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session.

0:57

And instead of simply identifying

1:00

with and strengthening this

1:02

conditioned fear of

1:04

unpleasant sensation, is

1:07

it possible to

1:09

soften the mind, to open

1:12

the mind? Remember this path

1:14

of Dharma practice is a path of opening

1:17

to what is true. If

1:20

painful feeling is what is true

1:22

in the moment, can we open

1:25

to it? Can we feel it?

1:42

Welcome to the Joseph Goldstein Insight

1:45

Hour. This podcast

1:47

is an expression of our shared interest

1:50

in self-discovery. Join

1:52

Joseph as he shares his deep knowledge

1:55

of the path of mindfulness. If you are interested

1:57

in supporting this podcast, please visit us at josephgoldstein.com.

2:01

Please go to beherenownetwork.com

2:04

slash Joseph The

2:16

practice of Dharma is

2:21

a path of opening It's

2:26

opening to our senses,

2:29

opening to our perceptions, opening

2:33

to our emotions,

2:35

to our thoughts, opening

2:40

to the characteristics of experience,

2:44

to the impermanence and unsatisfactoriness

2:46

and selflessness,

2:52

and opening in very, or increasingly,

2:55

deep and subtle ways to each

2:58

of these aspects of

3:01

what is true. It's

3:03

also opening

3:06

to

3:08

places of silence,

3:10

and there are many levels of silence of mind.

3:14

Munindraji,

3:16

one of my first teachers, once

3:20

gave a three-hour talk on

3:22

the 21 kinds of silence.

3:31

There's a vastness of mind and

3:33

of experience to open to. What's

3:40

important to understand in

3:42

our practice is that

3:45

the way

3:47

of practice is not

3:50

a reaching out for something. It's

3:53

not a trying to get or a trying

3:55

to hold on. It is

4:00

is rather an opening

4:02

to, an opening to our

4:04

own Buddha nature, our own

4:07

essential nature. Because

4:11

Dharma means truth, and

4:13

the truth is here all the time. So

4:16

it's not something that we don't have, that

4:19

somehow we have to get. Rather

4:23

the Dharma is what is here in every moment,

4:26

and it's something we have to realize, something

4:28

we have to open to.

4:34

What keeps us closed

4:38

to this realization,

4:40

what keeps us closed to

4:43

this opening process, are

4:48

deeply conditioned fears. Fear

4:53

is a very strong conditioning in

4:55

the mind, very

5:00

strong conditioning in the body, certain

5:02

patterns, physical sensations,

5:05

conditioned by fear. And

5:10

this fear is a limitation, it's

5:12

a pulling back, it's

5:17

an unwillingness to open

5:19

to what is true, to open to the Dharma. We're

5:24

often afraid of pain, physical

5:26

pain, we're

5:29

afraid of psychological pain, we're

5:31

afraid of insecurity, of

5:33

uncertainty. We

5:39

may be afraid of death. What

5:47

happens as we proceed along this

5:49

journey of practice, is

5:52

that we come to our

5:54

edges, we come up to our boundaries

5:58

of what is acceptable. What

6:00

is acceptable in terms of physical sensation?

6:03

What is acceptable in terms of mind

6:05

states? Or

6:08

feelings or emotions? And

6:11

those are our boundaries at

6:14

which fears in the mind begin

6:17

to reveal themselves. Can

6:20

we go beyond these boundaries? Can

6:23

we go beyond the edges? Is there a way

6:25

of working with fear and understanding

6:27

it so that it is no longer a

6:29

limitation for us?

6:37

Perhaps the most essential

6:40

aspect of practice

6:43

to understand is

6:45

that the Dharma is the

6:47

totality of our experience, which

6:53

means that everything is workable.

6:57

There is no situation which arises

6:59

in the body or in the mind which

7:02

is outside of our practice.

7:10

So we learn how to open.

7:12

We learn to come to our boundaries, come

7:14

to our edges, our limitations.

7:17

We see the fear that may be operating

7:19

there. And we learn to work with

7:21

the fear. We include the fear in our practice.

7:28

When we look at fear,

7:32

we look at this mind state directly,

7:36

we begin to see that it is one of the

7:38

manifestations of

7:41

aversion. Aversion

7:43

in the mind has two

7:45

forms. It

7:48

has an,

7:51

I could call it an advancing

7:53

or aggressive form,

7:55

which manifests as anger.

7:59

When aversion is a

7:59

when we get aggressive, we get angry.

8:03

When aversion is in retreat,

8:06

kind of retreating form,

8:08

that's fear. Both

8:11

fear and anger are rooted

8:14

in aversion.

8:19

In this aversion,

8:21

whether it takes the form of anger,

8:23

which is advancing or

8:26

aggressive, it takes the form of fear,

8:28

which is withdrawing and contracting, it

8:34

conditions further unwholesome

8:37

states of mind.

8:41

For example, when there's

8:43

fear

8:45

of losing what we have,

8:50

whether it's pleasant sensations in the body

8:52

or pleasant mind states, or

8:54

people or situations or possessions,

8:58

when there's fear of losing what we have,

9:00

that fear

9:03

conditions attachment. Because

9:07

we're not working with the fear itself,

9:10

because we're identified and caught up with it,

9:12

it conditions attachment in the mind,

9:17

trying to hold on to what we have.

9:24

Fear also conditions resistance

9:29

in the mind,

9:31

that is fear of experiencing

9:33

what we don't want.

9:35

We don't want pain, we don't want insecurity,

9:38

we don't want uncertainty, we don't

9:40

want death. And

9:44

this fear of experiencing what

9:46

we don't want conditions all

9:48

the kinds of resistance that

9:52

arises. So

9:54

fear of losing what we have

9:57

strengthens attachment.

12:01

are part of what constitutes

12:03

us as a human being.

12:07

And instead of simply identifying

12:09

with and strengthening

12:11

this conditioned fear of

12:14

unpleasant sensation,

12:16

is it possible

12:19

to soften the mind,

12:21

to open the mind?

12:23

Remember, this path of Dhamma practice is

12:25

a path of opening to

12:27

what is true. If

12:30

painful feeling is what is true

12:32

in the moment, can we open

12:35

to it? Can we feel it? Pain

12:39

is a wonderful object because

12:42

if you are interested in

12:45

playing at the edge,

12:49

if you're interested in finding out what the

12:51

boundaries are,

12:54

of what the mind is willing to be with, pain

12:56

will take you there. It's an

12:58

express train to the edge. So

13:04

it's wonderful.

13:05

It's a wonderful place to begin to

13:07

explore, to explore the

13:10

nature of pain itself, to explore

13:12

the nature of fear.

13:17

One of the things that we can discover

13:19

as we take this train

13:22

to the edge, when

13:28

fear arises in the mind because

13:30

of pain, it very often is

13:32

not even

13:33

associated or

13:37

conditioned by the sensation itself,

13:41

as intense as a particular moment's

13:43

sensation may be.

13:45

More often, it's conditioned

13:49

by

13:51

a sequence of thoughts

13:53

about the sensation and about

13:55

the sensation enduring.

13:58

So even if we're quite capable,

14:01

of being an opening with the

14:03

burning or the pressure or the tightening or the stabbing

14:05

or the searing or the choking

14:09

or the whatever. I'm

14:11

sure you're quite familiar with the spectrum.

14:15

Even if we're quite able to

14:17

be with it in the moment, our mind gets

14:19

a little panicky. You know, well,

14:21

what if it stays the whole hour?

14:25

And so really

14:27

what we're afraid of is a concept.

14:31

We're adding this thought to

14:33

the experience and then getting afraid

14:35

of it. I'd

14:40

like to read something from one

14:43

of the books by

14:46

D.T. Suzuki. It's

14:52

from one of the zen texts. It says,

14:54

all is mind-made. It

14:56

is like someone painting a tiger. They

14:59

paint it, look at it and

15:01

are frightened. There

15:04

is, however, nothing at all in the

15:06

painted figure itself, which is fearsome.

15:09

All is the brushwork of your own imagination.

15:14

How often do we paint tigers

15:16

and then become

15:19

afraid of them, afraid of what we paint,

15:21

of what we create through our thoughts,

15:23

through our concepts.

15:32

So using pain in the practice as

15:35

a great teacher. It

15:38

has the ability to

15:43

bring the mind very deep. We

15:45

can actually penetrate into

15:50

the nature of phenomena. We can

15:52

begin to see the three characteristics very clearly.

15:57

As we open to the pain rather than contract,

16:00

rather than pull back out of fear, begin

16:05

to see that pain is not one solid thing, it's

16:07

not a solid mess, it's constantly

16:10

changing, there's a certain vibratory

16:12

feel to it, even if it is all

16:14

intensely unpleasant, but

16:18

we break up the solidity of it. People

16:27

get enlightened watching pain because

16:30

it's such a good object, the

16:33

mind is not wandering very much. What's

16:36

necessary is to stay soft, to stay

16:39

very soft and very open, it's

16:42

not a question of enduring, unless

16:44

there's a willingness in the mind and

16:47

an interest in the mind

16:49

to go into it and explore,

16:52

it's not going to work very well.

16:55

So at times when you feel that interest,

16:57

feel that willingness, go

17:00

to the edge, look at the fear that comes

17:02

up, see what the fear is about, is

17:05

it about the sensation or is it

17:07

about a thought?

17:12

Now the thought of the future,

17:14

the thought of the next hour or the next day

17:17

or the next month

17:19

is a huge weight, it's a huge

17:21

burden which we put on ourselves

17:24

because we don't see that it is just a

17:26

thought. So

17:29

coming back to the moment, an opening,

17:36

fear of pain, physical,

17:40

physical pain, there's also

17:43

fear of psychological pain.

17:48

Very often we have a fear of

17:50

being insecure, we

17:54

don't like that feeling of insecurity or

17:57

uncertainty.

18:03

We are afraid of not being liked

18:05

by other people. We

18:08

are

18:08

afraid of not being loved or accepted

18:10

or

18:12

respected.

18:16

And this fear leads to an inner

18:18

psychological insecurity,

18:20

which then has

18:23

a very powerful conditioning role.

18:29

If we are afraid of the feeling

18:31

of insecurity,

18:33

afraid to feel vulnerable in

18:35

that way,

18:40

one thing that happens is we then look

18:42

to other people

18:45

to validate ourselves as human beings.

18:47

So we need

18:49

the validation of others to feel

18:52

okay, because

18:54

we are unwilling to accept, we

18:57

are unwilling to open to this

18:59

feeling of insecurity.

19:04

It leads to the creation of

19:06

self-images.

19:08

What is it that is so strong in

19:10

our mind that continually creates

19:13

these images of who we are,

19:16

and then we have to protect these images,

19:20

it solidifies everything, it makes it concrete.

19:22

And why do we do that?

19:25

We do it because we are afraid, we

19:29

are afraid to open to

19:32

be simply who we are,

19:34

with all the wholesome parts and all

19:36

the unwholesome parts. And

19:42

certainly if people could see us as

19:44

we are, nobody

19:47

would hang out with us. We

19:51

can barely hang out with ourselves. So

19:54

who else would want to?

19:57

That's the thought pattern, We're

20:00

afraid of that, we're afraid of being

20:02

that open, we're afraid of being that vulnerable.

20:05

So we create these self-images as if

20:07

people can't see anyway.

20:13

This fear

20:15

of insecurity, fear of vulnerability,

20:18

also leads us and

20:20

conditions this judgment of others.

20:23

You may have noted that the judging

20:25

mind is not

20:27

unfamiliar.

20:29

We judge everything. We

20:33

judge the way

20:35

people eat, the way people walk, the way people

20:37

dress, the way people sit, the

20:41

way people talk, anything.

20:44

One time I was doing a self-retreat here

20:47

and

20:48

I was in the dining room. I

20:50

was trying to eat mindfully but my

20:53

eyes just seemed to wander

20:56

up to watch everybody coming

20:58

in on the lunch line

21:01

and the mind had a comment for everyone,

21:05

absolutely everyone. They're

21:09

going too fast, they're going too slow, they took too

21:11

much, they took too little. Why

21:15

do they look so schlumpy? Why does

21:19

this endless judging?

21:21

Why

21:25

is that? It's feeding

21:27

that pattern. Again

21:31

it's a way of strengthening

21:35

a certain

21:37

sense of security of self. When

21:41

we're busy judging others, when the mind

21:43

is doing that, somehow it gives us a

21:45

sense of a position and

21:47

we're solidifying a

21:49

position, a perspective and so

21:51

we feel secure in that.

21:54

To the degree that we can open to

21:57

our own insecurity.

23:30

It's

24:00

okay to feel exposed and it's okay to feel

24:02

open. Letting

24:05

it all be there, all the dark

24:08

spaces, all the bright spaces.

24:16

It's a woman by the name of Vimala Takhar, who

24:19

is a woman from India, who

24:21

was a student and friend and associate

24:24

for a long time of Krishnamurti. She's

24:27

a wonderful woman and an

24:31

amazingly incisive and penetrating

24:33

mind. In

24:37

the time before she went out to begin

24:40

sharing and teaching by herself, while

24:43

she was still with Krishnamurti,

24:46

she was very hesitant to

24:49

go out and

24:52

share her own insights and wisdom. And

24:55

at one point, Krishnamurti told her

24:57

that the reason you

24:59

don't want to go out at this time is

25:03

that you're afraid to make mistakes. Don't

25:07

be afraid to make mistakes. And

25:12

that's very liberating.

25:15

When we realize

25:17

and accept the fact that

25:19

we are indeed fallible,

25:24

I don't know why it should be such a surprise to

25:26

us. Somehow

25:29

it's something that we can't quite integrate in

25:33

our lives and actions. When

25:35

we realize that though, and realize that we're going to make

25:37

a lot of mistakes

25:40

in everything, in

25:42

our practice, in our relationships, in our work,

25:45

in everything, and that it's okay.

25:48

We don't have to be afraid to make

25:52

mistakes. And

25:54

if we can somehow come to that acceptance

25:57

of our fallibility.

26:02

It makes it much simpler and much easier

26:04

than to open.

26:10

There's a tremendous power

26:12

of connectedness,

26:17

tremendously deep connectedness,

26:20

which can come when we

26:22

are in our most vulnerable space.

26:26

I'd like to share a story with you that goes back

26:28

quite a few years in my practice,

26:32

but

26:32

it very much relates to this point.

26:34

I

26:37

had been doing a seshin, a Zen

26:40

seshin with Suzuki Roshi,

26:45

and he has the ability to be this

26:47

amazingly

26:50

fierce Zen master,

26:52

although he has many different sides.

26:57

He was being quite fierce with me,

26:59

and in that practice you do koans. You

27:02

give you a koan and you go in, and

27:04

four times a day you give

27:07

him your response to the koan. So

27:12

I'm going to this seshin

27:14

and I'm doing my koans, and

27:18

I go into a sanzen,

27:21

that's what it's called, the interviews, and

27:24

he asks me the question and I give

27:26

him my answer. Very

27:29

stupid. Go

27:33

in next time, you know, it's all very formal,

27:35

this kind of bowing, it's all

27:38

very formal, very structured, he brings

27:40

his bow, you leave. Next time

27:42

I go in,

27:43

too much ego. This

27:46

went on and on day after day, didn't

27:49

understand anything too stupid, and

27:52

I was just feeling

27:53

worse and worse and worse, and

27:56

everything was getting tight and tense. It

28:00

was like a very bad trip. I

28:06

was feeling so much anxiety

28:10

about going in for these interviews.

28:15

Finally, about halfway through the

28:17

sashin,

28:22

I just gave up. I

28:24

just didn't care anymore. I

28:27

went in with that attitude. It

28:31

just doesn't matter. So

28:33

he took a little pity on me and gave me an easier

28:36

koan. He

28:38

kind of

28:38

took me a step backwards.

28:41

The koan he gave me at this time was,

28:46

how do you

28:48

manifest Buddha nature

28:51

while chanting a sutra? It

28:54

seemed even to me at that time

28:57

fairly straightforward.

29:00

However, what perhaps he didn't know,

29:02

and perhaps he did, was

29:05

that that particular koan touched this

29:09

deep button in my mind about

29:12

singing and chanting,

29:14

which went back to a third grade music

29:16

teacher

29:17

who told me just to mouth the words. It

29:30

actually was appropriate advice, and

29:33

advice which had been reinforced over the years

29:35

many times. And

29:39

so over the years there was just this tremendous

29:42

inhibition and

29:44

fear which had been built up about singing

29:47

or chanting in public.

29:51

So here I am in this very intense situation

29:54

with this Zen master who is

29:56

like a rock and who has been really

29:58

fierce.

32:03

This fear

32:04

of physical pain,

32:06

this fear of emotional, psychological

32:08

pain, fear of this insecurity, fear

32:11

of being vulnerable.

32:15

There's also a very strong fear in

32:17

the mind of death.

32:19

Many people are afraid of dying.

32:23

Where does that come from? Why is it

32:25

so deep and so pervasive?

32:29

As long as we hold

32:32

on to this mind and body

32:34

as being self, as being

32:37

I,

32:38

that attachment, that identification

32:42

will inevitably condition

32:44

a fear of death.

32:52

The fear of death

32:54

is in some way a resistance

32:56

to

32:58

or a not acknowledging

33:00

of impermanence, of

33:02

the fact that actually, not metaphorically,

33:06

but literally,

33:08

we are being

33:09

born and dying

33:11

every moment. Consciousness

33:14

is arising and passing instantaneously.

33:19

But until we understand that, until

33:21

we experience that in ourselves,

33:25

we have the idea of some enduring

33:27

entity which,

33:30

you

33:31

know, when we get old and sick and die,

33:33

conventionally speaking,

33:35

it's finished. So then there's going to be a tremendous

33:38

fear of that.

33:40

But as we understand this

33:43

process right now, as we're living,

33:47

and we see that there is no enduring

33:49

entity,

33:51

we let go to

33:52

some extent of this attachment,

33:55

this grasping at the mind and body

33:58

as being self.

35:59

And as we

36:02

understand this process more clearly,

36:04

through

36:05

observation, through mindfulness, as

36:07

we see that it's all arising and passing,

36:10

and that each moment is new,

36:14

we begin to let go of dragging

36:16

these corpses.

36:19

And we become enlightened

36:22

in a very literal sense.

36:25

Things begin to lighten up because

36:27

we're not carrying so much baggage.

36:31

I'd like to read something from Krishnamurti,

36:36

who addresses this so often in

36:38

his teachings.

36:39

He said, most of us are

36:42

frightened of dying

36:44

because we don't know what it means to live.

36:48

We don't know how to live, and

36:51

therefore we don't know how to die. As

36:55

long as we are frightened of life, we

36:57

shall be frightened of death. The

37:02

person who is not frightened of life, is not

37:07

frightened of being completely insecure. For

37:17

they understand that inwardly and psychologically

37:21

there is no security. When

37:25

there is no security, there is an

37:27

endless movement. And

37:31

then life and death are the same. The

37:36

person who lives without conflict,

37:38

who lives with beauty and with love, is

37:40

not frightened of death.

37:44

If you die to everything you know,

37:47

including

37:49

your family, your

37:51

memory, everything

37:53

you have felt, then

37:56

death is a purification, a rejuvenating.

38:00

process. To

38:03

find out actually what takes place

38:05

when you die, you must

38:08

die. You

38:12

must die not physically but psychologically.

38:17

Inwardly, die to the things

38:19

you have cherished and

38:21

to the things you are bitter about. If

38:24

you have died to one of your pleasures,

38:27

the smallest or the greatest, naturally

38:31

and without any enforcement or argument,

38:35

then you will know what it means to die.

38:39

To die is to have a mind that is completely

38:41

empty of itself, empty

38:44

of its daily longings, pleasures

38:47

and agonies. When

38:51

there is death,

38:52

there is something totally new.

38:57

Freedom from the known is death

38:59

and then you are living. That

39:08

is exactly our practice. Dying

39:17

in each moment, being

39:20

reborn in each moment, not

39:23

holding on, not dragging from

39:25

the past, this

39:30

fear of pain, this

39:33

fear of psychological insecurity,

39:35

this fear of death.

39:38

These are the fears, these are the deeply

39:40

conditioned fears that keep

39:42

us from this process of

39:44

surrender, process of opening.

39:48

How can we work directly with

39:50

the fear, with the mind state of fear?

39:54

If it's strong in the mind, times.

40:00

The first attitude that

40:02

I think is helpful with it is

40:04

to have a respect for it,

40:07

because it is not a superficial

40:10

quality, it's not a superficial

40:12

conditioning of mind. The fears

40:15

go very, very deep.

40:18

And so it's not enough to have simply an intellectual

40:21

understanding, but

40:25

it's really a willingness to

40:29

have a respect for the fear and a willingness

40:31

to work with it, to open to it. It's

40:36

to recognize them when they arise, with

40:40

an attitude of acceptance, that

40:44

it's okay to feel fear. We

40:47

don't have to be afraid of fear.

40:51

If we're afraid of fear, we

40:54

just further intensify it, further lock

40:57

it in. Can

41:05

we take, or can we encourage

41:09

a loving acceptance when

41:11

the mind is afraid? An

41:14

image which

41:16

perhaps you might find useful.

41:20

Often when the fear is very strong

41:23

and very intense, it's hard to have

41:25

a proper attitude towards it.

41:28

We either condemn it, or judge it, or

41:30

run away from it. But

41:33

imagine at the time

41:36

when the fear is intense, imagine

41:39

that you're relating to a very frightened

41:41

child. There's

41:43

a child, it's very frightened

41:45

by something. What

41:48

would you do? How would you relate to that child?

41:52

A few things you probably wouldn't do. You

41:55

probably wouldn't go over to the child and feed

41:58

the fear. You

42:00

should be afraid. It's

42:02

a good thing you're afraid, and stay afraid.

42:06

You probably wouldn't do that. On

42:09

the other hand, you probably also wouldn't

42:14

hit the kid over the head for being afraid.

42:17

You stupid kid, why are you afraid?

42:20

You wouldn't do that either, most likely.

42:25

Rather, if there were

42:27

a frightened child, most

42:29

likely we would go over and

42:35

simply be there for

42:37

him or her.

42:38

In a supporting way,

42:40

in a loving way, in a caring way, allowing

42:44

the fear to be there without

42:46

feeding it and without judging it, without

42:48

condemning it. It's okay. It's okay

42:51

to feel that. For

42:54

some reason, we find it easier to do it

42:56

with somebody outside of ourselves than

42:59

when the fear is in our own minds. But

43:02

it's the same attitude that's necessary.

43:06

So sometimes by externalizing the image,

43:09

it can remind us of

43:11

what a skillful attitude might be.

43:16

We

43:19

decondition the

43:21

intensity of the fear. We decondition

43:24

that particular factor through

43:27

a loving acceptance. Because

43:31

if we identify with it, we feed

43:33

it. If we condemn it, we feed

43:35

it.

43:36

But if we can simply be there and accept

43:38

it

43:39

and be aware, it begins

43:42

to dissipate. The

43:47

first thing we do is accept it lovingly.

43:54

Second thing we do with fear is

43:56

we can begin to take the measure

43:58

of the situation.

44:03

Because different actions might be appropriate

44:05

depending on what the situation is. Sometimes

44:08

fear arises

44:12

and the appropriate action to take

44:14

is a retreat,

44:17

is actually to move away from the situation.

44:20

Sometimes fear arises and the appropriate

44:23

action is to move ahead, to move

44:25

right into it. If

44:27

we're not afraid of the fear,

44:31

if we've come to a place where we're comfortable

44:34

or okay with that feeling, then

44:36

it's possible

44:37

to bring some discriminating wisdom to

44:40

the situation.

44:42

So instead of responding

44:45

mechanically and

44:47

reacting automatically, we

44:49

can see clearly, do we move

44:51

ahead, do we pull back, do we sidestep?

44:55

Many actions are possible.

45:02

Very often

45:05

when fear arises in our meditation

45:07

practice,

45:08

it arises at a place where

45:10

we've reached a boundary, we've reached an

45:13

edge, and in many situations,

45:17

if we're willing to be with the fear,

45:20

it's possible to go through it,

45:22

possible to stay right there. That can

45:25

be a place of great heroic effort,

45:28

great courageous effort,

45:30

with pain, with sleep.

45:34

You know, sometimes

45:37

people undertake the eight precepts,

45:40

which means not eating after the new meal.

45:44

A tremendous fear about that in the mind.

45:46

And I'll starve.

45:49

See, what do we do with that? Do

45:51

we pull back from it? Do we go ahead with it? Do

45:53

we experiment? One

45:58

of the most... one of the most helpful things

46:02

that you could remember from this talk

46:06

is that when there is

46:09

fear in the mind, that

46:12

means

46:13

we are at a place of

46:15

our boundary, or our limitation

46:18

of what we are willing to be with. And

46:22

that place

46:23

is the most interesting place

46:26

to practice.

46:27

It's not a problem,

46:30

and it's not something to be avoided, because

46:34

that's exactly the place where the most

46:36

opening can happen. And

46:39

so in times of difficulty, in

46:42

times when there is fear in the mind, use

46:45

it because it is a very precious gift.

46:50

It's one of the gifts that the practice

46:52

gives to us. There's

47:08

two other attitudes of mind which help

47:10

very much in working with fear, and

47:13

that is metta,

47:15

or loving kindness, and trust. It's

47:19

when the mind is filled with metta, it

47:23

creates a certain energy field

47:26

in which fear doesn't operate.

47:29

And the Buddha recommended the cultivation

47:31

of metta

47:34

in working with fear. But

47:38

one has to be mindful

47:40

and careful that the metta is genuine. I

47:45

had an experience a couple of years ago visiting

47:48

friends in Western Mass, who

47:51

live in the country. I was

47:53

walking down this dirt road

47:56

past a neighbor's farm,

47:59

And there was this little dog

48:02

who was very agitated,

48:07

more than agitated, aggressive.

48:11

And this dog was really

48:14

barking away very loudly, very aggressively.

48:17

It looked like he was going to attack any minute.

48:20

So I thought, fine, I'll do some metta. So

48:23

I'm standing there, be happy, be happy,

48:25

be happy, be peaceful.

48:30

It came over and bit me. There

48:36

was sort of instant feedback that

48:40

be happy and stay over there is

48:44

not really metta. You

48:47

know, that's, you could call it manipulative metta.

48:52

That's not the metta the Buddha was talking about. When

48:56

there is genuinely

48:58

a feeling of love,

49:03

it very much helps to

49:07

reduce the quality of fear

49:09

in the mind. And

49:12

the quality of trust, trusting

49:16

in ourselves, trusting in the practice,

49:19

trusting in the Dharma, the law of things.

49:24

There's one brief haiku poem

49:26

which expresses this

49:30

trust

49:33

in the way of things, which is

49:35

really what Dharma means. Dharma means law,

49:37

it means

49:39

how things are.

49:42

There was a haiku poem

49:44

that said, simply trust,

49:48

don't the leaves flutter

49:50

down just like that?

49:56

Simply trust,

49:58

don't the leaves flutter down?

49:59

just like that.

50:24

Ram Dass always encouraged the gathering of community

50:27

and stressed the importance of satsang throughout

50:30

his life. Join us at our summer

50:32

mountain retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountain

50:34

Range of North Carolina. This

50:36

year's theme is cultivating living presence and

50:39

making peace with our shadow. You'll

50:41

experience nightly kirtan with Krishnadas,

50:44

daily dharma talks with Lama Sultram, Dr.

50:47

Sara King, David Nicktern,

50:49

and Nina Rao, as well as daily

50:51

yoga and music with Radha Wepner and

50:53

East Forest. Come connect

50:56

with our community this August 24th through

50:58

28th. Visit ramdass.org

51:01

forward slash B-O-O-N-E

51:04

for more details.