Our potential (long)

[sabrinamari]

 
"Human potential is the same for all. Your feeling, "I am of no value", is wrong. Absolutely wrong. You are deceiving yourself. We all have the power of thought - so what are you lacking? If you have willpower, then you can change anything. It is usually said that you are your own master."
 
  ~His Holiness The Dalai Lama 
 
****

Because of my history, any philosophy that talks about resilience is potentially very important to me. If I had wanted to teach myself to be strong, to be capable, to look for my own inner resources and assemble my own support structure rather than waiting to be rescued, I would have designed the life I've actually led. So I have to say it has been good for me. Perhaps not always good to me, but certainly, my life has made me strong and in some ways, smart.

It's also left me with the conviction that if I can do this---find my own power and persist in moving towards my deepest goals---then anyone can. And that makes me very interested in the strengths, abilities and hidden resiliencies in people around me. Anyone can feel overwhelmed by the very real challenges they've faced...but it is also true that anyone can choose to focus on their own particular inner strengths and leverage them to achieve a kind of rebirth.

I love Buddhism precisely because it offers so many tools for this kind of strategy: it supports and encourages the development of inner strength as well as compassion. In many ways, I see Buddhism as more of an inner technology than a religion. Many others have observed this, too. I don't really care how it's defined, as long as it can help me make myself stronger.

When I die, I hope people will say, "She didn't wait to be rescued. She rescued herself, and then helped others do the same." That would be the best tribute I can think of.

****

There's something else, too, something else that's important. Because the inner strengths of others are beautiful and compelling for me, they sing out to me. They shine. And it's easy for me to see them, even when their owners can't. Those strengths just shine shine shine. They call to me, and I see them and think, "How stunningly beautiful".

In these moments, all I want is to see them burst out in all their glory, just for the joy of the Universe. And that is why I am so drawn to teaching, and to nascent Priestesses and Priests, and to all those who walk around as potential tools for the beautification of the Universe. And I guess, really, that's all of us.

And that, Mari-Anne, is why I pulled you up and made you sing in Ben Silver's giddyingly transformative workshop. Because I cannot stand to see the Priestess in you be silent, even if you are afraid. Perhaps you can forgive me for that...(smiling).

Comments

[sligoe.livejournal.com]

I want to talk to you about this---maybe we could carve out a few minutes this weekend? :)

Hugs.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Of course! We still have a class to do---at least one. I know we'll be busy when you an Dave arrive on Friday, but Saturday day we will use our time well well well!

[sligoe.livejournal.com]

:) Hugs to all---see you soon!

Is Buddhism a religion.

[bobby1933.livejournal.com]

I also do not consider myself a religious person, but i also love Buddhism, along with some other spiritual paths.

But religions have always been vehicles for the (IMPPO) best spiritual paths. Without Hinduism, there would be no 8-fold Path, without Judaism, no "sermon on the mount," without shamanism, no Tao Te Ching, and without Islam, no Sufi poetry, Admirers have built religions around the Buddha, Jesus, and even poor old Lao Tze.

Even "nature mysticism" has is origins in the "religions"* of aboriginal peoples and in Druidism.

*when life is whole, as it was for aboriginal people before they were intruded upon by "higher" (e.g. more technological) cultures, there was no need for religion.
There was also no need for government, economics, education, or family.