I shared the fundamental truth that life can only be lived in the present. Past and present are only memories and possibilities. The ‘past’ was the present when it was taking place and the ‘future’ will consist of present moments. It’s only by being present—alive, awake, aware—that we can experience joy, love, connection, peace, wonder. Only this moment is life.
When we are present, we come into alignment with life itself—we ‘keep our appointment with life,’ in Thich Nhat Hanh’s words. We see that we are as inextricably part of the web of life as are the flower in the field, the deer grazing, the tree and mountain, but much of the time we are separate from ourselves and from life. (James Joyce in Dubliners said ‘Mr Duffy lived a short distance from his body.’) Mindfulness brings us back to ourselves; it brings us back to life.
I spoke of two primary ways in which being present here and now leads to freedom of the heart. The first way is by helping us see where we are tangled in habits of mind and behavior that keep us disconnected from ourselves and our true nature—when we are caught up, for example, in fear, anger, blame, wanting, escaping, repressing, stress, worry, and other painful mind states and behaviors.
When we see our confusion with kind, non-judging awareness, we can let go of these habits of mind and action—we see that they are causing us suffering, not leading to well-being, and we can stop fueling them. We don’t have to get rid of them as something bad, but simply see them and let them go…
We can see the way our minds create suffering—for example, by worrying about the future and fueling anxious thinking, so that we believe the stories that our mind is telling us. Like the Zen monk in a cave, who painted a picture of a fierce tiger on the cave wall and was terrified each time he looked at it. We paint the pictures in our mind and then through fueling the fear by repetition, we stay locked in fear and suffering.
This is the path of abandoning, letting go of unskillful mind states and behaviors. The other path—we need both—is the path of cultivation of mind states and actions that lead to happiness, well-being, and freedom. When we cultivate presence—awareness of our experience here and now—beautiful states of mind naturally arise. We see more clearly the gifts that we’ve received from life and our oneness with all of life. Compassion, gratitude, loving-kindness, joy, arise in the heart and mind.
Other qualities that arise naturally—and that we can consciously cultivate—lead to the deepest freedom of awakening or enlightenment. The Buddha emphasized seven qualities that flow towards freedom in the way that a river flows towards the sea. These are: 1) Mindfulness; 2) Investigation; 3) Energy; 4) Joy; 5) Tranquility; 6) Concentration; and 7) Equanimity. By cultivating these ‘seven factors of awakening’ and abandoning unskillful states, mindfulness leads us to freedom of the heart.
I shared Mary Oliver’s poem ‘Wild Geese’ and a short poem by Thich Nhat Hanh:
‘If we are peaceful, if we are happy
We can blossom like a flower,
And everyone in our family,
Our entire society
Will benefit from our peace.’
Warm wishes to all for the week ahead. See you next Sunday at 9am eastern. Warmly, Hugh 🙏🏻 💜
