Exposure

Akilesh: When we are exposed to an energy field of conflict and aggression, we can feel the tension and strain. It affects us and influences us in a negative way. The opposite is also the case, when we are exposed to an energy field that harmonizes, we begin to harmonize. Trungpa Rimpoche spoke of synchronizing mind and body, Osho spoke at length of harmony and the communion born out of harmony. Adyashanti refers to the harmonization of spirit and matter. It is the non-dual realization, the grokking of oneness, the river merging with the ocean, the realization that "form is empty, emptiness is no other than form...."

When one has let go of ego-fixation, identification with form, and returned to the inherent unity of the unconditioned, it is found to have always been present, only covered over with the distractions and preoccupations of self-identity; it is found already abiding here and now as our true nature. This wakefulness has a distinct vibration - an energy field of harmonization or synchronicity one can feel. This field of wakeful energy can shine through a person, place or object. When we sense such a field, we can expose ourselves, shed our layers of conditioning, protection and defense; release the clinging to concepts, ideas, beliefs; let go of our fixation on personality and self-identity, and naturally begin to tune to the vibration of awakening, the harmony of form and emptiness, of human and being, of matter and spirit, of body and formless consciousness.

Exposing ourselves to an energy field where spirit and matter are harmonized creates a harmonic resonance within us. The sitar has been used as an illustration of this. This musical instrument of India has sympathetic strings that are not touched, yet when a string nearby is plucked, those sympathetic strings resonate, and a sort of musical communion results, creating a rich, full sound. In a similar way, when we expose ourselves to an energy field radiating wakefulness, we light up from within; we begin to awaken and resonate with the wakeful energy vibrating nearby.

Meredith: Aki, I loved what you said here and in Satsang about exposure...we can chose to be in places and near people that have this resonance for us, that feel good to be around, that have a vibration that harmonizes. As you were speaking, and in your writing, I thought of so many places, and people with whom I feel this vibratory harmony. And you're right, when in the presence of this it is so apparent; you just feel it, deep within. It is as if the musician strikes the same chords within us, and we begin, even ever-so-slightly, to harmonize, too, like the sitar strings.

Feel the magnetism in this? We are just pulled into this vibration. I feel it almost everywhere now. I feel this vibration right here, within this dialogue.

Akilesh: Right. And that energy has no intention to change anyone or anything, yet in its light everything changes, and transformation begins to occur naturally and spontaneously. While we can not control this happening, we can place ourselves in proximity to this energy field when we sense it. When our intuition tells us that we are in the presence of authenticity where spirit and form are in harmony, this is the time and place to shed, to drop our structures of protection and defense, and expose ourselves with openness and receptivity. My teacher would tell me, "The door is open, the light is on, but you have your eyes closed. You have only to open your eyes, to see the light shining. No one can do that for you."

There are many teachings that recommend hanging out with realized beings, with individuals who have awakened to the already inherent unity of spirit and matter, and who radiate this wakeful, unconditioned energy, who vibrate with the harmonic energy of an unbounded consciousness that lives them. All the stories of abuse and exploitation that emerge from dependency and misguided worship notwithstanding, there are many people who are awakening to their original nature. There are many who have done the hard work of seeking, shedding and exposing, and have made way for spirit to emerge. These individuals are now awakening. The wacky array of individuals sharing an incredibly diverse range of teachings is mind-boggling but existence seems to love diversity, and undeniably confirms and celebrates it through manifestation of an endless and infinite variety of forms in the universe.

When awakening deepens, when you have a deep and abiding fidelity to the wakeful consciousness living through you, then the possibility of being helpful to another opens up. There are many traditions of spiritual teaching and healing where the dis-ease of another is exposed to the light of awakened energy, of synchronized spirit and matter, and people get healthy. This is relevant to waking up. Just as in the case of healing, when an individual is exposed to an energy field of wakeful consciousness - for example radiating from an individual in whom spirit and matter are synchronized - the exposure can stimulate awakening; it can rouse the seed of consciousness sleeping within another. If an energy field of wakefulness is in proximity to an open and receptive individual, the energy field within that individual will begin to harmonize with the wakefulness; it will move toward resonance with the wakefulness or will move away from the source of wakefulness due to the inherent tension of the energy differential.

As an individual uncovers the source of wakeful energy within, they simply and naturally radiate this to others. Consciously or unconsciously we are radiating who and what we are to others all the time, and others are registering this vibration. When we awaken we spontaneously radiate the harmony of spirit and matter through our form, not trying to change anything or anyone in any way. This wakeful radiance naturally shares itself just like a candle shares its light or the sky shares its openness. It shares like the sun shares warmth or a rose shares its fragrance on the breeze.

In the Hawaiian mystical tradition, Dr. Len exposed himself to the energy fields of patients in a prison unit housing the criminally insane. He apparently read the patient's file, and without ever meeting them, felt and listened deeply to that person's vibration, which one might assume was quite dis-eased, chaotic, isolated and alienated, and filled with aggression, fear and sorrow. Dr. Len then seemed to locate and feel the other's vibration inside Dr. Len's own being. Here we may be seeing the overarching responsibility that arises out of non-dual realization: he looked within to see the part of him that created that person and that suffering. As he healed himself, the other healed. It seems that as he healed that part of himself that created the other's dis-ease, the other's vibration and sense of harmony rose. He seems to embrace a certainty and confidence that when he started healing, they would feel it and begin to heal. Dr. Len appeared to be exposing the energy field of his consciousness to the energy field of the criminally insane patients. And over time the energy began to rectify until the patients healed sufficiently for release into the community and the unit closed. For most of us exposure to this kind of chaotic energy, this degree of environmental dis-ease and aggression, would fall under the category of "do not try this at home." I happened to visit that particular prison unit as an intern in 1977 and the vibe was extremely aggressive.

Unless we have fidelity to our wakefulness, and are firm in our surrender to realization, unless we are fully present, this degree of exposure will knock us off our spot and quickly plunge us into chaos and confusion. On the other hand as our wakefulness deepens and becomes more settled in us, we may come to see even the most challenging energy patterns confronting us as part of our very own being. We may realize our own non-dual energy bouncing back on us, energy we had set into motion somewhere in space and time, echoing back to us. And we may recognize it as our own and make friends with it, and welcome it back home. Maybe this is what is meant by joining heaven and earth. Maybe the whole world is uplifted a little in this way.