I have to admit that I go back and forth on this. I quibble about how important it is to do good things, take good actions. Is it important to do the right thing? Or is it more important to be aware, understand what is going on. Today I think it is important to act properly so that I think properly. Sounds like something behaviorists would like.
Maybe it is simply the unity of a circle.
I have been noticing that I can see things more and more clearly. I am beginning to think that I see things, people, concepts as they really are. There is more energy in my thinking, in my awareness. I think I am becoming more aligned with what is. Reality, in all its uncertainty, is becoming something I experience more frequently. The more I practice, the more this is my experience.
I often feel my whole body just as it is. This happens when I wake up, when I am sitting in my car, when I am walking into Trader Joes. My mind, my awareness extends through my whole body. I actually feel and see with my whole body. I hear my bell with my whole body. My whole body seems to be aligning itself with whatever or whoever is present. I remember why it felt like before and once again the energy flows. I often feel it. In the energy there is joy.
I practice awareness when I sit and meditate. It is truly practicing. I then remember how it was when I was practicing, and experience the same kind of awareness at other times. I realize that I can also carry that same kind of practicing into my every day life. I can act in a way that is aligning with what is, with reality. I can act on my awareness, and my awareness increases as it is reinforced. I know this is happening because I can feel the energy.
I now think that the more insight I have into what I am doing, the more I understand the consequences of what I a doing. The insight I get by practicing then becomes the insight I bring to the next experience. I can become aware of the way of no harm. I can become aware of the harm of lying, eating, consuming, sexual misconduct, stealing, etc.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are simply a practicing.
It is the insight, the awareness that allows the energy to flow. It is the awareness that opens me to enlightenment, and enlightened action. I become more aligned with what is, and the energy can flow.
I think I want to practice “good” actions because I know they are a practice of enlightenment. If I see things as they really are, with an enlightened mind, I will know how to act in a way that is aligned with reality.
I really don’t think there are any right or wrong actions. Whatever I do, is somewhat neutral. I can say that there are good or bad consequences, but the important thing for me is whether the actions are aligned with my awareness of reality. I want my awareness to be correctly aligned with reality, with what is.
I want to learn to feel the energy, the joy in right actions. Just as mindful movements can put me in touch with the energy in my body, so can right actions allow me to experience the energy, the joy in being aligned with what is, with reality.
So it is a circle, perhaps. Being mindful is what I want, but it is both a cause and a result of right action. Being mindful means being aligned with, being fully present with what is. And that includes people.