Unexpected Freedom

Unexpected Freedomhas failed me and well, it’s a foreign religion anyway, Ishouldn’t have messed with it in the first place!’ I’ve heardthis said on more than one occasion. The truth of the matter,however, is that Buddhism is not a foreign religion. As youencounter Buddhism, you will undoubtedly find conventionsand cultural forms that are Asian in character, but the outerforms are not the point. The point of Buddhism is truth.And truth is neither Asian nor Western.As we become acquainted with this possibility of livinglife without always taking a position on everything, acorrespondingly increased sense of freedom emerges. To thedegree that awareness is liberated from compulsiveconditioning there is an increase in the feeling that we havemore room in which to move. And with that we can thinkmore clearly and feel more sensitively. The mind is notalways afraid of being wrong or obsessed with being right.We have learned that those two go together and feed off eachother. This somewhat more liberated mind can welcomedifficulties and frustrations, seeing them without judgmentas the natural way of the world. Such awareness knowswhere and when to skilfully apply structures and when totrust in the spirit of practice.Unobstructed WisdomRegarding this specific question of knowing just when to actand when to sit still and go inwards, we will find thatgradually we develop the possibility of allowing suchconflicting concerns into the mind, acknowledging themfully, as they are – with all the power and passion containedin them – and waiting until our own clear confidentresolution appears. And we will not feel compromised in theprocess. We will feel that we are doing what we can do. We98