It's weirdly funny. After my last post, I wrote about how, despite the freedom I feel with less stuff, I would NOT think it's great to come back from the public library rest room to find my laptop missing from my workspace. (That post will never be shared. It's GONE.) I was challenging my notions about anti-materialism and imagining the loss I'd feel. Just a day latter, I lost my laptop. I think I might have spaced out when rushing to a friend's house and left it on the roof of my truck as I drove away.
The universe is helping me shed some of the excess from my life, I only wish some other thing had been shed instead of my very pretty Mac G4.
I did not cry. I am learning non-attachment. Stuff is all in flux and structures are unreliable (read Eckhart Tolle). The laptop cost more than my old Toyota 4Runner, but that truck will fall away too someday. Hopefully not too soon.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Circulate CHI By Having Less Stuff
I'm still living in my truck. I'd like to just make a joke about it... "Extended urban car camping" is what I like to call it. I've learned some interesting practical skills on how to be stealthy while sleeping in a vehicle. More on my secrets when I'm done with the experiment.
The most interesting thing I've learned is how to gauge what is necessary. There are so many things we are encouraged to buy. We are told by marketeers that our lives will be improved if we posses their product, any product, but so much of the stuff we can buy affects us in exactly the opposite way. It hinders our lives in two ways.
Firstly, in an immediate, practical way, we are drained of energy: not having room for stuff, paying to store it, and then feeling guilty for not using it, or drained of energy in our attempt to use it, always trying to fulfill the promise we've made to ourselves that we actually DO need it. Secondly, having unusable stuff, extra stuff, unessential stuff also drains life force from us by polluting the Earth. There is so much overproduction of goods for the American market that the environmental impact of this production (especially of plastic thingies that will sit around for generations) is piling up: in landfills, in storage units, in huge houses that take loads of energy to heat. These two ways of stagnation can be viewed as the microcosm and the macrocosm of the movement and blockage of CHI.
This is my lesson. It's not just a lesson that I can rant about because I understand it on an intellectual level. I've been able to do that for years. ; ) Now that I've actually narrowed my living quarters to the space of my Toyota 4-Runner, I feel the immediate, practical benefits of not having so much crap-o-la.
For those of you who need to taste this special kind of freedom, I recommend the liquidation of your material goods as a potent remedy for malaise. There's energy that goes into owning things; ownership is a kind of responsibility. You need a place to keep the stuff, you need to keep a place. Or, you need people to guard and protect these things for you. Think about the money-energy it takes. The rent you pay or the taxes you pay. Now think about the psychic-energy you spend keeping track of this stuff. Do you a have a stash or a pile in your garage or attic.? How often does the thought of the pile creep into your consciousness? Or is it just hovering in your subconscious mind, preventing new, potent thoughts from arising?
Take stock: that baseball glove you got when you were thirteen. It doesn't fit anymore. Give it to a kid who will use it and let the energy be set free. You'll stop dreaming about the past and you'll feel the vitality that is surging around that space where you kept it because the stuff, the physicality of it, will have a new purpose. It will be recycled in a "spiritual" or "psychological" way as well as a physical way. You might even go out and throw a ball for the kid and feel the energy move through your body.
Or that dressmaker's form that you bought. It's in you closet taking up space. You thought you wanted to learn how to sew, but what you really wanted was a beautiful, handmade dress. Stop beating yourself up for making a mistake. You were trying to make your dreams fit into something more practical, more doable. Now let someone else's dreams come to life... the energy will swirl when that friend of yours who really does love to sew gets that dressmaker's form from you. You'll feel the energy move and make space for your most authentic desires to be manifest.
If you're not using the stuff and it's just sitting there, you have some stagnate energy that needs to be swept out. It will free up other energy points in your life that may feel stuck and you can't understand why. Whether you're wanting a shift in career, relationship, or financial power, all these regions of your life are interconnected. The glut of stagnant stuff-energy, the energy of possessions, may be the reason you are stuck in another area of your life.
Think of a circulatory system like the one in your body. If a clogged artery blocks the flow of your blood-energy, the stagnation can affect the brain via stroke, even if the blood clot starts behind your knee. When the movement stops in one place, it stops in other places. A train track is similar. If the train one stop ahead doesn't keep moving down the line, other stations get blocked up. If there is something in your life about which you are unsatisfied and you've been working on moving your energy toward you goals to no avail, look at what other areas in you life might be easier to move the energy and get some change flowing.
According to Taoist Chi Kung tradition, he unhealthy energy that gathers in the body due to stagnancy is called blocked CHI. Your body, your life's journey, and your ability to move energy are all an interweaving of material and ethereal. If something's gotta give, you can start by moving some stuff. You can be sure that some of the unseen, mysterious energies coursing through the spiritual plane of your life will move along with the physical plane.
There are many books out there describing the "how-to's" of organization, etc. I won't go into that here because I'm sure you can figure out how to get rid of stuff if you want to. Instead, I'm here to let you know how great is my experience of freedom. I'm here to remind you of the times you've already experienced this kind of power-freedom in your life. It's exhilarating to get rid of some stuff, so before you treat yourself to some impulsive buying or retail therapy, remember the health of simplicity.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
The most interesting thing I've learned is how to gauge what is necessary. There are so many things we are encouraged to buy. We are told by marketeers that our lives will be improved if we posses their product, any product, but so much of the stuff we can buy affects us in exactly the opposite way. It hinders our lives in two ways.
Firstly, in an immediate, practical way, we are drained of energy: not having room for stuff, paying to store it, and then feeling guilty for not using it, or drained of energy in our attempt to use it, always trying to fulfill the promise we've made to ourselves that we actually DO need it. Secondly, having unusable stuff, extra stuff, unessential stuff also drains life force from us by polluting the Earth. There is so much overproduction of goods for the American market that the environmental impact of this production (especially of plastic thingies that will sit around for generations) is piling up: in landfills, in storage units, in huge houses that take loads of energy to heat. These two ways of stagnation can be viewed as the microcosm and the macrocosm of the movement and blockage of CHI.
This is my lesson. It's not just a lesson that I can rant about because I understand it on an intellectual level. I've been able to do that for years. ; ) Now that I've actually narrowed my living quarters to the space of my Toyota 4-Runner, I feel the immediate, practical benefits of not having so much crap-o-la.
For those of you who need to taste this special kind of freedom, I recommend the liquidation of your material goods as a potent remedy for malaise. There's energy that goes into owning things; ownership is a kind of responsibility. You need a place to keep the stuff, you need to keep a place. Or, you need people to guard and protect these things for you. Think about the money-energy it takes. The rent you pay or the taxes you pay. Now think about the psychic-energy you spend keeping track of this stuff. Do you a have a stash or a pile in your garage or attic.? How often does the thought of the pile creep into your consciousness? Or is it just hovering in your subconscious mind, preventing new, potent thoughts from arising?
Take stock: that baseball glove you got when you were thirteen. It doesn't fit anymore. Give it to a kid who will use it and let the energy be set free. You'll stop dreaming about the past and you'll feel the vitality that is surging around that space where you kept it because the stuff, the physicality of it, will have a new purpose. It will be recycled in a "spiritual" or "psychological" way as well as a physical way. You might even go out and throw a ball for the kid and feel the energy move through your body.
Or that dressmaker's form that you bought. It's in you closet taking up space. You thought you wanted to learn how to sew, but what you really wanted was a beautiful, handmade dress. Stop beating yourself up for making a mistake. You were trying to make your dreams fit into something more practical, more doable. Now let someone else's dreams come to life... the energy will swirl when that friend of yours who really does love to sew gets that dressmaker's form from you. You'll feel the energy move and make space for your most authentic desires to be manifest.
If you're not using the stuff and it's just sitting there, you have some stagnate energy that needs to be swept out. It will free up other energy points in your life that may feel stuck and you can't understand why. Whether you're wanting a shift in career, relationship, or financial power, all these regions of your life are interconnected. The glut of stagnant stuff-energy, the energy of possessions, may be the reason you are stuck in another area of your life.
Think of a circulatory system like the one in your body. If a clogged artery blocks the flow of your blood-energy, the stagnation can affect the brain via stroke, even if the blood clot starts behind your knee. When the movement stops in one place, it stops in other places. A train track is similar. If the train one stop ahead doesn't keep moving down the line, other stations get blocked up. If there is something in your life about which you are unsatisfied and you've been working on moving your energy toward you goals to no avail, look at what other areas in you life might be easier to move the energy and get some change flowing.
According to Taoist Chi Kung tradition, he unhealthy energy that gathers in the body due to stagnancy is called blocked CHI. Your body, your life's journey, and your ability to move energy are all an interweaving of material and ethereal. If something's gotta give, you can start by moving some stuff. You can be sure that some of the unseen, mysterious energies coursing through the spiritual plane of your life will move along with the physical plane.
There are many books out there describing the "how-to's" of organization, etc. I won't go into that here because I'm sure you can figure out how to get rid of stuff if you want to. Instead, I'm here to let you know how great is my experience of freedom. I'm here to remind you of the times you've already experienced this kind of power-freedom in your life. It's exhilarating to get rid of some stuff, so before you treat yourself to some impulsive buying or retail therapy, remember the health of simplicity.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
I realize I'm about to get up on the pulpit. It's a danger inherent in blogging. What I really want is to give you a gift, an experience of freedom to remind you of that amazing life-path you are following. I want to inspire you to keep going, to keep feeling that juiciness in you life that makes everything a miraculous wonder.
So what's a blogger to do? Is it possible to turn my experiences into a gift that you might actually enjoy reading? At the same time, can I avoid the danger inherent in every blog... the egomaniacal Web Log, part diary, part personal pulpit, without any accountability to a readership because of the random nature of web clicking.
Indulge me... I'm new at this social-interaction-via-the-web-thing and haven't yet figured out how this Blog is something useful for you AND me. I do indeed want to entertain you, dazzle you, maybe even inspire you. So, if it's not doing it for you, let me know. Ask me questions. Post a comment and I'll be happy to give you what you want.
And Now, the Pulpit:
So what's a blogger to do? Is it possible to turn my experiences into a gift that you might actually enjoy reading? At the same time, can I avoid the danger inherent in every blog... the egomaniacal Web Log, part diary, part personal pulpit, without any accountability to a readership because of the random nature of web clicking.
Indulge me... I'm new at this social-interaction-via-the-web-thing and haven't yet figured out how this Blog is something useful for you AND me. I do indeed want to entertain you, dazzle you, maybe even inspire you. So, if it's not doing it for you, let me know. Ask me questions. Post a comment and I'll be happy to give you what you want.
And Now, the Pulpit:
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