celebrating

Asi, “I Am That”). Having had a taste of ‘zeroing out’ with
both, I much prefer the oceanic experience of the latter and
suggest you prefer the same. It’s more loving, more gentle.
Of course the Buddha provided his own amazing panacea,
The Middle Way, but he also said that it would only
last for 500 years before becoming too corrupt to be useful
– and that was 2500 years ago. Paññobhāsa Bhikkhu (David
Reynolds, an American Buddhist monk currently back
from 18 years practicing in the Burmese forests, discusses
this prophecy on his blog. 12
The manner in which we close down our sensitivities as
we grow up tends to pin our bliss tolerance ceiling at a
woefully low level. When adolescence hits, we focus on
our new sexual sensations and forget the many ways we
used to turn our bodies on as young children. I remember
purposefully desensitizing myself to tickles because my
older brother wielded enormous power over me by tickling
me to the point of agony.
Once I had turned off that particular sensitivity, he could
no longer torment me, but at the cost of my loss of a level
of sensation that might have allowed me great enjoyment
(see ‘The Thwizzler’ on p. 16). It took me many hours
of oming/purring to reacquire it by dissolving the lateral
chest tensions that the noted Dr. Wilhelm Reich termed
‘armoring.’
12
http://thebahiyablog.blogspot.com/2012/09/on-500-year-lifespan-of-buddhism.html
7