Friday, September 4, 2009

First Comment on Lesson One

Nothing that I see [...] means anything.

In the mornings I like to listen to the talk radio show Metro Morning, on CBC Radio 1.

I'll prepare for the day with the show audible in the background---or, mostly audible.

Occasionally, a sustained sound from outside will drown out what I can hear from the radio.

If I'm interested or engrossed in what is being discussed, I'll make an effort to be as quiet as I can be, while continuing my morning chores. So, to have the show drowned out can be irritating---generally speaking, I can't rewind the radio show.

That happened this morning, and very quickly I invoked, the lesson to say to myself: "Don't sweat it." It doesn't matter.

The point being, because of my familiarity with the course, I've slightly generalized lesson one. One sense is no different from another in that it is an interpreter of experience. The effective difference is merely the greater value we tend to place on sight over hearing, smell and touch.

The course doesn't exclude physically blind people, so realize that: Nothing that I hear [...] means anything, can be equally effective, if you value your hearing more than sight at any given moment. And the Text supports this generalization (just had and lost the reference in my mind).

I'm not encouraging you to purposefully attempt to generalize any lesson, however.

Practice the lesson as instructed. Beyond the morning and evening exercise prescribed in lesson one, feel free to casually adapt and apply the lesson during the day if it suddenly occurs to you to do so. Just don't force yourself to generalize or adapt the lesson. Later lessons will expand the range/focus of your perception.

Aaron

1 comment:

  1. I too have my morning rituals. It reminds me of when I sometimes "miss" some info from one of my shows, or when I couldn't learn a lesson at a particular time. I'm always reminded in those situations that whatever I missed, wasn't necessary for me at the time. In fact, because I missed them, it usually opens up a new door for me somewhere else. As an example, if I hadn't missed a week long seminar back in January for White Lotus, I would have never bothered to go out west to Alberta to spend time with the instructor in a private setting. Of course being in a private setting was of way more value than the original lesson that I "missed."

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