Sharon Salzberg on Delusion

Saddha - Word translated as "faith." Means to place the heart.
In grasping, aversion and delusion we have musplaced faith - putting heart in wrong place.
Grasping - Placing heart in possibility of permanence
Anger - Counting on being able to separate, sever
Delusion - Placing hearts in not noticing. Being unaware of what is, and taking refuge there.

3 personality types - which tendency is more prevalent in one's being
"Greedy type" doesn't mean greed per se - Means, you see what you like.
Optimism. "It'll work out." "What a nice exit sign."
"Anger/averse type" - Notices what he doesn't like. Where the eye alights.
Pessimism. "It's not gonna work." Anger as forgetting
"Deluded type" - Doesn't notice anything. Moha - to be stupified.
In meeting, they just kinda sit there.

Delusion is the root of fanaticism.
Either we like not knowing, or we hate it and grab onto anything to feel anchored.

[Note: My last 24 hours of moving toward the Good/Pleasant - it's fine, it's true - has small effects like how I regard my hunger right now. Good to fill w/God or stars or poems... just be clear to be clear-eyed (there is suffering) and not aversive to things not immediately desirable.]

Have to be in touch with yourself in order to empathize.
[Politics is poison]

Faith - A movement toward what is.
Transmute grasping into faith. Real love of life. Generosity. Practice letting go.
Transmute anger into wisdom. See clearly, no whitewash, cut through surface appearance, practice metta, seeing good in self and others.
Transmute delusion into equanimity, with wise attention.

Urge to happiness is not wrong!
Conditions - impersonality.
Like astrology, but without belief we can really predict.

[It's such a joy to watch these people meditate. Sharon & Joseph palpably disappear and yet become more present. Gary also - it's great just to be in the presence of presence. Stillness.]