| 3 Seconds of Bliss | 1 comment |
 10 Apr 2008 @ 19:19, by David Bartholomew[excerpted from DoingIt!, November, 2006] My friend Vicki summed up what I believe is the general quest of us all—the carrot at the end of the stick however we are maneuvering toward attaining it-- with eloquence and a simplicity that really drove the point home. She was relating an experience that came within a recent meditation. “Three seconds of bliss! I had three seconds of bliss. As soon as my mind noticed how great it was, it was gone. But for those three seconds…” Just a few moments of being in the present, the now. Freezing the mind. Refraining from asking that next question, holding onto something from two seconds past, worrying about some concern a couple of seconds hence. Three seconds. A lifetime. I so understood her ear-to-ear smile as she recounted this sacred blip of time… out of time. Her focus was not on what she had lost in coming back into mind and body, or how limiting words were in capturing it; rather, how amazing it was to have had it at all. These are the moments that keep us going, that keep our eyes on the prize. Like a first wobbly and short-lived, training-wheel-free, maiden journey on a two-wheeler bike the exuberance comes from the knowledge of what is possible, and the sense of how much more of it is available… and not all that far off. Forget the skinned knee; let’s get back on and do it again! We are getting the hang of it. We can put so much effort into a specific endeavor, and then there comes that instant-- so memorable-- that is the turning point. We measure life by these dividing lines-- between life lived before and life truly lived afterwards. Such are our rites of passage in life. Everyone has their own precious set, held close to heart and always ready to be called up by minds in need of remembering. That we are getting it. That we know what it—our life’s purpose-- is generally about and that we are on our way there, making progress despite any mental chatter or doubt to the contrary. There is so much talk, so much effort devoted to achieving the state of being in the now in the air these days. So many systems, philosophies and ideas on how to be in the moment have bombarded us, confused us, attempted to allay our confusion. All in all I feel it is safe to say that-- aware of it or not—the bulk of history has been lived in attempts of achieving this same natural state (a lot of work devoted to becoming natural) yet again. Certainly all or most of recorded history, and more than not of the conversations and actions mankind has taken… can be followed (in less than six degrees of separation, with or without Kevin Bacon in there somewhere), distilled down to their motivation to achieve this connection, this beingness that can only happen in the moment. The aims of wars. The striving toward peace. Pursuits toward love, community, security, or away from hurt, pain, suffering in all planes; the endgame of every urge, by way of any discipline--religious, academic, art, sport, physical/intellectual/sensual; is to come home to this place. Play with this. Follow any line of thinking, any thought, action or drive, any episode out of personal or world history… and see if the epitome of such does not attempt to bring all participants home, in the way they understand it; and in a way that transcends mind and the limitations of the senses (especially in trying to do it justice in the telling of it) as it is attained successfully. Perhaps the only difference between the enlightened and those less so, the more conscious vs. the less conscious… is a keener sense of what means might yield more lasting gains and fruits of these labours. For my money, it is never about the money. So many conquering peoples have stepped over spiritual dollars to pick up material dimes; so many of the civilized have missed the basic point lived out so successfully for so long by the indigenous ones conquered or subdued at their hand. I am encouraged, though, and my heart is stirred by how many former pillagers of one sort or another now seem to be in better and better alignment with the highest of these principles… and are coming around to what for many has been the long-awaited obvious. I truly do seem to be catching small clusters of news stories that validate this theme on a given day—unrelated stories of folks who are getting it. This is a time to take hope, to focus on, to share and communicate these changes, these success stories, where those still living from the acquisition paradigm have an at-stakeness in them not seeing the light of day and catching fire perhaps; but where, equally, there are potential openings and opportunities to speak to the parts in them that are ready to drop their yokes and shed illusion. There is much good occurring in the world despite what you might be shown or told out of fear or an agenda. And this is the season to continue to direct our attention on the momentum that light and harmony seem to be achieving, in the oddest places. I have been graced by contact, friendship and relationship with so many who are throwing more of their two cents’, and three seconds’, into the community pot in these respects-- you who continue to support the ideals of DoingIt! in your lives key among these. I hope you will take a few moments to inventory the chunks of time-- large or small-- that you have accumulated in the now, from your deepest sense of home, throughout your life… all those times you ate or drank or spent quality time at the Source from which you stem. Let us use this season to pool our bliss and to allow it to compound, with increased interest and focus paid to it. Let us hop back on this bike and ride. |