Zen
Awareness Training is a dialog. We encounter something—guidance, teaching, a
practice structure—we notice the voices go crazy, a clue that there is
something to look at; we sit with it, see what we see, and then share that with
the teacher or facilitator to invite what they see. In the back and forth of
processing, clarity is arrived at and the “barriers to love” are winnowed away.
Thank
you to all who responded to the last blog by calling or writing in. Here is another
installment in this continuing conversation.
#2
An outraged individual wrote to
me recently (returning rosary beads and key with the letter), comparing what
I’m saying currently with money and spirituality to Jim Jones getting people to
drink poisoned kool aid. I am so wrong, so irresponsible, so spiritually
incorrect that I have become a danger to good spiritual people everywhere, based
on the projection that I’m motivated by my own financial gain.
Oh, my.
In reference to saying yes to
everything Life offers, one of the questions put to me by this unhappy
individual was, “Do you really believe egocentricity doesn’t have ‘yes’ in its
vocabulary?” Of course it does. Egocentric karmic conditioning/self-hate IS the
divided world of opposites. It IS duality. It has “yes” and “no” at the ready.
“Yes, you should get a big pile of junk food and watch tv all evening; you’ve
had such a hard day.” “No, you don’t need to meditate or record and listen
tonight; you’ve had such a hard day.” But what Life doesn’t seem to have is
“no” in its vocabulary! Life’s no is still a yes: “Yes, it won’t take care of
you to eat food that doesn’t nourish you or to allow distraction to occupy
consciousness.”
I love religion. I love
spirituality. I love awareness practice. As with most people in love I tend to
focus on the “objects of my affection” almost exclusively. And, carefully
scrutinizing as I do, I can’t find a single example of any originators of the religions, spiritualities, and practices I love
encouraging us to choose content over process. No one says there is content—money, sex, possessions,
politics, family, health, relationship—that “trumps” the process of love. I find nothing that says we can decide what something is and what it
means and then use that decision to judge or hate.
Moses gave us the Ten Commandments. Have no
other gods, no graven images or likenesses, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain,
remember the Sabbath day, honor your father and your mother, don’t kill, don’t
commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness, don’t covet. Jesus
encouraged people to love God, love one another, and not judge. The Buddha gave
us the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Mohammad taught Muslims to
worship God, be gentle, forgiving, honest, generous, reverent, and grateful.
And, as we know, the one expression of the teachings that all religions share
is the Golden Rule: treat everyone (and everything, if you’re Buddhist) as you wish to be treated. (I think it’s
really important to note that none of those folks encouraged us to use
self-hate as a path to spiritual perfection!)
I offer the example of the outraged
individual as a place we’ve probably all gotten to, and not just once! We’re so
caught up in ego’s righteous indignation that it never occurs to us to question
what we’re being told by conditioned mind, what we’re assuming, and what ego is
projecting.
I know encouraging people to go
up against what ego is hiding with such ferocity will not enhance my reputation
in some circles. But would we really not choose what it feels Life is calling
us to do because someone might judge us? Might disagree? Might hate us? I hope
not. As Rumi wrote, “Live where you fear to live.”
Only ego gets outraged. Only ego
is certain of right and wrong and whom to judge and what “simply must not be
tolerated.”
So, while this might seem a bit
of a divergence from our last blog focus, it actually brings me back to the
final question in that blog: What are you seeing about what you’re allowed to
have and what you’re not allowed to have? About what is spiritual and not
spiritual? About what sets off the voices in the head? About what makes your
stomach clench up and everything in you scream, “Nooooooo!”?
This will quickly take us to the
next questions: Why must you be controlled in that way? Are you dangerous?
Can’t you be trusted to be good, to do the right thing? Do you project others
can’t be trusted? Do you project others will believe you can’t be trusted? Do
you not deserve to have? What triggers the fear reaction?
These are questions offered in
the hope one or more will spark an insight that can take us to the next point
of inquiry.
If you’d like to talk about this
with me, please call Open Air.
Gassho
