If you have to ask if it’s wrong . . . (Click image for video)

Perceiving is fine;

the issue is what we do next. 

The five senses, or five consciousnesses, are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. The first, for example, can let one accurately know what is being viewed. The five senses coupled with innate wisdom enable awakened beings to interact correctly with their environment and everything and everyone in it.

Sadly, unlike those beings who stop at perceiving and interacting correctly, we unawakened beings careen into the sixth consciousness of mental awareness—discrimination. This is the judgmental mind; let’s say the mind of black or white.

From here, things get worse as we instantly lurch into the seventh consciousness of thinking mind—attachment. This is the push-pull mind that judges inferior or superior, I dislike or I like, etc.

Fortunately for all involved, awakened beings stop at perceiving and interacting correctly.

Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.

And so, discriminating and attaching, we can end up causing terrible suffering. For ourselves in the future. And even worse, for others now.

When listening to the Dharma . . . (Click image for video)

Don’t just see that someone’s having a tough time. 

Do what you can to ease their suffering. 

Giving, one of the paramitas, comprises three basic categories. The third category—fearlessness—is relieving others’ feelings, which can range from a vague sense of unease to outright terror.

Rarely will we find ourselves in a position to alleviate terror, but all around us anxieties abound. From the overweight mailman who delivers packages to an upstairs flat to the mother trying to calm her crying child in a clinic’s packed waiting room to the struggling freshman who just failed her exam.

No, we can’t change their situations. It’s their karmic consequence. But rarely are they expecting us to.

What we can do is raise our heads out of our own tiring, frustrating, heart-wrenching traumas and see that we’ve got a lot of company. Having lugged heavy boxes upstairs and failed our share of exams, we can sincerely appreciate what they’re going through.

And we can forget our own concerns and spend a few minutes letting them know that we care about theirs.