Category: Uncategorized

Beauty Is Found Everywhere

     An art writer was giving a lecture at the monastery.

     “Art is found in a museum,” he said, “but beauty is found everywhere, in the air, on the ground, all over the place, free for the taking―with no name attached to it.”

     “Exactly like spirituality,” said the Master the following day when he was alone with his disciples.  “Its symbols are found in the museum called a temple, but its substance is everywhere, free for the taking, unrecognized, with no name attached to it.”

– Anthony de Mello, One Minute Nonsense

Source: http://thelighthouseonline.com/misc/oneminute.html

Fix Your Mind on God

     “If you let your mind dwell on ghosts, you’ll become a ghost yourself. If you fix your mind on God, your life will be filled with God. Now―which are you going to choose?”

– Sri Ramakrishna

Source: http://ihprocess.com/2017/11/11/november-11th-daily-meditation-moment-2/

Effects of Religion

     One of the evil effects of religion, according to the Master, is that it has split humanity into sects.

     He loved to tell of the little boy who asks his little girlfriend, “Are you a Presbyterian?”

     “No,” said the little one loftily, “we belong to another abomination!”

– Anthony de Mello, More One Minute Nonsense

The Right Way

     “There are only two choices of action in any given situation: the right way and the wrong way.  I consider anything in between the wrong way.”

— Excerpted from The Truth as I See It: A Collection of Spiritual Writings by Adam Soto (p. 58)

 

Copyright 2018 Golden Rule Independent Publications

Q & A: Tough Love

Question: In your writings, you speak often of the term “unconditional love”―where would “tough love” fit into that?

Answer: In my opinion, “tough love” can absolutely be considered a form of unconditional love.  How “loving” would it be to indulge a friend or loved one by helping them to be an inferior version of themselves, to be less than their true potential?  To be honest, tough love is the most difficult kind of love because it usually means that we have to stand by and watch someone suffer until they are willing to confront their destructive behavior and embrace their true potential.  To assist someone by helping them to continue in their own self-destruction seems to me to be the opposite of love.

     I’m not suggesting that tough love should be an automatic response to a given situation.  There are many avenues that can be explored first, such as counseling or an intervention, but if someone refuses constructive help, they may need to hit “rock bottom” before they are ready for a constructive approach.

     I think a good question to ask in any given situation is, “Am I helping this person to be constructive in building themselves up, or helping them to be destructive in tearing themselves down?”

     I understand that each situation is unique, so you must follow what you feel is right based on all of the information at your disposal―the mental state, financial concerns, family circumstances, and other miscellaneous variables of the person (or people) involved.  If tough love seems appropriate given the circumstances, know that, in my opinion, it is still love―you love them so much that you’re not going to be an accomplice in their own destructive behaviors.

     Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong, but that’s The Truth as I See It.