In the last post on discovering “The Way” in our experience of ordinary mind, I shared the idea of a “great dialectic” described as Expansion and Contraction by meditation teacher, Shinzen Young. In that post there was some description of how something as ordinary (and seemingly negative) as laziness could be experienced as an example […]
Read more "Ordinary Mind as the Path VII (Excess)"If you have ever listened to one of Shinzen Young’s talks (which I would encourage anyone to do), you may have heard him describe what he considers something like the “great dialectical forces” of Expansion and Contraction… Very roughly speaking: Expansion is the principle of increase: growing more intense, larger, faster, wider, scattering, pushing out, […]
Read more "Ordinary Mind as the Path VI (Laziness)"Levels The way I see it [and the way I see reflected in the UM framework], there are 2 levels on which to work with overpowering emotions like shame: The Semantic level (content): introspection, self-study, healing conversation, meaning-making — emotional states (made up of thoughts + sensations) are treated like guidance systems used to make […]
Read more "Ordinary Mind as the Path V (Shame)"What is it? There are a set of somewhat standard symptoms that make up the constellation that is depression: sadness, apathy, inability to experience pleasure, concentration/sleep disturbance, low energy, flat-lined emotional experience, harmfully negative intrusive thoughts, feelings of guilt or emptiness, etc.. More generally, however, depression can range from a ferocious self-contempt to a profoundly […]
Read more "Ordinary Mind as the Path IV (Depression)"When anger is, it seems as though that’s all there is: no space, no negotiation, no flexibility… only inward or outward pressure (or both) explosively exposing themselves to the world of thought and action. Sometimes violent, sometimes seething; sometimes abrupt, sometimes gradual; sometimes fiery, sometimes frozen. The two poles of anger (one wild, loose, and […]
Read more "Ordinary Mind as the Path III (Anger)"Leave no trace and be freed
Read more "Traces"Anxiety — when experienced with radical fullness — can point to the Path of deep human happiness…
Read more "Ordinary Mind as the Path II (Anxiety)"