WHAT IS KINDNESS?

soaring dove in light.jpg — May all you do
be done in love.

I recently watched a documentary in which the late Richard Alpert and Terence McKenna were engaged in a conversation in a restaurant in Prague – the episode was on Gaia TV and was called Prague Gnosis if you’d like to watch it. Those of you who are not grounded in the 60’s will know of Richard Alpert under his spiritual name, Ram Dass. Terence Kemp McKenna was an American ethnobotanist, mystic, lecturer, author, and an advocate for the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants. He was one of the original investigators, along with Timothy Leary and Alan Ginsberg, of the importance of psychedelics in human consciousness. Richard Alpert too was a colleague and friend of Timothy Leary from their early days at Harvard University and Stanford. These men’s lives took them both on great adventures and both have been trailblazers in the realm of human spirituality and consciousness.

So, it was such a treat to listen to Ram Dass and McKenna in a conversation reminiscent of the movie, My Dinner with Andre. They discussed, among other things, the meaning of life and finding out who we are. At one point, McKenna asked Ram Dass, “Who are you?” Ram Dass closed his eyes for a long time – long enough that I was howling with laughter at the cosmic-ness of the moment – and when he opened them he said, “I am a kind man.” And McKenna replied, “And that is enough.” Ram Dass said, “Yes, that is enough.”

It was a Eureka moment for me. It is enough in our lives simply to identify ourselves as being kind! I felt into that: “I am a kind woman.” Am I really? I do kind acts every day, I am empathetic and compassionate – overly so, I’m told. But I still get mad sometimes, I still feel bad when I’m wronged or betrayed … I’m still human. So, what does it mean to be kind? Ram Dass says that kindness is not extending generosity or compassion to another because they have ‘less than’, or are in need, or are suffering. Kindness is to suffer with, to engage with, to take on the suffering of the other. Kindness is to be in the moment with that suffering, not to try to take it away or cover it up. Kindness is compassion in action. It is to feel compassion and then to engage with it. To sit with, to comfort, to assuage, to give succor and consolation. Isn’t that something?

Kindness is spontaneous, fresh, and authentic. In ancient times, the Charities, or Graces: Aglaia (Brightness), Euphrosyne (Joyfulness), and Thalia (Bloom), had dominion over kindness … So, like the Graces, let us all be bright, joyful, genuine, well-meaning … and sensitive to the needs of others.

Om Shanti.

May Spirit bless and protect you,

May Spirit smile upon you and through you.

May you be filled with courage, kindness and honor.

May all you do be done in love.

And may every step you take be filled with wonder and with beauty.