In the course of life we encounter stimuli that provokes and cajoles us to change our bearing to something else upon receipt of this stimuli. In other words, we react. And god knows that we need to react sometimes, but not all or most of the time. Reaction is usually the most common time we make an adjustment to the quality of our energy that we are exuding into the world and in particular to a situation that is confronting us externally. Now some of these situations are even so innocuous that do they do not even justify any reaction whatsoever.
In either case of justified or not justified, the reaction does what? In most cases we are under the influence of some pattern, idiosyncrasy, peccadillo, or other habitual mind intoxicant. If we weren’t, we would probably not be having a reaction (unless it is something blatantly obvious like a safety concern that merits reaction). So having the reaction is one thing but acting on it rather than watching it, is another thing completely. Assuming we are doing the former because of our compulsiveness, we, prior, to the reaction, were qualifying our energy in some qualitative way. For simplicity, in the following example let’s say we had ‘good’ energy that we were coursing. Along comes a traffic situation that is all too familiar. A minivan is going so slow in the left lane of the expressway and the driver is inattentive, with traffic going around the driver when possible. We are behind him and we are stuck when we need to be speed-efficient due to an appointment. We slam on the horn and finally pass him, but not without a single finger salute.
Predictable and unskillful behavior on top of an unnecessary reaction result. Mindfulness was out the car window. And the energy, which started out as ‘good’ is now extinct with a lesser replacement. Bottom line is we changed the quality of our energy when our energy was perfectly ‘good’ to begin with in the scenario. When we change the quality of our energy in a downgraded direction, we also change the quality of our thoughts, words, and actions proportionally. Are we not better off watching our energy, watching our thoughts, and seeing the roller coaster of life with its unpredictability, as adjunctive to ‘Being’ not reactive to ‘doing’? When we give importance to our thoughts and temporary situations as greater than the connection to whom we are, then we end up compromising ourselves with less than skillful decisions. The choice “to Be” is in reality more compelling (and should be) than the choice to lose the connection, downgrade the energy, and unwalk the talk (assuming we chose unskillfully). Do we think we are in greater concert when we are not connected to The Energy (through ‘Being”) then if we were connected to the ‘Being” state? When we lose the connection, we lose the permanent ground of who we always Are. That is, we are no longer getting cues from the Director. We are ad libbing with our ego/mind habitual un-mindfulness of who we ‘think’ (cognitive) we are. This lesser vehicle itself is a form of reaction. Action can only really come from Being. Mind is the tool.
When mind disconnects, with assists from the fictitious self, the quality of the energy exuded has to be depreciated by reason of alienation from the Self.
What is interesting is the value of the assets in the scenario. The ego/mind feels that the situation is unacceptable (slow-moving minivan). The poor quality decision is additionally sourced from the mind. The degraded actions speak for themselves. Ergo, it is not surprising to see these results consistently appear. Cognitively, it does not make sense. However, to attempt to control the mind from only the level of the mind is inherently difficult. These assets sometimes are assets but very limited ones. To see with a clear connection to Being is to see where the ultimate switch resides. That is, to see first, the action of Being and then the consequence on behavior in the world. To have it backwards means to be guided by a fickle sense of self with the usual consequences to include energy mismanagement. If our energy is really ‘good’ and we can see without distortion, then there will be no need to change the quality of our energy for specious reasons. There would be no reason to disconnect from the Source (because there is no reason to disconnect from the Source except to feed the ego/mind). And finally decision-making shall improve unconditionally. Daddy’O
edward. . .Being effortlessly Now 