One of our Zen Awareness Coaches passed along this communication from an anonymous (anonymous to me, that is) practitioner:
“Had an amazing epiphany last night. I'm still enjoying it! I've had a lot of resistance to Recording and Listening but I really got it!!! The purpose of R/L is to get used to having a sane conversation with a kind and wise voice instead of the usual constant crazy conversations with egocentric karmic conditioning/self-hate. It's not a new concept but I understood it in my bones this time!!”
There’s really nothing for me to add to this so I’ll just underline it. What this wise person has articulated so clearly is why people meet so much resistance to Recording and Listening. It’s recording and listening for heaven’s sake! You make a recording and you listen to it. “Noooooooo,” scream the voices in the head. “No, you are NOT going to do that. Absolutely, positively, unequivocally, you are NOT going to do that!”
If we hadn’t been so thoroughly brainwashed by those voices into believing that they speak for us—that they are us—it would likely occur to us to ask the very simple, logical question: why not? What is so horrible, so utterly unacceptable about making a nice recording about what we appreciate, love, are grateful for and such and then listening to it?
The answer was stated clearly by our anonymous benefactor: If we do that we will “get used to having a sane conversation with a kind and wise voice instead of the usual constant crazy conversations with egocentric karmic conditioning/self-hate.”
There we have it! There’s all the reason anyone would ever need for Recording and Listening.
In gassho,
Cheri