Honoring the Good

The practice of the four brahmavihara are essential to truly breaking down the perceived barriers between self and other:
1) Friendliness toward the joyful - August
2) Compassion for those who are suffering - Sept
3) Honoring the good in others - Oct
4) Remaining impartial to the faults & imperfections of others - Nov
(yoga sutra 1.33)

Mudita Punya ~ Honoring the Good in Others
Mudita=delight punya=virtuous  The third quality, or brahmavihara, is "delight in the virtuous".  

Of the four supreme attitudes (or, ways in which we live as our truest nature) the honoring of the basic goodness of others is essential to freedom and happiness.  In some relationships or interactions, we may make the mistake of believing that our fears and insecurities are actually true, and in so doing, miss Reality.  We can believe that another is somehow better than ourselves, and feel envious of them or intimdated by them.  In turn, we miss that we are actually One, and by any judgment or evaluation of other, we only come to the illusion of suffering and separation. 

By acknowledging the basic goodness of ourselves and others, we come to interactions and relationships from a place that is grounded in Reality.  This is not to say that every interaction is going to be pleasant or nourishing to us, it is just to say that seeing life in terms of basic goodness puts us in a proper relationship with things as they are.

There is an enormous love and freedom that arises when we cease to view ourselves and others in terms of 'what's wrong' and begin to view things as being rooted in essential Good.
It isn't even necessary to believe in this goodness, simply by allowing the possibility to see it we will begin to see inherent goodness everywhere...we will cease comparing ourselves to others and celebrate our diverse goodness.

May we see each other for the Basic Goodness that we ARE~