If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is a law, and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.
Regularly reflecting on the reality of change, of impermanence, will help us accept unwanted change when it comes. Resisting change will cause suffering - sometimes great suffering. Letting go of that resistance is truly the skillful way forward.
Is this why when one has moments of insight or clarity sometimes what is left in the path of those moments is pain because you lose the insight, or it no longer seems real? Carolyn L.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think so. I think it's habitual tendency and the energy behind it. What we need to do is reinforce the insight and keep coaching ourselves with what we know and slowly the habitual tendency will weaken.
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