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If you find it difficult to say to another, “The door of my heart is open to you, whatever you do,” then that difficulty is trifling compared with the difficulty you will face in saying to yourself, “Me, the one I’ve been so close to for as long as I can remember, myself — the door of my heart is open to me as well, to all of me no matter what I have done. Come in.”
*Ajahn Brahm. Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties.
* * *
I walked to the counter to receive my coffee. She, a lovely, young lady, with a sweet smile, saw the Rudraksha prayer garland, or mala, on my neck - a form of beaded necklace in Buddhism and Hinduism. She told me she liked it.
I was wearing two prayer necklaces; I made sure she was referring to the Rudraksha mala. I told her about what the mala is made from and where it was made, Nepal. She was interested, smiling. She asked about the other rosary, which she had not mentioned before. I held it in my hand. I explained the rosary, or prayer rope, is Greek Christian. Then, I told her the Rudraksha is a rosary for prayer, meditation, and chanting. At the "chanting" part, wherein I had been sharing the use of the mala in Buddhism, she, abruptly, referred back to the Greek Orthodox rosary, mentioning she liked it. She showed no more interest in the Rudraksha mala, after discovering it was linked with Buddhism.
I sensed her admiration and approval of the Rudraksha mala had died in her hearing the word "Buddhism." I jokingly said to her, smiling, "So, you're not ready to be a Buddhist?" She smiled a lovely smile, "No," shaking her head in affirmation. I smiled and left. I was not upset, as I once might have been. I knew the Heart is always ahead of the mind in its seeing and receiving the beautiful and holy in the otherness we have been taught to turn from, rather than welcome the apparently other as another way Grace displays Grace.
* * *
Grace appears in a most amazing kaleidoscopic array. Yet, we can miss appreciating loveliness in what manifests as otherness, seeing only my part, our part. We need not judge here. We are each missing the seeing of the Totality, just some more than others, some less than others. There is so much beauty yet to be seen by each and all of us. And even not-seeing happens in Grace and by Grace, the refusal to include happens within Boundlessness, Love embracing lovelessness. We can include within ourselves a fearless seeing of how we often fail to see, and some beauty in the other we cannot yet see. Little by little, through honesty, sometimes by a way we do not know, our heart can open a little more fearlessly to what before seemed a threat to our being and understanding.
* * *
In welcoming otherness, we find otherness is an expression of oneness. So, in welcoming otherness, we welcome that part of otherness we have been taught and adhered to. We more fully honor that we have seen, coming to see it as part of a whole, the Holy. We can intuit, even before seeing the otherness as no different than how our way and self is otherness to others, that the Holy is Wholeness ~ everything is Wholeness.
* * *
To see more gracefully
is to see beauty where others cannot see beauty,
is to invite beauty into our being where others refuse to host beauty.
Prejudice is like a curtain of darkness
thrown over the Heart.
Yet, the Heart still sees.
And one of the joys of transcending prejudice, in any area,
is to see the Grace and Loveliness we had never seen before.
This means, also, we see ourselves as we could not before,
simply by opening ourselves to the other.
Indeed, in the otherness of the other, we find
the Splendor of Grace smiling back at us,
receiving us with hospitality, saying, "Welcome, Home!"
In the deepest sense, we are Home and, therefore,
we are Home for we cannot not be already together.
This being true, our prejudices only appear
to divide what cannot be divided, and that there
we come to see is no other than this here.
* * *
There is simply no way we can step outside Oneness, even the effort is appearing as the manifestation of Oneness, every step apparently outside happening in Oneness by Oneness. Seeing this, we can be encouraged to relax, allowing Oneness to show Itself, to draw us into the bounty of Its embrace, ironically where we already are.
*The vision statement for Lotus of the Heart is Living in Love beyond Beliefs.
*All material, unless another source is cited, is authored by the presenter of Lotus of Heart, Brian Kenneth Wilcox, Florida USA. Use of the material is permitted; Brian only requests that credit be given and to be notified at 77ahavah77@gmail.com .
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union, is available through major booksellers.
*Move cursor over pictures for photographer and title.
The Sacred in Me bows
to the Sacred in You
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