How Deeply Do You Feel? - The Little Prince Series
How Deeply Do You Feel? - The Little Prince Series
Daily Insight from the Story of The Little Prince
I often run across people who are quite shocked when a person they consider to be "spiritual" expresses strong emotion.
It's as if spiritual people are supposed to be completely even-keeled, dispassionatethe sort of people who never stir things up, never become passionate or expressive about anything.
In other words, they are milquetoast: submissive, very "nice" about everything, self-apologetic, somewhat timidpeople whose longing is to "have a nice day."
The Little Prince has a quite different understanding of that aspect of us that originates in the heavens, our rising consciousness. A truly conscious person is the exact opposite of milquetoast.
The Little Prince is trying to have a discussion with the pilot, who is attempting to loosen a stuck bolt on his flying machine. When the pilot says he is "very busy with matters of consequence," the little fellow stares at him,thunderstruck.
There is no lack of emotion here. Yet it isn't what we think of as emotionalreactivity, in which we get into a fight with someone, alienating them, or we back away from them and sulk in our corner
Emotional reactivity is fundamentally different from the strong emotion that emanates from the deep feelings of the heart.
Emotional reactivity createsdistance instead of presence. Genuine feeling that produces emotion seeks toconnect.
You can see the difference by looking closely at the exchange between the Little Prince and the pilot. What the story is trying to teach us is all right here in the way they interact.
The pilot isannoyed by the Little Prince's questions, whereas the little fellow is wanting toengage the pilot.
One of them, then, is pushing the other away, while the other is interested in relating more meaningfully.
Why is the pilot irritated by the Little Prince's questions?
The pilot tells us: "Again the little prince disturbed mythoughts."
Ah,thought is what is causing him to distance himself! Thought takes us right out of consciousness, so that we are no longer present in our own life, yet alone with another person.
The pilot was totally caught up in his anxious thoughts, which didn't permit him to make meaningful contact with his friend. Indeed he tells us, "At that instant I was saying to myself: If this bolt still won't turn'" He's got a conversation with himself going in his headthe exact opposite of being conscious, aware, present.
The pilot isn't present but is caught up in thought about his future. What will happen if he can't get the bolt loose? What if he can't get his airplane back in the sky? He tells himself that his water supply is dwindling and he could die!
Wemay achieve some things through thought that's future-oriented, goal-oriented. But even if we do, what we achieve will be nothing like the quality of accomplishment that flows from being present.
It will also enervate and exhaust us, whereas presence empowers us to accomplish things from a restful state.
Thought can trigger a great deal of emotion, but it's the kind of emotion you don't want. Similarly emotional reactions can trigger a whole stream of thought, which is always past-or future-oriented and never truly helpful.
In contrast, calm presence is suffused with deepfeeling, often opening up a flow of emotion that's appropriate for any given situation.
But as we'll see more fully tomorrow, the emotion that originates in consciousness is often quite different from the milquetoast day so many people want to have.
Quite the opposite, it's likely to take the form of exuberant joy, a showing of thorns as we are witnessing with the Little Prince in this preent exchange with his pilot friend, or even real sadness.
Editor's note: In order to be true to yourself, you have to know who you really are and what's true important to you. What do you really want for your life? Two books by the author of the daily blog Consciousness Rising help with this journey: Your Forgotten Self andLessons in LovingA Journey into the Heart.
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