"Toward the One, the Perfection of Love Harmony and Beauty, the Only Being,United with All the Illuminated Souls, who form the Embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance."
Rather than start with words and move to practice lets start with a practice. For those of you that are part of the Raphaelite Work, these first few practices may seem familiar. Bear with this repetition as I see this to be a good opportunity to get into some depth on this subject.
Your first practice should take a minute. Be aware of your physical body. Scan your body from head to toe. Notice how relaxed or conversely how tight your body is as you sit. Is is equally relaxed or tight? That is are there areas of relaxation and areas, by contrast, of tension. Notice the degrees of relaxation or tension. Do this for at least one minute. Then do the following practice.
Be present to your breath. That is allow your breath to come to its natural rhythm by being aware of it. You are not attempting to change your breath but you will likely notice that your awareness has an effect on your breath.
You can further allow this experience to be enhanced by noticing the dimensions of the breath: Length, Refinement, Intensity. What do we mean by this? Generally as you do this practice your breath will likely lengthen. It is not getting longer because you are making it longer but because, as you are present, it will lengthen as a response to presence.
This is also true of refinement, your breath will likely become finer. Intensity is that quality of the breath that attracts life. As you are present to the breath you may notice an intensification of the breath. You may feel more charged, more magnetic. In fact each tiny change in the breath is an intensification of the breath. You are able to notice things because things move as you are present to them - we perceive the motion. In fact don't be surprised ifyour breath appears to change constantly, simply note those changes and continue to be present. It is OK to stretch and to change your position. Allow your breath to sigh, yawn, or breathe in any fashion it chooses.
Now return to the first practice - which is an assessment of what is. Notice what areas in your body appear more relaxed or more tight by contrast. Notice the degrees of relaxation or tightness. Have things changed? If so what is the difference? Can you see how this may be a discussion about space? Did you sense more space or less space after the breath practice? Was there any relationship between relaxation or lack of relaxation, tension or lack of tension in comparison a felt sense of space?
I generally like to do practices more than once. You are welcome to repeat this practice daily for a few days.
Practice #2
Phase 1: Be present to your breath. Start with the breath practice again. That is be present to the breath and nothing else. You are not seeking to improve the breath or the body or anything - your intention is to be fully present to each nuance of the breath. You are not trying to replicate the practice. You don't know if this practice will go the same way as the last one. Instead you are being present without any idea of what will happen. For those of you who have been doing this practice for some time, you may also note what is happening to the five bodies that Murshid describes. However do this only so as to not exclude any information you are getting from you bodies - continue to be present to your breath as the main intention. At some point you may notice a clarity, a capacity, , a vibration, a sense of energy in your breath. When this occurs go to the next phase.
Phase 2: Be present to something that has content for you. This time when you are present to your body, allow you body to inform you of any place of significant tension. Pick a place that feels tense and breath once or twice gently into this area. Once you have a firm sense of location be present only to the location. There is a reason for no longer being present to the breath. We want to be present only. If we combine presence to the breath along with presence to a location it will tend to manipulate what is there. We are seeking allowance of what is there, not manipulation. Do this for at least one minute -up to 5 minutes.
Here are some questions:
What, if anything did you experience while being present to the breath or to your body? We have focused on the physical body and the practice was to be present to that, however did presence elicit content from any of the other bodies? (emotional, mental, moral, spiritual)
Now that we have had some experience with this practice you might be interested in one of Murshid's teaching on spirit, matter, space (or vacuum) and intelligence. Your comments are welcome.
"Spirit and matter are the two names of one life. The primal aspect of life developing into denseness remains spirit, and its development into dense form is called matter. It is like water turning into snow: it is liquid, but it develops into a harder substance; it loses its fineness.
There is a conflict between spirit and matter. The matter absorbs the spirit in order to exist, and the spirit assimilates matter, for his its own property. The whole of manifestation may thus regarded as a continual conflict between spirit and matter; the spirit developing into matter on the one hand and assimilating matter on the other: the former being called activity and the latter silence, or construction and destruction, or life and death. When one realizes that the source of both spirit and matter is then one will see that there is no such thing as death; but this one can only recognize when one knows the distinction between the life which may be called the source and the life which is momentary, the life which matter shows by absorbing spirit.
Vacuum or space consumes substance; and when substance absorbs life from space, the space opens up within the substance. For instance, trees and plants absorb more from space than do rocks, and animals absorb still more from space than do trees and plants. Man absorbs the most spirit from space, and therefore man represents both matter and spirit in himself.
What is absorbed from space has the effect upon that which absorbs it of opening it up and of forming a vacuum. That is why the stone, which has very little vacuum in it, appears to be lifeless. Plant life shows some sign of life because it absorbs more from space. In the atoms of plant life there is an opening, for by absorbing all that it can absorb from space the plant opens within itself a space to accommodate also the spirit that it absorbs. We see a further development of the same phenomenon in animal life, which, through breathing, absorbs more of the spirit which is in space and therefore becomes more intelligent. This shows that although intelligence manifests through living beings, yet it is absorbed from space. We only know intelligence as something that belongs to man, to the mind or to the heart; but whence is intelligence attracted? It is attracted from space. We recognize intelligence in its manifestation, but we do not know it in its essence. In its essence it is all-pervading, and that is why philosophically minded people have called God omniscient.
All that is constructed is subject to destruction; all that is composed must be decomposed; all that is formed must be destroyed; that which has birth has death. But all this belongs to matter; the spirit which is absorbed by this formation of matter or by its mechanism lives, for spirit cannot die. What we call life is an absorption of spirit by matter. As long as the matter is strong and energetic enough to absorb life or spirit from space, it continues to live and move and be in good condition, but when it has lost its grip on the spirit, when it cannot absorb the spirit as it ought to, then it cannot live, for the substance of matter is spirit.
The Bible says, 'It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing'. But, one will say, does not the dense matter depend for its maintenance upon dense food? Yes, but at the same time the appetite is not satisfied by eating stones; man eats vegetable or animal food because he not only gets a substance from it but also the spirit it has absorbed. In other words, even in eating dense food one is absorbing spirit from space.
Some people will call spirit energy, or a scientist will give it the name of some form or force, but it is never called a person or a being. Then what is it that makes us call God spirit, or why do we call that which is really spirit God? If it is the very same spirit which we breathe from space that makes man an intelligent being, capable of thinking and feeling; the same spirit that gives him the power of perception and conception and develops in him that feeling which one calls ego, 'I'; if this is the phenomenon that the spirit shows by being absorbed by the material body, how much more capable of perception and conception, of thought and feeling, must the spirit be in itself! Only, because we are limited by our physical frame we are not able to experience fully its perfect life and its perfect personality.
Where there is a hole this hole has a tendency to become larger, and where there is a little substance there is a tendency for that substance to increase; this shows the tendencies of spirit and matter, the continual conflict that exists between spirit and matter. On the part of matter there is always a tendency to absorb, and on the part of spirit there is always a tendency to assimilate. Mortality, therefore, belongs to substance, not to spirit; immortality belongs to the spirit.
What is it that makes man spiritual? Spirit-consciousness. If a person is not conscious of what he absorbs, he is not conscious of that which makes him more than the dense part of his being. It is not the dense substance which has formed his body that makes him capable of thinking, that gives him the faculty of feeling, of experiencing, of knowing; it is the spirit which this dense substance has absorbed. And if one asks whether this spirit which belongs to man, which may be called an individual spirit, is to be found within or without, the answer is that man himself is the individual spirit. The body is something which the spirit has taken for its use; therefore just as man is dependent upon this vehicle, which one calls the body, for experiencing the outer life, to the same extent or even more is he independent of the outer body in order to exist for ever.
The dependence of man and the independence of man depend upon what he wishes to experience. If he wishes to experience the dense earth, he depends upon the dense body; if he wishes to live the life of the spirit, he need not depend upon anything. The spirit is living, the spirit is life itself; it only depends upon matter for its experience and not for its life; for the spirit itself is life, though a life which is different from the life we generally recognize as such. What we call living is the matter which has absorbed spirit; and what we call life is that which is moving, acting through and by that spirit. In reality life is that which matter has absorbed; life passes away from matter and remains; life cannot be destroyed. It is in the understanding of this that lies the secret of immortality." - The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Volume IX,Chapter XII. Spirit and Matter (2)
"If only we loved space as deeply as we're obsessed with time." - Edward Abbey
"It is the belief and realization that, "I do not exist, but God" which gives power to the healer to heal from a distance; also it is this realization that gives him the belief that his thought can reach any distance, because the knowledge of the all-pervading God gives him the realization that the Absolute is life in itself, and that even space, which means nothing to the average person, is everything; in fact, it is the very life of all things." - Hazrat Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan on Absent Healing, Volume IV
There are at least three kinds of space. There is the space we commonly perceive as outside of us. In measuring my garden site yesterday I was participating in this perception. There is what we commonly percieve as inner space. Of inner space there are at least two kinds that we will consider in this class: somatic space and boundless space. Somatic space is a felt sense of space within the physical, emotional, mental, or moral bodies. When we are present to something, for example any place of tension or even simple location, one of the first things that happens is that our perception of whatever we have chosen may appear to intensify - that is get stronger. Along with this intensification comes release. Generally if one does any of the previously mentioned practices from this class, one will experience some kind of release. Some common examples are that the area we are present to will warm up. We may experience tingling, yawning, sighing, pain, electrical pulsation etc, in the physical. We may experience anxiety, tension, stress, release of stress, lightening of emotions etc, in the emotional body. In the mental body there are often colors, images, thoughts. In the moral body we may sense connection or isolation within ourself or in regards to others. This is not a complete list by any means but common examples people relate to me that indicate release. It is important at this stage not to get too caught up the release process but to continue to be present to that which one originally chose. That is the location or thing we are being present to rather than the sensations or impressions of that which is being realeased.
In Part 2, I suggested this might be a place of physical tension but you could have chosen a chakra or any place where you felt a sense of location that was calling to you. If we stay present to this place of intensification it will appear to soften. This is the first hint that space is beginning to form. If we are then present to this space as it continues to unfold we may perceive that this somatic space appears to have no boundaries in any of the first four bodies mentioned (physical, emotional, mental, and moral). This is the second kind of space - boundless space. If we continue to be present to this boundless space, with patience and with support, we may perceive qualities emerging from this space that feel complete in an of themselves. This is the hallmark of an essential quality. The whole point of this exercise is the witnessing and reclamation of essential qualities that seemingly emerge from space - qualities of our essential self that have always been there but that may never emerge into the light of our consciousness without our presence. This is often a process that appears to originate from something perhaps painful, somethng that may confound us, something that calls to us for whatever reason, ie. a place that requires our attention, our presence in order to bring about transformation or healing.
Practice - Bringing Support to Presence
At any point this process could become quite difficult without a sense of support. In this next practice I encourage you to attune to one kind of support that may be helpful - Divine support. This time before you pick something to be present to I invite you to attune to your relationship with God or your ideal that may help you with the healing process.
Once I was conducting a workshop on this work and in guiding this practice I spoke only of a relationship with God or an illuminated soul. One person began to cry and explained that she did not believe in God and so could not do the practice. I asked her what she did beleive in and she shared that she believed in the stream of love coming from the eternal goodness of humanity. This was a great teaching for me and because of this I have always added the encouragement to connect with "Your concept of the Divine or your ideal that you feel connects you with your healing process." The point being that this process is not an isolated one.
Implicit in presence is Divine Intelligence. We only need to be present and allow this Intelligence to work - to inform us. This is a non-manipulative process. In this practice I only wish to orient you to this intelligence as as aspect of support. The space that is created with presence is permeated with Divine intelligence whether. This intelligence will be there whether or not you are oriented to it - but this orientation may help support you.
Bringing Support to Presence - Phase 1
Begin by being present to the breath. As you are present to your breath notice how your breath changes. Notice its length, its degree of refinement, its intensity, vibration or the quality of liveliness in the breath. Now contemplate your relationship with the Divine or your ideal that you feel connects you with your healing process. After one or two minutes be present to your breath again and notice if it is different. If so how is it different?
Bringing Support to Presence - Phase 2
Be present to the breath. Notice the changes in your breath. Notice its length, its degree of refinement, its intensity, vibration or the quality of liveliness in the breath. Be present to your physical and emotional bodies in turn. Allow one minute per body. During, or at the end of this exercise note any place of tension or anything that calls to you. Be present to this physical place or emotion that calls to you and as you shift your presence contemplate your connection with the Divine or with your ideal. In truth the place that is calling to you is doing so because Divine Intelligence is already at work in the process so you are simply acknowledging that which is already at work. Do this for a few minutes and notice what occurs with what you are being present to. Continue this practice on and off during the day if you wish.
Some thoughts about space from some very wise folks:
"Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub; It is the center hole that makes it useful. Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore profit comes from what is there; Usefulness from what is not there." - Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu
I would add that what is useful about space is that it is knowing. It is inherently intelligent. When we are present to space we benefit greatly from the content that we can perceive as coming from this source. When we do these practices of exploring space we are inviting a deeper dialogue of knowing.
"The difference between the nature of vacuum and the nature of substance is that vacuum is knowing. Therefore the prophets have called it the Omniscient God, not in the sense of a person who is knowing but of the Whole Being, the All-Knowing Being. Man is limited; he is limited because his knowledge is limited, and so he thinks, 'I alone know. The vacuum which is meaningless to me, which gives no sign of life, to me is nothing.' But if he goes further in investigating the nature of vacuum he will find that he himself is nothing, his body, eyes, head, bones, and skin; if there is anything in him which makes him a knowing being, it is the vacuum." - Hazrat Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan (Vol 11 Spirit and Matter, page 61)
As marvelous as all these words are that emphasize the divine intelligence present in space it is useless information unless you claim that for yourself through presence and allowance of what is. Your experience of this knowledge is necessarily unique. That uniqueness is precious beyond price. This is why I have shared the most bare bones of a few practices that you may find useful in this exploration and hopefully kept the practices as direct and non-manipulating as possible.
All healing discussions appear to me as discussions about space. I wish you all well in your continued explorations.
Contact the Author
April 6, 2004