As soon as that title popped up in my head I thought of Joko and her book by that title. Again the paradox is there as what she is teaching is that although nothing is special, everything is special. How much less stressful my life and everyone else's would be if we could truly live that reality.
Think of how we go from day to day with our " I want this and I don't want that. I want it just this way and not that way. I don't want him or her to get it because I want it." And on and on and on.
And I am not saying that what we are doing is wrong. Because as human beings it is how we are wired from the day we began to sense that we are a self. It follows that this 'self' must be defended, protected from all those other 'selves' out there with their own endless list of want and don't wants.
As a way of knowing this 'self' that we have created we can practice taking an honest look ,moment by moment, at what is actually happening, what we are doing, thinking, feeling, sensing, intuiting. The Twelve Step programs call this taking our inventory. Zen practice calls it emptying the false self (that is the one that we have created). The emptying is the process of paying such close attention that what is not conscious becomes conscious and thus evaporates.
I had a bout of this kind of unconsciousness coming to the surface over the weekend. I fell into an intense desire for romance and companionship. I have been involved with what I call the MAN thing for as long as I can remember. I have done Twelve Step programs, Zen practice, various types of therapy including Gestalt, Bioenergetics and Jungian dream analysis. From time to time I sense that the MAN thing for me is pretty emptied. And then WOW up comes all this pain, longing, yearning, tears. After so many years I should not be surprised. It is not as though it hasn't happened before.
So I let it wash through me. Wrote once more to a guy who had already indicated no interest. E-mailed an old flame that I had let go of. I just watched myself do these things without judgment.
No harm was coming to anyone as a result of my behavior. It was important to look at and experience these feelings. In this way they got out of the prison I had them in and thus were free.
In twenty four hours the storm was over. The pain left - no more yearning.
We have all these buried places like stuff long stored and locked in attics and basements. They are filled with energies wanting to be owned, to be brought up to the light of day. Until they are they cause mischief. Energy has to move and when imprisoned it moves in a distorted manner which we call neuroses. Painful though it might be to open these dark and shadowed places there is a payoff for facing all of our life, not just the parts of which we approve.
I am sure my attic and basement are not empty. But I am peaceful and relieved to have at least freed one more hidden clutch of energy this weekend.
Think of how we go from day to day with our " I want this and I don't want that. I want it just this way and not that way. I don't want him or her to get it because I want it." And on and on and on.
And I am not saying that what we are doing is wrong. Because as human beings it is how we are wired from the day we began to sense that we are a self. It follows that this 'self' must be defended, protected from all those other 'selves' out there with their own endless list of want and don't wants.
As a way of knowing this 'self' that we have created we can practice taking an honest look ,moment by moment, at what is actually happening, what we are doing, thinking, feeling, sensing, intuiting. The Twelve Step programs call this taking our inventory. Zen practice calls it emptying the false self (that is the one that we have created). The emptying is the process of paying such close attention that what is not conscious becomes conscious and thus evaporates.
I had a bout of this kind of unconsciousness coming to the surface over the weekend. I fell into an intense desire for romance and companionship. I have been involved with what I call the MAN thing for as long as I can remember. I have done Twelve Step programs, Zen practice, various types of therapy including Gestalt, Bioenergetics and Jungian dream analysis. From time to time I sense that the MAN thing for me is pretty emptied. And then WOW up comes all this pain, longing, yearning, tears. After so many years I should not be surprised. It is not as though it hasn't happened before.
So I let it wash through me. Wrote once more to a guy who had already indicated no interest. E-mailed an old flame that I had let go of. I just watched myself do these things without judgment.
No harm was coming to anyone as a result of my behavior. It was important to look at and experience these feelings. In this way they got out of the prison I had them in and thus were free.
In twenty four hours the storm was over. The pain left - no more yearning.
We have all these buried places like stuff long stored and locked in attics and basements. They are filled with energies wanting to be owned, to be brought up to the light of day. Until they are they cause mischief. Energy has to move and when imprisoned it moves in a distorted manner which we call neuroses. Painful though it might be to open these dark and shadowed places there is a payoff for facing all of our life, not just the parts of which we approve.
I am sure my attic and basement are not empty. But I am peaceful and relieved to have at least freed one more hidden clutch of energy this weekend.
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