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The following talk was given at the

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Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

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Please visit our website at audiodarma.org. So

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today I will reflect

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on the final intent of the 10

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reflections. And

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in some ways I very much think of

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them as following all the others. The others

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are a foundation for this last one. And

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I think of it as healing.

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So yesterday was reconciliation. Today

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is healing. And

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the difference between reconciliation and healing

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in the way that I'm using

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it here is

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reconciliation is the healing we do

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socially. The

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coming into wholeness, into communion,

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coming together with

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kindness, with good will, with

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others. Healing

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I use here as

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how we reconcile ourselves with

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ourselves. How we

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come into communion, to

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wholeness with ourselves. And

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I like to believe it's not a coincidence

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or that it's very

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significant that the

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English word wholeness

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and healing and health all

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kind of come

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from the same

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Indo-European roots through

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the Germanic and Scandinavian

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and Northern European languages.

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that

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there's something about healing

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and health, which means

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to be whole, to be

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undamaged, to be uninjured, and

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to be complete in a certain kind

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of way. And

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so, to

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not be divided in

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ourselves. And there are

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times when we are at war with

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ourselves. We have values we believe in,

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but we don't live that way. We

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have ways of being and thinking and feeling,

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which somehow or other are not, we think

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is not acceptable, and we have

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to get rid of it, push it away. And as

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I've seen in some people, quite

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an intense standoff, kind of impassable

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kind of checkmate around the

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war between different parts of

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themselves. And

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so, to heal the

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divisions we have, to

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heal the ways in which we are

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critical of ourselves, angry at ourselves, hostile

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towards ourselves, heal the ways

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in which we shut off from ourselves, divided

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in ourselves. And

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one way or the other, most people are,

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to be attached is to be divided, to

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have hostility towards others is to be

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divided in oneself. To

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live caught in fear

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is a way of not being whole. And

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of course, there's good reasons to be afraid, and fear

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is a necessary important part

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of life in certain kind of

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healthy ways. But there are ways

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in which people get stuck in ways

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that they're not full, not whole, not

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complete. Of these

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10 reflections, I think

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of the last one as being the one that is

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closest to being religious. These

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10 reflections, as I've introduced them, come

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from the world of chaplaincy, where

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hospital and prison and hospice

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chaplains, especially

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in some parts of this country like California,

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are available to do interfaith

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chaplaincy, interfaith spiritual care, where

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they meet people of other religions in their own,

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and not to proselytize, but rather

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to support them in their own

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way. And

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so the orientation has to

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be kind of more spiritual than religious,

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more, and it's

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so broad, these 10 reflections, that

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these themes, that they also

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work for people who are non-religious, who

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are humanists or atheists. They're

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such fundamental human things. But

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as we get to this sense of

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healing, the possibility of healing, the trusting

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of healing, of wholeness, that

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there is something here within us that

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is kind of a greater power than

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what we have full

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agency over, that's different

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than what we have control over, or

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can make happen or do, or

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something that we no longer need to

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resist and hold back from. Something

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quite significant that, in a sense,

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in my language, is a

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greater power within us that

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is not appropriated to our identity,

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to that part of it that we create a self and

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build up a sense of self. And

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it's not so strange, what I'm saying, as

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often we'll point out, it's

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kind of like the natural, greater

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power of physical healing

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from a cut. We can cut ourselves,

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and it's a relatively,

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physiologically, a fairly complicated, multifaceted,

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an event for the body to heal itself,

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but if we can let it get

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out of the way of the healing, keep the

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wound clean, keep it from

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getting dirty, not pick the scab,

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that the body has

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a way of healing up to a certain point. And

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a certain point is I still have on my back

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of my hand the

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remnants, the leftover of,

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I think fully healed as far

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as healing is concerned, but

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I still have the scar of being

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deeply cut in my hand. And I

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appreciate the scar that's left. It reminds me

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of my fragility,

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my mortality, all

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kinds of things. And

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I think that's part of the wholeness, is to include

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that, what's the remnant of what's theirs. Not

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necessarily we have nothing left over,

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psychologically, emotionally, physically, from

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how we get healed. But

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there is this power within, that is force, this ability,

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its capacity within, that I

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can't say it's mine

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in the sense where I, a usual place

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where I identify, or me

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as the agent, me as the experiencer,

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me as the doer, me as something.

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And it's just lovely to relax and

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trust this deeper process. I

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still have a role to support that,

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but it's a role mostly of

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non-interference. Don't interfere

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with the healing that goes on.

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And this is also true in the heart,

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emotionally, it's true in the mind.

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We have a phenomenal, our whole

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psychophysical system is kind of maybe

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built to move towards

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balance, to homeostasis, to

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wholeness. And we have

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a very sophisticated system within us. that

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none of us can fully understand how it

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works. And

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so at some point in Dharma

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practice, the movement

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towards wholeness or to

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freedom or to

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peace or to

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not being non-divided requires

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a radical kind of non-interference,

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a radical trust

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that allowing for

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this natural maturity, the

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natural healing that our

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system is capable of. But

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if we're always riding close like a kid in

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the backseat saying, are we there yet? Are we

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there yet? If we're always there kind of pushing

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and trying to make it happen

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or scratching the scab, this natural

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process cannot happen. And

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so to come into some

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deeper trust that allows some deeper

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movements within us to begin

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unfolding and opening and coming

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into a kind of wholeness. And

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part of that process is healing, a

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personal healing, healing within ourselves. And

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of course the reconciliation with

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others is not going to be independent

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from our healing in ourselves and the

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way I'm using these words. They're

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not separate, but there is

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a whole process of self-healing

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that goes on. And for

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many people when they come to Dharma practice in

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the beginning, I think

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a lot of what's happening is healing. Or if

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you don't like the word healing or

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it's not quite right for what your process is, coming

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into a wholeness. And

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to some degree it's aided

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by a certain humility, not

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the humility of belittling

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oneself or being submissive

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or anything, but the

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humility of not feeling that We

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know everything, we're in charge of everything,

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we can do everything ourselves and kind

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of just barrel ahead

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and make everything right. There

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is a humility that trusts and allows

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for, that

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we don't know at all. We're not the

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ones who's the doer and the maker of

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it all. We have to allow some other

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process to unfold, make room for it. And

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that allowing then, just that

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itself heals some of the

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divisions that are formed by excessive self-assertion,

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self-deprecation.

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Humility is not self-criticism

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or diminishing yourselves, it

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actually heals that as well. It's

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a, we come into a simplicity

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of being. And

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from that, simplicity of being, from

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that kind of simple, maybe

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humble, wholeness

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or healing, then when we

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can still be agents

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in our life, we can still do things,

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we can still live with dignity and value and

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purpose and meaning, but

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it comes from a very different place.

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It arises within us without

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stress, without

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strain, without creating

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further division, either socially

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or personally.

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So this personal healing,

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and remember Stephen Levine, a wonderful teacher

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from many years ago, made the

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distinction for me, maybe other people

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maybe had done it, between curing

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and healing. And

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he worked a lot with people who were dying,

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and he was kind of one of the pioneers

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of the hospice movement in working with death and

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dying. And he

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was aided and supported

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people. in their last days

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of their life to be

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healed in a

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psychological, emotional, spiritual way that

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didn't cure them of their illness. So

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it didn't bring them back into physical health,

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but still helped

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them with profound movement towards healing.

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And it was one of the greatest things that

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we can do for someone as they're dying, or we

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can do for ourselves if we're dying, is

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to come into that wholeness, that personal

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healing. It is possible. And

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it's not the same thing as having your cure. So

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what is your experience of personal

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healing, or if you prefer

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coming into wholeness, and

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or if you prefer, rather

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than these positive formulations becoming

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undivided? And

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how does that work for you? And how

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do you move into it? And is there

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space in your life to trust it more,

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to allow for it more to happen? It

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takes time, and we

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have to give ourselves time. I like to

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call it sacred time for this

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process to unfold within us. So

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those are the 10 reflections, and

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I'm delighted to have shared it with you. And

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if you want

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more of this, then

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in the fall, I'm going to do a program through

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the Satya Center that is kind

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of adapting some

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of the things that we do

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in the chaplaincy programs I

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teach that presents it to a

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lay audience, or to people who

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are not being trained to be chaplains.

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But some of the fun. the mental of

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spiritual care. And one

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of the things we'll go through over the

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year is these 10

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themes we did this last two weeks. So

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that's on the Sati Center website if you're

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interested. And then for

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the next three weeks I won't be here and

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teaching a retreat for the next

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two weeks and going on

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a pilgrimage, the

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Buddhist pilgrimage the following week. And

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so next week Shelly Galt will

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come, a wonderful teacher from Santa Barbara.

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And then May Elliott

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will come and I don't think we

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have a teacher yet for the third week. But

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you'll be in good hands. So

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thank you very

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much and I appreciate

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very much that I

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had this opportunity to reflect

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on these themes with you.