So many are saying Where is God when I need him? Especially today. Many feel deserted and alone. But it is only that we have been looking in the wrong direction, searching everywhere but at home. The surprising answer to the question tells us instead, that all we need is right here with us in our everyday life. In fact it is right at the kitchen table. It is only that we have been looking elsewhere, searching all around. These episodes offer specific ways in which we can encounter God, fulfillment, enlightenment right here in our daily lives, wherever we go.
How many of us can really allow ourselves to really live, feel the sun, hear our neighbor, be present and available to all that arrives. This is actually a great art, and in order to do it, we must learn the great secret of "Allowing". It is rare that we allow anything to happen, just as it does. Immediately, we want to fix it, judge it, take control of it, whether it is an event or a relationship. The problem is that we are simply reacting out of our conditioning, rather than having a larger perspective on all that's going on. When we can stop a few moments, stop fighting and opposing things, not get pulled in to the dance, that pause is the start of allowing. The more we simply allow life to be life, the more our perspective changes and we become able to respond appropriately. All action taken then will come from a totally different place, and inevitably be benefifical to all.
Good morning, good morning. It's Brenda Eshin Shoshana back with another episode of Zen Wisdom for Your Everyday Life. And actually, wisdom and your everyday life are exactly the same thing. It's not that we have wisdom to use for our everyday life. No, that's not really the right way to think of it. Our everyday life, our every moment is wisdom itself, is enlightenment itself. It's awakening itself. What can that possibly mean? Because of course in our everyday life there's so much confusion, mix-up, fighting, anger, all of that. All of that which we actually hate, reject, and we feel, well, we need something different from that, something better than that, something more elevated than that. That there's another life, a true life, a better life. And it's it's not that. So we have to find something better or be someone better, or change this awfulness that's all around us. That's a very common observation, perception, feeling, whatever you want to call it. And it is a motivation that we have often to do spiritual practice, to correct things, to lift them, to ignore and reject other things. That's a very big part of it, sadly enough. To accept certain things on and on, but our everyday life, just as it is, one day cloudy, one day fun, one day sad, changing, changing every moment, uncertain. And often it seems also very mixed up. So we don't see that that's our perception of it, our relationship to it that makes it seem that way, as if there's something wrong all over the place. Someone wrong, something wrong, everything going wrong, like that. Now, this this may sound nutty because we can point to all kinds of events, current events, political events, which are causing right now especially tremendous pain and upset, and certainly they do look like things are going very wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The more we hold on to that perception and believe that perception, the more we will sink in it and things will continue that way for us. This is a very important point. The more we are willing to let things be, just for now, let them be, let them be. And not fight them, hate them, reject them, the more we will see something else, be someone else. Stop using up all our precious energy and heart and feelings to fight, fight, fight, hate, hate, hate, reject, reject, reject, to oppose our life as it is appearing this very moment. Well, that's very easy to say. Doesn't sound like it would really make much sense, but when we try it and actually practice it, oh wow, makes a lot of sense. And then we can see for ourselves how much more happiness we have, how much more clarity we have, how much more, how many more possibilities there are in our life then. We just see. We open our perspective, we open our vistas. And that's because we're not using up, we're not getting stuck, caught in a quagmire, with using fixated our whole attention, fixated on terrible things and constantly obsessing about it and trying to fix it, fix it, fix it. Instead, we just let it be, step back from it a while. We know it's there, we're not pretending it's not there, but we let it let it live its own life, let it be what it is, let it do its own thing, its own little dance. And we don't join the dance. Wow. That's a very powerful, powerful, powerful practice. Don't join these negative dances, even emotionally, even mentally. Don't let it scoop up all your attention, all your heart, all your hope. These events can really scoop up our hope in life, our joy in life, our faith in life. And in the ever, ever turning wheel of change, change, new possibilities, clarity coming, healing coming, light coming. If we're all pulled in to battling and opposing and hating, we won't be available to the great good that's all around every minute. And also just waiting to enter your life. You know, there are many, many, many stories of that happening and cases of it happening, and people having wonderful experiences, even in the midst of what seems like a very difficult time. People growing, people loving, people seeing all the support that's really available for them. There's many, many, many possibilities and many beautiful ways to experience and to contribute to these days. But not if we're obsessed and fixated on how awful everything is, can't stop talking about it, can't stop pondering it, reading it, dwelling upon that. So Zen practice, as we've said many times, but you know, I tell you, Zen practice is nothing if not repetition, again and again and again. It's the same sitting down on the cushion, breathing, not moving, the same few actions over and over and over. And and if we cannot get into that, as Suzuki Roshi said, the spirit of repetition, then this isn't will be difficult to do this because we repeat the same, just the way we repeat every day. We get up, we brush our teeth, we take a shower, we make the coffee, we cook the oatmeal, whatever we do. That's but but and it but that spirit of repetition is important because as a raindrop keeps falling, falling, falling on a cube of ice, it melts the ice. Slowly, slowly, over and over again. Something melts away as we repeat, repeat. We give ourselves more and more deeply to the practice. We subtly let go more and more, even though we may not be aware that we're letting go, we are. We may not be aware of all that's happening as we just keep repeating again and again, not dancing, not getting caught up, sitting on our cushion, welcoming our natural breath in and out, welcoming night and day, welcoming happiness and sorrow, just allowing, allowing life to be life. That word allowing is a very beautiful and very healing word because the more we allow, the more our own energy and our own clarity comes back to us. We're pulling our own energy back to us. We're allowing, we're not getting caught. And then it doesn't mean we're passive, it doesn't mean we do anything. In fact, the opposite is true. When we're all obsessed and caught up, or when we're pretending things aren't happening, then we're completely numb and passive and can't do anything. But when we are allowing, we're able to see clearly, and at the right moment, appropriate action takes place seemingly all by itself. You know, it's just like the clouds in the sky. They gather, they gather, they gather. We might watch them gather. Sometimes they just drift away, and that's that. And at other times, boom, the rain comes. The appropriate moment, the rain comes. That's true for everything in life. Action happens. It's seemingly by itself when the appropriate moment comes. If you were walking on the street and you saw, God forbid, a child being running in front of a car, boom, you would immediately, appropriately go and pull them out. Pull them away from the car. No thought, no consideration, just boom, you would just take that action intuitively, naturally. And excuse me. And there are many other actions like that as well. When the right moment comes, we just do it. That's why in Zen we say, just do it. But it's not us who is doing it. It's not some thinking mind that is doing it. It comes out of our practice. It comes out of our composure. It comes out of being aware of all the possibilities. And we cannot be aware of that if we're engaged in opposition, rejection, hating. In road rage. It's similar to road rage. We see something in the road and we think someone's cutting us off, and the rage comes and the battle begins, and the person might not have even seen the car. It all just starts. Could be wars are like that, road rage. You did this to me, I'm doing that to you, on and on and on. Which is not to say appropriate action need not be taken at the right time. Of course it must. Of course it must. But that's our call on what is appropriate action. And to find that we engage in what looks like inaction. It's interesting. We sit very quietly in the thoughts and we don't move. We keep our back straight. We just allow our breath to be its what it is. As Dog and Zenji said, let a long breath be long and let a short breath be short. Just you didn't make the breath. Just let it be. Let it be. Let it be. And you will be guided. And you are guided. When you when you're in that kind of situation, in action for a while. And from inaction comes clear action and clear knowingness, clear seeing. So I would say this week, perhaps you can take on the practice of allowing, allowing life to be life. Allowing your husband or your wife or your children to be who they are. Stop trying to control them, to change them, to fix them, to improve them, to make them an image that you have in your mind of them. Try to step back and allow. Allow the winter to be the winter. Allow the spring to be the spring. That's a very it take it sounds simple. It's not so simple, but it's very easy. It's very natural. And when we can allow every and allow yourself to be you, too. Everything changes. And it's a practice, as I said, because naturally habits resume themselves. We get pulled back into our old ways. But just seeing that and knowing that, that's a great, wonderful gift. And then we pause and we allow once again. So anyway, I really thank you for listening. It's good to be with you all. It's a treasure. What a gift to be able to speak, to listen. When we just allow everything, we can see what a wonderful, actually, what a wonderful miracle it is. Where is this talk coming from? Where is it going to? I did a workshop once called A Real Conversation, in which finally it seemed clear that the listener and the speaker were exactly the same. So I wish you a beautiful week, a beautiful day, and a beautiful process of allowing. And and thank you for listening. The um URL for this is www.isdomtoday.com. And if for any reason you want to contact me, my email is topspeaker at yahoo.com. Thank you, thank you, and have a great day.
