One paradox is that expectations are an interference with genuine practice, like meditation. One quote is, “A true practitioner has an absence of expectation and doubt.” Lama Dodjum Dorjee.
So we have this paradox. We are attempting to do something difficult, bring some clarity to the overactive mind, but we need to have that intention and consistency without expectation.
There is a resolution. A Taoist saying is, “All day long I sell water by a river and my efforts are totally worthless.” Practice is doing you. You don’t do practice. You learn tools and techniques and they are useful. Your motive must come from inside. The river, not the vendor. You can feel it when you hit upon that path and though the vendor may have jugs, jars, baskets, these are just tools. We are all about the water.
This is why so many people feel powerless. They look at metaphysical practices and spiritual disciplines and see only the finger. Not the moon it’s pointing at. But we all at some point are called by the moon. That is why we deal in the baskets and containers that most people don’t trouble with at all. Practices should serve us.
Some people think, “I am doing meditation. This is the way.” No. The way transcends meditation. By meditation, we walk it. They think if I’m not doing “insert name of practice here”, I am not making progress. For any steady meditators, what happens when you don’t? You do it because of how you engage and there are many ways to engage the path. Perhaps as many as there are people.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~