Just be yourself. This has so many nuances and implications, the exploration of our real self is a lifetime path. The gap between our authentic and conditioned self is the loss of our experiential life. Suzuki Roshi said that 'When you are you, zen is zen'.
I like to talk about the gap between our authentic self and our conditioned self. Another favorite Suzuki quote of mine is 'You are perfect just the way you are, but you could use some improvement'. Most of us forget the 'perfect the way we are' part and focus instead on improvement without completely embracing and loving ourselves. This is the danger of self help and improvement programs, we can forget our fundamental wholeness as an already existing experience. Growing your life is a different experience when you accept your authentic nature. Zen isn't about fixing or achieving or attaining. Sitting is a chance to peacefully abide in the present fullness and miracle of authentic reality.
Karen Horney says that our neurotic solution to living is the attempt we make to become our idealized self. We decide who we ought to be and then try to achieve it. As Zen meditation and practice teaches us to allow ourselves just to be exactly as we are, the manner in which we hold on to a picture we have of 'how we should be' or 'how we should have been' or 'how we should become' give us a stark and uncomfortable truth about our confused identity. It is a disease of the 'shoulds', which is short hand for how we and the world conspire to twist our life into a preconceived shape. The joy of Zen is that the shape we are right now is whole and wonderful, and if we accept the shape of our full being we can center in peace.
Eli leaps up
Arms ready to hug
Together we laugh
Authenticity Gap
