meditation on impartial positive regard…
This month I have a different book, but each by the Dalai Lama, in every room in my house (except the bathroom – no further comment). So I pick up one or another book at odd moments… which are quite frequent in my life. A recurrent theme, in the D.L.’s writings, is the veneration of the mother, in terms, for instance, of a meditation practice of imagining reincarnation over endless lives (it is not necessary to believe in this, literally), implying that one could regard every creature as having been one’s mother at some point in time, in some other life. For myself, I am using this practice suggestion to meditate on many different people I have known, and imagining them as close to me – as close as a mother or a father, a sister or a brother, a son or a daughter… It is so important now for more and more humans to develop empathy as best we can. What can we do to reinforce our sense of impartial positive regard or love? What is more pertinent to that project than the fostering of awareness and respect for mothers?
David Salminen 