“Jazz” — Part 4/4: Being Born Again (and again, and again...)
“My Grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” — 2nd Cor 12:9
Being "born again"
(Layperson's Disclaimer: These thoughts are just from the perspective of an "aspiring contemplative" and a "still-green" meditation coach — I am in no way a scholar or theologian.)
What is it to be “born-again”?
It may make sense to understand being "born-again" as simply meaning to experience a reformation of oneself; a transformation into a different version of being; or a growth into the new state that make me, "me" (like an acorn turns into a tree). Realistically speaking, this must happen many, many times a day, but why is it something special? If it is so important, how should we do it well?It seems like obvious areas of life when “being born” takes place are the processes of:
Birth: being born into the physical bodyAging: being born through transitionDeath: being born through relinquishment
All of these forms of “being born” essentially mark different modes of change in experience — we are un-embodied, then we are given form; we are young, then we are older; we call our body “home”, then we can’t do that anymore. [side note: the concept of being "born-again" (as in the Christian tradition) may, in fact, be related to the principle of anicca (as in the Buddhist concept of impermanence: one of the "3 marks of existence")... it's just that either need to be recognized and deeply acknowledged to be important]Birth, aging, and death are things we cannot decide upon — THEY WILL HAPPEN. Although they are all expected, predictable aspects of life, usually we have the automatic feeling of being happy about births, ambivalent about aging, and terrified about death...
Hamartia, Metanoia
I’ve tried to move away from he habit of letting etymology.com give me the right to act like I know what I’m talking about. But, that being said... Learning about the words used to talk about ideas is a central aspect of how I personally come to find meaning in things. There is a step beyond that, however: learning how to experience the meaning found in words and ideas.The word commonly translated as “sin” in the Holy Bible is “hamartia” (“chatá” in Hebrew) — this (so I've read) is a term that comes from archery that means something like “missing the mark”. It can also be thought of as “to err”, and, in literature, hamartia is considered the “tragic flaw”: that error in the hero’s personality that leads to his/her downfall [not dissimilar, in my mind, from St. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” or Jung's "Shadow" — that which has the potential to become the tragic flaw in us all].I’m not sure any of these meanings necessarily refer to missing the mark of perfection; I think (in practical or “moral“ terms) it could probably be understood as something more like “unskillfulness”.Another context-giving term is “metanoia”: a transformation in one’s way of being (commonly, maybe mistakenly, translated as "repentance") — [“meta-”: beyond] + [“nous”: heart-mind]. It could be understood as an “about face” or a change in moral or spiritual direction.
When there is hamartia (and there most certainly will be), there is always opportunity for metanoia. A beautifully perpetual (almost karmic) spiritual system of being “born again”.
Grace, Music, and More Grace
As we are present with the experience of being “born again” (greeting hamartia in ourselves with patient metanoia... so to speak), over time something new arises — something like 1+1=3.Time and time again we allow ourselves to be renewed, revised, and “reborn” through (rather than in spite of) our unskillfulness in life; and eventually there is a pure taste of grace — after much practice, we receive the blessed gift of equanimity.This brings to mind for me a few instances of influential change in the history of music that could have originated as beautiful performance mistakes (or, moments of unskillfulness met with a patient grace):
- “blue notes” (as in THE blues)
- “outside playing” (purposefully playing melodies that briefly “visit” in a key totally distant than the written chord)
- “polyrhythms” (instrumentalists playing different numbers of beats in the same space of time simultaneously — e.g. “2 against 3”)
- “poly-tonality” (intentionally playing in more than one key at once — e.g. Alberto Ginastera: Argentinian Dance No.1 [left hand plays only black keys and right hand plays only white keys])
The experience of equanimity (I CANNOT overemphasize) is beautiful. It is the experience of little 'ol me (small, flawed, insignificant) being embraced by the whole of Being (full, complete, eternal) without condition, without hesitation, without, reservation — the Way of reality telling me, "yes, you are Good", despite all the reasons "i" could think of to argue with that Truth.
Equanimity can be practiced, but it's more like "practicing" being susceptible to the gift of equanimity. It is tending the garden (tilling the soil, clearing way for the light, ensuring the paths of water), then sitting back and watching growth grow itself.So, remember (and it can be very hard to remember) that YOU ARE GOOD, and the things you think identify you as "bad" are nothing but weather patterns swirling around a mountain — the mountain is undisturbed, unmoved, and unshaken. Let yourself be that Stillness, that Silence, that deep Certainty.again and again and again...
Coming to Your Senses: Mindful Anchoring with PTSD
“Jazz” — Part 3/4: Humility as “Mastery”
“Jazz” — Part 2/4: Poorly-with-Skill
“Jazz” — Part 1/4: Music
Why there may be no such thing as "evil"... and why that should scare the hell out of us!
DO YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS?
TWO TRUTHS – PART III
TWO TRUTHS – PART II
TWO TRUTHS – PART I
Ordinary Mind as the Path VIII (Regret)
Notes from reading "Satipatthana: the direct path to realization" by Analayo
Satipatthana: direct path..."Sati [choiceless awareness; non-reactive; non-interfering] does not change experience, it deepens it." p 56; "Upatthana": placing near; being present; attending - instead of "foundations" (derived from "patthana" which was never used with "sati" in the early Pali texts) which describes them as "objects" that lead to sati rather than attitudes with regard to them that one performs as an activity of sati; "mindfulness being present (upatthitasati) can be understood to imply presence of mind, in so far as it is directly opposed to absent-mindedness (mutthassati); presence of mind in the sense that, endowed with sati, one is wide awake in regard to the present moment." p48 - sati as present moment awareness and remembering/re-collecting (breadth of attention connecting information from the present and about the past) - relaxed receptivityBodily investigation leads to understanding of attachment to the body: feeling (bodily states); "who is feeling?" or the understanding that body and feeling are mental objects leads to contemplation of mind (mental states) which can lead to investigation of the categories of all psycho-physical phenomena (compared to Pramote Pramojjo - vipassana in relation to body and ...mind"Satipatthana definition: "abide contemplating (anupassī) _____ as ____ (e.g. body as body), diligent (ātāpī), clearly knowing (sampajāna), and mindful (sati), free from desires and discontent (vineyya abhijjhādomanassa) in regard to the world" - "anu-": emphatic prefix, passati: to see (thus: to closely observe); present participle of verb, "sampajanati" "sam-": intensifying prefix, "pajanati": he/she knows (input-processing; to fully grasp or comprehend; ranging from a basic knowing to a deep discriminative understanding); "ātāpī" is related to "tapas": which connotes ascetic practices; "vineyya": "free" from verb vineti "to remove" - may be "having removed" or "one should remove" indicating a concurrence of abiding and removal of desires/discontents (which may be referring to the hindrances - similar concurrent action with regard to loving-kindness and absorption: "fake it till you make it"?) - Free from desire or discontent: natural concentration resulting from the enjoyment of the present moment of experience whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral - "unification of mind" at the point of present (timeless) moment awarenessConcentration: Balanced effort like tuning strings of a lute or holding a chick (too tight: choked; too loose: it falls)Samadhi ("concentration" - used very broadly in different contexts); 4 ways of developing: leading to pleasant abiding (jhanas), to knowledge and vision (dev of clarity of cognition), to mindfulness and clear knowledge (contemplating arising/passing of feelings, cognitions, and thoughts), and destruction of influxes (contemplation arising/passing of 5 aggregates) - "decisive factor that qualifies concentration as “right” is not just a question of the depth of concentration achieved, but is concerned with the purpose for which concentration is employed" p74Samatha primarily for countering passions (greed/hatred) and Vipassana primarily for countering ignorance; both are developed as "one hand washing the other"Sati functions to monitor in satipatthana contemplation (penetrative, process-oriented, calm, nonreactive observation); more active sati that alters experience is more in the pasture of right effort (appropriate action of body, speech, or mind) - sati can interact with other more active factors of mind without itself interferingThis objective and receptive observational stance (not suppressing or reacting) can be closely related to the ability to tolerate a high degree of cognitive dissonance (since witnessing one's own shortcomings usually lead to unconscious attempts to reduce the resulting feeling of discomfort by avoiding or even altering the perceived information)Noun sati is related to verb sarati (to remember; to recollect; the use of that faculty which makes memory possible) - the present moment and/or the 6 recollections; as a faculty, awakening factor, a factor of the 8-fold path, or at the moment of realization; stabilizing, restraining, supervising, balancing, guarding, gathering, and controlling functions; surgeon's probe, elephant's neck, goad/plowshareBare attention/open awareness of empty phenomena rolling along (swirling, floating, passing, churning, emerging…) - listening (Mother Teresa: listening to God listening to me); allowing “things” to be revealed"Refrain": internally("or/and...")/externally (spatial axis); arising/passing away (temporal axis); bare knowledge & continuous mindfulness (mere awareness - using direct speech to formulate what is to be known: using concepts to facilitate the tools of labeling/noting/apostrophizing (there is a... body/feelings/mental state/dhamma") only to the "extent necessary for bare knowledge and continuous mindfulness"- leads to a dis-identification); independent without clingingBody satipatthanacontemplation of body in action then analysis of anatomical, material, and temporal perspectives with mindfulness of breathing acting as transition from active to more static if moved to the third position (to support the movement from more obvious to more detailed): awareness of postures (knowing), clear knowledge of activities (knowing), awareness of breathing (knowing then training), analysis of anatomical parts (considering/repeated analysis), analysis of material qualities (considering/repeated analysis), and contemplation of temporal perspective of (the disintegration after death) the body (comparing) - [mindfulness of breath is used by "breathing though" the anatomy and then ending on the airy quality of the body to contemplate the act of breathing itself without specific physical location)Similes of man carrying jar of oil (with a man with a drawn sword behind him) while watching a beautiful woman dance and of a post with 6 wild animals tied to it (who eventually lie down next to it) both highlight the sense-restraint grounded in present awareness of the bodyContemplation of the body can be a basis for developing samatha (calm) or it can lead to an application of sati to feeling and mental phenomena in vipassana (insight)Mindfulness of breathing: 4 steps (as opposed to the 16 of Anapanasati sutta) - in/out knowing long breath; in/out knowing short breath (moving to more subtle breath as tranquil-concentration deepens); in/out experiencing the whole body; in/out calming the whole body [because the breath can be both automatic (by the body) and under control (by the mind), the conditionality of body and mind can be contemplated through the breath most easily); Focus on rising-falling or other anatomical-orientation during breath awareness: suggested (in Mahasi tradition) that this is contemplation on the air element rather than actual breath meditation - maybe breath meditation begins with the focus on breathing itself without emphasis on a specific location[?]Awareness of Postures-Mindfulness/Clear Knowledge of Activities: passive voice; "who is... whose is...?"; grounding of awareness in the body that forms the basis for clear knowledge of the range of activities (bending, stretching, shifting, settling, etc); mindfulness and clearly knowing (progression through: purpose, suitability, pasture/relation to one's path-of-growth/sense restraint, and non-delusion) complete the preparatory stages of ethical conduct/sense restraint/contentment and prepare the mind for seclusion/overcoming of hindrances/progress through levels of absorption/realizationAnatomy-Quality: seeing the internal (anatomy and/or qualities) as no different from the external (the environment); e.g. Just like the earth is not resentful when trash is thrown on it, one can respond to others with loving-kindness (metta) and compassion (karuna) rather than resentmentMeditation on death (decay of the body): as a countermeasure to lust and, when applied to one's own body, conceit - but, it should not lead to aversion or depression. Using the breath (or eating) to contemplate the limited nature of the substance we cling to as an embodiment of "I" and "mine": the next breath (or mouthful) is not certain.These last three (postures-activities, anatomy-qualities, and death) are useful especially to cultivate a dis-identification with the body.Feeling satipatthana (affective and ethical):•not emotions (these are more complex parts of states of mind): before reactions, projections, and justifications;•contemplation on feelings can enhance intuitive apperception•worldly (having an underlying tendency to lead to desire, aversion, or delusion) and unworldly (not having those tendencies); flesh and renunciation; carnal and spiritual; or physiological or psychological; the underlying ethical sensitivity of wholesome or unwholesome•like winds from different directions: sometimes warm, cold, wet, dry, pleasant, unpleasant, neutral...;•"who feels?": this leads from merely experiencing feelings to contemplating them as a satipatthana•link between contact and craving (which leads to "views"•bringing the evaluative and conditioning function of appraisal (MAP schema/disposition formation) to conscious awareness: de-conditioning emotions from their points of origination instead of allowing them to find "rationalized homes" within views/opinions (clinging and dogmatic adherence are results of the dependence of views/opinions on initial evaluative impact: affective bias) - "right view": concerned with a non-attached stance in relation to one's views•"Feeling provides quick feedback during information processing, as a basis for motivation and action." P162•"Logic and thought often serve merely to rationalize already existing likes and dislikes, which in turn are conditioned by the arising of either pleasant or unpleasant feelings." P162•Pleasant: Important to develop joy (piti) and happiness (sukha) - non-sensual pleasant feelings•Unpleasant: the "unawakened" view leads to being shot by 2 darts: one of pain and the second of suffering led Ronny mental reaction•Neutral: discovered by inference (absence of pleasant and unpleasant) likened to a hunter seeing tracks before and after a rock, inferring the path of the animal; associated with wisdom or ignorance (transcending an object vs. mere bland disinterest in object) - progressive move of neutrality toward equanimity: sense-feelings, mental feelings (sense renunciation), mental joy, equanimous feeling of wise neutrality that transcends mental joyMind satipatthana•essentially "knowing" presence or absence of 3 roots of unwholesome action divided into 8 categories (and their opposites) covering the range of mindfulness of mind states:•"ordinary" states (5 hindrances):*with(without) desire/lust, aversion/anger, ignorance/delusion, contraction(sloth-torpor)/distraction(restlessness) and•"higher" states (calmly noticing any advanced stages of practice lest they give rise to speculative views - all are products of the mind and conditioned, volitionally produced, and thus impermanent experiences):*as(not) great (broad scope of attention), unsurpassable (reaching for highest possible absorption), concentrated, liberated (temporarily/permanently free from all the hindrances)•Non-reactive Awareness: purpose with all categories: calmly notice unfolding (arising-passing) of experience - MONITORING (not actively avoiding/opposing) lest speculative views arise as a result of phenomena within these categories - non-reactivity deactivated the emotional/attentional "pull" of unwholesome states by countering the impulse towards reaction or suppression•overcoming mental "defilements" through repeated wise observation; being a "mirror" and simply reflecting whatever condition of mind arises without interference or reactive involvement•if this doesn't work, direct attention to the nature of these mind-states and to volitional dispositions underlying them; then try directing attn to something wholesome instead or reflecting on the danger of succumbing to unwholesome thoughts or try to forget them - as a last resort: "beat down and crush mind with mind"•"citta": Mind in the sense of mood or cognitive-emotional state of mind; in its "conative" sense•recognizing the states of mind that underlie particular trains of thought or reaction•underlying ethical sensitivity of wholesome/unwholesome (like "Feeling" satipatthana); there is no fire like lust, no grip like anger, and no net like delusion; pulling in, pushing away, running around in circles•To be aware of the knowing faculty with all its concomitant mental states (Goldstein)"Dhammas" satipatthana (look at whatever is experienced through each category) - diagnosis, cure, and prevention•particularly concerned with the conditional nature of phenomena•specific mental qualities (5 hindrances and 7 factors of enlightenment) and specific categories (5 aggregates, 6 sense spheres, and 4 noble truths)•compared to the last 4 steps of the anapanasati sutta: (contemplation on...) impermanence of all phenomena; fading/passing away; cessation; letting go/detachment•5 hindrances: like more specific version of Mind States, but with focus on conditional nature of hindrances (knowing if each is present, if each is not-present, conditions that lead to arising, conditions that lead to removal, and conditions that will prevent future arisings) - learn to withstand impact of each with awareness (like trying to properly see one's reflection in a bowl of water: colored with dye, boiling, overgrown with algae, blown by the wind, or muddy) - turning obstacles of meditation into objects of meditation (middle way between suppression and indulgence through simple recognition) - counterbalancing one's perceptual appraisal ("antidotes") once the cognitive-emotional distortion (hindrance) is recognized (not for the sake of annihilating them, but for seeing the conditions of their arising, passing , etc): bodily awareness for desire, Metta for aversion, "clarity of cognition" (luminous mind or light image - mindfulness and clear knowledge) or: eating less, pulling ears, massaging body, getting up/changing posture,water on face, look at sky, or walking meditation for sloth/torpor, calm and stability through samatha or less energetic striving for restlessness/worry, and skillful discernment of wholesomeness/unwholesomeness through investigation for doubt - mindfulness is central to recognition, removal, and prevention of hindrances•5 aggregates (a paraphrase of the theory of dependent origination): "such is _____; such is its arising; such is its passing away" - clear recognition of the nature of each then awareness of the arising and passing away of each aggregate; applied to other practices (e.g. Jhanas, anapanasati: sensation of breathing, hedonic-tone of breath, noting the breath, effort of breathing, knowing the breath);-desire/attachment to these aggregates (of clinging) is the root of dukkha-non-self essential, impermanence clearly observed, and suffering as a result of attachment to aggregates is apparent in this contemplation; characterized by what they do rather than what they are; the mental aggregates exist as functions not as entities-material form: the subjective factor of organic sensations; materiality and sensibility - function rather than an entity; that which is "derived" from the 4 qualities of matter;-contact is the condition for the paired manifestation of feeling and cognition ("with contact as condition there is feeling, what one feels, that one cognizes") - feeling relates to the sense organ (the "how" of experience) and cognition relates to the sense object (the "what" of experience); cognition: use of memory to "gather together" sensory input/feelings and furnish them with conceptual labels;-volition and intention: conative (reactive or purposive) aspect of mind (conation) that reacts to objects or their potentiality - conditions and is conditioned by other aggregates; includes many mental factors (executive function; 5 hindrances - all of which can be automatically arising intentional/emotional states - to be known not annihilated)-consciousness: 3 forms of term "mind"- vinnana (conscious awareness 'of'/underlying stream of consciousness - this is the sense used in the aggregate schema; particularizing), mano (door of thought action/6th internal sense base), and citta (center of experience/subject of thought, feeling, and volition);interdependent conditioning of consciousness and 'name-and-form' (name: mental aspects of feeling, cognition, volition, contact, and attention; form: material form);-mistaken (delusional) identification with the aggregates: claiming "I am" by "where I am" (body), "how I am" (feeling), "what I am (perceiving)" (cognition), "why I am (acting)" (volition), and "whereby I am (experiencing)" (consciousness); "self" as a product of projection (of the aggregates); aggregate contemplation uncovers patterns of identification with ("me"), attachment to ("mine"), or reification of (view of "myself") "Self"/"I";form is like the foam on a river, feelings are like impermanent bubbles formed on the surface from the rain, cognition is like an illusory mirage, volitions are like a pithless tree, and consciousness is like a magician's trick-non-identification strategies: "who?"/"whose?" - "representational"/"symbolic" self - arising/passing and conditional nature of aggregates (2nd stage of contemplation after clear recognition) by observing the change taking place in every aspect of experience then in all aggregates simultaneously - seeing the conditions for the arising and passing of each aggregate; one condition that can be brought under control-within-constraint is the condition of identification/attachment/reification-"chariot" analogy: "chariot" is a conventional term describing the functionality of all its conditioned and impermanent parts; this is the same with the "representational" (conventional, functional, impermanent, conditioned) self; the aggregates (i.e. personality) are not an eternal Self, but the self still operates and "exists" conventionally, functionally, impermanent, conditionally (emptiness, not nothingness)-contemplating the distinction bw body and consciousness (mind) may be sufficient to lead to insight (found in the Mahasakuludayi Sutta) - "mind" is analyzed in more detail (4 aggregates) simply because it is more difficult to see the impersonal nature of mind than body-purpose of this satipatthana is to expose identification-patterns leading to disenchantment/detachment (a key aspect of which is awareness of their impermanent and conditioned nature by observing change taking place in every aspect of personal experience; e.g. sensations of breathing/blood circulating, change in feeling-tone, variety of cognitions/volitional reactions arising in the mind, or the changing of consciousness at this or that sense door; then all these together)-Bodily and mental experience depends on and is affected by a set of conditions - "I" and "mine" turn out to be utterly dependent on what is "other" - identification, through volition, is one thing within personal control[Paticcasamuppada: essentially: co-conditioning of consciousness and psycho-physical system (name-and-form)Links of the chain of conceptual ("diamond-shaped-net" of aggregates) proliferation/reactivity (3 "lifetimes"):• (Past) Ignorance of Dispositions/tendencies ->• (Present: *the only real event - the past and future are alternate perspectives of present experience) Consciousness-Sense Objects-Sense Organs -> Contact -> Feeling AND Cognition (Mind-and-Matter/Nama-Rupa/Psycho-Physical-System) -> Craving/Aversion -> Clinging ("view" of intensified craving) -> Becoming (the "regenerating process")[OR] (Craving/Aversion ->) Volition with Wisdom/Skillful Understanding (breaks the cycle with an intentional stance of equanimity and gradually replaces craving with equanimous traits - transforming sañña into pañña)• (Future) "Birth" ("new"/reinforced dispositions) -> "Aging, Decay, and Death" (samsara = suffering); one then becomes a victim of one's own "net" of associations, memories, projections, etc]•6 (inner and outer) sense spheres:-recognize the inner sense organ and object-know the conditions that lead to the arising of a fetter (bondage rooted in desire, aversion, and/or delusion); the conditions that lead to removal of a fetter; and the conditions that lead to prevention of future fetters-perceptual process: contact, co-arising of feeling-tone and cognition (point of perceptual distortion), thought, and conceptual proliferation (which feeds back/projects into future perceptions-sense-restraint: mindfulness at the sense doors (observing sense data before the initial feeling-tone/cognitive appraisal - ["wedge" bw craving and clinging/orientation-appraisal and response]) is the foundation of concentration and insight
A non-dual perspective
Essence of mind is calm awareness; movement of mind is phenomenal emergence at the 6 sense doors. Essence and movement are also the same thing: like energy and matter, the ocean and its waves, the sun and it's rays, or a movie screen and the sounds/images projected on it. Seeing them as separate cultivates the duality of clinging and rejection.To “meditate” simply means to maintain a presence with both the calm essence and active movement of mind (recognition and continuation of pure, non-dual presence): there is nothing to “meditate on”. Any thoughts, desires, etc should be simply allowed to self-liberate at the very instant of their arising through simple present awareness - these conditioned phenomena are all apertures into the ground of Still and Silent Presence; of Primordial-Core Awareness.“Truth is one, many is its names” (Rig Veda). “Non-dual” is the inseparability of the Relative appearance (Christ as Particular) and the Absolute emptiness (YHWH as Universal) — [Practice/Realization/Awakening of the sameness of Christ/YHWH is (the result of) Spirit][Alpha/Omega and the tabernacle of God is with men: Revelation 21]The process of conceptual cognition categorizes sensory cognition and all of mental cognition (which includes conceptual cognition itself) as “this”s and “that”s: mental objects that represent, are derived from, and resemble (or construct?) external (material) perception and that filter internal (mental) perception......this is the root cause of duality - physical and mental things we “know” are the causes and the ways we know them are the effects; direct experience and our conceptions of experience are distanced and bifurcated in time.So, reliance on conceptual understanding is limited to a shallowness (“grossness”) of understanding reality. A depth (“subtlety”) of understanding is encountered through non-conceptual knowing: something like awareness itself.
Form: quality of solidity, permanence, separateness, continuity, and definition
Emptiness: quality of insubstantiality, impermanence, indistinctness, discontinuity, and ambiguity
Non-Duality ["Deep" Mindful Awareness; Contemplation]: recognition that existence and experience are permeated by the qualities of form and emptiness - they are aspects of each other and they condition each other: "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.”
“There is one body, one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in you all.” -Ephesians 4:4-6
Revelation
Apokalypsis (Greek: 'unveiling' or 'disclosure' often transliterated as 'apocalypse' but translated as 'Revelation')
Iesou Christou: Christ is the "firstborn from the dead"
John (while in exile on the island of Patmos): "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and..." - he then describes the illumination of his Contemplative experience.
When he saw the slain lamb take the scroll of 7 seals from the hand of "he who sat upon the throne" (never named "God", but the mysterious gap; the luminous darkness) and opened the scroll (supposedly containing the 'Way' or 'Will' of God - the 'Way' that Christ revealed by living as 'It'); John sees God revealed and Worshiped in all things: all of creation becomes an expression of the Glory of God's presence. This was a description of John's awakening to Reality; his liberation from experiencing the world as suffering, his experience of the Revelation of Christ.
John gives us (as much of the stories of Christ do also) an example of meditation; an explanation of a true Contemplation of the action and presence of God (the undefinable mysterious gap) in the Spirit (a continual state contemplation) and through Christ (which contains within and manifests as true Contemplation). This is our example.The 6 (?) seals shows the suffering and impermanence of the world. "The Logos is the Beginning of all things because from Him flow the creative outpourings, the particular logoi of creatures. He is the End of all things because He is the center toward which all created beings tend. This is the mystical meaning behind His words: 'I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending' (Revelation 1:8)." (Hieromonk Damascene from Christ the Eternal Tao p474)
"Create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, grant us peace."
Amen
Our Trinitarian World: The Action of "Gravity" Upon Mental Phenomena
Grounding Space-Time upon which everything rests, out of which everything emerges, and into which everything dissolves (Unmanifest Yahweh)Creation, matter, form, being (Manifest Logos-Christ)The Process of Energy/Force: gravity, motion, felt-presence, etc. (Dymanic Spirit)
Christ is the still-yet-invisible Path or Way (Jesus is the a/the map of this Way: early Christians we referred to as "followers of the Way"...), Spirit is the intuitive sense of direction and the motion through the Path (and the occasional road sign), and God is the ever-receding horizon making the journey well worth it.Expansion of space is the ever receding horizon of spiritual progress; with each step forward we find ourselves at a more distant (but delicious) point of departure.Use the gravity (mass; stuff-ness; substantiality) of physical and mental "things" (sensations-feelings-thoughts) like a satellite uses a planet to sling-shot itself into the unknown Darkness (using the event of seeing Christ in all things to increase the Spirit leading us into the Silence that grounds all).[Alternatively the Trinity can be understood as functioning like fire: there is primordial heat (YHWH), fuel (Logos), and air (Spirit)...also, the Ground (YHWH), Path (Christ), and Fruition (action and presence of Spirit that leads to continued encounters with YHWH through the cultivation/manifestation of Christ) are one in the same]
Mind...
(Evan Thompson) the bird needs its wings to fly, but the wings are not the flying itself: flying is a relation between the bird and itself and the bird it's environment.Likewise, we need a brain to have a mind, but the mind isn't the brain: it is a relation between us and ourselves and us and our environment that includes the brain.What might be called "spiritual" seems then to be merely a falsely dichotomized "other" arena of being rather than the non-conscious and extensive "dimension" of what we call mind (i.e. our interdependent, interpersonal field of experience including culture, natural and social environment, etc.).The "spiritual" and "psychological", then, are one and the same; non-separate, superimposed dimensions of the same lived reality; the Christ; the Tao; the Way...Finding this convergence of simultaneous sameness and presence may be the result of Contemplative effort or simply opening the eyes of the heart to know that which is at once unknowable and undeniable.At least that's what "my" "mind" says "I" believe right "now"...
"Real" (non-clinical) depression as unpleasant feeling and mental proliferation: a note to myself
Oh, this feeling is something "real". This is an exception from all the other things observed in practice. This passion; this irritation; this vertigo is actual and unconditioned. Other feelings are fleeting and impermanent, but THIS feeling is true!...
Get over your"self" you phony practitioner; you hypocrite of hypnosis; you masquerading meditator; you absolutely contradictory Aspiring Contemplative.This feeling is no different than the sense of sitting, the feeling of breathing, or the phenomena of sound and thought. It is an arisen and temporary factor of mind - despite its resulting discomfort, which is, in and of itself, a passing fluctuation on the surface of the Infinite Way.See the shadows and flames at play in this game. Be aware of the folds of time separating one moment of "aversion-consciousness-arising" and another... maybe even direct the intention of mind toward a different emergence of "phenomenal reality".This game, this trick, will NOT go away. It is transient and impermanent, but the possibility of its arising will never cease (at least not yet). There is a choice of habit to be made in every infinitesimal moment of mind: be still and know (Ps. 46)Christ is the consciousness of knowing the God of mystery and luminous darkness as within and surrounding the space of awareness in our experience.Satan is a chosen unconsciousness (not unconsciousness itself): an unwillingness to awaken to the depth of joy in a moment of sorrow or opening one's eyes to the bottomless suffering in an instant of bliss. All preference should be released. Turn away (metanoia: repent)from the conditions of willful ignorance (hamartia: sin).Do this always (Mark 14, Luke 22, 1Corinthians 11). Do not let the thoughts of effort interfere with the way of seeing the Way in everything.
Parallels...
Un-elaborated (or gradually elaborated - and probably fairly un-informed) sketches on parallels between different "systems of seeking"; i.e. Seeing the perinealism of mystically-practical Buddhist psychology and practically-mystical Christian theology:Kenosis ("In prayer come empty, do nothing." -St John of the Cross); Hesychia (stillness; emptying the "cup" of awareness of its sensory/worldly/created contents); Logos (Jesus accepted the Logos (Will/Way of God) and became the Christ) --- Wuwei (empty of resistance; giving way to the Way); Tao; Wei Wu Wei said that humility is the absence of any one to be proud; "A Buddha is the embodiment of the Dharma, the law; he is not apart from the workings of it. Having taken birth, decay and death must inevitably follow. Whether you are enlightened or unenlightened, this is part of the natural unfolding. But the truth itself is timeless, and having been shown the path to understanding, we need not rely on anyone outside of ourselves." (Goldstein)Emptiness ("unfindability" of...; includes non-self, dereification of subject-object distinction, etc);• Difference between "emptiness" and "mere nothingness"• Unborn consciousness/un-manifested knowingNepsis: St John ("loving awareness"); St Hesychios: “awareness” is a spiritual method (“nēpsis can be translated as “awareness” including different types of awareness such as alertness, sobriety, watchfulness, attentiveness, mindfulness) --- SatiParadoxical teachings of Jesus (parables; when the disciples asked for explanation) --- "noble silence" of the Buddha (koans; "I will not allow this poison-tipped dart to be removed from my body until I have learned whether the man who shot me was..."The camel through th eye of a needle (the narrow path that camels had to walk through) --- Mumonkan: passing through the barrier-gate (like a toll) and the "mu" ("no"; "not"; "have not"; "nothing")Theosis (deification aimed toward likeness/union with God; via catharsis: purification of mind/body; and theoria: illumination) --- Nirvana3 stages of theosis (describes process and aim): purgative way (purification - katharsis), illuminative way (illumination - theoria: 'Contemplatio' is the Latin translation of Greek 'theoria'), and the unitive way (sainthood - theosis) --- 3 kinds of nirvana happiness: path consciousness, fruition consciousness, and parinirvana (when an "enlightened being" dies); also: rebirth in the realms of hell, animal, peta, etcChrist's Divine-human perfection/Second coming of Christ --- Mahamudra (character and practice)/MaitreyaProvocation-Conjunction-Joining-Habit-Captivity (Philokalia Vol 1 p171; Heiromonk Damascence p312) --- Dependent Origination (chain of causation)Christ (Logos) "In the beginning..." --- Buddha (Tathagata) "The Tathagata who was perfectly enlightened so long ago has no limit to the duration of his life, being ever-lasting. Never extinct, he makes a show of extinction for the sake of those he leads to salvation." (The Lotus Sutra ch 15-16)Trinity: Father (YHWH) Son (Logos/the Way), and Holy Spirit (Ultimate, Particular, presence and action all of which are one in the same) --- 3 Jewels: Dharma(-nature), Buddha(-nature), and Sangha (Ultimate, Particular, presence and action all of which are one in the same); Tantric metaphor: sky (ground/base - gzhi), sun (sky's vast capacity for perfect clarity of awareness - rigpa), and the sun's rays (descending light/energy/motion that penetrates and illuminates the dark clouds of ignorance/aggregates of clinging - 'od gsal)Gnosis (insight; translation of Hebrew "ha'ath") --- PannaSalvation; Habitus; Judgement ("judge not lest...") and Cloud ch 4 (holy and worldly desire) --- KarmaSin (hamartia; missing the mark; to fail - as a result of unconscious motivations; "springs from a state of moral darkness brought on by a lack of awareness" - John Sanford Kingdom... p111); lust, anger, and confusion (what St John calls spirits of fornication, blasphemy, and vertigo) --- 3 roots of suffering (3 poisons?); attachment/clingingRepentance ('turning around'; 'changing the mind') --- satori ('turning about' of the mind)Heart --- Will/Volition/Formations (?); "There is a third kind of love, higher even than universal lovingkindness. This love is the natural harmony which comes from the breaking down of barriers arising out of the concept of self. No “I,” no “other.” It is love born of wisdom and at this level, “love” and “emptiness” are the same experience. There is no concept at all of “I am loving.” It’s free of the concept of I, of self." (Goldstein)Hesychios ("On Watchfulness and Holiness"): "continuity of attention produces inner stability; inner stability produces a natural intensification of watchfulness and in due measure gives Contemplative insight into spiritual warfare." --- Samadhi -> Jhana -> InsightConcentration (prayer word with breath - word falls away at a point of absorption) --- samatha (breath instead of word-matched-with-breath) anapanasati-jhana (applied and sustained thought fall away at a point, and concentration moves from an eagle flapping to soaring)“There is within us a sort of mental craving that is fragmented and frayed (pathos was the Greek word he often used) [split; knot; papanca], with the result that we are nearly always either grasping at something or pushing it away and find it very difficult to receive with open palms of simple gratitude.” (Laird; "Sunlit..." p35) --- tanhā (craving); upādāna (attachment; clinging; grasping)(Evagrius) Passions (good or bad: thoughts that lead us away from contemplation); there are areas of life in which obsessive patterns tend to occur --- PapancaMetanoia (to change one's mind or convert; meta- to go beyond or change + noein to have mental perception - from noos: mind, thought) (St Hesychios) Vigilant watchfulness provides an antidote to chasing thoughts and deriving a sense of self from them by “closely scrutinizing every mental image or provocation” - instead of chasing thoughts, “turn around” (metanoia) to stop the chase; OR “turn around” to look them in the face (with stillness and silence - seeing through/past them) and stop the flow of being carried away by them; move from agitated victim to silent witness ---7 mortal/deadly sins (originating with Evagrius and taken to Europe by his student, John Cassian - evil spirits; excessive versions of the passions: anger, envy (contempt/spiteful hatred?), pride, sloth, covetousness, lust, and... gluttony) (vs. venial sins that can take root in the soul if treated with carelessness) --- 5 hindrancesSatan (one who opposes, obstructs, or acts as an adversary; one who plots against); Devil (one who throws (something) across the path of another: diabolos from diaballein "to slander, attack," literally "throw across," from dia- "across, through" + ballein "to throw") --- MaraHoly Spirit (Paraclete: advocate; helper; counselor) --- Buddha-nature (or Buddha Principle refers to several related terms, most notably tathāgatagarbha and buddhadhātu. Tathāgatagarbha means "the womb" or "embryo" (garbha) of the "thus-gone" (tathagata), or "containing a tathagata"); "The Buddha is within. It is the experience of the truth. Always bringing it back to the present moment, to the experience in the now." (Goldstein) Qi (ch'i: "breath", "air", or "gas", and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or "energy flow"); anima mundi - or world soul - of the Stoics"God has a sense of humor" --- the "cosmic joke" (Michael Taft)Lose yourself and you will find yourself --- when you disappear, you are most fully hereHumility; selflessness (as the way to purification) --- freedom from Sakkaya-ditthi (wrong view of self with regard to nama and rupa)Etc...
Bishop Metropolitan Kallistos Ware on the Jesus Prayer
Pray by simply standing before a God (listening to God listen to me; gazing at God gaze at me; rest in God rest in me; James 4:8 - "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you"; etc)Pray with the mind in the heart (with the whole being; prayer of the lips, prayer of the mind, prayer of the heart; this is where we find Christ and the Spirit within us - “it is not I but Christ lives in me”)Pray without ceasing (Paul to Thessalonians)4 Essential Elements of the Jesus Prayer (from instructions included in the Philokalia - ~12th-14th cent.)
- Sit (chair or low bench - some say to lower the head to the chest)
- Control the breath (slow it down; calm the breath)
- Match the Jesus Prayer to the breath (various forms and lengths)
- Concentrate on certain psycho-somatic centers (allowing the intellect, or "nous", to lower into the heart - the heart was seen as the hollow organ full of space in medieval understanding)
Ware on baptism (after St. Gregory Panamas and St Mark[?] of Sinai): "The final end of every activity that conforms to God's will is to return, through the keeping of the commandments, to that perfect spiritual recreation and renewal by Grace which was given to us freely from on high at the beginning in the sacred fount [the womb]. In the beginning is our end. The whole purpose in the ascetic mystical life is nothing else but the recovery and activation of the Grace of the Spirit that was conferred to us initially in the sacrament of baptism."