Friday, June 9, 2017

Jack Kornfield: Whenever Our Goodness Is Seen

May each of us increasingly open to the soulful heartwork of deepening our connection with all of life. May we recognize the Sacred within all. In this way, we gradually come to exclude none from our caring, compassion, prayers, and blessings. Within us all is the potential to be the peace our world hungers for. 
With warmest blessings - Molly


Whenever our goodness is seen, it is a blessing. Every culture and tradition understands the importance of seeing one another with love. An old Hasidic rabbi asked his pupils how they could tell when night had ended and day begun, for daybreak is the time for certain holy prayers. "Is it," proposed one student, "when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?" "No," answered the rabbi. "Is it when you can clearly see the lines on your own palm?" "Is it when you can look at a tree in the distance and tell if it is a fig or a pear tree?" "No," answered the rabbi each time. "Then what is it?" the pupils demanded. "It is when you can look on the face of any man or woman and see that they are your sister or brother. Until then it is still night."
 
- Jack Kornfield
Excerpted from The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal
Teachings of Buddhist Psychology

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