X-Treme Wisdom!

Part of my path to Extreme Wisdom - or perhaps I should say X-Treme Wisdom! - is dipping into many different sources of spiritual thought.  I'm often amazed at how similar themes repeat themselves, suggesting to me that there's a lot of basic agreement about the foundations of spiritual principles.  I like to remember that the Alcoholics Anonymous program doesn't contain very much original material but is rather a repackaging of ancient spiritual thought in a form palatable to the rebellious drunk.

Here's a segment from my current daily meditation book that was written by a Native America woman: "When talking to someone trustworthy does not ease stress, then writing it can make a world of difference.  Writing it to ourselves can bring out many causes for sadness or anger that we didn't know we were harboring.  A daily journal has been the source of help in learning what we store away unconsciously, only to come out  and whip us at the most unlikely times."

Man, is there a whiff of the Fourth Step there?  Have any of you ever heard from your irritating sponsors that keeping a daily journal can be helpful?  Yeah, me neither.  There's something about writing to yourself that releases information that is normally, naturally suppressed.  No one likes to find out unpleasant truths about themselves, so we sit quietly and think, cleverly keeping the bad shit in a dark place.  One of my most powerful truths about writing regularly is that it doesn't make much sense to lie to oneself.

Compassion:  Recognizing the suffering of others and then taking action to help; the literal definition is "to suffer together."

This from an Indian holy man: "The most damaging psychic irritant arising in the mind, particularly at the time when the mind is quiet, is resentment.  You must remember that you practice loving kindness for the purification of your own mind.  You must remember that compassion is a manifestation of loving kindness in action, for one who does not have loving kindness cannot help others."

Resentment: A feeling of indignant displeasure or persistent ill will at something regarded as wrong, insult or injury.  (Ed. Note: I like the inclusion of the word indignant which suggests the belief, not the certainty that I've been wronged.  Persistent is good, too, as in a persistent cough or a persistent headache or the persistent whine of a gas-powered leaf-blower used by a neighbor who feels the need to blow every fucking scrap of leaf into a pile while I'm trying to meditate.  Finally, who can say anything bad about the word "regarded" which tells us that most of the time we're annoyed at something that isn't that annoying; it's only annoying to us.)

And here's A.A.: "Resentment is the number one offender."  Resentments are liking eating poison and hoping the other person dies.  And there's a whiff of the Ninth Step there, too, in the idea that you are working The Program so that you get better and healthier and happier, not for the benefit of the other guy.  Leave that other guy alone!