Big Mind

The process of Big Mind is a beautiful and compassionate process with the primary aim of learning to recognize and know ourselves. Recognize, because we more or less have lost ‘ourselves’, which we then find back again. Know, so that we may become aware of our ‘true self’.
After all, what, who, when and where are we?
What is ‘the Self’?
Do we even know who we really are?

When you look more closely, it appears that there are in fact multiple ‘Selfs’.
Multiple parts of which we are composed – all with their own function: VOICES.
The Big Mind process introduces and familiarizes you with these different parts of the Self; with these voices.

It is possible to discover the voices that play a (too) large part in your life (e.g. fear, envy, anger) and those that are ‘disowned’ – voices which are part of you but whom you fail to recognize, which you deny recognition or which you perhaps never knew were there. Besides learning to recognize the voices, it  is also possible to learn to harmonize these voices in order to become a more balanced individual.

This can be achieved by liberating the disowned voices.
They are put away deep down and haunt us by means of distorted and unhealthy actions which are the cause of suffering.
By fully owning, embodying and empowering them, they transcend into wise, adult allies who supports us with liberating and compassionate power.

Besides these voices there are voices you never knew of.
Mostly these are the so called Absolute voices that bring us in contact with our True Nature.
By speaking through these voices we become more awake and can learn and experience a lot about that nature.

Through this process, you can step-by-step shed off your acquired behaviour which is drenched with preferences, prejudices, convictions and expectations.
By doing this, you become even freer in choosing the desired behaviour for every situation.
You effectively become a freely functioning, unconditioned,  non-grasping, non-seeking human being.
Absolutely free!

Such a life is harmonious and is referred to as the ‘Middle Way’ in Buddhist teaching. Such a life provides for peace, freedom and consequently, happiness.

The Big Mind process is developed by Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi, a Zen Master from the United States of America, who developed and distributed this method in order to get to know ourselves and to provide an experience of the state of enlightenment via a number of voices.
It is a relative short process, which normally takes Buddhist monks years of meditation to experience

Approaching the voices is easy.
It suffices to merely invite the desired voice for a conversation.
By a quick change of position in the chair, you become the voice.
This allows you to answer questions and converse from the voice’s perspective.
It is astonishing to experience the amount of wisdom and knowledge which you factually possess regarding your own functioning and the backgrounds associated with it.
There are different voices, such as the ‘everyday voices’ which include the Protector, the Controller, Fear, Anger and Desires.
In addition, there are absolute voices – our essence. By means of these voices we can speak from our most natural state: Big Mind and Big Heart.

Allow yourself a Big Mind.