Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up, by Koshin Paley Ellison, is a deeply humane and compassionate book, and the title illustrates much of Ellison’s themes.
We should slow down, because when we do, we are far more successfully able to understand the world around us, our place in it. Ellison, as a Buddhist, takes know thyself to its apotheosis; we should always try to place a “space” between what we think and how we act or speak in given situations. This way, we respond to events, rather than react.
This leads to a greater sense of compassion, the urge to help people who intend to hurt us, for we see how we are all caught in this trap of living life on the surface of things; we are all in this together, and need to help each other out.
Finally, we wake up, we no longer sleepwalk through life, but live far more intentionally. We notice things about our daily life that give it greater meaning and flavor. We are not just islands, but an integral part of the whole.
We should slow down, because when we do, we are far more successfully able to understand the world around us, our place in it. Ellison, as a Buddhist, takes know thyself to its apotheosis; we should always try to place a “space” between what we think and how we act or speak in given situations. This way, we respond to events, rather than react.
This leads to a greater sense of compassion, the urge to help people who intend to hurt us, for we see how we are all caught in this trap of living life on the surface of things; we are all in this together, and need to help each other out.
Finally, we wake up, we no longer sleepwalk through life, but live far more intentionally. We notice things about our daily life that give it greater meaning and flavor. We are not just islands, but an integral part of the whole.
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