Cultivating the observer
I too am a beginner on this course, although I have been meditating off and on since the '70's. I am living through quite difficult emotional 'thing' at the moment, and Michael's recent e-mail about 'cultivating the observer' made me realise the degree to which I had lost the art of observing myself, and I wondered how I would ever manage to do it. Then I remembered an exercise given me a long time ago by my first meditation teacher, and thought I might share it with anyone who is having the same difficulties. Forgive me if this is inappropriate, but even now, I have found it has helped me greatly to return to a degree of serenity. I use it an an intro into meditation, and here it is:
Exercise in centre-ing the consciousness
I have a body, but I am not my body.
My body may have differing conditions of health or sickness; ease or exhaustion, but it is not me.
My body is my precious instrument of experience and of action, but it is only an instrument. I treat it well, I seek to keep it in good health, but it is not my-self.
I have a body, but I am not my body.
I have emotions, but I am not my emotions.
They change, and are countless and contradictory, yet I know that I remain I, my-self; in times of hope or despair, in joy or in pain, irritation or calm.
I value my emotions for the richness of life that they bring me, but they are not me.
I have emotions, but I am not my emotions.
I have an intellect, but I am not my intellect.
It is more or less developed and active; it is undisciplined, but teachable.
I value my intellect for the knowledge and insight it brings to me, but it is not my-self.
I have an intellect, but I am not my intellect.
Who then am I?
I am the self, the constant, central being;
More radiant than the sun, purer than the snow,
subtler than the ether is the self.
I am that self; that self am I.
I hope it helps.
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