31 May 2009

Awareness

Awareness – a quality we can bring to place or action if we have the presence of mind to do so – encourages energy, openness, aliveness. Where the mind goes, so the ch'i. Not the thinking mind, but the aware mind – the awareness. So, when I turn my mind into my sacrum, for want of a better place, I feel it begin to fizz – move from within – micro-movements but definitely palpable – it comes alive as though waking from a selfish slumber. If I keep my awareness there then these stirrings begin to creep into the adjacent structures: muscles, ligaments, pelvic bone, spine. Life invested by awareness is infectious – all natural objects and situations are ready to be sympathetic to it. To resist awareness requires a recalcitrant refusal to connect. This refusal has to be continuously renewing itself otherwise is would fail and the softness of awareness would flood in. We call this stubborn refusal selfishness or thinking. Thinking is all about maintaining control: working out solid reasons not to connect on natural terms, or working out how to swing things to one's own advantage. Sometimes thinking confounds itself with its own inconsistency and a moment of quiet self-realization – self-awareness – creeps in. But really thinking – the ultimate idle luxury – needs to be reined in and replaced with awareness if any peace of mind is to be achieved.

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