Mar 4 2023: Mulla Nasrudine Coming or Going?

Published: Sun, 03/05/23

Mulla Nasrudine Coming or Going?

Our story this week catches Mulla Nasrudine heading into the psychiatrist's office... and is a good opportunity to talk about mental health. Sometimes being on a spiritual search makes us more nuts. Seems like it should be the other way around.

So Mulla Nasridine met an old friend outside the door of his psychiatrist office one day. She looked at him surprised, gave him a big old hug, and said, “Mulla, so long since I’ve seen you. We should get together sometime and have a cup of tea. But tell me are you coming or going?”

The Mulla looked at her and said, “Well. If I knew that. I wouldn’t need a psychiatrist would I?”

Letting go of what is not real


 
Letting go of what's not real. That's really the point of Nonduality, and the point of Zen. It's the reason for all these silly stories. So the real question is, how do you figure out what's real and what's not real? 

This is where non-duality really shines as a practice, because you can be absolutely sure that what ever you think is not real. It's just a thought. Thoughts are handy tools to use to try to interpret the world, but the vast majority of our actual physical brain, and the vast majority of our consciousness, of our awakening experience, is not these concepts. It's not the words that describe reality. There is a reality, but the words themselves are not it. 

Why do awakened people laugh?

So why are awakened people always laughing and joking? it's because when you're not attached to your Concepts, Life Is Fun.
 

If you are searching for enlightenment take care of yourself

Here's something you've probably never thought about. Imagine, assume, that if you are searching for enlightenment, for awakening, for knowing who you are… Just assume that you will find it. 

Then, think about it. If that's the case when you get there, when you find out who you are, when you were ready to take the first steps of being a fully awake, human being… Well, it would be good to be in good shape. It would be good to have your mental world, calm and peaceful. It would be good to have your body physically strong. It would be good to have your finances in good shape. It would be good to have your community healthy. To be well-known in your community and loved and appreciated. It would be good to have your family in good shape. 

So do not neglect any of these things. If you are neglecting these things, if you are neglecting your mental health or your community it's because you don't really think you're going to get there. You're just kind of drifting in some unknown state trying to get to some other unknown state. So no, take care of yourself.

Taking care of your mental health

Our story this week is Mulla Nasruddine, and he is such a fun character to use for a little snippets of wisdom. The story is obviously set in modern times and he's going to the psychiatrist. That's funny in itself because Mula Nasruddine, is this great Sheik, and here he is going to the psychiatrist. It makes us stop for a second and think that our mental health is our own responsibilities. One of the lies we've been told in our society is that whatever is going to happen in your mental health is just a given. It has nothing to do with your actual actions but in reality it's more like a fluid flowing river.
 

Be kind to your inner world

Be kind to your inner world. Non-duality doesn't mean being in a battle with yourself about what exists and what doesn't exist. It just means be fluid and kind

What’s the Point of Mulla Nasrudine?

The Point of Mulla Nasrudine
 

Our story this week is a Mulla Nasruddine story. It's from the Osho Rajneesh archives and is obviously a modern story of Nasruddine. That's very interesting in itself because Mulla is this character that has been used to tell stories for centuries. Maybe he was a real fellow at one time, but he is used as a fictional character for all sorts of stories just show us interesting aspects of ourselves. 

This one is set in modern times and he's walking into the psychiatrist office. But that's not the point of it. Like all Mulla Nasruddine stories, and all Zen stories, the purpose is to bring us to that little point in our logical brains were stuff just doesn't make sense. It's the essence of a joke. It makes your brain stop for a second. You go... wait a minute. And get a little laugh. 

That's the moment of nothing, that moment of zero that we are really looking for. Feel it and know it. That's the zero of awakening.

 
 


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