It is my second day at the intensive, and words from the main teacher reminded me of how cosmology can be a pointer.
Our actions in this life determines whether we will evolve into higher or lower beings following this life.
That is the familiar story of karma, and these types of more abstract teachings – apparently describing something out there somewhere – can be very helpful when taken as a pointer for something here and now, and less helpful when taken as a belief. (Although when it is taken as a belief, that is part of the process as well.)
When taken as true, it may at best encourage students to practice and to live in a more ethical way. But it is inevitably mixed with getting caught up in fears and hopes, and is just another log in the fire of taking stories as true. It is a scare tactic, and not quite honest since we cannot know. (Even if the most respected teacher or book tells us so, if we have vivid visions or memories, even if science indicates that it may be so, the truth is that we cannot really know.)
As any story, the story of karma is a question, an invitation to explore for ourselves, and to find what it points to here and now rather than take it as (only) “out there” in the wider world or the past or future.
Is it true that my current actions evolve me into a higher or lower being? How can I find it in my own experience?
I can look at resisting or allowing experience since that is something I am already exploring.
When I allow experience, there is a sense of space, stillness in the midst of activity, a softening or release of identification with the resister (and possibly doer and observer), and a sense of more choice in how I act. This is in contrast to when I resist experience, which tends to bring a sense of contraction, compulsion, defensiveness, reactiveness, a closed view and heart, sense of precariousness and so on.
Each action has an immediate and obvious effect that, in some ways, evolve me into a higher or lower being right there and then.
And whatever action I take tends also to deepen that groove, which makes it more likely to be repeated in the future.
So in both of those ways, I find that either allowing or resisting experience evolves me into a “higher” or “lower” being, in a quite direct and obvious sense.
I can find the dynamics here and now. (No need to make a mythology or cosmology out of it and project it into the far future.)
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It is my second day of the intensive, and I am reminded of how cosmology can be a pointer.
The main teacher mentioned how our actions in this life determines whether we will evolve into higher or lower beings in future lives. This is the familiar story of karma, and is often used as a scare tactic to encourage people to act ethically or to practice.
As any story, it is not so helpful if taken as true and we get caught up in fears and hopes around it.
But it can be very helpful as a pointer, as an invitation to find here now what the story refers to.
How do my current actions evolve me into a higher or lower being, in my own experience?
I find that how I relate to whatever is happening, tends to strengthen – just slightly – a habit of relating in that way.
For instance, I may allow or resist experience here now, or fuel or inquire into a story, and that makes it a bit more likely I will do that again. That particular groove is made a little deeper.
And even more immediate, when I allow experience, there tends to be a sense of space, a softening or release of identification within experience, a sense of more choice in how I act. When I resist experience, there is often a sense of contraction, compulsion, reactiveness, closed view and heart and so on. The action has an immediate and obvious effect that, in some ways, evolve me into a higher or lower being right there and then.
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Day two (for me) of the intensive: I am reminded of how cosmology can be a pointer. An invitation to find it here now.
Our teacher talked about how we, as humans, can evolve into higher or lower beings in future lives, depending on how we live now. (Karma.) This story can encourage students to practice, which is probably the intention. It is also a fear tactic, which can easily get students caught up in fear and hope, and acting from fear and hope. And, as far as I can see, it may also be intellectually dishonest. Who knows about those things? (Even if we have read it or heard about it, or even have what appears as memories or visions that seem to support it.)
It seems much more helpful and practical to find it here now. Can I find those dynamics here? Can I notice how engaging in an action fuels a habit of engaging in just that type of action? For instance, resistance to experience may strengthen – just slightly – a habit of resisting experience. Fueling a belief the same. And allowing experience, as is, as well as inquiring into beliefs, adds a little to that habit.
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That is the familiar story of karma, and these types of more abstract teachings – apparently describing something out there somewhere – can be very helpful when taken as a pointer for something here and now, and less helpful when taken as a belief. (Although when it is taken as a belief, that is part of the process as well.)
As a story of something out there, it may, at best, encourage students to practice and live in a more ethical way. At worst, it is a scare tactic and, when taken as a belief, gets students caught up in fears and hopes.
As any story, it is really just a question, an invitation to explore for ourselves, and to find it here now rather than “out there” in the wider world or the past or future.