Divinity Is Everywhere!

One of the most beautiful books you could possibly read -- and one of the most important -- is "The Wisdom of Forgiveness" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan. As the title simply states, the book is about forgiveness -- but that is sort of like saying that the sun is about something bright in the sky... This book will, if you allow it to, plunge you deep into your own consciousness -- all the many layers -- and settle you "down" into your "heart-awareness"... from your "home in the heart", there is the significant possibility that you just might discover your divinity and begin to see divinity everywhere... then you will not be surprised when wings sprout from your mind and you are lifted into Paradise...
Just this morning, I was interiorly nudged to the point of realizing that there will never be peace in the Middle East. Never! That is, not until they forgive one another... it matters not what words may be put on paper, what lands, homes, and water belong to whom: the hinge to everything is the will to forgive. Note: the will to forgive. Forgiveness always means to will the very best to and for the "other" -- it does not mean, "I will forget", or "What you did to me was okay". It does mean, simply and clearly: "I will the very best for you"... and following that, "I will honestly and vigorously endeavor to see to your happiness, safety, health, and well-being." In other words, "welcome home"...
What is true for the Palestinian people and Israel both, is true for everyone else as well. There is no difference between peoples, nations, and individual persons... for you see, to not forgive is to remain, in a profound way, "attached" to an event, a circumstance, a story, and a history. One can never be free so long as one self-identifies as either victim or victimizer -- and that "role" just keeps being passed on from one person to the next, and from one generation to the next... but if it is freedom that we want, if it is peace, bliss and radiance, and ultimately Paradise, we must choose to follow the wisdom, the way, of forgiveness deep into our hearts...
A few years ago, I was chopping potatoes in the Soup Kitchen. One of our guests -- whom I had been pestering for sometime to begin volunteering -- came in and asked if he could help. "Ah! It is so good to see you Darryl! Welcome! Just wash your hands at the sink and put on an apron, and you can help with these potatoes..." He responded with, "I sure hope you're fixing your chowder... your chowder is almost as good as what my mother used to make..." With those few words we settled into the rhythm of peeling and chopping... until Darryl started complaining about his ex-wife...
We shared a few similar depressing stories, but he just kept on going... then it was his father, an old girlfriend, his kids, life on the street, no cigarettes, another bad sermon condemning Catholics at the Mission across the street... his list of grievances in life had no end... but when there was enough of a pause in his complaints, I began to tell him about the Blessing Way... later, I tried to write down the words that I said to him:
"Sorrow... grief... regret... disappointment... anger... resentment... judgment... All of the memories that haunt us -- some from our childhood, many from broken relationships -- await forgiveness, healing, and transformation... The Blessing Way is simple, but don't let that simplicity fool you into ignoring the opportunities for transformation that it holds out to you... When a memory comes upon you that catapults you into pain, don't run and hide... Don't force it into some dark, walled in corner of your mind to deal with it 'later'... Don't self-medicate, and don't try to ignore it. Rather, take up the blessing Way...
"Embrace the memory in your heart. Don't let go, even if you are hurt or angry beyond anyone's capability of understanding... If you were the cause or source of the hurt or problem, with all your heart say 'I'm sorry'. Rest there for a while. Finally, give the memory your heartfelt blessing... 'Bless you'. Know that you are being transformed in Love and that you are free. If you can, search out those persons you hurt and make amends.
"If someone else was the cause or source of the hurt or problem, with all your heart say 'I forgive'. (To forgive does not mean to either forget or to somehow imply that some event or other was 'okay'. Rather, to forgive means to choose to live in the freedom of your liberation in Love. You are choosing to declare your independence from the power that a particular event or person held over you.) Rest there for a while. Finally, give the memory your heartfelt blessing. Know that you are being transformed in Love and that you are free. If you can, speak the nonviolent truth of your heart to those in your life who need to hear you. Remember: you are choosing to act, not to react... You are free...
"Following this simple Blessing Way holds the promise of deep transformation in Love. Love is the Source of our being. Love is where we are choosing to live... and Love is our ultimate destiny. Not everything that happens to us is for our good or the good of someone else. But we can use each event and moment (or memory) as a tool for our transformation and liberation in Love if we allow Love to enfold all the stories of our lives..."
While I knew that this simple Blessing Way was helping me with my own truckloads of hurt -- Darryl just said that he thought I was full of shit... so be warned, I'm not a doctor of anything, and I really can't give any profound medical or psychological advise or care... I can only cook a good pot of soup, and even then, some days are better than others...
But regardless of the soup of the day, there is one other thing that truly "creates" my days, and that is the practice of "One Love Blessing"... As often as possible, yet maintaining a certain ability to function somewhat normally, consciously and prayerfully, give to as many people as possible a "One Love Blessing". Look at them, touch them gently on the shoulder if you can, and softly say, "One Love Blessing"... you don't actually even need to speak audibly or touch a person... you can just look at someone, perhaps an old woman on a bus, perhaps a child, or a youth with tattoos and body piercings, everyone and anyone should be a candidate for your "One Love Blessing"...
What is this all about? This, believe it or not is everything... There is no force on Earth in any way equal to the force of our activated wills. If we consciously and prayerfully will a blessing upon someone we just might be massaging the atomic structure of the Universe to create that which we are willing or intending! The One Love Blessing identifies our affiliation with the Only One, the One Love, our Source... and it identifies that which we intend or will for an 'other': Blessing: Every Good Thing: Happiness, Safety, Health, and 'Welcome Home'... Everyone on this precious blue Planet needs someone to place them under the "sacred umbrella" of Love... life has a way of raining hurt upon us, and we all pay for drone missiles in one way or another...
As modern mystics and activists, we need to become agents of the total transformation that we seek... we need to penetrate into the heart of the matter in every way possible... we need to intend and then will blessing upon everyone, everything, every creature, and all about this precious blue Planet... when we truly activate our wills, and pour forth blessing upon blessing, our prayers will bear fruit and our actions will unveil possibilities after possibilities... and kindness will become the face of every religion... and justice and peace will drop like ripened fruit into our hands... to be given away... always to be given away... and then our eyes will open to see the world as it truly is: Look! Divinity is everywhere! Divinity is Everyone!
Just this morning, I was interiorly nudged to the point of realizing that there will never be peace in the Middle East. Never! That is, not until they forgive one another... it matters not what words may be put on paper, what lands, homes, and water belong to whom: the hinge to everything is the will to forgive. Note: the will to forgive. Forgiveness always means to will the very best to and for the "other" -- it does not mean, "I will forget", or "What you did to me was okay". It does mean, simply and clearly: "I will the very best for you"... and following that, "I will honestly and vigorously endeavor to see to your happiness, safety, health, and well-being." In other words, "welcome home"...
What is true for the Palestinian people and Israel both, is true for everyone else as well. There is no difference between peoples, nations, and individual persons... for you see, to not forgive is to remain, in a profound way, "attached" to an event, a circumstance, a story, and a history. One can never be free so long as one self-identifies as either victim or victimizer -- and that "role" just keeps being passed on from one person to the next, and from one generation to the next... but if it is freedom that we want, if it is peace, bliss and radiance, and ultimately Paradise, we must choose to follow the wisdom, the way, of forgiveness deep into our hearts...
A few years ago, I was chopping potatoes in the Soup Kitchen. One of our guests -- whom I had been pestering for sometime to begin volunteering -- came in and asked if he could help. "Ah! It is so good to see you Darryl! Welcome! Just wash your hands at the sink and put on an apron, and you can help with these potatoes..." He responded with, "I sure hope you're fixing your chowder... your chowder is almost as good as what my mother used to make..." With those few words we settled into the rhythm of peeling and chopping... until Darryl started complaining about his ex-wife...
We shared a few similar depressing stories, but he just kept on going... then it was his father, an old girlfriend, his kids, life on the street, no cigarettes, another bad sermon condemning Catholics at the Mission across the street... his list of grievances in life had no end... but when there was enough of a pause in his complaints, I began to tell him about the Blessing Way... later, I tried to write down the words that I said to him:
"Sorrow... grief... regret... disappointment... anger... resentment... judgment... All of the memories that haunt us -- some from our childhood, many from broken relationships -- await forgiveness, healing, and transformation... The Blessing Way is simple, but don't let that simplicity fool you into ignoring the opportunities for transformation that it holds out to you... When a memory comes upon you that catapults you into pain, don't run and hide... Don't force it into some dark, walled in corner of your mind to deal with it 'later'... Don't self-medicate, and don't try to ignore it. Rather, take up the blessing Way...
"Embrace the memory in your heart. Don't let go, even if you are hurt or angry beyond anyone's capability of understanding... If you were the cause or source of the hurt or problem, with all your heart say 'I'm sorry'. Rest there for a while. Finally, give the memory your heartfelt blessing... 'Bless you'. Know that you are being transformed in Love and that you are free. If you can, search out those persons you hurt and make amends.
"If someone else was the cause or source of the hurt or problem, with all your heart say 'I forgive'. (To forgive does not mean to either forget or to somehow imply that some event or other was 'okay'. Rather, to forgive means to choose to live in the freedom of your liberation in Love. You are choosing to declare your independence from the power that a particular event or person held over you.) Rest there for a while. Finally, give the memory your heartfelt blessing. Know that you are being transformed in Love and that you are free. If you can, speak the nonviolent truth of your heart to those in your life who need to hear you. Remember: you are choosing to act, not to react... You are free...
"Following this simple Blessing Way holds the promise of deep transformation in Love. Love is the Source of our being. Love is where we are choosing to live... and Love is our ultimate destiny. Not everything that happens to us is for our good or the good of someone else. But we can use each event and moment (or memory) as a tool for our transformation and liberation in Love if we allow Love to enfold all the stories of our lives..."
While I knew that this simple Blessing Way was helping me with my own truckloads of hurt -- Darryl just said that he thought I was full of shit... so be warned, I'm not a doctor of anything, and I really can't give any profound medical or psychological advise or care... I can only cook a good pot of soup, and even then, some days are better than others...
But regardless of the soup of the day, there is one other thing that truly "creates" my days, and that is the practice of "One Love Blessing"... As often as possible, yet maintaining a certain ability to function somewhat normally, consciously and prayerfully, give to as many people as possible a "One Love Blessing". Look at them, touch them gently on the shoulder if you can, and softly say, "One Love Blessing"... you don't actually even need to speak audibly or touch a person... you can just look at someone, perhaps an old woman on a bus, perhaps a child, or a youth with tattoos and body piercings, everyone and anyone should be a candidate for your "One Love Blessing"...
What is this all about? This, believe it or not is everything... There is no force on Earth in any way equal to the force of our activated wills. If we consciously and prayerfully will a blessing upon someone we just might be massaging the atomic structure of the Universe to create that which we are willing or intending! The One Love Blessing identifies our affiliation with the Only One, the One Love, our Source... and it identifies that which we intend or will for an 'other': Blessing: Every Good Thing: Happiness, Safety, Health, and 'Welcome Home'... Everyone on this precious blue Planet needs someone to place them under the "sacred umbrella" of Love... life has a way of raining hurt upon us, and we all pay for drone missiles in one way or another...
As modern mystics and activists, we need to become agents of the total transformation that we seek... we need to penetrate into the heart of the matter in every way possible... we need to intend and then will blessing upon everyone, everything, every creature, and all about this precious blue Planet... when we truly activate our wills, and pour forth blessing upon blessing, our prayers will bear fruit and our actions will unveil possibilities after possibilities... and kindness will become the face of every religion... and justice and peace will drop like ripened fruit into our hands... to be given away... always to be given away... and then our eyes will open to see the world as it truly is: Look! Divinity is everywhere! Divinity is Everyone!