The Brown Book Commentaries

Image 310 (Page 117b) … This is a beautiful card I received as a gift while on the
Big Island. The five orcas swimming freely symbolize the Wisdom that there is
only one way to deeply understand the Truth of Life‘s innate Goodness (i.e. that
―good times‖ are the blessings of Joy meant to be shared and that ―bad times‖ are the
blessings of empowerment that make our concurrent acts of Love & Kindness powerful)
is to stop searching for the same mentally (be that seeking via books or films or
lectures or meditations or visualizations) and to dive fully in to the moment‘s many
opportunities to sacrifice for another instead …
―Releasing a big fish is more satisfying than eating it.‖ ~ H. J. Brown Jr.
Of course this is a patent Truth – a Truth that every single sentient being understand s from birth; the
Truth that giving another being Freedom is far more Joy-full than enslaving that being for personal
convenience – the Truth that Caring for another being is far more worthy than abusing that being for personal
fun – the Truth that protecting another being is far more worthy than murdering that being for personal
pleasure (especially the pleasure of palate) … We know deep in our Hearts – indeed, we know at the very
Core of our Being – that the former in this series are all patently Right and the latter therein are all despicably
Wrong … Of course, society has taught us otherwise. And in our ignorance (along with our fear of being
cast out from our ―herd‖), we have chosen to believe that it is acceptable for us humans to enslave, abuse,
and then murder certain species of animals. This is a Lie – This is hypocrisy of the worst order – This is
immorally repugnant – This is outright Wrong; nothing more than feebly sanctioning animal abuse simply
because we are too afraid to go against the grain of a pseudo-psychopathic society. There was no excuse for
racism even when it was socially acceptable – there was no excuse for sexism even when it was socially
acceptable – there was no excuse for homophobia even when it was socially acceptable – and now there is no
excuse for animal abuse even though it is (embarrassingly and enragingly) still socially acceptable! (P.S.
Fish are highly sentient, can perceive pain & fear to the same degree as humans, and are thus not exempt
from these Truths.)
374
―Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment.‖ ~ Rumi
Actually, there is no need to sell that which is both unwanted & unwarranted … Indeed, let us not pass on
to others that which would harm or hinder them in any way. As such, let us rephrase this quote to read
―Release your cleverness and adopt bewilderment‖ … Cleverness is by nature a manipulation of others for
some form of personal gain, whereas bewilderment is by nature a setting aside of hubris in order to be
innocently amazed at the wondrous Beauty of Life & the others in it … Keeping this in mind, we can also
replace many other ―false virtues‖ in our lives with their by far more Noble counterparts – We can release
our mere tolerance for others and choose a heartfelt empathy for them instead … We can release our desire to
compromise our conflicts and choose to humbly serve them instead … We can release our habit of quitting
when defeated or retreating & recuperating when tired and choose to celebrate the victories of others &/or
persevere in times of difficulty … We can release our obsession with productivity or efficiency and choose to
perform Meaning-full deeds instead (or perform meaningless deeds Meaning-fully) … We can release our
focus on persuading others that we are right and choose to be silently Kind to the instead … We can release
our belief reciprocity or obligation or duty or promise and choose to Love spontaneously & unconventionally
& freely instead … We can release our addictions to celebration & fun & pleasure & comfort and choose to
make Life about real Fellowship & deep Friendship … We can release our attachment to grieving for lost
loves and lost loved ones and choose to honor them with lives of charity & generosity instead … We can
release our tendency to be merely nice or friendly or tactful or polite and choose to be gentle & earnest &
honest instead … We can release our pity & our sympathy & our worry for others and choose to respond
with empathy while Seeing their Strength … We can release our regular forms of condemnation & judgment
& ―constructive criticism‖ and choose to be complimentary &/or supportive of others instead … We can
release our need to be ―appropriate‖ or ―mature‖ or ―sensical‖ and choose to live lives of courageously
―crazy‖ Caring … We can release our hope or trust or faith in
authorities external or power ―higher‖ and choose to live
lives as agents of the Divine instead … And we can release
our feelings of inadequacy & regret & shame and choose to
live lives empowered by Loving Service instead.