Even the wise act within the limitations of their own nature. Every creature is subject to prakriti; what is the use of repression? The senses have been conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant. Do not be ruled by them, they are obstacles in your path.
The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2: 33
This is basically what Singer was talking about in the below linked podcast. He was making it clear that there really is no use for repression or suppression and, in fact, it causes great suffering. If we want freedom from suffering... we need to decondition our senses, or at least our mind's attachment to them. We need to learn to accept, honor and appreciate all that comes into our experience through these senses. Can we do that?
How are the sense conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant in the first place?
Well the yogi would say we view and respond to sensory input, therefore Life, through the lens of our samskaras ( our stuffed and stored life expereinces) and a psychologist might use the term "Mental Schemata". They are basically the same thing.
What is a mental schemata, crazy lady, and what has it got to do with our aversion and attractions?
"In psychology, a schema is a mental framework that helps individuals organize, process, and store information about their environment. These mental frameworks are essential for understanding the complexities of the world, as they allow us to interpret new experiences through the lens of pre-existing schemas. (Structural-learning.com)
Interpreting New Experiences Through the Lens of Pre-existing Schemas.
Attraction
A flock of yellow Grossbeaks have just landed on the tree behind me. I have not been feeding them here though I once fed them in a place I lived before and there I had them almost eating out of my hands. I was attracted and attached to their presence then. I stored those sweet and pleasant experiences in my psyche. "Bird-lover", became a part of my identity because of this experience. I also stuffed and stored that identity inside me. That part of my life, however, had ended. I moved on and I moved here. If it wasn't for my cats, who won't keep their bell collars on, I would put feeders out here for the birds. But alas, it is as it is. I won'tfeed the birds for their own protection. Anyway, I have never seen Grossbeaks in this yard before. It surprised me to see them covering this tree this morning. It stimulated a pleasant memory. Watching these birds was very pleasing to my senses because of what I have stored inside. My senses, because of the past experience with Grossbeaks, were conditioned to view them as pleasant and to allow this experience in. A "positive samskara", a particular mental schemata, was the filter through which I viewed this little experience unfolding in front of me this morning. I opened fully to it: Feeling grateful for the visit, accepting, honoring, and appreciating Life in this moment. :)
Aversion
Nothing stays the same.
As I was having my moment here, afterwards, practicing in what I loosely refer to as "sacred time" to my family, a suffering individual plopped down into my space and started expressing their anger, their negativity, and their strong distaste for how life is and was for them. I have had a long history with such expressed suffering.Their story is something I heard many, many times and it has become a part of my mental schemata. I also have past experiences stored within me where this "expression of feeling" and the "seeking of validation" they tell me they "need to do in this way" has escalated into something very toxic for all involved. So when I hear a certain tone, a certain expectation of me, a certain list of reasons why they are the way they are and why they cannot get better coming from them...Slam!...the door closes. It's becoming more and more automatic. Why? My overactive amygdala warns me and tells me to close down for self protective reasons. The whirlwind of many different untamed emotions, all with their own virbration or nature (prakriti), too often in the past, was blown both intentionally and unintentionally in my direction. I was overwhelmed by it too many times. It left me with this belief that this persons emotions and subsequent choices can be strong enough to blow the strongest person down or suck one in completely. I am therefore physically told by almost every cell in my body, not just the sensory neurons, to shut down! My senses, therefore, have become conditioned to pick up signs that would likley go unnoticed in other situations, by other people, and the moment my senses detect those signs I go into self protection mode...especially when I am feeling as phyiscally exhausted and vulnerable as I feel now. So this morning, just a few minutes after the pleasant opening expereince I had because of bird visitors, I found myself closing. The moment the person sat down in my space and I heard that tone, I found my gut twisting, as it does when I am closing and resisting in aversion. I don't seem to have enough oompf in me these days to tolerate it, let alone handle it in the way a higher being would. I feel like injured prey and I need to hide. Sounds so dramatic, doesn't it?
When I break it down for objective examination, I see that this individual, just trying to express themself in their mind, was simply triggering some "negative samskaras", and a mental schemata that pre-existed in my mind. They are not the cause of my suffering, not the casue of my closing...just a trigger finger on the automatic door of my psyche. My senses would not let them all the way in. because something was telling me it would be dangerous, or at least even more physically exhausting, to do so. I did not want to add to this person's suffering by closing down but the aversion to that behaviour has become a conditioned response. The slamming of the door of the senses, because of my physical fatigue and my desperate need for healing through this sadhanna, has become so automatic.
I want to be a being that stays open , no matter what...a being that is not ruled by their senses. That begins with recognizing and understanding how these senses have been conditioned, to understand why my mind sees certain things as pleasant and lets them in and why it sees others things as unpleasant and closes up to them.
My practice continues.
All is well.
The Bhagavad Gita as translated by Eknath Easwaran ( 2007) The Bhagavad Gita. Nilgiri Press...Kindle Edition.
Stuctural-learning.com ( May 5, 2023) What is a schema in psychology. https://www.structural-learning.com/post/schema-in-psychology#:~:text=In%20psychology%2C%20a%20schema%20is,lens%20of%20pre-existing%20sche
Michael A. Singer/Temple of the Universe ( March 29, 2024) Step Back and Be open to Reality. https://tou.org/talks/
No comments:
Post a Comment