In these challenging times we’re being asked to see the world in a more timeless way, to live from a wisdom and reality of love that is vast. As we open the space of seeing anew, with willingness and courage, we find what Zorba the Greek called “the whole catastrophe.” We see the magnificence of life, and we feel the ocean of tears. We hold the immense beauty, and we are touched by the great tragedy of it. We realize that this is the reality of human incarnation.
If we pause and listen deeply we can turn our attention, our hearts, and goodwill to sense the great mystery. We might ask, “Who am I?” How do I navigate birth and death, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow? What about my worries for the earth and what we’re doing to it, and my own personal grief and losses? I am so often reactive, grasping at this, and afraid of that, but is that all? Is there a more noble and wise way to move through all of this changing life?
“O Nobly born, you who are the sons and daughters of the awakened ones, remember, who you really are.” You have the capacity to open to mystery and love. With practice and care, you will discover that mindful loving awareness is big enough to hold it all. And that the great heart of compassion is your own treasure.
“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word ‘love’ here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace – not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.” – James Baldwin
This is an entirely different meaning of love than one based in personal gratification. It’s a willingness to show up for this life fully with awareness, attention, courage, and love. You can learn to trust. In spiritual opening periodically you will die. Remember, at some unknown point in the future, you’re physical body is going to die anyway. We know that, we’ve all seen the statistics, and the mortuary’s waiting for you, I promise you. But as you progress down the spiritual path, you will welcome obstacles and learn to surrender and meet it all with love. Each of the “little deaths” will open you further. Until all is witnessed by timeless consciousness, the reality that you are.
“The person who, being really on the Way, who falls upon hard times in the world, will not as a consequence turn to those friends who offer refuge and comfort and encourages their old self to survive. Rather, they will seek out someone who will faithfully and inexorably help them to risk themselves, so that they may endure the difficulty and pass courageously through it. Only to the extent that a person exposes themself over and over again to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found within them. In this daring lies dignity and the true spirit of awakening.” – Karlfried Graf Dürckheim
This opening to life and love, the vastness within is a treasure, and it is yours to discover.
With Metta,
Jack