If you’d like to take this lesson one step deeper, feel into which of the categories spoke the loudest to you:
Being
Embracing
Feeling
Receiving
Relating.
Choose whichever theme is drawing you and do some journaling on what that aspect brings up for you.
I can't say that any of them spoke to me louder than the others. Seemed sort of boring, actually. But I did like this paragraph at the beginning. For me it was the best part.
Some suggest you should do all you can to attain enlightenment; to us, this represents the
masculine aspect of the awakening process. Others say that any willful effort expended in
seeking enlightenment is a waste because it’s all about non-doing; we see this as the
feminine aspect. In the work of Waking Down in Mutuality, we find that masculine and
feminine approaches are equally important in the awakening process, and that by using both
as appropriate brings the most rapid and transformative results. If the approach is too yin,
there can be openness, but it can lack personal empowerment. If the approach is too yang,
there can be strong intention, but with too much belief or investment in personal control.
Allowing the natural flow of yin and yang, of grace and practice, brings a balance not only to
the awakening process, but to all of life
Friday, February 8, 2013
Lesson 7 homework
This brings us to a central question. Exactly what is it you thought you were seeking? What have you been imagining you’ll get from your spiritual quest or your journey of personal growth? Your answer to this question is extremely important, so I invite you to contemplate that for at least a few moments before moving to the next paragraph. Feel free to makes notes on this and all the following questions in your journal. The question again is, what exactly are you seeking?- Pause for contemplation -
I have been seeking a permanent sense of expanded awareness, wholeness, and sense of self. Consciousness with big C, Self with big S.
So what have you been seeking? Is there some benefit you thought you were going for? Is there some image you’ve been holding out for? Have you been picturing being happy, radiant, at peace, or being deeply loved and appreciated? Whatever it is you’ve been seeking, let’s just set that aside for a moment and contemplate an even more fundamental question. Why have you been seeking that? What’s been motivating your quest to find that thing, whatever it is?
- Pause for contemplation -
Having felt in a peak experience a sense of authenticness, fullness, completion, wholeness, I wanted to always feel that, or at least have access to it more or less at will.
OK, hopefully you’ve located something that has been motivating your quest. Now I want to help you get deeper into the immediate feeling aspect of your motivation. So right now, just take a moment to feel how it feels to be you. Feel as much of your reality as you can; feel your body............ your emotions............ your thoughts............ your energy............ feel your awareness............ and your connection with the world around you............. The question I’d like you to contemplate this time is: What don’t I like about the feeling of this moment? This is not about the past or the future, but about the feeling of being you right now. The question again is: What is it I don’t like about the feeling of this moment?
- Pause for contemplation -
In one sense I can't say there is anything I dislike about the present moment. Does one dislike a rosebud that has not flowered yet? On the other hand, I feel constricted, limited in time and space. I know that there is more. But I can be patient.
OK. Whether or not you could identify something in your feeling experience you don’t like, I invite you to contemplate this on your own over time. As you dig deeper in this inquiry, you may discover that all the ideas you have about what you want and all your memories of what happened in your past are only secondary to what’s actually motivating your quest. The deeper motivation is how you feel right now; how it feels to be you. The reason we know this is because when you’re feeling complete in the moment, you’re not seeking for anything else, no matter how bad your past, or what you want in the future.
I have been seeking a permanent sense of expanded awareness, wholeness, and sense of self. Consciousness with big C, Self with big S.
So what have you been seeking? Is there some benefit you thought you were going for? Is there some image you’ve been holding out for? Have you been picturing being happy, radiant, at peace, or being deeply loved and appreciated? Whatever it is you’ve been seeking, let’s just set that aside for a moment and contemplate an even more fundamental question. Why have you been seeking that? What’s been motivating your quest to find that thing, whatever it is?
- Pause for contemplation -
Having felt in a peak experience a sense of authenticness, fullness, completion, wholeness, I wanted to always feel that, or at least have access to it more or less at will.
OK, hopefully you’ve located something that has been motivating your quest. Now I want to help you get deeper into the immediate feeling aspect of your motivation. So right now, just take a moment to feel how it feels to be you. Feel as much of your reality as you can; feel your body............ your emotions............ your thoughts............ your energy............ feel your awareness............ and your connection with the world around you............. The question I’d like you to contemplate this time is: What don’t I like about the feeling of this moment? This is not about the past or the future, but about the feeling of being you right now. The question again is: What is it I don’t like about the feeling of this moment?
- Pause for contemplation -
In one sense I can't say there is anything I dislike about the present moment. Does one dislike a rosebud that has not flowered yet? On the other hand, I feel constricted, limited in time and space. I know that there is more. But I can be patient.
OK. Whether or not you could identify something in your feeling experience you don’t like, I invite you to contemplate this on your own over time. As you dig deeper in this inquiry, you may discover that all the ideas you have about what you want and all your memories of what happened in your past are only secondary to what’s actually motivating your quest. The deeper motivation is how you feel right now; how it feels to be you. The reason we know this is because when you’re feeling complete in the moment, you’re not seeking for anything else, no matter how bad your past, or what you want in the future.
Feb 8 reflections
Just thinking how the impersonal aspect of my Feb 6 experience was perhaps more significant than I thought at the time. If it happens again, I intend to rest in the impersonal.
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