Every moment of true mindfulness is kind. This talk explores the possibility of cultivating a mind that can be with the reality of life. When we turn to experience with openness, we also become more open to insights, and our confidence in ourselves and our capacity for awakening becomes grounded in life.
The primary role of the outer teacher is to empower the inner one. And in order to let this empowerment in, we need to drop our shields and embrace freedom.
Humans are relational beings -- pack animals, born and raised in families, working and living together. Much of our suffering is people-suffering. We meditate to be free from suffering, yet sometimes a gap arises when interpersonal suffering is being addressed in intrapersonal meditation. We perpetuate the "island universe" of the individual self even as we seek freedom.
Insight Dialogue is a fully relational meditation practice based on Buddhist Vipassana Insight meditation and a relational understanding of the Dhamma. The mind is invited to stillness and keen mindfulness even as we remain in dialogue with others. Here we meet the shared human experience that transcends our very real differences in genetics, background, and worldly
circumstances.
