Sahaj Nath

Connecting with Qi: No System Required

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Nice post, Hundun.

 

I agree, it's so easy to miss the forest from the trees.

 

Or as my teacher used to say, "Don't get lost in the particulars."

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Indeed.

 

Absolute Intensity

 

YES! :) that's pretty much exactly what i believe to be true. and that understanding came from LIFE, not some book.

 

 

 

Mmmm, so how does one exactly know when they feel Qi flowing?

 

first, and part of the point of creating this thread, get rid of the word "exactly." let it be messy. wander. get okay with NOT knowing. just be open to all possibilities.

 

when it's strong enough to where you can't deny it, you won't miss it.

 

there are hundreds of books and web pages that describe different possible characteristics and sensations. i had read some Rosicrucian book and a book on Wicca, both of which described sensations of life force energy. i didn't cling to any of those definitions. i only sought a True experience, an Authentic connection, however it might present itself. and when it did present itself, it was too strong to deny, and i knew i wasn't making it up. plus, a number of the sensations matched the descriptions in the books.

 

i didn't believe the rules or descriptions of the books first. the books just inspired me and put me in the general ball park. what i believed was my direct experience, and that experience showed me what was true in the books.

 

EDIT:

Old Green had originally posted the video, "Absolute Intensity," not "Anger is Intensity." my response was to the original.

Edited by Hundun
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Great post Hundun.

 

I think most people have an inherent, natural ability to touch the Divine (by whatever name one calls it).

 

You've done a very good job of describing your personal experience, but there's a message there for everyone.

 

Thanks for posting!

 

 

Fu dog

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I've been practicing Spring Forest Qigong level one on and off since 2001. Since 2007 I've used Michael Mohorics distance healing during the times I'm not practicing SFQ. http://www.qigongenergyhealing.com/

It's pretty powerful. If I sign up for a month my body has that "Chi" feeling even if I'm not practicing. He also does 1 week of free healing every month - he announces it in his newsletter if you sign up. It's a good way to feel chi without doing anything. If I practiced Zazen instead of SFQ I would be on his energy year around to keep the chi flowing and have the best of both worlds.

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too much technical junk can really bog you down in the early stages. everyone should wander through the garden of possibilities. it's the best way to know YOURSELF and to discover how you most naturally connect to the life force.

 

Our disciplines like our lives in general can suffer from that 21st century problem of information overload.

My own belief is that the most important thing is to keep our practice simple and straightforward. All that is then required is perseverence. Unfortunately the perseverence part is where most of us fail.

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my hope is that newcomers might be inspired to keep an open mind and an open heart before tying themselves down with unnecessary dogma.

 

so if you're new, keep it messy. try things out without locking into any one way of knowing. allow EVERYTHING to remain possible. and most importantly, explore with a passion. :)

 

:D

 

my first unambiguous expeience of qi flow came YEARS before i'd ever even heard of qigong. i had an open heart, a sincere purpose, and a deep sense of longing.

 

Was this an intentional or 'spontaneous' experience?

 

everything i did that night i was basically making up as i went along. but the real key, i believe, was my sincerity... everything i was doing, i really meant it...the point i'm trying to emphasize is that my technique wasn't the primary element. i could have written down those motions i went through, and the next person could have repeated them and gotten ZERO results.... it was the genuine sincerity and longing that really unlocked the door.

 

+100

 

too much technical junk can really bog you down in the early stages. everyone should wander through the garden of possibilities. it's the best way to know YOURSELF and to discover how you most naturally connect to the life force.

 

Back to Zhuang Zi :o;)

 

this is NOT to say that systems are bad. but don't cheat yourself out this childlike exploration. it can go a long way towards keeping you rooted in what's genuinely arising for you, and that can help you better interpret teachings in the future.

 

In your experience why do you think that systems/methods more often than not end up doing just this? Because they don't have to, and some don't. It is unfortunate that most systems go for dogma and rigidity over playful expression and exploration as you describe.

 

that understanding came from LIFE, not some book.

 

+1000

 

Thanks for starting an interesting thread :D

 

Best,

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Good thread Hundun

 

if you guys can clarify two issues for me.

 

--so I started about a year ago. one thing that kept me from experimenting, are the dire warnings in the path that I took, NOT to mix different methods.

 

here is what I read in the book. nei gung conforms your body to specific frequncies or magnetic impulses. Different styles of chi gung or nei gung flow the energy in different directions, and at different frequncies. When you mix in something that is out of harmony with the frequency you have alraedy established, a third harmonic is created that may be extremely determental to your health.

 

--what about mixing lineages, aren't there celestial beings that looks after its own, won't they be confused :)

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What you read in that book kind of lines up with my personal experience so far.

---2 cts---

 

Also relative to 'many things to mean the same thing' - paths of resistence, release, flow, intent, technique...

If you are smiling, what made you? If you smile, are you now happy?

What resonates with your smile? What does it bring to heart, mind and body?

What will stop you smiling, right there?

 

I think one of the biggest things for me in qi-gong is learning to breathe. Another is to 'let pass'.

Another is not to mistake all thoughts for reality but realise when they're real and why.

 

----opinion alert---

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Was this an intentional or 'spontaneous' experience?

 

not really either, actually. more like extemporaneous.

 

EDIT: sometimes i get caught up in grammatical precision to an absurd degree. my apologies. 

 

it was sort of both. Intentional in that i was in the middle of a puja-type of ritual, honoring the Divinity as God and Goddess, and i was very engaged. Spontaneous in that i was not trying to generate a palpable qi-flow experience. my hand motions were similar to "pulling down the heavens" in qigong, my emotions were a state of reverence, and my intent was to bathe in the embrace of Mother and Father. having only read about life force energy at the time, the result left a powerful impression on me. i even shook myself and deliberately took myself out of the ritual to make sure what i was feeling was real and not some trance state where i'm half-asleep, and it was still there. 

 

had no idea how to move it or consciously interact with it, so i just excitedly journaled about it. :)

 

 

 

Back to Zhuang Zi ohmy.gifwink.gif

 

 

i'm gonna have to get around to finally reading that guy, although i sorta got a crush on that Isha dude in the video above at the moment. laugh.gif

 

 

 

 

 

In your experience why do you think that systems/methods more often than not end up doing just this? Because they don't have to, and some don't. It is unfortunate that most systems go for dogma and rigidity over playful expression and exploration as you describe.

 

this is a really good question. i'd like get some other people's thoughts on this as well.

 

i think a lot of systems are rigid because that's how you preserve a lineage practice, with the idea that if you follow these steps exactly and observe all the necessary disciplines of the system, you should be able to attain the same level of mastery as the originator of that system. and if something is not working, it's easier for the teacher to pinpoint the problem and make corrections because they know all the ins and outs of the system. there's a lot of merit to this, but a lot of practitioners (and newcomers in particular) take the guidelines for TRUTH. for a certain lineage practice, a move should be done "this" way, but the student internalizes that it must be done "this" way, and it becomes a sin to do anything else. folks who are prone to respect and defer to authority have the biggest problem with this.

 

i pride myself in being a heretic, and i accept the consequences that come with that. what i have found is that more often than not, the rules can be either bent or broken with little ill effects, but it depends on the system. the ugly truth that almost never gets talked about is that most warnings are there to protect that school or family's business rather than the student. so secrets are created. taboos. warnings of great harm.

 

here in Sacramento we have Grandmaster Yeyoung who actually teaches his students that if they attempt to teach his art to others before he gives them permission to do so, they will have suffer all kinds of neurological damage and could induce insanity. i've seen this kind of warning in a number of schools, and it's absolute bullshit. but people believe it, and he's making a killing teaching really basic qigong at $115/session. but hey, he sure looks good in those authentic silk chinese pj's. rolleyes.gif

 

but at the end of the day i don't blame the systems so much as the individuals who want the best, fastest, most powerful program available. they don't realize that such an approach cripples them. they enter into a system that over their heads, and they have no choice but to follow the rules as best they can and hope to get the results they're looking for. it's a consumerist impulse that does not serve them in this arena. they lock themselves in these ideological boxes before they even learn to crawl on their own. we now have a generation of teachers who are so rule and control oriented that they promote notions of micromanaging natural processes of the body like it's a virtue. why the hell would i want to spend my time bossing all my cells around? wink.gif

 

people who learn this way right from the beginning often fail to see the real extent to which the internal arts are, first and foremost, AN ART! the limits of their own thinking will put a cap on what they can achieve.

 

 

in art class we are taught fundamental techniques, and we are told that in time, technique will give way to expression. this seldom happens in the internal arts world. in fact, it seldom happens in art class as well.

 

start with play. start with expression. and let that authentic unrefined expression submit to technique, but only for a time because technique must again give way to a more developed, more mature, more refined expression.

 

 

thanks for posing the question. smile.gif

Edited by Sahaj Nath
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Good thread Hundun

 

if you guys can clarify two issues for me.

 

--so I started about a year ago. one thing that kept me from experimenting, are the dire warnings in the path that I took, NOT to mix different methods.

 

here is what I read in the book. nei gung conforms your body to specific frequncies or magnetic impulses. Different styles of chi gung or nei gung flow the energy in different directions, and at different frequncies. When you mix in something that is out of harmony with the frequency you have alraedy established, a third harmonic is created that may be extremely determental to your health.

 

--what about mixing lineages, aren't there celestial beings that looks after its own, won't they be confused :)

 

although i addressed most of this in the above post, i'll comment on this directly as well.

 

in my opinion, newcomers shouldn't be concerning themselves with high level systems, alchemy, any of that. there needs to be a period of discovery and exploration before diving into the deep end.

 

if you're new and you're practicing a system that doesn't allow you to play around, i would leave that system until later. you just don't know how much personal agency you are giving up in terms of taking part in your own development. the driving force behind the impulse to get the most, best, most powerful 'whatever' is something that needs to examined and ultimately deconstructed. EDIT: sometimes it's not a materialist type of pursuit, but just a belief in rules, boundaries, and controls. when you boil that down, though, it's a belief in limits, and it will ultimately limit you. self-exploration, self-discovery, and self-expression can all be critically mitigated when a system is too rigid right from the beginning.

 

i teach from Roger Jahnke's book The Healing Promise of Qi. every newcomer has to read that book. the first three phases of cultivation in the book are Discover Qi, Gather Qi, and Circulate Qi. these are very open-ended and allow plenty of room for play. there are exercises in the book as well. i tend to not bother much with the exercises in the book, but they are all safe, and i encourage my students to play with whatever they want in the book and discover what they like and what speaks to them. i my opinion, any system that doesn't have a similar beginning stage is doing a disservice to newcomers. SO MUCH is learned in this stage. so many things awaken for the first time, things that students never really knew existed.

 

there's no concern with lineage transmission at this stage. that kind of thing comes later, if at all. the student will be in a much better position to determine the value or necessity of a lineage practice in terms of their own goals if they enjoy a really good elementary stage. and the really sharp ones start realizing early on that the highest levels in the advanced systems have a lot of similarities to place where we began. :)

 

this is just my take on all of this. it's not quite as cut & dry as this might read, but this is as accurately as i can express it all at the moment.

 

if someone is sick or in need of healing, then, by all means, learn a proven system that you can practice every day. absolutely. but if that is not your situation, don't limit yourself so quickly.

 

there is so much to be gained in the beginning by simply keeping oneself open.

Edited by Hundun
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i teach from Roger Jahnke's book The Healing Promise of Qi. every newcomer has to read that book. the first three phases of cultivation in the book are Discover Qi, Gather Qi, and Circulate Qi. these are very open-ended and allow plenty of room for play.

Such a good book, Great Thanks to you for getting me on to it :)

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Hopefully this is a good thread to ask this

 

but, I'm wondering if someone here can explain experiences like the one described here by lifeforece (...assuming he doesn't mind it posted here as well):

 

View Postfulllotus, on 01 January 2012 - 06:52 AM, said:

http://www.gabrielco...US/Default.aspx

 

full lotus shaktipat transmission

 

 

Drew, I just clicked on this link and WOW.

I could not take my eyes away from this man !

So much peace, love and compassion radiated from him.

After a minute or so, I felt a warm tingling in my abdomen and then a cold rushing feeling like I used to get with MDMA 20 years ago. :). My hairs stood on end and I got goosepimples. I feel very, very good now. My head is tingling and my whole body is vibrating ever so slightly.

I never thought this was possible by just looking at someone especially through electronic media.

Is this shaktipat ? Kundalini ? Has a process been started ?

I'm sorry but I have no experience of this sort of thing and need some sort of explanation.

I may need to re-think my whole practice after this.

This is absolutely mind-blowing.

Thank you so much for the link

 

 

This sounds like the same thing that happened somewhat spontaneously to me when I was about 18. I won't go into the circumstances but there was a bit of a catalyst to the experience which stayed with me fairly intensely for a few weeks and still gets triggered once in a while today.

 

When it happened the first time, I thought "what is this? if it's not love its BETTER." and became aware of a force that existed in the universe and between people in the deepest part of us. It was a major awakening to something real beyond the physical. I started to become more intuitive at times as well and came close to the edge of sanity at times though that may have been related to other things.

 

What is that energy? Is that Shakti? Sometimes I just feel it running through my whole back and arms and neck and head and forehead and face and chest and sides, and you get the idea.. it just overtakes my senses like it came from somewhere else. I'm sure phone healings have similar effect.

 

Does that sound like a spontaneous Kundalini awakening, at like a low introductory level? It doesn't seem like something that everyone experiences so intensely, but it also seems common in other ways.

Edited by Harmonious Emptiness

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Hopefully this is a good thread to ask this

 

but, I'm wondering if someone here can explain experiences like the one described here by lifeforece (...assuming he doesn't mind it posted here as well):

 

 

 

This sounds like the same thing that happened somewhat spontaneously to me when I was about 18. I won't go into the circumstances but there was a bit of a catalyst to the experience which stayed with me fairly intensely for a few weeks and still gets triggered once in a while today.

 

When it happened the first time, I thought "what is this? if it's not love its BETTER." and became aware of a force that existed in the universe and between people in the deepest part of us. It was a major awakening to something real beyond the physical. I started to become more intuitive at times as well and came close to the edge of sanity at times though that may have been related to other things.

 

What is that energy? Is that Shakti? Sometimes I just feel it running through my whole back and arms and neck and head and forehead and face and chest and sides, and you get the idea.. it just overtakes my senses like it came from somewhere else. I'm sure phone healings have similar effect.

 

Does that sound like a spontaneous Kundalini awakening, at like a low introductory level? It doesn't seem like something that everyone experiences so intensely, but it also seems common in other ways.

 

 

where did the quote come from? that link in the quote doesn't work. who was in the picture being talked about?

 

what you experienced sounds like kundalini shakti to me. :) sounds like a very pleasant and fortunate initiation of the process, too. i would need to know a little more about lifeforce's experience to really comment on it. he experienced a transmission, for sure, but was it shaktipat? i can't really say, but it's likely. you mentioned the "better than love" experience and some radical psychological changes. that's the kundalini shakti that i know. and years later it's still with you. again, that's legit K.

 

 

if i recall correctly, Seth's first shaktipat transmission came from viewing a photograph. for me that kind of "object transmission" was an extremely rare occasion. but after i received transmission from Max, i found myself really sensitive to things like photographs, religious art, and even written text. i could dial into the energy field of lots of masters that i knew nothing about and have no known lineage connection to, just by observing an image or reading a passage. so i've become very familiar with that dimension of things now, but it's not always "shaktipat" that's happening.

 

gratitude and surrender. if it's shakti, those qualities tend to arise within like a driving impulse to dissolve into perfect divinity.

 

but whatever. better to enjoy the mystery of it all, and to let it all unfold. let the natural flow lead the way. :)

 

 

EDIT:

 

i found the actual link to the page on google. YES. that's shaktipat. :lol: i know that presence anywhere.

 

pretty sure i've met that guy before in the 90's.

 

congrats to lifeforce if he was able to draw it in effectively. :) if he really opened up to it, then the connection isn't going anywhere. it's with him.

Edited by Hundun
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I got a PM asking about combining Michael Mohoric's healing energy with SFQ and here was my reply:

 

The two are compatible and compliment each other. I have combined the 2 many times with no problem. I asked Michael this same question and he said their would be no problem. I asked Shawn Grim from Learning Strategies whos wife is a SFQ healer and he said their is no problem combining the two. He said it would be the same as practicing SFQ and having somebody pray for you at the same time.

 

When you sign up for the month healing, or accept the one week free healing you can usually feel the energy pretty quick and it stays with you the whole time. Michael says that when you are on his energy it is the equivalent of practicing many hours of Qigong a day - and based on my experiences he is right. Is what he does when you are on his energy is he gives regular unscheduled energy transmissions and then has the regular Wednesday hour long session. His free sessions are usually on Saturday's so if you pay for the whole month - you get a double dose that week. If I am doing both at the same time I usually try to remember not to practice SFQ during the hour long session - just to be safe. But their have been times when I have forgot about Michael's session and have practiced SFQ at the same time and there were never any problems. So if you do SFQ during his hour session - I don't think the energies get tangled up or anything.

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What you read in that book kind of lines up with my personal experience so far.

---2 cts---

 

Also relative to 'many things to mean the same thing' - paths of resistence, release, flow, intent, technique...

If you are smiling, what made you? If you smile, are you now happy?

What resonates with your smile? What does it bring to heart, mind and body?

What will stop you smiling, right there?

 

I think one of the biggest things for me in qi-gong is learning to breathe. Another is to 'let pass'.

Another is not to mistake all thoughts for reality but realise when they're real and why.

 

----opinion alert---

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where did the quote come from? that link in the quote doesn't work. who was in the picture being talked about?

 

what you experienced sounds like kundalini shakti to me. :) sounds like a very pleasant and fortunate initiation of the process, too. i would need to know a little more about lifeforce's experience to really comment on it. he experienced a transmission, for sure, but was it shaktipat? i can't really say, but it's likely. you mentioned the "better than love" experience and some radical psychological changes. that's the kundalini shakti that i know. and years later it's still with you. again, that's legit K.

 

 

if i recall correctly, Seth's first shaktipat transmission came from viewing a photograph. for me that kind of "object transmission" was an extremely rare occasion. but after i received transmission from Max, i found myself really sensitive to things like photographs, religious art, and even written text. i could dial into the energy field of lots of masters that i knew nothing about and have no known lineage connection to, just by observing an image or reading a passage. so i've become very familiar with that dimension of things now, but it's not always "shaktipat" that's happening.

 

gratitude and surrender. if it's shakti, those qualities tend to arise within like a driving impulse to dissolve into perfect divinity.

 

but whatever. better to enjoy the mystery of it all, and to let it all unfold. let the natural flow lead the way. :)

 

 

EDIT:

 

i found the actual link to the page on google. YES. that's shaktipat. :lol: i know that presence anywhere.

 

pretty sure i've met that guy before in the 90's.

 

congrats to lifeforce if he was able to draw it in effectively. :) if he really opened up to it, then the connection isn't going anywhere. it's with him.

 

(edit: quote from lifeforce.)

 

 

 

Ok, wow! That makes sense of a whole lot of stuff! I suspected that must be what everyone was talking about. It's been a strange trip not really knowing for sure if that was what people have been referring to with spiritual awakenings, but it's nice to know that other people know (have experienced) what I'm talking about (experienced) too now :) !

 

"gratitude and surrender. if it's shakti, those qualities tend to arise within like a driving impulse to dissolve into perfect divinity."

 

Absolutely yes. Like being pulled into the stream or standing under a waterfall of crystal purity.. words only get so far, or have to be left behind at the gate, like tying up the dog outside an entrance :lol:

 

over 10 years later I still recognize the same feeling when it happens. Often I try to not "dive into it" when it happens, just being aware of it but not wanting to it be stronger as it can cause me to drop my guard when I shouldn't.

 

I don't get though, sometimes it is triggered by random strangers who I don't think are buzzing with Kundalini. Any theories why?

 

Also, so what do people do when they've been "touched"? What are some practices related to it, and the purposes. Not that I want to power my electricity by it or be a psychic peeping-tom, lol, but where does one go from inside the waterfall?

Edited by Harmonious Emptiness
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i teach from Roger Jahnke's book The Healing Promise of Qi. every newcomer has to read that book. the first three phases of cultivation in the book are Discover Qi, Gather Qi, and Circulate Qi. these are very open-ended and allow plenty of room for play.

 

 

Hundun, thank you for your informative reply. I always learn a lot from your posts.

so I ordered the book from amazon this morning.

 

PS. If other newcomers are interested, I would highly recommend Eva Wongs book 'Taoism'. Her book does an excellent job covering the history and philosophy of Taoism over the ages and how the various schools evovled. Amazon sells used copies for $0.99 cents!

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Thanks for mentioning me and my experience :)

I've been trying to analyze, scrutinize and explain it to myself but I think I would do the whole thing a dis-service if I was to come up with a fixed answer.

The signature in Hundun's posts seems to be a good way of putting it. Divine energy (God ?) moving through me tingling and vibrating. An extreme sense of joy, well-being, peace, serenity, love for life in all it's forms has literally soaked into by entire being and it has stayed there. I can see and feel the connection with the whole of the Universe.

 

As soon as I clicked on that website and gazed at Gabriel Cousens, IT just hit me like a wave, pouring in through the head/third eye and descending down my spine and into my dantien. From there I could move this back up my spine, all the way to the crown and out into every part of my body, just by placing awareness on IT.

My body started to spontaneously shake. My legs started to bounce up and down. I couldn't stop from smiling, then laughing as tears of joy ran down my cheeks. I honestly didn't think this kind of thing was possible and I have ridiculed people in the past for saying such things. How foolish I have been !

The feelings and sensations are still with me and haven't abated one bit. My whole outlook on life has changed and I fell very, very good.

As for what do you do with the energy and raised consciousness ? I honestly don't know. I think you have to work it out for yourself.

I'm just continuing with my practices of neigong, zhan zhuang and meditating because they feel right to me.

Hope this helps.

 

EDIT: This page has a description of most of the things that are happening to me. It's all very pleasant though and any sense of fear of the unknown has been eradicated from my being.

Edited by lifeforce
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edit

 

LF, am I ever glad that you described your experience, as I couldn't really have done a better job of describing what happened to me the first time I felt. It's great that you already have meditation practices to work with. I didn't try qi gong until years later and was like "wow!" having so much more direction of moving the sensations.

 

I'm also stoked to hear that I can actually talk about this with people who will know exactly what I'm talking about :) from their own experiences. On top of that, now I know what I was doing when feeling like I could arouse the same feeling in others and that it's possible, and that it can do wonderful things for them. I remember for over a month of having this experience I was able to transfer the energy to crying babies and they would stop immediately, I imagine they are far more sensitive to the energy transmission. I haven't felt the same "buzz" level for very long afterwards but now I see there are some people who are even available to assist with that :D !

Edited by Harmonious Emptiness
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I think, I know that I have access to all of this.

I think, I know it is neither easy nor not easy.

I think, I know, that 'shakti' is as much of a 'destroyer' as 'love towards'.

I think i've felt it. It's what I'd call 'better than sex' (to hear it described as 'better than love' was also a moment)

My present capacity for surrender is limited, but she knows that and I feel her patience with me.

 

---opinion alert ---

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