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Breath Breathes
Life Already Seeking Communion
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Jul 24, 2016 |
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Saying For Today: Our prevalent way of living, in most of the world, is neurotic and socially insane, and it survives and thrives simply by mass majority consumption. To sit or lie down contemplatively, wakefully, quietly is itself a counter-neurosis act. |
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LOTUS OF THE HEART
Everyone is Welcome Here
Living in LOVE beyond Beliefs
During a meditation session in Palo Alto, Tim, a follower of D. T. Suzuki, asked, "Could you say something about breathing and following the breath?" Suzuki replied, sharpely, with a tone of rebuke, "Breath breathes, Tim." Tim said he never again asked his Teacher for a technique.
*Tim Burkett. nothing holy about it.
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There is nothing special about Life, not in a contrast to un-special or not-special. Pursing special sets us up for feelings of failure, for repeated disappointment, as pursuit leads to pursuit. Life is Life. Meditation, if you wish to call it that, or something else, needs to be an enjoyment, and an enjoyment of Life. Times of Silence are a gift to ourselves, and we may discover how difficult we find it to give ourselves a relaxing, guilt-free enjoyment in Quiet. In times of Silence, we may find ourselves looking for the correct way, or right way, or struggling to get a special feeling or so-called enlightened thought. This shows us how we live our lives as part of a collective, usually-unconscious neurosis - yet, it is not seen this way, for enough persons live this way and, so, it is seen as normal, natural. Our prevalent way of living, in most of the world, is neurotic and socially insane, and it survives and thrives simply by mass majority consumption. To sit or lie down contemplatively, wakefully, quietly is itself a counter-neurosis act.
As said in a recent writing, we habitually fill up empty spaces, so, we may find we resist the spaciousness to enjoy Nothing, no goal, nothing to fix, nothing to prove, no I to defend or promp up with holiness or spirituality or doing-good - oft merely a do-goodism. All this belongs, too, even as it belongs in Life, for Life plays with these aspects of life. Life, also, heals. We do not need to fight the darkness; Light brings the darkness into Itself, and transforms it. The simplicity of Life takes brokenness into Itself, befriends it, and converts it into Wholeness. The key is in the words of D. T. Suzuki: trust the power of the process, the ordinariness of the dance happening within and from the Quiet, the effortless Grace that arises and acts silently when we allow spaciousness to be, rather than trying to fill it with our well-intentioned, "spiritual" plans, our turning the beauty of Grace into a project. And, no, we do not turn just being into an effort of will, as may be implied in the popular "Just Be" - "How can you not be?" we could ask. Being is already present, is an expression of Life, is Life.
Life seeks Communion with us, before we have the first inkling of that inner summons. The very hint of untameable yearning is a sign Life is present and seeks to fulfill Itself in our coming Home to Life, as we withdraw from identification with the details of life. What is our role? Position ourselves to receive, surrender all effort to get, welcome spaciousness and become intimate with it. Then, wait, gently and kindly, for something to happen. Sound simple. Good, it is.
* * * CLOSING BLESSING * * *
Grace and Peace to All
The Sacred in Me bows to the Sacred in You
*Move your cursor over photos to see photographer and name of photo.
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