|
(first class)
These are things I hope to set you out looking for, which are always there with you in your immediate environment, "right under your nose," you might say, and yet they go unseen. They are unnoticed in this "realm of shadows" I am speaking of. And you can "bring these invisible factors to light." First of all, appropriate to the term, I'd like for you to look around in your field of vision. right there before you, and see if you can find any little shadows. If you find any, look closely at each of them, please. Maybe you couldn't find any. Try this one. Look around and see if you can find any little places that are glistening with light, light reflected from wherever. And if you find any, look at these places very closely. Now you have been there at your desk perhaps many times. Can you be frank with yourself and tell yourself that you have not noticed these shadows or glistening places before? You may have reasons for that. They do not matter to you. And so you may be inclined to give them little of your attention. And that's perfectly okay. I'm only pointing out that they are there. And even if you have noticed them before--as they are, after all, "right in front of your eyes"--for the most part we could say that they are completely invisible to you most of the time. Do you see what I mean?
I find a whole world of little shadows, down among the keys of my keyboard right down here. I never see that. There are little shadows all over my desk. I don't notice them. And there is a nice glistening reflection on the top of my mouse (which is very beautifully shaped, I notice now, as I see it). I'm reflecting that I've sat for many, many hours at my own desk here, especially during the last few days, getting the kindergarten ready for opening day now, and that means countless times (in this same lighting) that my hand has reached over and palmed that beautiful streamlined mouse, unknowingly covering over this same glistening spot every one of those times, without knowing it was there. Ha! I don't remember ever seeing that glistening spot before. It is part of the "shadow world" for me, the part that I never see, although it is always right here with me. Can you empathize with what I am saying? For there is much more that is in this shadow realm than the shadows themselves, and the glistening spots. For instance, please look at your desk. I mean, don't just see that your desk is there, but please actually look at the actual surface of your desk, and let the detail of it "come into high relief" for you. Does it have a color, or shades of colors? A texture? Is there some detail to it? Some pattern? Grain? Is there dust on it? Any nicks or marks? Initials carved into it, perhaps? Does it have shadows and brightened places on its surface? Notice as many details as you can can see there. Maybe you can tell what it is made of--where it came from out of this earth. (For every thing has come out of the dirt and rocks of this earth, and before that from the Sun, that put it all here.) Can you see anything of the cosmic history of your desk in what is before your eyes? Reach over and put the palm of your hand on your desk, and see what you can feel. Tune in to that very closely. Perhaps you can feel some temperature--warm, neutral, cool. And you can feel its hardness, too. If you forgot that, put your palm back there and feel that hardness. It's just the way it is. In fact, when you are doing things there at your desk, you may be able to hear sounds that your desk contributes to making, when you put things down on it, perhaps, or when you slap your hand down on it, inadvertently, when you are thinking. Put something down on your desk and see if you can hear anything. Slap your hand down on your desk, as you may have done at some time in the past, and see if there is any perceptible sound. Those sounds may have happened before, but did you hear them? If you bump a knee against the side it makes a sound. But did you hear it when that happened the last time? Such little sounds as these are also in the "realm of shadows." When you bring them out, on purpose, as we are doing here, and notice them, then they come into the "realm of light," as we call it here. They are awarenesses. I'm only sort of kidding, but we might say that your desk has been talking to you with these little sounds that it has helped you to make. And in the little vivid details that you have noticed during these exercises, you could say that your desk has an "expression" that it shows you--when you team up with it to do the work and play that you enjoy here again and again. Your desk has its own voice, and its own expressions on its face. But do you listen, or see?
What of the other sounds that are going on in the environment around you? They are probably in the realm of shadows, too. Tune-in, for a little while (actually, do this for one minute, please). Hear the sounds that are audible to you during this very time. Hear them all together, as a kind of "natural symphony," and hear them one at a time, and tune-in closely to each of them. Did any new ones come up while you were listening? Was it very, very silent? This symphony of sounds is changing throughout the day. But do you hear it? Perhaps you can have a sense of your being there, while this class has been going on now, and these different sounds that resonate at different times in your environment have been "going on without you," so to speak. You have been there. They have been going on intermittantly, as they do. And you have not been hearing them. Usually people only hear a certain few of the sounds that happen around them. They "tune all the rest of them out." It is actually more accurate to say that we just don't bother to tune them in. For they are there, around us, all the time. Even if it is total silence, that is the symphony of that moment. But usually there is something that can be heard. Yet, so often it isn't! It remains in the realm of shadows, unperceived. You may be more aware of these sounds, now, as you are reading along. Good, if that's so! I don't mean that you should always be listening to these unimportant sounds, these sounds that really "don't matter." I only mean to show you that they are there. And you can hear them if you choose to, at any time. ln any given moment that you decide to, you can shift the focus of your attention from whatever you are paying attention to, and, by your own volition, you can hear the symphony of sounds. Go ahead, do it again.
We are examining your sense of sight, and your sense of hearing here. These are two of your five ordinary human senses. Well, we also got into your sense of touch when you felt the top of your desk. There will be some exercises for smelling and tasting in a later kindergarten class. But, in our first class today, we are focusing on seeing, and hearing. And we are using these natural senses to study the idea that you are living in a world of shadows, which can, if you learn how to choose to do it, be brought into the light. This world can be brought into sharp focus and high relief. And the reason for bothering to do this is that we do not live in a realm of sharp focus and high relief. We live in a realm that is out of focus, only vaguely there. We see well enough that we don't walk into door jams when we going into the other room. But we don't really see these door jams as we are passing, we only vaguely know that they are there. I'd like you to look at the ceiling that is above you, please. Look at it very closely, and see its fine detail. Now, please have a look at the floor. Push your chair back so you can see a big piece of it. And let the "suchness" of it, the "phenomenogy" of it, the sheer nature of it, "come on" for you. You have walked over that floor how many times? You have placed your feet into that patch of floor again and again as you have seated yourself before your computer there. And you're absolutely right. You know that it's there. You never hesitate, when you get there, as if you might be stepping into a hole! But have you seen it. Did you see the floor today before now? We walk everywhere over the floor, and yet we do not see the floor we walk on. In the Bible it says that it does not fall to us to measure and direct our own steps. We are not aware of it, as we walk. We are not aware of what we walk on, or the rest of the world around. It is all in the realm of shadows. Yet we manage to find our way through. If there is carpet there, you have now seen the very "rugness" of it, the just-exactly-what-it-can-be-seen-to-be of it. "The thing in itself." "Carpet" or "rug" is just a symbol for it. Words are just "non-sense sounds" that have been applied to the world of reality. When we memorize them in association with real things, we don't have to see the world of reality any more, because we've got a word for it. But there is a lot there to be seen, if we will just look, and see. Tune-in very sensitively to the symphony of sounds in the environment around you for another whole minute. In addition to "brightening up" the obvious sounds in the room for yourself, see if there are any other sounds you haven't noticed before that can be heard. For instance, do you perhaps make some sounds as you are breathing, moving around, touching things? In the world of light, things are seen for exactly what they are. No hype. No promises. No theories. No speculation. It is simple, obvious, and apparent. What you see is what you get. What you hear is what you get. If it is in the direct present perception of one of your five ordinary senses, then it is in this world of light that I am speaking about. It is "an awareness," we call it here.
Go around as much as you'd like today, or for several days, practicing using your senses of hearing and seeing to shift things that are in the realm of shadows into the realm of light this way. The way things are for us, we may walk around "half asleep." We know the walls go on standing there, and the roof is still on the house, and yet we seldom see any of it, we seldom really focus on what is right before our eyes. We are sort of here. We are sort of connected with the world. We are sort of awake. We sort of see, and sort of hear. But we do not (in the ordinary human condition) come all the way forth like this with the presence of mind to remember that we have this delightful capacity built right in to who we are as human beings. We can see. We can hear. We can really see, and really here, like this. We can transform a world that is in shadows--a world of vivid sights and clarified sounds that we usually ignore and do not really focus on--and bring this world into directly brilliant perception: into a realm of light. Keep doing this, as often as you can remember to. This is called "having awarenesses." It may take leaving some reminders around for yourself, or keeping a notebook of reminders. The only hard part about this is remembering to do it. You must find ways to remind yourself, if you wish to learn these skills. For now, bring many things around you into vivid high relief, as you have done with your desk in this class. And hear the always changing symphony of sounds, whenever you can remember to, bringing each sound that you hear into focus. You are on the way to becoming able to shift from the ordinary human condition and the ordinary state of human consciousness into an awakened state that you will be able to "ride around in," transforming the whole world from shadows into light, whenever you wish, and wherever you go. This is just the very beginning, so far, of what you can learn in this kindergarten here. See ya' again. Have a good one! Adios! Aloha! -- John
Puzzle:
· · · · Answer: the gleam in my mouse. ContactWebmaster 
|