Meditation instruction uses the analogy of sleeping elephants.
The elephants are unresolved stress & trauma. When you meditate, you tiptoe through a field of sleeping elephants and reach a deep state. Sometimes, an elephant wakes up, makes noise and wakes up others. There’s a lot of moving about. They kick up dust, and things are unsettled until those elephants move on and we process the experiences (stress).
Some of those elephants are called hard nuts. They have more of a shell (protection) and are harder to surface. They take a deeper meditation or a more sustained period of awareness to crack open. Then you can also resolve them.
Some of those hard nuts are on a bit of a calendar. They’re due to ripen at a future point, so no amount of attention can make them budge early. We can notice their effects but cannot feel into their core. Another name for these is “sprouted seeds,” even though they have not sprouted yet. They have a schedule to do so.
Some have “protectors,” parts of us designed to keep them hidden for our comfort and quality of life. These protectors are like the hard shells, only they use hiding instead. We experience this as being unconscious, in shadow, or fog. The protectors need reassurance that it’s safe to experience that past unresolved part they’ve been protecting us from. The cycles of time can make us more prone to discover certain ones, too.
Sometimes, we find them in batches. One leads us into another.
Sometimes, we find stuff that’s not about this life. Perhaps a parent or ancestors trauma that we inherited. Or a past life impression. And there can certainly be community or collective contractions that are amplified in waves. We can watch them moving through the news and the feelings.
There is an enormous population of elephants. Larger than I think we can comprehend. And yet, the number of people with healing skills, awakening, and collective skills is growing daily. This is helping move those elephants on to nicer fields.
Davidya
This article helped me allow those that I share karma with – like my children – it helped me to allow them to process the karma we share on their own schedule. I might have resolved a traumatic experience we shared – bit still feel sad because they have not – but I will not force a topic they might not be ready to resolve. I have to practice my patience and share their pain until it is their turn to transcend their part – even if I contributed in creating their pain – their healing – on their schedule. All I can be is available.
Hi Hanneh
Exactly – we each have our own schedule. Souls, like our children, choose to be born with us as a vehicle for both evolution and resolving karma.
You didn’t create their pain. How they responded to circumstances and created pain is their process, not yours. So, there is no blame on you. You did the best you could in the circumstances. This is an important recognition for them, so allow them to have it. If you invite blame on yourself, they’ll not see that the source is within. 🙂
Patience is something we all need. With ourselves as well. And yes, being there for them to hash it out is a gift you can give.
Thank you David for the important reminder of what I already know – but have not yet been embodying fully. Very good point – I help them – push them in the right direction when sharing that my perhaps not ideal actions at times – was my very best – with the psychological, emotional and spiritual maturity I had at that time.
Hi Hanneh
And not just maturity, but the cycles of time too. They emphasize different things at different times. This means that sometimes we’re clearer, and sometimes there is more shadow.
We just do what we can in the circumstances and favour the joy. 🙂
Mary Shutan – https://batgap.com/mary-shutan/ – talked about the chakras as having sheaths. One can move from lower to higher chakras without having dissolved many of the sheaths encasing some of the lower ones. But then, residing in a higher state, some of those lower chakra sheaths begin to dissolve, and trouble can ensue. A charismatic, eloquent, radiant spiritual teacher can become a sexual predator or otherwise be plagued by an outsized appetite for unwholesome experiences.
Interesting, Rick. I don’t frame it quite that way. But agree in principle. This may not show up as being a predator, but all kinds of unconscious trauma is often stored in the lower centers. That can start to express or may just act like shadow, or a filter on experience, causing incongruent or unpredictable behaviour.
If the teacher also takes the position that there’s “no longer a person here,” they can be blind to their behavior, assuming it’s “nature” or “divine” or similar. It’s common to see oneself as “pure” or complete in some way too. Messiness ensues…
I’ve seen so many examples of teachers misbehaving and claiming that it’s “nature” or the “Divine” doing it. Needless to say, I took down their interviews (or the Divine did) if I had interviewed them.
Yes, Rick, in your role, you’re more aware of some of that and have sometimes had to make tough decisions. I’ve seen less of that but have had to hide some articles myself because of issues with people I’d previously highlighted.