Tattoos on the Heart - Gregory Boyle - Part 3

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of
Boundless Compassion
Gregory Boyle

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 36

 February 5, 2017 

Book 10 - Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
by Gregory Boyle (2010)
 Part 3 - Pages 109-206
Reading Time - 2 hours

We really are very hard on ourselves. Whether we are gang members or priests or just regular folk. Somewhere deep inside of us is a deep woundedness that doubts our sacredness. That doubts whether we are lovable. That questions how anyone could love us if we are not perfect/good enough.

But then we take that woundedness and turn it outwards, demanding that others measure up to some exacting standard that we say comes from the divine. We judge ourselves so harshly that we then find it comforting in some weird way to judge others. "See... there's someone out there who is even worse than I am!" As if that means we move further up the line of salvation and are assured an entrance ticket. Crazy really. I know... I know... there are some who believe that there are only so many tickets being sold for heaven. And that when the tickets run out... that's it... and if you didn't qualify, didn't make the cut... then you're cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

All I got to say is... if some fallible human priest working in a gang-infested neighbourhood can find it in is heart to "love kids who are killing kids I love"... then God has to be even MORE loving than that. Soo... my thoughts... there aren't any tickets to heaven... And what we think of as the front of the line might actually be the back of the line. Wouldn't that be just turn-about!

Anyhow... back to the book... here's a few quotes...

"it becomes impossible to demonize someone you know"

"all things are inventions of holiness... some more rascally than others"

This Catholic priest even (gasp) quotes Buddhism! And it's a good one - "we can begin to change the world by first changing how we look at the world". It's all a matter of perspective. That's the thing we don't really get. If we look at the world with eyes of judgement... well, heck... we'll see a gob load of things to judge. If we look at the world with eyes of compassion... we'll find tonnes of opportunities to engage with people from a place of kinship.

For Boyle... that's ultimately what it boils down to... Who are we standing with? Jesus stood with the outcasts. He didn't overthrow the government. He stood with the most marginalized. Because change isn't from the top down... it's from the ground up. We need to be the change we want to see in the world (to paraphrase Gandhi). If we stand with those who have been endlessly excluded... that is an act of visible protest".

Boyle would say kinship is our goal. If we stand with the marginalized... peace and justice will naturally follow. If we are one with the Other (not serving the Other)... we can change the world. And for me... this ties in with the Saved book by Ben Hewitt. Totally different topic... but ultimately the same message. We are social beings... we are most human when we are in relationship with others. Real, intimate, personal relationships. Not just on Facebook. But in the world. Standing with the oppressed. Standing with our neighbours. Standing with...

Next Book:

Eating Animals

Jonathan Safran Foer

(oh dear... and I am a dyed-in-the-wool carnivore... gulp)