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I have recovered from the disease of Alcoholism. I believe there is only one person really,.. everybody. And that peace of mind is everything. -So treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself, because your neighbor IS yourself. I think most of recovery is what I would call common sense, but that learning to be ordinary is a true gift very few people acquire. My ambition is to accept everything unflinchingly, with compassion, and therefore be intrinsically comfortable in my own skin, no matter what. I am comfortable being uncomfortable and am willing to go to any lengths to improve my life. I believe the Big Book was divinely inspired, and is extraordinarily powerful. Unfortunately AA's best kept secret a lot of the time. (In my opinion). I just try to do what works, no matter what it is.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Determine for an hour to hate that person continuously

Interesting stuff from Ajahn Amaro from
The End of Love and Hate
A talk given on August 25th, 2007
at 38min 18 seconds.

"Determine for an hour to hate that person continuously
As soon as the mind wobbles and wavers from hating,
IMMEDIATELY
Let go of the distraction and go back to hating.
See if you can cultivate hatred for that WHOLE time.

(Its actually very hard to do) to stay in a state of aversion and sustained hatred continuously for an hour. Its extremely hard to sustain.

Its a good way to get a perspective on a mind state. Give it what it asks for. "

Just thought I'd share that. I LOVE Mr Amaro at the moment. Have a great Thursday!

6 comments:

Kathy Lynne said...

So then can we stop praying for them????? Hope London is not full of people to hate:)

Recovery Road London said...

I (still) have a filthy temper. I can't keep it going (in recovery). I burn bright and then burn out.

'Hate' is an interesting word to use or hear in recovery. Good post, as always!

Hope you're well.

K

molly said...

good timing - i'll give it a try since i'm pissed off at the hubby! ha ARRGGGGH

molly said...

UPDATE: i had to keep reminding myself about every 10 minutes during the hour that i was supposed to be hating for an hour - certainly couldn't maintain it the entire time then when the time was up - i was very much over it :) WHEW!

i'll have to take a listen to that one. very interesting and thanks for sharing. have a great rest of your weekend !

Syd said...

I know that I can't do that. I can't think of anyone that I hate. But there are people that I like better than others.

An Irish Friend of Bill said...

thanks for dropping by all
Kathy. its ok to take an hours 'vacation' from praying to see what this feels like. its an interesting experiment and reveals a great deal about the impermanent nature of our emotions.
its supposed to be a very conscious thing. not a half hearted thing. the full explanation is in the talk. i haven't given enough detail here. you would have to listen to the segment i mention to get the drift.

All I know is that deeper reservoirs of all feeling, good and bad resurface during and after reasonably intensive step 11 work. and I feel the seed of resentment, even if resentment may be felt only as a minor irritation, is a bitter form of contempt, which I would not hesitate to call hate. Just because we do see the full 'glory' of our capacity to hate another, on a day to day basis does not mean we do not have that capacity in our hearts. I find most humans have very dark reservoirs of bitterness lurking about under the surface. but these currents very rarely see the light of day without some heavy duty step 11. doesn't make much sense if you haven't done a retreat, but both aa attendees who went to see the DL experienced pretty stormy internal upheavals afterward. its normal, and not too difficult to handle. IF you are willing to do the work. But whatever. I cannot explain what step 11 feels like. (!) You have to experience it yourself really..