Words to Meditate Upon

As said by Muid ad-Din ibn al-Arabi (Sufi Philosopher 1165-1240):

Do not attach yourself to any particular creed so exclusively that you disbelieve all the rest; otherwise you will lose much good, nay, you will fail to recognize the real truth of the matter. God, the omnipresent and omnipotent, is not limited by any one creed, for, he says, "Wherever ye turn, there is the face of Allah." Everyone praises what he believes; his god is his own creature, and in praising it he praises himself. Consequently he blames the beliefs of others, which he would not do if he were just, but his dislike is based on ignorance.

From Karen Armstrong ( modern religious historian) and her newest book "12 Steps to a Compassionate Life:

It is common for a Sufi poet to cry in ecstacy that he is no longer a Jew, a Christian, or a Muslim and is equally at home in a synagogue, mosque, temple, or church, because once you have glimpsed the divine, you have left these man-made distinctions behind.

It is important that we keep our minds open. Minds are opened and stretched by practice. As we need to work out to have a fit body, so we need to mentally work out to have a fit mind. There are many ways to accomplish this. Meditation is an exception way. Anything that causes you to focus on that event, to be in the present is a form of meditation. Thus, walking, running, singing, dancing, drawing, writing, traditional silent meditation, and numerous more things all can be considered meditation.

I find that meditation is most effective when during this process, we focus on something specific. Perhaps something like compassion. Or forgiveness. Or God. Again, there are many paths to the same higher end.

So, feel free to contemplate the above words. With focus, we can all reach such platforms where we see the inherent beauty and divinity in all beings, and we can see all opinions and sides.  

Building Compassion

I like the term Earthlings.

It's inclusive. I also like the term sentient beings, but that's two words.

Earthlings connotes a web of life. There is no better or lesser. No racism, sexism, speciesism. Just beings that inhabit this planet. Together.

My journey has thus far been long and twisting. We say that we are on a path, yet I think we tend to visualize those paths as being straight lines from point A to point B. Yes, it might be a long path, but we don't like to realize that this journey is full of winding, switch backing and going out of the way.

A trail in nature leads one along. It winds, climbs, falls, and sometimes leaves you wondering where it is leading. But if you follow it, you will reach point B. (Barring any unforeseen natural disasters or hungry bears, of course :)

The important thing to realize is that we are all moving along our way. We are all at different stages, and under the discretion of Karma. Though we've all started from various points, all the paths reach the same point. Every being is striving to fulfill its purpose. As I look at the human condition, we have a single purpose, compassion. We have the mental faculties to create whatever kind of world we want. No one would consciously want to create a world of suffering.

Though we have.

We also have been given the great abilities to 1) not need to kill another life to sustain our own and 2) adapt amazingly well to different environments.

Compassion is a big word. A really big word. Its consequences dance into all aspects of life in very deep ways. It is a lifelong journey to reach compassion, full of daily obstacles. 

Yet, nothing is more fulfilling than embracing compassion and working to spread it around.

But it's not easy.

People say hurtful things, act in harsh unkind behaviors, and are not always open to understanding. It's helpful to acknowledge that when we act in this manner, we are acting out of an inner pain and suffering, and usually some sort of cultural or societal programming. And at some level, we know that we're not behaving in a manner fitting out purpose, which can be a source of frustration, which can lead to further lashing out.

It's easy to dismiss an opposing viewpoint as wrong (or worse - inherently wrong and evil). Yet, this does not solve any problems. This does not enlighten the other side to our point of view. It deepens the trenches between us.

Even when a side is on the side of compassion, to use vengeful and dangerous language crumbles the moral force that that opinion started with.

Most of us are not good debaters, to begin with.

The art of debate has been taken out of our childhood education decades ago. Many of us have turned rabidly anti-conflict, to a point, where we cannot speak our opinion, face an opposing viewpoint in a civil manner, or stand up for what we feel is right. It is easier to just try to fit in.

But debate is crucial to our survival.

To living our purpose.

It is through a good debate that we can question our own viewpoint. We realize there are other ideas besides ours, truths beyond ours, and it gives us a chance for knowledge. And from knowledge we can find understanding.

We benefit greatly from honestly questioning our views. All of our views. I think we'll be surprised at how many of them aren't actually ours.

So I might not be good at it yet, but I will not back down.

I will try very hard to always be open-minded. 

New Blog!

The Love Initiative and the Akron Peace Project have grown out of my growing sense of the need for Love and Compassion to play larger roles in our lives.

These are big concepts and are not arrived at easily. It is a process that daily, if not hourly makes you question yourself, your beliefs, and your actions.

So, this blog is here to help me with my journey, and hopefully to help anyone who reads it as well. I'd love this to be a forum for discussion - a conversation.

So join in. Let's teach each other the vast knowledge we all have deep in our subconsciousness.

Unity.

Let's begin!

Thought of the Day

"A spirit of Harmony can only survive if each of us remembers, when bitterness and self-interest seem to prevail, that we share a common destiny." - Barbara Jordan