Hello to all

Dear Friends,

I’m finally checking in with a contribution. I’ve been moving house (and my office at the same time), and have been disconnected from my broadband. Just the same, I’ve been able to access the program, read the texts, listen to the phone sessions, and to do the contemplations. I jst haven’t had time to talk. Like Jack, by the way, I’m always in admiration of yogis who know that the process is scary (to the self-belief) and yet do the contemplations. How truly beautiful.
Talking about this scary bit… today all day I was practicing releasing my hold on my ‘stories,’ releasing into a ‘no-agenda’ space. Occasionally a phrase of Rinpoche’s came to mind: “Not bound to affirm content or to establish structure…” What was interesting was the astonishment that arose, when I recognised that no content or structure was being affirmed. It was expressed by my astonished mind as: “But there’s nothing!”Several times this happened. I could often see, too, that the stories create/’affirm’ a sense of ‘mind-substance’ – where the mind (unconsciously) takes a stand on the idea of its separate existence. I noticed, too, that the process wanted to attach the story of ‘self-ing’ to the body, when it couldn’t do it with a ‘mind’-thing.
It seems that the process of ‘story-mind’ so believes its ‘something’ orientation that it just can’t comprehend the possiblity of a fruitful, wondrous ‘no-thing,’ hence the regular amazement at ‘nothing here.’ What I”m curious (bemused?) about is that the conceptual mind continues year after year to be astonished at thais dimension of life. Will I never get used to it?

Glad to be back with you, fellow contemplatives, gathered in the CCI mandala (albeit spread as we are across the planet.)

Regards,

Christopher.