Summary: A period of intense spiritual development began in 1994, when I started a practice of each day studying the teachings of Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck (1917 -- 2011) and then meditating.  Over the years, this practice taught me how to quiet my mind, to trivialize my demons, fears, and ego, and to live in the moment with a connection to God for guidance, wisdom, and love.

This period in my spiritual development began when I was led, in 1994, to buy Every Day Zen, Love & Work, by Charlotte Joko Beck, an American Zen Master and founder of the Zen Center of San Diego.  This book on Zen, more than any of the many others I have perused, teaches how to meditate, how to see through our sensations, emotions and thoughts, and how to contact what Joko called Reality, Buddha Nature, God, True Nature,  Big Mind.  Then, as we “. . . know our minds well and the emotions that our thinking creates, we tend to see better what our lives are about and what needs to be done . . .”  As the title implies, Everyday Zen is a practical guide to living an enlightened life amid the challenges presented by daily living.

     With Joko’s book as guide and support, I practiced intensely for 12 years: I would start mornings by reading a chapter, which are transcripts of taped dharma talks Joko delivered at her Zen center before meditation started.  Then I would meditate for roughly 45 minutes.  I went through the book many times and it is full of underlines and comments, evidence that I was a serious student bent on absorbing the lessons.

     Most importantly, I learned how to “manage” my mind: to identify my demons and render them impotent; to shed egoistic pursuits; to focus on and embrace living in the moment, the here and now, regardless of how unpleasant it may be; to shed fear and anxiety because I am one with the Diety, which is always good and merciful.  Joko writes, “We are the Buddha.  In this oneness that we finally learn to live in, that’s where the love is; not some kind of soupy version, but a love with real strength.”   That’s also where we find the universal wisdom and the loving direction that guides us through life’s travails.

     In short, Joko taught me how to access more completely the Diety to whom I was introduced by Dr. Seale; to strive to live most days with The Lord (I call it living in my zone), regardless of what I am doing.  Dr. Seale taught me what to believe, what I now hold as spiritual reality, and Joko taught me how to attain it in the work-a-day world, how to merge my mind with God.