There once was a monastery of elderly monks who received a mysterious visitor in the dead of night.
This visitor, having stayed for several days, said: “One of you is a master.” He then departed.
The air filled with a new wave of wonder, awe, and excitement. “Could it be me?” many wondered. “Could it be him?”
Suddenly the monks started treating each other with a new sense of reverence, compassion, and respect that they had not given each other in the past. Ultimately, no one monk was the master. They all were. For they themselves became the master that they saw the other monks being.
What if you were told that you would come face to face with a master today?
You would not recognize this person by the clothes they wear or the things they did (whether appropriate or not). Would your actions change? Would the things that you say or think be of a different caliber? Would you leave your negativity behind, concentrating on the positive areas of your life?
Could it be possible that you would find suddenly you had developed the capability to see through people’s exteriors, looking only through eyes of reverence, compassion and forgiveness?
I wonder why we need someone to remind us. We are all masters. We are all made from the same stardust, whether we were born here or across the globe.
I was struck by a phrase learned recently on my travels to India where they say “guests are God.” Often my friends in India would remind me that they felt it was important to treat anyone they came in contact with as a messenger from beyond. God.
In fact, the standard greeting there is “namaste,” the very meaning of which is, “The light in me sees the light in you.” We could loosely translate this as “the master in me sees the master in You.”
How do we make this happen in our daily lives? By seeing the master in your mother-in-law, ex husband, neighbor or complaining customer. How can they be excluded? All have been sent from beyond.
The Buddha has said, “The other is you.”
What a profound way to show us the positive qualities in another. I am only able to “see” because it is potentially in myself. Otherwise I would not be able to detect it. Yet the same applies to every negative aspect as well. We can only see wounds, supposed shortcomings and negative traits in others because we also possess them in ourselves. This is the conundrum.
The guilt, shame and self-hatred that we feel for ourselves gets projected on another in the form of judgment, non-forgiveness, and hate.
That pain, anger and shame once felt by you and blamed on your alcoholic father provided the momentum to see him as he always was: a man struggling with his perceived limitations. The forgiveness you “gave to him” was in fact a gift you gave to yourself. Through those interactions with him, you were able to see and forgive those shameful, angry, unloved parts of yourself.
This awareness becomes a portal for you to view yourself, although you thought you were seeing him.
The portal also provides a way towards unconditional love. It serves not only you but also extends to everyone you encounter. As unconditional acceptance floods your way of being, you see yourself in a new way in the other. This way of being also acts as the gateway towards others’ self-forgiveness.
All pain is felt equally, regardless of age, gender, location of where you were born. Everything that makes us human, the whole rainbow of experience—hurt, loneliness, guilt, sorrow, anger and shame—is felt by everyone.
It is difficult for most of us to look at our so-called “enemies” and relate to them as the innocent equals that they are.
These people are ambassadors to show us exactly where the unforgiving parts of ourselves remain. They hold up a mirror, exposing the parts of us that need to be forgiven and loved. They show us what needs to be worked on so we can see the Divine in ourselves—so we can see it in others.
Interactions become opportunities to learn to love oneself unconditionally, free of the supposed measuring sticks that have prevented us from seeing ourselves as we truly are.
We are all born perfect. There was nothing to fix because nothing was broken. We cannot achieve the kind of peace that we desire until we can see it in others.
Gaining your mastership is simply an acknowledgement of your royal heritage, and a way of reminding others of their own. Forgiving yourself allows you to see that the God in you—that is in the other too.
By seeing parts of the master in others, you are seeing parts of the master in yourself.
So, if I were told I would be seeing the master today among the people I met, I am training myself to see only the highest expression of creation. The truest, the most real essence of one another. And in doing that, I am becoming the master.
Since you can only see what you possess in yourself, The master you met today is you.
Are you ready?
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Author: Jennifer Schuitemaker
Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock
Photo: flickr
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