"The three trainings provide a great framework for thinking about spiritual work, a framework that can help us maintain a clear and empowering way of thinking about what we are doing.”–Daniel M. Ingram

And How Can We Learn It?
When I did a search on non-attachment I was surprised by where this article turned up.

Apart from clinging to form (or physical matter), feelings (or physical sensations), perceptions (sense data-plus feelings), reactions, and consciousness (raw sense data and thoughts) as I, me, or mine, can anything else create suffering?

We compared two very different translations of the same chapter and discussed how translations of Lao-tse have spread to cultures around the world. Due to its metaphorical nature, translations of the same chapters differ greatly from culture to culture.

“Do your work, then step back.

The only path to serenity.”
–Tao te Ching, Lao-tse, translation Stephen Mitchell

I winged it. I figured it out while I was sitting for the first 20 minutes of meditation. My reaction was great, though! I was calm, curious about how it would go, and knew it would all be ok.

For the last three weeks, we've been discussing Lao Tzu. This week I thought it would be fun to experience it directly through meditation.

“It is the most lovable of all the great religious texts, funny, keen, kind, modest, indestructibly outrageous, and inexhaustibly refreshing. Of all the deep springs, this is the purest water. To me, it is also the deepest spring”.–Ursula K. Le Guin

Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-tse walk into a vinegar shop and taste the Essence of Life…

“Whenever I look up at the Milky Way, I feel so captivated by its complexity, and yet it's easy to forget that Earth is a part of it. It's almost impossible to grasp that I actually spin inside of that which I see. ” –The Biggest Little Farm

“Depression is not who you are–it involves a conditioned habit that your brain has learned and that your brain can unlearn.”–Elisha Goldstein, Uncovering Happiness

“Hello, darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again.” –Paul Simon

When I update the hosts for the month on Meetup, I have to go in and "edit event." While I was scrolling past the description, I came across the phrase, "We are a spiritual circle within Leaven Community."
What Makes this Meetup a "Spiritual" Circle?

Try to stay with your experience of this moment without getting swept up in thoughts, opinions, and theories.

“What is serious to men is often very trivial in the sight of God. What in God might appear to us as ‘play’ is perhaps what He Himself takes most seriously.”–Thomas Merton

“Group conversations are like water: they run downhill—at the speed of the most argumentative or agitated family member. If you feel like it might go badly at the table, here are ways to head them off.”–Better Angels

“While I'm definitely into finding ways to improve personal productivity (whether a one-day burst, or a lifetime, or things you should not do every day), probably the best way to be more productive is to just be happier. Happy people accomplish more.”–Jeff Haden

“Our individual awakenings become part of the world’s awakening. This means leaning into life, and to do that we have to recognize what gets in the way.”– Joan Sutherland

“Our behavior is heavily dependent on how we interpret the events that happen to us, not necessarily the objective reality of the events themselves.”–James Clear

Hatred, malevolence, and vengefulness are not always present in the mind, but their seeds are. This week, a case study in what causes them to sprout, courtesy of Hidden Brain.