All meditators know that one persistent barrier to clarity and awakening is drowsiness. For this meditator, the feeling of drowsiness in meditation became the color brown. The color brown congealed into a Porcupine.
Porcupine, what do you have to do with drowsiness?
Porcupine: “How should I know? I’m just an imaginary porcupine.”
So, Porcupine, what do you like about yourself?
Porcupine: “Nobody messes with me. I hang out and do my own thing in my own time.”
If you could change yourself in any way, would you Porcupine? If so, how?
Porcupine: “No. I very much like myself just the way I am. You may think I need to be different because I’m not warm and fuzzy or because I’m slow, but I don’t care what you think. I like myself the way that I am.”
What part of Jim do you most closely personify, Porcupine??
Porcupine: “I personify perspectives that have inertia and that don’t change just because Jim wants them to change. If he wants to fight with me he will mostly just get quills in him and it won’t affect me. So I personify perspectives that are resistant to change and that he needs to accept for what it is.
How do you score yourself, Porcupine?
Confidence: 10
Compassion: 0 What’s that?
Wisdom: 2 I don’t need to be wise.
Acceptance: 10 Why should I waste my time being unaccepting?
Inner Peace: 10 Yes. I’m very happy.
Witnessing: 1 What’s that? I am very happy identified with being a porcupine.
If you were to be 10’s in all six of these qualities, Porcupine, would you be different, and if so, how?
Porcupine: “Hmmmm….OK….I’m 10 in Compassion, Wisdom, and Witnessing now in addition to Confidence, Acceptance, and Inner Peace…Hmmmm….I am still a Porcupine, but I am now sitting on top of Buddha’s head, and he’s meditating. It seems that by being here I get to infuse myself with his Compassion, Wisdom, and Witnessing… The result is that I feel one with him but still get to be who I am – a Porcupine!”
So Porcupine, now that you are sitting on top of Buddha’s head and experiencing yourself as ten in all six of those qualities, if you were in charge of Joseph’s life, would you live it differently?
Porcupine: “Yeah. When he gets drowsy during meditation he can imagine that I am sitting on top of his head and that he is the Buddha. If he does this he won’t be drowsy any more. It will get rid of it.”
That’s crazy, Porcupine! Why should I believe you?
Porcupine: Did I ask you to believe me?
What would you do about his life issues if you were in charge of his life, Porcupine?
Porcupine: Nothing other than the above.
If you were in charge of his life, what life issues would you emphasize?
Porcupine: Being Buddha with me on top. That’s what the Buddha’s extended cranium really is. It’s a stylized depiction of me curled up on his head. Most people don’t know this. Have you ever wondered how Buddha stays awake? I’m the reason Buddha is never drowsy. This is a lost secret of Buddha’s enlightenment.”
Are there times in Jim’s waking life when you would recommend that he become you?
Porcupine: “Haven’t you been listening?”
How am I most likely to ignore what you’ve said to me?
Porcupine: “Just by doing that – ignoring this interview and never taking what I am saying to you seriously.”
Anything else you’d like to add, Porcupine?
Porcupine: Happy meditating!
This is also an example of what Integral Deep Listening calls “cosmic humor” and what others have called “crazy wisdom.” I don’t know if the Buddha would approve…
