Zen and Recovery

Zen can be the compassionate scalpel that removes the layers of accrued opinions, beliefs, and frozen expectations that stand between us and true experience. . Zen shows us that what we mistakenly call ourselves, personal identity, is really no more than a mask over our true selves and natures. . . By becoming mindful of our original nature, we are able to lessen the grip of the denial that separates us from true experience. . . As we become more spontaneous and intuitive in our relationships with ourselves, others and the world, the world and our deepest selves start to act as one, and we come to realize that there's never been a problem except in our thinking. . . Zen is the ultimate and original recovery program: it exposes our denial of true self and shows us how we've suffered because of our diseases of attachment, judgment and division.

~ Mel Ash