Why “Hidden Discipline”
I love poetry. Several years back, I encountered and fell in love with the poetry of David Whyte. In his writing he often talks about the process of getting to know and befriending ourselves. So much of ourselves is unknown to us, below the level of consciousness, habitual, programmed in the past, in some cases before we were fully aware. These internal worlds can keep us feeling separate, as we compare ourselves to others and imagine that we keep falling short. The process of getting to know this invisible world and coming to love it in all of its complexity is fascinating, difficult, and an important point of life. This awakening is also the chief pursuit of yoga and meditation.
The theme picture for this website is of a bougainvillea shrub, which is not an accident. Have you ever looked inside one of those flowers? There are stars inside! This is symbolic of my approach to life and the teachings that I offer to you. First, pause long enough and often enough to look inside small flowers. Then, find the star inside - inside the flower, and inside of yourself. That, to me, is the essence of “Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity”, and that is the beauty of life. Be alert in the familiar. Look for the star.
The full poem is below.
Everything Is Waiting For You
by David Whyte
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the
conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.