How to dissolve your sense of location into an experience of emptiness

November 12th, 2006 | uncategorized

Old post on TTB, but worth checking out.

One of the things we tend to do is constantly scan the environment so that we know ‘where we are’ - “I’m at home, I’m in bed, I’m at work, I’m in London, I’m in a new location, I’m on the pavement”. This is completely automatic - you dont think about it and you dont notice yourself doing it - it’s there to make us feel safe - because ‘where we are’ often equates to how safe we are. But the thing is this constant scanning is using up a huge proportion of our light beam - even if we dont need to know where we are… it also uses up our energy, our attention and gives our ego the chance to start trying to control ‘where you are’. Constantly working out what’s safe, what’s compelling, where to go etc. If you dont know where you are - and have no concern in knowing this, you cannot feel unsafe, you cannot grasp and attempt to control things beyond your control, you cannot worry or plan etc. basically you can become still and present in the now - if only you lose yourself… in other words lose your concern over where you are.

So try this out if this sounds like it could be usefull - I first tried it lying in bed - because I remember doing something similar as a child for entertainment. Feel yourself in bed in whatever room you are in - then feel yourself in bed in another room, then another, then another - keep going, each time really feel the place and then move to another place - keep going and keep getting faster and faster at some point it becomes a blur - keep the blur spinning and suddenly you’ll pop out of it into emptiness - you are nowhere/everywhere… usually (unless you’ve done a lot of meditation) this is frightening - and you’ll immediately re-locate yourself in your room. But getting comfortable in losing yourself gives you a much bigger light beam of awareness to play with - whether in your practices or in interacting or just when you’re relaxing.

Don’t do this while crossing the road or driving!