Namaste. I honor your compassionate spirit. When we meet in compassionate space, everyone and every thing becomes a mirror, reflecting a cosmic consciousness that holds all pain and all joy in absolute and unconditional embrace.

I have explained before that the root of the word “namaste” is “nama” to bow. If you trace the meaning of “nama” a little further, you find that it means “not mine” (na- not, ma-mine). When I bow, I get my small self (ego) out of the way, meaning that I get my deluded belief that I exist independent of others, out of the way. I bow my head as a symbolic act of humility. I press my hands near my heart to indicate my heart felt respect and compassion. When I bow in humility, and you bow in humility, and we each get our small selves out of the way, there is only one of us. One large Self, Big Mind/ Big Heart.

Namaste comes out of the Hindu tradition. Interestingly, some of the Hindu scriptures are called “Darsana,” which means “mirror.” The Christian scriptures say, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully.” (1 Corinthians 13). The more you see of life, the more you read from all sources, even the most gruesome parts of the Old Testament, everything becomes a mirror in which you see ever deepening truths about your self and the world reflected back to you. As it says in the Jewish scripture, the Talmud, “You don’t see things as they are. You see things as you are.”

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

So, the question I want to ask this morning is, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, what is it you are revealing today?” Or as the blind men asked of Jesus on the road out of Jericho, “Let our eyes be opened!”

I wonder if you have heard of the Thai restaurant called “Peep” in Soho, New York City. I was taken there by my sister several years ago, an unwitting victim of its quirky themed bathroom. Peep has a mirrored ceiling and shiny polished floors. Everything is luminous and reflective. The unique feature, however, is in the bathroom. After several drinks, I experienced the Peep bathroom. The first surprise is that there is a video playing the 1980s movie, “Sex, Lies and Videotapes”, but this wasn’t the most surprising thing. I did my business and turned around to wash my hands. When I turned around, I got the shock of my life and let out an audible shriek. I was staring right at the patrons of the restaurant, and it appeared to me that they were staring right back at me. Imagining the glare of dozens of dining women, I sheepishly reached back to lower the seat. It was only when I exited the bathroom that I realized it was one way glass- mirror from outside and clear glass from inside. It was an eerie experience that brings new meaning to the term “stage fright”.

The path to compassion often includes being surprised by what you see looking back at you in a mirror. Are you prepared for the world to see you as you are, warts and all? Are you prepared to see the world as it is, perfect in its imperfection? Sometimes it’s a blurred line between the way the world is and the way you are, like the blurred line between clear glass and mirror.

Where does compassion begin? If you want to have compassion for others, first have compassion for yourself. It’s like the flight attendant giving instructions to first fit your own oxygen mask before helping others. Only when you learn to accept yourself can you be of assistance to others.

Having compassion towards yourself is hard, isn’t it? It requires forgiving yourself for your mistakes, and accepting yourself despite your limitations.

It’s like when I went to the doctor for my 40 year physical. I said to him, “I look in the mirror every morning and see thinning hair, wrinkled skin, and a growing belly.”  “Well,” he said, “at least there’s nothing wrong with your eyesight.”

Think of it this way- making mistakes and recognizing imperfection nurtures a growing self compassion. Growing compassion makes for a more peaceful heart.  A peaceful heart makes for a more peaceful person. Peaceful people make the world a more peaceful place.

Carl Jung once said- “acceptance of oneself is the essence of the moral problem and the acid test of one's whole outlook on life.  That I feed the beggar, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy...  all these are undoubtedly great virtues...but what if I should discover that the least amongst them all, the poorest of all beggars, the most impudent of all offenders, yea, the very fiend himself- that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I myself am the enemy who must be loved- what then?"

Compassion begins with self acceptance, but doesn’t end there. Greek mythology describes Narcissus falling in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Every time he reached out to touch the beautiful face he saw in the pool, the image vanished because of his frantic striving. Narcissus suffered mindlessly from his egoic desires, until he eventually died of unrequited love. As a growing child it is necessary and healthy to develop an identity as a unique self, but for an adult to dwell in the delusion of a separate self, the trap of an unchanging identity, is to suffer deeply and to cause deep suffering for others. For an adult, compassion grows out of an expanded sense of self.

Henry Thoreau looked to the reflections of Walden Pond. He lived a simple, solitary existence. However it was only in autumn that he truly understood his interdependence on all things; after all he had been given the land he built his cabin on, and he used recycled wood to build the cabin. His vision expanded in autumn. “Sometimes”, he said “when the ice was covered with shallow puddles, I saw a double shadow of myself, one standing on the head of the other, one on the ice, the other on the trees or hillside.……In such a day, in September or October, Walden is a perfect forest mirror….It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.”

When you see all of life as a mirror, you see your own nature as a double shadow; one shadow is you in the moment, the other shadow is all the other causes and affects that led to this moment and also grow out of the moment. This is another key to compassion.

Next time you go shopping, look in the mirror of the stuff you buy. Consider where products came from, who was part of bringing them to you, the toll on the environment, what will happen to the waste and packaging. Consider the processes that brought the stuff to you, some of them just and fair, some of them unjust and abusive. You are part of the stuff now, implicated in both the history and the future of stuff. When you look in this mirror, how could you not grow in compassion for the complex web of stuff?

Before you begin eating, say a grace something like this-

“My plate, empty now, will soon be filled with precious food. In this food, I see the presence of the entire universe supporting my existence. Many beings are struggling for food today. I pray that they
all may have enough to eat.” (Thich Nhat Hanh)

When the blind men in Matthew 20 begged that Jesus might give them their sight, the text says that Jesus was moved with compassion. The Greek word is “splagchnos”, the word used for bowels or intestines. It’s an expression that is used in several passages in the Bible to describe Jesus’ response to people who were suffering. Splagchnos means what it sounds like it means. It’s a guttural word that indicates a visceral reaction. The bowels were regarded by the Greeks as the site of primal or even violent passion, while for the Hebrews they were the site of more tender affections, like kindness and compassion. Either way, when Jesus said he was moved with compassion, he was referring to a bodily reaction. It was a deep and profound reaction that led to a desire to alleviate suffering. It wasn’t a surface response, like “isn’t that awful”. It was a passionate sense of being burdened by suffering and wanting it to end. Maybe you know the feeling. Maybe you have had a bodily reaction that led you to take action to alleviate the suffering of another person.

I don’t expect that the writers of the New Testament understood this, but now there seems to be science to explain the bodily reaction. Very recent science describes part of the human brain process, called mirror neurons. Neurons fire in your brain when you perform actions. Mirror neurons fire when you see someone else perform an action, giving your brain the sense that you are performing the action. Mirror neurons explain why some of you watching Michigan State come back to win against Wisconsin yesterday, ducked and weaved, winced and leapt for joy as if you were actually on the field. Mirror neurons explain why I have picked up even the hint of an American accent.  Mirror neurons explain why you smile at someone who smiles at you, or yawn when someone yawns. Mirror neurons explain why kids pick up the same mannerisms that they have spent years mocking their parents for. And most importantly for this topic, mirror neurons explain empathy. When someone is suffering, mirror neurons explain why you feel as if you are suffering alongside them. It’s more than metaphor to say “I feel your pain.”

During this next week, unless like me you are escaping the country, you will have an opportunity to exercise your mirror neurons. If your preferred candidate wins office on Tuesday, you will be thrilled. There has been so much nervous energy. You have waited such a long time. You will also have an opportunity to be a good winner, meaning a compassionate winner. You will have friends, family and coworkers who won’t be thrilled. You will see the look on their face and read their body language, and you will be reminded of other elections when you have felt the same way. Your mirror neurons will fire and you will feel something of what they feel. You will be looking in the mirror at yourself when you were disappointed.

Will you have a surface response and then get on with the celebrating, or will you like Jesus, be moved deep in your gut by their suffering? Will you be burdened by their suffering and want it to end? Not that you can always make it end, but the desire is real and it does make a difference. This Tuesday, some of you will have an opportunity to be part of the healing of the world by feeling compassion for your friends. It will make you a better person. It will make the world a better place.

Religion, Politics and Compassion

For too long, religion and politics have been about being right. No more. From now on, forge your beliefs from the question, “what is most compassionate?” rather than “what is most orthodox?”

For too long, politics has been about being right. No more. Let this be a new moment, a new era where it’s more important to treat people right than to be right. Let this be a new moment for this country, and the world, to draw together around shared humanity instead of being divided by ideology.

If you haven’t yet decided who you will vote for on Tuesday, may compassion be your guiding principle. Instead of voting along party lines, instead of voting on issues that create safe political traction, may compassion be your guide. May compassion rule your decisions and convictions. If supporting Proposal 2 to expand stem cell research is your mirror to the world of cosmic compassion, then support proposal 2 even if it means you are out of step with your usual political line. If supporting reproductive rights for women is your mirror to the world of cosmic compassion, then support reproductive rights for women, even if it means you are out of step with your political loyalties.

Is it always going to be obvious what the compassion response will be? No. Some issues are complex and ambiguous. But there are times when you know what is right, and you know because you feel it deep within your gut.

May compassion rule. If compassion rules in your life, then you will be a mirror for others.

A person full of compassion dwells in a world full of compassion.
A person devoid of compassion dwells in a world devoid of compassion.
Everyone you meet is a mirror. You are a mirror for everyone you meet.