The Do That Follows the If

 

In Comedian James Corden's last hosting of The Late Late Show, he addressed divisiveness--and its solution--in a very few, and beautiful, words:

"There are so many people who are trying to stoke those differences and we have to try as best we can to look for the light, look for the joy. If you do, it’s out there."

It's the "if" that is always the clincher, isn't it?

And only a person open to a progressing maturation process of consistently digging to get to the bottom of the logs in our own eyes will be willing to choose--and actually prefer--the "do" that follows the "if."




copyright Barb Harwood

The Always Present Reality of Faith

 

The following quote is by Sharon Salzberg, writing in her book, Faith:

“Faith enables us, despite our fear, to get as close as possible to the truth of the present moment, so that we can offer our hearts fully to it, with integrity. We might (and often must) hope and plan and arrange and try, but faith enables us to be fully engaged while also realizing that we are not in control, and that no strategy can ever put us in control, of the unfolding of events. Faith gives us a willingness to engage life, which means the unknown, and not to shrink  back from it. 

The English word “courage” has the same etymological root as the French coeur, which means “heart.” To have courage, just as to have faith, is to be full of heart. With courage we openly acknowledge what we can’t control, make wise choices about what we can affect, and move forward into the uncultivated terrain of the next moment.

So it is with faith."    Sharon Salzberg