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.

Life, Love, Beauty

Find a place in life for spirit –

- A place for love and the expression of love,

- A place for beauty.

Have the courage to say: "I love you!"

Treasure that place of love even in contention.

Keep that place of love free of passing anger, no matter how deep the offense.

Find all the small, wonderful ways to show love.

Accept responsibility only from love and not from obligation.

Appreciate beauty and take it in with every breath.

Treasure each breath is the greatest beauty we know, as each breath brings life in which to treasure beauty.

Let your soul be free to feel and to share beauty and love as it longs to do.

Find a space to see or hear only beauty and to feel only love each day.

Keep this space quiet and pure.

Center yourself here and find renewal here.

Experience yourself as loved, cherished and valued by you and know that the universe marvels at your wondrous creation.

Remember: The universe admires all that is: why should we take exception?

Now let love, beauty, peace and appreciation for all things fill your heart, and invite your fears, resentments and angers to feel and appreciate them too.

The Question of Love

How to write of flowers
opening in winter, gray and cold;
the world on verge of war;
you: unfolding with touch of lip
and hand - delicate, yet firm -
tiny, first buds of spring, rising to push
back snow; then the rose, lustrous in full bloom,
opening, receiving, responding!

Ours: this journey to be here; embraced
against this winter - this war that rages round
and would be in us, were it not for love
we shelter here, beating heart to heart,
lips brushing, exchanging breath for breath.

A Guide Dog for Peace

My guide dog, Reggie is a virtual ambassador of peace. Perhaps the most beautiful part of this attribute is that Reggie probably has no idea of his contribution; he simply does what he does. I became increasingly aware of this wonderful quality of his nature only as I began to contemplate the idea of peace while preparing to write this article.

I initially filled page after page with intellectualized explorations of the idea of peace, while becoming increasingly conscious that I was missing the great heart of peace that other writers communicate so fully. I then realized that my beautiful dog guide communicates peace in his every action, even in his aggressive play.

Reggie is a three year old black Labrador retriever who began his life at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Raphael, California. I first met Reggie at their Boring, Oregon, campus when he was twenty months old. To me, Reggie initially appeared to be a rather non-descript black Lab, and I have to confess I felt disappointed at first. I wanted a big shepherd: a power symbol! It took observations from my classmates and comments from trainers who had housed him and cared for Reggie before and during his training before I began to raise my estimations. Even then I failed to come even close to understanding the depth of his true nature. Perhaps I am not close even yet!

I had to deal with what I quickly recognized were my own issues before Reggie and I began training together. I was succumbing to qualities that were largely visual in valuing a dog guide, when I mostly operate in a non-visual environment with my restricted sight. I also realized that whatever I thought about this dog, he wanted to succeed as much as I did, and he deserved every chance. I was the one who could give him his chance, and he would also give me mine.

We left Guide Dogs for the Blind three weeks later with the promise of becoming a great team, and after a little more than a year of working together, we have lived up to that promise. We have become a smoothly working duo, thanks mostly to Reggie, sharing a deep communication I would never have thought possible between human and dog. We are together nearly every moment of the day, sharing more time together than my human partner and I can share. Fortunately, Ruth loves Reggie too, and he is happiest when we are all three together.

Reggie brings peace through his calmness and his quietness. Like most dog guides, he seldom, if ever, barks; he is never aggressive toward people. But I now sense these well-trained behaviors as only the gateway to something deeper within his nature. Whenever we encounter exuberant or aggressive dogs while on a route, Reggie simply stands, without response, until excessive barking and frenetic activity subsides. I intervene whenever possible, of course, but Reggie has taught me by example to keep it calm, friendly and positive, never returning aggression for aggression, but simply maintaining a calm stance that allows no compromise. This is the ideal to strive for, even if not perfectly achieved every time. Reggie's constant example provides me with an unerring model.

People invariably respond to Reggie, wanting to talk both with him and about him, sharing treasured feelings they have about either their own dogs, dogs from their past, or other dogs they know. Recently, while we visited my mother, who now lives in an Atlanta nursing home, Reggie elicited response from a man with brain injury who usually refused to talk with anyone. We had several extended conversations together in Reggie's quiet presence.

We go everywhere now with an accompanying chorus of appreciation for Reggie's handsome beauty. I sense those offering such enthusiastic responses are attempting to credit observed canine qualities for something arising within themselves during the encounter. Reggie causes the critical, complaining mind to release its grip on the responsive heart and the natural love within each person is set free. Suddenly there is an interrelatedness with the surrounding world where before there was a sense of otherness. Awareness of our essential interrelatedness provides us both the foundation and the necessity for peace.

Some people ignore Reggie, of course, and he appropriately ignores them in return, forcing his presence on no one. He responds to people when allowed, and then only when he senses they want contact. He is aware when anyone is afraid and chooses to confront fear with quiet presence. He never overstays a welcome or asks for more attention than he senses a person wants to give. He gives attention to others when asked and allowed, and then returns to work.

Essential to Reggie's message of peace, then, are his calmness, quietness and sense of inner composure and balance, energizing his entire presence with a perceived feeling of peace. He is fully centered within himself as he greets the world, having the composure to know that disturbances can swirl around him without his needing to react in self defense. His balanced composure in the midst of stress gives him ultimate control so that peace prevails. Such qualities are prevalent among dog guides of course, and Reggie is certainly not at all an atypical canine in his profession in terms of attracting public interest. However, like all dog guides and well trained service dogs, Reggie brings peace anc comfort to our world in his own special way.

Play time allows Reggie an outlet for aggression, and then he reveals his alpha-male personality to the full. He is an aggressive chewer, capable of destroying any chew toy known in the civilized world while never touching a household article. He is really undefeatable playing "tug " in a direct trial of strength, susceptible only the first time to any new trickery. His most aggressive game is what I describe as "football," when he runs circles and then charges to crash against me with all his strength, growling like a Rottweiler (he was raised with two) and with his teeth bared as though my life has reached its end. A short bout of this combat will usually suffice for his energy release, and he will always stop immediately with the command: "that's enough!"

I sense, then, that Reggie teaches me to greet the world with inner composure and calm no matter what agitation outside circumstances might otherwise provoke. I can only do this by remaining centered within myself so as not to be drawn unwittingly into conflict. Most of all, my experience with Reggie reminds me on a daily basis that all beings are interconnected, and we are all therefore part of one family. Personal and community growth are possible when we recognize our interdependent relationships with each other and work together to solve common problems.

Peace brings us together, allowing us to pool creative energy for the common good. Conflict tears us apart, alienates us from one another to the extent that we believe separateness is normal. We can achieve comparatively little when we hold ourselves in isolation from each other.

And what about the power symbol I wanted my guide dog to be? There can be no greater power than calmness in the midst of any stress, especially when that calmness shows the ability to exert its influence on all disturbances around it. An influence like Reggie helps us to focus on who we really are as beings within this world rather than focusing on what we fear in the world around us.