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Nov 1, 2022·edited Nov 1, 2022Liked by Rev. Shoren Heather

Thank you Rev. Shoren. Your response is helpful.

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Nov 1, 2022·edited Nov 1, 2022

That the painful slap was based on a make-believe story of self that Miss Kopecky held, would it also be true that a Mr. and Mr. Wright, all by themselves, invented an airplane, is also a make-believe story. Could you go as far as saying Mr. and Mr. Wright were never born and never died? And somehow these make-believe stories shape endless stories that also dissolve into emptiness.

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Hi Shaun, thanks for your thoughtful comment. Here's what arises in response to your questions: Ms. Kopecky was identified with an imagined story of not being worthy of finding Mr. Right. The Wright Brothers did in fact build and test flying machines. That's not a fairy-tale. And no one does anything by themselves, so there were innumerable causes and conditions (interdependence or dependent co-arising) that afforded them the opportunity to build and test flying machines. They clearly were alive and died in the conventional reality where we flesh-and-blood humans reside. From an ultimate reality sense, there is no birth and death because these are distinctions created by the mind; life/death not-one/not-two.The stories about the Wright Brothers were NOT make-believe in the same vein of Mr. Right. I hope that's helpful. If not, LMK. Thanks!!

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Hi Baz, thanks so much for your feedback. Somehow this example also accesses my brain grid, if you will, in a way that makes me understand dependent co-arising because the "me, myself, and I" is removed. What's true for one dharma, is true for all. When I recall this, it feels freeing. Thanks for reading, commenting, recommending, and sitting! Bows!

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