aware & non-reactive…
What Is This- Part II?
by meditative - November 29th, 2010.Filed under: Insights for Mindful Intelligence.
Happiness and suffering are ways of being…
We sit to examine and to explore. This is not intellectual endeavor, but an experiential process. In our process of asking the questions and deepening our inquiry and intent, we begin to bridge the gap between the way things appear and the way things are. Our attitude and perspective is not just conditioned solely on our curiosity to investigate phenomena of mind, it arises from the understanding that an incorrect perception of reality inevitably leads to our own suffering. To grasp and attach to our “self-made” reality often conditions afflictive emotions and mental states that are the primary cause of “mind-made” sufferings.
We sit not only to uncover the mystery of our nature, but to engage and embrace a therapeutic process of connecting to the root causes of our own suffering. We ask… what is the mechanism of happiness and suffering?
We are historically driven by the impulse to seek what is pleasurable and avoid what is not. Happiness is no more a series of pleasurable sensations and/or experiences than suffering is a series of non-pleasurable sensations and/or experiences. To be genuinely happy and to be free from suffering is a state related to wisdom and to being attuned to reality.
Mind training and meditation practice not only serve the practitioner, but all of humanity. From where we sit, we extend equanimous regard and care for mind/heart and body. When mind training and meditation foster and perpetuate deep, meaningful, and purposeful intention- the practitioner emerges with a more compassionate and empathic Way of being. What is this… becomes known as it relates to everything that is experienced. Our consciousness of knowing is not a destination in absolute revelation- it is a continual process of unfolding and emerging with an awareness of what is directly experienced… to see the truth of reality as it is.. in constant flux.