Victor von der Heyde is an Australian dharma teacher. His main influence in the dharma world was Rob Burbea. Victor was co-founder of Sydney Insight Meditators and the Bodhgaya Development Association.
He writes: These days my passions in teaching - and practice - include exploring the various responses to climate breakdown, the way we treat others on the planet, and the ways that we often get stuck with particular concepts of self and world. And stuck with particular meditation practices. My intention is to open up freeing and soulful possibilities for people.
Overview of the last 12 months, Conditions that help engagement:
1. contentment and appreciation; Dr Luke Kemp, his study on civilizational collapse and the value of happiness; contentment and burnout;
2. Anger as being pivotal, types of anger; recent world changes related to anger; tempus nullius; risks and care in relation to anger; Aristotle on the value of anger; Mahakala as a helpful image;
3. An inclusive way of looking; Mother Theresa and one’s family circle; Analyo Bhikkhu and the question of what can one do;
4. Equanimity: perspective of John Gray on the myth of progress in the field of ethics and politics - with examples; Philip Blom on a view of homo sapiens and the comedy of homo sapiens seeing itself as the ruler of nature;
5. A sense of duty and the soulful quality that can come with that;
6. Stories and images: Ursula Le Guin and the Ones who Walk Away from Omelas - with an interpretation; James Hillman and Michael Ventura; Kuan Yin as an image and how she is seen by some in a large Buddhist charity.
Further possible characteristics of images: slightly less fabricated, sense of divinity, an unfathomable quality, soft and elastic edges, timelessness, sense that images can’t be fully captured or reduced, sense of other images being in the field, echoing or resonance between the image and oneself.
Julie Nelson and the romantic belief in knowledge from a perspective-free viewpoint; the interaction of eros, heart-mind-soul and the conceptual framework; the characteristic of soulfulness; Jack Kornfield on an approach to images in psychedelic experience: how that differs from imaginal practice; working with characteristics that may not be present; other characteristics: the lattice, grace, trust, reverence, humility, values, beauty, duty, fulness of intention, participation; imaginal views of oneself; WH Auden and Henry Corbin; caution on talking about images with others; the six devas on Lantau Island, what they represent, and how they could be related to.
Ways of relating to images; using or not using the list of characteristics; characteristics of eros and distinguishing it from clinging, energy body as a guide, theatre-like quality and the risk if this isn’t acknowledged, meaningfulness, two-ness, autonomy.
Unlimited possibilities for images with a range of examples, including God and gods, wild images, images based on people, the sense of being called, image with no figure, embodying an image, felt sense and image of spirit of place; putting aside questions about the reality status of images; Eucharistic imagination; fully and partially imaginal images; Iain McGilchrist on left brain right brain, and the world not being given before it’s experienced;
Rob Burbea’s list of elements or characteristics and the characteristics: two-ness, unfathomable quality, participation, loving and being loved; different orientations of imaginal and insight practices.
Ways of looking as a foundation; terms in imaginal practice; figures and presences; callings; example of very simple image; autonomy; cautions for working with images; types of image; spirits in the Pali Canon; dismissive attitudes; assumptions based on knowing what is measurable; views on the reality status of imaginal and the material world; relationship to an image or a presence; wide spectrum of images; Henry Corbin and a sense of the divine in an image; risks.
Some of the common ways that the sense of self and sense of world are dependent and can be noticed; how the sense of self can be dependent aspects of the imaginal world; how the sense of self can relate to one’s worldview. This talk serves - in part - as an introduction to the imaginal practice talks.
At times our world feels fresh and beautiful, other times when we take in some of what's happening in the wider world (genocide on our watch, climate breakdown, a fraying of the global rules based order) the outlook appears bleak. The talk touches on the frameworks of collective numbness, moral deterioration and moral injury. It explores helpful ways might we see our actions when the outlook appears bleak.
Sometimes the potency of emotions make it hard to stay focused with a simple instruction of paying attention to emotional states. Other times we might only have a general idea of the mix of the emotional strands that is happening at a given time. This talks gives ways of working with moods and emotions, what one can look out for, what one’s relationship is to particular mind states, what one can do to not be overwhelmed.
