TODAY'S TEACHING
Early in 2003 an email from a friend lamented the horrors of the American actions in Iraq. I sent him the following reply:
A flyer in the window of Pacific Paradise says,
"I will permit no man to narrow or
degrade my soul by making me hate him."
--Booker T. Washington
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I have sent that quote to a number of people with the comment that it applied equally to the bad guys "over there" and the bad guys "over here."
Personally, I feel that anger feeds anger, and that the only thing that diffuses it is love. Sending love and goodwill to people makes them more open to the divine spark in them, while anger and hate awakens the demons instead. I think the Buddhists and the Christ agree with me on this.
It's no secret that thoughts have consequences. Filling our minds with words and images of violence turns us into amplifiers and radiators of those very things. Soon enough those words and images condense into actions. I have made a deliberate effort to remove certain words from my vocabulary. It's a small thing perhaps; then again, if not I, who?
Make love, not w--.
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