So, here we are. T minus 3 weeks.
We're going to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Genpo Roshi and the Big Mind (Big Heart) process.
Roshi is located at Kanzeon, which is a Zen monastery. Roshi himself is a Zen Master.
About a year ago, Tom Goddard brought the Big Mind process to Shalom Mountain, where he offered it at the Men's Gathering in Sept. 06. During this time, Alistair had been getting more deeply involved with the work of Ken Wilber, who is kinda brilliant if I may say so. He's doing some major work for the planet, that's for sure.
Then Alistair and I ordered the Integrated Life Practice kit, which is a personal practice that covers all the important areas of your life -- physical, mental, emotional, shadow work, spiritual -- and a few more that I can't remember! Although we weren't terribly successful in "integrating the integral" model to our life here at the Mountain, there was something else that came with the kit that really caught my attention. That little something was a DVD of Roshi facilitating the Big Mind process for 3 hours.
So one night, while Alistair was off doing something else, I watched it by myself. It completely blew me away. I saw in front of my very eyes an incredibly skilled master at calling up the transcendent voices within me/us. Not only that, he was a consummate active listener: hearing, seeing, honoring. He affirmed everything that came out of everyone's mouth. And this encouraged all the voices to continue to show up, to say who they are, what they do, how they feel. If any resistance came up, Roshi dealt with it with a quality of completely openness and patience.
I just knew that I had to show this to Alistair. In turn, he was completely blown away by Roshi. And that all resulted in us being here with a flight reservation for Salt Lake City, and acceptance into the Big Mind training program.
Then last night we listened to Roshi's latest CD of Big Mind. In what is now becoming a frequent experience, we were again totally blown away. In what seems like a relatively brief time to me, Roshi has managed to both simplify and make elegant this process of transcendence, this process of awakening. He's now managed to accomplish in 15 minutes what he did previously in his DVD of 3 hours. As the process of transcendence is awakening and growing within him on a daily basis, it is increasing both in breadth, depth and clarity. My hope is that as Alistair and I continue to immerse ourselves in this process, that Big Mind will become a stronger and more consistent presence within us, speaking through us on a consistent basis.
Once you've seen or participated in the Big Mind process, you are likely going to ask: can it be this simple? Unequivocally and without hesitation, I say: yes. Big Mind/Big Heart exists within us already. It is the larger S-self that we speak of so frequently. And it is only a moment away, and just for the asking. And we no longer need anyone else to hold the S-self for us besides ourselves!
