Of Buddhist Boot Camp and my latest acrylic artwork
in acrylic paper I called 'Courage'
I happen to stumble upon this book, Buddhist Boot Camp written by Timber Hawkeye. I won’t instigate debate on morals vs. Religion ... I just want a peaceful life that’s attune and with spiritual respect to nature.
I love how the author shortened every readings, so adoptive of fast-pace culture we are in today.
I’d like to share a page he titled ‘Unlearn’;
I’m not sure if wisdom is so much about acquiring additional knowledge, or more about letting go of the illusion that we know any ultimate truths.
My dad made an interesting observation when I explained my life journey to him. “You’re not trying to learn anything new,” he said. “You’re trying to go back to being two years old, aren’t you?”
To some degree, I think that’s true. I mean, I didn’t know how to be prejudiced or judgmental at that age. I was fascinated by everybody regardless of race, weight, height, gender or even species.
In fact, I think everybody is born caring and compassionate, with the capacity to unconditionally love all sentient beings without exception. As soon as we are old enough, however, our parents, teachers, preachers, and society teach us to only love and trust family members or, at most, people with the same colored skin.
As a result, by the time we reach high school, we’re so disconnected from one another that we can watch an entire nation starving on TV and not feel an ounce of compassion simply because they don’t look like us. It’s sometimes not until after college (if at all) that we wake up to realize, “Hey, wait a minute. They’re people too!”
I admit having felt very distant from people who were “different” from me in my preteen years. But we certainly don’t have to stay who we were when we were younger! I can’t even watch a caught fish Hopping on the sand without feeling its agony nowadays, let alone see another human in pain.
Sometimes life isn’t about anything new that we have to learn, but about what we have to UNlearn instead.
I am another you, and you are another me. And the journey continues. Namaste.
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
-Frederick Douglass
Buddhist Boot Camp by Timber Hawkeye, page 13.
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