Methods from the Heart for Compassionate Living

Good morning to you all. Please help add to the energy this morning in our sanctuary with “Om Shanti Om…. I am a peaceful soul.”  For me, this chant ties perfectly with this month’s idea of setting up an environment of peace, of compassion, of love, of joy…not only in ourselves but for the whole Multiverse. Thank you.

Thich Nhat Hanh has said: “Keeping your body and consciousness healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos.”  This month’s discernment from him sends us clues as to how to be healthy, joyful, and compassionate.  I have to say this specific part of the month’s discernment speaks to my heart...especially the last couple of sentences about looking deeply at what we do to preserve compassion, health and joy in our bodies and consciousness and in the collective body and consciousness of our families, community, culture, world and earth, and the Multiverses.  This really resonates with me as it is such a positive statement. And as Thich Nhat Hanh has also shared, if we can smile in our daily life and be peaceful and happy, everyone will benefit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.  So, I say…lets practice a little smiling peace work this morning!  

I also have to say that the beginning of this month’s statement reminds me a little bit of what I heard as a child and a little of what I might have said as a parent. Sort of the list of “Thou shalt nots or Don’t do this or that!”, which may point people or children in a direction that makes their journey of life more meaningful, more enjoyable, more fruitful, more loving, more considerate BUT perhaps is hard to hear on the receiving end.  I can almost hear those directions or guiding words in my head right now from my mother.... both my earthly mother and Divine Holy Mother.  These directions or clues sent through messengers from our Holy Parent help us grow to be more loving, considerate, joyful, healthy, and compassionate. 

Messengers…. like Buddha, Pema Chödrön, Jesus, Mary, Mohamed, Fatima, Thich Nhat Hanh, and many others, including parents, send us messages as we experience life and grow.  You are a sacred teacher, like Buddha....so please keep on sharing your vision on how to create an environment of compassion and health and love and joy both in yourself and the All.  And like Thich Nhat Hanh has said- “Don’t worry if you feel you can only do one tiny, good thing in one small corner of the cosmos.  Just be a Buddha in that one place.”  Don’t you just love that? I know I do. 

I would also like to add-focus on the positive with a smile on your face and heart to accomplish miracles of compassion, of love, of health and joy.  “Don’t worry- be happy-ish.”  Can you imagine a version of this by Thich Nhat Hanh and Bobbie McFarren?   For most of my life, I have operated out of my heart-space in doing most everything which makes love, joy, compassion a natural roll out. A natural consequence. Love rolling out of oneself to share with the whole multiverse.

Personally-I feel that our heart-space, rather than our thoughts, our thinking, our mind……allow us to connect on a deep level that throws open any door, so that empathy and compassion and love and joy can flow freely. While our mind many times tries to think and acknowledge and categorize all the reasons why we are different and separate and need protection. Our heart knows that we are all the same…. that we are all one….we are all Love. 

So….I would like to make an edit to this month’s statement and say……”We will use our sense impressions, volition, consciousness (and the next I have changed to)...and our heart-space to be compassionate, healthy and joyful in our bodies and consciousness and in the collective body and consciousness of All that is.  (i.e., our families, community, culture, world and earth and I must add Multiverses.)

You see….I know….in my heart….that we can collectively create a compassionate, healthy, loving and joyful atmosphere, in the here and now by as many methods as there are Beings; by our imagination, by our prayer, by our thought patterns, by our mind, by our smiles, by our music, by our art, by our creativity, by our laughter…..whatever your particular gift or method is in this life......that’s the way to it.  Let’s create this miracle of compassion, health and joy by whatever method sings to your heart. 

About this Thich Nhat Hanh has said: “There are thousands of channels in our consciousness- it is up to us to choose a channel and walk towards peace.”

I would like to share with you a couple of those channels or methods from great messengers to create compassion, health, love, and joy.

First, I am reminded of what Buddha said- “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything, it is what we think that we become.”  So, lets engage our mind to compassion, health, and joy.

And I would like to include that our imaginations play an important role in what we become, as well.  

So, I want to add something from Einstein, who I call a scientific spiritualist. His thoughts on life and imagination and creativity are amazing.  He said: “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”  And in 1919 he said- “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire universe, giving birth to evolution." Love the heart and mind of Albert!

So, if Buddha has said that thought and mind are everything and that is what we become, and Einstein feels that it is the imagination is everything what does that relay to you? Are they talking about the same thing just using different words? Perhaps…. perhaps one is a left-brained word, and one is a right-brained word? But my point is there are many ways to get there. 

Including the method of laughter. Jean Houston says this: “At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of all possibilities.”  So, let’s laugh our way to health, love, and compassion. 

I would also like to include words and thoughts from Hazrat Inayat Khan said: “Every person, from morning till evening, is making invisible forms in space by what she says. She is creating invisible vibrations around her, and so she is creating an atmosphere.”  So, let’s create an atmosphere of compassion, health, and love.

In the New Testament, Mark in 11:24 said:  "Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you shall have them".  So, let’s believe in prayer that we will create compassion, health, and love.

Todd Michael, the author of 12 Conditions of a Miracle said, “The rules of the Universe- form an engine. When all the cylinders fire together, the power they generate is beyond comprehension. It is a power that can change life drastically as the universe unfolds. We have the power to manifest heaven here on earth, right here and now.”  So, let’s fire up that engine and manifest a heaven of compassion, health, and love.

And how about musical expression- Frank Fitzpatrick shared “The spiritual nature of music cannot be defined by religion, culture or genre. Music precedes and transcends all of those frameworks. Music is, at its essence, the sound of spirit. When created from the heart and with truth and pure intention, music is a spiritual expression of the most universal nature and the highest order.  So may our music sing the song of compassion, health, and love. 

And one more perspective about creating our destiny of compassion, health, and love from Oriah Mountain Dreamer: “I want to remind us all that the world is listening, all the time. We have a sacred responsibility to respond to the world with our special gifts. It is why we are here.  We are called by the world to embody our gifts in our lives. God needs us to be awake. God needs us to be connected. The world we live in is a co-creation, a manifestation of individual consciousness woven into a collective dream.”  

How we are with each other as individuals, as families, as cultures, as nations, and tribes; is what shapes our dream. So, may we dream a collective dream of compassion, health, and love.

I am going to make one more personal edit to the monthly discernment and say…. 

Let us blissfully Be compassionate, healthy, and joyful here on Earth, in each of our different brilliant forms, with each our different sacred gifts, for ourselves and for the All, starting in this precious moment.  

Let us use our imagination, prayer, mind, creative power, laughter, dancing, singing, and dreaming to create and preserve a collective dream of compassion, health and joy in our body and consciousness and in the collective body and consciousness of ALL our families, ALL our cultures, ALL our societies, ALL of Earth and ALL the Multiverse. 

May Peace be with you.