Dr. Martha Beck

I think you've said— The other parts are impermanent. They will vanish. Everything, as Shakespeare says, everything will just disappear and leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff as dreams are made on. There is an experience that is common to individuals all over the world in different cultures at different times where they start to say they feel as if they've awakened from a dream.

Plato did it with his cave analogy. He said, Imagine that we all live chained in a cave and there's a fire behind us and we see shadows on the wall and that's what we call reality.

Plato did it with his cave analogy. He said, Imagine that we all live chained in a cave and there's a fire behind us and we see shadows on the wall and that's what we call reality.

Plato did it with his cave analogy. He said, Imagine that we all live chained in a cave and there's a fire behind us and we see shadows on the wall and that's what we call reality.

And then someone gets out of the cave and goes outside and sees this three-dimensional world where everything's bright and mobile and goes back and says, the shadows on the wall are real, they're real shadows, but they're not the ultimate reality. You should come outside and see it. And Plato said, everybody would say he was crazy. And that's what academia says now. You're crazy.

And then someone gets out of the cave and goes outside and sees this three-dimensional world where everything's bright and mobile and goes back and says, the shadows on the wall are real, they're real shadows, but they're not the ultimate reality. You should come outside and see it. And Plato said, everybody would say he was crazy. And that's what academia says now. You're crazy.

And then someone gets out of the cave and goes outside and sees this three-dimensional world where everything's bright and mobile and goes back and says, the shadows on the wall are real, they're real shadows, but they're not the ultimate reality. You should come outside and see it. And Plato said, everybody would say he was crazy. And that's what academia says now. You're crazy.

If you've ever had an experience where you felt like there was something realer than your physical self, you're crazy. Like, read Plato.

If you've ever had an experience where you felt like there was something realer than your physical self, you're crazy. Like, read Plato.

If you've ever had an experience where you felt like there was something realer than your physical self, you're crazy. Like, read Plato.

Yeah, and not without supervision. But if you can get somebody really good at it, I'm not saying do it either, but I'm not saying don't do it.

Yeah, and not without supervision. But if you can get somebody really good at it, I'm not saying do it either, but I'm not saying don't do it.

Yeah, and not without supervision. But if you can get somebody really good at it, I'm not saying do it either, but I'm not saying don't do it.

Yeah, it's not step number one. Step number one is suffering.

Yeah, it's not step number one. Step number one is suffering.

Yeah, it's not step number one. Step number one is suffering.

We all have that. You may have never felt good in your life, listener, but you have suffered. That's for sure. That's the first noble truth of Buddhism. There is suffering in this life. Pay attention to your suffering without fighting it. Allow it to be there. I did this meditation. If something's physically painful or emotionally painful, I used to say, let go, let go to myself. Didn't work.

We all have that. You may have never felt good in your life, listener, but you have suffered. That's for sure. That's the first noble truth of Buddhism. There is suffering in this life. Pay attention to your suffering without fighting it. Allow it to be there. I did this meditation. If something's physically painful or emotionally painful, I used to say, let go, let go to myself. Didn't work.

We all have that. You may have never felt good in your life, listener, but you have suffered. That's for sure. That's the first noble truth of Buddhism. There is suffering in this life. Pay attention to your suffering without fighting it. Allow it to be there. I did this meditation. If something's physically painful or emotionally painful, I used to say, let go, let go to myself. Didn't work.

So one day I said, all right, you can stay. Let it stay. And so I do a let stay meditation. If there's pain, let it stay. If there's sorrow, let it stay. And as soon as I let it stay, it begins to change. So first step is suffering. Second step is compassionate attention to one's suffering with no resistance.