Yesterday the MK Meditation Association met to mediate and have our final discussion on the 8 Worldly Winds.

Here is the material that we discussed:

Previously we have identified the 8 Worldly Winds:

 

1/2 Praise & Blame

3/4 Pleasure & Pain

5/6 Success & Failure

7/8 Fame & Infamy

 

We have reflected on our experience of these in our lives, how they occur and to what extent they affect us – how they condition our emotions and the ways we behave.

 

In this section we have been Learning how to Sail the Worldly winds: how to be less buffeted about. There are 4 stages in this practice:

 

• Recognising the Worldly Winds
• Distinguishing Control from Influence
• Seeing the Worldly Winds as Opportunities
• Listening to the Stories we tell

 

This week we will consider the fourth of these: Listening to the Stories We Tell

 

a/ The Mature & the Immature

 

The Buddha pointed out that we all get blown about by the Worldly Winds.

 

• The “spiritually immature” would be most affected – their minds consumed by praise, blame, success pain etc. The welcome the wind in one direction, but rebel when it blows the other way.

 

• The “well trained” disciple does not become consumed, does not welcome or rebel.

 

• Often our “rebelling & welcoming” consists of “a story”

 

b/ Listening to the Stories we tell

 

• An ongoing commentary in our head

 

• We explain and interpret our day in this way – often subconsciously

 

• Stronger emotions give rise to the most urgent stories – replays of disagreements – clever responses – replayed again and again

 

c/ Triggers & Interpretations

 

• A tiny thing can trigger a story – a single word we do not like, a look or gesture

 

• Stories come into play extremely quickly – almost pre-formed. How?

 

• We draw on our past  – how we have previously interpreted our experience

 

• Perhaps we have had difficulty with a person before – or someone who reminds us of this person – our previous explanations come readily to mind

 

d/ Culture

 

• Our interpretations may not just be personal – they may be imbedded in our culture – difficult to see as we “are in it”.

 

• Collective stories – that fit seem to fit the case – so they ‘are’ what happened

 

e/ Karma

 

• Stories from the past colour the present moment

 

• Stories about the present colour the present moment

 

• Stories about the present colour our future experience

 

• Our stories have a profound effect on how we perceive the world and how we act – we condition ourselves

 

• What we think of as “me” is the sum of all our stories

 

f/ Papanca – mental proliferation

 

• How our stories grow and spread – often highly subjective – sometimes just wrong

 

• Triggered by fear, ill-will, longing, craving and so on – those triggered by craving etc. can be harder to spot than those triggered by negative emotions

 

g/ Working with Stories

 

• When we realise we are in a story – put the breaks on – this may not be easy

 

• Stay with what’s happening – the actual experience underlying the story

 

• Stay with the facts – identify the embellishments

 

• Try to remember what happened and acknowledge the feelings

 

• Separate Observation from Interpretation. We still need to act and make decisions, but try to do this based in objectivity not coming from storied based in ill-will or craving.

 

h/ Reflection

 

During meditation and daily life, get used to watching your thoughts. Identify your stories, try to find where they start, test them for objectivity.