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Thread DTSx05: Abiding in Thought
Dynamics of Time and Space, Exercise 5: Abiding in Thought, p. 262
On the surface of experience, thoughts come and go quickly, even instantaneously. One event succeeds another, one reaction follows the next in a powerful momentum that structures linear time. Let yourself become aware of this dynamic and the rhythm that supports it. Gradually introduce a different rhythm: As a single feeling or emotion or thought arises, enter into it and abide there--as though you would be ready to live your life right within that experience.
This abiding is not static. It invokes the dynamic rhythm of time without insisting on a linear momentum. Nor does it 'take' time to abide in this way. As you sink into the experience, time expands. Deep within the content of the moment, you can contact the body of experience and discover a different way of being.
The shift from progression to abiding may lead to unusual experiences. Be careful not to aim at capturing or appropriating what arises, for doing so will only generate a new momentum that takes form in a new story.
At first, you will experience abiding as a special event,
something like 'stopping' time. As you grow more familiar with
it, however, you will realize that you can abide within the flow
of linear time. The two temporal dynamics can unfold simultaneously.
entry 0001: [Steve Randall, January 7, 1998] While doing the exercise, eventually, as I really paid more and more attention to the content, focusing on abiding and sinking into it, rather than skipping along from one item to another, the progression of linear time slowed, and more appreciation and relaxation entered into what was happening. I realized how scattered and jittery my experience was before doing the exercise.
entry 0002: [Carl Wittnebert, Sep. 3, 1998] It appears to me that DTS Exercises 1-6 are especially well-suited to an exploration of conducting. The logic may be that conducting linear time is closely related to the gravity and content of thoughts. Exercise 1 asks us to go beyond content to "the quality of awareness [a thought or sensation] carries."
My personal favorite is #5, "Abiding in Thought." We did this at the last retreat in the 1997-98 ten month program. I didn't have any "unusual experiences" (p. 262), such as "stopping time," which I take to point to one of those momentary jolts where the world turns inside out, or disappears, or you realize that you are thinking the same thoughts as someone else--something not allowed by the prevailing order.
Nor did my mental chatter vanish, though it slowed down appreciably. I think the core of the experience was that the chatter was not so distracting or pressured--there was a sense that it could coexist with another type of experience.
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