Even although I invited them in, gladly, now I’m slightly put out by their presence. They are not me. They write about things I don’t write about. And what’s more they don’t write like me! In the future there will, no doubt, be more contributors taking up space. What to do? What to do?
Can I, and I guess that makes it a we since you are part of the home page of Jade, handle this growing number of people making posts. Can we accept these contributor people and what they contribute without submitting ourselves to; a dull resignation, or to nursing a dualistic mind which picks and chooses, one person over another. Lets see now, there are other options. There could be a move to evict them! On my part or on yours. Out of this house! Away to your own place! Write your own blog! No. We are tolerant people, and still there is a sense of something coming in from the outside. The other has joined the me. What to do, what to do?
Ever wondered how marriages/partnerships, or any human relationship survive? There is always the me and the not me, and the not at all like me, tension. The subtext can go something like: I love you, but keep out of my house, or as it is put into words: I’m not ready for long term commitment right now. Contributors and guest posts however are here to stay. Until something changes which will happen, sooner or later. In the mean time, there is commitment on all sides to continue to have guest contributors. What to do, what to do?
I’ve some thoughts to help deal with so called impostors. Here’s internal practice you might like to adopt. The tension of inside/outside is at the very heart of sitting still. Most people think their thoughts are noisy impostors which must be evicted before peace can be found within ones body/mind. Thoughts are not like aliens from another planet, however tempting it might be to relate to ones inner world in that way! They come and go in response to stimulus, triggered from within ones own being, as well as from the stimulating world we all live within. Even up a mountain, away from it all, there is still the shrieking of birds and the fear of..impostors? Perhaps.
In the mean time: read, sit still while reading, listen internally, listen to the wind as it blows through the temple of your body/mind (your home), allow yourself to hear the rattling of windows and the banging of doors. This is active reading, active listening and active sitting still. It’s sitting still within conditions. In this case the arising and falling of thoughts in your mind, as you sit and read this.
Have fun.
Thanks for yet more teaching…mercy, there are perpetual lessons, aren’t there, and don’t they come in packages with many colored wrappings? …monks teach in startling and rare ways, with the throttle wide open and the waters of compassion flowing full force, offering opportunity laced with grace. Yes, more gratitude…especially for your years of receiving/giving in the monastery where the Dharma reaches you in a concentrated way….I’m bowing….