So hey everybody,
It's Judy Cohen and this is WakeUpCall485.
It's really nice to see you all.
So I was listening to a talk by Joseph Goldstein and if you aren't familiar with Joseph,
He's one of our senior Western teachers in the insight meditation tradition,
Although I guess maybe he would say he's pretty ecumenical these days and studies and talks a lot about different mindfulness and Buddhist traditions.
And I really love listening to Joseph because he has such a clear mind and he's very wise and he also has a great sense of humor.
So that makes it a lot of fun.
I don't ever feel like I'm being admonished and I learn a lot.
So he wasn't talking about current events so much as he was talking generally about how when things aren't going well we want them to change and when things are going well we want them to stay the same and it's all that wanting that is what causes us so much suffering.
And of course he was talking what he was talking about was the Four Noble Truths,
That life includes pain and suffering,
That pain isn't optional but suffering is,
That suffering happens when we experience pain and we we want or we crave or we grasp for things to be different because we believe that's what will bring us happiness or when we experience pleasure and crave for things to never change because we believe that will bring us happiness.
But that way when we investigate craving instead we realize it's just craving and it's just a state and it's nothing more and when we see that and let go we drop the craving we can walk we can walk this path of liberation.
So he wasn't talking about current events like I said but but he could have been and if he had been you know maybe we he would have said to all of us you know sure I have the same moment you have when I open the paper which is a kind of immediate no you know wait what which is great when it leads to wise action okay so how do I frame this and how do I help that which isn't so great if it solidifies into this shouldn't be happening this can't be happening and then turns into anger or hate or contempt and and he went on to talk about that how there's a difference between between one and the other and he's naming it as a difference between commitment you know I see that this isn't wise and that the people making it happen are deluded may they be free from delusion how can I help and attachment which looks like I see that this isn't wise I hate the people doing it because they're so deluded maybe I'll fall into the frozen Potomac and with sort of bonus attachment points for and they deserve my hate or they deserve my scorn or they deserve something worse because commitment and what flows from that is a wholesome and potentially even powerful choice but disdain and scorn and hate they aren't wholesome and they aren't even really very powerful in the end even if they feel powerful in the moment right and I love dr.
King's quote about that he said you know you have very little morally persuasive power with people who can feel your underlying contempt and I don't know about you but I always think I'm getting away with having contempt and people can't tell but I don't think that that's true plus hate is just increasing our own suffering by creating a kind of a clenched contracted moment or at least for me that I can really feel in my body do you know what I mean you know it's so interesting to me that a state of mind or an emotion can do that and that it's so obvious so intense it's it's almost paralyzing in the sense that it's like I'm clenched down and it's not only body but it's also mind and there's almost no possibility at least in that moment of hate and hates a bucket right and hates that big bucket and it includes all the the lessers the lesser offenses like derision and scorn and contempt and disgust you know we know that list so in that moment of hate for me at least you know there's no possibility of seeing clearly or acting with wisdom and it's also creating suffering for others right whether it's people who seem to already be carrying or leading with hate or disdain or scorn or contempt and they look tight just like I feel and I bring hate into that room and things get even tighter because the mirror neurons start flashing and then we're all hating together or even I'm bringing hate into a room of neutral or even happy people and it creates tightness and hate there you know it's it's the opposite of community care even with a group of people who are all on the same page so the question is how to let go of hate without feeling like I'm not speaking or acting in a principled way because in some ways you know hate and anger feel like good fuel and James Barras my teacher I don't know if you're here today but if you are hi thank you for this incredible teaching always tells me look underneath the hate and anger and see how much care is there right underneath right that's what's underneath and I love that so much and it's something for me to live by to try and remember all the time and it really helps with commitment which is what I want to be living into right so because when I'm committed to something or someone it means I care enough to do whatever I need to do that's within my capacity to to make it happen it means I'll stay up late work twice as hard get it done if I possibly can but if I'm committed to something and someone else is equally committed to that something not happening then I need to care enough to understand you know I need to understand why the other person is just as committed as I am but in the opposite outcome and even though it might be a situation where it seems like I never will be able to understand and no one else will either or there's nothing to understand right I still need to understand it's so much like practicing law right I'm just not going to be doing my client justice if I don't take the time to understand the other side's case and I'm just not doing the world or even myself justice if I'm not trying to understand whatever is going on moment by moment right and what comes up for me at this juncture is that disdain is not my friend and disdain is just a flavor of hate and for me it's the one that tends to come up in a situation like this when I'm committed and I just can't understand how anyone could be committed as committed as I am in the opposite direction you know it's a big impediment for me in understanding and I mean all flavors of hate are but I just say that disdain is pretty familiar these days and I guess it's in the same way that the classical hindrances grasping aversion restlessness worry sloth torpor doubt those get in the way of formal mindfulness practice hate is this hindrance to understanding in portable practice and without understanding my commitment right I'm speaking just for myself but my commitment can only be theoretical and and that for me is the crux the difference on the ground between commitment and attachment because for me attachment requires no understanding I can be attached to my side of the argument or my view or even attached to my disdain without understanding a single thing about the people who are either committed or attached to the opposite because attachment is it's just grasping and clinging it's just suffering and as dr.
King is implying it won't it doesn't get me very far right so I'm not making a prediction here that understanding will get me any further than I am right and or get all of us any further than we are or as far as we need to go but it does feel for me like a requisite to commitment and and I like this frame that Joseph offered of commitment versus attachment so that's what I got for today so let's sit together so find a comfortable posture something that is upright and dignified come to stillness settle in close the eyes if that's your practice or lower them and unfocus the gaze if that's your practice just sense the the body sitting or standing or walking how's how's the body feeling today just noticing where there's tightness and where there's relaxation locating the breath in the body and just beginning to notice breathing in and breathing out notice your commitment to to being here right now your commitment to your practice how does that feel in the body in the mind and and now how does it feel still here still sitting still practicing how does commitment feel now and how does the body feel now having committed to sit for ten minutes and being close to that last minute take care everybody thank you so much for coming to the wake of Kyle
