Sunday, February 16, 2014

Step 2: The Mind Comes Forth


 

Last Friday was Valentines Day.  I thought we might not have our “usual” number of people attending 12 & Zen, but I was wrong.  Twelve people showed up.  Step Two was our Valentine.  We had a good time of it all.

Step 2:  Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Koan:  Abiding nowhere, the mind appears.

The prior posting is still with me, especially the “turning the corner” aspect.  It seems to fit nicely into Step 2 and this koan, beginning with the word Came.   Came has this sense of movement…from there to here.  Turning the corner is moving, too.  So coming to believe, we're bouncing along in this vehicle we call the self,  traveling from one belief to another – from not the way I used to be, to not yet the way I will be.  Where is this place?

Abiding.  It means continuing for a long time or to stay or live somewhere for a long time.  Nowhere.  Not here, not there, but still abiding is taking place somewhere; that place of no thoughts of “where”.  One person said abiding nowhere was when they were not attached to beliefs, and stories, etc. 

Another person said, “The mind appears;  but it’s not my mind.”  You could say God, or the collective consciousness of the Universe, or Big Mind (as opposed to our day-to-day little mind. It's a totally different view of things because we, the "viewer", are changing.

The mind comes forth – this is the appearance of sanity.  As an example, not drinking today is a sane choice for some of us.  We are seeing things in a sane perspective.  It's this different perspective that gives rise to a growing trust in a Higher Power of your understanding.

Bill








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