It is truly amazing to be on a path of awakening. Each day, each year I grow older, I never cease to be astonished by this life I have been given. The wonders of this Sacred Earth we share and all its beings, of each precious moment, of the beautiful blue sky out my window, the smile of my doggie, the sweetness of my children, the embrace of my beloved partner - for all of this and so much more I am deeply, deeply grateful.
It is both challenging and a blessed and profound gift to be present with my heart, my eyes, my mind increasingly open. This is a common experience which I believe we humans share, this struggle to be more awakened, with each of us falling somewhere on a continuum of being more or less conscious, awake, aware, open. And certainly as we do grow older, and depending upon what we have been feeding inside of ourselves over the years, we are largely either growing more expansive or more defended, more kind or bitter, more loving or more fearful, more rooted in the experience of interbeing or more stuck in the illusion of separateness. My experience for some time now is also the awareness that Spirit works through others to offer us opportunities to reconnect with remembrance of that which we have forgotten. Many apparent coincidences could perhaps more accurately be seen as Grace working in our lives.
It is with profound gratitude that I bow to all the teachers who have blessed me on this journey of awakening. Most recently I have been reading "The Lost Art of Compassion: Discovering the Practice of Happiness in the Meeting of Buddhism and Psychology" by Lorne Ladner, Ph.D. In just the first few pages in the introduction, I have been so struck with an even deeper awareness of what is largely missing in American culture that is essential to our well-being. While there are parallels with some other cultures, it is certainly apparent that the roots of this suffering is deeply rooted into our indoctrination, into our acculturation, into what so many of us are taught from our earliest beginnings here in the land of the "free" is "normal" and just the way it is.
Connecting the dots has become a passion for me. Today I see more and more clearly how it is all connected -- bombs blowing apart people on American streets and across the planet; war, torture, global warming, Monsanto, white collar crime, the struggles over gay rights, women's rights, worker's rights, gun restrictions, undocumented immigrants, same sex marriage; Narcissistic, Sociopathic, and other Personality Disorders; cancer - with 1 out of 3 women, and 1 out of every 2 men, in America having a cancer diagnosis in their lifetimes; lack of access to healthcare, housing, and other basic needs; classism, racism, rape, religious abuse and violence, over population, prostitution, individual and mass shootings, poverty, polarizing propaganda, sex trafficking, Big Money infotainment media, Citizen's United, greed, drones, species extinction, the poisoning and destruction of the environment, terrorism and the war on terrorism, the extreme inequities of wealth distribution, starvation, corporate scandals, the American Dream, the pharmaceutical industry, resource depletion, right/left and saved/unsaved and the many faces of Us against an Other, substance addiction and all other addictions, suicide, wire tapping and surveillance, the war on drugs, mass incarceration, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, violent video games, personality disorders, depression, oppression, exploitation, ignorance, prejudice, unemployment, factory farms, eating disorders, sexual abuse, pornography, consumerism, rugged individualism, Guantanamo, fascism, corporatism and the best "democracy" money can buy - all this and more - can at its root, I believe, be traced to what I will quote below from "The Lost Art of Compassion." One does not have to be Buddhist to have these teachings resonate and touch one's mind, heart, spirit, soul with a deeper remembrance.
My continued prayer is that humankind evolve. May our species grow past our childhood and adolescence and awaken to the depth and beauty of our true nature. May we embrace and remember the lost art of compassion. Another world is possible - one filled with compassion, connection, belonging, abundance, joy, beauty, love, peace, and the consciousness of our Sacred connection with all of Life. Bless us all. Namaste ~ Molly
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Excerpts from The Lost Art of Compassion by Lorne Ladner:
Over the past seven centuries our traditions of mathematics, science, and capitalism have placed more and more emphasis on those things that can be counted, weighed, measured, and given specific economic value. William Kittredge says, "Europeans taught themselves to believe anything that cannot be priced is without worth. Values like compassion and empathy, unquantifiable and therefore impossible to commodify, began to seem archaic, maybe unreal."
The longer I work and live, the more clearly I see what our cultural devaluation of compassion has cost us as individuals and as a society. Without any means for developing the qualities that give life meaning and that bring genuine peace and joy, we are left to follow the advise of advertisers, purchasing things and seeking entertainment to find the happiness for which we hope. The more psychologically minded of us are left to seek pills to bring happiness through changes in brain chemistry, or we're left to think endlessly about our childhoods, our self-esteem, our boundaries, and our coping skills for getting as many of our desires met as is humanly possible. Without any real emphasis on sincere love, compassion, contentment, and joy, we are left with a terribly limited approach to psychology, which is useful in curing certain pathological conditions but offers us almost nothing when it comes to living good lives or teaching our children to do so. In brief, we are left poor of heart.
In recent decades politicians, researchers, and psychologists have begun considering the idea of prevention - preventing domestic violence, child abuse, suicide, school violence, drug abuse, racial discrimination, terrorism, corporate scandals, and the like. Too often , our prevention begins at the line of last defense. In home already filled with tension and anger, we strive to prevent aggression; in schools filled with alienation, despair, and rage, we strive to prevent violence; and in corporations filled wit greed, we strive to prevent scandals. To the extent that we feel caring and connected with each other in our homes, schools, and corporations, we naturally refrain from harmful behaviors. Empathy ad compassion are foundational for natural ethics and for positive social relationships. Of course, a fear of punishment ca stop people from engaging in behaviors that harm others, but empathy and compassion are much more powerful and effective means of prevention. When we empathize wit and feel compassion toward others' suffering, this stops us from doing things that would have a negative effect on them. When we feel others' suffering as our own, we cannot bring ourselves to harm them.
Our traditions of psychology, education, and economics must take some of the responsibility for the various social ills that we face. If each of us doesn't take on the responsibility to develop positive qualities like compassion in ourself and to model these qualities and teach them to others, then things will not improve over the long run, for us individually or for our society as a whole.
In the West, psychology is a relatively small branch of science tht has been developed over roughly a hundred years. In Tibet alone, the inner science of overcoming negative mental states and cultivating positive ones has been a central focus for over twelve hundred years.
Of all the topics that Tibet's inner scientists studied, His Holiness the Dalai Lama notes that the most important subject has been "altruism based on love and compassion."... Perhaps the most significant finding from all the centuries of research is this: cultivating compassion is the single most effective way to make oneself psychologically healthy, happy, and joyful.
Compassion is not about holding to any dogma; it is the human quality that allows us to reach out across differences in race, ethnicity, religion, or nationality, connecting with each other. Compassion is a direct antidote to prejudice and aggression, promoting peace in ourselves and in the world...
So if we were to give a psychological answer to the question of what constitutes a good, happy, meaningful life, the response would be a life spent cultivating compassion. As a state of mind or heart, compassion serves as a direct psychological cause for contentment, happiness, and joy. Many of the things we usually associate with a good life - contributing something to the world, being close with family members, having deep friendships, inner peace, and peace between people - actually result from living compassionately.
Our traditions of psychology, education, and economics must take some of the responsibility for the various social ills that we face. If each of us doesn't take on the responsibility to develop positive qualities like compassion in ourself and to model these qualities and teach them to others, then things will not improve over the long run, for us individually or for our society as a whole.
In the West, psychology is a relatively small branch of science tht has been developed over roughly a hundred years. In Tibet alone, the inner science of overcoming negative mental states and cultivating positive ones has been a central focus for over twelve hundred years.
Of all the topics that Tibet's inner scientists studied, His Holiness the Dalai Lama notes that the most important subject has been "altruism based on love and compassion."... Perhaps the most significant finding from all the centuries of research is this: cultivating compassion is the single most effective way to make oneself psychologically healthy, happy, and joyful.
Compassion is not about holding to any dogma; it is the human quality that allows us to reach out across differences in race, ethnicity, religion, or nationality, connecting with each other. Compassion is a direct antidote to prejudice and aggression, promoting peace in ourselves and in the world...
So if we were to give a psychological answer to the question of what constitutes a good, happy, meaningful life, the response would be a life spent cultivating compassion. As a state of mind or heart, compassion serves as a direct psychological cause for contentment, happiness, and joy. Many of the things we usually associate with a good life - contributing something to the world, being close with family members, having deep friendships, inner peace, and peace between people - actually result from living compassionately.
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Real happiness starts when you begin to cherish others.
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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