skumburger’s Reviews > World as Lover, World as Self > Status Update

“Living systems evolve in complexity, flexibility, and intelligence through interaction with each other. These interactions require openness and vulnerability in order to process the flow-through of energy and information, bringing new responses and possibilities into play.”

“In acknowledging our pain for the world, we return once more to the original meaning of compassion: “to suffer with.” Suffering with our world, we are drawn into the cauldron of compassion. It awaits us, and it is there that we can reconnect with our roots and our power.”

“if you’re afraid to get close to the pain of our world, you’ll be distanced from its joy as well.”

“The sorrow and rage you feel is a measure of your humanity and your evolutionary maturity. As your heart breaks open, there will be room for the world to heal.”

“As doer and deed are interconnected, as our own thoughts and actions are modified, so are our objectives. […]
Value is intrinsic to each act because action (karma) is what we are and what we become. […]
the goals we pursue are not distant from us in time or space, but present realities, unfolding out of the core of our existence and capable of transforming in the moment.”

“Instead of being considered a necessary evil to which one is condemned, work is a vehicle for the creation and expression of our deepest values”

“The institutions of our society co-arise with us. They are not independent structures separate from our inner lives. […] As collective forms of our ignorance, fears, & greed, they acquire their own momentum, enlist our widespread collusion, & depend on our mutual consent.”

“self, society, & world are all reciprocally changed by their interactions & are, in turn, conditioned by them”

“Because it is altered by each act, wise or foolish, fearful or brave, the self, even as decision maker, is doomed as an enduring entity. Constantly changing, it arises and passes. Yet in that very evanescence lies promise. For in the flow of perception and response, choices can be made that open broader vistas to perceive and know, wider opportunities to love and to act.”

“every single act, regardless of its motivation or circumstance, inexorably bears its fruit. No spiritual progress can be made without personally undergoing all the consequences.”
“will is primary, and it can be trained: “[…] liberation of the will through love we will develop, we will often practice it, we will make it a vehicle and a base, take our stand upon it, store it up, thoroughly set it going.”