A paradox, at least in my own experience, is that the great living presence of light and love is always ready to be powered up and used for the greater good. Implicitly, this means that one's inherent, inborn happiness and equanimity remain a nanosecond away from being realized.
On the other hand, the neurotic egocentric mind is filled with all sorts of murky emotions ranging from high to low - also ready in a nanosecond to mug one's experience of life and create the false belief that life sucks.
These two states lie in wait for us all. The lucky ones have a distinct and direct experience of the indwelling peace and have also developed the muscle to access that state more easily than a person with an untrained mind.
The events of my life in the past five years have given me a taste of the paradox in spades: the death of my parents, the deaths of beloved canine and cat family members, my brush with death thanks to cancer and the actual death of my husband thanks to cancer. To feel the grace, the joy, the appreciation of every breath in one moment - and then be thrown into a dark prison the next - is something to behold.
But as choice is one of the great privileges of the human mind, I continue to chose to turn to the inborn Greatness and pray for the highest and greatest good. Afterall, there must be some reason we were all born on this godforsaken/god-filled planet.
On the other hand, the neurotic egocentric mind is filled with all sorts of murky emotions ranging from high to low - also ready in a nanosecond to mug one's experience of life and create the false belief that life sucks.
These two states lie in wait for us all. The lucky ones have a distinct and direct experience of the indwelling peace and have also developed the muscle to access that state more easily than a person with an untrained mind.
The events of my life in the past five years have given me a taste of the paradox in spades: the death of my parents, the deaths of beloved canine and cat family members, my brush with death thanks to cancer and the actual death of my husband thanks to cancer. To feel the grace, the joy, the appreciation of every breath in one moment - and then be thrown into a dark prison the next - is something to behold.
But as choice is one of the great privileges of the human mind, I continue to chose to turn to the inborn Greatness and pray for the highest and greatest good. Afterall, there must be some reason we were all born on this godforsaken/god-filled planet.
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