The Red Balloon: A Study In Mindfulness
Pascal, the young boy in the film (played by the director’s son Pascal Lamorisse), is a living study in mindfulness and mindful living. Even his initial discovery of the red balloon—he spots it before we, the audience, are privileged to see it—is the result of choiceless awareness and bare attention. His every movement and action is deliberate and purposeful, and he remains ‘awake’ at all times. His responses to changing circumstances—even when faced with threats and open hostility—is appropriate and proportionate.
Here’s a Zen story I like. A disciple says to the Master, ‘I have been four months with you, and you have still given me no method or technique.’ The Master says, ‘A method? What on earth would you want a method for?’ The disciple says, ‘To attain inner freedom.’ The Master roars with laughter, and then says, ‘You need great skill indeed to set yourself free by means of the trap called a method.’ So, my friends, please forget all about methods and techniques. You don’t need them. Indeed, they will never—I repeat, never—bring you freedom or enlightenment. Just wake up—and stay awake. That’s all that is required.
So, what are we to do? Well, we need to become more like children—in the sense described in this post—if we are to live in a more enlightened fashion. No wonder Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children,B)”> you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Mt 18:3) [NIV]. As I see it, those who live mindfully have entered and dwell in the kingdom of heaven—especially if they also exercise loving kindness and compassion.
Here’s another thing I derive from The Red Balloon. What is ours by ‘right’ of consciousness (that is, the fruits of our mindfulness practice) can never be taken away or destroyed—at least not for so long as we are alive—provided we live, and continue to live, mindfully and also exercise loving kindness and compassion. Yes, nothing is permanent, and everything is constantly changing its form, but that which we attain as a result of living mindfully and lovingly can never be taken away from us. We ourselves can, of course, forfeit or lose what is rightfully ours by inattention, carelessness and mindless or selfish living—but not otherwise.
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2013-03-26 15:00:08
Source: http://ianellis-jones.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-red-balloon-study-in-mindfulness.html
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