Everything is a gift of the Universe

I used to think that some events in life were unexplainable, some sufferings unjustifiable, some happenings irreconcilable. Since watching the film Precious I have learnt that everything is a gift of the universe.

Our pains, our joys, our deepest darkest abyss, all fuel for the fire of our aspiration for growth. Indeed it is in our suffering where our greatest growth occurs. For me, here is where we learn of our strength to rise and grow from all we experience. The ability to turn manure into sweet fruit.

So before we sit, watch and judge our lives or the lives of another in pity or regret, we must reflect how are we using our manure, and wait to see how others are too. Are we letting our pain, our hurt harden us, or are we using it to help us rise ever further into life and inspire others to do the same.

I've often let my pain harden me, putting up with the putrid smells of my own and others suffering, refusing to wake up and smell the blossoming flowers that are rising up from that very state...And they are.

Greetings from the Forest Hermitage

I am back in England for a few days -- and I am loving it! I soaked up the rain for a day before suddenly on Thursday it turned to snow. That didn't stop me getting to the temple though! Yesterday we had a beautiful clear day which meant the snow did not last long, but I snapped this photograph before it disappeared. Last night during the sitting Luangpor talked about a specific verse of the Dhammapada that goes something like:

Others know not that in this quarrel we shall perish,
Those of them who realise it, have their quarrels calmed thereby.

I will let you chew it over.

On the subject of our own death, in the ghost room where I am staying (which I may add has failed on the ghost front so far), there is this sign on the wall that I think is a good thing to remind myself everyday:

"Every day I get older. One day I will get ill. One day I will die."

It is my pavement

I was just reading an article about the attitude to service in Paris. Well, hello! it is not just Paris, it is the entire country. The Brits, and even more so the Americans, really struggle to understand that the waiter is not being rude, he is just showing that he is not subservient to you. It has taken me a year and I am only just starting to 'comprendre'. The French hold strongly to the belief that everyone is equal. In some sense this is admirable. French girls must be the most liberated in the world. They are in no way the slave of men. You can see that they are as much in control of their relationships as men, perhaps more so. Even if they do make an effort, then it is because they want to, not to please anyone else. The rest of Europe makes an effort to be free, but no one really pulls it off quite as well as France. (I think that was a complement!)

There are benefits to this freedom and equality, but there is a negative side too. From my experiences it seems that politeness is not very popular. When I walk in the busy streets around Aix, no one stops to give the elderly or wheelchairs room. I have seen a blind person struggling to make his way as people walk straight at him. Even I find it frustrating how people cut across in front of me like I don't exist. The more I think about it, it is not necessarily that people are inherently rude, it is just that they subconsciously believe that they have equal right to that piece of space. Fair enough, but I have witnessed far too many aggressive scenes on the street when people inevitably bump into one another. I have seen shouting and even fighting between men and women, and between old and young. Now I know that the younger generation may not always act with respect, but if you knocked down someone who is clearly more senior than you then I hope most decent humans would check the person is not hurt and apologise even if it was not your fault. But in France, you don't have to act like this. The other day I held the door open for an elderly lady and I could see the element of surprise on her face. Next time you are in France, try moving out of the way for someone: no doubt you will be met with surprise or suspicion!

Once you get used to the French peculiarities then it is really not so bad. I have had a really pleasant week, not because anything significant happened, but just because I am feeling a bit more content to live here for a bit longer. When I came back from Thailand I was like a lost sheep. I think I made sure everyone felt my pain! Anyway, things are settling down and I will definitely be here until the summer. So if anyone wants to pop over then I will be happy to take you out 'door opening' with me!

Love's not a competition (but I'm winning)

Currently the song I'm listening to at the moment...

So many times in our existence, we must choose between going one way or another, we choose the path that we think is for our growth...the number of times i've stood with a hand on my heart in attempt to find out what the right thing was to do...the right thing to do?

Are we just doing something cos its what our instinct, our gut reaction, what we feel like doing at the first instant tells us...and is this a reliable measure by which to base decisions of our life?

What about following the mind, the rationale, many do...but as we know this may at times feel like the most logical, safe vessel of choice, but somehow something just doesn't fit. It is by my experience one of the most limited ways of making a decision?

And what about the path of the heart, what one feels most to be true and what one feels in this moment in time to contain the most definitive answer? As the Prince says the 'heart has reasons for reason knows nothing of.'..

Who knows which part of our being to follow; all i know that whatever we do, we eventaully experience the effects of that doing...and in search of the science of perfect doing i am ever more pulled into the art of perfect being...

And some say that in the end it does not matter which path you follow, for all lead to the same place...

Hems xxx