Return to Home Page This essay is copyright 2004
BALANCING SAMENESS AND DIFFERENCES ---------------------------------- On a Saturday in November 2004 at a meditation week-end One of the speakers summed up the essence of his teaching As "balance". This struck a chord in me, As balance has played that year a growing part in my thoughts. Take a simple thing like sameness and differences. Apply it to an area of life like 3D- reality (buildings, suburbs, cities, states, nations), And you can be one of three things: You can find a new place stimulating on the first visit (eg Glen Eira Town Hall, where the meditation week-end was held) And flat on subsequent visits; Or flat on the first visit, And stimulating on subsequent visits; Or, with diminished intensity, Acceptably stimulating on all visits. Stimulating on the first try involves a sense of being challenged, Of noticing what is different, where everything is. Stimulating on the subsequent occasions Involves a "being-at-home-with" knowing state, Of experiencing the same experiences (as far as the 3D-reality is concerned) As the first time. What then is the virtue of the balanced state? If the Glen Eira Town Hall Was above averagely stimulating the first time, Chances are you will be finding YOUR OWN HOME OR OFFICE unnecessarily flat. If the subsequent visits were great, Although you would feel GREAT AT HOME, There could be a tenativeness about exploring new restaurants, Shops, art galleries, and so on. Or exploring new places on holidays. This is just one area of life (3D reality). Other areas? Technology. A new computer - some will thrill at coming to grips with it, Then find it flat. Others will find it hard at first, But will groove with it subsequently. Others, the balanced ones in relation to technology, can do both. We could also consider friends, partners, (some crave the excitement that comes from relating to a new person Others really love being faithful in a monogamous relationship) And there is more: Systems of meditation, song lyrics, Restaurant menu selections, to name a few. And jokes! (some need to hear a joke twice before they get it, Others find re-hearing or re-telling a joke Stale and boring) My own observations in this regard arise from inner dialogues With an ever-changing series of what I term "thought sources", Or more recently "thought partners", Whose state of balance in these regards I vicariously experience. It seems that often it is enough to notice - or diagnose - And mentally verbalize the type of imbalance in the thought source For some healing energies To find a way of remedying the situation. There are degrees of, for example, sameness addiction. The sameness addict seeks sameness in an area (3d reality) Because he or she has a past impression of differences (being challenged by a new place), Causing an imbalance in that differences direction. Against this background, sameness is exhilarating because it corrects this imbalance. Experiences with thought partners suggest That over time the balance in a person can shift from, At one time, being a sameness addict To later on being a differences addict, Or vice versa, Or swing back and forth with swings of ever-increasing intensity. Of interest to those who can conceive of Source Awareness (a term used by Master Charles Cannon for Brahman, or the underlying reality) Is that experiencing Source is a type of sameness one can be addicted to. Likewise one can be addicted to diversity, Finding Source pointless and insipid. Or, once more, a balance between Source and the manifest Can be found. The experience of sameness of words can affect mantra meditation. Some can groove on nothing more than the experience of sameness Offered by this type of meditation. For others it feels like a waste of time. If that seems like you, Try altering your mantra to something different And seeing if this lifts your energy. You could change "Aum namah Shivaya" to "Aum namah flat-tyre", for example. On the other hand, being addicted in this way to mantra meditation Will probably mean you won't enjoy movie dialogue, Sports commentaries Or even just plain conversation as much as you could. It is my submission that this topic has a bearing on race relations. It seems thought sources can sense genetic sameness (parents and siblings) And varying degrees of genetic difference (other races, animals) With cousins in the middle. This can result in some thought partners Getting more of a buzz out of animals Than their family (family life gets a big lift when a pet is introduced). Being with animals creates a balanced state in them. For other thought partners, Other races and animals are despised Along with an emphasis on immediate family contacts. The other race experience threatens to tip them off balance. Fortunately the ability to be at home both with family and with other races Would seem to be available. And then there is work. Some thought partners seem to specialise in routine run throughs Of standard procedures, which another would find Totally lacking in interest. But they are at a loss when their immersion in the known Is interrupted by a challenge to be overcome, or a crisis. Others are like a special opeartions squad Who pride themselves in dealing with the unusual and the new. Howver, because sameness and differences are so basic To logical thought These specialised styles of working in my view Can retard the ability to think logically And make logical decisions. FOOTNOTE: The speaker at the Meditation weekend Who summed up the essence of his teaching as balance Was Master Charles Cannon.
-----Peter Elliott----- Return to Home Page