The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings…
As the shadow follows the body,
As we think, so we become.
- From the Dhammapada
Sayings of the Buddha
This immediately brought to mind the current state of public dialogue in this country. There are those whose thoughts are full of fear and anger that soon manifests as angry words which in turn become angry deeds. Soon these deeds have become the norm and thereafter becomes who we are.
We need to be careful about how we feed our thoughts, about who we allow to influence us. As we think, so we become.
This was brought to mind by a column this past weekend in the New York Times from Frank Rich, warning of the rising, once more, of domestic terrorism here in the USA. Irresponsible words feed other angry, fearful minds. Long repressed angry deeds are triggered.
Those who shake the trees should be careful- they don’t know what may fall from the branches.
Redtree Times 