There is a space where two disparate souls can meet and dwell in peace, even if only for a few minutes here and a few minutes there. Those few minutes can keep a relationship alive and thriving for a long time if we learn how to get out of the way of our judgments. If we can believe that we are connected in that space even world peace is possible.
Last week I posted Thich Naht Hahn’s poem, “Call Me by My True Names.” In it he reminds us of our call to compassion with, the lines
“I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.”
I am still struggling to get out of the way of the pirate’s evil deed in order to enter into the sacred space where we are one. I believe in the space and I know that in order to enter it I have to leave dualistic thinking behind. Thinking like, “Pirate evil. Me good.” Meister Eckhart tells us
The eye with which I see god
is the same eye with which god sees me.
My eye and God’s eye are one.
One seeing, one knowing, one loving.
If the eye with which the pirate sees god is the same eye with which god sees the pirate, why is it so hard to believe that the space where the pirate is seen by god is the same space where I am seen by god, and it is holy. If we can live in that space long enough we are home. We arrive with all our faults and we are loved anyway…both of us.
I have found that I cannot believe this with my mind. The only way I can begin to feel compassion for the pirate is to go into the eye of god. I rediscovered a mantra given to me by Spirit in another blog. It has been helpful:
Breathing in I welcome the other.
Breathing out I release judgment.
Breathing in I am at one with the other
Breathing out I release duality.
Photo Credits for the eyes in god’s eye:
a href=httpswww.flickr.comphotosmaniya968334809~FreeBirD®~a via a href=httpphotopin.comphotopina a href=httpcreativecommons.orglicensesby-nc-nd2.0cca (2)
a href=httpswww.flickr.comphotosmaniya968334809~FreeBirD®~a via a href=httpphotopin.comphotopina a href=httpcreativecommons.orglicensesby-nc-nd2.0cca
a href=httpswww.flickr.comphotosadamcohn2515866014AdamCohna via a href=httpphotopin.comphotopina a href=httpcreativecommons.orglicensesby-nc-nd2.0cca
a href=httpswww.flickr.comphotos69er463302758Mohammed Alnasera via a href=httpphotopin.comphotopina a href=httpcreativecommons.orglicensesby-nc-nd2.0cca
Spirituality Without Borders: Reflections on Spiritual Practice 
Thank you, Rita, for these reflections. I was so moved by your passages from and about Thich Naht Hahn’s poem last week. The ideas stayed with me and I shared them with my Non Violent Communications group. What powerful insight about compassion. Love, Polly
From: Spirituality Without Borders: Reflections on Spiritual Practice To: pjdruffel@yahoo.com Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2014 9:55 AM Subject: [New post] The Space in God’s Eye #yiv2849601999 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv2849601999 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv2849601999 a.yiv2849601999primaryactionlink:link, #yiv2849601999 a.yiv2849601999primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv2849601999 a.yiv2849601999primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv2849601999 a.yiv2849601999primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv2849601999 WordPress.com | rita kowats posted: ” There is a space where two disparate souls can meet and dwell in peace, even if only for a few minutes here and a few minutes there. Those few minutes can keep a relationship alive and thriving for a long time if we learn how to g” | |
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I look forward to your visits and wisdom, Polly. Imagine, at age 46 as a full-time peace activist I thought I knew what this meant. At 70 I now know that it means I’m as capable of sin as I am of grace!
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Thanks again for your timely and wise reflections Rita. I have personally found my sense of “other” dissolved significantly on having children. Not saying this is true of everyone or should be, it is just my path. But having been pregnant, and holding a pure innocent infant in my arms, makes it easier to look at grown adults and think “you too were one such a babe” and to mourn for the lack of love, support and guidance of that innocent who can grow into an adult that commits such attrocities. This is a place i can start to feel compassion. In fact, pregnant with my first child I suddenly understood the concept of “mother” like never before. We are all children on Mother Earth. My heart broke for the billions of multiple hurts, neglects, cruel words, twisted ideals, physical attacks and subtle manipulations inflicted on the babies and children of humanity. I understand how Thich Naht Hahn can say he too could have become a pirate in the same circumstances. I always thought this before, but one of the gifts of children for me, is how much I now feel it.
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I so appreciate your taking the time and energy to respond, Amy. I am deeply moved by your insights. I can easily find that “space” in the innocence of my great nephew. Now, thanks to you, I will consciously attend to it every time I look at his picture.
Happy Holidays, Amy.
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Thank you Rita, I am humbled by your kind words. I am not normally one for such personal disclosure in an open space, but I felt impelled to share by your noble efforts! And happy holidays to you also.
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I look at the pirate and know that I have been him, and the little girl too. I am very thankful that in this life I have not chosen to experience the hardship and desperation that they both experience. So perhaps with me, I feel at one with them not because of a condoning of behavior or trying to rationalize it away (aka- he agreed to be an instigator in this life by violent behavior toward others to be that mirror of what they don’t want to be… Yada yada.) but because I can put myself in their shoes for a brief sliver of time and feel what they feel. It’s not fun by any means but it opens a compassion for both of them that I cannot easily achieve another way.
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That brief sliver of time is the most important energy there. Is. Thank you for visiting, Esther and for sharing your truth.
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