Hello community of friends,
We meet again this Wednesday, October 21, at 5:30 at the Quilt Museum. (Note: we won’t meet next week, October 28.)
What are we doing on Wednesday nights, besides enjoying each other’s company? We’re practicing knowing our own minds and seeing reality clearly. And what’s the point of that? The teachings tell us that knowing our own minds is the master key to happiness, individual and collective. And intuitively we know that denying or ignoring reality never ends well.
But the mind has its own agenda. You might say our mind has a mind of its own. Its agenda is to avoid pain, get pleasure, eliminate uncertainty, stay in control, and find safety, protecting not only our bodies but our idea of who we are. On the surface, that sounds reasonable. Yet the Buddha pointed to three inescapable truths about our existence that we need to understand at a deep level: there is suffering (dukkha), everything is impermanent (anicca), and there is no essential, enduring self to protect (anatta). Pleasure never lasts, and total safety is elusive. No wonder the mind’s agenda so often feels futile and exhausting, and no wonder we’re a little anxious.
Fortunately, the Buddha’s teachings on finding freedom from this agenda, and finding real safety and real pleasure, are vast. We’ll never run out of things to discuss, understand, and practice!
This Wednesday, we’ll explore working with thoughts. Most of us live without noticing how mesmerized we are by discursive, verbal thinking. If you’ve practiced mindfulness meditation even once, you’ve seen this for yourself. The good news is that it’s not a problem. It’s all part of the practice.
See you Wednesday.