Hello all,
You see it's my observation that most really people don't understand suffering. It's in our nature to readily accept the good times but when bad happens it's \"Why me\" and \"What did I do to deserve this\" to name just a few reactions. What most fail to see is that suffering is just the other side of the same coin as joy. The same mechanisms that allow the experience of joy ALSO allow the experience of suffering. Without the ability to experience both we can have neither. All living things suffer, just as all living things have the same capacity for joy.
It's in accepting this that most fall short of freedom from suffering. You see it's not true that in this life suffering will have an end because just as you do, all living things suffer. Freedom lies not in the abolition of suffering but in it's acceptance. Embrace your bad times just as you embrace your good ones and you will truly be free. What we flee from will pursue us. It's when we stop running, stop resisting, that we see the things we fear are little more then onions. Try to peel an onion to it's center and you quickly see the true nature of suffering.
“You know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, a single power, a single salvation...and that is called loving. Well, then, love your suffering. Do not resist it, do not flee from it. It is your aversion that hurts, nothing else.”
In peace,
~Merin~
