April 15, 2025

Already Forgiven

Posted by Dr. Bob under Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
Comments Off on Already Forgiven 
Free Palm Sunday Palm Leaf photo and picture

Long ago an Indian Sage offered up some wisdom into an age-old philosophical dilemma: free will versus determinism.

Most of us enjoy the day-to-day experience of freedom as we choose the time we rise, our fare for breakfast and the route to work or school. Sometimes the multitude of choices may even overwhelm. Consider breakfast and the over-stocked cereal isle at the grocery store-Frosted Flakes or Frosted Mini Wheats? Sometimes, we just choose none of the above.

We also choose our friends and relationships; we choose our career paths and our politics. We become upset, and sometimes choose to lash out and even harm others. Most would agree that we make these decisions and are responsible for them.

But are we truly free? Some behaviorists argue for the profound effects of the environment to influence, if not determine, our actions. And some proponents of biological determinism posit that our physical and mental selves are a function of the physical body and hereditary traits. These influences of nurture and nature, respectively, are briefly mentioned here to set the scene for that Sage cited above.

The karmic principle of cause and effect was central to this Wise Man’s analysis and it aligns with determinism. By this spiritual concept, our seeming choices for setting the alarm, picking breakfast foods and driving routes are not choices at all but an expression of the thousands if not millions of factors that preceded those actions: “everything is predetermined”. Harms to others are an expression of this principle too. Referring to the everyday experience of me as the Ego, one could thus imagine an egoic being, predestined by its nurture/nature past, while just imagining a life of free will. Our suffering emanates from this core delusion. If I am free and do these harms I must be bad. If you are free and do these harms you must be bad. All is unforgivable.

But suppose our nature is two fold. There is the Ego, an expression of nurture and nature, conditioned by both with the illusion of free will. And there is a Self, or Soul or Buddha Nature which exists without encumbered conditioning and in perfect understanding and freedom. Identification with the former invokes a path of suffering; of guilt and grudge, of karma. Identification with the latter is to awaken to that sacred space of freedom and responsibility.

Note the irony. The conditioned and predestined Ego while un-free suffers the illusion of freedom. Our failure to understand that we are all the effect of a myriad of causes promotes endless fault-finding; blame and self-blame. On the other hand, The Self, free by its very nature, is unconditioned and embodies wisdom and compassion. From that perspective, there is deep understanding of the Ego predicament and tenderness over the pain of grudge, resentment and unforgivable acts.

Most of us occupy that Ego space a lot with an occasional glimpse into our True Nature as we experience a little freedom. But maybe that’s enough to understand that somehow we are both free and determined. These experiences are compatible-the compatibilist view. In that space, the free will illusion starts to recede. We begin to understand that the messes of life are karmic and nobody’s fault. In some sense, we all have done what we were destined to do. Nobody’s fault. In and from that space, we all might release and be released from past transgressions. This fragile insight comes and goes at first. The fault-finding Ego is unsatisfied, with last gasps to never pardon and forever condemn self and others.

We persevere and continue to cultivate those synergistic qualities of wisdom and compassion. We contemplate these elements; we chew and swallow the sacrament. Cause and effect wobbles; conditioning corrects to mere ethers. The Old Sage smiles.

We arrive without baggage at the forgiveness impasse again, and prepare to conquer it. But then the unexpected- All causes and effects have disappeared into the Self where the Truth is suddenly upon us. The Truth is that each of us has been natured and nurtured and acted as only we could all our lives. And in this brief, bright moment we understand. No blame.

There is nothing more to do. We are, all of us, already forgiven.

 

March 16, 2025

The Greed Of Opinion

Posted by Dr. Bob under Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , |
Comments Off on The Greed Of Opinion 
Free Silhouette Rope photo and picture

The delight of shared opinion has long occupied minds everywhere. Discussion and debate can be intellectually vigorous, emotionally rewarding and just plain fun. Yet, as we examine relatively recent innovations of social media, something has happened to those good debates of old. They now seem more shrill, divisive and mean-spirited than ever. And, truthfully, this post adds just one more opinion on the heap…but please read on.

Of course, we must not succumb to the false nostalgia of some good old days of argued ideas. Let’s stipulate that opposing opinions have had their downside for as long as humankind has held them. After all, one could cite the history of warfare across centuries as an example of opinion and disagreement degrading to savagery. And, mournfully, there is no shortage of armed conflict to this very day.

But our current time and technology has added some new and performative twists to opinions expressed.  There is political theater with more bombast than substance; (sometimes empty headed) influencers and podcasters; X and Facebook, and opinions so pervasive, dark and fact-free that one must sometimes run for cover. Meditation recommended.

Before you grab your cushion, a couple of additional observations. The place to start looking at opinions is always with our own. Bias around confirmation is that trickiest of inputs where we screen out opposing views and welcome views that pat our own on the back. None of us has completely conquered self-deception, and those who think they have may be the biggest nitwits of all.

Young kids may be an exception to the problem of opinion. Children represent both the ultimate in egocentricity and innocence. True, that a preschooler knows a lot about me and “mine” (every other object is mine) in their sensory-based world. But it is also true that their purity of opinion can shine forth. What the pre-logical mind lacks in factual discourse is more than made up for by the most holy form of sincerity. See child opinions on Good and Evil; Santa and Monsters, respectively.

The rest of us could exercise some introspection and consider opinion corrupted by three factors: the poisons of Buddhist philosophy.

First reflect upon the greed of opinion as we collect and covet our own, like some miser and a pile of (fools) gold. We squeeze our views with such attachment that counterviews are not entertained except to double-down on our own beliefs. We become not so interested in understanding the other and obsess on the demand, “goddamit, understand ME”.

Next, observe the ill-will of opinion as we put forth our own with frustration, hostility and even hatred toward opposing ideas and the people that hold them. Grimacing countenance, tone of voice and that tight gut-feeling signal our indulgence of aversion toward others.

Finally, take note of the ignorance of opinion too often held with a complete lack of humility. We have to be right in relation to the wrong of the other guy. Imagine the vastness of viewpoints and the tiny, tiny speckle that represents our own. There is a lot we could learn from each other.

Remedy starts with mindful awareness and a life-long self-assessment of points of view. Where we see our own greed, we might bring the generosity of opinion and the suspension of judgment. This is not to retreat to eternal people-pleasing, but instead to fully listen, welcome and appreciate others and their thoughts. In the words from The Prayer Of St. Francis, we could seek less to be understood and more to understand. In fact, the entire prayer goes a long way toward informing the generosity of opinion.

Next, reflect on ill-will and opinion. It is stunning to let that in: a few cacophonous hours of the evening opinion/news, social media or even a family gathering will do. We are tasked with releasing our own aversions and, per that Priere pour la paix, invoking a little kindness and peace. And at that contentious family event, maybe a little love.

Lastly, take a deep breath to appreciate that we occupy Sagan’s tiny pale blue dot and yet suffer the delusion that our own ideas fill the universe. A little humility and with that, a dollop of wisdom, please.

Many of these ideas are not new and some of them are better expressed elsewhere. The Mindfulness Trainings of Thich Nhat Hanh are a good place to pause our attention. Thay’s teaching on the non-attachment to views and deep listening to others are a kind of salve to opinion gone bad.

Now, jump on that cushion.

 

November 24, 2024

Let’s Talk About Hands

Posted by Dr. Bob under Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , |
Comments Off on Let’s Talk About Hands 
Free Monk Meditation photo and picture

Open them, shut them, open them shut them,
Give them a great big clap.
Open them, shut them, open them, shut them,
put them in your lap.


The classroom called special education holds labors and wonders and chants including this one with a hands-in-your-lap finale. This position can be a remarkable point of pause in the hands-busy lives of those students… and the rest of us.


You see, students in class learn life skills that most of the rest of us take for granted, as they pour a cup of juice or tie shoelaces. Hands dedicated to careful and slow pouring or tying is a thing of beauty to watch. To succeed, students like Dolores and Charlie and all of their peers paid rapt attention! And after awhile some teachers began to wonder: who is teaching whom?


What if we all sat still for a moment with our hands in the “pupil mudra”, simply in the lap? Or we could experiment with the symbolic hand gestures associated with various religious traditions like the meditative dhyana mudra: palm up right hand atop palm up left hand, thumbs touching. One could sneak the right hand from the lap to touch the ground even as the left hand remains in the lap. That’s the “earth witness mudra”–see the grand legend for that background story!


Pausing with hands in our lap invites a contemplative state. It sets the stage for the movements that follow. In fact, an interesting mindfulness practice is to simply watch our hands. After all, so many of our daily activities involve mindless hand-based movements, as we day-dream our way through pouring or tying or typing a sentence. We call it “muscle memory”, a kind of motor memory that joins the motor cortex with a part of the brain responsible for behaviors of habit. This efficiency, while essential, can lead to a lost-in-thought lifestyle.


Watching hands deliver these automatic actions now and then is to notice the miracle that we are. Next we could observe the thousands of similar automatic movements dedicated to eating a meal or driving a car or scrolling on a phone. Extraordinary!


No wonder that, in the classroom called special education, Dolores would exclaim in utter joy, “lets talk about hands!”

 

April 15, 2024

Some Concerns

Posted by Dr. Bob under Uncategorized | Tags: , |
Comments Off on Some Concerns 

Buddhist psychology describes the so-called Eight Worldly Dharmas. Sometimes expressed as the Eight Worldly Concerns, they are: Pleasure and pain; fame and disgrace; praise and blame; gain and loss. We want the former and eschew the latter. Of course!


But maybe there is a little more to it.


Chasing a desired outcome seems logical enough except when the chase intensifies into preoccupation, greed and even obsession. And eschewing undesired conditions is likewise reasonable, except when the push becomes frantic, aggressive and harmful. The worldly concerns are potent elixirs that hook us into rapacity for more or desperation for less. We become insatiable for one. And we hate the other.


Attachment to outcomes wanted or unwanted is worth investigating. Circumstances forever come our way and with circumstance comes concern. Just noticing conditions might better suit us rather than concerned clinging (or averting) in relation to them. Imagine noticing pleasure, fame, praise and gain without attaching to those experiences. Further imagine a mindfulness over pain, disgrace, blame, and loss without frenetic pushing away.


We could feel the essence of these qualities as they pass. No holding on; no pushing way. No apathy either. Fully engaged. Fully letting go. As in the Prayer: to dwell in the great equanimity, free from grasping, averting and indifference.