Inclusive

 I am not here in this monastery to shut out the world, to escape the world, but rather to be at war with my untamed false self.  This self operates as separate, over and against, fearful, hoarding, judgmental, and divided against people and things around me.  I want to become ‘un-walled” as someone said.  A meditative life with more silence and solitude tends to recognize fretful thoughts as they arise and let them go, or ignore them at the very least.  The meditation itself has an energy to accomplish this.  I do not do it on my own will-power.  In essence, I am not in control.  Some other power, deeply imbedded within me, will do the heavy lifting when I stop trying to run the show according to my own ego-driven false self.  Little by little I will more connect with the world as One with me, rather than as the enemy to be avoided.