If the Buddha Got Stuck_ A Handbook for Change on a Spiritual Path - Charlotte Sophia Kasl [40]
Consider applying Shunryu Suzuki’s words about dying as a small being, moment after moment, to your mind. Realize that whatever concepts you have in your mind are only that. Let them remain fluid and be ready to allow any of them to dissolve and float away if they create separateness with other people or are met with new information that expands your world. Most of all, don’t equate your ideas with your identity or ego, for this is the source of arguments, and potentially even violence. My religion is better than your religion so I must defend it, even to death.
I am not saying it’s inherently a problem to have ideas or opinions, even strongly held ones. It’s when the ego attaches to one’s ideas as one’s identity that rigidity, closed-mindedness, and righteousness are likely to result. If you are identified with your beliefs, anything new that comes along is likely to bump into a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your head. That’s because ideas that contradict our self-image throw off our equilibrium and disturb the sense of who we are. As a result we feel personally attacked, afraid, defensive, critical, rigid, and angry when people disagree with our beliefs.
When faced with new ideas you have two choices: either push them away so you don’t disturb your mind, or dissolve your current beliefs to make room for something new. The latter is not easy because the ego identifies its very existence with its beliefs, and to let them go feels like something is dying. But it’s a good death because it is your separate, small self that is dying.
It’s often said that the sages have nothing to defend because their minds dwell in emptiness, beyond time and location. Imagine what it would be like to have an open, receptive mind or, for starters, not be attached to your beliefs. Have them, but don’t defend them or identify with them. It is helpful to remember that all our beliefs are learned; we didn’t have them when we were born.
Think of beginner’s mind as the air you breathe. You feel open, light, and receptive. The muses feel free to fly in and out. You can’t make them come, and you can’t stop them from coming. You live connected to the great mind, or what is sometimes called Big Mind, which has a rhythm and pulse of its own.
If letting go of concepts and ideas is so creative and relaxing, why is it so hard? Think of a little boat lifting its anchor and floating down the river with no clear course. Think of believing that your life depends on that anchor holding you in place and you are terrified of losing control. That’s the struggle we have until we experience letting go. To raise the anchor or let go of cherished beliefs and merge with the river is exactly how we die as a small being. We become free to notice the changing scenery along the river and be dazzled and delighted with the wonder of life.
When we drop out of the mind and stop holding, protecting, and defending our beliefs, we drop into our hearts and bodies. The best case for having a beginner’s mind is that it’s the only way to fully love and be loved. We don’t love through ideas. We love through our beingness, resonance, breath, sensation, and ability to feel caring, understanding, and compassion, all with a light heart. Concepts divide us, but love, like the air we breathe, is beyond words, beyond the mind.
We all have certain deeply held beliefs that are hard to challenge. Read the following story and notice what happens in your mind. As an aside, after I had realized I included two examples of healing in this chapter, I thought,