writing
Submitted by alanw on Thu, 2007-03-22 12:48.
OK, I'll post this under Meditation, why not? I think most people sleep through meditation, but what do I know? I can't get inside their minds.
I usually find it quite laborious to write. But recently, I've found I don't care so much. I usually obssess about every letter and every word and it kind of interferes with the stream of energy already pouring through my mind and body. Like I have to chop it up, into little parcels of stuff.
Maybe this recent change is because I've been talking to a lot of strangers. People I've never met before. Isn't it odd that I call these people strange-rs? They may think me strange on first meeting, but whatever their first thought of me is, we seem to find a common ground, at least in speaking the English language, quite quickly.
But, what intrigues me, is what is not said, what is expressed in the interchange of bodies in space. I feel like I'm engaged in some kind of new dance, an improvisation based on old tried and true steps.
Because I think to myself I'm involved in a research project, I have a kind of agenda of questions. But the face to face is so much more different than me typing at the keyboard, pondering who... who am I speaking to?
So, I'm posting this here, because I haven't yet found an address for this interesting picture person Charlene, posed in front of a tankha, looking to her left, in the space behind a mask...
Hey Alan: In our meditation
Hey Alan:
In our meditation groups we have an agreement: sleeping is alright, but no snoring! the person next to you has the duty of nudging you awake.
good observation about writing: go with the stream or energy of the impulse, rather than worrying about the nitpicky stuff. In general I think that's a good observation for life also: go where the "warm" is, the flow and the energy that feels good.
Yes, it's odd we call those we don't know strangers when my experience has often been the closer I get with someone the "stranger" (more eclectic, individual and unique) they seem to be.
Hey Alan: In our meditation
As Namgyal used to say, quoting Alice...curiouser and curiouser.
What is interesting about meditation in action is that simply by entering into an exchange of words with someone, the other person often introduces me to characters within my self-stream that I've maybe not met for a long time, or have maybe mever met.
Say, don't I know you from somewhere?
When the Dalai Lama came to town, he gave a talk at the town hall. All the local dignitaries were present and accounted for. After the talk, he ambled down the isle into the audience and shook the hands of ordinary people there. When he came to me, he bowed and held both my hands in his for as long as it took for me to realise his hands were warm and were warming mine. I was kind of pleasantly shocked, a warm tingle dispersing the cloud of 'famous, Nobel peace prize winner, Tibetan guru whatsit'. Then he raised his head and we simply smiled at one another, like old friends, before he moved onto the next pair of hands and face.
So, maybe words aren't even needed.