The Tenderness Revolution

The deepest truths are often found in the simplest things when we look into the heart that enlivens their outer form. Appearances really can be deceptive – like fake news – unless we stretch our view beyond the surface and beyond the “twitter” moment. This more subtle and penetrating sense of things is illustrated in the movie, The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey, as the elf queen converses telepathically with the wizard, Gandalf, about the little hobbit who has been drawn into the group setting out on a path of hope, courage and more than a little bewilderment, in the midst of dire times.

Galadriel: “Mithrandir, why the Halfling?”
Gandalf: “I do not know. Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I’ve found. I’ve found it is the small things, every act of normal folk that keeps the darkness at bay — simple acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.” Dialogue from movie The Hobbitt-An Unexpected journey

More recently Pope Francis delivered a TED talk in which he spoke with great wisdom yet simply and humbly as though speaking one-on-one, unselfconsciously heart to heart with each listener. Below are some excerpts from the talk which can be viewed on YouTube at this link:-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36zrJfAFcuc

I would love it if this meeting could help to remind us that we all need each other, none of us is an island, an autonomous and independent ‘I,’ separated from the other, and we can only build the future by standing together, including everyone. We don’t think about it often, but everything is connected, and we need to restore our connections to a healthy state…”

How wonderful would it be if the growth of scientific and technological innovation would come along with more equality and social inclusion. How wonderful would it be, while we discover faraway planets, to rediscover the needs of the brothers and sisters orbiting around us. How wonderful would it be if solidarity, this beautiful and, at times, inconvenient word, were not simply reduced to social work, and became, instead, the default attitude in political, economic and scientific choices, as well as in the relationships among individuals, peoples and countries… Solidarity, however, is not an automatic mechanism. It cannot be programmed or controlled. It is a free response born from the heart of each and every one. Yes, a free response! When one realizes that life, even in the middle of so many contradictions, is a gift, that love is the source and the meaning of life, how can they withhold their urge to do good to another fellow being?”

…the future does have a name, and its name is Hope. Feeling hopeful does not mean to be optimistically naïve and ignore the tragedy humanity is facing. Hope is the virtue of a heart that doesn’t lock itself into darkness, that doesn’t dwell on the past, does not simply get by in the present, but is able to see a tomorrow. Hope is the door that opens onto the future. Hope is a humble, hidden seed of life that, with time, will develop into a large tree. It is like some invisible yeast that allows the whole dough to grow, that brings flavor to all aspects of life. And it can do so much, because a tiny flicker of light that feeds on hope is enough to shatter the shield of darkness. A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you. And then there will be another ‘you,’ and another ‘you,’ and it turns into an ‘us.’ And so, does hope begin when we have an ‘us?’ No. Hope began with one ‘you.’ When there is an ‘us,’ there begins a revolution.”Extracts from TED Talk Given by Pope Francis 25 April 2017

If we still all confusion of mind and feeling, and take pause amid the more loudly broadcast world events and personal concerns – in that still, silent place we may hear with the heart, and see with its eyes into every other heart from the mighty Solar heart around which our world orbits to the heart of the smallest atom around which its tiny electrons revolve. Then we will find our own heart beating to the rhythm of the One life we share as it breathes through us. This Life is the One in Whom everything lives and moves and has its being.

Every atom is composed of the same essence, the same elements, differentiating only in number and relationship. The more deeply Science penetrates into the mystery of matter, the more we find that matter and spirit – the visible and invisible – are interchangeable. At the very heart of everything we find the Synthesis which is Life, and it is one and the same in us all and throughout all things. Our different appearances are simply different aspects of expression of the One Heart.

The wisdom teachings identify this dynamic heart at the centre of all living expressions. In the book, A treatise on Cosmic Fire, [page 1245] we read that there is a “spiritual point of positive life” in every human unit “which…we call the ‘Jewel in the Lotus’” and that “It should be remembered in this connection that there is a jewel at the heart of every atom.” Then in The Rays and the Initiations [page 415] we read of “A stream of energy coming from the sun, Sirius” which “carries with it the principle of buddhi, of cosmic love. This, in a mysterious way, is the principle found at the heart of every atom.” Life and Love at the heart of every atom! – animating it, breathing through it and recalibrating everything until we too breath in perfect rhythm with the heart of the universe where the Cosmic Magnet of Life and the nurturing Mother of the World are met in perfect union.

As we are drawn into the orbit of that mighty Cosmic Centre, so the universe opens its heart to us. Or that is how it may seem to the progressing, evolving consciousness. In fact that Heart is always open and embracing us in its force field and as we evolve our sensitive perception through time and space, we increasingly express its magnificence more beautifully and transcendently. The more sensitive we are to its essential intention the more we align into the perfect expression of that mighty magnet – like iron filings demonstrating the relationship between two magnetic poles or perhaps like drops in a vast ocean of dynamic being moved by the currents of its Life.

Looking at the range of life on our world, it seems significant that the human kingdom is the middle kingdom, the fourth of the seven kingdoms of Life manifesting through our world. We are positioned at the centre, the heart of the evolutionary process – the point where the protective embrace of the Mother’s creative substance meets the piercing light of the Father’s directing eye and life unfolds into manifestation according to divine intention.

In this moment in the evolution of our world we are seeing that divine will working through the awakening human heart and initiating the “revolution of tenderness” which Pope Francis identified. It can be seen more clearly than ever now against the dark background of personal desire, power and acquisitiveness culminating in its self-destructive conclusion. Pope Francis takes us to the heart of the matter:-

 

The third message I would like to share today is, indeed, about revolution: the revolution of tenderness. And what is tenderness? It is the love that comes close and becomes real. It is a movement that starts from our heart and reaches the eyes, the ears and the hands. Tenderness means to use our eyes to see the other, our ears to hear the other, to listen to the children, the poor, those who are afraid of the future. To listen also to the silent cry of our common home, of our sick and polluted earth. Tenderness means to use our hands and our heart to comfort the other, to take care of those in need…
Yes, tenderness is the path of choice for the strongest, most courageous men and women. Tenderness is not weakness; it is fortitude. It is the path of solidarity, the path of humility. Please, allow me to say it loud and clear: the more powerful you are, the more your actions will have an impact on people, the more responsible you are to act humbly. If you don’t, your power will ruin you, and you will ruin the other. There is a saying in Argentina: “Power is like drinking gin on an empty stomach.” You feel dizzy, you get drunk, you lose your balance, and you will end up hurting yourself and those around you, if you don’t connect your power with humility and tenderness. Through humility and concrete love, on the other hand, power – the highest, the strongest one – becomes a service, a force for good.”Extracts from TED Talk Given by Pope Francis 25 April 2017

The Agni Yoga writings remind us of the tenderness of the heart:

…with the heart as intercessor – that very heart which tirelessly throbs and pulsates lest people forget it – the most tender, the most intense, the most responsive to that which is near and most far. Heart, 340.

It is truly told about the power of love for humanity. Can one love a garden and despise its flowers? Can one worship the power of beauty and not show respect for love? I attest that the Power adorning Our Universe is confirmed as Our Mother of the World—the Feminine Origin!…” Infinity I, 156.

…The word materialism has assumed a monstrous significance. And yet, materialism should be based upon the all-pervading substance of the power of the Infinite. Why this perversion of cosmic power? The symbol of the Mother of the World, giving form and purpose to the entire Breath of Cosmos, transforming the kernel into incalculable manifestations, crowns our Earth with beauty… The Mother of the World is the great creative force in our being…” Infinity I, 38

The Buddha taught:-

So let us end with this gentle yet powerful affirmation from Pope Francis:-