Today we came to the prison to do the second class of the PoF – Who am I? Before starting up the class I wondered how it would be? It seems to me that it’s quite a challenging class to do. Especially since it’s so soon in the programme, before the group has got to get to know each other better. Before they really know if they trust us that come from the outside. I guess they have had their share of “Helpers” running through their lives. That does not just go for people on the inside – I mean, that would be the case on the outside as well. So there’s a trust issue, but also a class that needs a bit of instruction and paper and pen and… So I was very curious to see how it would all play out.
The core group came back after introduction and the first class, and were followed by two new guys. In the check-in there were some thoughts about the first cell practice. The contemplation on “Freedom” proved to have been quite provocative for at least two of them. But it ended with a interesting discussion about what freedom really is and how this practice can show up the freedom we all possess wherever we are.
The main practice with “Who am I?” worked surprisingly smooth. They did it seemingly whole heartedly.
When we started to talk again the quite common misunderstanding about letting go came up. Letting go and getting rid off… it’s not the same, but we all fall into this trap every now and then. We all would like to be someone else – a “Buddha”, a “better person”, a ” good guy” and so on.. That seems so much more appealing many days then to let go of whatever identity that comes to mind. Our difficulty to see that we all are buddha, that we all have this basic goodness when we drop this clinging and getting rid off and just let go… I think we will come back to this theme again and again over the next couple of weeks. I am a bit surprised also how open they are, and how willingly they share what comes up in practice or their worries.
Another thing that was a bit interesting was that we changed name for the Cell Practice. They found it a bit depressing and wanted us to name it “Practice on one’s own”. So that’s the name for it here for now.
Gassho/with metta/namaste
Pake