To Love Our Enemy Is Impossible

Lately, I've been wrestling with the idea of loving my enemy

as I continue to fall far short of that goal.

I've read lots and lots of words on the matter.

So, at first, it was a relief to read this.

This statement makes it sound deceptively simple.

However, I'm thinking its fruitless to understand someone 

through the lens of the media and my own prejudices. 

Now what?  I ask myself. 

I still feel the lack of love churning around toward those I see as enemies.

Once again the impetus circles back to the ground beneath me.

My particular tiny world is the one place where I can actually "do" something constructive.

Perhaps I can adjust my view and see beyond the despicable behavior**

to the wounded human being?  

Namaste'

** However, this does NOT mean I condone or allow the despicable behavior does it?

 

Nonstop Irony

Nonstop irony is a vicious cycle. 

The key word is nonstop.  

I find irony, done gracefully, to be quite effective in making a point.

It's when irony leads to cynicism 

then leads to propaganda and lies, that it gets twisted.

Irony can't convey truth for a simple reason:

it never means what it says. But for the same reason,

thank heavens, it can't invalidate the truth.

Truth matters. 

Namaste'

 

The Quiet And Extraordinary Power Of Love

by being open to love and risking its way, love's yearning

can reach toward . . .unknowing, into . . .uncertainty...

I consider it risky to speak of love with words. However, when I feel my yearning for goodness,

truth, fairness, dignity and beauty, love takes on greater proportions.  It strengthens my resolve to 

do whatever I can to increase their impact in my immediate world whenever and wherever I can.

And now I begin to see where love/yearning can exist even in the absolute worst of circumstances.

Namaste'

 

One Insight Has To Do With Power

In this world of what feels like constant threat, uncertainty and disarray,

I confess to some doubt about the power of love.  That's when I have to remind myself

that people in past times have felt a similar kind of dread, believing we are doomed and yet here we are

still living in a free democracy with a river of goodness flowing strong amidst the turmoil.

Loves power operates by allure ... 

by stirring a desire that longs for what is good, beautiful and true.

Reflecting on this, I think of all the signs that the power of longing for truth, beauty and goodness exists and is growing ever stronger...shores up my doubting mind and heart. And inspires me to shift my mindset

and contribute everything I am to sustaining and strengthening that force in this world, for this world.  

Isn't that the message we're receiving?  

How learning how to love ourselves in our deepest chambers and at our most unloveable 

is the point of beginning.  Then follow where those threads of mercy and kindness lead us.

See our fears and doubts and terrors as doorways to healing. 

With deep listening, whatever you need will come at just the right moment to show you the way. 

Namaste'

P.S. Sun House is a saga giving a glimpse of what it's like to live from this power.

 

Maybe The Point Isn't To Live More

to be more alive in any given moment

I started to write "think" about this for a breath or two

but "feel" this seems more appropriate.

I'm not quite sure about her meaning of outward and across.

For me, movement inward is vital...inward to my often shielded heart, 

sensing the rhythm within and around me, following the strings,

which move more like a gentle spiral beginning exactly where I am.

Sometimes, I find "nothing" which has come to signify

"something" inviting my attention. 

Isn't the meaning of to be alive mine to define? 

If so, does that mean its also mine to deny? 

Namaste'

 

Remains

Thanks

Every sincere expression of thanks is a choice

to meet what is good in the world and to honor it with our attention.

I extend my deepest and most heartfelt thanks for each one of you.

You enrich my life beyond measure.

May your day be immense and spacious with love and beauty.

Namaste'

I Need To Express

Namaste'

 

We Think We Tell Stories

This makes me think of all the stories I heard as a child;

fairy tales and bible stories for starters.

As I got older, saint's stories filled my head.

Juxtapose those with the "bodice rippers" that came later.

Looking back, it strikes me how they contributed to forming me.

How deftly and deeply I was programmed with other's values and beliefs.

Many values and beliefs that repel me now.  

It's helpful now to exercise the right to retell the tales.

Or at least to question their agenda.

Gone With The Wind is a good example.

Caught up in the romance of Scarlett, Ashley and Rhett,

I never questioned the setting...the world they lived in.

This is the wonder of aging.  Eyesight might diminish, but mindsight gets clearer.

It's also the wonder of learning, of questioning, of listening to your intuition.

If you're fortunate, you realize you have the power

to write your own stories.  

You can create them from scratch or 

you can rewrite the ones who've been telling you.

Namaste'

An Unexamined Life

I confess to a former assumption that others think like I do.

While it still baffles me, there's lots and lots and lots of evidence 

to the contrary these days.

perhaps an honorable and informed life requires 

examining others' lives, not just our own.

This sounds like wise advice in this world of vast diversity.

Think of all we can learn from examining the complex variety of human experience.

Perhaps we do not know ourselves unless we know others.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.  I think its vital that we know who we are

distinct from the influence of others. 

As soon as I say that, I ask myself if that's even possible?

The most important thought to carry with me is 

 nobody is nobody.

I would also add that no thing is nothing.

Namaste'

Stubborn Optimism

why is the future worth fighting for?

My answer would be, for those humans coming after us with an important caveat.

I want those humans to be decent, fair-minded and truly just;

to evolve past fear and scarcity and greed; 

to have learned how to respect themselves, others and the world we live in; 

to value working together so everyone thrives;

to witness the wonder of our earth regenerating herself with our partnership. 

I could go on and on and on.

Why is your future worth fighting for?

Namaste'

 

The Question is

This is the heart of the matter.

For each of us to generate the clarity of what needs to be done;

and to become committed to do everything within my sphere of influence.

Even when what is within our influence feels small and fruitless,

we can still write letters or postcards, we can still make phone calls.

We can use our resources to promote and support those who are

on the front lines of the effort to do what's best for our earth.

Most of all, I think, we can hone our imagination and our mindset

into one of muscular hope and steadfast belief that we have what it takes.

We can continue to practice self compassion and recognition that 

we are part of this great universe.and we are not alone.  We are in this together.

Namaste'

 

Climate Change is the Gym

we as humans are strengthening our muscle to be able to evolve

to a much higher sense of awareness, consciousness, action

than we were before.  

We are nature and nature is us. 

It's an entirely different mindset than many of us were endowed with.

It's the cutting edge of evolution.  Some Indigenous societies knew this and have preserved it.

Somewhere along the line the mindset changed to one of dominance and control took over

and we inherited it. We didn't know, but we do now.  I'm thinking about the arduous journey addicts must traverse to free themselves from the tyranny of their drug.  

I am immensely grateful for those who have been fighting this battle for decades.

They are showing us the way, giving us the courage to listen, to learn, to recover and to act.

It's not too late.  We can do this.

Namaste'

 

Anything Can Be Mundane

How easily the numbing becomes habitual as we are deluged 

by words and thoughts of gloom and doom and threat.

It's how things become mundane I think.  

It's no way to live.

What quality of presence do I bring to it?

The mundane can be so wily in its ways.

Many of us carry ancestral programming of fear and scarcity.

It's bred into us.  It takes strong vigilance to be mindful of our mindset...

to catch ourselves in the split second before reacting from skewed thinking.

Mindsets lead to narratives, lead to action.

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a magic wand to wave over our inner thoughts?

It's become an overused word but nonetheless, mindfulness could be our magic wand.

Mindfulness wrapped in compassion beginning with ourselves and 

rippling outward in waves of grace.

Namaste'

What Do I Bring To Bear?

A feast of food for thought from listening to On Being's Podcast.

Regenerating these words into actions is the alchemy we are

conducting in our own unique way with the ingredients of our lives.

It's the work of my lifetime...the purpose of my existence.

To accept the fear and pain and anger and transform it into fuel;

to hone my imagination to see, to feel the world thriving

with renewable energy affordable and available for all.

To imagine enough food for every creature, clean air and pure water

in plentiful supply everywhere.  A decent place to live for every creature.

Dividing lines blurred to invisible.

Everyone on an equal playing field of enough. A society living

in respect of and in harmony with the planet and the universe.

Access to education and health care a given, without question for everyone.

This is the world I imagine. This is the world I wish to leave behind when I depart.

Namaste'

 

Beautiful Things

i will search for light in the deepest canyons of my heart.

I've known my heart has harbors.  I hadn't thought of deep canyons

before reading these inspiring words.  

May we all keep making beautiful things to give the earth.

Beautiful things like loving thoughts and imaginings of a just and dignified world

where everyone lives respectful of themselves, each other and 

our natural surroundings...

life is too fragile for anything less.

Namaste'

 

Artists Are Not Like Athletes

This is a wonderful quote for everyone, if you ask me.

I believe its comparing and competing with each other 

that causes much of the trouble in our world.

I believe we are all artists creating a life.

Creating to "be the best" is a waste of energy. Instead, create to connect to the people who need you.  Because they're out there.  Create in your way, because there is no right way.

I want to tattoo this into my frontal lobe where it will take hold and 

divert and dissolve any thoughts to the contrary.

Namaste'

 

When We Pay Attention To The Spaces Between

 My mind is not programmed to notice the space between things.

It intrigues me as a practice for stretching myself beyond my predominant view,

my habits and my fearful projections. 

I love the idea that opening like this, we experience a kind of spaciousness. 

 I happen to love the word coherence ever since I encountered it in Mindsight by Daniel Siegel. This quote is a timely reminder to renew a practice for changing the perspective

of what can sometimes feel like a very small view finder.  

Another way of stepping outside of the bubble I'm living in.

Namaste'

 

Vast Eons of Time

The power of tiny, undirected changes which by their accumulation 

could generate new worlds, worlds of enormous richness and variety.

Intoxicating indeed!  

This makes me so appreciative of those with the eyes to notice and the minds to study and observe and tell us about these marvels. I confess to taking it all very much for granted.  It's written words and images that reveal these treasures into my small world. The older I get the more I realize and rejoice at all those who share their life-expanding knowledge of earth's amazing intricacies and capabilities with others. How there is a complex and beautiful community of minds and hearts witnessing and conveying their discoveries for those who will listen and expand on what they're learning. 

Even with the exploitation and tragic impact of disrespectful misuse of what earth provides, I feel as though the combined forces of natural wisdom with human's respectful creativity and willingness to learn from past missteps can bring about the deep changes we desperately need to be worthy of this astonishing world that's been evolving for eon's all around us and will continue to do so with or without us.  May humanity be part of those tiny, undirected changes which by their accumulation generate a new world of enormous richness and variety.

Namaste'

 

You Meet Saints Everywhere

People behaving decently in an indecent world.

Man oh man, I sincerely believe this.

I believe decency still lives strong enough

to vanquish the forces of conviction that some are better than others.

It seems this power lies dormant beneath the noise of indecency.

I  believe dignity for all is worth fighting for.

I am holding on to this belief no matter the evidence to the contrary.

Namaste'

 

You Do Not Have To Sit Outside In the Dark

If you want to look at the stars, you will find darkness is necessary.

This thought sends tentacles in a couple different directions for me.

Why would anyone want to look at stars? 

Because they're dazzling, mysterious, intriguing? 

Because they make beautiful patterns moving across the night sky?

Because someday you might even want to visit one or we might entertain a visitor from one?

That's one tentacle.  The other has to do with darkness. 

That's a different shade of meaning.  Darkness, for many of us, signifies sadness,

hardship, confusion, heartbreak, pain...a dubious reputation but there it is.

So, yes, if you want to look at the stars, darkness is necessary.

However, if you find yourself in darkness, remember to look for the stars.

They are there, often well hidden, sometimes behind clouds and sometimes behind tears or fears or agony that blocks your view. Still, we can trust they are there even when invisible,

even when we're blinded by our suffering.  

The stars neither require nor demand it.

This is true.  We are the ones giving meaning to the stars and the darkness.

And we matter...enormously.

Namaste'

 

We Can Keep Ourselves So Busy

Time to probe the fearful and wonderful world within...

This has been my singular quest for the past several years.

Often it feels like doing nothing. 

What I've discovered in a paradoxical way, is that nothing actually

contains everything. It's ironic, isn't it?  I've learned its about

shifting perspective; thinking with a wider lens or a stronger microscope.

It's shifted around mistaken assumptions and revealed how expectations affect reality.

Often it feels hyper self absorbed. 

This is the most difficult one to wrestle with.  And I do mean wrestle.

It's another paradox wrapped in common sense.

The only place I can really do anything is inside my own field of being.

Attending to my own inner workings leads to a more whole hearted stance with others.

Being among other people and interacting with them (this does not mean pleasing them) adds a richness to the journey. There's never a lack of work to do, it just doesn't often look like work on the surface.

You're not going to impress anyone with your accomplishments and that's ok.

It's not about impressing anyone...its about being humbly impressed with your self and your capacity for growth and change. Even when you learn you are a daunting mixture of contradictions with plenty of unkempt corners and closets. That's where mercy and compassion are honed; toward yourself and subsequently toward others.

Don't let anyone tell you it's not worthwhile. 

Being the conductor of your own life's meaning is as worthwhile as we make it.

Namaste'

There Is No Shortage

 I read recently where even horrific things induce awe. It's something I hadn't thought about before...that piercing of pain and revulsion is part of our human condition overwhelming us with awe.  Sigh.  Leaning into the hard edges of humanity, seeing things as they are, asking why and then making up our own answers? Am I equipped to manage that much reality?

It's a whole new way of looking at awe.  I confess to some strong trepidation yet

somewhere deep inside, it rings with a truth I want to resist. 

 I don't want the world to be filled with inhumanity yet, there it is.  

So my job becomes seeing it and saying it and finding a way to knit it into a 

garment of consolation where decency and dignity are the dominant colors.

Namaste'