Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 98 – Timeless Awareness and the Mystery of Identity

timeless

Who are we? In this dharma talk, Jack explores the mystery of identity and how meditation can open you up to the freedom of resting in timeless awareness. 

Sacred Questions

“Who are you? What is this life? What happens when you die?” Jack explores the sacred questions that are, in some ways, the basis of spiritual practice. He reflects on how, through practice and meditation, we can begin to see that we are not our bodies, but there is a spirit born into them.

“Until we can sit with the measure of pain and the tears that we have, we also aren’t free.” – Jack Kornfield

The Princess and the Dragon (24:27)

How many different roles do we play in life? How attached are we to these identities? Jack talks about the shift of identity from being caught in who we think we are to resting in a timeless awareness. He tells a fairytale about a princess, a dragon, and the shedding of identity.

“This is something like meditation, not in the sense that you have to use claws and pull something apart, but as you sit, if you stay present, the body wants to release. It does. The things that are held tight start to let go.” – Jack Kornfield

Explore the identity of identitylessness on Mindrolling Ep. 290
Timeless Awareness (41:25)

Jack reflects on how hard it can be to let go of our ideas and beliefs. He talks about how when we begin to rest in our timeless awareness, we realize that we can trust life, and all the mystery, beauty, pain, and suffering that comes with it. 

“You too are being fed by the universe. You are. By the fields, and the fruit of the trees, and all that’s grown, and those that carry it to you. You are in this web of life that’s feeding you, and holding you, and caring for this incarnation that you have.” – Jack Kornfield

       

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