Thought for the day
Topic: Thought for the day
A Thought for the Day From Sri Eknath Easwaran
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February 19

Peace is not the absence of war. It is a virtue, a state of mind,
a disposition for benevolence, confidence, and justice. - Spinoza

"He insulted me, he cheated me, he beat me, he robbed me" - those
who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. - The Buddha

Resentment is nothing more than compulsive attachment to a set of
memories. If you could peek through the window of the mind when you
feel resentful, you would see a production line turning out the same
emotion-charged memory over and over: "He did that to me in 1983, he
did that to me in 1983 . . ." You are dwelling on something that took
place in the past -- or, more likely, on how you misunderstood that
event and reacted to your misunderstanding.

When you keep pumping attention into an event in this way, a limp
little memory gets blown up into a big balloon of hostility. When you
withdraw your attention by repeating the mantram, the balloon is
deflated. It's as simple as that.

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>From Eknath Easwaran, "Words to Live By" (Nilgiri Press, 1997)
http://www.nilgiri.org/Html/Thoughts/today.html

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