“There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.”
~
Thich Nhat Hanh
our practice of an open heart, of equanimity, is a practice of being WITH life, not escaping it. as we sit with ourselves, befriending ourselves, we are also learning how to be with life, how to befriend life. so our sitting on a cushion or chair, prepares & practices us for being in the world. how we love is shown in how we love ourselves, how we love our neighbor. this is how we practice love. this is how love is made real. we wake up from our slumber through meeting ourselves & life in all that life brings up – situations, experiences, relationships – the whole landscape, all around us is teaching us how to be awake & how to love. this is why it is often said that Life is our greatest teacher.
it’s something we have to work at. it’s something we work towards. it’s something we cultivate through working with our own hearts & minds. practicing having an open heart & a steady mind allows for space. within such space we are better able to choose how to engage this world & life in a peaceful way. then from there we practice peace in our relationships & we continue our practice outward into the world.
many of us put forth a lot of effort in finding people, other forms of life, & spaces to not love – often doing so in the name of some supposed hierarchy, righteousness, or lesser version of love!
so ugly & harmful, but ultimately just tragic, because it betrays our heart, our true nature & disconnects us from this sacred life & the time we are given.
what really seems to be at work through all that muck is fear, fear of mystery, fear of paradox, fear of what we don’t understand, as if we have to understand something fully to not be cruel.
the remedy is practicing an open heart. the remedy is love & our work is where we are holding back. our work is where we exclude.
“The biggest thing in the world, bigger than the ocean and the sky, is your heart.”
~ Do Hyun Choe
our vast capacity for presence, awareness, & wisdom is right here within this very heart, this body, & life we experience around us. if we can give ourselves the permission to be still, to sit in silence, & allow the arising & falling of thought, emotions, sensations without interfering by grasping or pushing away, just allowing the unfolding with gentleness & grace, we begin to see we can be with this life just as it is now. in that spaciousness insight, on how to act (not react), beneficially arises. this can be our path & practice.
“Love is of one piece. We either love everybody or we do not really love.”
~ Richard Rohr
love is not just some saccharine, superficial way we respond to those close to us or what we like in the world. LOVE is how we are called to respond to all things, even the ugly, horrible, harmful, destructive things. love is what gives us clarity to call out harm & hold powers accountable. love is how we heal, create, build all things anew. it’s what inspires, motivates, & sustains our work for a more empathetic, kind, compassionate, peaceful, equitable world through to its fruition. love is the compass, the wind in the sails – & the sails themselves! it’s all encompassing. anything short of that is just a shadow of love’s light.
when i speak of Love i’m speaking of a moral love, an ethical love, a recognition of our interdependence kind of love, a choosing love, an energy in action kind of love, a dig into the work & get your hands dirty kind of love, a pursuit of justice & equity kind of love, a step into the muck as healer & builder kind of love, it is bodhisattva love.
this is the love we are called to embody in this life for the benefit of the world & all life.
this is a triage moment in our democracy, when the many issues we care about are threatened by a possible 2nd Trump presidency which promises to be the undoing of our democracy.
i am grateful for the awareness & selflessness of President Biden to do what Trump would never do, place ego aside. though i remain critical of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict & its horrific humanitarian suffering/destruction, i can’t ignore the immense good he has brought to many other areas – seeing us through a pandemic/economic recovery, infrastructure, student loan forgiveness, lowering insulin costs, expanding care for veterans, & more. he’s been a champion of incredibly qualified diverse professionals. just look to his Cabinet & addition of Justice Jackson to SCOTUS. i’ll remind my LGBTQ+ family that it was VP Biden who pressed privately & publicly President Obama in 2012 to embrace marriage equality. it may have not happened or certainly not as quickly. i think of the friends’ ceremonies i’ve presided over, the love & commitment fully & publicly declared & recognized – thank Joe Biden. some will say his legacy will be mixed – aren’t all legacies so? but i think in half a century of service what will be seen is more good than not.
i’m excited for & all in for Kamala Harris as President. i voted for her as AG, Senator, VP, & now will do so for her to be our 1st female, black, Asian American President! she has the experience, presence, mind & the heart for the job. i’ll likely never approve of all her decisions or policies, but i have confidence she’ll do more good than not & keeping our democracy allows us to push & pressure for better. there isn’t an issue of concern now that won’t be horrifically worse w/ Trump, fascism, or a theocracy.
may democracy survive this triage moment forward toward a more perfect union & to the benefit of the world.
The Metta Garden 