I am happy to share with you that my Trilotherapy teacher finally has an English speaking Facebook page. My Hebrew sucks!! Ok it is non-existent. His words are wise and are touching.
Sometimes the inner situation is bad and the mind looks outwards to find answers in the spiritual world. I saw this in many monasteries, young men carrying a great pain who sentenced themselves to extended periods of silence and prolonged sitting during meditation. The mind took emotion into a social solitary confinement and searched hidden worlds, with the ambition that one day the great enlightenment will come the pain would immediately be erased.
With adherence to the spiritual practice and discipline, the mind develops a "spiritual ego". This is due to the persistence and moving up in the ranks of the spiritual journey. For emotion, this situation is misleading. Seemingly, the mind and emotion are on a spiritual journey, the "purest" journey that one can make. The mind speaks beautiful words on sacred values, but utilizing its spiritual excuses, the mind convinces emotion to give up on anger or sadness, crying or enjoyment, and forces emotion to be constantly forgiving and full of compassion. I have seen monks proud of their self-imposed suppression, restricting themselves of all forms of sexuality, eating little, sleeping on a hard floor, waking in the middle of the night for an additional practice session, certain that they are the elites of the group. This kind of mind ignores the anger and pain that is in emotion. No process of cleansing and release of accumulated emotions is undertaken. They spoke with nobody about their pain, didn't cry, receive hugs, and there are monasteries that allow their students to be tough on themselves.
I have also met the spiritual types who live the normal city life, who, in the name of compassion, mind enforces restraint upon emotion and the acceptance of bad treatment at work or in a relationship, things which are not good for emotion. The mind will claim that the happiness is internal and does not need to be searched out through external change, nor is there a need to hang lack of joy upon others.
One's inner distress is not solved in the monastery, the middle does not really lead, there is no inner balance, and often there is a hidden depression in emotion. The mind is occupied with the chase after more and more spiritual knowledge, as well as the continuous search for methods, theories and teachers. The spirituals mind's technique of control is misleading and confusing. In addition to reducing the importance of emotion, the mind blames emotion for all slips along the way.
All this is done in order that full recognition for the intense efforts of the mind will reach the yearned for enlightenment, just out of the blue. There is a joke about a man walking down the street, when all of a sudden, a penguin fell on him from the sky. He asked a passerby what to do, and the passerby proposed that he take it to the zoo. The next day the passerby saw him with the penguin again. "I thought you took it to the zoo?" He said. "I did", answered the man, "but today he wants to go see a movie".
Enlightenment is not a penguin that falls suddenly from the skies. You cannot be tough, critical, blame, restrict and suppress yourself, then hope that you receive a prize for it. In the Trilotherapy journey, the ratio is changed between the mind and emotion, illuminating the middle way and understanding that the solution to the riddle of inner happiness is not hidden behind the spiritual ideas of the mind.
The moment that you become considerate and forgiving towards yourself, allow yourself to be sad and to talk about it, allow yourself to cry if it feels right, to have fun, to open up to people; if you decide to love yourself and to rest occasionally in the space that is between your thoughts, the yearned for enlightenment is not quite so distant.
With adherence to the spiritual practice and discipline, the mind develops a "spiritual ego". This is due to the persistence and moving up in the ranks of the spiritual journey. For emotion, this situation is misleading. Seemingly, the mind and emotion are on a spiritual journey, the "purest" journey that one can make. The mind speaks beautiful words on sacred values, but utilizing its spiritual excuses, the mind convinces emotion to give up on anger or sadness, crying or enjoyment, and forces emotion to be constantly forgiving and full of compassion. I have seen monks proud of their self-imposed suppression, restricting themselves of all forms of sexuality, eating little, sleeping on a hard floor, waking in the middle of the night for an additional practice session, certain that they are the elites of the group. This kind of mind ignores the anger and pain that is in emotion. No process of cleansing and release of accumulated emotions is undertaken. They spoke with nobody about their pain, didn't cry, receive hugs, and there are monasteries that allow their students to be tough on themselves.
I have also met the spiritual types who live the normal city life, who, in the name of compassion, mind enforces restraint upon emotion and the acceptance of bad treatment at work or in a relationship, things which are not good for emotion. The mind will claim that the happiness is internal and does not need to be searched out through external change, nor is there a need to hang lack of joy upon others.
One's inner distress is not solved in the monastery, the middle does not really lead, there is no inner balance, and often there is a hidden depression in emotion. The mind is occupied with the chase after more and more spiritual knowledge, as well as the continuous search for methods, theories and teachers. The spirituals mind's technique of control is misleading and confusing. In addition to reducing the importance of emotion, the mind blames emotion for all slips along the way.
All this is done in order that full recognition for the intense efforts of the mind will reach the yearned for enlightenment, just out of the blue. There is a joke about a man walking down the street, when all of a sudden, a penguin fell on him from the sky. He asked a passerby what to do, and the passerby proposed that he take it to the zoo. The next day the passerby saw him with the penguin again. "I thought you took it to the zoo?" He said. "I did", answered the man, "but today he wants to go see a movie".
Enlightenment is not a penguin that falls suddenly from the skies. You cannot be tough, critical, blame, restrict and suppress yourself, then hope that you receive a prize for it. In the Trilotherapy journey, the ratio is changed between the mind and emotion, illuminating the middle way and understanding that the solution to the riddle of inner happiness is not hidden behind the spiritual ideas of the mind.
The moment that you become considerate and forgiving towards yourself, allow yourself to be sad and to talk about it, allow yourself to cry if it feels right, to have fun, to open up to people; if you decide to love yourself and to rest occasionally in the space that is between your thoughts, the yearned for enlightenment is not quite so distant.
Please feel free like Nissim’s Facebook page and continue the wisdom of Zen.
Namaste,
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