"Still if you practice observation with a mind attached to projected reality, you will never be aware of bad feelings in yourself. Only when your mind is utterly detached from projected reality can you observe the phenomenal world and truly understand right and wrong. In fact, you are just like a sobered man. Freshly awakened, he can now see the evil he did while he was drunk, deeds of which he was completely unconscious before." Life of Sima Chengzhen: Sima Chengzhen (AD 647-735) was a renowned Daoist priest of the Tang dynasty.
I want to share a personal example of this works. This happened yesterday. Long story so bear with me. I’m 69-3/4 now. We have a group of five high schools’ friend where I live and we get together and have lunch and tell lies a few times a year.
After setting up a time to meet I started thinking back on my high school football playing days. We all played football together. We had a good team and I played left guard and I was the designated pulling guard on passing and running plays. We ran the ball for 300-400 yards in many of our games.
At the end of the year, I was not on either of the papers all city teams. Didn’t honestly think much of it. I did get called to the office one day and there was a group of us there and we were notified we had been selected to the Quarterback Club all city team. I was thrilled.
So, we go to the luncheon and have a meal then receive the award. The man that gave me mind said to me, “now you have one to go with your brothers.” My brother lettered in five sports in high school and was the quarterback. He was a hell of an athlete and always a better athlete than me.
At the time my thought was that I had been selected because I was his brother. I also thought it had to do with grades and participation. I had good grades and was senior class vice president. I carried this thought around with me since that time; 52 years.
At lunch yesterday I brought up the quarterback’s club and wondered why on center was part of the group, when he had been elected to both all city teams from the papers. One of the groups looked at me and told me, “The quarterback club election is voted on by the players you played with and against.”
I shifted in that moment. For 52 years I’ve been thinking I didn’t fully earn being selected when in fact I was elected by the guys I played against. They had enough respect for me and how I played the game to select me. This means more to me that being selected by the sportswriters.
I’d been living in projected reality about this experience filtering what the presenter said to me through my less than filter VS seeing it for what it truly was in the phenomenal world.
I want to share a personal example of this works. This happened yesterday. Long story so bear with me. I’m 69-3/4 now. We have a group of five high schools’ friend where I live and we get together and have lunch and tell lies a few times a year.
After setting up a time to meet I started thinking back on my high school football playing days. We all played football together. We had a good team and I played left guard and I was the designated pulling guard on passing and running plays. We ran the ball for 300-400 yards in many of our games.
At the end of the year, I was not on either of the papers all city teams. Didn’t honestly think much of it. I did get called to the office one day and there was a group of us there and we were notified we had been selected to the Quarterback Club all city team. I was thrilled.
So, we go to the luncheon and have a meal then receive the award. The man that gave me mind said to me, “now you have one to go with your brothers.” My brother lettered in five sports in high school and was the quarterback. He was a hell of an athlete and always a better athlete than me.
At the time my thought was that I had been selected because I was his brother. I also thought it had to do with grades and participation. I had good grades and was senior class vice president. I carried this thought around with me since that time; 52 years.
At lunch yesterday I brought up the quarterback’s club and wondered why on center was part of the group, when he had been elected to both all city teams from the papers. One of the groups looked at me and told me, “The quarterback club election is voted on by the players you played with and against.”
I shifted in that moment. For 52 years I’ve been thinking I didn’t fully earn being selected when in fact I was elected by the guys I played against. They had enough respect for me and how I played the game to select me. This means more to me that being selected by the sportswriters.
I’d been living in projected reality about this experience filtering what the presenter said to me through my less than filter VS seeing it for what it truly was in the phenomenal world.
