| Making Resolutions
From The Work of This Moment, by Toni Packer. Shambala Press, Boston,
1990
When the dish comes tumbling down from a shelf and one sees it
happen, the hand immediately stretches out and catches it. Falling,
seeing, and catching are one complete action.
If the mind is caught up in dreams, the falling dish may be seen too
late or not at all, and before the hand reaches it, it has already
crashed to pieces. Saddened and annoyed over the loss and over our
negligence, we may resolve to become more attentive in the future.
We make promises, resolutions, and vows because we have been brought
up to believe that this will help somehow. We believe that if we
commit ourselves through words, we are more likely to do what we think
we ought to do, or become what we want to become in the future.
But is this really so?
In the case of the falling dish, is it saved because we have
previously resolved to become attentive? Or does awareness function
freely, actively, and intelligently when the mind is unpreoccupied?
In resolving to become more attentive, or to reach a state of complete
awareness, and ideal goal is established in the mind. A division in
time occurs: One's actual present negligence is separated from the
idea of future attentiveness. Thinking of a future goal is an escape
from our present discomfort and dis-ease that arise from inattention.
We much prefer to think about developing into a better person and
following a method to get there than to face the pain and root cause
of our present insufficiency. Making resolutions becomes a comforting
reassurance that we will accomplish in the future what we are not
ready to do right now. Postponement is the perpetuation of
inattention.
Another division occurs between myself as a judge and the action that
"I" condemn. "I" condemn "my" negligence as though "I" and the
"negligence" were two separate things. Are they really?
Can one carefully examine all this? Not just take's someone's word
for it nor immediately react against the words. When there is a deep
responsibility for everything that we do or don't do from moment to
moment, attention and questioning come naturally.
If there is a great urgency to find out something, the energy is
there to attend. Faced with a critical emergency, we usually attend
and act with our total being. At the instant of immediate danger,
past resolutions and future goals are completely irrelevant. There is
only the seeing and acting appropriately, without choice.
Why do we back to sleep once the emergency is over, satisfied with the
vow to wake up some time in the future? Why don't we respond
immediately to the ever-present danger of inattention? Do we see it?
Once the dish is shattered, can one see the whole situation inside and
out as it is,. with the excuses, the blame, the regrets, or the
resolutions taking over the mind?
And the sweep up the pieces and discard them.
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| Well, I don't think that Peace Pilgrim is "practicing today", since I
seem to recall that she is dead. However, having walked over 25,000
miles across the U.S. from 1953 to 1981, she has carried a message of
peace that is as valid today as it was then.
Here are some excerpts from her thoughts, which I am reprinting with
permission from her non-copyrighted pamphlet "Steps Toward Inner
Peace".
First, some of her autobiographical comments:
In my early life I made two very important discoveries. In the
first place I discovered that making money was easy. And in the
second place I discovered that making money and spending it
foolishly was completely meaningless. I knew that this was not
what I was here for, but at that time (this was many years ago), I
didn't know exactly what I *was* here for. It was out of a very
deep seeking for a meaningful way of life, and after having walked
all one night through the woods, that I came to what I now know to
be a very important psychological hump. I felt a complete
willingness, without any reservation, to give my life, to dedicate
my life to service. I tell you, it's a point of no return. After
that, you can never go back to completely self-centered living.
And so I went into the second phase of my life. I began to *give*
what I could, instead of to *get* what I could, and I entered a new
and wonderful world. My life began to become meaningful...From
that time on, I have known that my life-work would be work for
peace; that it would cover the whole peace picture--peace among
nations, peace among groups, peace among individuals, and the very,
very important inner peace. However, there's a great deal of
difference between being willing to give your life, and actually
giving your life, and for me, 15 years of preparation and of inner
seeking lay between...
I have walked 25,000 miles as a penniless pilgrim. I own only what
I wear and what I carry in my small pockets. I belong to no
organization. I have said that I will walk until given shelter and
fast until given food, remaining a wanderer until mankind has
learned the way of peace. And I can truthfully tell you that
without ever asking for anything, I have been supplied with
everything needed for my journey, which shows how *good* people
really are.
With me I carry always my peace message: This is the way of peace:
Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with
love. There is nothing new about this message, except the practice
of it. And the practice of it is required not only in the
international situation but also in the personal situation...
All of us can work for peace. We can work right where we are,
right within ourselves, because the more peace we have within our
lives, the more we can reflect into the outer situation...
Now here are some of her general thoughts:
* Physical violence can end even before we have learned the way of
love, but psychological violence will continue until we do. Only
outer peace can be had through law. The way to inner peace is
through love.
* If you love people enough, they will respond lovingly. If I offend
people, I blame myself, for I know that if my conduct had been
correct, they would not have been offended, even though they did
not agree with me. "Before the tongue can speak, it must have lost
the power to wound."
* From all the things you read and from all the people you meet, take
what is good--what your own "Inner Teacher" tells you is for
you--and leave the rest. For guidance and for truth, it is much
better to look to the Source through your own "Inner Teacher" than
to look to people or books. Books and people can merely inspire
you. Unless they awaken something within you, nothing worthwhile
has been accomplished.
* All people can be peace workers. Whenever you bring harmony into
any unpeaceful situation, you contribute to the total peace
picture. Insofar as you have peace in your life, you reflect it
into your surroundings and into your world.
* That which is received from without can be compared with knowledge.
It leads to a believing, which is seldom strong enough to motivate
to action. That which is confirmed *from within* after it is
contacted from without, or that which is directly perceived *from
within* (which is my way), can be compared with wisdom. It leads
to a *knowing*, and action goes right along with it.
* Of course I trust the Law of Love! Since the universe operates in
accordance with the Law of Love, how could I trust anything else?
* Never think of any right effort as being fruitless--*all* right
effort bears good fruit, whether we see results or not.
-- Mike
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