For a few weeks now, we’ve been looking at the theme of light and darkness: light in dark, or not. The short reading for this week suggests that the difference is one of intention or aspiration. You may find that worth exploring. The practice from DTS is very inviting. Please do it very lightly, just seeing what comes.
Gaynor, this is very upsetting. It’s strange, because just last week I was thinking about the state’s power of eminent domain (that’s what we call it in the U.S., anyway, but it’s what you describe) and how it has the power to uproot people’s lives. I’m glad you’re practicing with it, and that it seems that something is opening. The pain is real, no need to deny that. But what is the relation of that ‘real’ to light. That is the question for you to work with.
Let me get practical, for a moment. Governments are not bad or evil, but there is no light in them; they are not alive: they are a tool or mechanism, even if the people who work in them are real people, doing their job. With that in mind, have you considered fighting their plans? At the very least, you need to make sure you are well-compensated; one step up from that is to find a way that they can give you comparable property, or as close to it as possible. I say that not from a TSK perspective, but as a lawyer.
Peter, I will be leading a workshop for therapists this weekend called “Freedom from the Known.” I wouldn’t dream of trying to introduce the kind of inquiry we are doing now, since these people have no background. Still, my intentions are very similar: to marry the heart and the body with the light of awareness. Our self-centered patterns are themselves an expression of light, and as the reading suggests, the barriers we encounter can themselves become the subject of inquiry.
Jack
Gaynor
Jack,
Thank you for your kind thoughts. I doubt that we would have much success fighting their plans – we are only one of about 100 properties to be taken over for this tunnel. The Council will provide financial compensation, though it is up to us to find alternative property, but that does nothing to relieve the sadness at parting with such beautiful surroundings. I try to practise non-attachment, but it is love of ‘place’, not attachment to possessions or property, which is distressing me. There are several very large trees, a couple of them probably over one hundred years old – I only hope that, since they are at the very back of the property, they may still be retained after the work is done. The worst part of this is that it will be about 15 months before the final tenderer for the project is chosen, so until then no further action will be taken – we just have to sit here with our life ‘on hold’, waiting finalisation of the process.
It is a real illustration of how even those things one believes are ‘under control’ and semi-permanent are really totally impermanent. It will probably be a major lesson for me in ‘letting go’. Perhaps it will open up new possibilities.