January 10 – Making the invisible visible

Dear Friends,

The next category of beings to whom we can extend our good wishes is rather blandly called the “neutral” person. These are people we encounter day to day but with whom with have have no real strong association. Christina Feldman aptly describes this category of beings with: “We know them by their function”. (page 41)

When I think about my commute to work Wednesday morning, there was the bus driver who greeted me, another fellow looking through his wallet, a half-dozen other riders, plus a few others who hopped on or departed on the way. Walking through the bus mall, I passed a pair of women trying to negotiate getting their baby strollers off a different bus. I passed a small group of people chatting among themselves as they left a coffee shop. Another person was locking their car. A driver was waiting to turn at the light. I passed through a shopping mall to get to my office, and the person who runs the flower shop was setting out her wares, and the security person was scanning the area, watching as a couple of other people entered the building. I smiled at him and he smiled back. 🙂

There was a period of time this security person was the “neutral” person in my mettā practice. Of course, I have never gone up to him to say, “Hey, you’re my neutral person! May you be safe and happy and peaceful!” But the simple act of paying attention to this person, with an intention of cultivating a boundless kindness, had an effect – on me, certainly – and maybe even on him. This once-stern security person, who seemed to never crack a smile at anyone, smiles at me now. Or maybe he always did smile, but I never noticed…

Personally, I think this is the secret superpower of mettā and mindfulness practice. I’ve found a whole world has opened up for me. Now the bus driver, mail carrier, panhandler, security guard have come alive, as if in high definition, when before they may have been mere caricatures. And not just people, but also anything that might seem “ordinary” – the trees I walk by every day, the birds the flock at the feeder, the bright stars.

I love how Christina describes this:

In the light of mindfulness the world becomes alive, dynamic, and enlivening. In consciously attending to the people in our day we are indifferent to, they too are illuminated in the light of metta. Indifference disappears in any moment we see another person wholeheartedly.

page 42

For your practice today, I’ll leave you with Christina’s suggestion on how to start with the neutral:

It can be helpful to begin to cultivate the practice in the midst of our everyday experience. Go into your day with the intention to bring a wholehearted attentiveness to those we may be more prone to ignore or overlook. Sense what it is to look into the eyes of or greet the conductor on the train, the person behind the counter at your corner shop. You are not asked to feel anything in particular, simply to see and to allow that person to be visible. As we do this in the day, we soon discover that indifference is sustained by inattentiveness. The moment we attend, indifference disappears. The neutral person is no longer neutral.

pages 43-44

I invite you to share your reflections with the neutral person on the blog. What do you notice when you bring this intention to your day?

With warm wishes,
Andrea