Hey everyone,
It's Judy Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 455.
We are exploring the Eightfold Path,
Which is the path to liberation.
And let's see,
We explored wise view and wise intention,
Which are considered the wisdom elements of the path.
And then on the last Wake Up Call,
I talked about wise communication,
Which is the first of the three middle steps on the path,
Which are considered the ethical elements of the path.
And the other two ethical elements are wise action and wise livelihood.
And so as with wise communication,
With wise action,
Yes,
It's an ethical element,
But we're not talking about a set of rules that tell us what we're allowed to do,
Like we are when we talk about things in the law.
We're talking about guidelines that we're invited to kind of turn into aspirations really for our whole life.
There are,
Each of these wisdom elements has a set of aspirations,
Just like wise communication did and wise action has five aspirations.
And they are to do no harm,
Take nothing that is not freely offered,
Not misuse sexuality,
Not use substances to impair the mind and not undertake unmindful communication.
So in reverse order,
I just want to go in reverse order because we just talked about unmindful communication or we talked about wise communication last week.
So in reverse order,
No unmindful communication.
I think it's named as part of the way we act in the world because we're communicating beings and so a lot of our action is communication and the guidelines,
As I said,
Are the same as from last week.
So just to remind us all,
They are consider the timing whenever we're about to speak,
Write or post,
Be truthful or honest,
Be kind,
Do our best to make our communication beneficial to those receiving it and communicate with a heart and mind filled with goodwill.
And the question I feel like we have to pay attention to and which I think can get in the way of this element of mindful,
Of this element of wisdom or of ethics,
Which is also wisdom,
Is how can we do this in an adversarial profession or in an adversarial world?
And I feel like we have to pay attention to that question,
Not so much because it has a yes or no answer,
But because the question can sideline us and I don't really feel anymore like we have a yes or no choice.
I feel like we have to say yes and then just do it,
Just communicate mindfully or for wise action to not have any unmindful communication.
A lot of the mindfulness teachings are posed in the negative like that.
And I feel like we have a lot of powerful examples of this over the last few days.
So maybe you've seen some of those as well.
Okay,
Next,
For wise action is not using substances to impair the mind.
And for me,
In one way of thinking about this,
There's the obvious ways that I'm tempted to use or I'm habituated to reaching for something,
However benign,
When I'm trying to escape whatever set of feelings I'm having.
So it's not that mindfulness says never have a glass of wine,
Or go take a nap after a long day,
It's that it says,
Remember,
When we use alcohol,
Drugs,
Or any substance or any activity,
Any action,
For the purpose of impairing the mind is one way of saying it,
But another way of saying it is clouding the mind,
What we're doing is we're backing away from waking up.
We're saying,
I want to be asleep to this moment,
I want my mind to be clouded as to how this moment feels,
I maybe have a sense that there's fear or sorrow or exhaustion or overwhelm or anger or anything,
And I'm going to use some way of avoiding whatever is here.
And really,
You know,
That's anathema to our practice,
Right,
Which is to be with whatever is present,
Moment by moment.
And then another category of not using substance to impair or cloud the mind,
You know,
The Netflix shows that I choose,
Or the amount of social media I engage in,
Or the news,
Or certain films or books,
Or even certain people,
There's an ancient mindfulness instruction to close the sense doors,
Which are the eyes,
The ears,
The nose,
The mouth,
The sensations of the skin and the internal sensations,
And also the mind.
So close those so as not to let in anything harmful.
And to me,
This instruction is,
In a way,
Part of this is,
You know,
Not to take in harmful things in order to tip the mind,
In order to inadvertently,
Or maybe inadvertently,
I don't know,
Sort of be thinking in a way that,
Or feeling in a way that is not part of wise action.
Third guideline,
Don't misuse sexuality,
Starts with the obvious of not harming children,
The family,
Society with our sexuality.
Then it points in a less obvious,
But,
You know,
To me equally important direction,
Which is to not have bias against anyone,
Regardless of their gender identity,
Their sexual orientation,
Or who or how they choose to love.
And then just taking to its logical next step,
Not to perpetrate or allow others,
To the best of my ability,
To perpetrate any kind of bias or oppression against anyone on the basis of those things.
Last guideline,
Take nothing not freely offered.
Sorry,
I had to mute myself to fix my voice.
Take nothing not freely offered.
First of all,
About not stealing,
And I'm guessing most of us here don't do that,
At least in the conventional sense.
But a deeper investigation is an invitation for any of us to consider whether we're taking more than we need.
And I know that sometimes I am.
And what is the wisest action to take when I do that?
Or to ask,
You know,
Am I taking more than my share?
Is another way of thinking about it,
Since,
You know,
On an existential level,
My share is basically what's freely offered to me.
And I think about the whole world,
You know,
What do I do about the fact that I know my share is larger than many people's share or most people's share?
You know,
Am I giving back?
What does that look like?
Can I do more?
So this is something to sit with.
All of these are contemplations,
Invitations,
Aspirations.
And then another part of this element of taking nothing not freely offered is to ask the question of whether I'm doing my best not to enrich myself.
This is Thich Nhat Hanh's injunction,
Don't enrich ourselves and prevent others from enriching themselves from human suffering and the suffering of other beings and the earth herself.
And that's another dimension of not taking what's not freely offered.
And I mean,
As an American living in the third decade of the 21st century,
It's almost impossible for me to not see myself as being enriched in this way.
And I feel that.
And I feel like it's something for anyone in a similar position to mine,
Similar location to mine to contemplate.
Last one,
Last element of wise action is to do no harm.
And this has so many permutations,
You know,
Don't cause any physical harm,
Don't cause any mental harm,
Don't cause any emotional harm,
Don't cause any spiritual harm,
Don't be biased,
Don't hate,
Don't oppress,
Don't cause harm to the earth or to non-human species.
And I feel like the invitation here is just to go to the body,
To go to the body and to pay attention to any moment that feels like it could be causing harm to any being,
Including ourselves.
Or maybe it's not to go to the body when there's a moment like that,
Because I might have already missed it,
But to stay in the body,
To stay in the practice.
And then when I feel like I may be causing harm to stop,
Take a breath.
Remember,
Stop,
Stop,
Take a breath,
Observe and then proceed.
So stop,
Take a breath,
Observe what's happening and then shift into a wiser course of action.
So sometimes I feel like wise action is a big ask,
You know,
But more often these days to me,
It feels like the only sane way to be in the world,
The only sane aspiration.
And I know that when I can follow the guidelines even pretty well,
I feel better.
And I think the people around me feel better.
And when I forget and when I cause harm,
When I take more than my share,
When I notice bias in myself,
When I impair my mind,
When I use words that are unkind,
I need to pivot.
I need to repair that moment.
And it's also important for me to remember to act wisely as to myself,
Not to bring anger down upon myself for these lapses or moments of ignorance,
Not to sort of reinforce unwise action,
But then to shift into wise action,
Right?
It's about how we relate to the world.
So I hope that's helpful and let's sit.
And maybe just letting the words go completely and going to the body and just first sensing into the body,
Whether sitting in a chair or sitting in a car or laying down or standing or walking,
Whatever is happening and paying attention to what's happening in the body right now.
Is there settledness or agitation?
Is the belly tight or is it loose?
Is the heart open or is it closed?
And if it feels open,
Are there any directions,
Any beings,
Any human beings towards whom it is not open?
And is it possible to soften the heart,
Soften the belly?
And what's happening in the mind?
Is the mind steady?
Relaxed?
Focused?
Or is it wild and graspy and glitchy?
If the body begins to relax a little bit,
If the belly softens,
If the heart softens,
What happens in the mind?
And what access does that softening give us to wisdom?
To wise communication and wise action and all of their different invitations.
Thanks everyone for being on the wake-up call today.
Take care,
Have a great Thursday and a good weekend and I'll see you next Thursday.
Bye.
