your leading role in a multi-act play
January 17, 2011
Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian traditions of the West have embedded certain notions within our DNA, the most basic of which is that God is a Monarchical Judge in a courtroom located in the sky and Heaven is a goodie we get if we’re good enough, but only after we die. Second only to this myth is the notion that some outsider “created” us like some sort of alien creature and plopped us down in a place we really don’t deserve and where we sense, because of this brainwashing, we don’t belong.
But, we weren’t built like a table or clay pot and stuck in this world like an outsider. We came FROM this world like fruit from a tree and the energy of God (Love and Compassion) is nothing less than all of us manifested in a billion unique ways. The Kingdom of God, therefore is quite simply YOU, and me, right here, right now.
Buddha and Jesus told their friends to not concern themselves with the non-existent past or future and to be fully present in the eternal Now with love and compassion for themselves and their neighbors. They were specific when they taught us all THAT is where God resides in Nirvana, Heaven, the Kingdom.
But, neither Buddha or Jesus got what they really wanted. In the East contrary to his instructions, they started following Buddha like a God. In the West, they killed Jesus for what he taught others, then stuck him up on a pedestal where no one could ever reach him or his teachings. Jesus taught us that we’re ALL the children of God, not just him. Buddha taught us he was just the finger pointing at the moon and to pay attention to the moon and not the finger. But, people are still shaving their heads and wearing robes even today.
~ Scott Kinnaird
You Are IT 
January 19, 2011 at 2:46 am
What a wonderful pairing of dhamma with visual. It made me laugh out loud after I’d read and then scrolled down to see the photograph. Ah, humans.
January 22, 2011 at 5:10 pm
There’s something uniquely amusing about children acting in familiar plays. The word “persona” is the Latin word for mask. We consider our “person” as being what is real when in reality all it amounts to is a mask we wear to cover our true selves. When people who perceive their masks as their true selves watch children “wearing masks” or taking on a new persona in a play, it’s unsettling. It’s fun to be sure. But, I tend to think somewhere inside the laughter is a small bit of nervous energy because within that same place we all understand our own “personal” mask doesn’t quite sync up with who we actually are.