Last month we spoke about the ego and separation, and I’d like to finish it with some of my own reflections and from people I’ve been reading and learning from. The ego separates, divides, differentiates, whereas the Soul connects, unites, and expands. We spend so much time and energy focusing on how we’re different from others; criticising, judging, commenting, feeling more than or less than, creating rivalry, feeling jealous… instead of shifting our attention to what’s the same in all of us; on what brings us together.
In Yoga the enlightened state is ‘the oneness of being’, that we are all one, and that we share the same consciousness. So what if we don’t feel that yet? Keep on practicing, and observing which part of you is feeling different from others or divided. It’s probably the part of you that is stuck in interpretation, in fear, in control, in identity, in resentment, in expectation, in perfectionism, and attached to roles, relationships, and outcomes, that doesn’t feel quite ready yet. It’s the part of you that keeps telling stories about yourself, and how you’re so different from others. It is the part of you that is criticising others, because internally you are criticising yourself too, and all that just keeps us trapped in a very tight knot.
“The first stage in self mastery is determining who we are not, only then can we determine who we are. Likely who you are not, is presently who you think you are.” — Gabrielle Roth.
This Fall at our Madrid studio we’ve been practicing to differentiate what is essential from what is not. It’s so important to identify the roles we’ve been playing, recognise the patterns, the repetitive plot lines, our modes of behavior, the ego and its different characters. To understand how these small roles can keep us trapped if we’re not observing them and identifying them. The key is, once we can identify them, we can stop identifying with them. We can become free from attachment to these roles, and realize that we are not them.
“When we think that the internal experience we desire comes from the external world, our desires will always feel fleeting and scarce, like they can be lost or taken away, so we’ll want to grasp on to them. But when we discover that what we desire is an infinite experience, available at every moment, our lives begins to shift.” — Flynn Skidmore
“Freeing the soul and freeing ourselves to be soulful, means empowering ourselves to really see what’s going on in ourselves, in others, in our lives.” - Gabrielle Roth
Our soul, our true self, the Atman, is the most mysterious, essential and magical dimension of our being. It is not a separate reality, as traditional Western thought views it, but the cohesive force that unites our body, heart and mind. It is the very essence of our being. The Real Self is eternal and infinite. Its state of love, care and kindness is not dependent on one interpretation or another. What we really want is to evolve from a fixation on the physical world to the presence of something that is more eternal, or more infinitely available. To experience ourselves at our most subtle level, at the level of the soul, and not as the changing states of the mind.
“This access doesn’t depend so much on external circumstances, like others' acceptance of you, but instead on the choices you make about how you relate to your inner world. So the question then becomes: are you being able to find the shadows of your psyche who feel separate, alone, and disconnected, and are you bringing light to them, illuminating them, helping them to sense the infinite light of the divine within themselves?” And, can you, feel compassion towards those less evolved parts of you? “The eternally caring version of you can relate to the ego, without trying to change it, but to understand it. This shift reveals that what we truly want is something to be cultivated internally, something that we can give to the world, and radiate outwards, reverberating from the center, touching everything around it. So rather than chasing fulfilment, clinging to it, we become its source, we become a giver of fulfilment.”— Flynn Skidmore
Viśokā is a term in Sanskrit that can be understood as a state in which the mind is not focused on the day-to-day, moment-to-moment changing situations, which often produce anxiety, regret and many other afflictions. Its focus instead, is on the changeless, ever-present Divine state. A spiritual practitioner or aspiring yogi desires a deep sense of peace, contentment, a lightness of being and confidence that we have something deeper and stronger we can tap into. That state of lightness is conducive for spiritual growth and knowledge. - Back to Basics, Jivamukti FOTM October 2017.
Clarity of mind comes by training the mind to focus on the simple things, so as to be connected to the bigger things.
Given the right incentive, the mind can be trained to focus on the simple things. In the practice of yoga, that incentive is an immediate sense of the here and now by focusing on the breath, and getting out of the state of feeling so far away from truth, from unconditional love, and from peace.