How to understand

How to understand

“To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand.”
—Jose Ortega y Gasset

 

W

e see The Thinker statue by Rodin in all his scrunched up obsession for knowledge, and we see the image of suffering.

I bet this isn’t the kind of understanding you were seeking when you decided to pioneer your way through life, as a young person tying your laces headed off to school.

No. I’m sorry. No amount of information is going to satisfy you. The answers won’t come through Google. They’re not on social media. They aren’t even in that book you love.

The understanding you’re seeking arises in the space between.

It’s in those moments when you catch yourself delighted at the suds of soap covering your hands while under the faucet. The way the light comes in through the blinds, spreading a smile across your face. Your heart opening as you watch the rise and fall of your puppy’s tummy while he’s sleeping. The jolts of aliveness you feel through your body as you laugh out loud at something funny. And the innocence of catching the stars wink at you through the velvet, which causes you to blush.

That’s when you get a glimmer. That’s when you begin to understand.

The Mystery


 
Please enjoy this recording the monastery received a long, long, long time ago. No one had any idea what its origins were or who to credit so that in itself is a mystery. But the message and the delivery is quite powerful, so I hope you will sit down today and listen to it.

And after you do, share with me how you intend to practice what the little boy preaches. Perhaps check in with the little girl or guy inside of you to see what you would both enjoy making some time for regularly – your little experiments in understanding!
 

In lovingkindness,


If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume One).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume Two).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume Three).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, A Shift to Love: Zen Stories and Lessons by Alex Mill.

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Meditation and Reinventing Yourself.

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, The Zen Life: Spiritual Training for Modern Times.

 


  Alex Mill trained in a Zen Buddhist monastery for nearly 14 years. He now offers his extensive experience to transform people’s lives and businesses through timeless Zen principles.

He is the creator of three powerful 30-day programs, Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring, Help Yourself to Change, and Your Practice, as well as the online Zen meditation workshop, Taming Your Inner Noise (now offered as The FREE Zen Workshop).

Alex has also written seven books on Zen awareness practice. The latest are entitled A Shift to Love: Zen Stories and Lessons (Get it for FREE here) and the 3-book series Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness.

He is a full-time Zen Life Coach who offers guidance and life-changing support to his private clients worldwide. Book a call.


 

5 thoughts on “How to understand”

  1. Life a mystery! Yess, I used to believe that happy people “have everything in life figured out”. Now… I don’t want to have everything figured out but experiment, explore, dare, adventure, most of all have fun and live a life that’s full of being and action

    1. Excellent, Daniel. And when it comes time to “figure things out,” you can do that too. But not from a place of NEEDING to figure things out “to be happy,” but because that’s what is appropriate in this moment. 😉

      Remember…it’s not what you do on the outside, but rather HOW you do it from the inside that determines happiness.

  2. Alex,

    This was outstanding. “Feel the mystery” I love it. After two retreats I see that we each have a different mystery and yet the same mystery. I was constantly surprised to read others’ comments and while they each were not my comment I understood each and could have written each one. This is another recording I will add to my calendar to listen to weekly.

    I thoroughly enjoy the recordings you post. Some are yours and some like this one are others persons. I would like you to do more guided recordings. Realizing how busy you are maybe weekly, certainly not daily.

    Yesterday I read:

    What a liberation to realize that the “voice in my head” is not who I am. Who am I them? The one who sees that.
    —Eckhart Tolle

    Thought of you when I read this. Thought of the two retreats. Thought of how far I have come.

    Thank you.

    In loving kindness and joy,
    Dick

  3. As always your writing is spot on Alex. Thank you for reminding me to slow down and cherish the moments, the space between.

  4. That’s a wow Alex, I’ll have to listen to it a few times and think about it, pity our conditioning can be so brutal, I’m trying to go back there to that child with difficulty!

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