Today I see Love reflected in every form

Today I see Love reflected in every form

After long meditation, and much deep reflection, having passed through the confusion of human life. Job finally arrived at the conclusion that the Spirit of God was within him and that the breath of God was his life. We have all traveled this same pathway of experience, the journey of soul to the “heights above,” and always there has been a deep inquiry in our minds—What is it all about? Does life make sense? What is the meaning of birth, human experience, and the final transition, which we call death on this plane? Somewhere along the line we too must exclaim with Job, “the Spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” Nothing can be nearer to us than that which is the very essence of our being. Our external search after Reality culminates in the greatest of all possible discoveries—Reality is at the center of our own being; life is from within out.

I feel my search is over. I feel that I have discovered the Great Reality. I am not evolving it to it, I am merely awakening into the realization of what it means. There is but one Life. This Life I am living. Today I speak this Reality into every experience I have. Today I see God (as Love) reflected into every form, back of every countenance, moving in every act.                    Ernest Holmes/Ron Alexander

 

 

Richard Kent Matthews Am reading a book about loving one's neighbor as self. It's basic premise is about jihadists and ISIS, plus others like Hamas and Hezbollah. What do you think? Can we do that on a regular basis without jeopardizing America/European safety? What do you think Jesus meant by that loving thy neighbor stuff? Wondering…

Ron Alexander Good question dear Rev. Richard Kent Matthews: I am looking up Pema Chodron possible reply to this.

 

Ron Alexander Part of the Boddhivattsva Vow is to do no harm, with another part is to take care of each other. Sometimes we have to look at the "greatest benefit", if we have to protect our family by killing an intruder. This is paraphrased from a long story by Pema of a Captain having to kill a pirate to save his crew. As far as LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THY SELF. Do not forget the LOVE THYSELF! So I think the same applies here - if your neighbor is threatening you or others, "you do your best to stop him, for in hurting others they are hurting themselves." See my post below by Goenka, the Master Vipassana Teacher.

 

Ron Alexander Instead of Revenge:

I was wondering whether there are people who cause suffering for us?
S.N. Goenka (renown Vipassana Teacher): Nobody causes suffering for you. You cause the suffering for yourself by generating tension in the mind. If you know how not to do that, it becomes easy to remain peaceful and happy in every situation.

Ron Alexander What about when someone else is doing wrong to us?
You must not allow people to do wrong to you. Whenever someone does something wrong, (s)he harms others and at the same time harms him(her) self. If you allow her to do wrong, you are encouraging him (her) to do wrong. You must use all your strength to stop her, but with only good will, compassion, and sympathy for that person. If you act with with hatred or anger, then you aggravate the situation. But you cannot have good will for such a person unless your mind is calm and peaceful. So practice to develop peace within yourself, and they you can solve the problem.

 

Ron Alexander (If you want world peace, you ought to learn how to be peaceful yourself. Only then can you bring peace to the world.) THE Rev. Richard Kent Matthews!

 

 

Terry Orr Ron is approaching this correctly. We must first attend to the roots of violence within ourselves, only then are we able to approach specific situations with clarity. Vipassana meditation is the only method that I am aware of for removing our own mental impurities. Ideally, all our soldiers and policemen would practice meditation on a regular basis. Then, if they have to fight, they would be doing so for the purpose of relieving suffering - both for us and for our "enemies".

 

Ron Alexander Wonderful reply Terry Orr. thank you so much!

 

 

Richard Kent Matthews So, my challenge is not really about meditation per se, but about how to go about doing Love in the world even in the face of much resistance. Love your neighbor is tough. But rewarding

Ron Alexander LOVE THYSELF FIRST! Otherwise there can be no love issuing from you!

 

Terry Orr Richard. It is the untrained mind that is open to "demons". Meditation is for the purpose of training the mind, just as physical exercise is for the purpose of training the body so that it is healthy.

 

Terry Orr We all know the confused mind is capable of many rationalizations. Hence, the many forms of absurdity we see in the human species.

 

Terry Orr For the sake of clarity: All forms of meditation have some "object" on which to meditate. Some forms use mantras (repeating some word mentally or vocally), others use visualization, others use the natural breath, some deliberately control the breath, some use an external object such as a candle flame. Some forms of meditation are designed to calm the mind, others are used to achieve a disciplined mind.

In the case of Vipassana, it is designed to achieve a highly developed awareness of the subtle (and not so subtle) sensations in the body. The reason why this is important, is because every thought, flows into the body as sensation. If we are aware of the sensations and we learn how to observe without blind reaction, we are in a position to process our subconscious mental impurities that cause us so much trouble.

This is based on the principle that each moment that manifests, is the accumulation of something in our past (cause and effect or Khamma) and it is only by being aware of the present moment, that we are able to come out of the endless cycle of multiplying the impurities of craving and aversion within us and bring and end to suffering.

Therefore, Vipassana cannot be heresy, because it is simply being aware of the natural processes that are continually going on within all of us. This is good for Christians, Muslims, Jews, or what have you. Because it is natural and universal, it does not conflict with any religion.

 

Richard Kent Matthews I have met many a fundamentalist cleric who does not feel 'confused.' To them, you are the confused one, the unstable one, the lost one. Irrational? Not to them. Everything you have written here is heresy to someone else. And yes, meditation has an object; to the religionist, it is their deity or holy on

Richard Kent Matthews Don't get me wrong here. I'm all for meditation and practice on a regular basis. What I have derived from my practice is this: I'm in the right moment and place. Soon, it will pass. So, enjoy now, love now, serve now, laugh now, forgive now, understand my own weaknesses now, take nothing personal now, challenge now, and make sure no one gets away with anything. smile emoticon

 

Terry Orr Agreed. All I'm saying, is meditation forms such as Vipassana and Anapana (concentration on natural breathing), are the furthermost thing from confusion, irrationality, heresy, instability etc as you can possibly get. There is nothing heretical about seeing things as they actually are - rather than as how we would like them to be. This is very scientific - as evidenced by modern science coming to the exact same conclusions as Buddha did thousands of years ago

Richard Kent Matthews You're preaching to the choir here. My whole point is not to denigrate meditation, only to point out that a huge percentage of the world's population consider such forms of med as heretical and potentially demonic. That is why Vipassana and other forms of 'Eastern' practice will find a hard time really catching on in the West, even though the numbers are indeed growing. There is a lot of fear and resistance, a tribal mentality, among the religionists. So, we keep practicing, 'acting as if,' and move forward. We can only do our little part. Love as if the whole world will respond to you. A good motto, I think.

 

Ron Alexander LIKE: Love as if the whole world will respond to you. A good motto, I think. Richard Kent Matthews To me, we have completed the circle here, thanks Terry Orr and Richard.

Richard Kent Matthews Yes. I practice it. Not always good at it, but it is in the forefront of my walk.

 

Terry Orr Agreed again. The problem with Westerners having resistance to Eastern practices, is why people such as Jon Kabat-Zinn have attempted to bring Buddhist teachings to the West by inventing new words for old ideas. Modern psychology is beginning to use words such as Mindfullness without referencing the origins of these teachings. This is both good and bad. It's good from the standpoint that the general public thinks these concepts have been recently invented by "our own people" and therefore somehow more palatable.

Ron Alexander I feel like I am ready to go back!

 

Terry Orr Personally, I have gone through a bit of a metamorphosis in my approach to the irrationality expressed by certain schools of thought. Until fairly recently, I felt it necessary to detail the absurdities and "malpractice" of the New Age movement for example. I no longer feel impelled to do that as much, because I realize that everyone has the right to be wrong and "wrong" has it's own built-in teaching. This is more and more becoming my approach to political, religious and cultural philosophies in general

 

Goenka - the man who spread the Dhamma (dharma) all over the world

Terry Orr 12:29pm Jun 2 Mainly, Goenka wants us to practice Dhamma and apply it in whatever vocation we have in life. That is how Dhamma spreads in all areas of human endeavor and interaction. It is the quiet business person, or educator, or scientist who isn't making a big deal about how great a meditator they are, but who is implementing the benefits in their life and the lives of others who are making this world a better place.

Terry Orr 12:30pm Jun 2 In other words, the every day men and women who are living dhamma free of hatred for those who think and act differently. It's really easy to get caught up in proclaiming those who think differently than we do, as "stupid" or "ignorant" etc. etc. We see a lot of that in the political "debates" - which are basically mud-slinging contests.

Buddha's meditation (Terry Orr) dhamma.org

Vipassana Meditation

Homepage of Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

dhamma.org