The Intelligence of Insight
Aloha!
I’m back in beautiful Mānoa Valley on Oʻahu after two weeks on Maui cat- and house-sitting in Kula for friends who adventured to Hokkaido to experience the land, food, and culture of the Ainu.
My deep apologies to Maui friends for not contacting you as I used the entire time as a solitary retreat.
Petey and Honey Girl are two rescue cats who rarely take to anyone other than mom and dad. I was surprised when my friends asked me to care for them because when I was last there, the kids just peered at me from perches way farther than petting distance. And if we accidentally crossed paths, they levitated into the air then scooted to the highest point upon landing, leaving heavy cat tread-marks and papers flying behind them.
“They don’t do that with anyone else,” was the report. Evidently with others, the kids never come out of hiding places leaving temporary care-takers to wonder if they ever existed in the first place and how the cat food disappeared.
I trusted my friends knew what was best for their charges though I didn’t see it at the time.
Over the course of the first few days, though, Petey and Honey Girl came to grips with I was “it” until mom and dad returned. Closer and closer they came, throughout the first week, until Petey was on my lap purring as I pet him and Honey Girl talked up a storm and slept on the bed curled against my feet at night and insisted on pettings whenever I got up.
Love-bugs, both of them.
“You got to pet Honey Girl??” was the incredulous exclamation of the neighbor.
Caring for Petey & Honey Girl, the house, and myself came with a schedule – just as what’s suggested for any Buddhist solitary retreat…though, a little different:
– 05:15: wake up
– 05:30: meditate
– 06:30: coffee and create/post quotes on SM
– 07:45: pull Self out of swirling vortex of SM and feed the birds that are amassing on the lanai
– 08:00 (on days with no classes): go for a walk at the park
– 08:00 (on days with classes): prepare myself (wake up my energy centers, raise Lungta, and meditate) then open Zoom at 08:45
– 09:00: class begins (or return from walk and work on class-related things)
– 11:00: feed Petey then clean house, study, or food shop
– When she wakes up (13:00, 14:00, 15:00, or 16:00): Feed Honey Girl
– 14:00: make and eat lunch
– 14:45: work on more class-related things
– 15:45: feed the birds that are amassing on the lanai
– 16:00: water veggie garden and rosemary
– 16:30: clean house
– 17:00: feed Petey
– 17:30: feed Petey again
– 18:00: make and eat dinner
– 18:45: watch NCIS (for the 4th time)
– 21:00: feed kids and bed time
Every day was a practice in mindfulness. That’s what’s called meditation in action.
The result is a profound experience of presence. When we’re in presence (not reviewing the past or planning the future), “thinking” stops as we are directly connected with Source Energy. When we’re connected with Source Energy, we have access to beyond-human perception; which the Buddhists call “insight.”
With practice, we can perceive insight anytime the mind is relaxed and silent. Like the times I would be studying on the couch and “feel” something above me then look up to see Honey Girl peering lovingly down at me from the 2nd story railing. The intended message: it’s time to eat.
There was a time earlier this year when insight saved me from potential disaster. I had made plans to visit Vermont for 10 days then fly to San Francisco for a few months to escape Hawaiʻi’s hot months.
I made all my reservations for the first leg: plane to Boston, bus to Hanover, NH, rental car to a cabin in East Burke, VT. I plunked down my card and paid for it all then started preparing for the trip. Then I secured my flight to San Francisco where I was going to stay in a friend’s studio space so I could write and teach.
Something didn’t feel right.
Every time I pulled out what I needed to take with me or just thought about the trip, my body felt bad – right in my gut.
Eventually, as the trip got closer, the feeling got more pronounced. I thought to myself, “I’m teaching people to listen to the insight that arises in them, maybe I should walk my own talk. So I cancelled the entire trip – for no “obvious” reason. I thought, “Maybe the plane will go down in the Pacific or a massive earthquake will hit San Francisco – who knows!”
People I was going to see were not happy about me cancelling. I wasn’t happy either; I really wanted to see these folks AND I lost money on the AirBnB Vermont cabin and will need to pay for ticket change costs when I fly again.
But, boy, in retrospect am I glad I did!
The week I was supposed to be in Vermont, the news reported, “Catastrophic flash flooding and river flooding occurred across much of Vermont. Extensive flooding to communities, washouts of numerous roads and bridges, and even the occurrence of land and mudslides resulted in significant property losses.”
There it was.
Had I gone, there may have been damage to the rental car and I may have been stuck in the cabin I rented or experienced flooding IN the cabin itself. And who knows how much writing I could have gotten to in San Francisco.
How do you learn to perceive and trust insight? It’s possible to learn on your own – it just takes mindfulness and awareness. Or, if you feel you want a little help, sign up for the free trial period of my course (see From Struggle to Freedom below) where you’ll learn what you need to know and how to do it.
As it ends up, insight is far more valuable than “thinking.”
Because “thinking” only has access to the memories of we’ve already personally experienced, it is very limited and, therefore, struggle or suffering occurs.
Insight, on the other hand, is unlimited as it is information that is constantly arising from all knowledge – past, present, and future – residing within the vast, unified field of ALOHA (Mind, The Tao, The Universe, The Quantum Field, Great Spirit, God, Source Energy – call It whatever you want).
As the Meditation Masters so kindly put it: insight is “arising in the field all the time and you’re missing it because you’re too distracted relying on your thinking!”
I guess it always boils down to a choice. May you choose that which brings benefit.
Be safe. Be well. Be kind.
Much Aloha
Kit
