Spectrum of Ecstasy (eBook)

Fromthe Opening

Ourbeing is a brilliant pattern of energies, a spectrum of possibilities. Atevery moment we have the capacity to experience the open dimension of what weare.

Livingas we do with alternating pleasure and irritation prompts us to evolvedifferent styles of approaching life. Sometimes our living context voluptuateswith seductive possibilities. Sometimes we experience the world as a series ofconfrontations and antagonisms. Sometimes our situation is confusing and weexperience life as a scenario that merely generates bewilderment.

Thisalternating display of life circumstances can become intense, and if our livesappear to be lurching out of control, we might be tempted to take ourselves inhand by instigating a 'tyranny of the will'. If we experience some success inthis endeavour, we may decide to take refuge in 'the will', because suppressionof emotion might seem to make life a little less chaotic. For anyone who hascome to rely on such methods, the idea of embracing emotions asthepath could appear quite horrific. If we find the vivid display of our feelingssomewhat inconvenient, then the idea of opening ourselves to the free-flowingquality of our emotions may seem too dangerous—,especially if the texture ofour lives is rather raw.

Wemay not want to rip ourselves open just to experiment with what it feels liketo be a gutted fish. If we were to do that, then anything could happen. Wecould put ourselves at risk in ways that might prove too hideous to bear. Wecould involve ourselves in areas of experience that might prove too explosiveto handle. We might have to sacrifice certain comforts and securities that wehave come to regard as indispensable. The whole idea could start to seem atrifle terrible. In the face of this, it might seem better to be 'sensible'.

Forlife to be as smooth and undisturbing as we might like it to be, we need tokeep our feelings strictly under control. If we have spawned the convictionthat freely experienced emotions are rather disagreeable, then being sensiblecould seem to be the safest option. This could be described as 'taking refugein tepid safety'. But the problem with a tepid existence, is that it continuesto cool—,our relationships, and our interpersonal environment all become stiffand lifeless. This is the trade-off for feeling safe.

Wemay decide to dominate our emotions, and attempt to become some kind of'will-powered athlete'. We can become quite devious in how we deal with ourtightly-bound emotions. For example, we might indulge in the insulated pride offeeling that we will not burden others with our feelings. We find it necessaryto exercise an emotional discipline that turns life into a tight-rope walk witha tight-lipped stoicism. We cannot sympathise with anyone because we expect thesame constrictive behaviour from others. If this athletic wilfulness is takento an extreme, we simply ossify. We may tell ourselves it is possible to makeup for any lack of sparkle with our enhanced efficiency, but all we actuallymanage to accomplish is to wrap our life in cling-film. Suppression of emotionand deification of the will have distinct drawbacks

Wehave undergone some kind of emotional lobotomy in which we have gained thedubious and vaguely arid comfort of 'feeling in control of the situation'. Thisis rather like saying: 'I know that life is a bit limited now that I'vedecided to put myself in this wheelchair, but at least I'll never sprain myankle again'.

Usingthe same kind of nervous logic, we can come to believe that we should 'riseabove' our emotions—,as if human feelings were some sort of...