The Mystery of Overflowing

abundance mind

Hello, this is Leslie and I am reading to you from my newsletter, Inner Art; the Mystery of Overflowing ~ Abundance Mind

I am struck by how often I see a kind of starving in people. They live with a sense of deprivation, hungering for the warmth of welcome, or the bounty of security but unable, for reasons both inner and outer, to live thus. What do you say to the one who has lost their love, their youth, their health, their friend? To the one who is underemployed, under homed, under understood? In some ways, this deprivation, this starving is worse with the young; those raised to believe they can do anything and be anyone, but run smack into the brick wall of reality.

Perhaps, even more painfully, a sense of injustice arises. It should not be this way; how can it be that I am not known, not loved the way I wish to be loved? It makes no sense. There is a deep, secret outrage within each of us, an outrage we dare not mention for fear that the absurdity of our statements would obscure the truth we know. Our fortunes do not reflect the beauty of our souls and talents, and this is terribly, terribly wrong.

Because, despite the hard daily lessons, the creeping bitterness that threatens to rob our light, we know that we are more, we are much, much more. We sense our magnificent birthright-it lies just around the next corner, a barely hidden discovery that has somehow, mistakenly, eluded us.

Many years ago I saw a TV movie that remained with me all my life. A young woman, a scientist or teacher, arrives at an isolated town where everyone shuffles their feet. She is perplexed, and tries to encourage play, running, games, but the people remain literally downtrodden, unable to lift up, shuffling, shuffling.

It turns out that they shuffle because if they do not, they would fly.

I remembered this movie because it pictured a truth. If we do not shuffle, we will stumble, stunningly, into flight.

In the many years that I have worked as a psychotherapist, I have found that there is one practice that I can teach that helps people move from a sense of psychic deprivation to expansiveness. This practice turns everything on its head. It is undoubtedly the secret of saints. I am sure that it was known, perhaps by different words or with a different narrative to Mother Theresa, to many modern Bohdisatvas, to others, and perhaps to you. And it is very simple. It is abundance mind.

To know it, this abundance mind, you must become the one who gives the love you long for. You, this ocean of knowing/loving bestow, because it is demanded of you by that which is beyond you, by that which you truly are, a love on everyone. It becomes your privilege to conduct the chores of your life because through them you can practice manifesting your largess, a largess that transcends you and spreads like a very gentle wildfire of warmth.

One of the reasons that I like to narrate my newsletters is because I think by doing so I can help convey the sense that I have about these discoveries. I want, through my voice, to intimate the experience of lived inquiry. As a witness to the power of abundance mind, again and again in everyday life, to encourage you to tap into the ocean of your warmth.

The painting

that I am sharing is based on a black and white painting by Li Huayi. Of course, his original is vastly superior. Stumbling across the image of his work during an internet scroll, I was stopped by the sensation that the painting is a picture of my heart. Surrounded by the hardship of life there is a powerful stream that bursts forth from a hidden source. The very narrowness of the stream passing through the crevices in the mountains speaks to its thundering power. I can almost hear the force of the water, the abundance mind of river against stone rising impossibly from the heart of the earth.

The beauty that attracts us in art or in nature often pictures an inner state. When you find yourself stopped by a scene, ask yourself what that scene says to you. Are you struck by the little tree that emerges uncannily from some tiny crevice, or the moss that casts such bright green softness on the soil? Maybe you prefer the peace of a lake surrounded by willows and pestered by waterfowl. Ask yourself how the scene reflects some inner inkling; what does it say to you and where does its message come from? Follow the thread of beauty and find out where you are being led. Then, if you can do this, find out who or what is leading you. There may be a surprise in your discovery.

I assumed Li Huayi’s painting was ancient, and I felt free to play with the image in my studio practice. Knowing now that he is a modern master, I am humbled and thrilled, and perhaps a little embarrassed that I copied his scene. Thank you, Li Huayi.

If you would like to google the movie, it is called The People starring Kim Darby and William Shatner.

And if you enjoyed this essay, I would be most grateful if you would share it with a friend, and consider upgrading your subscription.

Thank you. May you discover your abundance.