{"id":8086,"date":"2017-03-06T12:21:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T20:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/?p=8086"},"modified":"2018-03-24T07:05:45","modified_gmt":"2018-03-24T14:05:45","slug":"if-not-for-my-ideas-who-am-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cciforum.dreamhosters.com\/?p=8086","title":{"rendered":"If not for my ideas, who am I?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo courtesy of: dandelion-by InspiredImages – Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

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From the perspective of ratio\u00e2\u20ac\u00a616 has an inner structure, a sequencing from one to 15. Before 16, all is undecided\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Along the axes that establish the point, a dynamic hovers between positive and negative, between taking form and going unrealized. At 15 the whole is available, but the clarity that will lead to the final determination is still lacking\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 At 16 all this changes. The \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcright\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ratio forms, the pool of possibilities takes hold as a precise form and specific design. A definitive kind of wholeness coheres.
\n…\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Sacred Dimensions of Time and Space,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Tarthang Tulku, p. 43<\/p>\n

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I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in a discussion now with long-time TSK students, and this quote by Rinpoche haunts my thinking, as well as a question my younger brother asked me years ago… \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If not for my ideas, who am I?<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

TSK invites us to become aware that more fundamental than the ideas, is our \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccapacity<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to have them. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the experience of this \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccapacity<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 that we habitually overlook. It’s like there’s ALMOST something. We ‘overlook<\/em>‘ because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcthing<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to focus upon. For instance, when we sometimes get the sense we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re missing something about ourselves, perhaps a deeper connection to other people, even the planet…<\/p>\n

Looking back on my life, and the lives of my bright, and energetic family of academic teachers, authors, scientists, and artists\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6we have grown up being fascinated by ideas and the world. At a certain time in our lives we think we get a handle on how to navigate ourselves through our days. We can develop a certain degree of confidence that often slips into arrogance about ourselves and our \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcideas<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 about how the world is. We tend to become so myopic about the ideas that we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even recognize our knowing capacity, or even what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s involved with actually knowing and experiencing it. I have seen the great value of the TSK vision and open inquiry \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it has shown me how to actually experience that \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccapacity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to know\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 to participate fully IN the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccapacity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6. At least momentarily. \u00f0\u0178\u00a4\u0090 But Oh\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6those \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchumble moments<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122!<\/p>\n

What does it mean to experience our capacity to know\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcknow our knowing<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll give a couple of examples from my experience in a moment. But first, a word about Rinpoche\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quote\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 He uses 16 (that number of compass directions in space emanating outward from \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc0\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, like an asterisk \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or a dandelion seed-head) as a metaphor for\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 “A definitive kind of wholeness<\/em>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d My way of thinking about this involves imagining the bits or dots in space from 1 to 15 that have not yet cohered, like bits and fragments of feelings and incoherent and indistinct inclinations or dyspathy. (Like in the photo… background blobs of light have not yet defined <\/em>visually.) Like pre-ideas that are not yet \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdefinitive<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 things teeming, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Beneath the surface interactions of entities situated in a presupposed field, prior to the pre-established knowings\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d DTS p64<\/p>\n

So, here are some examples of when feeling in-touch with more than my ideas, but rather, my \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccapacity<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to have them\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6to know\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6not a thing, not an \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 or \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcme\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but a response to the question\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If not for my ideas, who am I?<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Envision dandelion seeds dispersed in the winds of time, some coalesce in a definitive kind of whole, while others continue to disperse in the flow…feeling the allowing openness of the moment knows the capacity for knowing<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

Another Humble Moment\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Another Humble Moment…<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n