It is no lie that to see the essence of love, you simply have to look into Ramana Maharshi’s eyes. Before I read the passage I looked up him photograph and instantly smiled at how happy and serene he looks. He truly looks like he is at peace with himself and the world around him.
I’ve said before that I am not profoundly religious, but I felt so comforted and relieved by the very first blurb: “Nobody doubts that he exists, though they may doubt the existence of God. If he finds out the truths about himself and discovers his own source, this is all that is required.” I believe through and through that finding the truth within yourself about oneself is one of the best things you can do in life. Why? Because if you cannot understand and respect yourself, how is it possible for you to truly understand and respect anyone else? For some, finding the truth means searching for years and asking questions of oneself and others, and for others it means simply looking. When people live life not even thinking to look at who they are they are missing out on so many wonderful challenges and deep rewards.
When Maharshi said, “everyone loves himself best. Love is caused by joy. Therefore, joy must lie inside oneself” it just reinforced the mantra “love yourself before you can love others.” Over and over again people tend to blame others for their own sadness or misfortune. I’m guilty of this as well – we all are. Sometimes it just comes out and we shallowly try to find something to blame to make us feel better. However, in taking responsibility for yourself and being accountable for not only our actions but our feelings as well there is much more comfort in the end. Is it more rewarding to take credit for something someone else did, or to know you did an amazing job with something and be able to say it is yours? When it comes down to it, I completely agree we are the only ones who can make ourselves happy!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tu-Shun
So much of Tu-Shun’s passage really struck a chord with me as I read it. I hadn’t heard of the Net of Indra prior to reading this, but I feel as thought it has seemed to true to me my whole life. What a beautiful way to think of the universe!
The imagery of the Net of Indra is so wonderful because it simply shows that we are all the same and yet slightly different. It sounds so contradictory, but when you think about it, I think it just means that we are all human beings. No matter how we differ in appearance, values, ideals, we are still human and we can’t escape that. I think that is best represented through the quote “this jewel can show the reflections of all the jewels at once.”
This jumped out at me because I feel as though people are definitely reflections of each other for various reasons. In interacting with one another we act and react and reflect each other’s views, prejudices, fears and thoughts. We are shaped by our experiences and within those experiences are thousands people who – despite being the same or different as us – have made impressions on who we are. With each impression our view changes subtly and they leave a little of themselves within us.
Another quote that caught my attention was about how “such a subtly teaching as this is hard to hear even in immeasurable eons; only those with persistence and wisdom can hear of the matrix of the issue of thusness.” Wow. I think a saying like that should be posted in classrooms or something because it is really food for thought. It was Socrates who said, “an unexamined life is not worth living” and I think both sayings are along the same lines. If you live your life ignorant and unaware of the world around you, you will never be truly wise and able to reflect not only upon yourself but life in general.
The imagery of the Net of Indra is so wonderful because it simply shows that we are all the same and yet slightly different. It sounds so contradictory, but when you think about it, I think it just means that we are all human beings. No matter how we differ in appearance, values, ideals, we are still human and we can’t escape that. I think that is best represented through the quote “this jewel can show the reflections of all the jewels at once.”
This jumped out at me because I feel as though people are definitely reflections of each other for various reasons. In interacting with one another we act and react and reflect each other’s views, prejudices, fears and thoughts. We are shaped by our experiences and within those experiences are thousands people who – despite being the same or different as us – have made impressions on who we are. With each impression our view changes subtly and they leave a little of themselves within us.
Another quote that caught my attention was about how “such a subtly teaching as this is hard to hear even in immeasurable eons; only those with persistence and wisdom can hear of the matrix of the issue of thusness.” Wow. I think a saying like that should be posted in classrooms or something because it is really food for thought. It was Socrates who said, “an unexamined life is not worth living” and I think both sayings are along the same lines. If you live your life ignorant and unaware of the world around you, you will never be truly wise and able to reflect not only upon yourself but life in general.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Chief Seattle tells it like it is.
I loved the tone of the speech to Governor Stevens. Not only was it was fair and grateful and first, it turned a bit bitter and proud midway through. If it were played out in a movie I feel as though it would’ve been such an impact and inspired resentment towards the White Man perfectly.
When the Chief says how great it is that the White Chief has offered them land and protection it is hard to tell if he is truly grateful or downright sarcastic. At first you almost think he is overly thankful and has forgotten where his culture had been. Then he has a change of heart – or maybe the truth simply comes through – and he says “Your God loves your people and hates mine.” Touché. How can the awesome greatness of God tend to and protect them if he hates them? He goes on to say “Your God is prejudiced.” Amen to that.
Although I am in a definite learning process when it comes to religion in general, I feel like God comes off prejudiced quite a bit. Was it Adam or Eve that is in the wrong? Eve, therefore all women are wrong. I know not everyone believes that or teaches that, but it seems to be an underlying current among Christian religions. However, I can’t deny that a ton of other religions look down upon women as well. Also, when it comes to religions themselves there is always a hierarchy of who is holier than whom and there are opinions and consequences for whoever is on the lowest part of the totem pole. Are you baptized? If not, you’re not welcome here. Or, even something as general as: Are you our religion? Oh, no? Sucks for you – don’t come in. There is such a double standard based around the “Everyone is equal in the eyes of the Lord” thing and I just don’t quite understand it. I could be completely off my rocker about this, but if we’re all equal no matter who or what we are, why aren’t we all welcome and embraced? And that being said, why aren’t we all just one happy religion? (Cheesy, but hey.)
Is there an answer to that? Maybe not. But guess what? We are human and too many people do the judging that supposedly only God can do far too often.
When the Chief says how great it is that the White Chief has offered them land and protection it is hard to tell if he is truly grateful or downright sarcastic. At first you almost think he is overly thankful and has forgotten where his culture had been. Then he has a change of heart – or maybe the truth simply comes through – and he says “Your God loves your people and hates mine.” Touché. How can the awesome greatness of God tend to and protect them if he hates them? He goes on to say “Your God is prejudiced.” Amen to that.
Although I am in a definite learning process when it comes to religion in general, I feel like God comes off prejudiced quite a bit. Was it Adam or Eve that is in the wrong? Eve, therefore all women are wrong. I know not everyone believes that or teaches that, but it seems to be an underlying current among Christian religions. However, I can’t deny that a ton of other religions look down upon women as well. Also, when it comes to religions themselves there is always a hierarchy of who is holier than whom and there are opinions and consequences for whoever is on the lowest part of the totem pole. Are you baptized? If not, you’re not welcome here. Or, even something as general as: Are you our religion? Oh, no? Sucks for you – don’t come in. There is such a double standard based around the “Everyone is equal in the eyes of the Lord” thing and I just don’t quite understand it. I could be completely off my rocker about this, but if we’re all equal no matter who or what we are, why aren’t we all welcome and embraced? And that being said, why aren’t we all just one happy religion? (Cheesy, but hey.)
Is there an answer to that? Maybe not. But guess what? We are human and too many people do the judging that supposedly only God can do far too often.
Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha is My Homeboy
As I read Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha’s speech to the missionary I was really impressed. Not only did he make quite a few amazingly valid points about how similar his religion was to that of the missionary, but he was fair and kind. Today people often forget the similarities amongst religions and fail to see through their assumptions, and this passage was a great reminder of that.
One of the questions Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha asked the missionary that really struck me was when he asked, “If there is only one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it?” So many Europeans who came to this country in search of religious freedom all claimed to be the one true religion based on the Bible so no wonder it was confusing to the Native Americans who inhabited the land first. Even still, so many Christian faiths claim to be more truthful than the next, but all have a very similar basis of thought. To someone like me, who is relatively uninformed on the various Christian religions, this is such an obvious question and yet it is never asked.
Another thing that made an impression on me was the level of tolerance expressed by Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha. He said that the Great Spirit has made them all, yet made them differently, so why not embrace the differences and accept it? Basically, why not agree to disagree but hold no hate or resentment for it? What a novel idea! This idea seems so simple and really, well, logical and yet it is so difficult for people to do.
I understand the desire or need to share what you know to be the truth with others - it always feels good when you think you're helping someone out - but if you have to force them to “see the truth” is it really sharing? Is it really bettering them or is it hurting them and making you the tyrant? The latter is just bad all around and it happens much too often, in history and today.
If more people could learn to embrace tolerance and probe their own beliefs (not to necessarily discourage them, but to also make their conviction stronger) I think there would be much less conflict!
One of the questions Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha asked the missionary that really struck me was when he asked, “If there is only one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it?” So many Europeans who came to this country in search of religious freedom all claimed to be the one true religion based on the Bible so no wonder it was confusing to the Native Americans who inhabited the land first. Even still, so many Christian faiths claim to be more truthful than the next, but all have a very similar basis of thought. To someone like me, who is relatively uninformed on the various Christian religions, this is such an obvious question and yet it is never asked.
Another thing that made an impression on me was the level of tolerance expressed by Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha. He said that the Great Spirit has made them all, yet made them differently, so why not embrace the differences and accept it? Basically, why not agree to disagree but hold no hate or resentment for it? What a novel idea! This idea seems so simple and really, well, logical and yet it is so difficult for people to do.
I understand the desire or need to share what you know to be the truth with others - it always feels good when you think you're helping someone out - but if you have to force them to “see the truth” is it really sharing? Is it really bettering them or is it hurting them and making you the tyrant? The latter is just bad all around and it happens much too often, in history and today.
If more people could learn to embrace tolerance and probe their own beliefs (not to necessarily discourage them, but to also make their conviction stronger) I think there would be much less conflict!
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