The Art of Intimacy

“It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.”

Henri Poincare

Intro

There is a part of us that knows. We feel coincidence and synchronicity. We register a gut feeling. We have trained the rational mind to override these feelings or have allowed the din of daily life and our insistent internal narratives to play over them. Yet we still sense that there is something within that just…knows.

When we learn to go within and get quiet enough to hear its voice, we can access this knowing and the wisdom and messages it has for us to live more authentically, deeply, and receptive to the synchronistic experiences that feel magical. This inner knowing is tapped into the energy field of Eros and, if we can stop rationalizing and analyzing it away, is always present when we need it.

• It can be humbling to realize that the ignored and dismissed has been there awaiting our ability to perceive it
• We have simply been closed off, operating with too small and too reactive an aperture to take it all in
• Allow for the possibility that there is a world alive and animated within this world. It is an entire non-verbal language that we can become fluent in, and requires — more than a learning — accepting that this is actually the case
• We want to train the intuition to respond only to the signal rather than the noise—the signal that cuts through ideas, preferences, parties, religions, gender, creeds to find the truth within rather than having us live in a world of sets and subsets
• Be prepared for the flood of intuition coming in once you learn to open up your perception

Reading – The Emergence of the Intuitive Mind

It can seem otherworldly or extraordinary to communicate in silence or with “less conscious” living things or even with objects perceived as inanimate. And yet, what seems supernatural is in reality a simple return to the natural. It is the result of tuning into a specific signal that exists in all things. It can be overwhelming to realize that our entire lives are a conversation and that everyone and everything is in communication. In fact, it is a stage of “turning on” our consciousness that opens the mind to hearing these communications.

It can feel like a barrage of information and a particularly challenging part of the path. The onslaught is relentless. There is suddenly no tuning the world out. As we awaken to Eros, we realize that everything around us has been awake all along. We realize that our loneliness and isolation is a result of blocking out the abundance of love and attention happening below the surface. We may be humbled to realize that the ignored and dismissed has been there awaiting our ability to perceive it.

The scarcity mind sees scarcity, but when it is allowed to perceive even the slightest bit of anything else, it is clear that there is never not enough. We have simply been closed off, operating with too small and too reactive an aperture to take it all in.

And so the work of the Erotic path comes to be the work of perception. The most challenging step is the first: to simply allow for the possibility that there is a world alive and animated within this world. It is an entire non-verbal language that we can become fluent in, and requires — more than a learning — accepting that this is actually the case, that it is already and always happening.

We want to train the intuition to respond only to the signal rather than the noise—the signal that cuts through ideas, preferences, parties, religions, gender, creeds to find the truth within rather than having us live in a world of sets and subsets meaning that if you are this set you must necessarily agree to this subset.

There is a part of us that knows. We feel coincidence and synchronicity. We register a gut feeling. We have trained the rational mind to override these feelings or have allowed the din of daily life and our insistent internal narratives to play over them. Yet we still sense that there is something that knows.

As we begin to tune into that and nurture it, our attention and belief encourages it to emerge. Be prepared for the flood. It can occur as a sensory overload or even a psychological break. There is the sense that there is simply too much information to process and the boundaries between things — good and bad, right and wrong, real and not real — dissolve. It is challenging to get our bearings here. Our culture tends to medicate this kind of experience. We’re treated as though we’re having some sort of breakdown; and, indeed, it can feel this way. But, in reality, we are breaking open. This is a challenging initiation, but with proper procedures, such an experience self-resolves. Many who have had this experience freeze in this place and are considered “crazy”; or they medicate themselves or turn back to the appearance-based life, grasping for some semblance of control.

Those of us who do not suffer such consequences discover that we have been initiated into a place of direct understanding. We learn a type of divine semantics, whereby meaning is suggested at every unspoken level. We have a new appreciation of surprise occurrences and even have the capacity to tune our attention into another through time and space, and know what is happening in a way that is more immediate than if we were next to them. In fact, this knowing does not even recognize time or space. It isn’t limited to “recognized” domains of consciousness. There is nothing that is off limits to be in communication with.

We develop the various streams of communication that are available: noticing, taking in and placing salient features of a moment or synchronous aspects into ambient attention. We listen to the interior communications that come in intimations and we foster — rather than override  — them. We give credence to what we hear and see even when it falls into the domain of “crazy.”

As we begin to develop Erotic hearing and seeing, we find that the signal gets stronger and the white noise — the meaningless chatter — falls away. It is not that we develop discernment per se; it is that the true signal get stronger and it becomes self-evident what is intended for our consciousness and what is not. It self sorts. Our surface confusion resolves. There is an unassailable knowing. The artificial power of the rational world holds no sway, even when the truths being accessed are different from the world of appearances.

Elegance then boils down to signal. Everything else is just noise. Can you live that close to signal and do what it says no matter what it says? In order to do this, you have to have converted the tumescence that is like traffic that makes you take alternative routes. The traffic jam is when you hear the truth and encoded in that truth is your instruction and the tumescence tells you, it is too much work, it doesn’t fit your world view, you would have to change, you would have to let go of resentment, you would have to face judgement. If you transfer all the energy of tumescence over to the power of the signal it is strong enough not only to cut through the noise but to convert it to true felt conviction.

Power then is to see the truth and act on what you see with an ever self-perpetuating cycle of increasing the power of truth and converting delusion.

Meditation –

What do you know that you think you don’t know? A guided meditation 

Get into a comfortable position, either in a chair or seated in a meditation cushion. Set your timer for 20 minutes. Close your eyes and become aware of your breath and the sensations in your body. 

Take some deep breaths and let go of any inclinations for mentally using words/labels for the duration of this meditation.  Nothing in this meditation space is good or bad, right or wrong, real or not real.  In this space for this time, everything just is what it is.  Allow yourself to be curious about your gut feelings/instinct.  What sensations/signals are present in your body now?  Are you aware of these sensations most of the time or do you typically gloss over them?  Are you aware of times when you’ve known what to do without having rational information to guide you?  What do you know that you think you don’t know?  For example, do you have an intuition about the next right thing to say to a friend?  Or do you have an intuition about the next right thing to do to care for your own body?

At the end of the meditation, slowly bring yourself back into the room. Feel the seat beneath you and the sounds around you. Slowly open your eyes when you are ready. Write in your journal any intuitions that came up and how you can act on their wisdom starting today.

Exercise –

Recall a time when you followed your intuition. What did your intuition feel and sound like? How did you discern it from the analytical voice of the rational mind? What was the result of you following it? Next, write about a time that you did not follow your intuition. Why did you go against itt or doubt it? What was the result? Is there something today you are struggling with that you can ask your intuition for guidance on, such as a decision that has to me made? Write that down and what immediately comes to mind without judging or analyzing and see what your intuition has to tell you.

Example

I used to party a lot when I was in my twenties. I got into some pretty weird situations more than once. I ended up in strange houses and dirty after hours clubs and hanging with all manner of characters. But I always felt like I had a sixth sense on when to leave and who to walk away from. I didn’t end up in the fistfights some of my friends did, or have my money stolen, or get into hard drugs. Considering how much I partied and how little conscientiousness I had for myself and the world around me at the time, it seems remarkable now to think back and realize how much my intuition guided me and how often I actually listened to it. It feels like a thud in my chest and a weight dropping down into my solar plexus when it happens. It’s usually accompanied by a sense of urgency and a clear choice in my mind, like something is strongly nudging me. 

“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful.

What you’ll discover is yourself.”

 Alan Alda

Summary

You now have the ability to discern the nudges of intuition from the louder, noisier instances of the rational and analytical mind. You explored ways in the past your intuition served you, and how not listening to it may have hurt you. Now you can sharpen your intuitive skills as your go-to tool when you have a decision to make or choice to face. This tool will serve you well as you learn about how tumescence blocks the natural flow that calls to you.