The first part of the spiritual journey is moving from a world in which form is the predominant way of relating to life, and desiring and avoiding form the primary way we navigate through life, to the formless paradigm that is both immaterial and unified.
Quiet yourself and focus on the forms in front of you. Listen to what the mind says about each form. The mind likely knows what each object is, perhaps its history, whether its appearance is pleasant or unpleasant, and its shape and color. This is form or object consciousness. Now relax your eyes and do … Continued
If we settle back for a moment and ask how we know we exist, we sense a life force in us that is undeniable. We may not know exactly what that something is, but it seems like some felt-sense of aliveness. If we quiet ourselves even further and look deeper within, this sense of existence … Continued
We can encourage the unconscious to come forward by asking questions about the hidden assumptions of our life. These questions might include: Is the world what it seems to be? Am I as separate as I feel? How do my emotions and thoughts distort what I see? Why are there so many struggles in life, … Continued
This ground of being arises through an undifferentiated side-by-side balancing of form and the formless. The Buddha points toward this fact in the First Foundation when he instructs, as noted above, that all activities are to be lived in awareness without the slightest discrepancy between one activity and another (“when eating, drinking, chewing, and savoring…when … Continued
There is form, which is the totality of things manifested, and there is the formless, which is the silent, awake, formless awareness of being. Much of the spiritual journey is the realization of these two terms and how to live in perfect harmony within the paradox of both together: how to abide in the formless … Continued
This First Foundation shows us that form (the body is but one expression of form) is dependent upon the mind for its isolated position and definition. A natural question arises from this exploration: How does ownership and definition of the body occur in the mind? The Second Foundation provides the answer.
Douglass not only battled slavery and racism, but also whites within the abolitionist movement, one of whom even told him to be less articulate in public and to put a little more of the “plantation” in his speeches.
One of the most fascinating stories that Still recounted, and which received enormous international attention, began on March 23, 1849, when Henry Brown (1816–1889)escaped slavery by having himself mailed from Richmond to Philadelphia in a wooden crate. Outraged that his family, including his pregnant wife, had been sold away to North Carolina, Brown had trusted … Continued
The notorious Fugitive Slave Act put every free black person in the North at risk of a legally sanctioned kidnapping by suggesting that no person of African ancestry could really be an American citizen, an implication affirmed by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision of 1857. The South sent its agents—slave catchers and … Continued
If the idea-of-self is quieted for a moment, “full alertness” means something quite different than self-engaged mindfulness. In the absence of a watcher, awareness emerges fully and inclusively. The key understanding is that the sense-of-self did not “make this happen,” and therefore “I” cannot make myself “fully alert.”
This shift toward allowing ourselves to be fully embraced by awareness starts with a keen interest in understanding what we are. Listening is the receptive action of awareness, and begins with the humility to release our knowledge and opinions to receive what is actually occurring. We “listen” to what awareness is revealing about what we … Continued
There is a notable mudra of the Buddha touching the earth with his right hand as he sits upright in meditation. The mythology behind the gesture is that the Buddha was experiencing doubt about himself and so to release that doubt he allows the earth to confirm his presence. I love this gesture because it … Continued
We take refuge in being here, and willingly surrender all thoughts that undermine our one true location. Here is as near to the sacred as we will ever find.
From here we establish our confidence of being, our assurance of presence. Here needs no excuses or apologies. We do not look furtively over our shoulder to see if anyone is watching or glance behind us from fear of being discovered. Here is the dynamic straight-ahead, body relaxed, shoulders open, fearless in our resolution, but … Continued
The Buddha initiates the path of self-discovery by beginning with the body as the First Foundation. He begins here because there is nowhere else to start. This is the exclusive entry point into interconnected being. If we want to understand the nature of form, we have to examine the form we are in. If we … Continued
All expressions of form are conditioned, and conditions can only be probed by formless awareness, which is still and not conditioned. If we attempt to investigate conditionality with other conditional processes, such as our thoughts or opinions, we will be unable to see through the filters of our thoughts to what is actually there. Stillness, … Continued