Core
The core orientation from which this practice arises.
Two Simple Circles: Recognising Healing within Living, and the Conscious Mind within Consciousness
How does healing relate to living?
When one moves from healing to living, is it moving from one distinct life phase to the next?
The answer to these questions came to my mind one day while I was washing the dishes.
I saw two circles in my mind. A smaller one, positioned slightly upper right, within a larger one.
When one moves from healing to living, is it moving from one distinct life phase to the next?
The answer to these questions came to my mind one day while I was washing the dishes.
I saw two circles in my mind. A smaller one, positioned slightly upper right, within a larger one.
The smaller one was labelled “Healing”.
The larger one was “Living”.
A small arrow pointed from the outer part of Healing into Living.
Oh.
From Healing to Living does not mean leaving one phase behind and entering another.
Living encompasses Healing, as well as joy, pain and suffering. Suffering occurs when pain is resisted or when joy is grasped. Healing occurs when suffering is released.
Healing is never separate from Living, but neither is it its core. When attention is focused on Healing, Living is experienced through its lens and recedes into the background.
From Healing to Living is simply the shifting of attention from Healing as the core back to Living.
Healing remains part of Living, but it no longer dominates how life is experienced.
For someone in pain or suffering, the smaller circle may instead be labelled Pain or Suffering, as attention is focused there. Healing must first occur for suffering to be released. Until then, attention may remain centred there.
A few days later, another realisation followed.
The smaller circle was not limited to healing. It could also represent the conscious mind itself.
The larger one was “Living”.
A small arrow pointed from the outer part of Healing into Living.
Oh.
From Healing to Living does not mean leaving one phase behind and entering another.
Living encompasses Healing, as well as joy, pain and suffering. Suffering occurs when pain is resisted or when joy is grasped. Healing occurs when suffering is released.
Healing is never separate from Living, but neither is it its core. When attention is focused on Healing, Living is experienced through its lens and recedes into the background.
From Healing to Living is simply the shifting of attention from Healing as the core back to Living.
Healing remains part of Living, but it no longer dominates how life is experienced.
For someone in pain or suffering, the smaller circle may instead be labelled Pain or Suffering, as attention is focused there. Healing must first occur for suffering to be released. Until then, attention may remain centred there.
A few days later, another realisation followed.
The smaller circle was not limited to healing. It could also represent the conscious mind itself.
What we ordinarily call “myself” — being aware, thinking, deciding, and relating to experience with intention — arises from the Conscious Mind.
Consciousness is the larger field. The Conscious Mind exists within it. It is not separate from Consciousness, nor is it the entirety of it.
Beyond the Conscious Mind lies what has been called the subconscious, the unconscious, or simply the unknown — where long-term memories, emotional patterns, imagination, dreams, and automatic functions of mind and body operate outside conscious intention.
When one predominantly identifies with the Conscious Mind, its boundary feels solid. Experience feels confined to what can be thought, analysed, or controlled.
When this identification softens, the boundary becomes permeable. The Conscious Mind does not disappear. It continues to function, to think, to decide. But it is no longer experienced as the entirety of what one is. It becomes part of a wider field, rather than its centre.
Within this wider field, insights and meaning can arise and be recognised without deliberate effort. Imagination and creativity can flow more freely into daily living.
This same softening also occurs when attention shifts from Healing to Living, allowing what is already present within Consciousness to be recognised, and experience to feel deeper and fuller.
Two simple circles.
Consciousness is the larger field. The Conscious Mind exists within it. It is not separate from Consciousness, nor is it the entirety of it.
Beyond the Conscious Mind lies what has been called the subconscious, the unconscious, or simply the unknown — where long-term memories, emotional patterns, imagination, dreams, and automatic functions of mind and body operate outside conscious intention.
When one predominantly identifies with the Conscious Mind, its boundary feels solid. Experience feels confined to what can be thought, analysed, or controlled.
When this identification softens, the boundary becomes permeable. The Conscious Mind does not disappear. It continues to function, to think, to decide. But it is no longer experienced as the entirety of what one is. It becomes part of a wider field, rather than its centre.
Within this wider field, insights and meaning can arise and be recognised without deliberate effort. Imagination and creativity can flow more freely into daily living.
This same softening also occurs when attention shifts from Healing to Living, allowing what is already present within Consciousness to be recognised, and experience to feel deeper and fuller.
Two simple circles.
