This article has been reverse engineered from Twitter. The main body of the article is an indirect dialogue between me and a good friend. The purpose of this article is to preserve the cohesive set of emotions and messages for the benefit of others that follow. My dear friend is not alone. We all have or will experience such pain. Often we can’t see the forest through the trees. In these times we must learn to abstract ourselves as a bystander and look upon the landscape from a vantage point. Contextual tweets: <friend> Friends tell me I need to get over it--like the cold or the flu. How exactly do you repair punctures to your spirit, to your soul? <friend> Looking down all the streets & around all the corners of my life for a wise person with whom I can talk. I am in desperate need of guidance. <friend> Praying again...for strength and wellness... <friend> Trying to step out of a rose bush, covered in roses and thorns. How do I leave this beauty? How do I deal with this pain? <friend> All of these words, meant to inspire. I am just lost. Where is the map? <friend> Now given to crying spells when talking to my supervisor. <friend> No clear way through this...thought i was having a heart attack today. Doctor said no. Responding tweets: Often we look for answers in all the wrong places. We read books, talk 2 people, watch videos, and listen to music. All the answers lay between our ears Our greatest guide is our own mind. The experiences we encounter have been perfectly personalized for our own lessons. Others can help but you fly solo RT <friend> trying to step out of a rose bush, covered in roses and thorns. How do I leave this beauty? How do I deal with this pain? So you are stuck in a rose bush and you want out. However, you are attached to the beauty of the rose & fear the pain of the thorns. All you want is peace But before we consider your great escape lets review the two elements that have you bound in stress & conflict; namely beauty & pain The beauty of the rose first entered your consciousness as your eye made contact with it. At that moment you experienced a feeling of pleasant The pleasant feeling of the rose associated with eye consciousness is fine. It’s what happens next where it goes wrong. It’s your perception Your perception of that rose with its associated feeling ultimately results in you craving for more. This craving leads to grasping. You never leave (the rose bush) Now look through the rose bush to the dirty rock just a metre away. It’s time for you to see the rose no more or less beautiful than that rock The rose after all is composed of the same 4 elements as the rock: Water, Wind, Fire & Earth. They are no different. They are forms that rise & pass The pain of the thorn has you cringing in fear. But really what is pain? Pain is an event with an associated sensation The most critical element here is for you to realize that pain is impermanent. That is, pain will rise & pain will pass, like all phenomena So if the pain will pass, then all you really fear is your reaction response to the pain. Your reaction response is negative You need to balance the reaction response equation with positive messages in your thought stream So how do you do a Houdini and execute your great escape? Clearly I’m making this crap up as I go but I’m convinced the answer is "One moment at a time" You need to slow the process down and see each mind moment. You will find that during this execution you have control of only one variable We like to think that we control so many things. Our egos have led us to believe so many lies. The only thing we have control of is skillfulness At each mind moment you have a choice. Unfortunately each bad choice keeps you, me & everyone else bound in stress That choice exists between perception and the resultant intention. At any mind moment you can skilfully filter your perception You can choose to apply skillfulness which will result in a generous or compassionate intention; an intention that is without greed or aversion So your friends were right, you have to "let go". But you have to let go of each mind moment. You need to be in the moment, not fear the past or fear the future How do you "let go"? Seclusion, dispassion, cessation leads to letting go You may get out of this rose bush but there are several millions more ahead before you get to your destination. You need to learn to embrace it |
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