Worthy opponents

Worthy opponents

“New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.”
—Lao Tzu

 

I

 have no idea where we got the notion that Life should be easy. When I look out, I don’t see much evidence that this is the natural way it should be. Since the moment we were born, we left behind all that was cozy, warm, secure, and comfortable to face a hostile world. One with pain, suffering, cruelty, injustice, delusion, hatred, and greed.

People ask me, why are there voices? If the universe is so good and compassionate, why do self-hatred and hardship even exist?

One, I don’t have the answers. I’m not suggesting this is true. But when I look out at the world from the perspective that life is what it is, without a whole lot of value judgment, perhaps Life is the way it is so that we have an opportunity to see how we are.

I’ve heard stories about people’s struggle under immense hardships only to surmount their obstacles and even thrive. Viktor Frankl, a famous Holocaust survivor, wrote his enlightening book Man’s Search for Meaning as a result of having everything he loved destroyed during the Second World War. Nearly dying himself, he witnessed firsthand how choosing service, joy, and love could empower the human spirit against all the odds.

You see, it’s not what life is but rather what life does. We can say life is challenging. But what do life’s challenges DO? Do they crush you? Or do they bring out your best? Which events changed you the most? The ones in which everything was easy? Or when you had to go beyond who you thought you were to see who was there on the other side?

Many of us know that obstacles bring out our best. We know this intellectually. We don’t build muscles in the gym by lounging around with our burgers, fries and soft drinks watching others workout. We develop our muscles by lifting those darn weights. The more resistance they give – the more resilient we become.

The same is true with inner suffering and the voices in our heads. How do we know their resistance is not there to call upon our deepest compassion? At the monastery, we referred to the voices as our worthy opponents. If that’s the role they play, can you see their value to your freedom?

Yet if we were to look honestly, the voices talk us into safe, small, secure, and comfortable choices — ones where we don’t have to face too much. We even try to keep those we love around us spared from anything too challenging.

But how will you (or they) learn to face the unavoidable? Old age, sickness, and death. What the Buddha discovered before he became enlightened – none of us are getting out of this alive.

How will you move through these so-called painful endings to reveal new beginnings waiting for you? How will you do that if you fail to see they are one and the same?
 

In lovingkindness,


If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume One).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume Two).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness (Volume Three).

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, A Shift to Love: Zen Stories and Lessons by Alex Mill.

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, Meditation and Reinventing Yourself.

If you enjoyed this article, you can find a version of it in my book, The Zen Life: Spiritual Training for Modern Times.

 


  Alex Mill trained in a Zen Buddhist monastery for nearly 14 years. He now offers his extensive experience to transform people’s lives and businesses through timeless Zen principles.

He is the creator of three powerful 30-day programs, Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring, Help Yourself to Change, and Your Practice, as well as the online Zen meditation workshop, Taming Your Inner Noise (now offered as The FREE Zen Workshop).

Alex has also written seven books on Zen awareness practice. The latest are entitled A Shift to Love: Zen Stories and Lessons (Get it for FREE here) and the 3-book series Living the Zen Life: Practicing Conscious, Compassionate Awareness.

He is a full-time Zen Life Coach who offers guidance and life-changing support to his private clients worldwide. Book a call.