23 October 2017

EXCHANGE BETWEEN DAVID SPERO AND ME-eXPANDED

To David from me:

One thing that is so very, very obvious to me now, almost all of my students are unable to articulate their inner processes, whether it is of energy states, emotions, neediness, loneliness, sadness, Chi, etc., and they tend to speak in very abstract ways about their inner negative experiences, and tend to use otherwise very inappropriate words, and are entirely clueless about their inner worlds, an thus about their external world. And intelligence does not seem to make a difference. The smart and knowledgeable are equally afflicted.

From David to me:

You wrote “...almost all of my students are unable to articulate their inner processes, whether it is of energy states, emotions, neediness, loneliness, sadness, Chi, etc., and tend to speak in very abstract ways about their inner negative experiences, and tend to use very inappropriate words, and are entirely clueless about their inner worlds, an thus about their external world. And intelligence does not seem to make a difference.”

I also face this issue with (many) guests at my events. The problem seems to be that few people actually live in their bodies. They are off in their imaginations somewhere, commenting on “self" from some far-away place, as though they live off-planet. Here’s an example: someone begins talking to me about “enlightenment,” about wanting to be “enlightened,” but as the discussion goes deeper (if it does), it becomes obvious that the real topic is sadness, loneliness, frustration and perhaps even depression. But the whole problem is falsely articulated in terms of “not being able to become enlightened."

Learning “assisted introspection,” and/or “learned articulation” could be helpful, since knowing and expressing one’s feelings is the very definition of authenticity, and any good enlightenment teaching will tell you that the "first commandment" in sadhana is: "Thou shalt be sincere.”

This sort of insincerity goes on spontaneously in such people and it’s chronic, i.e., ongoing—like a stream of consciousness fantasy, where one forgets one is fantasizing.

In such instances, I often have to go to great pains to even begin having a real and sincere discussion, having to even dismiss the initial comments. For immediately I can sense the disconnect between feelings and content of discussion. What is this, in a word? Insanity.

Namaste, David

Ed:

These are true wisdom teachings never heard in Advaita or Zen. But this is my experience. Almost all that come to me have no idea of who or what they are because they are not first, simply human, simply feeling and expressing their feelings.

I have a slightly different take on this inability of many of my students able to express their feelings: They were never taught the words. They were not spoken in their homes. So all the feelings these people have, in a sense are not well-formed. This is what a psychotherapist does: he or she guides the client into looking and feeling within, and giving life and form to undifferentiated emotions and energies. They help clients discover and express them as if they were still toddlers who felt feelings but could not express them because they lacked the words.

This is not really using one's brain, so to speak, but teaching the heart-feelings how to speak for themselves, especially feelings like fear, sadness, loneliness, emptiness, love, wants, and sexual desires. The undifferentiated "soup" of inner energies and unformed feelings become well formed and defined, and each is found to be related in its own way towards the personal self and the external world. This allows the person to be comfortable in his or her body and have an accurate map of the world.

3 comments:

  1. Ed, your comments make sense, but I would argue that Advaita and Zen both address this obsession with the mental process at their very core. Those teachings unflinchingly point to an insane selfing process that tries endlessly to get free from the mental projection of a separate self...noting how, perversely, it wants liberation FOR itself, as a separate self! And this is hardly a new phenomenon...look at the questions Nisargadatta and Krishnamurti used to get asked, for example. The "seeker" hasn't changed much! But, yes, social media and TV would not appear to add any clarity whatsoever for the perennial "seeker" type of person. But prior to those technologies, spiritual seeking was, itself, a form of entertainment, and probably still is for many of us. And that has to be incredibly annoying for teachers like yourself. Thanks.

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  2. Could you expand more on how does it relate to pursuing enlightenment ? Or does it not relate at all? Since zillions of masters tell the same: ignore feelings, ignore thoughts, they are garbage, just practice.

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  3. For me it was realizing that all the feelings are there but that the feelings are not me. I am watching them and not tied to them at all. They are like a drawing in the sand , I am the sand and the drawings change all the time. I can observe them but their is no personal connection to them. It never helped talking about my Vietnam War experiences but when I seen that all my negative feelings are JUST THAT--FEELINGS (feelings that I drew in the sand) and that they are NOT ME by any means but just an observation only then their impact just faded away. I can watch all the feelings this body has , so what, I don't have to talk about them (negative psychology) they are their for the emptiness to watch. Not good or bad tag tied to them.

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