| We got into a discussion about discomfort in the New Age Music
note(588).I thought that I would enter this passage from E.J.Gold's
book Practical Work On Self. I've seem similar things from Tantric
sources; specifically, the Vigyana Bhareiva Tantra (sp?)
RADIATION OF PAIN
Pain and discomfort can be used as an exercise. First we must lessen
their intensity, by extending them outward.
Slowly, using the attention and concentration of half of the
attention, radiate the pain outward into neighboring cells.
As the pain rediates outward, you will notice that the intensity of
the sensation seems to dissolve slightly, like salt in water.
If you add no additional salt, you can radiate pain throughout the
machine(his term for the automatic habitual and unconscious part of our
being) without causing an imbalance elsewhere as a result. Even slight
discomfort such as an itching sensation can be radiated in this way,
providing the force for the awakening of the machine.
In the past, when these small organic pains occurring automatically
in the machine had no purpose for our work to awaken the machine, we
wished at all costs to be rid of them.
Now, perhaps you can see how small, relatively unimportant pains
can help you in your work, by providing your attention with a specific
field of gravitational attraction.
A strong or unusual sensation in the machine can become a tiny
Sun-Absolute from which radiates the force for attention to follow
sensation though the machine.
We can also use sensations which happen to be pleasurable to the
machine, because sensations of pleasure and sensations of pain are
exactly the same, except in the matter of their specific intensity. In
addition, we could use our pains to awaken the machine by following
this method:
First, we must keep in mind that the machine is asleep and that its
sleep is like the sleep of a limb, an arm or leg, in the sense that it
becomes numb. We must then remember what it feels like when the limb
awakens. We begin to feel sharp, uncomfortable sensations which we
commonly call "pins and needles".
Hold this idea while at the same time concentrating on the pains
ordinarily proceeding in the machine get the idea that these are the
same sensations which would occur if a limb had fallen asleep. See and
feel these sensations at the same time holding firmly the idea that
part of the machine is waking up. Encourage these sensations, because
they can bring on the sensations of awakening.
Any unpleasant sensation at all will serve this function, but
particularly one which is characterized by tingling reminescent of the
discomfort first felt when a limb has fallen asleep.
As the sensation is magnified by the attiention, feel the
progressive awakening of the machine.
In this way we use sensations of pain to represent the awakening of
the machine, and in this way prepare ourselves for the real sensations
of awakening when they do come.
The sensations of awakening are nothing to be afraid of; just a
natural and harmless process which is not particularly pleasant, but if
we do not fall back into sleep to avoid the discomfort, these
unpleasant sensations soon pass and the machine will naturally awaken.
the whole world may seem sluggish and dead as we begin to sense the
machine's sleep, but we must find the courage to continue through the
strange sensations, the fears, the apprehensions, the anxieties which
may arise. All this is perfectly normal; after all, we are so
accustomed to the numbing anesthetic of sleep!
Allow yourselves to feel anxious, admit to yourself that you feel
frightened, anxious, even revolted at the idea of finding yourself in a
dead body.
These first feelings will pass. If we allow aourselves to
backslide, it will be ten times harder to approach it again.
So be brave, be courageous. You will experience your imprisonment
in a dead body, but soon the dead body will begin to awaken. Then the
situation will take a new turn; people around you will seem dead-but
not everybody-as you look around, you will see some whose eyes are a
little bit open or very much open. Work with your pains, using them to
reawaken the circulation in this lifeless body, this sleeping machine.
from Practical Work on Self by E.J. Gold. Published by Gateway/ADHHB,
Inc. PO Box 370 Nevada City, CA 95959
john
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