In Yoke

He insulted me, he cheated me, he beat me, he robbed me - those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. -The Buddha Resentment is nothing more than compulsive attachment to a set of memories. If you could peek through the window of the mind when you feel resentful, you would see a production line turning out the same emotion-charged memory over and over: "He did that to me in 1993, he did that to me in 1993 . . ." You are dwelling on something that took place in the past - or, more likely, on how you misunderstood that event and reacted to your misunderstanding. When you keep pumping attention into an event in this way, a limp little memory gets blown up into a big balloon of hostility. When you withdraw your attention by repeating the mantram , the balloon is deflated. It's as simple as that. ~ Sri Easwaran I am definitely synchronous with Sri Easwaran's position, in that my own personal mantra is the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy...

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew. -Saint Francis de Sales In a village on the Blue Mountain in India, the local bank had  a very neighborly arrangement for collecting funds from the villagers.  Poor villagers have very little to save, only a few copper pennies at most. To encourage them to deposit even these few pennies every day, the bank employed a boy with a bicycle to go into the village to their homes, collect their few coppers, and enter the total in their account.  In meditation it is the same: when the Eternal Self comes, we can say, "We are no great saint, but a few times today we have tried to be patient. A few times today we have tried to put our family first. A few times today we have resisted some little craving for personal satisfaction."  This is how most of us are going to make progress for a l...

Imagine walking into a dark room. We will put our hands in front of us, afraid that we will bump into the furniture, or slip on the rug. We walk very slowly and deliberately, knowing that we don't know what lies directly ahead of us. ...making our way into the darkness of the future...This is very much what God calls us to do on this journey of faith we call our lives.  [excerpted from "The Great Themes of Scripture"-Fr. Richard Rohr] This is not easy, because everything we are taught in this world says that we can have our pathway illuminated in front of us. This is a very present foundational teaching underscoring our Western civilized world. Since I was old enough to make my way in this American influenced, capitalistic, free enterprise world,( for me it was in 1972 when I was 18, and moved to Waco to go to work the summer before I went to college at Baylor) I became attached to working on doing everything to assure that my way ahead would be "well lit".  I ...

My life is an indivisible whole, and all my attitudes run into one another; and they all have their rise in my insatiable love for mankind.        ---Mahatma Gandhi We should be able to make all sorts of graceful concessions on things that do not matter in life and yet stand unshakable on essentials.  To do this, we have to be detached from our opinions. I'm not recommending that we be wishy-washy, or lack strength in our convictions, but that we cultivate the forbearance not to force our opinions on others. When we have strength of conviction we will not get rattled when people question or contradict us. Mahatma Gandhi, for example, was not in favor of tea or coffee, but he would make a cup of tea for his wife each morning just the way she liked it.  This is bending gracefully on nonessentials. When it came to essentials, however, Gandhi was unshakable. His dedication to nonviolence was so absolute that he would abruptly call off a successful nationwide program of noncooperation w...

My wife and I are looking to refinance our homestead, and add some home improvements. I decided to seek long term financing and take advantage of the favorable rate environment that is presently available. In considering that, I realized that I wanted to seek out a mortgage banker in front of whom I did not mind "financially undressing". Trusting someone with your personal finances is something to carefully consider before impulsively doing it. I chose the son of one of my very best friends, who has become a successful mortgage banker. I was praising his work to his step mother, and while doing so, and sharing the vulnerability insight...and how I did not want to "financially undress" before just anyone. Her response was insightful. "Isn't that how we should be with our brothers and sisters in the church, able to trust them with our spiritual and personal situations, able to be vulnerable with them with our challenges, sins, problems, even our insights?...

To have a thing is little, if you're not allowed to show it, to know a thing, is nothing unless others know you know it.  ~Charles Neaves When I am truly honest with myself, and employ true self observation, I have to admit that I possess a burning desire to be "right", when I compare my own opinions and theological convictions against a brother or sister.  [Maybe observing this in myself is the first step in the needed transformation of my behavior...] Why does this seem to exist --especially when I am among fellow church folks? Is it because we are all in this together, and what one member does affects all the others? Perhaps.  Where does grace enter into our thinking? or into our actions? Does it? Do I truly think my opinions matter that much to others?  Do my opinions and convictions matter that much to the Creator?  Truly I am responsible to Him for my own heartfelt conviction and my own expression of belief or faith. I may have an obligation to share that convictio...

Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose. ~William Cowper We often think that if we go after what we want, we will probably get it; then we will be happy and secure. The mass media have latched onto this line of thinking and intone it like a litany: grab, grab, grab! Yet sooner or later the whole smorgasbord of things begins to lose its luster. Then the sensitive person asks, "If I go on grabbing and grabbing, at what point do I become secure and feel no more need to grab?" This question can lead to some far-reaching changes in our lives. Our needs are much too big to be satisfied with things, no matter how many we can manage to acquire. The more we try to get, the more acutely we feel those bigger, undeniable needs. Our deepest need is for the joy that comes with loving and being loved, with knowing we are of genuine use to others. The more we give of ourselves to other...