A path with heart in a heartless universe

[vaneramos]

Atheism raises some difficult questions. This morning I am reading A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield: "To see the preciousness of all things, we must bring our full attention to life."





Logically, a crocus is no more precious than the void. If life is a cosmic whim, then why do I bother paying attention? What is the point of anything?

My ultimate meaning must lie in what matters to myself. Trusting such meaning can feel uncomfortable when one is conditioned to look for security in a higher power or higher morality.

Selfish values need not be base. If I disregard life, my own existence becomes unbearable. Instead I choose what fosters balance with the world around me. I seek to understand what blesses me and to pursue it. By blessing I mean happiness, but not in the sense of having all my desires fulfilled. I'm talking about the happiness that comes from getting along with my friends and family, society, and nature. We must find our own meaning in serving ourselves, but being social creatures we cannot serve ourselves at the expense of others.

It's the best reason I can think of for listening to my heart. I don't step on the slug because it would contradict my essential alliance with life. This inner voice is natural and human.

Comments

[art-thirst.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'll have to re-read this later but, there are some good questions to ask myself as a result.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I had to confront my own confusion over values this morning, but some of the questions are applicable no matter what we believe.

[leafshimmer.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing these thoughts. It's heartwarming to me how much brotherhood I feel with you, in the way you look at the world--even though our metaphysics would seem to put us at odds to one another. I knelt and worshipped at a bed of blooming daffodils a few nights ago. They had literally just popped that day. A couple were still in the throes of emerging into the world.

I do feel that life energy is the most sacred thing. Life's ability to renew itself IS the light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm barely coherent this morning but perhaps you will grasp my meaning.

And thanks for the croci. Their bright blues and emphatic yellows will sustain me on this bleary-eyed morning.

hugs, Shimmer

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Life is precious, but I'm beginning to appreciate more the complexity and wonder of the whole cosmos, of which life is a single element. I was startled by the intricacy of frost patterns on my window this winter, and the river never ceases to move me. Perhaps nothing else excites my mind as much as a starry night, but I've spoken to you about that before, in person. I would not call these things sacred, but wonderful.

It doesn't give me a light at the end of the tunnel, but that question doesn't press upon me so much these days, which is just as well. My intention is to live in the present.

In meditation recently I have been considering how all things pass away (this is why life seems so precious to us, because it is ephemeral), and yet I can face my own life's changes with dignity. Ultimately, this should be my answer to death, too.

I think it's healthy to exchange ideas without feeling we need to defend ourselves or persuade one another in order to experience kinship. It keeps us open-minded, and challenges us to be honest with ourselves.

[kwangjse.livejournal.com]

My ultimate meaning must lie in what matters to myself. Trusting such meaning can feel uncomfortable when one is conditioned to look for security in a higher power or higher morality.

It seems to me that when we do trust in our own feelings, our "inner voice," then we do come to recognize a higher power that is behind that voice. As we grow closer to that higher power, whether we recognize it as such or not, the more we appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.

"We look backward too much and we look forward too much; thus we miss the only eternity of which we can be absolutely sure—the eternal present, for it is always now." —William Phelps

Hope you've begun to keep a journal—writing your thoughts after meditating (on a regular basis). We can be such a forgetful creature!

[avad.livejournal.com]

beautifully put.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I have been writing "morning pages" for a few years now, three pages every day mostly rehashing events of the past 24 hours. I have started meditating immediately before that, so any insights get thrown into that journal along with everything else.

As for the higher power, I've been there.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Beautiful One. :-)