Frank's Monthly Summary

This month was characterized by exploring devotion, surrender and their connection to wh.

Given my spiritual background, perfection in my own field of being seems to be most easily found by connecting with rigpa (how the essence of our mind or pure knowingness is called in the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition). Alternatively I might do enquiry and connect with the Self, in the sense as used by Ramana Maharshi. The two don't seem really different for me. Surrender means to give my self over to this without hesitations and there is a sense of ease after I gave up control. This is an inside-out approach as far the world is concerned.

Although I start by connecting with something internal, you could say, in the process all phenomena and thus the whole world are embraced as well. Wh holds in the sense that in my field of experience no imperfection can be found. A provocative question: What more holding of wh could you ask for in that moment?

I was also exploring the cultivation of devotion and appreciation to the beauty of this inner silence and perfection as a way to be more easily and more often being connected to this.

I also applied wh to occasionally challenging life situations, like at work. What happens when I work with wh in these contexts is that I am opened up to a larger context, and see and experience more of the dance of life and its profound interconnectedness then just being identified with (and protecting) my part in it. It is the dynamics of living that appears sometimes beautiful, sometimes interesting, and if you want to call it so, perfect. Opening to this wider context removes many of the imperfections the individual me would list.

Another perfection I found is the display of life itself. The focus is on how appearances and phenomena arise out of awareness. When I look at something, even at something ordinary like a pen while I am simultaneously aware of the awareness out which it arises, suddenly there is sweetness and tenderness about this. This is not depended some special content, but it is about phenomena as such. Phenomena are quite beautiful, not so much because what they stand for in particular but for what they are made of, and that they are there at all. A sense of wonder and awe arises within me about the creation of the world that we see.