This week we are looking at the stressors and complications of living in the midst of an ongoing global health crisis and how we can adapt and hang in there for the long haul as sometimes it feels like it will never end. With the extended coronavirus pandemic now entering its 20 month mark, it’s been a long haul. Just when it feels like we’re making some progress there is a set-back. Just when we think we understand something about the virus it mutates and a new variant arises that is worse than the last. So how do we cope with this marathon-like experience of the long haul, and what can we do to maintain our own mental stability and spiritual balance? 

The service will be available at 10AM on our YouTube Channel followed by Zoom check-in and coffee hour at 11AM.

You’ll find the links listed below.

Have a good week everyone.

Practice patience and kindness.
In Ministry,

Dave 

HERE IS THE SERVICE LINK FOR THIS WEEK’S SERVICE(Please note it won’t be active until 10AM on Sunday morning) 
https://youtu.be/taR38WfFbbA

HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY:

David Hutchinson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: UU check-in and coffee hourTime: Oct 24, 2021 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)        Every week on Sun, until Nov 7, 2021, 3 occurrence(s)        Oct 24, 2021 11:00 AM        Oct 31, 2021 11:00 AM        Nov 7, 2021 11:00 AMPlease download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.Weekly: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/tZUvceyvrTkoEtxti_N1fvH8p54IOF-g0v-7/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGprD0vHdeXshGPRpwcAI_oZ-3ztnpBj7dFiBbaLXFVdCuuJrcWG51ZXd-A

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If you would like to send in your pledge or donation simply drop an envelope in the mail. The address is listed below.  Thank you for your generous support!
UU Church of Houlton

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Samsara by the Nanosecond 

Breaking the automatic chain reaction of our thoughts is the key to finding peace. Lama Tsomo explains why.By Lama Tsomo   October 21. 2021

A thought arises and we grab hold of it. We generate another thought in response to that one, perhaps embellishing our thought in pursuit of something we desire, or perhaps changing the subject in an effort to push away an unwanted experience. 

And on and on and on it goes, one thought tumbling after another, all spurred on by “needs” of our afflictive emotions. We want to attract this thing we’re thinking of, and push away that other thing. All those internal conversations you have going on, oh, once in a while. The endless problem-solving, as you try to figure out how you can get that promotion, push that difficult person out of your way, make someone like you back, etc., etc., etc.—that’s not letting well enough alone. That’s not tranquil abiding, [how I translate shamatha meditation]. We sign up for samsara every moment, involved with the movie, jumping in and starring in it, trying to produce, direct, rescript, and recast it as it flows by. We could stop at any frame, but we don’t even notice that there are separate frames, or even that it’s a movie. 

Let’s look at this chain reaction in slow motion. You’re sitting there, meditating, breathing, and gazing peacefully. The thought of your manager at work pops up. Yesterday she told you she didn’t like your clever idea. You see her face in your mind’s eye. You hear her dismissive tone.  Now is the moment you could simply be aware of that thought and let it pass. But in a less-than-mindful moment, with frustration (the little brother of anger and aversion) in your heart, you jump to the next link in the chain reaction. You think of what you’d say back to her, trying different sentences and imagining how she might respond. Then you decide maybe it would be better to go over her head and talk to her manager or to get your fellow workers to join you in putting your idea forward. The more you spin these scenarios, the more agitated, and less peaceful, you feel. 

You see how this plays out: now you’ve got a whole movie going on, and you’re the star. And there is nothing tranquil or abiding about this production. 

And maybe, at some point in your revved-up agitation, you remember: “Oh, yeah, I was meditating.” 

The drama started not with the image and words of your manager, actually, but with your following after that thought. And in that moment you went from peace to samsara. This is how we sign up for samsara every minute, every day. 

We commonly say, “You made me mad.” Well, my lama, Gochen Tulku Sangak Rinpoche, was sent to prison by the Chinese at age 13 for being a religious leader. He probably felt like saying that to the guards when he first got to prison. But then he learned that, whatever the guards did or whatever situation he was in, his own reaction was quite another thing. This uncoupling of outer goings on from our reactions to them is key to our finding peace. If we’re dependent on everything being just right in our outer world, it’s going to be a long wait (and by long, I mean infinite), so we’ll never find happiness. Gaining the ability to respond as we wish is the only way I can imagine that we can be happy all the time. It’s also the way to true freedom. 

If we don’t have a personal stake in (or any ego about) what happens when faces or words pop up, then they very quickly vanish, without any drama. In Vajrayana we sometimes speak of a thief coming to an empty house. There’s no point in staying. So if we become a dispassionate observer—not numbed out but simply without indulging in that “personal stake”—these thoughts, appearances, even feelings can come and go in an endless flow, and we haven’t lost our seat. Under these circumstances, gradually the flow of thoughts will naturally slow down.

We can experience the true nature of our minds, see to the depths, only once the waters have been stilled.

Even in the early stages of shamatha practice, I could experience a bit of stillness in the pause between breaths. I found I would lengthen that pause a little, to savor that lovely stillness. You might try that yourself, without pushing or making a big effort out of it. Just a little pause.

In the gap between two thoughts,
Thought-free wakefulness manifests unceasingly.
—Milarepa

Lama Tsomo is a spiritual teacher, author, and co-founder of the Namchak Foundation, which preserves and shares Tibetan Buddhist practice in accessible, contemporary ways. She holds an MA in Counseling Psychology and is the author of Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? An Introduction and Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Practice and coauthor of The Lotus & the Rose: A Conversation Between Tibetan Buddhism & Mystical Christianity and the newly released Taking a Breath meditation journal.

Poetry Corner
Everyone Sang

by Siegried Sassoon
Everyone suddenly burst out   singing;

And I was filled with such delight

As prisoned birds must find in   freedom,

Winging wildly across the white

Orchards and dark-green fields;

on  – on – and out of sight.

Everyone’s voice was suddenly    lifted;

And beauty came like the setting   sun:

My heart was shaken with tears;   and horror

Drifted away…O, but everyone’

Ws a bird; and the song was   worldless;

singing will never    be done.

Here’s a photo from a recent campfire down at the cabin. Notice the spark flying off into the darkness…
posted by Dave

Prayer List
For those recovering from COVID-19 in the state of Maine

Local emergency personnel and hospital staff

For our state and national leaders as they respond to the current coronavirus crisis

For those working for social justice and societal change 

Pray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nation

Prayers for the heat wave in the American West and wide spread drought conditionsLinda’s mother Mary Annah Joy is now in Madigan EstatesPrayers for the people of Haiti

Prayers for the people of Afghanistan 

Pray for the refugees from Haiti arriving at the Texas border and the immigration officers coping with the influx

Prayers for the missionaries kidnapped in Haiti recently

The Four Limitless Ones Prayer
May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

May we be free from suffering and the root of suffering.

May we not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.

May we dwell in the great equanimity free from anger, aggression and exclusion.