Monthly archive

Why R/L?
 
Pondering the benefits of Recording and Listening (there are almost too many to capture) isn’t the focus of this Musings. The question has a much more orthographic emphasis. 
 
Why R/L?
not rl
not r/l
not R/l
not RL
 
Wherever R/L is referenced in this Practice—in an email class confirmation, in a practice reminder, in a yearlong assignment—it is written in a specific way. 
 
Did you notice that R/L is always written in a specific way?
 
You may not have noticed but written it correctly anyway.
You may not have noticed and written it incorrectly.
You may have noticed and simply complied with the instruction without question.
You may have noticed and overridden the impulse to ask why it was R/L and not rl and proceeded to write it correctly.
You may have assumed you knew the reason for R/L versus rl and written it correctly.
You may have figured out why R/L and not R/l and written it correctly.
You may have noticed but dismissed the instruction on how R/L is referenced and written it the way you wanted to write it. 
Or…after the multiple times you’d seen the instruction to R/L, you just stopped noticing?
 
Does it really matter how R/L is written?
 
It could be argued that it is a waste of time quibbling about R/L versus rl, when people are dying by the thousands around the world. But who is making the argument?
 
Do we notice who made the argument?
 
If we don’t notice where the argument to “trivialize this and elevate that” is coming from, we are perpetuating a process of indifference, a process that doesn’t care, that is so absorbed in itself it cannot “see” anything else. 
 
What process?
 
Ignoring.
Not paying attention.
Not here.
Not noticing.
 
There is no “right” or “wrong” way to write R/L.  Right and wrong are important only in conditioned mind’s world of opposites.
 
R/L is simply how it is written. 
 
Ignoring how it’s written is a practice of inattention.
 
When we’re paying attention, we “see” how something is, as it is. In the absence of an “I” interpreting it, ignoring it, dismissing it, resisting it and rebelling against it there is reverence for its inherent “Is-ness.”  
 
Awareness is simply witnessing.
 
All of Awareness Practice is in support of being aware, of just noticing. 
 
In the practice of pure attention, noticing that we did not notice furthers just noticing.
Perhaps when we become aware of inattention, we notice where attention has wandered, the process of “not noticing” that was obscuring thisherenow. 
 
Eventually, with practice, just noticing, whatever we notice, replaces not-noticing.  
 
Now…
 
We notice it’s R/L not rl.
We notice that R/L is not just 3 characters on a page.
We notice R/L is not a mere label for something we do for our Awareness Practice.
We notice R/L is our most direct access to the Wisdom, Love and Compassion that is us. 
We notice R/L evokes affection and deep caring.
 
Now we write R/L with a deep bow of gratitude for ALL That It Is.
 
In gasshō
ashwini