Living in Alignment: Talk

So this word Dhammavicaya, investigation of phenomena, is often how it's translated.

I'm sure that never quite hits the mark, but best we got.

And it's one of what the Buddha taught as the seven factors of awakening, so qualities of the mind that lead to liberation, to freedom.

And it's really less about intellectual, analytical And more about curiosity towards one's own experience.

This is one of the things that I thought was so cool about mindfulness and exploring my own mind.

In my early 30s, no one's ever taught me to do the most seemingly simple, basic thing.

I've learned so much conceptual knowledge.

No one's ever taught me how to work with my own mind.

And I was reflecting on just this word investigation and how to bring it back to make it feel less philosophical.

And I was thinking about in therapy, right? In good therapy, a therapist isn't telling you what to do.

They're empowering the client to cultivate their own discernment, their own ability to know what's true for them, to know how to navigate things.

So when therapy is over, the client can walk away with a better sense of discernment, more curiosity.

And so the Buddha points towards this seeing clearly, but it has to happen in our own experience.

The classic Buddhist distinction, kusala akusala, often translated as skillful or unskillful.

So knowing and experience, kind of through trial and error, what is skillful and what is unskillful.

And that was such a big part of the Buddhist story, for those of you that are familiar with it.

You know, does this lead me towards clarity or confusion? Does this lead me towards lightness or attachment? Um, I'm going to talk about baseball now, which seems totally off topic.