After dropping my wife off at her workplace this morning, I began the 15-minute commute from her work to mine. To fill that time appropriately, I turned off the radio and began using my wrist mala. As I let the mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum" (which means, loosely, that God is like a precious jewel located in my heart) resonate repetitively I began to think about how - not only is God in the lotus of my heart - but God is within every person in existence. As I passed cars or pedestrians, I would imagine God sitting at their core.

That was until I pulled behind the red car.

On this car's back window was a sticker that said "Marriage=Man+Woman." Now, I'm fine if you want to hold that view, but it seemed very closed-minded and arrogant to make it into a bumper sticker and place it on your car. The minute my eyes hit this sticker, my lips proclaimed: "Jackass."

Hahaha. Here I was, repeating an ancient prayer about God in all beings and the minute I see someone I disagree with, I curse him like he's the scum of the earth. I didn't take it too seriously though - in fact I laughed at the irony of the situation.

And then all of a sudden understanding settled in - for I realized that within the driver was the essence of God too - and that given the same conditioning, environment he was raised in, and the circumstances in which he finds himself, I would probably be just like him and behave in the same way.

And in the giant scheme of things - the great Cosmic Drama - this man's "apparent ignorance" helped teach me something today.

So, there are either accidents or there are not.