Guiding Thought

We listen to our hearts and with our hearts.

Our hearts pay attention to each other; we listen to each other’s inner voice, the unspoken words.

We care, and we attend with love to each other’s deeper, silent needs, asking each other’s heart, “How may I strengthen you and raise your energy?”

-Play the Guiding Thought here (loops automatically).
Journey of the Heart audio created by Brad Vanlandingham for Susanwithpearls-

 

Sharing

“The basic nature of sentient beings is the capacity for enlightenment…

To understand that all sentient beings possess the foundation for becoming enlightened, you need analytical wisdom. First, you need to understand that all your problems stem from your mind’s mistaken view of yourself, of other people, and of all things existing in and of themselves. When you see that this is a mistake, you realize that you can become enlightened, after which you can extend this realization to all sentient beings…this lays the groundwork for developing a desire to help everyone toward enlightenment…

With it, you can engender a strong aspiration to help others by achieving your own enlightenment.”

Becoming Enlightened

His Holiness the Dalai Lama,

translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.

 

Do you see that we are doing this right now? We are, “engendering a strong aspiration to help others by achieving our own enlightenment.” This Journey, this day, this moment, we are doing it. Let’s look at the quote from the Dalai Lama in the context of the Journey:

First, we need analytical wisdom (thank God!). What does that do for us? We use analytical wisdom to look at our thoughts, to observe our minds, and to discern how we are thinking and then decide if that is how we want to be thinking.

This quote from the Dalai Lama is (of course) from a Buddhist perspective. But analytical wisdom can apply to any framework; analytical wisdom is about being aware of how you think, in order to choose how you want to think.

Many people know how they want to think (and most people think they already are thinking how they want to think). People (in general…I know this is a wide assumption, but bear with me) want to be righteous, upstanding, good parents, good partners, good people. Someone once said to me, “People don’t do things because they think it’s wrong. People do things because they think it’s right.” And I think that is correct, for the most part. People do things because they think what they are doing is right.

Yet, this “right thinking” can cause a lot of pain, struggle, effort, stress for the person and for others. Why? “All your problems stem from your mind’s mistaken view of yourself, of other people, and of all things existing in and of themselves.”

What the Dalai Lama is saying here is that the underlying thoughts about what it means to be “right” are really wrong (“mistaken”). So, when a person is doing what they think is right, there is a good chance they are really thinking or acting from a mistaken viewpoint.

The mistaken viewpoint, according to the Dalai Lama is, “people and things exist in and of themselves.” In A Course in Miracles, this would be called Separation. In Buddha Dharma, the “correct” way of thinking is Dependent Arising: all things and people are dependent upon all things and people; in A Course in Miracles the corrective is Atonement: At-One-Ment.

This is why we need to begin with analytical wisdom. Where do our thoughts originate? In a framework that includes others, or excludes them? In a thought process that sees others as separate from ourselves, or as equal with ourselves?

Every sentient being has the capacity for enlightenment. These Journeys are designed from this foundation. Their contemplative nature provokes your analytical wisdom and asks you to think about what you think, and what you want to think. This is one reason there can be disruptive thoughts during the Journey; your mind is vying with itself over its dominant thoughts. The Journeys give you thoughts of Oneness, of Love, of Peace, if you choose to accept them and replaces thoughts of separation or disharmony with them. The rounds are designed to bring you to a place of inclusion, so you learn to have thoughts that consider others naturally.

Our hearts pay attention to each other; we listen to each other’s inner voice, the unspoken words. We care, and we attend with love to each other’s deeper, silent needs, asking each other’s heart, “How may I strengthen you and raise your energy?”

Do you want to become enlightened? Do you believe it’s possible?

I do.

And I sincerely want to help strengthen and raise your energy. I have a strong desire to help you to enlightenment. That’s why I’m here.