Try To Be Kinder

My friend, Gil Younger says that as we extend our caring presence to another, we wake up more to the unity of our own true nature.

Extending our caring presence is a beautiful practice, and Gil's wisdom is exactly aligned with my own teaching around truth: that the freer and more conscious we are, the more we connect with everybody in a kind, loving, non-judging way. In short, in a caring way.

The word 'kind' is key here. To speak of 'loving yourself' or 'loving everybody' is really a tall order, and not very specific. You may well ask yourself, what does love really mean? How do I love myself, let alone love everybody else? But to contemplate being kind to yourself, and being kind to others, is manageable, do-able.

After all, what does it mean to be kind? It is simple: to be kind means to be gentle, compassionate, patient, polite, considerate, courteous, gracious, thoughtful, tolerant, understanding... I could go on, but you get the picture. These simple virtues I have just described are really the essence of love. As you embody them, you become a loving or caring person.

Speaking of kindness, I was a fan of Aldous Huxley, the famous British author and philosopher of the last century, for a number of years. It was through Huxley that my own spiritual journey began. I was reading Sybille Bedford's biography of him, and she wrote that Huxley, when asked by a radio interviewer which books he would want if he were marooned on a desert island, said that high on his list would be the Commentaries on Living by J. Krishnamurti.

Bedord then went on to describe Huxley's friendship with the well-known spiritual teacher, whom he met in Ojai, about an hour and a half north of Los Angeles, where Krishnamurti lived. Intrigued, I sent away for the Commentaries on Living and when I received them, those three volumes changed my life, started me on my search for truth, and resulted in the person I am today.

Anyway, Huxley, when asked at the end of his own life what wisdom he had to share with people, said this: "Try to be kinder." Try to be kinder... Indeed, if we could all achieve that, the world would be a much better place for all living in it.