Awesome, thank you for the reminder that even when I know it’s a movie,🎥 I get sucked back in. It seems like either I am enjoying the dance or I’m complaining about where I am on the Dancefloor or my partner is not dancing properly. It all seems so real at the time! Like you beautifully said, when I go to the root, What is found is the identification with some fragment that I consider real. When seen, the trance is broken for the moment. It’s nice to know that I get second chances, continuously. Much love, Christopher.
Namaste 🙏 Mid read, giant crying devastating heart surged. Eyes like pandas and tears. No nameno blame...before that. Watching Gaza broke this heart and no rationalisations, or it's a dream, or blah blah has helped much. Spiritual community not touching it furthers my attachment. Now reading this somehow the crying and to honour the crying by being present, to notice even the way light reflects gold through tears dripping off a nose. Who 'nose' 😊 where it goes, As being, and witness. Thankyou for this piece and Merry Christmas 🤶 🎄 💖
Every so often, something wonderful comes along to remind me: I’m the Israelis, I am Gaza, Palestinian, United States citizen, politician, tax-payer and the tax-paid. I’m the elite and I’m those living in abject poverty ... I’m the bomber and I am the bombed. I am all of it. Thank you for bringing and being this wonderful reminder, Joan. 🙏🏼
Loved the way you state this. It's so freeing to give up grasping at the unknowable, and just be:
"When we let go of all our attempts to grasp the ungraspable, to resolve the unresolvable, to control the uncontrollable, to make sense of what is infinitely complex and ever-changing, we find an immense joy and freedom in simply being alive, being no-thing and everything, holding on to nothing at all, not knowing what all this is and not needing to know. "
Joan, many many thanks and kudos to this telling. Do I get it all at once, probably not. Am I certain and clear how to go about this realization, mostly not. But, I am experiencing such a calm glee in reading your thoughts and tasting yours word brings on scenes where I am a squirrel content in its pose of alertness and stillness, as one with the branch of a tree, unseparated, unbounded. much love and gratitude
Mostly now I just watch the squirrels and birds on my back porch - sometimes reading what people are writing - then focusing out to them again. Thanks for saying that you are a squirrel!!
I’ve only recently discovered your wise and open-hearted reflections and am finding them very helpful. Yet I struggle with the letting go of the awareness of the immense suffering in Gaza. To detach from that story feels irresponsible; how can I forgive myself and others for looking away? I will sit with this. Blessings and peace to you.
Thank you for your heartfelt comment. When I speak of surrendering or letting go, I'm not talking about detaching, looking away or letting go of the awareness of what's happening in Gaza. What I found myself exploring in this post was how our identification with certain groups contributes to the emotional charge we feel, how for example the survival of the Palestinians gets conflated with the survival of "me," the mirage-like separate self. When that conflation is seen through and when that desperation to survive as "me" relaxes, in my experience, we are able to respond much more intelligently and open-heartedly to a situation like Gaza than we can when we are caught in that self-rooted emotional storm.
Where we go with that insight and release will vary with each person. For some, it might mean no longer watching the News at all, or watching it less, and for others it might mean getting more deeply involved in trying to change what's happening.
Not watching the News might, in some cases, mean we are in a more peaceful place, and since nothing is really separate, that peace extends in some way to Gaza and the whole world, and also to those around us. So that might be the best gift we can offer. For others, we might find ourselves more able to engage in protest, educational work, or aid work from a place of greater equanimity and love.
Speaking for myself, in the immediate aftermath of Oct 7, I was pretty obsessed with the whole situation--listening to a wide variety of podcasts and reading articles--and writing and sharing things on Substack, and now I'm taking in much less. I'm still following the situation to some extent--I'm not turning away--but I no longer feel like it is consuming me. And when I felt myself firing off that email recently, I got curious about what was at the root of my anger--how was it hooking me--what was I most deeply defending or fearing? And that led me to write this post.
But I'm not suggesting this is how everyone should respond. I'm very glad there are many people moved to go out into the streets and protest. I'm glad there are journalists and others covering it and analyzing it. I'm glad there are aid workers and people like Doctors Without Borders who go into harm's way to help. I'm glad there are a few courageous people in public positions and in government who dare to speak up for the Palestinians even in some cases at risk of losing their jobs. But none of these activities seems to be my calling. At the moment, my calling (what life moves me to do) seems to be writing this article. We each have different roles to play.
But I personally always tend to be dubious about forms of spirituality or nonduality that are about ignoring, denying or totally transcending the world. Like you, I'm not comfortable with turning away. As a former political activist, the reconciliation of my caring for the world and my spiritual waking up has been one of my on-going, lifelong koans. I haven't come to any neat resolution--it keeps on unfolding.
Thank you so much for this very kind and thoughtful response, Joan. It really helps me understand (or begin to) the difference between my “hooked” engagement (which causes additional pain) and a different kind of being-with which allows more space, choice, and indeed peace. I see now how my personal identification with it all creates more difficulty. There’s a zone I can sometimes find where I am aware and engaged without falling too far into over-identification with woundedness. In that place I find I can contribute in a meaningful and fitting way for me. I will continue to practice! Again, many thanks for your openness, clarity and wisdom.
💝🙏
Awesome, thank you for the reminder that even when I know it’s a movie,🎥 I get sucked back in. It seems like either I am enjoying the dance or I’m complaining about where I am on the Dancefloor or my partner is not dancing properly. It all seems so real at the time! Like you beautifully said, when I go to the root, What is found is the identification with some fragment that I consider real. When seen, the trance is broken for the moment. It’s nice to know that I get second chances, continuously. Much love, Christopher.
Just like Amazon, you deliver again!🙏
Namaste 🙏 Mid read, giant crying devastating heart surged. Eyes like pandas and tears. No nameno blame...before that. Watching Gaza broke this heart and no rationalisations, or it's a dream, or blah blah has helped much. Spiritual community not touching it furthers my attachment. Now reading this somehow the crying and to honour the crying by being present, to notice even the way light reflects gold through tears dripping off a nose. Who 'nose' 😊 where it goes, As being, and witness. Thankyou for this piece and Merry Christmas 🤶 🎄 💖
Every so often, something wonderful comes along to remind me: I’m the Israelis, I am Gaza, Palestinian, United States citizen, politician, tax-payer and the tax-paid. I’m the elite and I’m those living in abject poverty ... I’m the bomber and I am the bombed. I am all of it. Thank you for bringing and being this wonderful reminder, Joan. 🙏🏼
Thanks again Joan. Happy Holidays. Love your posting a quote by Karl Renz “ There are no happy endings”. Perfectly imperfect! Much Love to all.
Loved the way you state this. It's so freeing to give up grasping at the unknowable, and just be:
"When we let go of all our attempts to grasp the ungraspable, to resolve the unresolvable, to control the uncontrollable, to make sense of what is infinitely complex and ever-changing, we find an immense joy and freedom in simply being alive, being no-thing and everything, holding on to nothing at all, not knowing what all this is and not needing to know. "
Joan, many many thanks and kudos to this telling. Do I get it all at once, probably not. Am I certain and clear how to go about this realization, mostly not. But, I am experiencing such a calm glee in reading your thoughts and tasting yours word brings on scenes where I am a squirrel content in its pose of alertness and stillness, as one with the branch of a tree, unseparated, unbounded. much love and gratitude
Mostly now I just watch the squirrels and birds on my back porch - sometimes reading what people are writing - then focusing out to them again. Thanks for saying that you are a squirrel!!
Want to share this with you, Joan - I'm sure you know Rick Hanson - but also with everyone else here.
https://rickhanson.com/meditation-talk-caring-more-and-caring-less/
Really great post!!!
"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God."
I’ve only recently discovered your wise and open-hearted reflections and am finding them very helpful. Yet I struggle with the letting go of the awareness of the immense suffering in Gaza. To detach from that story feels irresponsible; how can I forgive myself and others for looking away? I will sit with this. Blessings and peace to you.
Thank you for your heartfelt comment. When I speak of surrendering or letting go, I'm not talking about detaching, looking away or letting go of the awareness of what's happening in Gaza. What I found myself exploring in this post was how our identification with certain groups contributes to the emotional charge we feel, how for example the survival of the Palestinians gets conflated with the survival of "me," the mirage-like separate self. When that conflation is seen through and when that desperation to survive as "me" relaxes, in my experience, we are able to respond much more intelligently and open-heartedly to a situation like Gaza than we can when we are caught in that self-rooted emotional storm.
Where we go with that insight and release will vary with each person. For some, it might mean no longer watching the News at all, or watching it less, and for others it might mean getting more deeply involved in trying to change what's happening.
Not watching the News might, in some cases, mean we are in a more peaceful place, and since nothing is really separate, that peace extends in some way to Gaza and the whole world, and also to those around us. So that might be the best gift we can offer. For others, we might find ourselves more able to engage in protest, educational work, or aid work from a place of greater equanimity and love.
Speaking for myself, in the immediate aftermath of Oct 7, I was pretty obsessed with the whole situation--listening to a wide variety of podcasts and reading articles--and writing and sharing things on Substack, and now I'm taking in much less. I'm still following the situation to some extent--I'm not turning away--but I no longer feel like it is consuming me. And when I felt myself firing off that email recently, I got curious about what was at the root of my anger--how was it hooking me--what was I most deeply defending or fearing? And that led me to write this post.
But I'm not suggesting this is how everyone should respond. I'm very glad there are many people moved to go out into the streets and protest. I'm glad there are journalists and others covering it and analyzing it. I'm glad there are aid workers and people like Doctors Without Borders who go into harm's way to help. I'm glad there are a few courageous people in public positions and in government who dare to speak up for the Palestinians even in some cases at risk of losing their jobs. But none of these activities seems to be my calling. At the moment, my calling (what life moves me to do) seems to be writing this article. We each have different roles to play.
But I personally always tend to be dubious about forms of spirituality or nonduality that are about ignoring, denying or totally transcending the world. Like you, I'm not comfortable with turning away. As a former political activist, the reconciliation of my caring for the world and my spiritual waking up has been one of my on-going, lifelong koans. I haven't come to any neat resolution--it keeps on unfolding.
Blessings and peace to you as well. 🙏
Thank you so much for this very kind and thoughtful response, Joan. It really helps me understand (or begin to) the difference between my “hooked” engagement (which causes additional pain) and a different kind of being-with which allows more space, choice, and indeed peace. I see now how my personal identification with it all creates more difficulty. There’s a zone I can sometimes find where I am aware and engaged without falling too far into over-identification with woundedness. In that place I find I can contribute in a meaningful and fitting way for me. I will continue to practice! Again, many thanks for your openness, clarity and wisdom.