In Buddhism we call the notion of a fixed identity "ego clinging." It's how we try to put solid ground under our feet in an ever-shifting world. Meditation practice starts to erode that fixed identity. As you sit, you begin to see yourself with more clarity, and you notice how attached you are to your opinions about yourself. Often the first blow to the fixed identity is precipitated by a crisis. When things start to fall apart in your life, as they did in mine when I came to Gampo Abbey, you feel as if your whole world is crumbling. But actually it's your fixed identity that's crumbling. And as Chögyam Trungpa used to tell us, that's cause for celebration.
The purpose of the spiritual path is to unmask, to take off our armor. When that happens, it feels like a crisis because it is a crisis - a fixed-identity crisis. The Buddha taught that the fixed identity is the cause of our suffering. Looking deeper, we could say that the real cause of suffering is not being able to tolerate uncertainty and thinking that it's perfectly sane, perfectly normal, to deny the fundamental groundlessness of being human.
Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change by Pema Chödrön
Invitation: “…with more clarity.”
More about Pema Chödrön and her work HERE and HERE
We will meet for the Community Table Monday, March 3rd at 4:30 PM ET. Contact us for information HERE.
We will begin our daily Shared Solitude: Embracing the gift of silence in community offered by our Courageous friend Emily - on March 3rd at 6:30 am ET and March 4th at 3:00 pm ET. See more on our Calendar HERE
Learn More About Circles of Courageous Commons HERE
As a person of faith, whose religious tradition is Christianity, and one who grew up in the West, with a Western education, and frankly, Western bias -- the possibility and goal of being grounded is a key part of my belief system and life experience.
So -- when Pema Chodron says this "Looking deeper, we could say that the real cause of suffering is not being able to tolerate uncertainty and thinking that it's perfectly sane, perfectly normal, to deny the fundamental groundlessness of being human," I am invited to consider a new way, an additional way to looked at being grounded at the same time of being groundlessness as a human being in a constantly changing world. At this writing, it feels like a both/and to me, and not an either/or. Still reflecting...
With more clarity and increased personal and surrounding suffering, I'm shedding my armor, finding myself closer to what matters and what is the truth. It's a novel experience when an unprecedented environment pressures you bitterly.