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Inside out
lobster
Crusty Veteran
I talk to trees (like gods/yidams I would worry if they talked back too much/outside my inner imaginings). In fact I interact/talk to most things. In other words, I listen to their message/revelation/Buddha Nature. Introspection, contemplation going inward, also means ignoring the unskilful, ignorant, dukkha, monkey mind in my opinion.
Does the Sangha include not only our human, fish and animal friends but go further still? Do we talk to sunsets with poets? Empty bowls full of potential giving?
How is the relationship to the outer, part of the inner journey?
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Comments
I talk to almost everything I come across. Even rocks. Especially rocks. They provide such a good foundation for our planet and lives. Everything talks back if you know how to listen. Yesterday we had really fluffy, soft, snow globe-style snow. You'd expect silence (which is common when it snows) but if you listen close, you can hear the icy snow twinkling through the sleeping branches of the trees. it sounds like a crystal chandelier. I'm pretty sure the animals are silent because they are listening, too.
I talk to the moon and the stars and the night sky - clouds n such.
And it's a big one tonight (the moon, that is). I noticed a couple really small clouds down and to the left, but I thought I saw something cross in front of the moon - maybe it was Santa Clause - oh, nope...maybe the Easter Bunny - uh, Cupid?
When I don't talk to them, I blow them kisses or try to wink like the stars. Rocks are great listeners and the trees whisper back.
Ahhhh, the sounds of a Minnesota winter.....sounds beautiful @karasti
I'll share with you the sound of an Australian summer.....they're outside every night at the moment doing their thing! What are they trying to tell me I wonder?
Unless one is into kinky sex, I would cease wondering
They stridulate to attract a mate...Tis a love song of sorts...
I listen mostly to things that are inside... this morning things are unusually silent, not much knocking or tinnitus or little pulses. Sometimes I think I catch a word about "duty", but it could just be the rushing of blood in my ears. I wonder what my body would tell me if it could?
I think we should all have a lot of respect for the body. It is a big friend, very reliable... when you try to move your hand, your hand moves, when you attempt to speak, your throat and lips spring into action. It goes to great lengths to make you comfortable. Even though we are not the body, it is our home while we live our lives, our ever-present servant, and also a teacher. It teaches us about growing, sex, tiredness, strength, aging and ultimately letting go. It is quite wonderful.
Their names are all Jiminy, and they're banging on about conscisnce...... or sumphin'......
(Now get that song out ya head. You can't, can you - !?
)
Reflections
Wonderful replies guys many thanks,
Yes in a sense the world is a reflection of how we see, what we focus on ...
Useful technique from @Shoshin
Talk to the mirror. Talk to the Buddha. Don't go mad (not skilful) - maybe too late for some of us [lobster raises claw].
You don't need a melong (magic Pendant mirror).
http://rubinmuseum.org/events/event/mirror-meditation-04-04-2016
If there are ANY of them outside my room tonight, I'm flying down to Melbourne to find you and share my joy at being up all night.......
I am a bit of a closet Pagan though I don't do nudey dancing in the woods anymore.
Ha! I have found if you jump and down with a thud near them they stop.
What song?
I live on a rock (Earth they call it)
This idea of listening/being receptive often starts with nature. The Buddha Nature is in all things including and most incredibly even the trump bad stuff ...
Do not waste time on being hurt by the hateful. Learn from the rock/refuge that supports and grounds us ...
Pinocchio where Jiminy "cricket" sings "Let conscience be your guide" ...However the stridulation song in your post is sung by Cecil the cicada
The so-called outside world is nothing but 'reflections' @lobster , the only thing that sits behind the eyes is a lump of fatty grey matter...a computer of sorts, that processes incoming data. Our sense doors take in millions of bits of information per second, but our ol' grey matter can only process around a couple of hundred bits tops, and the rest is based upon guesstimates, for the most part it does a pretty good job, but it does have its flaws...
I 'guess' a 'thing' to remember is ...
"Things and events have only a 'verbal reality'...They don;t exist in nature!"
Came into this one a little late..."real" compiter now working, somewhat.
For each of us, the world, as we perceive it, is a reflection of our own lives. It is not a reflection in terms of outside actions, rain, sun, wind, other people...
Rather is is a reflection of our life condition, how we perceive and react to the environment around us.
Example:
When you are depressed, the world closes in around you; you do not see or fail to comprehend the people around you who are reaching out to you. The "rope" that is "thrown" to you is just a useless piece if fiber.
However, when you are happy, everyone and everything around you reflects that happiness.
Over simplification perhaps, but useful, I hope.
Peace to all