Fear is only the ego's doorkeeper. All fear wants us to do is carefully observe what is presenting itself.
Careful awareness of what is presenting itself is the beginning of wisdom.
Like salt in water,
Like adhesive in coloring,
It is certainly there,
But you don't see its form;
So is the monarch of mind.
Dwelling inside the body,
Going in and out the senses,
It responds freely to beings,
According to conditions,
Without hindrance, succeeding,
At all it does.
- Fu Shan-hui (487-659)
In prison today there was a presentation of a conversation entitled: "Let's just see how it goes!" This is a phrase used by Maezumi Roshi whenever a student wanted to try to accomplish something. The gathering was a forum for the emotional needs and stress related aspects of prisoner release.
Five Points for Conversation
1.
The way you feel now is how you’re going to feel.
(feel, acknowledge, free)
2.
See your way through, don’t be distracted by expectations.
(your or others; rather, focus on what you are doing)
3.
“Don’t think: Look!” (--Ludwig Wittgenstein)
(avoid explanations, rationalizations, excuses, blaming, targeting, or trying to fix.)
(Rather: look clearly and carefully, feel, and free)
4.
“Man is defined by that which disturbs him.” (--Elie Wiesel)
(be aware of what disturbs, pisses you off, makes you angry, makes you crazy.)
You are not that. Find a way to move through. Movement, not explanation.)
5.
Revelation of non-illusory reality is initially terrifying.
(while illusory existence might be comfortable, true reality is liberating)
Illusions will end.
As we become sane we will take off masks, stop telling covering stories about everything, and we will no longer fear to see what we see, hear what we hear, and become again what we truly are.
Free in and through the practice of seeing where this goes.
