You can take this slogan beyond what we think of
as “blame” and practice applying it simply to the gen-
eral sense that something is wrong. When you feel
that something is wrong, let the story line go and
touch in on what’s underneath. You may notice that
when you let the words go, when you stop talking to
yourself, there’s something left, and that something
tends to be very soft. At first it may seem intense and
vivid, but if you don’t recoil from that and you keep
opening your heart, you find that underneath all of
the fear is what has been called shaky tenderness.
The truth of the matter is that even though there
are teachings and practice techniques, still we each
have to find our own way. What does it really mean to
open? What does it mean not to resist? What does it
mean? It’s a lifetime journey to find the answers to
these questions for yourself. But there’s a lot of sup-
port in these teachings and this practice.
Try dropping the object of the blame or the object
of what you think is wrong. Instead of throwing the
snowballs out there, just put the snowball down and
relate in a nonconceptual way to your anger, relate to
your righteous indignation, relate to your sense of
being fed up or pissed off or whatever it is. If Mor-
timer or Juan or Juanita walks by, instead of talking to
yourself for the next four days about them, you would
stop talking to yourself. Simply follow the instruction
that you’re given, notice that you are talking to your-
self, and let it go. This is basic shamatha-vipashyana
72 Drive All Blames into One