Mandala of Love
  • Home
  • Meditation
    • ‘Meditation’ April 2017
      • A ‘Mandala of Love’ approach to Meditation
      • Self-Inquiry – Familiarising ourselves with Consciousness
      • The Content of the Mind is Not Important
      • Non-Duality – Buddha, Jesus, and Plato
      • Objectivity – Meditation and Thinking
    • ‘Meditation’ 2017 May-Jun
      • René Descartes’ Error
      • Mindfulness – The Buddha’s ‘Remembering’ practice
      • Egoic consciousness – Divided against itself
      • Nurturing an Authentic Self
      • The Four Brahmavihāras – Four Attitudes of Consciousness
      • Mettā – Consciousness as Loving-Kindness
      • The Ethical and Relational Nature of Consciousness
      • The Brahmavihāras – the Soul’s Moral Compass
    • ‘Meditation’ Jul-Aug 2017
      • Upekṣā – Equanimity – Touching the Cosmic Stillness
      • Resting the Mental Body in the Field of Consciousness
      • The Mirror of Consciousness and the Mirror of Narcissism
      • The Hara – the Mysterious Second Chakra
      • The ‘Hell Realms’ – Inner Victims and Inner Persecutors
      • Muditā – Sympathetic Joy – A Sense of Wonder
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2017
      • Sympathetic Joy – an Attitude and an Energetic State
      • Zen and the Art of Human Life
      • Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness
      • Plato’s Cave Revisited
      • The Yin and Yang of Embodied Consciousness
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2017
      • Feeling – The Discernment of Goodness, Value and Beauty
      • Mettā – Living as Love and Contentment
      • Mettā – Healing the Egoic Shadow of Love
    • ‘Meditation’ Jan-Apr 2018
      • The Preta Realm – Deprivation, Despair, and Addiction
      • Flowing with the Currents of Feeling – our Psychological Parts
      • Mettā – Being Unconditionally Present with Feeling
      • Empathy and Self-Empathy – Communication and Self-Enquiry
    • ‘Meditation’ May-Aug 2018
      • Feminine and Masculine – Energy and Presence
      • The Yin and Yang of Love and Compassion
      • The Asura Realm – Intuition and the Egoic Will
      • The Mandala and the Stupa
      • The Somatic Anatomy of the Energy Bodies
      • The Mandala of the Four Brahmavihāras
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2018
      • Consciousness, Meditation and the Four Qualia
      • The Beneficial Life Energy of Needs
      • Life Energies of Presence and Connection
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2018
      • Compassion and the All-Accomplishing Wisdom
  • Buddhism
    • Buddhism 2019
      • The Dharmadhātu Wisdom
      • Akashadhateshvari – Luminous Space
      • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
      • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
      • The Emptiness of Form – the Rūpa Skandha
  • NVC
    • Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – Mandala Wisdom
  • Book Sections
    • Book Sections April 2017
      • Preface to ‘A Mandala of Love: Consciousness, Ethics and Society’
      • Introduction to the Mandala of Love book blog
      • The Cross and the Mandala
    • Book Sections May-Jun 2017
      • Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Archetypes
      • The Mandala as the Landscape of the Soul
      • Buddhas and Bodhisattvas – Archetypes of Consciousness
      • Jung’s Phenomenology of the Soul
      • Egoic Consciousness and its Shadow
  • Home
  • Meditation
    • ‘Meditation’ April 2017
      • A ‘Mandala of Love’ approach to Meditation
      • Self-Inquiry – Familiarising ourselves with Consciousness
      • The Content of the Mind is Not Important
      • Non-Duality – Buddha, Jesus, and Plato
      • Objectivity – Meditation and Thinking
    • ‘Meditation’ 2017 May-Jun
      • René Descartes’ Error
      • Mindfulness – The Buddha’s ‘Remembering’ practice
      • Egoic consciousness – Divided against itself
      • Nurturing an Authentic Self
      • The Four Brahmavihāras – Four Attitudes of Consciousness
      • Mettā – Consciousness as Loving-Kindness
      • The Ethical and Relational Nature of Consciousness
      • The Brahmavihāras – the Soul’s Moral Compass
    • ‘Meditation’ Jul-Aug 2017
      • Upekṣā – Equanimity – Touching the Cosmic Stillness
      • Resting the Mental Body in the Field of Consciousness
      • The Mirror of Consciousness and the Mirror of Narcissism
      • The Hara – the Mysterious Second Chakra
      • The ‘Hell Realms’ – Inner Victims and Inner Persecutors
      • Muditā – Sympathetic Joy – A Sense of Wonder
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2017
      • Sympathetic Joy – an Attitude and an Energetic State
      • Zen and the Art of Human Life
      • Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness
      • Plato’s Cave Revisited
      • The Yin and Yang of Embodied Consciousness
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2017
      • Feeling – The Discernment of Goodness, Value and Beauty
      • Mettā – Living as Love and Contentment
      • Mettā – Healing the Egoic Shadow of Love
    • ‘Meditation’ Jan-Apr 2018
      • The Preta Realm – Deprivation, Despair, and Addiction
      • Flowing with the Currents of Feeling – our Psychological Parts
      • Mettā – Being Unconditionally Present with Feeling
      • Empathy and Self-Empathy – Communication and Self-Enquiry
    • ‘Meditation’ May-Aug 2018
      • Feminine and Masculine – Energy and Presence
      • The Yin and Yang of Love and Compassion
      • The Asura Realm – Intuition and the Egoic Will
      • The Mandala and the Stupa
      • The Somatic Anatomy of the Energy Bodies
      • The Mandala of the Four Brahmavihāras
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2018
      • Consciousness, Meditation and the Four Qualia
      • The Beneficial Life Energy of Needs
      • Life Energies of Presence and Connection
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2018
      • Compassion and the All-Accomplishing Wisdom
  • Buddhism
    • Buddhism 2019
      • The Dharmadhātu Wisdom
      • Akashadhateshvari – Luminous Space
      • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
      • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
      • The Emptiness of Form – the Rūpa Skandha
  • NVC
    • Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – Mandala Wisdom
  • Book Sections
    • Book Sections April 2017
      • Preface to ‘A Mandala of Love: Consciousness, Ethics and Society’
      • Introduction to the Mandala of Love book blog
      • The Cross and the Mandala
    • Book Sections May-Jun 2017
      • Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Archetypes
      • The Mandala as the Landscape of the Soul
      • Buddhas and Bodhisattvas – Archetypes of Consciousness
      • Jung’s Phenomenology of the Soul
      • Egoic Consciousness and its Shadow
Mandala of Love
  • Home
  • Meditation
    • ‘Meditation’ April 2017
      • A ‘Mandala of Love’ approach to Meditation
      • Self-Inquiry – Familiarising ourselves with Consciousness
      • The Content of the Mind is Not Important
      • Non-Duality – Buddha, Jesus, and Plato
      • Objectivity – Meditation and Thinking
    • ‘Meditation’ 2017 May-Jun
      • René Descartes’ Error
      • Mindfulness – The Buddha’s ‘Remembering’ practice
      • Egoic consciousness – Divided against itself
      • Nurturing an Authentic Self
      • The Four Brahmavihāras – Four Attitudes of Consciousness
      • Mettā – Consciousness as Loving-Kindness
      • The Ethical and Relational Nature of Consciousness
      • The Brahmavihāras – the Soul’s Moral Compass
    • ‘Meditation’ Jul-Aug 2017
      • Upekṣā – Equanimity – Touching the Cosmic Stillness
      • Resting the Mental Body in the Field of Consciousness
      • The Mirror of Consciousness and the Mirror of Narcissism
      • The Hara – the Mysterious Second Chakra
      • The ‘Hell Realms’ – Inner Victims and Inner Persecutors
      • Muditā – Sympathetic Joy – A Sense of Wonder
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2017
      • Sympathetic Joy – an Attitude and an Energetic State
      • Zen and the Art of Human Life
      • Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness
      • Plato’s Cave Revisited
      • The Yin and Yang of Embodied Consciousness
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2017
      • Feeling – The Discernment of Goodness, Value and Beauty
      • Mettā – Living as Love and Contentment
      • Mettā – Healing the Egoic Shadow of Love
    • ‘Meditation’ Jan-Apr 2018
      • The Preta Realm – Deprivation, Despair, and Addiction
      • Flowing with the Currents of Feeling – our Psychological Parts
      • Mettā – Being Unconditionally Present with Feeling
      • Empathy and Self-Empathy – Communication and Self-Enquiry
    • ‘Meditation’ May-Aug 2018
      • Feminine and Masculine – Energy and Presence
      • The Yin and Yang of Love and Compassion
      • The Asura Realm – Intuition and the Egoic Will
      • The Mandala and the Stupa
      • The Somatic Anatomy of the Energy Bodies
      • The Mandala of the Four Brahmavihāras
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2018
      • Consciousness, Meditation and the Four Qualia
      • The Beneficial Life Energy of Needs
      • Life Energies of Presence and Connection
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2018
      • Compassion and the All-Accomplishing Wisdom
  • Buddhism
    • Buddhism 2019
      • The Dharmadhātu Wisdom
      • Akashadhateshvari – Luminous Space
      • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
      • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
      • The Emptiness of Form – the Rūpa Skandha
  • NVC
    • Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – Mandala Wisdom
  • Book Sections
    • Book Sections April 2017
      • Preface to ‘A Mandala of Love: Consciousness, Ethics and Society’
      • Introduction to the Mandala of Love book blog
      • The Cross and the Mandala
    • Book Sections May-Jun 2017
      • Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Archetypes
      • The Mandala as the Landscape of the Soul
      • Buddhas and Bodhisattvas – Archetypes of Consciousness
      • Jung’s Phenomenology of the Soul
      • Egoic Consciousness and its Shadow
  • Home
  • Meditation
    • ‘Meditation’ April 2017
      • A ‘Mandala of Love’ approach to Meditation
      • Self-Inquiry – Familiarising ourselves with Consciousness
      • The Content of the Mind is Not Important
      • Non-Duality – Buddha, Jesus, and Plato
      • Objectivity – Meditation and Thinking
    • ‘Meditation’ 2017 May-Jun
      • René Descartes’ Error
      • Mindfulness – The Buddha’s ‘Remembering’ practice
      • Egoic consciousness – Divided against itself
      • Nurturing an Authentic Self
      • The Four Brahmavihāras – Four Attitudes of Consciousness
      • Mettā – Consciousness as Loving-Kindness
      • The Ethical and Relational Nature of Consciousness
      • The Brahmavihāras – the Soul’s Moral Compass
    • ‘Meditation’ Jul-Aug 2017
      • Upekṣā – Equanimity – Touching the Cosmic Stillness
      • Resting the Mental Body in the Field of Consciousness
      • The Mirror of Consciousness and the Mirror of Narcissism
      • The Hara – the Mysterious Second Chakra
      • The ‘Hell Realms’ – Inner Victims and Inner Persecutors
      • Muditā – Sympathetic Joy – A Sense of Wonder
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2017
      • Sympathetic Joy – an Attitude and an Energetic State
      • Zen and the Art of Human Life
      • Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness
      • Plato’s Cave Revisited
      • The Yin and Yang of Embodied Consciousness
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2017
      • Feeling – The Discernment of Goodness, Value and Beauty
      • Mettā – Living as Love and Contentment
      • Mettā – Healing the Egoic Shadow of Love
    • ‘Meditation’ Jan-Apr 2018
      • The Preta Realm – Deprivation, Despair, and Addiction
      • Flowing with the Currents of Feeling – our Psychological Parts
      • Mettā – Being Unconditionally Present with Feeling
      • Empathy and Self-Empathy – Communication and Self-Enquiry
    • ‘Meditation’ May-Aug 2018
      • Feminine and Masculine – Energy and Presence
      • The Yin and Yang of Love and Compassion
      • The Asura Realm – Intuition and the Egoic Will
      • The Mandala and the Stupa
      • The Somatic Anatomy of the Energy Bodies
      • The Mandala of the Four Brahmavihāras
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2018
      • Consciousness, Meditation and the Four Qualia
      • The Beneficial Life Energy of Needs
      • Life Energies of Presence and Connection
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2018
      • Compassion and the All-Accomplishing Wisdom
  • Buddhism
    • Buddhism 2019
      • The Dharmadhātu Wisdom
      • Akashadhateshvari – Luminous Space
      • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
      • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
      • The Emptiness of Form – the Rūpa Skandha
  • NVC
    • Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – Mandala Wisdom
  • Book Sections
    • Book Sections April 2017
      • Preface to ‘A Mandala of Love: Consciousness, Ethics and Society’
      • Introduction to the Mandala of Love book blog
      • The Cross and the Mandala
    • Book Sections May-Jun 2017
      • Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Archetypes
      • The Mandala as the Landscape of the Soul
      • Buddhas and Bodhisattvas – Archetypes of Consciousness
      • Jung’s Phenomenology of the Soul
      • Egoic Consciousness and its Shadow

Monthly Archive: March 2018

Mettā – Being Unconditionally Present with Feeling

This is Post 30 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

The ultimate source of the attitude that the Buddhist tradition calls mettā, or Loving Kindness, is unconditioned. Being unconditioned, it is inherent in Consciousness, and always available to us, but cannot be cultivated by an effort of the egoic will. This is a difficult but very important distinction to understand.

The Buddhist tradition came to an understanding of this distinction by distinguishing two levels of mettā: firstly, the universal, or archetypal source of mettā, which was called mahamettā, or ‘great’ mettā; and secondly, the embodied reflection of that in our relationships and communication, and in the energetic fields of the body. It is essential to be aware of these two levels, because mettā is ‘cultivated’ by a paradoxical process of acknowledging its already existing presence in our experience, as an aspect of Consciousness.

The Power of Consciousness to Heal the Emotional Body

Mettā, in essence, is the attitude, already inherent in Consciousness, of being unconditionally present with Feeling. It is therefore best understood as a process – a process by which our Emotional Body and our capacity for relationship is progressively healed by the power of Consciousness. Continue reading

March 23, 2018

Flowing with the Currents of Feeling – our Psychological Parts

This is Post 29 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

The psychological function of Feeling, is symbolised in the Western poetic imagination, and in the esoteric lore of Western tradition, by the element of Water. Whereas the Indian imagination generally uses the element of Fire to symbolise Feeling, as I have described previously (here), I would like to now draw on Western tradition to very briefly acknowledge something that the symbolism of the Water element can teach us about the nature of Feeling. As the parallel with Water might suggest, Feeling is a phenomena that is almost always in a state of flow and change: like tides, or waves, or the tributaries of a river, or the eddies in a sparkling stream, or like a stormy ocean.

Feeling, like Water can seem chaotic, but it carries energy and moves with purpose – a purpose that may sometimes be hard to discern, but is nevertheless always present. Just as the Fire element in the symbolic language of India, can be seen to be reaching consistently upwards towards the Divine, so the Water element in the West can be seen as relentless and purposeful in its downward course towards the universal ocean.

Psychological Parts – the Apparent Persons behind our Currents of Feeling

It is perhaps helpful, to see Feeling as analogous to currents or tributaries in a body of Water, because Feeling is certainly not single. Feeling is also much more like a surging wave that recedes and appears to disappear, only to surge again when we don’t expect it. When we examine our experience carefully we notice that it is inaccurate to say “I feel sad” or “I feel afraid” – and worse still to say “I am sad” or “I am afraid”.

Both sadness and the fear are actually only single currents among the many currents of feeling that surge in us from time to time – but more importantly, if we look carefully at our experience, we have to acknowledge that the ‘I’ in both those statements, is always separate from those currents of Feeling. It is never the ‘I’ that feels sad or afraid. The ‘I’ is the imperturbable field of Consciousness within which Feeling is experienced. The conventional verbal forms “I feel …….. “, “I am feeling …….. “, or “I am …….. ” followed by words identifying the category of our feeling state, are not only inaccurate, but very unhelpful psychologically – because they encourage identification with Feeling rather than self-empathetic connection with it. Continue reading

March 5, 2018
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+

Please click above to like the Facebook page associated with this site and get Facebook notifications of new articles. To send an email, or to subscribe to the Mandala of Love Newsletter, please use the menu below.

  • Email William Roy Parker
  • Mandala of Love Newsletter

All new blog posts appear on the Home page of the site. If you would prefer to read only the ‘Meditation Guidance posts’, or the Mandala of Love ‘Book Sections’ posts, or just the posts in the ‘NVC’ category, please select their respective pages via the top menu. Other pages may be accessed from the menu below.

  • About William Roy Parker
  • About Mandala of Love
Tags
#AppreciativeJoy #ArchetypalPsychology #Archetype #BardoThodol #Being #Brahmaviharas #Buddha #Buddhism #Buddhist #ByronBay #CarlJung #CGJung #Chakras #Compassion #Consciousness #Equanimity #Ethical #Ethics #FiveBuddhas #FiveWisdoms #LovingKindness #Mandala #MandalaOfLove #Meditation #MentalBody #Metta #Mindfulness #NonDuality #Objectivity #Psychology #Psychotherapy #Qualia #QuantumMechanics #QuantumPhysics #SelfEnquiry #SelfInquiry #Shadow #Society #Soul #Spiritual #SubtleBodies #SympatheticJoy #TibetanBuddhism #WilliamRoyParker #Zen
Recently Published Articles
  • The Rūpa Skandha – Part 3: The Body
  • The Rūpa Skandha – Part 2: The Mirror-Like Wisdom
  • The Rūpa Skandha – Part 1: Thinking and Wisdom
  • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
  • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
  • Akashadhateshvari / White Tara – Luminous Space
  • The Dharmadhātu Wisdom
  • Compassion and the All-Accomplishing Wisdom
  • Life Energies of Presence and Connection
  • The Beneficial Life Energy of Needs
  • Consciousness, Meditation and the Four Qualia
  • The Mandala of the Four Brahmavihāras
Archive
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • October 2019
  • June 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
Enter a search term to search this site:-
Recent Posts
  • The Rūpa Skandha – Part 3: The Body
  • The Rūpa Skandha – Part 2: The Mirror-Like Wisdom
  • The Rūpa Skandha – Part 1: Thinking and Wisdom
  • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
  • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
Before you leave ……
  • Facebook – Five Wisdoms Mandala
  • Facebook – Mandala of Love
  • Mandala of Love Newsletter
  • Login
© William Roy Parker
Scroll to top