I’ve had many teachers.  The most valuable have taught me about living a good life, a kind life.

Rodney Smith was one of the meditation teachers at a 2011 retreat at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, USA.  I smile when I remember him.  His words, however, have floated away.

It reminds me of my favourite quote …

I won’t remember what you said

I won’t remember what you did

But I’ll always remember how I felt when I was with you

I thought of Rodney this morning, and Googled him.  He retired from active teaching in 2023.  I hoping he’s enjoying life.

I found an article he wrote a long time ago.  Much of it speaks to me.  Perhaps a few quotes will reach you too.

Now I have some words to join with my feelings.

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The main problem with many forms of spiritual growth is that we keep using the very perceptions that foster our delusion as the means to awaken, thereby tightening the grip of the conventional paradigm, even as we attempt to transcend it.  We take the conventional paradigm of separation as a fact and apply its rules as the strategy for our release.  An example of this is the way many of us percieve the spiritual problem as a personal deficiency.

…

All this reminds me of the Chinese Finger Trap.  The only strategy we have learned in such a predicament is to pull our fingers apart, but that unfortunately tightens the grip the trap has on us.

So … “You can’t get there from here” if the here is me constantly examining my belly button and comparing it to other belly buttons.

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If ethical behavior has been a central theme throughout our spiritual journey, we will continue to reference our conduct during the uprooting of the sense-of-self … When not harming ourselves and others becomes the conditioned way we live, then this theme will also be played out as our conditioning is being surmounted.  As our conditioning decreases and wakefulness increases our innate response not to harm begins to take over.

I have acted kindly for as long as I can remember, even when my ego was often flaring.  Now that my life is loosening, the kindness is coming along for the ride.

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The starting point on the path is asking ourselves what we really want out of life, and then, whatever that response is, doing it full-heartedly.  Even if our answer is a worldly pursuit, full-heartedness will show us its value and limitation.  After repeatedly seeing the limitation of our wanting, our energy begins to consolidate around a deeper objective and yearning.

Rodney!  You’re a smart guy.

I used to throw myself into a golf simulation video game called Links.  I loved the beauty of the courses.  My interest in the game is long gone … but my yearning for beauty continues.

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Rodney and me … I smile