American Buddhist nun, author and all-around wise woman, Pema Chodron.
THE ONLY REASON WE DON’T
OPEN OUR HEARTS
The only reason we don’t open our hearts and
minds to other people is that they trigger confusion
in us that we don’t feel brave enough or safe enough
to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and
compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and
fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.
Pema Chodron (1936 – ) from The Pocket Pema Chodron, Shambala Publications, 2017
What a gentle surprise these words of the Buddhist sage, author and teacher, Pema Chodron, were to me this morning. And what a reminder to me of beloved lines from a longer Jelalludin Rumi poem as translated by the American poet and translator, Coleman Barks. The lines are these, from the poem Green Ears:
When you think your father is guilty of an injustice,
his face looks cruel. Joseph, to his envious brothers,
seemed dangerous. When you make peace with your father,
he will look peaceful and friendly. The whole world
is a form for truth.
When someone does not feel grateful
to that, the forms appear to be as he feels.
They mirror his anger, his greed, and his fear.
Make peace with the universe. Take joy in it.
It will turn to gold. Resurrection
will be now. Every moment,
a new beauty.
And never any boredom!
Instead this abundant, pouring
noise of many springs in you ears.
The tree limbs will move like people dancing,
who suddenly know what the mystical life is.
The leaves snap their fingers like they're hearing music.
They are! A sliver of a mirror shines out
from under a felt covering. Think how it will be
when the whole thing is open to the air and the sunlight!
Jelalludin Rumi (1207-1273) from The Essential Rumi, trans. Coleman Barks, HarperCollins, 2004
These two pieces of wisdom from great wise ones and teachers living eight hundred years apart are such solace to me. A reminder of starting from the inside. If I find love there first it is easier to find it outside of me. For a person like me who can be like fragile tinsel when not self-grounded these words are my life preserver:
................................ The whole world
is a form for truth.
When someone does not feel grateful
to that, the forms appear to be as he feels.
They mirror his anger, his greed, and his fear.
Make peace with the universe. Take joy in it.