On My Mind, December 26, 2009

Christmas is over now.  Everyone is rushing to return what they got that they didn't want or exchange what didn't fit or redeem their gift certificates at stores they seldom visit.  The malls will be packed with people again.

Today is the day that everyone avows their belief in the TRUE meaning of Christmas, ie Christ's birth, and acclaims that, though the day of opening gifts and overindulging on sweets and rich foods may be lots and lots of fun, the real reason they celebrate is Christ's having been born 20 centuries ago.

Santa and his helpers have been shelved until next year by the retailers who dusted them off for this year's Xmas promotions.

Many retail stores earn 90 percent of their profit during the Christmas season, and if people don't run out and buy something from them, they are likely to go under.

Perhaps, I don't know, expanding merchandise to include goods people need and use year round might be a wise decision for those folks?

No?

Un-American, you say?  Where would we get the gimcracks and doodads we pass on to our loved ones when at last we close our eyes to this world?  Certainly not from the diaper isle at the grocery store.

We good people are against abortion, by God, but we are not against letting the little buggers die of disease and starvation once they get here.

Count how many AIDS and Disaster orphans are still flooding the world while we return our unwanted gifties.  While we stuff the last of the turkey into the casserole, let us say Grace for the homeless and hungry families in our own country that we would rather let the Salvation Army deal with on our dimes and our quarters.

Om mani padme hum.

On My Mind, December 22, 2009

It is very easy to see the faults and foibles of others, but when we deign to point them out, invariably, we stumble across our own, most often, in a far more embarrassing way. Call it Karma or Poetic Justice, or Just Deserts.

Well, it may not be quite that heavy, really. It may be that we are all culpable in one way or another and sooner or later, we'll be shown up to be imperfect. Whether by Divine Intervention or Divine Retribution or not, it is a real good lesson, and a real good idea not to point out others' faults all of the time.

From my own experience, when we continuously point out mistakes or they are continuously pointed out to us, the human response is usually to 1) make more mistakes out of nervousness or self-consciousness, 2) vow not to change the way we do it, even if it's wrong, just to annoy the critic, 3) find something to criticize in the critic, 4) grow angry and stop doing it entirely, ever, 5) grow angry and break something.

Decidedly unhelpful.

Another approach, as Buddha suggests, is to spend less time observing others' faults and more time correcting our own. Dang, that's hard. We have to look in the mirror to see ourselves, and if that mirror is dusty, well, just forget it.

One suggestion is to wipe the dust off our mirror so we can see ourselves clearly. Works fine for hair dos and clothing glitches, but not so much for attitude adjustments. For those, we have to see inside.

One spiritual leader suggests that we stand behind the mirror and simply act as the mirror does and reflect back what the other person is showing us, non-judgmentally. That's nice, but if they are showing us anger and hostility, that means we reflect back anger and hostility. An improvement, I guess. At least we're being non-judgmental about it, but who wants to be someone else's bad mood?

No, the "mote in one's own eye" type of spiritual lesson is aimed at the heart of each person, not at the exterior and how we respond/react to external stimuli. It is intended for us, individually, to determine where our weaknesses lie, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, educationally, socially, experientially and work on correcting our lacks and adjusting our view of ourselves and the world around us. It is aimed at our understanding the concept of detachment: detaching from our personal circumstances in order to see, sense, intuit, the larger frame of things and where our particular set of molecules fits in to make the whole.

I know, gossip is fun, and carping may come naturally, but don't do it for a week and see how your own mood improves, and how all your relationships seem to blossom.

Om mani padme hum.