August/September I977 RAIN page 13 F, Steel, rs of Mind entire predicament of any power situation. And this quietness of mind will in truth give you more power. One of the secrets of living within a very tense power struggle is the ability to kee p a certain detached humor about your own predicament-not a cynical humor and not a humor of defense, but a cosmic humor of seeing the delight in the dance of life. You will also find that the whole heaviness of power relationships is lessened if you do not get emotionally lost in the power struggles, if you can see the essence or soul beyond the power trip in another being. You are only able to see that in another human being when you can see it in yourself. That is why again and again we emphasize meditation as a vehicle for finding your own dee per spiritual identity. A secret of power relationships is non-activity; that is, not jumping into a reaction for every action of another. your ability to not reacr immediately, and get lost in an immediate reaction, is helped considerably by the use of mantra. For example, when somebody swears at you, instead of reacting to their swearing immediately, you withdraw momentarily inside your mantra and it allows you an instant in which to see the entire predicament you're stuck in, including, perhaps, the fact that it is that individual's frustration that is causing them to lash out. For when you can see that someone else's anger and frustration is their karmic predicament, and only if you get caught in an instant reaction does it become yours you learn how not to buy everything. In that space you can see that if you react immediately, you might make the situation worse, while if you can allow at leasr a moment of quietncss before your reaction, perhaps you can redirect the wholc tonc of the situation into a more positive and productive one. It is that moment of inner silence which you can develop-at first only at momenrs now and then-but ultimately-that moment is every moment and you sit quietly and gently at rest within your being. . 'l'here is the story of thc Buddha and rwo young disciples whose fathcr was very irritated bccause he had wanted them to go into his business. IIc came to the Buddha, and screamed at great length; swore at him for some thirty or forty minutcs. 'lhc Buddha sat quie tly. Whe n the man had finished, the Buddah said, "Sir, in your home , when somcone brings a gift and you do not acccpr it, what happens?" -I'he man said, ,;Wcll, then thcy musr take back the gift and keep it themselves." Buddha said, "Well, I do not accepr your gift." That is, the Buddha did not accept the anger of the man; he left the anger with the man for he himself did not collect it by reacting. ihat is the secret of the quiet mind. . For example, let us say that you are Iiving with somcone who is angry and frustrated and constantly flrovoking, and attempting to irritate you. The first 1,000 times you gct lost in reaction. You just can't stand it and you ycll back ix ynu beat up on them or you rear up their stuff or you get fuiious, and the adrenalin pumps through you for thc firsi l,OoO times. And each time after you've donc it, you sxy, ,,Oh shit, I got lost in it; I blew it again; I forgot; I got caught in rcacting; he got to me ." But thc winner is no1 nccelssarily ihc pcrson who has the last word, but thc person who retains hi.s pcace and his closeness to God. So each time you forgct, whcn you rememtrer, you say, "Oh, I blew it, well, ncxt timc maybe I'll do be ttcr," and the re will be anothcr opportunity, and another and another. Maybe one in twenty iimes you will be able to stay quiet through the provocation-and whcn the arrow comes, you will be able ro send back, if not lovc, at least neutrality. When you'rc rcaliy good at this game, you will be able to convert the person's negative energy, ;ot to ncutral energy but even to positivc cncrgy for both your use and his. Thcn you'll be able to take someone 's anger and scnd it bacl< to them as love. fakc the same encrgy they scnd in spitting words of vcnom, take the ncgativity out of it, offer ii up, - convert it, and see that possibly thcy arc frightcncd, paincci, frustrated individuals who are angry, nor ar you, but at their situation-and that you're just thc obje ct that's most availablc on which they can vcnt thcir splcen. So the process of learning hor,v to not react is donc through constzrnt repctitive confrontation with irn irritant, with somc, thing that will elicit that rcaction until finally you havc learned how ro let it go tbrougb you just as if you wcrc a u; E o F c I l
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