Here is the barest reflection upon this morning’s international conference call –
hundreds of us living our lives in a circle around this planet, coming together
in the predawn darkness as a community of compassion-builders seeking local and
global manifestations of openheartedness, justice, soft tender kindness to all
beings.
Compassion…starts at home in the hearth of the inner
landscape.
Flowing conversations, exuberant idea-generation. An ivory lotus
opened wide and receptive. The persistent discomfort with inequity, harm, selfishness,
intolerance.
During another
conversation the day before, compassion revealed itself. One tree suddenly
turned to brilliant crystal in the broad afternoon light of late summer. It
took me by surprise, a small cry of delight swallowed as I refocused my
attention on the commitment of the moment – an exchange with somebody who is
very ill. But even as my heart consumed the words and sentiments my ears were
feeding to it, my eyes returned repeatedly to that glassy tree. That overwhelming
shimmer I find impossible to understand with my head or modern science. Every
surface of that tree was covered with light, with a sheen; even the undersides
of leaves had been dipped into and preserved by the crucible that shapes by
fire all that is precious, all that is fragile. My beating pulse knows this though,
intimately and secretly and quietly: unapologetic clarity and absolute
presence; that is the sum total of the tree and the light and the atmospheric
conditions. They are. I want to be. Simply that. I cannot explain why I feel
like I was a conduit between that arboreal love.pain.beauty and the ailing,
needy person to whose agonies I was bearing witness.
And as I watch the early morning meanderings emerge into
full daylight, I realize that soft peach patterns have transformed into a
deepening blue sea overhead. I am awash in the glow of the morning.
All blog images created &/or photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2014 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."
