The Great Banana

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

My best guess is that “life,” the “Infinite,” Buddha Mind,” wants nothing from us except that we live. “Consciousness,” “Higher Power,” or Great Banana is nothing more than a reflection of ourselves, and everything else collectively, looking back at us. It has no separate existence, therefore, no separate wants, desires, intentions, plans, or power. It is, as we are, life itself.

So, son Jacob, his partner Lynda, and I were talking yesterday about the practice of releasing one’s grip and turning oneself “over” to a “Higher Power” and how challenging or desirable this practice is. Jacob sees this as conceiving of “the Infinite” as a puppet master sort, much like the God of Job. These three issues emerged: a “Universal” separate from us, a “Universal” that has intent, and the challenge of letting go.

A Zenster perspective might be that the first is meaningless as we discover from our deepest practice that any ultimate reality is One. Our continued deepest practice might reveal that, as One, we are therefore one with all of life and more: all of life is teleological, which is to say, lives with the intent to perform its function. This renders the last as completely acceptable and points to the Heart Sutra’s statement, “no hindrance of the mind, therefore no fear.” Letting go in such a context means nothing more or less than relaxing into the vast processes of life itself.

This does not mean that we do not avoid a rock in the road while driving, nor does it mean we meet a wave with resistance. When driving, we naturally avoid the rock and at the beach, we learn to naturally roll with a wave…or step away from its path or enter it seamlessly.

At root, then, our resistance to letting go is in direct proportion to our trust in life itself. What happens when the Great Banana splits?

We eat it.

Be well.