The Cage and the Open Door
La jaula y la puerta abierta
A student asks about what must be given up when we stop identifying with our thoughts and beliefs, and the teacher explores why we cling to suffering even when we know something greater is available.
The Cage and the Open Door
A student asks about what must be given up when we stop identifying with our thoughts and beliefs, and the teacher explores why we cling to suffering even when we know something greater is available.
It seems like we either identify with these thoughts and beliefs, or we don't. But if we don't, if our reality becomes "we're not that," then we give up something. I'd love to hear more about that.
Yes. You give up what you know, and you gain the immensity of the unknowable. But there is a giving up. I highly recommend giving it up, but I also highly recommend taking your time and doing it at your own pace. If that takes a million lives, have fun.
But I want to know: what am I giving up, exactly? I'm so used to being in it that I don't even realize what I'm giving up.
What you think you hate
It's hard to be clear, because you'll be giving up what you think you hate but actually crave and are addicted to.
My mind is going all over the place. I can't even grasp it; it's so big.
You give up suffering.
Well, that sounds like a no-brainer.
Yes, but we think we don't want it. Once you know there's something better, it's hard to go back. But it's like a bird leaving a cage it grew up in. It's going to fly around for a minute and then go right back into the cage, even though the door is open. It takes a while to look around and ask, "Is this better? Really? I'm not so sure."
Because the addiction to the old drama is so strong.
The thrill of the familiar
That's just the familiar, but there's also a kind of fun to it. It's hard to explain, but the drama of the roller coaster experience of suffering has something appealing about it.
I've noticed that in meditation, and in general, when I try to go back to what's prior, I get so bored. It's incredibly boring. And yet what I understand, beyond my direct experience, is that this is the fullest, greatest, the only thing that could truly be fulfilling. But in the moment, it feels so boring that I just want to go back to my thoughts.
Boredom as a strategy
I'll say something about that. The boredom is the way you're using your mind to create what you call boredom in order to go right back into the cage. Boredom is not reality. You very intelligently say, "Well, I go to the present and it's boring, so why bother? Let's go back to thought." But that's not really the present. That's not really what we're talking about.
It might be that you come to an edge, and that activates more thought activity. It makes it look as though what lies beyond is just boredom. "Why would I go there? Let me come back here." That's the bird in the cage saying, "It's just danger out there. I'm comfortable in my cage." But it's not danger. It's beautiful aliveness. The boredom is not the reality. It's just another layer to see through.