Chapter 2 online class - I just finished. It was great. Much more practical than the first. This time, I took 10 pages of notes (again which I will summarize in point form below). It's weird because as a high school student (so many years ago), I disliked dissecting books very much. But now, it's interesting and fun, something I choose to do with my free time.
- To take attention from your thinking mind into the present moment, ask yourself 'am I still breathing'. This should leave you feeling very calm, relaxed with a deeper sense of aliveness.
- Silence = giving your mind a break
- STOP labeling things, try starting with nature (a tree, a flower, etc)
- Everyone is identified with their past - but this is NOT who you are, these are just a collection of memories, thoughts
- Fulfill the functions you have (ie. mother, father), honour them but do not identify with them. This is not who you are - if this becomes all you have then you get lost in surface reality and it becomes painful or can turn into conflict (ex. if you identify with your opinion "this is MY opinion" and someone questions it, people often get an angry or possibly a fight begins)
- So WHO AM I? When you see that something you are thinking, you SEE the illusion - 'these are thoughts in my head, these are something I've told myself I believe, this is something I've told myself I identify with'.....when you can SEE that.....the SEEer or OBSERVER IS who you really are....(confusing I know, but say it a few times and it makes sense - to me, at least)
- Practice being PRESENT with your children - how? Two types of presence - form & formless. Form attention is do this, brush your teeth, comb your hair, do that.... Formless attention is listening, watching, BEING with your child. Acknowledge them, give them space, show them PRESENCE.
- When we lose our self in concepts, we mistake the words for the things. (ex. telling your child 'this is an oak tree', they then believe they know what it is so they lose their relationship with the oak tree and it loses it magic.) Have you ever watched a child experience something for the first time - they see MAGIC in everything an airplane, a star, the moon, rain, etc. Once they know what they are and they see these things again and again - it's like 'oh ya, that's an airplane' as if to say 'no big deal'.
- The world loses it's miraculous quality and it's aliveness once you give the child the concept. ENCOURAGE the child to continue to experience the tree - to touch the bark, to look at the leaves, to see how the sun shines through the leaves...etc.
- Content & Structure of the Ego - what is EGO? The ego is the false sense of self based on mental concepts and our identification with form. Content is what you identify with yourself (and it differs from everyone). An example of this is when someone loses their job from a company they have been with for a long time - they become depressed or sometimes even suicidal - they were so identified with their job that they felt their identity was taken from them when they lost their job.
- The Ego sees for something to identify with.
- Nothing is wrong with things, thoughts & opinions but the moment you identify with opinions, you need to defend them.
- When people are sharing a depressing or negative, to stay present - do not buy into the story, do not empower the story - be in a state of ALERT AWARENESS, don't even resist their thoughts.
- The ego & weight loss - and AHA moment for me. This is a spiritual process of loss. Be conscious of what your body needs. Be aware. Feed your body from within. Overeating is a part of the ego or the unconsciousness - substitute for a sense of aliveness. (ex. I worked on this last week - staying present, recognizing what my body needed, reminding myself if I was eating because my body was hungry or because of another reason - I lost 3 lbs last week.)
- Identification with Things - see who you are, NOT through things.
- When you no longer feel the life that you are, you are likely to try and fill up your life with things.
- Example when children become identified with things, a shopaholic mom buys her child things when they have a good day - the child now identifies that these things as part of who they are and their little egos are formed
- Examples of how you can change this in your child - MOST IMPORTANTLY change this in YOURSELF, live the example. Point out things to the child that are of intrinsic value - that you can not buy, something in the natural world, in nature but don't pick flowers because that will enforce the 'ACQUISITION INSTINCT' - allow the flower to 'be there' and enjoy it for it's beauty.
- Honour the world of things, not despise it - but we can not honour things if we try to find ourselves through them. Honour them by giving them attention. BUT if something happens to them or they get stolen - it's OKAY because you do not identify YOURSELF through them
- Anytime you feel yourself to be superior or inferior to anybody - it is ALWAYS your ego.
- Wanting keeps the ego alive, much more than having (ex. you have a house with nice things, then you want more things, more square footage, etc).
- How do we stop that? See the illusion of seeking fulfillment in the future. Realize that the thing that is of PRIME IMPORTANCE in our lives, we always overlooked (and that is the ego ). The thing that is of PRIME IMPORTANCE is the PRESENT MOMENT.
- The ego lives through the past & future, it identifies with the past and looks to the future to complete itself.
- When you are present, the ego can not survive.
- The NOW is the foundation of the rest of your life.
- Moving beyond ego - become aware, if you are aware you can not become possessed by your ego - live in the present moment.
- Make friends with the PRESENT MOMENT.
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