Good morning! Welcome to the DKos Sangha weekly open thread.
This is an open thread for members of the DKos Sangha and others who are interested in discussions concerning how we integrate our progressive political activism into our spiritual practice. If you have observations about the political discourse of the week, or about practice, or about anything else related to walking a spiritual path through the political world, if you wish to share, or if you seek support, or if you simply want to say hello, please do; this space is for you.
If you would like to write a diary for the DKos Sangha, please let me know.
If you care nothing for spiritual practice and only wish to denigrate and disparage, please do so elsewhere, and respect that this is a community diary for the DKos Sangha.
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Līlā is a Sanskrit word which can essentially be translated as the divine play of the cosmos. When we see what is arising as simply the divine play of the cosmos, it is humbling, as we then see ourselves as a very small piece of a very large unfolding that is playing out on a universal scale; a single cell on a single petal in the flowering of a thousand-petaled lotus.
When events confound us, when what is happening around us, or within us, exasperates us, disappoints us, irritates, annoys, discourages us, then we are trapped in the dis-ease of attachment and aversion, trapped in our conditioned responses to what is arising.
But when what is happening around us, and within us, is seen as līlā, as the divine play, then there is no dis-ease. There is a deep open-hearted acceptance of this present moment as simply how the universe is manifesting through us right now. There is no desire to understand why. There is, however, an acceptance of not-knowing, an acknowledgment that līlā is so vast as to be limitless through space and time; and this not-knowing opens into the direct experience of līlā. We join in the cosmic dance. It is through us that the divine play manifests. We are the instrument through which the grand symphony vibrates.
In letting go of the desire to know, there is an allowing of wonder, an allowing of the mystery of our experience, of our presence in this moment, on this earth, in and of this amazing cosmic play.
At some point many of us come upon a choice. There is the prospect of continuing along the path of suffering daily with our disappointments, our irritation, our annoyances, our discouragement. And there is the opportunity to shift our perspective, to see differently, to feel more deeply, to open more fully.
That you are a conscious, aware, human being on this our planet is itself an amazing and wondrous gift. You are the very essence of līlā.
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Listen
Don't listen to anything
Just listen
Just be with whatever sounds arise
Just be that within which the sounds are arising
And if there are no sounds arising
Just be that
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Namaste
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You are welcome to join us each week in our Monday night group meditation here at DKos Sangha. This online group meditation is hosted by Ooooh, and the diary is posted at 7:00 Eastern. So that we are able to be together for as many here at Daily Kos as wish to participate, the meditation period runs from 7:30 to 10:00 Eastern. This group sitting is open to beginners and advanced, and is not restricted to any particular traditions or practices. It is not expected that you sit for the entire period; sit for as long as you like, when you like. The idea is that we are here together; supporting each other, holding space for each other.
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Enjoy your day!
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