I’ve appreciated the posts this week. They show something of the ways you (we grapple) with our not-knowing and finds ways to penetrate it.
Karin is right to point to the “little openings in the background” that we may not ordinarily notice. In fact, this is one of the main ways in which our study of the TSK vision manifests: not so much in the sudden insights, though they help, as in the subtle transformations in daily experience.
On the other hand, Michael speaks of another possibility for accessing knowledge. It is often said that you have to “hit bottom” before you can give up on old patterns, and that is what Michael describes here.
Putting these two observations together, it may be that we should be more attuned to the little ways in which we “hit bottom” all the time, the moments when we feel dissatisfied, or when we start looking around for distraction. One that I have been looking at (partly in connection with a class on Skillful Means that I’m teaching) is the times of day when my energy flags. What do I do then, and how do I deal with the tendency to give up on my own awareness? The point here is to accept our negativity, our dissatisfaction.
Hayward and Christopher have good things to say about approaches to engaging aliveness. For Hayward, it’s a method; for Christopher it’s unexpected awakenings. His comment about “lighting up knowing from within” is related to the themes we’ll be exploring in our conference call.
Jack
Hi Jack,
As our present nine weeks winds to a close (I hope there will be a new opportunity to study with you), I’d just like to say how helpful your comments and guidance essays have been. In the above post, I appreciate how you weave together the themes we are studing with comments that have been posted for the week, along with a reference to another course of study (Skillful Means), one which points more directly to our lives in the world. I guess we all do our private weaving of tapestries as we think about our lives. Last night as I lay in bed for several hours unable to sleep, I found myself reviewing my life on a long timeline. I felt how certain involvements have given me a sense of the purpose of my time on earth, and I also felt the dark spaces of worry, of my inability to protect what I most care for, and of the scope of unconsciousness in my daily life. I am grateful for the opportunity to look at all of this in a fresh way, and continue to hope that new perspectives will continue to increase my awareness, concentration, and energy. Thank you, Jack. –Michael