On this Father's Day, I fervently hope - for the sake of our beloved children and grandchildren - that each and every one of us commits to living more intelligently, wisely, lovingly every day of our short lives.
“Each of the enduring religions contains universal principles that transcend time and culture. It’s not easy to extract those values from religions that are not our own, but it can be done Huston Smith says, if we see their followers as men and women who face problems much like our own, and if we rid our minds of prejudice that dulls our sensitivity to fresh insights.” Bill Moyers: “The Wisdom of Faith, with Huston Smith” DVD, 2011.
We sit down to meditate, setting our timer to 50 minutes. Our intention is to let go of thoughts, let go of all our concerns of the day, concerns for tomorrow, concerns from yesterday. Just this is enough - just sitting. And then interesting thoughts come up, one after the other. We notice the thought, gently accept it, gently let go, returning to kindly embracing just this sitting. Just this sitting is enough. Allowing the physical feel of the present moment to fill our perceptions. We don't interpret or make a story out of these physical sensations - we perceive them directly as simple, constantly-changing physical sensations. We feel simply & directly (experiential attention), we don't interpose stories (narrative attention) between the sensations and our bodies. Another interesting thought, we notice, gently accept, let go, returning to just sitting. We repeat this process tens, hundreds, thousands of times per sitting, becoming increasingly patient, tolerant and persistent. Our patience, tolerance and persistence establishes new circuitry in our brains, like water wears a new channel in rocks - gentle, but relentless, unstoppable. Yes our brains secrete thoughts AND yes our awareness becomes increasingly more stable, still and calm. Thoughts & self-talk become quieter & quieter, less & less intrusive. Persistent intelligent training invariably, inevitably, undoubtedly enhances mindfulness.
It's very interesting listening to someone giving their perspective of events in which you were both involved, particularly when they deliver it as an absolute statement of fact, instead of their unique impression. We tend to cling to certainty and tend to be averse to uncertainty & ambiguity. Yet nothing is solid & unchanging, not even our memories of the past - even that changes constantly. Perhaps fear of aging partially explains why people tend to be intolerant of ambiguity, and pretend to be certain about uncertain things. Ambiguity tolerance should, unless we fight it, arise naturally as we age. It takes a great deal of patience, tolerance & endurance to put up with life's litany of embarrassments. One has to learn to enjoy the process of working with imperfection, including one's own. Quickly & ethically obtaining a great result is a very unlikely prospect. Focusing on the process however is entirely different. People slowly, mindfully working on a meaningful product or service are themselves transformed by the process itself. We each individually reduce suffering and create joy by the actual quality we bring to life, moment-by-moment. WE INDIVIDUALLY provide what we all need. Nobody else can do it. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE. WE can and must rise to the occasion.
