Ommmm

I grew up around many candles.  We joke that my mom prefers the soft glow of candlelight to electrical candescent lighting so as not to illuminate her facial wrinkles.  Candlelight was simply not extraordinary or romantic.  But I do remember the peace-giving ambience that accompanied a candlelit room.  Ram Dass says that “with even a simple exercise like focusing our attention on our breath or a candle flame, we begin to see that there is a continuous stream of thoughts going on all the time.” (101)  I’m not sure why this never occurred to me before but it was reading this line that the simplicity of meditation became clear to me.  I have made concerted efforts to meditate for the last year—whether in sittings or alone.  But I think I was unable to fully experience this mindfulness, because I had intellectualized the idea of meditating.  I would try to clear my mind of pushing or pulling of thoughts—of unrest.  On an intellectual level, this makes perfect sense.  But for me, what intuitively feels natural is meditating on something visual or audible.  Perhaps to the light of a candle or sound of a vibrating tibetan meditation bowl?  (I am the epitome of a visual learner.)  Even though I never categorized the long hours that I would spend staring at incense smoke or candlelight as a form of meditation, it seems like during that time, I had reached a noticeably meditative state.  

I like meditating on the flicker of candlelight.
http://www.mymeso.org/tags/asbestos-awareness-week/

Dass says that in honing our meditative abilities,“…we are as alert to what is happening within us as we are to what is happening in them.” (114) I liked Ram Dass’s connection between personal meditation as a stepping stone to creating a mindfulness about others. 

What a beautiful photograph.  The title is "Why Mindfulness Matters."  If I ever went
backpacking again (like the guy in this pic), this would be the ideal state of mind to be in.
http://integral-options.blogspot.com/2010/05/jason-marsh-why-mindfulness-matters.html

On another note, Dass suggests that because of the way we are raised“…we start to use helping in the service of a wide range of personal motives other than the expression of natural compassion.” (126)  The implication is that there is such thing as unnatural compassion. We were talking in our last discussion about how high schoolers may begin to volunteer as a means to distinguish themselves as well-rounded students.  Is this merely acting compassionate for personal gain?  It is interesting that we are raised to believe that helping is good and right but not necessarily taught to help unconditionally.  The idea of unconditional love, support, and help seems foreign to a Western people so driven by individualism and the “me me me” paradigm.  Perhaps the relatively recent trends in the U.S.—of yoga, transcendental mediation, and spending more money on fair trade certified organic products—represents a desire to get in tune with our compassionate and mindful selves. 

Unconditional love.  The idea is that nothing can come between
you and your bonds of compassion and love.  (Not space, not time--nothing.)
http://bible-examples.blogspot.com/2009/09/true-friend-with-unconditional-love.html