As far as I can tell, we can have an infinite volume of information, technology, data, theories and policies created with our human brains, but until there is a change of heart, nothing will change in the world.
It's meaningful to me that Tibetan Buddhists point to the heart when they talk about "mind". Hmmm. We in the West think the gray matter "upstairs" is where it's at, and value cleverness and quick thinking over contemplation and "right thinking".
Byron Katie says that the problems most of us suffer from as individuals come from believing and acting as though the thoughts in our minds are TRUE.
Buddhism, Advaita, Christian mysticism correctly understand the nature of thoughts as more like waves kicked up by a momentary storm on the surface of a deep and silent ocean. Here one moment, gone the next, of no particular significance.
The problem is, we're so wrapped up in the convolutions of our THINKING that we've stopped FEELING. We neither feel with our senses - that state of alert, calm awareness of everything inside and out, nor with our hearts. We've closed down and lost the ability to feel what another being feels and then to act from that place in our hearts to alleviate suffering and to create for the common good rather than for "ME".
I think we're afraid to feel: afraid we'll be overwhelmed by the pain, the guilt and remorse for having turned away for so long, afraid we're inadequate to do anything about it, afraid to risk discomfort, failure, alienation from friends and family....the list of reasons is long. At worst, the world's suffering is just an "inconvenient truth" belying our day-to-day business of making a living, finding the right partner, raising families, buying more stuff to fit out the stage set of our lives.....
Ultimately, though, until we can feel the pain and suffering of the planet, of other life forms, and in our own psyches, we won't have the courage (the word comes from the French "coeur" =heart + rage = strength) to stop our free-fall to extinction.
When enough hearts are broken, the New Earth will be born.
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....thinking about "pets".....
In some circles, having "pets" is politically incorrect, even immoral, because it involves domesticating animals by changing their "natural" behaviors and instincts to accommodate human behaviors.
Some people think having pets is wrong because the time spent taking care of them and enjoying them is time NOT spent on "more important" matters like alleviating human suffering or stopping degradation of Earth's biosphere.
In other circles, pets are all-important, carefully chosen by breed to complement the owner's identity and lifestyle, conspicuously displayed at the local coffee house's outdoor patio. They're shampooed, manicured, and dressed up for Halloween.
And then there are working dogs. Where I live, ranch dogs chase off predators and strangers and --most often these days it seems-- guard dual-wheel diesel F350 flatbed pick-ups in the parking lot of the local bar.
But there's a deeper connection than any of these appearances reveal. Running through all of these expressions of the human-animal relationship is the experience of compassion. Through some combination of biological evolution, arising from the 10,000 or so years of human-animal collaboration, and spiritual connection (after all, the infant Jesus was surrounded by animals in the stable, and the Christian shaman St. Francis communicated directly with animals) humans today have a natural compassion for animals. We're willing to feel their suffering when they're stranded on rooftops during a flood, dumped at the animal shelter, or used for human "sport" as fighting dogs, while we're less willing to feel, for instance, the pain of soldiers in a foreign war, or the bewilderment and loss of refugees from that war.
I could speculate about WHY that is so, but I'm presently thinking that exercise is less important than doing something to help "grow" the compassion that people do feel.
It seems to me that this is fertile ground for cultivating loving-kindness in the world today. Caring for animals allows people to express compassion. And when they do it as a part of an animal rescue operation, as a volunteer at a local shelter, or in a prison program, they also have opportunities to practice compassion with people.
So if the goal is to "grow" more compassion in the world, why not look for places where there's good soil, and begin there?
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