04-11-2010, 12:00 AM
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Hopefully you can see how this applies to you, personally. Because if you don't see how it applies to you then there is no real benefit from this post. To come and read about competitiveness in some sort of general way, really has not much meaning for you. Only if you can capture how this arises within you does it mean something.
None of us is free of competitiveness, I think. It is such a major force in our lives. The world stresses it, encourages it, and rewards it to such a tremendous degree that there is no way to not be affected by this.
What occurs when someone offends us? Perhaps we’ll say, "Oh, I let them get to me. I got too wrapped up in beating the other warriors."
Of course, that is not what Nagualism is about. And in fact, that is not what most anything in life is about. The greatest warriors know that everything is about overcoming yourself first.
In Dreaming a great warrior used to lecture me about Nagualism, particularly when introducing the idea of Nagualism to new people, he would say, "Nagualism is unique in that it is not a religion or belief system. Nagualism is not about overcoming the other warriors. Nagualism is about overcoming yourself."
Well I would suggest that, if we look at it clearly, everything we do is about overcoming ourselves, not just Nagualism.
As an example, and in my view, whenever a great athlete is winning, he or she is mentally in this "zone" that “spirit of non-dissension”. This zone is a mental space where they have moved beyond competing with their opponents. They have temporarily overcome what the society has put upon them, this tremendous urge to be better than the others, and for a short period of time, they are free of that. They have moved beyond, or above, that. And then all the years and years of training that went into their particular art, or craft, can operate freely through them. They seem to take flight and move completely beyond themselves. Do you notice this?
So here is the value of our training in Nagualism. The question is not, can you be completely and permanently free of your competitive nature, but can you recognize what it is, and in so recognizing, realize how it is that you can be free of it on occasion, when it is important to be so?
I once commented to my great warrior-friend, "You are so demanding. You are always requiring that I be perfect all the time."
His response: “Of course I don't think I am doing that. I am certainly not perfect all the time. Just ask my band of warriors and they’ll tell you. And I am not ever expecting that from you. But I want you to have this experience. And the more you have this experience, which we call "opening" or "awareness" or "freedom", but is really just "the zone", then the more you will have that experience. In other words, it is self- replicating.”
This seemed to make sense to me. When I got the knack of it, then I could fall into that more and more often.
The entry into this "state of mind" is being able to see what we do to ourselves that prevent us from experiencing that. There is a feeling that arises in us; a sense of separation from others; and from out of that arises the drive to compete.
So this is not just having to do with Nagualism, but really points as well to regular life chores; doing the dishes, doing the laundry, cooking, driving the car. Just think about your work place, maybe even your spouse.
Are you completely free of any sense of separateness, and hence competitiveness, there? I am only suggesting that you look and see. This competitiveness, when it arises in you, what is the key feeling? You want to be able to recognize it, so you can see right away, "Oh, that's that familiar feeling; that feeling of wanting to be better than, special, more recognized, more lovable, more worthy of attention." How do we notice and recognize that feeling within ourselves, when we are maybe rushing through our daily lives?
You become whatever it is that you practice. So if you just practice bad habits, you will never be free of those habits. You are just re-establishing that over and over again. This is also self-replicating! So sometimes it helps if we slow down a little bit, so we can notice what is going on.
Well, likewise in daily life, if you just go through life suffering, accepting while being disturbed by your own misery, and usually blaming it on someone else, then maybe you can slow down a bit and look more closely at what is happening.
This is why we have meditation and recapitulation. Meditation and recapitulation means slowing down the mind and body; very deliberately living this life. We slow down this whole business of living life so that we can notice what is arising as it arises. And then when our reactivity happens, we are with that, not outside of that.
So what begins to occur when we lose our ties to our baggage through recapitulation? We become more aware, more present. When we have this presence, this means that we cannot at the same time have the spirit of competition working through us.
Then, sometimes when you might feel some disturbance around you, check and make sure that you don't have competition arising in you. Make sure that you are living in the moment and are present in this moment.
It may very well be that someone else is disturbed. But on the other hand, if you are experiencing the disturbance, where is that disturbance occurring?
Perhaps you can see, if you are attentive, that the disturbance is not so much a disturbance out there. This is the whole point here; to be free of competition and practicing in the spirit of non-dissension, we must be hyper aware of what is going on within us, and not confuse it with something we think is happening outside of us.
To be continued…
Kris
Hopefully you can see how this applies to you, personally. Because if you don't see how it applies to you then there is no real benefit from this post. To come and read about competitiveness in some sort of general way, really has not much meaning for you. Only if you can capture how this arises within you does it mean something.
None of us is free of competitiveness, I think. It is such a major force in our lives. The world stresses it, encourages it, and rewards it to such a tremendous degree that there is no way to not be affected by this.
What occurs when someone offends us? Perhaps we’ll say, "Oh, I let them get to me. I got too wrapped up in beating the other warriors."
Of course, that is not what Nagualism is about. And in fact, that is not what most anything in life is about. The greatest warriors know that everything is about overcoming yourself first.
In Dreaming a great warrior used to lecture me about Nagualism, particularly when introducing the idea of Nagualism to new people, he would say, "Nagualism is unique in that it is not a religion or belief system. Nagualism is not about overcoming the other warriors. Nagualism is about overcoming yourself."
Well I would suggest that, if we look at it clearly, everything we do is about overcoming ourselves, not just Nagualism.
As an example, and in my view, whenever a great athlete is winning, he or she is mentally in this "zone" that “spirit of non-dissension”. This zone is a mental space where they have moved beyond competing with their opponents. They have temporarily overcome what the society has put upon them, this tremendous urge to be better than the others, and for a short period of time, they are free of that. They have moved beyond, or above, that. And then all the years and years of training that went into their particular art, or craft, can operate freely through them. They seem to take flight and move completely beyond themselves. Do you notice this?
So here is the value of our training in Nagualism. The question is not, can you be completely and permanently free of your competitive nature, but can you recognize what it is, and in so recognizing, realize how it is that you can be free of it on occasion, when it is important to be so?
I once commented to my great warrior-friend, "You are so demanding. You are always requiring that I be perfect all the time."
His response: “Of course I don't think I am doing that. I am certainly not perfect all the time. Just ask my band of warriors and they’ll tell you. And I am not ever expecting that from you. But I want you to have this experience. And the more you have this experience, which we call "opening" or "awareness" or "freedom", but is really just "the zone", then the more you will have that experience. In other words, it is self- replicating.”
This seemed to make sense to me. When I got the knack of it, then I could fall into that more and more often.
The entry into this "state of mind" is being able to see what we do to ourselves that prevent us from experiencing that. There is a feeling that arises in us; a sense of separation from others; and from out of that arises the drive to compete.
So this is not just having to do with Nagualism, but really points as well to regular life chores; doing the dishes, doing the laundry, cooking, driving the car. Just think about your work place, maybe even your spouse.
Are you completely free of any sense of separateness, and hence competitiveness, there? I am only suggesting that you look and see. This competitiveness, when it arises in you, what is the key feeling? You want to be able to recognize it, so you can see right away, "Oh, that's that familiar feeling; that feeling of wanting to be better than, special, more recognized, more lovable, more worthy of attention." How do we notice and recognize that feeling within ourselves, when we are maybe rushing through our daily lives?
You become whatever it is that you practice. So if you just practice bad habits, you will never be free of those habits. You are just re-establishing that over and over again. This is also self-replicating! So sometimes it helps if we slow down a little bit, so we can notice what is going on.
Well, likewise in daily life, if you just go through life suffering, accepting while being disturbed by your own misery, and usually blaming it on someone else, then maybe you can slow down a bit and look more closely at what is happening.
This is why we have meditation and recapitulation. Meditation and recapitulation means slowing down the mind and body; very deliberately living this life. We slow down this whole business of living life so that we can notice what is arising as it arises. And then when our reactivity happens, we are with that, not outside of that.
So what begins to occur when we lose our ties to our baggage through recapitulation? We become more aware, more present. When we have this presence, this means that we cannot at the same time have the spirit of competition working through us.
Then, sometimes when you might feel some disturbance around you, check and make sure that you don't have competition arising in you. Make sure that you are living in the moment and are present in this moment.
It may very well be that someone else is disturbed. But on the other hand, if you are experiencing the disturbance, where is that disturbance occurring?
Perhaps you can see, if you are attentive, that the disturbance is not so much a disturbance out there. This is the whole point here; to be free of competition and practicing in the spirit of non-dissension, we must be hyper aware of what is going on within us, and not confuse it with something we think is happening outside of us.
To be continued…
Kris