“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1-8
Here’s the email I sent containing question of the week: 
Old pal Michael …turned me on to a recent Netflix documentary (“Going Home”) about Tim Leary’s old pal, Ram Dass, offering a window into Ram Dass’ “post stroke” daily life routines. Very nice, and sort of sad, to hear again from this old mentor. One of the “mantras” he was using, I was somewhat surprised to discover, is/was simply, “I am loving awareness.” He does seem to express such a condition, even without full use of his physical body.
And then I was (perhaps coincidentally?) re-reading and re-listening to another old mentor, Joel Goldsmith, and Goldsmith suggested– as many such teachers are want to suggest– that we have two indwelling “I’s”– what we might want to call the “little i,” and the “Big I.” (My own experience is that I have a legion of “little i’s,” and only an occasional quick glimpse of the “Big I.”)
It struck me that, at least for argument’s sake (discussion’s sake), that the “little i” is the “i” or the “me” that we hear– the voice inside our heads, what Don Juan called the Inner Dialogue (monologue?) that for many folks seems unceasing. It’s the voice that pops up when someone cuts you off in traffic. Or when you see a pretty lady.
The Big I, if I (i) may be so bold, is that “loving awareness” that actually hears the inner dialogue, the swearing and the lusting. Struck me that what “hears” the inner voice is Ram Dass’ “Loving Awareness.” In contemplating this, it also struck me that for accuracy’s sake we might add the modifiers, “still, silent” to “Loving Awareness,” e.g., Mr. Dass might be using the mantra, “I am still, silent, Loving Awareness.”
And then, of course, it might be observed that the “voice” that is repeating such a mantra is not, in fact, such loving awareness. It is the “little i” that repeats the mantra, and the “Big I” which hears the mantra. And all of this brought to my mind that old Biblical warning, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
So, question of the week: are you feeling stable or unstable these days? Single minded or double minded?
Seems a worthy query, yes? Hope to see you sunday… Bear
And then the hand-out at the meeting:
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
- Is the “little i” or the “me” that we mostly identify with, the voice inside our heads, what Don Juan called the Inner Dialogue (monologue)?
- 2. Is the “little i” or the “me the voice that pops up when someone cuts you off in traffic. Or when you see a pretty lady?
- Is “The Big I” that “loving awareness” that actually hears the inner dialogue, the swearing and the lusting?
- Might we/should we add the modifiers, “still, silent” to “Loving Awareness”?
- Relative to “Big I and little i,” are you feeling stable or unstable these days?
- Do you feel single minded or double minded or…?
- What’s your response to the concept of “little i” and “Big I”?
- What’s your current experience with “little i” and “Big I”?
Editor’s Note: For what it’s worth, we generally don’t have so many questions, especially so many esoteric. And again for what it’s worth, our actual did not follow this outline at all. So it goes… For a more common form of our questions, see previous question of the week about “Peak Experiences.”
