i have begun my final semester in school. *leaps of joy*
there is this new adjunct professor, brand spankin new. her name is louise. she's from boston. she is into clinical psychology. anyways, she is teaching her first class here in bozeman, entitled.."the science of psychological well-being."
so, i basically adore her. she just emanates raw natural beauty. i find myself just enamored completely with the lightness in which she teaches....so gracious and beautiful.
so she has assigned some "light reading." aside from the 5 thick books required in her class. all material that i am greatly anticipating diving into.
one of the readings is called, 'the wise heart.'
so i figured i may divulge my thoughts on the article, much like a literature review.
The Wise Heart
Article by Jack Kornfield
Interpreted by myself
"O Nobly Born, O you of glorious origins, remember your radiant true nature, the essence of mind. Trust it. Return to it. It is home.
~The Tibetan Book of the Dead
The analogy used in the opening paragraphs attempt to illuminate the topic at hand. Where a golden buddha is unearthed, masked in unappealing clay. The golden buddha beneath was unmasked by a crack made in the clay. The outside clay mask endured hundreds of years of storms, political shifts, invading armies and so on. This golden buddha is compared, by Jack Kornfield, as representative of our (human race) covering our innate nobility. Covering our true nature and noble selves up with a barrier that weathers the storms of the day. taking cover from the storm.
The primary aim of Buddhist psychology is to help us see beneath this armoring and bring out our orignial goodness, called our buddhanature.
the goal here, finding our wholeness and freedom. the radical life changes that could happen if only we werent so identified with limitations and impoverishment.
to allow our noble selves to shine involves finding the dignity in others, their suffering to be acknowledged.
ways in which this can be done is by imagining that person as a small child, innocent.
by moving forward in time and visualizing the person at the end of their life, lying on their deathbed, vulnerable, open, with nothing to hide.
Or seeing the person as a fellow wayfarer, struggling with burdens, wanting happiness like everyone else.
that everyone has goodness to be touched and felt.
we tend to, as a westernized culture, to give credence to disease and ailments. foucusing on pathology, the DSM (diangostic and statistical manual of mental disorders) focusing on what is WRONG with the individual...we give so much attention to our protective layers of fear, depression, confusion, and aggression, that we forget who we really are.
I LOVE THIS PART...
As psychology becomes more pharmacologically orientated, this medical model is reinforced!!!!! quick fix...pop a pill. whoooeeee. looking to a little pill as the answer to confusion and suffering. in children as well.
INNER FREEDOM: LIBERATION OF THE HEART
what is the alternative to focusing on limitations and pathology?
freedom.
"Just as the great oceans have but one taswte, the taste of salt, so do all of the teachings of Buddha have but one taste, the taste of liberation."
The possibility of freeing oneself from the entanglement of unhealthiness.
Awakening this inner freedom of spirit is the purpose of the hundreds of Buddhist practices and trainings. Recognizing and letting go of unhealthy patterns that create suffering....and develop healthy patterns in their place. Instead of a sit down therapy...it is practices, daily. and training and disciplines that return us to our innate wisdoms and compassions....and freedoms.
The admiration of others is saintly.
Each time we meet other human beings and honor their dignity, we help those around us.
