Daily Quote, Wednesday February 25, 2009
Good morning,
Bright and sunny here today if you are not in Halifax!
I was caught by a line in todays quote that if you are able to simply observe a thought or a feeling it will unfold and keep unfolding to wider and deeper levels of understanding. And through this it seems that 'what is' then reveals itself.
Have a great day.
Robert
The awareness of which I speak is of what is from moment to moment . . .
Understanding comes with the awareness of what is. There can be no understanding if there is condemnation of or identification with what is. If you condemn a child or identify yourself with him, then you cease to understand him. So, being aware of a thought or a feeling as it arises, without condemning it or identifying with it, you will find that it unfolds ever more widely and deeply, and thereby discover the whole content of what is. To understand the process of what is there must be choiceless awareness, a freedom from condemnation, justification, and identification. When you are vitally interested in fully understanding something, you give your mind and heart, withholding nothing. But unfortunately you are conditioned, educated, disciplined through religious and social environment to condemn or to identify, and not to understand. To condemn is stupid and easy, but to understand is arduous, requiring pliability and intelligence. Condemnation, as identification, is a form of self-protection. Condemnation or identification is a barrier to understanding. To understand the confusion, the misery in which one is, and so of the world, you must observe its total process. To be aware and pursue all its implications requires patience, to follow swiftly, and to be still.
There is understanding only when there is stillness, when there is silent observation, passive awareness. Then only the problem yields its full significance. The awareness of which I speak is of what is from moment to moment, of the activities of thought and its subtle deceptions, fears, and hope. Choiceless awareness wholly dissolves our conflicts and miseries.
Collected Works, Vol. IV - 143
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I liked his expression- choiceless awareness. Interesting idea. What do you think he meant by following swiftly?
ReplyDeleteI think by following swiftly he means to have a mind that is very sharp, a phrase that I think came up in another quote this week. So it would mean to follow thought or feeling back to its origin instantly, so that awareness can move moment by moment.
ReplyDeleteChoiceless awareness is a great phrase. To be aware of all our conditioning in a moment and not react. In the awareness you have room so that you could react and how you would react but don't. The insight from the awareness is that you could react and would normally do so but for the awareness. Laureen was commenting on awareness and insight earlier this week. This would be an example.
I think the other phrase, passive awareness, is gettiing at the same thing. Of course in awareness you are anything but passive. In fact, you can really feel the hightened sensivity that comes into the mind in the phrase itself. Try saying it over a few times.
I was taken with the sentence "If you condemn a child or identify yourself with him, then you cease to understand him." In following JK's logic, we have been conditioned to use measurement where we constantly compare and contrast. I wonder if we condemn people based on our negative experiences and memories of the past and identify positively with people when we use future thinking about who we want to be?
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