Ari's Awakin Mar 6th Awakin Marin Reading (sent via email)
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How do you relate to our perspective shaping our experiences? Can you share a personal story of a time when awareness of your perspective shaping your experience allowed you to shift your perspective and thereby, your experience? What helps you recognize your freedom to shape your perspective?
I read this story of some one somewhere..
There was a guy who was a player, a sportsman. One day when he was playing a crucial match of his life, he was injured and he lost the match.. He was very disappointed with that and asked god why me... but he got no answer. He went to hospital and his leg was perhaps fractured.. Then in the next few days he started retrospecting his life about where things went wrong and he realized all through his life he had won so many matches where he did not even deserve to win and he never asked god why me.. but soon as he lost this match he started complaining god.. He felt sorry about complaining and accepted the fate.
I hope you get the idea..
Forgive me If I am mistaken with exact story.. as I dont remember who that player was..
A couple of years ago my mother passed away and a separation also led to me being apart from my son for what seemed like unbearable periods of time. I have practiced Vipassana and Anapana for quite a while but even so I could not work with the pain I experienced and had no equanimity.
As a surfer I began to remember the pain associated with being held down by a large wave, the feeling of needing to breath but not being able to. I felt relief in my body that I could breath freely, without restiriction. From there I began to see that, though I was living in my van, I had shelter from the harsh weather. I began to recall that I had food that day and was not starving.
This practice of gratitude eventually brought me back to my breath, which brought me back to observing bodily sensations. It may be this practice of gratitude that saved my life.
I see the effects of our experience and perspective being circular, shaping one another, the circular process starting with experience which to me is basic and primary. Oscar Wilde said, "Nothing worth knowing can be taught." That is, it's learned by experience which shapes our perspective which shapes our experience. That's what happened in Aaron Zehah's story. Once the man experienced the increased crowding in his little home, his perspective changed. And with a different perspective his experience in his home changed. In all matters, my experiences have ongoingly shaped my perspective whch has shaped my experience.