Report 56 - Help

"When I was younger so much younger than today, I never needed anybody's help in any way..." Beatles

Considering this question but unsure which angle to write from... seem to be so many.

First thoughts are an extention of renewing commitment before sleep and upon waking... a sense of ways in which one makes choices to be part of communities, for instance, and if so what kind.

One makes choices continually which might make it easier to 'keep the fires burning' so to speak, to add 'reminders' into daily path, to clear out entanglements or distractions... to constantly renew.

Ah! Reading over the description of homework, what jumps out this time is *faith* because I had a wrestling match with the word when I unbracketed 'spiritual life and practice' a few years ago. I would think of faith as all the ways that my personal intuitions and questions had been quieted to a point where I could almost not hear them ... I think that affected me deeply when I first began meditation, because 'quieting the mind' seemed a bit dangerous.

I didn't really let that go completely until Steven guided us this way:

Stim Morane: This time, count the breath as before, but instead of practicing the sort of mind control that figured in the first approach, meet all distractions with compassionate inclusion. So anything that arises within your nature which seems likely to throw you off or make you lose the count should be met in a welcoming and inclusive way... and an _appreciative_ way!

Stim Morane: The view here is that there are no real distractions, only things that we haven't yet learned to appreciate as actually contributing toward a larger sense of presence. Practice that way.

Anyway, over time, faith has come to mean *confidence.* 

Added: Really appreciate what Dao writes here. So much in just a few lines... am struck :

We ask for help having already developed some confidence  in our own capability for understanding and the intelligence of the question itself; we also demonstrate confidence in the target of our request, that this being (or thing) might be able to hold a mirror to the question to show its resolution.