Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."
- Audrey Hepburn
"But I tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you are connected with everything."
- Alan Watts
"Healing yourself is connected with healing others."
- Yoko Ono
Posts
You are not alone. I was sharing with a friend: I was reading through one of my son, Teo's books, called `Zen Stories,' and one old parable particularly struck me. Two monks, one old and one young, were heading back to the monastery and came upon a rich woman and her servants. The woman needed to cross a large puddle and her servants were weighed down with baggage. The old monk put her on his back and crossed the puddle. As he put her down she pushed him away. Many miles had passed when the young monk stopped and said to the old monk, "Did you see that woman, she was rude and didn't even say thank you." The old monk smiled and responded, "Yes, but I let her go many miles back."
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone. What I like about this new drawing is its many perspectives. I see in it the great paradox of mind’s struggle to both love and harm. Not that mind wants to harm, but when we suffer at the hands of others, particularly in childhood, we become resentful, angry, and ravenous for attention. I see the main figure here as the dual mind: she is craving from one perspective and exhibiting the positive virtue of patience from another perspective. The craving, of course, is what leads to resentment and anger from the inevitable disappointment craving engenders. But, the patience is that mental factor that allows us to just sit and open our hearts to understanding; especially, understanding the nature (history) of our craving. Depending on which factor has greater strength—craving or patience—we will feel either alone (isolated) or connected. This is because both craving and patience are rooted in relationship, for relationship is the very heart of being.
And so, if we suffer from craving, the most difficult part of our practice is letting go. But, the most beautiful part of our practice is mindfulness: watching without judgment the patterned thoughts and feelings arise over and over. So deep is the attachment to these thoughts. But so much deeper is the love that dissolves them.
Welcome back! I missed your comments - I know you have a few more things on your mind :) Just know that I appreciate you taking the time to comment even more.
ReplyDelete"I see in it the great paradox of mind’s struggle to both love and harm." - This describes the feeling I had with the drawing myself. I see us, humans, symbolized in the colorful cat-creature: young, innocent, naive, daring yet afraid. For
reassurance she looks back for help and security. And there it is - our bigger Self, our true nature, and also our humanity as a whole- in form of an old cat-creature: bigger, more substantial, holding the hand/paw in suspension to touch in comfort or to hold back so that we may learn and grow by our own efforts, mistakes and accomplishments. And if we feel alone, we just have to look back (or inside) and realize - we are never alone. Om Ah Hung :)