Third in a 4-part series.
Dragons: Somewhere between our ego self and our divine self sits a vast field of unpleasantness. This unpleasantness is made up of our grief, shame, regrets, resentments, lack….you name it; it is probably there. I used to call these crud bubbles, but I think of them more as fiery dragons. This is what sits between us and the treasure of our true nature. We spend a lot of time avoiding this place during our waking hours by staying busy, eating, mindlessly talking or turning on the TV.
But at some point this unpleasantness must be addressed, however not in the way we may think. We don’t have to slay the dragons as the knights of old, we only need to stay steady in our meditation practice and look at them from a neutral vantage point as they present themselves to us. They may show themselves as a full memory or simply as a powerful emotion. It doesn’t matter. They simply arise and at some point pass away as does everything fleeting in our meditation practice.
The important thing is that our mind is being purified of some of the clutter that sits in our unconscious. Or, as one of my teachers used to say, we are giving our minds a shower. It may feel unpleasant or like we are going backwards in our practice. But, like the knights of old, this is the time to have courage and continue to practice holding our attention on our breath or with our mantra. The biggest, fiercest dragons are the ones nearest the treasure.
Another thing to be aware of is that these dragons are actually discarded pieces of our very self. Although it may seem like we are fighting fierce creatures of an external nature, something much deeper is happening to us; the parts of ourselves that we have discarded are being integrated with the parts of ourselves that we know and love. Through the grace of meditation we are being healed and made whole.
For Pondering:
When you find yourself confronting dragons, your weapons are breath, mantra, and courage. Use them.
As you go about your day, stop beating yourself up for being human; you are only creating more dragons. Find grace and compassion for yourself instead.
Next week Part 4: the Divine