Are you Surprised?

In graduate school, I had one professor who encouraged us to notice what surprised or disturbed us. If we were surprised by some statement, it indicated we were assuming that something else was true. If we were disturbed by a comment, it indicated we held a belief contrary to that. Noticing what disturbs me has been an incredibly useful lens into my interior, deeply held beliefs. When I'm shocked at another's position, I have the opportunity to see my own position in greater clarity. When I hear myself saying "How could anyone believe something like that?!" a doorway has opened for me to see what I believe. These moments of true disturbance are great gifts. In making my beliefs visible, they allow me to consciously choose them again, or change them.What if we were to be together and listen to each other's comments with a willingness to expose rather than to confirm our own beliefs and opinions? What if we were to willingly listen to one another with the awareness that we each see the world in unique ways? And with the expectation that I could learn something new if I listen for the differences rather than the similarities?We have this opportunity many times in a day, everyday. What might we see, what might we learn, what might we create together, if we become this kind of listener, one who enjoys the differences and welcomes in disturbance? I know we would be delightfully startled by how much difference there is. And then we would be wonderfully comforted by how much closer we became, because every time we listen well, we move towards each other. From our new thoughts and our new companions, we would all become wiser.It would be more fruitful to explore this strange and puzzling world if we were together. It would also be far less frightening and lonely. We would be together, brought together by our differences rather than separated by them. When we are willing to be disturbed by newness rather than clinging to our certainty, when we are willing to truly listen to someone who sees the world differently, then wonderful things happen. We learn that we don't have to agree with each other in order to explore together. There is no need to be joined together at the head, as long as we are joined together at the heart.

Sands of Time

Why do we consider twenty-four hours to be a day when day is actually the period of time between dawn and dusk? Why does the day begin at midnight? Midnight is the middle of the night, not the middle of the day! Why do we have seven days instead of eight? What's the reason for time? Just because we have a calendar or a clock doesn't mean that we have more or less time. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Sometimes it flies, sometimes it crawls. Most of the time we can never seem to get enough of it. To realize the value of a year, ask a student who received a failing grade. To recognize the value of a month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. To appreciate the value ofa week, ask the person in need of a new heart. To know the value of an hour, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet. To fathom the value of a minute, ask a person who missed the train. To actualize the value of a second, ask the person who just avoided being hit by the train. To measure the value of a millisecond, ask the person who won a gold medal in theOlympics. Imagine there's a bank that credits your account everymorning with $86,400. It keeps no balance from day to day and every evening it deletes the part of the balance that you didn'tuse. What would you do? I would draw out every last cent! We all have a bank like this, it's called time. Every morning it credits us with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off whatever amount that we didn't use. There's no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. We must live in the present on today's deposits. We should invest time carefully as to receive the most we can in health, happiness,love and success. The clock is running, so make the most of it today.

Noticing the Gaps

In the first moment of seeing something or hearing a sound -- and more so if it is unfamiliar -- before the mind names or interprets what you see or hear there is usually a gap of alert attention in which the perception occurs. That is the inner space. Its duration differs from person to person. It is easy to miss because in many people those spaces are extremely short, perhaps only a second or less.
This is what happens: a new sight or sound arises, and in the first moment of perception, there is a brief cessation in the habitual stream of thinking. Consciousness is diverted away from thought because it is required for sense perception. A very unusual sight or sound may leave you "speechless" -- even inside, that is to say, bring about a longer gap.
The frequency and duration of those spaces determine your ability to enjoy life, to feel an inner connectedness with other human beings as well as nature. It also determines the degree to which you are free of ego because ego implies complete unawareness of the dimension of space.
When you become conscious of these brief spaces as they happen naturally, they will lengthen, and as they do, you will experience with increasing frequency the joy of perceiving with little or no interference of thinking.
Inner space also arises whenever you let go of the need to emphasize your form-identity. That need is of the ego. It is not a true need.
Here are some ways in which people unconsciously try to emphasize their form-identity. If you are alert enough, you may be able to detect some of these unconscious patterns within yourself: demanding recognition for something you did and getting angry or upset if you don’t get it; trying to get attention by talking about your problems, the story of your illness, or making a scene, giving your opinion when nobody has asked for it and it makes no difference to the situation; being more concerned with how the other person sees you than with the other person, which is to say using other people for egoic reflection or as ego enhancers taking things personally, feeling offended; making yourself right and others wrong through futile mental complaining; wanting to be seen, or appear important.
Once you have detected such a pattern within yourself, I suggest that you conduct an experiment, Find out what it feels like and what happens if you let go of that pattern. Just drop it and see what happens.
De-emphasizing who you are on the level of form is another way of generating consciousness. Discover the enormous power that flows through you into the world when you stop emphasizing your form identity.