Hi all,
We had some technical difficulties with the conference call today, so at the end I decided not to introduce the exercise(s) for the week in the call, as I had been planning, but to post them here instead. I will do a more polished version this evening, when I have more time.
Some of you are familiar with the practice of “Expanding and Condensing.” I’d like us to focus on expanding. This is like the thought-experiment in the book (DTS) in chapter 1 of expanding a molecule till all that is substantial about it seems to disappear.
As Tracy mentioned, expanding takes on more significance if you find ways to expand yourself, or your own experience, rather than just expanding objects. SO here is the suggestion:
1. Start with embodiment. At various times, when you think of it, expand your sense of being a body in space. Just imagine that you are about two feet bigger than you are, as if the body just extended further in space. Of course that expanded part of your body does not bump into doorways, etc.; in that sense it is more subtle than the usual physical body. But think of it as part of your body nonetheless.
2. Expand your sense of being present through the layers of experience we have been exploring. For instance, if you think of a memory (the content of your experience), expand that content into the non-content layers of experience. Take a look at the orientation for week 1 if you are not sure what that means.
3. Do the same kind of expanding with the different layers of experience, one at a time or several at once, or however you would like to explore doing it. For instance, you could expand the sense of the experience as positive, negative, or neutral, or expand your sense of the context within which you are doing an action (brushing your teeth in connection with oral hygiene, or the memory of being at a dentist, etc.)
Please be very playful; don’t worry if you are doing this ‘the right way,’ Do some version of the practice whenever you think of it.
More soon,
Jack