Spiritual Forum

Love cannot be faked, as it is an experience, you either fell love or you don’t.  Yes Love is The Answer, but there are baby steps to that State of Being. It’s not appropriate for everybody to repeat “I love the word’ and etc… if you don’t know what it is. Your deepest self knows that, that is when you compromising your own personal integrity, in other words not being completely truthful and honest in you’re life with yourself. Not being truthful triggers self-inflicted stress from within. And stress blocks the full experience of human happiness. However we can start with Kindness. We can indeed be kind to others, without being false. Kindness cultivates a caring and loving nature, which leads to a kind of ‘love’, when you don’t need to feel or tell yourself that you are a kind person before you acts or say kind things to others no matter whether you love them, like them or not. Kindness leads to greater self-love.

Unfortunately in our technological world this attribute is lost without any real face-to-face interaction with one another. This makes it is easy to become disconnected with the fact that the person on the other end of the phone line, or on the other side of the Internet connection is a person, just like you. This disconnected interaction allows us to feel okay about treating someone poorly, or even in an outright hateful manner, by justifying it in all kind of ways.

One of the benefits of practicing the virtues of love, compassion, and kindness is that they prevent you from treating people poorly, especially those who truly don’t deserve negative treatment. Of course there are limits to these attributes, according to H.H. the Dalai Lama, “if there is an angry dog running at you, do not stand there with love, compassion, and kindness, run away!”  

“Practical Tip: Try to practice the positive attributes of love, compassion, and kindness in your everyday life. This can be a struggle, but it is something that can be accomplished with a little effort. Sometimes all it takes is a sincere smile or a sincere word of gratitude to those around us to brighten someone’s day. Also, if you hold animosity towards someone, release the animosity, and realize that they are human, just like you, and at the very least deserve our respect and kindness, even if they do not reciprocate. By continually practicing these positive attributes you will become a more positive and happier person. Eventually, you will no longer have to “try” to practice these virtues, because they will have simply become part of “you”, which is what they were all along.”

"If love could rule the universe,
Kindness was sown to every race,
Then one could glance into a mirror
And view God in his face… "

~ A homeless 16 year-old girl

“The true essence of humankind is kindness. There are other qualities, which come from education or knowledge, but it is essential, if one wishes to be a genuine human being and impart satisfying meaning to one's existence, to have a good heart.”

Tenzin Gyatso (1935) The 14th Dalai Lama

“We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop, which makes it run over; so in a series of kindness there is at last one, which makes the heart, run over.”

Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

“Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end”.

Scott Adams (1957)

“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”

Saint Basil (329-379)

The World is a valley of tears, a simple ‘how are you’ can open so much pain, disappointments and loss. It’s true for all of us, surely more for some than others. “A little kindness from person to person is better than a vast love for all humankind.”

-Richard Dehmel -

“Being kind removes us from the thrall of egoism, at least temporarily, and ushers us into a more connected and natural world. If we could but see that acts of kindness benefit our own being as much as the recipient of our kindness, our resistance would melt away and we would seek opportunities to be kind. In the meantime, the most powerful medicine for hard-heartedness derives from seeing our own indifference, our own unkindness in actual life events, actions, and attitudes.

Living nearly all the time in the world of pre-programmed actions and reactions, we rarely actually notice anything, including opportunities for kindness. Openings for kindness usually do not appear on our radar, as our habits and conditioning block their perception. Not present to occasions for potential kindness, we sleep walk right past them. As an antidote, we can diligently practice the methods for awakening, for presence, for being fully in this moment. True presence unveils our basic kindness and shows us appropriate venues for its expression.

Work on kindness serves to purify and transform our hearts. Kindness operates directly against self-centeredness, though it can be arrogated by egoism: being kind while preening in an inward mirror. “That was kind of me. I’m such a kind and wonderful person.” If we look carefully, though, we find that mirror empty: no separation from our neighbor. The best kindness occurs when we serve another without reflecting that we are performing an act of kindness and without seeking or expecting gratitude in return. This may be a distant goal, so we begin where we are. Far better to take credit for kindness, than to succumb to unkindness or wallow in indifference”. http://www.innerfrontier.org/Practices/Kindness.htm

There is a saying: ‘learn to read between the lines’ – in all of the spiritual, philosophical texts, doctrines, disciplines all over the world: emphasizing on compassion, patience, kindness, respect, love, self-responsibility, integrity … that is the Way to self-realization or some call it ascension. Our history has been preserved for us for a reason through out so many centuries, showing us that arrogance and ignorance is very distractive force, which annihilated many developed civilizations.

By taking a small step Emphasizing on Kindness, can lead to a better world.

Some Persian proverbs and famous quotes:

“A bad wound heals but a bad word doesn't.”

 “By a sweet tongue and kindness, you can drag an elephant with a hair.”

“If one has to jump a stream and knows how wide it is, he will not jump. If he does not know how wide it is, he will jump, and six times out of ten he will make it.”

“Whatever is in the heart will come up to the tongue.”

“The noblest revenge is to forgive”. - Anonymous

“The weak can't forgive. Forgiveness is of the strong.” - M. Gandhi

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” - Dalai Lama

 “I must emphasize that merely thinking that compassion and reason and patience are good will not be enough to develop them. We must wait for difficulties to arise and attempt to practice them. And who creates such opportunities? Not our friends of course, but our opposition. They are the ones who give us the most trouble. So if we truly wish to learn, we should consider our opposition to be our best teachers! For a person who cherishes compassion and love, the practice of tolerance is essential, and for that, they are indispensable’. Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama