Ford Madox Ford said, "Open a book to page ninety-nine, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you."
Relaxing into Meditation
Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide
ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8
http://bit.ly/nrprim
Recognise your viewpoint of yourself at the centre of the stage of which the friend, enemy and stranger are peripheral players. Develop a sense of equanimity about these three people. See that—if circumstances were different—your enemy could become your friend, your friend could have been a stranger, your stranger could have been a friend, and so on. Look at all the possible permutations of relationships that could exist between you and these three people and understand that your view of them and the rôle that they play in your life is arbitrary and dependent upon circumstances. Continue to contemplate in this way from a perspective of equanimity.
Finish the analytical meditation session by celebrating your close relationship with your friend. Recognise the pleasure in that friendship and how it could be wonderful to feel that warmth and friendship towards everyone in your life.
Regret the difficulties in your relationship with your enemy and think about whether there is anything that you could do to change things – whether it might be possible to develop warmer feelings towards this person.
Finally think about the stranger. It may be that there cannot be any closer points of contact between you, but consider that it could be pleasant to respond in a more friendly way towards this person when your lives do cross.
The meditation Friend, Enemy, Stranger looks at our view of our lives, ourselves and other people. We can continually change the subjects of the meditation, choosing three different people at different times. Our view is the basis of all our expectations of life, our interpretations of circumstances, and our responses to the experiences we encounter in our lives. Our view governs how we are as people in the world and causes us to create an inter-penetrating network of reference points – that is, things that support our view of the way we think things are.
Relaxing into Meditation
Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide
ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8
http://bit.ly/nrprim
Recognise your viewpoint of yourself at the centre of the stage of which the friend, enemy and stranger are peripheral players. Develop a sense of equanimity about these three people. See that—if circumstances were different—your enemy could become your friend, your friend could have been a stranger, your stranger could have been a friend, and so on. Look at all the possible permutations of relationships that could exist between you and these three people and understand that your view of them and the rôle that they play in your life is arbitrary and dependent upon circumstances. Continue to contemplate in this way from a perspective of equanimity.
Finish the analytical meditation session by celebrating your close relationship with your friend. Recognise the pleasure in that friendship and how it could be wonderful to feel that warmth and friendship towards everyone in your life.
Regret the difficulties in your relationship with your enemy and think about whether there is anything that you could do to change things – whether it might be possible to develop warmer feelings towards this person.
Finally think about the stranger. It may be that there cannot be any closer points of contact between you, but consider that it could be pleasant to respond in a more friendly way towards this person when your lives do cross.
The meditation Friend, Enemy, Stranger looks at our view of our lives, ourselves and other people. We can continually change the subjects of the meditation, choosing three different people at different times. Our view is the basis of all our expectations of life, our interpretations of circumstances, and our responses to the experiences we encounter in our lives. Our view governs how we are as people in the world and causes us to create an inter-penetrating network of reference points – that is, things that support our view of the way we think things are.
Relaxing into Meditation by Ngakma Nor'dzin
Aro Books worldwide ISBN 978-1-898185-17-8 http://bit.ly/nrprim
Available from Lulu.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other bookshops worldwide.
I have never been able to get my head around meditation.
ReplyDeleteHi Rosanne,
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting.
Is meditation something that you want to try?
'Relaxing into Meditation' would be a good start if you were interested as it begins with relaxation with meditation coming later.
There are seven reviews over at Librarything that might give you a picture of what people think of the book. Please see http://www.librarything.com/work/10257145
with best wishes,
'ö-Dzin