Click here to go to the next issue
Highlights Home Page | Receive the Nonduality Highlights each day
How to submit material to the Highlights
#3332 - Monday,
October 27, 2008 - Editor: Gloria Lee
Nonduality Highlights
A true votary of the Gita does not know what disappointment
is.
~Mahatma Gandhi
It is often tempting to feel despair about the environmental
crisis. The changes in habit which we all need to make, and the
forces of insensitivity and self interest which prevent us from
changing as quickly as we should, can seem insurmountable. But as
you meditate more and more deeply, you will find a rich source of
hope and strength within. You will make the discovery which the
Bhagavad Gita and all the great mystics promise, the discovery
which fueled Gandhi's extraordinary achievements: whatever
selfishness is in our minds, whatever unkindness or insensitivity
to other creatures is in our life, is all merely a covering. It
is just a thick layer of conditioning that hides our real
goodness and kindness, which is the nature of the divine Self who
is in everyone.
If you remind yourself just once every day that there is a source
of unfailing kindness and unchanging love at the core of your
consciousness, it will help you. As you learn to find it in
yourself, you will simultaneously learn to see it in others, and
to help them find it themselves.
From Your Life Is Your Message: Finding Harmony with Yourself,
Others, and the Earth by Eknath Easwaran
---
gill
allspirit.co.uk
__
Change and Pain
When we realize that we are forced to change positions because of pain, we should question further to find out if there are other reasons. If the answer is that we change because we want to be comfortable, this is incorrect. It is incorrect because it is a distortion of happiness. The correct answer is that we change in order to "cure" the pain. We do not change to acquire happiness. The wrong answer comes from misunderstanding, and if we do not have the right comprehension when we change positions, defilements can and will spring up. Changing positions to "cure" pain indicates that we have to remedy the situation at all times. We should not misjudge and think that the reason is to attain happiness, since the curing of pain all the time is the same as having to take medicines constantly. It is like nursing a continuous sickness. Thus, we should not look upon nursing sickness and curing pain as being happiness at all.
--Achaan Naeb, in Jack Kornfield's Living Dharma
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
"If there is unhappiness in
you, first you need to acknowledge that it is there. But don't
say, "I'm unhappy." Unhappiness has nothing to do with
who you are. Say: "There is unhappiness in me." Then
investigate it.
A situation you find yourself in may have something to do with
it. Action may be required to change the situation or remove
yourself from it. If there is nothing you can do, face what is
and say, "Well, right now, this is how it is. I can either
accept it, or make myself miserable."
The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your
thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking.
Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral, which
always is as it is. There is the situation or the fact, and here
are my thoughts about it.
Instead of making up stories, stay with the facts. For example,
"I am ruined" is a story. It limits you and prevents
you from taking effective action. "I have fifty cents left
in my bank account" is a fact.
Facing facts is always empowering. Be aware that what you think,
to a large extent, creates the emotions that you feel. See the
link between your thinking and your emotions. Rather than being
your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.
Don't seek happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it, because
seeing is the antithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive,
but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is
rather than making up stories about it.
Unhappiness covers up your natural state of well-being and inner
peace, the source of true happiness."
~ Eckhart Tolle
posted to Wisdom-l by Mark Scorelle
"In Dharma practice we have to
face ourselves honestly. Dharma is like
a mirror and we look at ourselves. What's going in my mind?
What's my
intention? What are my motivations?
This kind of investigation into the workings of our own mind and
heart
is what produces real change in us. This brings about actual
mental
purification.
Being a spiritual person is not about doing things that look
spiritual, it's about actually transforming our mind."
~Thubten Chodron
From the website
http://www.thubtenchodron.org/PrisonDharma/making_friends_with_ourselves.html posted to Daily Dharma