Three awareness exercises for learning the wheelbook.
Posted by John on 04/06/2007 21:25:08
In reply to Re: Updating the Wheelbook instructions. posted by John on 04/05/2007 12:49:48
Learning how to use the wheelbook in the Playground by reading through
it like a novel.
Notes on awareness practice that can lead to having the ability of
keying-in to the personality profiles of you, first of all, when alone or
with others, as well as keying-in to the personality profiles of any of
the others around you, or those that you can remember, even those that
you are just meeting in any here-and-now if you are awake at the time.
Awareness and the Anatomy of Human Beingness
Through this study and practice, you are going to be meeting eight very
distinct types of people, and little by little, you are going to get to
know them, transparently, so you can see the obvious differences between
them in the various situations that come up in everyday life. Then you
are going to be able to see that these eight recognizeable types of
people are everywhere around you wherever you wake up and look, even in
you. Now you can know who everybody all is, or nearly so. First of all,
know thy Self and the underlying undiscovered Essence that you were born
with.
Three exercises that are available for a student's use from the beginning
through the end of the wheelbook.
1. Read the wheelbook through as any book. It is a *workbook*. As you
are reading each of the octants in any wheel, compare the characteristic
noted there with the title of the type. See if you can sense somehow how
that characteristic seems to "go with" that title.
For instance, the topic of the wheel might be: "How does each type
relate to the surrounding space?"
Under "Can-Do/Dictator" in the upper right octant, you could see the
characteristic, "Pushes into it." In awareness, see if you can get a
gut sense of the appropriateness of the characteristic, or not. [If it
were the "Doormat" we were looking at, we would not expect to find
"Pushed into it." Maybe "Lies down in it."] "Dictator . . . pushes into
it." Yeah, I can feel that. Can-Do Person pushes into it." Yeah, I can
feel that, too.
Going counter-clockwise on that wheel to the "Teacher/Con Artist" octant,
contemplate the term you find there: "Rises above in it." Again, see
if you can get a gut-sense of the relatedness of this characteristic to
the title "Teacher/Con Artist" that it fits with. Some may be confusing
to you at this point in what you have seen of this so far. You may
catch-on to the "fit" of a characteristic with its type title right on
the spot. It is this kind of aware hunting and here-and-there finding,
"Aha!" that this method of training is grounded in.
Begin studying the wheels this way from the beginning, and you will begin
to have a fund of remembered pairings of the countless disparate yet
observable human behavior traits, and the eight distinct types in the
wheelbook. You will have this fund of new knowledge in those
observations that you have checked out again awarely and remember you
have known this way on your own.
All these later years, I have consciously abstained from writing a
"questionnaire" that students could check off in order to find respective
"scores" for the eight types immediately, for studying their own
personality profiles. Devising that would be a lot of work, heh-heh, as
my lazy Doormat brings to mind.
The wheelbook is an innovative form of teaching based upon the practice
of awareness in relation to the actual obvious observations that any
human can make. A questionnaire would make it easier to learn the
wheel, yes. And I've repeatedly said I wish to make the learning of it
as easy as I can. But the questionnaire would leave the balance of the
energy involved in this process in my technical hands, doing the work of
finding out what your primary types are for you.
My wish is to leave, as much as possible, the work of finding out your
own types in your own hands. If you do this most basic work of embarking
on the discovery of your own types on your own, putting in the time and
effort of it, by the time you feel sure you can recognize your own types
you will have gained greatly in the *strength* you have cultivated in
your own Being by doing these exercises. You will know what you have
learned through your own hard work "in your bones," as they say. And
even so, we all, teachers and students alike, will slip up again.
Of course, during classes, or, lately, group meetings, I am always
commenting on things I notice in the postings of all of you who come
around to Classroom Talk. Perhaps with hints and coaching tips that I
leave lying around for you to pick up on like that, some of you will
remember what I was talking about later, and wake up on something that
relates, in your own experience, to what I was talking about, and you
will find out on your own. That's pretty much the gist of what the
technical term "coaching" means to me.
Yes, and yet, over the seven years of my coaching around here, I've gone
too far with some students in telling them what I've seen of their
seeming patterns of behavior around here. When I've goofed up this way
in the past, it usually resulted in the student closing up against me and
the coaching and deciding to withdraw after that. With a few of those
true old-timers from the early years of the class (who might pop in
here at any time), I was able to come to tacit agreements that I would
not press them with that kind of direct personal coaching unless I was
convinced that they were asking for it, and ready. That's the spirit of
how I'd like to go on from here.
2. Another exercise that a student can do with the wheelbook, is
starting from the beginning and reading through it "like a novel" in
which you get to know a group of eight people very thoroughly. This
exercise is to stop at each octant of a wheel as you are going around,
and contemplate whether you know anyone who routinely displays that
characteristic trait. Begin with your own Being and Self, of course.
Explore in your contemplation whether that characteristic describes
something that you do routinely in your daily relating with other people,
or not.
Then, remember the people around you in your life, and pick out any one
of them at a time, and contemplate some more on whether that person has
acted that trait there in that octant in your presence. Maybe something
will come to you. Maybe not. But this pure practice of opening to this
realm of knowledge can bring growth in your strength to wake up and
bother to pause and observe in some present moment, seeing whatever is
obvious and apoparent of it, and maybe remembering that trait you had
wondered about. This very process of becoming interested in remembering
to wake up and watch behavior—in your own patterns, first, and then, in
certain others—is an accumulation of "personal growth" in terms of what
that term means to me. In such a way, a student can put in the hard work
of learning to be what in olden times in far-flung places was called "a
seer." In some early cultures, in the Pacific Ocean, for instance, they
called this power, or energy that is collected in this way "mana."
3. From the beginning of learning to use the essence and personality
wheel as a tool in daily life, or very gradually, as you are going along,
you may take something you have seen first hand of someone in particular
that is near to you, something that stood out for you and made you
wonder, and by continuing aware observation of him or her when you're
together, so you can keep seeing what pops up new, you can attempt to
formulate a picture of that person's "personality profile." That is, you
can begin watching out for observeable signs that the three main types
(or, even, that one of their main types) that you have suspected is being
confirmed by what you are observing one day after another. And you can
roam through the wheelbook, following a thread of whatever you are
interested in back and forth through the pages—or, at random even—and see
if you can find other "aha!"s that confirm or constrast with previous
observations.
The accurate "diagnosis" of a person's personality formation, through an
accumulation of awakened observations of objective data collected in
present moments over time can be learned by awareness practitioners, if
they wish to put in the work to learn it. And at the same time,
employing the wheelbook off the top of one's head as one goes around in
life can be interesting and fun, and *does* play a practical role in the
lives of people who have mastered this tool. What is more, it's a fun
way, a very interesting way to get in more awareness practice during the
passing days for the pure sake of proliferating mindfulness in our
consciousness through this practice as with any other awareness practice.
By the way, I'm not saying a student who wishes to cannot do this third
exercise from the beginning of the wheelbook if they wish to.
Suddenly, the whole of human life around us, *live*, can start becoming
as surprising and interesting as any movie could be—not in projections
and imagination this time, but in what we are actually seeing.
These three levels of work I'm giving you in these exercises today can be
practiced together during the same weeks, or one may prefer to take them
one at a time. They can all be accomplished in mere minutes if not
moments when one has practiced. "Flashes" of insights into others'
realities can be coming to you right and left. (And it is noteworthy to
mention that usually such insights into our own conditioned patterns
don't come to us nearly as easily as our insights with others.)
Tha's a "danger" sign to me. So I am *urging* students not to downgrade
the aware study of their own essences and ego-driven personalities, not
to get stuck in the fascination of "reading other people like books,"
especially when there are advantages to be gained by this. That will
only work for a little while, and the reverbrating consequences may be
greater. I admit I do believe it is metaphysically sound that we are
better off placing our primary study efforts into catching-on more and
more to our own ordinary human lives, as they simply *are*, in order to
be in a position now and then of actually working ourselves free, being
able to choose freely and unconditionally, to just be.
John
All the above having been said, if you, dear Student, still wish you
could have a questinnaire that would key you in to your three most likely
personality types for you, that's okay, too. You can *use the wheelbook*
for just that purpose. Page after page, every time that you consider the
characteristic in an octant of any wheel, if you can resonate with it in
feeling it may be a characteristic of your own, put a little star, or
check-mark in the space of that octant. At any time later, along the way
of working through the rest of the wheelbook, you can go back from the
beginning and see what octants seemed to be getting the majorities of
those stars? Your own gut instincts will tell you if you are on the
right track with this method. It won't take long. Mention it to me in
its own post at *any* time in the course of Classroom Talk events,
please. Would you be willing to tell me you feel confident you can
recognize one or more of the types in your own conditioned patterns, and
share how you came upon what you've seen? I'll be glad to give you
honest feedback on my own impressions as promptly as I can.
Also, you could have some coded marks for several other people you know
that you are interested in studying along the way. Studying yourself and
other people along the way is right where it's at in this method! And as
you are studying along, when you get hits that you are looking at
characteristics that remind you of ohers you are studying, or anyone new,
you can put their code in that octant, as well.
By using such a method, one who reads through the wheelbook will surely
have some highly-likely data for identifying anyone else's personality
profile by the time they've gotten all the way through this teaching
tool.
And, most important of all, may you have a catalog of charted awakenings
that can help you to recognize the patterns that may be most worthwhile
paying attention to and "working with" in your own personal ongoing
awareness training, as you feel is appropriate for you.
John
Ha! I just *have to* share this one. Midway through writing this
coaching I was rockin' and a-rollin' along, and my phone rang. I went
and picked it up and said: "Hello."
A woman's voice, sounded world-weary in fact, in retrospect, asked: "May
I speak to John?"
Immediately, I projected this was one of those unsolicited sales calls
that I get a few of every day. Probably, of the last five hundred of
such calls, when they weren't recorded messages, no matter what else was
going on in my life at the time, I've engaged the caller in at least a
little friendly and even caring conversation.
Not this time. I can still remember that my face was growling with
anger. "No!" I told that woman. "I'm busy." And I hung up.
Whew!
Ah, I pray that she's gotten over reacting to that kind of bad vibes, to
still be working in that job. But she didn't sound happy to me. She
sounded long-suffering. And I don't know who she is!!!
Maybe it was one of you, from Classroom Talk! (What a grim projection.)
Through practice, I ask people I suspect of being unsolicited takers of
my time, to tell me first who they represent. That way, from whatever
they say, I know "who I'm dealing with," so to speak. But this time,
tonight, I didn't afford that poor woman I stung so angrily even that
courtesy. And now I'm paying for it, pure and simple. I don't know if
that caller was a sales promotion or someone that I know, maybe someone
here in Classroom Talk, or someone I was friends with years ago. What
would everything I've written in Teaching Tools for Mindfulness Training
mean to such a person who had been treated by me that way? Heh-heh.
For just a few seconds, when I was being angrily impatient to get back to
the fun I had been completely absorbed in enjoying so much at my
keyboard, that I abandoned everything I say I stand for.
I was the *total* opposite of everything I coach, everything I practice,
everything I tell the world I'm standing for on this ground. Those few
seconds did exist. That did happen. I'm surprised now. I went on with
my work, deciding I'd reflect on this happening with you others here when
I'd finished up what I was here for this evening, so to speak.
Whoever she was, I have rejected that woman with spite and bitterness,
and made no bones about letting her hear that. For all I know, she had
come to me with love and with gifts. Heh-heh. File this note under ways
that personality can get in the way of the lives we might otherwise
have. I'm usually a pretty good player of the awareness game, but not
always so far. That's how it is. Ego--driven Personality kicked my ass
this time!
Well . . . it's a shame that happened. I'm not happy about it. I do
feel contrite. I wish I hadn't done that. Yet I did. Whew. The
tenacity of this ego and personality has got to be respected! And I'm
sorry. I feel sorry that she may have been hurt by me. And I feel sad.
It's a "lost-love" situation.