So yesterday I did my What One Thing (backdated) and visited my elderly neighbour – at a distance from her doorstep – to check she was managing ok in isolation. She was delighted to have been thought of.
And my first online case was successful. And we had a Zoom dinner with the family.
And while I’m not sure I fully settled into Big Mind, I sensed the beginning of a massive internal unwinding, as it sinks in that the prospect of ‘gathering myself up to face the NT world’ is simply not on the horizon for a brief while. Last night I slept 7h57m – bloody extraordinary.
Good. So now it’s time to… ?
Be helpful, right?
You are certainly being helpful simply by unwinding and taking some energetic noise out of the human ecosystem. But yes, this is a time for all to stand up and offer what they’ve got.
I’m acutely aware of the key workers, especially NHS staff, stepping up at risk to their own lives. It cannot be overstated the sacrifices they are making, and about to make. While most of the country is asked to stay at home and put their feet up (and stay safe), the key workers are asked to walk straight on to the battlefield, without virus testing and with barely any protective clothing. On top of risking catching this potentially fatal virus themselves, in consequence many may have to self-isolate from their spouses, elderly parents and their children, for goodness knows how long.
We are finding in this time that the underlying qualities of individuals, countries, business-owners, employers, governments, landlords and even our friends… are being revealed and magnified. It’s like the ‘true colours’ show writ large. May I discover my true colours to be ones I can be proud of… or at least, not ashamed of.
Let’s read….
Oh my word, this chapter is beautiful. It’s on life and death…
NIRVANA , THE WATERFALL: Before we were born we had no feeling; we were one with the universe. This is called “mind-only,” or “essence of mind,” or “big mind.” After we are separated by birth from this oneness, as the water falling from the waterfall is separated by the wind and rocks, then we have feeling. You have difficulty because you have feeling. You attach to the feeling you have without knowing just how this kind of feeling is created. When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact we have no fear of death anymore, and we have no actual difficulty in our life.When the water returns to its original oneness with the river, it no longer has any individual feeling to it; it resumes its own nature, and finds composure. How very glad the water must be to come back to the original river! … We will have composure then, perfect composure. It may be too perfect for us, just now, because we are so much attached to our own feeling, to our individual existence. For us, just now, we have some fear of death, but after we resume our true original nature, there is Nirvana. That is why we say, “To attain Nirvana is to pass away,” “To pass away” is not a very adequate expression. Perhaps “to pass on,” or “to go on,” or “to join” would be better. Will you try to find some better expression for death ? When you find it, you will have quite a new interpretation of your life. Zen Mind p93-4
Thank you for this. So beautiful.
A week ago I was breaking down crying about what was on the horizon – and how our government was in denial and gaslighting the country. (‘Herd immunity’, fhs.) Now, at this stage, still a week before it ramps up, I am feeling something different.
Summons?
Yes. We are all being summoned to take our places, wherever they may be.
Time to stand up, step up.
Yes. Help me to remain extremely relaxed, measured and calm about this, please. Not to freeze with self-imposed self-consciousness or ‘performance anxiety’, God help me… And not to start excitedly slapping the waters with my hands, or wheel-spinning, or heaven forbid at this time of times, jazzhanding.
Let’s meditate.
***Zazen15minTimer***
In today’s practice I really had a sense of having two minds:
Mind 1: I’ll call this one ‘Busy Mind’ – you can ‘keep it occupied’ by giving it the ‘important’ job (it likes to have important jobs) of watching the breaths go in and out. Busy Mind can be persuaded to become very attentive to the task you give it. This, I believe, is the feeling, sensing, processing, fearing, projecting mind that is referenced by Suzuki-roshi in the quote above.
Mind 2: This is Big Mind. Big Mind gets drowned out by Busy Mind most of the time. (Good thing too, because Busy Mind also is excellent at spotting dangers. It stops us wandering out in to busy roads.) When Busy Mind is occupied with some ‘busy work’, we get to benefit from the awareness and experience of Big Mind. But you’ve got to ease in to it, because if you say, “Ooh delicious, I’m in a Big Mind state!” that is the Busy Mind speaking and you’ve instantly popped out of the Big Mind state! You need to slide into awareness of Big Mind. And it really is a gorgeous, dreamy, relieving experience… Being in Big Mind for even a few seconds is enough to remind you that Busy Mind is simply not ‘reality’. Busy Mind is one reality, and it’s one that can be trained to be less dominantly present to us.
What would it look like if you organised your days via the agenda of Big Mind rather than Busy Mind?
Oof…Stop it! What a thought! …. Yes, what a lovely thought…
I might find myself suddenly living in the spirit of a monastic!
And how would that be?
Beautiful. Freeing. Liberating. Connected. Connecting.
What is a monastic anyway, in this discussion?
A monastic is one who dedicates their life to remaining ‘connected’ on a moment to moment basis.
Connected to…
To their Big Mind. Which is their portal to the Source field.
oh my…
The monastic knows about the Busy Mind, and creates a life in which the Busy Mind is well-occupied by routine and by occupational tasks like cleaning and gardening. The monastic knows that, when the Busy Mind is well-tended to – like a class of children whose teacher has given them an absorbing, creative task which they are all happily getting on with, the Big Mind ‘comes out to play’. The monastic knows that activating Big Mind is where it is at. The monastic knows that via activating Big Mind we get to play with Source, with infinite intelligence, with our deepest insights, with connectivity to the unseen world. The monastic knows that in the Big Mind state we get to set our vibrational frequency to the high-flying disc.
If you were to Do One Thing today, we suggest it is to look at how you use Busy Mind. Do you get driven and commanded by it? Or do you tend to your Busy Mind by giving it ‘important jobs’ to do, so that you can invite Big Mind out to play.
Ty. Will do.
Invite Big Mind out to play
PS. For today, I think I might just think of Big Mind as ‘Relaxed Mind’. I know that that means in me. My Aspie mind really has two distinct modes:
Mind 1 – Busy – can be like a rocket, or a racing car. It’s cool. It gets stuff done really fast. But it’s exhausting. It’s basically on turbo charge and uses fuel at pace.
Mind 2 – Big – is super dreamy. It’s my stim mind… And it’s one I haven’t let myself play with so much over past years. A) because of shame – ‘stop daydreaming’ and b) bacasue of seeking to care and provide for my children via activating Busy Mind. Time to relax again safe in the knowledge that my relaxed, day dreamer mind is not only wise, but my key to better insights and a more sustainable life balance. Better for my health too….
(I’m thinking of a hippie saying ‘cool man’… that kind of relaxed. Sounds good for me. ‘Far out’ without the drugs is surely what they were all after with the consciousness raising…?)
PPS: Just to clarify… it’s not so much a drug-upped state as… Imagine if you undertook to walk around quietly – as if endeavouring not to wake someone. Think about it for a second. You would need to bring delicacy to your step, and enough awareness to your actions that you wouldn’t be at risk of bumping, clattering or droppings things. It’s a state of gentle, conscious awareness. A presence to what is, within which the Busy Mind can be kept occupied and the Big Mind can be in the environment without having to dive back into its hole. Yes, think of Big Mind as a wild animal. An otter, say. You are the naturalist or camera operator. It is in your interest to be aware of self and surroundings, because you are keen to see the otter. That sort of state: relaxed yet focussed, aware, still. Got it?
Yes. Excellent. I think we talked about being a Twitcher a year or so ago…
We did.
So, think ‘wildlife camera operator’ to invite Big Mind out to play…
