From a position of love

It is not by your actions that you will be saved, but by your being. It is not by what you do but by what you are, that you will be judged.                                    Meister Eckhart

Leaving aside the religious overtone, this cuts to the quick. If we act any way other than from love, we are coming from negative feelings. We need to be sure of our "being" before we take action. (From Socrates if you like:  To be is to do*)


But if we are not awakened, if we are still asleep, then we generally take action based on fear guilt, or anger. We can drift through life as if in a foul mood seeing darkness and negative stuff all around us -  and then drift back the next day in a better mood and see only sweetness and light.


But when we come from a position of love - all is good.


If we remember the four steps to wisdom:

1. Getting in touch with your negative feelings
2. Understand that these feelings are in you; they are in your mind and are not real
3. Stop identifying with these feelings
4. Change things by changing yourself

We keep repeating this as we go along and we discover that when we change everything changes. We learn to start from a position of love; It helps us to empathize more, and to be more considerate, kind, and forgiving. We also learn to appreciate others more, concentrating more on their positive qualities and less on their faults. We learn to be more patient.

It is not something we can manufacture; we can’t actually make emotions happen. So there's no point in trying to generate love. We will fail and become disappointed because we don’t get the expected result. 

Here's a useful exercise to create the right conditions, based on the principle of self-observing:

• Sit quietly, and take your awareness into your body
• As best you can, relax each muscle as you bring awareness to it
• Bring your awareness to your heart area, and see what emotions are present, smile, and watch what happens
• Whatever emotions you are feeling (good, bad, or even neutral) are fine. You can work with those emotions, but you can only start from where you are
• Bring yourself back to the outside world

Now, if you know you feel good, that you can come from a position of love, you can go ahead. But if your feelings are bad, then pause. 


*Which gives rise to the great philosophers' joke:
To be is to do -Socrates
To do is to be - Sartre
Do be do be do - Sinatra
(Which has real significance for me because Kurt Vonnegut is credited with creating it)

Love: It is what it is

it is nonsense, says reason
it is what it is, says love

it is unhappiness, says reflection
it is nothing but pain, says fear

it is hopeless, says insight
it is what it is, says love

it is ridiculous, says pride
it is frivolous, says caution

it is impossible, says experience
it is what it is, says love

I found this poem in a sermon preached by Paul Oestreicher in 2007 on becoming a Companion of the Cross of Nails in Coventry Cathedral. In it he ranges over the healing of memories, peace, homosexuality, war, unity, the church. Paul preaches in a unique way and is a powerful advocate of a gospel of love.He ends the sermon by reading a poem from the secular Jew, Erich Fried. 

Fear: a different perspective

I got this from somebody who was referred to only as Tim. He has created a powerful image and given us a new way to look at our fears:


Imagine that you are a small child and have been told to draw the most frightening thing you can think of. And to draw the next most frightening thing ... and so on.


Now think what it would be like if you forgot that the instruction came from somebody outside you, that it was your own. Then becoming convinced that it was your nature to draw these horrific images.


As you keep on you forget that you are the one doing the drawing. Until eventually you forget that these are just drawings but rather a vision of your future unfolding before you.