Thursday, January 6, 2011

Life is Suffering

Life is suffering; that is what was on my mind this morning when I got up. Where the hell did that come from? Same place all the other thoughts that show up unbidden come from I guess. Not a new idea, I believe it was attributed to the Buddha and has been speculated upon, interpreted and pondered for centuries so I must be in good company. I have no idea what the Buddha meant by it. I must admit I am often annoyed and sometimes just giggle when people take on the authority of telling us what other people meant when they said things, I barely know what I mean when I say things and to be honest I don't always even know that.

But I digress...the thought of life as suffering set me to pondering and it has stayed with me all day. In the past I have summarily rejected that idea thinking it was not the truth, we only suffered because we were confused, mistaken, etc. Now I'm not so darn sure about that (or about anything I have taken for granted for that matter). As I move through life now, discarding the beloved beliefs that were seen as the truth whenever I become aware of them, I have to admit that there is far more 'suffering' in the world than not. People experience every kind of pain imaginable and even those who believe themselves to be living happy, fruitful lives would have to admit that they too suffer at times even if it is only in the form of longing or emotional pain or fear of loss, etc. It's everywhere! Not know what to do about it we then proceeded to make up all kinds of stories so we could feel more in control or just make some sense of it.

In our culture we have learned to mask or distract ourselves from suffering in a myriad of ways. Many of these masks and distractions are admired and are indeed productive in the world and seem to work quite well but the driver behind them is still suffering or pain of some sort. So what does that mean? Again, I don't know but it does seem to me that suffering may not be the bad guy I had made it out to be. What if suffering of any kind is really a portal to something we both fear and deeply desire? What if the so called peace we hear and talk so much about but rarely experience in this world is right here, in the depth of what most people spend their entire lives running from?

Going back to the perfect unfolding of this universe and indeed all of creation, how could something so pervasive be so wrong? Could the promises of religions and spirituality and social programs that tell it will be better when...be part of the distractions? This idea of a place of perfection that includes no suffering or pain of any kind, just bliss and 24/7 happiness be a load of crap?

Hmm....

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