Wisdom Vital To Evolution

[abstrktion]

I think it takes great Love to face Truth. If truth comes before there is Love, there may be only fear in response.

Love as acceptance or love as compassion? And do you see a difference?

Probably both.

Love in terms of compassion for self and others, and acceptance of faults, inconsistencies, and weaknesses as part of the process of growth. In one text I read that was written by one used to dealing with the mentally ill, the author asserts that even the worst offenders typically chose the lesser of two evils--according to their perspective of evil--in a pathetic attempt at being "good."

When we look upon ourselves with compassion and acceptance, we can face the Truth (dweller on the threshold) about ourselves because we will no longer be afraid of being wrong; we will see that we are one with the Creator and that we are not stuck wherever we are now. So many people fear being wrong, so they hide it from themselves and others. If they were to love and accept themselves, they could face the truth and set to amending that which they didn't like. Dishonesty comes from fear.

(side note: Unfortunately, sometimes we even make those we love dishonest when they fear to hurt us. Blue-ray can't occur when we are manipulating through fear and making sure people only tell us what we want to hear--sometimes we make others lie to spare us pain because we cannot face Truth that we very often know inside anyways. I'd say men use their anger to manipulate and women very often use their tears.)


A couple of semi-relevant anecdotes...

1)
A student of mine is going through a hard time at home and was concerned that I was giving her extra time to complete her assignments out of "pity." I asked her how she would act if a friend of hers was going through the same thing, would she feel pity or compassion? She said compassion--and she smiled and said she'd do the same thing I was, offering help. I told her to be as kind and generous to herself as she would be to her friend.

2)
I typically paint without a goal. I just like smearing the paint around because it feels wonderful to do so--the mixing of the colors, the shapes--it is a visceral pleasure. But sometimes it doesn't come out "pretty" or it is a little "off." So put it away for a while. The paint dries a bit, then I just paint over the top, sometimes using parts that I like from the painting underneath.
To me, this is like the process of evolving by making choices that don't always have the outcomes we'd like. We can't learn about choice without making choices. So I make choices when I paint. Sometimes the choices don't turn out well, but instead of throwing out the canvas (or myself!). I wait (sometimes we need to let our fields of experience lie fallow and come back to lesson later). The paint dries enough so that new colors applied won't be muddied by the wet ones underneath (fresh energy and attitude towards life), and I try again (forgive self and move on). Often, something wonderful I hadn't noticed from the previous painting comes through and makes the new painting better (past experience teaches me is always in the background). I've found that the paintings I like the best have this kind of "underpainting"--they are richer than they would be if I'd just painted on white canvas.