The Golden Nugget

What would happen if we all visualized every human being upon contact as a golden nugget at their body's core instead of looking at them judgmentally on the outside? Let me explain.

My Buddhist teacher, Kelsang Dornyi, provided instruction this week on how to transcend through the outer shell of each person and innately see them as a wonderful potential for love and greatness. The simplest example he gave was in the form of an annalogy of a golden nugget. He said, more or less, If I take a shinny, beautiful golden nugget and bury it with dirt, soil, or anything, it still remains a golden nugget. It doesn't change. It's just covered by dirt, soil or anything else.

This thought has stayed with me mindfully all week. What a beautiful illustration of love. He then further elaborated on this topic by discussing that we are all like this golden nugget. Every single human being. We are all wonderful potential and love at the center of our being. And as humans we all have and suffer from delusions that cloud that potential, but we remain that potential none-the-less. We have delusions of anger, fear, low self-esteem, loneliness, greed, jealousy. But all these poisons or delusions are just that, delusions, they are not who WE are. They are the same as that dirt or soil, they may cover our potential or our wonderful nature but underneath, we are still love.

So when we go around saying that person is crazy, mean, an SOB, because they have hurt someone or committed a nonvirtuous deed, it just means that they are suffering from a delusion that is causing them to act that way, their person does not embody that trait and claim it completely.

What a wonderful thought to keep at the forefront of one's heart and mind every single day. As we drive our car, spend time with loved ones, spend hours with co-workers, etc. He further challenged us to start practicing this, starting with those closest to us. Instead of judging someone close to us who is suffering from a delusion and claiming that the delusion encapsulates the being, simply look at the person as loving potential and separate the delusion from which they are following and call forth, or instantly develop bodhichitta, or immediate compassion for the person who is suffering.

I have kept this close to me all week, very mindfully and it really has helped make me happier, calmer, and more loving towards those around me. It is through these meditations and mindful practices that I am learning to be more accepting of those I meet or more patient with those around me. By not labeling them, cut through those delusions with a sharp knife and separate those far off to the side and only see that shiny, golden nugget at the core of each person's heart, blinding me with love for them. How wonderful is that. I think this is a practice that everyone should try, regardless of religion or spiritual belief or practice.