REALIZING WHERE WE ARE
1.1 After taking a career course I had some rough ideas on what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to lead people, inspire them, cheer them on and I wanted to express myself. I wanted to be able to use my mind to see solutions. And I wanted to grow and at the same time stay young. The biggest and most important thing to me seemed to be working with my body but at that time I wasn’t sure in what context. So I focused on the other things that I thought I might like to do.
1.2 I looked into management at the company I was with. I thought that maybe I would like to get into management. I also started to take acting lessons to see if that was something that I would like. I was dimply aware that I wanted to work with the body but I wasn’t sure in what context.
1.3 Thinking that I wanted to be famous actor, I quit my engineering job fully believing I was going to be discovered and taken to Hollywood. Somehow, that didn’t quite happen. Instead I started to teach more and more yoga, which was good because my retirement savings were running out. Meanwhile I still thought that I wanted to act. Actually what I wanted to be was famous and I though acting was a pathway towards that. But then I realized that what I really wanted was a job that made me happy.
1.4 I continued to teach yoga but even after a few years I still didn’t think of myself as a teacher. When I met other teachers, especially famous or well known ones, I didn’t like telling them I was a teacher because I’d never been to India to study with a Guru, I’d never been given approval and I’d learned from a book. But I was teaching, and I was helping people and eventually I realized that the only person who really needed to approve of me as a teacher was myself.
1.5 Of course the irony of it all is that when I’d taken the career course I knew that I wanted to work with my body in some way. I just didn’t realize that teaching yoga I was doing exactly that. And even when a roommate commented that I appeared to like teaching yoga better than I did doing acting it still didn’t click.
1.6 I realize now that sometimes we have what we want, we just don’t realize it, as if clarity applies to not only knowing what we want but also recognizing it when we have it.
1.7 It reminds me of what happened to me in university once when I got one of my math tests back. I’d solved one of the problems correctly but didn’t realize it and crossed out my answer. The Teaching assistant who marked it gave me a perfect mark because I did know how to solve the problem even though I had crossed it out.
1.8 In acting, knowing what we wanted in a scene, that want pulled us along, we didn’t have to think, we just had to let go and let our desire pull us. And I believe that is what happens when we know what we want in life, once we recognize that idea, it pulls us towards itself even when we forget what the idea is.
1.9 Maybe that’s a little like Love. Love pulling us towards the things we love even if we don’t know it or realize what it is that we love (or whom).
Showing posts with label consciousness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consciousness. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Scanning so we can see Everything at Once
SCANNING SO WE CAN SEE EVERYTHING AT ONE
1.1 Trying to notice what is around us it’s difficult to notice everything at once. We can learn to see everything at once, but in the beginning it’s helpful to notice one thing at a time and so that we see everything one at a time it’s helpful to scan.
1.2 Scanning, I like to think of radar screens where the beam of light sweeps around in a circle and as it passes over objects those objects get momentarily brighter on the screen then slowly fade till the beam passes over them again. It smoothly scans an area looking at one section while staying aware of the others.
1.3 Scanning our body, we can smoothly move the focus of our awareness from point to point, perhaps from joint to joint, while staying aware of our whole body, what we are doing. Or we can scan the world around us keeping our eyes open but moving the focus of our attention around our field of vision. In either case as we shift our gaze we stay aware of the residual image of what we have just seen, like a blip that slowly fades until it is refreshed again.
1.4 I scan my body when I do yoga (and teach it). If I am doing a pose and I am starting from the ground upwards, I work my awareness upwards from my feet, adjusting my feet, my legs, my hips, spine and then my arms and then my neck, making adjustments, changes to each joint as I go. And then because all of that affects my whole body, I go back to my feet and start again, each time going a little bit deeper, finding my way into the pose.
1.5 I work in synch with my breath so that each inhale I move my awareness upwards or outwards through my body. If I move my awareness slowly I have the opportunity to see more but scanning quickly, I see less, but I also notice changes a lot quicker and so can act on them sooner.
1.6 Feeling our body one section at a time we can take action, adjusting each point, each joint so it is balanced. However, when we change one joint we affect all of the others. It’s one of the challenges of yoga (of life). Every time we change one aspect of a pose, it affects everything else. And so scanning, we can see how one change affects the whole body.
1.7 Scanning our body while doing yoga, we can learn to feel our entire body and adjust it, without missing anything. Eventually, we learn to feel our entire body at once, in a single sweep as it were.
1.8 And likewise driving, we learn to open our eyes in such a way that we see everything at once. We may need to turn our head from time to time, but as we do we keep our eyes wide open seeing as much as we can. It’s like finding the ease in a pose instead of fighting or using strength. In the same way it’s allowing the eyes to see rather than focusing.
1.9 Scanning the pieces, the parts, the relationships, we are training ourselves to notice those things one at a time, then, once we’ve trained ourselves we move on to notice another type of little thing, another detail. Then once we’ve trained ourselves to notice all the little things that matter it is easier to notice in a single glance all the little things at once, and it is easier to notice when one of those things is out of place or different in such a way that it requires more of our attention.
1.10 Eventually when we are able to feel our entire body at once, we can go into the pose instantaneously. Not just bit by bit, but all at once, the whole body unified. It’s like riding a bike and acting as one, turning as one, the bike and our body an extension of one mind. Like a group of skaters all aware of the leader, accelerating as one simultaneously, staying together, working together, one.
1.11 Seeing everything at once, it’s like looking at the center point of a circle and seeing the edge of the circle at the same time.
1.1 Trying to notice what is around us it’s difficult to notice everything at once. We can learn to see everything at once, but in the beginning it’s helpful to notice one thing at a time and so that we see everything one at a time it’s helpful to scan.
1.2 Scanning, I like to think of radar screens where the beam of light sweeps around in a circle and as it passes over objects those objects get momentarily brighter on the screen then slowly fade till the beam passes over them again. It smoothly scans an area looking at one section while staying aware of the others.
1.3 Scanning our body, we can smoothly move the focus of our awareness from point to point, perhaps from joint to joint, while staying aware of our whole body, what we are doing. Or we can scan the world around us keeping our eyes open but moving the focus of our attention around our field of vision. In either case as we shift our gaze we stay aware of the residual image of what we have just seen, like a blip that slowly fades until it is refreshed again.
1.4 I scan my body when I do yoga (and teach it). If I am doing a pose and I am starting from the ground upwards, I work my awareness upwards from my feet, adjusting my feet, my legs, my hips, spine and then my arms and then my neck, making adjustments, changes to each joint as I go. And then because all of that affects my whole body, I go back to my feet and start again, each time going a little bit deeper, finding my way into the pose.
1.5 I work in synch with my breath so that each inhale I move my awareness upwards or outwards through my body. If I move my awareness slowly I have the opportunity to see more but scanning quickly, I see less, but I also notice changes a lot quicker and so can act on them sooner.
1.6 Feeling our body one section at a time we can take action, adjusting each point, each joint so it is balanced. However, when we change one joint we affect all of the others. It’s one of the challenges of yoga (of life). Every time we change one aspect of a pose, it affects everything else. And so scanning, we can see how one change affects the whole body.
1.7 Scanning our body while doing yoga, we can learn to feel our entire body and adjust it, without missing anything. Eventually, we learn to feel our entire body at once, in a single sweep as it were.
1.8 And likewise driving, we learn to open our eyes in such a way that we see everything at once. We may need to turn our head from time to time, but as we do we keep our eyes wide open seeing as much as we can. It’s like finding the ease in a pose instead of fighting or using strength. In the same way it’s allowing the eyes to see rather than focusing.
1.9 Scanning the pieces, the parts, the relationships, we are training ourselves to notice those things one at a time, then, once we’ve trained ourselves we move on to notice another type of little thing, another detail. Then once we’ve trained ourselves to notice all the little things that matter it is easier to notice in a single glance all the little things at once, and it is easier to notice when one of those things is out of place or different in such a way that it requires more of our attention.
1.10 Eventually when we are able to feel our entire body at once, we can go into the pose instantaneously. Not just bit by bit, but all at once, the whole body unified. It’s like riding a bike and acting as one, turning as one, the bike and our body an extension of one mind. Like a group of skaters all aware of the leader, accelerating as one simultaneously, staying together, working together, one.
1.11 Seeing everything at once, it’s like looking at the center point of a circle and seeing the edge of the circle at the same time.
An Idea is a Relationship between Consciousness and Energyo
At the most basic level an idea is a relationship between conscious and energy. Consciousness and energy have many forms so to understand ideas we can look at ideas and choose which aspect of an idea is its “consciousness” part and which part is the “energy.”
Consciousness tends to have the following quantities: mass, form, heaviness, pulls inwards, straight lines, focus, sensitivity/sensing, the ability to sense relationships, limits and limitation, choice, decision, decider, awareness
Energy is light, tends towards formlessness and expansion, curved lines, expression.
When these are looked at as aspects of an idea, they will probably rarely be completely energy or completely consciousness. They will have flavors of both but one will dominate and that dominate feature determines whether it is more consciousness or more energy.
When two people dance together we can label the person leading as the person playing the roll of consciousness because they look around to sense the limits within which they can move on the dance floor. They also sense their partner and where they are (relationship) and they choose at any moment in time the movement they will do next. Meanwhile the follower expresses them. She may have the more complicated footwork. But usually she is the center of attention, what draws the viewer’s eye. But really they are both consciousness and both energy, it’s just at in the context of the bigger idea, one is more conscious and one more energy. In the end they become the dance.
A rider and their motorcycle, the motorcycle can be energy because it is expression guided by the consciousness of the rider. Or together the are expression guided by the limits of the road they are on. Or the bike is consciousness (form) and the gas that fuels it is energy.
So really, consciousness and energy in all of these contexts depends on the way in which we view the idea. They are relative to each other. So how is that useful?
It is a way of looking at ideas that can help us understand them more. Looking at the rider and a bike, because the rider is consciousness, they become the one responsible for making the decisions. Nothing can be the bikes fault, not really, so it is all up to the rider. Dancing, the lead is responsible for making decisions, and choosing where to go, but here it is important to realize that the lady has to be conscious as well. She has to be consciousness enough to realize what the lead is telling her. A bike is limited, there is not choice for it to think by itself but she has that ability and so for two people to dance well together they both have to be consciousness and energy its just that one is a little bit more of one and less of the other.
We all know that now adays light is viewed as both a particle and a wave. In some situations it is a particle and in others it is better viewed as a wave. We could say that the wave aspect is the energy part while the particle aspect is the consciousness part. And that they are both aspects of the same thing. Before this model came about people argued about whether light is a particle or whether it is a wave. Now that we understand light better, that it is both, and that this model also applies to sub-atomic particles, the door has been opened to the world of silicon technology as we know it today. All those fancy cars with the cool lighting affects are possible because scientists realized that light acts as both a particle and a wave, they found a way of modeling light as both.
So why look at an idea as consciousness or energy, why try to understand ideas as having both, because it opens the door to more possibilities. Because the more we understand, the more we can see the more potential we can realize.
And failing that, it’s another way of seeing the world and enjoying it, especially when the two aspects come together.
We become light when we realize that two opposing views are actually different views of the same thing.
Consciousness tends to have the following quantities: mass, form, heaviness, pulls inwards, straight lines, focus, sensitivity/sensing, the ability to sense relationships, limits and limitation, choice, decision, decider, awareness
Energy is light, tends towards formlessness and expansion, curved lines, expression.
When these are looked at as aspects of an idea, they will probably rarely be completely energy or completely consciousness. They will have flavors of both but one will dominate and that dominate feature determines whether it is more consciousness or more energy.
When two people dance together we can label the person leading as the person playing the roll of consciousness because they look around to sense the limits within which they can move on the dance floor. They also sense their partner and where they are (relationship) and they choose at any moment in time the movement they will do next. Meanwhile the follower expresses them. She may have the more complicated footwork. But usually she is the center of attention, what draws the viewer’s eye. But really they are both consciousness and both energy, it’s just at in the context of the bigger idea, one is more conscious and one more energy. In the end they become the dance.
A rider and their motorcycle, the motorcycle can be energy because it is expression guided by the consciousness of the rider. Or together the are expression guided by the limits of the road they are on. Or the bike is consciousness (form) and the gas that fuels it is energy.
So really, consciousness and energy in all of these contexts depends on the way in which we view the idea. They are relative to each other. So how is that useful?
It is a way of looking at ideas that can help us understand them more. Looking at the rider and a bike, because the rider is consciousness, they become the one responsible for making the decisions. Nothing can be the bikes fault, not really, so it is all up to the rider. Dancing, the lead is responsible for making decisions, and choosing where to go, but here it is important to realize that the lady has to be conscious as well. She has to be consciousness enough to realize what the lead is telling her. A bike is limited, there is not choice for it to think by itself but she has that ability and so for two people to dance well together they both have to be consciousness and energy its just that one is a little bit more of one and less of the other.
We all know that now adays light is viewed as both a particle and a wave. In some situations it is a particle and in others it is better viewed as a wave. We could say that the wave aspect is the energy part while the particle aspect is the consciousness part. And that they are both aspects of the same thing. Before this model came about people argued about whether light is a particle or whether it is a wave. Now that we understand light better, that it is both, and that this model also applies to sub-atomic particles, the door has been opened to the world of silicon technology as we know it today. All those fancy cars with the cool lighting affects are possible because scientists realized that light acts as both a particle and a wave, they found a way of modeling light as both.
So why look at an idea as consciousness or energy, why try to understand ideas as having both, because it opens the door to more possibilities. Because the more we understand, the more we can see the more potential we can realize.
And failing that, it’s another way of seeing the world and enjoying it, especially when the two aspects come together.
We become light when we realize that two opposing views are actually different views of the same thing.
Frameworks for Seeing, Frameworks for Expression,
RATIO, ANOTHER WORD FOR RELATIONSHIP
1.1 Before I joined the army one of my favorite past times was hanging out in bookstores. I normally hung out in the Sci Fi/Fantasy Section but on one occasion I was in the art section.
1.2 I came across a book called “Dynamic Figure Drawing” by a man named Burne Hogarth. It was filled with sketches of human figures drawn without using models. They’d been drawn instead from an understanding of the relationships within the human body. The author used his understanding of these “ratios” (relationships) as a framework for drawing basic human figures.
1.2.1 They served as a framework for drawing non-ideal, real figures.
1.3 The book discussed the ratios that related all the parts of the body to each other using the head as the basic unit of measurement. From the front the torso from the pubic bone to the base of the neck was three heads tall. The legs, from the crests of the pelvis down to the soles of the feet, were four heads tall. From the back view the torso measured from the bottom crease of the buttocks was three and a half heads tall.
1.4 Testing some of the ratios on my own body I noticed that when I was kneeling that my sitting bones did indeed rest on my heels. That meant the distance from my heels to the knees was about the same as the distance from my knees to my sitting bones.
1.5 Hugging my knees I saw that they came up to about the top of my chest, so that meant the distance from my knees to the hips was approximately the same as the distance from my hips to my collarbones. And sure enough my face from my chin to my hairline was just about the length of my hand. That ratio can change with age.
1.6 My parents also had a lot of fun testing these ratios. One in particular was interesting. Our arms when stretched out from finger to finger measure the same as our height. So in Leonardo’s sketch the use of a square is appropriate. With arms outstretched we are as wide as we are tall.
1.7 Buying “Dynamic Anatomy” I started to study and learn the relationships between the different parts of the body so I could see how its parts relate. Dynamic Anatomy taught me a particular “Cannon of Proportion” for relating parts of the body by length.
1.8 A cannon of proportion is a way of noticing the relationships within the human body. It’s a starting point both for seeing the body and being able to portray it. And because it is a starting point it doesn’t really matter which cannon of proportion we use. We can vary from them to suit our needs.
1.9 In dynamic anatomy I learned a cannon of proportion where the basic body was eight and a half heads tall. Other cannons might have slightly different proportions or starting points. Perhaps a body that is seven heads tall. What mattered was that I became aware of the relationships between the parts of the body, whatever those relationships were. Then I could adjust the relative ratios of the legs and body to give a figure either a long legged look or a short-legged look. I could do the same with the arms and the body.
1.10 So that the body could draw be drawn in any position and from any viewing angle Dynamic Anatomy showed how the relationships between parts of the body changed depending on the way we were viewing the body. The head appears wider the more side onwards we view it. The upper body becomes thinner the more we view it from the side, unless we’re drawing or looking at someone with a generous abdomen. The limbs appear relatively longer or shorter depending on how we view them but their width remains the same.
1.11 I learned to see how the parts of the body related to each other and also how they related to the person who was viewing them. I was learning how to draw any figure in any pose from any viewing angle. Dynamic anatomy was teaching me to draw the human figure without needing a model but the same tools enabled me to see people as well.
1.12 Painting or drawing or just plain seeing someone I could look at them and see how all of their parts related. I could look at them and understand that because I was viewing them from a particular angle certain relationships appeared different. I could see how I related to that person.
1.13 Teaching yoga, some of the poses use the leg as a fulcrum but if a person has a long torso and shorter legs then such a pose won’t work very well for them because their legs are too short for their arms to cross their thighs easily. Understanding this if I noticed someone with legs a lot shorter than their torso I could modify the pose to suit the person, using blocks or other means of changing relationships so that the pose did suit them.
1.14 Learning a cannon of proportion I learned how to see freely, I learned how to see why someone may not be able to do a pose or why someone looked different. I began to be able to see how people were different and how they were beautiful.
1.1 Before I joined the army one of my favorite past times was hanging out in bookstores. I normally hung out in the Sci Fi/Fantasy Section but on one occasion I was in the art section.
1.2 I came across a book called “Dynamic Figure Drawing” by a man named Burne Hogarth. It was filled with sketches of human figures drawn without using models. They’d been drawn instead from an understanding of the relationships within the human body. The author used his understanding of these “ratios” (relationships) as a framework for drawing basic human figures.
1.2.1 They served as a framework for drawing non-ideal, real figures.
1.3 The book discussed the ratios that related all the parts of the body to each other using the head as the basic unit of measurement. From the front the torso from the pubic bone to the base of the neck was three heads tall. The legs, from the crests of the pelvis down to the soles of the feet, were four heads tall. From the back view the torso measured from the bottom crease of the buttocks was three and a half heads tall.
1.4 Testing some of the ratios on my own body I noticed that when I was kneeling that my sitting bones did indeed rest on my heels. That meant the distance from my heels to the knees was about the same as the distance from my knees to my sitting bones.
1.5 Hugging my knees I saw that they came up to about the top of my chest, so that meant the distance from my knees to the hips was approximately the same as the distance from my hips to my collarbones. And sure enough my face from my chin to my hairline was just about the length of my hand. That ratio can change with age.
1.6 My parents also had a lot of fun testing these ratios. One in particular was interesting. Our arms when stretched out from finger to finger measure the same as our height. So in Leonardo’s sketch the use of a square is appropriate. With arms outstretched we are as wide as we are tall.
1.7 Buying “Dynamic Anatomy” I started to study and learn the relationships between the different parts of the body so I could see how its parts relate. Dynamic Anatomy taught me a particular “Cannon of Proportion” for relating parts of the body by length.
1.8 A cannon of proportion is a way of noticing the relationships within the human body. It’s a starting point both for seeing the body and being able to portray it. And because it is a starting point it doesn’t really matter which cannon of proportion we use. We can vary from them to suit our needs.
1.9 In dynamic anatomy I learned a cannon of proportion where the basic body was eight and a half heads tall. Other cannons might have slightly different proportions or starting points. Perhaps a body that is seven heads tall. What mattered was that I became aware of the relationships between the parts of the body, whatever those relationships were. Then I could adjust the relative ratios of the legs and body to give a figure either a long legged look or a short-legged look. I could do the same with the arms and the body.
1.10 So that the body could draw be drawn in any position and from any viewing angle Dynamic Anatomy showed how the relationships between parts of the body changed depending on the way we were viewing the body. The head appears wider the more side onwards we view it. The upper body becomes thinner the more we view it from the side, unless we’re drawing or looking at someone with a generous abdomen. The limbs appear relatively longer or shorter depending on how we view them but their width remains the same.
1.11 I learned to see how the parts of the body related to each other and also how they related to the person who was viewing them. I was learning how to draw any figure in any pose from any viewing angle. Dynamic anatomy was teaching me to draw the human figure without needing a model but the same tools enabled me to see people as well.
1.12 Painting or drawing or just plain seeing someone I could look at them and see how all of their parts related. I could look at them and understand that because I was viewing them from a particular angle certain relationships appeared different. I could see how I related to that person.
1.13 Teaching yoga, some of the poses use the leg as a fulcrum but if a person has a long torso and shorter legs then such a pose won’t work very well for them because their legs are too short for their arms to cross their thighs easily. Understanding this if I noticed someone with legs a lot shorter than their torso I could modify the pose to suit the person, using blocks or other means of changing relationships so that the pose did suit them.
1.14 Learning a cannon of proportion I learned how to see freely, I learned how to see why someone may not be able to do a pose or why someone looked different. I began to be able to see how people were different and how they were beautiful.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Acting on what we sense
ACTING ON WHAT WE SENSE
1.1 When we sense ourselves it is that much easier to put ourselves in a position where it as easy as possible to do what we are trying to do, assuming we know what it is that we are trying to do. Sensing all the parts of ourselves and what we are connected to we can organize everything so that given what we are trying to do every part of ourselves is in the best position possible to do it.
1.2 Doing yoga I sense where all the parts of my body are relative to the earth and the pose I am trying to do. So that I can sense my body easier I move my awareness through it one part at a feeling my feet, are they far enough apart, are they pressing down, then I feel my knees, is the back one straight? Is the front one at 90 degrees? Then I feel my hips. Are they square to the front, am I pulling my pubic bone up. If not then I square them and I pull my pubic bone up more so that my lower back feels straighter. Then I feel my back and my chest. Are they both open? If not then I try to open them more. Is my neck long? Can it be longer? Are my shoulders feeling open as I reach my arms up? I sense all the parts of my body relative to what I am trying to do and I act on what I sense.
1.1 When we sense ourselves it is that much easier to put ourselves in a position where it as easy as possible to do what we are trying to do, assuming we know what it is that we are trying to do. Sensing all the parts of ourselves and what we are connected to we can organize everything so that given what we are trying to do every part of ourselves is in the best position possible to do it.
1.2 Doing yoga I sense where all the parts of my body are relative to the earth and the pose I am trying to do. So that I can sense my body easier I move my awareness through it one part at a feeling my feet, are they far enough apart, are they pressing down, then I feel my knees, is the back one straight? Is the front one at 90 degrees? Then I feel my hips. Are they square to the front, am I pulling my pubic bone up. If not then I square them and I pull my pubic bone up more so that my lower back feels straighter. Then I feel my back and my chest. Are they both open? If not then I try to open them more. Is my neck long? Can it be longer? Are my shoulders feeling open as I reach my arms up? I sense all the parts of my body relative to what I am trying to do and I act on what I sense.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Gratitute, Recognizing what is around us and within ourselves
GRATITUDE
1.1 Meeting up with a friend for dinner one night (Talk about rhythm, we were friends and then we weren’t and then we were again!) when she arrived she started talking about gratitude and sorrow and then she showed me what they were. Cupping her hands upwards in-front of her heart like a flower with her elbows slightly bent and her heart open she showed me how to her gratitude was an outwards flow of energy, taking her out of herself. Then she showed me sorrow. She bowed her head forwards slightly with her hands clasped over her heart, the energy taking her inwards.
1.2 I was surprised. While I had spent a lot of time thinking about gratitude, I’d never before seen it expressed as a gesture and I’d never thought of sorrow in such a way, as if the two complemented each other.
1.3 I copied her gesture of gratitude and as I did I felt as if energy was entering me from the world around me, but it was moving inwards as opposed to outwards. As I sat there enjoying the feeling of energy flowing into me I realized that gratitude is recognizing what is around us, seeing its expression and allowing it inwards. It’s a way of being present, being with the people we are with or seeing what is around us. Recognizing the people we are with, we allow the energy of their expression inwards into our center. And then we return the energy by expressing ourselves.
1.4 But gratitude is more than just seeing what is around us, it’s recognizing what is within us too. It is learning to feel, to recognize our bodies and the parts of our bodies.
1.5 One of the most beautiful visualizations I’ve read and learned about is called the Inner Smile. I first learned about it in a book by Eric Steven Yudelove called “Taoist Yoga and Sexual Energy.” In this practice we smile to each of our organs, recognizing what it does for us. And it’s funny because even though they give us their function, in a way by recognizing, by being grateful, we are giving in return, by allowing them to give as if one is not better than the other, instead two parts of the same whole, like a teacher cannot teach without students nor can a student learn without a teacher. And so recognizing our organs, being grateful, we give energy to them and they give it back to us.
1.6 And it is the same when we recognize the expression of those around us, recognizing the gifts that those around us are giving. It’s as if by opening ourselves up to their expression we give them a direction for their expression, a place for their energy to flow so that when they give out energy they are able to receive it again just as we in receiving energy are then able to give out.
1.7 Gratitude, witnessing the expression of those around us. Gratitude, resting from the idea that we are expressing so that other ideas around us can express themselves. Resting so that we can enjoy the expression of other ideas and perhaps see how next we might like to express ourselves. Resting, doing nothing, we can see what is around us and allow their expression into our hearts.
1.8 And giving the people around us room to express themselves, we do the same for ourselves we give ourselves room and we also give ourselves energy which we can then give back out again so that those around us can learn themselves too.
1.9 And just as every inhale is followed or led by and exhale, so is gratitude as much giving out as it is taking in. It’s is recognizing what people give us, what is around us and in turn it is expressing ourselves so that they can see us.
1.1 Meeting up with a friend for dinner one night (Talk about rhythm, we were friends and then we weren’t and then we were again!) when she arrived she started talking about gratitude and sorrow and then she showed me what they were. Cupping her hands upwards in-front of her heart like a flower with her elbows slightly bent and her heart open she showed me how to her gratitude was an outwards flow of energy, taking her out of herself. Then she showed me sorrow. She bowed her head forwards slightly with her hands clasped over her heart, the energy taking her inwards.
1.2 I was surprised. While I had spent a lot of time thinking about gratitude, I’d never before seen it expressed as a gesture and I’d never thought of sorrow in such a way, as if the two complemented each other.
1.3 I copied her gesture of gratitude and as I did I felt as if energy was entering me from the world around me, but it was moving inwards as opposed to outwards. As I sat there enjoying the feeling of energy flowing into me I realized that gratitude is recognizing what is around us, seeing its expression and allowing it inwards. It’s a way of being present, being with the people we are with or seeing what is around us. Recognizing the people we are with, we allow the energy of their expression inwards into our center. And then we return the energy by expressing ourselves.
1.4 But gratitude is more than just seeing what is around us, it’s recognizing what is within us too. It is learning to feel, to recognize our bodies and the parts of our bodies.
1.5 One of the most beautiful visualizations I’ve read and learned about is called the Inner Smile. I first learned about it in a book by Eric Steven Yudelove called “Taoist Yoga and Sexual Energy.” In this practice we smile to each of our organs, recognizing what it does for us. And it’s funny because even though they give us their function, in a way by recognizing, by being grateful, we are giving in return, by allowing them to give as if one is not better than the other, instead two parts of the same whole, like a teacher cannot teach without students nor can a student learn without a teacher. And so recognizing our organs, being grateful, we give energy to them and they give it back to us.
1.6 And it is the same when we recognize the expression of those around us, recognizing the gifts that those around us are giving. It’s as if by opening ourselves up to their expression we give them a direction for their expression, a place for their energy to flow so that when they give out energy they are able to receive it again just as we in receiving energy are then able to give out.
1.7 Gratitude, witnessing the expression of those around us. Gratitude, resting from the idea that we are expressing so that other ideas around us can express themselves. Resting so that we can enjoy the expression of other ideas and perhaps see how next we might like to express ourselves. Resting, doing nothing, we can see what is around us and allow their expression into our hearts.
1.8 And giving the people around us room to express themselves, we do the same for ourselves we give ourselves room and we also give ourselves energy which we can then give back out again so that those around us can learn themselves too.
1.9 And just as every inhale is followed or led by and exhale, so is gratitude as much giving out as it is taking in. It’s is recognizing what people give us, what is around us and in turn it is expressing ourselves so that they can see us.
The Idea of Anger
ANGER AND OTHER IDEAS THAT BEND THE PATH OF LIGHT
1.1 If the space and time continuum bends or curves, light bends with it. But what bends space and time? Things with gravity bend space and time. Things with spin too. If ideas have gravity and spin then can they too bend space and time and thus the path of light? If anger is an idea can it bend the path of light around us and distort what we see?
1.2 How do different people see the same things differently? Perhaps one of the reasons is because we all attach to different ideas of how the world is, and those ideas shape the lenses through which we view the world.
1.3 I used to be affected by the idea of anger and the more attention I gave it the more real it became. My anger gained weight and heaviness and it bent my perception to the point where I noticed that pictures I’d looked at while angry actually looked different when I looked at them again while calm.
1.4 Knowing that water refracts light we can position ourselves ninety degrees to its surface so that the image of what we are viewing is in line with the thing itself. And if we go into the water, then not only are we in line with the truth we see the truth.
1.5 Imagine if we know we are angry and that our anger is distorting what we say and see. Then imagine that if we go into our anger so that we see what is really there, so that what we see is not longer distorted. Perhaps then we can let go. (or we step outside of our anger to see what is really outside of ourselves.)
1.6 For myself there is a feeling of tightness when I get angry, a clear demarcation between myself and what is around me and where all I can feel is myself and the object of my ire. There’s also a sense that I have energy to discharge and the only way I can do that is to aim it at what I am angry at. But when I do that there is no sense of joy afterwards, more a feeling of depletion and emptiness. If instead of taking out my anger in the way I want to I find a way to move beyond the tightness...
1.7 Knowing when I am angry, I am getting better at realizing that I am not at my best and that my vision is skewed and that I am hardly being conscious, that I’m not giving myself the best view of the way ahead. So I work at becoming conscious again. Sometimes I put myself in the other person’s shoes. Sometimes, I think bigger imagining my senses pushing outwards. Sometimes I just start being more conscious and thus bigger, and thus able to handle and even enjoy what is going on around me.
1.8 While driving a bob sled I’m more likely to keep the sled running true, giving it plenty of room so that it doesn’t bang into the sides of the track if I am conscious. If I haven’t practiced or aren’t conscious of where we are and what we are doing, I keep bumping the sled into the sides of the track. Anger is like the friction caused by bumping into the track. Becoming conscious, I can get the sled to run true, a little bit harder than having it run true right from the beginning of the run, but it is still possible.
1.9 Becoming conscious we give ourselves and the people around us room. Conscious we can find ways to allow energy to flow in a way that benefits everyone involved, a way that allows us all to feel refreshed and energized as opposed to drained and lifeless.
1.10 Conscious, there is no room for anger, for separation, we see from everyone’s point of view. Or we have a positive focus for our awareness. Rather than what the people around us are doing what we want to do that is positive and light, what we want to do that has the maximum benefit for ourselves and everyone around us.
1.1 If the space and time continuum bends or curves, light bends with it. But what bends space and time? Things with gravity bend space and time. Things with spin too. If ideas have gravity and spin then can they too bend space and time and thus the path of light? If anger is an idea can it bend the path of light around us and distort what we see?
1.2 How do different people see the same things differently? Perhaps one of the reasons is because we all attach to different ideas of how the world is, and those ideas shape the lenses through which we view the world.
1.3 I used to be affected by the idea of anger and the more attention I gave it the more real it became. My anger gained weight and heaviness and it bent my perception to the point where I noticed that pictures I’d looked at while angry actually looked different when I looked at them again while calm.
1.4 Knowing that water refracts light we can position ourselves ninety degrees to its surface so that the image of what we are viewing is in line with the thing itself. And if we go into the water, then not only are we in line with the truth we see the truth.
1.5 Imagine if we know we are angry and that our anger is distorting what we say and see. Then imagine that if we go into our anger so that we see what is really there, so that what we see is not longer distorted. Perhaps then we can let go. (or we step outside of our anger to see what is really outside of ourselves.)
1.6 For myself there is a feeling of tightness when I get angry, a clear demarcation between myself and what is around me and where all I can feel is myself and the object of my ire. There’s also a sense that I have energy to discharge and the only way I can do that is to aim it at what I am angry at. But when I do that there is no sense of joy afterwards, more a feeling of depletion and emptiness. If instead of taking out my anger in the way I want to I find a way to move beyond the tightness...
1.7 Knowing when I am angry, I am getting better at realizing that I am not at my best and that my vision is skewed and that I am hardly being conscious, that I’m not giving myself the best view of the way ahead. So I work at becoming conscious again. Sometimes I put myself in the other person’s shoes. Sometimes, I think bigger imagining my senses pushing outwards. Sometimes I just start being more conscious and thus bigger, and thus able to handle and even enjoy what is going on around me.
1.8 While driving a bob sled I’m more likely to keep the sled running true, giving it plenty of room so that it doesn’t bang into the sides of the track if I am conscious. If I haven’t practiced or aren’t conscious of where we are and what we are doing, I keep bumping the sled into the sides of the track. Anger is like the friction caused by bumping into the track. Becoming conscious, I can get the sled to run true, a little bit harder than having it run true right from the beginning of the run, but it is still possible.
1.9 Becoming conscious we give ourselves and the people around us room. Conscious we can find ways to allow energy to flow in a way that benefits everyone involved, a way that allows us all to feel refreshed and energized as opposed to drained and lifeless.
1.10 Conscious, there is no room for anger, for separation, we see from everyone’s point of view. Or we have a positive focus for our awareness. Rather than what the people around us are doing what we want to do that is positive and light, what we want to do that has the maximum benefit for ourselves and everyone around us.
One With the Dance
ONE WITH THE DANCE
1.1 Dancing freely, we sense, as we dance, what the environment will allow us to do. At the same time we are sensing what the floor will allow us to do, we are also listening to our partner, feeling where she can go so that we can go there together. Choosing a path to take based on what is around us and what we can do together, we pass our decision on to our partner.
1.2 The floor gives us signals, tells us where we can go by opening up spaces so that the space to move and the signal are one. And we do the same with our partner, signaling them by opening up in a particular way so that they know where to go. And just as we are tuned in to the space around us, looking for where we can go, our partner tunes in to the space we provide them and sees where they can go.
1.3 As we get more attuned to what is around us we begin to move into the space as it opens up and our partner does the same. We reach a point there is no lag between the space opening up and ourselves moving into it. We tune into the idea of the dance, we become the dance, one with ourselves and our partner and all the people dancing around us.
1.4 Sensing what is around us and within ourselves, sensing the connections we tune into something bigger than ourselves. Like flying a kite and smoothly reeling out the string as the wind gets stronger or pulling it in as the wind dies, not too much or too little, just enough, and so tuned in that we pull or release the string in sync with the change of the wind. Instead of listening to the wind we are listening to the thing that drives the wind, feeling when it tells the wind to blow harder and when to blow softer. Tuned in we become one with the wind because we are listening not to the wind but to the same source that the wind is listening to.
1.1 Dancing freely, we sense, as we dance, what the environment will allow us to do. At the same time we are sensing what the floor will allow us to do, we are also listening to our partner, feeling where she can go so that we can go there together. Choosing a path to take based on what is around us and what we can do together, we pass our decision on to our partner.
1.2 The floor gives us signals, tells us where we can go by opening up spaces so that the space to move and the signal are one. And we do the same with our partner, signaling them by opening up in a particular way so that they know where to go. And just as we are tuned in to the space around us, looking for where we can go, our partner tunes in to the space we provide them and sees where they can go.
1.3 As we get more attuned to what is around us we begin to move into the space as it opens up and our partner does the same. We reach a point there is no lag between the space opening up and ourselves moving into it. We tune into the idea of the dance, we become the dance, one with ourselves and our partner and all the people dancing around us.
1.4 Sensing what is around us and within ourselves, sensing the connections we tune into something bigger than ourselves. Like flying a kite and smoothly reeling out the string as the wind gets stronger or pulling it in as the wind dies, not too much or too little, just enough, and so tuned in that we pull or release the string in sync with the change of the wind. Instead of listening to the wind we are listening to the thing that drives the wind, feeling when it tells the wind to blow harder and when to blow softer. Tuned in we become one with the wind because we are listening not to the wind but to the same source that the wind is listening to.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Consciousness and Energy, an Idea Made Real
1.1 What if when we are truly connected, we are moved by something bigger than ourselves. Like flying a kite and smoothly reeling out the string as the wind gets stronger or pulling it in as the wind dies, not too much or too little, just enough, and so tuned in that we pull or release the string in sync with the change of the wind. Instead of listening to the wind we are listening to the thing that drives the wind, feeling when it tells the wind to blow harder and when to blow softer. Tuned in we become one with the wind because we are listening not to the wind but to the same source that the wind is listening to.
1.2 To myself a dance seems like the perfect metaphor for two people who want to be together. It’s not so much that one is leading and the other follows, it’s more like we become a single entity, like two sides of a single brain where we take turns taking the lead depending on where we are and what we are doing.
1.3 Sometimes it takes practice, each of us learning ourselves so that we can come together, sometimes it takes learning to let go, but then sharing the same idea, we become part of the that idea.
1.3.1 It’s beyond trust and assumption. Once we know what we have to do we do it knowing that our partner will be doing what he or she has to do. It’s as if we’ve been practicing towards this moment. And it’s not assuming, or not recognizing, not being unconscious. Rather it is the opposite. We know exactly what our partner is doing and where they are and we know where we are. It’s like we’re being carried, or we are driving and at the same time as we are driving we are being driven, like a captain telling the helmsman, “First Star to the right” And that’s where they go. And when we are dancing with ourselves, expressing ourselves or perhaps leading others, the same feeling can be found, inside of us, trusting ourselves, our mind, our body, and our connection to something beyond ourselves. Allowing that “presence” to carry us.
1.4 We reach a point, whether through practice or just being present where instead of two people dancing together, one person leading and the other following, the two people become one. We are still ourselves, still two people but we are also something else, the dance, an idea outside of themselves made real. As if splitting up consciousness and energy is just a means of understanding, not so much too different parts as they are two different aspects of the same thing. Like looking at a circle and then a sin wave and realizing that really they are the same thing, two views of a spiral. Consciousness and energy, an idea made real.
1.2 To myself a dance seems like the perfect metaphor for two people who want to be together. It’s not so much that one is leading and the other follows, it’s more like we become a single entity, like two sides of a single brain where we take turns taking the lead depending on where we are and what we are doing.
1.3 Sometimes it takes practice, each of us learning ourselves so that we can come together, sometimes it takes learning to let go, but then sharing the same idea, we become part of the that idea.
1.3.1 It’s beyond trust and assumption. Once we know what we have to do we do it knowing that our partner will be doing what he or she has to do. It’s as if we’ve been practicing towards this moment. And it’s not assuming, or not recognizing, not being unconscious. Rather it is the opposite. We know exactly what our partner is doing and where they are and we know where we are. It’s like we’re being carried, or we are driving and at the same time as we are driving we are being driven, like a captain telling the helmsman, “First Star to the right” And that’s where they go. And when we are dancing with ourselves, expressing ourselves or perhaps leading others, the same feeling can be found, inside of us, trusting ourselves, our mind, our body, and our connection to something beyond ourselves. Allowing that “presence” to carry us.
1.4 We reach a point, whether through practice or just being present where instead of two people dancing together, one person leading and the other following, the two people become one. We are still ourselves, still two people but we are also something else, the dance, an idea outside of themselves made real. As if splitting up consciousness and energy is just a means of understanding, not so much too different parts as they are two different aspects of the same thing. Like looking at a circle and then a sin wave and realizing that really they are the same thing, two views of a spiral. Consciousness and energy, an idea made real.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Starting Slowly
STARTING SLOWLY
1.1 When we got on our bikes each morning on the racetrack, the first thing we did, after the mechanics had checked and refueled our machines, was go for a slow tour of the track. Riding slowly we had the opportunity to get to know ourselves as well as the bike as well as the track. Warming up we slowly expanded our consciousness outwards to the horizon.
1.2 I used to start running the same way, starting of slowly. Giving my body a chance to warm up, to wake up. I’d start of jogging slower than some people walk but by doing so I gave my whole body a chance to wake up, bit by bit, so that each bit woke up to itself and to it its connection with its neighbors so that my body as a whole could work well together.
1.3 I learned to do the same thing when I was skating. Starting of slow, I’d take my time, gliding from skate to skate but not really pushing, just feeling my body, the action I was doing. Eventually I’d get a signal, some sort of okay from my body, then I’d start to sink my weight down and use it to push through each skate, like my whole body was working together so that skating was easy and fun.
1.4 When we change activities, for example from talking to riding motorbikes, or from studying to exercising, we are taking part in a new idea and going slowly to begin with is a chance for all of those parts to wake up to the change and for the parts of our body to stay connected during it.
1.5 Running my first half marathon, I started off at the back of the pack taking nearly the first half of the race to warm up, slowly increasing my speed. As I did so I started to overtake more and more people right till the very end of the race. I could have kept on going I felt so good.
1.6 Starting slowly our consciousness gradually radiates outwards from our center, feeling each part of ourselves, each part of ourselves awake to what we are doing. Each part of ourselves able to take part and working with every other part so that our whole body together works well together. Starting of slowly running or skating or doing yoga, that is when I can seemingly go on forever because I am smoothly opening to the way ahead by becoming conscious of all the parts of myself and all the connections between them.
1.7 Warming up, we slowly connect to everything we can, slowly and steadily pushing the boundaries of our consciousness outwards. Warming up we smoothly handle change waking up to all that is around us and all that is within us. And with our consciousness radiating outwards, one of the things we keep our minds on is the point of what we are trying to do.
1.8 On that motorcycling riders course I was on an instructor had commented that I wasn’t preparing early enough for each corner. If I began to prepare as soon as I saw a corner I could make the transition smooth, following a nice line from where I was to where I wanted to be so that I was ready for the corner when I got to it. Warming up is the same, a smooth and gradual change that gets us ready for what’s coming up.
1.9 Eventually we get to a point where we don’t need to warm up quite so much because we are aware of what we are doing all of the time.
1.1 When we got on our bikes each morning on the racetrack, the first thing we did, after the mechanics had checked and refueled our machines, was go for a slow tour of the track. Riding slowly we had the opportunity to get to know ourselves as well as the bike as well as the track. Warming up we slowly expanded our consciousness outwards to the horizon.
1.2 I used to start running the same way, starting of slowly. Giving my body a chance to warm up, to wake up. I’d start of jogging slower than some people walk but by doing so I gave my whole body a chance to wake up, bit by bit, so that each bit woke up to itself and to it its connection with its neighbors so that my body as a whole could work well together.
1.3 I learned to do the same thing when I was skating. Starting of slow, I’d take my time, gliding from skate to skate but not really pushing, just feeling my body, the action I was doing. Eventually I’d get a signal, some sort of okay from my body, then I’d start to sink my weight down and use it to push through each skate, like my whole body was working together so that skating was easy and fun.
1.4 When we change activities, for example from talking to riding motorbikes, or from studying to exercising, we are taking part in a new idea and going slowly to begin with is a chance for all of those parts to wake up to the change and for the parts of our body to stay connected during it.
1.5 Running my first half marathon, I started off at the back of the pack taking nearly the first half of the race to warm up, slowly increasing my speed. As I did so I started to overtake more and more people right till the very end of the race. I could have kept on going I felt so good.
1.6 Starting slowly our consciousness gradually radiates outwards from our center, feeling each part of ourselves, each part of ourselves awake to what we are doing. Each part of ourselves able to take part and working with every other part so that our whole body together works well together. Starting of slowly running or skating or doing yoga, that is when I can seemingly go on forever because I am smoothly opening to the way ahead by becoming conscious of all the parts of myself and all the connections between them.
1.7 Warming up, we slowly connect to everything we can, slowly and steadily pushing the boundaries of our consciousness outwards. Warming up we smoothly handle change waking up to all that is around us and all that is within us. And with our consciousness radiating outwards, one of the things we keep our minds on is the point of what we are trying to do.
1.8 On that motorcycling riders course I was on an instructor had commented that I wasn’t preparing early enough for each corner. If I began to prepare as soon as I saw a corner I could make the transition smooth, following a nice line from where I was to where I wanted to be so that I was ready for the corner when I got to it. Warming up is the same, a smooth and gradual change that gets us ready for what’s coming up.
1.9 Eventually we get to a point where we don’t need to warm up quite so much because we are aware of what we are doing all of the time.
Consciousness and Energy, Dancing Together
CONSCIOUSNESS AND ENERGY, DANCING TOGETHER
1.1 In Indian folklore Shiva is the personification of Consciousness. One depiction has Shiva dancing across the universe and the purpose of this dance is to stamp out ignorance. And that is perhaps the negative way of looking at it. What he is doing as he dances across the universe is spreading consciousness.
1.2 Consciousness and being conscious has many aspects but perhaps the most basic and fundamental of these is the ability to sense limits so that we can freely move within them.
1.3 Imagine driving on a road while it is foggy. Because of the fog we can’t see the edges of the road and it is also difficult to see other traffic. As a result we have to drive slower to keep ourselves safe. In this case being conscious would be driving only as fast as we would be able to stop safely should we see something up ahead.
1.4 Now imagine driving that way even if the weather is clear. Imagine driving like it is foggy but there is no fog. Or imagine driving quickly when there is fog. That is a little like ignorance. That’s not to say that just because it is clear we have to drive fast, it’s that being conscious we see the road and what is on it and we know how fast we can drive, while staying safe, and we choose to drive as fast or as slow as we like up to within those limits.
1.5 Staying with the theme of driving, our vehicles have readouts to give us information. There’s a speedometer, sometimes a rev counter. There’s also warning lights and a gas meter. An example of being conscious would be knowing what the readouts are for and actually using them. That’s the speedometer and right now I am going 90 mph... oops, no, 90 kmh.”
1.6 In both of the above cases we are becoming conscious of relationships, in one case our relationship with the road and in the other our relationship with the vehicle we are driving and since the road and the car are both ideas we can also say that being conscious is noticing the ideas we are in a relationship with.
1.7 Lets say that we were in a conversation with someone, the purpose, so that we could get to know each other better. Knowing each other we might be better able to connect and together create the idea of a friendship or an intimate relationship. Being conscious during the course of the conversation we would know what it is we are trying to say and use words that match our meaning. We would also be conscious of our partner as we speak so that we can see if they understand our meaning. If not we can modify or correct what we said. Likewise while listening, we would be conscious of what our partner was saying and thus understand the meaning behind the words, and if not we could ask for clarification.
1.8 Dancing with someone, consciousness would apply to feeling ourselves, knowing where we are in space, knowing or feeling all of the relevant relationships within ourselves, and also feeling where our center was in relation to the earth. But at the same time, we would also be conscious of our connection to our partner and through that connection feel where he or she is. And if we are leading, we would be conscious of what our partner can do so we can pick movements that are appropriate. Or knowing in advance what we want to do, position ourselves appropriately. And then when it is time to do the movement, signal it appropriately so that our partner can actually act on the information.
1.9 If we are the follower then being conscious we would feel where our partner was and what he wanted us to do, then we do the move, being conscious of ourselves and what is around us and the movement itself. Following we have the benefit of not having to choose, instead we can just concentrate on doing whatever our lead chooses. And as a result within those constraints we are free to express ourselves.
1.10 Shiva is also often depicted as a lingam and in this guise he is partnered with Shakti. Where Shiva is the divine masculine shakti is the divine feminine representing energy. Shiva is form, and as such the symbol of the upright penis is appropriate but it is Shakti that animates that form, one could say that it is Shakti (or the thought thereof) that makes Shiva erect. Consciousness is form and energy animates that form, together they become aspects of the same thing, life.
1.11 We could look at a motorcycle, and without a rider, it is just a motorcycle. However, with a rider, and the engine running, it becomes part of the idea of riding. In the same way Shiva and Shakti are separate ideas but together they are part of a bigger idea, that of life.
1.12 Going back to the dance, the dance where we are dancing with a partner, when we are leading and choose a movement, then our partner executes this movement it is like we are Shiva and Shakti together. Leading we represent consciousness while following we represent energy but we are both conscious. We both hold ourselves upright, and we both move, but it is just in the context of the dance itself that one of us chooses and the other follows. But in some cases both of us are choosing and both of us are following. It depends on which way you look at it.
1.13 Ultimately, when two people have danced together long enough they become part of a new idea, they become the dance and here they truly do become two parts of one idea, still themselves but also part of something bigger than themselves. And rather than one leading and the other following, at the level of the dance, it is the dance, the idea of the dance itself which leads them both and changes them both, and they express it.
Shiva and Shakti together, aspects of the same thing.
1.1 In Indian folklore Shiva is the personification of Consciousness. One depiction has Shiva dancing across the universe and the purpose of this dance is to stamp out ignorance. And that is perhaps the negative way of looking at it. What he is doing as he dances across the universe is spreading consciousness.
1.2 Consciousness and being conscious has many aspects but perhaps the most basic and fundamental of these is the ability to sense limits so that we can freely move within them.
1.3 Imagine driving on a road while it is foggy. Because of the fog we can’t see the edges of the road and it is also difficult to see other traffic. As a result we have to drive slower to keep ourselves safe. In this case being conscious would be driving only as fast as we would be able to stop safely should we see something up ahead.
1.4 Now imagine driving that way even if the weather is clear. Imagine driving like it is foggy but there is no fog. Or imagine driving quickly when there is fog. That is a little like ignorance. That’s not to say that just because it is clear we have to drive fast, it’s that being conscious we see the road and what is on it and we know how fast we can drive, while staying safe, and we choose to drive as fast or as slow as we like up to within those limits.
1.5 Staying with the theme of driving, our vehicles have readouts to give us information. There’s a speedometer, sometimes a rev counter. There’s also warning lights and a gas meter. An example of being conscious would be knowing what the readouts are for and actually using them. That’s the speedometer and right now I am going 90 mph... oops, no, 90 kmh.”
1.6 In both of the above cases we are becoming conscious of relationships, in one case our relationship with the road and in the other our relationship with the vehicle we are driving and since the road and the car are both ideas we can also say that being conscious is noticing the ideas we are in a relationship with.
1.7 Lets say that we were in a conversation with someone, the purpose, so that we could get to know each other better. Knowing each other we might be better able to connect and together create the idea of a friendship or an intimate relationship. Being conscious during the course of the conversation we would know what it is we are trying to say and use words that match our meaning. We would also be conscious of our partner as we speak so that we can see if they understand our meaning. If not we can modify or correct what we said. Likewise while listening, we would be conscious of what our partner was saying and thus understand the meaning behind the words, and if not we could ask for clarification.
1.8 Dancing with someone, consciousness would apply to feeling ourselves, knowing where we are in space, knowing or feeling all of the relevant relationships within ourselves, and also feeling where our center was in relation to the earth. But at the same time, we would also be conscious of our connection to our partner and through that connection feel where he or she is. And if we are leading, we would be conscious of what our partner can do so we can pick movements that are appropriate. Or knowing in advance what we want to do, position ourselves appropriately. And then when it is time to do the movement, signal it appropriately so that our partner can actually act on the information.
1.9 If we are the follower then being conscious we would feel where our partner was and what he wanted us to do, then we do the move, being conscious of ourselves and what is around us and the movement itself. Following we have the benefit of not having to choose, instead we can just concentrate on doing whatever our lead chooses. And as a result within those constraints we are free to express ourselves.
1.10 Shiva is also often depicted as a lingam and in this guise he is partnered with Shakti. Where Shiva is the divine masculine shakti is the divine feminine representing energy. Shiva is form, and as such the symbol of the upright penis is appropriate but it is Shakti that animates that form, one could say that it is Shakti (or the thought thereof) that makes Shiva erect. Consciousness is form and energy animates that form, together they become aspects of the same thing, life.
1.11 We could look at a motorcycle, and without a rider, it is just a motorcycle. However, with a rider, and the engine running, it becomes part of the idea of riding. In the same way Shiva and Shakti are separate ideas but together they are part of a bigger idea, that of life.
1.12 Going back to the dance, the dance where we are dancing with a partner, when we are leading and choose a movement, then our partner executes this movement it is like we are Shiva and Shakti together. Leading we represent consciousness while following we represent energy but we are both conscious. We both hold ourselves upright, and we both move, but it is just in the context of the dance itself that one of us chooses and the other follows. But in some cases both of us are choosing and both of us are following. It depends on which way you look at it.
1.13 Ultimately, when two people have danced together long enough they become part of a new idea, they become the dance and here they truly do become two parts of one idea, still themselves but also part of something bigger than themselves. And rather than one leading and the other following, at the level of the dance, it is the dance, the idea of the dance itself which leads them both and changes them both, and they express it.
Shiva and Shakti together, aspects of the same thing.
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