Staci Hilton

Dear Family and Friends,

We are continuing to play with Paradox this month.
This type of play allows us to live in the question so we stay open and vulnerable to life instead of being closed and thinking that we know all the answers to everything.

Rev Kris Ashley wrote this week’s outline, and she gives us a little information about how we can stay open and curious by using what the Zen Buddhists use. They use Koans, nonsensical and paradoxical statements, riddles, questions, and stories that open students up to what is called the “Great Doubt.” Koans shed light on the limitations of logic, reasoning, and thinking. Koans aren’t just puzzles that your mind figures out suddenly and proclaims, ‘Aha! the answer is three!’ They wait for you to open enough to allow the space necessary for them to enter into your depths. .”

Some examples of Koans include, “Two hands clap, and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?” “If you meet the Buddha, kill him,” “Without thinking of good or evil, show me your original face before your mother and father were born,” and “Two monks are arguing about a flag. One says, “The flag is moving.” The other, “The wind is moving.” A third walks by and says, “Not the wind, not the flag; the mind is moving.”

Koans are a great way to play with paradoxes and open ourselves to curiosity and vulnerability while exploring the edges of what we know and what is possible. Let’s choose to live from a place of open-mindedness and open-heartedness, as we love, a little louder this week.

Namasté,
Rev Staci