Comfort Readings for COVID19 [4 of X]
Roshi Joan Halifax on "Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet"
[This is a Series: Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Post 5, Post 6, Post 7, Post 8, Post 9, Post 10]
“At the core of Buddhist philosophy is non-attachment, which is an important principle to remember in relation to altruism. When we see others suffering--whether a family member, colleague, client, animal, an entire group of people, our earth--we hopefully try to meet suffering honestly and intimately, so we can serve. We also put Not-Knowing into practice by recognizing that really, we are always in free fall. It's not like we will find some moral high ground where we are finally stable and can catch all those falling around us. It's more like we are all falling above the infinite groundlessness of life, and we learn to become stable in flight, and to support others to become free of the fear that arises from feeling unmoored. The final resting place is not the ground at all but rather the freedom that arises from knowing there will never be a ground, and yet here we are, together, navigating the boundless space of life, not attached, yet intimate.”
-Roshi Joan Halifax (from her book)