Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Amber Dorrian, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Vocabulary.com
SUBLIMATION
Christy Turlington (sportsforus.com) |
To
sublimate is a chemistry term used in psychology. To sublimate is to go from a
solid state into a more rarefied gaseous one, from dense to vapor
without melting in between.
We can turn what drains us into what fills us, transforming drains into wells and reservoirs of energy. In psychology, sublimating means
going from base to sublime. Imagine sitting on a meditation mat in a hall feeling
restless -- beset by one or more of the Five mental/heart Hindrances:
craving, anger, restlessness, sleepiness, doubt.
Done right, it is bliss and joy unutterable! |
Meditation becomes possible anywhere once it is mastered in silence and peace (gaynerdlife) |
Now imagine sitting in a hall or cave or wherever and moving from restlessness to calm, from thirsty (tanha)
to quenched (cooled).
Going from anger to appeasement, sleepiness to
energized, confusion to clarity (doubt or confidence) -- all of these
are examples of sublimation. These five have antidotes.
America loves Science of Yoga |
Another word for absorption (jhana) is "meditation." Jhana is the Sanskrit dhyana, which means "zen," or ch'an (Chinese), words that are synonymous with meditation, with cool, with calm collectedness (the right understanding of concentration, which does not mean trying and striving but rather getting into the flow, effortless ease, the Tao, the way, the path).
The hindrance or defilement becomes more subtle so we
can continue being still, applying the mind, giving applied and
sustained attention to a meditation object, to "meditating." This
becomes the case even if at first we do not want to, if we do not "feel
like it," if we can't. We sublimate the impulse into something useful.
Anger can be fierce determination, as one hears so much about in
tantra-influenced Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism sometimes also called Tantrayana). The DAKINIS are all about turning fierce "spirits" or moods into useful ones that advance rather than retard us along the path.
Well, for one thing, it explained your neuroses. |
According to Vocabulary.com, sublimate is related to the word sublime. Both words come from the Latin word sublimare,
which means "to raise up" or "to exalt." So a struggling sitter finally
being able to effortlessly meditate is a superior -- a more exalted --
situation. If suffering hurts, the cool peace of nirvana holds out the
promise that we are not in a hopeless situation. It can get better, so
much better that the goal comes into view and our happiness runneth over.
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