Alien Thoughts

"One of the abbas said: 'Just as it is impossible to see your face in troubled water, so also the soul, unless it is clear of alien thoughts, is not able to pray to God in contemplation.' Philokalia

Friends,

My Zen teachers often used the phrase, "mind like water," to describe meditation practice. Water flows over rocks and sticks without attaching to anything. Such is the mind of meditation. Thoughts themselves are not a problem. It is the attachment to them that is problematic. When we are sitting in meditation or when we are working mindfully. We are just present to what is. "Alien thoughts" are thoughts that the ego-mind intrudes, either re-running something unfinished from the past, or anticipating something in the future, but not really rooted in here and now awareness. The judgment of the ego- mind is an intrusion as well. Something is added. "What is here is not enough, what is here isn't what should be here, or isn't right for me.. " and so on....... When we are just here, just present, natural thought may arise, but we just release it, like the water flowing over pebbles.

So what is the point of all this, this releasing and non-attachment? As the abba says, to see our face, in a soul or consciousness that is unmuddied and undisturbed, so we can see clearly. I use the soul here to signify our consciousness. And indeed it is the soul that is the medium of our inner work in this life. Throughout our life, and most especially at the end of life it is our soul, our consciousness aflame with Divine Life that is the gift we offer. The Zen koan says, "Show me your true face before your parents were born." Ah, this is the work of the spiritual journey! The true spirit is our true face, the unborn and uncreated spark of the Divine living in us. Christians know this as Christ, Buddhists know it as Buddha nature. The Jewish Kabbalists know this as "Sparks" of the Godhead. As our soul, our consciousness is stilled and freed from attachment to alien thoughts, the water becomes clear enough that the Living Flame of our true spirit can shine through and we can see It. This is the moment of illumination, and Illumination becomes transformation as we harmonize our humanity in emotion, behavior, and intention as reflection of our True Face, the Face that eternally is, since even before our parents were born. In this way we realize the true meaning of salvation, which means to heal, and redemption, which is to retrieve what was lost or hidden.
Many blessings,
Bill Ryan
cmpnwtr@earthlink.net