The ability to let go of the past and to forgive depends on how we hold ourselves with others. This talk explores how we affect others and how we can move to a greater connection.
We are conditioned to live in stories that obscure the vastness, goodness and mystery of what we are. This talk explores the ways we construct a limited self-identity and the pathways to realizing and living from a fullness of our Being.
Worlds of experience within which we dwell as a variety of 'selfs' are discussed in light of Buddhist teachings and contemporary cognitive perspectives. Insight into the suffering and non-self nature of unwholesome mind-states transforms our relationship to those worlds.
Feelings are the first conditioned reference we offer the moment. Through our feelings we are prepared to turn away, ignore, or grasp the experience at hand. Feelings set up our attitudes, personal story, and character to carry us forward in a predisposed way.
In beginning a long retreat, it’s helpful to reflect on the inspirations that underlie our spiritual life and how they shape our aspiration. Our inner life emerges through the simplicity of the retreat environment in contrast to an increasingly complex outside world. By trusting in silence and presence we develop the key skills we need to live wisely in both retreat and daily life.
The First and Second Noble Truths on the nature and origins of Dukkha (suffering) are discussed, with a particular focus on identification and attachment to being (or not being) a particular kind of self.
