Chapter 14: Why be the bird when you can be the whole sky?

Another recent favorite book of mine was gifted to me by my lovely Aunt Kathleen called “Faith,” written by Sharon Salzberg. Sharon Salzberg is an author, meditation instructor, and cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, Massachusetts. Up until recently, I had never heard of this insightful teacher; however, my aunt’s introduction started me on a grand, wonderful journey into her teachings.

When Sharon Salzberg’s book, “Faith” arrived in the mail a few months ago, I was slightly shocked and uncomfortable. Although spiritual in many ways, I do not consider myself an extremely religious person and I wondered what sort of cryptic self-help message she was trying to send me. She knew that I was going through a separation from my husband at the time and I trusted her wisdom, however, so I decided to sit down with a massive pot of coffee and speed read my way through this puzzling book.

I read “Faith” from cover to cover in about 45 minutes that day. I smiled, I cried, I underlined more passages than I can count. I repeatedly paused, looked up from the pages, and yelled at myself for judging a book simply because I didn’t like the title or the self-imposed biases I associated with it.

I respect your own unique spiritual, religious, agnostic, magical, and devious beliefs fully. I mean that. I have no idea what the “right” thing to believe is, but I can tell you that opening my mind to thinking that “every belief” could be correct instead of thinking that “no belief” or “only one belief” is correct has given me so much peace.

Ok, I’m rambling again. Here is the passage I underlined in “Faith” that led me to type this whole dang introduction:

“One of the best descriptions of awareness comes from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In a class he was teaching he drew a loose V shape in the center of a large white sheet of paper, “What is this a picture of?” he asked. The students all responded, “It’s a bird.” “No,” Trungpa Rinpoche said. “It’s a picture of the sky, with a bird flying through it.” Like the sky, awareness is open and spacious. If we focus on this spaciousness rather than on any particular thought or feeling arising in it, we are free.”

When I first read this passage two months ago, it gave me strength and courage to deal with a failing marriage. I thought, hmm, “Maybe marriage isn’t the bird in the center of my life, maybe it is simply a bird flying through a vast, limitless life I have yet to live.”

Now I read this passage and I think, hmm. “Maybe brain cancer is not the bird in the center of the picture of my life either, maybe my brain is a giant page and the cancer is simply a small, insignificant mark on the canvas of a vast, limitless life I have yet to live.”

Also, have you smiled yet today? Be your own damn Valentine, you deserve it.

Fondly,

Courtney

© CB2020