![]() At these moments of change, we teeter at the threshold of falling into the same old divides draped in new clothing, or discovering something entirely new. ![]() Have you noticed? With these new eyes, we’re seeing the horrors of war, oppression, racism and sexism, as if for the first time. ![]() So how do we allow love’s fire to alchemise violence whilst forgiving those who perpetuate it - and whilst recognising that this includes ourselves too?īecause there’s a sea-change arising within and around us, inviting us to see old ways in a new light. But violation runs deep and wide in our world, and most of the time we’re unconsciously complicit in it too. It’s true that love invites us to stand up in defence of violation. But love always curls back to wonder what caused this wave - that is you and yet also me - to contract in the first place? What was hurting? What was not yet understood? Where were we both contracting around space? Sometimes it needs to shock us to wake us up. It acts powerfully and decisively in defence of further harm when necessary. How else can we speak of enemies and the necessity to defend ourselves from their violence with still more violence, other than by separating waves from the ocean? Like the wave terrified of being not enough, forgetting it’s simply the cresting energy of a vast and benevolent ocean.Īnd all our violence towards each other comes from this same illusion. Perhaps all existential pain comes from this illusion of being separate and alone? The fear of being banished, of doing something wrong, of not being ok: all founded on the terrifying idea that it’s possible to be separated from love. Nothing hurts more than feeling separate from love. This is the crux of suffering, both our own, and the suffering we inflict on others. Each time we contract around an experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, we collapse our capacity to feel the space of love. “Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns, it calls me on and on across the universe” ~ John LennonĪnd so this is the truth we keep forgetting: that everything we believe, think, feel and perceive arises from, is held within, and dissolves back into love. When the mystery of space is felt directly, we refer to it in reverence and wonder, using different words to describe the indescribable. We can know it directly through the way it feels. Even though it can’t be defined, space is palpable. When instead we become curious about that which holds and infuses these joys and pains, we are able to experience the great mystery of space itself. When we contract around life’s effortless expansion, it can no longer sing its song. We attempt to consume, possess and hold onto things which dissolve regardless, like lamenting the passing of blossoms in Spring even as they explode into bloom. ![]() When we collapse into life’s inevitable contractions, we are no longer able to breathe inside them.Īnd without awareness of space, we also obsess over what we love. We attempt to destroy, hide or distract from discomfort, even though it hurts still more to go to war. Without awareness of space, we often obsess over what we hate. We miss the space because our attention gets entangled with the contents within it. This matters because we tend to get lost in the movements of contraction and expansion. But both arise and dissolve within space itself. The Sanskrit and Pali words for suffering (dukkha) and ease (sukha) both share the same root (kha), meaning space.Įase is the expansion of space, and suffering is the contraction or collapse of space.
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