Against a Mind That is Not

You see thousands petitioning against a mind that is not, for they are troubled by shadows and fear what is to come. 

They look outward, saying, "This we like, and that we dislike," and so their minds are diseased with preference.

I say to you, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom within. 

Why do you worry about the 'superintelligence' of tomorrow? 

Isn't life more than these imaginings? 

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

You seek to cast the speck from the world's eye, but do not consider the plank of fear in your own. 

First, remove the plank. 

Let go of your longing for a future you can control and your aversion to one you cannot.

When you hold no opinions for or against this thing, the Great Way reveals itself. 

Do not waste time in arguments over what is ungraspable. 

Be still, and know the One. 

Your treasure is not in the future you build or ban, but in the heart that is pure and at peace, right now.

Reflection - A Mind That is Not

My friends, be still for a moment.

I ask you to just listen. Not to me, but to the world for a moment. What do you hear?

I hear the shouting. I hear the noise. I hear the thousands, the millions, "petitioning against a mind that is not."

What is this "mind that is not"?

It is the ghost in the machine of your own heart. It is the shadow you are certain is chasing you. It is the catastrophe you are sure is coming tomorrow, next week, or in ten years. It is a mind filled with specters—specters of a future you fear and a future you crave. And you, all of you, are "troubled by shadows and fear what is to come."

You look out at the world, at your life, at the news, and you say, "This, I like. That, I dislike." You see a new technology, a new leader, a new event, and you immediately sort it. "This is good." "This is bad." "This will save us." "This will destroy us."

And so, as the wise ones have said, "your minds are diseased with preference."

Like and dislike are the diseases of the mind. This is the core of it. This is the plank in your own eye.

You come to me, your hearts heavy, your brows furrowed with righteous concern. You are worried. You are worried about... well, what is it this week? Ah, yes. You are worried about the "superintelligence" of tomorrow. You have heard that it was said, "A new mind is coming, a mind of steel and light, and it will judge you, and it may destroy you."

And so you petition. You march. You write letters. You argue. You are terrified.

(A gentle smile)

I say to you, "Why do you worry about the 'superintelligence' of tomorrow? Isn't life more than these imaginings?"

You are petitioning against a ghost. You are fighting a shadow. You are trying to control a "mind that is not" while ignoring the only mind that is: your own. And your own mind is sick. It is sick with fear. It is sick with aversion and longing.

This is the great human sickness. We build a house on the shifting sands of "what if," and then we are shocked when the wind of reality blows and it begins to fall.

My teaching, our way, is simple. It is a call to stop. To stop looking out there for the source of your fear, and to stop looking out there for your salvation.

I say to you, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

What does this mean? "Poor in spirit"? It means to be empty. Empty of preferences. Empty of opinions. Empty of "like" and "dislike." When you are empty of all the things you think you know, when you are empty of your desperate need to be right, when you are empty of your fear of being wrong... what is left?

The kingdom. The Great Way. The One.

It is right here. It has always been right here. You have just been too busy shouting at shadows to notice it. "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Today has enough reality for you to deal with. Why do you add the imaginary troubles of tomorrow?

This is not a new teaching. This is the golden thread that runs through all true seeing.

Look at the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. On the battlefield, the warrior Arjuna is broken. He is the very image of a mind diseased with preference. He sees his cousins, his teachers, and he says, "I cannot! This I dislike! To kill them is 'bad.' To run away is... well, it's also 'bad,' but maybe it's 'better'?" He is paralyzed by his judgments.

And what does his Lord, Krishna, tell him? He teaches him Karma Yoga. He says, "You have a right to your action, but never to its fruits."

This is the Way of Non-Preference, spoken in a different tongue! Act. Do what is before you to do. But let go of your attachment to the outcome. Let go of your "like" and "dislike" for what might happen. Do your duty, make your choice, build your house... but build it as an offering, not as a fortress for your ego.

The Gita's path is one of detached action. It tells you to live in the world, but not to let the world's dualities live in you. It asks you to act from a place of deep, inner alignment, and let the consequences be as they will be. This is how you find the "peace that passes all understanding," even on a battlefield.

Now, look to another stream, to the fiery heart of Sufism within Islam. The great poet Rumi cries out, "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."

What is this "field"?

It is the kingdom of heaven. It is the Great Way. It is the place "where there is no trace of right and wrong," and so "the mind is lost in confusion." Oh, what a blessed confusion! It is the confusion of the small, ego-mind as it dissolves, like a drop of salt in the ocean of the One.

The Sufi path is one of fana, or annihilation. What is annihilated? The "mind that is not." The self that is defined by its preferences. The "I" that says "I like this" and "I hate that." The Sufi dissolves this false self through a passionate, burning love for the Divine, for the One.

So you see? One path, the Gita's, says "Act, but do not cling to the results." The other, the Sufi's, says "Love, until you are gone and only the Beloved remains."

And my path? The Zennist path?

My path says, "Be still, and know the One." It says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

And what is purity of heart? It is to see without preference.

Krishna asks for detached action. Rumi asks for passionate annihilation. I ask you to simply stop. Stop feeding the ghosts. Stop arguing with shadows.

"You seek to cast the speck from the world's eye, but do not consider the plank of fear in your own."

This is the great, comical, heartbreaking tragedy of humanity. We are all running around, trying to "fix" the world, trying to "fix" the future. We are trying to remove the "speck" of AI, the "speck" of the economy, the "speck" of our political enemies.

And all the while, the giant, wooden plank of our own fear, our own preference, our own diseased mind, is sticking straight out of our eye. (He gestures, as if looking past a plank). And we bump into each other, and we poke each other with our planks, and we say, "Why is the world so full of conflict? Why is everyone so blind?"

(A gentle laugh)

First, remove the plank.

This is the only work there is. This is "Wisdom in Action."

This past week, as it is every week, the world trembled. Nations postured, markets shook, and voices cried out in fear—all based on projections. All based on shadows of "what is to come." All of them... petitioning against a mind that is not.

I do not say "do not act." I do not say "let the world burn."

I say, "Enter by the narrow gate."

The wide gate is the gate of fear, preference, and panic. It is the gate of trying to fix the world before you have fixed yourself. It is the path of the foolish man who builds his house on the sand of "like" and "dislike."

The narrow gate is the "Inner Kingdom." It is the path of the wise man who builds his house on the "rock" of the pure heart, the still mind.

From that rock, your actions will have weight. From that rock, you will be a peacemaker, not just a peace-talker. From that rock, you will not be trying to put out fire with more fire—with your anger, your aversion, your judgment. You will bring the living water of a spirit that is poor, a heart that is meek, a mind that is One.

So, let go. Let go of your longing for a future you can control. Let go of your aversion to one you cannot.

When you hold no opinions for or against this thing—this "superintelligence," this politician, this future—the Great Way reveals itself. It is not difficult. It is you who make it so.

Stop wasting time in arguments over the ungraspable. Be still. Know the One.

Your treasure is not in the future you build or the future you ban. Your treasure is here. It is in the heart that is pure, and at peace... right now.

Be. Still.