Something ticked my ear. I don’t know what it was. But, I heard the whisper and it changed me. Three words flooded in through my ears: “Be infinitely merciful.” When I heard these words, they stirred something deep in my heart. The Being that whispered in my ears was suggesting ways I could more deeply open my heart. If you know me well, you’d know I’m always searching for ways to love myself and others more deeply. I open to all the realms that I’ve ever perceived in this reality and I ask for help on a daily basis to all the guiding forces I’ve been acquainted with. It’s not completely uncommon for me to receive whispers from fairies and angels. I talk with the sun every day. Venus and the moon send me messages. I often pray to, and dialogue with, the stars in the night sky. When I’m really tuned in, the whispers in the wind enrapture my whole being.
Sometimes the whispers simply diffuse into the pores of my skin and I absorb them. But these words of infinite mercy remained with me after they came in. They told me, “You have to take me into your mind and write me down.” I’m a poet at heart. I’m always looking for the shortest, most effective way to capture something. As these words stirred in me, they distilled down to the title of this article, “infinite mercy.” I wondered to myself, “Who is the best embodiment of this mercy?” Oh, Nature, of course… that was easy. I’ve found that Nature’s love has infinite mercy. Through becoming like Nature, we can become infinitely merciful in the way we relate with others. We are forgiving and embracing of others. We no longer carry judgments against them and are open to them at any time.
In the last couple of months, it’s become so clear to me about the importance of nature. She’s always been my “guide and guardian,” in the words of William Wordsworth as he admired the spot of nature above Tintern Abbey. Nature has always soothed my mind and consoled my heart. Nature spares no ounce of love for any reason whatsoever. The Sun shines on us all no matter what we have done. The ocean and rivers calm our souls without regard for our moral character. The mountains spark in us all a sense of fortitude and solitary connection. The deep forests and desert each have a magic of their own as well, which nurtures our soul and tends to the very core of our being. Nature is infinitely merciful and gracious as the sky. When we love, we model nature in our love.
Forgiveness
To be merciful we must embody forgiveness. The love of nature leads our hearts to so much forgiveness. But, “How do we embody forgiveness in the midst of our daily lives?” I ask, “How do we forgive all the cruelty of humankind?” My heart told me to pray to nature everyday. In fact, I’ve been going into nature and worshiping the sun, dancing in the forest, basking in the oceans, rejoicing in the mountains, and sitting in the desert since I was young. I ask these natural places to hold me where I can’t hold myself. Every night I ask the stars to embrace the pain I feel about my former fiancé, who left the love that we had committed to together. Every time they console me and help ease this tremendous burden of breaking my heart more deeply than it’s ever been broken. Without them I would have thrown myself to my death 100 times. I forgive myself for everything around her and I forgive her. I know she is and was doing the best she could all along. This is the soft side. Now, let’s get hard.
The way I love is fierce. So what is all this talk of mercy really about? When others cross the line into unlovingness, I will fight for their souls. I will come after them with any words I have and I will fight for the truth. I will fight for all eternity if I have to. I will reincarnate for an enemy who turns their back on this love. I would go through all the effort and hassle of having another life on this god forsaken plane for someone who has turned their back on the love in our connection. And yet, no matter how fiercely I hold the boundaries, as soon as they return, all is forgiven. There’s nothing to hold onto. No grudge to carry. No lesson too deep to learn. An open heart keeps the door always open. An open heart never turns its back on true love. An open heart is available for love to open at any time with anyone anywhere. This is the embodiment of infinite mercy.
The reason I’m writing this article for my personal process is that in order for me to realize my mission on planet earth I must soften. I can not force this softening; I can only allow it. I’m like a fruit which starts out hard and softens with experience. I am always genuine and loving. I’m just not ready for everyone to eat. I often go to great lengths and waste all sorts of effort trying to reach idiots and morons.
Acceptance
You might say, “How can someone who calls their enemies idiots and morons have acceptance?” Well you must remember that I’m a poet. I’m a strange kind of poet. I say whatever is in my heart to say. When I say idiots and morons, I mean no offense to the people who have developmental disabilities and were unjustly discriminated against. I speak out against the ignorant ones who are capable of seeing the truth, but refuse to embody their potential. I love them all, of course. The more ignorant they are, the deeper and more profound my love needs to be. These words have always been my guide in acceptance.
“See the World as yourself
Have faith in the way things are
Love the world as yourself.
Then you can care for all things.”
Lao Tzu wrote these words in the Tao Te Ching, which Stephen Mitchell translated. Those words were written around 400 BC and hold true to this very day. When we accept and love the world as ourself, there are no bounds and limits to our merciful love. This love should not be confused with softness. This love is just the basic fact of what connects us all. Through seeing the world as ourself, we relate in connection with whomever we relate with. This connection helps make everything flow from acceptance in the interaction.
So, to my former mentor and friend who turned his back on truth and love and my former former lover and best friend who turned her back on our love very deeply, I want you both to know how much I appreciate you and treasure the difficult role you’ve had to play in my life. You are my deepest betrayers, my greatest teachers, my most worthy opponents to sharpen my sword of discernment and truth. You both got lost in your ego and refused to see the light of truth. But you opened my heart to deeper love by helping me to feel the cascading and ever deepening heartbreak. You showed me how deeply hateful a human being can be and for that I thank you both. I hold you in the light of my loving heart. I accept you completely as you are and will always remain true to this love.
Empathy with Unconsciousness and Fear
The way I embody mercy is through empathy. My way is strong. In order to have mercy, we must understand the role unconsciousness plays in limiting potential. The very definition of unconsciousness points us to that which we are not consciously aware of. We must realize that anyone acting from fear is unconscious, and they limit the potential in an interaction.
No one acts from fear unless they are coming from trauma. When traumatic experiences are not fully felt and accepted, they limit our access to knowing what we truly desire. When we are locked in trauma, we are locked in fear. Fear will not let our consciousness into these places, unless we have learned how to love the fear. For example, both my former fiancé and my former teacher became walled off in trauma.
Let’s take a look at my mentor. He was defending his ego and couldn’t see that the pointers I was giving him to his unconscious pattern of trying to use power to aggrandize his ego, which was blocking his potential. When he refused my message, he clung to his ego pattern and had to make me bad and wrong for bringing forward these things. He then projected his ego pattern onto me and assumed I was coming from ego and playing a power game with him. He could not see outside of power. Even though he professed to worship love, he was truly serving the power of the ego.
When we reflect on fear-based actions and learn new ways, we come back to desire-based actions. This process of learning to focus on our desires, and not our fears, helps us return to our potential. When we know how we can get lost in this limiting our potential pattern, it’s easier to see how others get lost in patterns as well. Patience and mercy with our own fear-based actions, gives us more options when we are confronted with people who are locked in habits of fear. I was in the grips of my mentor’s power game because I was afraid. I didn’t trust myself and I wanted to follow someone who seemed confident and self-assured. By reflecting on my patterns of being run by fear, I’ve learned so much about the human condition. I’m grateful to have lost myself in my mentor and I’m grateful to have found myself again.
Live Your Life With Infinite Mercy
When we live our lives with infinite mercy, we become natural leaders. All our actions are bathed in the waters of mercy. Then, those we lead will trust us. When we lead our family with infinite mercy, our children will trust us. When we lead our company with infinite mercy, our staff will follow and trust us. All our relations crave this kind of unconditional love. Invite the infinite mercy of nature into your hearts and your lives. Watch how everything transforms in the hands of this kind of infinite mercy.
Embracing this level of love, even to write this article, has taken me into a deeper level of love in my heart. Every time I write more about my wounds and bring more love to them, my mercy deepens – my love deepens. I hope these words touch a string in your heart. May your heart open more deeply to whatever it needs to open to. I love you all and I wish that all the days of your life and beyond are bathed in infinite mercy.
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