Regular readers know that I often recommend an effortless meditation. It takes us beyond the mind and into our deeper nature. This is Yoga. It helps the body heal and softens our attachments. We become increasingly familiar with who we are within, under the stories and contractions.
However, it’s important for us to “dye the cloth.” This is an old Indian analogy. When you traditionally dye a cloth with colour, you dip the cloth in the dye, then hang it up in the sun to bleach out. Then you dip and bleach the cloth again. And again. And again. This repeated process makes the colour fast.
In the same way, after you dip into your deeper nature in meditation, you then engage in the day’s activity. This can bleach out the spaciousness you got in the practice. But by repeating this dipping and bleaching, the deeper nature becomes fast. It becomes integrated throughout waking, dreaming, and sleep.
For long-term practitioners, such stories are old hat. But do you really get it?
The thing is, that calm inner experience can be a lovely release from the difficulties of our day. Our body can carry stress and be uncomfortable. We can get attached to escaping into the practice or presence. It can quietly become a practice of avoidance.
Perhaps we do too much practice. Or we do only very light activity to try not to disturb our inner calm. We practice renunciation while trying to be in the world. Or we try to spiritualize everything in our life. Or we conceptualize the world as an illusion that has no importance.
(There is a big difference between a spiritual phase when it’s the direct experience for a time, and life-styling spiritual concepts.)
These are forms of spiritual bypassing. It’s a subtle avoidance of the bleaching part of the equation. This slows down the dye becoming fast. It mutes our spiritual progress.
Spiritual communities are full of people trying to avoid their life or their struggles. Avoidance concepts are very popular. Like “enlightenment is the end of karma and a life of bliss.” It is, in one sense, but we don’t stop being human. This and. It’s inclusive.
Add our cultural inclination to live in the head and it’s a small step to being a space cowboy. You have extra incentive to step out on the body.
Usually, it comes down to not being comfortable in the body. Not knowing how to make it better, we live in the head (mind) or in the upper chakras and largely ignore the body or treat it like a piece of clothing.
And why are we not comfortable in the body? Trauma.
Ironically, if you’re not in the body, that lovely transcendence and healing doesn’t have as much of an influence there. It’s not present to it if we’re not.
With regular activity and a better understanding of trauma, we can learn to process and be in the body. But first, we’ll want to feel safe and less painful there.
If we can ground the expansion, then we can embody our spirituality. Then some of the profound benefits can be realized in our daily life, not just in the practice.
Davidya
Yes! That’s why I’ve always found that healing and awakening go together. Well said, Davidya! xo
Thanks, Sarah! 💖
Beautiful post, and illustration, thank you David. Can you in relation to the post comment on Maharishis point of taking life as easily as possible after meditation to get maximum infusion of silence/transcendence into the body/nervous system/life?
Hi Kjetil
Sure. I’m not suggesting we strain in activity. Only that we engage in life.
We shouldn’t be in a rush as we come out of meditation. Ease into the day. Find work that doesn’t stress us out, if that’s possible. Work to find supportive work.
He has a principle: take it easy, take it as it comes. But that means act without strain. It’s about our attitude to activity. It doesn’t mean be a couch potato.
And sure, he referred to do nothing, accomplish everything. But again, that’s about the efficiency of our intention. It doesn’t mean no activity. Our bodies are designed to move. If we don’t use them, they atrophy.
Thank you, needed to hear this David!
Any suggestions on how to apply for a new father in a high paced work environment?
Best,
Stephen
Hey Stephen
Well – the key was “if possible.” Sometimes, it’s about moving more deeply into what is here now and allowing it to be as it is. Sometimes, it’s the intensity that allows us to learn to live calm in chaos, to embody stability for those around us, to breathe Shakti when those around us breathe air.
🙂
I’ve known this for over 50 years, but it ‘s good to get to hear it again in such a coherent and cogent manner. Thank you, David.
Thanks, Gina!
Well said!
🙏
Another excellent post.
I’ve found sometimes though, almost the opposite challenge, of being in some ways too concerned about spiritual bypassing, to the point where it had felt like “indulging in spirituality” to sit down to meditate when external life has its tasks and stressors, and therefore putting it off. Not useful that either though.
Not so much an issue any more, I seem to have moved past the seeming juxtaposition, but for a good while it was a phenomenon to be addressed, one that partly arose from observing a certain amount of spiritual bypass in my surroundings and not wishing to go too far along that route oneself. Not to blame or denigrate anyone, (as you point out, trauma can be a big cause of spiritual bypassing as a coping strategy) but it just didn’t seem congruent.
Anyway, I guess balance is key. And trusting one’s equanimity and seaman’s stance on Life’s sometimes heaving deck.
Wishing you a blessed Guru Purnima, Davidya, thank you for all the knowledge that you share.
Jai Guru Dev
You may a great point, Eira. Even the best of intentions can be co-opted and taken to an extreme. We want to notice if we’re bypassing but not get too concerned about it. There are all sorts of subconscious workarounds we can adopt that won’t be obvious until they are.
And yes, consistency with our foundational practice is key. Just as bleaching is important, so too is dipping that cloth in…
Happy Guru Purnima!
Jai Guru Dev!
Ken Wilber wrote in his book “The Pocket Key Wilber”
“This is behind the Buddhist prayer of thanks “for this precious human body”— only in a human body can enlightenment be attained. Not gods, not animals, not demons, not angels: only with this human body can I awaken to the empty Ground that is equally present in all other sentient beings. This, too, is Aurobindo’s and Murphy’s emphasis on The Future of the Body, the precious human body. And that human body is, among many other things, the product of evolution.”
This is one of my favorite quotes regarding the human body.
Hi Jean
Yes, this human body is a precious opportunity to awaken. As a great sage once said, if we waste the opportunity, we’ll have sold a diamond for the price of spinach.
I disagree that angels, etc. can’t become enlightened. The demon Ravana became enlightened in the Ramayana, for example. However, it takes vastly longer. A human body allows rapid evolution. And a human body that embodies Divinity allows light beings to evolve more rapidly. We can become a blessing for all of creation.
I enjoy every single one of your posts, Davidya. However, I admit that many of them I have to file away for future reference due to not having developed the ability to relate to the experiences/states about which you are writing.
This one hit more at my current level of understanding and put into succinct words, the thoughts and feelings I’ve had in my mind for a long time.
Your insight is very much appreciated.
Hi Bob
Yes, I originally started the blog under the name In2Deep as I’m prone to explore the deeply abstract or out there. But I continue as there are those who do relate and appreciate giving it language or context.
I appreciate the feedback. Even the exalted have to be reminded of the basics periodically. 🙂
‘This can bleach out the spaciousness you got in the practice. But by repeating this dipping and bleaching, the deeper nature becomes fast. It becomes integrated throughout waking, dreaming, and sleep.’ –I’m noticing a pattern in my years now where there will be a big ‘blow-out’ of some old junk, and for about 5-6 months the contrast of old/new will be really apparent, then it will slowly fade as the ‘new’ becomes integrated, at which point I usually find myself worrying that somethings gone wrong because I can’t ‘sense’ the contrast so clearly, anymore, but that’s because it’s just become more my baseline experience, right?
‘Or we do only very light activity to try not to disturb our inner calm.’ –definitely have had thoughts that ‘disturbing the inner calm’ was ‘wrong’ and would make any inner calm gained, go away haha.
Wonderful to read. Thank you, David 🙂
Exactly, Jen. It’s high contrast at first, but then becomes normal. This can seem to be a fading but is actually indicating integration. When we look, we find it. It hasn’t left us. The speed of this change can increase.
🙂
When you say ‘the speed of this change can increase’ do you mean the speed at which we integrate and our baseline experience changes?
What I mean, Jen, is that the shift from high contrast to normal can become hours. So yes, faster integration. The physiology gets very flexible with practice, and the experience of change being beneficial.
Hi David, one additional thought – in my experience, it’s actually been beneficial at times to ‘not disturb the inner calm’ for a bit in order to allow my body to integrate, understand what it feels like, and how to exist there, so that I know what I’m coming back to, if that makes sense.
Right, Jenifer
In my training, this is called resourcing. Culturing a safe or calm space within that we can always come back to as a resource while we process our stuff.
And yes, it’s also valuable to take a break and allow more integration. Just don’t use it to resist or control.
Enjoy the dance!