Eric Putkonen: Ceasing to Do
- Zoom dance with theme of Ceasing to Do:
- Saturday morning July 16, 2022, 10am MDT
Invitation
Was Jul 16, 2022 10:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Ceasing to do
I tend to talk a lot about ceasing to do because it is helpful to minimize our volitional action. Basically this “me” that is constantly trying to do just reinforces the feeling of a “me” trying to do something and get somewhere.
This ceasing to do can start in very very simplistic ways. We typically do so much more than is even necessary. I mean, if you just check your own posture for example. If you’re sitting or standing perfectly upright it requires very little muscle to stay upright, but if you’re leaning we have to do a lot to fight gravity or we’ll collapse.
So in the basic idea of ceasing to do you’re trying to minimize what it would take to stay up. This puts you perfectly in alignment, posture wise, for gravity to to keep you up without falling over.
It also would mean, as some zen people will talk, about doing one thing at a time. If you’re sitting, you’re just sitting. You’re not doing anything. Likewise, if you’re mowing the lawn – just mow the lawn. No more. No less. You don’t need to be thinking about what you need that to do afterwards. You don’t need to think about what transpired earlier dredging up the past. You don’t need a daydream. You can just turn it into a walking meditation, where you’re just walking and you happen to be pushing this mower along.
Likewise with Tai Chi, dance movements, whatever you’re doing. Just do that,. Be 100 devoted to the feeling experiencing of just that, and not doing anything else. Not referring to past, future daydreaming. Not doing extra things. I mean, if you’re doing a specific dance movement or Tai Chi movement for example you don’t need to add an extra twirl in there when it’s not supposed to be in there.
No extraneous movements. No extraneous thinking. Just ceasing everything but that motion in that time and place in the here and now.