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The Open Heart

Arinna Weisman
             Have you ever freely given away something you value?  Arinna Weissman, a teacher at a nearby Buddhist meditation center, told us about a gift she gave.  When she was teaching in a center in Massachusetts, one of the staff was diagnosed with breast cancer.  One day the woman left the center to go for treatment and surgery.  Arinna had a teddy bear which had traveled everywhere around the world with her for almost 20 years. Without thinking about it beforehand, when the staff member came to say good-bye, Arinna gave her the beloved teddy bear and said she hoped that it would comfort the woman as she moved through her treatment and healing.


        Arinna asked us if we could remember a time when we freely gave, not necessarily money, but something important to us.  Did we remember how it felt?  Did we remember the wide open expansive feeling? Arinna wanted us to stay with that feeling for a few minutes of silence. For me the remembered feeling made feelings of lack disappear. I felt content, happy and free.

        When I help someone who needs it, or make a moment easier for another person, I fill myself up and feel good about who I am, the kind of person I am. 

        In Religious Science we have Ten Core Concepts.  Each one is viewed from a universal point of view and also from the individual human’s perspective.  Number 6 says:

Universal: There is a universe of infinite abundance — spiritual, mental and physical.  This Bounty of Spirit, this Allness of Good, is limitless and can never be exhausted or depleted.

Individual: The infinite bounty of Spirit is the birthright of every human I am a child of God, created as a finite expression of God.  Thus I am hear to all the good there is simply because of WHO I AM.

        When I am generous or I am kind, I feel the abundance, the richness, in my own heart.  I feel good.  I am in touch with the goodness of God flowing through me. That doesn't happen if I think I should help or be kind, or that I owe it to the other person, or I want something in return.         

         Give the way the flower gives fragrance, the way the seeds distribute themselves on the wind, the way tiny drops of water bend sunlight to show a rainbow.  Give out of gratitude for all the good in your life.  Give because you are starting a new life.  Give joyfully because this whole universe is your inheritance. 



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