Its Gonna Be OK ... an Ataraxis of the mind

The Shadow Agent Rides ...

I put the Shadow on a bike the other day and sent him for a spin.So what is he about exactly?

In a word ATARAXIA.

A Greek word meaning an absence of mental disturbance, or anxiety about the future. 

I first heard about this word from a doctor called Anslie Meares, who many years ago wrote a book called Relief Without Drugs. He was an Australian psychiatrist who after studying various meditation techniques in many countries began to teach a very simple technique of stilling the mind, to his patients.

 

This approach which he learnt from an Indian Yogi reported to be 123 years old, enabled the brain to operate a more simpler less anxious way, bringing about a state of atavistic regression which in turn brought about a natural increase in the function of the immune system thereby,in many patients illiciting a healing from even cancer.

Aside from his clinical work,he taught this Ataraxis Meditation to many people including me, to help simply improve the quality of life, which comes about with the diminution of stress in the absence of anxiety. Over the years i have gone on to study this anxiety state. We all suffer from it from one degree or another. Its called suffering by any other word.

Well the whole point of the Agent who had previously appeared in another video was to say that inspite of everything 'Its Gonna Be OK' He appears from the shadows from time to time, to remind us - Just don't forget it. 

And of course we all do when ever we get caught up in the ping pong of Attachment & Aversion. 

Well its not that often you come across this word Ataraxis ; taraxis means disturbance, Ataraxis - without disturbance Well i did recently on on Opacity, Nassim Taleb's philosophical musings page where he mentions it in relation to Stoicism and life in the East. 

Nassim Taleb is an amusing lively writer/philospher who's major thesis is about randomness and the impact of the highly improbable in society see  The Black Swan. Things that make us feel anxious, all uncertainty does.

So the Agent reminds us that no matter the uncertainty in life and life is just that, and will never be anything else, its OK. He uses the OK sign which i will write about later as its an ancient gesture/ yogic hand mudra that denotes many things.

So practice this OK sign throughout the day, even when its going pear shape.