*Consideration

This is a wonderful word :

'Consideration' is made of of two roots, words or ideas. They are:

'Con' meaning -with, and 'sidera' from sidereal meaning -the stars.

Imagine this:

In ancient times, a person would go out under the stars at night.

He would go out onto a sand dune in Egypt or a mountain top in Tibet or a boat on the ocean and simply be with the stars- considere

As he did that night after night, moon after moon, year after year, perhaps, one evening he might say to his companion,

"Hey, have you seen that star there", pointing at the north star. "That star does not seem to move but all the other stars are circling around it".

He was not looking for the north star. He was not looking for a star that did not move.

He was just considere- being with the stars.

He had discovered the north star. Not by looking for it, but by consideration.

Consideration is the basis of a unique form of knowledge called revelation.

It is attained not just by looking and analyzing a thing or object, but, by being with it, with vast, steady and sublimed attention.

When this is done, the Indian tradition held the knowledge gained to be revelatory.

In the Yoga tradition, this process is called 'samyama'.

The unique aspect of samyama, as defined in the Yoga sutras, is that 'being with' the object of attention is done to the point of non-difference or 'oneness' with it.

At this point only, it becomes revelatory.

Samyama is a combination of the last three angas or limbs of the Ashtanga (eight limbed) Yoga system- dharana, dhyana and samadhi.

Dharana is compared to fixing the mind on a particular object.

Dhyana is compared to the flow of that fixed or steady attention on that object like oil being poured from one container to another

Samadhi is when there is no difference between the object, the subject and the process of attention.

When these three are practiced together on a specific object, then 'siddhis' , special knowledge and/or special powers come about.

This was also the basis for ancient Indian 'science', a tradition that knew the speed of light as well as the distance to the moon

thousands of years ago

When I suggest that my stories are a 'consideration' of life

This is the 'star' what I am pointing and aspiring to