July 18, 2024
Principle 7. Immediate Action. Fourth Week.
If you pursue an end, you enchain yourself. If everything you do is realized as an end in itself, you liberate yourself.
Last time: Equilibrium
This Time: Reveries
Can daily life be transformed into a profound meditation, and path of awakening, and liberation?
Sometimes meditation requires you sit down and close your eyes — but that’s less than half the story.
As always: if you no longer wish to receive these mailings, or if you know people who would like to be included in them, just let me know.
This Week:
Previously we concentrated on the general structure and scope of this principle. We then turned to how we applied or could have applied it in the past, and in the present. This week we will focus on its possible impact on our future situations and choices.
To help gain some new perspectives we will also play the game of
Explain It!
General Considerations and Personal Reflections:
Here are some personal reflections. I offer them in the spirit of dialogue and exchange, and look forward to hearing your thoughts, and experiences with this principle.
So often our relation to the future is one of either trepidation or pursuit. And perhaps fear of the future is in reality a kind of pursuit, the pursuit of the opposite of what I fear. So what is it I fear in the future? What is it I pursue? We all understand that there is a way to move through the world, without fleeing or enchainment to ends. But can we make it the centre of our way of life?
Over the last weeks, during our conversations about this principle and the preceding one, questions arose about the difference, if any, beyond the obvious, between pursuing an end (including pleasure) in the world and pursuing it in my head. That got me thinking about how Silo the function of images, and those peculiar chains of images we call reveries (divigations, daydreams, etc).
Sleep and Awakening.
“Only rarely do I perceive reality in a new way, and it is then that I realize that what I normally see resembles sleep or semi-sleep… … There is a real way of being awake, and it has led me to meditate profoundly on all that has been said so far. It has, moreover, opened the door for me to discover the meaning go all that exists.”
Inner Look, Chapter VI
Step 1. The theory of reverie becomes more than a theory.
Have you tried to act from your centre, neither lost outside nor inside yourself, paying attention — without strain but gently focused on what is going on? I think you may very quickly discover, as I have, that stray images, ideas, internal dialogue, all kinds of “internal contents” bubble up interfering with that dynamic balance between me and the world. An uninvited thought, or image, initiates a chain of associations that takes my attention, and soon I’m lost in full blown day dreams, or totally absorbed in unfolding events. Let us call those images (with the underlying climates and tensions which they translate) “reveries”.
A Quick Review:
In Hot Pursuit of the Veggie Burger
If I study these reveries, as Silo taught us (see his Psychology Notes, and Self-liberation by Luis Amman), I discover that some are just passing images. We call these situational, or secondary reveries, because they compensate a temporary situation. For example, I’m hungry and an image arises to compensate the situation — in my case perhaps I find myself thinking of a veggie-burger (à chacun son goût) and jump to my feet to go out and find one. In this way resolving the sensations of hunger.
On the other hand, observation and study reveals that there are images that are more persistent and not so easily resolved. These are the primary reveries, and they often continue more or less unchanged over years, or even decades. Though unnoticed these images nonetheless drive my behaviour (which is a function of the image in general). Like secondary reveries they also attempt to compensate a system of climates and tensions but more complex and permanent ones. Sadly, they often don’t do this successfully. For example, consider a case that is more intriguing than that of my veggie-burger.
Sensations —> Reveries (Images) —> Actions (Behaviours)
Imagine a small child, who for the usual reasons, develops a feeling, a mood, or climate, of isolation. The images that arise to compensate that loneliness will certainly change over time. The reveries of a 5-year-old are not the same as a 15-year-old — even though the climate they compensate might be. In this case the child imagines themselves surrounded by friends and “defeating” the kids that (they feel) make fun of them. As the child grows the scenarios become more sophisticated. Those images, of being surrounded by many people and basking in their admiration, for that child — now a young adult — might point perhaps to a career in politics, or as a social influencer. It’s easy to understand how they might become enchained to that end. After all, they have invested a lot of time and energy in this pursuit. If they lose this big election, or fail to gain followers, no doubt they’ll be very unhappy. And if they win? We understand that what is being pursued (e.g. political office) is not what is really desired (to feel loved and accepted,). So, for reasons that might not be clear to them even winning will be a hollow victory and a disappointment.
It’s a sad tale. But somehow, it’s the story of all of us. But it’s not totally sad. Not at all — I got my veggie-burger!
Free Bonus: Some Practical Advice and A Link to an Old Joke.
This is important. When it comes to “attention” (and so many other very interesting things) you don’t want to try too hard, or not hard enough. It takes experience to develop the adequate “touch”. Hold firmly but not tightly.
As for the old joke mentioned above, you’ll find it at the end of this letter:
https://www.dzuckerbrot.com/correspondence/attention
Feeling Playful?
Here are two possible approaches (there could be many others) to this week’s game of Explain It! Like the game of Ask About It! We need to engage another player (or players). If I can manage to talk to someone that’s great but if I can’t, whether because of my personal circumstance, shyness, etc. I can write down my thoughts in a brief email — whether I send it or not is another matter. The point is to put my thoughts, and intuitions into a form that is suitable for sharing.
Of course, just as with other games, I might find myself with no one to play with. For example, in this case, no one whom I can either ask their opinion, or tell mine. Such a situation might well be an opportunity to reflect on what that absence implies, and perhaps even take measures in enrich my social environment.
Another thing this game has in common with the game of Ask About It! is that it’s a game! In this game our interest is on engaging and communicating. Convincing, preening, recruiting, etc. are outside of the goals of the game. Rather, you are simply sharing your interpretation of something you find interesting.
Worth Repeating:
We all understand that there is a way to move through the world, without fleeing or enchainment to ends. But can we make it the centre of our way of life?
Remember:
- Reflect on your understanding of the principle, and what it might mean ,or how it might apply, in your (imagined) future situations.
-Play the game of Explain It!
Coming Up:
Next week we’ll begin with principle 8, Comprehended Action. It says:
“You Will Make Your Conflicts Disappear When You Understand Them In Their Ultimate Root, Not When You Want To Resolve Them.”
Besides the opportunity to participate in the weekly experiences, our next meeting will be a chance for an interchange about your thoughts, insights, examples and questions.
You’ll receive a reminder the day before the meeting.
We hope you can join us.
Note:
These notes have been posted on Facebook and sent to our email list, and, on my website www.dzuckerbrot.com
Don’t forget:
In some moment of the day or night inhale a breath of air and imagine that you carry this air to your heart. Then, ask with strength for yourself and for your loved ones. Ask with strength to move away from all that brings you contradiction; ask for your life to have unity. Don't take a lot of time with this brief prayer, this brief asking, because it is enough that you interrupt for one brief moment what is happening in your life for this contact with your interior to give clarity to your feelings and your ideas.
Silo_ La Reja, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2005
