{"id":1039,"date":"2009-07-29T14:29:37","date_gmt":"2009-07-29T21:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coolkarma.com\/dharma\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2010-03-11T17:13:57","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T00:13:57","slug":"the-gnani-chroncles-%e2%80%93-center-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/?p=1039","title":{"rendered":"Center Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1042\" title=\"radiant light\" src=\"http:\/\/www.coolkarma.com\/dharma\/wp-content\/uploads\/radiant-light.jpg\" alt=\"radiant light\" width=\"340\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/radiant-light.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/radiant-light-300x264.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/>Egoic Mind:<\/em> The pain is coming again.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> And?<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> And with it stories about how it <em>shouldn&#8217;t be<\/em>.\u00a0 How I <em>should handle it better<\/em>.\u00a0 Typical mind stuff.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> And?<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> And small tear drops at the corner of my eyes.\u00a0 Deep desire for this not to be this way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> And?<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> And what?!\u00a0 Just suffering.\u00a0 That&#8217;s all there is.\u00a0 Its deep, its dark and I can describe it all day long in detail &#8230; but what good would that do!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Is it true?\u00a0 In this moment that all that is present is the suffering state?<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> I&#8217;d have to go actively searching for another state, because that is the one that is on center stage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Ah!\u00a0 But you apperceive that there is a stage beneath your feet, do you now?<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> Yes.\u00a0 And I am aware that there are noises &#8212; lawn mowers, birds, fish tank gurgles &#8212; off in the wings.\u00a0 My attention though is on center stage, which seems to be yet another melodrama of my own life unfolding or perhaps unraveling into a pit of pain.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Ok.\u00a0 For some, letting all of this be is simply not possible.\u00a0 So until Grace turns the key that door may not be open to you in this moment.\u00a0 But what is available to you is deep inquiry.\u00a0 With each And?\u00a0 you are able to go deeper and deeper into the pain &#8230; to the root &#8230; to the core of the suffering.\u00a0 All the while still aware that you are surrounded by stage lights and an entire theater.\u00a0 So go deeper.\u00a0 Right now.<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> I feel my mouth becoming activated.\u00a0 My biceps beginning to seize up in tension.\u00a0 I am breath holding as well.\u00a0 Holding it all in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> No need to try and change anything.\u00a0 Just go deeper.<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> Deeper within or around?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> You can dance around on the surface &#8230; but ultimately you want to go below the surface &#8230; below the physical sensations.\u00a0 It is at this place that you can touch that which you were before you were this physical body.<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> I feel that tingling sensation on the right side of my scalp.\u00a0 Will there still be words to write down if I go deeper into this stillness?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Direct inquiry is the only way to know.<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> There is movement inside my chest and diaphragm.\u00a0 It seems to cycle about every 4 seconds.\u00a0 My toes are very cold right now.\u00a0 My body feels like a deep lake.\u00a0 Ripples on the surface.\u00a0 Cold motionless waters at the bottom resting on the sediment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> And?<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> I am getting distracted by the subtle feelings of joy that the surge is passing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Let go of all judgment, the wheels will turn again.\u00a0 Go deeper.<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> The breath into this body is lighter &#8230; or perhaps more regular &#8230; or perhaps it is a sensation of being breathed &#8230; rather than breathing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Yes.\u00a0 Precisely.\u00a0 Allow the body to be breathed &#8230;. and &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> Go deeper.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Deep space.\u00a0 Blackness.\u00a0 The breath comes from this black hole that seems to be both distant and juxtaposed to this body as if a dimension that is beyond the five senses of this organism.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Let go of the need to analyze it.\u00a0 Go deeper still &#8230; within.<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> The tinnitus is loud, or perhaps just on center stage.\u00a0 It rivals with the hum of the refrigerator and the distant weed whacker of a neighbor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Follow the pitch and the vibration.<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> Its like a great musical chord, all layered on top of each other in perfect harmony.\u00a0 All of the tones vibrating in a sustained chord.\u00a0 I so hope it is a healing vibration.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Primordial sound.<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> Yes.\u00a0 It is familiar.\u00a0 Yet only able to be perceived in just this way from inside of a body.\u00a0 (I feel goosebumps crawl up my legs and the effervescing again on the right side of my scalp.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> And?<\/p>\n<p><em>Egoic Mind:<\/em> Awareness is awake, and all of the world is a stage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gnani:<\/strong> Now &#8230; you can enjoy the play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Egoic Mind: The pain is coming again. Gnani: And? Egoic Mind: And with it stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-satori","category-gnani"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1504,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions\/1504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karmabytes.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}