Thin Line

There is always a very thin line between truths. They might be both true and the same. But we must need to look closer.

There is a thin line between affirming and pretending. When I say "I am pure," this is true. This is what Love wants us to see. We are pure, and its truer than we think we are not. We are more deserving of Love, because this Love is within us. But we fear that because of our defilement, of being sinful, of those mistakes we committed in the past, saying this phrase means we are pretending. This thought of pretending is not true. The time of Love is now. All mistakes we did cannot anymore be us. We are pure, and this is the truth we must see.

There is a thin line between innocence and ignorance. The child within us is innocent, always childlike, curious and seeking for answers. We never stop to wonder. We continue to discover the world that is us. This child within us has never learned to judge and hate, but only to trust and Love. Fear tells us otherwise. That we are childish, immature brats, that we cannot grow and become. That we do not know and not ready to know. Yet we are ignorant because we fear. We are innocent because we Love.

There is a thin line between insight and interpretation. Insight is an experience, coming forth from our inner seeing, inner being. When we learn knowledge, our hearts and minds transform them to understanding. Thus, our insights are born. We can now speak about what we have read or what we have heard, for they echo our wisdom within. Interpretation, on the other hand, is any knowledge we have read or heard, filtered by our own or others' intellect. We accept and preach them as truths but we are incapable of experiencing them. Interpretation is our fear seeking truth. Insight is our Love that has found the truth.

There is a thin line between caring and overprotecting. Caring is Love shown to others. It is my warm embrace, my tender touch, my gentle shoulders, my open arms. I am there with someone, my presence which is the best I can give. But, say, when a mother shouts at her child not to play so he wont get hurt, this might look like caring, but it is not. This is overprotecting. Whenever we repress our loved one's freedom, to stop them because we thought they are in danger, we fear. We stop to Love when we are overprotective. I overprotect someone because I fear. I only care someone because I Love.

There is a thin line between trust and expectation. Trusting is the attitude of the heart. I trust a person because he or she is Love. Whatever a person has or has done, it does not matter. Love cannot be measured by the worth of a person's actions or possessions. Expecting a person to do or have something is limiting. We fear the same for ourselves, for we don't want to be measured by the yardstick we use to measure others. Love is immeasurable. Because each of us is Love, we are the same. Let us stop expecting people to behave what we want. Let us begin Loving people as infinite as they are.

There is a thin line between faith and blind faith. Faith is our conviction to the unseen truth. We deeply trust what Love brings us. This is faith. Even without anyone explaining or interpreting, we are faithful and we see the truth long before we see it. Blind faith is different. It is our default way to ignore the truth, to think that somebody else is capable of knowing it and our only role is to follow it. We accept and defend the truth without understanding it, let alone experience it. This is blindness, not faith. We fear we cannot understand and experience, which causes us not to see. But Love tells us otherwise. We are blessed, because through this blindness we are now given the chance to see; to see the truth of Love.

There is a thin line between detachment and indifference. Detachment is a way to see things with a discerning mind and caring heart. It is seeing life as it is, seeing people as they are, without expecting, without judging. Detaching is not to escape, but to get involve. Yet fear sees this as indifference. Fear deludes us that detaching is escaping, but it is not. Indifference is escaping, because being indifferent is fearing that we cannot do something. We escape and deny things as they are and pretend that they are not existing. Indifference is fear of facing the truth. Detachment is Love, filled with courage to face the truth.

There is a thin line between co-creating and compromising. Co-creating is acknowledging that whoever I meet, they are fully capable of becoming and creating. When we are together, we remain two, yet become one. We are beyond than what we are, yet the truth that I am stays the same. We are both in synergy, our energies become united and empower us both. But compromising is submitting to the will of somebody, for fear of being rejected. We compromise because we want to please someone, and at the end depriving ourselves of the worth that we are. We always settle for less for the belief that we can get more. Yet we end up lesser than what we have. Fear pushes us to compromise. Only Love allows us to co-create.

There is always a thin line. But this thin line becomes thinner, and eventually disappears. Through Love we see the truth. So the thin line will never more exist.

My Religion is Loving-kindness

It's funny to look back at times when people asked me of one of the toughest, million-dollar questions I have ever had in my life: "What is your religion?" It really seemed a big deal, since the time when I started exploring other religions, it was hard to label myself of a religion where I really belong. The question is a very sensitive matter, almost a taboo. Talking to people who have their convictions on their own religious denominations could start from a hearty talk to rough disagreements. Many religions have different ways of experiencing and expressing their respect to God, through a myriad of rituals and doctrines. Both are the most common arenas where zealous followers will contend their beliefs and urge new converts. I couldn't help but to stay silent and listen to their powerful convictions, let alone the pretense that I understand.

I once dreamed to become a religious anthropologist just to learn more about why religions are different and in what way they are the same. But through the help of a university professor who lectured on eastern religions, I was able to see the two most important ways in learning a religion, without needing to spend tuition fees and tormenting studies. First, religions have an external layer, where all of the details and accessories can be found. In the external layer, history is different, language is different, rites are different, beliefs are different. This is where many Christian denominations clash, as well as the sects within other major religions. This is the common battlefield where historical wars "in the name of God" took place. This is where a follower believes that his way is the "only way" and other ways are led astray. This is where most organized religions will strongly fight over the "truth" and build walls to protect their followers from the heathens and nonbelievers.

The external layer is the main reason why the term ecumenism and interfaith/interreligious dialogue are coined. "Peace talks" among religions are made. Religious authorities meet halfway, trying to harmonize all labels and bridging all the gaps to mitigate misunderstandings. They initiate efforts to establish consonance of perspectives about life, humanity, spirituality, and God. These are all important undertakings in the time when peoples of the world can connect and communicate, and exist together in many dimensions of life.

Nonetheless, it is time to seek for the second way, the internal layer. The internal layer is not a dialogue of premises nor contentions of concepts. It is the understanding that all humans, whatever religious practice, have the same experiences and aspirations. The internal layer develops the perspective of universality, beyond the language of doctrines and symbols of rituals. It seeks not to meet halfway, but to be whole in many ways. We all experience suffering, misery, pain and fear. We all aspire for peace, abundance, joy, harmony, and Love. Through understanding the internal layer, we can share with another human being our humanness, without the need to identify ourselves with any religion. We are now seeking the root. Despite our differences, we are all One. We are more than the labels of our religious tradition, because the Love within us cannot be labeled by any means.

It is not that I can be a Catholic, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Taoist, a Jew, a Jain, a Shinto all at the same time. I can only be human, seeking for the true meaning of life. This is the same for the whole humanity. What I can do is to Love, because I am Love. The awareness of Love transcends all languages of differences. We are not anymore seeking to convert people nor to be converted from one religion to the other. The internal layer sees this unnecessary. Meditation teacher S.N. Goenka addressed these words at the United Nations Peace Summit: "We should try to convert people fom misery to happiness, from bondage to liberation, from cruelty to compassion." The best we can do is not to push in and pull out people from any beliefs. Rather, we begin converting people from the experience of fear to the experience of Love.


In his message after the 9/11 attacks, the Dalai Lama said a very powerful wisdom on religion. "My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." His words struck me a new insight. Now, the question that puzzled me is no longer tough to answer. Inspired by the Dalai Lama, I always reply, "My religion is Loving-kindness." Our ability to understand and share the wisdom of Love is our true religion. This is the only truth that can set us all free.

Pathfinder's the Journey Within

The following articles are my original entries written 2 weeks before the Communes were born.

Welcome.

I would like to invite everyone to start a journey. A journey that has been taking place for thousands of years. A journey that takes neither time nor distance. A journey within.

We are all Pathfinders.

The Path
Finding the Path is the first step to start the journey. The Path is nowhere to be found outside. It is not a certain geography, nor it has a physical map.

Yet the Path has been charted in many ways, by many sages through many languages befitting their insightful understanding. It has led a trail for many people to follow. Followers of the Path have been helped, healed and found deeper meaning in their lives.

For ancient Pathfinders, they had found the Path. But their journey and my journey, or your journey are not the same. Nevertheless, the Path in which the Pathfinders had begun their journeys is the same Path for which we seek to find. For centuries, people have begun journeys, but failed to find the Path. Finding the Path, therefore, is the process where we must begin.


What is the Path?
We begin to ask the most fundamental question: What is the Path?

It is as basic as asking the question "Who am I?" It is a question that had been asked centuries ago by different kinds of people across the world. A puzzling question that seems to be unanswerable.

Answering the question "What is the Path?" is the same as how a Pathfinder will answer the question "Who am I?" Behind these two questions lies only a crystal-clear answer. A clear answer that has been clouded by the judgments of millions of questioning mind. The answer has been there all the time, yet it has become a disappointing blind spot. Many thought that the answer can be found from the outside reality, from the truth that the 5 senses can perceive. But these perceived truths are only surface layer that amassed and covered the light of the answer. It is time to unearth the answer.


The Search for Meaning

The Path is the search for the True Meaning.

We see the course of our lives through endless lists of meanings. Whatever we see outside, we put meaning. Whatever our thoughts processed, we give meaning. Whatever we feel, we attach meaning.

But the meanings we used to connect with our experiences are not the True Meaning. These meanings have led as astray, and still we cannot find the True Meaning. We put names on these meanings that we have forgotten the True Meaning we are destined to seek. We see and speak about meanings we found to be true and fought over these meanings against the rest. Even if we win over wars on meaning, we still have discontent on the meanings we have found. Thus, the feeling of meaningless and unworthy existence comes into being. We feel meaningless, and forget finding the True Meaning.

Discovering oneself as a Pathfinder leads us to remember why we exist: We are here to find the Path and reclaim the memory of the True Meaning.


The True Meaning
True Meaning is beyond any words. It is undefined, unfathomable. It is intangible, immaterial. Yet it can be experienced and nurtured.

True Meaning is often mistaken as something felt or thought. Yes, in one way, It can be, sometimes a thought, sometimes a feeling. Before, we can also see it neither or both. As a Pathfinder, we have found True Meaning not just as a thought, for it often becomes a judgment; nor as a feeling, for it often becomes a sentiment. Rather, True Meaning is the crystallization of our conscious choice: our conscious choice to Love.

We begin to tread the Path when we clearly understand the True Meaning, because we consciously choose to Love.

Our Choices
We might say that everything we choose may lead us to one good or bad result. Something we are thankful or regretful. If we choose something good, we see favorable things, and think they are rewards. If we choose something bad, we see unfavorable things, and think they are punishment. And we see that whatever results come, we don't have any choice at all.

Choices are as infinite as the number of galaxies and stars. Choices lead us to some degree of Possibilities. Choices have different situations, connections and manifestations. We are making Choices every time, and they might be conscious or unconscious. The moment we make choices is the very moment when we fulfill them. Often, Choices result to another which we refuse to choose. We may find them right or wrong Choices, yet there is one thing inherent in every Choice we choose to make. We have to bring back the awareness that every time we choose, there is always an immense chance compelling us to choose Love.


Love is the Pathfinder's Choice
Being a Pathfinder, we are no more choosing unconsciously about so many things. Choices might seem to be overwhelming because of their immensity, which confuses us, but now we know only 2 things to choose: to choose Love or not.

When we choose unconsciously, it is difficult to choose and make a right Choice. Because we think that whatever we choose can possibly be a wrong Choice. At the end, we often never choose Love. It might look like we don't choose Love, but the truth is Love is the only Choice left. Not choosing Love consciously or unconsciously are doorways that still leading us to make the right Choice, though it might take time to find the fruits of our Choice.

In finding the Path, we step onto the journey of consciously choosing; consciously choosing Love. A Pathfinder chooses Love. Love transforms everything we choose.


The Pathfinder

Who is a Pathfinder?

A Pathfinder has no definition. A Pathfinder is a Pathfinder. A Pathfinder's purpose is to find the Path. I am a Pathfinder. You are a Pathfinder. We are all Pathfinders. We might forget our true purpose, but every thing we choose somehow leads us back to it. The Path has been there before us, no matter where we go, no matter what we choose. Because the Path that calls us for a journey is the Path that we truly are.



The Path of Love

Finding the Path is finding the Path of Love.

The Path, the Pathfinder, and Love all have the same nature. There are no boundaries among them. This is the truth we all Pathfinders must see. But it is quite a challenge. Because, since our first existence, we have begun seeing limitations and boundaries.



What are these limitations and boundaries? These are the illusions we set before us, the darkness that we think we see. Therefore, we thought we cannot see the Path. And if we cannot see the Path, we cannot choose Love. If we cannot choose Love, then the choices we make are against it, thereby we are led astray. Though we thought this way, the truth is otherwise. The Path is always there, and the only choice we have is Love.

The Pathfinder and the Path are one.

The Rhythm

In a store facing a glass window one late afternoon, I was sitting next to a friend, a young girl in her late teens. We were not talking face to face, but instead watching the cars passing by before our eyes, watching the movement of the city as if it was a movie. We had to meet to answer her questions, amid her emotional storms. The glimpse of her face was overcast, gloomy as the nearing evening. She looked at me, with eyes seeking sympathy from an older brother. Her voice was soft, but the words she said was hard. Only three words. They were hard enough to shatter the concrete of my reasoning.

Love is pain.

This is not just a simple sentence with sentimental overtones. In fact, her words were able to crystallize from the series of her romantic relationships coupled with emotional blows, all happened in her tender teenage years when she could have better enjoyed discovering and learning her life. Her words reminded me of my own romantic agonies, of the thrills and ills of romance, of many unrequited "love", and my mental resistance to any romantic concepts. Through her words, the words of Gary Zukav echoed boomingly in my mind: Love and romance are not the same. They had stirred my spirit to the point of creating a whirlpool of memories where my sanity was sinking down. And in a flash, I tried to rationalize those thoughts and explained her, at the time when I was still collecting insights from nowhere. These three words are simple, but powerfully sweep the spirit from discerning the truth of Love. They left me an indelible mark, and became one of the force majeure in my quest to understand Love.

There is a thin veil that separates between the Love and romance. Our culture has magnified this myth that both are the same. The society experiences Love as what the make-believes of mass media have shown and conditioned people. Because of the belief that Love is about getting physically appealing or romantically engaging or sexually attractive, we are bound to discover that these are all silly ideals that will not lead to eternal relationships. This very myth has caused many divorces, annullments, broken families, and suicides in the name of Love that we have never understood. This myth is what made my friend see Love as pain. Its about time to understand Love as opposed to romance. Or rather, to experience both forces and let the insight emerge.

Just recently, in a silent meditation retreat, I was again undergoing the process of facing the fiends of my past. The nostalgia of blowing summer wind brought me to the illusions I have long forgotten. The illusion of romantic "love" which I have called the Spark. In my experience, the Spark is a spectrum of emotions morphing from one to the other. Attraction, infatuation and passion are all elements of the Spark. Most of us call it "falling in love." I'd rather call it my way, since I had this inkling that the Spark cannot have the gravity of the meaning to prove that I love someone.

The Spark is a strong current that shocked me that moment. It had kept quivering my hearstrings, reminding me of the pleasures and pains of this magnified myth of romance. The Spark tried to fix an image of an object of affection, having her in a fairy-tale glory. It brought me the surge of all reminiscence, drenching me in this imaginary feeling of lightness. It was irresistible, and it brought the illusion that the feelings are forever.

However, as the Spark invigorates its energy, it has begun to rekindle my intentions of unconditional Love. While I feel the Spark firing up in me, the warmth of Love begins to flow. When the illusions of "happy-ever-after" ignite, they are immediately transformed into the subtle light of Loving-kindness, glowing and flowing a continuous thread of blessing energies to myself and the person of my affection. As the romantic feeling begin to swirl over and over, drowning me in this pleasantness, I slowly come to my senses where the vortex stops and the water of Love cascades with full force, washing out my wistfulness and longing for someone to fill my false emptiness. This ever-going process is an experiential insight that called itself the Rhythm.


The Rhythm is dance between romance and Love. As I observe this process within me, I have become more confident in the role of romance to transform my thoughts and feelings from illusions to Love. My years of repulsing romance have culminated to this point, to this very tangible cycle of the Rhythm. The romantic illusions are dancing and transcending, from wild emotional weeds into blooming flowers of Loving intentions. The Rhythm swiftly moves to heal past wounds and ease recurring pains. The Spark does not anymore shock me and leave me paralyzed. It kindles the essence of the Love within, brings back my beacon of awareness and cast light on my own insignificant darkness. Being mindful of the Rhythm, I begin to Love the person more deeply, not because she is affectionate or intimate. More than what the Spark wants me to see, I see her beyond as a person full of Love, a being that bears the core of the universe within. The Rhythm allows me to experience that me and her are both Love, without needing to fill each other because neither of us are lacking. Rather, we are both filled, and the source of Love is always abundant within each of us.

I did agnonize those days of addictive liking and painful parting and rejecting. Though their days had ended, the final traces of my pains toward them have now been extinguished. Love and pain cannot be any more synonymous in my consciousness. This is my fervent wish for all people, especially for the youth. The end of days for the snares of the myth has come.

Let the dance of the Rhythm begin.

Perspectives on Loving-kindness Meditation

My explorations on the meaning and experience of Love has finally guided me to the benefits of Loving-kindness meditation. So when the Communes began on November 15, 2008, it has been our tradition to end the sharing with a meditation on intending Loving-kindness. This practice has left a profound impact on my spiritual process since 2007, and sharing this to others has led me to see how Loving-kindness affects people positively in their lives, and in turn opens doors to immense possibilities of Love. The meditation is very simple: one must begin developing intentions of Love towards oneself, then to others and all beings. These intentions transform judgmental thoughts against oneself and others into unconditional thoughts of Love.

I have witnessed astonishing changes among people whom I have shared this practice, and they have learned it likewise. But most of all, I have seen greater changes in myself, the way I see my life and my world through the lens of Loving-kindness. A number of perspectives have helped me to see the power of Loving-kindness meditation. My aim is to look into these perspectives with understanding of their possibilities, not necessarily to compare them, however they may differ from one another.


First Perspective
The First perspective seeks to define the original translations from the Buddhist tradition. The example of this perspective is best known from the writings of Sharon Salzberg, an American Buddhist meditation teacher, who wrote a book entitled Loving-kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Through her personal exploration on the Buddha's teaching, she has profoundly concentrated on the art of cultivating Metta, the Pali (Buddha's ancient language) for Loving-kindness. The following preliminary phrases recited for the Metta meditation refer to the Loving-kindness towards oneself are:

May I be free from harm and danger
May I be free from physical suffering
May I be free from mental suffering
May I always be happy.

Then on the following phrases pronoun I is changed to you so one can begin to send Metta to others, starting from teachers or benefactors, then to loved ones, strangers and difficult people.

May you be free from harm and danger
May you be free from physical suffering
May you be free from mental suffering
May you always be happy.

The meditation has a litany of Loving intentions generated towards all visible and invisible beings, all material blessings and all directions. The subjects are changing, but the exact intentions (freedom from harm and danger, physical and mental suffering, and being happy) are clearly anchored to guide the meditator's universal blessing towards his or her subjects.

The word may as the beginning of the phrases is actually the distinct characteristic of the first perspective. In the English language, may is a modal verb, or a word that modifies the mood of a statement. As a western concept, may implies that something is lacking, uncertain of possibilities and must be wished for intently. This is the main reason why in the West may is apparently a weak word, comparable to the Filipino word sana or loosely translated as "how I wish." Western perception has a great emphasis on the power of words, therefore those words that may subtly imbibe uncertainty in motivating people are commonly avoided. As opposed to the Eastern concept where intentions are not limited by words, the word may is not capable of denoting a certain degree of impossibility, because for an Eastern meditator he or she already implies intentions as seeds of possibility, regardless of the words used.


Second Perspective
I remember a common motivation lesson (perhaps originated from the likes of great American motivation exponents such as Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill, Wallace Wattles, Anthony Robbins and Bob Proctor) that every wish must always be in the present tense. This kind of motivation purportedly stresses the importance of intending with full faith,and certain words can specifically limit or expand possibility.

If you are wishing for success, instead of saying "May I be successful", it is much better to claim that success as something that is right here and now: "I am successful." Most people find this technique difficult, for they define their experience as feigned rather than affirmative. This particular dilemma has also stemmed from the need of the western mind to articulate its experience before truly experiencing them. Simply put, a person tends to rationalize his or her experience and the act of claiming something yet to happen is an irrational pretense, a childish make-believe. "I am successful" is always followed by buts and ifs, because of the belief that one is not deserving of certain success, especially amid life's struggles and difficulties.

This shift from the modal may to the outright pronouns I and you shows the main quality of the second perspective. Here are the changes:

I am free from harm and danger
I am free from physical suffering
I am free from mental suffering
I am always happy.

You are free from harm and danger
You are free from physical suffering
You are free from mental suffering
You are always happy.

This is a comfortable concept in the western paradigm, for the acknowledgment of a wish in a straightforward manner is believed to be much more effective. In this perspective, affirmation can see the possibility happening here and now, not some wish from a distant future. Affirmative phrasing is the best antidote to the poison of pretense.

Third Perspective
In 2006, Australian producer Rhonda Byrne launched The Secret a documentary film featuring luminaries of modern spirituality who discussed the Law of Attraction. In one segment of the film, Abraham, a nonphysical entity conveyed by Esther Hicks, focused on the power of repeated negative words in attracting possibilities. The words used, according to Abraham, are signals to the universe (which is apparently another emphasis on words).

For instance, a person who suffers from debts or unwanted incidents is definitely unconscious of the words and thoughts she is using. She has kept on saying or thinking them that eventually causing those negativity to manifest. So a phrase such as "I won't have a bad day" is always counterintuitive, unlike if somebody says "I have a good day." Your wish not to have a bad day unconsciously suggest that a bad day can be possible because of a resistance to it using the word "won't". Again, the third perspective has a lot of thing to do with words, their uses and emphases. Having a good day suggest more fun and freedom, no limitations of negative concepts like bad and won't. The Law of attraction sees this positivity as viable to happen.

The third perspective suggests the changes of negative words into positive words. The following are my own equivalents.

I am safe and sound
I am healthy and alive
I am calm and peaceful
I am always happy.

You are safe and sound
You are healthy and alive
You are calm and peaceful
You are always happy.

Now, these positive words evoke the true nature of freedom from negativity. Instead of the phrase "free from harm", the words "safe and sound" empower that positive wish. Same goes for the rest of the intentions.


Fourth perspective
Under the principles of teaching second language, Stephen Krashen proposed The Natural Method, an approach wherein language is learned naturally. It allows the learner to listen, speak and imitate the sounds and words in an environment conducive to experiencing the language. Let say a kid who learns to speak English is tripped to the zoo where she acquires new animal names. She repeats the names with unbelievable precision because she has found meanings on her experience. The approach is crystal-clear: words are combination of distinct sounds naturally expressed to define a human experience. Words cannot appear nowhere. They are born out of experiential learning. I remember what my teacher said, "Experience always precedes meaning." Otherwise, the words will remain unlearned, dull symbols and sounds.

Both positive and negative words came out to represent the deepest need of humans to understand and share experiences. Abstract nouns like Love, Loving-kindness, Peace, Joy, etc., are not invented words, but rather have substantial connections to the feelings, situations, and contexts when the words were created. Likewise, negative words such as fear, anger, frustration, and guilt have the same source of experience.

The experience of these words, or rather intentions, calls for the possibility of the fourth perspective. While meditating Loving-kindness, the interactive rhythm of thoughts, feelings, imagination enlarges the power of intentions. As I intend safety for a friend, I imagine her sleeping tightly on her bed, having sweet dreams. Or if I intend health, I imagine my father as robust and strong even if he has come down with osteoarthritis. If I want to be happy, I can imagine the glowing light of Loving-kindness pumped like blood throughout my arteries and veins, nourishing my body with inner Love. Together with these imaginations I can feel the feeling and affirm my intentions that they are really happening and let them linger in my consciousness without forcing any results. I can only have faith to the power of Love that works without any expectations, and trust that everything I intend is now taking place. The fourth perspective needs no words. It only needs the experience of one's intention, transforming every lack of Love into a moving force of its presence.


The Possibilities of Four Perspectives
There is no greater perspective than the other because all of them have the same possibilities. They all share a common denominator: the intention of Loving-kindness. Words are but ways to define. Still, the intention itself, intangible and invisible, determines the effects and the results. In the realm of Love, whatever names and labels all collapse to the same essence, the inherent truth that we can intend and share the Love within.