Sunday, June 5, 2011

notice space


noticing the space around people and things provides a different way of looking at them. developing this spacious view is a way of opening oneself. when one has a spacious mind, there is room for everything. when one has a narrow mind, there is room for only a few things.


there are many kinds of spaciousness – there is spaciousness of physical form, of time, of presence, and of love. in quiet moments of solitude, i have been turning to the spaciousness of the present moment. allowing this feeling of spaciousness within me expand. just to see how far it can go. observing what the experience of it is for me. the intensity of this experience is subtle.

in the simplicity of observing the present moment, noting what thoughts come and go, hearing the flies buzzing by and the soft clucking of the chickens, feeling the warm breezes on my skin, and observing my own breath… there is a prevailing fresh quality of resting in the present. i still don’t know how far this can go yet, because there is no end to the in-the-moment experience. each moment of feeling spaciousness is a new moment. you feel it expansively and freshly. the experience of this for me is of open possibility, and a quiet peaceful serenity. 


of late, while lingering in a sort of pause mode, i began to become still more aware of this interior spaciousness – of an emptiness within me. this emptiness is not incompleteness. not at all. this emptiness implies possibility. a place of receptivity. of room for something huge. in this space there is no finiteness of capacity. no walls to confine. no social constraints to limit. this kind of space is freedom. freedom from confinement, from preoccupation, from oppression, from drivenness, and from all the other interior and exterior forces that tend to bind and restrict one's spirit. this space gives elbow room for one's passions.

spaciousness is always a beginning. a possibility. a potential. a capacity for new awareness. if i can bear the truth of how things are, and actively seek the truth, not just what is comfortable, i eventually find myself in the midst of a peaceful present moment.
we seem to be given what we need as we need it – this space opens before us at precise increments. space becomes brutal when we try to force it, make it a project, or demand that it meets our expectations.
to the extent we make our own spaciousness holy, and intend it for love, pointing it toward love's source, this space responds. in my experience, our increasing availability to the truth, to love, happens gradually, gently, and with grace.


may you find spaciousness in all that you do. in each and every moment.

namaste'

4 comments:

  1. Yes, yes, yes! You so eloquently explain the place I try to be. (If sitting and talking to a baby dove makes me wierd, then let it be. Oh, and he hung around in the shower of my hose while I watered the new plantings.) Peace to you, Joe.

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  2. Thank you, Joe - so eloquent. Space is so important. Room to grow...

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  3. whished you all the space you need yesterday, but blogger was acting funny, so try it again today ;-)

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  4. Beautiful, thoughtful post.
    and there is this space...when there are two people engaged with one another, there is the you, me, and the space between, an us...a connection..thank you for this moment of connection...

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