Metta, courage and confidence

The capacity of the mind to incline in any given direction, the malleability and flexibility of the mind as a fact of its true nature, we need to really deepen our understanding of these. Qualities such as metta enhance the mind’s capacity to be flexible. Interestingly, a practice such as metta can be used in a disciplined manner to really be more mentally flexible, so long as the flexibility inducing factors are maintained.

Consider the following. Consider the quality of loving kindness. Consider the warm, affectionate feelings that accompany a contemplation of a golden retriever puppy or of a little child playing in the sunlight. Consider the specific feelings and the feeling of good will therein. There is extraordinary power in such a contemplation. Consider the capacity of your mind to deepen the feeling of metta, one step at a time, ad infinitum. The Buddha encouraged us to be lavish and grand in our aspirations to loving kindness. There is nothing to be concerned about when it comes to an abundance of loving kindness. The more the better.

The title speaks of metta, courage and confidence. So, where does the courage come in, and where does the confidence come in? Well, as I’ve observed elsewhere, when metta pervades the mind, it occupies even those last corners of the mind where self loathing and fear reside, and when those are temporarily replaced, the subjective experience is a sharp arising of courage. This is something that can be directly contemplated. (It is important to be realistic in one’s expectations when we practice. It takes time to develop the capacity to suffuse one’s mind with any one thought or emotion.)

There is a feedback loop that starts with metta and then traverses the path from courage to effortless action. Loving-kindness is sanity itself. The mind that experiences one finger-snap of pure loving-kindness IS a mind that has also simultaneously experienced one finger-snap of fearlessness. This is what feels like courage, and when this courage pervades the mind, this feels like confidence or unconditional fearlessness.

Now, I want to amplify the role of Sattva or clarity in this process. To see things as they are, without any twisting of reality, has an unmistakable stamp to it. There is something to be said for the role of feelings in the twisting of reality in one’s mind. This is where the connection with metta starts becoming clear. A mind that is flooded with metta is a mind that isn’t twisted to the extent that it is flooded. In fact, metta is an excellent preparatory practice for meditations that focus on clarity, such as Vipassana.

Now, I want to work through the process of fixing or stabilizing unconditional confidence in my mind. Here, my goal is to remember the mental state where the mind is already suffused with metta, so that fearlessness bubbles up in the mind. I am playing with the process of remembering this skillful emotion. In doing this, I want to explore mental clarity that is a direct consequence of this state of mind. The state is accompanied by a powerful gut-level knowledge that we’re all one. Contemplate the value of such knowledge in making one fearless, and the value of such knowledge in making one’s mind clear.