My wife, Carol, had outpatient knee replacement surgery yesterday, Election Day, so we both went to sleep around 11 p.m. East Coast U.S. time. At 3 a.m., after I awoke and got a pain pill for her, I checked the election returns and decided to write and record a quick post and podcast with quotations about all of us and the world being perfect as we are because causes and conditions produced us. We and the world could be no different than who and what we are.
And just as people accept what comes and make it their teacher, maybe nations can, too. Maybe citizens can learn to listen more fully to each other. Here’s Thich Nhat Hanh on deep listening from his book The Art of Communicating:
Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of another person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen with only one purpose: to help him or her to empty his heart. Even if he says things that are full of wrong perceptions, full of bitterness, you are still capable of continuing to listen with compassion. Because you know that listening like that, you give that person a chance to suffer less. If you want to help him to correct his perception, you wait for another time. For now, you don't interrupt. You don't argue. You just listen with compassion and help him to suffer less. One hour like that can bring transformation and healing.
Huang Po from The Zen Teaching of Huang Po translated by John Blofeld:
If you can simply cease to cherish opinions, the present will be your only thought.
Shunryu Suzuki from Zen Mind Beginners Mind:
Each of you is perfect the way you are...and you can use a little improvement.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche from Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism:
The bad news is you're falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there's no ground.
Two more from Thich Nhat Hanh:
The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.
The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.
And a phrase he used often in guided meditations. You might try saying the first two words to yourself on the in-breath and the next two on the out-breath:
Present moment only moment.
One more thought: Carol will recover from her surgery regardless of election outcomes.
May we all rest peacefully in the perfection of the present moment.
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