Suffering

I don't think I have to tell you - but I'll strengthen the idea - that there's nothing in the universe, not one thing, that doesn't have meaning. I can look out the window on a gorgeous Spring day here in Southern Oregon and see all the bounty, the burgeoning green - it has a meaning that words can't give to it but that the experience itself delivers...

If the nature of this world, if its reality is as we have been led to believe by our society at large, then one's daily dose of suffering is sure to be seen as undesirable and, above all, unnecessary; a thing to avoid at all costs, that with ample fortune or favor we may hope to escape altogether. But if the Reality of our individual lives, its True Measure of Success is not to be determined...

To know, To will... To dare to see. To strive, To live... To die to Be.

Linger in the great mystery of moments untold. Wait there for the unspeakable invitation to live there.

Remastered Classic Talk: 6/7/17 - There are two good things about a constant, strong wind in one's face: first, how resilient one's legs become, the stamina that's developed by walking directly into a gale force. The other good thing is this: when the winds change direction which, by law, they always do -- so that now the wind is at one's back -- one sprints forward with great ease, but it feels as if one is walking.

Doing the right thing, in the right way, begins with seeing the right order of things. All of life's lessons point us toward this simple, celestial truth. Through the pain of missteps and mistakes, we are gradually awakened to discover what has always been right before our eyes: whenever things are out of order within us, our choices and actions must follow -- and sorrow is the inevitable result.

Remastered Classic Talk: 06/29/16 - False certainty is a fool's certainty: it is based in the illusion that the more strongly we feel about any given moment -- in particular, the more negative we are over whatever may have transpired -- proves not only the truth of our unique perception... but also why we're so certain that whatever conclusion we reach goes well beyond the measure of any doubt.

The end of suffering is not found in the pursuit of freedom from suffering, but in seeing through the very nature of desire that generates the suffering to begin with. The problem is not what we desire, but the identification with desire itself, and the endless cycle of division it creates.

Remastered Classic Talk: 12/30/15 - The whole idea of wanting "more" cannot be separated from the idea that one doesn't have "enough." Seen properly -- unmistakably evident in this revelation -- is that one's lifelong pursuit of "more" is, in fact, spent in the service of an incomplete, constantly needy nature that, at best, can only be momentarily satisfied.

The more we allow our mind to drift where -- and will -- as it pleases, the more likely will we find ourselves having fallen into some form of unexpected suffering. Being in full command of ourselves is inseparable from being in command of our attention; there is no other order, and no other freedom.

Classroom Talk: 10/23/2024 - No moment is painful in and of itself; any conflict, or suffering ascribed to it is a dark creation of our own unconscious, negative assessment of it.

Classroom Talk: 8/28/2024 - When all is said and done, perfect order and true self-knowledge are inseparable; each reflecting the other in much the same way as is the beauty of a dark-red rose revealed through the eyes of its lover.