Teachers: Stew Glick

The Jade Plant by the Window

The following article by Stew Glick is from the Fall 2005 Newsletter.

During a recent retreat, while sitting on the couch in the cabin with Lisa, listening quietly, I was suddenly, unexpectedly, taken by the small jade plant that sits on a table by the window. I turned to her and said, "You know, I have looked at that jade plant so many times, and yet it feels like it has just now been seen!" Words can barely begin to describe it, as it showed itself in such radiance and presence. So much of the time we are not in touch in this way — so openly and freshly — with what is here this instant.

Do we see our partner, friend, co-worker or child — as they really are at this moment? This seeing, listening, is not old, it is now. Otherwise we are experiencing others through the filters of memory, including the lightning quick associations this body/mind makes to very old feeling/memories — what David Bohm called "felts." Recently, in a dialogue group in retreat, a strong feeling/memory of having done something "wrong" arose after I had spoken. A person I saw as an authority figure said something that was interpreted as a criticism. There arose a tension in the chest, and a kind of gnawing sensation in the abdomen. But in that instant the energy of presence — of listening — was strong, and so this feeling/memory did not need to be gone into any more than what had already come up; but it was experienced, it was seen, and it dissolved, revealing in its place all that was going on — including people talking and the sounds of insects.

Sometimes we say that an issue such as jealousy or comparison has been seen and yet we say that it continues to operate. It is one thing to think "I am jealous," in the sense of reflecting upon the circumstances around this feeling, including the thoughts about what the other person seems to have that I don't have. But to actually see this thinking going on — the seeing is the ending of this movement at this moment. It is the freeing of it. What may be the next moment is not really known. But it has been found that the more something is seen, the quicker it is likely to be seen the next time it arises. Some habitual reactive patterns, like defensiveness, can have tremendous power, but there is some unfathomable learning that takes place in this body/mind over time, when there is deep listening and energy to remain present with what is here now, and not needing to defend.

In a recent retreat, the subject of war and peace came up in a dialogue. Two people were having an exchange where there was disagreement and it was apparent that there was some defensiveness coming up in one of them. Suddenly he said, "I just saw that I was getting upset and agitated from being identified with my view. It's just what we've been talking about." The identification was seen and dropped. It was the ending of conflict at that instant; the seeing was the ending.

Can we see in ourselves what makes for conflict? My unfulfilled expectations, wants, fears, ideas of right and wrong, the memory of what you did to me or how hurt I was by what you said. Can we see our irritation at what others say — the same things we don't wish to see in ourselves? At a moment when these thoughts are really seen in oneself, they dissolve, lose their importance. The feelings of separation that may have felt so real a moment ago also dissolve. What remains? Is it not everything just as it is, everyone just as they are? The sounds, the sensations — all happening with no one in the middle of it all? Can we at least for moments at a time be open to this moment, as it is? Pausing and allowing the energy to gather in this innocent listening to what is here, this instant? Can we see what is in the way of being here openly and affectionately with the little jade plant, and with each other?

When there is no division, no separation, isn't this seeing clearly?