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So, what are we to do with all this emotion that seems much like a load of unfaith and may be experienced as threatening to our religious devotion? Well, the practice opens us to see that our faith is often very insecure and defined quite wrongly. We begin to see that what we called faith has been somewhat a matter of manipulation and false security. The path shows us, thank God, that all that ambiguity and confusion is evidence that we are not as certain of ourselves, our belief system, or trust in Spirit as we thought. This is painful, but gracefully painful.
We, therefore, faithfully look into all the confusion, detaching from what I call false faith or a less mature faith. We move into all that cloudiness, a deep shade that we simply had not recognized before. We might have been very comfortable hiding from the challenges to our belief system or what we have thought of as true. We might even have been very critical of anyone who tried to get us to look at the unreality of much of our assumptions. But false faith keeps us asleep, from waking up, from realizing the wonders to which the Stream wants to lead us in Love. Waking up may be hard, but what a world awaits!
So, Rinpoche is right. We need a practice that opens us to natural confusion - natural for it is not the stubborn agnosticism or prideful skepticism. That confusion is already all around us. The world is ambiguous. If we do not see all that, then, that is evidence we are asleep. We miss the beauty of confusion and the elegance of ambiguity, if we are asleep to their true nature. For, truly, salvation, enlightenment, heaven and nirvana, yes, moksa, are in this energy.
This is the irony of a religious seed syllable of confusion: true, very deep faith opens in beautiful splendor by integrating the energy of doubt and ambiguity as one with truth and certainty. Confusion itself becomes a wonderful part of the Journey; ambiguity becomes a welcome part of the Dance. Indeed, we find God in the confusion and ambiguity. God, as Spirit, is right in the middle of reality. God is equally in the question and the answer. We begin to live with God in all the apparent opposites. We welcome God into this life of ours, the one we did not want, and find God is waiting for us already, right there.
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Jesus, as all great teachers, led his disciples through the crucible of the severe testing of their assumptions into a new life of vibrant and deep certainty, that in some ways appears much unlike most religious faith and spiritual theory. The Buddha did the same some 2500 years ago.
Great teachers have a way of exposing the prideful ego-grasping to deny doubt and attach to certainty. In Zen Buddhism the term for a pure openness to Truth is Shoshin, also pronounced nyuanshin. This is a concept meaning Beginner's Mind. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner would. The term is especially used in Zen Buddhism and Japanese martial arts.
The phrase was used as the title of Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki's book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Suzuki wrote: "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few."
In Christian mysticism Beginners Mind is a way of Pure Faith, a contemplative faith uncontaminated by false certainty, a trust open to discover new insights and experience new experiences, while integrating them with the essentials of relationship with Jesus Christ. In faith the Christian mystic integrates faith with unfaith, knowing with unknowing, clarity with ambiguity, ...
Truly, the deepest knowing is in unknowing. Yes, the deepest unknowing is in knowing. God will take care of us, in leading us to an amazing faith deeper, purer, and truer than we ever dreamed possible in this life. The more amazing is always the next step; trust allows us to go there.
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*Material on Beginner's Mind at Wikipedia. "Shoshin."
*Charitable contributions would be appreciated to assist Brian in continuing his ministry. For contributions, contact Brian at barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
*Brian's book of spiritual love poetry, An Ache for Union: Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major booksellers or the Cokesbury on-line store, cokesbury.com .
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