"The key to understanding and fully appreciating all life is to see the extraordinary in the ordinary and the ordinary in the extraordinary," said the old sage. "Go into any hospital and watch a surgeon performing miracles with his knife and we are left in awe of his abilities. The same person does these operations over and over and for him they ordinary everyday occurrences. As very young children we can see the extraordinary in many situations, our first cup of coffee; a new ball; a new bike; the list is endless. We become too trapped in our habits to see the magic in the mundane. I hope in our time together that you can once again see with new eyes, eyes that reveal more than we have come to expect."
These were the words that greeted Conway, my character in the 33rd Sage, as he wiped the sticky sleep from his eyes.
"Try today to see the newness in everything that you do. Reach for the magic in everything. If you believe, it will be there for you."
Rising from his bed, he felt the stiffness in his body. This was something he had experienced for many years, but these days he took little notice, relieving it with a warm shower. He had pictures of rust in the joints and the water was the oil that allowed the joints to move freely. What caused the stiffness? He wasn't sure, but it was probably a build up of lactic acid that required some movement or heat to move it from the joints. He started to think about how the blood was flowing more quickly through the body; now he was moving; through the mechanical heart that kept on beating even while he slept; how the body was in a continual state of dying and rebuilding.
Chung Fu was right; he had forgotten how to see the magic in the world around him.
Chung Fu handed him a cup of coffee. The smell was heightened by the newness of it. Had a coffee ever smelt this good; it was the smell and the sharp bitter taste, which first drew him to the beverage, but after so many years and so many coffees; the smell and the taste were something that he had religiously every morning?
But this was different. This was new. He held the white porcelain cup and imagined the time it would have taken and the care to mould this cup into its present shape. His picture was of an old, skilled artisan who put love and care into everything he made. The key to his livingness was to give the best of himself in the making of every article. He could also feel presence of the artist in the fine texture of the cup. The first sip of coffee took Conway to the hills where it was grown. He had become a coffee bean waiting to be picked. Life was a continuum of shifting focus. What became habitual was ordinary, and what was new was filled with magic; by changing his focus ever so slightly he could once again see the magic in the mundane.
He hoped he would never take anything for granted again, but knew that he would. The difference was that every now and again he would re-experience the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Even as Old Chinese spoke, Conway watched the magic as the voice came from his lips, words which he understood. What an extraordinary thing the voice was, and the words and language it brought forward. The old man’s voice, his words, were English but with more than a hint of Chinese inflection. Conway watched as the old man’s mouth changed, mirroring the vowels that came forward. His old face lined and marked, changing to express his thoughts and feelings; his arms and hands moved when expressing a point of view or a flourish to add drama to a sentence. The closer he watched the more he could see. The creases in Chung Fu’s face opened and closed, as if they were also mouths offering their own words; his hands forever moving, as he reinforced his stories, creating paintings in the air. Watching just his hands you could get a sense of what he was saying, if not the exact words. When he made a strong emotional point, his hand would cut the air like a knife and when the words described something that was closed off, his fists tightened, strangling whatever blood was left in the veins on the back of his hands.
The more Conway looked, the more he could see. Beyond the arm waving, he could see the lines and liver spots on the back of Chung Fu’s hands. The deeper Conway looked the deeper he fell. Chung Fu’s whole body was sending out signals. The voice was one level of communication but beyond there were many others, levels we do not even consciously think of. Below the physical level was the level of the aura, where there was even more to be experienced. He had not seen an aura before, but here in front of him were clouds of colour wrapping themselves around the old man's body. As the old man’s mood changed so did the colours: one minute surrounded by blue and violet, the next swirls of red and orange raced around like stairs up a lighthouse. Beyond the colours there was something deeper, more subtle, the originator of the electrical charge that surrounded the body. Its origin was so subtle he had to close his eyes to be able to sense it; his eyes were too gross to sense anything so subtle. With his eyes closed, Conway could feel the energy. He tried to feel what it was telling him, but he could not get any words, only a feeling of one whom was living his life’s purpose. He opened his eyes in the hope of seeing the feeling, but was greeted with swirls of emotional colour encapsulating the old man. He pulled back, the colours disappeared, replaced by the grinning face of Chung Fu.
"You have seen the energy behind the form. No one can trick you any more. If you focus like you just have, then everyone will be open to you, like a book waiting to be read. Remember to look for the energy beyond the form. First, you must still yourself. Put yourself in a position of none judgment and then allow your own inner sight to lead you to where it knows to go. Do not try to force it, because then it will be coloured by your expectations... It doesn't just have to be with humans that you can use this technique. It is just as successful to use them with animals or plants or rocks. Allow yourself to become an empty space; this will allow the perceptions of the energy behind the form to become one with you, and through your own feelings you will get a strong sense of what is being given out by the other party, whether they be, human, animal or plant. The whole of life is interrelated; by becoming the pause between the notes you can tap into all God's creations."
Today, stop for a moment and experience the energy behind the form. See, do, touch, think or feel something in a way that you have never experienced it before. My old Chinese teacher taught me how to put a molecule of my own feelings into a situation, so that I could feel it for for what it is rather than what it appears to be. This feeling tone allows you to experience the energy beyond the form. At first it will feel silly and uncomfortable, but persevere and soon you will have the ability to see the energy behind any situation. I have used it when I have met people for the first time or when I am in a new situation or walking down the streets of a town or city I have never been to before. When the feeling returns with a negative response I avoid the person or situation. When I get a positive response I know that I can easily move forward.
Of all the techniques that my old Chinese teacher taught me, this was certainly one of the best. Imagine being able to send a molecule of yourself into any situation and knowing if it was appropriate to move forward. If I had known this when I was younger I would have never made some horrible mistakes, such as buying timeshare and many others I would not admit to in these blogs; for you never knows who might be reading them.
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