Disproportionate Feelings
Every now and then for most of us, and pretty much all the time for tantrikas, life brings experiences that look scary and hard to face.
Some of these things are just that – scary. Hard to face.
Some of these things, though, perhaps most of them, are, when you take a broader look at them, a bit puzzling. They do not look as if they should be all that hard or scary, but the feelings that arise in response to them indicate great scariness. Crushing hardness …
For example, if I am dawdling across the road, paying deep attention to something happening on my smartphone, the pounding heart and sudden sweat that I feel after a car has hooted while swerving around me is more or less proportionate to the event.
If, however, I feel similar feelings when noticing who is dancing with my beloved, or find myself taking a game of go far, far too seriously … the feelings that arise in me could perhaps be said to be disproportionate to the situation.
The normal habit of normal people, of course, is to react to disproportionate feelings and the situations in which they occur in the normal way – disproportionately. The art of motivating people by the use of symbols and slogans which provoke disproportionate feelings is called "government". All perfectly good for normal people.
For tantrikas and others with a brave approach to living though, disproportionate feelings and the things that provoke them are worth deeper examination.
