I agree! We seem to each be born into separation from our mother in entering this life, but perception through these finite eyes is limited to transience, all that comes and goes, has beginning and ending. Every "Thing" is recognized and categorized by differences and contrasts to every other "Thing"; this is integral to how our conceptual (mortal) mind operates. From that perspective "love" is only recognized in contrast to its absence or opposite (fear? isolation? separation? hatred?). When I am Aware that my finite perception is the source of my experiencing separation, it becomes clear that that's an illusion; the appearance of separation is simply an artifact of my limited perception. And I am reminded of the infinite including ALL when see the reflection in each apparently separate person, thing, place, and time. Metta or Agape are perhaps attempts to express what Love is in that infinite light. Yet how can I come to recognition and appreciation that Love without my finite mind having approached from separation? Perhaps the flower of infinite Love can only bloom from the fertilizer of separation?

I have learned over time that opportunities for healing arise when they are ripe to be addressed, just as tearing into the wall when there is NO leak is unlikely to have much benefit. Trying to anticipate and prepare for any/every possible failure and then living in fear also has no benefit. When the time is ripe (and symptoms are seen) then wise action, repair, and healing (also preventing further damage) can be undertaken, having compassion for all which is temporary and mortal in this life. Sweeping the water under the rug at that point just makes lumps and rot that will trip you up and be more painful to address later. Every experience of pain or suffering can be seen as an invitation for healing...

These small unrequested acknowledgements of each other in daily life are a gift of recognition to true self, which is not as separate as our egoic interactions assume. Our culture encourages seeing fellow travelers with apprehension, yet how many face even worse apprehension visiting estranged family over the holidays? As long as we self-righteously revolve around *I*, *ME* and *MINE*, suffering results.

Like our mortal body, we grow into this life with mind, emotions, and ego (sense of *I*, *ME* and *MINE* separate from all else), and all of those can be seen as resulting from prior causes and conditions (karma). Fear based motivation drives ego; lack of survival, keeping job, and paying bills for the first mason, and when those seem endless, life is suffering. The alternative is finding (and appreciating) Love in whatever we do (as the second mason), which is much more satisfactory, though as long as what we love is external, there will still be fears of losing that love (such as cathedral being destroyed by war, abandoned due to finances, failing health preventing working, or dying). Awakening from the dream of ego offers freedom from all fears, while right-action, and boundless loving-kindness continue without limits.

I see hope and despair as the bipolar opposites, and fear as the energy behind BOTH of those. Both hope (that something may change for example), and despair (that it will not) are for the future rather than recognizing what actually exists NOW (where the opportunity for action really is). My finite ego can only see things in terms of duality: light vs dark, good vs bad, happy vs sad, right vs wrong, hope vs despair, and ALL of those are expressions of my egoic attachment vs aversion, fueled by fears (that the "good" may be lost or insufficient. while the "bad" may manifest or multiply). In the bigger picture, Love can be recognized as being behind the fears (Love of existence and life, love of seeing truth clearly, loving-kindness: metta, compassion, etc.). When I consciously choose Awareness of unlimited Love, and act in each moment of now on that basis, then I am not dependent on clinging to fragile hope for some future, and there is no suffering...

My egoic mind functions on the basis of separation and differentiation, this is how I (and everyone I know) learns language. Starting with "ME" vs "mom", my hunger vs my comfort, what I like vs what I dislike, red vs blue, hard vs soft, etc. are all separate and distinct concepts and later have words attached to them. This process then continues to MY family, MY community, MY country, MY religion, and so on. These distinct separations along with the principle of "cause" resulting in "effect", allow our "rational" egoic thought to exist. In maturing we can learn that "MY" does not always mean "better", and having compassion, empathy, and love, and expressing kindness, generosity, forgiveness, and patience towards others leads to less isolation, and reduced suffering for ourselves as well as for them, even though it is still based on ME being separate from them (and all else). Finally, realization can dawn of how inherently limited and unsatisfactory the finite egoic perspective is, that only the mortal can (and must) die, and recognize the larger spectrum of Truth clearly, which of course includes all the finite (colors) as well.

My childhood included the social conditioning that surrounded me. I sought approval from my parents, teachers and other authority figures to survive. As I grew, I found that such approval was often dependent on conditions beyond my control, and that in any case it was never "enough". Like feeding a hungry ghost whose stomach has no bottom, there was always more approval needed (and the carrot moved daily), suffering for me. And then realization that like this body, "socialization", and the emotional "rewards" I felt I needed from recognition were all just inherited patterns from my ancestors, useful seeds and fertilizer for this life. And in the blossoming of that realization, all is well regardless of where I find myself.

The descriptions in this reading DO match my experiences. Bringing my attention back to Awareness repeatedly and persistently was an integral part of how I learned meditation, and perhaps that is true for many of us? Valuing and practicing that Awareness regularly is good for me. And there is the encouragement to recognize that the mental process of "distraction" itself: "paying attention to an interruption with larger emotional reaction" is not actually necessary, and only results in increased suffering. (That pattern of distraction IS however the basis of most media advertising, and "Selling News"). So, I remain a big fan of: "Reducing and ending of suffering" and practicing Awareness does lead me that way.

Beautiful passage! Training the mind via meditation really does work well, finding and appreciating insight, exercising right awareness, right thought, right intention, right emotions leave little for suffering to grasp onto. If *I*, *ME*, and *MINE* are all that fills my awareness, then there are always adversaries, always the threat of "other", so fear, and anxiety flourishes, and the experience is of suffering. When the larger whole is seen clearly, it includes all of the apparent separations within it, every "me" is there, as well as "my" right actions, and none of them take over and require suffering.

Beautiful passage! Key phrase for me is: "... a gap was created in who I knew myself to be." No longer being lost in the conditioned illusions of egoic "self", and recognizing a better fit is available. And as she says: "... this same type of spaciousness can be cultivated in daily life." I would say this is perhaps the biggest benefit in meditation, participating in Awakin circles, worship, and most of what we label as "spiritual" activities. She calls that better fit: "Love", but it's beyond just transient personal emotion, or playing a role in life, which we use the same word "love" to describe. Lovingkindness that includes the aggressor as well as the victim and observer, without limitation. "Justification" has no part, yet rendering aid, and preventing further harm are different actions, each an expression of compassion (which IS that Love).

Our conceptual minds (and language) operate in terms of differentiation, and learning those distinctions, categories and labels like: red blue, colorflavor, squareround, happysad, bodymind, hungryfull, selfenvironment, etc. is necessary for communication and survival, but is also a conditioning of limitations. Once a child grasps the concept/label of "bird" they may never see what that manifestation actually IS (free of any distinctions or labels). It IS also possible to recognize that within which all of those distinctions exist, which is beyond the limitations of time, space, self, experience, and other. Yet the temptation is to ALSO make that a category, a nice finite "box of unknowable mystery", separate from all that which can be described, then discuss it conceptually as if that was satisfactory. We create words and phrases to try to point that way: "nonduality", "Awakeness", "Spirituality", "God", etc. but any concept/word can only aspire to point beyond itself. The signposts that have been left along the way are only clear once we pass them and look back. There is no suffering there.

In English we use the word "love" to mean a LOT of different things with a common theme of just that emotional response. Like the taste of a favorite food, or infatuation, or the relationship roles life bestows on us. Yet the more deeply committed (heroic even) love willing to voluntarily sacrifice itself uses the same word. Deeper yet is the infinite all-inclusive "unconditional love" ascribed to God (Agape in Greek) which leaves nothing out. Sanskrit has the word "Metta" to describe all-inclusive loving-kindness which seems the same to me (but without the implied personification of "God"). In any case, our finite ego cannot hope to manufacture or produce such Love, yet we CAN perhaps recognize, appreciate, value, and resonate with such infinite Love. To identify "love" only as a transient feeling does not really have much power to change anything (as pleasant as it may feel). Infinite Unconditional Love (Agape? Metta?) fits better in this passage but is quite impossible for a finite ego to manufacture or produce. Fortunately (being infinite) that unconditional Love is already here in EVERY moment of now, and we CAN recognize, appreciate, enjoy, spend time with, value, foster and multiply, cooperate with, identify ourselves with, and celebrate that Love!

Since the egoic self can only live in the cause-and-effect world of karma, every thought or action can be traced back to some conditioned cause; indeed, there is no freedom visible there (who is there to be free?) And if my ego is the only thing I see, then I can only ask my ego to control my mind (and off to meditation swamp I go!) Only when my egoic self then surrenders to the infinite Love and Truth that has always been (which then is no longer outside), then there is freedom for the larger awareness that thought it was only this ego.

The premise "Wonder Increases as Speed Decreases" seems to be contradicted by the author's apparent boredom with the lack (and slowness) of movement within the plane. I always greatly enjoyed flying not only as meditation, but specifically as invitation to explore the different fractal scales of awareness (as the author notes in the second paragraph). Bot then only constricting awareness with a narrower and narrower view loses the more complete perspective, much as the study of only a square meter of forest can ignore the larger ecosystem that is required for it to exist. When time and space are seen as illusions, then scale, movement, and speed are no longer what they seemed ...

There is some truth and value in considering each of these, and I can remember instances where they fit in my life, BUT every one seems to have exceptions when &where they do not apply. If nothing before the "but" counts, what are we left with? It seems to me the consideration (and meditations) spurred by these aphorisms DOES have value despite the exceptions...

The framework of combat (like competition) by definition introduces the principle of "better than"; the measure of success (or not) over another is integral, and our western culture encourages this. Structured combat (and practice for it) is a traditional tool used in the east for developing awareness, but for both eaast and west it seems all too easy for egoic identity to become attached (or even identified) with an adversarial approach to all relationships (which the author does warn of). Human interactions in a spirit of cooperation seem a better fit than those of combat to me...

The thing that struck me most in this reading is something it left out, and the picture with the caterpillar, pupa, and butterfly reminded me of: which is the role that conditioning plays in who we are. The caterpillar is somehow born with the conditioned destiny to evolve and the detailed instincts to accomplish it. We are born into this body with the genetic heredity of all past generations, our nervous system and brain, and then we grow up surrounded by family, culture, society, and others who tell us who we are, and how to be in this life. But somehow being just a predestined repetition of the past throughout this life is not satifactory for most of us, and that very dissatisfaction itself and longing for freedom may also be an inherited inclination as well as something we have been told. I firmly believe that the purpose of this life is for each of us to discover what the purpose of our life is, and discovering who it is that undertakes that exploration is a beginning, so I choose to to explore that whole-heartedly, and with the best diligence I can manage. I also look forward each week to see how Mark chooses to label himself in this circle. Insight meditation as some of us may have been doing for the last hour provides a powerful opportunity to undertake the process of self discovery consciously by starting with the mind- what thoughts are there and why? Where do they come from? How do the sequences of thoughts shift and change over time? How do I spend my time? Can I choose and direct my thoughts? Who is it that is observing and aware of all this? At first it may seem like all the factors of my life are the effects of some external cause or condition, but looking deeper I can recognize a hereditary pattern preferring comfort and familiar predictability, and another equally hereditary pattern of being bored with the past, needing the stimulation of adrenaline and seeking any distraction from the past- and I DO have a choice of which of ... [View Full Comment] The thing that struck me most in this reading is something it left out, and the picture with the caterpillar, pupa, and butterfly reminded me of: which is the role that conditioning plays in who we are. The caterpillar is somehow born with the conditioned destiny to evolve and the detailed instincts to accomplish it. We are born into this body with the genetic heredity of all past generations, our nervous system and brain, and then we grow up surrounded by family, culture, society, and others who tell us who we are, and how to be in this life. But somehow being just a predestined repetition of the past throughout this life is not satifactory for most of us, and that very dissatisfaction itself and longing for freedom may also be an inherited inclination as well as something we have been told. I firmly believe that the purpose of this life is for each of us to discover what the purpose of our life is, and discovering who it is that undertakes that exploration is a beginning, so I choose to to explore that whole-heartedly, and with the best diligence I can manage. I also look forward each week to see how Mark chooses to label himself in this circle. Insight meditation as some of us may have been doing for the last hour provides a powerful opportunity to undertake the process of self discovery consciously by starting with the mind- what thoughts are there and why? Where do they come from? How do the sequences of thoughts shift and change over time? How do I spend my time? Can I choose and direct my thoughts? Who is it that is observing and aware of all this? At first it may seem like all the factors of my life are the effects of some external cause or condition, but looking deeper I can recognize a hereditary pattern preferring comfort and familiar predictability, and another equally hereditary pattern of being bored with the past, needing the stimulation of adrenaline and seeking any distraction from the past- and I DO have a choice of which of those conditioned patterns to prioritize in any given situation. In this reading, the image he uses of the threads weaving together to make this life is reasonable- we all have roles and relationships in this life with beginnings and endings, the role of being a child and relating to our parents, the role of student in school, the role of being friends with another, perhaps the role of a job or as a married partner or parent of a child- yet who we are goes beyond just that accumulation of threads- there always is someone or something that is playing the roles, and more importantly determines how they are played- whether the role is endured with resentment or perhaps embraced whole-heartedly with joy. The experience of life depends much more on those, rather than just on which specific roles were played or for how long. In the final paragraph he mentions the experience of autonomy and self-determination, of controlling our attention and behavior perhaps just being adaptive reactions to the circumstances of this life- but that just begs the question of who or what it is that has (or wants to have) that experience of independence and choice. So do we perhaps have a soul that temporarily has this body, and can become enlightened, or reincarnate, or perhaps visits heaven, nirvana, or hell as well as this earthly life at some point? Or are those perhaps just mortal thoughts that attempt to capture something too vast to fit into words or concepts? [Hide Full Comment]