lights on also.
Etherfish: Hahaha
Yonatan: Thanks for sharing the story with the lizard.
Kirtanman: Thank you so much for your beautiful post and reminder of the form and attachments. It helps!
NagoyaSea: Thank you....I will.
With love
Metta
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 07:51:13 AM
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| And now, as is true when humans die, we must get rid of the sadness as soon as possible. That is because if there is any of the consciousness of the one who died that stays close to you, you want it to feel your joy, not your sadness. dying should be joyful as we leave behind the body, gravity, suffering. |
Edited by - Etherfish on Oct 13 2009 07:54:42 AM |
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Metta
Sweden
24 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 08:20:16 AM
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Oh....that was beautiful Etherfish!
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christiane
Lebanon
319 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 09:45:43 AM
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Love this thread :)
2 days ago, while waking up and looking at my face in the mirror,
I saw a dark spot inside my ear lobe..
I picked it up with my fingers: it was an unfortunate black ant who
was doing some night investigations on my pillow..
Yes I felt sadness..
especially that usually, I pay attention to each footstep in my bedroom, being careful not to step on any ant..
Even tiny ants can be great teachers  |
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CarsonZi
Canada
3189 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 10:58:25 AM
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Hi Metta....I can relate to how you felt. When my wife and I were in New Zealand last August, we were driving down the highway and I hit what I think they call a "possum".....supposedly they are everywhere and they are a "pest" that New Zealanders are trying to get rid of (I don't know how true this is, this is just what I was told). Anyways, it was pitch black outside as we were lost and trying to find a campground to sleep at, when a possum ran in front of the van and I smooshed him. It felt like I had killed my own brother or something....I was devastated.... We eventually ended up at a grocery store asking for directions and the teller could tell I had been crying....she asked if I was ok. I told her I had just hit a possum and felt terrible. She laughed and said "Thank you, we're trying to get rid of them". This did not make me feel any better. Upon further contemplation though, I realized that (for me anyways) it is all about intention. I never intended to hurt the possum. I never intend to hurt any one/thing. If I had done something intentional to hurt that possum, I don't know what the solution would have been for the guilt then....but knowing full well that I had no intention to hurt that possum, I was able to let go of the guilt and return to a more natural state of being.
Love,
Carson |
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Metta
Sweden
24 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 1:21:09 PM
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Thank you Carzon. Yes, I also belive the intention is very important. That comment that you got in the grocery store was what I got from my girlfriend. She said that it is lots of hares and that they eat the crops and destroys for the farmers. Did not make me feel better. It was with good intentions though.
christiane: Thank you for your post. Since I started my training I am very reluctant to take any lives. Earlier I could easily kill a spider since I strongly dislike them. I still dislike them but I dont kill them by purpose.
Love
Metta
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christiane
Lebanon
319 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 3:47:30 PM
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Hi Metta :)
it's been about 1 year now since I discovered one day that I wasn't afraid or disgusted when suddenly seeing a cockroach crossing my way and even the little worms I cannot stand gazing (in fruits or whatever) those little fellows I can watch now peacefully.. (except for some kinds of worms that I still find difficult to look at!)
But it's amazing how yoga and spirituality in general transmute our unrational fears and phobias.. into acceptance and childlike curiosity.. all is life.. from the tiniest bug to the biggest wale..
now I simply see/feel them as pure life energy.. and this is of such a beauty..
Love.. |
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Metta
Sweden
24 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2009 : 4:03:05 PM
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Thank you christiane for that beautiful post. I guess that is why I dont have any desire at all to kill any lifeform....life is life whatever form it comes in. I hope I will be able in the future to look at a cockroach without the creepy feeling I usually get and just watch it with curiosity.
Om shanti
Metta
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gamefu
India
23 Posts |
Posted - Feb 04 2011 : 11:22:31 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Kirtanman
quote:
Originally posted by Metta
So, today I run over a hare (It seems that the name of that animal is the same in swedish and english) with my car. It went very fast and it must have been a qucik death for the hare.
My girlfriend looked more pragmatic on the situation and I felt sorrow for the life I had taken. I guess it sound silly but I started crying for killing the hare.
Well...I just wanted to share.
Hi Metta,
I can sympathize with this -- I tend to be very soft-hearted in situations like this, myself. I hope you're feeling better, now.
A couple of comments I hope might help:
First, I read a while back, that because of lack of self-awareness, that animals don't particularly notice dropping of the physical form.
For instance, if a hare is hopping across the road, and a car hits it, the physical form may be shed, but the astral/etheric/subtle form keeps on hopping, without even noticing ... much like, when falling asleep at night, we could "all of a sudden" be dreaming, without being aware of the shift.
We humans are very attached to mental concepts, and so we tend to constrict around ideas concerning "dying" - and we tend to project those ideas - but animals, as far as we know, have no ideas, and so, no attachment to the physical state.
Intuitively this feels true, and I've had enough experiencing with shifts between various states to say that it could be true ... but mostly, I just wanted to pass it on, from the standpoint that there are always more possibilities than we think.
Secondly, death is, ultimately a fictitious idea.
To this, I can attest.
Realizing this is liberating.
The only things that could die are form or attachment to form (physical, mental, etc.) -- and these do die -- every day -- every year (is the five year old "you" alive now? How about the "earlier today" you?).
When attachment to physical and subtle form is released ... it is experienced that Awareness IS .... and We Are That .... all of Us .... including hares.
Constriction around form creates time, conceiving of being frozen in time creates birth and death.
Relax all the way into now ... and be free.
Awareness is; babies aren't particularly identified with a given body-mind; awareness only experiences, as the space and form and flow between the two back and forth --- form-into-space, space-into-form, Shiva and Shakti, making love eternally, now.
The constriction-identification with a given body-mind is *thought* of as child-development (quote-unquote) -- from the natural state, it looks a lot more like child imprisonment; the bars formed by language, concept and social reinforcement.
Simply put: there's really only consciousness here, and consciousness is the space, not the form.
Conditioning says form is primary; it's simply not true -- just notice -- form changes; it's an ever-oscillating display, whether measured in microseconds or eons (both concepts, by the way; have you noticed?)
Enlightenment is the releasing of attachment to form.
All attachment, all form.
For instance: you feel bad (Metta), for hitting the hare with your car.
Would every human feel *exactly* the same?
Not only wouldn't they; they couldn't --- the exact conditioning you are creates the exact reactions you feel.
Conditioning acting upon conditioning.
And again: I'm not saying "you're conditioning", and I'm not; if "I" ran over a hare, "I" would likely react, too ..... but when it's known that *all* reaction - including the one reacting -- "goes with the body-mind" --- awareness inherently self-liberates, every moment .... even in the moments where there's sadness or doubt, or whatever.
That's what "inherently free" means.
Life can't be lost, Metta.
Not yours, not a hare's, not anyone's.
Only Life Is.
And to anyone reading: if that statement feels untrue, it's untrue to the conditioning around the form (of your"self", of ideas or memories connected with anyone you know or love who has died, or who will die, including the idea of yourself, and so on).
I've "lost loved ones", too ..... the difference is (compared to memories of not feeling this way) .. the one who perceives death is seen as a conditioned reaction-idea in the body mind, and not real.
Awareness - this awareness - is ever freshly living unbound.
Have you ever been on a train, and felt, as the train moved away from the platform ... that you were still ... and the platform was moving?
"Like That."
Awareness is only ever actually space, now; emptiness.
Matter (as Einstein said) is simply "condensed emptiness".
Emptiness flows into form, form flows into emptiness; always now - always now - always now.
Constriction around form, attachment to form ... is like squinting with the mind; a good way to get a headache -- not great for much else.
Relax mind/awareness as you would relax eyes from squinting, and rest in peace, now.
Open, spacious liberated awareness is as natural to the mind as light flowing in is natural to the eyes.
I hope this helps, Metta.
I hope this helps, all.
_/\_
Hey Kirtanman that was very interesting life and death philosophy,though most of it went over my head as I am not a native English speaker :P
Where did you get this stuff from? Is it in AYP lessons? |
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Katrine
Norway
1813 Posts |
Posted - Feb 04 2011 : 11:44:11 AM
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Hi Metta
quote:
The sadness left later in the evening and I am glad for the sadness as well as that for me means that I am connected with myself and my actions.
I really resonate with this Metta.
Nothing is wrong with your feelings of sadness running over that hare. On the contrary - your sensitivity and vulnerability is a sign of a balanced, natural expression.
This is wholeness in expression too
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A life lost
