Tuesday, October 28, 2014

To Seek Enlightenment

what is enlightenment?  i can't speak to enlightenment from a buddhist perspective, and this is the association that seems most important to me as i think my adaptation of the words of the dalai lama each morning.  i read about enlightenment, but, in order to approach an understanding of the concept, i'd need much more study and the guidance of a skilled teacher.  so, how can i seek an enlightenment that seems beyond my ken?

i remember in my college days that there were many christians who sought a charismatic awakening.  these seekers would go from church to church, yearning for the holy spirit to engender a mystical experience in them that would allow them to "speak in tongues."  i was curious about this phenomenon and had friends who had the experience of "holy ghost baptism" that resulted in their speaking in tongues, or at least that's what they believed.  i was always skeptical of the charismatic movement, though it provoked my curiosity.  those who had the experience seemed confident that it made a profound difference in their lives, though the difference wasn't apparent to me in their actions towards others.

when i think of seeking enlightenment, i have much the same view as i did toward the tongue-speaking experience.  enlightenment is something that i believe may come to me, not through my own pursuit of it an the expense of all else in my life, but rather, if it comes, it will be the result of seeking the other part of the phrase in the affirmation: "for the benefit of all beings."  right now, i believe the remainder of the affirmation is the key to enlightenment.  i may not become an "enlightened one" in this lifetime; i may never be enlightened.  all i can do is to seek enlightenment by walking the path, working for greater understanding, and making lovingkindness and compassion the focus of my life.  perhaps the dalai lama's original phrase "to achieve enlightenement" is better that my own idea of seeking enlightenment; i'm not quite ready to speak with the confidence of the dalai lama with regard to enlightenment.

may each of us follow the path as best we know how.  may we give and receive love.  may we see and understand our own suffering and seek to have compassion for our own suffering and that of others.  may we seek enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.  shalom.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

To Expand My Heart Out to Others

part of my morning affirmation borrowed from the words of the dalai lama expresses the intention to expand my heart out to others.  when i pray this prayer, the heart i hope to expand is still my own heart.  this heart, the center of all that i experience and feel, is focused on me, and i am asking for the insight to include others in the concerns of my heart.  rather than wishing to lose my own core in the service of others, i am seeking to see all those i encounter as like myself and as worthy of consideration as my own self.  i am seeking to abandon an attitude that places my needs, my desires, my cravings at the forefront.  i am learning that the "others" i touch each day have needs, desires, and cravings that are essentially like my own and as significant as my own.

my goal is to put these others on an equal footing with myself in my hierarchy of needs.  i am seeking to grow so that i no longer see others as means to my own ends, as objects for me to use for my own gratification.  christians often interpret jesus' command to lose one's own life in order to save it as an imperative to abandon any concern for one's own well-being and to put the needs of others ahead of our own need.  yet, he also said that the second-most important commandment was to love one's neighbor as one loves oneself.

he goes on to illustrate his point with the parable of the good samaritan who cares for a man wounded on the side of the road after others have passed the injured man by.  the good samaritan interrupts his own journey to care for his neighbor, who is in fact a stranger, but the good man does not abandon his journey to stay and care for this stranger; the samaritan sees that the injured man is cared for and continues on, promising to return and take care of any costs that have been accrued during his absence.  this is the essence of expanding our hearts out to others: we see their needs and do what we can to address them while taking care of our needs as well.  it is not a case of "either-or."  what we lose when we lose our lives is the belief that our own needs supersede those of others, that others are less important than we are.

may we open our hearts to include others, seeing those we encounter along the path as neighbors whose needs are like our own.  may we help those others to the innkeeper and see that they are cared for as we move along the path, just as the samaritan in jesus' story did.  shalom.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

May I Use All My Energies . . .

to develop myself.  how can i "develop myself?"  the phrase from the dalai lama's well-known affirmation suggests that we each have a responsibility for our own growth, our mental, our spiritual, and our physical development.  the task belongs to no one else, not God, our parents, our spouse, our friends, or our teachers--it is our own to do or to neglect.

so, how do i live up to this great work that is mine alone?  what are the ways in which i develop myself?  first, each day ought to begin with a refocusing on the need to live mindfully.  i must resolve at the beginning of each day to refuse to stumble blindly through the tasks of the day as if they are meaningless chores.  when i do a simple job like feeding our many pets (maybe too many, but that's another topic altogether), am i conscious of the benefit of my work to these lovely beings and to myself, or am i unaware of what i'm contributing to the good of the world?  when i prepare breakfast, am i mindful of the joy i bring to my partner and myself and the nourishment to our bodies that healthy food brings?  do i stop to realize the how and why of the onerous tasks that must be done?  so, living as mindfully as i can is a part of developing myself, and the act of awareness of how mindfulness contributes to my development is the start.

second, i need to seek the wisdom of others who are on the path of developing themselves.  their willingness to share what they learn is a way in which they develop themselves, reaching out in lovingkindness to others on the same path.  each day, i must read about what these explorers are discovering.  each day, i must spend time listening to what others are saying and learn from them.  we learn even from those who oppose us and put obstacles in our way.  again, mindfulness as i read and listen are essential.  so is a sense of gratitude for these others who give of themselves in the process of their own development.

third, it is part of my becoming to share what my journey along the path is teaching me.  that is the reason for this blog.  in the process of writing about my stumbling and bumbling, i grow and perhaps i help others to grow.  i am suspicious of those who communicate as if they have the answers, who write or speak with a self-assurance that suggests that theirs is the right way and others who deviate must be wrong.  i pray that i never come across that way.  we can't make it over the obstacles if we don't lean on each other, give each other a gentle push now and then, pull each other along.  the solution, perhaps, is to hike along together, rather than making our goal to find the end of the pathway.

finally, implicit in every facet of this use of our energies is a gratefulness that there are tasks to be done mindfully, there is learning to be explored, there is growth to be shared.  to be grateful that there are mundane jobs that must be done is a way of thanking the universe for our existence; in this gratitude we participate in the love that is a part of all creation.  to be grateful to those from whom we learn is a way of expressing joyful appreciation for their contributions to our own progress and to celebrate their progress.  to be grateful for our own movement along the path motivates us to share what we experience with others and to articulate a basis for comparison of what we have in common with others.

to develop oneself is not a lonely, self-centered process.  it requires mindful awareness to all around us: to the sounds, the sensation of touch, the voices of others.  it is a shared journey that enables us to experience our kinship with all sentient beings.  may we support each other along the path, learning from our own mistakes and discoveries and from those of others.  may we give of our own energies when others lag and lean on others when our own energy fails.  shalom.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

May I Not Waste [My Precious Human Life]

in hebrew there is a phrase, tikkum olam, which i'm told means "to heal the world."  i don't pretend to understand the history of this phrase or the full range of its meanings.  just reading the wikipedia article about tikkum olam sends my head reeling, but i think i can understand some of its practical implications and applications.  as i think of my responsibilities this day, i can see many opportunities to perform acts of healing.  i can think of many who have hurts that might be healed, at least in part, by my actions.  i can see how the care that i give others contributes to increased well being in the world.  if i am able to be more mindful this day, i will understand this healing concept in my encounters with others in the course of the day, and if i can live mindfully each day, the effects of my actions will further contribute to the healing of the world.

there are those who see jesus' statement that "the poor you always have with you" (matthew 26:11) as suggesting that those who follow him have no responsibility for the poor, that poverty is an intractable problem resulting from the actions of those who are impoverished and therefore not a problem for those who are not poor.  yet when we look at the life of jesus, his actions suggest otherwise.  he spent his entire ministry among the poor and the outcasts of society.  his most scathing words of condemnation are directed at those who would use religion as an excuse for ignoring the needs of those who are least able to care for themselves.  everything we know of jesus from the gospel accounts of his life teach us that jesus saw his own role and that of the jewish people as one of inclusion, of reaching out to those who were excluded by their nationality, their social status, their gender, their profession.  healing the world was at the heart of jesus' teaching.

when we affirm that we do not wish to waste the precious life that we've been given, we obligate ourselves to do what we can to heal the world.  hurt, poverty, persecution, oppression, violence, and all the other ills of existence will always be with us, but, if we are to avoid wasting this precious life, we must do what we can to alleviate suffering where we find it.  each act of lovingkindness moves the world closer to its ultimate healing.  may each of us perform mindful acts of healing this day and each day.  may we recognize that we each have a precious life and may we not waste it.  shalom.