Channels for the Light

Archive for October 6th, 2009

I really like and agree with a lot of Eastern religious thought, and a while back I found a book entitled Moving Forward, Keeping Still: The Gateway to Eastern Wisdom. It’s a wonderful little book, and I thought I might start sharing thoughts from it on a regular basis. So anyway, here’s the first quote:

When you are deluded and full of doubt, even a thousand books of scripture are not enough. When you have realized understanding, even one word is too much. — Fen-Yang

When I read this, I think about my hikes out into the beautiful Alaskan wilderness. Out there, I don’t need any books of scripture. Nature is my Bible, and I am in the presence of God and I am connected with and energized by All That Is. I am at One with Being. Words then, are inadequate and are not necessary.

Another quote that comes to mind, though not from this book, is this one:

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive. — Thich Nhat Hanh

That is how I feel when I’m hiking out in the wilderness — truly alive!

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. — Tao te Ching

If you were a pot, what would you be holding inside? One thing is for sure — you would not be empty! We all have a choice about what our souls, our hearts — our pots — will be full of. What we choose to hold onto inside greatly impacts our lives and the quality of the relationships we have.

You — and I — can choose to look at what is wrong in our lives and with the world and fill our “pots” with anger or depression or hatred or condemnation or any number of negative emotions that drag us, and the world, down. Or, we can choose to look at what is right in our lives and with the world and fill our “pots” with love, joy, compassion, and any number of good emotions that will empower us to be positive and to make positive changes in our lives and in the world.

I’m not advocating the idea that we should ignore problems by any means whether they exist on a personal or a global level, but I am suggesting that we should try to see things in the most positive light possible and share the best that we have inside with the world.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. (Luke 6:45 KJV)

Let’s fill our hearts — our pots — with good things. Let’s fill our hearts today and every day with love, compassion, and joy and out of the abundance of our hearts speak and act in ways that bring happiness, peace, and joy to others and one by one do our parts to make the world a better, happier, more loving and more compassionate place.