Peter’s Blog

Can you think of times when the most kind act was not nice?

We instinctively find endings disappointing. To what extent is it because it’s always emotionally safer to criticize than to praise and adore?

Humans are inextricably united with all other beings here on Earth. We are all natural. We are all nature.

It is unquestionable that the systems of power we live by now are unjust, corrupt, and must be changed. But the solution is to not get rid of power, to condemn anyone who has it.

When we identify ourselves, we so often focus almost exclusively on the most stable, unchanging aspects of ourselves. In any given moment, are these stable, often lifelong traits, what really define us?

We aren’t only human. Being flawed is not what defines us. What defines us is our ability to reflect on and refine ourselves.

To me, kind-ness, at its deepest level, is an orientation toward others where you treat them as if they were your kind.

If gratitude for our own circumstances is the source from which joy and transformation sprout for us as individuals, then perhaps gratitude for the state of our society is the source from which transformation for us as a species emerges.

I always cringe a bit when anyone starts a sentence with “The truth is…”. As soon as I hear this, I can be almost certain I am about to hear the speaker’s own opinions or limited personal perspectives, passed off as some grand truth about the universe.

When I acknowledge that I am offended, I center my own pain. I acknowledge the fact that no healing will ever come unless I heal myself first. If I am offended, I have work to do.