Roaming freely through a field of centers, able to stop and enjoy any one, but never trapped by any one...what a powerful image!
This resonates with the feeling of a lazy Sunday, enjoying the downtown strip with family...there is the bookstore, the toy store, the restaurant, the park, the playground...each of them becoming a center to be enjoyed for a natural wave of energy, and then released back into background.
I never was a fan of Steely Dan until only a few months ago. I flipped through radio and encountered a replay of Casey Kasem's American Top 40 from 1981...they were playing Time out of Mind, and I was, "wow, that's a great break!"
Now, I've loved the work Keith Jarret for decades, and for the song Gaucho, they stole from the best...Keith Jarret sued and won songwriting credit on that song. Anyway, while I was on retreat in the woods, Gaucho constantly played in my head, beautiful in its expression of frustration: "No, he can't sleep on the floor! What do you think I'm yelling for? I'll drop him near the freeway...doesn't he have a home?"
I can tell that this is an essay will read at least thrice. Thank you!
While pondering this article I noticed how the described practice "Fixating a center is a kind of sensory gesture that I’m finding pretty easy to do on command. The easiest way for me is to look at something—here, I’ll take this Nalgene bottle on my desk—and briefly convince myself that it’s the most important thing in the universe. " could be an interesting scaffold for Lhatong. Letting whatever arises be the most important thing in the universe.
Yes! I did something similar this morning. Since coming to this I've been playing with a frame of, Opening Awareness as exploring/allowing centerlessness, lha-tong as playfully merging with the centering process. Adding the "most important thing in the universe" emphasis is an interesting idea, I may incorporate that and see how it changes things. If you try it I'd be curious for any notes.
OK, but wait.... how is space is not the center all the time? How is emptiness not the center? Always present, unchanging, stable. Is that the elephant in which the room is located?
Roaming freely through a field of centers, able to stop and enjoy any one, but never trapped by any one...what a powerful image!
This resonates with the feeling of a lazy Sunday, enjoying the downtown strip with family...there is the bookstore, the toy store, the restaurant, the park, the playground...each of them becoming a center to be enjoyed for a natural wave of energy, and then released back into background.
I never was a fan of Steely Dan until only a few months ago. I flipped through radio and encountered a replay of Casey Kasem's American Top 40 from 1981...they were playing Time out of Mind, and I was, "wow, that's a great break!"
Now, I've loved the work Keith Jarret for decades, and for the song Gaucho, they stole from the best...Keith Jarret sued and won songwriting credit on that song. Anyway, while I was on retreat in the woods, Gaucho constantly played in my head, beautiful in its expression of frustration: "No, he can't sleep on the floor! What do you think I'm yelling for? I'll drop him near the freeway...doesn't he have a home?"
I can tell that this is an essay will read at least thrice. Thank you!
Love this, Ari. You're doing the thing in the comment!
I loved this! (and will definitely be pondering it for a little while to come.)
While pondering this article I noticed how the described practice "Fixating a center is a kind of sensory gesture that I’m finding pretty easy to do on command. The easiest way for me is to look at something—here, I’ll take this Nalgene bottle on my desk—and briefly convince myself that it’s the most important thing in the universe. " could be an interesting scaffold for Lhatong. Letting whatever arises be the most important thing in the universe.
Yes! I did something similar this morning. Since coming to this I've been playing with a frame of, Opening Awareness as exploring/allowing centerlessness, lha-tong as playfully merging with the centering process. Adding the "most important thing in the universe" emphasis is an interesting idea, I may incorporate that and see how it changes things. If you try it I'd be curious for any notes.
Lovely stuff as usual!
OK, but wait.... how is space is not the center all the time? How is emptiness not the center? Always present, unchanging, stable. Is that the elephant in which the room is located?
Oh, you're good.