Take that beam out of your eye!

The Bible speaks of being non-judgmental:

Matthew 7:3 Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? 7:4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye,' while there is a beam in your own? 7:5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. - https://net.bible.org/?q=cgi-bin/netbible.pl&book=mat&chapter=7#!bible/Matthew+7

Yet this beam in the eye is rooted in something that the Bible barely mentions. It is the cause of much of the suffering in life today. Yet there is relief, and it comes not out of the Bible, but from the Buddha himself.

"The pleasure and joy that arise in dependence on the eye: this is the gratification in the eye. That the eye is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change: this is the danger in the eye. The removal and abandonment of desire and lust from the eye: this is the escape from the eye."

-Buddha, "The Connected Discourses of the Buddha"

Panentheism Revisited (poem)

Panentheism Revisited

I. First Truth

When one part of it hurts
The whole universe hurts.

Yet only rarely does humanity
realize the role of suffering
is to shape the human spirit wisely.

Always awake, enlightened, truly whole,
the whole universe is infinite
to this fool, yet is the source of life,
atom by atom, molecule by molecule.

II. True Joy

When one part of it rejoices
The whole universe rejoices.

Then, humanity may only feel joy
as spontaneous, the spark of freedom
to appreciate life as it is.

From the universe came the soul pristine,
the gift to seed in this mortal coil
at birth, only to be returned at death,
to the infinite, pristine and unchanged.

III. Illumination and Enlightenment

When one part of it illuminates
The whole universe is illuminated.

Here and there, wisdom slowly ebbs and flows
with the human tide on this grain of sand,
sometimes seeing the whole universe.

Through love and compassion, the wise support
with kindness their equals, the foolish,
sharing the wealth of the infinite,
securely complemented with prudence.

Health Effects on Indigenous People of Siberia

Currently, this consists of maladaptation to enforced farming imposed on an ancient culture based on fishing and hunting tradition.

In addition, oppression and suppression by the dominant Russian culture through exclusion from economical and social participation in community-based activities has led to poverty in remote villages and a driving need by the younger generation to prove themselves by migrating to larger cities, to become more Russian and less “old-fashioned.”

Yet, in becoming “civilized,” younger Asiatic Russians are no longer in touch with the land of their ancestors. This has led to maladaption caused by social isolation, resulting in psychological suffering including behavior and mood disorders, and rare morbidity (suicide) when isolation consists of living abroad in an English-speaking country.

Recenty, a Russian woman of Tungus extraction went abroad to study at a Canadian university in northern British Columbia. After doing poorly in her final examinations, she went missing and was found dead of exposure.

Because of the emphasis on using shame and guilt common to Asiatic culture to ensure that a person's selfish desires and passions do not led to destruction of the family unit, this young lady died because she'd never learned as a child how to detach her sense of self from academic performance. In short, noboy at the university told her that it's okay to fail academically. Indeed, she was socially isolated from her family who were a world away from northern BC.

http://www.unbc.ca/experts/health.html

In response, the university now has a history student who is knowledgeable about health problems in north Russia as expert at the health centre to answer questions.

Mainly though, social isolation led to suicide because no one at the university truly could make her a part of their family because she only knew Russian and her mother tongue.

Love and Compassion

While feelings of desire, lust, and passion are fleeting, Love and compassion will sustain the universe.

However, it is foolish to think that the physical root of feelings are lesser than the spiritual roots of love and compassion. Were it not for such feelings, life would be empty of love and compassion.

Love and compassion is called loving-kindness in the Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish traditions and Muslim traditions, yet it may predate the establishment of contemporary organized religion.

Here is an incomplete list on love and compassion for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.

Buddhism
Dhagpo Kagyu: http://www.dhagpo-kagyu.org/anglais/science-esprit/fondements/bodhicitta/sham-love-compassion.htm

Christianity
John Roberts' Divine Love and Compassion: http://www.godispirit.info/divine-love-and-compassion.html

The God of Love, Compassion and Forgiveness: http://people.opposingviews.com/hindu-god-love-compassion-forgiveness-3315.html

Islam:
Love and Compassion in Islam: http://www.wccm.org/content/love-and-compassion-islam

Judaism:
Compassion for Humanity in the Jewish Tradition: http://www.bodhicitta.net/Compassion%20for%20Humanity%20in%20the%20Jewish%20Tradition.htm