Bringing Faith To Our 250th Birthday Party

Faith is an old-fashioned word. Maybe its most well-known meaning is religious. But true faith predates religion. Ancient humans had faith in the earth, the animals, the stars.

I don’t know much about that kind of faith, but I do know one thing: that I have faith in my own heart and mind, and in yours. I have faith in our ability to love, and to care, and to see, moment by moment, that we’re all just here for a moment, and that we’re all in this together – whatever is happening, and there’s a lot. And I guess I know one more thing: the power of that kind of faith to inspire – quietly, stealthily – and to move friends and family onto more stable, peaceful ground.

So this Saturday, this Fourth of July – and I’d say especially this one – here’s an invitation: bring your love. Bring your wisdom. Bring your barbecue, too, but bring your love and wisdom. Inspire your community, just by your presence.

Happy Fourth!

Transcript

Hey, Everyone. Welcome. Welcome. It's Judy. This is Wake Up Call 538. I'm from just outside Stockholm on Lake Druviken. I don't know if I'm saying I'm sure I'm not saying that right. Happy almost 4th of July. So the Dhammapada from out here in in the Northlands. Chapter 7, It's called the Arhant. And here's a little background. And this invites a little faith. According to the teachings, An arahant is someone who's reached the, You could say, The last stage of awakening or the fourth of four progressive stages of awakening or the fourth after the first three that are available to anyone. So ordinary people like us, But who are practicing, Practicing, Practicing. So the first level is stream enter and a stream enter. Is someone who will be reborn no more than seven times. So again, This is a little fade. Um And the next level, The second, Is a once-returner, So someone who will reach full awakening in their very next life, So they just come back one time. And then a non-returner is reborn in a higher realm when they die. So higher than the human realm, There are six realms. Including two above the human realm, The Jealous God realm, And the Deva realm, And then there's the human realm, And then there's three below us. And then finally, An Arahant achieves full awakening in this lifetime, So right here and now, And doesn't take any further rebirth. So I don't know if I know anyone who is a stream enter or farther, Maybe. It's just not something that people go around talking about. Um, And I definitely haven't met anybody who says they're going for our hunt, Right? And that's probably not a thing. Anyway, Or maybe it is, I don't know, But I have met people. Who've said that they are going for it in general. And maybe that's what they mean. This chapter of the Dhammapada is so sweet because it gives us a taste in poetry. Of what it's like to be an arahant, What it's like to be fully awake, Just the verses. So in the Byram Ram Dass translation, One of the verses says, Those who awaken never rest in one place. Like swans, They rise and leave the lake. On the air, They rise and fly an invisible course, Gathering nothing, Storing nothing. Their food is knowledge. They live on emptiness. They have seen how to break free. It's so beautiful. And it's describing what, To me anyway, Seems like a remarkable state of being. And also, Just FYI, This morning I was walking with the little kids, Our grandkids. And we came upon. A, We came upon a swan and she had four little cygnets. And just as we walked up to her, She turned around and kind of barked at us and then, You know, Told her kids like this way, And they all went paddling off into the lake. So, I don't know, Foreshadowing this talk. In Gil Fronsdale's translation, Another verse says, For a person who, Like the earth, Is untroubled, Who is well-practiced, Who is like a pillar of Indra, I'll say what that means in a minute, Who is like a lake without mud, There is no more wandering. Calm in mind, Speech and action, And released through right understanding, Such a person is fully at peace. And a pillar of Indra is a stone post at the gates of a city and it's rooted really deeply in the rocks and it's immovable so saying like a pillar of Indra is it's like saying a mind that's deeply rooted and completely unshakable. Awakened and able to rise and fly an invisible course, Gathering nothing, Storing nothing, Seeing how to break free. So these images, And what does it take to get there? I mean, That's the old Carnegie Hall joke, Right? The answer is the same as in the joke. Practice, Practice, Practice. Specifically, Practice the seven factors of awakening, Which maybe we'll look at here sometime. Not before that, But alongside that. And this isn't only true for stream entry or farther it's also true for. Those of us who are ordinary practitioners with aspirations to simply cultivate greater compassion and understanding, We all need a little faith. And that's what I want to talk about on the eve of our beautiful country's 250th birthday. So in the classical teachings, There are three types of faith. And the first is initial faith. Sometimes it's called borrowed faith. And this is the kind of faith where We notice that our partner is calm and joyful under really stressful circumstances, Or our friend is less activated than they once were. And being in their presence, We feel more peaceful ourself. And the thought arises, I'll have what they're having. Which prompts us to ask them what they've done, What's changed. And then they share a little about mindfulness and we go online or we take a class or we read a book. And we learn more. And all of us, All of us did that. That happened for all of us in some way or another. And still for me, Whenever I'm having a lot of doubt, I think of it as a doubt attack, Doubt being one of the hindrances. I can't sit, I'll never understand compassion. What is wisdom? When that's happening, I know I need to get with somebody who is well-practiced and calm and wise, Almost like sit down next to them so that I can borrow some of their wisdom, Borrow some of their faith. Bright faith comes next, And it's when we start practicing ourselves. And then we notice little things. Maybe we don't get as agitated when that person does or says that thing, Right? Or we feel less anxious, Or we feel just as anxious, But our anxiety doesn't bother us as much. And we can even chuckle and say, Oh, There's anxiety again. Have a seat, Old friend. And we think, Hey, This mindfulness is good stuff. It's like, In our way of thinking about things, It's like we have a preponderance of evidence in favor of mindfulness. And then last, There is verified faith, Right? And verified faith is when we just know, We just know in our bones that something has changed and it's not changing back. You know, That our heart is open and it isn't closing back up. Our mind has moments of clarity when we can see things as they are. We can see suffering. We can see its cause. We can see its end and the path and how to cultivate our mind. How we're all in this together and how. How to love everyone. And we're not necessarily living in that space every minute of every day, Right? We still lose it. We still have greed, Hatred and delusion. But our recovery is fairly quick. We can rely on that recovery. And where we recover to. Is a kind of non-judgmental loving state. So translating it into our legal language with verified faith, It's like beyond a reasonable doubt. Then mindfulness is for us. So. To someday be able to rise and fly an invisible course gathering nothing storing nothing. 3. We need to practice, Practice, Practice. But to have just a sense of that, Just a taste of what it's like to be like the earth, Untroubled, Well-practiced, Like a pillar of Indra or a lake without mud. To have a sense of what it's like to be calm in mind, Speech and action, Have right understanding, Be at peace. Just enough to lead us on onward. We we start with faith. And here we are at our nation's 250th birthday. So my inquiry is, Can we bring our love and our wisdom and our faith with us into the holiday? Even this year. Or especially this year. So that when friends and family who may be struggling, Who may not have. . . Access to their own love or their own wisdom. Sit down beside us. They feel peace. And then no matter their struggle, They can borrow from us. You know, Maybe even take something away, Some of our wisdom, Some of our love, Not away from us, But away with them, Right? And maybe just maybe begin to study and practice, Who knows? And in doing that, Attain bright faith and eventually verified faith because of what they sense sitting beside us this Saturday on our nation's birthday, And then become the person someday from whom someone else borrows faith. And so on. Because this isn't the only way, But it's definitely a way. That things can change. Okay, So let's sit. So finding your posture, The posture that will. . . Best support you right now. Just feeling into the body. How's your body feeling? What wants to settle, What wants to. Be let go of. What wants to be embraced? And then finding the breath. And just beginning to pay attention to. This breath is. Aliveness. That we have the privilege to have right now. And maybe seeing something right now, Right here in your practice that you that you are grateful for, Maybe that you can count on. Maybe what you can count on is. . . Knowing that the breath is always there, Of course, Until someday it's not. Or maybe what you can count on is. That your heart is generally open these days. Despite everything. And really tapping into just this one quality that you can really count on, This one. Quality of heart, Quality of mind. Really investigating it, Being with it. Maybe even marveling at it, Just the gladness. That this is something that you can count on. This is some part of verified faith for you. And then, You know, That English saying, Wearing your heart on your sleeve. Let's see if you can. Right now, Just in this practice, Wear this beautiful quality that you can rely on. Wear it on your sleeve. Let it permeate the whole body and let it show. Once had a law student say to me, It's just showcase your love. So just do that now, Right now, In the practice. And then decide how you'll keep letting it show. Today. Tomorrow. And Saturday. Bring it with you. How will you bring this with you? No words, No lessons, Just showcase your love. Showcase your wisdom. And let everybody borrow it from you on Saturday. Thanks, Everybody. Great to sit with you. I love you all. See you next week.