The integrity we
develop on a spiritual path comes from being able to distinguish for ourselves
the habits and influences in the mind which are skillful and lead to love and
awareness, from those which are unskillful and reinforce our false sense of
separation.
As wisdom reveals to
you that we don't need these reactions [fear, anger, grasping], we can abandon
them.
An awakened life
demands a fundamental re-visioning of the limited views we hold of our own
potential.
We must move from
trying to control the uncontrollable cycles of pleasure and pain, and instead
learn how to connect, to open, to love no matter what is happening.
To be undivided and
unfragmented, to be completely present, is to love.
Much of the time,
rather than feeling whole, we may feel unfragmented and disconnected, and
therefore unhealthy on one level or another.
"To reteach a
thing its loveliness" is the nature of metta.
Passion gets
entangled with needing things to be a certain way, with having our expectations
met. The expectation of exchange that
underlies most passion is both conditional and ultimately defeating.
It is fear of pain
that provokes and sustains this splitting off of parts of ourselves.
When we practice
metta, we open continuously to the truth of our actual experience.
When we feel love,
our mind is expansive and open enough to include the entirety of life in full
awareness.
The heart of
skillful meditation is the ability to let go and begin again, over and over
again.
If we look very
carefully, we realize that after our basic needs have been met, what we really
want are certain mind states. In fact,
when we talk about having a lot of money, we are really talking about mind
states such as security or power or freedom.
We discover when we
reality accurately that our mind states are actually a function of our being;
they are not a function of how much we have or what we have.
Desirelessness
--detachment -- is not a cold, hard state in which we do not care what is going
on. The opposite of attachment is not a
sullen withdrawal from things or an attitude of indifference. It is very full, very alive, and very open.
Forgiveness is an
inner relinquishment of guilt or resentment.
All beings want to
be happy, yet so few know how. It is out
of ignorance that any of us cause suffering, for ourselves or for others.
Fear is the primary
mechanism sustaining the concept of the "other", and reinforcing the
subsequent loneliness and distance in our lives.
Compassion is not at
all weak. It is the strength that arises
out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world.
When we deny our
experience, we are always moving away from something real to something
fabricated.
Compassion means
taking the time to look at the conditions, or the building blocks, of any
situation.
Compassion enjoins
us to respond to pain, and wisdom guides the skillfulness of the response,
telling us when and how to respond.
So much of our
unhappy condition as living beings comes from the constricting effect of our
negativity toward each other. We limit
ourselves, and we limit others.
To be nonjudgmental
means having flexibility of mind and the ability to let go of our attachment to
what seems right to us.
At the center of the
comparing mind is competition.
The willingness to
feel goodwill only toward those we like is a powerful impediment to developing
sympathetic joy.
The practice of
equanimity is learning deeply what it means to let go.
Equanimity is a
spacious stillness of the mind, a radiant calm that allows us to be present
fully with all the different changing experiences that constitute our world and
our lives.
People who are
generous awaken in us openness, love, and delight.
Generosity's aim is
twofold: we give to free others, and we give to free ourselves. Without both aspects, the experience is
incomplete.
The movement of the
heart in generosity mirrors the movement of the heart in letting go on the
inner journey.
Letting go --
abandoning, relinquishing -- is actually the same mind state as generosity.
Generosity is the
mind's gesture recognizing both that there is nothing solid for us to hold on
to and that our actions are meaningful.
Moral conduct is the
reflection of our deepest love, concern, and care.
Since all karma is
said to rest up on motivation, it is very important that we become increasingly
aware of the intentions that drive our actions.
