Thursday 11th May 2006
Close encounter with a koala
It’s THAT time of the month again and today is Day 3 of no practice.
My physical yoga practice is getting me to the mat regularly, but it’s not satisfying my deeper spiritual thirst. Beneath the surface, a kind of ominous rumbling is shaking the ground I stand upon and change is imminent.
More about that later.
So being a good girl for a change, I legitimately took the 3 regulation days off from Ashtanga.
But rather than sleep in today (which I now equate with that delightfully archaic term described by Buddhists as “sloth and torpor”), I got up at 5.30am and drove up to the hills just outside of Adelaide for an invigorating walk around my favourite gully before starting work at 8.30am.
With winter rapidly approaching, the sun doesn’t rise now until 6.45am, which I hadn’t taken into account, so the first quarter hour of the walk up the slippery, overgrown track was in total night darkness. I did seriously wonder about my sanity at that point.
What kind of person wanders through the bush in the dark at such an odd hour?
Almost imperceptibly, a dull light gradually spread over the densely clouded sky, no fanfare of brilliant colour to mark the dawning of another day.
I go walkabouts quite regularly up here. The bush track meanders up and around a fairly steep climb, joins up with the famous Heysen Trail for a kilometre or so, then winds its way down through an abandoned waterfall following a creek down through the gully.
Half way down the gully track I went to duck under the fallen tree branch which was crossing the path horizontally at about chest height and I noticed a baby koala perched smack bang in the middle of the branch. A cuddly, furry little grey and white toy that had magically come alive. We exchanged cautious gazes, feeling each other out. Apparently they can be quite aggresive, but when you see them, it’s almost impossible to believe, they seem so placid and sanguine. I’ve cuddled tame koalas in the national parks before, but this was a little wild one – I wasn’t so sure.
Ever so carefully I extended my hand, speaking softly to soothe her. She sniffed. I moved my hand closer to her nose, she sniffed. I edged it so close that it touched her, she sniffed more. I’d made contact. My hand simply couldn’t resist patting her soft furry cheek and she seemed quite indifferent to my gentle stroking for a minute or two until strike…she suddenly nipped my knuckle. Teeth in flesh. Not too deep but enough for me to jump, which of course scared the poor little thing. She sat for a moment with claws bared, so I apologised for disturbing her and then let her be. She clambered across the fallen tree trunk and I continued on my way.
Mornings are magical times.
Change is imminent
Every now and then, at the most perfect time, we come across a book (or a person, or a lecture, or an opportunity) that alters our co-ordinates and steers us towards a different direction. It may be that we are urged to do a complete turnaround (‘you’re going the WRONG WAY”), or it may show us a new side street to explore, or it may just be a slight re-orientation to the left or right to get us back on track when we’re veering off course.
I stumbled by chance across a book in the library a couple of weeks ago, which so profoundly affected my internal compass, that it spun me around a good three times before I knew what was happening. Now I’m facing a path I’d never seen before. Yet it has always been there, waiting for me.
The book, written in 1911 is by Evelyn Underhill and titled “Mysticism – the nature and development of spiritual consciousness”.
I have never come across writing like this in all my readings over the years. It describes in the most clear, precise language the inner experiences of mystical stirrings from the early stages of awakening to the fully developed state of total and unwavering union with The Source. The author draws heavily on original manuscripts from the past, people who have worked with their inner psychology to prepare for enlightenment and those who have been struck by the Grace of God with no warning. Their words are reproduced, and their experiences collated and analysed with such precision and eloquence that I can only surmise Ms Underhill was a true mystic herself.
For a while now I’ve been feeling that both the Yoga and Buddhist practices are missing something, and these are traditions I’ve followed and practised ardently for many years in my quest for Ultimate Truth.
On occasions I've delved into the Sufi writings, feeling a rather eerie empathy with their absolute surrender to and immersion in the Divine (I've seen them described as Divine masochists) . They unashamedly revel in the mystical communion that to me was missing from the other Eastern traditions, yet I never felt drawn to explore the Sufi practices.
Now the reality of mystical life is beckoning me. Not the Sufi path, but a purely mystical path, unadulterated by any pedagogy.
This is the path that was always there and this book has shone a light on it for me.
Here's a random quote from the concluding chapter of the book:
“Every person, then, who awakens to consciousness of a Reality which transcends the normal world of sense – however small, weak, imperfect that consciousness may be – is put upon a road which follows at low levels the path which the mystic treads at high levels. The success with which he follows this way to freedom and full life will depend on the intensity of his love and will; his capacity for self-discipline, his steadfastness and courage. It will depend on the generosity and completeness of his outgoing passion for absolute beauty, absolute goodness, or absolute truth. But if he moves at all, he will move through a series of states which are, in their own small way, analogous to those experienced by the greatest contemplative on his journey towards that union with God which is the term of the spirit’s ascent towards its home.”
“When the student is ready the teacher appears”.
This book is divine inspiration and my new teacher in disguise.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Close encounter with a koala
It’s THAT time of the month again and today is Day 3 of no practice.
My physical yoga practice is getting me to the mat regularly, but it’s not satisfying my deeper spiritual thirst. Beneath the surface, a kind of ominous rumbling is shaking the ground I stand upon and change is imminent.
More about that later.
So being a good girl for a change, I legitimately took the 3 regulation days off from Ashtanga.
But rather than sleep in today (which I now equate with that delightfully archaic term described by Buddhists as “sloth and torpor”), I got up at 5.30am and drove up to the hills just outside of Adelaide for an invigorating walk around my favourite gully before starting work at 8.30am.
With winter rapidly approaching, the sun doesn’t rise now until 6.45am, which I hadn’t taken into account, so the first quarter hour of the walk up the slippery, overgrown track was in total night darkness. I did seriously wonder about my sanity at that point.
What kind of person wanders through the bush in the dark at such an odd hour?
Almost imperceptibly, a dull light gradually spread over the densely clouded sky, no fanfare of brilliant colour to mark the dawning of another day.
I go walkabouts quite regularly up here. The bush track meanders up and around a fairly steep climb, joins up with the famous Heysen Trail for a kilometre or so, then winds its way down through an abandoned waterfall following a creek down through the gully.
Half way down the gully track I went to duck under the fallen tree branch which was crossing the path horizontally at about chest height and I noticed a baby koala perched smack bang in the middle of the branch. A cuddly, furry little grey and white toy that had magically come alive. We exchanged cautious gazes, feeling each other out. Apparently they can be quite aggresive, but when you see them, it’s almost impossible to believe, they seem so placid and sanguine. I’ve cuddled tame koalas in the national parks before, but this was a little wild one – I wasn’t so sure.
Ever so carefully I extended my hand, speaking softly to soothe her. She sniffed. I moved my hand closer to her nose, she sniffed. I edged it so close that it touched her, she sniffed more. I’d made contact. My hand simply couldn’t resist patting her soft furry cheek and she seemed quite indifferent to my gentle stroking for a minute or two until strike…she suddenly nipped my knuckle. Teeth in flesh. Not too deep but enough for me to jump, which of course scared the poor little thing. She sat for a moment with claws bared, so I apologised for disturbing her and then let her be. She clambered across the fallen tree trunk and I continued on my way.
Mornings are magical times.
Change is imminent
Every now and then, at the most perfect time, we come across a book (or a person, or a lecture, or an opportunity) that alters our co-ordinates and steers us towards a different direction. It may be that we are urged to do a complete turnaround (‘you’re going the WRONG WAY”), or it may show us a new side street to explore, or it may just be a slight re-orientation to the left or right to get us back on track when we’re veering off course.
I stumbled by chance across a book in the library a couple of weeks ago, which so profoundly affected my internal compass, that it spun me around a good three times before I knew what was happening. Now I’m facing a path I’d never seen before. Yet it has always been there, waiting for me.
The book, written in 1911 is by Evelyn Underhill and titled “Mysticism – the nature and development of spiritual consciousness”.
I have never come across writing like this in all my readings over the years. It describes in the most clear, precise language the inner experiences of mystical stirrings from the early stages of awakening to the fully developed state of total and unwavering union with The Source. The author draws heavily on original manuscripts from the past, people who have worked with their inner psychology to prepare for enlightenment and those who have been struck by the Grace of God with no warning. Their words are reproduced, and their experiences collated and analysed with such precision and eloquence that I can only surmise Ms Underhill was a true mystic herself.
For a while now I’ve been feeling that both the Yoga and Buddhist practices are missing something, and these are traditions I’ve followed and practised ardently for many years in my quest for Ultimate Truth.
On occasions I've delved into the Sufi writings, feeling a rather eerie empathy with their absolute surrender to and immersion in the Divine (I've seen them described as Divine masochists) . They unashamedly revel in the mystical communion that to me was missing from the other Eastern traditions, yet I never felt drawn to explore the Sufi practices.
Now the reality of mystical life is beckoning me. Not the Sufi path, but a purely mystical path, unadulterated by any pedagogy.
This is the path that was always there and this book has shone a light on it for me.
Here's a random quote from the concluding chapter of the book:
“Every person, then, who awakens to consciousness of a Reality which transcends the normal world of sense – however small, weak, imperfect that consciousness may be – is put upon a road which follows at low levels the path which the mystic treads at high levels. The success with which he follows this way to freedom and full life will depend on the intensity of his love and will; his capacity for self-discipline, his steadfastness and courage. It will depend on the generosity and completeness of his outgoing passion for absolute beauty, absolute goodness, or absolute truth. But if he moves at all, he will move through a series of states which are, in their own small way, analogous to those experienced by the greatest contemplative on his journey towards that union with God which is the term of the spirit’s ascent towards its home.”
“When the student is ready the teacher appears”.
This book is divine inspiration and my new teacher in disguise.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
