Come to think of it, even better than faith is a firm commitment to purity of purpose.
It seems to me that to heal grief is one of the most pure manifestations of the sacred, which some people call the divine.
I see a possibility now, because it has already happened, that I might be able to talk to you about some things that mean a lot to me, that might mean something to you, too. Maybe not as much, or in the same way, but some spark of friendly interest. I want to tell you why those words of yours meant so much to me, and about my experiences here with you and with others.
For more than 30 years, the virtue I focused on most of all was purity. When I first decided to focus on that, I was at Purdue University working on a degree in electrical engineering. I decided to try learning that virtue the way I often learned things. I went to the library to look for a book, with exercises, to help me learn to have a pure heart. Looking through the card catalog, I saw the title "Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing." I saw that as the answer I was looking for, and I left without even looking at the book. I never even knew who wrote it until a few years ago. Later in my life, for many years, everything I did in Internet discussions revolved around what I call "cheer and refresh the down-cast." That has also been my focus in these forums for the last few days. Then yesterday, when I was trying to understand what people mean by "Dharma," and what you mean by "the Sacred," I saw you saying "It seems to me that to heal grief is one of the most pure manifestations of the sacred, which some people call the divine."
I don't know if I can tell you enough, I don't know if it's even possible in a forum post to tell you enough, to communicate how much that meant to me, but I'm hoping that what I've said will give you a glimpse of it.
I have a list of ideas that I've wanted to practice and promote, for Internet discussions to be more fruitful and beneficial, not only for the people in them but for all people everywhere. The first two on my list are to pray, and to search in my scriptures for ideas and inspiration. I've had that list for many months, possibly a few years, but I've rarely remembered to practice those two ideas. Now, for the last few days, I've been practicing them intensely, with my thoughts focused on "cheer and refresh the down-cast." I really have no idea what I could be doing, that might do that for someone. I'm not sure that anything I do can do that for anyone, but I'm not sure that it's impossible, and I want to try. I want that to be part of everything I do here. It feels a little to me like throwing a coin in a wishing well, but I'm not sure that what I do can't do any good, so I want to try.
However that may be, stopping every few minutes to pray and to remember a verse from my scriptures, has made my experience in these forums the last few day a wonderful experience for me, and I've been able to resist almost all my temptations to do things that might spoil it for me and for others, much much better than I ever have before.
