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Teacher: Rodney Smith
Date: 2011-08-16
Venue: Seattle Insight Meditation Center
Series
- The Satipatthana Sutta 2010-01-19
Description
A quality of awareness is discernment, which can be active or passive. Passive discernment is seeing, “just this” without doing anything about it, while active discernment is uncovering what is hidden and unconscious. It uses an energetic and curious probing to broaden the expanse of awareness and welcome it beyond its egoic boundaries.
Homework
The intelligence of awareness has the ability to discern both passively and actively. Notice when you can be with “just this,” relaxed and at ease, without boundaries or resistance. As you surrender more to the experience, the energy you once invested in your opinions and judgments about that experience will now go to greater presence and awareness. There will be less division between the sense of you and the world at large. Active discernment becomes aroused when there is friction or struggle or when something is not completely understood. It focuses in on the area of interest with curiosity and a questioning heart. This week begin to notice when the active and passive discernment is at play in your sitting meditation and in your life in general.
Video
Link to view on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/27804436
TalkID=899 SeriesID=42
