do your part, in your way, from your heart, using your talents – your experience – your wisdom, to expand minds, open hearts, to bear witness to suffering, to honor another’s story, to bring light, to embody love, with a steady-confident calm presence.
~j
be you, be love, in a world that needs it.
~j
“At all times, in all places, be it desires, senses, gains, loss, right, wrong…
in all things shine through…”
~
Hakuin
even when in darkness, and most especially so, keep shining friends!
keep playing the long game, bodhisattvas!
of course there is a complexity to these mass killings.
motivation is a component that varies from shooter to shooter. mental health struggles may be a component. and another component – the elephant in the room – is our society’s tremendous inability to process and transform pain and suffering in a healthy way along with our delusion that we are somehow independent of each other rather than the reality that we are interdependent. but surely guns as weapons of choice are also a component. it takes minimal intelligence and awareness to recognize this.
yet, some people say this is not a gun issue. however, these men are choosing guns as their weapon for a reason – quick mass casualties. this makes these mass killings a gun issue.
it is horribly, tragically ironic that a culture identifying as pro life loves the right to own guns and their ability to kill, more than life.
if you want to offer prayer, please offer prayers for a change of heart and mindset, for a clarity of vision and then more importantly work for that change. put prayers for an end to this mass violence into some beneficial action.
~j
#GunViolence #ProLife #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #LoveWins #interdependence #enso #JMWart
“These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.”~ Najwa Zebian
#inktober #inktober2017 #inktoberdaytwentyseven #inktoberclimb #mountain #burden #brushpainting #inkbrush #zen #JMWart #artistsoninstagram
#repost from last year of my art and some thoughts that still seem appropriate today, in honor of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday anniversary:
The law of love governs the world. Life persists in the face of death. The universe continues in spite of destruction going on. Truth triumphs over untruth. Love conquers hate.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
I believe this to be true.
But I also believe love and life itself call on us to engage and perhaps even depend on our participation.
Nothing, No Thing, can be taken for granted.
There are times when silence just isn’t an option.
Speak and act in solidarity. With nonaggression, with nonviolence, yes. But also with inexhaustible, fierce, formidable compassion and commitment to justice and equality.
Can we hear the cries of the world?
Are we willing to answer?
~j
#WakeUp #OpenEyes #Bodhisattvas #BodhisattvaVow #Service #FierceCompassion #Compassion #Kindness #Courage #Love #OpenHeart #TheLongArc #JMWart
The Metta Garden 