Degna Chikei Levister, MRO Senior Lay Student - ZCNYC - 5/31/26 - Inspired by Howard Thurman's invitation to listen for "the sound of the genuine" within, this talk explores how Zen practice reveals what obscures our deepest knowing and cultivates the stillness, clarity, and courage to meet life directly. Through reflections on the Heart Sutra, equanimity, emotional life, social engagement, and the practice of beginning again, Chikei investigates how genuine presence becomes the ground of moral clarity, compassion, and freedom.