Completely mesmerized by this amazing “hang drum” duo, I followed the link to their website (hangmusic.com) and under the ‘Gratitude’ tab, discovered a link to Balanced View, “a grass roots movement of social change and human empowerment.” (www.balancedview.org)
Here is an excerpt from One Simple Change, written by the Balanced View Team, which offers a down to earth perspective on spirituality and a practical approach to living every moment with mindfulness and ease.
“Data (one datum or several data) are anything that occurs in the mind. It can be a thought, emotion, sensation or intuition, and it can relate to inner or outer events; it is anything that can be seen, felt, enacted, intuited, or experienced in any other way. Open intelligence is either involved in data, or it is naturally at ease… In this approach all data are seen as appearances of open intelligence, and it is this open intelligence that is the basis of mind.
… stop thinking for a moment. That absence of thought is what open intelligence is… You are still alert, cognizant, and aware, even though there is no thinking… whether there is lots of thinking or no thinking, it takes open intelligence to be aware of both… the same open intelligence that’s present when you stop thinking is also present in every thought.
This innate ability to be at ease, wise, balanced, and compassionate is discovered when we relax the mind’s focus on data. As the mind relaxes into open intelligence, data are seen to be the dynamic energy of open intelligence… likened to a breeze blowing through the air. The breeze and the air are inseparable and both are air. When a breeze blows, it is the dynamic energy of air. When data appear, they are the dynamic energy of open intelligence. Like the color blue is inseparable from the sky, data are inseparable from open intelligence. We come to realize that no datum has an origin independent of open intelligence.
… Over time, by the power of sustaining open intelligence for short moments, many times, confidence in open intelligence is nurtured until it becomes permanent and continuous at all times, and in all situations – including the times when many thoughts are arising.”