Offering timeless wisdom, Jack Kornfield elucidates pertinent lessons on the topics of freedom, gratitude, trust, and the buoyancy of hope.
In the adjoining talk to the last episode’s ‘Just Like Me’ Guided Meditation—from a November 23, 2020, Jack Kornfield & Friends session from Spirit Rock‘s ongoing Monday Night Dharma Talk & Meditation—Jack shares pertinent wisdom on to aid the trying times we find ourselves in. Offering lessons learned of freedom, he shares the example of Nelson Mandela. In teaching gratitude, he recounts a ceremony with Iroquois Medicine Man, Mad Bear. And sharing on trust, Jack offer’s Martin Luther King’s ‘buoyancy of hope,’ to keep us afloat on turbid waters.
Freedom To Be Free
What is freedom? Touching on the double-edged sword of our ever-proliferating technology, as well as our personal, spiritual roles in interacting with the world, our families, and the environment; Jack Kornfield offers an inquiry into the pertinent questions of our modern times. Speaking about the nature of freedom, Jack recounts Nelson Mandela’s mind-opening perspective:
“Nelson Mandela—when he got out of 27 years in prison and stood up in front of the newly remade nation of South Africa with such magnanimity, graciousness, and wisdom—when he spoke of freedom he said: You are not yet free, you merely have the freedom to be free.” – Jack Kornfield
For more Jack, explore the freedom of an open heart while tapping more wisdom from Nelson Mandela, in Ep. 11 of Heart Wisdom
The Gratitude of a Mad Bear: An Iroquois Medicine Man (16:19)
After sharing poems and stories for stretching us into the wonder, mystery, and awe of the universe, Jack invites us into the billions of moments of generosity brimming from the world each day. Describing how we can shift our identity to release ourselves from the body of fear, Jack recalls a wildly spiritual and touching encounter with the Iroquois Medicine Man, Mad Bear, and the lessons of gratitude learned from this remarkable shared experience of potent prayer and loving kindness.
“As I stayed with it and listened, I began to feel something so different. It wasn’t a prayer. It was his gratitude for the people, and the animals, and the plants, and the insects, the creatures of the sky, in the sea, in the air, in the water, the fire and the earth, and all their joyful exertions that bless us everyday.” – Jack Kornfield
Join David Silver in a vibrant and meaningful recounting of a peyote shaman convergence, among other remarkable stories, on Ep. 384 of Mindrolling
Trust & The Buoyancy of Hope (32:06)
Sharing reflections on the current state of society while speaking directly to the innate wisdom inherently expressed in nature, Jack illustrates how—despite the seemingly heavy and trying circumstances—we can cultivate trust and stay afloat on these turbid waters using, what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described as, the ‘buoyancy of hope.’
“With your own good hearts you’re asked to learn to trust, to do what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, to turn the fatigue of despair into the buoyancy of hope.”– Jack Kornfield
Open yourself to the love, tenderness, and trust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Freedom Movement, on Ep. 20 of Sufi Heart
Subscribe to Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom: iTunes – RSS
Image via marukopum