My OperaDays of Spiritual Reflection
By Humanizador. Wednesday, December 19, 2007 9:01:33 PM
Days of Experience
Dear friends, women and men, pilgrims, and visitors to Punta de Vacas Park: I would like to talk about the central theme of these Days of Spiritual Inspiration - Reconciliation as a profound spiritual experience. But I know that you will forgive me if I postpone this theme for a few minutes in order to set out some context for this quite extraordinary situation that we are in the midst of.
Only four times in nearly forty years have we spoken publicly from here, from this desolate mountain outpost. The first time was in 1969. And today we see scattered about here a number of engraved steles that record in different languages what was said on that occasion. On them we find the synthesis of a system of thought and action that has expressed itself in various ways, in various moments and in various parts of the world. At that time, we spoke of the differences between physical pain and mental suffering and we considered Justice and Science, wholeheartedly turned toward social progress, as the only paths that can alleviate the pain of our bodies and make it recede.
But unlike physical pain, mental suffering cannot be made to disappear thanks to Justice and Science alone. The best of causes have been dignified by the sustained effort to make Science and Justice progress in human societies. And the effort to overcome mental suffering has been equally important as the efforts applied to the overcoming of pain. Since that time we have preached that these efforts to overcome pain and suffering are the most worthy endeavors of the human enterprise.
Together with hundreds of thousands of friends working closely together we have applied ourselves to the task of humanizing the Earth. And what has it meant for us to "Humanize the Earth?" It has been to place human liberty as the highest value and non-discrimination and non-violence as the highest social practice. In our efforts to humanize the Earth we did not exclude ourselves from the obligations that we demanded of others. Indeed, we set ourselves as a standard of behavior the requirement of treating others as we want to be treated.
Now we have proposed a brief pause on the path of humanization in order to reflect on the meaning of our existence and our actions. We have made the pilgrimage to this desolate outpost searching for the Force that nourishes our lives, seeking Joy in doing and the mental Peace needed to move forward in this altered and violent world. During these Days we are reviewing our lives, our hopes, and also our failures, with the aim of cleansing our minds of all falseness and contradiction. Taking the opportunity to review our aspirations and frustrations is a practice that, even if only once in life, should be realized by every one of us who seek to advance in their personal development and their action in the world.
These are days of inspiration and reflection. These are days of Reconciliation, sincere reconciliation with ourselves and those who have harmed us. Regarding those painful relationships that we have endured, we are not trying to forgive or to be forgiven. To forgive implies that one of the parties is placed in a superior moral position and the other humbles themselves before the one who forgives. And while it is clear that forgiveness is an advance over vengeance, it is not as advanced as reconciliation.
Nor are we trying to forget the wrongs that have occurred. This is not about trying to falsify the memory. It’s about trying to comprehend what happened in order to begin the superior step of reconciliation. Nothing good is achieved, either personally or socially, by forgetting or forgiving. Don't forget and don’t forgive! The mind should remain fresh and attentive, without pretence or falsehood.
We are now considering the key point of Reconciliation, something that does not admit adulteration. If we are searching for sincere reconciliation with ourselves and with those who have hurt us deeply, it is because we desire a profound transformation of our lives. A transformation that takes us out of resentment in which no one reconciles with anyone, not even with themselves.
When we are able to understand that no enemy inhabits our interior, but rather a being filled with hopes and failures, a being in whom we can see even in a short sequence of images, beautiful moments of fulfillment as well as moments of frustration and resentment. When; we are able to understand that our enemy is a being who has also lived with hopes and failures, a being in whom there have been beautiful moments of fulfillment as well as moments of frustration and resentment, then it is a humanizing look that we are casting over the skin of monstrosity.
This path towards reconciliation does not arise spontaneously, just as the path towards non-violence does not arise spontaneously, because both require great comprehension as well as the formation of a physical repugnance to violence.
It will not be we who judge errors, neither our own nor those of others. For that there is human retribution and human justice, and it will be the measure of the times which exercises its dominion. I don't want to judge myself or to judge others....I want to understand deeply in order to cleanse my mind of all resentment.
To reconcile is neither to forget nor to forgive, it is to acknowledge all that has happened and to propose breaking out of the circle of resentment. It is to look at the situation, recognizing one’s own errors and those of others. To reconcile within oneself is to propose to not take the same road twice, but rather to be ready to make amends twice-over for the wrongs one has done. But it is clear that we cannot ask those that have offended us to make amends twice-over for the harm they have done us. However, it is good to let them see the chain of harm that they are dragging through their lives. In doing this we reconcile with some one we previously felt was an enemy—even if this person doesn’t reconcile with us. But that is now part of the destiny of their actions over which we have no control.
We are saying that reconciliation is not reciprocal between people, and also that reconciliation with oneself does not necessarily have as a consequence that others leave behind their vicious circle, even when they might recognize the social benefit of this individual posture.
The theme of reconciliation has been central in these Days of ours, but surely we have achieved many other advances by making this physical pilgrimage to an unknown landscape that will have awakened profound landscapes. And this will always be possible if the Purpose that has motivated our pilgrimage is a disposition towards renewal, or better still, a disposition towards the transformation of our own lives.
During these days we have reviewed what we consider to be the most important situations in our lives. If we have located such moments and reconciled with them, cleaning away the resentments that have bound us to the past, then we will have had a good pilgrimage towards the source of renewal and transformation.
Let us not forget those brief phrases that have emerged from our interior, let us not forget those things that have suddenly occurred to us, let us not forget to write down those truths that we have managed to divine as we have seen them briefly dance before us as we walk here, or perhaps because we have seen them in those nightly restorative dreams that follow our pilgrimage. These phrases, these things that occur to us, these dancing truths, are inspirations for which we are ready to be thankful. They are inspirations that invite us to go further in our experiences, not only of reconciliation but also of overcoming contradictions, weaknesses and fears.
It is my sincere hope that these searches and encounters will ignite in us a profound motivation.
In ending I should add that I recognize here a situation that I want to share with all of you, a situation similar to what we have described in one of our Guided Experiences…“I return to the world with my forehead and hands luminous. And so I accept my destiny. Here is the path and I, a humble pilgrim returning to my people. Filled with light, I return to the hours of daily routine, to the pain of humanity, and to their simple joys. I, who give with my hands what I can, who receive both insults and the warmest of greetings, sing to the heart that from the darkest abyss is reborn in the light of longed-for Meaning."
Silo, Punta de Vacas 2007
Dear friends, women and men, pilgrims, and visitors to Punta de Vacas Park: I would like to talk about the central theme of these Days of Spiritual Inspiration - Reconciliation as a profound spiritual experience. But I know that you will forgive me if I postpone this theme for a few minutes in order to set out some context for this quite extraordinary situation that we are in the midst of.
Only four times in nearly forty years have we spoken publicly from here, from this desolate mountain outpost. The first time was in 1969. And today we see scattered about here a number of engraved steles that record in different languages what was said on that occasion. On them we find the synthesis of a system of thought and action that has expressed itself in various ways, in various moments and in various parts of the world. At that time, we spoke of the differences between physical pain and mental suffering and we considered Justice and Science, wholeheartedly turned toward social progress, as the only paths that can alleviate the pain of our bodies and make it recede.
But unlike physical pain, mental suffering cannot be made to disappear thanks to Justice and Science alone. The best of causes have been dignified by the sustained effort to make Science and Justice progress in human societies. And the effort to overcome mental suffering has been equally important as the efforts applied to the overcoming of pain. Since that time we have preached that these efforts to overcome pain and suffering are the most worthy endeavors of the human enterprise.
Together with hundreds of thousands of friends working closely together we have applied ourselves to the task of humanizing the Earth. And what has it meant for us to "Humanize the Earth?" It has been to place human liberty as the highest value and non-discrimination and non-violence as the highest social practice. In our efforts to humanize the Earth we did not exclude ourselves from the obligations that we demanded of others. Indeed, we set ourselves as a standard of behavior the requirement of treating others as we want to be treated.
Now we have proposed a brief pause on the path of humanization in order to reflect on the meaning of our existence and our actions. We have made the pilgrimage to this desolate outpost searching for the Force that nourishes our lives, seeking Joy in doing and the mental Peace needed to move forward in this altered and violent world. During these Days we are reviewing our lives, our hopes, and also our failures, with the aim of cleansing our minds of all falseness and contradiction. Taking the opportunity to review our aspirations and frustrations is a practice that, even if only once in life, should be realized by every one of us who seek to advance in their personal development and their action in the world.
These are days of inspiration and reflection. These are days of Reconciliation, sincere reconciliation with ourselves and those who have harmed us. Regarding those painful relationships that we have endured, we are not trying to forgive or to be forgiven. To forgive implies that one of the parties is placed in a superior moral position and the other humbles themselves before the one who forgives. And while it is clear that forgiveness is an advance over vengeance, it is not as advanced as reconciliation.
Nor are we trying to forget the wrongs that have occurred. This is not about trying to falsify the memory. It’s about trying to comprehend what happened in order to begin the superior step of reconciliation. Nothing good is achieved, either personally or socially, by forgetting or forgiving. Don't forget and don’t forgive! The mind should remain fresh and attentive, without pretence or falsehood.
We are now considering the key point of Reconciliation, something that does not admit adulteration. If we are searching for sincere reconciliation with ourselves and with those who have hurt us deeply, it is because we desire a profound transformation of our lives. A transformation that takes us out of resentment in which no one reconciles with anyone, not even with themselves.
When we are able to understand that no enemy inhabits our interior, but rather a being filled with hopes and failures, a being in whom we can see even in a short sequence of images, beautiful moments of fulfillment as well as moments of frustration and resentment. When; we are able to understand that our enemy is a being who has also lived with hopes and failures, a being in whom there have been beautiful moments of fulfillment as well as moments of frustration and resentment, then it is a humanizing look that we are casting over the skin of monstrosity.
This path towards reconciliation does not arise spontaneously, just as the path towards non-violence does not arise spontaneously, because both require great comprehension as well as the formation of a physical repugnance to violence.
It will not be we who judge errors, neither our own nor those of others. For that there is human retribution and human justice, and it will be the measure of the times which exercises its dominion. I don't want to judge myself or to judge others....I want to understand deeply in order to cleanse my mind of all resentment.
To reconcile is neither to forget nor to forgive, it is to acknowledge all that has happened and to propose breaking out of the circle of resentment. It is to look at the situation, recognizing one’s own errors and those of others. To reconcile within oneself is to propose to not take the same road twice, but rather to be ready to make amends twice-over for the wrongs one has done. But it is clear that we cannot ask those that have offended us to make amends twice-over for the harm they have done us. However, it is good to let them see the chain of harm that they are dragging through their lives. In doing this we reconcile with some one we previously felt was an enemy—even if this person doesn’t reconcile with us. But that is now part of the destiny of their actions over which we have no control.
We are saying that reconciliation is not reciprocal between people, and also that reconciliation with oneself does not necessarily have as a consequence that others leave behind their vicious circle, even when they might recognize the social benefit of this individual posture.
The theme of reconciliation has been central in these Days of ours, but surely we have achieved many other advances by making this physical pilgrimage to an unknown landscape that will have awakened profound landscapes. And this will always be possible if the Purpose that has motivated our pilgrimage is a disposition towards renewal, or better still, a disposition towards the transformation of our own lives.
During these days we have reviewed what we consider to be the most important situations in our lives. If we have located such moments and reconciled with them, cleaning away the resentments that have bound us to the past, then we will have had a good pilgrimage towards the source of renewal and transformation.
Let us not forget those brief phrases that have emerged from our interior, let us not forget those things that have suddenly occurred to us, let us not forget to write down those truths that we have managed to divine as we have seen them briefly dance before us as we walk here, or perhaps because we have seen them in those nightly restorative dreams that follow our pilgrimage. These phrases, these things that occur to us, these dancing truths, are inspirations for which we are ready to be thankful. They are inspirations that invite us to go further in our experiences, not only of reconciliation but also of overcoming contradictions, weaknesses and fears.
It is my sincere hope that these searches and encounters will ignite in us a profound motivation.
In ending I should add that I recognize here a situation that I want to share with all of you, a situation similar to what we have described in one of our Guided Experiences…“I return to the world with my forehead and hands luminous. And so I accept my destiny. Here is the path and I, a humble pilgrim returning to my people. Filled with light, I return to the hours of daily routine, to the pain of humanity, and to their simple joys. I, who give with my hands what I can, who receive both insults and the warmest of greetings, sing to the heart that from the darkest abyss is reborn in the light of longed-for Meaning."
Silo, Punta de Vacas 2007
