Exercise Twenty-Three

July 13th, 2006

Watching and releasing the desire to emote

In exercise 7 we practiced developing our willingness, skill and tenacity in watching our emotions and releasing them. We now intend to deepen our commitment to this practice by using this skill to realize and release our attachment to emoting. The practice of watching the emotions (exercise 7) sets the conditions for this next step. It assists us in realizing that we are not our feelings at all. To our surprise, we discover that we are that which feels. To say "I am happy, sad, peaceful or angry", then, is no longer a statement we believe about our self. We have questioned and experienced it to be untrue. Because of this intent and practice, we have begun to focus on, and be, that which we are. We glimpse that we are not an inconstant and fleeting emotion, but something permanent and far reaching. Like gravity, the truth of us reveals itself as all pervasive.

EXERCISE

As stated in exercise 7, we discover from watching our emotions that "Each emotional knot we loosen reveals the inner Peace. Joy is already present. We need do nothing to cultivate the Peace and Joy. We must remove the blocks to the awareness.

This new exercise asks you to focus on the awareness of feeling. It asks you to focus intensely. You are used to being aware of the 'cause' of feelings: a craving, a desire, a memory, an enemy, or a loved one. You are skilled at watching and releasing the feeling. Look deeper - look for the source of the feeling.

• Recall exercise 7. While watching your emotions, add the focus of seeking out and releasing the desire and the attachment to emote.
• Be very committed and watch with diligence.
• Find the source, the root, of your emotions.
• With practice, it becomes clear that it is not the actual feeling you are addicted to as much as it is an addiction to feeling itself.
• When you consider releasing this addiction, you become aware that feeling is a definition of self.
• So it is helpful to realize this invisible attachment so that you can consider and contemplate letting go of wanting to feel.
• Notice the entertainment you gain when feeling.-Let go of having to respond with sensation.
• Regard that it is possible 'not to feel'.
• Be sure to release any fear [exercise 9] that arises when carrying out this exercise.
• Continue to contemplate the possibility of releasing the concept of having to feel or to sensate.
• You are not being asked to suppress feelings and emotions but rather to let go of the interest and attachment to them.
• Contemplate the idea that 'emoting' is not necessary.
• Consider emotion as a subtle and powerful add-on that feeds the personality.
• Be willing to let go of the attachment to the 'idea of needing to feel'.
• Allow yourself to consider release the craving for and needing of that entertainment.
• Now focus on releasing this desire.
• The attachment to feeling blocks your true state of being.

Love is often misconstrued as a feeling. This exercise can reveal to you that Love is a state of being. Look for the Source of the expression of Love. When you let go of the desire to emote, you move out of the linear.

When you feel and extend love, practice letting go of the target or the focus of this feeling. For example, your love-focus may be the taste of favorite food (I love French fries); seeing a beloved person (I love my mother); listening to highly calibrated music (I love Mozart); experiencing the favorite scent of flowers (I love freesias). Each of these examples expresses feeling for the particular, the detail. But beneath the content, the substance, the item, the person, is the Field or Context. Be the field of Love.