Anam Cara Log TM
November 24, 2015
 
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As we enter the holiday season we give our attention to the gifts our sacred traditions call us to celebrate, even as we feel gratitude for those blessings. These include everything from light overcoming darkness to the birth of great beings who served as vehicles for the light of grace to enter the darkness of our hearts and minds. We celebrate generosity and welcoming the poor stranger with no place to stay; we celebrate peace on earth and good will toward all; we celebrate being protected by Divine grace and being given a way to free ourselves and others from suffering through sacred paths of love. There are countless blessings to be grateful for. Even the warm autumn sun coming through the window, giving my heart and chest a gentle glow, brings waves of gratitude.

These are the readily available and easily celebrated types of experiences we feel grateful for. They're wonderful. And, we're capable of, in fact called to, much, much more.

We can strengthen and expand our abilities to feel deeply grateful for the challengning people, events, and circumstances that at first are completely beyond the limitations of our ordinary sense of gratitude. If we're blind to the gift then we are deprived of the gratitude.

Once I was at a talk given by a Tibetan lama who had been imprisoned by the Chinese for nearly 20 years and survived what to me was unimaginable abuse, torture, illness, and starvation. Yet this humble and wise human being had no bitterness, no anger, nor any resentment in his heart or countenance.

What he spoke about was gratitude, gratitude! And compassion. He was genuinely grateful for having his beliefs and practices so challenged, day in and day out, week after week, month after month, year after year, with no hope of it ceasing, because of the Buddha's teachings and practices, which he felt was his extreme good fortune to have learned and practiced, stood by him, walked with him, even carried him when his body failed and nearly died. He felt grateful for those gifts and for being shown that they can withstand even the most horrific adversity if they have been established, rooted, and cultivated in our heart.

He said the only thing he feared wasn't more torture or more pain or more deprivation, it was that he might lose his embrace of compassion, kindness and patience above all else. He looked at his torturers, the Chinese prison guards, and saw their pain and their afflictions and felt tremendous compassion for them. They knew no better. But he did. And we can.

 Kabir
 I Had To Seek The Physician

I had to seek the Physician
because of the pain this world
caused me.

I could not believe what happened when I got there -
I found my
Teacher.

Before I left, he said,
"Up for a little homework, yet?"
"Okay," I replied.

"Well then, try thanking all the people
who have caused
you pain.

They helped you
come to
me."

Love Poems From God, Daniel Ladinsky, trans., p. 229


 


 St. Thomas Acquinas
 Could You Embrace That?

I said to God, "Let me love you."
And He replied, "Which part?"

"All of you, all of you," I said.

"Dear," God spoke, "you are as a mouse wanting to impregnate a tiger who is not even in heat.
It is a feat way beyond your courage and strength.
You would run from me
if I removed my
mask."

I said to God again,

"Beloved I need to love you - every aspect, every pore."

And this time God said,

"There is a hideous blemish on my body,
though it is such an infinitesimal part of my Being - could you kiss that if it were revealed?"

"I will try, Lord, I will try."

And then God said,
"That blemish is all the hatred and
cruelty in this
world."

Love Poems From God, Daniel Ladinsky, trans. p. 136


 


 Meditation Programs
 Anam Cara Meditation Foundation

Everyone is welcome to our non-denominational meditation programs. No experience is necessary.

2nd & 4th Thursday Evening Meditation - EXCEPT Thanksgiving and DECEMBER when we meet on the 1st and 3rd Thursday evening - 12/3 and 12/17 at 7:15pm
The next program is December 3rd. Then back to the 2nd and 4th Thursday evenings in January.

2 Byram Brook Place, Armonk, NY 10504.
914-219-8600
All are welcome! No registration needed.



For more information please visit our Events page (click here) 


Thank you all for your notes of appreciation for our newsletter. It's great to hear from you!

Everyone has the heart to be a true friend of the soul, an "Anam Cara." By embodying that ideal we may serve to help others to find love and compassion within themselves and the world.

Our highest nature is always manifest in relationship - to all other beings, to the environment, community, loved ones, and in relation to our own body and mind. Becoming mindful of the quality of our relationships allows us to learn where the light shines and where it needs to shine more. The ideal of Anam Cara is to continuously endeavor to expand the depth and the inclusiveness of the loving kindness we bring into every relationship, every moment, every breath.

If you have any suggestions, comments or sharings, for our newsletter please don't hesitate to e-mail me and I'll do my best to respond.

The Anam Cara Meditation Foundation is a 501 (C) 3, non-profit educational organization dedicated to teaching meditative practices. Our non- denominational programs are open to all. There are free meditation instructions and downloadable audio files of guided meditations on the meditation page of our
website.

Thank you for the many ways you have shown support for Anam Cara . Because of your gifts we can offer free programs and instruction to thousands of people. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation please send it to the address listed below or go to our website where you can make a secure online donation.

A special thank you to our generous supporters who give donations and make regular pledged donations.

I look forward to welcoming you in person to our programs.

With all my appreciation and love,
I thank you all.

May all beings know complete freedom from suffering and may all our actions reflect only wisdom, compassion, patience and love.

Lawrence signature
Lawrence Edwards, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
Anam Cara Meditation Foundation

Lawrence at Anam Cara
All newsletter contents copyrighted 2015


phone: 914-219-8600