Our response to the call

[markdohle]

Our response to the call

The Dali Lama made and interesting comment about the nature of his religion. He said that “His religion is kindness”. It is an interesting remark and I feel that it makes a definite declaration about what the Dali Lama thinks most important in following his spiritual path. When people think of ‘religion’, be it in a negative or positive light, it is thought of as set of beliefs and doctrines. This is of course true. For the Dali Lama has certain religious doctrines that he believes and seeks to implement in his life on a regular basis. It is the implementation that is the heart of the matter; it is in fact the spirit of any religious path. If that is missing, then all that is left are rules and regulations without any life….it becomes mummified, dead, and useless.

One could say that their religion is one of love, or service, or surrender. What sayings like this point out is that life is not about self aggrandizement, but about seeking something greater, that allows expansion, growth, healing and a deepening connection with reality.

‘Kindness’, so what does it mean to say that human attribute is my religion? I think what the Dali Lama is pointing out is that he does not always feel kind, in fact he may feel the exact opposite at times, yet, he will act kindly towards all he meets. It is a displacement of the self serving, narcissistic Ego. The Ego of course is needed, something good as long as it is not out of control.

So to say my religion is about love, or surrender…. is the same thing as saying it is about kindness. I often don’t feel loving, yet I strive to love anyway. It is a death to self on a level that can be both painful as well as liberating.

It is in the divide of striving, failing and not being able to do what is desired where grace happens. Our desire to be kind, or to love, or to surrender, is in reality a response to something beyond us, again it is ‘grace”. We see this all the time in people around us. They are responding to something ‘more’, in how they relate to others, help them and heal those that they come in contact with.

People gravitate towards them, even if those who live this out can’t ‘name’ actually why they do what they do…..in fact they are led. Again we choose, to become more open, a difficult process much of the time, or to close ourselves off. Perhaps easier to do, to back off, but in the end can smother the soul.

When we meet others we need to learn to trust our inner response to them. Many carry an inner light that they may not know that they have…..they live the light. They seek to serve and love others. They are magnets of warmth in a world that often seems to grow cold. They have over the years of their lives overcome fear and self centered anxiety. Perhaps not completely, but enough for them to say gently “no” to that way of living that backs them into a corner. To a ‘yes’ to something deeper and more profound; that expands their souls ever more completely as they live out their often hidden, arduous, mundane lives.

The “Mind of Christ” is probably shown us in the 13 Chapter of 1^st Corinthians. So to say my religion is one of kindness, or love, or surrender, is to seek to live out this very powerful chapter on the greatest spiritual gift: Love.

1 Corinthians 13

¹ If I speak in the tongues^] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[

^b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

[Border Collie]

From all that I have read about him, the Dalai Lama seems to be a very kind, genuine and pleasant man. And a genuine kindness to all people, animals and all life does seem to me an excellent core to any belief system, religion or philosophy of life.

[markdohle]

From all that I have read about him, the Dalai Lama seems to be a very kind, genuine and pleasant man. And a genuine kindness to all people, animals and all life does seem to me an excellent core to any belief system, religion or philosophy of life.

True, he seems to be genuine.

Peace

Mark