The next fruit of the spirit that meditation generates,
And we find it like all the other fruits appearing almost imperceptibly at first in our lives,
Other people may be the first people to see that we're beginning to fruit these spirits.
One of them is gentleness.
This one we'd like to talk about now is gentleness.
It comes from the Latin gens,
Which means people.
It just means being one of the people,
I think,
Being harmonious with the people you're with.
Gentleness is one of the qualities that we've lost to a large extent in modern life,
In the speed,
The rush of modern life.
There aren't many gentle people on a busy subway or metro in the rush hour compared with a small village where people will be naturally sociable and wave at you as they drive by or nod at you as they see you in the street.
So this gentleness expresses something very needy in the human being,
Which is the need to receive courtesy,
Attention,
And affection,
Not over the top,
But just to be treated with the respect that we would like to be treated with.
The golden rule,
Do not do unto others what you do not want done to you.
And we would all like to be treated gently.
So when we go to do something bureaucratic to get a form filled out or deal with a problem with a hospital or something with a plane booking or a computer technical problem,
And we're treated as if we're just a number in a list,
We immediately feel depersonalized,
Dehumanized.
And that makes something go harder in us.
We have to protect ourselves against that.
So the meditator,
I think,
Becomes a more gentle person in the world,
And that's contagious.
If we're gentle,
Kind with the people that we are brushing past every day,
I'm not talking about even the deepest relationships in our lives,
But just the people,
The strangers we meet for a few moments in the busy street,
That these encounters can be ways of carrying and transmitting this experience of gentleness with ourselves that we are practicing in meditation.
And it makes a difference.
Personal transformation leads to transformation of the planet little by little.
And we say the mantra gently without using force,
Without treating it just as a technique or as a hammer that we're using to drive in a nail.
We're saying the mantra gently and listening to it as we say it.
And that requires discipline.
The art of prayer is a discipline of attention and gentleness,
A combination of being receptive,
Doing the work,
Being there,
And staying awake.
So let's say our mantra gently now.
Again,
Remember your posture.
Remember stillness,
The importance of stillness during the meditation.
Relax your shoulders and keep your back straight.
Close your eyes lightly.
Breathe normally and gently begin to say your word,
Your mantra,
And keep returning to it gently whenever you become distracted.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.
You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Let's end with these words of Jesus.
Come to me,
All you who are burdened and overloaded,
And I will give you rest for your souls.
Learn from me,
For I am gentle and humble of heart.
