Independence is an "Inside Job"
In the sovereignty of the Self
“There is no way to gain emancipation through another person.” - Buddha
“The highest, ultimate truth in life is grounded in the fact that there are no favorable or adverse circumstances, no fortune or misfortune. All there is is the life of the Self.” Kosho Uchiyama Roshi (How to Cook Your Life)
Happy holiday, everyone. I hope you are enjoying some extended vacation time this weekend.
Before getting into today’s newsletter — a short but powerful pointer from Uchiyama Roshi about success in life and business — here’s another invitation to connect with me for personal coaching. I love this work and I am in clear purpose with it.
If you find yourself in this first month of summer in a reflective mode, I can help you make the most of it. My desire is to help you integrate your professional, personal and spiritual paths. We tend to over-compartmentalize these areas, thinking that makes them more “manageable,” but actually it makes your life more complicated.
If you’d like to explore working with me, sign up for a free Discovery session with me and we’ll see if I can help.
The Essentials for Real Freedom
On July 4th, Americans celebrate independence from authoritarian rule. It was a wonderful goal, well-accomplished, and worth celebrating.
Ultimately, we all want independence from controlling and exploitative forces. The Zen way of working with this aspiration is to look within and see where we may be unconsciously allowing ourselves to be exploited and controlled. As the Buddha said, we will never be free if we focus so strongly on what others are doing or saying that we lose our own center and power of agency.
This is a subtle thing we do. We are deeply conditioned to look outside for problems and solutions.
Not only do we look to other people as the source of our bondage and freedom, but also to circumstances. It is perhaps a more diffuse way to shift responsibility and detract from our own agency.
“I am not so slavish as to seek my sovereignty in another person,” the enlightened modern mind tells itself, all the while being obsessed with judging and trying to control events.
Remarkably, when we recognize that our problems and solutions are not “out there,” we start living and working at the highest level. Instead of “outsourcing” everything, we learn to “insource” what’s happening. And that gives an infinite potential for improvement and accomplishment.
What are the signs that we are “outsourcing” our problems and solutions?
The modern Zen Master Kosho Uchiyama Roshi gives an interesting account of overhearing a conversation between two elderly businessmen on a Japanese train. They cited the six qualities it was necessary to avoid in order to be successful in business. These were:
Opportunism
Passivity
Dependence upon others
Arrogance
Lack of concentration
Accepting what others say uncritically
Uchiyama not only agreed with this, but says they apply to life in general. And the reason is that all of these negative characteristics are outward-facing, driven by a dependence on others’ actions and opinions. They show that we are letting the world control and possibly exploit us.
I have to admit that reading these deleterious qualities always gives me pause, because I am prone to all six. That said, I feel the intensity of modern life, not to mention the rampant stupidity that permeates our information-sphere, forces me to be more discerning, “on my toes,” and self-reliant. (Of course, the self-reliance can become neurotic, but that’s another story.)
The positive characteristics that arise from holding a true, honest and confident seat in one’s Self are:
Service
Joyful action
Independence of mind
Humility
Concentration
Critical thinking
This seems to me an excellent curriculum for growth, and worthy of a declaration of support.
Happy holiday!