Our Circle of Compassion … (06/21/15)
Every single human being is a part of a single, massive entirety — a single “everything — what some call “the Universe”. And even though this Universe is by its very nature without limitation of time or space, each one of us IS limited — by the relatively short length of our physical lives, by the very few places we will be able to visit in that time fleeting, and by the relatively few others with whom we will be able to interact in all those then’s & there’s …
Yes, even though we are inextricably linked and solidly melded into the very fabric of the entire Cosmos, each one of us experiences ourselves — our thoughts and our feelings, our hopes and our fears, our beliefs and our deeds — as somehow ours alone; as somehow fully individual; as somehow fully separate from the rest of the Universe … And this at times diabolical and at times delicious delusion of individuality builds and reinforces a kind of prison for us all; restricting us to thinking that we are right and others are wrong; restricting us to feeling affection for those we see as “friend” and hatred or distrust for those we label as “enemy”; restricting us to reveling with those who share our beliefs of the here &/or the Hereafter and judging those who believe differently as being “strange” or “ignorant” or even “damned” …
And as such, we each have a Great Task before us — a Task that we each must engage with boldness & with bravery if we are ever to free ourselves from our shackles of separateness & the sufferings of isolation & ignorance they bring … Simply put — we must boldly shatter those shackles by purposefully choosing to widen our Circle of Compassion to include ALL living creatures (and indeed the whole of Nature with Her still-resplendent Beauty) … and then we must bravely exit our prison cells — by acting accordingly.
Amen … Let it be so,
(inspired by Albert Einstein)
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