Uncontrived
  • Home
  • Teachings
    • Live Teachings
    • Online Teachings
  • Calendar
  • Writing
    • Articles
    • Books
  • Audio / Video
    • Dharma Talks
    • Guided Meditations
    • Daylongs and Half-Days
    • Classes
    • Retreats
  • About
    • About Kim Allen
    • Donate
    • Consulting to Dharma Groups
  • Contact

Expressions

To Care and Not to Care

11/16/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sometimes it is said that practice includes developing the ability "to care and not to care." Commonly this refers to the balancing of compassion and equanimity: Through spiritual practice, we are learning to care for ourselves, others, and this world -- and this caring must be done wisely such that we are willing to accept things as they are. We need equanimity to accept that sometimes the suffering cannot be alleviated right away, or in the manner we would like.

Another way to look at the phrase "to care and not to care" is as an invitation to challenge habitual relationships to experience. Our conditioning tells us to care about (make important) things that are pleasant, make us look good, and otherwise confirm or prop up our sense of identity. We also care about things that threaten this sense of identity. On the other hand, habitually we do not care much for things/people that aren't connected to us or are otherwise neutral to us.

Spiritual practice takes a different, somewhat orthogonal approach. We train ourselves to care about (notice, make important) the aspects of experience that are uncomfortable, unsatisfactory, or bring a feeling of contraction. We learn to care for what hurts. And conversely, we learn to care less about fame, fortune, pleasure, and other things that are mere temporary hits. Interestingly, over time, these together create a new caring for what is peaceful, tranquil, or sublime.

The emergence of this new type of care is surprising to some, but also tends to feel familiar. Many practitioners discover that "neutral is more pleasant than pleasant." To find the peace in a given situation, it is necessary both to care and not to care -- to be connected and engaged, but with an openness to what will unfold.

0 Comments

    Kim Allen

    Contemplations. Explorations.
    ​Practice.

    Click here to receive Kim's newsletter by email.

    Picture

    Archives

    August 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    Categories

    All
    Analysis Of The Mind
    Art
    Body
    Compassion
    Equanimity
    Faith
    Linked To A Talk
    Practice
    Speech
    The Path

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Teachings
    • Live Teachings
    • Online Teachings
  • Calendar
  • Writing
    • Articles
    • Books
  • Audio / Video
    • Dharma Talks
    • Guided Meditations
    • Daylongs and Half-Days
    • Classes
    • Retreats
  • About
    • About Kim Allen
    • Donate
    • Consulting to Dharma Groups
  • Contact