Maria's Summary

This week I continue to practice with changing the reference point when using "I". I saw that I made a mistake last week in that when there is no self, then how can everyone and everything become a part of myself? Instead, I tried to see that all are appearance, not referencing anything as outside, inside, or myself.

I worked a bit with focusing on the breath as Piet suggested. After sitting a bit, all there was, was an knowing pulsation of in and out. Then during the day, I tried to keep that image in mind of a pulsating empty knowing in all the simple activities such as walking, or doing dishes. I have to admit that this was a bit weird because instead of a body called Maria walking down the hall, it became an empty aware pulsation creating walking down a hall. I don't know the value of such an exercise but I saw that I was very attached to my body and in doing this little exercise, I was able to let go a bit of that attachment.

Focusing on the breath has been useful as Piet noted in daily transaction. I found it easy to remind myself of the practice when I concentrated on the breath again. The two-step process Piet described helped soften up the concreteness of the situation so that all became a bit more transparent again.

Lastly, this week, I discovered love. I saw that I had tremendous love for the appearances and all is so intimate and beautiful.

-Maria