What would God say about all this?
Do you honestly think there is any hope for all of us? Everyone fighting, name calling, wars in the Name of God. Do you think we will ever get along, ever?
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LesDawsonsPiano · 70-79
There is always hope. Not really into "God" as "Him up there" looking down upon the turmoil and having thoughts about it. In Christian terms, I have a more "incarnational" way of understanding/living things - the Incarnation not so much a one-off event in the past, but an eternal ever present incarnation, "he" as us, and us as "him". Non-dual.
As a Pure Land Buddhist, I think no one has expressed it better than Hiroyuki Itsuki, in his book "Tariki: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace"
Partly autobiographical, from reading it you know that his words are not born of an easy life. The man knew what it was to suffer, from a very early age. Early on a refugee, later waking up in situations where you hoped the one next to you had died so that you could have their clothes, or any other possessions. He wrote once that he had learnt more from his father's sigh than from all the books on philosophy he had read.
Anyway, a passage from the book:--
The Other Power (Tariki) derives from the true and full acceptance of the reality that is within us and surrounds us. It is not a philosophy of passivity or iresponsibility, but one of radical spiritual activity, of personal, existential revolution. Its essence is the spontaneous wondrous force that gives us the will to act, to "do what man can do and then wait for heaven's will." Importantly, Other Power is a power that flows from the fundamental realization that, in the lives we live, we are already enlightened. This enlightenment does not come easily. It is born of the unwelcome understanding that, despite our protestations, we are insignificant, imperfect beings, born to a hell of suffering that defines human existence. But in this hell, we sometimes excounter small joys, friendship, the kind acts of strangers, and the miracle of love. We experience moments when we are filled with courage, when the world sparkles with hopes and dreams. There are even times when we are deeply grateful to have been born. These moments are paradise. But paradise is not another realm; it is here, in the very midst of the hell of this world. Other Power, a power that transcends theological distinctions, avails us of these moments. In the endless uncertainties of contemporary life, Other Power confers upon us a flexibility of spirit, an energy to feel joy, and the respite of peace.
I often reread Itsuki's words, never actually finding them "inspirational" in the usual sense, but "true" for me, in my own on-going life, with all my mental health issues, in my own suffering.
As a Pure Land Buddhist, I think no one has expressed it better than Hiroyuki Itsuki, in his book "Tariki: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace"
Partly autobiographical, from reading it you know that his words are not born of an easy life. The man knew what it was to suffer, from a very early age. Early on a refugee, later waking up in situations where you hoped the one next to you had died so that you could have their clothes, or any other possessions. He wrote once that he had learnt more from his father's sigh than from all the books on philosophy he had read.
Anyway, a passage from the book:--
The Other Power (Tariki) derives from the true and full acceptance of the reality that is within us and surrounds us. It is not a philosophy of passivity or iresponsibility, but one of radical spiritual activity, of personal, existential revolution. Its essence is the spontaneous wondrous force that gives us the will to act, to "do what man can do and then wait for heaven's will." Importantly, Other Power is a power that flows from the fundamental realization that, in the lives we live, we are already enlightened. This enlightenment does not come easily. It is born of the unwelcome understanding that, despite our protestations, we are insignificant, imperfect beings, born to a hell of suffering that defines human existence. But in this hell, we sometimes excounter small joys, friendship, the kind acts of strangers, and the miracle of love. We experience moments when we are filled with courage, when the world sparkles with hopes and dreams. There are even times when we are deeply grateful to have been born. These moments are paradise. But paradise is not another realm; it is here, in the very midst of the hell of this world. Other Power, a power that transcends theological distinctions, avails us of these moments. In the endless uncertainties of contemporary life, Other Power confers upon us a flexibility of spirit, an energy to feel joy, and the respite of peace.
I often reread Itsuki's words, never actually finding them "inspirational" in the usual sense, but "true" for me, in my own on-going life, with all my mental health issues, in my own suffering.