Silence, Stillness and Identity

     “Silence is the basis and the background of everything. We are an expression of this primordial silence and stillness. But the habits of our mind overlay this simple truth and keep us from experiencing ourselves as a full-spectrum human being. 
     … we awaken to our true nature and experience the deep nourishment that comes with this realization. As we recognize and embody our true nature, our conditioning naturally dissolves and we see that when we rest in silence we can move into anything in life, including chaos and sorrow, with a sense of ease and well-being. 
     … we learn that deep inquiry is not something the mind does, but the process of love perceiving its own nature through your physical form.” 

        Sharon Landrith      https://www.sharon-landrith.com/about/

Cheryl Braganza       "The Healing Cloak"     picturetrail.com/cherylbraganza

Opening to Reality

     [We] will not perish for want of information;
     but only for want of appreciation … What we lack is not
     a will to believe but a will to wonder…. Reverence is one
     of [our] answers to the presence of mystery …               Abraham Heschel

     “I’ve had to learn to lean into all I don’t understand, accepting that I am changed by what I hear. In all, it’s been an exciting journey, one that’s made me more alive.

      With each trouble that stalls us and each wonder that lifts us, we are asked to put down our conclusions and feel and think anew.”

         Mark Nepo. “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen. Staying Close to What is Sacred.” Free Press, NY, 2012.  

Ego is the last to go ...

     We're usually far more eager to claim ownership of a concept or the messenger, than to really understand and embody the message.

     There's an old story of several blind men coming across an elephant. Based on which part of the animal each had their hands on, each of their descriptions was completely different. The fellow holding the elephant's ear vs the one holding the foot, the belly etc. Yet they were all correct - partially.

     But most of us would rather grab hold of & claim as ours anything, even a partial truth, than to open up to & become porous to all of reality. Just more useless attempts at creating & maintaining a solid sense of self - ego.

Heart-Mind Porousness Meditation

     "Mindfully resting in the easy, natural flow of the breath, allow the stream of your experience to be filtered through the focal point of your heart center. If you like, you can gently touch your heart as you begin in a gesture of attuning yourself to allow the stream of ever changing experience to be clearly seen and deeply felt as it flows through the open heart. In this way, each moment and each mindful breath can cultivate and affirm the inseparability of clear presence, embracing the flow of experience, with great compassion."

       Joel & Michelle Levey - adapted from their new book: "Mindfulness, Meditation, and Mind Fitness" Conari Press, 2015.

Gretel and Bess

Lightening Up

"The ultimate weakness of violence
is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing that it seeks to destroy ...
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Martin Luther King Jr

WisdomAtWork.com

 

Healing Even When - Especially When? - Meditation Practice Feels "Icky"

     An excerpt of Shinzen Young on processing psychological baggage during meditation:

      “'relaxation pain' (has) two strange characteristics: the more you relax, the worse it gets (at least for a while) and though it doesn't hurt much, it seems to cause a lot of suffering.
      The act of relaxing causes the mesh of ones consciousness to open. You become porous like diaphanous cloth. Psychological 'impurities' (samskaras), deep seated fixating, can now percolate up to the surface in tangible form. Resistance per se is coming up with nothing particular to resist! The actual discomfort (P) in your body may only be at level 2, but your perceived suffering may be at level 100. S = P x R implies that R = S / P. So you must be resisting at level 100/2 = 50. You are experiencing almost pure resistance, pure craving and aversion. In other words you are experiencing pure impurity!
      … try to the best of your ability to accept it. In this way, layer after layer of blockage from the deep unconscious, which would be very difficult to get to directly, percolates up to the surface and gets worked off. Admittedly this is challenging because those very sensations are the tangible manifestation of deep seeded tendencies of non-acceptance. Although it is challenging, it is also quite doable by anyone. Objectively, the suffering associated with this phenomenon is no greater than that associated with a rash or the flu. Anyone can learn to live with those kinds of sensations, but why would anyone want to? What is the payoff? The payoff is that consciousness is being cleansed at a radical level, a level that would perhaps be difficult to reach otherwise. 
      This is the reason that I said to be happy. Trying to contact ones innermost conflicting tendencies directly in the unconscious is very difficult. But when the phenomenon of the 'icky-sticky' sensations arises, the endeavor becomes very simple. All you have to do is pay attention to those sensations, try to accept them and let time pass. Nature will do the rest. 
      The mark of maturity in meditation is that everything becomes a positive feedback loop. The better it feels, the deeper you go! The worse it feels, the deeper you go!”

     Read the rest of "The Icky-Sticky Creepy-Crawly It-Doesn't-Really-Hurt-But-I-Can't-Stand-It Feeling" found under "Articles", then "Meditation Practice"

http://www.shinzen.org/index.htm

Mond   www.dpreview.com

 

Flow in Mindfulness Meditation

      Shinzen Young defines 'flow' - the technical term in Basic Mindfulness Training (not Csikszentmihalyi's construct) - "as the movement, change, energy, or force present within a sensory experience. ... Flow is not something separate from specific sensory experiences; it is a characteristic that appears within a specific sensory experience as a result of continuously bringing clarity and equanimity to that experience."

     The downloadable pdf "What is Flow" found under "For Students", then "Further Reference",  

http://www.shinzen.org/index.htm contains very useful information for those deeply engaged in meditation.

pocoloco   www.dpreview.com

 

Porousness, Fluency

     "The great Buddhist scholar D.T. Suzuki came to Columbia to teach [in 1951] and I went for two years to his classes. From Suzuki's teaching I began to understand that a sober and quiet mind is one in which the ego does not obstruct the fluency of things that come in through the senses and up through our dreams. Our business in living is to become fluent with the life we are living, and art can help this."                                                      John Cage

       Epstein M. "Psychotherapy without the Self. A Buddhist Perspective." Yale University Press, New Haven CT, 2007.

Good Company

     "Then the venerable Ananda approached the Buddha, prostrated himself and sat down to one side. Sitting there the venerable Ananda said to the Lord: 
     'Half of the holy life, Lord, is good and noble friends, companionship with the good, association with the good.'
     'Do not say that, Ananda, do not say that. It is the whole of the holy life, this friendship, companionship, and association with the good.'"

     "Spending your time with true spiritual friends will fill you with love for all beings and help you to see how negative attachments and hatred are. Being with such friends and following their example will naturally imbue you with their good qualities just as all the birds flying around a golden mountain are bathed in its golden radiance."                 Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

                                                                               www.wisdomatwork.com

Marcus Bleasdale, National Geographic   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com

One Light

     "... one light 
               though the lamps are many."


       Preece R. "The Wisdom of Imperfection. The Challenge of Individuation in Buddhist Life." Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca NY, 2006.

Allowing Elephants to Pass Through

     Blockage or stagnation of energy (qi) is the fundamental cause of illness according to Chinese & Japanese traditional medicine. Energy which is normally "fluid", becomes pathologically "reified" & stuck.
     Western psychology & psychiatry has similar metaphors of "being stuck" re mental illness: wallowing, catastrophization, circular thinking etc.
     A common dysfunctional & ineffective way of (not) dealing with difficult issues is pretending that they don't exist - avoidance. It may be a major problem that's quite obvious to everyone except those who refuse to see, accept & skillfully let go of "the elephant in the room."

     In meditation, we learn to become increasingly porous.
 
    "When you sit,
     you leave the front door open,
     you leave the back door open,
     and you don't serve tea."                   Shunryu Suzuki 

      Zen talk by Koun Franz: "Beyond Words – December 19, 2013": http://zennovascotia.com/dharma-talks/

Seeing Clearly

     "essential aspects of the practice:

• Contemplating our experience internally, externally, and both;

• Contemplating the nature of impermanence: the arising, the passing away, and both the arising and passing away in regard to our experience;

• Establishing enough mindfulness to recognize simply what is unfolding moment to moment - without mental commentary - and to remain mindful of what's happening;

• Abiding without clinging to anything that enters our realm of experience.

       Goldstein J. Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening. Sounds True, 2013. - except published in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, Winter 2013.

Berries, Thorns & Paint - Dundas in December

On Being Curious & Open-minded Towards All Phenomena

     In mindfulness training we encourage participants (& ourselves) to be nonjudgmental, have an open mind & be curious towards all arising phenomena, even those we would normally consider unpleasant. 

     "Curiosity is the predisposition to recognize & search for new knowledge and experiences. The psychological urge evoked by curiosity is accompanied by increased engagement with the world, including exploratory behavior, meaning making, and learning. For decades, scientists have narrowly focused on how curiosity is relevant to achievement in school, work, and sports, & an appreciation of art. Curiosity ... is relevant to any context where there is the potential for novelty, uncertainty, complexity, surprise, and conflict between the urges to approach or avoid stimuli. Several scientists have argued that a family of individual difference variables that conceptually overlap with curiosity (ie novelty seeking, uncertainty orientation, need for structure, need for closure, need for cognition, openness to experience) are relevant to healthy social interactions & relationship. The present research extends this work about the relevance of curiosity to social functioning.
     Results: A curious personality was linked to a wide range of adaptive behaviors, including tolerance of anxiety & uncertainty, positive emotional expressiveness, initiation of humor & playfulness, unconventional thinking, & a nondefensive, noncritical attitude.  

     Conclusions: This characterization of curious people provides insights into mechanisms underlying associated healthy social outcomes."

     Kashdan TB, Sherman RA, Yarbro J, Funder DC. How are curious people viewed and how do they behave in social situations? From the perspectives of self, friends, parents, and unacquainted observers. J Pers 2013; 81(2): 142-54. 

     Read "Creativity & The Brain Review": http://www.knowyourbrain.ca/Library/Library.html

Jett in deep contemplation - by Amanda Wintink PhD

Ego Permeability, Openness, the Transpersonal

     "ego permeability is included as a mediator to address the manner in which ego boundaries (ie the psychological boundary demarcating one’s sense of self from those aspects of experience that are considered not-self) operate & influence how individuals experience themselves. While both conventional & transpersonal approaches to spiritual identity acknowledge the existence of ego boundaries, with the latter being a bit more explicit in addressing the nature of such boundaries in terms of their expandability, neither approach gives sufficient attention to the manner in which the boundaries themselves operate. 
     There are a variety of psychological constructs that have appeared in the literature that directly concern themselves with ego & psychological boundary properties & functions. Though most widely known as Openness due to its representation as a major trait of personality as per the Five Factor Model of personality, this trait, along with the notions of ego permissiveness, boundary thickness, & transliminality all relate to the extent to which the ego boundaries are able, on structural grounds, to permit information from different parts of the total psyche or personality to cross into conscious awareness. To further illustrate this point, specific to the idea of openness ... 'openness is seen in the breadth, depth, & permeability of consciousness, and in the recurrent need to enlarge and examine experience'. Research has shown that malleable/permeable ego boundaries are associated with a number of variables including higher levels of reported spiritual & non-ordinary states of consciousness as well as to both growth enhancing & pathological states."

       MacDonald DA. "Identity and Spirituality: Conventional and Transpersonal Perspectives." International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 2009; 28(1): 86-106.

 

Tangled Garden   http://www.tangledgardenherbs.ca/

With Gratitude

timeless gatekeepers – one-or-two?

welcome us in

to their energy field

of red & gold

where

past-present-future

far away places

and places to dream of

are all at home

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com/

Active Engagement with Life

     We're on a continuous evolutionary journey, individually and inextricably along with all living beings. Each fraction of a second is a reset, a brand new beginning, a rebirth of sorts. Open awareness, porousness, psychological flexibility, and love are basic requirements for consciously, actively, directly taking part.

     "As human beings we are made to surpass ourselves and are truly ourselves only when transcending ourselves."     Huston Smith

        Vaughn F. The Inward Arc. Healing in Psychotherapy and Spirituality. iUniverse.com Inc, Lincoln NE, 1995, 2000. 

panheimer   www.dpreview.com

 

Sitting

sitting suspended
between earth and sky
between heart and all directions
expanding vertically
radiating warmth all around
listening to the silence
the ground of all things



     "A person is neither a thing nor a process, but an opening or a clearing through which the Absolute can manifest."                    Ken Wilber

Nik2   www.dpreview.com

Porousness, Heart Opening, Stepping into Emptiness ...

     "To the degree that you relax more into uncertainty and groundlessness, you find your heart opening. Your heart opens to the degree that you can allow difficult situations and step into them. ...
     Meditation is a process of transformation ... as we get older it's very common to become increasingly fixed in our habits. But ... some become more and more flexible and open as they age. Which kind of person do you want to be?
     Often the powerful moment of the spiritual journey is the moment when pain is getting very strong, and we feel we've met our edge and there's no way to pretty it up. ... So at that moment, we can do something different. And by doing something different we can liberate ourselves."

       Pema Chodron, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, Summer 2013

Richard Lalonde   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/

 

Anicca, Anatta, Dukkha

Transient joys
Transient neutral times
Transient sorrows
Ever-changing energies flowing through porousness
Flowing through
Flowing through

EMP building & Space Needle, Seattle, WA

Physical Processing

     "When we sit down to meditate, anxiety may arise. Certainly resistance and discouragement will also come up. The practice is to see the thoughts, feel the physical aspects of anxiety, become aware of the breath and environment, and just let it all be there. Whatever our state of mind or body might be, the practice is to really feel what that is; and while staying with the breath and environment, we let it be as it is."

     Bayda E. "Beyond Happiness. The Zen Way to True Contentment." Shambhala, Boston, 2011.