The Eyes of Compassion

When you understand,
you cannot help but love.

Practice looking at all living beings
with the eyes of compassion.

~Thich Nhat Hanh


Of Note: Social science explains that we are "unconsciously drawn to people and things that remind us of ourselves." Because of that folks with the same name--like the Jim Johnson's or Sam Blackman's of this world--feel a kinship, even if they have different skin color, culture or nationality. This unconscious psychological trait might be a way to achieve universal brotherhood if manipulated creatively by our brains. Let's say we concentrated on the heart--everyone has one--and every time we saw another person all we saw was their heart. Nothing else. No poverty, no toothless grin, no brand-name clothes. Nada. All that filled our sight was one big beating heart just like our own. Now, if science has this right, we would be drawn to that heart whether we wanted to or not. Pretty painless, really. Maybe even contagious. Think I'll give it a try. You could too.

Today's Weather Report: Enough already. Some of our water pipes froze again because it was close to -30 below last night. We are expecting more of the same tonight. I found the problem with the pipes, though--a draft from an out-of-the way door that will have to be fixed pronto. Thank heavens the pipes did not burst before they defrosted later in the morning. That would have added insult to injury.

News You Can Use Snippet: An MIT research lab has it really cold. A Nobel Prize winner there achieved the coldest temperature on record, 800 trillionths of a degree Fahrenheit above absolute zero. Absolute zero is -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit, although none will ever reach that milestone. Why? Because a little heat-producing energy is latent in every substance and cannot be totally eliminated. I have to admit, absolute zero makes our little cold problem seem rather insignificant. Think I'll just add a layer of clothes and go fix that door. Hot chocolate, anyone?