radical love and wisdom

[roger]

There's something I was thinking about, when it comes to wisdom and succeeding on the path.

 

Something I feel that I've done very well, but only in certain areas of my life, and definitely not in others, is trying to make the right choice and do the right thing when conventional wisdom, or when one's natural inclination, would be to make an unloving choice.

 

The thing is that it's those situations that are often our most important choices.

 

An area of life in which I've done this well is in being giving. (btw I'm not being egocentric by saying this, just using myself as an example) I almost always give fives, twenties, or hundreds of dollars at a time to every homeless person I see.

 

You see, there's a unique form of wisdom in that. I reason that they need the money, and to me it's not a huge deal to rid myself of that money, so, as a matter of logic, I give the money to them.

 

Another thing is that, if everyone did that, think about how much better the world would be.

 

So I see it as kind of a "higher" kind of wisdom to give so much.

 

But when it comes to letting go, I feel that I've been very stubborn, and at the risk of sounding judgmental towards myself, even somewhat cowardly.

 

I've always had this bad habit of hanging on to everything, never letting go, constantly obsessing, moment after moment, throughout my life. It's as though I really was AFRAID to let go and just BE.

 

But that's illogical! Reason, wisdom, self-honesty, would let go. I know that's what I need to do, so I just have to be brave enough to do it.

 

I feel that there comes a point when you have a choice, to jump or not to jump, and you just have to have the guts to do what you know is right.

[Marblehead]

Thanks for sharing Roger.

 

Giving our excess is a sign of a well developed ego.

 

Not letting go may be ego based or something emotion based.

 

Yes, wisdom helps.  Emotions most often just get in the way.

[Kar3n]

What have you got lot lose? What so you stand to gain?

 

I think Eddie Van Halen said it best...

 

"Ah, might as well jump"

[3bob]

"love thine enemy" is very radical, for violence will never end violence - also such can only be done with through great wisdom to keep it from it going wrong

[Karl]

There's something I was thinking about, when it comes to wisdom and succeeding on the path.

 

Something I feel that I've done very well, but only in certain areas of my life, and definitely not in others, is trying to make the right choice and do the right thing when conventional wisdom, or when one's natural inclination, would be to make an unloving choice.

 

The thing is that it's those situations that are often our most important choices.

 

An area of life in which I've done this well is in being giving. (btw I'm not being egocentric by saying this, just using myself as an example) I almost always give fives, twenties, or hundreds of dollars at a time to every homeless person I see.

 

You see, there's a unique form of wisdom in that. I reason that they need the money, and to me it's not a huge deal to rid myself of that money, so, as a matter of logic, I give the money to them.

 

Another thing is that, if everyone did that, think about how much better the world would be.

 

So I see it as kind of a "higher" kind of wisdom to give so much.

 

But when it comes to letting go, I feel that I've been very stubborn, and at the risk of sounding judgmental towards myself, even somewhat cowardly.

 

I've always had this bad habit of hanging on to everything, never letting go, constantly obsessing, moment after moment, throughout my life. It's as though I really was AFRAID to let go and just BE.

 

But that's illogical! Reason, wisdom, self-honesty, would let go. I know that's what I need to do, so I just have to be brave enough to do it.

 

I feel that there comes a point when you have a choice, to jump or not to jump, and you just have to have the guts to do what you know is right.

The problem is not that you won't let go, but the belief that you need to. The honest thing to do is to admit you need to hang on and to obsess, because that is the real you. The one which feels a necessity to abandon thought, is the false one. I know this from experience. You will feel much happier if you accept what you refer to as obsessions-which are no more than the dynamic tension between how you think you ought to be and how you are.

 

It is a difficult transition to make, so do it in little ways to begin with. Acknowledge that there is really only you. Though we mix and communicate with others, we are really on our own-and this can be overwhelmingly frightening. We wish we could sink into a sea of homogeneity, to escape the furious fires of individualism and identity, but if you accept that fear is a constituent component of life that it keeps us ever in its company, then you can come to realise who you are. Life is to fight and the necessity to engage day after day in this fight brings stress. However it does so with added intensity when we try a sho it away, to ignore it, to deny it, because it redoubles and redoubles the conflict between reality and mental conception. To minimise it we must first accept that this is who we are, this is what we do, this is how we feel.

[thelerner]

I am not so charitable as to give 20's or a 100 to street people, organizations yes.  Similarly 'love thine enemy' seems too charitable and makes you vulnerable, you may feel loving but enemies want to hurt you, best not keep let them get too close.

 

On the other hand it its good to give change or a buck or two to beggars.  To realize circumstances make people enemies and circumstances change.  I don't have to love or like them, but I can try to understand there motivations, see them as human.  Know and hope that in the future things will work out, especially if I put effort into gestures of conciliation and finding common ground.  But to love my enemies, no, can't do that, not the way I understand love. 

[9th]

Don Juan explained that the new seers saw that there are two main groups of human beings: those who care about others and those who do not. In between these two extremes they saw an endless mixture of the two. The nagual Julian belonged to the category of men who do not care; don Juan classified himself as belonging to the opposite category.

 

"But didn't you tell me that the nagual Julian was generous, that he would give you the shirt off his back?" I asked.

 

"He certainly was," don Juan replied. "Not only was he generous; he was also utterly charming, winning. He was always deeply and sincerely interested in everybody around him. He was kind and open and gave away everything he had to anyone who needed it, or to anyone he happened to like. He was in turn loved by everyone, because being a master stalker, he conveyed to them his true feelings: he didn't give a plugged nickel for any of them."

 

I did not say anything, but don Juan was aware of my sense of disbelief or even distress at what he was saying. He chuckled and shook his head from side to side. "That's stalking," he said. "You see. I haven't even begun my story of the nagual Julian and you are already annoyed." He exploded into a giant laugh as I tried to explain what I was feeling. "The nagual Julian didn't care about anyone," he continued. "That's why he could help people. And he did; he gave them the shirt off his back, because he didn't give a fig about them." 

 

"Do you mean, don Juan. that the only ones who help their fellow men are those who don't give a damn about them?" I asked, truly miffed.

 

"That's what stalkers say," he said with a beaming smile. "The nagual Julian, for instance, was a fabulous curer. He helped thousands and thousands of people, but he never took credit for it. He let people believe that a woman seer of his party was the curer. "Now, if he had been a man who cared for his fellow men, he would've demanded acknowledgment. Those who care for others care for themselves and demand recognition where recognition is due."

 

Don Juan said that he, since he belonged to the category of those who care for their fellow men, had never helped anyone: he felt awkward with generosity; he could not even conceive being loved as the nagual Julian was, and he would certainly feel stupid giving anyone the shirt off' his back. "I care so much for my fellow man," he continued, "that I don't do anything for him. I wouldn't know what to do. And I would always have the nagging sense that I was imposing my will on him with my gifts.

 

"Naturally, I have overcome all these feelings with the warriors' way. Any warrior can be successful with people, as the nagual Julian was, provided he moves his assemblage point to a position where it is immaterial whether people like him, dislike him, or ignore him. But that's not the same." 

 

 

- CC

 

[3bob]

"love thine enemy" does not mean being taken advantage of - unless it goes wrong (in a half-baked, idealistically impressionable like way) -  and I think part of such includes having overcome the enemy within ourselves through love which then brings the possibility of doing  the same nitty-gritty action externally...  being that the power of love is rooted in the power of Spirit which is greater than the un-rooted thief of power that fear or hate are.