Zen and the Art of Running: The Path to Making Peace with Your Pace by Larry Shapiro

Author:Larry Shapiro [Shapiro, Larry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2009-10-17T18:30:00+00:00

We are shaped by our thoughts. We become what we think.

The example of the rose is, of course, none too subtle. However, you don’t have to be scratched by a thorn to think negatively about a rose. Perhaps, with no conscious awareness of doing so, you associate roses with funerals. This will make some difference in how you perceive roses on future occasions. The more general point is that our perceptions of the world, of each other, and even of our own selves, are prejudiced in a way. They carry the marks of our previous experiences, forcing us to see things in a positive or negative light.

In contrast, when we perceive the world through the lens of meditation, we are perceiving it as it actually is. That negative emotion you experience when you see a rose is not because of anything the rose does. Rather, the rose appears to you in a negative way because of the thoughts, associations, and memories that you attach to it. Because meditation gets rid of these thoughts, associations, and memories, you are now in a position to see the rose as it really is—perhaps for the very first time. Your awareness of the rose before meditation was an awareness filtered through your beliefs and emotions; your awareness of the rose during meditation is unfiltered. You are finally just seeing the rose. You’ll see red petals, but now they’ll no longer be blood red; they’ll simply be red. Those nasty looking thorns will no longer appear nasty looking. They’ll be just thorns. This is what it means to have Zen awareness of the world.

Trying Awareness on the Move

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.