Today is officially, well not exactly (because I join a monastery only in January 2020), the start of the monkhood experiment. I probably should find a different way to refer to it. Something that\u2019s catchy. [I hear my mind say, there you again, Joel, motivated by getting approval from others]. Ok, fine. This is just about me. But what if I want to write a book about it someday?!<\/p>\n
I am traveling to India today, to visit and do silent vipassana retreats in the different Buddha places \u2014 Dharamsala, Kushinagar, Varanasi and Bodhgaya. It was perhaps appropriate that this journey starts after Dia de Todos los Santos in the Philippines. The old Joel has died and a new one starts today. As with most everything else, the change is almost imperceptible.<\/p>\n
My mind\u2019s main concern seems to be creature comforts. How unoriginal and shallow! [The judging mind strikes again!]. Right now, I still have the luxury of using airport lounges, in one of which I am writing this. At some point, this has to be let go. <\/p>\n
Only a handful (less even) of friends in Manila understand what it is I am doing. Although many of them have been so gracious in their well wishes. I have not been good at articulating my motivation, intention and plan. And I have to be comfortable with that. Let go of the ego. No need to be perfect in everything.<\/p>\n
My mind still have doubts of course. Is this a crazy idea? But the only way to know is to go through it. The only way out is through. <\/p>\n
Underneath the geographic disorientation, one can imagine, lies a primal fear of losing control.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s even worse is that the mind is creating this feeling of loneliness. I am proud to say that I see it. I see you, Mara. It is you again, my friend. Come sit and have tea with me, for as long as you like. Welcome to the party! <\/p>\n
I deactivated my Facebook account. That\u2019s a start. If I am to become nobody, then social media is a good place to start. There will be other, perhaps harder, things to let go of.<\/p>\n
It was a good few days in Manila as I saw most of the friends and family I wanted to see and say goodbye to. The sense is everything\u2019s gonna be alright. I thought it would be more dramatic. As I make everything to be. [there it goes again, the judging mind]<\/p>\n
Oh, maybe the title of the experiment will be the \u201cBecoming Nobody\u201d experiment. <\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.brainpickings.org\/2014\/08\/04\/field-guide-to-getting-lost-rebecca-solnit\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today is officially, well not exactly (because I join a monastery only in January 2020), the start of the monkhood experiment. I probably should find a different way to refer to it. Something that\u2019s catchy. [I hear my mind say, there you again, Joel, motivated by getting approval from others]. Ok, fine. This is just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindbootcamp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindbootcamp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindbootcamp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindbootcamp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindbootcamp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mindbootcamp.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindbootcamp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindbootcamp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindbootcamp.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}