I once wrote, "Suffering is not part of the human condition. It is part of the ego. Let it go." Sometimes (often?) I get to this morally superior plateau where I feel no pain. I'm in the flow of life, and I think this is how it's supposed to be (perhaps it is), but it somewhat disregards all the pain and suffering that led to that temporary place of enlightenment in the first place. A psychiatrist might call this somewhat bipolar, swinging from one extreme to another.
Today I see I am better off accepting pain over choosing comfort because being comfortable makes life appear easy. Life is not easy. It comes with a tremendous amount of suffering. For me acceptance of pain and suffering leads to the courage to make appropriate choices.
It seems to me that those who don't believe life is pain haven't truly loved. Of course this is a personal issue. I have loved and continue to love like a crazed man out of control, perhaps to a fault but all the while enjoying the feelings of aliveness that come from loving in this manner. Perhaps I could release this way of being and calmly live in love's pure light, but if that be the case I must first admit the truth of where I'm at. And the truth is sometimes I am tremendously angry and want the whole world painted black. So I must tread carefully about making absolutist statements, though they may be sometimes true.
I believe truth is here, now, in this time and at this place but also everywhere and in every other place. And so sometimes two deeply profound and seemingly opposing truths can be simultaneously true. But then how can one say anything at all about the emotional nature of existence or reality? Life would certainly appear to be here, but it won't seem to allow itself to be pinned down. And thank God, truly.
Are these just mood-swinging tangents? I like to believe some wisdom, compassion and empathy can be gained as we move through our cycles of joy and sorrow and come to recognise the true Oneness of all things, that everything worthwhile does indeed come from love and that it is possible for us to create a world in love's image. And perhaps we may even come to realise this is what we've been doing all along.
Today I see I am better off accepting pain over choosing comfort because being comfortable makes life appear easy. Life is not easy. It comes with a tremendous amount of suffering. For me acceptance of pain and suffering leads to the courage to make appropriate choices.
It seems to me that those who don't believe life is pain haven't truly loved. Of course this is a personal issue. I have loved and continue to love like a crazed man out of control, perhaps to a fault but all the while enjoying the feelings of aliveness that come from loving in this manner. Perhaps I could release this way of being and calmly live in love's pure light, but if that be the case I must first admit the truth of where I'm at. And the truth is sometimes I am tremendously angry and want the whole world painted black. So I must tread carefully about making absolutist statements, though they may be sometimes true.
I believe truth is here, now, in this time and at this place but also everywhere and in every other place. And so sometimes two deeply profound and seemingly opposing truths can be simultaneously true. But then how can one say anything at all about the emotional nature of existence or reality? Life would certainly appear to be here, but it won't seem to allow itself to be pinned down. And thank God, truly.
Are these just mood-swinging tangents? I like to believe some wisdom, compassion and empathy can be gained as we move through our cycles of joy and sorrow and come to recognise the true Oneness of all things, that everything worthwhile does indeed come from love and that it is possible for us to create a world in love's image. And perhaps we may even come to realise this is what we've been doing all along.
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