Without Exception

Without exception: 

without exception - it's what the Buddha taught, that each of us will one day reach a point of sorrow, living  through the tragedies that life will offer. No one escapes this. Yet he also taught a path to reduce this suffering, means to be free of the attachments that lead us despair. Of his Eightfold Path we come to only this, that without exception life is filled by events of loss and sorrow, tragedy will touch us all. We're in this world together, bonded by common thoughts of brokenness, as well as the joys that heal us. No one truly suffers alone. 

without exception. 

this is something with need to be transcended, there is no path away from sorrow. What there is a spaciousness that provides a certain sense of ease, an interior peace that holds our every wound. We are not untouched suffering, but we are unmarred by its passage. The Buddha's message was to see and relate to this spacious understanding. That we are not free of suffering but more truly free of the one who suffers. 

our reality is one of capacity, no aspect of life is held apart from our awareness. Suffering happens, loss seems to diminish our joy. It all occurs though this aware capacity, our own allowing nature. Nothing escapes this seamless hold. It all belongs as life. Everything. Yet this isn't my capacity alone, it's ours, a shared belonging. Yes, suffering happens, appearing, lingering sometimes far too long. Our role isn't to deny its presence but to participate in the healing of our wounds, accepting hurt as the paradox of what we deeply love. We heal by this acceptance. 

~

Peace, Eric