Empty Mind, Full Heart
Summer Solstice night Bob and I did an Awareness session together about the significance of this Solstice.
Here is an edited and somewhat abbreviated transcription.
“Let us remember that at one time the rhythm of the seasons, the solstice, the equinox, the turning of the wheel of the year, all were celebrated and honored over all the world. Through this alignment of human beings with the inherent rhythm of nature, a greater order existed then in the world of nature.
Solstice is the longest day of the year, or the shortest, depending on where one is. At the equator the day and night are of equal length. This tells us that there’s always a meeting point between extremes. There’s always a place to come together in any polarity. These days it’s very important for people to find that space with each other.
Just as we speak about the entry point in SourcePoint, there’s a meeting point in consciousness. That in essence is another way of describing the Triad: a meeting point beyond ordinary consciousness.
That meeting point, in the Buddhist tradition, can be called simply empty mind, empty awareness, where there is no attachment to a particular perspective but rather simply the experience of unimpeded, unobstructed awareness.
This empty mind is merely the capacity to empty one’s consciousness of judgment and opinion and attachment. It’s a simple act of emptying the mind before communicating with another person. To approach another with empty mind and a heart full of compassion and a true desire to understand is radical. This sounds very difficult. It is not actually so very difficult, if one really wants to do it.
So that’s the place where polarities meet and resolve: in the empty mind and full heart. That is the meeting point.
A meditation/contemplation in relation to the meeting point: imagine the earth, and see within it, a vertical line from north pole to south, a horizontal line at the latitude of the equator. And the point at the center of the vertical-horizontal axis is the meeting point. Imagine yourself at that point.
Source, Grounding, Activation, Transformation, at the very heart of the earth, and yourself in the center.
In a certain sense, it’s really like the navel of the earth where you are, in this meditation. In the mandala, the pattern of the earth’s energetic inner structure, you can sit at the point of emergence. You are not deep down underground; you are in the center of the Earth mandala, the point of emergence. And that point is where polarized energies meet and communicate with each other.
Within the energetic structures of SourcePoint, there are patterns that you can work with, on your own or with others. You can enter these mandalas, alone or in communication with others, to support clarity, truth and understanding.
Perceiving the Diamond in the vertical-horizontal axis within the earth, you can feel it also within yourself, recognizing that pattern is fundamental to life, whether it is that of the planet or an individual person, that vertical-horizontal axis is found as a basis for creation. There are mysteries to explore in that vertical-horizontal axis and those patterns that are formed in relation to it: the Egg, the Diamond, the Circle, the Square.
To explore the language of pattern is to connect to the Earth in a very specific way. To speak to it and to listen. All human beings once spoke and understood this language; in many cultures there is even a written language of pattern.
So the summer solstice is a time to feel the rhythm, the order, the underlying pattern of existence and being, and experience how supportive it can be.
Any time one aligns with the rhythm of the seasons, of day and night, dawn and twilight, one is in touch with the underlying pattern, the Blueprint, to call it that, of existence.
It is like the breath. Everything lives in a state of inhalation and exhalation.
Attuned to that rhythm, in that state of alignment, that is the place from which one can listen and communicate with an empty mind and a full heart.
May all beings be happy, peaceful and free of suffering.”
My commentary: It is only one person we have to take to this meeting point, and that’s ourselves. We cannot demand the other person be coming from our idea of this point of empty mind, full heart. It’s a choice we make for ourselves, in order to listen more deeply and carefully. And, automatically from that point of view, there is no judgment of the other person for being exactly where they are, no demand that they meet our idea of what “empty mind, full heart” looks like. There can be righteous anger in a full heart for sure. Peace is not the absence of conflict. The meeting point holds every emotion, every history, every story and seeks to genuinely and empathetically understand it. What I call the Awareness comes from that place. In my ordinary consciousness I’m not there yet. Most of us aren’t. We have our moments. In conclusion,I request these words not be used to tone police, anyone ,anywhere, ever.
You can also listen to the unedited original of the Awareness session here. it is very meditative, with long pauses, as the Awareness follows the threads of information that arise. It’s a good demonstration of why a transcribed Awareness session requires editing. Lots of “ums” and “ahs” and big spaces, not linear, you can feel the Awareness waiting for the information to arise, to become clear. People often ask me what’s happening during those pauses. Nothing as far as I’m concerned. It’s just space. That spacious Awareness from which thoughts, feelings, insights, information — manifest.