First, let me start by virtually hugging all the folks gathered in meditation right now in Santa Clara... ah. I am cherishing you all tonight.
My thoughts turned on the phrase, "If the lessons you learned in the past aren't working, maybe you weren't really observant then. This is a chance to get more observant, more precise, with each and every breath." I'm reconsidering observance. Rather than being a process of evaluating the past and making judgements based on those evaluations, observance could be simply "sitting with" an experience. Letting a memory wash over me, allowing the experience to live fleetingly in my mind then pass. And consistently observing that process with detachment, with clarity.
As used in the passage, observance seemed linked with learning a specific lesson, which rings of judgement-based evaluation. Observation as a means to creating more space - space absent of judgement - is striking to me tonight. I notice that wisdom comes easily with this kind of space. Conclusions come easily with tight evaluation. So this passage served as a reminder to give my life space, and my memories of the past space free from previous conclusions. Maybe I can learn something new from observing the past in each present moment. Hmm... thank you.
On Jun 10, 2009 Eva Vander Giessen wrote :
First, let me start by virtually hugging all the folks gathered in meditation right now in Santa Clara... ah. I am cherishing you all tonight.
My thoughts turned on the phrase, "If the lessons you learned in the past aren't working, maybe you weren't really observant then. This is a chance to get more observant, more precise, with each and every breath." I'm reconsidering observance. Rather than being a process of evaluating the past and making judgements based on those evaluations, observance could be simply "sitting with" an experience. Letting a memory wash over me, allowing the experience to live fleetingly in my mind then pass. And consistently observing that process with detachment, with clarity.
As used in the passage, observance seemed linked with learning a specific lesson, which rings of judgement-based evaluation. Observation as a means to creating more space - space absent of judgement - is striking to me tonight. I notice that wisdom comes easily with this kind of space. Conclusions come easily with tight evaluation. So this passage served as a reminder to give my life space, and my memories of the past space free from previous conclusions. Maybe I can learn something new from observing the past in each present moment. Hmm... thank you.