The source of us all
The divine creative essence is the source of all that is good и loving и healing.
We each have within us this essence.
We would not exist without its presence in all of creation,
because this essence is the source of all of creation.
Part of our journey to awareness is allowing ourselves to come to terms with the opposite of this healing essence.
The opposite of this essence causes us suffering.
We each have the capacity to relate to our suffering and to grow from our experiences of what alienates us from ourselves.
By coming to terms with what alienates us from ourselves, we bring our awareness, empathy and compassion to our relationships with those with whom we share life and with all living beings.
We each also share a profound responsibility for our survival as a species. If we ignore what is healthy and life-sustaining through ignorance and greed, we will simply not survive; we will die and cease to exist. By behaving in the shadows of ignorance, we go against the very essence that is the source of all creation.
Our essence and its expression
There is that part of us that we get in touch with that feels a profound sense of caring for another person. The part of us that wants to reach out to someone in need. The part of us that is moved by seeing the love and caring that others express in their interactions with those with whom they come in contact.
This is our essence, at its best. We’re touched by people giving to one another in ways that meet whatever needs that are brought to the surface when we’re sharing with each other.
When I share myself with someone I love, I (we) often have to weather whatever storms arise: not enough sleep, short tempers, impatience, or resentment for being an interruption to whatever someone may find themselves involved with at the moment.
Whatever it is that the person I love is going through, I’m but a fellow traveller along the way who shares life’s many seasons, day by day. My responsibility is to respond and not react to what is taking place in the moment. I need to be clear that being in the moment with each breath allows me to be present instead of reliving past hurts or anticipating future fears and suffering.
Our practice depends on a simple premise. We need to be beginners with each moment, with each in-breath and out-breath. By being with each in-breath and each out-breath, we remain in the present moment. By being in the present moment, we are at one with our essence and can be responsive to what we experience, moment by moment.
This is our Практика осознанности in its simplest expression.
How we treat ourselves, others and our environment
How can we treat fellow human beings as objects to be disregarded and dismissed, and with dishonesty? For example, immigrants are treated as objects to be denied safe passage to a promised place where they have a Constitutional right to seek asylum. Women are denied their right to choose how to relate to their bodies when they become pregnant. Children can’t learn if they’re hungry, are living in constant fear for their lives or are chronically ill. Our veterans come home from deployments with various issues and often receive little or no support for what they bring with them from the trauma of combat.
These are all fellow human beings, and we’re failing them with our lack of awareness, empathy and compassion.
In addition, we’re told by those who are responsible for our well-being that we have tainted drinking water in our cities and polluted air to breathe in areas within the United States. We see and live with the disastrous impacts of the Earth’s warming: floods, forest fires, extreme weather patterns that come with excessively hot or cold temperatures, the loss of earthly possessions during these natural disasters, and the absence of drinkable water and food. And, as the Sonny & Cher song says, “The beat goes on.”
Where are we, as fellow members of наш human family, in our treatment of others? What is it that causes such neglect, insensitivity and outright destructive behavior? We seem to be impervious to what we need to do to survive as a species. We behave as if we don’t care, thinking “it won’t happen to us” and “who cares” about the other person?
The Dalai Lama has cautioned us that,
Our own survival is so dependent on the help of others that a need for love lies at the very core of our existence. This is why we need to cultivate a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others.
So what causes us to behave insensitively, with disregard for ourselves and others, and what can we do about it?
One reason for our behaviour is that, in most cases, we can’t treat others any better than we’ve been treated. If we’ve been abused, disregarded and dismissed by those who have been responsible for our sense of security, we begin to look at ourselves with negative judgments about who we are. We develop a defensive approach to how we relate to those with whom we come in contact.
This type of dynamic can be played out in various ways. Others relate to us negatively for different reasons. They may react to us being a distraction from their place of importance in relation to others. They may be resentful towards those of us who have a different skin colour or sexual orientation, or resent those of us who speak different languages or have different religious beliefs.
Many of these people act out their feelings, which are based on a foundation of ignorance—even something as blatant as, “Your skin colour is different from mine and I’m threatened by that difference.” This can evolve into, “Others who are different from us are threats to our sense of security.” In America, for example, there are many whites who are politically threatened because there are more non-whites than whites within the American political structure, and the white political power base has been destroyed.
In Buddhism, it’s taught that the root of all of our suffering is based on ignorance. So often, we’re unaware of what we don’t know. We simply react to others. The notion that prejudices are unconsciously taught goes a long way towards fuelling our reactions to others.
A second idea that we need to reflect upon is that we tend to relive the suffering we’ve experienced, and anticipate similar unpleasant experiences in the future. The act of reliving the past is experienced as suffering and can lead to a sense of depression, while anticipating a fearful experience in the future causes us anxiety.
There is an antidote to this suffering. The antidote is to be and live in the present moment, instead of living in the past or in the future. In fact, by being in the present moment, focusing on each in-breath and each out-breath, we won’t experience the suffering we would by reliving past hurts or anticipating future hurts. Living in the now allows us to be present. When we’re present, there is no suffering or conflict in our lives. Джон Кабат-Зинн has said, “We spend 85 percent of our time reliving our past or in anticipating fearful experiences in the future.”
One way to begin to experience the present moment is to consciously ‘stop, look and listen’ several times a day. Another way to express this is that we need to ‘pause’ so we can get out of our normal reaction patterns, step back from our thoughts and see where we are in the moment.
We need to ask ourselves:
- How do I feel right now?
- Am I experiencing stress, anger, sadness, joy?
- Am I uptight or relaxed?
- What kind of inner conversations have I been having with myself?
- How is my body reacting to what’s going on in my daily life?
It’s my hope that this sharing will assist you with becoming more aware of your view of yourself, of others and your reactions towards life events. Wishing you the warmest regards on your journey towards wholeness and fulfillment. Namaste.
"СВЯЗАННОЕ ЧТЕНИЕ" A PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN: “Saint Issa” and other spiritual poems and parables»
изображение: Depositphotos
