Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Beginner’s mind
All this week, Richard Rohr’s meditations have been about the emphasis that Jesus put on having a mind like a child’s. In Mark 10:13-16 Jesus is in a crowd and people are bringing their children for him to lay his hands on. The disciples object. Then Jesus makes his statement about the Kingdom of God belonging to children. “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
I learned two words this week. The first one is from Zen Buddhism: Shoshin. This is a state of mind that keeps an attitude of openness, is eager to learn, and is able to set preconceptions aside. I read the word in one of the Richard Rohr’s meditations and it has stayed with me all week. I think of how my reactions to life happen because I have been programmed by my beliefs and my experiences. For example, it has taken years of attending a Unity church for me to finally believe that a spark of God’s energy lives in me and that the kingdom of God is within at all times. This “new” understanding has been a game changer for how I look at life.
I learned the second word yesterday during a conversation with my philosopher son, Ted. He literally is a student of philosophy, working on his dissertation out in California. I told him that people ask me what his dissertation is about, and out it came: Epistomology. He is writing about the theory of knowledge, and how we come to know what we know. His dissertation studies what distinguishes a belief from an opinion, and what is needed to have knowledge.
Right away I was in deep weeds, though now I can say with certainty that his dissertation is on Espistomology. Or I can just say it is about the theory of knowledge and leave it at that. We got into a great discussion about our beliefs, based on cultural or personal faith or values, and our opinions, based on what we believe to be facts.
Then I got turned around by thinking about people whose beliefs are absolutely false but absolutely sacrosanct to the believer. Like, Biden stole the election. Facts tell us that this is not true, yet there is a huge mass of people who believe that 45 is still the legitimate President. Some believe it so much that they were willing to travel to Washington, DC, and storm the capitol building. I can’t help but think that if 45 is indicted, there will be similar protests in our country.
This morning’s meditation is titled, “Entering the Cloud of Unknowing”. Here is where a beginner’s mind comes in handy. Richard Rohr writes, “The author of The Cloud of Unknowing is always saying you have to balance your knowing with a willingness not to know.” As I understand it, the author (an anonymous person writing in the 14th century) proposes that first we have to forget our preconceived notions of God in order to begin to know God. I forwarded the meditation to Ted thinking it is no coincidence that this subject came up today.
I believe Ted is working on Chapter 4 of his dissertation. I marvel at that, because I could barely come up with this blog of 600 words or so. Ted did say that a rule of dissertations is that you have to have an “elevator pitch”. In other words, you have to be able to explain your thesis in the time that it takes an elevator to go from the top floor to the first floor. There is not a building tall enough that would give me time to explain anything related to epistemology. But I plan to work on keeping a shoshin mind from now on.