I could launch directly into my recent insights, but the context through which they were arrived at is probably at least as important as the insights themselves and bears some explanation...
I have been struggling with maintaining my position on the path for some years, and have found it difficult keeping up with a consistent and regular schedule of meditation. I have had short periods of regular practice that may last one or two months, interspersed with extended periods of irregular practice where I might only find time for meditation once a week. However, over the past few months I have found a renewed will to integrate my meditation practice into my material life and have been able to slowly increase my meditations to 2 or perhaps 3 times a week. After maintaining this frequency with opportunistic and irregular times for meditation, at some point a spiritual activity threshold must have been hit, for the level of metaphysical focus within my life began noticeably to increase. This took the form of topics in general discussion increasingly involving spiritual concepts, to explanations of the ancient Chinese Oracle of the Book of Changes (the I Ching) and the Tao Te Ching, to people connecting to me seeking further understandings. The effects of these engagements has been to enhance my resolve and commitment to my meditation practice even further, slowly increased my meditation frequency to daily over time.
This all seemed to create a significant juncture of events last week where, I receive some spirit guidance to regularise my practice by waking to meditate in the early hours of the each morning. Since receiving that advice, I have awoken (without any alarm) between 3:00am and 4:00am to continue my practice in the solitude of the pre-dawn. The affect has been to approach again the lucidity of my prior state, and this morning I carried into meditation my reflections from the previous night on the path described by the Ankh symbol and the polarity of our experience in Verse 2 of the Tao Te Ching. While holding those ideas, I entered meditation and my mind settled on the question of:
How does the polarity embedded in our worldly experience impede us on the path to enlightenment?
And so, now after exemplifying the compounding and beneficial effects of increasing one's frequency of meditation practice with the above description, I can share my insight arrived at during Vipassanā meditation this morning at 4:00am.
Duality
All things have opposing attributes or characteristics. The word "thing" is completely inadequate to described the vast array of concepts and manifestations that fill our existence, but perhaps it is the best we can use in our language. Nevertheless, everything that we experience through our senses has this duality of character.
Lets consider a few examples:
| Concept | Attribute |
| Appearance | Beauty / Ugliness |
| Achievement | Success / Failure |
| Movement | Stationary / Motion |
| Illumination | Light / Dark |
| Containment | Empty / Full |
| Flavour | Bitter / Sweet |
| Size | Large / Small |
| Effort | Easy / Difficult |
| Distance | Near / Far |
| Temperature | Hot / Cold |
As you can see, each of these "things" (these psycho-physical concepts) has a polarity of extremes associated with them that then defines a relative spectrum between the dual extremes. That is, for example, the Appearance of something might be perceived as more or less Beautiful, depending on one's preferences.
More over, the objects of our perception might also exist as Concept complexes, with multiple Concepts associated. For instance a thing might have Attributes of Size, Appearance, Temperature and Effort, for which we assign relative values. For many of these things, our discriminative processes form a sense of appreciation (Favourable / Unfavourable) that is in line with our biases and preferences.
It is this sense of appreciation that stimulates our attachment to these perceptual objects from whence springs our desires and ultimately our obsessions.
Distortions
However, in our attachment, we may fail to recognise that the Attributes we observe in these things are all just expressions of the polarity that is embedded within the fabric of everythings within our experience. From the spin of the sub-atomic particles (+'ve or -'ve) identified by physicists, to the flavour of our favourite foods, all things are distorted by this characteristic of polarity that defines the spectrum of its expression.
This polarity is the reality of our experience and coupled with the realisation of Sunyata, that nothing exists independently of the causes and conditions of its creation, we are armed with the tools necessary to perceive the reality of existence and the futility of our attachments to these objects we perceive.
Desire
The following morning, I awoke again and I pursued this question further, seeking to better identify and describe the mechanism by which the characteristics of duality in the phenomena of our existence inhibit our self-realisation and spiritual progress. To do this, I sort the more active and direct engagement with my spirit guide and transported myself to the inner-world within which he is most accessible.
He explained that by identifying our preferences (like/dislike) for the experiential phenomena that surrounds us, our desires are stimulated for more of our likes and less of our dislikes, giving rise to ega consciousness. Our conceptual discriminations trap us, as it where, into becoming attached to phenomena and identifying with our desires. These are then open to stimulation by others that profit from your entrapment. You are then seduced into an existence of sensual desire, reacting to the stimulus provided and open to the opportunity for attachment to be obsession.
Equanimity
Instead, observing that all phenomena has with it a spectrum of polarity of associated attributes and expresses itself as a manifestation within that spectrum, we can maintain our objectivity of perspective and can appreciate all things for their unique qualities and maintain an equanimity of disposition towards them.
That perspective raises one above attachment and the possibility of identifying with our desires in an egocentric existence. Instead, it allows our embrace and appreciation of uniqueness to maintain a steady and consistent state of loving kindness toward all phenomena.
The Path
In the symbolism of the Ankh, the releasing of attachment positions one on the Path, designated by the vertical axis. Our progression towards transcendental wisdom and enlightenment exists in observing the true nature of the phenomena that surrounds us; that being Śūnyatā - empty of any independent existence and impermanent.
May we all find the will to commit to regular mediation and release our attachment to and desires for the impermanent phenomena of this world.
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