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Good Luck! September 11, 2018
Luck, as defined by Seneca is preparedness meeting opportunity. Many people of genius live by this. It seems to say we make our own luck, we prepare our mind and body with study and practice, and open our senses to become ever more keen, perceptive to what is being presented. Sounds logical and intuitive, increase expertise and open awareness. If we know what it is we want, then we set about to gain the skills necessary, to open avenues of possible favorable intersection; to network. But what if we don’t know exactly what it is we truly desire? How much more so then are we at the mercy of the condition of that body-mind, of those senses. How do we better prepare? We may understand preparation, but we don’t understand, or fully so, the nature of expanding opportunity. It often is a very quiet thing. It rarely comes in announcing itself with a drum roll or lightening bolt. How do we open, expand our perspective to take in more and to be ever more curious? We do our best to clear away obstacles and to clean house as it were. Still life is messy, sometimes glorious so and at other times, more sticky than celebratory. So which is it? Does god/dess help those who help themselves? Or is it thy will be done? Do we live by ‘If it’s to be it’s up to me’ or ‘the universe will supply.’ As in most things, its both. It is the skillful dance of surrender and participation. There is indeed a force that runs through the universe and we seek to open to it, align with it and ride it’s power but that requires more then shutting our eyes and praying for its arising in our awareness. It demands our willing cooperation which first requires a path, a method, a plan. Just as we know that we must study and practice to gain skill and mastery in anything, so too must we apply this same knowledge and experience to the realm of preparedness and opportunity. At the heart of this is the call to know ourselves more fully and in that knowing bring the best of what we are, what we have to meet and enhance life. We effect on the surface what we are able; we act as best we can given the present set of circumstances and the skill set available. And we understand the need to increase and deepen both. After all, any action we take is dependent upon the source we draw from. Many traditions tell us we are not the agent of action; that there is something stronger, brighter, fuller, behind the scene. To rest into this. Lovely. In the next breath we are enjoined to seize the day. Yes! How do we access that something brighter and fuller? Yoga tells us this is our truest nature. And more, how do we then bring that more, that fullness, that wholeness out? How do we utilize our talents and skills to the best advantage? How can we better seize opportunity? There is so much more to meditation then some restful quiet time that lowers anxiety and slows things down in a busy world. As amazing as that is, there is so much more. We may understand the regularity of practice in its cumulative effect but without the support of theory as to what is happening, the mind is at a loss, a disadvantage and we risk missing opportunity. This is why teachers, study and community is necessary. Without it there is no recognition. Without recognition there is no opportunity. Ganapty is that power of the whole in the yogic pantheon often referred to as the remover of obstacles. It is more precise to say that he, not as a deity but as a value of consciousness, stands in relationship to obstacles. Of course we wish to invoke what will clear our path both in life and in our application of living that life. We want to clear away the debris, limit the noise that stops us from connecting to our light. We want to learn how to ride that light outward and then apply it with precision and accuracy. And never forget, as refinement of the body-mind takes place it both increases the knowing and availability of the light as well as changes the very place, the vessel, particularly the mind that receives, and the senses that take in absolutely everything. This refinement is the alchemic transformation that is the hallmark of the non-dual Śaiva Tantra tradition. It takes both surrender and increased expertise. As the Bhagavad Gita says: Yoga is skill in action. There is something for you to do. Refine your body-mind, your senses. Trust in your self, your highest ever evolving self. Bring “luck” to your life in the sweetest, deepest way possible. Meditate.
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