Managing Moments on Life's Journey

The other day Tim Costello told a story about a man who now works with him but who spent time in Africa some years ago.

‘David’ had been driving for about 2 hours along a bumpy road in an old bus full of people, when suddenly they came across a huge tree blocking the road. On top of the tree was a man, hacking away at the tree to no avail. The folk in the bus clambered out of the bus and all tried to help shift the tree by pushing, initially just shoulder to shoulder and then by tying a chain to the tree, still the tree did not move.

Another truck came from the other side, the passengers walked around to support the effort of shifting the tree. They all pushed but again nothing happened. People started appearing from the area to lend a shoulder but again nothing happened. They had almost given up when another few people arrived, amongst them a thin, slightly withered old man. He leant in close to our story teller, who thought: ‘a lot of good he is going to do...’.

Then the old man started to sing, and as everyone knew the song they all joined in. At the crescendo everyone pushed in unison and the tree moved, only an inch but it moved. The singing continued for another 40-50 pushes till the tree was shifted out of the way.

There are many ways to interpret this story, one being that when our focus is united, or ‘not on self’ then we are much more powerful. Whether that is because we are not caught up in limiting thoughts of how big and heavy this tree is or whether it is being 100% present in the Now or tapping into the ultimate synchronisation. It doesn’t really matter that much ‘why’ , it matters that we know that this is just how it is.

We have just run a series of Mindfulness and Emotional Health workshops and it seems that one of the hardest things for us to grasp is not impermanence but the idea of ‘no self’. This is not surprising!

We get the idea of impermanence in that everything changes all the time. If it didn’t change we would not be here, nothing would be here. It is easily understood if we just consider food, fruit would not ripen if it were not for impermanence. Things change all the time, moment by moment. One moment’s experience is never exactly as another. This insight can bring us towards wanting to cultivate ‘beginner’s mind’ or open mindedness, our awareness without the story, views and opinions attached.

One of the biggest challenges for us is to apply impermanence to the ‘self’ and to understand that the self is not a thing but like everything else, is subject to impermanence.
The self can in other words be seen as a process, ever changing.

From neuroplasticity we now know that we can change our brain using our mind and our brain to change our mind and so on. So every thought we think, every emotion we feel, every body sensation that we experience, is just passing through, or a result of all the constellations of that particular moment.

How many of the thoughts that you think now, did you think when you were five, how many when you were 21? - ok there may be a few stubborn ones in there, but most have changed and if we choose we can change even the very stubborn ones.

As our context, view point, life circumstances and other aspects change so do we. We can influence this change and our experience of the change by becoming more aware. Awareness itself is often what it takes, we notice with curiosity and kindness for ourselves some of the goings on. I am constantly surprised at what I catch myself thinking! It is a rich undercurrent of life, quite exciting really and often surprising.

When we know that emotions or mind states are ever changing, we can take some comfort in this. When things feel heavy we can remind ourselves that this will also pass and we should not make big life decisions from this heavy mood nor from an overly positive and excited mood.
 

When self-concern is quiet,
in abeyance,
heaven and earth are open

– Toni Packer

Knowing that all will pass gives a fluidity and lessens the attachment, the ideas, conclusions, definitions that we have now that are just temporary.
It is in the moments when the grip of the ‘self’ lessens, we allow space between the lines of self identification that we are at our very best. In that space we are present and the focus is either on others, ‘Us’ or a task. From this place we often sense that we are in the flow and many believe connected to a higher universal power and wisdom.

So if we are just a bunch of passing sensations and experiences; is there a part of us that is constant, permanent?

I think our awareness is always there and always the same? Tolle would say there is stillness, Zen would say nothingness or ‘not knowing’ and others may say the 'Buddha Self'. Whatever you ascribe to, it may be good to cultivate this part of the self, as this is the peaceful still part which is always there in spite of how intensely we experience life. It is the place of no story, of peace. We can find it through the breath or just close our eyes and ask ourself: ‘Can I talk to the voice of stillness please?’, and then sense and stay open to what happens.

The wisdom of uncertaincy frees us from
what Buddhist psychology calls the
thicket of views and opinions.

- Jack Kornfield

Post a Comment
Hate it Love it!
Do you have feedback? (optional)

Full Name (optional)

Email Address (optional)

Enter Word Verification in box below *

Comments
Post has no comments.

Trackback Link
http://www.creativetransformations.com.au/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=907&PostID=73707&A=Trackback

Trackbacks
Post has no trackbacks.