Dropping Arrogance
Emptiness requires that I let go of clinging to my beliefs—or better, to the rightness of my beliefs. Emptiness requires that I understand that how I see the world is how I see the world, and nothing more. Emptiness is letting go of the need to get others to agree with me. Emptiness is living in the ambiguity of knowing without knowing.
The Zen of Insight
We sit, and observe, and suddenly the background mental chatter is right there, as plain and obvious as can be. It’s largely crap, and consists of half-formed stories that serve like the little images in a DVD index. We see the little image, get all intrigued, and push “PLAY.”
Except that we are the director, writer, and cinematographer, and all the work happens as we push the PLAY button.
None of it exists until we make it up.
Self Awareness
I’ve been thinking about that, and while I “get” the whole self esteem idea, this is one of those terms that can be badly misunderstood. Being the Zen guy that I am, I’d much rather head down the path of self acceptance — that’s what this article is going to be about.
Lost in Thought
This article is a guide to the awakened state. Being endlessly “Lost in Thought” is not helpful, and yet is the prevalent state. Let’s think, instead, of how we might balance things out–creating a unity of body, mind, and spirit.
Body Voices
There is a certain reluctance, for most of us, to exit our heads and to pay attention to our bodies, senses, emotions, and spirits. We begin to look at how to barely listen to the voice of our body, and in this way to become more centered and calm.
No-Body Home
Many religions/wisdom traditions have indicated that there is but one path to freedom, and it is achieved through centering. Now, this centering might be described as praying, meditating, directing our energy, dancing (thinking of Sufis here) or chanting. It might be reached through massage, manipulation of the chakras, through Qi Gong, yoga, Kundalini work, but the goal is the same.
Zen Based, Present Living
