Perspective

[SoulSail]

Hi All,

I was recently going through one of my all time favorite books on Tibetan yoga and meditation (The Five Tibetans: Five Dynamic Exercises for Health, Energy, and Personal Power) and came across this brilliant paragraph, which I clearly felt the need to share:

"A friend of mine was once at a long and intensive meditation retreat. Over the course of a few weeks he had many unusual and powerful experiences. He felt as though he were floating in space, as though he were as big as a planet, as though he could embrace all of creation. There were times when he drifted out of his body and other times when sensations of energy roared up his spine. He was very excited about the experiences he was having, so he went to the teacher who was leading the retreat and recounted everything that had happened to him. After my friend was done giving a detailed rundown of all that had transpired, the teacher looked at him with a warm and reassuring smile and said, 'Don’t worry, it will pass.' This is the full value of meditation experiences. They are like signs along a road. They are not the goal, just part of the scenery. They are interesting, but they are not what practice is about. It is only clear, pure mind that matters."



Just something to think about.

[CFTraveler]

Yep- it's easy to forget that.

[Korpo]

On the other hand - when one walks through a forest without enjoying the scenery, what is gained? :)

[SoulSail]

On the other hand - when one walks through a forest without enjoying the scenery, what is gained? :)


Indeed. Enjoy the forest, it's certainly enjoying you, after all. And that's what such moments are for: mutual disclosure of one's nature to another manifestation lit up with conscious awareness.

But if you're anything like me, however, you may get tangled up in the attachment sling. I hate that sling. I always get tunnel vision while I'm in it. And then always, always, I look up to discover that a parade passed by while I was sure I had the ultimate experience going.

[ButterflyWoman]

As I was drifting to sleep, I realised that most or all of the extraordinary experiences I used to have are pretty much quiet now. No visions, no instructive dreams, no "still, small voice", no particular "presence of God", none of that. Occasional bursts of bliss, and I do have extraordinary insight sometimes, but it's not in the form of intuition or messages or anything. It's just very clear perception.

I will admit, I kind of miss some of that, but it's a lot more peaceful without it. Sometimes, I think those things actually get in the way of just being.