To: K-list
Recieved: 1999/10/08 04:15
Subject: Re: [K-list] 1000 times or 100 times 1000 times ?
From: Adele Chatelain
On 1999/10/08 04:15, Adele Chatelain posted thus to the K-list:
When I taught meditation, I had to be very careful not
to tell the students everything about meditation; I found
myself censoring myself. Now, I'm far from being a Lama,
so even on such a elemental level I had to keep things
to myself.
For example, if I were to start off a new class by saying
that breathing exercises will physically as well as mentally
and spiritual change the way one looks at reality....they
would have all gotten up and walked away, never to return
to any meditation class given to anyone. I know, because
I DID say this to a couple of my students after class and
....they never returned. Later I was told by their friends
that they thought it was too 'weird' for them.
On the higher levels of the teachings (by higher I don't
mean 'better'---simply a deeper aspect of the teachings),
it becomes more important to keep things to oneself because
as you K. people know, the POWER of K. or any meditation
practice, in the hands of a novice, can be physically,
mentally
and spiritually dangerous.
When I first began meditation, back in the '60's, there were
no teachers or even books then (at least not in the Midwest
U.S.A.). So when I first encountered a sharper and more
relaxed
mind in my practice.....I did, like most North Americans,
MORE
of it, without noticing the danger signs.
Consequently I had an episode of what I later learned is
termed
ZEN MADNESS; a pseudo-psychotic state. What I had done was
prick the psychological membrane of my Deeper Mind
(Collective
Unconsious) and all the psychic materials repressed in there
over the years...all came up at once.
In short, I went bonkers. And I don't remember much of it
except I saw a LOT of horrible faces on the wall (now, you
have to understand I never indulged in drugs of any kind,
outside
of an occasional aspirin). I got out of it when I went to
the
local bank a few days later and a business man in front of
me
was talking to another business man and the first one
said...
'o, I'm reading the most interesting book by William
Johnston
and there's a section on Zen Madness; he said the only way
to get out of it is to laugh at the demons that appear in
the mind
because they really don't exist'.
I went home and practiced laughter whenever I saw the
demons;
they disappeared in a flash.
That business man was my angel, I am sure of it. Johnston,
by
the way is a Jesuit.
So, call it what you will; Secrecy, protection, whatever.
It
really is important, when teaching others to practice the
first oath of Hippocraytes: "First, do no harm'.....
Even though it's the oath for medical doctors, it applies
here as well.
Love,
adele
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