No Greater Love

Meditation for Friday, August 5: Believe in yourself with your full heart.

Today, I ran 6.7 miles, up from 1 mile in mid-June. I never believed that I could be a runner until this year. Belief is a powerful thing.

In a 2006 lecture I watched on YouTube today, religion scholar Karen Armstrong discusses the meaning of the word, "believe" in three languages:

* The English "believe" comes from the Old English, belyfan, "to hold dear, love"
* The Latin "credo" is thought to come from kerd-dhe- (Indo-European), meaning, "to put one's heart"
* The Greek, "pisteuo," means "to trust"

I am most taken with the idea that love is central to the meaning of belief. In none of these definitions is there a sense of intellectually grasping or knowing. Rather, holding, trusting, loving are the required elements.

Mahayana Buddhists, who view compassion as the central focus of their religion, have chosen to refuse entering nirvana until every last person has reached it. This could mean endless cycles of death and re-birth, lifetimes upon lifetimes spent in service to helping individuals awaken to the Buddha's teachings that suffering can be overcome.

Jesus is quoted in the Gospel of John as saying, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Mahayana monks model Jesus' example of love in the ultimate sense.

To choose compassion and helping the masses over nirvana is an incredible statement of love -- but also, imagine how much these monks have to believe in themselves in order to take on the responsibility of helping billions of people achieve enlightenment!

Before this year, I never really trusted myself enough to take on the physical, mental and emotional challenge of distance running; now, I know that I believe in myself to do it. When we believe fully in ourselves, it is an act of great love. This love can transform us into becoming better runners, and it also can help us move the world to a more perfect place.

From Marianne Williamson:

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. 

Amen!