“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” — Buddha

Every morning I start my day in a similar way, with a decision – do I feel that this day will be an introspective day or will this day be one of curious observations about the world around me?  Both are significant and necessary because in order to be observant we must have the awareness which comes from looking within, and to look within we must be cognizant of our existence among the many.

I’ve often wondered about the original thought; that very first moment of self awareness when we look around and realize that even tho we are fully and completely alone within our shells of skin, we are surrounded by a universe so large that it defies our feeble comprehension.

Looking within can be painful.  I have learned to ease that pain thru writing because of all things, of all ways to transmute the intangible to tangible, writing is often the most linear method.  Writing requires an internal monologue of sorts – where most of the writing is done in one’s own head; with full sentences and passages carefully constructed and laid out and organized into clever turns of phrase and twists of logic which are easily disseminated and then digested by an audience.

Does the painter imagine her canvass long before her brushes ever touch the palette?  Does the writer write her stories in her mind first before she ever sets pen to paper?  Does the musician hear the song within her heart before she ever plays a note?

Art after all is meant to be shared, isn’t it?

There was a time when I thought quite a bit about the process, but I seem to have moved past that to some degree and have distilled it down into two categories; is something an observation?  Meaning how I see something.  Or is it an introspection?  How I feel about something.  And increasingly, or maybe I’m just more aware of it, the two seem to cross paths more often than they used to before.  But I’m not so hung up on that process anymore, and I now prefer to simply allow the two to caress each other and surround each other as if they were waters from two streams running together to form a single river of thought.

Part of that moving on process has to do with understanding forgiveness and how powerful a thing forgiveness can be.  Humans tend to internalize pain and the things which hurt us – we’re actually quite fragile when you get right down to it.  The human heart and mind are inexorably connected, and when we feel wounded, that pain tends to weave itself into the fabric of who we are – sometimes becoming so great that it begins to define our existence in this world.  So forgiveness is not only necessary to going forward, it’s completely essential if we’re ever to be free.

There is a light around the human spirit when we forgive, and Buddhism teaches us that such a light is the divinity of what it means to be alive and free and at peace with the world – because while we are indeed all alone in these vehicles of the soul, we must also understand that the soul must mesh with everything around us.  Individualism is an illusion because human life is symbiotic with everything.

Forgiveness also speaks to the power of words.  Sometimes just saying something, or writing something down is enough to release our internal pain.  There is a symbolism attached to the act of writing the words as they form in our mind and as they begin to take form and a life of their own.  Their power radiates from the page, representing every ounce of human frailty and emotion, and the expression of pain and the desire to forgive.  We must understand that being angry and choosing to stay angry are indeed choices we make, even if on an unconscious level.  That’s not to suggest that we shouldn’t get angry when someone hurts us, but how we interpret what all of that means and how we then forgive is of much greater significance.

The lotus bloom is a powerful symbol of Buddhism

Lotuses are symbols of purity and ’spontaneous’ generation and hence symbolize divine birth. According to the Lalitavistara, ‘the spirit of the best of men is spotless, like the new lotus in the [muddy] water which does not adhere to it’, and, according to esoteric Buddhism, the heart of the beings is like an unopened lotus: when the virtues of the Buddha develop therein the lotus blossoms. This is why the Buddha sits on a lotus in bloom. In Tantrism, it is the symbol of the feminine principle. The lotuses are usually differentiated by their colour and grouping, in three or five flowers, which may or may not be combined with leaves.

From BuddahNet

Tho the lotus is also inherently feminine, as a woman’s own flower opens to copulation and again in the miracle of birth, these blossoms of life and wisdom each represent a state of being – forgiveness only being one of them.  So, it was curious to me when a friend sent me a link to this website here.

It’s called The Campaign for Love and Forgiveness and part of their mission so it seems is to give people a place where they can surrender their pain to something larger than themselves.  By writing the words – by confessing your pain – the words are then digitally transformed into purple lotus blossoms; a powerful Buddhist symbol.

Purple lotus

This is the mystic lotus, represented only in images belonging to a few esoteric sects. The flowers may be in full bloom and reveal their heart, or in a bud. They may be supported by a simple stem, a triple stem (symbolizing the three divisions of Garbhadhatu: Vairocana, lotus and vajra), or a quintuple stem (symbolizing the Five Knowledges of Vajradhatu). The eight petals represent the Noble Eightfold Path and the eight principal acolyte deities of the central deity on the mandalas. The flowers may also be depicted presented in a cup or on a tray, as a symbol of homage.

I’m not sure if such a thing makes a lot of sense, but maybe it isn’t the worst idea in the world.

For me – I have learned how to find my own way along my own path, but perhaps others in this world who may read my words may feel burdened with a pain that they don’t quite know how to release, and perhaps such a process would be helpful to them, I don’t know for sure.

I simply know that I will continue to walk my path and somehow find a way to color my world with the crayons of introspective observation, and maybe a dirty story or two. 

Enjoy your Tuesday