Jeanne de Salzmann 616 words, 103K views, 19 comments
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On Jan 30, 2012A wrote :
This excerpt reminds me of a book I've been thoroughly enjoying by Michael Singer, called The Untethered Soul. In it he gives very clear, very practical explanations about how to move beyond our identity with the enslaved mind and into, ultimately, an abiding awareness that Salzmann's last paragraph describes. I highly recommend it.
Some months ago, for three successive nights, I was awakened by three insights that came to me, persistently and repeatedly, one per night. The first night's message was: "Only the present moment is real." The second night's message was: "You can trust the present moment." The third night's message was: "Make friends with the present moment."
It's probably no surprise that now these pretty much summarize my practice, and certainly my challenge: Surrendering, moment-by-moment. Doing so, for me, seems to involve a certain amount of rational insight to initially coax the thinking mind from its constant dreaming in the foreground to letting go into taking a secondary position in the background (supplied by the first message).
With the mind's move into the background, my body sensations come alive, my hearing clears...I'm fully here. I've taken a "backward step" into the present moment. Staying here, however, is a real trick, requiring a great deal of trust, constantly practiced and slowly built (affirmed by the second message).
Some days, when I am particularly calm, I can spend longer and longer times here...successfully relaxing into the friendly universe (suggested by the third message). Slowly, gradually, I'm making friends with the present moment, with being. It is very, very enticing. Like a moth to a flame.
My intuition tells me that my goal is to have being inform my doing; being fully responsive and in service to the need at hand; rather than reactive and doing the ego's bidding. Gradually gradually.
As such, the Reality of Being, the title of Salzmann's book, clearly resonates. While I don't completely track with her verbiage or concepts, I'm pretty confident she is describing the same transformative, indeed, radical, awareness available to all of us.
On Jan 30, 2012 A wrote :
Some months ago, for three successive nights, I was awakened by three insights that came to me, persistently and repeatedly, one per night. The first night's message was: "Only the present moment is real." The second night's message was: "You can trust the present moment." The third night's message was: "Make friends with the present moment."
It's probably no surprise that now these pretty much summarize my practice, and certainly my challenge: Surrendering, moment-by-moment. Doing so, for me, seems to involve a certain amount of rational insight to initially coax the thinking mind from its constant dreaming in the foreground to letting go into taking a secondary position in the background (supplied by the first message).
With the mind's move into the background, my body sensations come alive, my hearing clears...I'm fully here. I've taken a "backward step" into the present moment. Staying here, however, is a real trick, requiring a great deal of trust, constantly practiced and slowly built (affirmed by the second message).
Some days, when I am particularly calm, I can spend longer and longer times here...successfully relaxing into the friendly universe (suggested by the third message). Slowly, gradually, I'm making friends with the present moment, with being. It is very, very enticing. Like a moth to a flame.
My intuition tells me that my goal is to have being inform my doing; being fully responsive and in service to the need at hand; rather than reactive and doing the ego's bidding. Gradually gradually.
As such, the Reality of Being, the title of Salzmann's book, clearly resonates. While I don't completely track with her verbiage or concepts, I'm pretty confident she is describing the same transformative, indeed, radical, awareness available to all of us.