Saturday, October 8, 2011

Courage My Love!

Here's a short (about 5-minute) video of someone experiencing hurricane-force winds inside a wind tunnel.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4175547247275033034#docid=6305003244816205313


Yes, it takes courage to face natural/physical/biological intelligence without trying to get it under control. The previous five posts have discussed how to dialogue with natural/physical/biological intelligence. Let's use those growing skills to access and build our reserves of courage.


Gentle reminders... if you follow the steps laid out below, you enter a dialogue with natural/biological/physical intelligence. You are not just talking to yourself. Offer your intention to your partner with confidence, sincerity, and concentration. Then take an attitude of listening, witnessing, observation as your partner in this dialogue, natural/physical/biological intelligence, responds to you. Stay supple—without rigid ideas of what courage might look or feel like in this moment.


1. Pay attention to your breathing until you notice how pleasurable it is to breathe. You are now entering the "zone." (See post of Wednesday, August 17.)


2. State, "Nature, I give you 100 percent permission to activate my courage at this moment, in accordance with my life purpose and Nature's balance and vitality, to the maximum extent possible."


3. Quietly observe, witness, listen.


4. When you feel that the wave of Nature's response is complete, state, "Thank you, Nature."


5. If you feel like recording your experience through some medium or another, feel free... if it's something you want to do, going ahead will likely help the experience become a stronger foundation for future dialogues with Nature intelligence. 

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Dialoguing with Nature, The Nuts and Bolts, 5

The reward for cultivating suppleness in response to natural/physical/biological intelligence is that we gain our own uniqueness. In a culture of mass production and ongoing, relentless pressure towards conformist thinking, gaining our uniqueness is no small prize.

What strikes you as a more supple way to move through your day today? Or if that's too overwhelming a thought, how could you be more physically, emotionally, or mentally supple in the next hour? Note that suppleness is not a compromise, and you will know you're on the right track if you feel, even for only a moment, that you are suddenly more yourself.

For another, less abstract approach to this question, spend three or four minutes imagining you are a living blade of grass, rooted in the ground and bending in the wind, or a lithe cat or fox, stretching your muscles in new ways. How about feeling yourself as an earthworm? Now there's a most supple creature that nonetheless is collectively responsible for moving and creating vast tons of soil.


Here's the human world meeting a fox's world—and this fox is certainly exhibiting great suppleness and aliveness!:




Saturday, October 1, 2011

Dialoguing with Nature, The Nuts and Bolts 4

Habits of perception and thought can be useful shortcuts on the one hand, chains of delusion on the other.

To truly meet natural/physical/biological intelligence, be prepared to change your habits... regularly

The attitude required for success is beautifully described in this passage from the Tao Te Ching:


Human beings are
     soft and supple when alive,
     stiff and straight when dead.


The myriad creatures, the grasses and trees are
     soft and fragile when alive,
     dry and withered when dead.


Therefore, it is said:
     The rigid person is a disciple of death;
     The soft, supple, and delicate are lovers of life.


An army that is inflexible will not conquer;
A tree that is inflexible will snap.


The unyielding and mighty shall be brought low;
The soft, supple, and delicate will be set above.


—Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way by Lao Tzu, in a new translation by Victor H. Mair, Bantam Books, 1990