Hi Carson
,
Just adding my two cents..
quote:
Originally posted by CarsonZi
Has anybody else had to go through this phase?
Heck, yeah. I call it the "spiritual bipolar phenomenon" - calling it a "disorder" would mean only a few go through it.
As you say, it is all about identification. What I'm finding is deeply humbling - see, it does not matter what
I do; there is a back and forth between being identified as the ego or not. But each time there is loss of that self absorption, it is worn back a bit "looser" when it returns, if that makes any sense. When there is loss of that ego identification, I'm inclined to not practice at all and wonder what the fuss is all about. This can go on for weeks or months. When the ego is donned again, albeit a bit loosely, there is a renewed fervor with taking up of rigorous austerities and practices..
But....
In all of this, there is not much that
I am doing or controlling.
I cannot make the ego identification go away or return. I cannot even find the reason for wanting to be "better" as you say - when sincerely looking for an intent, nothing comes up. I now sense that I am at the mercy of Life playing through me, taking me through the troughs and valleys of ego identification, working out whatever needs to be worked out. Of course, the mind will want to take ownership of it all..
The question you are asking (at least my interpretation of it) is: act or just be? And I say, the finesse in yoga is to
just be and act. ("One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction is wise among men, and he has transcended even while engaged in all activity. Gita IV:18).
How many examples there are of this! Just look to the right of this page and all the books that have come out (in just a few years) of one man just being
and acting (or wanting to be better, in some sense). In just being, we can get out of our own way and allow Life to work through us, including the taking up and discarding of sadhanas as they manifest and serve their purpose. The key for me is to see that the wanting to be better/more is also not mine. In that, I'm content and at peace even while the striving goes on..
Love and samyama for that arm. Yes, I agree that belief is the root of health, disease and healing. A new study from Framingham reported that people who believed they were at risk for heart disease got it more often than those who didn't. Go figure..