Eeyore speaks!
--- In [email protected], turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> What is the sound that causes the most disparate reactions in people?
> Some can hear this sound and react with fury in the moment of hearing
> it, and seemingly hold on to that fury for years, basing whole vendettas
> on it. Others can hear the same sound and join in, as if adding harmony
> to an already-sweet song. To the former, this sound closes the door on
> any possible future communication or resonance with the person or
> persons who laughed at them forever; it is perceived as an affront that
> can never be forgiven, an offense that should and must be punished. To
> the latter, the same sound actually *opens* doors to enhanced
> communication and increased resonance; it is perceived as an invitation
> to expand one's awareness, both of self and of the world.
>
> The sound in question is laughter. In particular, the sound of other
> people laughing at you.
>
> I've heard this sound a lot, because I studied with a spiritual teacher
> who used it as almost a mahavakya to facilitate breakthroughs to higher
> states of attention. Rama would poke merciless fun at us, his students,
> often in front of an audience of hundreds of other students.
>
> Whatever else he might have been, Rama was a natural comedian, as fast
> on his feet as Robin Williams; he could find something funny in almost
> any situation. He specialized in "finding the funny" in situations that
> almost everyone around him treated with deadly seriousness. One of the
> things that almost every spiritual aspirant takes seriously is their
> self -- its stories, its importance, and above all its very seriousness.
> This 'tude is seemingly endemic to the spiritual seeker, and often to
> the spiritual path itself, as reflected by the very language that path
> uses. A "good" student is described as a "serious" student; a "proper"
> attitude to the study itself is described as "taking it seriously."
>
> Color me not convinced of this. I'm with Christian philosopher G.K.
> Chesterton, who said, "Seriousness is not a virtue." Not only do I agree
> with him that there is no virtue in seriousness, I have come to believe
> that seriousness is the very antithesis of spiritual practice. I believe
> this because the few human beings I have encountered on this planet whom
> I would suspect of being enlightened or close to it were funny as hell;
> they could find a joke in *anything*. Including themselves.
>
> Rama felt similarly. What was best about him is that he wisely included
> himself in the list of "viable targets for humor." He was remarkably
> self-effacing, and made himself the butt of his own jokes as often as he
> did us. In my 14-odd (very odd) years with him, I shared the limelight
> with him many times, and became the butt of many of his jokes.
>
> Some of them roasted me mercilessly, and resulted in many of my fellow
> students joining in the laughter. This presented me with a koan: "What
> is the sound of one person not laughing, in a room full of laughing
> people?" Fortunately, in almost every case I decided that the answer to
> that koan was "An absolute boob who has started to take himself FAR too
> seriously," lightened the fuck up, and joined in the laughter.
>
> I rank doing so right up there with my highest satori experiences in
> this life. Without exception, every time I managed to break through the
> self importance of seriousness, I found my self dwindling to the tiny,
> mischevious, and genuinely laughable imp it really was, and being
> replaced by Self. There is IMO very little in life as liberating as
> being able to laugh at oneself, and one's self.
>
> IMO, the proper "soundtrack" of the movie or soap opera that is the
> pathway to enlightenment is laughter. If your path doesn't have a "laugh
> track," you might want to consider grabbing the remote and changing the
> channel.
>
> The sound of laughter -- especially when people are laughing at you --
> is a double-edged sword. It presents you with a koan. You can choose to
> reply to that koan with outrage and anger, or you can choose to lighten
> the fuck up and join in the laughter. Or, even better, take the joke
> that you are the butt of and riff on it, not only joining in with the
> laughter but "piling on" and provoking an even bigger laugh.
>
> I've been reminded of such an occasion recently on the Rama-oriented
> forum I've mentioned recently. One woman recapitulated one of her
> all-time highest experiences with the dude. It was at one of our formal
> dinners -- the guys all wearing tuxedos, the women in evening dresses; I
> think we were having dinner at the Pierre in NYC. At any rate, that
> night she was feeling "off," having sunk into a period of taking herself
> and the study far too seriously. Rama, himself dressed in a tux, walked
> up to the table at which she was sitting with about ten other students,
> and "made the rounds," making some comment about each of their states of
> attention that night, from his point of view. He got to her, stopped,
> and said, "You are awfully serious lately. You should masturbate more."
>
> She replied immediately and instinctively, "More?"
>
> Everyone cracked up, including him. She had a major satori experience,
> and wound up residing in enlightened states of mind for some weeks
> afterwards. Go figure.
>
