Considerations of the Aspirations

Harm is not suffering but all suffering is harm.

The natural world is violent, yet peaceful. It is kind, yet harsh. Violence is a continuum and a cycle. When violence is necessary to reduce suffering, it should be sharp, definitive, controlled; a precision instrument to prevent unnecessary suffering, such as setting a bone. We do not condemn the dragon for killing a sheep in order to sustain itself, as we would not condemn the sheep for assaulting greens, nor condemn the greens for draining the earth. We do condemn the horrors associated with these actions when done with cruel intentions or as byproducts of negligence.

The number of molecules in a single breath is larger than the number of breaths in the atmosphere, which means you have shared a breath with every deity and every ancestor to have breathed upon this earth. A mammoth, an enemy, a friend, a person no one remembers, and a unicorn, if one ever walked the earth, have all shared a breath with you. We are the ancients, for every atom in us is older than the sun. Yet we see the world first with the eyes of a child, delight in the prism rainbows dancing on the wall, and find mystery in the mundane.

Grace overflows; it is there for anyone who would have it, to hold or share from abundance, as water from a spring can be drawn by whoever comes. Grace contains neither forgiveness nor debt, yet for it we can hold gratitude. No one should demand grace or gratitude; both are elegant kindnesses extended and held freely, never to be earned or repaid. “A debt of gratitude” is not grace; it is self-imposed or becomes unkind leverage.