We hope you’ve been enjoying the Take Your Time book study as much as we have. We feel Easwaran used this little book to frame for us, his students, what the spiritual renaissance should look like and how we can make it happen. What an opportunity!
We are ready to dig in to chapter 3, starting with pages 57–62. Easwaran now introduces one-pointed attention and makes the case for its necessity for training the mind and living in freedom. And he reveals that the benefits extend even further:
“When we learn to recall attention from the past and keep it completely in the present, we reclaim a tremendous reserve of vital energy that has been trapped in the past like a dinosaur. Every time we do this, we restore a little more of our vital wealth to the present moment.”
What is Easwaran telling you about the workings of your own mind? This week, use this new understanding to get some cooperation from your mind when it is being uncooperative. Tell us how it goes!
The current edition (2006) of Take Your Time has suggestions for practice, set apart on blue pages, to encourage experimentation. The suggestions for chapter 3 are on pages 80–81, and we can start with this one:
When your attention gets caught somewhere other than here and now – for example, in some past event you can’t stop dwelling on – bring your mind back to the present.
For our spiritual treat, we are pleased to share the final segment from the Easwaran video “The Other Shore.” Note that the full video is 26 minutes, but the excerpt begins at 19:05 and the player should start there automatically. Of course, you are welcome to back up and watch more as well.