As I was drinking my coffee this morning, I thought about how– when I was doing the “Things Are Alive” series of drawings– I had connected with the intention that gave birth to the mass-produced bench on our back deck. I realized that the intention of a thing is reflected in that thing. It makes me want to reflect on the intention for my drawing this week so that I have it clearly set when I begin. Because the drawing will reflect my intention no matter how conscious it is. I would like it to be conscious.
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Thoughts on Process
‘It’s hard getting inside this guy for a lot of reasons, Mr. Hoffman said. (Not once during the interview did he utter the name Willy.)… Certain moments make sense, then they don’t, then others do, then they don’t anymore. All of a sudden you’ve lost what you found– you thought you knew what that moment in a scene was about, and then you don’t anymore. And then you do.’
‘You go into any role asking a question, accumulating half-answers, partial answers, full answers, and then different questions come to you– and through it all you have to trust your instincts, which is a private process.’
— Philip Seymour Hoffman, about playing the role of Willy Loman (“Searching for the Life of a Salesman” by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, Sunday, March 11, 2012)
Entering the Void with the Eyes Open
Awareness serves to relate objectivity with subjectivity in such a way that the object ultimately comes to rest in the self-awareness of the subject. In reality, reflective awareness is always awareness of ‘I’ (ahamvimarsa); it never objectivises even when, in the form of the awareness of ‘this’ (idamvimarsa), it reflects upon the object. The experience we have of things existing outside consciousness is due to lack of self-awareness. The awareness of the object is never ‘out there’; it is registered and known within the subject. All forms of awareness come to rest in the subject.
— Mark S. G. Dyczkowski, The Doctrine of Vibration, An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism, p. 71
Thus, the advice to “Know the Knower”! To know even as one has been known:
English Standard Version (©2001)
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12
Thank You to “Things!”
Here’s a post from this blog made almost a year ago. I’m reviewing “On the Way to Cushendall” and found this signpost.
Things and “Waking Up”
Posted on April 11, 2011 by Pam
As I was doing the dishes just now, it dawned on me that a LOT of my time is taken up with associating with “things.” I move things, arrange things, clean things, use things to communicate, take pictures with things, create with things. I must confess that a lot of the time I am relating to “things” I am not really there for them. Often my mind is whirring with thought. I’ve been studying spiritual science for years, so I should know better. I know what to do! I know what I have to do to be fully alive in this body.
I don’t want to start beating myself up. That’s just more whirring mind. I can just use what I noticed as a starting point to change my relationship to things, bit by bit.
Many years ago I was fortunate to spend nine months at a school called Claymont. It was a Fourth Way School founded by John Bennett. The entire nine months was spent working with sensation in the body in order to be present in the moment. We– fifty-four of us– were engaged in practical physical tasks all day and were challenged to be present in the body while we worked. Just now as I was washing the pots I thought, “Yes, I know what to do. I have been trained.” So, I returned to watching my breath and being aware of the pot in my hands and the way my body moved as it engaged in the task assigned to it. This is simple freedom. It just dawned on me that without these things, without the tasks related to things, I would have no hope of– as Christ, Gurdjieff, and Bennett said– of “waking up.” As a human being, I have been assigned to relate to “things!”
Instead of viewing “things” as a burden, I can choose to be grateful for them. They are helping me to grow into a truly living being.
Entering the Void with the Eyes Open
Chop Wood, Carry Water
“Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.”
Swami Sivananda
Work. What does the word mean to you? Is it something to be avoided? Is it a means to an end? Is it the only appropriate focus of your attention and energy? Is it a way to avoid the rest of your life? Is it a joy? Is it a part of your spiritual practice?There is a Zen saying, “Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water.” What’s the difference? The tasks are the same. The need is the same. What about the frame of mind? Who is chopping? Who is carrying water?
When you labor, stay awake. Notice the frame of mind you bring to your work. Do you approach your work as if it were a nuisance? Do you remove your consciousness from work so that you are filled with resentment or worry? What would you need to do to be more fully present in your work?
Practice mindfulness in work. It does little good to attain clarity of mind on your meditation cushion if you lose it as soon as you become active. Start with simple activities like brushing your teeth, ironing clothes, or washing dishes. Be fully alert as you move. Notice the position of your body in space. Notice the feelings in your body as you move. Pay attention to the thoughts that enter your mind when you do the task. See if you can let them go and just focus on the work itself.
If you are cleaning a countertop, feel the sponge in your hand. Feel the wetness. Feel the texture. Observe how the sponge moves in your hand from the sink to the counter. Sense your movements as you scrub. What do your eyes see? What do you hear as you work? Clean that countertop as if it were the most important thing you could do. Move with fluid motions. Waste no energy. Allow yourself the grace of economy of motion. Be grateful for the countertop, the sponge, the water, the soap. Be grateful for the hand, the arm, the whole body that can move a sponge. Be thankful for the floor you stand on and the roof that protects you. Without letting your mind wander too far, be grateful for all the circumstances that put you where you are at that moment with that sponge and that water and that countertop.
We travel to the ocean or to mountains, rivers and canyons, in part to escape the mundane world of work, but also to experience the awe that arises more spontaneously in nature’s magnificence. We give ourselves an incredible gift when we can experience some of the same awe in the mundane world of our daily lives. The weed that grows in the crack of a sidewalk is a phenomenon as miraculous as the redwood tree that towers into the sky. The raindrops that streak the window are no less an occasion for awe than the spray that dampens our face at the waterfall. The fingers that tap a keyboard are as worthy of praise as the feet of a ballet dancer.
When we open awareness to the tasks in our lives they become lighter. When we are able to be in the moment, we no longer feel compelled to watch the clock. Whatever your work might be, bring all of yourself to it. When you are fully present, you may find that your labor is no longer a burden. Wood is chopped. Water is carried. Life happens.
http://www.interluderetreat.com/meditate/chop.htm