Now is a Lifetime

Dunbar's number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships—relationships in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person.[1][2] This number was first proposed in the 1990s by Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist who found a correlation between primate brain size and average social group size.[3] By using the average human brain size and extrapolating from the results of primates, he proposed that humans can comfortably maintain 150 stable relationships.[4] There is some evidence that brain structure predicts the number of friends one has, though causality remains to be seen.[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number ============================================================================ I once had a dream in which I was escaping from a very frightening totalitarian state. Just as I was about to cross the border to a safe and beautiful country, I thought, “How is it that I am able to escape? From my side, I have really done nothing — so what is it that is allowing me to escape like this?” As I looked toward the customs point at the barrier, I saw a man standing there, watching me, and I thought, “It’s him! What is he doing here? He doesn’t even belong to this horrible country. He belongs to that beautiful, free country. He doesn’t have to live here. But if he didn’t, people like me could never get out! It’s because of him that I am free.” I woke up crying and recollected that the man in the dream was my lama, Khamtrul Rinpoche. He was wearing lay clothes, but it was certainly him. I was so overwhelmed by the dream, by the understanding of his incredible kindness and compassion and of what he had to suffer, when he didn’t need to at all. He simply suffered out of compassion for beings like me who could not manage without him. That is what a high bodhisattva is. They do not need to be in this world—they could just groove it out in some wonderful Buddha Pure Land, but yet they come back here. Bodhisattvas come back to help us out of pure unconditional compassion. And this is what we open to within ourselves. The bodhisattva aspiration leads us to enlightenment, to the fullness of wisdom and compassion, so that we may be of eternal benefit to others. It is a most profound aspiration. — Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo ==================================================== Turn the radio on, Turn it up and play my favourite song With laughter singing and dancing This is how we bond The world may be burning but we have rivers running through our hearts Let the stars remind you Light is revealed through the dark Play in the sunshine Bathe in the sunshine Now is a lifetime Play in the sunshine Dunbar thought 150 made society I believe you can train your mind for variety!