Meditation of the week: Halloween

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Meditation of the week from cybermonks

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Halloween

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" In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience

fear. The essence of cowardice is not acknowledging the reality of

fear. "

 

Chogyam Trungpa

 

" I will abandon all fear and terror. . .

Now that I have reached this crucial point,

I will not fear the peaceful and wrathful deities that arise from the

nature of my very own mind. "

 

Tibetan Book of the Dead

 

 

 

As the days grow shorter and leaves fall from the trees, the wind blows

harder and the world becomes colder. We look forward, if you can call

it that, to months when darkness and decay prevail over light and

growth. In days gone by, it was a time when you could only hope you

would have enough to eat during the unproductive winter, and that you

did not die of starvation, cold, or disease. Facing the winter in those

times would have been fearsome enough, but to also believe that the

fairies, goblins, werewolves, vampires, witches, or the neighbor down

the road might get you dead would be truly terrifying. A people

believing in curses, magic, and evil spirits would want a way to manage

the terror, and thus Halloween came to be.

 

So what are we doing? Halloween, at least in the United States, has

become a huge celebration. Few seriously believe in monsters or worry

about evil spirits. Most of us have little concern about demons. The

supermarket will keep us from perishing of hunger during the colder

months, but you will likely see there large Halloween displays selling

candy, snack food, costumes, pumpkins, and some things seemingly

unrelated to the holiday. You can say the market over promotes

Halloween so they can cash in on it, but if the holiday wasn't

compelling we wouldn't be buying the stuff. You may also notice that

television is filled with promos for scary shows weeks before

Halloween. The newspaper has all kinds of creepy stuff in ads,

articles, and promotions. People stand in long lines to go through

" haunted houses. " Parents dress up their kids like goblins to beg candy

from the neighbors. Youthful pranksters throw eggs, smash pumpkins, and

otherwise put the trick in " trick or treat. " What is going on here that

we put so much energy into this holiday?

 

Maybe it is that the world is still a scary place. When we dress up

like a demon, demons are less frightening to us. It is hard to make a

costume of a mushroom cloud, a plane crash, a drive by shooting, or a

deadly sexually transmitted disease, but these things frighten us. We

are scared of corporate layoffs, stock market crashes, family breakups,

big trucks on the highway, the neighbor kids, cancer, religious

fanatics, the general decay of society, and whichever political party

we don't belong to.

 

When Jack first scared his kid brother with a jack'o'lantern, he felt a

little safer, because he knew it was just a turnip with a candle in it

(turnips were bigger in those days, and they were too poor to have

pumpkins). When we walk by a cardboard cutout of a vampire at the

grocery store, and the vampire doesn't " get us, " we can feel a little

safer.

 

What we can externalize and make concrete we are less frightened of.

That which we keep hidden from ourselves has the power to frighten us.

That is why some people are afraid to meditate. They don't know what

kind of nasty stuff might be lurking in their subconscious, and they

are afraid to look. If they would look, they might find that the demons

they have been feeding for years are imaginary and harmless -- less

substantial even than the cardboard vampire.

 

When you meditate, you may encounter ugliness in your inner world. Some

people experience frightening thoughts or visualizations of demons when

they meditate. If this happens, do not be afraid. Remember that

whatever you see behind closed eyelids is a projection of your mind. It

cannot hurt you, unless you give it your power. Instead of running from

your demons, laugh in their face. Let the trembling of fear turn to the

trembling of laughter. View your demons as products of your imagination

no more dangerous than a cartoon goblin. If laughter is too much to ask

of yourself, then smile at the object of your fear. Remember to open

your heart and send compassionate love to the image that disturbs you.

Just as light dissipates darkness, love dissipates fear. In the light

of love you may see that the demon is, in fact, a guardian there to

protect some corner of your mind from awareness. When you can sit in

compassion for yourself you can look into the darkest corners of your

mind without fear. Being able to look at our deeper fears is essential

to growth. It enables self knowledge, which leads to wisdom.

 

While we encourage fearless exploration of your inner world, we also

know that not everyone is able to or should do this alone. This is one

of the values of meditating with a teacher or a supportive group of

fellow travelers. For some people, talking to a therapist is an

essential part of self exploration. You decide. Find the help you need,

but do not be afraid to move on in your journey.

 

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" Negative experiences are often the most misleading because we usually

take them as a bad sign. But in fact the negative experiences in our

practice are blessings in disguise. Try not to react to them with

aversion as you might normally do, but recognize them instead for what

they truly are, merely experiences, illusory and dreamlike. The

realization of the true nature of the experience liberates you from the

harm or danger of the experience itself, and as a result even a

negative experience can become a source of great blessing and

accomplishment. "

 

Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying