The inspiration for this short essay came from an unusual place and highlights that if you reflect deeply you can uncover the true teachings of Jesus Christ and The Buddha.

 

Not as a Christian or a Buddhist but more simply as a human being.

 

The source of this powerful image is from the movie “Flight 93” by Peter Markle which is the in-depth story of United Airline Flight 93 during the September 11 attacks.

 

This image is a depiction of one of the terrorists just prior to taking over the plane.  You will notice that there appears to be a reflection of himself in this clip from the actual movie.  One might conclude he is looking at himself or you are looking at him and he is looking at you.  In reality, we are all one so he is you and you are him in the consciousness of one.

 

If you look deeply into his eyes you can almost feel his suffering and you are most likely very aware of the suffering he was about to cause to himself and others aboard flight 93.

 

As a human being if we go about our practise of life and are not aware that the world is suffering , that children are dying of hunger , that social injustice is going on everywhere , then we are not practising presence and mindfulness.   We are just trying to escape.  But as many deep thinkers including Jesus Christ have taught , anger is not enough.  It was Jesus that told us to love our enemy.  “Father , forgive them, for they know not what they do.”   This teaching should help us know how to look at the person we consider to be the cause of our suffering.  But how many of us do that?  How many of us would be willing to wash the feet of any other human being with true love and compassion, no matter who they are?  If we consider this terrorist, and we practise looking deeply into his situation and the causes of how he came to be the way he was , and if we visualize ourselves as being born in his condition, we may see that we could have become exactly like him.  When we do that , compassion and understanding rises up in us naturally, and we may see that the other person is to be helped and not punished.  In that brief moment, our anger transforms itself into the energy of compassion and understanding. Suddenly , the one we have been calling our enemy becomes like our brother or sister.  This is the true teaching of Jesus and The Buddha.

 

Essentially Jesus , Buddha and other Devine individuals saw themselves in others , and others in themselves no matter what the circumstances.  This leads to treating all others with true love and compassion.   When you achieve this you have achieved true happiness and you have abandoned your Ego and illusions. You have become like Jesus or Buddha, and you have recognized that you yourself are the creator of the universe itself.

 

As Jesus himself said,  “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”.  But do we?

 

The goal of The Emily Dahl Foundation is to help others practise love and compassion just like Emily did everyday.

 

 

 

May 30 ,2020