Grounded in Groundlessness

Simplicity on the surface has to do with consumer choices of clothing or food or shelter.

But in a deeper sense, true simplicity must begin within.

This simplicity begins with uprooting and ungrounding the ego; seeing and letting go of assumptions.

Simplicity requires the inner work of seeing with clear perceptions and understandings, pure integrity and authenticity;

And doing the inner work of sorting through the trash and treasures, the clutter of conditioning lodged deep within.

Stillness: learning to sit and feel and see…

“And sitting lets us begin to do that. It doesn’t do it right away, because what we first are confronted with is just the assault of the amount of thoughts and the mixed messages that just inhabit our body and our mind and our experience on an ongoing basis — that when we sit, the first thing we’re met
with is not quiet or calm or peace. The first thing we’re met with is, ‘Oh, my God. Who is in here, and why won’t they shut up? How do I get them to stop?’ And not only is something and someone and everyone speaking to me, it’s mixed messages. Things don’t agree with each other. I don’t agree with my own truth. I’m having arguments in here that are not my arguments, they are someone else’s arguments. They’re my parents’ arguments. Sitting lets us just, first of all, recognize that we are this massive collection of thoughts and experiences and sensations that are moving at the speed of light and that we never get a chance to just be still and pause and look at them, just for what they are, and then slowly to sort out our own voice from the rest of the thoughts, emotions, the interpretations, the habits, the momentums that are just trying to overwhelm us at any given moment.





“And when I say ‘trying to overwhelm us,’ that’s really a key thing to understand, because that means that there’s an ‘us.’ There’s a core and deep and abiding ‘us’ that is being overwhelmed by something that’s actually not us. And when we become aware of it, we’re like: ‘Oh, I actually have some choice here.’” (from On Being with Krista Tippett and angel Kyodo williams). https://onbeing.org/programs/the-world-is-our-field-of-practice-apr2018/)


Simplicity has in its origins the idea of becoming radical, which has a root meaning “root”; going deeper and penetrating the surface of life to the root, the essence, the source, … reality. In the true sense, fundamentalism means going back to our roots, origins, essence, fundamentals of living. And yet we complicate everything. We can’t even get simplicity or the fundamentals right.

All of my life, I have held to the value of being rooted and grounded so that I can stand firm in the fierce storms of life. At the same time I was taught to stand firm in the faith meaning in the faith of our fathers; their creeds, their teachings, their doctrine and dogma, and in their bible that is the inspired and inerrant word of god.

And yet, this holy book, like any book, is written with words… and words are nothing more than signs and symbols that point to reality; signs and symbols stuffed full of meaning by each individual that uses them.

In expressive language, we use words that reflect as closely as possible the thoughts in our heads in order to convey them to others.

Receptive language depends on the listener or reader to have the exact same meanings already in their heads so that they can receive those words with meanings attached exactly as they were meant by the person expressing themselves. This never happens. Never. Especially when the words originate in another culture which infuses all words with the meanings and interpretations of that culture and its history. OR when words originate in another language and then are translated which creates an even greater cultural rift.

Every time we communicate here and now, we lose meaning. If we use a dialog process, sometimes we come closer to fully understanding. But even dialog with expert listeners and facilitators is always a matter of successive approximation; and never an exact process. In other words, we can never read the mind of another human being in direct conversation, let alone bestow precision and perfection on words and language from another era, another culture, another time, another world. Unfortunately, we cannot read minds.

Too often we live lives that are rooted and grounded in what we have been taught; second hand people clinging to that which is unfounded and unproven, clinging to what we have been told.

But when we examine this, we find that we are rooted and grounded
in a theology that is simply a human construct,
in dogma and doctrine drummed up by men,
echoing the faith of our fathers based on the stories of men that we do not know.

Unknowingly, I spent my life sinking my roots into unfounded teachings and assumptions; becoming rooted and grounded in an illusion of certainty and permanence that is really and always temporal and not at all certain; as with all of life, in constant change and flux.

So where and how do we sink our roots? How can we be grounded and solid so we can stand against the fierceness of life; fearlessly and faithfully? Or if certainty is an illusion, is there something that we can be rooted in? Something that is certainly uncertain??? And yet solid.

“The question Christianity, as well as every religious tradition, puts to men and women yesterday and today is: Do I find my fulfillment in asserting my will to power over myself and others, or in surrendering to myself and others in a spirit of empathy and compassion? And if I can only be myself by surrendering, to what, to whom do I surrender?” (Sam Keen, Fire in the Belly–on being a man, p. 102).

Will we, can we surrender the illusion of certainty?
Will we, can we surrender to uncertainty, knowing that everything is temporal.

Can we live with no foothold? Can we live ungrounded? If we loose our grip, will we take flight?

“If you have no foothold, if there is no certainty, no achievement, there is freedom.”

"It is one of the most difficult things in the world to look at anything simply. Because our minds are very complex we have lost the quality of simplicity. I don't mean simplicity in clothes or food, wearing only a loincloth or breaking a record fasting or any of that immature nonsense the saints cultivate, but the simplicity that can look directly at things without fear - that can look at ourselves as we actually are without any distortion - to say when we lie we lie, not cover it up or run away from it.

"Also in order to understand ourselves we need a great deal of humility. If you start by saying, `I know myself', you have already stopped learning about yourself; or if you say, 'There is nothing much to learn about myself' because I am just a bundle of memories, ideas, experiences and traditions', then you have also stopped learning about yourself. The moment you have achieved anything you cease to have that quality of innocence and humility; the moment you have a conclusion or start examining from knowledge, you are finished, for then you are translating every living thing in terms of the old. Whereas if you have no foothold, if there is no certainty, no achievement, there is freedom to look, to achieve. And when you look with freedom it is always new. A confident man is a dead human being." (Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known, this profound book is free on the internet)


Grounded in Community, People, Love

And yet...

"Without roots we can neither discover where we belong, nor can we grow. Without stability we cannot confront the basic questions of life. Without stability we cannot know our true selves. It is only as we put down roots into the earth that we begin to see the fruits. To be earthed is to come alive in a new sense of mission. A new capacity to give life is born, not by myself but in the body of community." (Jean Vanier, Community and Growth)

“…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend ... what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…” (Ephesians 3:17–19). Rooted and grounded in the mystery that is beyond comprehension.

Grounded in the Ground of Being

We must do the inner work of sorting through the trash and treasures within, of uprooting and ungrounding all of the illusions and lies of culture and conditioning and conformity. Ultimately, we will see that deep within there is a stillness, a silence, that is the essence, where we can be rooted and grounded.

“Let silence take you to the core of life.” (Rumi)

"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." (Lao Tzu)

"Taking refuge is not some kind of evasion or escape, but is the planting of our “selves” deeply in the nature of what surrounds us. We lodge ourselves in the deep waves and in the shallow pools, in the crests and depressions of our lives. Sometimes, even wreckage can make a temporary resting place."
(Gary Thorp, “Shelter from the Storm”)

Grounded in Equanimity

“Equanimity is said to be an anchor. It protects you against the ‘worldly winds’—pleasure and pain, praise and blame, gain and loss, and fame and disrepute—by keeping you anchored so you’re not tossed about by those winds.” —Daisy Hernández, “The Noble Abode of Equanimity”

E·qua·nim·i·ty

1. mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.

"she accepted both the good and the bad with equanimity"

Synonyms: composure, calmness, calm, level-headedness, self-possession, self-control,  even-temperedness, coolness, coolheadedness, presence of mind;  serenity, placidity, tranquility, phlegm, impassivity, imperturbability, unexcitability, equilibrium; poise, self-assurance, assurance, self-confidence, aplomb, sangfroid, nerve;  Informal cool, unflappability; "she was able to confront the daily crises with equanimity"

Grounded in the Source

The Space Between all things is not empty like we used to believe. The universe is full of an emptiness and that is bursting with energy and power and intelligence. This emptiness just may be the Source of all things, the power that brought about life, sustains life, and holding the universe together so that it does not fly apart. This is still the mystery beyond mysteries. And yet we know that it is more than nothing; a lot more. What if our groundedness and rootedness is anchored in the essence of the universe; the Source of all things.

I don’t know. I’m nothing but a wondering wanderer, a wandering wonderer, in awe of the wonder and mystery of all things.

The In-Between State

When we are in an in-between place where we need to decide,  "we’ll find that we want to blame, to take sides, to stand our ground. We feel we must have some resolution. We want to hold our familiar view. For the warrior, “right” is as extreme a view as “wrong.” They both block our innate wisdom."

"It takes some training to equate complete letting go with comfort. But in fact, 'nothing to hold on to' is the root of happiness. There’s a sense of freedom when we accept that we’re not in control. Pointing ourselves toward what we would most like to avoid makes our barriers and shields permeable."

https://tricycle.org/magazine/pema-chodron-teachings/

A paradox of being grounded in groundlessness.

The Sacred Path of the Warrior

Grounded in the Essence of our Natural Basic Goodness

We must first let go of all that is illusion, all that is not real... all that is.

Then we must become rooted and grounded 

~ in the reality of our own basic goodness,*

~ in the realization of a genuine heart of sadness,**

~ in the intelligence of gentleness that begets fearlessness.***

As we fearlessly become rooted and grounded in the groundlessness of letting go.

Each begetting the next out of the foundation of basic goodness; begetting and embodying a fearless compassion and a compassionate fearlessness.

* Basic Goodness is the essence and the proclamation of the creator upon all of creation, "It is good!"

** Out of our very nature of basic goodness comes a genuine heart of sadness. A heart broken open into a heart that is open and vulnerable to be touched by all of creation (its breadth and depth, sadness and sorrow, joy and happiness). An open heart that is touched by the world becomes full and bursting with compassion.

***A broken open heart that has been deeply touched by this world goes forth with the balanced intelligence of gentleness and fearlessness; equanimity.

Definition of compassion: com (with) + passion (suffer) = to suffer with.