Dalai and Me...

The Dalai Lama

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I VERY MUCH like the Dalai Lama.

Like me, he's a Nationalist. (https://www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6159933/amp/Dalai-Lama-says-Europe-belongs-Europeans.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-6159933%2FDalai-Lama-says-Europe-belongs-Europeans.html) AND (https://www-newsweek-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.newsweek.com/dalai-lama-says-europe-europeans-refugees-should-go-home-and-rebuild-1120065?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&amp=1&usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D#aoh=15432512945896&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fdalai-lama-says-europe-europeans-refugees-should-go-home-and-rebuild-1120065)

He's also a very good ping pong player (not nearly as good as me), but a spirited player.

AND...he's probably one of the most spiritual people on earth. Hmmmm, me too, I think.

Aside sharing the belief that Europe MUST REMAIN European, he also believes that the animating energy in all of us is part of a greater collective ("Cosmic Consciousness," "Collective Unconscious," "Universal Mind" etc.), which is what man th religions mean by GOD.

In that view, in a very real sense, we are all connected...part of the same energy source inhabiting separate and different vehicles, or bodies.

I kind of share that view...although, from there, Dalai and I diverge. See, he sees that as unifying, in the sense that we must eventually all come to realize that and accept our universal connectedness, if we're ever going to grow and truly evolve to a higher moral, spiritual and intellectual path.

Hmmmm...now I say, in effect, "F*ck all that sh*t, we ARE individuals, so long as we're wrapped in these separate skins. It's both natural and good that we should divide ourselves up and engage in CV instant conflict. We're human...after all.

Now, Dalai knows me. He knows the things I've done...many of which, early on were...despicable, at best. He believes that my interpretation of that universal truth is what allows me to live with myself...an interesting proposition.

HOWEVER, to that, I'd retort, it MIGHT BE...IF I were somehow inclined to harbor any such things as guilt and regret, which I do not, nor ever have.

That said, I have thought much about Dalai's view of all our spiritual connectedness and can see where it reconciles well with Jesus' view, Buddha's view, even the gnostic view and I think in there is the road to enlightenment...or at least an overgrown path to becoming a better person.

It seems that even if we are all connected to the same energy source, the only way any of us can improve anything is by looking within to improve ourselves...the one person we control.

For me, the greatest thing Jesus said was, "Before you would take the splinter out of your neighbor's eye, first take the mote/plank from out your own," in other words, to fix the world...first, fix yourself.

I think that at least for me, the best I can try for is attempting to be a little better person today than I was yesterday