Malware in the Conscious Operating System

We’ve all got some form of what I like to call “malware in the conscious operating system.”  Malware as I use the term in this context equates to belief, which is like a computer virus or adware that infects a computer system and renders it less than optimal and only partially functioning in many ways.  Some of our beliefs are very much like a virus as they are formed and seep into our conscious operating systems unconsciously.  To understand this completely, we really need to look at these terms in a little more detail so we can clearly understand what is plainly right in front of us in terms of our daily existence.  Until it’s called out, we are unaware of the existence of a thing.  Without said awareness, the “malware” so-to-speak, lives on unfettered by understanding creating some interesting challenges for a soul to deal with.  That isn’t bad or wrong, I’ll say.  Keep in mind this is just a framework for understanding.

When we look at belief alone, we can begin to understand precisely what it means.  In fact, dictionary.com defines it as:

noun

1.     something believed; an opinion or conviction:  a belief that the earth is flat.

2.     confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof: a statement unworthy of belief.

3.     confidence; faith; trust: a child's belief in his parents.

4.     a religious tenet or tenets; religious creed or faith: the Christian belief.

A belief in a thing does not make it real or a fact. A very quick and simple example of this fact is our common belief for the sake of convenience that the sun rises and sets each day when in fact, it is the Earth that is turning.  We might even think the world turns slowly when in fact the truth is that the Earth spins on its axis at the speed near the equator at approximately 1,070 miles per hour according to starryskies.com.  So, we can believe the sun rises and sets all we want to or that the Earth turns slowly but we can see from the facts, that these things are not true.  The beliefs are not real. We have come to believe the sun rises at sets or that the Earth turns slowly from things that we have read or been told by others who held these beliefs.

There is another term I have often used, “Environmental Psychology.”  This term references the things, situations and influence of the outside world upon a person that leads to the forming of belief about one’s self, one’s life or life in general that has more of a psychological nature.  Such things might include beliefs that we are worthy or unworthy, gifted or cursed, lucky or unlucky, loveable or unlovable and the list goes on.  Again, our environmental psychology has shaped our beliefs about ourselves, other people and the world.  But if our beliefs are not true and we’ve built the entirety of our lives upon a false premise in the form of belief or holding unconsciously to a belief created by environmental psychology, how might that affect our experience of life?

So above we have defined how our beliefs are formed.  Let us get into the now and sit very comfortably with our new understanding for just a moment.  How might this new information assist us in how we live our lives right here and right now?  Well, it can help us in a great many of ways but we must first steer clear of any form of blame for the series of beliefs that we hold that limit us in any way.  We’re going to start living in the now positively because that puts our power right where it belongs, in our own hands.  So, let us be accountable for our beliefs because whether or not they were given to us or we formed them in response to environmental psychology, it is we who decide to continue to hold the belief or not.  Right?  Give that some thought.  No one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to hold that thought from your childhood where you overheard Aunt Martha or Uncle Harry say to each other you were a "this kind of child" or a  "that kind of child" that left you feeling either bad or good.  Belief is not real.  It is untested hypothesis. 

Moving right along, we can unleash an anti-virus program for the Malware running in the background of our Human Consciousness Operating System in the form of belief given us by environmental psychology.  But to do this, you must realize it will take effort, commitment, courage, tenacity and a little bit of reflection and critical analysis.  You have to find the malware first before you can remove it.  If you do not know it is there, you will never find its source and never be able to remove it successfully and will always resort to behaving as if old beliefs are facts.  So, the simple way to find them is to look for them.   

An easy way to spot them is to think about something that you really want right now in this moment.  Go ahead, think about that for a moment.  Have you got something in mind?  Good.  Hold that thought.  Now, think about what in your mind prevents you from having what you want?  Jot down all the reasons or rationales that have you believing that you cannot or do not have what you want.  Continue until you have every possible reason whether real or not real, vetted and noted.  Don't judge what you think, just write it down.  Now, take a look at your list.  I am willing to bet that there will be at least one if not many more life limiting beliefs representing themes of malware that you’ve lived with your entire life staring right back at you hidden quite conveniently in simple thoughts. 

Choose one of those thoughts on your list that you’d like to investigate further.  Take that thought and ask yourself is the thought you chose real?  Is the belief behind it real?  Can you prove that it is real?  How can you prove it is real without using an assumption and only dealing with independently verifiable facts that stand up to repeated testing with the same outcome?  By critical thinking I mentioned above, I did not mean to think of yourself critically.  I meant to start critically analyzing your beliefs with the rigor of a scientific researcher.  Is that thought or belief true?  How do you know?  If you run across a belief on your list that cannot be independently verified as definitive truth or fact, I invite you to introduce yourself to your first piece of malware.  Now, if you’d like to eradicate the malware you have to be willing to let go of the belief no matter what that means.  Sometimes letting go of a belief can be simple and at other times it can be very difficult.  Letting go of the idea of Santa Clause was not easy at first as a child now was it?  Letting go of the idea of monsters under the bed also wasn’t easy but getting to the truth and dealing with reality is how we can set ourselves free from malware.

You see, malware is a prison we commit ourselves to for many very good reasons but mostly due to lack of conscious understanding.  You may have full understanding at the spiritual level and any malware you hold may be the very premise from which your greatest life lessons are learned.  However, if you find at some point that your beliefs limit you in ways that you no longer desire, you can relinquish the beliefs that don’t bear out under the scrutiny of testing and in so doing you reveal to yourself the hiding place of the key that unlocks the door to your self-made prison cell.

Do you remember I said earlier there was no right way or wrong way to learn life lessons?  In this wonderful piece of wisdom from the Kybalion written by the Three Initiates early on in the last century, the following phrase comes:   "Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law."--The Kybalion.  There is cause and there is effect.  Your beliefs create the path from which you learn about your life.  If you find your lesson plan enjoyable, proceed without change.  If you find it isn’t and you seek greater understanding, then look to your malware, beliefs and environmental psychology.  The emerging patterns and themes will be your guide and will help you to understand you.  It’s one tiny part of the reason you are here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little bit of food for thought.  If you'd like to learn more about this topic and how the concepts of it can help you remove the obsticles in your life that prevent your growth, let me know.  I've got a course for you that can help you discover more about yourself called Exploring the Conscious Self. With the self-study guide book and work-book, you'll be well on your way to discovering a good many things about you that you may never have given thought to.  If you're interested in more details, please contact me at jaiehart@gmail.com.  Blessings!

 

© 2015 Jaie Hart (photo/words)

Random Thoughts Over Coffee

The sun is creeping up behind the buildings across the way while the birds are sweetly singing. A beautiful summer morning to behold yet again, I think silently sipping my coffee. So, why is this nagging trepidation settling in over my soul? The Earth has felt so hot, scorched to the point the grass is dying, the flowers are gone and well established trees now struggle to live in my part of the world. How long before people truly begin to realize we’ve taken Her for granted. By Her I speak of our beautiful Mother Earth. Without her, we could not live. She gives us water to drink, supplies from which we build our shelters, our businesses, our automobiles and trains and all the stuff that make up the comforts of our lives. All of this life we have teaming around us includes that which we have been so generously and benevolently given and yet all we seem to do is take – take and consume – and take some more. I am not innocent. I too must learn. But I see and feel and now I write.

As I sit here with my thoughts I have to ask, have we taken now too much without sufficient effort to replenish? Is this what we are seeing all over the world or is it simply some random cyclical journey we have yet to fully realize because no race before has lived for as long? It doesn’t take much now to notice the civilizations that came before or the realization that they were a bit more civilized than we may have given them credit for. Their technology potentially by far more advanced in some ways that we just can’t quite even figure out yet. Maybe they too ran into a cyclical cataclysm of unstoppable events that began with them and we to will met our end as did they.

Maybe that is yet our future too and one-day strangers sifting through our ruins will wonder about what we thought important as artifact after artifact is pulled from the rubble. But what about right now? Do we have to live so carelessly? I witness the wrong decisions time and time again if there is any objective of sustainability of the populations to come on this planet. We have technology but refuse to use it and instead we favor the limited sources that grow in value as their stores diminish. Is that the point? Is that really best that humanity can come up with? Will we tire and deplete Her resources to the point there is no turning back? We already have in some places. We have destroyed that which cannot be immediately repaired, replaced or in other ways, brought back. Is it already too late for us and have we robbed our children of tomorrows without even comprehending how? We refused to listen to those hippie environmental kooks who couldn’t possibly know anything right?

How do we get the population to care more about future sustainability than a buck to fleetingly feed or entertain you to ease your boredom for just a moment when you are destroying lands and ecologies that could have fed yet for lifetimes? Those hippie Kooks should have been listened to from the beginning if you ask me. Their hearts were not motivated by greed but by love for the very land we walk upon. We must find a reason to care. Like it or not, we are in this together. We can remain divided on causes and solutions. We can pursue the mighty dollar over humanity and nature and in the end we’ll all just die any way so what does it matter? It matters right now, it will matter for those who come after. We cannot hate or deter those who destroy and do only what they know how to do as their fathers had done. We can only attempt to peaceably teach or we become them in other ways we would not truly wish to be.

I listen now to the birds singing happily in the trees outside. Beautiful life giving trees, old, beautiful still and thirsty. They thirst. We thirst. All of life matters…our trees and plants, humanity – we are all part of life and we all matter. Let us find ways to coexist without doing harm, with a sense of pride in preservation of nature, of life and let us endeavor to create more sustainable existence for ourselves now and for those who will follow. This isn’t just our Earth after all. It belongs to the children of our children’s children. We must think not just of ourselves in these matters or there will be no place for them in the future and that would be tragic. If you care, find a way to get involved – support no fracking, support planting trees, support solar energy, support alternative modes of transportation when you can, strive to make even a small effort to leave a smaller foot print. Every single effort you consciously take matters. Thank you for listening. I love this Earth and I care about humanity. I have every faith that we can do by far much better than what we have done. I want to believe in a brighter tomorrow and that there will be a land that our children’s children will enjoy laughing and playing upon as well as thrive. Maybe it is a silly dream but it is real and I’ll never give up on it. No. Not ever.

© 2015 Jaie Hart

The Urge to Stand - the Urge to Live

I remember a moment as a very young girl where I witnessed an important life lesson in progress. Of course at the time the message was quite lost on me as I was quite lost in a very special moment. A long time ago there was a little place called the Japanese Village and Deer Park in Buena Park, California. It was at this beautiful little park that I first came face to face with a little fawn and its first breath of life. The sunlight as I remember it was perfectly shining, with the beautiful Japanese manicured gardens and a wonderful cool breeze as a backdrop. My parents brought us there a few times and I recall it being a favorite of mine. I love the gentleness of the does and absolutely adored the little playful fawns. On one trip one little fawn was born right in front of me. I remember thinking how amazing it was and how cute it was.

My parents were a bit horrified but quickly explained something natur-ific and distracting that was their way and they went about their business. They didn’t see what I saw because they didn’t understand or fully appreciate the entirety of the beauty we had just witnessed. My focus went right back to the little fawn with my questions most immediately answered. Only moments after birth I was stunned that the little fawn on its long clumsy limbs was trying so hard to stand. It was amazing to me that urge to stand and that urge stuck with me in that moment all the way up until this present day. Throughout all of my days since then have I seen that very same urge to stand (or urge to live) in everything I have encountered here on our beautiful planet Earth.

At so many stages in the life of a human being after its initial physical birth is that human being then reborn over and over again as he or she learns something new, tests it out (tries to stand) and attempts to work meaning into their lives. Whenever we are knocked down by something it seems our first inclination is to stand again. There is always that urge to stand, that urge to live and that urge to prevail. It is innate to our being and nature. But that nature can be broken. And it is a sad and heart wrenching day to see it broken. When a human being loses its urge to stand and just gives up, it breaks my heart. I’ve seen that much in my life I suppose and it’s always been sad to me. I know that feeling of not wanting to get up after being knocked down one too many times. But, there is that little urge inside me that no matter how tired or frustrated I get, will not allow me to stay down and I will follow the urge to stand even if on broken seeming limbs some times because at some level I know that my life depends on it.

I think that urge to live is the spirit of the heart of all of us that knows that everything ultimately is going to be all right. Sometimes you may have to exercise a heck of a lot of patience to come to this realization but if you hold the faith it will come, it WILL come. I learned this lesson watching a beautiful gentle doe give birth to a beautiful little fawn nearly 50 years ago. That life lesson will never leave me and always will I try to share that knowledge and beauty with others – that urge to stand no matter what is the beautiful part of our being and should be embraced. The part of us that sometimes wants to give up is also a beautiful part of our being and just needs to be better accepted and understood. Never lose your urge to rise or to live.
 
Life is infinitely beautiful if you can find a way, even if a very small way to see it. If you try and it all still seems dark – find yourself someone who can see to help you look for it. You’ll then find again that resident urge and it’s beauty, strength and wonder will have you rising to face the amazing wonder that truly is your life. Blessings.

© 2015 Jaie Hart (photos of the Deer Park copy right unknown).

So It's Over. Now What? - Are You Struggling with the End of a Relationship?

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Relationships are a very important aspect of our existence here on Earth and one of our greatest sources for learning.  Unfortunately, no one teaches us in advance what to do when that perfect seeming relationship ends or needs to.  Well, I thought about that quite a long time and then decided to write this book.  My intent is to help others better understand relationships, their own feelings as well as the life lessons they truly intended to learn through relationships.  I wanted to share with you an excerpt from one of my latest books.  Read on.  If it piques your interest, click the link under the picture above.  I'm offering all of my books half off right now.  The money isn't the key importance for me in my work at this time.  It is getting messages out there to help people learn, grow and love their lives more.  So, then...on with the excerpt.  I hope you enjoy it.  

 

This book is about relationship endings and emotions, effects and thoughts that follow along with some suggestions for what to do and think as well as what not to do and think if you are interested in healing and moving on following the ending of a relationship.  This book is intended to be a toolbox of bits and pieces of information that might help you view your situation a little bit differently.  We’ve all known pain and heartbreak when a relationship ends.  It’s horrible, it’s awful; it’s so very final and uncomfortable.  But there can also be joy, serenity, opportunity, adventure and discovery.  It’s all in how you choose to look at it.

In my book, Changing Perspectives – The Journey is the Destination, I wrote about changing your perspective so that you might change your outlook on life generally by pointing out that what you perceive in a certain way may not actually be the truth.  This is ultimately a good thing no matter whether you stand on the positive or negative side of the line.  This book is not all that different in concept.  However, the concepts in that book are applied here specifically to dealing with the ending of romantic relationships.  This book is about taking a cold, hard look at where you’ve been, how you got there and now, what you can do about it to move through to healing and avoid repeating the same “lessons” (and that doesn’t mean never getting involved again).  On that note, don’t let any man or woman shut your heart down forever more!  That wasn’t the role they intended to play in your life and you can be afraid and run away, you can blame and deny OR, you can take a look at the relationship or all of the relationships in your past, see what you did, how you reacted and what your goals were and determine what works for you and doesn’t going forward.

So, who am I and how in the world am I qualified to write a book on endings of relationships?   Well, I’m just like you.  I have lived, I have loved and I have lost….many times over.  I am not in a 30-year marriage with no relationship or dating experience preaching to you about how you have to compromise everything for the sake of a relationship.  I’ve been married a few times so I’m definitely clear on the “what does and doesn’t work” department.  I have had the unique experience of listening to the stories of my clients, paying attention to the news, analyzing information received from all six senses (and yes, there is a sixth sense) and I have failed miserably so many times personally by ignoring lessons I only now understand.  I’m not a relationship expert but I do have a unique perspective on a good number of things and a very strong desire to help people grasp life lessons and turn the negatives into positives in that specific arena. 

Because I’m like you, I know a measure of what you feel, I know the physical pain of endings and I also know that pain in this area is nothing to fear because you can move on and do so in a healthy way.  I am a reverend, an intuitive and spiritual counselor and even though you don’t know me from Adam, I happen to care about you and your growth here on Earth.  I’d like to help set out a little bit of a road map that might shed some light for you on your journey.

One of the things I have learned in my travels of life here on Earth is that at the end of a relationship, we have a very unique opportunity to explore the whole of ourselves.  We get to learn about what we wanted consciously, projected unconsciously, what we actually had, what worked for us and what didn’t, and what we compromised on too much or didn’t enough.  We also can see where we held blame and denial instead of unconditional love. 

If it’s over now and you find yourself alone, please know that it is definitely not a fate worse than death to be alone, it is not horrible to be alone and since you cannot predict with 100 percent certainty you’ll only ever be alone, there is no use in wallowing in bad feelings indefinitely.  So, grab yourself a beverage, find a comfy spot to sit down and let’s talk for a bit and see what we can do about your current situation.  I’m willing to bet we can find something for you to work with to get you out of any “feeling sorry for yourself” modes of existence and get you into thinking about opportunities…and maybe, just maybe, we can get you right back out there and drawing to you the right man or woman to have an even better relationship experience with the next time around.

Before we go on, let me just say this, I wish you much love and healing on this journey of endings.  I’m willing to bet you will look back on this time one day and see it for the beautiful beginning it truly was or is.  May your God or Goddess be with you and comfort you at this most precious and truly beautiful time in your life.


If after reading this you have questions, feel free to ask me in the comments.  I'm also a Metaphysical Counselor and Life Coach if you're interested in working more one on one.  You can email me at Jaiehart@gmail.com.  You can check out my biography by Clicking Here:  Biography.

Blessings!

Jaie 

Rays of the Light of the Sun

Imagine, if you will, the sun…bright beautiful light with rays spilling all about in every direction.  Remember as a child, you might have liked to draw it with your yellow and orange crayons, paint it or just sit on the grass and feel it.  Consider for a moment the sun, not as a bright continually combusting and radiating star but a metaphor for our Conscious existence.  Think about it and consider the saying, “We are all one.”  Go back now, imagine the sun as if it were the ultimate Big “C” Consciousness radiating in all of its glory.  Consider now for a moment, each of us tiny humans with our little “c” consciousness…The microcosm of the Macrocosm.  We are each like a ray of the Sun’s light.  We emanate from the same Source and we travel and move – Consciousness in Motion!

It is a simple metaphor but you can pick any other as you may choose – branches of a tree, rain drops and the ocean.  It doesn’t really matter how you choose to consider it as much as it matters that you do consider it.  Because, until you do, you may go on in your lives not understanding or realizing the impact you have on the Whole.  You are a bright and beautiful part of the Whole, traveling outward, experiencing Consciousness in motion from the Source Consciousness of our Origins.  We are not small egoic only, self-serving, narcissistic humans.  We may at times behave in ways incongruent with that statement but that is only behavior and can be relegated to malware installed in the consciousness operating system.  We are more than that, all of us, despite how we engage here with our consciousness.  We are rare and precious, driving always to persevere, that drive to go, that impetus to reach and grow.  We are amazing and we don’t even know what we are.  We just live day in and day out never giving it a thought.

It’s okay, really.  You don’t have to think about it but if you did, if you realized what it is you truly are, how might you perceive things and respond or react differently to all that you see and experience?  If you knew the stranger before you was in fact your brother or sister, traveling just like you are, would you be so quick to judge or to cause harm?  Would you have the strength of spirit to strive more towards inquiry than belief alone?  You could if you so chose or you could not if you so chose.  Free will dictates you can do as you see fit here in this realm including the violation of the law of Free will if you wanted.  In the end, it’s mostly you that suffers the fate of that violation because in violating another’s Free will, you violate your own.

Going back to the metaphor of human beings existing as beautiful rays of light from the Sun, we all shine.  We cannot shine more by going after or attempting to merge with or thwart the other shinning rays you encounter on your Conscious journey.  It just doesn’t work like that.  What helps you to shine ever more brightly is the realization that you are a star, your light is bright and when you appreciate just how much this is so, you keep your own light pure, pristine and sparkling as you journey encouraging the fellow rays (humans) to keep on shinning, keep on traveling in the light.  Even if you meet with dark and ominous storm clouds on some strange planet you’ve no idea how you encountered, you are still a beautiful ray of light, energy and Consciousness that never dies.  Your light and energy cannot ever be extinguished, only transformed.

Did you know you could transform even now?  Did you know that you could awaken to the myriad of choices before you in every 3^rd dimensional breathing moment you exist here right now?  So many choices have you and despite how you may feel in a moment, never are you alone–millions upon billions and trillions of rays of light emanate from the Sun of which I speak.  We reach and shine, that’s just what we do…it’s what We do.  So, do what you were meant to do at the moment of your choosing and just shine…shine like the Sun…be the bright and beautiful Consciousness that you are just because you can.

 

© 2015 Jaie Hart

Embracing Change

 

Sometimes in life we get rather comfortable with the routine of things.  We’re happily doing this or that humming right along and then suddenly it happens, change peers at you just above the horizon.  Sometimes that change is actually coming from deep within you but you may not notice that until you learn to become incredibly aware of how you create in this life and why.

Change often seems like an unwanted surprise and something we often at first resist.  But here is a little nugget of truth you’ve probably heard before or know deep down inside:  If nothing ever changed, we would become complacent, our senses dulled by routine and our brain cells would waste away without the challenge that change brings. 

So, we mix it up a bit or the universe in its infinite wisdom seems to help you along with that whether you are willing or not.  The depth of discomfort change will bring you depends solely on your level of resistance to it.  What we resist persists and so it’s best to face change with courage.  I feel that way about change.

Change is hard to deal with whether we choose it or it chooses us.  The thing to remember is that change is always good.  No.  Of course it doesn’t always feel good but when you get past the moment of big change and look back, you can often see the wisdom you may not have gained without it.  Even unwanted change can bring us necessary growth that we ultimately benefit greatly from.

So much change is on the wind as is so often the case for me.  I’ve learned to look at a change a little differently.  Instead of tensing up in fear or bracing at the thought of it, I just sort of jump into it and take what comes.  There is always something good in the end.  Always.  I can’t think of a single change that did not carry some form of benefit even if it initially brought me pain.  The pain contrasts, hones and refines our character and can make us better and stronger.  We just have to allow it to be that for us and then it will be.  Resisting change just makes it more painful.  Embracing it with curiosity and staying in the moment, makes it much more palatable or at least a tiny bit less painful to deal with.

Sometimes change means we have to mourn the way things used to be.  It’s okay to be in touch with your emotions when change shows up at your door.  Denying emotion is not a loving thing to do for one’s self.  Allowing yourself to feel how you feel is a very kind thing to do for you.  Trusting yourself to manage the change is another way to minimize any suffering.  You can handle change.  You can manage change.  You can recover from change.  You can even find some kind of silver lining in it if you want to.  Everything comes spinning right back to you and your thoughts and perceptions about change.

Change is the one thing we can always count on in life.  Why not settle in and get comfortable with that idea and find a way to be okay with it?  If you don’t like certain changes, depending upon what they are, you have decisions to make. We do get to make some choices in life.  While we cannot stop the sun from setting, we can learn to love the stars.  If we don’t care for sunlight and sunburns, we can move into the shade and still enjoy the day.  Being willing to be a change agent for yourself is sometimes very necessary to bring about your own growth too.  Change is not the enemy.  We can become our own enemy when we face it.  It’s up to us how we will choose to see it.  We can struggle against it and suffer or we can let it flow and carry us to a better place in time.

© 2015 Jaie Hart (Photo/Words)

Compassion for All of Humanity

Yesterday I had the unique and wonderful opportunity to participate in something amazing. I have long respected the work of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama and was fortunate to be able to attend his 80^th birthday celebration in Orange County, California on July 5, 2015. The things I took in from the moment I arrived are still being processed within my being. His Holiness is an amazing and wonderful teacher and the lessons are not just in the words that he speaks but also within everything that happens around him.

As soon as we pulled into the venue you could hear the chants and drum beats of the anti-supporters. I just observed them and the commotion they created without reacting realizing that in all likelihood, His Holiness would hold the same compassion for them as he does everyone else. After we parked the car and made our way to the venue, there were the real supporters, the every day people and those who silently explained what the anti-supporters were about. There was no hatred for the anti-supporters in return and I’m reminded that here in the U.S., we do have freedom of speech. Although why we would speak out against compassion is still something I struggle with a bit. I have much learning to do.

The events within the event we witnessed were simply put, amazing. Wonderful performances of various kinds in celebration of our having the Dalai Lama with us here for 80 years! Truly it is a blessing. If there is anything I’ve learned in this life it is to reach for compassion no matter what you face for in so doing you can alleviate much self-imposed suffering as well as beginning to ease the suffering of others.

The event presented wonderful and famous leaders, entertainers, academics and fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. Again, I’m reminded that while His Holiness is a great supporter and leader of Buddhist doctrine, he is also the head political leader of his nation, Tibet. It is interesting how politics and religion seem always to clash and yet here we have it in one individual and this individual supports and holds compassion for those who follow all paths whether or not they are his own and whether or not he personally believes in those paths. His personal belief is not forcefully imposed on people. His compassion seems endless and that is miraculous in this world. Yet another lesson learned.

We are faced with choices in everything we encounter. For a very long time I have tried very hard to stay A-political publicly. I do have my own opinions and have been called an “F-ing liberal” on more than one occasion with much ire. I don’t begrudge the labelers as long as they do not force me to live against my truth (and I fully understand that my free will ends at my person – a personal rule of thumb). I try instead to understand their perspectives whether they are name-calling, belittling or attacking. 

I’ve tried to stay quiet mostly because I’ve seen people torn apart by religion and politics and frankly I just wasn’t strong enough to deal with it. Now I realize it isn’t a matter of strength so much as it is a matter of holding compassion no matter what you face or how it comes to you. So, I had to think very hard about what it is that I truly stand for because I can no longer silently just think and wish or hope that things will change. As I learned yesterday, we have to take action.

The things I care about most in this world relate to humanity and providing for it despite borders, cultures or religious beliefs. I’m an American by birth but in my blood there are so many countries, Ireland, Scotland, England, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, India, Slovenia, Slovakia, German and that is just one side of my family. You see, although I was born in North America, I cannot find myself saying just “God Bless America” and be satisfied with that. Why not “Bless all of Humanity?” I’m grateful to have been born where I was born, I’m incredibly grateful for all of those who help us maintain the constitutional freedoms we enjoy here and I deeply respect every single soul who fought for freedom throughout the ages against any form of oppression. I willingly pay my taxes even if sometimes a bit begrudgingly because I don’t necessarily agree with the majority in terms of how that money is spent. I’d prefer it not be spent on so many wars I’m not behind but I’m part of a country and I must stand with it or decide to find peaceable and compassionate ways to influence more positive outcomes.

I think no matter where you were born you will find good things and not so good things about the soil on which you were born. “Be grateful any way,” is how I think. But I go back to something that I learned again and I go back to what I stand for again. I stand for humanity. I stand for all cultures. I stand for equal rights. I stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. I very strongly stand for uplifting rather than degrading human beings in any way shape or form.

I realize that every human being across the planet has their beliefs and all will take action on those beliefs as they see fit. I believe in protecting humanity, uplifting humanity, healing humanity, feeding humanity, sheltering humanity and supporting humanity. So now I think enough with good thoughts alone. It is time now for action. I write, I inform, and try to point out that no matter what degree of a circle you stand upon with your belief, there are 359 more degrees. I prefer to teach people to look at their beliefs and truly understand them, all of them. If we could learn about and understand what blocks our ability to love ourselves and each other, hold compassion for ourselves and each other and to support ourselves and each other, I think we could change the world.

The Dalai Lama wants to see compassion in this world – much more of it. I have to say that I stand with him with every cell of my being and every shred of all that comprises my consciousness. The events of the day yesterday, his words and presence, and the love inspired in the thousands in attendance were proof to me of just how effective and powerful love and compassion can be. It doesn’t require any dogma or money and it doesn’t require blood. It just requires an openness of heart and spirit. To me that is something that seems so simple. I wish that every human could feel this beautiful thing and realize no matter what soil you were born upon, no matter your culture or your beliefs, when you can find the heart of compassion you have become among the richest of human beings in the world. When you find it, share it. That’s what I learned in all of my years and saw summarized in a wonderful tribute to a great spiritual/political leader yesterday. I’m just in awe and will be forever grateful for the opportunity. Thank you His Holiness the Dalai Lama for all the compassion you embody and for sharing your special day with us in the West. We love you. Blessings of great love and compassion for all.

© 2015 Jaie Hart (photo/words)