Students often have difficulty with this one and I don't blame them, it's a difficult, or rather it's an unusual proposition. The world of energy, spirit and heart - the heartworld - is quite different to the physical world we inhabit - the world of objects. In fact in many ways one could say that the two worlds are opposites. They also require quite different languages to elucidate, or quite different usages of the same language. A world of objects can adequately be enumerated by a system of well-defined nouns whereas a world of interconnexions, energies, processes, feelings, inklings, glimmers, possibilities, impossibilities requires a web of metaphor to hint and suggest and evoke: "Metaphor, the revealer of nature . . . The known interprets the obscure, the universe is alive with myth." This is why I like poetry and why I feel certain poems belong on these pages: they evoke quite specific worlds that resonate strongly with the heartworld my teacher regularly thrusts me into.
My teacher has always said that he's interested in process rather than state. Tiredness is a state whereas work is a process. A process involves transformation, from one state to another and then to another, fluidly or otherwise. We all know that hard-work will gradually deplete your energy and transform you into a state of tiredness from which you will only recover by resting. However, we have also all experienced a tired state transformed into an energized or an enthused one by the injection of energy or stimulation from another source. The secret here is to find that source within yourself, or within the heartworld you slip into; then you will always be within the process of heartwork and will have the power to transform both yourself and others from a state of tiredness to a state of connectedness. As metaphor evokes, so your practice should gently tempt and tantalize the real world to reveal itself and allow you entry. This is why softness is so important in the work we do: it is the most seductive quality there is and it doesn't just seduce others, it seduces the better aspects of yourself, and it seduces reality. My teacher no longer mentions states such as tiredness, instead he talks of two transformations: disheartenment and enheartenment. Disheartenment is the process of disconnecting and enheartenment is the process of connecting. Tiredness usually involves disheartenment: we get tired, retire, wind-down, rest, and this usually involves disconnecting from the work we do. After resting well we feel refreshed and have the energy to reconnect: we are enheartened. Heartwork, however, should be a process of constant enheartenment: the best part of us never tires and constantly yearns for deeper immersion. This is the part of you that your practice should search out and exercise. OK, this may be hidden under layers of conditioning, but it's always possible to locate. We all know that starting the practice is more difficult than doing it. Once we trick ourselves into starting, it somehow takes care of itself and takes us on a wonderful journey, as long as we allow it to develop naturally rather than imposing some gruelling regimen we would only be capable of when bursting with energy and enthusiasm. Chinese Tai Chi masters famously tire themselves out with standing postures before they start their Tai Chi - they wash out their overly masculine bumptious energy first in order to then concentrate on the finer aspects such as sensitivity, softness and spirit. These finer qualities do not require lots of energy to exercise, they just require openness, willing and a little connectedness, just enough to start us on the path of enheartenment. This path has, of course, already started, probably before you were born, but in a sense it is starting all the time because each moment is potentially new and fresh. Like my teacher's cats who can daily walk past well-known objects as though it is always the first time.
My teacher has always said that he's interested in process rather than state. Tiredness is a state whereas work is a process. A process involves transformation, from one state to another and then to another, fluidly or otherwise. We all know that hard-work will gradually deplete your energy and transform you into a state of tiredness from which you will only recover by resting. However, we have also all experienced a tired state transformed into an energized or an enthused one by the injection of energy or stimulation from another source. The secret here is to find that source within yourself, or within the heartworld you slip into; then you will always be within the process of heartwork and will have the power to transform both yourself and others from a state of tiredness to a state of connectedness. As metaphor evokes, so your practice should gently tempt and tantalize the real world to reveal itself and allow you entry. This is why softness is so important in the work we do: it is the most seductive quality there is and it doesn't just seduce others, it seduces the better aspects of yourself, and it seduces reality. My teacher no longer mentions states such as tiredness, instead he talks of two transformations: disheartenment and enheartenment. Disheartenment is the process of disconnecting and enheartenment is the process of connecting. Tiredness usually involves disheartenment: we get tired, retire, wind-down, rest, and this usually involves disconnecting from the work we do. After resting well we feel refreshed and have the energy to reconnect: we are enheartened. Heartwork, however, should be a process of constant enheartenment: the best part of us never tires and constantly yearns for deeper immersion. This is the part of you that your practice should search out and exercise. OK, this may be hidden under layers of conditioning, but it's always possible to locate. We all know that starting the practice is more difficult than doing it. Once we trick ourselves into starting, it somehow takes care of itself and takes us on a wonderful journey, as long as we allow it to develop naturally rather than imposing some gruelling regimen we would only be capable of when bursting with energy and enthusiasm. Chinese Tai Chi masters famously tire themselves out with standing postures before they start their Tai Chi - they wash out their overly masculine bumptious energy first in order to then concentrate on the finer aspects such as sensitivity, softness and spirit. These finer qualities do not require lots of energy to exercise, they just require openness, willing and a little connectedness, just enough to start us on the path of enheartenment. This path has, of course, already started, probably before you were born, but in a sense it is starting all the time because each moment is potentially new and fresh. Like my teacher's cats who can daily walk past well-known objects as though it is always the first time.
1 comment
I can relate to your expression of disheartenment and enheartenment. Bloody difficult to find on your own though, and not in the Oxford English Dictionary. Perhaps it will be there in a few years time.
On the standing I've never found it tires. Standing for me strengthens,stretches and releases (opens) the body - and above all energises (enheartens) it.
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