{"id":33,"date":"2011-01-05T11:27:33","date_gmt":"2011-01-05T11:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/you-have-nothing-to-threaten-me-with.html"},"modified":"2011-01-05T11:27:33","modified_gmt":"2011-01-05T11:27:33","slug":"you-have-nothing-to-threaten-me-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/you-have-nothing-to-threaten-me-with.html","title":{"rendered":"Wisdom Wednesday :: &#8220;You have nothing to threaten me with &#8230;&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/batman-logo.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"batman-logo.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/96\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/01\/batman-logo-thumb-350x122-20732.jpg\" width=\"350\" height=\"122\" class=\"mt-image-left\" style=\"float: left;margin: 0 20px 20px 0\" \/><\/a><\/span>We can find the dharma in unlikely places. This shouldn&#8217;t be surprising because everything is dharma &#8212; the sacred and the profane; in pigs and the most sublime thing you can imagine. As the commenter on my blog entry from Monday suggested, we apply limiting mindsets to everything. Consider the possibility that there is no separation &#8212; everything we say, do, or experience provides the opportunity for awakening.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Another unlikely place to find the core of the Buddha&#8217;s teachings was a statement by the deranged villain The Joker in the film the Dark Knight. When the Joker is captured and imprisoned, Batman enters the interrogation room where the Joker is being held. Batman beats up on him and as he does so the Joker laughs and issues forth this dharmic gem, &#8220;You have nothing, nothing to threaten me, nothing to do with all your strength.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Let me make this clear, this is not an endorsement for the Joker or what he represented in that movie. The point is that the Joker does not care what happens to him; he is not attached to physical pain, to things going his way, or even his life. He is, therefore, radically free. He turns this freedom into mayhem, Buddhas turn this freedom into goodness, generosity, and care for others.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A word on the term dharma. Dharma can mean various things. Sometimes it is translated as &#8220;truth&#8221; or the &#8220;Way&#8221; or &#8220;universal law.&#8221; It can also be seen as the teachings of the Buddha. I think of dharma as the way things are &#8212; the lawful unfolding of experience. And this lawfulness is more physics than civics. If I think and do this, I (and others around me) will feel thus.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>When I was in college I coined this aphorism, &#8220;Freedom is nothing more than telling shame and death to go #@*! themselves.&#8221; If we are not beholden to fear or shame then we are free, free to be ourselves. Unlike Freud, I think that freedom tends to move us in the direction of goodness; that a grounding in the dharma helps us to transcend the violent impulses of the id rather than act them out. More on this again soon.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We can find the dharma in unlikely places. This shouldn&#8217;t be surprising because everything is dharma &#8212; the sacred and the profane; in pigs and the most sublime thing you can imagine. As the commenter on my blog entry from Monday suggested, we apply limiting mindsets to everything. Consider the possibility that there is no&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,9,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddha-101","category-mindfulnesss","category-spider-mind-world-of-interconnections"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Wisdom Wednesday :: &quot;You have nothing to threaten me with ...&quot; - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\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.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/you-have-nothing-to-threaten-me-with.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wisdom Wednesday :: &quot;You have nothing to threaten me with ...&quot; - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We can find the dharma in unlikely places. This shouldn&#8217;t be surprising because everything is dharma &#8212; the sacred and the profane; in pigs and the most sublime thing you can imagine. As the commenter on my blog entry from Monday suggested, we apply limiting mindsets to everything. Consider the possibility that there is no&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/you-have-nothing-to-threaten-me-with.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-05T11:27:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/01\/batman-logo-thumb-350x122-20732.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Arnie Kozak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wisdom Wednesday :: \"You have nothing to threaten me with ...\" - Mindfulness Matters","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.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/01\/you-have-nothing-to-threaten-me-with.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wisdom Wednesday :: \"You have nothing to threaten me with ...\" - Mindfulness Matters","og_description":"We can find the dharma in unlikely places. This shouldn&#8217;t be surprising because everything is dharma &#8212; the sacred and the profane; in pigs and the most sublime thing you can imagine. As the commenter on my blog entry from Monday suggested, we apply limiting mindsets to everything. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}