COACHING OBLIQUE SHAFTS OF ILLUMINATION

That takes us full circle, to Oblique Shafts of Illumination.  That’s who you are and what you embody as a context, so when you show up it’s almost like you can set your watch to it.  The practice of meditation it’s so that, at some point, because you practiced it so much, the technique falls away and you just are that  I like that except then I think don’t belong in this world, which is full of people selling stuff.  So, the effect, over time, is that I’ve gotten really to be a better, quicker counselor.  I can read people almost instantly, can get to their racket – their automatic way of being and messing things up for themselves, really fast.  And if I’m gentle, it’s helpful, effective, and people really like it.  But when I’m dealing with a rigid context, like working for a big organization or a corporation or community or true believer, it’s a dilemma. And, I don’t want to kill the contract until I trust that the client won’t go all the way.

But it’s not whole from an Overview Effect, so to speak.  Transformation and certainty are reciprocal.  You can’t have transformation when you’re seeking certainty.  Doesn’t happen.  This goes to uncertainty, which is oblique in its nature. I’m saying that transformation and seeking certainty don’t exist in the same place.

It’s a moment-to-moment thing.  Reality is moment to moment to moment. And, reality as a principle, gets flakier and flakier.  Therapy, making things better, is always the opposite.  If your problem is that you talk too much, the therapy is to not talk so much.  If your habit is facilitation, you’re there to facilitate, which is a good thing, (I’m not knocking it), but if you’re stuck with that, the therapy is to not facilitate.  Tell me what you think or ask questions that you don’t have the answer to.  If you have trouble with relationships with women, you should get to know one without trying to get intimate.

It’s always the opposite.  What transforms is experience.  Most people will not allow themselves to have experiences that their church doesn’t like, that their family doesn’t like, that their wife doesn’t like, whatever.  Therapy is the opposite.  The obliqueness comes from not being stuck with what you already think.  You can’t think oblique…, it just happens when you get present.

It’s wonderful – I’ve been doing this Zen mantra, “Om mani padre om”, over and over again.  It’s miraculous, because what happens is that I stop thinking.  And when I stop thinking, I’m able to think!  I’m able to imagine.  I don’t know where it comes from, what the source of real thinking is.  But most of what we think it is, is not what it is.  It’s just a way of keeping some boss or someone, in your life and past that you want to make happy.

In a group, some of the time I’m collaborating, but don’t feel free.  When I talk, they’re collaborating but don’t feel free.  What is it that lets you collaborate and feel free?  As my friend Tony Turnbull says and what we do beautifully together, is to “connect and move on.”  Connect, contact, and move on.  Don’t get stuck with anything.  The brain wants to take over your life, so that it will be consistent, measured, on time and the future won’t be dangerous.

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