Lost Coin Class Notes April 17, 2007

Administrative stuff:  If April 28th retreat does not work for you and you want Shoken, please email Daniel or call to discuss.

Music:  we don't have music to listen to tonight but looking at the "octaves" discussed in the Fourth Way.  In the 13th or 14th century, the scale was altered from non-tempered to a tempered scale.  Daniel wants us to listen to non-tempered scale music.  He wishes for us to feel the emotions that the music provokes and to develop a sensitivity to what the music evokes.  In India there was a different understanding of time and music. The community would listen to music as a community while involved in communication with each other and activities such as playing games, etc. The music would be infusing them throughout the day.  They would have morning music, afternoon music, spring songs, etc.

Exercise for last week was self-remembering, as always.  Exercise for the coming week, observe when you are in one center or another.  Be able to notice which is predominant.

Working in class with the three centers:  We have talked about watching negativity in our relationships or with family.  In class exercise is to think of some emotionally negative event in your life.  This is not psychotherapy this is about consciousness- divide you attention and try to not to get swept away in the negativity.  Rather, be objective in your description of this negative emotion.  We went around the room practicing this.

Daniel stated that if you go into the emotion and fill with it, really feel the emotion with your whole body, you will become sensation without thought- this will move you out of the emotional center and into the moving center and the sensation will dissipate.  Now try it with something you like thinking about (intellectual center).  The idea is to balance as each one of us is often stuck in one center or another, usually the emotional center (negative emotion is the trigger).  Analogy of the Lost Coin logo we are going to us.  A coin from 400+ B.C. which depicts a chariot, pulled by horses, with a driver, Nike (alt. Nikai, Nice, Nicae) overhead and fish beneath.  The chariot is your body, the horses are your emotions, the driver is your intellect, Nike is consciousness and the fish symbolize lack of consciousness.

You can only consistently employ your will when you are using all of the centers to gain enlightenment.  When in the moving center without thought and emotion, you are ONE with consciousness.  Just Being..

Daily sitting is the practice for this.  Staying very still will turn Off the body and then there is only consciousness.  Not even aware of the body.

Question came up about pain.  Daniel stated that pain is not what you feel in the body  but feeling sorry about what you feel in the body.  It has to do with fear.

Daniel read from Beelzebub's Tales.  Do not internal consider.  Do not give in to the internal fear voice that cares what others think of you and do what they want.
