And I am thinking:
maybe just looking and listening is the real work.
Maybe the world, without us, is the real poem.
Mary Oliver
Tag: Awareness
Which myth we live by
It is clear that many things have changed in Ireland in the time I have been abroad, such as the confidence placed in institutional elements such as government, banking and most especially the church. However, we never really get rid of our guiding myths, just simply replace them with others – new populist ideologies, fads and obsessions with fashions and celebrity leaders – which play a similar role.
The crises of the world are not just “out there” in the geopolitical sphere but “in here” in the individual soul. The questions, explanations and great rhythms that once guided the soul by way of living myth are still within us, still guiding our lives. And we are obliged to render this process more conscious lest we live blindly, false to ourselves and false to nature. . . . we must more consciously create our own myth or be enslaved to the myth of another.
James Hollis, Tracking the gods
photo Templemore abbey, Laurel Lodged
Sunday Quote: On not living with regret
When such as I cast out remorse, so great a sweetness flows into the breast
We are blest by everything, Everything we look upon is blessed.
W.B. Yeats, A Dialogue Of Self And Soul
The two aspects of meditation
There are two types of meditation, namely, samatha and vipassana. Samatha is the development of concentration. Vipassana is the development of wisdom. Of these two, samatha is the important foundation of vipassana. Therefore, the Buddha said: ‘ you should cultivate concentration….. if you have enough concentration, you can understand phenomena as they really are.’ So beginners are encouraged to first practise samatha to develop deep and powerful concentration. Then they can practise vipassana and see phenomena in their real essence.
Pa-Auk Sayadaw
Reducing it down to basics
People can think that mindfulness meditation is complicated, but it’s actually very simple to describe. The great thing is that anyone can start by practicing for just 5 minutes a day. Even such a short break from the normal activity of the mind can make a big difference. Paying attention, observing, on purpose, without judgment, to the gentle rhythm of our breathing, is a good place to start to develop this natural skill.
Observation,
giving bare attention to whatever you happen to be experiencing at a particular moment,
is meditation.
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Moving forward in spite of our fears
I drove back from some meetings yesterday across the Curragh, which is unique in Ireland as a flat open plain of land which has existed for thousands of years as uncultivated land, nowadays used for grazing. It is without fences, so the sheep roam freely, and sit at the side of the road, or, as was the case yesterday, simply wander out in front of the car without any regard for safety or “rules”. It was interesting to see them behaving without fear because of their familiarity with traffic and because they have become used to the freedom of the area, having grown up in flocks where this “courage” was normal. Most of our fearful behaviour is learnt, often due to frightening responses or lack of encouragement when we were young, or simply by being in proximity with people whose dominant narrative was fearful. Knowing where they originate is less important than recognizing their presence in us as adults, where they frequently operate as thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations that we may not be aware of or simply think are inevitable.
We are more addicted to fear than to fearlessness. Notice how much of the day you hold tightly to your fears, especially the fear of the loss of control. All of our “what if” thinking falls into this category: “What if I don’t do it right?” “What if it’s painful?” “What if I look bad?“ These thoughts are based on wanting to control some imagined future more than on what’s happening now. It’s crucial to see and to label them with the question: “What is my most believed thought right now?”
After seeing the mental constructs, we just sit, experiencing what’s happening right now, aware of the intense physical sensations of anxiety — the tightness, the queasiness, the narrowing down. We might ask the practice question, “What is this moment?” What happens when we do this? Finding the answer is what practice is really about.
Again, the simplicity and clarity of practice amounts to this: first, we must see through the mental process, dropping the story line of “me.” What is the story line of “me”? It’s the addiction to comfort and thoughts, to our self-judgments and emotions, to our identities and our fears.
Ezra Bayda
Mindfulbalance 