Yet again, Joan, your comments, always different and fresh, always the same, proclaim that awakening is already here and now. I am what I am, and cannot be otherwise. We (all readers, all sentient beings) are what we are, together. I feel, know and appreciate the equality of Love, Presence and Awareness, perhaps more than ever. Deep gratitude, colleague and friend.
Beautiful post, Joan. I enjoyed that image of your mother getting up to pull the blanket over you, it was so tender and very much the essence of loving presence.
Reading your post, I am reminded of Buckminster Fuller's quote: "I sense I am a verb!"
I have trouble with using the word love as a noun rather than as an action and feeling - loving. Loving is not a 'thing' but an energetic experience. We live our lives on a continuum of being open and loving to being closed and judging. Yes, these are all aspects of love and life rather than solid 'things' such as love or hate.
Your opening discussion of 'presence' says it pretty well in that our conscious minds (the part of us that wants to pigeonhole things into categories) cannot fathom the unlimited expanse of full frontal presence. We can though achieve a 'felt sense' of the flow of the Tao, the ultimate 'Verb.' Notice that Bucky says he "senses" his 'verb-ness.' The Tao can't be known, but it can be experienced.
If loving becomes a physical action, then we can gain some 'ownership' over our feelings and where we are on the 'loving continuum.' You mentioned the phrase "unconditional love" which is problematic since most adults come equipped with a full array of 'conditions.' I have a definition of adult unconditional loving as finding the conditions where I can still feel open and loving. There are both internal and external "conditions" such as abusive behavior from others to personal impediments such as lack of sleep and/or caffeine. Again, loving happens on a dynamic continuum constantly adjusting to a wide range of factors.
I can practice being loving by maintaining my personal health and also by setting dynamic boundaries with others honoring a wide range of human conditions. Living it seems is loving.
Well, there's a lot here, and I'm not sure if I'll respond to all of it. I resonate with Bucky's sense of being a verb. And I resonate very much with the notion of verbs offering a more accurate map of reality than nouns, albeit both are maps, and I still do use nouns. But I sometimes speak of awaring rather than awareness. And I resonate very much with the Buddhist understanding of emptiness as everything being empty of any persisting or independent existence, everything being impermanent (the flux being so thorough-going that no-thing ever even forms to BE impermanent) and interdependent—i.e., it’s all relationship, as in Indra’s Net, each jewel a reflection of all the others. I also resonate with the Taoist perspective. I'm closer to both of these than to the Advaita notion of an unchanging ground, although I do still have a bit of that--which I'm always questioning. And it is in that context that I speak of awareness or God or unconditional love as the groundless ground (while again, still questioning this). I certainly agree that as humans, we fluctuate between many emotional states and are not always open and loving.
Thanks again Joan. The beginning and end is Presence. So obvious and so often overlooked ! I feel it levels everything, which is why it's probably so often overlooked.
Joan, Thank you for this article and for directing my attention to another helpful book. Your reliable librometrics over the years have provided me with much good advice and endless encouragement.
Very thought provoking: Here are the questions and explorations that pop up for me after reading your deep dive into the mystery of being.
Exploring the inside and outside boundaries- can I really see them-do they exist?
What does the word God mean to me? What is my feeling of God?
I love the exploration of seeing if actions come from fear or from love.
I definitely can see how I hook onto political or any viewpoints and defend them and insist to convince others driven by righteousness and judgement. I am right!- but I also can see how easily I am convinced by others points of view if I am in fear.
So, there is definitely lots of material to explore.
I love the "love story" of your mother covering you with a blanket and your mother's parties. That says it all!
I also love the acknowledgment of the "presence" of books. Books changed my active awareness and my sense of love.
Thank you Joan. Your eloquent writing and insightful observations deepen understanding and bring me into awareness and love. It's a treasure to be called back there, to remain there and live from there. One in Love.
I enjoyed reading that text Joan. And loved the quote at the end.
Yet again, Joan, your comments, always different and fresh, always the same, proclaim that awakening is already here and now. I am what I am, and cannot be otherwise. We (all readers, all sentient beings) are what we are, together. I feel, know and appreciate the equality of Love, Presence and Awareness, perhaps more than ever. Deep gratitude, colleague and friend.
Beautiful post, Joan. I enjoyed that image of your mother getting up to pull the blanket over you, it was so tender and very much the essence of loving presence.
Reading your post, I am reminded of Buckminster Fuller's quote: "I sense I am a verb!"
I have trouble with using the word love as a noun rather than as an action and feeling - loving. Loving is not a 'thing' but an energetic experience. We live our lives on a continuum of being open and loving to being closed and judging. Yes, these are all aspects of love and life rather than solid 'things' such as love or hate.
Your opening discussion of 'presence' says it pretty well in that our conscious minds (the part of us that wants to pigeonhole things into categories) cannot fathom the unlimited expanse of full frontal presence. We can though achieve a 'felt sense' of the flow of the Tao, the ultimate 'Verb.' Notice that Bucky says he "senses" his 'verb-ness.' The Tao can't be known, but it can be experienced.
If loving becomes a physical action, then we can gain some 'ownership' over our feelings and where we are on the 'loving continuum.' You mentioned the phrase "unconditional love" which is problematic since most adults come equipped with a full array of 'conditions.' I have a definition of adult unconditional loving as finding the conditions where I can still feel open and loving. There are both internal and external "conditions" such as abusive behavior from others to personal impediments such as lack of sleep and/or caffeine. Again, loving happens on a dynamic continuum constantly adjusting to a wide range of factors.
I can practice being loving by maintaining my personal health and also by setting dynamic boundaries with others honoring a wide range of human conditions. Living it seems is loving.
Well, there's a lot here, and I'm not sure if I'll respond to all of it. I resonate with Bucky's sense of being a verb. And I resonate very much with the notion of verbs offering a more accurate map of reality than nouns, albeit both are maps, and I still do use nouns. But I sometimes speak of awaring rather than awareness. And I resonate very much with the Buddhist understanding of emptiness as everything being empty of any persisting or independent existence, everything being impermanent (the flux being so thorough-going that no-thing ever even forms to BE impermanent) and interdependent—i.e., it’s all relationship, as in Indra’s Net, each jewel a reflection of all the others. I also resonate with the Taoist perspective. I'm closer to both of these than to the Advaita notion of an unchanging ground, although I do still have a bit of that--which I'm always questioning. And it is in that context that I speak of awareness or God or unconditional love as the groundless ground (while again, still questioning this). I certainly agree that as humans, we fluctuate between many emotional states and are not always open and loving.
Thanks again Joan. The beginning and end is Presence. So obvious and so often overlooked ! I feel it levels everything, which is why it's probably so often overlooked.
Joan, Thank you for this article and for directing my attention to another helpful book. Your reliable librometrics over the years have provided me with much good advice and endless encouragement.
Joan, what Presence expresses through you for me is authenticity, relatable and a willingness to lean into vulnerability of God is Love
Truly beautiful.
Great to see you here Joan. I enjoyed your reflections as usual.
Very thought provoking: Here are the questions and explorations that pop up for me after reading your deep dive into the mystery of being.
Exploring the inside and outside boundaries- can I really see them-do they exist?
What does the word God mean to me? What is my feeling of God?
I love the exploration of seeing if actions come from fear or from love.
I definitely can see how I hook onto political or any viewpoints and defend them and insist to convince others driven by righteousness and judgement. I am right!- but I also can see how easily I am convinced by others points of view if I am in fear.
So, there is definitely lots of material to explore.
I love the "love story" of your mother covering you with a blanket and your mother's parties. That says it all!
I also love the acknowledgment of the "presence" of books. Books changed my active awareness and my sense of love.
thank you!
Thank you Joan. Your eloquent writing and insightful observations deepen understanding and bring me into awareness and love. It's a treasure to be called back there, to remain there and live from there. One in Love.