Awareness of Space

I’ve continued working with some of the practices in the book, ‘Shift Into Freedom’, by Loch Kelly, a gifted teacher and author, in which he explains his ‘Open-Hearted Awareness Approach’ to Being. This practice reminds me of some of the TSK Space exercises, for instance the Mountain Retreat practice, which introduces us to:

“…our inner being to some of the infinite energy that is ‘here’. Such energy is real, palpable, and usable. Ordinarily, we seek energy and nourishment in a goal-directed, attainment-oriented manner. We grasp at what is ‘here’ in a fashion that reduces it to the status of a point, a locus to be stripped bare before proceeding to the next point in an endless quest for fulfillment. This is an impoverishing approach.” TSK p.95

My Notes: GLIMPSE 4 – Awareness of Space

Once again sitting on the porch listening to music…

(To hear what I heard) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpLZ5kJS5SI

…and seeing the leaves outside turning gold, to orange, and fuchsia against a brownish field and cloudy-blue sky. I ‘unhook’ local awareness from the flow of thoughts about what I am seeing. Focus shifts from narrating mind to the left ear, as sound amplifies to wide-angle hearing, while visual attentiveness seems to recede. Left side listening opens up like a bubble being blown up and out, continuing to expand as mind space merges with sound space…arising rhythms and beats, notes and space, and a parallel ringing in the ear that’s always there, often hardly noticed. There is a fullness to the space of listening while NOT narrowing to identify arising objects…

Now, I unhook local awareness from hearing, and open to the surrounding space in which all appearances present, which has the feel of a feast spread before me. Now there is a vibrant fullness to everything, all senses alive, all feeling present, a boundless and open, non-specific awareness seems abundant…

With this openness I consider this ‘space awareness’, as if taking stock of who is here now. And I notice it is not the one who started this practice, in the sense that the one who began was looking and feeling through a narrow or near-sighted perspective, and the person who is aware in this moment sees and feels with a much wider angle, absent the constant thinking that clings to objects, opinions, and feelings of discomfort. And in this ‘space‘ I’m reminded of the question Lock Kelly asks, “What’s it like with nothing to ‘chew’ on?” And the answer, open awareness of being aware, is now available to welcome the arising moment at the edge of the future, from a more fundamental and authentic level.