I'm really into audacity lately

Hello Friends,

Thirty-odd years into my meditation practice, I've thought about this thing we're doing from a lot of angles:

We're rewiring the brain.

We're gaining insight into destructive patterns.

We're discovering inherent goodness.

We're walking a path to the end of suffering.

But what's struck me lately is not so much what we're doing but the raw fact that we're doing it.

Put simply, meditation is an audacious act.

I mean, how many people are willing to sit down and just be with what's here?

It's difficult, frightening at times, uncomfortable.

If you do it long enough, you will go toe to toe with every demon.

If you go deep enough, you'll discover a goodness that can (strangely) shake you to your core.

There's a word for this brand of audacity in Pali, the ancient language close to the dialect the Buddha likely spoke.

Adhiṭṭhāna.

Adhiṭṭhāna usually gets translated as "resolve." Sometimes as "determination" or "motivation."

But I like thinking of adhiṭṭhāna as "audacity," as the unblinking hutzpah that gets us to sit down day after day, that keeps us alert and connected while we move through pain and bliss, sorrow and unexpected joy.

Like all wholesome qualities of the heart, this spiritual audacity can be cultivated.

And like all the good qualities we talk about in dhamma, it can be cultivated both on and off the cushion.

So let's be audacious together, friends. Let's water the seeds of this goodness, and see what grows.

your truly,

nico

p.s. feel free to join devon and me for an online daylong retreat on this topic of spiritual audacity (also known as resolve) this Saturday. Click here for more info and to register.