Deep Feeling — Day 200
We've been talking about knowing ourselves 'as nature'. Which may turn out to be very different to our ideas and feelings about who we are! This deep level of insight develops through a practice of close observation.
Yesterday we talked about the Aboriginal word dadirri, meaning 'deep listening'. This is precisely what we're doing in our mindfulness practice – getting up in our human awareness, getting still, and simply observing the world and ourselves with increasing subtlety – going deep.
'Deep listening' can also be called 'deep feeling'. Everything that happens – inside your mind (thoughts, emotions) and outside in the world (what you see, hear, etc.) – boils down to a experiential felt-sense in your body...to physical sensations.
There are strong and obvious body sensations like pain and heat, subtler ones like posture and balance, and even subtler ones like a background, buzzing sense of life in your body. In fact, there are many deeper and finer-grained levels than that, but we will develop the capacity to feel them over time. Following the subtlety of these sensations is how you will come to know yourself more deeply 'as nature', deal with your suffering, and eventually finish your practice.
PRACTICE
Put your hands up in the air and shake them for 5 slow breaths.
Then, stop shaking, keep your hands up, and notice what they feel like.
Is there a tingly/buzzing feeling? Observe that as it subsides. (Does it go away completely?)
Later, see if you can find a similar background-buzzy quality of sensations in your hands at other times (without shaking), and perhaps in other parts of your body as well.