during the night i am understanding a friend's retreating from the world. this world where each is a jewel, each a gem glittering in a sea of gems...is a world of sorrow and suffering, an experiencing that is nearly too much to be living with.
with this understanding i awaken from sleep a couple of hours later, feeling-experiencing near-despair...in a reality where no one lives for more than a short time, where so many are without needed food, water, shelter, freedom, justice, safety, peace.
to be alert to, to be sensitive to, a world where so many are crying for help, a world so many are living with despair, is nearly too much to bear. thus there arises an inclination to be retreating, and an attempting not to be hearing the cries and feeling the despair.
thus there arises a wishing to be separate from a world of sorrow and suffering, which comes with an attendant consequence of being separate from a world of gems glittering in a sea of gems.
to be truly awake, to be truly alive, is to be living with all of it, with all of this---
the sorrow and the suffering,
the peace and the love and the mercy.
with this understanding i awaken from sleep a couple of hours later, feeling-experiencing near-despair...in a reality where no one lives for more than a short time, where so many are without needed food, water, shelter, freedom, justice, safety, peace.
to be alert to, to be sensitive to, a world where so many are crying for help, a world so many are living with despair, is nearly too much to bear. thus there arises an inclination to be retreating, and an attempting not to be hearing the cries and feeling the despair.
thus there arises a wishing to be separate from a world of sorrow and suffering, which comes with an attendant consequence of being separate from a world of gems glittering in a sea of gems.
to be truly awake, to be truly alive, is to be living with all of it, with all of this---
the sorrow and the suffering,
the peace and the love and the mercy.
So true, Dean. When we allow ourselves to be open to the beauty, we will also be touched by the pain. We our hearts are open to the pain, they may sometimes feel as if they will break open with the agony of it. Yet, only when we are in the world with that open heart can we tap the magnificence of love and beauty and the interconnectedness of it all.
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