Hey everyone,
It's Judy Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 451.
Let's keep looking at the four noble truths.
And the first noble truth,
Again,
Is the truth that being human includes suffering,
It includes joy and wonder as well,
And it also includes suffering.
And then the second noble truth,
The truth that the cause of suffering is that we object to the suffering.
We want the difficult moments in life to stop or never start and we want the positive elements of our lives to stay just the way they are.
And life doesn't work that way,
But still we're convinced that somehow it should and that we can get it to,
You know,
Set up that way and then we'll be happy.
So the third noble truth says there's an end to suffering,
But it's not necessarily what you would think that that end is.
It's not that we end up in a life with no difficulties and only the good stuff and it's stable and it's easy.
It's that instead of pushing away the hard stuff and grabbing for and kind of corralling our happiness,
We let go.
We let go of the sticky,
Persistent notion that if only we had more,
We were more,
This or that had happened or does happen.
This person shows up or stays forever or leaves.
The political situation changes in that direction.
The planet recalibrates,
You know,
Then we'll be happy.
Sometimes the third noble truth,
Letting go,
For me,
It feels really hard.
A thought arises and this mind feels caught and I feel like I can't let go of believing that if only this or that,
Then all will be well.
And the catch is so strong and it's almost like I'm reaching into the mind to unhook it,
But I can't.
I can see the hooked,
Kind of graspy,
Kind of clingy nature of the moment,
But I can't let go.
And with some things I can.
So I'm practicing and we're all practicing.
That's what we're doing.
So the third noble truth isn't an invitation to let go of our basic principles,
Though,
Or of wanting to serve others or of caring for the planet.
It doesn't mean letting go of working on climate emergency or democracy or equity and belonging.
Still,
There are some ways that it feels to me like the third noble truth informs the way we can consider relating to these larger issues and to our work in their realms.
And don't know mind is the main thing that comes to mind for me.
It's an important aspiration for all of us,
For all mindfulness practitioners.
And it's maybe the purest form of not getting caught in beliefs because it invites us to let go of whatever we think will come to pass as a result of our efforts and to be in the present moment with complete openness.
So David Loy,
Who's a Zen teacher and also a climate advocate,
Wrote an article in Tricycle magazine in October of 2020 called Don't Know Mind and the Election of Our Lives.
So again,
This is 2020.
So little did he know that this article would be just as relevant four years later.
And he wrote that not knowing is not a fixed position,
But a way of engaging with the world just as it is right here and now.
We don't know what's going to happen next,
But we do the best we can according to what we see.
We let go of our fixed ideas about the world,
Including our expectations.
We become more spacious,
More aware of our own reactivity,
And more open to the perspectives of others.
What I can say is that when I remember to slip into Don't Know Mind,
I notice the openness right away.
And it's a relief because without letting go of my aspirations or commitments to the world,
To serving the world,
To changing the world,
I can be with others in listening mode with curiosity and not be so invested in my positions.
And I don't know,
Maybe somebody with more practice could be not at all invested in their positions,
But I'm not there yet.
I also notice that when I remember to slip into Don't Know Mind,
I have more energy than when I'm clamped down on an idea.
And I think that's because I get energy from other people and their ideas.
So when I clamp down on an idea,
I feel like I isolate myself and I can notice that I'm not listening anymore or I'm only listening for my opening or for ways to refute what they're saying,
Kind of traditional lawyer mode listening,
You could say.
And I notice I'm saying to myself and to the other person in so many words,
You know,
My belief is correct,
Yours is not valid,
So let me help you get there to a place where you agree with me,
Where you share my belief,
Because I can't really see you if you don't.
I think of Don't Know Mind as similar to,
Or maybe it's the same as Beginner's Mind from the Zen teachings.
The great teacher and founder of San Francisco Zen Center,
Suzuki Roshi,
Said in the Beginner's Mind,
He famously said,
In the Beginner's Mind,
There are many possibilities,
But in the experts,
There are few.
And I feel like these days I need as much letting go of my beliefs about what will happen,
As much Don't Know Mind as I can possibly shift into.
I feel like I need to become more of a beginner than I already am.
I feel like I need to listen as much as possible and talk much less.
So it feels to me like it would be good for everyone in the world to cultivate Beginner's Mind,
But what do I know?
But there is one thing that I feel like I know.
I feel like the world feels very polarized,
Sometimes even among friends.
And I know that I'm hungry for conversations that are passionate and meaningful,
But among beginners,
Among people who make space for one another,
Who open space,
Who make open loving space,
Who make beginner's space.
You know,
The kind of space from which it feels like some very expert ideas and plans could emerge.
And I also know,
Maybe I said I know one thing,
But maybe there's another thing,
And that is that it feels like when we're all experts,
It feels like there's very little space.
And that even when just a few of us are beginners,
There's more.
I've been actually offering a mindfulness series at my synagogue,
And there's one person attending,
Whom I'm guessing is on the other side politically,
And they're asking intelligent and sometimes very provocative questions about the Dharma,
About mindfulness.
But I noticed their questions are not any different really than anybody else's questions that I've gotten over the years.
And yet I noticed that I feel a kind of internal static,
And it's like irritation,
Or is it fear,
Or is it like disagreement on some fundamental level,
Just because I know they believe in the other side.
I'm pretty sure that's the only reason,
And I'm noticing that,
And yet here we all are together in one room trying to wake up together.
So it's a perfect setup for me to slip into don't know mind,
To be a beginner with this person,
You know,
To study and learn together,
And maybe even take that learning beyond the Dharma,
Beyond mindfulness.
And when we get into a voting booth,
I mean,
We're going to go into separate voting booths,
But when we get into our voting booths,
I'm pretty sure that we're going to mark different candidates all the way down the ballot.
But that evening,
Or okay,
Let's be realistic,
Maybe a week later or a month later,
I'm pretty confident that we'll be able to eat and drink as friends,
Right,
As that great Republican Abe Lincoln admonished us lawyers to be able to do,
Or was that Shakespeare first?
And that's,
I think,
Only possible if I can remember to stay in don't know mind when I am talking to this person.
So yes,
To answer David Loy's question,
How high do the stakes feel,
They feel very high to me right now.
It feels like another,
Yet another election of our lives.
My intention,
My plan is to work as hard as possible towards the outcome that feels right to me to recruit everyone I know to do the same.
And also to not lose anyone along the way to discord or conflict or failing to remember to get into or to stay into don't know mind,
Beginner's mind.
I'm not saying I'm going to be able to do that,
But that is one of my intentions.
And I think that's because those stakes feel very high to me right now as well.
So let's sit.
So finding your pasture for this sit,
Whatever that is,
Something that is upright and bringing dignity to this effort that we're all making to practice together,
Maybe to be beginners together,
And see if you can locate the breath or the sound in your environment as a kind of a home base,
Taking a moment to drop in with the intention and then rest with the attention and then rest the attention on the object,
Either the breath or sound,
And then seeing what level of beginner's mind or don't know mind is available right now in your experience in this moment,
Beginner's mind about your practice,
Beginner's mind about each breath or about the sound in your environment,
Not knowing.
Whatever you think you know about the sound or whatever you think you know about the breath or about sitting or standing or walking,
And then maybe looking up and looking out into your own life and seeing some of the people in your life,
And what level of beginner's mind are you able to bring to your view of them just sitting here in this meditation?
And what about looking up even further and out into the world?
What out there,
If anything,
Can you bring beginner's mind to?
Not letting go of your values,
What's important to you,
But what can you bring beginner's mind to out in the world?
And then what can you bring beginner's mind to that you know or are pretty sure you know about yourself?
I'll just invite you to take that with you out into your day.
Thanks everyone for being on the Wake Up Call,
Wonderful to see you,
Have a good,
Safe Thursday and a good weekend,
And I'll see you next Thursday.
