…with respect to some problem you encounter during the week. What happens when you treat the problem itself as a symbol or a pointer that suggests a ‘higher’ space in operation? Does it even make sense at this point to ask this question?
Had a problem caused partly by my own choices, and by circumstances in play, which put me in an agitated-compressed time to complete the task. Deadline had to be met, money I paid would be lost if I did not deliver on time as prescribed. Printer died at the eleventh hour, panic ensued, tried to fix it, couldn’t do it, more time wasted, rushed out bought a new printer, had trouble installing, precious time slipping away, called tech support, finally fixed, after many hours wasted off-plan…task eventually completed.
In panic mode, in the moment, I couldn’t come close to stepping back and dispassionately considering the sequence playing out as symbolic. But afterwards, replaying it in front of ‘mind’s eye’ was another matter. Had I been able to take some breaths, allow the ‘headwinds‘ of circular emotional thinking that was fear related, and based on stories that I imagined, had I realized these stories were just symbols in my mind, ‘worlding away‘, I would have become more calm. More space would have been available to focus directly on the task, my attention would have been less scattered, and clarity would have shown me what to do that would NOT be off-plan and fruitless. Yes, it makes sense to ask the question, a higher space would have been available than that compressed, and self-limiting structure I was creating in that lower space.
David
Dear David,
I can say that I share the same experience with you. I have been through a situation full of anxiety and stress recently. And, like you, I realized it could have been different. How this experience can be a symbol or a pointer to a higher space? Or in other words, how can we activate this higher space of knowledge.
I would like to leave a comment inspired in the reading “Space Projecting Spaceâ€. In this paper some guidance is given to help us stay connected with the space of the experience and not out of it.
By staying centered in the embodied sense of presence as we become aware of the story in operation, we see how we tend to turn stories into narratives. If we let this process unfold unchecked, we abandon the felt knowledge of space in favor of identity from which space is excluded by definition. Being centered and aware, we can focus on the solidity (always connected with self and identity) melting it and releasing the openness of space.
David, thank you for this vivid and honest reflection on an experience of knotted emotionality (and timespaceknowing) that is probably familiar to many of us … No time! Should! Must! Your story reminded me of a story about Carl Jung when he was a boy. It doesn’t involve time pressure, but it does involve great emotional pressure, and the discovery of a liberating “higher” space. He got every excited about a topic and wrote an essay on it, pouring his heart into it, but when his teacher read it, he accused Jung of having plagiarized it. Jung objected, insisting this was his own work, but the teacher refused to listen (“you couldn’t produce something like this”) and other students joined in accusing him of plagiarism. This hurt Jung deeply and he spent a couple days in a knotted, emotional mess over it, arguing with his teacher in his mind, silently expressing his indignation, etc. Then suddenly he felt as if he had been lifted into a vast, clear, timeless space, filled with an ancient wisdom. From (or “in”) this space, he was able to see both himself and his teacher clearly, and to see how both of their personalities were co-creating this emotional conflict and impasse. Like you (or many of us!), he didn’t experience this space in the thick of the conflict, but it emerged later in the week as the reverberations of the conflict still were echoing in him.
TSK describes “objects” as being a function of lower time (and space). In the case of Jung, however, it appeared to be the emergence of a higher space that allowed him to view “self” and “other” in objectified form (and thus to be freed of identification with them). I’m curious about this.
Best wishes,
Bruce
Hi David. Thank you – the idea of stories as symbols in the mind is helpful. Caroline