Letter To A Friend

I wrote this quite some time ago and a friend recently brought it back to my attention. (Thank you) Just wanted to share and hope it may help anyone who needs some words from a friend.


~


 In this life of ours we will presented with the lofty peaks of our attainment and
fulfillment. Yet from every peak will be the often sudden and sometimes gradual
ascension to the valleys of our despair and hopelessness. This is the life of all who
enter the realm of desire. This is our life and we share the rise and fall, the peaks
and the valleys with every other person alive now or ever.

Certainly the Buddha faced the valley of despair as he left his family in the dark of
night in search of answers to questions barely formed. And again certainly in his six
years search of enlightenment he must have touched upon the lofty peaks of
spiritual attainment. And yet every peak proved to be a temporary slope back to the
level ground of everyday existence.
In desperation the soon to be Buddha sat himself under the bodhi tree and
declared the end to chasing distant peaks. Enlightenment would come to him or
not at all. And so it did and what the Buddha found was that suffering was a fact
of life. And more startling…was that although pain will indeed be a constant
visitor throughout every life…suffering itself is optional.

If we were to ask, perhaps the Buddha would tell us that we suffer in the "valley"
due to our longing for distant peaks. The valley itself is just as it is...painful
yes...but the suffering is ours alone. By clinging to what we wish for, to what we
long for, we deny ourselves the experience of what each moment may hold for us.

My friends, the pain that life offers, the loss and the fear are all spring boards for a
new life. When we deny ourselves the gift of pain we miss the deeper healing that
takes place. And again we repeat the self inflicted wounds in other moments, in
new relationships and differing experiences.
With every ending comes pain...and with this pain...indeed perhaps the pain
itself...is the very healing and peace we seek.

My hope for each of you is to find your salvation within this valley. And then may
you see that the peaks of your distant longings...are yours forever.


I love you,
Eric