There’s a human understanding of this, and a Buddhist understanding of this. Let’s start with the human, non-religious approach:
Going for Refuge = Going for shelter, going for protection.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”
So what do you come to a meditation class seeking shelter from?
We are seeking shelter from the normal, conventional, ego-driven life. We are giving up on keeping up with the Joneses. We have tried everything we can think of to be happy - everything that they said would work - relationships, jobs, money, cars, houses, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.
It didn’t make us happy. Well, maybe for a few minutes it did…
But then the buzz wore off and we realized we were back where we started, just a little hung over.
So we are taking shelter from that huge, powerful, dominant consumer message that buying more things and having more experiences is going to satisfy us.
Many of you figured this out a long time ago, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. But we really do have to try everything else before we sit down and actually look at our minds.
What's underneath the consumerist drives of society? It’s the belief that there actually is a solid, reliable, somewhat permanent person to have these experiences, buy these things, build this reputation, tell these stories about. If we all didn’t believe quite so strongly in the idea of our selves, society would be incredibly different.
When you look at it closely, is there an identifiable thing called Matthew Bellows?
There are all kinds of unsettling contemplations you can do in this vein of thinking, but they all lead to the same place… that no matter how you try, it’s very hard to pin down exactly what we mean by “me” except something like “This current, temporary amalgamation of experiences that I bundle up and name Matthew Bellows”.