Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Blind Eye

During a recent meeting here at the Priory I talked about ignorance. Specifically, that aspect if ignorance which is a choice; to choose to ignore things as they are rather than acknowledge them.

I have been borrowing videos from the local library and particularly enjoy watching Derek Jacobi as Brother Cadfael in the BBC drama series of Ellis Peters' murder mystery books. Cadfael is full of wisdom, love and compassion. Here he is:
"A blind eye is the easiest thing in the world to turn on whatever is troublesome".
From "Monk's Hood", more Brother Cadfael quotes here.
I've just finished watching "The Pilgrim of Hate" which spoke of 'penance'. Self-punishment in order to atone for a wrongdoing is the antithesis of how mistakes are dealt with in Buddhist practice. In The Pilgrim of Hate, Brother Cadfael is characteristically compassionate and understanding in the uncovering of the lies, greeds and religious fervor that obscure the truth.

I just ran the spell checker and the choices are: - Replace, Replace All, Ignore, Ignore All and Learn.

Made a mistake? First acknowledge it and then choose the 'learn' button.