“Amusement is the state of being inspired. We channel inspiration only when we are receptive, and receptivity is the essence of acceptance.” Graham Shelley
Dateline: Berkeley, CA 1988
“Close your eyes and ground yourself from the tailbone into the center of the Earth. Bring your attention behind your eyes, deep into the center of your head. Postulate that you’ll release any energy that isn’t yours or isn’t in present time,” the teacher set the tone for the beginning mediation class that night.
“Sit quietly, becoming the observer of your inner world from this place. Is there anyone else in there with you? Yes? Open the door and ask them to leave. If they don’t go, send them down the drain through your grounding cord and into the center of the Earth.” She guided us to take ownership of our space; in this instance, the seat of our wisdom and clairvoyance.
Soon we became aware of crowds making conversation in our heads. As we let go of all the people, we came to the most tenacious hangers-on, those who wouldn’t leave. After all, we’d invited them in long ago and allowed them to take up space for eons.
“Dress them in funny costumes, make them walk the gangplank…kerplunk! Put them in a crib with diapers…watch their arms wobble and their legs wiggle, like babies!” Most of us giggled as we created our own versions of similar scenarios; mine was a bucket of water over the doorframe waiting for the next person to walk through…splash, dunk!
It was all pretty silly, though there was something very amusing about watching people, shocked and soaking wet, looking pissed off, trying not to laugh at themselves…they were caught in my visual scheme. Ahhh, the pleasures of the imagination; I’d found a way to release even the toughest energies, effortlessly!
“Amusement is like a psychic solvent,” our teacher mused. It cuts through the stickiest goop and creates more space for you to be in present time,” there was no pressure in her voice, at all.
“Now imagine you’re transparent, like you have a body of glass. No matter how dense or toxic, everything and anything passes through.” This exercise felt pretty effortless, especially after an hour of amusement to clear energy.
“Next, find a partner and let’s try passing air through your bodies. Close your eyes; sit in the center of your head looking down at your transparency. Your partner blows like the wind while you sit watching as the breeze passes through you. How was that? Did it work?
“Now let’s try the other elements. Observe your body while your partner sends fire and water through your transparency. Did they reach the other side? Now let’s try earth energy. Throw some dirt through your partner. What did you notice? How did it feel to throw the dirt? How did it feel to be the target?
“Okay, let’s make this a little more challenging. What foods do you love? In fact, what foods are you addicted to? Chocolate? Okay, let’s try passing chocolate through your transparency,” the teacher was still using amusement to move energy and we were having a great time, feeling quite successful.
Well, at least until we tried to pass chocolate through our hungry bodies.
“Where did it land?” We all laughed as we watched the chocolate sticking in various places around our bodies. My chocolate was in my belly, though some people watched the chocolate land in their mouths or on their thighs! Still others found no chocolate remnants in their bodies.
“Now you can see where you might have a few preconceptions,” the teacher was teasing us. “Isn’t this fun? So, now let’s put a different spin on this, giving it a sacred quality. Imagine a big red rose in front of your energy field. Pass the rose through your transparent body. Notice where it enters, what path it takes, and how long it takes to exit out the back of your aura. Or, did it stop someplace inside you, sticking for some reason?”
Mostly the roses moved easily through us, with a couple exceptions when people were greedy for the energy the rose provided. It also stuck when someone held a belief that they couldn’t create another rose, or when they worried that they couldn’t create and hold the same rose-like energy vibration inside them.
“Go home and observe yourself. How long can you sustain non-resistance to the world out there? More important, how long can you resist what you call into your awareness so you can grow?” The teacher dismissed us for the week. At this point people were incredibly enthusiastic, feeling light and empowered, eagerly awaiting the last class, and even the next course.
Equipped with amusement and transparency as our tools, we gradually became more aware of our resistance. Words, emotions, people, new ideas, weather, food, cosmic energy, and even resistance to our own resistant natures, all of it inevitably stuck someplace in our bodies that week. It was a really big growth period.
And as we observed through our sometimes-painful experiences, we practiced amusement. The more we practiced, the more accepting we became. Soon we were really good at amusing ourselves, and everything seemed to ease right through us.
“Just take one thing seriously…become more and more alert of your sleepiness. And all my efforts here, sutras or jokes, are nothing but means to wake you. Sometimes a joke can wake you up more easily than a serious sutra because listening to a serious sutra you tend to fall deeper into sleep; it is so serious that you can’t be awakened by it. But a joke is so light that you don’t want to miss it; you listen attentively.” Osho
Amusement is simple. It’s the foundation for acceptance and catalyzes awakening.
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