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After some consultation the next book club topic for discussion will be:
Our Beliefs: How they arise and their relation to Truth.
We gratefully acknowledge Elisabeth's suggestion as noted below:
"Do not believe anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." -- Buddha
We could use it to discuss "belief" as it applies to our practice, which is a little different from the discovery of [our] world and giving our heart to it.
Further food for thought on the subject can be found at http://www.quietepiphany.blogspot.com/
We were back at Ginny and Claudine's (finally - they are such gypsies) and discussed the Dalai Lama quote noted in the previous entry: "Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it."
A spirited discussion ensued with everyone having a slightly different take on its meaning, yet in essence we were all on the same page. Whether we took exception to this word or that, we realized that the essential message is to find your love in life and dedicate your heart to manifesting it. The world is that one within and your heart is found through the search for it. Ever growing, changing, and forever uniquely your own.
I am clearly not up to the task of doing battle with the bevity and clarity of Nadine's overviews so I would like to offer excerpts from the thoughts of two of our members.
MM was reminded during the opening meditation of a quote from Rumi who wrote, "Let the beauty you love be what you do." She related it to her love for those grandmothers in Africa who struggle to raise their grandchildren orphaned by AIDS and the joy she receives from a dedication to her project for these courageous women (www.nyanyaproject.org).
Marian offered another very poetic take on the quote with the following observation:
"In order to discover my world, I have to go outside and wrap the arms of Nature around me every day and take notice of life in the wild natural world. Outside I feel God's hand in the sweeping landscape so teeming with ground squirrels and chipmunks and birds and dragonflies in flight. The purposeful movement of all the outdoor inhaibitants flows with ease and is tempered with silences of wonderment as I discover the reflective spaces inside of me. The outside world of Nature is the foundation of my world. It is as close as a door or window, or a memory of how its arms feel around me. My heart resonates with the joy of whispering wind, seeing the squirrel find all its needs jovially, and the birds content to soar and land, hunt and perch. It is like the face of God melts into mine when I discover the world outside for it teaches me to give my joy and love away the same way that Nature gives hers to me. The sinking sunset is the merging of light and dark, limitless possibilities of dreams and wonderment. My world is a reflection of how I process the world outside of me. The graces of Nature sustain my world and nourish me with will and purpose to stay focused and awake in order to discover my heart's desires in the process. I give myself to Nature everyday when I walk in It's presence and I'm mindful of how much love lives in my heart for Her gentle nurturing of all her inhabitants. She has a space for every being. Unconditional love and acceptance then is becoming my world." (Italics is mine, for it is such wonderful truths we often lose sight of.)
I for one consider myself more than blessed to have such friends in my life and to have the opportunity to be taught by them on a regualr basis.
But let us not forget the value of humor for as M pointed out - though we began the discussion on the discovery of love in the heart, somehow that morphed into C's love for paper products and whether or not we filled the toiletpaper roll dispenser so as to unroll from the top or the bottom. "I guess we could say that we began with work and ended in the toilet." she quipped.
I love you all.
We decided to have the next meeting on October 10th and the subject will be given by Nadine (though she said she's have it to me by now) and will be forwarded in the near future.
