I just received this beautiful prayer by Archbishop Desmond Tutu from Lama Surya Das. If you don’t believe in God, you can substitute words like buddhanature, the cosmos, the universe, or the higher power. In any case, we are called into the midst of human suffering.
This is the role of the bodhisattva – to not achieve full enlightenment until all beings are able to do it together. We do this because we recognize the insight of interbeing – that we are all interconnected with everything that is. We go where there is suffering in order to reduce it.
We answer the call of not just human suffering. We answer the call of economic justice. We answer the call of climate justice. We answer the call of human trafficking.
“Desmond Tutu 2013-10-23 001” by Libris Förlag – mynewsdesk. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons File:Desmond_Tutu_2013-10-23_001.jpg
Meant to Answer
God’s Call
Just as we are all meant to be
contemplatives and to hear the voice of
God in our lives,
we are all meant to answer God’s call
to be His partners in
transfiguring the world.This calling,
this encounter with God,
is always to send us into the midst of
human suffering.—Archbishop Desmond Tutu
We are now in a situation on this earth where we can easily allow things to continue as they are and wipe out all life on earth with our devastation of the atmosphere, the melting of the polar ice caps and the destruction of the rain forests.
Do we really want to see this happen? This is a perfectly plausible outcome if we don’t start practicing mindful consumption, sustainable farming, and pay attention to the needs of the people most affected by climate injustice, social injustice, economic injustice and racial injustice.
What choice would you make?
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