Flint Sparks, Getting Back to Normal, Recording

Flint Sparks

A Zen teacher and former psychologist dedicated to assisting people in the unending path of growing up and waking up, Flint Sparks is an experienced therapist and a master teacher who assists people in the skillful removal of blocks to love, both inside and outside. He is a clear and caring resource on the path of freedom from unnecessary suffering.
Flint has nearly four decades of experience in the practice and teaching of psychotherapy. He is also a Zen teacher who leads retreats throughout North America and Europe.

Suggested price: $20.00

Description

Are you weary of the pandemic and anxious about the future? If so, you’re not alone.

Many understandably long for a “return to normal”, but this yearning can lead to suffering. Join us for a conversation with Zen Buddhist teacher and former psychotherapist Flint Sparks, as he speaks to the realities of impermanence and interdependence, and the ways that unnecessary suffering is born in us.

In our evening together, Flint will share the three aspects of unnecessary suffering in Buddhist teachings are grasping, aversion and delusion which manifest as holding on for dear life, running away in fear, and hunkering down in confusion and how we can begin to let go of these in this time of rapid change.  

Joining us from his home in Hawaii, Flint will invite us through our spiritual practices to find the true shape of our lives within the world we find ourselves in. There will be time for questions, as we enjoy a special conversation with him. No previous experience with Buddhist teachings or practices is required.

The Cure
~ Albert Huffstickler

We think we get over things

We don’t get over things.

Or say we get over the measles

But not a broken heart.

We need to make that distinction.

The things that become part of our experience

Never become less a part of our experience.

How can I say it?

The way to get over a life is to die.


Short of that, you move with it,

Let the pain be pain

Not in the hope that it will vanish

But in the faith that it will fit in

Find its place in the shape of things.

And be then not any less pain but true to form.

Because anything natural has an inherent shape

And will flow towards it.

And a life is as natural as a leaf

That’s what we’re looking for

Not the end of a thing but the shape of it

Wisdom is seeing the shape of your life

Without obliterating (getting over) a single

Instant of it.