Gentle With Ourselves

Monday, August 19, 2013:

Again and again we need to appreciate the subtle workings of the teachings and the practice, and even when there is no extraordinary, dramatic change, to persevere with calm and patience. How important it is to be skillful and gentle with ourselves, without becoming disheartened or giving up, but trusting the spiritual path and knowing that it has its own laws and its own dynamic.

Sogyal Rinpoche

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I know that Sogyal Rinpoche was speaking of perseverance but being gentle with myself also encompasses everything I do that I do well. That isn’t to say that I don’t look at myself with an unjaundiced eye. I mean to say that, when I do I look without being nasty with myself or others, I do well. My favorite painting instructor, Ken Knack, was one of those great teachers for folks like me. He had a good instinct for criticism of our work that pointed out what we were doing right on the canvass and, by implication, we grasped what didn't work. I understand that there are those who don’t respond well to this kind of teaching. That is fine with me… they want to be told what they are doing wrong with every brushstroke, color of paint, and composition. This spirit also seems to be prevalent in the ones who need a guru to help them along with their practice. This is an instinct that is as human as the evolution of our central nervous system and it can be a good thing with positive results. I'm certainly not knocking them. However, their greatest obstacle to growth is that there is always the tendency in these to seek out a “Great Teacher” or blindly join movements.  This is true whether they are saved by motivational speakers; a leader that soothes with smooth presentations in self-esteem seminars; or yield themselves to any preacher that pounds the pulpit well. 

    The artists, the poets, the "Christs" of any consequence don’t exactly march to the beat of a different drummer as much as they walk and dance to the drummer of the cosmos. Sometimes they do gather around themselves disciples but, for the most part, they let their works speak for themselves and encourage us to do so too on our own. If we were taught anything in the twentieth century, it was the horrible consequences of yielding our hearts and minds to the Jim Joneses or Adolf Hitlers of the world. If we are gentle and true to ourselves we can be truly freed by the spirit compassion. I personally abhor any political, religious, or spiritual, movement that demands I abandon reason or cede my will to another (whether it is a conclave of bishops or elders, a committee, an individual, or an ideal). The Heart of Compassion is open and clear on this point. We can't be taken advantage of once we understand that we it is more important to be kind with ourselves than it is to be rigidly obedient to any cause or individual. 

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