There’s an analogy I quite like, that a bird needs two wings to fly—wisdom and compassion.

And yet, we have such a knee jerk reaction. Someone says or does something disagreeable, and we are instantly poised to defend.

Sometimes, I wonder if it’s our beliefs which keep us here—trapped inside this perpetual ‘dance’ of reaction.

How easily we forget the practicality of the practice, and the utility within the understanding.

“Fixed ideas are like a wisp of cloud or smoke, but nonetheless people find themselves blocked or captured by these. You would laugh if you saw someone tripped by a cloud, or if someone claimed that they were imprisoned by the air. But, in fact, people are endlessly being trapped by things no more substantial than air or clouds. They make a wall with their mind, and then it imprisons them. Inherently, there is no wall or anything to trip over. These things are mirages they’ve created from the thoughts they gave rise to.” – Zen Master Daehaeng

My darlings, just as the bird needs two wings to fly – so, too, must we incorporate the very same in our own practice.

To be mindful, that we may see when we’re getting ‘caught up’; and yet, to have compassion enough, that we may learn to let these painful barriers go.

“Do not insist upon your own fixed ideas. Your persistence is your own narrow mind. If your mind is broad, it can easily embrace the entire world. However, if your mind is narrow, even a needle cannot enter. You have to keep letting go of your stubbornness, and always be deeply respectful of all life and things. This is returning to and relying upon the Buddha-Dharma. This is also how to become a free person. Always be humble. Be humble. The fragrance of your broad and generous mind will warm others’ hearts.” – Zen Master Daehaeng

With mindfulness, we may enter this world not leading with the false front of our spiritual identity or philosophical point of view—but rather with an openness of mind that will allow us to see things as they really are.

And, with loving-kindness we may begin to permeate those many layers of fear—to disentangle from our past neurosis—that have kept us burdened for all of these many years.

The poet Mary Oliver once wrote,“When the thumb of fear lifts, we are so alive.’

To be alive then, I believe, is to break free from this constant editorializing—to let the story unfold, without jumping to the end of our ‘book.’

So then, you might ask—what is the basis of our practice?

As the venerable Ajahn Chah might say, “Do everything with a mind that lets go.”

Only then, may we begin to lift that thumb of fear, and to engage fully in this majesty of life.

Never underestimate your abilities, my darlings. And remember, a free bird must always have these two wings to fly.