Beautiful sitting today again in the vines. I am finding the whole question of sound very interesting, and am aware that my irritation with and judgement about sound - perhaps understandably given my background - is one of the things I want the most help with through this practice. I am that woman who asks the person in the seat opposite her on the train to turn down their music so she doesn't have to listen to the thump through their headphones and yet I have no trouble playing Bach to the universe through open windows with no awareness that it may not be to the universe' taste. I had so much negative judgement about the military planes yesterday and yet positive judgement about the sound of the birdsong and the vine picker trucks starting up, even though the latter were louder than the planes...judgement is judgement, good or bad, and i'm sick of it! do you think one day I might be able simply to hear without this terrible affliction???
:-) I gave 'em piles of broccoli and carrot sticks, first of all (which they scarfed down -- what is it with kids these days? we wouldn't have touched them) and then goldfish crackers and oreos and milk and then frozen pizza. It's really not hard to keep a pack of teenagers happy.
Sound is harder for me too. I do a fair amount of taking sound as my object of meditation -- working on hearing it just as sound, not interpreting it, not responding to it. There are some tricky things about it. It moves in time differently from other sense-input -- we're always hanging on the old sound in order to make sense of the new sound. I'm always finding that I'm attending, not to the sound I'm hearing now, but to the sound I heard a second or two ago. Some of that may just be the way perception of sound works.
I'm sure you already hear with this terrible affliction, many times a day. Stabilizing that -- well, I dunno, maybe!
I do a fair amount of taking sound as my object of meditation -- working on hearing it just as sound, not interpreting it, not responding to it. Glad to read that. That's what I've been doing, hoping I'm right to.
Missed sitting this morning, aiming for this evening. Missed because I didn't do it and because I wish I had.
I sat Sat am. This 10-15 minutes I do seem to be a refuge from the storms swirling around at the moment. And yes, I too am 'working with' the sounds as they occur at the moment, and almost relishing them - the birdsong more than the cars - don't know how I would manage with military aircraft though!
Thanks Dale and Ruth for your responses to my cri de coeur. It's awful when you see the words on screen you have posted and realise you can't delete them!
In the past 30 days I have joined this group, and have started to meditate regularly, started my own blog, handed in my notice against my employer's requests to stay (no new job to go to but am going to take a month off anyway), and am probably participating in the end of a relationship that seemed to promise more than actually materialised. I am not sure where meditation fits into any cause-and-effect process here, but I am observing it all with a certain, um, interest.
Thanks in advance therefore for the understanding and support. If I find I am becoming too boring (again), rather than having 2.00am insomniac outbursts here. I might post a bit less often. However, part of the strength I derive from this group comes through regular posting. We'll see.
mary you sound so courageous and the fact that you're managing to meditate amongst all this is phenomenal. I cannot speak for others but I personally would encourage you to post as much as you like if this supports you. I am finding it a life line and I'm peacefully at home.
Thanks for the interesting stuff about sound Dale. I will focus on it again today and see what comes up. I'd never heard of the concept of attending to the sound you've just heard and don't really understand it yet but am excited to find out...
6 Comments:
Beautiful sitting today again in the vines. I am finding the whole question of sound very interesting, and am aware that my irritation with and judgement about sound - perhaps understandably given my background - is one of the things I want the most help with through this practice. I am that woman who asks the person in the seat opposite her on the train to turn down their music so she doesn't have to listen to the thump through their headphones and yet I have no trouble playing Bach to the universe through open windows with no awareness that it may not be to the universe' taste. I had so much negative judgement about the military planes yesterday and yet positive judgement about the sound of the birdsong and the vine picker trucks starting up, even though the latter were louder than the planes...judgement is judgement, good or bad, and i'm sick of it! do you think one day I might be able simply to hear without this terrible affliction???
ps what did you cook?
:-) I gave 'em piles of broccoli and carrot sticks, first of all (which they scarfed down -- what is it with kids these days? we wouldn't have touched them) and then goldfish crackers and oreos and milk and then frozen pizza. It's really not hard to keep a pack of teenagers happy.
Sound is harder for me too. I do a fair amount of taking sound as my object of meditation -- working on hearing it just as sound, not interpreting it, not responding to it. There are some tricky things about it. It moves in time differently from other sense-input -- we're always hanging on the old sound in order to make sense of the new sound. I'm always finding that I'm attending, not to the sound I'm hearing now, but to the sound I heard a second or two ago. Some of that may just be the way perception of sound works.
I'm sure you already hear with this terrible affliction, many times a day. Stabilizing that -- well, I dunno, maybe!
oops. "hear *without* this terrible affliction, I meant to say, of course :-)
I do a fair amount of taking sound as my object of meditation -- working on hearing it just as sound, not interpreting it, not responding to it.
Glad to read that. That's what I've been doing, hoping I'm right to.
Missed sitting this morning, aiming for this evening. Missed because I didn't do it and because I wish I had.
I sat Sat am. This 10-15 minutes I do seem to be a refuge from the storms swirling around at the moment. And yes, I too am 'working with' the sounds as they occur at the moment, and almost relishing them - the birdsong more than the cars - don't know how I would manage with military aircraft though!
Thanks Dale and Ruth for your responses to my cri de coeur. It's awful when you see the words on screen you have posted and realise you can't delete them!
In the past 30 days I have joined this group, and have started to meditate regularly, started my own blog, handed in my notice against my employer's requests to stay (no new job to go to but am going to take a month off anyway), and am probably participating in the end of a relationship that seemed to promise more than actually materialised. I am not sure where meditation fits into any cause-and-effect process here, but I am observing it all with a certain, um, interest.
Thanks in advance therefore for the understanding and support. If I find I am becoming too boring (again), rather than having 2.00am insomniac outbursts here. I might post a bit less often. However, part of the strength I derive from this group comes through regular posting. We'll see.
mary you sound so courageous and the fact that you're managing to meditate amongst all this is phenomenal. I cannot speak for others but I personally would encourage you to post as much as you like if this supports you. I am finding it a life line and I'm peacefully at home.
Thanks for the interesting stuff about sound Dale. I will focus on it again today and see what comes up. I'd never heard of the concept of attending to the sound you've just heard and don't really understand it yet but am excited to find out...
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