Receptivity
From Your Innate Power
Articles By Olive L. Brown
The importance of acquiring this faculty cannot be over estimated. It is the basis of all control. Receptivity prepares the mental attitude for concentration and will. It trains the power of attention, withholding judgement until we have the facts. It restores harmony within the organism and puts us en rapport with reality. It teaches us to accept facts and so is the first step towards adaptation.
Conscious awareness and receptivity are independent. As Dr Vittoz explained, receptivity of vibrations from the outer world is complete and sufficient only when it is conscious.
Unconscious receptivity is incomplete and sometimes harmful because it becomes distorted.
For receptivity to be perfect the brain must be in a state of repose which is not passive. Dynamic repose, awake, alert, with interest, de-tensed attention is needed for receptivity to be pure and undeformed by other sensations or ideas. So many deformed ideas and sensations are due to false reception. Science has not yet appreciated this fact. We have not yet been taught how to see and hear properly. More research is needed for training in wordless experiencing.
This does not mean that everyone should fit into the same pattern. Each normal individual has his own manner of receiving and reacting, but no one is normal all the time. When we are not, receptivity is untrue and the truth of ideas depends upon the quality of receptivity.
The way to find truth is to be mentally silent. Ideas and emotions are put aside in order to allow us to be purely receptive, to sense what is in the present moment and not to think. Mental health requires us to live in the present. It is the key to understanding which depends upon the truth of receptivity. Do not do anything to understand. Just open up and let meaning come. It is a subtle combination of non-doing and effort - not muscular effort, but a subtle focusing of attention with the body de-tensed. To the degree that you have the sensation of your body is de-tensed. If there is tension, you sense that not the body. To demonstrate stiffen your arm . . . you sense the tension, but it is not the sense of arm. Now relax the arm and you will sense it.
The attitude of receptivity takes tense effort out of what we do. We learn to let the right thing occur instead of tightening up to go after it. The word let is so important! To let instead of get is the rule here. When we stop doing the wrong thing the mechanism will function as nature intended. Remain objective and consciously permit what is to come to you.
This means that one must learn to live with all one's being, to live, feel and breathe through every pore. When receptivity is true you feel as though every cell were nourished and free. It is a feeling of wholeness, of calm, confident awareness. Accustomed agitation, tension and chronic fatigue disappear.
When we have learned to live in this way, we enjoy a sense of well being and happiness undreamed of by most people. There is no place for worry and morbid ideas of the past or the future. They cannot exist in the active state. So do not fight a morbid thought, simply do something to change the functioning of the brain. It has been proved over and over again that anguish of whatever nature or intensity cannot resist five minutes of sincere receptivity. The interest must be in the sensation of the object not in the result, not in what it is doing for you. Stop a moment and think what this means.
Fears and phobias, such as fear of storms or of being alone in the house, cannot be reasoned away but the practice of receptivity in the present moment will calm the agitation. This is done by letting the whole field of consciousness be filled with, for instance, the sense of touch and movement as one rearranges the cupboard or bookcase. With consciousness in control the brain vibration changes and the fear disappears. This is the way to eliminate all morbid ideas or other symptoms of passivity.
To be conscious of the act as you wash your hands, dress, or walk, rest you. It restores vital force instead of wasting it in dispersion. In this way you can even find pleasure in washing dishes and doing other chores which once seemed arduous and fatiguing.
'Oh, now come, let's not go too far', laughed one pupil. But she tried it and let herself be enriched by the sensation of touch and the play of muscles and joints as she moved. The experience was one of joy. She was delighted to find herself rested and feeling 'wonderful' instead of tired and bored.
The practice of wordless receptivity is to see, hear and touch, like a baby discovering the world. It is to float, to bathe in the pure sensation of the object without praise or blame, without even like or dislike. In the act of receptivity there should be no thought, opinion or judgement; no feeling or emotion except the sensation of what is regarded, heard or touched, ect.
At first it may be very difficult to stop the constant whirl of thinking even for an instant. But with patient persistence, one has more and more frequent flashes of pure sensation, be it the blue of the sky, the sound of traffic, or an object touched. Gradually a new mental attitude becomes established. The pathways are clear. We no longer inject our emotions, opinions, troubles and tensions into every act. To be interested in something outside the self de-tenses.
It is a good thing before undertaking an intellectual work, to devote several minutes to quiet the brain and de-tense through the conscious act; also to make several such pauses during the course of the work, frequent as first then more and more spaced as your control improves. In these pauses do a few conscious acts of sight, touch or movement so as to prevent tension and fatigue. After the work a few more exercise in receptivity will repose the brain. Each act takes just a second or two to register; then easily, quietly go on to the next.
We are all often too accustomed to injecting our emotion into everything. Most of us do not know how to be objectively interested in the 'thatness' of an object or event. This can be demonstrated in very simple acts which are used to train the brain so that we can control our reactions in any situation.
One day a pupil learning receptivity of touch was asked to slide her hand down and up the back of a velvet chair. Sliding down was pleasant, but coming back against the pile she shrieked, backed away and became quite wild in expressing her dislike. She was not interested in the object but in her emotion about it even in such a simple, harmless 'conscious act' exercise. Had she directed her attention out into the act she would have registered incoming sensations of touch, one less pleasant perhaps, but she would not have withdrawn so violently, tightened all her muscles and been shattered instead of calm and detached. Though considered a fairly normal person this was her habitual approach to life.
'Keep these senses in rein', my teacher used to say over and over again. It is not a tight hold but a gentle, sensitive control which prevents nervous instabilities.
The danger of working alone is to become self-hypnotised, instead of reaching a higher level of consciousness. We deceive ourselves and try to pursue our idea of what is right instead of letting truth come to us. By checking the vibration the teacher can help the pupil to recognize the difference between an idea and it. It is the itness, the reality which is important. When one finds himself facing facts as they are undeformed by ideas, things are simpler.
When the conscious act becomes part of you your receptivity will grow more and more profound. It is absolute when you are in contact with all about you. As receptivity grows the power of giving out is increased and you are prepared to meet any situation. A moral force develops from this control. It is more than a personal satisfaction for we all have an influence in this world, radiating kindness, energy and joy, or trouble, discouragement and evil. We never know how far the repercussions of an act or a word may reach.
Keywords: Receptivity, Mental attitude, withholding judgment, Olive L. Brown, power of attention, Conscious awareness, articles, Intuition, Intuitive, Cape Town, South Africa, UK,
