9/11

[toni]

I read today's topic and the articles that Micheal referred to from the Dalai Lama and others and I have a small idea about why we as humans believe we are right and others wrong.

I believe that we all carry the spark of God or essence, whatever, with us all the time.  We are also aware of it, and this is where I think the problem lies. We as humans recognising our own Godliness identify with it totally and see ourselves as "God".  We then rationalize that if we are 'God' nobody else can be, we forget that the spark is in all of us.  I haven't yet worked out how the conscious/unconscious elements of our mind contribute to this, perhaps someone else can expand on this, for me and for others.

For me, living in the world is in part recognising our 'oneness' with one another, letting go of the lie that we are not connected.  I endeavour to live like this and stumble regularly along the way!

Toni

[Kayleigh]

Hi Toni

I think the simpler the explanation the better. It is clear that if we raised our children to think in terms of our linked Godliness (oneness) as well as our individuality, events like this would be less likely. I don't really have any answers, I just wanted to appreciate what you said. 

[SeannaJ]

And what I got out of the 9/11 topic was that we all needed to cultivate lovingkindness, the metta that Michael used to end his tip with. I did a two-day meditation workshop with Sharon Salzberg, who is a Buddhist who has traveled this country for the past few decades talking about lovingkindness and how that has changed herself and how she looks at others.  Practicing this metta really does give you compassion toward all beings...

Here's a link to Sharon guiding you through a metta.

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/32/story_3248_1.html

Here's a link to Sharon Salzberg's web site: http://www.sharonsalzberg.com/ 

[Michael Neill]

Brilliant - thanks for the links, SeannaJ!

love,
michael