Preferences

I have noticed that the more I find myself as that which is distinct from preferences - as pure awareness and/or Big Mind, the more I can allow preferences to be here on my human level. The more there is a ground of pure indifference, the more deeply there can be caring and engagement.

The ground distinct from any preferences allows for fuller engagement and caring, and fuller engagement and caring motivates me to find myself as ground with more clarity and stability.

Identity

And the same seems true for identity. The more I find myself as that which is distinct from any identity, I can allow a very specific and clear identity to unfold on my human level - in whatever form that may take.

Three levels of identity

There are at least two levels and three aspects to this.

:: Big Mind ::

One is the level of pure awareness and/or Big Mind (beyond and including all polarities). Here, there are no preferences. As Genpo Roshi says, it is the ultimate masculine. Pure clarity and indifference.

:: Human Level ::

Another is my human level.

Here, I can work on the Centaur level in Ken Wilber's terminology, to find myself - in my immediate experience - as the whole beyond and including my human self, this particular body and psyche.

::: Finding the Universal :::

And this involves, among other things, working on projections. Whatever qualities and characteristics I see external to my human self is also in my human self. Any and all qualities in the world of phenomena - in other humans, animals, plants, landscapes, weather, stories of all sorts (dreams, mythology, fairy tales, novels, movies, songs), and the universe - are right here, in my human self as well. What is outside is inside.

In this way, I find myself more as a whole as a human being. I am familiar with more and more qualities in me, find a wider repertoire and become more skillful in relating to these qualities in my own life and when it comes up in others.

Through this, I find the universally human in myself. Whatever comes up, in myself or others, is immediately recognized as universally human, as life.

::: Finding the Unique :::

And through this, I also find the uniqueness of this particular human self. I see the unique manifestations of this universally human, the unique flavors, the unique filters it is expressed through. Realizing the universally human is the ground which more fully allows for the unique.

The unique is more fully experienced and expressed within the context of the universally human.

This is of course the individuation process as described by Jung, and the centaur level seems to be where the Jungian center of gravity is.

Labels: identity