Awareness and Our Emotions (Part 4)

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“Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.”

Pema Chodron”

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We've been talking about a couple of ways of investigating our emotions and the impact they have on our peace of mind and balance in life.  

On the one hand we can look for the "I" on whose behalf emotions arise. If we take a feeling like sadness, for example, we begin by wondering "Who or what is hurt or upset when I'm feeling sad?" We look to Awareness first and find that it is simply aware of thoughts, emotions, sensations and perceptions as they arise. It is empty of an objective "I" that is hurt or upset. We look to thoughts and sensations and find they they themselves cannot be hurt or upset, so again we find no objective "I" that is hurt or upset. Naturally, then, when this "phantom" self is seen for what it is, the emotions that arise on its behalf have no real function and can dissipate on their own.

On the other hand we can look directly at the emotions themselves as they appear. We quickly notice that they are made of thoughts and sensations that are"velcro-ed" together. The thoughts take the form of the story of "I am sad or upset because of . . . " If we unhook the story from the sensations and remove it or set it aside, just the physical sensations remain. Then, remembering that sensations come and go and since they are no longer supporting a story of hurt or upset, they dissipate naturally. And, what of the story that was created?  Returning to the story, we see it is a network of thoughts, beliefs, opinions and assumptions that also come and go.  When untethered from the physical sensations and unpacked from each other they also dissipate naturally. 

The good news is that there is an "I" that is always present, just covered over when emotions are present -- that "I" is our Awareness and Knowing of experience  -- it is the "I" that is our True Being - Our essential Self. We can rest in the awareness.

Awareness and Our Emotions (Part 3)

“All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present.

Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future, and not enough presence.

Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”

— Eckhart Tolle

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All of us really want to alleviate discomfort in the body by almost any means possible, like shifting our position, rubbing our neck, or choosing medicinal or not-so-medicinal options. But, the discomfort of emotions are different in that the bodily sensations that arise are "velcroed" together with our stories about the them. Emotions are also tied either to the past or the future -- not the present. So, unlike physical bodily discomforts, where we work get rid of them or distract ourselves from them, we need to be willing to investigate and understand our emotions directly for what they are. We have to be willing to invite them into the present moment and, with care and compassion, separate the stories from the sensations. And, since our emotions are really an ally to and serve the Separate Self, our freedom comes from recognizing that they are obscuring our True Self -- our open, aware and peaceful nature. 

Awareness and Our Emotions (Part 2)

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“If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

— Mother Teresa

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Emotions are experienced as thoughts that are entwined with bodily sensations. They are also expressions of resistance to what is going on based either on fear or a sense of scarcity or lack. Learning to investigate the source and impact of emotions on our inner peace and equanimity becomes an important practice throughout our lives.

Awareness and Our Emotions (Part 1)

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“You need nothing to be happy - you need something to be sad.”

— Mooji

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We recently worked with a definition of awareness as being that knowing, space-like container "in which all experience appears, with which all experience is known and out of which all experience is made." (Rupert Spira) We each name this space-like field of awareness as "me." We say "experience happens in me." We also can come to know this awareness as our true self.

This is quite a change from the separate self most of us have been conditioned to believe ourselves to be.  This separate self has become the main character in the stories we create about all our experiences. So, it is important to continue investigating the truth of experience as we get glimpses into our true nature of open awareness. For the next few weeks we will spend time with a sometimes tender, but rewarding area of exploration and insight into our true self by bringing light to our relationship with our emotions.

Mindfulness and Awareness

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““We find common bonds in the shared details of the human journey,
not in the divergent conclusions we draw from those details.”
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— Parker J. Palmer

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Over the last few weeks, we've been sharing insights about awareness and we used Rupert Spira's interpretation of awareness as a framework. He considers awareness or "knowing" as being that "in which all experience appears, with which all experience is known and out of which all experience is made." Many traditions also tell us that this field of knowing is shared by all of us. This seems an important understanding. As the quote above suggests, focusing more on the shared field of awareness than the "divergent conclusions we draw" provides an opening of the heart from which compassion, love and joy naturally arise. It seems then that the intersection between our personal search for "wholeness" and the understanding of shared "oneness" remains a fruitful and skillful investigation.

Meditation and Awareness (Part )

“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

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In our daily lives most of us are focused on navigating around and among all our learned and conditioned thoughts and perceptions about experience. The thing we often don't see or pay attention to is the full field of awareness in which all experience appears and disappears.

We've been discussing how that full awake awareness is actually our true self for which we are so often in search. When we are able to recognize and live from our own aware being, we find that the primacy of our preoccupation with external objective experience will fade. When we release our mistaken belief that those objects will last or satisfy our need for peace and happiness, we will find rest simply and fully in the open awareness that has been there all along.

Mindfulness and Awareness

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“Be still. It takes no effort to be still; it is utterly simple. When your mind is still, you have no name, you have no past, you have no relationships, you have no country, you have no spiritual attainment, you have no lack of spiritual attainment. There is just the presence of beingness with itself.”

— Gangaji

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At its essence, we know awareness as our awake, alive sense of being that is present before we decide to dislike what's happening and push it away or like what's happening and cling to it. We begin to know this essential, present awareness when we answer "Yes" to the most fundamental questions such as "Am I aware?" or "Do I exist?"  

We have seen in our exploration of awareness so far that it is both deeply personal and simultaneously universal and impersonal. On the one hand we strive for a clear, truthful view of our direct experience, while mindfully navigating all our learned and conditioned perceptions that often obscure our view.  On the other hand we also strive to be open to a more universal understanding of awareness as the awake, intelligent, object-less, transparent field of pure knowing in which all experience appears and disappears. So, we might say that in its essence and in the silence of being, we are each unique expressions or modulations of the universal consciousness we all share.

Happy New Year 2017

The notion of Happy New Year is interesting when we see that each moment is new. 

Now is always new if we're not looking through the lens of the past that fools us into thinking we already know what's what. Now is always new if we don't escape to any of the futures we imagine.

So, I guess the intention and resolution for now is to remember that the true self we think we're looking for is already and always here. If we get lost or distracted, we can just pause, come back and choose to know it again. From there, as life unfolds, we'll know what's what.

Peace,

Peace and Joy - 2016 Year End

I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. 
I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. 
My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. 
Let us work together for unity and love.

 - Mahatma Gandhi

As we reach the end of another year, we each have our own ways of reflecting on and sharing our heartfelt wishes for safety, happiness, good health and a life in balance.

Whatever your dearest traditions and however you gather with family and friends, may I also extend my kindest wishes to you for joy and peace in every present moment.

Intention and Resolution

No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

Alan Watts

It is interesting to take a look at INTENTIONS and RESOLUTIONS from a Buddhist perspective.  Just as it is common at the end of the year to talk about Gratitude and Generosity, most of us at least consider, with the best of intentions, making resolutions and setting goals for a better or improved new year.

Given our understanding of the differences between our thinking selves (who we believe or think ourselves to be) and our essential selves (when we're just being without thoughts or beliefs) there are some interesting, subtle and important distinctions that can be made about intentions and resolutions. 

It is true that setting goals is a valuable skill as we imagine any kind of future activity or behavior. How else could we plan or feel we have direction in our lives? But, there’s a possible catch in the word “future” we need to notice. 

If we only project ourselves forward in time to a “better” version of ourselves or life, how much of the present moment are we missing or ignoring? What do our goals mean if they are only connected to outward projections and don’t take into account our authentic, interdependent, true selves? There is a lot to suggest that our hopeful visions of a better future are more likely to bear meaningful fruit and skillful action if they are matched with clear resolve that grows from our deepest, unconditioned values. 

And, finally, as this will be our last class, I want to say again how grateful I am for your interest and support and participation in our very special group. It has meant a lot to me being able to share my interpretation of the teachings with you. I wish you every kindness for the New Year and frequent visits with your true self - the real you that is already whole and at ease.