The untragedy of "things ending"

The Buddha said it:
life is impermanent.

He said also life is suffering,
and what I think he really meant is:
when we fight the impermanence,
we suffer.

Or, more fully:
when we fight Reality
we suffer.

As Byron Katie
and I
say:
When we fight reality
we lose
but only a 100% of the time.

So, for what ramble is this the
pre-amble?

Penina and I have choosen
to create a non-blaming,
loving the other,
no complaining to the other,
or to other people about the other,
end to our "relationship."

Which means,
actually,
we are creating a whole new relationship.

The scary thing about this:
we are jumping into the world of
"I don't know."

The wonderful amazing "almost enlightened" thing
about this:
we are jumping into the world of
"I don't know."

The world of "I don't know'
has another name.

It's called being present.

In the present
we can dredge up a story from the past
about what's next,
but that's just a story.

Who knows what's next?

What a great gift Penina and I
have given ourselves,
this jumping into the world
of the now
as we discover
whatever we are going to discover
as your love
changes and expands out into
the world.

Good.

Troubled?. Love Poem to God, by Hafiz

Troubled?
Then stay with me, for I am not.

Lonely?
A thousand naked amorous ones dwell in
ancient caves
beneath my Eye.

Riches?
Here’s the pick:
My whole body is an
Emerald that begs:
“Take me.”

Write all that bothers you
On a parchment.
Offer it to God.

Even from this distance of a
Millennium, I can reach out the

Flame from my heart
into your life

And turn
all that frightens
You
into
Holy Ash

Hafiz,
Rendered by Daniel Ladinsky
in
Love Poems to God

Day 47: More freedom, no sunset on anger, huh???part 2

sun going down on one of the short days of the year

More distinction:
Do not let the sun go down on your anger.

If you live with someone, before you go to sleep, get clear with them so you don’t even have the anger any more.

Set out to see what it would be like to have the anger, as we explored yesterday, and then to “let the anger” go.

This is different than the “be angry but do not sin.” This is letting it leave our life.

Now this line about “do not let the sun set on your anger,” means to know how to undo and let go of anger enough so that at the end of each day you can do this.

But since this book is about a bunch of ways to brighten and wake up your days, waiting to practice/ do/ explore something at the end of the day doesn’t quite cut it.


So all day, that’s our game: do the work of Byron Katie on all anger and see that we can let it wash away in our understanding of the opinion behind our feeling. Let it wash away in our realization of how much pain holding to the opinion creates. Let it wash away in glimpsing and feeling how free we are when we don’t attach to the opinion/ thought/ belief/ story.

Let it wash away, maybe even with laughter, when we discover that we have the same traits, maybe lesser maybe just as much, as whatever we were getting stewed about in another.

Turn around and see that we could treat ourselves better.

Turn around and see, we aren’t perfect at whatever was annoying us in the other.

And then what: well, that’s like a sleep, letting the anger go to sleep.

Or, it’s like a waking up; without the dream of “I was wronged” and the dream of “So and so really being awful” and so on, we can wake up and just be.

So, experience the anger.

Pick how long you’ll do that. Then undo it and move on.

how can I help you, friend?

one way out of feeling
bad
for ourselves
is
to take this phrase,
and run with it:

"How can I help you, friend?"

Now, of course, some people will want to
run you ragged with stupid errands
or something,
but most people, if listened to,
will come up with something close to what they
really want:

someone to listen
someone to spend some time with
someone to help them do a few chores in the garden

it's usually kind of simple
which confounds the busy, busy mind
that likes to keep "busy"
(for fear of being "worthless",
both concepts out of reality)
and something as simple as slowing down
and actually paying present based
attention
no criticism
no praise
just Hi, there, I see you,
and what I see is good,
not because of anything you are doing,
or have done,
but just
because
you are
you.

What a nice help
we can almost always be to another.

And if no one is around,
what a nice help to
ourselves:

hello, friend,
I see you there,
and what I see is good,
not because of anything you are doing
or have done,
but just
because
you are
you.

ah, la:

the old amazing
make your own jail
scheme:
worry, fret, sweat about me, me, me
with this result:
misery


and the jail break:

take some time to care for
and attend to
and be of use to another
and : ease and grace

the old love
trick

oh, well
sometimes life
works amazingly sweetly

and
what about my supposed "problem?"
who knows what I'll do the Work of Byron
Katie on
over at 108 days,

we'll see

ciao,
Chris