Saturday, November 15, 2014

All Beings Suffer

Universal Pain

Overcome any bitterness that may have come
because you were not up to the magnitude of the pain
that was entrusted to you.
Like the Mother of the World,
who carries the pain of the world in her heart,
each one of us is part of her heart,
and therefore endowed
with a certain measure of cosmic pain.
Sufi Teaching

Have you ever known someone who was a truly good person, whose life just fell apart around them? I have. Watching their sorrow made me wonder, “What on earth has this person done to deserve this kind of suffering?” The answer is, 'nothing'. There is so much we cannot know about the great mystery of life. News clips from the Ebola zone in West Africa, with hollow-eyed little children in the streets, having lost their entire family to the disease, simply make me cry. They don't deserve to live without a mother. No one does. Part of life on planet earth is difficult to bear.

Pain is a part of our experience as sentient beings. When we lose someone, or something we love, it hurts. We also suffer when we see others in pain, even strangers. Our hearts open up, and we share their grief. It is the spark of God within us to feel empathy; we can put ourselves in their shoes and know how we would feel in the same situation. Sharing the pain of others is a precious human quality; we don't want to lose it, even though it causes us suffering.

Somehow, understanding that life holds much joy and much sorrow diminishes the harshness of it. If we expect some suffering, we are not so devastated by it. It comes back to acceptance of reality, of life on its own terms. This is how it is...and this is enough.

                                                                 In the Spirit,

                                                                     Jane

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