The final teaching
We all sit quietly in the dimmed room. The delegates are sobbing and can barely say their thanks. The candle is passed one to another until everyone has had their say. Then it is our turn. This really is a big deal, because Advisors do not normally say something at the closing ceremony. This is something new at our Anytown.
I hear the others gush and speak from the heart to the room of new family. The candle comes to me and I say, “If this candle were the things we have taught you this week, this is what I want you to do with it.” I pass it to Annette.
The skills we teach are no good until they are shared, taught to others. In the teaching of others the goals of the lessons themselves are realized. The lessons are about developing skill with expedient means. When thoroughly understood, the skill is seen to be the ability to teach according to situation, with anything at hand.
The suffering we cure is largely self-imposed, but depends on everything else for context. It is our own ability to discriminate and generalize that puts us at odds with others. When used skillfully, that same skill is what cuts through the veil and liberates us. This is when we are able to see each other as an individual and as part of a single family. Only then can true compassion be released from it’s cage.