We learn so many times to close our hearts to protect ourselves, that opening it is a huge challenge. Opening the heart is an uncommon attitude in our occidental culture, that only stimulates the competitive spirit.
The countless different spiritual traditions teach us about how important is to open our hearts and abandon our regular self-centered attitude in order to achieve the peace on Earth.
The main message from the Buddhist philosophy consists in enlightening us about the fact that living by our self-image is the root of all our affliction, because the habit of considering our own Self as the only true reference in the perception of reality is deeply rooted in our mental attitude since our birth.
Once Lama Ganchen told me in a straight line: “The Tantra Way is wonderful, but only if you want to open your heart. Otherwise it becomes a very hard path to walk on, and then it’s not worth it”.
Lama Ganchen Rimpoche inspires us to face this challenge. Patiently, he teaches us to overcome the habit of thinking only about what is restricted to ourselves. By his side, we witness the significance of a truly open heart. “With an open heart something happens”, he told me once.
The Buddhism shows us that while we are interested only in ourselves, nothing happens and the problems will always seem impossible to overcome. Polluted by greediness, the self-centered mind is always worried about the idea of “Me”, therefore, becomes tense and tormented.
The spiritual path calls us to the chance of opening: be kind to others, admit we are all interconnected. While we are trapped by a self-centered vision, intensified by the idea we are living creatures separated from others, we can’t develop capacity for empathy, for we’ll be limited by the need of being constantly recognized by our peers.
And just like Pema Chodron writes in his book “Quando tudo se desfaz” (When everything falls apart - Ed. Gryphus): “When we become more perspective and merciful when facing our own difficulties, we spontaneously feel more tenderness towards all other human beings. When we get in touch with our own confusion, we become more willing and capable to start functioning and try to release our peers’ confusion”.
Only when we are comfortable with ourselves we get available energy to recognize the other. In fact, we need, before anything, open our heart to ourselves. Raising our self-esteem, therefore, reconnects us to the wisdom of interdependence.
Bel Cesar é psicóloga, pratica a psicoterapia sob a perspectiva do Budismo Tibetano desde 1990. Dedica-se ao tratamento do estresse traumático com os métodos de S.E.® - Somatic Experiencing (Experiência Somática) e de EMDR (Dessensibilização e Reprocessamento através de Movimentos Oculares). Desde 1991, dedica-se ao acompanhamento daqueles que enfrentam a morte. É também autora dos livros `Viagem Interior ao Tibete´ e `Morrer não se improvisa´, `O livro das Emoções´, `Mania de Sofrer´, `O sutil desequilíbrio do estresse´ em parceria com o psiquiatra Dr. Sergio Klepacz e `O Grande Amor - um objetivo de vida´ em parceria com Lama Michel Rinpoche. Todos editados pela Editora Gaia. Email: [email protected] Visite o Site do Autor
Publicado dia 9/25/2004 9:12:41 PM em STUM WORLD
