--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I once heard an > interesting talk from a Tibetan teacher on this idea > of "working through stuff." > > His view was that the "crap" has no existence; to focus > on it in an attempt to "work through it" tends to give > it existence, and activate something that is otherwise > inactive. In his very traditional view, the "crap" > is related to states of attention. A certain level of > "internal crap" is just how one sees things *from* a > certain state of attention. His view was that it's > impossible to "work through" the crap of that state of > attention because there is an infinite amount of it. > Focusing on the crap is like turning on a faucet that > is fed by an infinite lake of that particular brand of > crap. No matter how much of it you "work through" as > it flows through the faucet, there is always more. > > In other words, you could convince yourself that you've > "worked through" all the anger that you've got inside > you, and be free from it for some time. But the minute > you allow your mind to shift back into state of attention > in which anger is an attribute, bing! there is anger > again. > > So his approach was very Tibetan traditional. Become > more aware of your ever-fluctuating states of attention, > and use your free will and intention to not dwell in > the ones that have "lower" attributes (like anger or > jealousy), prefering the states of attention that have > "higher" attributes (like love and compassion). > > Sounds a little like mood-making, but I can assure you > that with the proper training in identifying one's > fluctuating relative states of attention and then > shifting from one to another easily, it isn't the > same thing at all. It's more like, "Oh, there's that > anger sucker again. I know how I feel whenever I > indulge in it, and don't particularly want to feel > that way again. Therefore I will shift my state of > attention to one that is shinier and more productive." > > I'm not saying that this approach is "better," I'm > just presenting it as another POV on the subject. > This approach, when you analyze it, is a lot like > "When you become aware that you are not thinking the > dharma, easily think the dharma." :-) > > Unc
good description. The key seems to be the difference between denying 'that anger sucker', and accepting it. Paradoxically, the less we are attached to it, the easier it is to accept it, and then to be able to easily put the attention somewhere else. To deny anger, i.e. mood making, is just creating a fantasy and really isn't very helpful to growth except to eventually wake up to the impotence of the fantasy. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
