My mind just looooves synchronicity!

Today’s calendar by my bathroom sink:

February 10^th post.

Quote in my in-box this morning:

“The problem with certainty is that it is static; it can do little but endlessly reassert itself. Uncertainty, by contrast, is full of unknowns, possibilities, and risks.” – Stephen Batchelor

PEACE Quotes are offered by:
Living Compassion
transforming lives, ending suffering
http://www.LivingCompassion.org

Which is where I am.  Uncertain.  Flopping around, dancing, toying with, exploring….

I know what I don’t believe: Original Sin.  My struggle is coming from a gut response to the question.  My lightning-quick answer is “no,” based on the squeeze in my stomach. After a moment, my mind’s answer is “well of course people are innately good.”  The sneaking in behind that is “just not me.”

Friend Janet says she is working with staying neutral.  That sounds the most promising as it removes the attachment to either bad or good.  However, it still implies a movement from – something. I think.  See — still struggling!

The dictionary definition says inborn; natural.  That implies a body and a mind.  Pretty sure I need to get away from the influence of both of those.

Here is a quote from H.M. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche which as part of the initial trigger to think about this:

Goodness has to be genuinely embodied. We first need to look at how we feel about ourselves. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche translated our natural state from Tibetan as “Basic Goodness” – this is our natural state. Basic does not mean lower or simple or minimal, it means foundational, total, complete, whole. We are wholly, completely, totally good. This is not coming from a state of ego, but from a deep sense of well-being-ness. How do we touch this Basic Goodness? One means is through meditation. It can also happen when we are bored or sad, and there is a moment of tenderness when we can touch the beauty and fragility of life. Like a fragile flower – within this simple flower lies the totality of life in all of its basic goodness. In this culture this is something that we feel like we cannot share, and it is not valued. This conference – Wisdom in Action – shows that we DO value the well-being of humanity. We are opening to our full illumination when we come together.

Can we create a culture where the soft elements such as kindness and compassion are valued? Often people say “This is all well and good, but how are we supposed to survive in reality?” Well, by cultivating these soft elements we learn true strength. It is not easy loving someone. Soft strength is what society as a whole needs to develop to survive this next phase of life. Once we feel soft strength on an internal level, then we can exchange it with another person – and society really begins with just 2 people. Once we touch our own basic goodness, we need to see that in another. If we think that “almost” everyone is basically good – that’s not enough, because we are someone else’s “almost” too! The world will not change with this attitude. People do stupid things – that is not going to change. We have to see basic goodness in everyone without exception.