#2 Act with kindness

Reading from Wednesday, April 10, 2013 yoga class

Zen Commandment # 2   ACT WITH KINDNESS

From my notes:

Be good!!!  Could there be a way for unselfishness itself to be my desire for kindness to rise from the depths of my being as authentically and as powerfully as hunger?  So... how?  Mainly, we just do it.  Everyday is filled with opportunities to be generous--materially, emotionally, with our talents, with our time, there's no need to wait around for some revelation or transformation--just take the plunge--you can work up to the big, difficult things by starting with things that are small and difficult:  letting the care slip in ahead of you, giving up your seat on the bus, passing up taking the last piece of lasagna.  As we come to esperience that you and I are not two wave-objects but one awareness-ocean, we grow less capable of harming one another, more naturally inclined to help one another. 

Somebody once asaked Aldous Huxley what he had learned from all his years of studying deeply in philosophy and religion.  He answered, "Try to be a bit nicer to people."  The first time I read this I laughed.  But of course this is the heart of the matter.  Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to take up every opportunity to give away that possession you want to keep, do that task you don't want to do, help those people you can't abide.  And as Jewish wisdom teaches, rather than expect their gratitude, you should be grateful to them for giving you the opportunity to do a kindness.  Its not easy, but that's the point:  When its hard it busts your boundaries, it opens you up.  And you don't have to do it all at once.  You can start by chipping around the edges.