“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm
we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage
and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”
Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”
Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
"Meditation is not a matter of trying to achieve ecstasy, spiritual
bliss, or tranquility,
nor is it attempting to be a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which
we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games,
nor is it attempting to be a better person. It is simply the creation of a space in which
we are able to expose and undo our neurotic games,
our self-deceptions, our hidden fears and hopes. "
― Chögyam Trungpa
Although I also loved riding my bicycle, wandering through fields, and playing baseball as a kid, I read -- a lot.
One summer in Chicago, as often as I could, I would climb up on the flat roof of a garage in the alley behind the three-flat we lived in at the time, to pour through book after book. As I remember it, Huckleberry Finn was my favorite. In the midst of a rather troubling and chaotic childhood, Mark Twain invited me to join Huck, and journey down the river on my rooftop raft to a different -- and seemingly more alluring -- world.
Nowadays, I don't read much fiction, but there is still usually a stack of books close at hand. Most of them are related to meditation and spirituality. At this point, pouring through books isn't jumping on a raft to escape the realities of my life. This ongoing journey through the Teachings is a means to stay in touch with those realities.
The book at the top of the stack these days is Chögyam Trungpa's Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism. This is my fourth or fifth time through it in the past forty years. Once again, I find myself marveling at the depth of insight presented -- and the new layers of understanding that seem to emerge with each reading. (I imagine another decade of almost daily meditation Practice and a number of meditation intensives between this reading and the last may have helped. LOL)
I found myself grinning from ear to ear. Again and again.
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