The movement from avoidance to acceptance is an area in which both therapy and zen dovetail and overlap. The suffering we experience when invested in the separate self takes two basic forms: lack and resistance. In this talk we focus on the example of shame or personal inadequacy. Shame is an emotion we experience from a deep sense of lack – we will never be good enough and it is a painful feeling we want to get rid of. In our zen practice we welcome all feelings and thoughts, whether they be comfortable or uncomfortable. When we recognise our true nature as impersonal awareness, we are naturally accepting of whatever is coming and going in our awareness. So, in zen, acceptance is not a technique we have to practice getting better at, acceptance is the functioning of our true nature. It is only the mind that picks and chooses. Before we can live without shame, we have first to live with it. In welcoming our painful feelings, we accept ourselves, even our vulnerable or hidden parts. Thus, we become whole and heal the primal wound of separation.

Recorded 25.03.18.

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