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Hi all,
I felt inspired to write this after I wrote in my journal.
Take a look around your apartment/house or whatever you live.
Take note of all the objects that you have that you don’t need.Get rid of them.
If it is something you don’t need, but think it might have a use someday; then
the bottom line is that you don’t need it, because everything has a use in the right context. If you can’t throw it away, give it to someone who can use it or give it to charity or recycle it.The less you have, the less you have to deal with, the more you can focus on what is important in life.
Peace,
StevenClutter is a bad thing. It’s a great idea to get rid of stuff that’s just lying around. I personally like the need, use or love test. If you don’t need, use or love something, get rid of it. And if you’re keeping something because you love it, are you treating it as if you love it?
Imagine your environment if it only includes stuff that you need, use and love.
Outer cleaning reflecting the inner cleaning. Spring cleaning in more ways then one. I am curious if peoples cleaning habits are like there Inner alchemy practices. By that I mean do you let it collect till you have to do it or do you do some every day. Have you cleaned your dark basement or attic in awhile? Have you let your inner child out to play with those toys you have hidden away, or are your toys out in the open? So on and so on.
I hope every one has been enjoying the chi these past couple of days.
Warm smiles to you all
Julian
I do go through cleaning periods, when there is no room for my new books, clothes or art. But, I do love to gaze at my shelves of books as they bring back memories, and allow me passageway to interesting feelings.
One of the reply posts reminded me of a story a friend told me of some visitors they had from Europe. They took their visitors for a walk in Banff National Park. Their visitors, I think from Germany or Switzerland, were quite incredulous about all of the mess left in the forest – why was no one picking up the logs and branches? In their forests, people remove that “litter”.
Now, I am not saying that keeping stacks of newspaper is natural! But, I am suggesting that ordering of the physical system reflects sometimes reflects busy thought, and not spiritual insight.
Perhaps it might be better to sit in acceptance of the energies coming from the items in your house. Some that are not aesthetically pleasing might turn out to be energetically useful, and others that are pleasing might turn out to be problems.
Cleaning, like all enterprises well done, can be approached in a yin, yang or balanced way. As I write this, I think about an article by Michael (posted below).
The Three Methods of Tao Inner Alchemy By Michael Winn
Yang Practice: The Creative
I smile at everything around me.
I initiate change. Primal fire (li) moves me.
I project my mind-intent (yi) to shape the rhythm of time.
I joyfully quicken the speed of transformation.
I am a radiant spinning double vortex of light.
I actively guide natural forces to create new harmony & balance.
I expand myself out to embrace the whole.
I probe into the unknown, transforming it into the known.Yin Practice: The Receptive
I smile at everything within me.
I allow change. Primal water (kan) moves me.
My mind-intent calmly manifests as the space where change happens.
I invite gradual change by surrendering and merging with space/body.
I am a river of liquid essence flowing in orbits, in spheres of influence.
I align with natural forces, shaping them as they flow harmoniously within.
I embrace the whole by slowly gathering and fusing it within myself.
I discover the unknown by allowing it to reveal itself to me.Wu Wei Practice: The Effortless
We are the Original Inner Smiling, before division.
We are the unchanging Source of change. Original (yuan) chi moves us.
We are a whole, embracing its parts: jing, chi, shen. Body, energy, spirit.
We experience everything and everyone as aspects of the Original Self.
We witness and support yin and yang as the resting and moving self.
We are the Stillness within the stillness, and the Music of the Spheres.
We arise from Source, Create, and return to Source effortlessly.
We are the Presence experiencing the None, the One, and the Many.
We are Grace, and Gratitude for grace.You are absolutely right.
There is fine line between simplification and organization.
Organization implies busy-work. It implies overstructuralizing. It encourages rigidity. This is not what we want. Anyone who has ever been to someone’s home that “perfectly” organized and cleaned knows what I mean. You feel kind of uncomfortable even sitting on a couch or a chair. Everything feels sanitized, and it doesn’t even feel like a place that has been lived in. It creates a draining environment.
Simplification on the other hand implies reduction. It means reducing the amount of stuff that you have while keeping everything you have feeling the same. It creates an energizing environment. It represents a return to a child-like state. As children, we only had one room in which we lived. Everything we owned was in one room. It didn’t need to be organized. What we had was little, and we were happy with what we had. It’s only after that, when we became adults that we became wrapped up in this “consumerism”: buy more, have more. As time went on, the amount of “stuff” we had increased. I don’t believe happiness has increased; if anything, it has decreased as we have become penned in by our stuff. There is more to distract our attention. There is more to deal with if we ever move to a new house or apartment.
In the Taoist way, we should embrace the child-like, the young. A child needs very little in the way of stuff. Their child-like enthusiasm, wonder, and energy is boundless and does not need the energy of outside stuff. Needing the energy of outside stuff is a reflection of lacking energy within. Once you let it go, you
later realize that you didn’t need it after all.One way to make this easier I’ve found is through cultivation.
The more I’ve found that I cultivate within, the less I feel I need on the outside. It makes it easier to let things go.
Best wishes,
Steven… crumbling Egyptian papyrii… jars of basilisk’s eyes… an imp peeks out at you from a green bottle… there is *something* in a corner, under a velvet cloth… and the mirror attempts to attract your attention as you pass by… NN
If you are quite and listen you can always hear the difference in intent. There would be a difference if voice looked at his pile of books and saw a library of unfinished endeavors verse looking back on good memories. One stops flow and hold energy the other creates joyful flow and energizes. A time to keep a time to throw away. It is interesting to watch the natural changes in behavior do to Inner Alchemy. I think it is great to look at the differences in definitions of simplification vs organization but it takes wisdom and intuition to know which one to do. Through Inner Alchemy we can balance youth and wisdom. I would recommend looking at the differences between needs and wants. There are body and soul needs you can feed and fulfill with Inner Alchemy but the need is there non the less. You may find you need “outside stuff” to fulfill your destiny on multiple levels. If you wish to feed your body totally with Inner Alchemy the simple hermit life style might be for you.
Warm Smiles, thanks for the great posts
Julian
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