Dimensionally Barrett

“Dhyana”. 2018. Watercolor and acrylic on paper. John  Barrett  I wrote this sometime ago, when I felt like I was losing my sense of equanimity and meditative discipline. I find myself at a similar point again and I suspect that I'm not the only person who may feel that way.  For that reason, I'm offering a sort of general version that you may use according to your disposition. Before going to sleep: dedicate whatever merit or goodness you may have inadvertently accrued to all beings. Simply think (at first, this is all going to be a kind of "intellectual" enterprise; thinking will give way to a generally felt sense of more serious intention and aspiration) that all beings should be happy and are worthy of love. Start with those closest to you, then those to whom you have neutral feelings (the masses of people who you meet momentarily and even those you don't and will never meet), and lastly, even those for whom you hold great antipathy or enmity. These are people...

“Between Us #3”; watercolor, gesso on handmade paper   Foxy, a pal on Bluesky, posted a pleasant message earlier this week to commit random acts of kindness and it inspired no small amount or reflection on my part. I dedicate this piece to all mothers and to Foxy for bringing the inspiration. To be kind may feel like being a leaf buffeted about in the harsh winds of our present. However, I have found that being kind draws on and builds a kind of resilience, a kind of strength. If you can be unconditionally kind, if you can help lift someone who’s fallen without thinking of who they are or thinking about their views or wondering if they harbor will toward you, you discover something. You learn that   you   can let go of your views, your judgements, your othering of that person. I find myself thinking about this a lot these days because I can be quite sarcastic and salty and write some pretty condemnatory things about certain public figures that I see as having committed gr...