Handswashing

After meditating one day in frustration upon the oneness of all things, two hands washed themselves; the left and the right. Hands holding one another; Each one bathed the other. Apparently separate, each felt itself grasping and cleansing the other, as each touched the other, and each hand felt itself more profoundly than ever they had before. Each felt itself being felt as it felt the other feeling it. And all these sensations merged into one shared and un-separated experience; the illusion of separate hands was broken. In the middle of this a mind felt both the hands feeling each other and merged with them both…and all three were one and the same. Now all three were one. A mental snapping into place replaced the delusion of separation; Now the illusion of objects separate from the self all seem like this; And the other smiling face is smiling at another smiling face smiling back at it – the shared smiles are interconnected into one and the same experience; two linked facets of one interaction. Wisdom: To treat the other as the self is as one washing one’s own hands. Kindness toward another is an interaction of kindness, a system in which one is inseparably linked. To be generous to others is to involve oneself in an interaction of generosity. Compassion towards another is to place oneself into a relation of compassion – ultimately a compassion towards oneself. Contra positively, inflicting violence or harm is to place one’s self inescapably into an violent interaction, a system of harm or violence into which one is inseparably linked. Violence towards another is to violate the self, by placing one’s self into an interaction characterized by violence. In helping/harming another the self is helped/harmed by the participation in help/harm.