Between the idea,

And the reality,

Between the motion,

And the act,

Falls the Shadow.

Inspired by some verses from T. S. Eliot's 'The Hollow Men', Akasajoti explores the relationship between vision and transformation, and the mediating role of 'Perfect Emotion', drawing on Sangharakshita's original lecture from the Noble Eightfold Path series.

She suggests that to notice our faith responses is to find where vision and emotion already relate to each other in our experience. And that we can apply the 'three levels of wisdom' - to hear, reflect, and become - to listen to our responses to ordinary kinds of value as 'distant echoes of the deepest ideals within reality', and gradually amplify these moments by making connections with how they point beyond themselves to something more, until they become more integrated into our experience.

Given at the London Buddhist Centre Sub25 Class, February 2024