Good day everyone!
We are asked to comment on and compare the two Contemplative Practices we've been shown with respect to how we related to each and the differences and similarities that exist. I would first comment that both are, for me, very helpful as I find myself drawn to the time it takes to listen. I become so relaxed that I have to fight to stay awake - likely a result of deep breathing for such a period of time. It surely works doesnt it?
Dacher explains that cultivating an attitude of loving-kindness is necessary to reducing our preoccupation with ourselves and our immediate needs and concerns. Instead, we begin to add others to our thought process and develop concern and compassion for people outside of our circle of loved ones. This concept is unique in that it also invites us to bring thoughts of compassion, forgiveness and love to ourselves because in order to show loving-kindness to others, we must first be at ease with showing it to ourselves - it is called turning it "inward". This is important.
The Loving-Kindness practice is accurately described as simple and gentle. It is gentle though it is described as "the most potent anecdote to destructive emotions like anger, fear, intolerance, jealousy, pride and greed." I find this to be a powerful statement and one that I have repeated to myself over and again. This practice is also simple as you are invited to practice calming the mind, decreasing the excessive and random thoughts through the breath in order to let the mind consider others. This may be difficult for the same reason any other practice like it would be: we are just not accustomed to remaning quiet and staying with one thought.
The SubtleMind Practice is a somewhat different experience in that the focus is on the listener and the immediate goal is that the practitioner, over time, gets close to glimpsing that first alternate level of consciousness, the witnessing mind where thoughts are observed but not reacted to. I would characterize this as more of a training than the Loving-Kindness practice, which for me, may be closer to prayer.
Both practices yield positive results, a slowing down of the body, a quieting of the mental chatter that has been so accurately described for us. These and other methods of contemplative practice are easily seen as part of developing what Dacher refers to as our inner worlds, which allows us to begin our work towards mental, emotional and physical improvement. This is referred to as the mind-body-spirit connection and it describes something of a triangle of elements related to superior health or wellness. Integral health, also referred to as ultimate health, is based on a combination of our biological wellness, our spiritual health or having a developed inner world, and our mental and emotional stability all of which count on one another.
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Have you noticed that those random thoughts that keep us from the still mind are thoughts of past events and that they repeat like the song that never ends. I walked around my house all week listening to the “voices” in my head trying to decide where in the world they are coming from and why they are cropping up. I might be tempted to think that they (random thoughts) are unresolved issues in my life but as I examine them they become petty and unimportant. I am grateful for the calm-abiding mind and looking forward to the experience of unity consciousness. (Dacher promises it will come naturally from calm-abiding).
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