is basically about making a commitment to become a
refugee, which in essence means that rather than al-
ways trying to get security, you begin to develop an at-
titude of wanting to step into uncharted territory. It’s
a vow that you take because you feel that the way to
health and becoming a complete human being is to
no longer hold so tightly to yourself. You long to go
beyond that situation. You are no longer afraid of
yourself. You can become a refugee because when
you aren’t afraid of yourself, you don’t feel that you
need a protected place to hide in.
The image of the bodhisattva vow could be, “Not
afraid of others.” When you take the bodhisattva vow
you open the windows and doors and invite all sen-
tient beings as your guests. Having understood the
futility and pain of always holding on to yourself, you
want to take the next step and begin to work with
others.
You might think that you are working with others
because you are much more sane than they are and
you want to spread that sanity. But a more profound
insight is that you realize that the only way to go
further is to open those doors and windows and not
protect yourself any more but work with whatever
arrives. That’s the only way to wake up further. The
motivation for making friends with yourself becomes
wanting to help others; these two work together. You
know you can’t help others if you’re not making
friends with yourself.
150 Compassionate Action