Looking at two common reactions to pleasant sense-based experiences: clinging or anxiety; and the Buddha's crucial distinction between sense-based pleasures, which tend to reinforce clinging, and the mental pleasure that comes from cultivating skilful mind-states
The goal of offering metta for a difficult person, is not to change their behavior, but to make sure our hearts don't get colonized by the 3 poisons of greed, hatred and delusion. And for many of us, it's not Metta that is the gateway, but equanimity and compassion. After a 15 minute silent meditation, Booker sings Loosen by Ally Halpert as a lullaby.
A response to where we are in this time in our history when everything might seem a bit topsy turvy and upside down. The political commentator Melissa Harris Perry refers to this kind of confusion as trying to stand up straight in a crooked room. Many of us have been secluding, isolating, putting up walls as armour, as protection - in order to not feel the full catastrophe. Many of us are here because we’re ready to lay that armour down, to engage with life and be alive again. And so this afternoons reflections will be on how we can rest in Metta as refuge.
This guided practice begins with a conscious breath that relaxes the body and mind, and then a body scan to awaken to the aliveness of the present moment. We then open into the natural awareness that includes the changing flow of sounds, feelings and sensations, and practice “relaxing back” when the mind gets lost in thought.
