Well, hey there! Check out what I just read with regards to compassion …

“To feel true compassion for all beings, we must remove any partially from our attitude toward them. Our normal view of others is dominated by fluctuating and discriminating emotions. We feel a sense of closeness toward loved ones. Toward strangers or acquaintances we feel distant. And then for those individuals whom we perceive as hostile, unfriendly, or aloof, we feel aversion or contempt. The criterion for our classifying people as friends or enemies seems straightforward. If a person is close to us or has been kind to us, he or she is a friend. If a person has caused us difficulty or harm, he or she is a foe. Mixed with our fondness for our loved ones are emotions such as attachment and desire that inspire passionate intimacy. Similarly, we view those whom we dislike with negative emotions such as anger or hatred. Consequently, our compassion toward others is limited, partial, prejudicial, and conditioned by whether we feel close to them.

Genuine compassion must be unconditional. We must cultivate equanimity in order to transcend any feelings of discrimination and partiality. One way to cultivate equanimity is to contemplate the uncertainty of friendship. First we must consider that there is no assurance that our close friend today will remain a friend forever. Similarly, we can imagine that our dislike for someone will not necessarily continue indefinitely. Such reflections diffuse our strong feelings of partiality, undermining our sense of the immutability of our attachments.” ------ The Dalai Lama

And there’s so much more. Hmmm, Cultivating Equanimity. And the idea that things, friendships, relationships of all kinds, shouldn’t be taken for granted as they naturally are. The idea that nothing is guaranteed is a welcomed awareness. It enables more room for the preciousness of living. Oh, to have this particular understanding flow through my life reflexively. Well, I promise to keep practicing. Maybe by the time I’m 92, there’ll be a bit of grace, humility, and understanding sparkling through. No guarantees, though.

Now is all that exists. Living each moment thoroughly, and as well as we are able. This moment is meaningful because I have decided to share this effort with anyone who may consider spending “now” reading this blog.

Peace.
Jagged

Am I just the most horrible human being ever?!? So much to be thankful for. Family, friends, kids running around like their high on crack.... you know. It's a common holiday scene. And I'm ashamed because the whole time, I just wanted to flee.

I am so exhausted... I love blogging ... have so much to elaborate on... .but i'm runnin' outta juice. I will, indeed, continue this later. Forgive this clumsy effort.

Peace. Love.

- Jagged

Favorite "Joseph Campbell" Thoughts


A religion of relationships is a religion of exile.

Our actual ultimate root is in our humanity, not in our geneology.

We are all Christs and don't realize it.

If you fix on yourself and your tradition, believing you alone have got "It," you've removed yourself from the rest of mankind.

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.

The warrior's approach is to say "yes" to life: "yea to all."

Love informs the whole universe right down to the abyss of hell.

God is not an illusion, but a symbol pointing beyond itself to the realization of the mystery of at-one-ment.

As an adult, you must rediscover the moving power of your life. Tension, a lack of honesty, and a sense of unreality come from following the wrong force in your life.

Work begins when you don't like what you are doing.

Life will always be sorrowful. We can't change it, but we can change our attitude toward it.

Wisdom and foolishness are practically the same. Both are indifferent to the opinions of the world.

You must return with the bliss and integrate it.

The return is seeing the radiance everywhere.

Your real duty is to go away from the community and find your real bliss.

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

Out of perfection nothing can be made. Every process involves breaking something up. The earth must be broken to bring for life. If the seed does not die, there is no plant. Bread results from the death of wheat. Life lives on lives. Our own life lives on the acts of other people. If you are lifeworthy, you can take it. What we are really living for is the experience of life, both pain and pleasure. The world is a match for us. We are a match for the world.

Eternity is a dimension of here and now.

The divine lives within you.

The person of noble heart acts spontaneously and will avoid the wasteland, the world of "Thou Shalt".

In time your assertions, they fade and I am lost again, sitting next to truth that blatantly proclaims, "D. ... completion, stillness ... home."

Please, do not hold up the concerns of your loved ones and life's investments as a holy shield to diffuse this admission.

Please, try and understand that I also have equal, heart-wrenching concerns of family, loved-one's, and the tremendous endeavors involved through the years.

"Stoic" is, for me, a ghastly form of denial, apathy, and resignation. For you, it seems to be an instrument of coping, functioning, and protecting the valuables in your life, along with the moral principles and ideology that you attempt to represent.

I beg for your resilience and ask that you forgive my 'arrogance' for i am limited to what I know.

Choices. I've made a few monumental ones myself. Will continue to do so as long as I'm breathing. Again, my only regret is the unavoidable pain that is caused by my wrestlings.

The only truth that does not fade, as God is my witness (and everyone else), is that we are a key part of each other's long way home. You are my heart complete.

Virtue. Love. Duty. Honor. Value. Faithfullness. Truth.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I am here.

Truly,
L.

This life resounds incomplete, stifled, and fake ... with it's nice-enough facade, enough gems and goodness mixed through to be thankful. Pathetic, tragic, anmd unbearable at times. Forgive me.

Virtue. Love. Duty. Honor. Value. Faithfullness. Truth.

Keep thinking that I may resemble the antithesis in your life. Angst and it's death-grip.

Just spinning around, like a water droplet diffusing on the scalding, hot surface of a frying pan ... no one could understand (a tall order). Life is unforgiving and people are filled with biased judgments and orthodox ideas of what "good" is or what "expectable" is ... "God's Laws" and all. I do not feel free, or at ease with the idea of discussing this with anyone. My counselor is of minimal assistance in this area, though she gives it her all.

You have a way of making sense of the whole thing when I am stuck in a place of confusion. Your reasonings keep me stable for, what seems to me, a long while. The only problem is, in time, these assertions, they don't burrow down and stay. They fade and I'm back to where I'm lost again.

I don't understand. Is this another confirmation of my arrogance? If you truly think so, please try to see through it. Help me, please. Help me ease this pressure in my heart. Tell me how this is accomplished without tearing it apart.

I am here, petrified that this continual openness and communication is driving you further and further away.

I regret the pain, and deprivation caused by the troubles of my mind and heart.