6. F. This exercise does not translate well to be written about…unless I treat it playfully. I will sleep on it
5. Help me to see what I don’t see. Help me to feel what I do not feel. Help me to know what I don’t know. Help me to understand what I do not understand. Help me see what is real. Amen
[wow - spent most of the past 10 hours talking with PaB folks. Just wrote a long heartfelt paragraph and wordpress lost it]
4. F. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison. Please come in
[Loooong break here. Too much to tell. Took a second bike ride, a long one and had a long discussion with Pema. New direction for me]
3. F. Quietly listening. Being is making background music. Being indirectly is saying be more compassionate to fit in better. What am I not hearing?
2. (bike meditation) Went out to listen some more. I heard many birds. I saw many people. I smiled at a few and exchanged “Good mornings” with one. It left me thinking about one of my primary original goals when I started with PaB and that is to try to live more of the Buddhist philosophy, specifically to live more compassionately. I have been somewhat surprised to find out myself, and I have heard others say this, that this is a gradual process. With the right thinking, it is a steady process. I do not remember all the time. I haven’t gone out and embraced anyone, figuratively or literally. However, I can note a few times this week, when I handled a situation much better than before. Just one particularly difficult situation this week made it all worthwhile. I couldn’t stop the pain I had to cause some people (it was beyond my control), but I was able to be sensitive to what they were feeling. Learning to be more compassionate does seem to be a slow but steady process. I like the Budhdhist attitude of well you messed up, don’t dwell on it, try not to do it again. Actually history is like that. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if rulers and countries could do that? Instead of pretending that that things didn’t happen, just say it was wrong and that the results were nor good for them or us, and then try not to make the same mistake. I wish my country could do that.
1. TGT. (smile) Another day to just be alive on this beautiful planet earth. As I write this I am hearing birds singing. I hear the sounds of people moving around the house. I hear the sounds of my typing. Being talking!
* * * * * * *
Lying in bed this morning, thinking about listening, I began to hear my favorite Christian hymn, which has stuck with me through the years. It seems to be saying to me that I have been not listening where I should be. Of course there is a creation aspect here that is different from Being, as I understand it so far. Otherwise one might substitute “Being’s” for “My Father’s”:
This is my Father’s World, And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and around me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is My Father’s world, I rest me in the the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders, wrought.
This is my Father’s World, The birds their carols raise;
The morning light, the lily white, Declare their maker’s praise.
This is My Father’s world, He shines in all that’s fair.
In the rustling grass, I hear him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.
