Meditating 24/7

Every Meditation is Unique and Experimental

ONGOING ECSTATIC AWARENESS

My allies and I aspire to learn to meditate 24/7/365.

Luckily, the ways to meditate are infinite, with new ones becoming available all the time. That helps us with a related aspiration, which is to cultivate states of ongoing ecstatic awareness.

Before explaining further, we give a grateful nod to philosopher Christopher Bamford, who said this in his book Start Now!: A Book of Soul and Spiritual Exercises:

As a free deed, meditation is naturally individual, uniquely our own. It is where we most fully become ourselves. Its practice is also always individual.

There are no rules. Just as every potter will elaborate his or her own way of making pots, so every person who meditates will shape his or her own meditation. No two people will do a given meditation in exactly the same way. The same meditation practiced daily will be different every time.

Every meditation is experimental. One never knows what is going to happen. Improvisation is essential . . . Meditation is something to play with . . . There is no 'wrong' way of doing the meditation, except not doing it!

Building on Bamford’s prescriptions, we further affirm that everywhere and everywhen constitute our laboratory for meditation.

We are serenely relentless scouts and researchers, always on the lookout for fresh opportunities to dive down into deeper, fresher awareness.

We are always eager and curious to initiate experimental meditations.

We are forever curious about how we might shift into altered states of consciousness that generate a tender, ecstatic immersion in the NOW.

This is key: We continually reinvent the practice of being alert to the welcome of the next moment.

Our exploratory experiments are always in-process, not final accomplishments; always verbs, not nouns; an ongoing voyage rather than a destination.

(PS: Personally, we don’t need psychedelic drugs for our magick, though we’re happy for others who find that technology helpful.)

+

The playful work of gliding into ever-new altered states does not have an on-off switch.

It’s not a matter of either being in routine, mundane consciousness or else feeling like we’re soaring through magic lands on a rapturous trip. There are a trillion in-between altered states to be cultivated and discovered.

To create and conjure up ever-shifting altered states and ongoing ecstasy often proceeds best if we are in beginner’s mind, willing to play with and love whatever’s in front of us.

The fun trick is to be in a state of full-body readiness in which we are surprisable and receptive to the possibility of being delighted, influenced, educated.

+

Pure, raw perception is our ever-available entry into altered states. If we open our senses and fully welcome what’s in front of us, we will always be changed. Every moment brings events we have never experienced before.

We love what meditation practitioner and molecular biologist Jon Kabat-Zinn said: “Mindfulness is wise and affectionate attention.”

For us, that means we are not necessarily stalking heroic, epic adventures fueled by fierce macho bravado. More often, we tenderly cultivate wise and affectionate attention to the situation or scene that’s right in front of us.

+

According to some interpretations of Buddhism, the First Noble Truth is dukkha (a Sanskrit word): meaning that life in the mundane world, with its clinging and craving to impermanent states and things, is inherently unsatisfactory, unstable, and uncomfortable.

We are inclined to hypothesize a different noble truth: Life in the mundane world is an endless struggle, yes . . . but much of the struggle is interesting, educational, and liberating. (Though some of the struggle is confounding and frustrating, too!)

And all of the struggle is a form of play: the flow of unpredictable stories unfolding in the sublime and mysterious art-game-ritual-theater called life.

Some schools of Indian philosophy call this Lila: the Divine Play.

We understand that ongoing ecstatic awareness arises most robustly as we revere and participate in the improvisational creative storytelling of the Divine Play.

24-HOUR LUCID DREAMING

I sometimes sleep with a book by Arnold Mindell under my pillows. It’s called Dreaming While Awake: Techniques for 24-Hour Lucid Dreaming. I fantasize that its contents imprint me as I doze.

Below is a favorite teaching from it.

Native Americans, Aboriginal Australians, Taoists, Zen Buddhists, Tantric meditators, and mystics everywhere do not think of the Dreaming world as an 'un'-conscious.

For these peoples, the sentient Dreaming world is the basic reality. Though marginalized and invisible to mainstream cultures today, Dreamtime has been the essential reality for people from the beginning of time.

The energetic tendencies that dream everyday life into existence have gone by many names. Taoists call them “the Tao that cannot be spoken.” Chuang Tsu, the ancient Chinese sage, referred to Dreaming as the “Primal Force.” Native Americans speak of Dreaming in terms of the power of the “Great Spirit.”

Tantric meditators speak of the mysterious “Void,” and physicists speak of quantum wave functions.

So many spiritual traditions and perennial beliefs support the concept of Dreamtime as our foundational state that you might ask why most of us forget the Dreaming and hang on to everyday reality as if it were the only reality. What hinders us from exploring Dreamtime, our natural inheritance?

Arnold Mindell doesn’t say this, but I will: One reason why so many of us ignore and neglect our other homeland is that it sometimes brings us into contact with beings and adventures that our waking minds regard as scary and alienating: monsters, strangeness, incongruities, aberrations, mysterious twists.

Yet all the psychologists I respect, like my favorite James Hillman, assure us that the freakishness is often treasure in disguise—signifying opportunities that push us beyond our current ability to understand

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • •

This newsletter you are reading will always be free to read — but it’s also how I pay my bills. If you have suggestions or feedback on how I can earn your paid subscription, please let me know via email: Newsletter@freewillastrology.com

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • •

Jane Brunette suggests this game: Instead of being the one who does the desiring, imagine instead that everything desires you.

Your morning coffee really wants you to taste it.

The trees are yearning for you to notice the bright green of their leaves.

The breeze wants you to enjoy it’s soft touch on your cheek.

Even the ground under your shoes is waiting for you to notice the lively sensation it creates as you walk.

Suddenly, the world lights up — and so do you. When we feel wanted, it’s natural to feel enlivened in response.

Our desire takes its rightful place as the fire of presence and enjoyment of what is, instead of the burning need to get what’s not here.

Doing this practice, we will derive satisfaction from a whole variety of ordinary things that we normally overlook, since our attention won’t be occupied with waiting for a specific object to please us.

Now, there is no need to wait, because everything we encounter has satisfaction built into it. With desire spread out all over the world, its enlivening quality is no longer confined to one object that we may or may not get.

This little game can trick you into mindful presence, even as it helps wear down your usual relationship to desire. It is a simple, playful way to meditate as you go about your daily life.

Try it for short little bursts — and rather than thinking of it as a task, let the enjoyment that comes be the fuel that naturally makes you want to do it more and more.

Jane Brunette is here: https://www.flamingseed.com/

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • •

Check out my new Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robbrezsny

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • •

Free Will Astrology

For the Week of August 8

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I love the fact that Antarctica doesn’t belong to anyone. Thirty nations have research stations there, but none of them control what happens. Antarctica has no government! It has a few laws that almost everyone obeys, like a ban on the introduction of non-indigenous plants and animals. But mostly, it’s untouched and untamed. Much of its geology is uncharted. Inspired by this singular land, I’d love for you to enjoy a phase of wild sovereignty and autonomy in the coming weeks. What can you do to express yourself with maximum freedom, answering primarily to the sacred laws of your own ardent nature?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Babylonia was an ancient empire located in what’s now Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Among its citizens, there was a common belief that insomnia was the result of intrusive visitations by ancestral spirits. Their urge to communicate made it hard for their descendants to sleep. One supposed cure was to take dead relatives’ skulls into bed, lick them, and hold them close. I don’t recommend this practice to you, Virgo. But I do advise you to consult with the spirits of deceased family members in the coming weeks. I suspect they have a lot to tell you. At the very least, I hope you will explore how you might benefit from studying and pondering your ancestors’ lives.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran tennis player Naomi Osaka is one of the highest-paid women athletes ever. She is also a staunch political activist. That blend of qualities is uncommon. Why do I bring this to your attention? Because now is an excellent time to synergize your pragmatic devotion to financial success with idealistic work on behalf of noble causes. Doing both of these activities with extra intensity will place you in alignment with cosmic rhythms—even more so if you can manage to coordinate them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio actor Sally Field told a story about an agent who worked for her early in her career. In those formative years, all her roles were on TV. But she aspired to expand her repertoire. “You aren’t good enough for movies,” the agent told her. She fired him, and soon she was starring in films. Let’s make this a teaching story for you, Scorpio. In the coming months, you will be wise to surround yourself with influences that support and encourage you. If anyone persistently underestimates you, they should not play a prominent role in your life’s beautiful drama.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): One Sagittarius I know is building a giant sculpture of a humpback whale. Another Sagittarius is adding a woodshop studio onto her house so she can fulfill her dream of crafting and selling fine furniture. Of my other Sagittarius acquaintances, one is writing an epic narrative poem in Greek, another is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Northern California to the Columbia River in northern Oregon, and another has embarked on a long-postponed pilgrimage to Nigeria, the place of her ancestors' origin. Yes, many Sagittarians I know are thinking expansively, daring spicy challenges, and attempting fun feats. Are you contemplating comparable adventures? Now is an excellent time for them.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): When I opened my fortune cookie, I found a message that read, "If you would just shut up, you could hear God's voice."  In response, I laughed, then got very quiet. I ruminated on how, yes, I express myself a lot. I'm constantly and enthusiastically riffing on ideas that are exciting to me. So I took the fortune cookie oracle to heart. I stopped talking and writing for two days. I retreated into a quiescent stillness and listened to other humans, animals, and the natural world. Forty-five hours into the experiment, I did indeed hear God's voice. She said, "Thanks for making space to hear me. I love you and want you to thrive." She expounded further, providing me with three interesting clues that have proved to be helpful in practical ways. In accordance with your astrological omens, Capricorn, I invite you to do what I did.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • •

SUPPORT

If you would like to support my work

please consider

buying my new book Astrology Is Real

and/or

buying my Expanded Audio Horoscopes and Daily Horoscopes

and/or

becoming a paid subscriber to my Free Will Astrology Newsletter

and/or

donating at my Paypal site: paypal.com/paypalme/GiftsForRob

(contribute as Friends and Family)

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • •

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Scientists at the University of California devised a cheap and fast method for unboiling an egg. Their effort wasn’t frivolous. They were working with principles that could be valuable in treating certain cancers. Now I’m inviting you to experiment with metaphorical equivalents of unboiling eggs, Aquarius. You are in a phase when you will have extra power to undo results you’re bored with or unsatisfied with. Your key words of power will be reversal, unfastening, unlocking, and disentangling.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Every week, I imbibe all the honey from an eight-ounce jar, mostly in my cups of hot tea. To create that treat for me, bees made a million visits to flowers, collecting nectar. I am very grateful. The work that I do has similarities to what the bees do. I’m constantly gathering oracular ideas, meditating on the astrological signs, and contemplating what inspirational messages my readers need to hear. This horoscope may not be the result of a million thoughts, but the number is large. What’s the equivalent in your life, Pisces? What creative gathering and processing do you do? Now is a good time to revise, refine, and deepen your relationship with it.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Legend tells us that the first person to drink tea was Chinese Emperor Shennong in 2737 BCE. As he lounged outdoors, tree leaves fell into his cup of water and accidentally created an infusion. Good for him that he was willing to sample that accidental offering. It took many centuries, but eventually tea drinking spread throughout the world. And yet the first tea bag, an icon of convenience, didn’t become available until 1904. I don’t expect you will have to wait anywhere near that long to move from your promising new discoveries to the highly practical use of those discoveries. In fact, it could happen quickly. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to ripen your novel ideas, stellar insights, and breakthrough innovations.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I hope that in the coming months, Taurus, you will be refining your skills with joy and vigor. I hope you will devote yourself to becoming even more masterful at activities you already do well. I hope you will attend lovingly to details and regard discipline as a high art—as if doing so is the most important gift you can give to life. To inspire you in these noble quests, I offer you a quote by stage magician Harry Blackstone Jr.: “Practice until it becomes boring, then practice until it becomes beautiful.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): *Wohlweh* is a German word that means “good pain” or “pleasurable pain.” It might refer to the feeling you have while scratching a mosquito bite or rubbing your eyes when they’re itchy from allergies. But my favorite use of the word occurs when describing a deep-tissue massage that may be a bit harrowing even as it soothes you and provides healing. That’s a great metaphor for the kind of *wohlweh* I expect for you in the coming days. Here’s a tip: The less you resist the strenuous “therapy,” the better you will feel.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I earn my living as a writer now, but for many years I had to work at odd jobs to keep from starving. One of the most challenging was tapping the sap of Vermont maple trees during the frigid weather of February. Few trees produce more than three gallons of sap per day, and it takes 40 to 50 gallons to create a single gallon of maple syrup. It was hard work that required a great deal of patience. According to my analysis, you Cancerians are in a metaphorically comparable situation these days. To get the good results you want, you may have to generate a lot of raw material—and that could take a while. Still, I believe that in the end, you will think the strenuous effort has been well worth it.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • •