When Peri sent this to me I had to get over a reaction to the word "dominion" as it has had some negative religious connotations for me. I love this freshening of language and what Peri is experiencing.
Barbara
Silence: A practice of Dominion of the Mind
I recently spent a month in Denmark with a master teacher/horse trainer, as many will remember who read the piece on Destiny I wrote while there. As I have begun to integrate my experience of this time with my daily rhythm here back home, the word ‘dominion’ has been with me.
One of things that truly impressed me in working with this man was the quality of what I am calling ‘dominion’ that he provided, not only for the horses, but for his staff, the farm where we stayed, the participants, and the flow of the course itself. Dominion, as I am experiencing it, is the provision of an accurate ‘structure for the moment’ such that the spirit of Life can find an easy way to come into manifest form. In my own past I have been one of those ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ kind of learners and I would often dismiss the need for a clear structure in favor of just jumping into an experience and seeking to make sense of it afterward. The irony, of course, is that this is a ‘structure’ of its own!
In working with my own horses, what they always are asking for from me, is to know what are the ‘boundaries’ of the experience I am creating. The more clear I am with a structure in the moment of exactly what I am asking for them to do, the more eager they are to go for it and demonstrate that they are capable of learning the new task.
As I was contemplating the entirety of our fifty-five acre property here in New Hampshire, this need or I could say ‘call for dominion’ is present everywhere. The ancient apple trees that we have on the land have become very lush and productive since we moved here nine years ago by careful yearly pruning and feeding. Our three young kittens that were born in our house nine weeks ago needed a serious ‘structure’ of being confined to a couple of rooms for a while in order to begin to use their litter box and eat on their own….we were originally giving them free run of the house and this only confused them and created problems.
Coming into our monthly day of Silence this Sunday it dawned on me that this practice of Silence, for me, provides a direct experience of ‘dominion of my mind and heart’. I am very tuned into what I am thinking and feeling during these 24 hour cycles, and it is a deliberate structure that allows this to be true.
So, in the spirit of some monthly musings from me and Barbara, here are some thoughts from me on the crucial and beautiful role that we as human beings play in the unfolding beauty of this planet.
With special affection,
Peri