Post by rabar94114 on Feb 22, 2012 21:53:34 GMT -5
I'm surprised not to find a posting or link here for Candice O'Denver's Great Freedom/Balanced View. Her group ranks right up there with Adyashanti for northern California's best offering. What I personallly appreciate with Candice's approach is that it's present in current American English, and her teaching is summed up in one sentence:
Short moments of awareness (clarity/open intelligence) repeated many times, become continuous. She offers this in contrast to the grim "I'm gonna sit down and meditate for 30 minutes" approach, because by 'short' she means just that: a few seconds' dip into not-thinking. As one becomes habituated to the feeling, one then realizes that this clarity is what underlies ALL thoughts, feelings, sensations both positive and negative. In fact she states: "Many times we have learned that disturbing states are some kind of special phenomena. They're a special phenomena that can make us feel like we don't fit in. They can make us feel un-okay. This is what we've trained ourselves to believe about certain kinds of phenomena. Just know that your afflictive states, your disturbing states, no matter what they are, are yet another very rich source of the basic state of natural perfection. They are the golden key, you could say, to realization of your own natural perfection.
"To rest completely and unavoidably in the basic state of natural perfection is to instinctively recognize the great wealth of afflictive states. The greater your afflictive states, the greater the benefit to you. The more afflictive states you have, the richer you are in wisdom. Have you ever thought about it that way?"
More here:www.greatfreedom.org/shortmoments.html
Short moments of awareness (clarity/open intelligence) repeated many times, become continuous. She offers this in contrast to the grim "I'm gonna sit down and meditate for 30 minutes" approach, because by 'short' she means just that: a few seconds' dip into not-thinking. As one becomes habituated to the feeling, one then realizes that this clarity is what underlies ALL thoughts, feelings, sensations both positive and negative. In fact she states: "Many times we have learned that disturbing states are some kind of special phenomena. They're a special phenomena that can make us feel like we don't fit in. They can make us feel un-okay. This is what we've trained ourselves to believe about certain kinds of phenomena. Just know that your afflictive states, your disturbing states, no matter what they are, are yet another very rich source of the basic state of natural perfection. They are the golden key, you could say, to realization of your own natural perfection.
"To rest completely and unavoidably in the basic state of natural perfection is to instinctively recognize the great wealth of afflictive states. The greater your afflictive states, the greater the benefit to you. The more afflictive states you have, the richer you are in wisdom. Have you ever thought about it that way?"
More here:www.greatfreedom.org/shortmoments.html