The Second Commandment: Love Everything – Part 2

As we saw yesterday, the positive aspect of Love Everything is performing Right Action within Radical Acceptance.

One translation of this commandment is “do no harm.”  This is a central part of the Hippocratic oath for physicians, and all health professionals.  On a personal level we can consider not overeating, not smoking, not over-spending, as doing no harm to ourselves.

An important part of Love Everything, is to fill your own cup before letting it overflow to others. 

Love yourself first, not with selfishness, but with radical acceptance.  Love yourself within the realization that if you are not healthy, then you cannot fully help others to live a more healthy life. 

The positive is engaging in practices that increase the health of body, mind, and connection to Spirit, also known as Source.  This is true for both for ourselves and helping others to do so as well. 

It takes discipline to love correctly. 

So, you can do Right Action for yourself. 

 

What about right action for others?  Other humans, other animals, and indeed, take responsibility for right action in all aspects of life, even using toilet paper with respect. 

Within the thousand-year view we realize that we must care for the earth if we wish to continue on as a species.  As I have said before the earth will survive. 

If we die out as a human species, another more pollution and radiation resistant species will arise to take our place as the sensory organs of Source.

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/just-bags-of-saltwater-carrying-ocean.html

However, you can make significant errors under the label Love Everything. 

 

These are the negative aspects of Love Everything. 

This is where I got stuck previously.  I felt confused.  I couldn’t put all of the positive and negative aspects of Love Everything into an organized perspective. 

I woke up one morning and this Table formed in my mind! 

The Love Everything Table of Errors

	Positive Errors	Negative Errors	Ignorance Errors
Self	Narcissism	Self Harm	Unconscious Self Shadow
Others	Idiot Compassion	Unfair    Punishment	Unconscious Societal Shadow

You can see that there are errors for regarding the self and actions toward the self.  There are separate errors in regarding and actions for others. 

Across self and others there are errors we can classify similar to The Three Emotions, positive, negative, and ignorance. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-three-emotions.html

We will explore these together further in greater depth within future blog postings. 

The Second Commandment: Love Everything – Part 1

OK, I think I got it clear now!  Took a few eves of contemplation. 

I am ready to unfold The Second Commandment, Love Everything, for you all.    

You can refer to these as a reminder.  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-three-commandments.html

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/04/enlightenment-part-5-final-secret.html

So what is this Love Everything business anyway?  How do you expect me to love everything?  What about war?  What about rape and child abuse?  What about controversial stuff, such as guns, abortion, eating meat?  

Hmmm…  sometimes perhaps hard stuff to contemplate within this Second Commandment. 

In part, loving everything is practicing Metta and Tonglen. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/gentler-meditation.html

It is holding everything gently, like a butterfly.  It is neither pushing away, nor grasping too tightly, nor being in ignorance (see The Three Emotions). 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-three-emotions.html

This does not mean we do not perform Right Action.  People who commit crimes need to be reformed, or need to be kept in a safe place where they can do no harm. 

How we define a crime is a more controversial problem, often this relates to your personal level of evolution. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-1.html

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

Remember that there is a strict order to The Three Commandments. 

          1-There is only one Source.

                    2-Love everything.

                              3-Enjoy yourself.

The realization that there is only one Source comes first.  Why?  Because this puts “love everything” in its proper perspective. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-first-commandment.html

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-first-commandment-part-2.html

We get closer to Source by dropping everything that gets in the way of seeing clearly.  Seeing clearly is wisdom.  Within seeing clearly we see the suffering in ourselves, and in the world. 

Seeing suffering touches us deeply and drives us to act with compassion in the world.  That compassion can take many forms, depending on who we are, and what lenses we are seeing through.  The highest form of compassion is to Love Everything. 

I will argue that Loving Everything is part of Radical Acceptance.  This also relates to The Three Beauties. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/conscious-relationship-part-2-radical.html

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-three-beauties.html

You can appreciate that there are horrible repulsive things that happen in the world, war, rape, pestilence.  But, you hold the horrible and the beautiful the same.  You look at it with the view from a tall mountain, or from an airplane. 

You take the thousand-year view and you realize that things do improve over time.  You can see that civilization does actually evolve to higher levels over time.  It just can be very hard to see within our short lifetimes. 

Within Radical Acceptance you do not have to like everything that goes on in the world.  But, you have to accept the whole package, just as it is.   Then you can go ahead and do Right Action to try to change the world.  Right Action to help individuals, and therefore the whole world, rise up to a higher level of evolution. 

So, the positive aspects of Love Everything is Right Action within Radical Acceptance. 

However, there are significant errors that can be made under the label Love Everything.  These are the negative aspects of Love Everything. 

We will take that up next!    

Of Being Busy and Growing Edges

Obviously, you have not seen The Second Commandment blogs as of yet.

Well, it is starting to be near summer.  There is end-of-the-semester students to grade, end-of-the-year effort report to be finished, took a 4 hour bike ride on Saturday, mulching and all-day around-the-home-type work on Sunday.  I had over a hundred and fifty emails in my inbox, still have over a hundred, and that is just my work email inbox.  Sometimes seems like a million things to do. 

I’ve been writing on The Second Commandment, but felt that something was not quite right.  Not quite ready to publish. 

Odd.  Most of this blog just flows from Source.  Occasionally, I make some drafts and revise a little for clarity.  Sometimes, I’ll give these to my wife for comments, particularly if I feel there is something amiss in my thinking.  An INTP sometimes needs an ENFJ for further clarity, especially around emotions! 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-3.html

What became clear in my morning meditation is that this struggle indicates a “growing edge” for me.  We all have our growing edges.  Ask yourself what is not so comfortable? 

So, there is something around “Love Everything,” where I need further clarity.   

 

I have lots of notes and “pieces” of blog writing.  Give me a few days.  

I’m not saying you will like the blog, but you are likely to find it interesting. 

Namaste. 

The First Commandment – Part 2

Some of you protested about how Source can never be boring.  So, let me put forth a little clarification.  Again, it is difficult to use words.  If you have never been there, then words are only a finger pointing at the moon.

All of us enter deep dreamless sleep every night.  We can try to skip a night or 2, but more than that and we start to get psychotic.  Spend enough time without dreamless sleep and we would likely die. 

That experiment was done with rats. 

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/05/can_you_die_from_lack_of_sleep.html

 

My argument is that to be healthy we need to be completely immersed in Source on a regular basis.  That is what we do in deep dreamless sleep; there, we are completely immersed in Source.  Provides a place to drop the pain and suffering of being human.  Allows hormones and cytokines to regulate our bodies toward homeostasis and health. 

Sleep disorders associated with PTSD, fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome, and sleep apnea, results in highly dysfunctional individuals. 

But, in deep dreamless sleep, we have no awareness.  The dreams of REM sleep are interesting, there is a reception of the mind’s play unfolding.  Good wisdom within dreams as well.  Write them down and look carefully at the information. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/dreams.html

In deep dreamless sleep there is no one to be aware.  That is boring. 

In meditation we go from the monkey mind, chattering away, to a slowing of our thoughts, then to a pure witness state no thoughts, only awareness along with awareness of being aware, and then, perhaps for some of us, the witness dropping away and there is nothing but empty fullness. 

This is pure awareness, immersed in Source, without being asleep.  There is no longer a subject and an object.  There is no longer any self, only Self. 

Within empty fullness there is no one there to be aware, yet there is awareness.  The lights are on, but nobody is home… in the highest sense. 

This is pure consciousness. 

The funny thing is that this is our normal baseline state of being.  We are always already Source, capacity, awareness.  Our animal minds cover it up.  Source hiding Itself away. 

So Source hides, and we seek.  We might try various practices.  It is important to develop concentration and focus.  But, it is even more important to practice dropping everything that is not pure Source.  

One must practice this over and over. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/04/enlightenment-part-5-final-secret.html

So if this ultimate pure state of consciousness is so boring, then how do these states allow wisdom to arise?

You can get wisdom from touching Source at any level.  Even sitting with the monkey mind gives you important information.  Just being aware that you have a monkey mind is a fantastic first step! 

When the thoughts slow, that really changes you.  A groove is deepened in the brain body, which allows you to access this state more easily.  When disturbing events arise, you can look at them without drowning in reactivity and emotions.  You can have all the emotions, but you are in control.  You see more clearly what is true. 

Within that wisdom you realize how you are not so different that those you label “other.”  You are aware that the same Source is looking out from behind everyone’s eyes.  But, Source is looking through a different set of lenses in each individual. 

I’ll write more about lenses in the future.  For now, see my blogs on personalities, Stranger in a Strange Land, Parts 1-4, to get an idea how different people see the world through different lenses. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-1.html

With wisdom you become more aware of suffering, your own suffering and that of everyone.  You realize that there are not only the big Holocausts that occur, but there are the little every day holocausts, the child that is hungry, or perhaps just not read to every night.    

Compassion arises.  You gather more people into your family.  You are now higher on the evolutionary scale. 

Deep dreamless sleep is boring.  Pure awareness is boring.  What arises from these states is not boring. 

Seeing clearly, you walk in the world with wisdom, performing each act with more awareness and compassion. 

Perhaps not perfectly, we are still only human.  All of us are a work in progress. 

Within that wisdom we can also forgive ourselves for our so human errors. 

We can practice compassion for ourselves. 

That is where The Second Commandment comes in: Love Everything. 

Drifting Through The Commandments

Oh so boring is One Source

Alone!

Poor Source 

Brilliance!

Taking energy

Forming matter

Creation! 

Solid rock

Energy from photons

Enlivening the rock

Evolution!

Slimy things to crawl upon rock

Creatures that can fly above rock

 

Beings that can worship the rocks, the sun, other beings

Source peeking out

Love! 

Loving to be loved

Witnessing the creation

Enjoy!

Enjoying it all…

The First Commandment

I will unfold The Three Commandments further over a few blogs.

          1-There is only one Source.

                    2-Love everything.

                              3-Enjoy yourself.

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-three-commandments.html

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/04/enlightenment-part-5-final-secret.html

The First Commandment is really, really, boring.  There is only one Source. 

Source is All-That-Is, and All-That-Is-Not.  Not very exciting. 

Oh, within deepest meditation you can talk to the dead, animals, and fantastic beings, and see fantastic colors, visualizations, and take Shamanic journeys. 

And, within deepest meditation can arise deepest feelings of Truth, Beauty, and Joy. 

The brightest light and the darkest dark… all at once. 

But, the appreciation of whatever this is, is what is exciting.  There is no appreciation within deepest meditation. 

When it all slips away there is no you, no Witness, no self, only Self. 

Within the brightest light and darkest dark… is… nothing. 

Source by itself just is not very interesting, all one thing. 

In order to appreciate Itself, it hid Itself away from Itself. 

That is why Source divided itself into the “10,000 things.” More like billions, trillions, and icky-illions of things.   

Possibly infinite numbers of things, whatever infinity is. 

Playing hide and seek. 

Source hides.  Now we have to all go and seek. 

We can feel this pull.  Yes, we can hide this pull to recognize Source behind addictions, shopping, and so forth. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/enlightenment.html

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/addictions.html

So that is where things get interesting. 

We are each unique manifestations of Source. 

What motivates us to Seek? 

That is the subject of The Second and Third Commandments. 

Be-ing and Do-ing

To Do is to Be

To Be is To Do

To Do is to Do

To Be is to Be

Be-ing as meditation, wisdom arising. 

Do-ing as walking in the world, compassionate acts arising. 

Breath in, Breath out. 

A pause at each end of the breath. 

Riding the swinging door.  

Wordless Wednesday

How do you hold beliefs that are vastly different than your own?

 What happens when a complete stranger sits down next to you and starts to speak to you “about Jesus?”

What do you do if you hear about a way of viewing the world that is far different from your own view?   

What do you do when you feel your view is the correct one?

Do you try to convince the other of your “correct view?”

Do you enter a dialog, exchanging ideas, so that you both have an opportunity to see through a different lens?   Is there an opportunity here for adopting a different lensing system? 

Do you first listen carefully, and decide whether this person speaks dogmatically? 

If they are fundamentalist in their thinking, then a true exchange of ideas is less likely to take place. 

When you have a fixed single lens, there is much less opportunity for change, much less opportunity for seeing through a different lens. 

 

Nonetheless, perhaps, it pays to plant seeds.  Perhaps only a few choice words, said with love and compassion. 

That seed might remain dormant, forever. 

Perhaps the seed will sprout in the future. 

Perhaps we were the one who received the seed.  Perhaps within us a new lens will sprout and grow, and we will be different then we were before. 

Seeing ever more clearly.  

Friends

Went to a couple’s 60^th birthday party celebration.  I’ve known them since 1976.  Thought I’d gather some quotes in honor of friendship.

True friends stab you in the front.

Oscar Wilde

The measure of a life is not position, or wealth, or even wisdom.  But the few kindred souls who share our dreams, passages, triumphs and tears.  Whose laughter is our music, whose faces warm us, whose hearts comfort and console us.  They are friends, and every life is measured by this possession alone. 

Lynn Kessinger

A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.

William Shakespeare

We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?' asked Piglet.

Even longer,' Pooh answered.

A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

A good friend will come bail you out of jail, but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying...'Damn, that was fun!’

Unknown

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

Abraham Lincoln

There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.

Jim Henson, Favorite Songs from Jim Henson's Muppets

No friendship is an accident. 

O. Henry, Heart of the West

No human relation gives one possession in another—every two souls are absolutely different. In friendship or in love, the two side by side raise hands together to find what one cannot reach alone.

Kahlil Gibran

A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.

Elbert Hubbard

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.

Mark Twain

Hmmm… is there a word for a friend that one has not yet met? 

Namaste

Of Mothers (and Fathers)

My friend Willow would ask, “Have you finished your work with your mother and father?” 

Have you made peace with the positives and negatives of these relationships?

Can you think about these individuals without being flooded with emotion? 

Can you say Metta or Tonglen for them, whether or not they are physically present in this world? 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/gentler-meditation.html

Can you hold them gently, like a butterfly?