August 1, 2024
Principle 8. Comprehended Action. Week 1
You Will Make Your Conflicts Disappear When You Understand Them In Their Ultimate Root, Not When You Want To Resolve Them
Last time: The Great Game
This time: A New Way of Doing
This Week:
We start off this month by looking at the basic structure of the principle eight, the principle of comprehended action. We will consider its general meaning and broad implications.
Along with our effort to delve deeply into this principle we are always trying to turn the principles as a whole into a dynamic and permanent meditation. That is to say, into a practice applicable at every moment of our lives. In that way we go on shaping a style of, or way of, engaging
To help gain some new perspectives we will also play
The Game of the Week.
Find It!
The rules for week’s game are simple, and summed up in the name of the game, Find it! We are always looking for examples of the principles in our daily life and personal experience. In the game of Find It! we extend that to the cultural environment around us.
This week’s story, quotes, images might be considered as examples of what someone playing this game found. During this week keep your eyes and ears (and memory and imagination) open for things around you that illustrate the principle.
To kick things off we offer a traditional tale found in various forms and cultures. But your search can be drawn from contemporary culture, and can include jokes, songs, movies, etc. The point is that the thing you have found captures or transmits aspects of this month’s principle.
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 about, and experiences with, this principle.
It has been said that when facing difficult or conflicted situations this principle encourages us to avoid actions that are not thought through. It doesn’t say we should do nothing about problems, but rather that we should try to more throughly understand the difficulty itself and our actions (our proposed solutions). It’s normal to become anxious when facing conflicts and to compulsively attempt to solve them even before comprehending their roots. In this way problems are made even more complicated and in a chain reaction, generate more problems.
Found! 1)
Attached is an illustration by our friend Rafael Edwards (whom we rely on so often for his creativity and talent with images). I think it captures in a single image the basic idea of the principle.
Found! 2)
Here’s an old story that illustrates the situation found by someone and intended to transmit a perspective related to this principle:
A young shepherd suffered through the cold nights because of his blanket. It wasn’t that the blanket was too thin or badly made. As he told himself: “Since I was a child this blanket has protected me from wind, ice and snow, but now the cold passes right through it. Sure, it has some holes and tears. But I could patch it. After all it served me as a child, and it can serve me now.” So, he patched the blanket and sewed up the rips.
The next night he noticed his feet were uncovered and almost froze. He took the blanket and pulled it down. Of course, that left his neck and chest uncovered. Because the blanket was too short he passed night after night cold and uncomfortable, with either his chest or feet uncovered.
Now he thought to himself: “I had this blanket my whole life, and as a child it comforted me and kept me warm so it should keep me warm now since I fixed it up so carefully. I will just have to curl up when I sleep.”
The next morning found him tired, cramped, and cold and he thought: “In all this time the blanket has not grown, nor can I make myself smaller. How then shall we continue together.”
Remember:
- Reflect on your basic understanding of the principle, it’s general meaning and implications.
-Play the game of Find It! Someone else came up with this week’s illustration and with story about the blanket. What will you find?
Consider:
We are trying to change or strengthen our mental direction. We want to move from a situation of internal conflict to one of internal unity, i.e. agreement between what we think, what we feel, and what we do.
Worth Repeating:
Some forms of meditation require that you sit down and close your eyes, and that is one part of Silo’s teaching.
Coming up:
Next week we’ll consider principle 8 (Comprehended Action) in the light of our past actions.
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:
Gloria has agreed to host our next meeting. We hope you can Join us.
Thanks to Rafa, and Mani and an unknown photographer for the illustrations and photo.
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
