#3 Arizona: WATER IN THE DESERT

No REALLY!    The Flagstaff Insight Meditation Community  was a bright and clear experience.  Not only that, tonight's teacher Janine Schipper, wrote a book chapter entitled Buddhist Water Ethics and the Case of Water Scarcity in the American West.  She is a professor at Northern Arizona University. 

We began our zoom session with a brief go-round with the group of about 20.  Janine started with a Dharma talk on working with delusion; to begin by just noticing how we identify with objects in our quest for security and management of life; and how this outward grasping leads to 'unclear seeing', rather than an untangling of the knots and layers of desire.   We can live on life's terms of changing, non-self, and lack of satisfaction in objects.  
Like Michele MacDonald's R.A.I.N acronym for working with feelings, Janine proposed her own T.R.A.M for working with delusion: 

1. T: Tune into delusional thinking- bringing attention to your thought process Ask: Is the thought true? How is it serving you? What does it feel like in your body? 2. R: Recognize the impersonal nature of thoughts (Just thoughts). Recognize patterns of habitual thinking 3. A: Accept the causes and conditions; Accept the discomfort; Allow the mud to settle 4. M: Respond with Metta. Can you be gentle and friendly with the thoughts? What does it look like for you to respond to the thoughts with compassion and care?

She led us through a guided meditation with an uncomfortable thought of our choosing. Lucky for my co-workers and myself; I came to see my frustration with our difference of opinion as serving no one, except for the dogs I tied up outside the fear around my heart. I let go, I drank clear water.

The spirit is like water; always clean, pure. It has no taste unless you are thirsty, and then it is delicious.