I trained with a Hindu Brahmin along the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, India. This is an ancient town, brimming with life; merchants, holy men, travelers, and families. It is webbed with dark alleys opening to an expansive avenue leading to one of our most sacred rivers. It is embraced on one side by this sand-colored town were monkeys romp on the tile roofs and on the other shore by an infinite expanse of flood plain surrounding this heart of mother India. The training involved pre-dawn yoga and meditation on the sun as it peaked over the horizon moving from red, to orange, to yellow and finally white. The teachings were a daily rigor for a three month period. Perhaps we worked together for six hours each morning with afternoon and evening discussion and meals. What was remarkable about the hours I spend with this man, Anand, was that all of our conversations where accomplished in an abbreviated sign language. He had lost his hearing at an early age to smallpox.
I learned the sign in a matter of days. Now this is the most remarkable part – what I realized then and now is that the depth of our conversation and the dynamic nature of the teachings could not possibly been conveyed through the lexicon of his sign language.
In fact, what evolved between us was a subtle and direct transmission of knowledge that occurred somewhere below the standard reality of daily discourse. For the most part, at the time, our communication was not experienced as anything special; the sign language seemed to hold our attention while meaning was transferred and received in less obvious ways. Was it intuition, fantasy, projection, or imagination? Sure, it was all that and more. Upon reflection, I think meaning was conveyed through less dominate senses. If I am to use metaphors to describe the experience; it was like the warmth of the morning sun heating the muscles of a chilled body. Like a welcome memory, his teachings seemed to radiate into me a felt sense of knowing. If what we shared was an odor it would have been experienced like the scent of a flower. If it were music, it was received as a melody that played through our minds.
I think what allowed for this level of communication was something quite simple; a relationship unencumbered with doubt, fear, judgment or many of the other obstacles that cloud our perceptions. Through trust, time-spent-with, mutual regard, strong concentration and the willingness to suspend disbelief, we held this shared-phenomenal world-in-common. What was within our control was the choice to hold-open this dialogue, this exchange of information, and to remove the considerations which disallowed its manifestation. Coincidentally, by surrendering control, we allowed the free exchange of thought, feeling, inspiration and emotion that carried the information and wove a web of understanding. We spoke the language of the heart.
In just this way, I think we are all defined by our relationships and find identification and meaning in an interdependent union with everyone around us. We are not separate and disconnected; however, we typically don’t experience our connections consciously. Instead, we believe in the experience of being separate and consequently imagine that we must find ways to connect.
The context of your organization, your business, your profession, your art and the relationships that ensue may ironically be the most productive context to realize this oneness and to begin to appreciate and tangibly receive the benefits. We all can profit from the realization of our deep and undeniable connections. We profit by reaching the outcomes we are after, by performing at the level we know we are capable of, and achieving our dreams. We do this through our connections with other people and the support that they offer. And if, in fact, we already live in connection with one another, we do not have to create the bond that brings about the realization of our goals, we just have to be able to remove the distortions that inhibit their manifestation into our conscious daily life.
With awareness, this subtle and indisputable connection can be brought to consciousness. In the course of working with my client’s I establish the basis for awakening to this shared-phenomenal-world-in-common and facilitate it into consciousness. Your strategic relationships, the daily operations of your business, your vision for the future and the patterns generated by past behaviors that influence today’s performance all move into view and rest on the platform of our dialogue.
This shared-phenomenal-world-in-common becomes the context for the resolution of problematic processes, the development of new strategies and the actualization of desired outcomes. We achieve these results without disrupting daily production. This transformative process becomes a metaphor for growth and change in all aspects of your life. Through dialogue, good design emerges which in turn encourages good practice. Good practice evolves into controlled outcomes which then positively influence the fulfillment of objectives and expectations.
Our dialogue provides a basis for the recognition and full disclosure of everything that is trying to transform in your world. The dialogue, held by compassion and understanding, becomes the mechanism which uncovers this third place; the content of the dialogue mirrors the essential dynamics operational in your business, your organization and if you are an artist, your creative process. The changes you are able to make evolve out of this third place and occur because you are more aware, you have a fluid and deeper insight, you are allowing a broader understanding, and you are able to surrender to the transformation of your thought patterns. I always find that when our dialogue is informed by this shared-phenomenal-world-in-common, this third place, there evolves a multiplication factor that directly influences transformation in your daily life, your organization or business, and of course your relationships. When we transform it here between us, it allows for the potential to transform it there.
My work with individuals, groups, teams, organizations, and businesses is supported by over 25 years of daily practice, ongoing study, and the act of simply living life consciously. My work draws on the traditions of mindfulness, yoga, the healing arts, western and Buddhist psychology, athletics, scholarship, and play; while I have received the teaching and guidance of numerous friends and teachers. I am available for phone consultations and face-to-face meetings with you, your relationships, your organization or business and for the journey that you are undertaking and the adventures that lay ahead.
Image: http://www.simon.collins.dsl.pipex.com/photos/india/varanasi/images/07-11-Ind-Varanasi-Ganges-s.jpg
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