Listening with the heart of a Buddha

One of the practices that my heart teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, stresses is listening deeply.  This kind of listening involves the whole heart and complete presence.  It means really being there for the other person, putting aside all our self-defenses and self-interests, and really listening.   Of course, this requires great empathy, but also mindfulness, so that we do get caught up in or overwhelmed by what is said.

In Buddhism, this kind of listening is exemplified in the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.  One of most widely revered bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism, this Buddha is also depicted in female form as Guan Yin, or Kwan Yin.  In Tibetan Buddhism, this compassionate listener to the suffering of the world is called Chenrezig.

Anyone can learn to be a skillful listener

By whatever name, this bodhisattva exemplifies a kind of skillful listening that anyone can aspire to and learn how to do.  Even if we are a lousy listener, this can change. All it takes is the aspiration to be able to listen in a healing way and to then to practice.

If we find it difficult to listen compassionately and patiently to the woes of others, we can almost be certain this is because we haven’t been able to sit still and listen to our own heart’s cries.  If we don’t listen to our own needs, if we don’t listen deeply to the cries of our own hearts, how can we do that skillfully for others?

Listening to others, listening to ourselves—one thing

So while we shouldn’t put off the practice of listening deeply to others, we should also make sure that we practice listening to ourselves skillfully in our meditation and metta practice.  You will find, as I have, that love for ourselves enables love for others, and that love for others, helps us love ourselves.

At the deepest level, there’s no difference between the two—love of self is love of others; love of others really is love of oneself. Listening deeply to our own hearts is listening to the cries of the world; hearing the cries of the world is listening to our own hearts.

In the excerpt below, Thich Nhat Hanh focuses on how family members can learn to listen deeply to each other, but the skill can be practiced in any relationship.

~

Living together in Harmony

by Thich Nhat Hanh

“Listening deeply is something we have to learn to do—we can’t do it just like that. When the other person is talking he or she is trying to express his or her difficulties and sufferings, and needs us to listen to that. But if we are not capable of listening, then the person who is speaking will not feel any relief in his or her suffering, and will finally give up talking.”

“People who have suffering, who have feelings hidden deep in their hearts, which they have not been able to express, they need an opportunity to express this suffering, and if no one sits to listen to them, how can they have that opportunity to express these hidden feelings of suffering? Therefore we need to practice looking deeply into that person, and that is the way to show that we love them.”

Deep listening in a family

“If we are a father and we want to listen to our children, we can sit alongside our child in silence, and then we say: ‘My dear child, please tell me, do you have any difficulties? Do you have any suffering? Please tell me. I want to listen so I can see if I can help you at all.’ So the father says this with his heart.”

“And if we are a wife, and we know our husband has sufferings and difficulties which he has not been able to talk about, we go to our husband, and sit silently, very freshly, alongside him, and then we say: ‘My dear husband, do you have any suffering? Do you have any difficulties hidden in your heart? Please let me know about them.’ The wife must say that.”

“If we are a husband or a father and we have suffering—and we all have suffering; some of us have a great deal, some of us have a little—when the other person says that to us, we see we have an opportunity to say what we want to. At first it’s difficult for us to say it. No one has tried to listen to us before, and now when somebody invites us to speak like that, we’re not sure if we really believe it.”

“But the wife, or whoever asks the question, should be patient and say, ‘Please, please tell me. It may be because of my un-skillfulness, my foolishness, that you suffer, and I want to hear this. Please tell me if I do anything foolish or clumsy which makes you suffer. I promise that I will sit by you very calmly and silently and listen, because I am practicing as a student of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. I will not judge, I will not react, I will not be angry.’”

“We all have to practice in the family: mother, father, and child. We can’t just listen deeply because we want to do it, we have to practice first…”

Excerpts from a talk called “Living Together in Harmony” given on July 19, 1998, Plum Village, France

I’m incredibly broken right now. but the cry of my heart is brokenness. [weird, huh?]  I want to be broken more. I want to be more Christ-like. I need Him like a hurricane. To tear my walls down.

I want to be broken. I want the thunder, wind, and rain of God to come crashing down on me. I want Him to break me and mend me. I want Him to demolish me and make beauty out of the pieces. I don’t want to have anything but Him to cling to.

And this isn’t because I’m addicted to pain or anything. In fact, I hate pain.  I hate pain. Emotional, physical, and spiritual. BUT I love God. And I’m willing for Him to break me. I want Him to break me. I want to be molded by Him. I want His perfect love.

I realize the weight of this prayer. It is intense. It shouldn’t be something I’m asking for lightly. And it isn’t. I don’t want to be an agent of Coop. I want to be an agent of God. I need God to be my focus, not others or myself. I don’t want anything but Him. But I really do want Him. And I really want Him to break me so He can break me in to who He wants me to be. I want Him to give me His eyes, His heart, His ears, His love. I feel like I’m clinging on to too much. To a very negative self-image. To pain.  To hope in things besides God. To ambitions. To grudges. To wounds. To bruises. To memories. To lost friends. To broken relationships.

I want to be broken and renewed. I want God to come in like a hurricane. I want to see Him more clearly. I want to be able to love Him more deeply. I want Him to fit in my heart where He belongs. In my God-shaped hole. I want to be broken and healed. I want to be freed through brokenness. I don’t want my will. I want His way.

And if You are the war
Let me be the casualty
Til Im Yours alone

He can see what’s going on soooooooooooooo much better. I want to be broken in accordance with the plans he has for me.

shatter me and mend me,

coop

Broken heart one more time
Pick yourself up, why even cry
Broken pieces in your hands
Wonder how you’ll make it whole

You know, you pray
This can’t be the way
You cry, you say
Something’s gotta change
And mend this porcelain heart of mine

Someone said “A broken heart
Would sting at first then make you stronger”
You wonder why this pain remains
Were hearts made whole just to break?

Creator only You take brokenness
And create it into beauty once again (Porcelain Heart – Barlow Girl)

It’s hard to be so broken. It hurts. A lot. And right now… I’m very broken.  And alone. Not because of a boy. Not because of some stupid high school stuff. But because of deeper stuff.  And so it’s hard when you can’t talk about it with friends (because you know you don’t have any true friends).  And you can’t bring it up in everyday conversation for similar reasons. And it’s hard when you can’t just keep it bundled up either.

But God does listen to all my grunts, grrrrrs, and moans. and He makes sense of them. There is a middle-man for all those odd sounds that I can’t even make sense of. He knows the pains of my heart better than i do. He knows the depths of my heart. He knows me better than anyone around me can ever know me. And he loves me just the same. He promises me Life. He loves me.  Regardless. In spite of me.

So it’s hard to sit in tension. It’s hard to sit in pain. It’s hard to sit in shards. But God will make beauty out of this broken thing.

and that’s what I’m thankful for… or at least trying to be thankful for.

Creator, only you take brokenness. and create it. into beauty once again.

mend my heart, please.

-coop

The fullest confidence is available to believers in their suffering because of God’s immutable covenant promise by which He has obliged Himself to believers.

But the inspired writer, calling to remembrance the promises by which God had declared that he would make the Church the object of his special care, and particularly that remarkable article of the covenant, “I will dwell in the midst of you” (Exodus xxv. 8), and, trusting to that sacred and indissoluble bond, has no hesitation in representing all the godly languishing, though they were in a state of suffering and wretchedness, as partakers of this celestial glory in which God dwells. . . . What advantage would we derive from this eternity and immutability of God’s being, unless we had in our hearts the knowledge of him, which, produced by his gracious covenant, begets in us the confidence arising from a mutual relationship between him and us? The meaning then is, “We are like withered grass, we are decaying every moment, we are not far from death, yea rather, we are, as it were, already dwelling in the grave; but since thou, O God! hast made a covenant with us, by which thou hast promised to protect and defend thine own people, and hast brought thyself into a gracious relation to us, giving us the fullest assurance that thou wilt always dwell in the midst of us, instead of desponding, we must be of good courage; and although we may see only ground for despair if we depend upon ourselves, we ought nevertheless to lift up our minds to the heavenly throne, from which thou wilt at length stretch forth thy hand to help us.” . . . . As God continues unchangeably the same — “without variableness or shadow of turning” — nothing can hinder him from aiding us; and this he will do, because we have his word, by which he has laid himself under obligation to us, and because he has deposited with us his own memorial, which contains in it a sacred and indissoluble bond of fellowship.

There is always hope, even in the adversities of life, because “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, to confirm His covenant towards them by watching for their safety.”

– Peter Lillback, quoting Calvin in The Binding of God, pp. 270-271.

(Synopsis of a talk give by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj in Chandigarh, India, on November 15, 2009)

There is only one thing that every living desires: happiness. There is variation and variety everywhere in the world. There are 8.4 million forms that a soul could enter and they are all unique. Some of these reside in water, some in the air, some on the earth. All living beings are born from one of 4 ways – some are born from a womb, some from eggs, some from moisture and some from the earth. If we take humans, out of 7 billion people on the earth, not even two people have the same features or fingerprints. What variation there is in this world!

Regardless of this, all embodied beings desire only one thing: happiness. Why? Have we never experienced happiness? We have indeed. We experienced this from our mother, father, husband, wife and other relations. We experienced this from sense objects. We saw from our eyes and felt happy. We heard with our ears and felt happy. We ate something and felt happy. Daily we are experiencing happiness. This is a fact. No one can deny this.

But this happiness has two defects. First, it is limited. There is always a greater happiness beyond your current experience of happiness. When you become aware of the greater happiness, your current happiness ends. A poor person got a motorcycle. While driving, he felt happy. He saw a car approaching and when its tire hit a puddle of water, it threw mud all him. He thought, “What’s the use of this motorcycle! Now if I had a car…” The joy of owning a motorcycle came to an end. This happens in every area of happiness. When you see a happiness you think better than your own, your current happiness ends.

A person studies hard in the university for four years to earn a degree to get a good job, and finally he finds one. His boss scolds him harshly on the very first day of work. He thinks, “What is this? Is this what I studied for?” His happiness comes to an end. He thinks, “One day I will take over his position.” Even if he does do this, he will still have another boss above him. So what we actually desire is unlimited happiness, a happiness beyond which there is no greater happiness.

Secondly, the happiness we desire should always remain. Worldly happiness steadily decreases and comes to an end. A mother’s son has disappeared. She is in a state of great distress. All night long, her anxiety causes her to wake up every hour. Her son was found and returned to her. She embraced her child with great joy. She hugged him a second time, but now her happiness was reduced. A third hug produced less happiness. By the fourth hug she said, “Go outside and play.”

Why does this happiness reduce? We receive happiness from our other loved ones, which also reduces until we say, “How did I get such a mother? Does anyone have such a father as mine? I have wasted my life on this kind of spouse!” and so on. The very thing that was a source of happiness becomes a source of sorrow.

What we actually desire is a happiness which is unlimited and remains forever. But what is the cause of this desire? There must be a few who desire unhappiness. Absolutely not! Every living being, from an ant to the creator Brahma, all desire happiness. But why is this? Because each and every living being is a part of God, who is the form of unlimited happiness.

God has uncountable names. Out of these, one name is ananda, supreme divine bliss. We are a part of that. We are not this physical body. Each of us is an individual soul, and this is why we desire God’s ananda. Apart from God and us, there is also all of ‘this’ – the world. There are three – you, the individual soul, He, Who is God, and all else, the world or Maya.

You have received so much of worldly happiness. You experience it every day in so many ways and everyone has experienced and knows its nature. Yet everyone remains unhappy. The more wealth a person possesses, the more unhappiness he feels. The richest billionaire, the most beautiful woman or man, the most powerful governmant official – each is surrounded by personal bodyguards. Neither they nor their children can go out in the public by themselves. Many continuously worry that someone may try to kill them. Why? For their wealth or due to their power. This fear causes great suffering.

In fact, there are two great sufferings that are important to understand.

(Continued in Part 2)

He’s hit me like a ton of bricks today.

What a strange thing to have happen. I haven’t spoken to him on over 2 months yet I feel him more keenly that I have when we were together. So yes, hes hit me like a ton of bricks. The pain is unreal. I feel so bad for him yet I sit back and gladly watch him go through these horrid feelings and this type of hellish break down.

You may ask me what type of a cold hearted bitch am I for saying those words? For willing sit back and gladly watch him go through hell without offering any type of assistance or comfort?

Well, Id answer you this.

This is his Karma he has to finish playing out and for him to heal and become the wonderful warmhearted caring man I know he is, he has to go through this. For him to grow and to be whole once again, he has to suffer now. For him to finally be with me and to have that wonderful happy life in the end, we have to be separated now. There is nothing I can do to help him in this. He will only drag me down to the bottom with him.

May the Gods grant me the patience I need to wait this out, and more importantly, may the Gods bless and protect him as he plummets and hits his rock bottom hard.

So yes, hes hit me like a ton of bricks today, and that’s okay, let him, he will be okay soon enough. Of that I have faith.

(P.S. Michael, I trust you.)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

‘Shameful Flight’ relates the history of the final years of the British Raj in India, including the partition of India into both Pakistan (West and East) and India, and the early hostility of the two new nations destined for perpetual warfare in such regions as the Kashmir.The history of this era of political instability on the subcontinent includes all the main players from Great Britain, India and Pakistan.These main players include Winston Churchill, Viceroy Louis Mountbatten, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah. There is not a single figure in this history of India’s partition who comes out of it in a good light, though several seem to have had very well-intentioned aims and motivations. It is the true story of lost opportunity and the devastating consequences of human pride and selfishness that have reverberated down through the decades to the present day and remain visible in the continuing clashes between India and Pakistan, as well as in the extremism expressed in both the Islamic and Hindu communities throughout the sub-continent. It is a story of perpetual tragedy and human suffering with no end in sight.

This book is extremely easy to read, passes on a wealth of historical information and whets the appetite for further research on the India/Pakistan situation. It provides enlightenment, by bringing understanding to the current political instability in both India and Pakistan, by clearly revealing the root of the problem – the manner of the birth of both nations out of British imperialism and that nation’s final haphazard departure aptly described as a ‘Shameful Flight.’ This is a great book for understanding the sub-continent and the wounds it still carries to this day.

This book was provided to me for review by Oxford University Press – www.oup.com

Jesus took on the suffering that I deserved.

That’s Christianity in eight words.

Jesus took on the suffering that I deserved.  He wants me to be like him.

That’s Christianity in fifteen words.

If Jesus took on the suffering that I deserved, and if Jesus wants me to be like him, then Jesus wants me to take on the suffering that others deserve.

That’s so easy in the abstract.  But in the concrete?  In the here and now?

It’s so easy to run away from it.

There is this person who has caused me pain.   He has set out to hurt me and he has succeeded.   A lot.

And I tried to run away from it.  I didn’t want to suffer.

I thought about these really clever books I read.  I thought about this understanding they brought in me.  They described how Jesus found this third way: not a path of a victim, not a path of a conqueror.

There’s probably something to do all that.  But if there is, I managed to pervert it.  Because maybe it’s true, that Jesus found some third way.  But what it is undeniable is that Jesus suffered.  Jesus suffered even though others deserved to suffer.  He took it on himself.

And he’s calling me to do the same: to suffer.

This doesn’t mean I have to be stupid about it.  It doesn’t mean I have to be a masochist.  But it does mean I have to let go of some idols I’ve been worshipping.  Earthly comfort.  Wordly security.

I won’t be doing this all at once.  I won’t make this proclamation and be changed all the sudden.

But it’s a path I’m beginning now: a path of suffering.  A path with Jesus.

I asked myself “What would Jesus third way be?” As I thought about this person who hurt me.

What I wanted was a balm.  What I wanted was some clever and easy solution that would minimize my pain and maximize the impression that I’m deep and spiritual.

And so here I am: repenting of all that.   Walking down a path that is absurd and beautiful, a path that is equal parts liberating and terrifying.  I know that I will cower away from it.  But I know that He’ll be waiting on it for me, calling me back to it.

i’m not sure which is worse. what is said… or what is left unsaid. I hate conflict. But I hate unresolved, unspoken conflict even more.

It’s hard to be in the presence who you know hate you… or hate each other. It’s hard not to run away.

And frankly, that’s exactly what I did today.

I fled. With their prodding.

But if I’m fleeing from the fam, where do I belong? If I’m getting kicked out of the fam, where do I go?

We all long for fellowship. We all need fellowship with God. But when words are used only to cut others down, relationships suck. And it feels bad. Because we know how it could be.

I wish things weren’t left unsaid. I wish the words passed around in my family were words that built people up, not cut them down. I wish there was relationship. Healthy relationship. Besides blood.

And since no one provides that for me, God has to be my family. My source of love. My source of everything relational. Which is awesome… yet lonely.

God is love. I want to live in Him. I want to look at all this jank through his eyes.

thanking God for His character,

coop

Embrace it, Don’t Fight it!

“You have to generate the energy of mindfulness, which is also you, and that positive energy will do the work of recognizing and embracing. Every time you embrace your habit energy, you can help it to transform a little bit. The habit energy is a kind of seed within your consciousness, and when it becomes a source of energy, you have to recognize it.”

“You have to bring your mindfulness into the present moment, and you just embrace that negative energy: ‘Hello, my negative habit energy. I know you are there. I am here for you.’ After maybe one or two or three minutes, that energy will go back into the form of a seed, in order to re-manifest itself later on. You have to be very alert.”

excerpt from: Taming Elephants-How To Transform Negative Habit Energies

I wish I could pretend it is just another day; just a regular day, but it isn’t. Today marks the 17th day my sweet, strong brother has been in the hospital. Today he had a set back and we aren’t entirely sure what caused it.

Today is Thanksgiving Day.

As my family, minus my brother and nephew, sat around our makeshift Thanksgiving lunch there were tears, worries, and an unspoken, “Why us? Why now?”

Plans of who would leave tomorrow and who would stay were made. No one wants to stay and at the same time no one wants to leave…how can a family be so conflicted? Right now I’m watching my daddy eat pecan pie from the pie plate as he looks out the window overlooking the parking lot. I can guess what he is thinking and while his stance would communicate nonchalance and peace, his thoughts are far from either.

This morning I was reading in Hebrews 5 and verse eight hasn’t left me.

“Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered”

At night, as I have a hard time getting to sleep, the one truth that helps me get there is the truth that my brother is God’s son. A son who God loves immeasurably. As we weep, He weeps with us and as we walk into the darkness of the unknown He is the Light who guides us.

Although he was a son…

Jesus is God’s Son.

…he learned obedience from what he suffered.

If God the Father did not withhold suffering from Jesus then why should we expect He would withhold suffering from us? And if Jesus, who was with God the Father before the foundation of the earth was laid, learned obedience from His suffering, then surely there is something for us to learn in our suffering.

As I was sharing this with my brother this morning I saw a spark in his eyes. Knowing instantly that he was in there and he was following me I forged ahead, trying desperately to commuicate the love of the Father to a tired and broken son.

Out of the corner of his eye came a tear. Out of both of my eyes came several.

He moved his mouth as if to say something but it causes him supreme effort to talk today so I stopped him. I told him, and myself, that there would be plenty of time to talk about all the things he wanted to say, all the things he was thinking during these days. He blinked his agreement. Later as I was leaving his room for a bit I blew him a kiss only for him to blow one back at me.

Oh, Lord, how I love that man!

I was reminded of the old hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” today and I have been humming it off and on ever since.

“Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not (Even when our circumstances scream that You have); As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be (You are the God who heals, who restores what was lost and stolen, now and always).

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness, to Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love (We join in with the seasons and the celestial beings and all the earth to declare the goodness of the Lord).

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide (When forgiveness of sins would have been enough You are so good You didn’t stop there. You gave us Your Holy Spirit); Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Bleassings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed, They hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.” 

So this Thanksgiving I look not to the circumstances surrounding me but the faithfulness of my God. I look not to the man in the hospital bed but the Father who loves His son even more than this daughter does. I look not to the worry and fear that beckons me to travel a bridge I am not graced to travel but the Light that beckons me to stay on the bridge of healing we have been graced to travel.

This Thanksgiving I am not just thankful for family and friends in a generic way that I have always said before this year. Life is too short not to live with intentionality.

I am thankful for…

The life of my brother. Jeremiah, I am proud to be your sister.

The loyalty and devotion of my sister-in-law.

The smile and giggle of my nephew and the destiny of his life.

The heart of my moma and her love for her children.

The fierceness of my daddy to protect what is his.

The eyes of my sister that do not miss a thing.

The care and concern of Uncle Wayne and Aunt Rita.

The heart and love of Aunt Betty. Thank you for being a little piece of Grandmoma!

The hugs of Tiffany and the sweet smiles of Amy.

The love and hugs of Aunt Sharon, Aunt Gini, and Aunt Pam. Thank you for loving my moma in the stead of your moma during this time.

The presence of Carla. Even from Grenada, I feel your prayers, sweet friend.

The direction and gentle nudges of Sharon. This season of my life would be a mess without you.

The life Jennifer brings into my life.

The fortified city of MyChurch. I am honored to be a part of what God is doing in and through you.

The constant that Stoney is. No matter how much time passes in between our visits, you bless me, always.

The labor of love that Jeremiah’s quilt was from the hands of Tina. Thank you, sweet woman of God!

The belief of the ladies in my growth group. You bless me more than words can say.

The ways Lora makes me better by challenging and discerning what needs to stay and what needs to go.

The steadfastness of Julia and her friendship.

Above all of this, I am thankful to my God who has provided more blessings than I could possibly list here. 

And then that leads me to another thing I am thankful for…I get to spend all of eternity thanking Him for who He is and what He has done in my life…Soon and very soon my King is coming and perhaps that is what I am most thankful for in all the world.

 As I reflect on the meaning of Thanksgiving and its beginnings, I cannot help but think of the heart of those faithful men and women who risked all for the love of God; many of them leaving their homes and families to endure hardship and death for many of them. What was their motivation and why was it so important that they would take such great risks? As the writer to the Hebrews puts it;

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

Although the writing was speaking of the patriarchs and not pilgrims, I want very much for God to say to me what he said about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “I am not ashamed to be called your God.”

Now consider the reason he gives: “They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” The reason is their desire. They desire a better country—that is, a better country than the earthly one they live in, namely a heavenly one. This is the same as saying they desire heaven, or they desire the city God has made for them.

So two things make God unashamed to be called our God: he has prepared something great for us, and we desire it above all that is on the earth. So why is he proud to be the God of people who desire his city more than all the world? Because their desire calls attention to the superior worth of what God offers over what the world offers.

This was the strong desire and motivation of the Puritan Separatists – those pilgrims who traveled from England in search of a better place where they may worship their God. The Reformation was an age of unprecedented religious violence and martyrdom. Many who resisted the King and the established Catholic Church would face certain persecution and martyrdom by fire.

But Daniel 11:32 says, “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

And great were the exploits of the Puritan Separatists. William Brewster, was a founder of the Plymouth Colony in New England. He helped lead the Separatist movement in England, 1606, allowing the nonconformists to meet for worship at his home in Scrooby, England. He escaped religious persecution by fleeing with the Separatists to Holland, 1608.

William Bradford, was a Pilgrim leader who helped establish the Plymouth Colony. Sailing in the Mayflower, he was chosen as governor of the colony in 1621, and was reelected 30 times until his death. In 1650, William Bradford wrote a history Of Plymouth Plantation. In it, he traced the events which led to the Pilgrims’ departure from England, and from it is where we derive most or our information about the early pilgrims and the Plymouth Colonies:

Governor William Bradford stated: They shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and as the Lord’s free people, joined themselves by a covenant of the Lord into a church estate in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all His ways, made known unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them.¹⁹⁶

In 1607, as a result of religious persecution upon their persons, reputations, families, and livelihood, the “Separatists,” or Pilgrims, departed from England for Holland. Governor Bradford recorded:

Being thus constrained to leave their native soyle and countrie, their lands and livings, and all their friends and famillier acquantance. … to goe into a countrie they knew not (but by hearsay) where they must learne a new language, and get their livings they knew not how, it being a dear place, and subject to the miseries of war, it was by many thought an adventure almost desperate, a case intolerable, and a miserie worse than death. …

But these things did not dismay them (though they did sometimes trouble them) for their desires were sett on ye ways of God and to enjoye His ordinances; but they rested in His providence, and knew whom they had believed.¹⁹⁵

They lived in Holland 12 years, but little did they realize that out of the 103 Pilgrims who departed, 51 would die in the first winter in the New World. On September 6, 1620, after two attempts which were canceled due to the ship, the Speedwell, developing a leak, the Pilgrims finally set out for America in the Mayflower, just as the stormy season began in the North Atlantic. On November 11, 1620, having been blown off course by violent winds from their intended destination of Virginia, the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They found the area deserted, as the Patuxet tribe which lived there, one of the fiercest Indian tribes on the New England coast, had been destroyed by a great plague just two years prior. Had the Pilgrims landed there earlier, they would most likely have been massacred as the survivors of a French vessel were in 1617, as recounted by Bradford:

About three years before, a French ship was wrecked at Cape Cod, but the men got ashore and saved their lives and a large part of their provisions. When the Indians heard of it, they surrounded them and never left watching and dogging them till they got the advantage and killed them, all but three or four, whom they kept, and sent from one Sachem to another, making sport with them and using them worse than slaves.²⁰⁰

On November 12, 1620, the first full day in the New World, Bradford described the Pilgrims’ thankfulness: Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.²⁰²

Later he would write; what could now sustain them but the spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; (Deuteronomy 26:5, 7) but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise ye Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure for ever. (107 Psalm: v. 1, 2, 4, 5, Yea let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, show how He has delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of ye way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men.²⁰³

Three years after the Pilgrims’ arrival and two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford made an official proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving, to all the Pilgrims he said: Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.²¹¹

Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are (Romans 4:17); and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole na[i]tion; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.²¹²

The great and rich spiritual heritage of those who would dare go against the powers of this world and do exploits by the grace of God because of the future hope of a promised possession – a city made by God, eternal in the heavens. And for this, the same future possession, the Lord has called you and me to as well, as the apostle Peter tells us, “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4).

¹⁹⁵ Bradford, William. 1607, in his work entitled, 4 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988). Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 186.Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 32.

¹⁹⁶ Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 4 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 185. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 62.

²⁰⁰ Bradford, William. 1617, describing the fate of a French ship wrecked off Cape Cod. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 82.

²⁰² Bradford, William. November 12, 1620, in recounting the Pilgrims’ first full day in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in his work entitled, 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), ch. 9, p. 64. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265.

²⁰³ Bradford, William. November 11, 1620, in his record of the Pilgrims’ landing at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 66. Sacvan Bercovitch, ed., Typology and Early American Literature (Cambridge: University of Massachusetts Press, 1972), p. 104. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg’s Heart’N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.28. (note: reference to these first settlers as “pilgrims” is owed to this passage.)

²¹¹ Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 6 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 21. Jordan D. Fiore, ed., Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims of Plymouth (Plymouth, MA: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1841, 1865, 1985), pp. 10-11. William T. Davis, ed., History of Plymouth Plantation (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908), p. 46. The Annals of America  20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 1, p. 66. Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 193. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 11. Gary DeMar, America’s Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), pp. 34-35.,

²¹² Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 236. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265. Fleming, One Small Candle: The Pilgrim’s First Year in America, p. 218. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg’s Heart’N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.25. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God—How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 4.

[i]

Very happy Sashimi added.

So yes, my long suffering fans… I have returned, perhaps 5 kilograms heavier than when I left, with an immeasurable desire for ostrich biltong, and a nice tan.

The holiday to South Africa rocked. We got to do some familial bonding time, and a fair amount of time got spent with the friends. Mr & Mrs B… many thanks for the awesome trip to Knysna and back… much obliged. Now come and visit us so we can return the favour. Wooz and SPF… it was great to be able to spend so much time with you guys… thanks for taking the leave and making it all possible. Chris and Lily and Megan… thanks for the accomodation and for letting us skank up your bathroom one week before your wedding.

So. This Blog has been built up by three weeks absence, and is bound to be a little longer than normal. As usual, if you want to skip the personal stuff, jump ahead to the line of asterisks at the end of this piece.

South Africa. Well well. It was an absolutely awesome trip. One of my favourite things to do in the whole world is to get a car that I like driving and then to take a long road trip. And the wife and I got to do just that with her family. The four of us piled into their car and drove off on what worked out to be an insanely expensive, but very enjoyable experience. And my god did we shop. Everything from Chutney to Cuckoo Clocks went into that car.

Let’s see, first stop was the Willows in Port Elizabeth. This was a classic little caravan/chalet place, and we got a two-bedroomed chalet for the four of us. Very comfortable, very clean and so close to the sea that even my youngest students could throw a stone into the water from the living room. We were there for two nights… and used the time soaking up some much-needed shopping. And thus began my fixation with finding the perfect pie on the holiday. See… the wife and I recently stopped being vegetarian and started eating seafood. Well… poultry has been added to the pile of edibles now… meaning that Chicken was back on the menu. (For the record, we still don’t eat mammals…. which means that yes, TURKEY is back on the menu for Christmas.) With chicken scratching at the doormat, I started in on Chicken Pies.

Woolworths to the rescue. AWESOME chicken and mushroom pie. Try it. Very good.

An aside – If it feels as if all the wife and I did on this holiday was sleep and eat, well… we feel that way too. It was a great holiday.

After PE, we drove on to Sedgefield…. chosen because it was nice and close to Knysna, which was where our friends Stompie and Jax were getting married. Yes… we did it all on this trip, weddings included. The place in Sedgefield was fantastic, the view was simply unbeatable.

Stompie and Jax threw themselves a Euro-funded Afro-ethnic wedding. And it was really a great evening. Good to be able to catch up with them again, as we hadn’t seen them since leaving Ireland. The wedding itself was out-standing and if their friends are anything to go by, they’ll be blessed in the future.

After the wedding it was a case of doing some family time in and around Knysna and George. We took in the sights of Hoekwil and Wilderness, the former very rustic, the latter full of sea spray.
Much seafood was eaten. Much chicken was eaten.

One of the highlights for the wife and I of the Sedgefield trip was a visit to the Wild Oats Farmer’s market… where local farmers sold their wares. (Mainly foodstuffs, but some raw produce too.) We got to soak up a little culture…

It was here that I found the undisputed BEST chicken pie in South Africa. The Steam Whistle Stop Pie company, operating out of god-knows where, but with a stand at the market.

After Sedgefield, there remained only the trip back to East London, which took much longer than expected. This is because of a little known family problem. Fact: If you place two women with disposable income in the back seat of a car, they will hatch plans to visit as many farm stalls as possible on the way back home. This is in a misguided effort to fill the car with very fattening farm foodstuffs and home produce. Thus, some 600 kilometres, 23 pieces of fudge, a half-dozen bottles of chutney, three full wheels of cheese, and 39 farm stalls later….. the entire Western Cape was denuded of produce, the car was groaning on its springs and we got home. To a huge dinner cooked by my sister in law.

The rest of the trip was spent with friends and family. I got to get in a fair amount of roleplaying with Wooz and the bunch, and even GMed a demo session for Jebb and his bunch. An obnoxiously large amount of time was spent virtually supine on Wooz’ patio drinking coffee… which is the perfect way to conduct oneself on holiday. Besides, the view from there isn’t half bad either.

Three weeks flew by with absolutely no regard for how much it cost us to get there, or indeed just how long 14 hours in economy class feels. (Particularly when you are bloated on fudge and chicken pies.)
There were tears, there were hugs and then we were gone.

To everyone who made the effort, thanks a hell of a lot guys, it was a vastly enjoyable experience.

************

And let’s get on with the jokes and stuff shall we?

The Truth About College:

SOCIOLOGY: For sheer lack of intelligibility, sociology is far and
away the number one subject. I sat through hundreds of hours of
sociology courses, and read gobs of sociology writing, and I never
once heard or read a coherent statement. This is because sociologists
want to be considered scientists, so they spend most of their time
translating simple, obvious observations into scientific-sounding code.
If you plan to major in sociology, you’ll have to learn to do the same
thing. For example, suppose you have observed that children cry when they
fall down. You should write: “Methodological observation of the
sociometrical behavior tendencies of prematurated isolates indicates that
a causal relationship exists between groundward tropism and lachrimatory
behavior forms.” If you can keep this up for 50 or 60 pages, you will get
a large government grant.

This weeks musical talent comes to you from the talented Ms. Nina Simone. This one is called Strange Fruit. And if it is depressing, well, it is meant to be. Give yourself a search for the lyrics. Sometimes, I am sad to be a human.

And that is that.. .. if there appears to be a lack of linkage in this blog, sorry… but 3 weeks without internet means that I didn’t find as many interesting things. Next time. K?

Ciao
Yeti out.

The antiquity of proverbs

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong.  Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.  George Washington Carver

foto – goanna by susan pomroy 2009

Joni Eareckson Tada’s life has been an inspiration to many Christians. I recall first hearing her speak about her accident and paralysis. Her words of honesty (concerning her physical situation) and deep faith and trust in God has come back to me a few times over the past 30 years. Her words have been an encouragement.

In the holiday season we enter today, in which family, friends, and all the related brew-ha becomes the norm for the next month, Im aware that not everyone will be celebrating in the manner in which the world (and media) has portrayed Thanksgiving (and Christmas) traditions for years: with days filled with family, an over-abundance of food, ribbons, bows, and gifts, etc. Simply put, they can’t. That can produce emotional suffering..

Still others may be traveling through their own season of suffering physically and don’t see much to be thankful for right now.

If its emotional or physical suffering, it doesn’t seem to really matter: suffering is suffering.

All I want to say brethren, is if you’re suffering in any way–be thankful anyway. God loves you and He knows what you’re feeling. He hasn’t forgotten you for one second. Whatever your load is, you’re carrying it because God recognized you have broad shoulders and can be trusted to carry it. And, on days when you grow too weary, He himself will share your load.

I use to view suffering in a totally negative way–but I don’t anymore. One reason is because it will eventually bring forth the “best fruit”. I’ve witnessed this beautiful spiritual fruit mature in many I’ve known through the years, who suffered greatly. Their walk with Jesus became deeper–more intimate. And they carried a sense of peace with them, that is unexplainable and to be envied.

So, as Joni Eareckson Tada writes in the small message below, we really can be thankful for suffering. For we can know God is working a ‘work’ in us, that one day the world will see and God will use to bring Glory to His Son.

just musing..

As Thanksgiving approaches once again, I am reminded of so many people who are learning to be thankful despite their suffering.  However I want to encourage them to go one better — I believe we can even learn to be thankful for suffering.

It is a common response to question God’s goodness when we endure hardships — whether physical limitations, illness, job loss, the death of a loved one, you name it.

When I hear the question, Where is God? I am reminded of something I’ve learned through the years. God doesn’t say, Into each life a little rain must fall, and then turn a fire hose on the earth to see who gets the wettest. On the contrary, He screens the trials that come at us, always erecting invisible fences around the enemy’s fury and bringing ultimate good out of wickedness.

I wonder, how does He pull it off? I realize that we are a world of finite humans trying to comprehend an infinite God. What is clear is that God permits lots of things He doesn’t approve of. That fact doesn’t sit well with us, but think of the alternative. Imagine a God who insisted on a hands-off policy toward the evil barreling our way. The world would be much, much worse than it is. Evil would be uncontrolled. But thank God He curbs it.

Please know I’m no expert. There are days I wake up and think, I can’t do this. I have no resources for this. I can’t face another day dealing with total paralysis. But that’s when I plead, Lord, you have the resources I lack. I can’t do this, but you can. And He does.

The truly handicapped among us are those who start their mornings on automatic cruise control, without needing God. But He gives strength to all who cry to Him for help. So who are the weak and needy? Who are those who need this help? A brief pause in the dark shadows of recent events always allows the point to come home. It’s you and me.

These can be scary times in which we live. Never have the lines between the forces of darkness and light, of good and evil, seemed so clear. Never has the world, battered and bruised as it is, seemed so vulnerable, so fragile, so unsafe. In the years since Sept. 11, 2001, and through the last two years of our shaky economy, something has become clear to me.  It was something I sensed was just ahead, something that began to appear on the horizon and that grew with each day, with each hug shared, with each word of encouragement spoken.

I’d been given eyes to see . . .  an adventure.

In the long shadow cast by my wheelchair —the 43 years of my paralysis —I’ve been granted the privilege of living at such a time. No greater shadow has ever been cast in earth’s history. Today after Sept. 11 and the economic meltdown, humanity seems to have taken an on-ramp to an ever-broadening highway. It is a chance to remember the world’s most vulnerable — the disabled —while power brokers shift the planet’s levers and gears.

It is an opportunity – indeed, a gift – to witness the unfolding plan of a gracious God who draws near to the weak, stays close to the afflicted, and always seems bigger to those who need him most. It is an even larger, greater on-ramp to adventure.

And my wheelchair is taking me there.

God’s “no” answer to my physical healing more than 40 years ago was a “yes” to a deeper healing—a better one.  His answer bound me to other believers and taught me so much about myself. It has purged sin from my life, it has strengthened my commitment to Him, forced me to depend on His grace. His wiser, deeper answer has stretched my hope, refined my faith, and helped me to know Him better.

So I thank Him, not despite His answer, but for it. For the wiser choice, the better answer, the harder yet richer path.  I thank Him for showing me that there are more important things in life than walking.

Joni Eareckson Tada is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Joni and Friends, a Christian ministry to the disability community. After a diving accident in 1967 left her a quadriplegic, she has become an internationally known Christian author and radio host.

Be Thankful for Suffering

I think the theme for my week has been avoidance. Maybe it has been my theme for more than a week…but I’ve noticed it a lot this week.

99% of my conversations this week have consisted of the:

person: what’s up?

me: nothing much, you?

Big Fat Lie right there. Maybe nothing much is up. But that’s because everything is down.

Sure, everyone doesn’t need to know every dirty speck in my life. But I don’t want to be a liar. I don’t want to be two-faced. It’s hard to be broken on the inside and look good on the outside. And i don’t want to be fake. thus the extreme tension.

But this avoidance thing hasn’t just manifested itself in my everyday acquaintance relationships. I see it in my relationships with people i genuinely trust. The people I trust to share in what i’m going through with. I’ve been avoiding their prodding. Their questions. Them. The hard conversations I need to have with them.

I am a scared-y-cat.  But I don’t want to run away from Truth. I don’t want to run from reality. I don’t want to be two-faced. I don’t want to wear a mask.

I want to be me. But I’m not sure how to be me when I can’t really tell the world what’s going on in my life.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

I want to live in His power, love, and discipline. I don’t want to run from the truth. I don’t want to run from Him. He is truth.

Jesus is the Truth and He tells us the truth.

I want to be Christ-like.

What are you running from?

Trying to drive in the right direction,

coop

People are not prepared or able to rejoice in suffering unless they experience a massive biblical revolution of how they think and feel about the meaning of life.  Human nature and American culture make it impossible to rejoice in suffering.  This is a miracle in the human soul wrought by God through His Word. -John Piper

Right now, the last thing I want to do is be thankful. It’s hard to be thankful for a world crashing down. For darkness. For loneliness. But it’s thanksgiving. As if that’s not enough, God is always with me. He always was with me. He always will be with me. And that should be enough. I should be thankful for that.

And honestly I’m trying to be. But it’s difficult.

It’s difficult to see what good He has given me when all I see is the bad.  It’s hard to be thankful when you see so much brokenness. So many faults. The world is full of faults. My life is full of faults. Everyone I interact with is full of faults. I see brokenness. I live brokenness. I feel brokenness.

It’s easy (for me) to praise God for who He is. For His promises. For His Character. For Him. For His Love. For His Peace. For His help in times of need. For what He endured for me. For His nature. For His essence.

But my problem comes in at reality. It’s hard for me to see the hand of God working. For me to recognize His gifts. For me not to take things for granted. It’s especially hard because I can only see the negative. I can see everything that is not right. And know God’s character to be pure and holy. So that tension of His gifts in a tainted and imperfect world hurt me. They make me sad. And I’m sure they make God sad.

I want eyes to see the good. I want to live like a Christian, amidst my suffering. I follow Jesus Christ. And I want to be thankful for what He has given me. But first I have to see and accept it.

But I’m sure He’s given me more than I realize. More than I can see. More than I want to see. And I’m sure it makes Him very sad when I can’t recognize those things.

I want to rejoice in my suffering.

grrr. bothersome.

What are you thankful for? How do you see God working?

trying to be thankful,

coop

Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

Luke 12:37-40

Friday, November 27th, 2009

On November 15 we read Chapter 14, “Right Diligence,” from Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching.

Diligence for possessions, sex, or food, and working for profit or fame in order to avoid suffering is wrong diligence, as is meditation practice that takes us farther from reality or from those we love, or causes us suffering in body or mind. An ancient Chinese story compares a monk practicing hard to become a Buddha to polishing a tile to make a mirror.

Four practices associated with Right Diligence are:

1. Preventing unwholesome seeds in our store consciousness from arising,
2. Helping already-arisen unwholesome seeds to return to our store consciousness,
3. Finding ways to water wholesome seeds and asking friends to help, and
4. Nourishing already-arisen wholesome seeds so they will grow stronger.

There are many seeds in our store consciousness that are not beneficial for our transformation. If they are watered they will grow stronger, but if we embrace them with Right Mindfulness they will lose their strength and return to store consciousness. The wholesome seeds of happiness, love, loyalty, and reconciliation need watering every day. If your practice does not bring joy, you are not doing it correctly. Like the string on a musical instrument, it must not be too loose or too tight, but should be adjusted to just the right tension, in the Middle Way between the extremes of austerity and sensual indulgence. We don’t have to force ourselves; with joy, ease, and interest, Right Diligence comes naturally. Without joy and interest, we don’t see the benefits in sitting and walking meditation. Thay tells about how he felt happy and free as a bird when he became a novice monk, and thought he was in paradise listening to the angels when he stood by the pond and heard the monks chanting the sutras.

When we wake up each day, we have 24 brand new hours before us. They are a treasure-chest of jewels; if we waste them, we waste our life. We should smile when we wake up, recognizing the opportunities before us. Washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, or doing meditation are all the more precious. When we are suffering, anxious, or sad and see the relief in these practices, we will want to continue. When we embrace our suffering and see its origins, we can see its end because there is a path. Looking into the compost, we see the flowers. Looking into the fire, we see a lotus. Sometimes we can allow our suffering to lie dormant and touch the healing and refreshing elements in and around us instead; they will take care of our pain. Work with your Sangha brothers and sisters, a teacher, or a friend to transform suffering into compassion and peace. When you can do this with joy and ease, that is Right Diligence.

I offer this song to all those alone this Thanksgiving, without family and friends—or maybe even without hope.  Don’t give up!  There is a way home.  There is a way to love’s table. The first step may be hope in our own innate capacity to create a happy life.  Steve

By Way of Sorrow

From “Cry, Cry, Cry”

(Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, and Dar Williams)

~

You’ve been taken by the wind.

You have known the kiss of sorrow

Doors that would not take you in

Outcast and a stranger

~

You have come by way of sorrow

You have come by way of tears

But you’ll reach your destiny

Meant to find you all these years

Meant to find you all these years

~

You have drunk a bitter wine

With none to be your comfort

You who once were left behind

Will be welcome at love’s table

~

You have come by way of sorrow

You have come by way of tears

But you’ll reach your destiny

Meant to find you all these years

Meant to find you all these years

~

All the nights that joy has slept

Will awake to days of laughter

Gone the tears that you have wept

You’ll dance in freedom ever after

~

You have come by way of sorrow

You have come by way of tears

But you’ll reach your destiny

Meant to find you all these years

Meant to find you all these years

~

You have come by way of sorrow

You have come by way of tears

But you’ll reach your destiny

Meant to find you all these years

Meant to find you all these years

The music and singing are as beautiful as the words.  Have a listen at iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/by-way-sorrow/id326890174?i=326890196

So my roundtable project for Government used to be on human trafficking. Then, since I realized you can’t really pick sides (unless you want to be the insensitive and heartless dick who says that human trafficking should be legal), I edited the topic a little. I’m onto talking about prostitution.

It’s called the “victimless crime”– a business that’s been operating for thousands of years is a punishable offense. Although research has shown that prostitutes are raped 8-10 times annually and that 86% of sex workers have been attacked with a weapon, it’s dismissed as NHI: no humans involved.

But, of course, women who work as prostitutes must have chosen their profession because they like sex, right? They like it kinky or violent or just anywhere, anytime. And they get paid. So it’s a pretty good deal. They must enjoy what they do, despite the abuse, the violence, the subsequent drug dependencies pushed onto them by their pimps, are all consequences sex workers decided were worth it. Oh, and the jail time for being caught and convicted of selling oneself? Just a little extra added bonus.

The sex trade in the United States is thriving. So should we legalize it? Nevada did. In Nevada, sex workers are required to have health checkups and johns must use protection. The brothels are deemed to be “safe.”

Does that make it right? Do all prostitutes choose to peddle their bodies and their lives for the perverted satisfaction of horny men? No, and that’s why there needs to be more done, by the government, to help them escape, and leave that life if they choose to. Prostitution cannot be legalized. If we define human rights violations as sexual harassment, physical assault, rape, captivity, economic coercion, or emotionally damaging verbal abuse, then we cannot in good conscience legalize prostitution anywhere, because that’s what prostitution involves.

America is supposed to be the land of opportunities, so why are we letting women who were forced into the dark and dangerous world of prostitution suffer? Most prostitutes enter the profession at the age of thirteen– and please don’t dare insinuate that a thirteen-year-old girl decided she wanted a load of creep-asses to fuck her on a daily basis. Don’t you dare.

There are also the women who believe they don’t have any alternatives. That there’s no other way to make quick, easy money that they need to support themselves, or their child(ren). They sell themselves a few times, and are quickly swept into a deadly cycle of abuse, rape, and trauma.

Nearly all prostitutes suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

I guess prostitution isn’t as fun as it seems, is it? Can you see victims yet?