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Creating Community ~ Metta Blast 4

June 11, 2007

ph_may_reddrops.jpg

Liquid Light ~ Canon 30d

We cannot say that in the process of revolution someone liberates someone else, nor yet that someone liberates him or herself, but rather that people in communion liberate each other.
~ Paulo Freire

Last week, my friend Tim and I took a leap and began our very own Metta Circle ~ sending out invitations to a wide group of friends, including seasoned meditators and meditator-nots alike. We gathered Tuesday night with a "tribe" friends to delve into Metta Practice. "Metta" means "lovingkindness" and is a prayerful practice of sending compassionate thoughts, not only to oneself, but to the entire world.

Q: Where did I get the idea?
A: From YOU.

The personal emails I received in response to my Metta Blast posts inspired me, no ~ compelled me ~ to do more with Lovingkindness Practice in a deeper, more personal way. The idea hit me while reading the 5th or 6th email citing what a difference this practice has made in the prayer lives of some of my wonderfully open-minded Christian readers. Wow! A truth I already embraced for myself resonated with my visitors ~ it doesn't matter who you are, or where you come from, or what building you call "sanctuary", Metta Practice is congruent with what you already believe or even if you don't believe in anything ~ the only sanctuary worth focusing a light upon is the one within ourselves ~ the sanctuary within us all.

May all beings be safe
May all beings be happy
May all beings be healthy
May all beings live with ease.

For those of you engaging in Metta Practice, I'd love to hear from you. I'm finding that regularly sitting down and sending blessings to the world creates a dramatic shift in one's consciousness. Not only have I found myself reacting with deep compassion to those in pain around me, I actually sent a Metta Blast to a person who malevolently honked her horn at me during bumper•to•bumper DC traffic the other day.

"Oh dear... she must be suffering," I thought, "I'll send her some metta."

This... coming from a woman whose mantra just a few years ago was, "Please, God, make the annoying people JUST GO AWAY."

I'm falling in like with my "neutral" person to the point that I'll have to find another stranger to focus on. It seems Metta Practice turns "strangers" into acquaintances, acquaintances into friends, and friends into those we would stop everything we're doing to share a moment of truth with.

We are not so different, the world and me.

This isn't hocus pocus. It isn't WOO~WOO Hippee Kum•Ba•Ya Bullshit. At its simplest, Metta Practice is a reconditioning of the heart and mind. At it's highest, it is a practice of waking up to the presence of one's soul, which isn't something to take lightly. Anyone can engage in this practice ~ ANYONE. But remember, this isn't a me-based, sit on your butt-based, smells and bells spiritual self-help program. It is an other-centered practice whose basic premise is rooted in altruism. There's a reason they call it a "practice", it doesn't happen overnight, and like all spiritual practices, you should think of it as routine daily mainentanence. The rubber meets the road in the realm of spiritual discipline ~ the rewards of which can only be mined through consistent practice.

The good news? Breathing in and out and sending blessings won't cost you a penny. The bad news? Your soul probably isn't going to grant you an expensive spa treatment.

Americans want the smallest investment for the biggest gains. We want bullet-proof warranties and over-night deliveries, but God doesn't work that way. If you don't believe in God, then think of it this way ~ Nature doesn't work this way either. Seasons pass quietly, revealing the earth's wisdom in unique, unexpected, and sometimes painful ways ~ so it is with the practice of embracing and listening to one's deepest, Highest Nature. Change is always happening ~ sometimes invisibly. We can passively sit by and watch the parade, or we can actively interact with those around us as angels of positive change. Any bird will tell you sitting on a nest will get you only so far. There are migrations to make, and there are songs to be sung whose melodies have the power to liberate every suffering nation. So get off the nest! Pick up your meditation cushions! Become a living meditation for a broken world!

It is not enough just to meditate and pray, which are always good things to do, but we also must take positive action in this world.
~ Dalai Lama

Which leads me back to our Tuesday night community of Metta Circlers. We began by considering some questions ~ questions like:

  • What is kindness?
  • What does it mean when we say our "religion is kindness"?
  • Why is Metta Practice such an important part of Buddhist practice?
  • What if we take the basic idea of widening our circles in a loving & accepting way, and use it as a template in our physical world?
  • What would happen if I didn't just say the words, May I be safe, May I be happy, May I be healthy, May I live with ease, but embodied them?
  • Can we build a community of kindness and friendship around a desire to bless not only ourselves, but all sentient beings on the earth?

Instead of honking our horns at each other and asking God to make the difficult, angry people just "go away", maybe it's time for you and me, for this community, to heal the world through Metta Practice, externally engaged. Maybe part of the reason the world experiences so much dis-ease and pain is because people who know better choose to sit on our own cushions pondering our own pain, working through our own malaise, lamenting over our own lonliness, instead of tapping into the limitless source of radical love within our Best Nature ~ embodying and sharing it with those we come in contact with.

Everyone strives to become a better "Buddhist". I say, become a Buddha instead.
~ Lama Surya Das

So please join me and my fellow Metta Circlers. It takes the simplest of steps, but the step isn't always easy. Putting others above oneself and following the Golden Path of Altruism may not seem doable in the present moment, but I do invite you to put Lovingkindness Practice to the test. Don't take my word for it, try it on for size... take the Metta Practice Taste Test. Sit down for 10-20 minutes a day, and start by showering yourself with blessings. Don't get too specific, just repeat the phrases above in your heart. Hold yourself in the light of lovingkindness. Always, always, always, begin by blessing yourself. Then widen your circle to include a teacher. Widen it some more to include a loved one. Widen even more to hold a neutral stranger. Courageously push your circumference deeper to bless an enemy, and finally, don't forget to bless all beings (that includes you) in this wondrous world.

Practice it. Test it. Become a co-creator of kindness. Channel it. Funnel it. Deliver it. Empower the world with it. Go! If you wish to be happy, begin by communing with others in the spirit of Lovingkindness, today.

If you're new to my blog, please skim over my previous Metta entries here. Just start at the bottom and work your way to the top!

Posted by susan at June 11, 2007 11:45 PM

Comments

Brilliant. Simply brilliant. If we all in our separate corners of the world began to really practice this I believe it could change the world. Why do we think it would be so hard just to love? Like you, I've found myself overwhelmed with love for others, in line at the checkout, driving in my neighborhood, around town, etc. Wow. I just had a thought. What if I tried this while I'm sitting in church? They won't know what hit them!

Posted by: candy at June 11, 2007 11:36 PM

Trusting emergence. Wondrous things are emerging here, because another person in another community in which I participate is proposing something similar. I have noticed many things parallel. These emergings are exciting to me. I think that communities are starting to align with the eternal in its own right. This is just my observation. I feel an incredible energy in this.

Posted by: Bob at June 12, 2007 06:15 AM

Candy,

Yes. I hope you do that at church and feel the vibrations of Metta. Peace be to you!

Posted by: Bob at June 12, 2007 06:19 AM

What we focus on only becomes bigger, sooo.... it stands to reason. Beautiful idea Susan. I feel your love, I truly do.

Posted by: jayne at June 12, 2007 07:00 AM

I'm with you all the way! Keep up your marvelous work!! We can change ourselves and the world!!

Posted by: jzrart at June 12, 2007 08:44 AM

I've had similar experiences with "neutral" people in my life. At first, I thought that I was effecting a change in them, but after further reflection discovered that the changes were really happening within me. It's all part of that ripple effect we've been exploring with you.

I know there are naysayers who do not believe in the effect we can have on one another by the thoughts we think and hold in our hearts, but my view is: what's the down side? If the only person affected is me, then it is worth it; if it ends up being a good thing for others as well, all the better.

Thank you for your continued encouragement, Susan. (And thanks for the beautiful photos to focus on as we strive to make a difference.)

Posted by: Star at June 13, 2007 10:15 AM

Susan - beautiful photo; it sets the tone perfectly for your writing and your heart attitude.

I love how you are exploring this, and I especially love the lack of religious lines drawn around these ideas. They are so similar; as a Christian, I know that I have heard this taught and experienced this same concept repeatedly. Jesus - the basis for this faith - LIVED this kind of life, I believe. The love and kindness and GRACE he offered to the people he encountered were like huge metta blasts.

We've twisted and contorted our institutional Christianity so that it is often far, far away from the example he set for us; but at the heart of the matter, it resonates with exactly what you are talking about.

'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
'Pick up your cross daily.'

Not to beat the Christianity side to death, but I only wish we could all be open to a broader understanding of what it means to REALLY, AUTHENTICALLY love one another.

Once I was told to consider this: the annoying people around us are like sheep, without a shepherd. Oftentimes, they just don't know any better. They don't know they are loved, they are valued, they matter. Sending a metta blast their way can change that; more importantly, can change THEM! Even beyond that - we can invest ourselves in relationships that build upon those metta blasts and prayers for peace. THAT can change the world!

Another related idea when interacting with others: everybody has a story. There's a reason behind what people do. Considering their point of view makes a huge difference in how we interact with them.

Sorry to ramble; I'm so glad you're bringing this to the attention of those who have been captivated by your blog and your photos.

Posted by: beth at June 14, 2007 08:41 AM