Bernie Siegel, MD posted on Facebook: “Dear Everybody, My old Zen Master Irving said to me on my first visit,” You have three jobs here. Your first job is to kill the Buddha. Your second job is to kill your parents. Your third job is to kill me.” As I got up to leave he said to sit down and let him explain what he meant. First, you must let go of any concepts of a separate, superior, enlightened being outside of yourself. Second, as long as there is anything you want from your parents or anything that upsets you, they will be an obstacle in your mind. Killing your parents means accepting them just as they are. They enter your mind like an image reflected on the water. No ripples. Your third job is to kill me.

I told him I didn’t know if I could accomplish this difficult job he had outlined. If I gave up everything I would be separated from my family. He explained it is possible to leave everything without leaving anything. True renunciation is the renunciation of desires, passions and attachments. When you feel this equal love for all you will not give up this or that and will feel the whole world is your home.
Folks if you can live the above you will find divine happiness. Believe me. Books are still being written about how to be happy and it is basically that we grow up in ignorance. So train yourself and your children and families and let us enlighten the world and create a true home for all things. When we become one family through renunciation it will happen. Now how do we get there? You seek the enlightenment of all the great sages and then you practice, rehearse and find guides and coaches to assist you until you reach the state of still water in your mind.

This is a journey and you must be willing to show up and rehearse and practice until you get to the place you desire. As AA says it; Fake it till you make it. That is not about trying to trick people into thinking you are who you are not but about acting as if you were the person you wish to be until you become that person. I have been finding this theme everywhere.

As William Saroyan wrote: Everyone alive is an actor but almost everyone alive is a very pathetic actor. That’s why we are given a lifetime to rehearse and practice. I may add, as a child commented, when his dog was to be euthanized as to why animals have shorter lives, “Because they don’t need all the time it takes us to learn about love and forgiveness.” So, as I often mention, let the animals be your role models and when you are as good as your dig you are home free.
I may add that when you draw blood while actors are performing a comedy and then a tragedy their immune function is enhanced by the comedy and stress hormone levels lowered while the tragedy has the opposite effect. So your life and performance have the same effects and Monday will be a problem until you find the ability to renounce desires, passions and attachments.

Now to show how universal these beliefs are and how practical they are too. Fond the right life coach, put in the time practicing and you can make the team during your life’s time. The following is from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: Building Your Self- image and the Self-image of Others. The following was entitled Act The Way You Wish To Be. Sound familiar?

There is a basic principle found in the writings of the Rambam and other classic Torah sources: “Act the way you wish to be and you will become that way.” We are influenced by our actions. Take, for example, someone who wants to become a kinder person. By doing many acts of kindness over time, the person actually becomes an authentically kinder person.

Each day write down at least ten positive actions that you did. Write down kind words and acts, blessings that you said mindfully, and positive things that you did even though they were hard to do. Write down when you felt grateful, and when you refrained from saying something that would cause another person distress. Write down an encouraging telephone call that you made. What will happen when you are resolved to write down ten positive actions each day? You will go out of your way to do them. This will have a cumulative effect on your self-image.
The following is from Eknath Easwaren. From what I have seen of life, problems are a repertory theater. We may see all sorts of characters, but only a very few problems are playing all the roles. Self-will, of course, is the most versatile of actors. In fact, in a sense, he is the only actor. He can play any part, anytime. He throws us off guard by continually changing his costume, so that we think we are dealing with a brand-new problem, instead of the famous ham, Mr. Ego. Today he may star as Alf, The Amazing Palate Craving, tomorrow as Why-don’t-you-love-me Winifred.

Give us a problem that we recognize – dressed in a particular costume, cast in a particular role, appearing at a particular place and time – and we know how to deal with it. But the moment the same problem appears in a way we do not expect – say, wearing a false mustache and a fez – we go to pieces. The mind looks through its catalog and throws up its hands: “Boss, this isn’t supposed to happen! I don’t know what to do.” We can learn to see the underlying problem, self-will, and deal with it, instead of trying to deal with each individual disguise. “Nothing can be more important than being able to choose the way we think.”

Yes, we make the choice about what we think and then feel. So choose wisely and act like the person you wish to be. One who enhances life and lives with a quiet mind. Self-will empowers you and makes it possible to stand before the still pond and see your true reflection. When turbulence reigns because things are not going your way the pond cannot reflect the truth for you, nor can your mind.
The following comes from the medical perspective and again emphasizes the same message. The title of the article is Mindfulness in Clinician-Patient Encounters: Improving Health Outcomes with Empathy. Dr. Rakel discusses the art and science of the clinician-patient encounter and the practical application of the PEECE mnemonic—Positive prognosis, Empathy, Empowerment, Connection, and Education—to enhance the healing effect. When the doctor relates to the patient in that way they are truly doing what doctors are meant to do; be a teacher. If you relate to all those in your life in this way you become their life coach and direct them to find true PEACE through renunciation. At the same time all those involved in the relationship benefit. When you change the world changes. When you kill and eliminate your Buddha, parents and teacher you become a disturbing and enlightening human being through finding acceptance and freedom from separation.

I was called a scurvy elephant by a teacher because I lived the sermon. When I told my parents what I was called they went to school to speak with the teacher. “I didn’t call your son a scurvy elephant. He won’t sit still and keeps interrupting with his sermons. I called him a, “Disturbing element.” When you kill with kindness and torment with tenderness you will be a disturbing element too who makes a difference.

Which reminds me of a story: A man was running to catch a bus, but he arrived a moment too late, only to see the bus pulling away. Despondent, he turned to a sagely looking man and asked him, “Why did this happen to me?!”
“I don’t know,” replied the man, “but you’ve got another 15 minutes to think about it.”

And what if the bus he missed is involved in an accident. How will he feel then? So have faith. “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.” (Isaiah 40:31) Just be sure you have the correct Lord in your life who accompanies renunciation and is not the lord of material things, desires, passions and attachments.
As Helen Keller stated: “The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome.” and “When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.”
Peace, Love & Healing,
Bernie Siegel, MD

We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can – namely, surrender our will and fulfill God’s will in us.
– Saint Teresa of Avila