For many years in a workshop or retreat people would begin relating what they were seeing with “What’s coming up for me….” I wondered if that phrasing came from the world of psychology, but never knew. I didn’t enjoy it because it sounded like someone losing their last meal. I don’t know why “What I’m seeing is…” never caught on, but it didn’t.
More recently, we hear “What dropped in for me…” catching on as a replacement for, in my view, the unfortunate “What’s coming up for me.” This brings us to a critical, easy-to-miss point in practice.
In the worldview that includes chakras, the “coming up/dropping in” makes perfect sense. What comes up is from the lower chakras of personal survival, emotions, will, and such, i.e., the past. What drops in is from the upper chakras, primarily the transcendent seventh chakra, and is recognized through the heart, personal identity, and connection with Life, i.e., unfolding in the present.
The rich point of exploration is “where did that information come from (which direction), where is it landing, how is it ‘understood,’ and what, if anything, is to be done with it.”
For many years in our practice we employed the model of “aspects of the personality” to assist in seeing there is not one, monolithic “I” that is doing everything. A human being is a collection of processes, not a “someone.” We have ceased to use that model because egocentric karmic conditioning/self-hate jumped right in to use it, as it uses everything, to further its own agenda. It would masquerade as a small, frightened child, and the good-hearted practitioner would put life on hold to “care for” what they thought was a child in need.
If we watch carefully, we can get a sense of where the information we’re attending to is coming from. I’m an “example, please” person so here’s the one that just happened for me. I have a couple of plants that are climbers. I’ve been unsuccessful in getting them to climb without the need to build complex structures to support them. Suddenly, there appeared in mind a picture of how to do it. I saw the metal pieces, how they’d go into the ground, how the climbing material would attach, the whole thing. Far simpler than what I was planning!
If I weren’t “there” for that experience, the voices of ego would have been happy to claim that as “something I thought of.” But I didn’t. (Actually “I” never does!) The human being was present in awareness when the insight, yes, “dropped in.” It was brand new. Nothing I had ever seen, heard of, or considered. In fact, “I” had nothing to do with it!
I’d love to hear what you’re seeing should you choose to take on this practice.
In gassho,
ch