After more than a century of looking for it, brain researchers have long since concluded that there is no conceivable place for a self to be located in the physical brain, and that it simply does not exist. – TIME Magazine
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Limbo
This week I'll be using the Roots of Asia Tarot, created by Amnart Klanprachar with Thaworn Boonyawan and published by AGM Müller. I'll also be using the Mah Jongg Oracle, created by Derek Walters and published by Thunder Bay Press. Today's cards are the Hanged Man and House:
This fellow doesn't hang over solid ground, but an abyss. That is exactly how I feel when life has pulled the rug from underneath me, and I discover I can't control a situation. There is a sensation of being in limbo, with nothing to grab onto that is solid. Yet as the head he hangs from implies, the problem is not with external changing events (which is natural), but with my acceptance of them. The House, on the other hand, represents what is solid and tangible. It is a reminder of all the people, places and things that I use to define and identify the "me" that resides inside this flesh and bones. But because everything is impermanent, my roles and identifications can suddenly dissolve. What happens when a child leaves home, a spouse or parent dies, a job is terminated, a group disbands or the body begins to wear out? My "me" can go into panic mode, struggling to find firm footing where there is none. Buddhists use the term "no-self" as a way to let go; it allows me to recognize there is nothing permanent which I can call a self. Awareness can help me hang over the abyss without struggling.
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This feel like a private reading for me :D
ReplyDeleteToday is the first day without S and it feels strange, empty but also good and with room for new things. What, I don't know yet. That is the limbo part caused by mere exhaustion from the last couple of weeks.
I love if that everything always changes
Have a good day my friend and thank you
Hugs
It sounds like you have ceased struggling with letting a part of your mothering role go, which has opened up a larger container of possibilities for you. Good on you, my friend! (((Ellen)))
Deletegood words, well spoken, as always
ReplyDeleteThank you my friend. :)
DeleteI too lately have felt like I am in limbo, just existing day to day and can't seem to shake of lethargy. The no nothingness is starting to get a little edgy for me.
ReplyDeleteSometimes depression can mimic the groundlessness that comes from a loss of identity. Whatever the cause, I hope that you find your way back to joy and equanimity soon. :)
DeleteThat quote at the end is hilarious! Haven't they heard the scientific maxim: "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"? :D I like the concept of a self, accepting that it is another "thing" on which to practice non-attachment... ;)
ReplyDelete:) I think their idea is that it is a mental construct, but I would like to know how the researchers looked for it, lol.
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