Meditational energy is not emotional energy. However, within meditation, emotional energy may arise. It is wonderful when it comes up during meditation, when we are in silence, for it is an opportunity to observe what emotions really are. In meditation there isn’t any extraneous stimulus — anything from the outside to trigger emotions.
When emotions arise during meditation, we have an opportunity to be totally observant, in a very neutral way. One can experience the emotion completely, without assigning cause, without blaming oneself or others, without expressing, without making someone wrong, without overpowering anyone. There is space for total observation, totally being emotion, being aware of what we truly are as human beings, how we are put together psycho-physically, as spiritual beings.
What I mean by spiritual beings is that the mass we are is spiritual, in the sense that these organisms are energy of space, of the Universe. This (pointing to her body) is not energy separate from the Universe, you know. This is Universe!
“Spiritual”, to us, means something ethereal, something that is not seen or touched, just like air. It is said that Spirit is breath.
So we are really Spirit, breathing air. That air becomes these organisms, obviously. These organisms don’t survive without oxygen. We are, then, space, air, transformed into mass — bodies. We are that spirit, that space — that is, the Universe — and within that context of being this Universe, we are beings that are emotional — beings in which emotions occur.
When there is no awareness of totality, then emotions become very big, important, and we are very attached to them. Quite often they can be extremely uncomfortable! Not all emotions are welcomed by us, right? But they are happenings in the organism, and one emotion is no better than the other — not really — not if you look at the human organism as an aggregate of energy, an aggregate of molecules, and chemistry, and so on.
If you look at it just purely from the chemistry point of view, then an emotion is either one chemistry happening, or another chemistry happening. That would be an objective way of looking at emotions, and also a way of experiencing them as sensations. In sensation, for example, what makes cold or hot for us is the way in which we interpret. Something very cold can seem very hot if we expect it to be hot.
Emotions, then, may be an interpretation of the brain. It may be the way that we interpret all that is occurring in us. (Ligia speaks reflectively) . . . That’s kind of an interesting thing . . . To experience emotion totally, as an occurrence in our organism, is to be in meditation — in a meditational state.
For most of us on this planet, emotions are a source of trouble! But they needn’t get us in any trouble at all, as long as we are willing to see and experience ourselves just as we are — exactly as we are — without trying to be something other than the emotional beings we are. Meditation is very efficacious for that. It might sound incorrect to say that meditation and emotions go together, but they are both part of the whole that we are, as human beings.
Our problem is that we separate being quiet, and at ease, from emotions, which are more like eruptions in the system. But in fact, we can be both at the same time. Maybe that seems contradictory; it may seem paradoxical. But we are really paradoxical beings, capable of a lot more than we think we are capable of.
So to be meditational in a moment of anger — what does that mean? Is it possible to be meditational in a moment of feeling sorry for ourselves . . . ? feeling bad about ourselves . . . ? beating ourselves up? Can we be meditational at that moment? The more we meditate, perhaps, the more we have an opportunity for that to occur.
When meditation is a way of being, where everything is included — nothing is excluded — and when we do not try to be better than we are, or try to accomplish something, there are a lot more opportunities for experiencing that totality. When there aren’t any specific goals we have to achieve, then all goals are possible! If all goals are possible, then meditation is not specific, but rather all encompassing. Of course, not everyone has that point of view about meditation.
Most people who teach meditation have a particular point of view. What is being suggested here, has no point of view . . . it is about including everything. Of course, from our consciousness directed by points of view, this would be another point of view, you see, and that would be correct. From a consciousness that only sees points of view, a holistic way of looking at things would be interpreted as just another point of view.
Therefore, one may come to a point of view of no point of view! That is a different dimension of awareness, of consciousness, which contains all points of view. For if one is in an outlook of no point of view, then all points of view must be included in it. Totality includes all particulars, all pieces.
So, just as this state of meditation is a point of view of totality, or a point of view of no point of view, we are capable of seeing ourselves that way. We can experience ourselves in that manner, too. As long as we are no longer this particular self — this particular unit, this particular individual who is so important — as soon as that definite point of view disappears, and the totality emerges for us, then we will begin to experience no-suffering. Those are precious moments. Our relationships are different; they are more harmonious, and the inner life is in harmony too.
I imagine some of you may be asking, “How do you come to that? How do you achieve that ?” That would be the usual question . . . The same brain that has everything in an emotional uproar, and in conflict, truly cannot achieve other than different points of view — thus more conflict. It is as though that brain has to relax about conflict, points of view, emotionality, and so on . . . and what allows it to relax, is periods of silence. The more time you dedicate yourself to that kind of silence, that kind of relaxing, the more opportunity there is for something other than the brain activity — the peacefulness that is not of the brain — to come over the entire organism.
Perhaps that is why monks take time to contemplate, and for such long periods of time. But we cannot all be monks, you know, and operate that way in the world . . . Or can we? The challenge is how to live a monk’s life without being a monk! Is that possible?
Actually, it is possible for any human being . . .every kind of human being. . . for we are all the same. Some may have more of an opportunity than others, but the ability is there in everyone alike . . .
I think it’s your turn to talk . . . What do you suggest?