Love Them

There is something about coincidence that you just cannot walk away from.  For instance, as I was sitting here reading my paper, someone else far away, unknown to me, killed themselves. At the very moment when I was eating a satisfying meal and getting ready to do my ordinary chores, a house caught on fire, bursting into flames that rose into the sky like a column of insanity.

Many things happen all at the same time. Some people believe that all of time is a single event of randomness to which we assign order so that we can begin to understand things, anything. I don't believe we do understand.

We have God and Allah and other names for the ultimate force of creation and goodness, the inexplicable, the things we cannot possibly take credit for. We always ask why. Why is there evil in the world? Why is this so wonderful and that so awful? Who is responsible? Who do we blame for bad luck and ill fate, for good luck and blessings?

If you are Zorba-esque, you embrace your brothers and dance on the beach, facing each other and listening to music while your heart beats and your feet move.  Alone, you are safe but only for the moment. Zorba-like, we shrug off the possibility of harm and ignore evil that lurks in the shadows beyond the fire's edge.

Turn off the damned TV and go say I love you to someone. And then dance with them, heart to heart.

Gratitude in the Face of Random Acts

An Amish woman was killed in her buggy, rear-ended by an SUV.  Who are you?  There is a woman who is threatened with stoning in Iran.  Who am I?

What happens within us when we learn these things?

Buddhists believe that all of what happens everywhere affects everyone and everything. Nothing is foreign; it is all of us, all the time.  There is no other-ness.  Our life force and spiritual energy is interconnected.  We are assaulted and cheered, encouraged and oppressed by things that happen everywhere.   

The most difficult teaching of the great religions is that of gratitude, especially when it relates to our enemies and the oppressors in life.  We may be joyously grateful that lively music fits our mood perfectly, but can we be grateful that a loved one has died or mayhem is imminent?  Why do spiritual teachers ask us to do that?  What's the sense in it?  

Gratitude is a very difficult concept in the face of evil, makes much more sense in the realm of beauty and love.  The truth is, if we can be grateful for the oppressor, we are more accurately ourselves as defined by them, and we become better aligned with what is good and true in the world if that is our intention.  But, this is not simply a statement like:  "Wow, they are so horrible, and I in comparison am an angel."  More in truth it is:  "I understand myself more clearly, and it is very certain that I must never become or be part of evil and destruction."

It is far simpler to hate hate-filled people and love love-filled people, but it really is just easy and teaches nothing.  It is said that to know your enemy is to know yourself, and I say it is because you are forced to define your self very clearly when faced with clearly awful things.