Your monthly eBulletin - Personal and World Transformation through Loving Kindness

Imagine a world where 1 out of every 1000 people intentionally and consistently practiced loving kindness by dissolving barriers between themselves and others, by loving their enemies, by meditating on the happiness and wellness of all sentient beings. Imagine how that light would spread. Not only would these people be infinitely transformed by this practice but so would everyone around them, exponentially...

Personal and World Transformation
Through Loving Kindness

Loving Kindness as a Practice

Loving kindness is the cultivation of benevolence toward all living beings, love without clinging, and a strong wish for the happiness of others. It is the kind of love that often bubbles up freely in the heart of a mother for her child. It is a love that is independent of expecting or needing anything in return.

Loving kindness is unique from preferential love, which is attached love, in that it is an all-embracing unconditional love.

It is apparent that many people in our world are troubled by disturbing emotional states and yet do very little to try to evolve out of those. By practicing loving kindness both in meditation and in action, we can “sweeten” the “sour” mind. Hatred cannot co-exist with loving kindness. Loving kindness can lead to the feeling of equanimity toward all sentient beings and is therefore transformative. It can heal the troubled mind to free it from negative thought patterns. As the practice develops further it naturally overflows into compassion as one begins to experience all beings with loving acceptance and empathy.

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The Transformational Path of Jesus

Fred Plumer

I know of no spiritual path which does not presume some kind of significant personal transformation will occur if followed and practiced. By transformation, I mean to experience a change in our understanding of what is real and discovering who and what we really are as humans in this universe. The language may be different, the steps in a different order, the emphasis slightly unique. But I have found there are far more similarities than there are differences between most of the well-known traditions. Their common goal is to learn how to live with a wide awake mind, an open heart and an absence of suffering. For many it also means cultivating the experience of joy.

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Some Thoughts on Loving Kindness

Kurt Struckmeyer

Can kindness save the world? That is the question I posed as I reflected on the theme of ‘transforming the world through loving kindness.’ Are we really talking about changing the world through small acts of kindness, perhaps from one stranger to another? If so, are we discussing a movement like London’s ‘Kindness Offensive,’ known for orchestrating large-scale ‘random acts of kindness?’ Although kindness is an important virtue, and the world is all the better for it, can friendly, gentle, caring, considerate, and helpful people change the entrenched systems of domination, poverty, and violence that we face in our neighborhoods, nation, and the global community? Kindness may give pleasure to others and make us feel better in return, but I suspect that transforming the world will require more than simple acts of kindness that lift someone’s spirits.

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Fierce Love

Ian Lawton

My daughter reminded me of the unruly nature of fierce love when she was much younger. In our home, we have one of those Ruggles (heart shapes in nature) poster with the words “Love is where you find it.” It’s a constant reminder to find love wherever you are and part of the spirit we want to build in our home. Of course it’s not always easy to remember this truth nor is it neat and orderly. One day my daughter was feeling a bit hard done by. She was having a mini tantrum and blurted out, “Love is NOT where you find it.” I had to hold back my giggles. But I’ve never loved her more than in that moment. Whenever I see random heart shapes now I think of her fierce wisdom, the truth of authentic love. Instead of getting the giggles, I get the ruggles, the reminder that love is real and everywhere and surprising and not always soft and mushy.

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I’m in Love With My Husband….And Other People, Too

Reba Riley

I’m going to talk about something that isn’t talked about, so if you’re squeamish, or have very recently fallen in love, please look away.

I’m in love my husband, but I love other men, too. And women, for that matter.

Not in a sexual way– not even in a romantic way. But in a goddam “I am wildly attracted to this person and must know more immediately” kinda way.

I’ve been with my wonderful, caring, gorgeous, adoring partner for very nearly a decade. (And, yes, that is a lot of time to have sex with just one person.) My husband is all the perfect adjectives I could write and more; he loves me to distraction; I could never find anyone who loves me or supports me as much as he does.

And yet…

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Loving Kindness - Video Song

Ashana

Loving kindness for all beings
from the One beyond the stars
Through the darkness into light
We behold the gift of peace

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Love is Essential

George Stuart

Tune Eventide VU 436

Love is the source of comfort and delight;
Love shines in darkness, bringing us the light;
When we despair and purpose seems at an end
We long for love on which we can depend.

When storms attack, when gloom seems to prevail,
Wrong seems to triumph, mercy seems to fail,
These are the times when love can change the world
Hope can burst forth and justice be unfurled.

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Fierce Love: Healing Ourselves and the World

Ian Lawton + 25 Experts

March 9-13, 2015

The world feels overwhelming right now. It needs an injection of fierce love. Let's gather a collection of fierce love warriors who are making a difference in the world and know how to inspire all of us to heal ourselves and heal the world.

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Opening the Heart - Meditation

Sharon Salzberg

Use the metta, or lovingkindness, meditation to cultivate a deep sense of caring for self and for all of creationby

Take some time to join Sharon Salzberg in a seven-minute loving kindness meditation that will open your heart and calm your mind.

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Four Great Winds - CD

Peia

Gifted with a broad, soaring vocal range and crystalline tone Peia’s voice pierces the heart with bell like clarity. She sings with depth and beauty, moving audiences to tears and inviting listeners to reconnect with one’s own purpose and the heart of the Earth. Accompanying herself with Charango, Harmonium, and Guitar, Peia’s music creates an organic soundscape for deep vibrational healing.

As a sacred song preserver Peia has gathered songs from indigenous traditions all across the globe, as well as the stories and teachings with which they are woven. She has traveled extensively and studied from the rich lineages of Medieval Chant, Bulgarian and Celtic Folk Music, Medicine songs from the Native peoples of North and South America and Indian Classical Raga. Peia’s original song writing draws upon a deep well love and respect for Mother Earth and the Spirit of all Life.

This music CD is ideal for gatherings, worship, meditation, sacred dance, and contemplation.

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Connecting with Kindness

A Joyful Path, Year One,
Lesson 9

Ages 6-11

Affirmation: The whole world is home, and we are a divine family.

Getting to the Heart of the Lesson
When we see God within ourselves and others, being kind is natural.
Exposure to people of different cultures, ages, interests, and backgrounds can help children develop feelings of acceptance for others. Kindness, however, comes from a sense of connectedness. This lesson emphasizes that we are all one human family, with one divine parent. When there is awareness of our divine connection, then even if one never leaves the neighborhood, the whole world is home, and the human race is family.

Each Year One Lesson includes:
Teacher Introduction - Getting to the Heart of the Lesson,
Teacher Reflection,
Spiritual Affirmation with full color Art,
Original Story,
Activities,
Bible Verses,
Wisdom Quotes

Buy now $3.00
(Download the PDF) - right into your digital device.

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Finding Angels in Boulders and Divinity in Geodes

Rev. Bruce Epperly Ph. D.

The story is told of an encounter involving the sculptor Michelangelo and one of his neighbors. According to legend, one day Michelangelo was pushing a boulder up the hill to his house. A neighbor observing the scene became quite curious and was overcome with curiosity when the sculptor took out his hammer and chisel, and then began pounding on the boulder. He crossed the street and inquired, “What are you doing hammering on that boulder?” To which Michelangelo replied, “There’s an angel inside and I’m trying to let it out.”

Progressive Christianity asserts that God is present in each one of us. God is not far off but moves within each of our lives, providing energy and possibility; God’s presence in us and not imperfection is our deepest nature. In contrast to sin-based theologies, accenting original sin and human depravity, progressive Christianity affirms original blessing and the inherent divinity of each creature. We are not essentially evil and self-interested, despite the realities of personal and social imperfection and our basic survival instincts. In the spirit of Mother Teresa, we can affirm that Christ is present beneath the often-distressing disguises we see in others and ourselves. We can deny the holiness of others and ourselves, but within each boulder there is an angel, ready to come out when we reach out in care and affirmation.

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Too Often Christianity’s Cross-Eyed Perspective Distorts the Good News that God is LOVE

Rev. Dawn Hutchings

When someone shares in our suffering, somehow the knowledge that we are not alone, that there is someone out there who knows the pain that we are going through, the knowledge that we are cared for by someone who truly knows our pain comforts us and gives us the strength we need to endure our suffering.

To be alone in our suffering is the most terrible thing that we can imagine. The Good News that God is LOVE means that LOVE will not let us suffer alone because LOVE is determined to suffer with us. Working in, with, and through those who have experienced our pain LOVE is able to enfold us and say, “I know, my child, I know.”

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The Birth of Jesus- New Book by Bishop Spong

Now available for digital download

While Luke’s narrative, the most detailed account of the birth of Jesus, is lyrical and inspiring, in The Birth of Jesus, Spong persuasively demonstrates it is allegory. Layer by layer, Spong weighs every element of the New Testament stories against Old Testament legends building a convincing case. Spong’s 16 original essays step backward and forward through the scriptures demonstrating why each element was chosen by the early CE writers to establish Jesus’ lineage and divinity. It is a fascinating and persuasive journey and a remarkable illustration of Biblical scholarship.

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Loving Kindness Guided Meditations

Affirmation: “May all beings be well, may all beings be happy, may all beings be free from suffering.”

The Metta Bhavana, or Development of Lovingkindness, practice is one of the most ancient forms of Buddhist practice, one that has been passed down in an unbroken line for over 2,500 years.

We’re often taught as children that we should love others. Religious teachings say, for example, that we should “love others as ourselves.” But how do we learn to love others? And what happens if we don’t particularly like, never mind love, ourselves? The development of lovingkindness meditation practice is the practical means by which we learn to cultivate love for ourselves and others.

The practice helps us to actively cultivate positive emotional states towards ourselves and others, so that we become more patient, kind, accepting, and compassionate.

It’s part of a series of four practices which lead to the arising of:

~lovingkindness
~compassion (empathizing with others’ suffering)
~empathetic joy (rejoicing in others’ wellbeing and joy)
~and equanimity (patient acceptance of both joy and suffering, both our own and others’).

The practice, leading as it does to the realization of compassion, is central to Buddhism, to the extent that the Dalai Lama has said “My religion is kindness.”

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“Unsung Hero” - Believe in Good - Video

TVC Thai Life Insurance 2014

A Thai life insurance company with a history of producing powerful, tearjerking ads has done it again. Its latest, a three-minute spot titled “Unsung Hero,” follows a good Samaritan whose daily deeds (watering a dying sidewalk potted plant, helping an elderly street vendor get her cart over a high curb, feeding a stray hungry dog, leaving bananas for an elderly neighbor, giving money to a poor young girl) go largely unnoticed — mainly because he’s not looking to be recognized. “He gets nothing,” an English translation of the ad’s voice-over reads. “He won’t be richer. Won’t appear on TV. Still anonymous. And not a bit more famous.” Eventually, though, the man’s kindness is rewarded when he sees the power of his actions — the girl going to school, the plant growing, the stray dog following him home. “He witnesses happiness,” the voice-over continues. “Reaches a deeper understanding. Feels the love. Receives what money can’t buy. A world made more beautiful.”

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This month, join us as we practice the art of loving kindness, toward our selves and all sentient beings. May your days be filled with laughter, light and delight!