Mercy

My alarm clock is set to WRR, the classical station here in Dallas. On Sunday mornings, there's a variety of religious (Christian) programming. That can usually make me jump out of bed to turn it off quickly, but lately I've been staying in bed to listen to Dr. Stan Copeland of Lovers Lane United Methodist Church.

He's a "good ol' boy" from East Texas and he's funny and self-deprecating. He preaches from the Bible, and his message this morning was about forgiveness and mercy. As I listened, I thought about the Buddhist tenet of compassion. It's the same message of tolerance and respect for all human beings. It's a simple enough concept to understand, but practice can be difficult!

There are so many things that divide us: money; class; culture; ethnicity; Dallas or Fort Worth (kidding!). Religion is often the most divisive element in the world. I like to think about our similarities instead of our differences. We really are all one. Hinduism calls it "The Self." Jung called it the "collective unconscious." Joseph Campbell posits that, if one light bulb burns out, is the light gone? No, the light is still there - waiting for another light bulb to illuminate. We're all the light - every one of us - though we seem like individual "bulbs."

It's really hard to remember our similarities, as our differences can seem so much more apparent. But I think it's interesting to think about, and hope that anyone who reads this thinks so, too.

Peace.