Exploring You - Nonduality talks with Alzheimer Residents.
Notes from my last Exporing You class.
The residents seem to have opened to a nondual state. They understand the poetry and talk about nonduality a little more than most. Some of them are sharing experiences that I have with deep contemplation in a nondual state of looking at objects.
As an example.
One resident mentioned that the photo of a flower, an actually flower and a cup are all the same. His seeing was not from a place of seeing separate objects but rather seeing space and energy as appearing as all of these things.
The only thing he could not do was move back to stand point of being Jim to talk about it as if observing it. He was living in it fully.
I have found that each of these residents like anyone , are in different places of knowing nonduality. Some are so steeped into the energy that their words are mush, nonsense, yet they know all that is around them. Even if they dont get what I am talking about, they enjoy and sense the conversation, the looking and the sitting in IT to share this new home and way of seeing life.
Another resident named Tom, he was a physicist. His knowing of nonduality was deep and spot on. Here is his quote when we got into a conversation about thoughts. “ Thoughts are judgements of reality”
He also said that writing is just a dream of words hoping to get to some place.
We talked about worries. Some of their worries were about death, illness and what they called opening horizons. I asked what this mean they said it was removing the fears of what is out there in the real world vs their home in the center.
My conclusion after teaching this Exploring You class was an astonishment to find that how I was seeing life in a nondual state of one without a second, is now being done also by a few more many dementia residents that I had suspected. Is it possible to teach and help them balance this into their life as I did?
They are able to follow meditations extremely well and come out of them and discuss the senses they felt very clearly. They are able to hold discussions, stay on point and share thoughts, often very deep. They also get the poetry I am providing and talk about its meaning. They love the sharing and opportunity to talk about what is the most amazing topic ever.. Exploring You.
To be able to offer another activity for them that just may enrich their life where they are is an amazing gift for all of us both teacher and student. Who is the teacher who is the student?
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