The soft voice in the lotus

For people who come to my Hospice unit, they are not without Hope, but they have been failed by conventional science. And for each and every one we seek to find the strength that they have within them .... for some it is family, and community, and their organized religion, but for others they are alone, and conventional ritual doesn't resonate for them. After all .... when I enter each room, it is not about me, but about the person i am trying to help.

A Reiki friend wrote that "in spite of the best efforts to stamp it out, the voice of the compassionate elemental still whispers in the ears of our collective consciousness."

What do we mean by "compassionate elemental?" We were trying to seek not that quality which is represented by a "word" or "name" but the underlying quality that each culture is seeking to grasp, understand and name. For while concepts like "God" or "Ki" may translate language to language, culture to culture, human beings using these words are enmeshed within their own cultures concepts of the word ...... they are seeking something common, but they know they are referring to something slightly different.

This concept of syncretizing" is commonly discussed ....for example in Japan, there were Maria-Kannon statues during a time of persecution of Christians, the statue representing to some the Goddess of Compassion widespread in Buddhist Japan, yet at the same time to the adherent representing Mary, the mother of Jesus. And in the same way, as Christianity was sustained in a hidden way in Japan, throughout Africa, and Central and South America the Goddesses of the communities were suppressed in favor of Mary, but within the churches of communities adherents knew that the statue of the Mother of Jesus for them was Tonantzin, or Yemaya or other Goddesses, unknown perhaps by some - but revered by tens of thousands of adherents, even after generations of suppression.

Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all embody a concept of God, compassionate, gracious, and merciful. And yet what sometimes would seem so simple can seem so difficult, being kind and compassionate to others, especially those whose words for describing that which we hold most dear are different.

So what we need to seek sometimes is something deeper than simply clarity, or compassion, or peace of mind, but a mindfulness that leads to peace of spirit. A quiet place inside ourselves where all universes meet...."for the whole universe is him and he dwells within our hearts."

www.lotusheart.us/index.html

So we can .... keep in mind all our science and conventional knowledge, and at the same time, listen to that quiet voice that has not given up trying to reach us. It urges us when we have the honor to care for anyone, to approach them from "their own place." And in a time when they are the most fragile, assist them in using the voice they hold most dear. It places us beyond compassion, in a place of tranquility....