The Mirrors
I often think about what I understand to be the Buddhist teaching. If I have the courage to open my eyes and face my own pain, my own joy, my own shortcoming, my own tendency to judge myself, my lustful thoughts, my “secret” sins, then I will experience the pain, the joy, the shortcoming, the habit of judging, the lust, the secret sins of all of human kind. Further, once I can face myself this honestly and openly without labeling myself as good or bad, I will be able to face all others openly and honestly without judgment. Now my understanding is that the opposite of judging is acceptance which is also love. If I, in this sense, am representative of all humans (perhaps all creation) then if I reject myself because of a belief that I am unworthy of love then I reject all humans and all of creation. If I reject all of creation I reject any concept of a higher power, God, universal connectedness, or whatever framework we use to conceptualize the basic “fact” of physics; that we are one giant interdependent system.
It is with this understanding that I returned to a very familiar Biblical passage or at least very familiar to those of us were raised to think of spirituality within the context of a Christian framework. The passage which I quote in full below, would, at first glance, seem to imply or even state that God/Jesus is going to punish those who do not minister to the needs of the “least of those.” The passage, as it is normally translated, states that God will separate the deserving from the undeserving. If this is true, it could seem very spiritual for us to simply acknowledge that some of us are deserving and some are not. Now, many so called Christians might suggest that it is up to God to determine who is deserving and who is not deserving, but my experience is that many so called Christian leaders are more than willing to assist God in deciding who is deserving and who is not.
I have come to believe that it is we who separate ourselves. When I do not lovingly accept my own humanness, I do not lovingly accept the humanness of others. When I do not accept what, in the Christian religions is called Grace (God’s unconditional love), I am keeping myself separate. It is not God who is keeping me separate.
As I have previously mentioned, one of the qualities of the 12-step program which I admire is that it suggests that we have to be accountable for the ways we hurt ourselves and others, but it never shames us. Shaming us would not help us be the best we can be. Just as using negative reinforcement in training an animal will not allow the animal to be its best or flexible, so it does not work with humans.
It is only by honestly, as some Buddhist would suggest, “holding ourselves in the cradle of loving kindness” that we are able to grow to be a more loving person.
It has been my experience that all of we humans seem to believe: that we are lacking something essential; that we are not enough; that we need to find a way to prove our worth; to add to what we are. Usually we do this by convincing ourselves and possibly others that we are more powerful, more loving, more important, smarter or in some way better than - more of something than others -which then makes us worthwhile. Well, if at some level, this is a common characteristic of all we humans then when we notice another doing this, they are merely mirroring (helping us see) what we do. Certainly the style may be different. Perhaps I am one of those who tries earning worth by being less judgmental than all those other less spiritual beings! Oh my! If my style of proving my worth is somehow more spiritual than the style of the bully (be that an individual or some group of people), the greedy person, one who drives a very expensive car or one who wears very expensive costumes…..
It is common knowledge that if we wanted to change the bully our best chance of doing do would be to unconditionally love the bully rather than judging him or her; rather than putting them in jail (real or metaphorical).
What if the mirrors are always a blessing – a chance to practice accepting my own humanness. What if we could envision a God/higher being/universal unifying force which never punishes or separates us or treats us badly? What if only we hold the power to separate ourselves? What if …
Matthew 25:31-46New International Version (NIV)
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
end of crossrefs
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
I often think about what I understand to be the Buddhist teaching. If I have the courage to open my eyes and face my own pain, my own joy, my own shortcoming, my own tendency to judge myself, my lustful thoughts, my “secret” sins, then I will experience the pain, the joy, the shortcoming, the habit of judging, the lust, the secret sins of all of human kind. Further, once I can face myself this honestly and openly without labeling myself as good or bad, I will be able to face all others openly and honestly without judgment. Now my understanding is that the opposite of judging is acceptance which is also love. If I, in this sense, am representative of all humans (perhaps all creation) then if I reject myself because of a belief that I am unworthy of love then I reject all humans and all of creation. If I reject all of creation I reject any concept of a higher power, God, universal connectedness, or whatever framework we use to conceptualize the basic “fact” of physics; that we are one giant interdependent system.
It is with this understanding that I returned to a very familiar Biblical passage or at least very familiar to those of us were raised to think of spirituality within the context of a Christian framework. The passage which I quote in full below, would, at first glance, seem to imply or even state that God/Jesus is going to punish those who do not minister to the needs of the “least of those.” The passage, as it is normally translated, states that God will separate the deserving from the undeserving. If this is true, it could seem very spiritual for us to simply acknowledge that some of us are deserving and some are not. Now, many so called Christians might suggest that it is up to God to determine who is deserving and who is not deserving, but my experience is that many so called Christian leaders are more than willing to assist God in deciding who is deserving and who is not.
I have come to believe that it is we who separate ourselves. When I do not lovingly accept my own humanness, I do not lovingly accept the humanness of others. When I do not accept what, in the Christian religions is called Grace (God’s unconditional love), I am keeping myself separate. It is not God who is keeping me separate.
As I have previously mentioned, one of the qualities of the 12-step program which I admire is that it suggests that we have to be accountable for the ways we hurt ourselves and others, but it never shames us. Shaming us would not help us be the best we can be. Just as using negative reinforcement in training an animal will not allow the animal to be its best or flexible, so it does not work with humans.
It is only by honestly, as some Buddhist would suggest, “holding ourselves in the cradle of loving kindness” that we are able to grow to be a more loving person.
It has been my experience that all of we humans seem to believe: that we are lacking something essential; that we are not enough; that we need to find a way to prove our worth; to add to what we are. Usually we do this by convincing ourselves and possibly others that we are more powerful, more loving, more important, smarter or in some way better than - more of something than others -which then makes us worthwhile. Well, if at some level, this is a common characteristic of all we humans then when we notice another doing this, they are merely mirroring (helping us see) what we do. Certainly the style may be different. Perhaps I am one of those who tries earning worth by being less judgmental than all those other less spiritual beings! Oh my! If my style of proving my worth is somehow more spiritual than the style of the bully (be that an individual or some group of people), the greedy person, one who drives a very expensive car or one who wears very expensive costumes…..
It is common knowledge that if we wanted to change the bully our best chance of doing do would be to unconditionally love the bully rather than judging him or her; rather than putting them in jail (real or metaphorical).
What if the mirrors are always a blessing – a chance to practice accepting my own humanness. What if we could envision a God/higher being/universal unifying force which never punishes or separates us or treats us badly? What if only we hold the power to separate ourselves? What if …
Matthew 25:31-46New International Version (NIV)
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
end of crossrefs
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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