July 2, 2010
- Chogyam Trungpa on Meditation and Trust -
Through the practice of meditation, we gradually begin to relate with our world, our friends, and other situations. And slowly we begin to trust the world as well. We begin to feel that the world is not as bad as we thought — there might be something worth learning. However, we cannot just go out and love the world. We have to start with ourselves, because the world is our world. Running away from ourselves into the world would be like trying to accept the rays of the sun while rejecting the sun itself.
(from here)
>> Running away from ourselves into the world
Cool, makes me think of something from a long while back:
Believe in me, baby; I’ll get you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights, these rivers of rain
The anger that lives on the streets with these names
‘Cause I’ve run every red light on memory lane
I’ve seen desperation explode into flames
And I don’t want to see it again
From all these signs
Saying ‘sorry, but we’re closed’
All the way
Down the Telegraph Road.
- Dire Straits, c. 1984
Comment by speedbird — July 2, 2010 @ 4:20 pm
Yeah, that’s running away alright, though there’s not much trust in the world in those lyrics.
Comment by Ian — July 5, 2010 @ 12:22 pm
It’s the whole ‘trying to escape the road by travelling it’ thing.
Comment by speedbird — July 5, 2010 @ 2:56 pm
No matter where you run, there you are…
Comment by Ian — July 6, 2010 @ 8:49 am
Recently I have had some days of extreme patience and an outflowing of generosity–certainly a result of experiences and insights in practice. Indeed, there were a couple days when I clearly recognized God in everyone that I met (and I meet some pretty bad people). It was fantastic, but it waned. Intellectually I can still recognize this presence, however it is not as holistic an experience as it was initially. Looking into myself this past weekend, I noticed that though I would love to go out and embrace the world as God, there is a fear of how the world will react. Of course I will be rejected and ridiculed–accepted by some–but that really shouldn’t bother me. Reading this post this morning helped me realize that there must still be a part of myself that does not accept or believe God’s omnipresence, despite my ability to understand it. The acceptance must first be in myself, then it will be holistic, and all actions naturally occur without doing.
Comment by Donn — July 6, 2010 @ 10:28 am
Does this relate to ‘suffering comes from attachment’?
Comment by speedbird — July 6, 2010 @ 11:40 am
@Donn
I dunno man. I think abilities like that come and go. No sense getting stuck in ‘em, though they can be awfully nice when they happen.
But clinging to them just makes them go sour.
On the other hand, caution is a virtue as well. :)
Trust all parts of yourself, or in the very least, be sure to understand them intimately.
Comment by Ian — July 6, 2010 @ 11:45 am
@ speedbird:
Possibly, though I think the focus of it is more aversion than attachment (though its just a question of a positive and negative version of the same thing). Learn to trust the world, and then don’t use that trust in the world to abandon your own perspective.
I liked this quote because of how it points to what happens after we start learning to trust in the basic workings of the world. Not to get caught up in a wave of relief, to remember that just because there’s good stuff, it doesn’t mean that there’s no longer any bad stuff as well. Reminds me to keep an even keel and keep pushing on, and that love for one’s self, one’s own perspective, is a good thing.
Plus, like I said in my other comment, we can’t ever run away from what we sense our self to be. Better to fully understand it and make sure it’s in its proper place.
Comment by Ian — July 6, 2010 @ 11:53 am