What I find so interesting in the practice of being still is the implication that so called "negative" emotions are to be "shed" while those of goodness are to be multiplied. Why so? Why multiply anything? If we are not defined by our emotions (and are the dynamic organic container which holds them), can we not use them as catalysts to our own growth? Can they not server as pathways that provide access to an unknown depth that lies within us? We have tools for coping with happiness-we share the kernels that bring us joy and articulate why they do so, can we then not use the same tool of "sharing" anger and frustration articulated in a responsible ways? (Sharing, not multiplying)
Singer says it poignantly when he writes, "Relax your heart until you are actually face-to-face with the exact place where it hurts. Stay open and receptive so you can be present right where the tension is." It can be viewed that some of the roots of depression and loneliness is not the absence of happiness, but rather the denial that the depression & loneliness are even there let alone their intensity. Helping others and making a difference are certainly uplifting when standing on their own, but can easily be escapes to not wanting to (or knowing how to) work through experiences of fear, loneliness, anger, and even rage. Do we have tools to express them.
Is it possible to compassionately hold the anger? To let the experience of frustration and rage arise and pass with mindfulness, becoming both the experiencer (fully allowing what arises to arise - so as not to become numb) to it, as well as, the observer inquiring into the attachments that cause the anger or rage (so as to learn from it)?
On Sep 14, 2010 Parth Savla wrote :
What I find so interesting in the practice of being still is the implication that so called "negative" emotions are to be "shed" while those of goodness are to be multiplied. Why so? Why multiply anything? If we are not defined by our emotions (and are the dynamic organic container which holds them), can we not use them as catalysts to our own growth? Can they not server as pathways that provide access to an unknown depth that lies within us? We have tools for coping with happiness-we share the kernels that bring us joy and articulate why they do so, can we then not use the same tool of "sharing" anger and frustration articulated in a responsible ways? (Sharing, not multiplying)
Singer says it poignantly when he writes, "Relax your heart until you are actually face-to-face with the exact place where it hurts. Stay open and receptive so you can be present right where the tension is." It can be viewed that some of the roots of depression and loneliness is not the absence of happiness, but rather the denial that the depression & loneliness are even there let alone their intensity. Helping others and making a difference are certainly uplifting when standing on their own, but can easily be escapes to not wanting to (or knowing how to) work through experiences of fear, loneliness, anger, and even rage. Do we have tools to express them.
Is it possible to compassionately hold the anger? To let the experience of frustration and rage arise and pass with mindfulness, becoming both the experiencer (fully allowing what arises to arise - so as not to become numb) to it, as well as, the observer inquiring into the attachments that cause the anger or rage (so as to learn from it)?
I would assert yes.