Negate the Negative

Friday, August 16, 2013:

The Tibetan mystic, Tertön Sogyal, said that he was not really impressed by someone who could turn the floor into the ceiling or fire into water. A real miracle, he said, was if someone could liberate just one negative emotion.

Sogyal Rinpoche

Having been raised in the Catholic Religion, I had this idea I gleaned from stories of the Saints, that a spiritual connection with God had to be sudden and miraculous; like a beam of light from a cloud in heaven. A miracle was raising the dead, healing the sick, or calling down fire to smite the heathen. One of the most beautiful chapters of the Christian Bible has to be 1 Corinthians, chpt. 13 that reads: Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity (i.e., love or compassion), I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophesy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing, And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.

            That chapter continues to describe what compassion looks like; it is kind; humble; open-minded; patient; minds its own business; makes no excuses; is forgiving; and so on. It takes a miracle far more profound than any of the aforementioned to be in this state of liberation at all times and it takes discipline. During WWII radar was very primitive. It directed a beam towards the intended target and bombers simply read the beam. If on the beam, a light on the console came on; and, if off to one side or the other, another warning showed itself. Compassion is like that. When I am on or off a light comes on or off. This is called awareness and emotional balance. At first I sometimes needed someone else to point out those alarms to me but soon I became accustomed to seeing for myself when anger and discontent took me off the beam. It is a miracle to be able to stay on beam at all times but it gets me where I want to go. The positive beam negates the negative if I stick at it and make the necessary adjustments as I fly into the realm of the spirit.

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