Tara Brach - Soul Recognition: The Practice of Namaste (2017-04-05)

Episode Date: April 7, 2017

Soul Recognition: The Practice of Namaste (2017-04-05) - In our daily trance we experience ourselves and others through a filter of wants, fears, stories and beliefs. Drawing on an engaging story from the legends of King Arthur, this talk explores how we can see past this conditioning by learning to see - in ourselves and others - vulnerability, goodness and awareness itself. Sometimes called "soul recognition," this seeing is the essence of "Namaste" - realizing and honoring the sacredness that shines through all beings. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Greetings. We offer these podcasts freely and your support really matters. To make a donation, please visit tarabrock.com. Namaste and welcome. I'm aware that I often begin with the classic namaste and for those that might not be familiar, the word namaste namo means I bow or I honor the divine and it's the divine that lives and shines through you and through me and through the woods and the birds and all living beings and it's interesting because in the west when we greet people we kind of put out our hand and say hi how are you and that's to show we don't have a gun and in Asia namaste I see the

divine in you it's a little bit of a different cultural twist you know there's a anonymous saying that everyone seems normal until we get to know them. And it's such a familiar experience, meeting someone in their kind of work persona or even their casual social persona. And then if we happen to get to know them, all of a sudden, you know, what unfolds is, you know,

we get a window into their insecurities and into their family secrets maybe and into their sweet eccentricities and the whole range. And even behind that, a window into that, the depth of who they really are, a sense of goodness and beingness. So we can move from that, you know, they seem normal to something in us that's really engaged and in some way can say namaste. But that takes a really deep attention.

More often than not, we stay at the level with people where we're kind of living in our stories about them, who we've decided they are, and we don't keep feeling into who is here. And similarly with ourselves, we live with our narrative of what I need to do to be okay and what I'm doing wrong, which makes me not okay. So it's rare that we're paying that attention inwardly or outwardly. So there's really that spirit of namaste. and that's going to be our exploration tonight because there's that gap between living in the projections

and that deep potential to see each other, to look into another's eyes and really see the gleam, the light of consciousness and goodness, that gap is really where our suffering is. We don't recognize who we are and we don't recognize who others are. You know, if we ask that question that's so powerful, what is between me and feeling really happy or connected in this very moment? You know, what in this moment is between me and feeling really at home?

What we'll find is that in this moment, if there is something blocking us, that we're living in some sort of a story, our idea about how things are, that's in some way making, I'm wrong or you're wrong or something's missing. But this moment is not okay as it is. So it's worth investigating that one. Because the Buddha basically taught that the core of our suffering is this delusion that we really don't see who we are. And I have a favorite illustration, if you've been with me for a while, you'll know it,

that occurred when my son was in a Waldorf school. He was, I think, in fifth or sixth grade. And as it went in the art classes, the children would get into groups of four, and the art teacher would circle around looking at what they were doing. And their assignment was to make a drawing. And one little girl was very, very industriously into what she was doing.

And so the teacher kind of stood behind her and watched her, and finally said, well, hon, what are you drawing? The little girl said, well, I'm drawing God. And the teacher chuckled and she said, well, you know, no one knows what God looks like. And without skipping a beat, without even looking up, the little girl said, they will in a moment. So I love that story because John O'Donohue is no longer alive, wonderful poet, philosopher, said, whatever happened to our wildness? You know, we're so busy managing our life that we cover over this mystery.

We're so busy in our stories of what we need to do and where we need to go and who you are and who I am that we don't really feel that tenderness and beauty of Namaste of seeing how the sacred is living through everything. So we'll explore tonight the freedom that comes and the happiness that comes when we can pause and see more truly. and we'll look at that. I like the language of soul recognition, how we can see past the mask

and really see who's there in a deep way. But if the word soul doesn't work for you, just like anything, drop it. It's really seeing the truth of who's shining through. And a number of years ago, I heard a story from the King Arthur legends that really captivated me. And I thought I'd shared it once every couple of years.

as a way of kind of bringing alive this inquiry as to who are you and who am I? And in this story, King Arthur encounters a knight who's a, has all these dark powers and the knight casts a spell over him that created a tremendous amount of terror, rendered him powerless. Then the knight offered the king his life and freedom if he could return in seven days with the answer to a question. And the question is, what is it that all women most desire?

So if you don't know the story, start contemplating. What is it that all women most desire? So they made the agreement. King Arthur went off, and he asked every woman he could encounter. He asked the girl that's hurting the geese and the alewife and the great ladies at the...

the castle and they all gave their takes but nothing rang true so it became increasingly disheartened and one final in the final morning his time was running out with a heavy heart he turns toward back to move towards the knight's castle with a sense of okay i have to submit and die so i'll read you the rest of the story because i like the way it's written not Far from the knight's castle, Arthur heard a woman's voice, soft and sweet, calling out to him. Now God's greeting to you, my lord King Arthur. God save you and keep you.

And he turned and saw a woman in a vivid scarlet gown, the color of holy berry, sitting on a mound of earth. He had expected the owner of the soft voice to be fair, but she was the most hideous creature he had ever seen, sprouting a long, wart-covered nose bent to one side and a long hairy chin meant to the other. She had only one eye. Her hair hung in gray, twisted locks,

and her hands were like brown claws, though the jewels that sparkled on her fingers were fine enough for the queen herself. She mysteriously knows on what errand he rides. She knows that he's asked many women what it is that all women most desire, all have given him answers, and not one, the right answer.

She then informs the astonished king that she and she alone knows the answer he's seeking, and that for her to tell him, he will have to swear a solemn oath that he will grant her whatever she asks of him in exchange. To this he readily agrees. She beckons him to bend his ear to her lips and whispers. The moment he heard it, Arthur knew in his very soul

that it was the true answer. He caught his breath and laughter for it was such a simple answer, after all. The answer he was given to the question, what is it that all women most desire was sovereignty? Arthur asked what she would have in return, but the lady refused to say until he had tested the answer on the dark night.

So Arthur went off, gave the true answer, and with it won his freedom. He then made his way back to the spot where the lowly lady was waiting for him. Upon his return, the reward that Dom Ragnall asked, for that was her name, was that he bring to her from his court one of his own knights of the round table, brave and courteous and good to look upon to take her as his loving wife. Well, Arthur staggered and repulsed by this inconceivable request has to be reminded that he owes her his life to her and has made a nightly and kingly promise in exchange for help. Of course, for Arthur to assign the task to someone would be to disrespect the sovereignty

of one of his own knights. The choice must be made freely. When Arthur returned to the court, he told the full story of his week's adventures to the astonished gathering of knights, his nephew Sir Gawain, out of loyal to his uncle, the king, and out of his own goodness, offered to marry the lady himself. Arthur, ashamed and heavy-hearted, would not let Gawain make the vow without seeing her first. So the knights rode out in company the next morning to the woods, and after some time they caught glimpse of scarlet through the trees. Sir Kay and the other knights were sickened by the sight of Lady Ragnel,

and some were even insulting to her face. Others turned away in pity or busied themselves with the horses. But Sir Grewain looked steadily at the lady, Something in her pathetic pride and the way she lifted her hideous head caused him to think of a deer with the hounds about it. Something in the depth of her bleared gaze reached him like a cry for help. He glared about him at his fellow knights. Nay now, why these sideways looks and ill manners? The matter was never in doubt.

Did I not tell the king that I would marry this lady? And marry her I will if she will have me. And so saying, he jumped down from his horse and knelt before her saying, my lady Ragnel will you take me for your husband the lady looked at him for a moment out of her one eye and then she said in a voice so surprisingly sweet not you too sir Grewane surely you jest like the others i was never further from jesting in my life you protested she tried to dissuade him think you before it's too late will you indeed wed one as misshapen and as old as i what will you secretly feel you will be shamed and all through me so that you indeed wed one as mischapen and as old as i what will you secretly feel you will be shamed and all through me so that said the lady, Lady, if I can guard you, be very sure I can guard myself, Gawain said, glowering around the other nights with his fighting face on him. Now, lady, come back with me to the castle for this very evening as our wedding to be celebrated.

To which Dame Ragnall replied, truly Sir Gawain, though it is a hard to believe thing you shall not regret this wedding. Word ran ahead of them from the city gates and the people came flocking out to see Sir Gawain and as bride go by. All were horrified beyond their, even their expectations. That evening the wedding took place in the chapel. Sir Lancelot was the first to come forward

and kiss the bride on her withered cheek followed by the other nights, but the words strangled in their throats when they would have wished her and Sir Gawain joy in their marriage so they could scarcely speak. Only Cabal the dog came and licked her hand with a warm, wet tongue, and looked up into her face with amber eyes

that took no account of her hideous aspect, for the eyes of a hound see differently from the eyes of man. Dinner conversation was feverish and forced a hollow pretense of gladness through which Sir Gawain and his pride sat rigidly beside the king and the queen at the high table. At last the forced festivities came to a close, and it was time for the newlyweds to go to their wedding chamber in the castle. There Gawain flung himself into a deeply cushioned chair beside the fire and sat gazing into the flames.

A sudden drought drove the candle flame sideways, and somewhere very far off as though from the heart of the enchanted forest, he fancy heard the faintest echo of a horn. There was a faint movement at the foot of the bed and the silken rustle of a woman's skirt. A slow, sweet voice said, Gawain, my lord in love, have you no word for me? Can you not even bear to look my way?

Gawain forced himself to turn his head and look and then sprang up in amazement for there between the candle scones stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen Lady he said at half-breath Not sure whether he was awake or dreaming Who are you Where is my wife the Lady Ragnall

I am your wife the Lady Ragnall said she whom you found between the oak and the holly tree And wedded this night in settlement of your king's debt And maybe a little in kindness But I do not understand Stammer Gawain, you're so changed. Yes, to the maiden, I am changed, am I not? I was under an enchantment, and as yet I am only partly freed from it.

But now, for a little while, I may be with you and my true seeming. Is my Lord content with his bride? She came a little toward him, and he reached out and caught her into his arms. Content, oh, my dear love, I am the happiest man in all the world. For I thought to save the honor of the king my uncle, and I have gained. my heart's desire. And yet from the first moment I felt something of you reach out to me and something of me reach back and answer. In a little the lady brought her hands down and set them against his breast and gently held them off. Listen she said, for now a hard choice

lies before you. I told you that as yet I'm only partly free from the enchantment that binds me. Because you have taken me for your wife it is half broken but no more than half broken. Damragnell explained that she is now able to appear in her natural form but for half of each day and Gawain must choose whether he wanted her to be fair by day and foul by night, are fair by night and foul by day. That is a hard choice indeed, said Gawain. Think, said Lady Ragnall. And Gawain said in a rush, oh, my dear love, be hideous by day and fair for me alone. Alas, said Lady Ragnel, is that your choice? Must I be hideous and mischievous? shapen among all the queen's fair ladies and abide their scorn and pity, when in truth

I am as fair as any of them. O, Sir Gawain, is this your love? Then Sir Gawain bowed his head. Nay, I was only thinking of myself. If it will make you happier, be fair by day and take your rightful place at the court, and at night I shall hear your soft voice in the darkness, and that shall be my content. That indeed was the lover's answer, said Lady Regnell. but I would be fair for you, not only for the court and the daytime world, that means less to me than you do.

And Gawain said, whichever way it is, it is you who must endure the most suffering. And being a woman, I am thinking that you have more wisdom in such things than I. Make the choice yourself, dear love, and whichever way you choose, I shall be content. Then Lady Regnell bent her head into the hollow of his neck and wept in last, together, O Gawain, my dearest Lord, now by seeing that it was for me to decide, by giving me my own way, by according me the very sovereignty that was the answer to the original riddle, you have broken the spell completely, and I am free of it to be my true self by day and night. For seven years, Gawain and Regnell knew great happiness together, and during all

that time Gawain was a gentler and a kinder and a more steadfast man than ever. he had been before. But after seven years she left and no one knew where she went and something of Gawain went with her. So let's consider for ourselves here what is sovereignty? I mean what's really meant by it? And it's not a traditional notion of external power. It's not like having power over another although sovereignty is fully empowering. and it's not being independent because the nature of existences were totally interdependent,

were intertwined, though sovereignty is free of attachment. So sovereignty here, the spiritual sovereignty, is the freedom to be who we really are. It's the freedom to live from the depth and dimension and mystery of what we are. Sovereignty is something,

sense of what makes that possible, it's our capacity to that soul recognition that we can sense in our own being who's here, that rather than having our lives driven by the stories about ourselves, we know the depth of that goodness and consciousness that's here. And we can help, when we have soul recognition of another, help others to come home into that same realization. This is the the essence of Namaste. In the moment that we honor the sacred that is within our own being and others, we're actually creating the atmosphere, the conditions for sovereignty. So the next part of our exploration is let's look more closely at how we habitually block that scene, what stops us from really looking more deeply. There's a ritual in the

Bantu tribes of Africa that describe the father there's a hut where all the children would sleep and the father moves to the hut after they're asleep and to each one of them he offers a blessing and the blessing is be who you are and that's the gift of sovereignty. So I often use as a kind of metaphor for what blocks the notion that we come into this world and it's a challenging environment and we create a space suit, a kind of egoic space suit to help us navigate. And the egoic space suit, and we all do it. Every one of us has ways of pursuing what we want and defending against what we don't want. The challenge is we get identified with the spacesuit and we really forget who's looking through the mask. We forget the heart that's there.

And when we're identified with our spacesuit, we actually look out and see other spacesuits. We forget who's there. And so the most clear way of seeing what blocks soul recognition is when our spacesuits involved in a kind of addictive pursuit, that's when we're least able to see who's there. And we know what that's like. The last class was a reflection on addiction. We know that when we're really driven or fixated on something, you know, we want food or we want sex,

or we want somebody else to pay attention to us in a certain way and a kind of codependent or whatever it is, we're no longer seeing who's there and we're no longer in touch with our own wholeness. It's whether we're, whatever we're pursuing when we're grasping after our own gratification, we cannot see more deeply. One of the stories one man describes about after retirement,

his own kind of fixating, he says that a lot of people ask him what he does, what he's done to make his days interesting. So here's what he described to make his days interesting. He said, the other day, Mary, my wife and I, went into town and we visited a shop. When we came out, there was a cop writing, a parking ticket. So we went up to him and I said,

come on man how about giving a senior citizen a break. He ignored us and continued writing the ticket, so I called him a jerk. He glanced at me and started writing another ticket for having worn out tires, so Mary called him a creep. He finished his second ticket, put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing more tickets. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

Well, just then our bus arrived and we got on and it went home. We tried to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's important at our age. So, even when it's not addictive grasping, when we're in some way having an agenda of something we want, whether we're wanting somebody to give us their money or their attention or whatever, they become two-dimensional. They're an object that can give us something.

We're not able to see. Now, in a similar way, soul recognition is blocked when there's some aversion going on. So it's when we're grasping after something, but also when there's aversion, when we don't like. You certainly can sense how when you're down on yourself, when you're criticizing yourself, it's very, very difficult in a sincere way to honor the depth of who you are. It's like the valve is narrowed. We're only seeing one thing. And so it's the same thing with another being.

when we're in blame mode, we're no longer taking in who's there. We are in a trance when we're blaming someone else. We cannot see. When our heart is angry or blaming, we can't see who's there. We have fixated. So this is enchantment. This is our version, contemporary version, of being an enchantment or a trance. And in some way the mind map that we're in is creating separations.

So what is it that we're believing? In other words, when you move to the day, what are the beliefs that keep you small and keep you from seeing? Well, sometimes the belief is I have to do something for others to like me. I can't just be myself. Or sometimes the belief is I'm just not worthy enough for other people to care about me. Sometimes the belief is I'm better than other people, I'm superior. I'm superior. Whatever the map is that we have,

that's comparing, that's putting one down, that's putting one up, that's judging, that's anticipating, that has a story about the other person. Whatever that map is, it stops us from seeing reality. Another illustration, there was a magician working on a cruise ship.

This is a person that's creating a certain impression of themselves. He has a parrot that's always ruining his act, saying, in the middle of the trek, the card's up his sleeve or he's a dove in his pocket or he slipped it through a hole in his hat so one day the ship sinks and the parrot

and the magician find themselves together on a life raft and for several days the parrot sits silently and stares at the magician on the fourth day the parrot says okay I give up what'd you do with the ship so it's fun but this is about

how we the stories we're telling ourselves block us from looking. And there are many unconscious conditions we have that we meet people, or people act in a certain way and it triggers old associations and we're no longer seeing them. We're seeing a person from our past. Do you know what I mean by that? A person looks a certain way, acts a certain way. We're no longer seeing them. a lot of our filters, because we're talking about filters that block soul recognition, are handed down through our society. And we have so many filters of who someone is depending on their religion or their race,

or their socioeconomic status, and I could go on and on and on, sexual orientation, gender orientation. We have so many presumptions. And I've talked often about the whole space of awareness and the line that goes to the middle and whatever's under the line actually controls our perceptions. We're not aware of how much is under the line that's filtering what we're seeing about other people. I thought of this a lot last week when many of you remember the criticism of Congressman Maxine Waters and the reporter April Ryan all happened in the same I think 24 or 48 hours,

whatever it was. And they were a real disrespectful treatment from white males, right? And then following that, there was a really amazing sharing from African-American women of story after story all across the country of the just multiple violations. Some of them more quiet and some of them more blatant. Things like being assumed that they were in some way

the cleaning staff or the assistant rather than one in charge, and on and on, all these filters, making these biased assumptions. Well, that's us. We all have these filters. And if we want to wake up, if we want to have the power and freedom of Namaste, we need to be able to train to be able to see past the filters, pass the mask to who's there. So let's just pause for a moment. We'll do a brief reflection.

Just bring yourself right here. Feel your breath. Feel yourself sitting here. Take a moment to review the day or if you're listening to this on podcast yesterday. And scanning for, how much was I seen? This would be of other people. Start with others who you encountered over the last 24 hours. And just sense how much were you attending to this living being in the moment and how much

were you seeing in a habitual way, their space suit, maybe reacting to an agenda of yours or theirs, or an aversion of yours or theirs without judging just to notice what's your habitual lens like? In the same way we have filters with others, how have you been filtering yourself over these last 24 hours? How much have you been inside the story of in some way a deficient self or a self that needs to do something to be okay that's trying to achieve, trying to cross things off a list, a self that's victimized, any story? How much have you been in a story? and have there been moments of the simple honoring of the awareness,

the heart that's here, that kind of inner Namaste? As you reflect, you might notice that the conditioning or the filters are very thick when we get into our daily routines. And the root to soul recognition is a very important. intentional presence where there's a pausing and a real deepening of presence, of looking, a non-judging attention to what's here. But if we stay with the rising experience of our own being or another, truth reveals the mask becomes more transparent.

This last part of our exploration, we'll explore the three scenes. for soul recognition really and one seeing is that we pause and we actually sense the vulnerability, the humanity of another. And then what that leads to also is in that presence sensing the underlying light of their goodness, the heart and then the deep seeing of beingness itself, just sensing that just what's looking out through your eyes is looking back at you through their eyes. So in the story, and if you'd like to open your eyes, it's fine, or if you prefer to contemplate with your eyes close, it's fine. But in the story with Gawain and Dame Ragnall, the first seeing was when he first met her and he sensed her vulnerability. And he

said, from the first moment, I felt something of you reach out to me and something of me reach back and answer. He felt her humanity, he felt some empathy there. And this is a powerful training for all of us to begin with this seeing where, you know, we start with ourselves, can we shift from that place of judging or avoiding parts of ourselves to really sensing that whatever we're judging is a part of us that has some unmet needs that's coming from unmet needs and it needs our love, whatever we're judging. And so we begin by paying attention and learning to bring that seeing of vulnerability to our own experience. And that extends itself.

It's amazing that if you can begin to get softer with your own vulnerability, that seeing will extend to others. And I was thinking of an example for this, and I was remembering one young man who is a regular here, at our Bethesda class, and he was assistant to the vice president in a large company, and he was a really hardworking guy, and he took a lot of initiative. Now, his boss was like a financial wizard with very, very minimal people skills. So he was this brilliant guy, but his emotional intelligence level wasn't super high from what

I gathered, because this guy would work really hard, and his boss never acknowledge anything, even when he'd coordinate really major sales, he barely paid attention, but he was quick to pounce if anything went wrong. So this man who was coming to class was building a really huge resentment because this guy was actually interfering with his whole career path in a way in his mind and he felt it was unfair and he felt victimized and he really, in his mind his boss was mean-spirited and self-absorbed and a negative guy. So we began with what was going on inside him and he's feeling angry and victimized

and as he began to investigate he was able to sense okay well that's the same way I felt about my father that it didn't matter how hard I tried I could never ever get any real affirmation of value and so then he got in touch with that part of that feeling in him that hopelessness I'll never be valued.

I'll never be seen as worthy and a sense of hurt. And then he asked the question I suggest so it's such a valuable one when you begin to mindfully investigate your own experience. What does that part inside me need? How does it need me to be with it? This is the turn towards compassion.

And for him, the need was that I matter, a reminder that I matter, paying attention and asked him where he did get that from and his partner and his grandfather were the two examples so I said just imagine that they're offering that to you just feel that and sense if you can offer that same energy inwardly

so it's almost as if you put your hand on your heart and they're offering in that message of you're valuable we care and that you sense it going through your hands right into your own heart And so he practiced with that for a while for a few weeks, where every time he felt caught and victimized and so on, he'd get in touch with that hurt place that never really could do enough to be worthwhile. And then he'd imagine that kind of that energy that was really sending the message,

we care, you matter. So he started bringing more compassion towards himself. And then, and I invited him to do this, to bring his boss to mine and start being being interested. What might be going on with someone who's ignoring others' efforts? What might be going on with someone who only criticizes? What would it be like inside him? And he began to sense that this guy was enormously anxious and he could imagine and he said he's afraid he's going to fail. He's just afraid of failure. So he's scanning. His filter is look for what's going to go wrong and try to fix it.

And then he sensed how painful it would be to be somebody that's not open to when things are going well, that that wasn't part of his filter. So he could start seeing his vulnerability and also sense that he was really trying to do a good job. He wanted things to work. He was just afraid. So here's what he did.

And I thought this was really actually brilliant. That when his boss came up with this, amazing strategic plan and he made a big point of saying how brilliant the plan was and really looking him in the eyes and his boss got incredibly embarrassed and self-conscious and his eyes brightened and he was clearly pleased. You know he kind of looked away and looked at you know but you could he could tell and he memorized that moment because that was a moment at one level of soul recognition, that he had mirrored back goodness at one level. And it softened things. It soften things a lot. So for him the takeaway was really that how powerful it is to be able

to get more tender towards the insecurity in himself and in another because everybody, everybody on some level wants to feel seen and understood. Everybody does. So this was his process of developing soul recognition. It was one step. Mother Teresa just talks about Christ in his distressing disguise. When we talk about seeing vulnerability, it's not about pity. It's just seeing that we all have conditioning and that the goodness is under the conditioning. One person practicing this this awakening the heart to the vulnerability and the goodness, describe being mugged at gunpoint in New York.

This is a story I got from Sylvia Borstein. So this guy had been practicing loving-kindness practice for a year, which is to see past the mass, to see the goodness. Okay? So one evening he's in Soho, a disheveled man with this scragy beard and dirty blonde hair cost him, demands money. This guy gives over $600 that he carried in his wallet and then the mugger shaking his gun

and demanding more. So stolen for time this guy hands him his credit cards and his whole wallet. So the mugger looks dazed and he's high in some drug and he starts saying I'm going to shoot you. And then this man says, no no wait, here's my watch, it's an expensive one. So disoriented the mugger takes the watch, waves the gun again and says I'm going to shoot you. Now, this guy looked at him with loving kindness and said, you don't have to shoot me. You did really good. Look, you got nearly $700. You got credit cards. You got an expensive

watch. You don't have to shoot me. You did good. The mugger's confused. He lowers his gun slowly. I did good. He half asked. Yeah, you did really good. Go tell your friends, you did good. Days the mugger wandered off saying softly to himself, I did good. Now, I don't tell this story because this is the advice on how to talk down a crazy person with drugs. It might or might not be. But the point is really that in some way, this guy who had been practicing this hard practice helped him to remember who he was.

That deep down he is good. And we all want to feel that. We all want to know that. We all want to trust that. And we so quickly create unreal other. the opposite of Namaste is that the other is in our stories as bad or less than or better than it takes a real intention to step out of those stories

one of the things I was thinking about was how one of the ways we're in enchantment is when we're driving and especially when we're in traffic and how we think of the other cars and it's almost like the other cars have personalities like they're people and the people that are either in our way or causing trouble or whatever. And I'm very aware for myself of getting annoyed when somebody's tailgating me and getting annoyed when they're going too slow and they're in front of me. And I've always tried to figure which I don't like more.

So here I was, and about a year after my dad died, so it was like 2003 or four, I remember I was on my way to a meeting, and I was laid and there was a car in front of me going really, really slow. And I had, you know, in my mind I stereotyped the car as some older woman was, you know, just creeping along and shouldn't be driving anymore. And I was building up all my anger. But what I did was I, when I finally could, I got alongside that car and I looked in the window.

and the person driving the car looked almost identical to my dad. And I went from angry to weeping in a moment. It was like, and you know, I realized any time I can look in the window and really look, I'll see a being, maybe not that look like my dad, but a being with a heart and a being with consciousness that might be completely preoccupied and driving really poorly. But still, if I can look, something in me can soften. Does that make sense? So it's a training. It's a training to slow down and notice our stories and notice how we've typecasted or stereotyped or been caught in in our filters and look more deeply. I know for people,

parents, one of the biggest challenges is we really want things to be good for our kids and not to be bad and out of our fears we can latch on to how we want them to be different. That's just a kind of classic universal thing and I think back to raising my son who's now 30 and how many moments on some level I was wanting him to apply himself more and discipline himself better and help others more and just be the person that I wanted them to, you know, it's not like be who you are, be who I want you to be, you know, a little twist on the Bantu tribesman. But I also know that the greatest gift that I gave him were those moments of presence where I just saw this is a glowing, gleaming, living, sentient being that is precious.

and to the degree that I slowed down at different times and was able to mirror back his basic goodness to that degree it made it easier for him in this society to trust himself. That's the gift we can offer to each other with namaste. And whether we want to do namaste with a deep bow and that's a beautiful way to do it, I love bowing. I find bowing connects me to sincerity or whether that that doesn't fit just feeling our heart in some way appreciating. It's a gift. And when we can do it inwardly, exactly the same. It's not egoic self-love. It's honoring the truth of that sacred that's living through all beings everywhere. So I'd like to have us end with a very brief reflex

together. Tonight we use the legend of Sirger Wayne and Dame Ragnall really to explore three scenes. The first seeing is seeing the vulnerability and the second seeing is seeing the heart, the way the goodness lives through. And the third is that pure sentience, sensing the awareness that is looking back at us, that lives through all of us. Seeing truly past appearances, Tom Smurton says, life is this simple. We're living in a world that is absolutely transparent and divine, the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or fable. It is true. So we close the invitations to bring somebody to mind who's close to you that's easy to love and to care about.

As you bring that person to mind, just sense their presence right here. Imagine their eyes. You could look in their eyes. And the first thing is to see the vulnerability, to see how this human, like all humans, lives with fear and with hurt, insecurity. To see how this human,

if you can see past the mass so easily, how goodness lives through this human, perhaps in their humor, their kindness, the brightness and the deepest way, the light of awareness, that awake presence, just sense that you can bow in some way, in your own way, you can feel your namaste, your honoring of that being. I invite you to bring another person to mine. it could be someone that's not as close but someone that you'd like to just reflect on right now. Again, sensing that person right here so that as you reflect you can become aware of the vulnerability

that this person lives with, the natural hurts or wounds that make this person insecure, the fears of failure, the wants to feel more secure, more than that. loved. Feel your heart's tenderness as you look again to see the goodness. This person's creativity, vibrance, good heart. And then again to sense in the deepest way, the presence, the sentience, that innate wakefulness, that feel that you both belong to in your own way, to the sacred living through this person. to mind your own being, that living being right here, letting yourself connect with your own natural feelings of vulnerability, where you feel emotionally raw, or you feel emotional

difficulty, fear, upset. It's regarding that with tenderness. With that same awake, seeing, presence, your goodness. your intention to be kind, to be honest, to be awake, is to appreciate the goodness that's here, and to feel in the background this timeless presence, the ground of experience, the ground of what we are, and sense that namaste towards the life that's here,

and sensing that this heart space that includes yourself and the two others is vast and edgeless to include all beings, all beings everywhere, humans, beings in all forms, the earth or mother in your lap, and all beings everywhere in your heart. Again, from Thomas Merton, life is this simple.

We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or fable. It is true. Namaste and blessings to each. Thank you. For more talks and meditations and to learn about my schedule or join my email list,

please visit tarabrock.com.