Showing posts with label self inquiry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self inquiry. Show all posts

Saturday, May 14, 2011

the ability to surrender

here are my three new baskets. resistance. lack of understanding. the inability to surrender. and here's my new practice. whenever i catch some mental activity, it doesn't matter what it is. thought. emotion. thought, emotion triggered by something i do or say. thought, emotion triggered by something other people do or say, or don't do, or don't say. thought and emotion triggered by memory. whatever. the point is to see which basket i can throw it into. so here's my next question. what is the difference between resistance and the inability to surrender? the mind is kind of confused. i ask hwubby, what do you think? he says, first of all, this is a very powerful progression. well, i can't really take credit for it. they come from my guru's poem 'breakthrough'. as a matter of fact this is the core of the verse i am memorizing this week. anyhow, anyhoo, hwubby says, resistance is simply fighting, like, rejecting outright. i say, i see, it's like, i can't meditate everyday. he says, not really, that's more 'inability to surrender,' can't let go. i say, ouch. i pause a moment and say, what about this, meditation makes me tired, i don't want to meditate. hwubby says, that's lack of understanding. oy, now i feel a little discouraged. he says, resistance is, i think, shutting down, closing off. i jump on it and say, so it's really raw ignorance. he says, no, lack of understanding is ignorance. he pauses. i can tell something is going through his big brain. he says, inability to surrender is you know what you should do and.. and i finish the sentence, you don't do it. now that's kind of like not enough spiritual strength to tip you over to the beneficial direction, right. he says, yeah, maybe. o me o my, i can see this search for crystal clear meanings of the three baskets is, in and of itself, is a practice in a class of its own. on a conscious level i don't feel any clearer now before i started. yet i am pumped up with the desire and determination to get to the bottom of it. or is there a bottom?

okay, my friend clara is calling. she is going to do grocery at my favorite store. gotta go.

on the way to the store i tell her what i am contemplating about. she says, this morning i walk my dog and lose one earring. i say, how does that happen? she says, the wind blows back my hoodie, i pull it back over because it is chilly, the wind blows it right back, i guess it's somewhere in there. i say, your fave earring. she says, yeah. immediately it comes to both of us. that's a great case of checking in the ability to surrender.

i can see this is going to a fun contemplation to be continued.