Guided practice: Playing with Breath and Body (very inspired by Thanisarro).
Teaching topic: A few implications of a dharma with a non-realist basis.
How mystical experience is held/related to in Rob’s work (talk: A Mystical Kiss…)
- sanctification of existence
- perceiving in ways that call conventional perception into question.
- a sense of freedom / less solidity of self, less clinging, more love
(the presence of a sense of freedom is what distinguishes the mystical, spiritual experience from insanity)
The Dharma as Art (Talk: In Praise of Restlessness)
- Almost everyone has a relationship to art not burden by whether real or ultimately true. That’s just not the point.
- Valuing the subjective aspects of our path
- Freedom as knowable independently of comparison somehow (like poetic truth).
Some frameworks used to evaluate realness that impact practice include scientific/materialist, ultimate reality as described by various teachings, relative merit of different dharma approaches/teachings.
We did not have specific questions as we took the time to introduce ourselves and share what brought us here tonight…
