that truth endures, even when covered, even when twisted
that integrity is hard, and staying the course in the face of opposition is even harder
that you must not sigh about the evil intention in yourself, but face it, as you would a person
that you must stare evil in the eye, and not turn away, even when you suffer for it
that all the regret in the world is useless without learning the lessons shown only by failures
that the world is kept sane by the courage of a few people who dare tell the truth to a mistaken majority
that hatred consumes the hater, not the hated
that revenge creates more of the same
that remaining true to one’s vision of life does not always lead to prosperity, but it does lead to peace
that the seed of every human collapse, failure, and tragedy is the lack of love
that attachment to things brings suffering, and that suffering is willing to harm the neighbor
that the easy way is often not the best way
that our view of God is always, every time, less than the reality of God
that the past is not really past, nor the future out of reach, but all really present
that everything is one, and we are one with it
that the world unfolds one atom at a time, in a trillion ways
that kindness is the form of love that transforms the fever of despair
that we are limited most by the limits of our minds and imagination
that compassion cares without harming the other by offering the wrong thing
that there is always more unseen than seen, unknown than known, and undone than done
that every breath is a gift, every step a mystery, and every moment a sacrament
that we have it wrong more than we have it right
that our journey is short, though it seems long
that we can’t control the universe
that today’s worry is sufficient unto the day
that every stranger has a mother
and we are all born of the same womb
vitalwholeness 