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I've been thinking, and I think that this sangha could use some healing. Beginning anew. I've read about the practice in Thay's books, but I don't know exactly how to go about it -- especially with this online community. Any thoughts?
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Why does this sangha need healing? And what methods of healing are you talking about, my friend?
-bf
First thing to do to authenticate a real sense of a "new beginning" is to understand what that concept new beginning means to you.
In other words, is there a preconditon to the phrases "begin anew or new beginning".
Here's the challenge: Any time you take your mind off the phrase " new beginning" write down where your thoughts go, or what thoughts come. Just do don't try to label it other than to claim it as practice. A pattern will emerge, don't judge it. For it is your own history and preconcieved ideas speaking, the feeling is the nudge that something is not in balance or is in balance. Take what you write and find a trusted friend. Therin, your sangha lies, it is as close as your breath, and as wide as your affiliations. If you let it, that is.
Number two: The compassion that you show to yourself is equal that you are able to show others.
-Metta
Metta
I haven't personally felt any stress created by you and I just wanted to give you a little reminder to treat yourself with the same compassion and understanding you'd treat a friend with because no one deserves it more than you, right?
Take care and I hope to see you back soon.
We should be able to lay down our cares and burdens at the end of the day and wake refreshed with joy.
Life is too short to prolong unpleasant experiences by carrying them on with some measure of vendetta the following day. No, contrariwise, one should cultivate an open, non-condemning attitude which will allow one to have fresh experiences and new joys.
Having been brought up a Roman Catholic, and taught about Hell, I have often imagined it a place whose chief torment was the inability to sleep and thus lay down a spiralling emotional unhealth. Sleep is a blessing and we should be reborn each day anew, refusing to continue yesterday's nightmares.
__________________
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Fade away into nothingness; but will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darken'd ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits...
—John Keats, prologue to Endymion's first words
No one said a word. We had no mirrors and no cards with holes in them or paper bags for the other exercises, but before they all jumped on me I figured we could deal with confrontation – something we prisoners are familiar with - by pairing up and sitting in front of one another. Harding’s “face to no-face” experiment> involves a standard supermarket bag with the bottom cut off, so that both ends are open. One partner places an end over his face, as does the other partner, and the commonly accepted idea is that the partners are confronting one another inside the bag, face to face. This is our usual way of relating to others. But Harding’s questions reveal otherwise: “Forgetting everything you were ever told, and on present evidence only, how many faces are actually given? Are you face to face, or is it face there and Space Here? Are you confronting that person, or is it Capacity here for that person there, and isn’t it true that you have nothing here, not a speck, with which to keep that person out? Are you not boundless, transparent, void at this end, and at the same time are you not filled with that person in front of you, so that in a sense you have died at this end and been resurrected as that person there? Aren’t we built this way, to die in each other’s favor, and isn’t this the basis of love?”
Well, you can imagine what I expected from my fellow convicts, but they surprised me. What I heard was, “Wow!” and bursts of laughter, and more “Wows.” I don’t know if they caught on, but something happened in that room even if only to me, or should I say, to the Space at this end, the Capacity that is always Here and always filled with what is out there. I came away from that meeting knowing with the certainty of experience that Who I Really Am is always available, always just an exercise away.
Are you a prisoner to your concept of self?
Iawa: Regarding the self, I do not know if I am a sotapanna
Metta
You are not alone in the emtional " monkey mind ". I've been tossed on the sea of uncertainty since December and have been brutalized by an unscrupulus business agent. The events over the following months has been most trying in just staying afloat finacially and emotionally. I too have lost sight of the raft and fallen overboard into tubulent waters. When I finally surrendered to "what is" opportunities to refine my raft building, as well as, improve my navigational skills became available once again.
Best Regards
Welcome back. Please do not be too hard on yourself. I have enjoyed our discussions in the past, and I look forward to our possible discussions in the future. I understand that everyone has their own view and opinions, and sometimes we do not express those as skillfully as we should. I am just as guilty of wrong speech as anyone else on this forum. Nevertheless, that should not make us lose sight of certain things, and one of those things is that this is a sangha of sorts. That means that no matter how much we may disagree with each other, we are still a part of a community and we should never hesitate to put our discussions on hold when we need things like advice, emotional support, just someone to listen, et cetera. Perhaps we could ask Brian and/or Matt to create a forum and set it aside as a safe place to talk to each other in a more caring and intimate setting. If possible, we could even make such an area only viewable to registered members. Anyway, I'm glad to see you back.
Jason
Hi, Jason. A 'private' forum can be a great asset or, sometimes, very divisive. I maintain afew private Ezboard fora for individual and group discussions that need greater security.
I also enjoyed our discussions and am looking forward for new ones.
I agree with Simon that private areas can be very divisive plus Real "Harcode Internet Adversity Tourists" will register anyways in order to have their fun. I think when people are ready to talk about their secrets, they will do it openly. In the meantime, they can use Privat Messaging functions.
Metta