viernes, 12 de julio de 2019

LAW OF THREE (62) The Still Point



LAW OF THREE (62)


THE STILL POINT (1)


"One who sees inaction in action and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities." Bhagavad Gita (400 bc9
 


"At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascend nor decline. Except for the point, the sill point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance." T.S. Elliot


The still point brings time and space in a relationship with eternity, the third dimension of our experience.  In the Gita it is "the transcendental position'', free from the tensions between absolutes. Neither action nor inaction, at the point where the dance flows.

The still point is where all working surfaces meet (active-passive-neutral). It is where we reside: our home. When Thomas Keating was asked in one of his last interviews wether he was longing for home he answered: 'I wold like to think that I am already at home.'

In the method of Centering Prayer as taught by Thomas Keating our intention is to return to the still point by letting go of attachments to circling thoughts.  We offer an open invitation to the divine presence to join in the transcendental dance.  We center in the dot, in the still point.  Its nature is eternal because its center is everywhere.




domingo, 7 de julio de 2019

LAW OF THREE (61) The Purpose of Thinking (2)


LAW OF THREE (61)

THE PURPOSE OF THINKING (2)

"If you are going to think, at least THINK. Use your own mind, heart, and grounded presence to see what is actually going on and try to understand with what is the most awake in you, not the most asleep" Cynthia Bourgeault


The question is: can we THINK?

"The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking"

Martin Heidegger, What is called thinking.


Implicit in the above quotations is that the power to THINK needs to be developed. In an earlier blog (59), I wrote: "From an intellectual perspective, thinking needs to evolve into understanding in order to become an instrument of the will." As it is, in its undeveloped state, thinking maintains the dream of a separate existence, preventing us from thinking for ourselves. We are prey of a thinking process that goes on subjectively without purpose or self-critical reflection.

In its undeveloped state our attention is trapped by thought. When the attention is free from its attachment to thought we are able to observe consciously and objectively the stream of thought. Out of this detached observing,  understanding may arise. This arising of understanding requires our conscious presence (reconciling force) or as Cynthia puts it, it requires the presence of 'what is most awake in us'.

In true thinking our attention needs to play a discerning role in the articulation of thought. We need to actively be able to think our thoughts, instead of our thoughts thinking us. This change of direction of thinking can start with the question: Am I in control of my thinking?

Only when we are in control of our thinking are we responsible for our thinking. The first step in the evolution of thought requires our witnessing presence. It requires the discerning presence or what is the most awake in us.'

Perhaps Rene Descartes was right after all in his famous 'cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am) if he meant: 'I can think, only when I am'.
















THE LAW OF THREE (80) War in The Holy Land and The Reconciling Force

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