Durckheim makes fascinating the uses, implications and attitudes that surround the term and gives examples of the role of hara and how it pervades nearly every aspect of Japanese culture. And to top it off, he shows how it's an integral element of the Western mind...in spite of their denial.
Enjoy!
(As only a German could! And let's hear it for von Kospoth!!)
Hara, Overlanding & Onanism
I once ventured into the North Rim Visitor Center. There, like a Duane Hanson sculpture,
Image gleaned from Artnet
a motionless couple stood -- as if transfixed by a TV -- in front of the map that showed how many miles it was from there to elsewheres.
I'd just hiked from the south rim and upon entering, immediately went into shell-shock. And then, with wonderful irony, the alienation was furthered by the young ranger behind the counter launching into a vituperative excoriative -- obviously wrought from long-repressed exasperation -- of those who "weren't there yet." All they wanted to know, she said, was how many hours it was gonna take.
I once got an example of what she meant when a man proudly told how they, he and his wife (More likely just he, as he, always drives.), had made it all the way from Albuquerque to Kingman, a distance of 471 miles, in one day. At the time, I'd happened, that very day, to beat my record of 25 miles with a totally-smug twelve and a half.
In Overlanding it's about, "Isn't this a gorgeous spot?" and, likely uttered when walking, the maybe-even unspoken, "Let's go see what's over there!"
Hara: The Vital Center of Man
(Durckheim, 1956, Inner Traditions, Vermont)
pp 101-103
"To begin with, man regards the instinctive consciousness as the opposite of the mind, for he knows as yet nothing of a development from the pre-personal, via the personal, to the supra-personal, wherein each stage pre-supposes and includes the preceding one. He sees, at first, only a succession of mutually exclusive forms of consciousness through which he ascends from his instinctive nature, through entanglement in personal feelings, to the height of rational thinking, clear and free from the shackles of instinctive as well as of emotional attachments. The development of the human being as a totality appears, from the viewpoint of the rational I as follows: first the mastery of the instinctive drives, then overcoming the limitations of the subjective I, and finally the ascent to the real "objective" morally developed I. On this scheme his striving should result in his being the master of his instincts and the servant of his mind or spirit in the realm of his heart. But actually something quite different appears. Out of his heart's need it may one day dawn on him that his connection with the Ground of Being which he has regarded as merely Nature's dangerous dark work is ruining the wholeness of his life. In the same way he may realize that in orienting himself upwards by the sole strength of his mind, which lifts his conceptual thinking into a guiding principle, he is missing the truth of life. And one day the moment may come when the sufferer will perceive something beyond the boundaries of his shrunken understanding which opens up a new horizon. If he takes this experience seriously he will soon doubt the trustworthiness of his three-pronged scheme of development. The distinction of Below, Middle and Above in the sense of that lower body, heart and head symbolize merely the instinct-bound, the worldly, and the rationally-fixed consciousness, will no longer satisfy him. For now it will be obvious that the way nature, soul and mind have been understood is merely the way in which the whole pattern of life has been reflected in the mirror of the I.
When the little I withdraws and its working pattern is no longer the sole guide to the recognition of reality, life will disclose new horizons, gain new dimensions, increase in breadth, height, and depth. Those formulae in which man perceived his reality as three-fold and arising from nature, will indeed recur as a pyramid of concepts, but then they will have a new meaning and a broader base. The region of the heart, as the medium of endurance and self-proving in the world will still hold a central position. But like nature below and mind above the heart region itself will gain a wider significance. Nature, soul and mind will no longer be separate, self sufficient spheres, but pointers to a supernatural whole. In the total experience of a wider life, instinctive nature, supporting the I from below, expands in Great Nature. The confined and suffering soul, enmeshed in its subjectivity, deepens into the Great Soul. And the mind, chained to the intellectually comprehensible, is lifted to the level of Universal Consciousness."
Yah! Sehr Gut! Nicely put, don' chew tink?
TMI WARNIN' ! Sie may wanna schtopp here und readen sie about onanism before continuingk.
I try and start and/or end my day (sometimes both!) with an onanistic orgy And having recently discovered I may be a carrier of HPV (There's not a test for men and supposedly we ALL have it, and though it may have been from another, SHE tested positive.) I decided to morph my Tantric practice to include it, onanism, that is. Fortunately, Durkheim mentions that practice is fundamental to finding and sustaining hara. So, now I call it practicing. But it's the process, dontchyaknow?
Here's a link to Lokita & Steve Carter's The Breath of Love videos (under PRODUCTS on their website). The three videos provide an overview, quick-step, and extended, step-by-step guide to a Tantric session; both are clothed (well, Steve is in shorts and no shirt) and the exercises are of a fundamental rather than advanced nature, but are detailed enough to provide years of "practice." At least, they have for me. Their website.
And then there's this tidbit...
"The person who, being truly on the Way, falls upon hard times in the world, will not, as a consequence, turn to that friend who offers him refuge and comfort and encourages his old self to survive. Rather, he will seek out someone who will faithfully and inexorably help him to risk himself, so that he may endure the suffering and pass courageously through it, thus making of it a 'raft that leads to the far shore.'
"Only to the extent that a person exposes himself willingly over and over again to annihilation, can that which is indestructible arise within him.
"In this lies the dignity of daring.
"Thus, the aim of practice is not to develop an attitude which allows a man to acquire a state of harmony and peace wherein nothing can ever trouble him. On the contrary, practice should teach him to let himself be assaulted, perturbed, moved, insulted, broke and battered--that is to say, it should enable him to dare to let go his futile hankering after harmony, sure ease of pain, and a comfortable life in order that he may discover, in doing battle with the forces that oppose him, that which awaits him beyond the world of opposites.
"The first necessity is that we should have the courage to face life and encounter all that is most perilous in the world.
"When this is possible, meditation itself becomes the means by which we accept and welcome the demons which arise from the unconscious--a process very different from the practice of concentration on some objects as a protection against such forces. Only if we venture repeatedly through zones of annihilation, can our contact with what is Divine, with what is beyond annihilation, become firm and stable.
"The more a person learns whole-heartedly to confront a world and way of living that threatens him with isolation, the more are the depths of the Ground of Being revealed and the possibilities of new life and Becoming opened for him."
(Karlfried Graf von Durckheim, "The Way of Transformation," pp. 107-8)
And yuh know what? It's bullshit. Confrontation is for egoists. Ignore the world and there's no threat of anything; isolation is the dread of sheep. What Leary said still applies, "Tune in, turn on, drop out."
But I do feel sorry for the polar bears.
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