Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Letting Go Of Providing An Answer For Everything

This is one of those really irritating habits that appears all too often, both when we pretend to know the answer (feeding our ego), and when we think we’re being helpful but know deep down we’re probably better off keeping quiet (another ego thing).

It’s definitely something I’ve been guilty of for years, and am only now beginning to quash. And I have to say that when I recognise it appearing, I get greater satisfaction in either remaining quiet, or saying something along the lines of “I don’t know.”

There’ll be more added to this shortly …

INQUIRY: How many occasions can you think of when you provided an answer, knowing it wasn’t the right thing to do. Were they with your partner, a friend, a colleague, or even someone you barely new? What would you do differently next time? Would you share the moment with them by just listening? Would you openly tell them you didn’t know the answer? Or would you do something else?

Friday, August 04, 2006

Science vs Spirituality

Here’s a thought that struck me yesterday, even though it’s been on my mind for months: does science provide the basis for the existence of everything, and if so, where does that leave spirituality?

Although having an interest in most things spiritual, I do feel that science is still the bedrock of existence, if only as a blanket term for the explanation of everything. Therefore I see spirituality as a layer resting somewhere above science, interweaving all the time.

So I guess what I’m getting at is the question: “When we have a spiritual encounter or experience, are we labelling it spiritual because we don’t understand – or chose not to believe – that its foundation lies in science?” Or does spirituality function on a totally separate level independent of science altogether?

INQUIRY: How much of a spiritual person are you? How many spiritual encounters have you had? What influence or impact did they have on your life?

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Analysing vs "Just Letting It Be"

I was on a course back in early May when I had the realisation that I no longer needed to be so analytical about everything. It came so out of the blue that I surprised myself when I didn’t even feel the need to analyse what had triggered it.

Since as far back as I can remember, I’ve been a thinker – a person who would analyse things – and would often be accused of over-analysing. Yet no-one had said to me, “Relax … just let it be …” All they would say was, “Stop analysing it,” and that would only incite me to analyse even more. You can see just how big I was on the whole analysing thing, eh? So when I had this shift in mindset during the course, I felt totally at ease without thinking about it. And it doesn’t matter that I don’t know where it’s come from. All I do know is that I’ve been attracting conversations ever since with people who’ve had the same experience. So I guess it’s happened for a reason – I just haven’t found what that is yet.

I’d just like to add that it’s made me feel ‘lighter’, perhaps even liberated, and that whatever it is I need to know comes to me at the right time. If I was to explain it, I’d say there may well be times in the future when I’ll need to think things through in more detail, but for the time being, I can ‘let it be.’ Off the top of my head, it’s like the feeling you get when something you want to say is on the tip of your tongue… then you forget all about it and suddenly it comes to you out of the blue, perhaps an hour later, a day later, or even a month later. Is it because we released attachment to forcing whatever it was we wanted to find out? Is it connected with the way our mind or consciousness works? Whatever it is, it’s working right now!

INQUIRY: Are you a thinker, or are you someone who prefers to let things work themselves out? How many profound experiences have you had based on this? Are you too changing the way you work things out?