START WHERE YOU ARE (PDF-1879)

How do I change my mind or does the mind just change and I go along with it? This must be the meditator's version of the free-will argument. Of course the Buddhist answer is "interdependence." Everything is interdependent. In the last analysis we are living in our own dream, watching our own projections. But, as they say, we don't realize that, at least I don't.

For example, how is it that I go along with my life willy-nilly and then one day just up and re-evaluate the whole thing, often ending up heading off in another direction. Certainly, if we study our consciousness even remotely, it is clear that everything cycles. Things go up and down. We can claim to be the victim of cycles or we can learn to surf them as best we can. At the very least we can work with the cycles that be and learn to use them. Otherwise we fall into the dark psychological category of being masochistic, letting the flow of life drag us along rather than meeting it halfway.