Thanks for another thoughtful piece. It immediately reminded me of something from Keisha Bush, in a "Lion's Roar" article. In my mind I just replace Buddhism with whatever -ism has captured me at the moment. ---
"Within Buddhism, we’re taught not to identify as Buddhists, but to see ourselves as practitioners of Buddhism... This shift in language from “being” to “practicing” is slight yet powerful. Because I do not call myself Buddhist, I do not identify as Buddhist; therefore, I cannot use my Buddhist identity as a shield to hide behind, nor a weapon to harm or judge others.
"The only way a practitioner of Buddhism can “be” Buddhist is to practice Buddhism, and to practice something infers a few ideas:
1. Practice is a form of action.
2. Practice infers that I can always improve.
3. To practice is to say there is no endpoint to the activity that I am practicing.
4. To practice is to include rest as no one can be active nonstop without pause."
Thanks for another thoughtful piece. It immediately reminded me of something from Keisha Bush, in a "Lion's Roar" article. In my mind I just replace Buddhism with whatever -ism has captured me at the moment. ---
"Within Buddhism, we’re taught not to identify as Buddhists, but to see ourselves as practitioners of Buddhism... This shift in language from “being” to “practicing” is slight yet powerful. Because I do not call myself Buddhist, I do not identify as Buddhist; therefore, I cannot use my Buddhist identity as a shield to hide behind, nor a weapon to harm or judge others.
"The only way a practitioner of Buddhism can “be” Buddhist is to practice Buddhism, and to practice something infers a few ideas:
1. Practice is a form of action.
2. Practice infers that I can always improve.
3. To practice is to say there is no endpoint to the activity that I am practicing.
4. To practice is to include rest as no one can be active nonstop without pause."
“We hold other people’s imperfections with humor and kindness long enough that it starts to occur to us that maybe we deserve the same grace.”
❤️❤️❤️