Protection for the Highly Sensitive

My wife and I were discussing the other day the highly sensitive individuals we see in our practices.

I visualize the Universe as being more “porous” than we think it is.  There is leakage of time and space.  We only think the world is some designated consensus reality.  In actuality, the world is much stranger than we usually can perceive (Heretic!). 

During altered states of consciousness, such as in deepest meditation, or perhaps during entheogen use, we see more clearly the true structure of the Universe. 

I think about these highly sensitive individuals as being more individually porous to everything.  They are often more sensitive to extrasensory phenomena, and especially, are more likely to sense and react to the emotions of others around them. 

Highly sensitive people tend to get depleted, particularly around negative energies, or just too much of any energy around them.  They may say things such as, “My mother takes away all of my energy.”  Blaming others for feeling depleted. 

I am a highly sensitive individual, Meyers-Briggs INTP, partially through being an introvert (I) and perceiver (P), but I have the protection of also being an intuitive thinker (NT). 

My wife is even more sensitive to emotions than am I, as she is an ENFJ, an intuitive feeler (NF).  However, she is also relatively protected through being an extrovert (E) and having a relatively high judging factor (J).  In general, we have each worked hard to balance our tendencies. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-3.html

The most sensitive individuals are INFPs, introverted intuitive feelers and perceivers. 

We were discussing various ways of teaching highly sensitive individuals to protect themselves. 

How can highly sensitive people keep their energy so they don’t become depleted? 

How to be porous, without leaking! 

We came up with 3 methods, each using more advanced techniques. 

1-Creating a Bubble of Protection around your self to keep out negative energies. 

2-Using Aikido, to let negative energy pass you by, or even let it pass through you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aikido

3-Tonglen, where you can let in dark negative energy, and transform it into light positive energy.  You can then send that light energy back out into the Universe. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/gentler-meditation.html

You can see how the Bubble can be protective, but also could be isolating.  Nonetheless, it is a good first start in protecting yourself.  The trick is to have the Bubble be a “semi-permeable membrane.”  This membrane allows in only what you wish, and keeps out everything else.  Then no one notices that you have a protective Bubble around you. 

Aikido is a much higher technique.  Here you can see the flow of negative energy, and then use your intuition and power to deflect the energy from doing you any harm.  This takes practice and also requires a much stronger sense of self and sense of your own power. 

In physical Aikido you take a person’s energy that is coming toward you and combine this energy with a small amount of your own energy to deflect that person away from you, often they fall to the floor. 

Negative energy can seem more like a fog surrounding you.  One visualization you can use is to wave your hands and body around, giving movement energy to the negative energy, creating a vortex that sweeps the energy away from you. 

Tonglen requires an even higher sense of power and tapping into Source, the “big S” Self.   Here you are powerful enough to take in that dark negative energy and transform it into light positive energy.  A beautiful practice, creating more positive energy in the Universe. 

This practice cannot harm you.  If you take in this perceived negative energy, the only thing it can do is burn away at your false sense of self, really burning away your ego. 

There is perhaps a fourth “method,” really not even a method, it is the highest practice.  Here you realize that no negative energy can harm you, because “you” do not exist, your “sense of self” is a creation of this animal brain. 

You are Source, and have always been Source.  There is nothing that can harm Source.  Any “negative energy” is just another false perception. 

There is nothing but Source.  How can All-That-Is and All-That-Is-Not be harmed? 

Take up some of the practices outlined previously. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/happiness-prescription.html

Create your own path to recognizing Source is all you ever were, and will ever be. 

Then sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! 

The Third Commandment: Enjoy Yourself!

Having fun!  Seems simple enough.  There are innumerable ways to enjoy yourself.

I won’t pretend that I know all the possible ways.  That is part of your own creativity. 

But, to enjoy yourself is why you exist.  Source wants to enjoy the “10,000 things,” the billions and trillions of things into which it has precipitated. 

These ways become a bit more narrowed when you put the first 2 commandments first. 

 

There is only One Source

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-first-commandment.html

Love Everything.  Translated as do no harm.  Not harming yourself, or your future self.  Not harming others.  And realizing that since there is only One Source, there really is no difference between yourself and “others.”  There is no “other.” 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-second-commandment-love-everything.html

My wife and I came up with a list of attributes of having fun, many of these overlap:

Anticipation and unpredictability, games like Jenga or pick-up sticks, visiting “haunted houses”.

Vulnerability, the chance of loosing in a game.

Relationship, participating with others teamwork and competition, versus solitude.

Creative endeavors, art, music, writing, crafts, theater, and so on.

Developing yourself at all levels; body, mind, emotions, connection to Source/Spirit/G-d.

Interacting with nature at many levels. 

Meaningful reward, through helping others. 

Participation in many body sports, as individuals or as teams.  Many sports are “2-body problems,” there is intrinsic math going on in your brain in placing yourself in the correct position and using just enough force to bring 2 bodies together.  Catching, throwing, hitting, shooting, running with others, are really derived from the predator-prey games that all mammals play. 

Rooting for teams, also brings a sense of belonging. 

Thrill rides, and extreme sports, raise hormones such as adrenaline and serotonin. 

Reading books and watching movies, we love stories! 

Listening to music, alone or together. 

Acquiring knowledge and developing new ideas, also can be the fun parts of work. 

Work, making money with your energy, can also be like play, if you are lucky, or if you have the right attitude. 

Fun activities can help you forget everyday problems and struggles of daily life, they can relieve tension and anxiety. 

I’ll continue to drive this home again and again, above all of this enjoying life, you must keep the first 2 commandments, otherwise the 3^rd tends to feel empty.  If you are hurting people, unless you are a psychopath, this cannot bring you long-term pleasure. 

Ramana Maharshi said; “There is no destiny, there is no free will. 

The truth is held in paradox.  Therefore, there is also both destiny and free will. 

So, get out there and fulfill your destiny. 

The world unfolds exactly as it should. 

Yet, you still must put forth the effort to co-create,

            as the embodiment of Source,

                        the whole Universe! 

The Second Commandment: Love Everything – Part 7

The Love Everything Table of Errors

	Positive Errors	Negative Errors	Ignorance Errors
Self	Narcissism	Self Harm	Unconscious Self Shadow
Others	Idiot Compassion	Unfair Punishment	Unconscious Societal Shadow

The Error of Unfair Punishment and Unconscious Societal Shadow

Denial and projection can arise when we don’t explore our own shadows.  We then project these hidden shadows upon “the other.” 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-second-commandment-love-everything_14.html

Not only do we as individuals have our own shadows, but societies have collective shadows.  Therefore, we can witness the laws that are passed which reflect the shadows of society. 

This often results in unfair punishment.  Sometimes, the laws are passed to punish for crimes that have no real victim, except for the self, such as drug use and prostitution. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/addictions.html

We can witness holocausts marked by the mass killing of people as the result of society’s shadows and labeling of “The Other.”  There are smaller holocausts where an elementary school boy is suspended for kissing a girl, and labeling this sexual harassment, or expelled for chewing his sandwich into a gun shape.   

Sometimes we don’t punish for crimes.  Sometimes we punish economically.  We punish those who we feel do not “work hard enough.” 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed

We allow to suffer those parts of our society that we label as “the other,” those “who are not in our family.”  We allow to exist garbage dumps, pollution, and crime in areas where the poor have no political power. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-landpart-2.html

Remember, the higher we are on the evolutionary scale, the greater percentage of persons we consider to be “family.”  Family is defined as those we are willing to care for emotionally, and economically if needed. 

We care for them not with Idiot Compassion, but with Wise Compassion.  We take care of the poor, but we don’t enable sloth and laziness.  Yet, as a society we might err on the side of compassion and generosity. 

We teach people how to care for themselves.  Creating methods and institutions to help people to grow and evolve from the earliest of ages.  We teach people “how to fish.”  We offer them the practices that can help them grow. 

Is this “pie-in-the-sky” idealism?  Not necessarily.  We can do this wisely.  We don’t spend the money that we don't have.  Yet, we invest in the future to the 7^th generation.  We don’t go for the short-term profit.  We can serve the world by engaging in “Fair Trade.”

Yes, we have a long way to go as a society.   Nonetheless, if we individually commit to our own growth, we elevate all of society. 

It is painful to see people suffer. 

Therefore, we must walk the razors edge of wisdom and compassion.  Realizing what might be too soon for our current society.  Looking carefully at the next Right Action. 

In closing, wishing you each the growth and unfolding of your own wisdom and compassion. 

 

Accepting you each just as the perfect beings that you are today, and the perfect beings you will continue to evolve to become. 

After a meditation retreat break at Spirit Rock we will return after mid-July with the most fun commandment…

The Third Commandment:           Enjoy Yourself!

The Second Commandment: Love Everything – Part 6

The Love Everything Table of Errors

	Positive Errors	Negative Errors	Ignorance Errors
Self	Narcissism	Self Harm	Unconscious Self Shadow
Others	Idiot Compassion	Unfair Punishment	Unconscious Societal Shadow

The Error of Idiot Compassion

This term was originally coined by Trungpa Rinpoche, later expanded upon by Ken Wilber. 

http://enlightenmentward.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/manifestations-of-idiot-compassion/

Part of idiot compassion arises from post-modernist thinking where you hold that everything is absolutely equal, and then you operate from that perspective.  Sometimes you try to be “nice” without regard to consequences. 

This can lead to rescuing, enabling, and co-dependence.  For example, you don’t give an alcoholic another drink to be kind to them.  You don’t lend money to a compulsive gambler.  You don’t stay with someone who is abusive.  Tough love is often what is needed. 

Idiot compassion arises from a lack of appreciation for hierarchy, confusing levels, depth, and span. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

http://analytikainc.com/blog/2011/03/22/holons-depth-and-span/

http://www.imprint.co.uk/Wilber.htm

We are always already Source, but to see clearly we must operate within dropping the small narcissistic “self.”  We can worship every part of Source.  Everyone and everything is sacred. 

However, there is a hierarchy, things are not all on the same level.  Not that anything is “better” than anything else.  Things that are more complex, are higher on the evolutionary scale.  These more complex “holons,” such as a carrot compared to a rock, have greater depth, because they have more levels. 

A rock has atoms and molecules.  A carrot has atoms, molecules, and cells.   An animal, additionally, has organs, and therefore, has another level of depth of complexity.   Humans and a few other animals have awareness of self-existence, which is a further layer of complexity, showing increased depth. 

Simpler holons have a greater span, in that they are more numerous, this goes along with less depth.  Rocks have a greater span than carrots or cows, there are more rocks than plants or animals. 

For those of you in the Green Meme…

http://rationalspirituality.com/articles/Ken_Wilber_Spiral_Dynamics.htm

Who do not believe in hierarchies…

Please read Kurt Vonnegut’s short story Harrison Bergeron…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

A rock has a primitive consciousness.  A carrot has a more complex, but still a fairly primitive, consciousness.  A cow has a clearly more complex consciousness. 

Respect for this hierarchy of complexity allows us to break the rock to build our house, and allows us to eat the carrot.  But, we can honor the rock for giving itself for our needs.  We can honor the carrot for giving its life so that we can live. 

If we eat higher forms of life, such as the cow, we can honor this life that they gave so we can live.  But also realize that different culture hold different values, if you lived in India you would never think of eating the sacred cow. 

Additionally, we can honor the person who prepared the rock, grew the carrot, raised the cow.  We can honor all the people connected to serving the flow of matter and energy.  You can honor yourself for earning the money to buy and contribute to this flow of Source. 

We can appreciate and honor both depth and span.  That is wise compassion.  We want to honor the greatest depth for the greatest span. 

But, all of us draw some line on a level of complexity, on the evolutionary scale, where we will no longer kill and use a creature for clothing or food.  Some cultures eat horses and dogs.  That would be highly uncommon in the US. 

Almost everyone, except perhaps the insane, would draw the line at eating a human.  But, there is a reason that the term “Long Pig” exists. 

Within idiot compassion we fail to draw the lines properly, we fail to appreciate natural hierarchy, depth, and span.  We also fail to respect that others may draw different lines than our own. 

There is nothing wrong with wanting others to see our perspective.  The trick is radical acceptance of people who have different beliefs than our own.  There are many unknowns as to actual levels of consciousness for non-human primates, elephants, and whales.  We should consider very carefully our treatment of higher animals. 

Yet, there are natural lines that must be drawn.  In general, we don’t accept those who kill people.  Consider rehabilitation or lifelong imprisonment, before capital punishment.  Killing other humans makes us a more primitive species on the evolutionary scale.  If we go to war, we often pay a steep price when we kill or witness killing. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/why-we-can-no-longer-go-to-war.html

We should increasingly respect creatures of greater depth.  Perhaps then we would eat lower on the evolutionary scale.  But, that does not mean we will kill a person because they eat animals.  When someone kills an adult person to save a fetus or an animal, they are practicing a form of idiot compassion.  On the other hand, we must work on prevention so that abortions are very rare. 

Wise compassion uses your understanding of what is universally important in the world.  Wise compassion also understands that people can hold differing ideas of what is “right action.”

Sometimes drawing that line is not so easy, or straightforward.  Therefore, we say, “first of all, do no harm!” 

That will lead us to the next topic of unfair punishment.

So, remember to love everything with wise compassion, not idiot compassion.