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Friday, October 5

MATTHEW FILES

One of the saddest effects of a life separate from
God and unsurrendered to His Essential Being, is
the lack of trust between human beings. We really
do not trust one another, even in the midst of the
most "loving" and personal relationships. We
exhibit all kinds of superficial trust, or
"selective" trust, trusting where money is
concerned but not where sex is concerned or trusing
where sex is concerned but not where diet or
business is concerned, and so on. But the reality
of things should make it very plainly clear that we
do not trust other human beings in a very deep and
meaningful way, nor with any consitency. In fact it
is more common to trust animals, dogs and cats and
gerbils, by the average man, and even tigers and
lions by some, than to trust other human beings. To
say that dolphins are inherently "trustable" and
that humans are not does not address the essential
problem. Our lives are empty and painful, always
slightly on edge even when we ostensibly are
completely succesful, because we do not trust one
another beyond the superficialities of social
convention.

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GLORIA LEE

Every day, priests minutely examine the Dharma
And endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn
How to read the love letters sent by the wind
and rain, the snow and moon.
-- Ikkyu

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