I wanted to add this passage to the discussion regarding recognizing ‘knowingness‘ day to day in our experience, while seeing through that clarity. And how once recognized, continuing to notice the immediacy of Knowingness, and the ongoing memory of that maturing recognition, seeds our future read-outs expanding our awareness through time. Rinpoche writes:
“Once we develop more awareness, we can begin to see that events and thoughts—which we have seen as a continuous surface stream—do not actually have the dynamic connections that we commonly assume and attribute to them. We can then relax and open a bit more; we do not have to keep tidying things up by fitting thoughts together or ‘placing’ them. After we become accustomed to this freedom from constant bookkeeping, more subtle ‘knowing’ capacities may emerge which are not indexed into any ‘self’. They are not ‘our’ capacities, but neither are they isolated from us and our experience.
Such a ‘knowing’ provides a broad and encompassing base for the apprehension of factors or elements of experience which we usually cannot see. Even the facet of experience which ordinarily stands as the ‘self’, the ‘investigator’ or ’noticer’, and which directs attention outward and away from itself, can be embraced and intimately understood by this special ‘knowing’.” TSK p.56 [Emphasis added]
One might ask: What would that mean for me? For my growth and development as a human being?
Well… acceptance of situations that arise would be enriched… appreciation for the immediate presenting of flickering moments of time would be expanded… sunsets, blooming flowers, the sound of children playing, the innocence of animals, we might discover the ‘humble moments’ ** of our ordinary lives essential… the fullness and vitality of a deep breath, inspired creativity, intimacy, on and on… Worries and the constant conjuring of stories that we tell ourselves, and then inhabit and live within, noticeably diminish as more room becomes available for appreciating what is here and now. Gradually, time’s present moment could open wider… a more spacious experience would then reveal more depth and breadth as more resources present themselves, more possibilities arise too.
As this gradual enriching of experience is happening, something else is refined as it broadens; a more attuned and subtle attention develops allowing a clearer understanding of mental forms, such as thoughts, dreams, stories, and emotional undercurrents. Even the common assumption that the more opinions we hold, the more substantial we are… dissolves.
We may begin to understand substance isn’t more important than an open, curious, and allowing attitude. Both substance and allowing can actually compliment and work together. The tendency to get carried away diminishes, and a sense of detachment from the gravity of opinions and positions emerges. Reactionary behavior happens less and less, triggers and hot-button responses subside. An inner calm becomes more discernible and available.
So, it may well be possible to experience life more fully… situations, yourself, and surroundings. The depth of what Rinpoche is telling us… just the passages quoted in this discussion… are breathtakingly profound.
** Note: Rinpoche refers to the ‘humble moment’:
“The humble moment, when seen as time, space, and knowledge, is a target worth aiming at. It’s the vital center of the universe; if we hit it, we explode everything that prevents fulfillment, attaining everything that fulfills.” Tarthang Tulku
…’Inside Knowledge‘, Editor Jack Petranker, p.67 [Dharma Pub.]