#181: Christ and the Divine River - the 80/20 Principle Applied to the Inner Life
ONE: How doing less can be doing more - the 80/20 Principle. TWO: How the big aim of "enlightenment someday" can desensitize us. THREE: Society as a herd of "destinationist." FOUR: Tom's two favorite words. FIVE: Wisdom from the Bible, including "resist not evil." SIX: The gentle touch of something different. SEVEN: Link to Tom's article on "The Micro and Macro Orbits of Energy." Read here.
Played: 1055 | Download | Duration: 00:17:16
Thanks so much for this wonderful reminder. If only I had you two perched, one on each of my shoulders, constantly reminding me of these priceless truths and bringing me back and back again to the river of now. I wonder if you might do something on how to remember to be aware, moment to moment. Apart from getting someone to follow me around with a cattle prod all day, I need something to counteract my inability to stay "awake" for more than a few moments. And then, when I do manage to snap out of my stupor, I spoil it anyway by a combination of "How long can I make it last?" anxiety - which is completely not the spirit, I know - and a kind of "Look at me, Mummy, I'm being spiritual and getting it right" self-satisfaction - again, totally off beam. Often I feel like Prince Rilian in C.S. Lewis's "The Silver Chair", under the sorceress who would seize his kingdom's evil spell. But I know the sorceress in this case is all too me. Any tips on eluding my own desire to spend my life asleep would be more than gratefully received.
Reply to this
Jan, I just listened to podcast #81, "A Rich Variety of Audience Questions and Answers". Your specific questions are discussed at the start. Very helpful.
I'll only add that it's not our desire to spend our lives asleep - not our true selves. It's our sleeping parts that want sleep to persist.
It can help to withdraw the (false) sense of "I" from it. For example, when you find yourself thinking "why do I desire to spend my life asleep?!", instead observe "there is a desire to sleep". The less "I" in it, the less drama :-)
Reply to this