Is there an alternative to clinging and averting? Like and dislike? (See previous post on Agreement).
Consider hand gestures. Clinging is the hand grasping. Averting is the hand held up to push away. What can we say of the gesture of the hand held open, palm upward? Can we call this releasing?
Is there a middle way that is not based on the opposites imposed by conditioning?
The middle way is releasing, a conscious gesture which allows phenomena to occur without interference. An impulse to cling is observed, just data, and released. What is released? The gesture of clinging, its muscle tensions and posture, its sensations noted and also released into space. No judgment or justification.
Can troublesome thoughts be averted? This is difficult and usually employs defenses which require distraction and cost energy. These thoughts can be released, beginning with the physical tensions and sensations which always accompany them. Without the physical, do the thoughts continue?
In releasing, there is freedom to respond to what comes next.
Before the ability to release, much observing is required. Can this observing be impartial? To be impartial, the observed must include the automatic reactions of judging and justifying. The would-be observer, presumed entity-in-charge located in the head brain, becomes part of the scene.
Ironically, it is possible to respond rightly when there is no longer a mechanism for self-evaluation.
Living in a like/dislike world is sitting on a drain. The drain is for your energy. It goes somewhere but not for your benefit. The movement is down and out. Up and in is evolutionary, transformative. Can you sense what is needed to reverse the flow?
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