Note: This is a replay of a talk given by Don Thompson in 2022.
Embark on a serene journey as we uncover the secrets of maintaining a tranquil heart even amid life's storms, guided by the profound insights of mindfulness experts Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. In an intimate conversation, we discuss the subtle art of equanimity, learning to embrace the ebbs and flows of existence with grace. Witness how our understanding of natural balance—from the regenerative power of forests to the unwavering stability of Earth's magnetic field—reflects our own potential for inner harmony. Through stories and reflections, we peel back the layers of what it means to be the 'knower,' the essence of our being that observes without clinging, paving the way for true peace.
Feel the expansiveness of the sky and the depth of the ocean currents as metaphors for the peace and equanimity we explore in this episode. We'll share a tapestry of thoughts on how the cosmos's grandeur can mirror the equilibrium we strive for within our own lives. With gratitude, we invite you to join us in this thoughtful space where we align with the wisdom of nature, seeking tranquility in the balance it sustains and the lessons it teaches. Allow this episode to be a guiding compass, pointing toward a horizon where the pursuit of peace becomes as instinctive as the world's quest for homeostasis and stability.
PLEASE READ - Terms of Use: https://www.nextpixprods.com/terms-of-use.html
Note that Don Thompson is now available as a coach or mentor on an individual basis. To find out more, please go to his website www.nextpixprods.com, and use the 'contact' form to request additional information.
Note: This is a replay of a talk given by Don Thompson in 2022.
Embark on a serene journey as we uncover the secrets of maintaining a tranquil heart even amid life's storms, guided by the profound insights of mindfulness experts Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. In an intimate conversation, we discuss the subtle art of equanimity, learning to embrace the ebbs and flows of existence with grace. Witness how our understanding of natural balance—from the regenerative power of forests to the unwavering stability of Earth's magnetic field—reflects our own potential for inner harmony. Through stories and reflections, we peel back the layers of what it means to be the 'knower,' the essence of our being that observes without clinging, paving the way for true peace.
Feel the expansiveness of the sky and the depth of the ocean currents as metaphors for the peace and equanimity we explore in this episode. We'll share a tapestry of thoughts on how the cosmos's grandeur can mirror the equilibrium we strive for within our own lives. With gratitude, we invite you to join us in this thoughtful space where we align with the wisdom of nature, seeking tranquility in the balance it sustains and the lessons it teaches. Allow this episode to be a guiding compass, pointing toward a horizon where the pursuit of peace becomes as instinctive as the world's quest for homeostasis and stability.
PLEASE READ - Terms of Use: https://www.nextpixprods.com/terms-of-use.html
Note that Don Thompson is now available as a coach or mentor on an individual basis. To find out more, please go to his website www.nextpixprods.com, and use the 'contact' form to request additional information.
Speaker 1:
Hi everybody. In this particular talk we'll be about equanimity. It's a subject that I think is important to people interested in mindfulness and meditation. Basically, it's questioning you know, what is equanimity and how to bring equanimity and peace into our lives through mindfulness, equanimity. So the structure of this talk will be as follows I'll talk a little bit about what is equanimity and how we can become in the storm and how to be a peace with ourselves and others, and then we have levels of equanimity, talking about the content and process of experience and how you should come to know the knower, in a sense to know yourself better, mindfully. Then we'll get into a little bit about the enemies of equanimity, those things that divert us or distract us from equanimity and peace, and then we'll finally end up with a discussion of dimensions of equanimity, what the four dimensions of equanimity are. So let's do a little definition of terms and discuss what is equanimity. And this is coming from my teachers, tar Barak and Jack Cornfield, as they discuss and talk about what is equanimity to their students. I'll try to convey that from my own perspective. Basically, what I got out of it was equanimity is really a way to find peace in the world by finding peace within ourselves. So according to the Buddha, there is no higher happiness than peace, and as human beings we embrace both joy and sorrow, and also as human beings we tend to be in conflict quite a bit. So we are invited, with equanimity and mindfully considering equanimity, to end the war with ourselves and with others, or at least head in that direction. So by doing that, with mindfulness, we can move toward, you might say, a state of equilibrium, balance and equanimity.
Speaker 1:
What strikes me about equanimity is that to me it's reflected in nature quite beautifully. There's a couple of concepts here, a couple of you know. These are really basic science the idea of homeostasis, which comes from the Greek words same and steady, and it's a process by which things in the world maintain their stability, maintain their balance, maintain, you might say, their equanimity, and really it's a matter of survival. So homeostasis and stability in nature, the balance of nature, you might say, has to do with survival. So there tends to be within nature a movement towards equanimity and homeostasis. Nature seeks equilibrium in its natural processes. It's really a natural thing to do. Therefore, it seems to me a natural thing for human beings to want to seek equilibrium, equanimity and peace.
Speaker 1:
I'm showing here in the graphic. This is the tourist structure and you know, some of you may be familiar with this and have seen it in other contexts. What strikes me about the tourist structure? It is, to me, a structure of equanimity and a balance, and again, it comes from nature. Really, many, many things in nature, physical shapes in nature, physical realities in nature, really reflect the tourist structure. The Earth's magnetic field would be one example, but there are numerous examples. The human body is another example. You know things in nature like the apple would reflect such a thing, or fruits in general, and you have this tourist structure that exists everywhere. Really it's an amazing thing and it really is an emblem and a reality. That's that reflects again in nature a tendency to want to seek balance and equilibrium, stasis and peace. So to me again, equanimity, equilibrium, peace, all these things are a vote and sought by nature itself and therefore we as part of the natural world. It would seem to make sense that human beings should want to seek equanimity and peace.
Speaker 1:
Let's talk a little bit about the content levels of equanimity. What are the different levels of equanimity and how are they reflected in our lives? So, by noticing and becoming mindful of equanimity, we first should notice the content of experience. You notice what is present, what is happening in the world, and you pay attention to it. And you pay attention to it and you expand your window of tolerance, you expand the spaciousness of what you might say you tolerate within your field of awareness the content of your experience.
Speaker 1:
We've talked a lot before in the mindfulness meditation class about not getting triggered. Well, mindfulness has a lot to do with not getting triggered by the content of experience based upon things that are triggering you on an emotional level or from the level of thoughts or even from a level of bodily sensations. So mindfulness gives you a spaciousness to really embrace the content of experience in a more tolerant way. You also notice the process of experience, the process of experience that tells us and shows us that everything is impermanent. Nothing lasts. It moves from one point to the next. This again teaches us tolerance. It teaches us to accept things as they are and that they will change, and then not to get upset or triggered by them changing. Again, we can reach a state of equanimity and peace in terms of observing the process of experience as it flows through us.
Speaker 1:
Nothing really can be repeated. Every experience is fresh and new. I mean you may think it's repeated, but really that's just an idea. No experience is repeated at all. They're all unique and different. But each experience is without substance. It really doesn't have any tangible substance when you think about it. It just passes through your consciousness, sort of like wind through the trees or clouds through the sky.
Speaker 1:
What we want to do with all this mindfulness, in terms of the levels of equanimity, is really to come to recognize the knower. What is the consciousness that's reflecting or observing, or mindfully being aware of the content of experience and the process of experience? Who is the knower? What is the knower? And contemplating this in mindfulness, we really start to feel this sense of presence, the sense of presence that an observer or a witness has taken a step back from the content and process of experience, in views you might say equally Ideally I'm not saying that that's going to happen tomorrow, but ideally over time you become more equanimity in terms of your reaction to the world. You have more peace. You don't look at things in such a way that you become triggered by good things or bad things or things that you're attached to or trying to avoid. So you become to really know the knower and that there's something in you that's ever present as the knower.
Speaker 1:
Now, some of the enemies of equanimity, of equanimity of what we just talked about, really would be indifference, passivity and attachment. Now, indifference means that we sometimes mistake peacefulness for indifference. Indifference means really you don't care. I mean you're sort of numb. But equanimity and peace does not mean that you're indifferent. As a matter of fact, it opens you up to feel more beauty in life. It opens you up to be more sensitive to the world really and to the people around you.
Speaker 1:
Passivity is another sort of misinterpretation of what peaceful people are. They're passive, they don't react, they just kind of accept things the way they are and they, you know, stand up for themselves and all that. That really has nothing to do with peace and equanimity, because the peaceful person at times will need to stand up for what they believe in. That's part of being mindful. To notice, you know, when there is some kind of injustice and to stand up for it. That's part of being mindful. So peaceful people are not necessarily passive people. They may not always speak up immediately, they may sometimes be quiet and the one sitting back and observing. But at the right time, at the right moment, people with equanimity and who are holding peace will speak up at the right time, but only when it's helpful and only when it's necessary.
Speaker 1:
Attachment can also be an enemy of equanimity, meaning that you become attached to the idea that, for example, you can fix people, that only if this will change, then everything will be great. If only Bob will do this, then everything will be wonderful. If only Sally will do this, my life will improve. But you cannot be peaceful for people. You cannot fix people. You can't be peaceful for them. All you can do is be peaceful for yourself and hope that that has sort of a causal effect on other people. It's a causal effect situation. You can be a beneficial cause that has an effect and an impact on other people simply by being peaceful yourself.
Speaker 1:
This particular graphic shows the dimensions of equanimity to consider in terms of your mindfulness practice. These are, you might say, qualities or dimensions of equanimity. And as you become mindfully aware of equanimity, of your own need for equanimity and peace, these dimensions really come into play. And there's something to be aware of and to consider. First is vastness. Peace is vast like the sky. Peace embraces. It does not exclude, it holds in itself everything, in a way like the sky. The sky is not judging the people within it, it is not judging the clouds that pass through it. It is simply being an observer and witnessing these things pass through. But again, as human beings, we are in the world and there are things happening that are always not so great and we need to be able to stand up for that. So vastness doesn't mean, again, indifference.
Speaker 1:
There's a sense of ease to equanimity that is not forced. You can rest in ease and that you can be calm and relaxed and be in a state of what the Buddhists would call calm and biting, and you can rest in that and understanding that things are created and they disappear. They're impermanent. You can have a sense of ease with life. You can also see that equanimity evokes timelessness. It is not in the future, it is not in the past, it is right here, it is right now. Peace, calm, ease, vastness it's all right here, in the present moment, right now. These are things to consider when considering peace and equanimity.
Speaker 1:
It's also mysterious. We really don't know what it is. We can't grasp it. We can't hold on to it and say this is peace. We can't hold it up in front of a mirror and say look at this. This is peace In equanimity. This is not the way it works. It's something that's ungraspable.
Speaker 1:
It's a state, you might say it's a sense, but it isn't really anything per se. It's mysterious. It's the vast deep, it's like the ocean, it's like the sky. It's like the ocean. It's the vast deep, it's the context through which things occur. Peace. So, again, getting back to homeostasis and nature, the homeostasis and nature, you might say the ultimate tourist structure that holds everything. The magnetic field of the earth, you might say, or the tourist structure of the solar system, or of the universe itself, or the galaxies. All of this is holding everything within its equanimity, within its balance. When you look out into the sky and you see the objects in the sky, there is a tremendous sense of equanimity, balance and peace. It's usually not disrupted, it's usually very, very stable. So thank you for listening to this talk about equanimity and I look forward to giving more talks soon. Until then, thank you.