(Image from pixabay.com)
Mindfulness practice has introduced me to several wonderful teachers, their talks and writings. One of the key learning has been how easily we trust our beliefs and feelings, which most likely are influenced by what we are told, see and hear since long. For a more scientific view of this, I recommend ‘Behave’ by Robert Sapolsky. One of the aspects of this is how we substitute an experience with words & an opinion. J Krishnamurti talks about how when children see a bird soar, they do it with a sense of wonder. After that, we provide them with words - ‘Crow’, ‘Sparrow’, ‘Kite’ etc and the novelty is all but lost. The sense of wonderment is diluted, and what is left is a word. Similarly, we do that to people as well – as Adyashanti and many others explain.
I have been attending a course by Fleur Chambers on the Insight Timer app (I recommend both strongly). She started this particular session with ‘How are you?’. Well, a nice and very familiar greeting to start the session I thought. As I progressed into the session and practice, I realised that this was a serious question and the session was a moving experience, with the question repeating again.
One of the things most of us do is to convert a well meaning & caring question to a greeting, with an idea to move on to other matters as quickly as possible. At the same time, those who have practised mindfulness for long do not do that. Their eyes tell the story. Many who have seen this, talk about the calmness in their gaze, but there is more – intensity, caring and very deep attention.
Mindfulness teachings advise you to withdraw to silence. While it conjures up images of seclusion and negation of the world, in reality it is to help you view the world afresh – erasing preconceived notions about people, animals, birds, nature and everything else. More than anything, the world at the minimum, deserves our full attention.
And so, with the deepest of attention, respect, care and love which everyone & everything in the world fully deserves, I ask again with sincerity:
How are you?
