In our interactions with different universes, that is, different people, we find variability. Encounters reveal a great deal of information, whether individuals mean to give us that information or not. One variable that we may all consider important in interactions, is the openness of the particular universe.
‘Openness’ functionally means having a real exchange of energy/ideas that changes both parties in a real way from the previous starting point. The polar opposite of this freedom of movement, is closure or no movement.
Accommodation of the ‘permanence of change’ results in a “syncretic” vehicle that is viable in the linear plane of time. Conversely, the fundamentalist position of hard and inflexible principles/ideas, is less accommodative and thereby less viable and enduring.
Actualization of this openness vs. closing of ranks positions, finds easy references in our own lives. If we have it all figured out we do not even want to listen to anyone’s voice but our own or maybe those parroting our position. If we understand that every moment is a teachable moment, we never lock down because there is more to know about the self and the universe. More listening and openness syncretizes adaptation. It is obvious as to which position ‘dies’ and which position ‘thrives’.
Key in this syncretizing is awareness. However, awareness is not necessarily easy.
There are durable competitors for intransigence. Let us proceed with some examples.
Pain is an energy that can compromise us completely if we allow it’s full width. We may be going along steadily, in a good mood and all, but then someone clumsily drops hot coffee on us. Does our energy towards that individual immediately go south, with nothing stopping it?
There are some ‘things’ that really makes us angry. We cannot stop ourselves if someone uses a particular offensive word, asks us about a subject that is taboo, or makes an error that they shouldn’t have made, given who they are and what they know. Outraged?!
Our long-standing negative habitual patterns (vasanas) begin to kick in. These have haunted us since time immemorial. Unfortunately, they command us much more than we command them. It is one of those moments where the vasana is driving us like a dog. At a certain point, there is no going back until the pattern is through with us and our immediate environment. What can we do?!
All of the above, given the human condition, is familiar territory. There are times when having awareness appears to be futile. We are so caught up in the play, all perspective is lost.
Awareness Is. We Are.
Practice and the constant honing of awareness in every Moment, is necessary.
The Moment is the cradle of time that can slow things down enough before we rev it up with the mind and the ego, leaving the safety of Now. Again, awareness is optimally available only in the Moment.
Upon the onslaught of the above triggers, we are faced with a decision (in the Moment) of whether to (ideally) continue with awareness or to succumb to the familiar tragedy we allow ourselves to engage in.
Assuming we are not past the point of no return, we ’see’ we have a choice. And we ‘see’ we have a choice because we ‘know’ that ‘seeing’ is one of the most highly regarded things we can do in life. We understand that ‘seeing’ is
the most powerful tool for change/understanding of Self.
Once we start to see (before all that ramping up), we see we can choose between predictable outcomes of increased guaranteed stress and the deterioration of the situation or the amelioration of our immediate state to ‘stable’. What we are adroitly avoiding is the leaving of the Now to go into an altered depreciated state of mind that has nothing but the worst to offer us.
Stabilizing in the Now is paramount for equanimity. Just not going down that familiar ‘other’ road is enough, at least to start with.
Additionally, accessing the rational mind to lay out the pluses and the negatives, can deride the mind from going further south.
It is in the ‘calmness’ where we can always make better decisions. Using awareness to avoid our own traps is the elementary use of awareness. This is so much better than the alternative.
Just the further use of awareness may give us the feeling that we are not getting all of what we are used to getting. Sounds stupid. And it is. What we are ‘not getting’ is really the stuff that makes us miserable to ourselves and to others. What we ‘are getting’ is seeing it before it has a chance to slay us again, and again. The ‘seeing’ is rewarding activity in itself. It is where the harmony is, because it is where and who we are, always. The addictions we may miss. However, Awareness more than makes up for it if we only were to try it for a few seconds.
This is why Awareness may be a problem. It will supplant the ‘you’ that you think you are and the ’how’ of how we handle our so-called life. Can you dig it?!!
edward. . .Being effortlessly Now 