How Do We Live Loving Lives?

Is Meditation the Secret to Peace and Happiness

How Did Exams Go?

Given the discussions we’ve had, was this year different from previous years?

Mind, Body, and Spirit

To become healthy adults, students must learn how to develop these 3 areas in school.

• Academics help develop your intellect (or mind)
• Sports help develop your physical strength (or body)
• Church helps develop your heart (or spirit)

How Do Students Practice?

• Academics (mind) - homework, papers, tests
• Sports (body) - practices, workouts, games
• Church (spirit) - Mass? Community service?

We’re told to live with love and compassion, but how do we actually develop these qualities?

Spiritual development is desperately needed in our society.

Quote by Omar Nelson Bradley (US Military)

“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.”

Quote by David Orr (Professor of Politics)

“The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds. It needs people to live well in their places. It needs people with moral courage willing to join the struggle to make the world habitable and humane and these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.”

Society Today is Defined by Conflict

• Democrats vs. Republicans
• Rich vs. Poor
• This Nation vs. That Nation
• This Ethnicity vs. That Ethnicity

Everything wrong in our lives is blamed on someone else so we can justify attacking and defeating our opposition.

This is evidence of our lack of spiritual development.

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Meditation Proposes a Different Solution

Instead of attempting to solve our problems by changing other people, meditation focuses on fixing the problems within ourselves.

Greed, anger, fear, and ignorance are the sources of all the world’s problems.

These mental impurities lead to negative physical actions.

If we eliminate the mental impurities, we eliminate the negative physical actions creating more space for love, peace, compassion, and joy.

Our enemies are not outside of us.

How Does Meditation Work?

When a mental impurity arises in your mind it creates a negative feeling in your body (A FRIEND YELLS AT ME, I FEEL ANGER)

You have 3 options.

1. React negatively to this negative feeling (I PUNCH MY FRIEND)
2. Bury the feeling (I FAKE A SMILE AND TRY TO MOVE ON, BUT BUBBLE WITH ANGER ALL DAY LONG)
3. Observe the negative feeling until it passes (OBSERVE MY BREATH)

Options 1 and 2 strengthen the mental impurity. Option 3 weakens it.

A Storehouse of Mental Impurities

Anger

Fear

Ignorance

Greed

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

A Storehouse of Mental Impurities

Anger

Fear

Ignorance

Greed

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

A Storehouse of Mental Impurities

Anger

Fear

Ignorance

Greed

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

This Worked in My Life

When my Dad was terminally ill with brain cancer, I had expectations about how my family should respond. When my family didn’t meet my high expectations, I felt betrayed and angry. These emotions crippled my life. When nothing else worked, meditation helped me transform this anger into love and compassion. This is why I believe it will work for you.

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How do we make the world a better place?

We support each other as we grow as individuals through meditation. If it actually helps, people will notice and be inspired to join us. As more people establish a daily meditation practice, I believe our school will become a more loving place. Together we can inspire the world by becoming a beacon of love, truth, and compassion.

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Do you want to try it?