Living Spontaneity

Each day, we embody the main three qualities of Prajna Yoga–intimacy, immediacy, and spontaneity. Intimacy is to be touched by the world and to live a life of care and compassion. Immediacy is to land in each moment no matter how wild or invasive and to greet “what is” without clinging or rejecting. Now the third quality, spontaneity, may be the most important of all. We typically think of spontaneity as following your heart, free from the obligations of people pleasing, having to prove yourself, or assuming control. But this only grasps part of the real power of spontaneity. For when we look closely, we see that all things arise spontaneously. That is, the absolute, which is formless and full of space, manifests spontaneously. Of course when things happen, they are contingent upon karmic causes and conditions. However, all things come into being like never before. Every single second appears this way. In your daily meditation observe the sudden burst of bird song, the sound of a passing jet or a gust of wind. Too, observe a sudden shift in your breathing, a gurgle in your gut, and watch the way bubbles of thought appear and vanish. All is the dance of spontaneity. It is only our minds that lock down, mistakenly perceiving things as fixed. That the infinite appears spontaneously is referred to in many ways: The Eternal Pulse, Transience-Buddha Nature or the Infinite Now. One teacher I know was fond of saying “Emptiness Dances”.  The Tibetan mystic Shabkar put it this way, “Spontaneous manifestation of vivid appearance is a constant wonder.” So each day step into the flow of wonder. Be with spontaneous arising. Live it. Draw it. Sing it. Be it. This is what is meant by staying in the eternal flow.