{"id":1438,"date":"2008-08-07T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-07T08:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:12:55","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:12:55","slug":"going-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Going For It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Every once in a while our Zen group gets an email from someone, often a younger someone, expressing great enthusiasm and wanting to know how to dive deep with us. They\u2019re hot to get enlightened and save all beings.\u00a0I\u2019ve had similar experiences at church, where someone has had an encounter, heard a sermon or attended an event, and has felt, this is \u201cit!\u201d They see how this liberal church is the place where they can grow in depth, become better parents and people, and do something in the world that expresses their deepest spiritual values.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
As an old fart long experienced in both my Zen and church lives, and all too aware of many institutional shortcomings as well as many profound and great gifts crowding up together, I\u2019m both charmed by this enthusiasm, and feel a wave of the weight of the world washing over me.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And it sets me to thinking\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
These encounters remind me of that Buddhist<\/a> scripture which alludes to the \u201cideal and the actual, like a box and its lid,\u201d and the fact the lid and the box rarely actually fit completely snugly\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For me the spiritual way has three elements, great doubt, great faith and great energy\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Doubt is so important.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And in my life it opens faith.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Two lovely terms, worth considerable unpacking\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But, for me, at this moment, it\u2019s that third thing, great energy that I find myself considering.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
At the moment Jan and auntie and I are in the midst of settling into our Rhode Island lives and we\u2019re caught in a small space\/time vortex where we\u2019re having trouble getting going on the next step of fixing up the house we\u2019ve found in Pawtucket.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Our energy is bottled up, I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s \u201crest energy\u201d or \u201cpotential energy,\u201d but it sure is energy, bubbling and alive.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Even in an old fart, who likes to wallow in the weight of the world\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For me my doubt and my faith rely upon this energy, whether found at rest or expressed in motion.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It is the dance of the cosmos.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And it reveals how good it is to be alive\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every once in a while our Zen group gets an email from someone, often a younger someone, expressing great enthusiasm and wanting to know how to dive deep with us. They\u2019re hot to get enlightened and save all beings.\u00a0I\u2019ve had similar experiences at church, where someone has had an encounter, heard a sermon or attended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGoing For It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every once in a while our Zen group gets an email from someone, often a younger someone, expressing great enthusiasm and wanting to know how to dive deep\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Going For It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every once in a while our Zen group gets an email from someone, often a younger someone, expressing great enthusiasm and wanting to know how to dive deep\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-07T08:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:12:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SJrzWqSfyuI\/AAAAAAAABJA\/RyRWN_BHUm0\/s400\/childrenrunning.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html\",\"name\":\"Going For It\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-08-07T08:45:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:12:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"Every once in a while our Zen group gets an email from someone, often a younger someone, expressing great enthusiasm and wanting to know how to dive deep\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Going For It\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. He has been authorized as a teacher within two traditional Zen lineages. James has washed dishes, assisted a crab fisherman on the Florida keys, worked in bookstores up and down the California coast, and served as a Unitarian Universalist parish minister. He currently lives with his spouse Jan and her mother in Los Angeles. His next book the Intimate Way of Zen is due from Shambhala Publications in July, 2024.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.emptymoonzen.org\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Ishmael_Ford\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/author\/jamesford\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Going For It","description":"Every once in a while our Zen group gets an email from someone, often a younger someone, expressing great enthusiasm and wanting to know how to dive deep","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Going For It","og_description":"Every once in a while our Zen group gets an email from someone, often a younger someone, expressing great enthusiasm and wanting to know how to dive deep","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html","og_site_name":"Monkey Mind","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029","article_published_time":"2008-08-07T08:45:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-11-01T19:12:55+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SJrzWqSfyuI\/AAAAAAAABJA\/RyRWN_BHUm0\/s400\/childrenrunning.jpg"}],"author":"James Ford","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Ford","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html","name":"Going For It","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-08-07T08:45:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-01T19:12:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb"},"description":"Every once in a while our Zen group gets an email from someone, often a younger someone, expressing great enthusiasm and wanting to know how to dive deep","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/08\/going-for-it.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Going For It"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/","name":"Monkey Mind","description":"Easily distracted...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb","name":"James Ford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"James Ford"},"description":"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. He has been authorized as a teacher within two traditional Zen lineages. James has washed dishes, assisted a crab fisherman on the Florida keys, worked in bookstores up and down the California coast, and served as a Unitarian Universalist parish minister. He currently lives with his spouse Jan and her mother in Los Angeles. His next book the Intimate Way of Zen is due from Shambhala Publications in July, 2024.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.emptymoonzen.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Ishmael_Ford"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/author\/jamesford"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}