‘In my years as a retreatant and in the public sphere, I’ve learned much about how the ego–the illusion of a self that is separate from life–operates. The revealing of the ego in action – insights about how it functions- has a particular taste, a particular feel. Freedom has a flavor.
I’ve come to understand how collective systems arising out of the delusion that “we are separate” also have the same resonance as the personal delusion”/ am separate.” The workings of the ego, which we might think of as operating on a personal level, and the workings of collective conditioning have the same taste. I’ve had moments of experiencing how and where delusion–personal or collective-manifests and ripples through the mind and body in the same way, creating the same feel. And seeing through distortion, whether we are seeing through personal or collective delusion, has its own same feel. The feel of freedom.’ (The Heart Of Who We Are)
I’ve know Caverly for almost ten years through the Gen X Teachers’ Group, and I picked her her new book when I went to hear her speak at Zen Center recently. I very much appreciated her approach in the talk, and although I have only just started the book – and am trying to read the other books I also bought that day – I know I am going to find it rich and rewarding.
Shundo David Haye 