At this point, it might be helpful to go over a few words in order to stay clear. For instance, when I speak of wisdom, I’m referring to the knowing that flourishes beyond the separate sense of self—we could call it Knowing with a capital “K.” Wisdom is beyond the judgments and evaluations of the mind, or, we could say, the ego. Wisdom continually realizes the simultaneous, supportive coexistence of our Ultimate Life with our conventional circumstance. It’s the result of any person’s shift in perspective from the habit-driven contraction of unconsciousness to the vast opening of Spirit. From this new perspective, we begin to simply intuit a consciousness that “Knows” the totality of the All.

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It has not deserted its creation for a place apart; it is always present to those with strength to touch it.

—Plotinus

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.

—Shunryu Suzuki

Although living a life sourced from a sense of separation consistently leads to suffering, separation itself is not bad. In fact, feeling separate from everything is pretty natural. But our attachment to both our sense of separation and to the activities that perpetuate it results in what many traditions call “delusion.” While, here again, there is nothing inherently wrong with delusion, or what we could just as easily refer to as unconsciousness, it usually gets us into trouble. And in a spiritual sense, it is the major impediment to an opening to the enlightened perspective. Put another way, unconsciousness is what keeps us from ascending the Path up the Mountain. Our journey is thwarted since the ego sees itself as separate from everything else, and it survives by building a fortress around all that could potentially support its ability to manage everything about our lives. It does this by clinging to the things that it sees as useful for maintaining its sense of control and by avoiding the things that challenge its authority. A common example of this is our tendency to look for certitude in everything. People so often feel uncomfortable in the chaotic uncertainty of life that they grasp at certainties such as religion, political dogmas, clubs and communal organizations in order to make them feel safe, cared for, and understood. The delusion that our grasping will defend us from the Universe is exactly what inhibits an awakened expression of life.

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To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me.

—Isaac Newton

The Four Noble Truths: Suffering; the origin of suffering; the cessation of suffering; and the Noble Eightfold Path, which leads to the cessation of suffering.

—Dhammapada

Most of us have a deep and resonant longing to live lives of balance, yet we tend to get blown around continually by the winds of circumstance. Some of these winds are positive and fulfilling, some are not. Either way, these circumstances tend to push us off center and keep us from living lives that are informed by peace. At least, this was my situation when I first entered a meditation hall. I was about to graduate from college and was living a life filled with anything but peace. My day-to-day experience was totally out of balance, and I had no idea how to fix it. More than anything else, I just wanted a break from all of the stress that I was feeling. What should I do about getting a real job? What should I do about the unhealthy patterns that keep showing up in each of my relationships? What should I do about all the pain I’m feeling as I watch my parents divorce? These and other questions puzzled me. What was going on within me was in torment, and this torment seemed to be brought on by situations outside of me that I couldn’t control. I felt like I was being torn apart, and I craved some kind of internal and external stability.

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The Universe has a way of reminding us that no matter how hard we try, we can’t control everything. Regardless of our efforts, however heroic, things eventually fall apart. As unwelcome as these reminders of ultimate entropy might be, we can’t prevent them. Over a long enough timeline we find that all things are temporary. Things get lost, bodies break down, relationships end, circumstances shift, and all of us eventually must succumb to death. The law is simple: all things change.

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The whole of deep spiritual teaching is essentially the communication of space. In tonight’s talk, Michael explains how we can participate with the world instead of avoiding it. He also talks about what any of us might consider when we begin looking for a teacher.

From the time I was about nine years old until I entered my last year in college, I hated God. I would often find myself railing internally and sometimes even externally against the small-mindedness of those who adhered to a patriarchal and largely superstitious approach to Him. The wars fought in His name, whether large or small, collective or personal, seemed like nothing other than horrific human folly built on a corrosive, fear-based addiction to “faith.” In some ways things haven’t changed. Brutality still presents itself in the name of faith, and humanity still tends to center itself on rather primitive notions of God. My anger surrounding the issues of religion, however, has softened substantially over the years. This doesn’t mean that I’ve necessarily “found God”; it’s just that after lots of travel, stillness, and study with some great teachers, the whole divine mess doesn’t hammer me as much any more, and as a result, there is more peace in my heart and mind.

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Let it be known to each of you reading these words that neither my story nor my version of spiritual teaching offers anything that hasn’t already been offered many times before. At its core, there is absolutely nothing original about this work. I’m merely passing a baton, of sorts-one that was generously offered to me by circumstance, deep peace, great teachers, and more than a little commitment. The only thing that I’ve written in these pages are pointers and suggestions that have been helpful in my journey as a student and especially now as a teacher. This isn’t false modesty. Ask anyone who knows me; I’m not always as modest as I should be. Rather, I’m simply trying to be transparent and offer an honest evaluation and explanation of credit that is not and will never be mine to take.

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