The Brown Book Commentaries

Image 331 (Page 124b - bottom) … This picture (showing Katharina & I departing from
Glastonbury, England in August of 2002) reminds me of the Truth that visiting Sacred Spaces
is an always-worthwhile, ever Heart-opening adventure – and that having a Heart become
opened thereby means little indeed if we do not keep that Heart open after we return …
PAGE 125
―Goodwill is the awareness that all people need Love most when they deserve It least …
Goodwill is the capacity to identify ourselves with others so completely that we treat them as
our own.‖ ~ H. E. Kohn
Actually, real Goodwill – like Love itself – becomes viable when it becomes a verb. And as such, real
Goodwill is not truly Good when it remains the mere recognition of the suffering of another, and is not
even truly Good when those thoughts are ladled with heartfelt feelings of compassion or empathy. For
real Goodwill becomes truly Good not when we think about the suffering of others or when we have the
humility to vicariously feel the same, but rather only becomes
truly real in those moments when it is actualized – in those
moments when we choose to exit the realm of passive
thinking and well-intended but relatively hollow feeling to
enter the world of Doing – when we stop thinking about or
feeling another‘s pain , and set out to actively alleviate it.
Love‟s Common Grounds: Honor, Service, Kindness, Humor, Humility --- & the Soul …
Fair enough, though seeing as how the simpler Truth is always the more potent one, all of these
―common grounds‖ could be combined into one term – ―Joy-full self-sacrifice‖ … For that is what we
must do to purely Honor another (e.g. celebrating their victories – especially when the same led to our
―loss‖); that is what we must do to purely Serve (e.g. beautifying our communities – especially the areas
we find most distressing or dangerous); that is what we must do to purely be Kind (e.g. caring extended to
our enemies – especially those who are attacking or denigrating us); that is what we must do to purely
bring Humor to others (e.g. smiling in times of crises – especially those that have hit closest to home);
that is what we must do to purely Humble ourselves (e.g. to reach out to strangers – especially those we
find most disgusting or annoying) … Each of the aforementioned reflect a perfect reflection of Love, and
as such each also refract the scintillating brilliance of the Soul.
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