It's All Good

This expression is one I often used not so long ago and then ceased using for some reason, perhaps doubting its truth. I saw it today on a web site entitled “The Thirty Day Blessing Way Challenge,” and seeing it caused me to think again about its implications. Earlier I had listened to Neal Donald Walsh say much the same thing in a web radio interview. Then a dinner discussion with my partner concerning the nature of right and wrong brought the question to me once again. I was set to notice the expression when it appeared to me a short time later.

Though we may find the statement “It's all good” hard to believe it has weighty backup. “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NRSV). This Pauline statement is not so different from a Buddhist outlook that good or enlightenment is the only possible outcome for our individual and therefore collective journey. Misfortune becomes part of the overall lesson and apparent evil serves only to create a greater good than might have been imagined before. In both Christian and Buddhist perspectives, those in tune with their greater purpose, service or oneness with God as the sum of all being, are no longer victimized by present events: they live within a universal rather than a particular perspective.

Both the Buddha and the Christ ask us to view individual situations and conditions with compassion rather than judgment. Compassion prevents us from condemning in any way. It simply is not possible to combine the two. Compassion requires us to walk in the shoes of absolutely everyone who lives on this earth, bar none. In compassion I have to become the terrorist, the murderer, the robber. I have to understand their motivation and the yearnings that cause them to act as they do. I may see their acts as unfortunate and still maintain compassion, but I must also acknowledge some responsibility for conditions helping to spawn their attitudes and behavior.

Most people will justify their actions, no matter how “wrong” they may appear to others. To justify means to find an action “right” by some standard. As observers, we may find another's standard unsubstantial, but compassion helps us to comprehend that we are not the ones caught in this particular circumstance and in a sense imprisoned by this particular point of view. Individuals crashing planes into the Twin Towers or the Pentagon called out: “God be praised!” because they believed their actions to be right in terms of the conflict they perceived themselves to be waging against “the Great Satan.” A murderer kidnaps and executes an aging couple because he never felt love as a child. They become the surrogates for parents and grandparents whom he feels never showed love. Their slightest actions and their obvious fear show him once again how he is always denied love. His reaction is to kill while begging them to love.

I can now see myself in all these circumstances whether as murderer or victim, but that was not always so. It may require reflection before I can reach what I consider a compassionate point of view while I wish it could be immediate, but immediacy will come only with time as I dissolve all anger and bitterness remaining in my heart.

We release ourselves from victimization only when we see the possibility for good in any situation. The good outcome may not be immediately apparent and it certainly will not often manifest so immediately as apparent harm. Someone said: “Misfortune happens quickly and good things take a while to accomplish.” This statement deserves consideration as we think about how life works on all levels. Horror and war teach us to treasure beauty and peace. Perhaps some of us can only learn to treasure peace by direct experience of war, even to the point of creating atrocities. We have no idea what requirement another soul may have on its journey to enlightenment – and it is for this reason alone that compassion is our only appropriate response.

I long for the day when all war and terror, all atrocity, murder, theft and deceit will cease. All the universe will rejoice on that instant I feel sure. That instant cannot be until all are ready – until all are sufficiently enlightened to “learn war no more” (Micah 4:3) in reference to personal, family, community and international relationships. This time will come when we all can appreciate beauty, love and peace without need for opposing experiences to prove their necessity for our survival and prosperity.

We can do most to change the outlook of others by first changing our own perspective. We too often preach peace and love with prevailing and often unacknowledged anger in our hearts. I know I personally hold much anger in my heart and I feel it more intensely as I become more aware. This is good! Only then can I embrace, absolve and dissolve the anger from my heart with true heart forgiveness.

The “Thirty Day Blessing Way Challenge” mentioned in an earlier post is one exercise that may help each of us address any bitterness we harbor within. Merely the commitment to greet every individual with blessing and to find the good in every circumstance will help us begin to dissolve embedded anger with kindness for ourselves as well as for those whom we encounter. Family, community and world peace can only arrive when we each carry only peace and love in our hearts. Until that instant, and while we all carry at least some discord somewhere in our hearts, let us choose not to condemn others no matter how reprehensible their actions may seem. As peace and love grow in our hearts, so will we find ourselves able to pass more and more quickly through anger and judgment to view others with compassion (loving-kindness) regardless of circumstance.

Thirty Day Blessing Way Challenge

I am placing this link on this site because I believe that we, together with so many others, can make a real difference to the world and equally importantly to ourselves by participating. Please view the page and make your personal decision according to your feelings. Your conscious support for all those participating will aid in this endeavor even if you choose not to be active. Blessings to each of you my friends!

http://bettertobless.com/

The challenge statement is worth reading even if you go no further. Just following these four principals can lead to individual and community blessing.

"As a Challenge participant, you will receive a daily email for the next 30 days containing a brief thought-provoking message, a quick exercise designed to stretch your "blessing muscles" and an affirmation to repeat throughout the day. Your name will also be added to the growing list of Challenge participants.

To accept the challenge, simply fill in the form (online) and then commit to following these four steps for a period of not less than 30 days.

• I will suspend all judgment and will, instead, bless every person and situation I encounter, both those I physically meet and those that simply come to mind.

• I will actively search for the blessing in every circumstance and in those times when none can be found, I will trust that the blessing will be revealed when the time is right.

• I will daily express an attitude of gratitude, for all the blessings in my life, even those I cannot see.

• Whenever I feel stressed, pressed or confused, I will take a Blessing Breather, quieting my mind for a moment and focusing only on my breath, breathing deeply and slowly. With each inhalation, I will mentally affirm "I am so blessed" and with each exhalation, I will mentally affirm "I am a blessing to the world," repeating the process at least three times and allowing my body to relax completely before returning to the task at hand."