just be it It’s about the work involved in establishing a dedicated practice to feelings of a bigger belonging through practices aimed at increasing feelings of compassion, gratitude and forgiveness

Joy

Published on 07/12/09
by randy

Cross...illumination burst where ice meets water in transformation

Cross...illumination burst where ice meets water in transformation.

This photo was taken December 5, 2009.  Ice forms to about one hundred feet from shore.  The sun reflects on the water and when the light hits a different form (ice) the light expands.  Notice the cross.  Light expands as essence crosses change of form, water to ice.  Just as wave form continually changes, crashing on the shore to realize it’s always been water, it seems it’s during our moments of transformation, changing from one form to another, that light expands, transcending our previous notions of ‘knowing’.  Poof!! No birth…no death.

There’s joy in pleasing oneself, but it’s fleeting.  There’s longer lasting joy in pleasing another.  Yet, both eventually leave a vacuum created by desire and consequent suffering.  As youth, we fantasize the day we’ll have the resources of adults so we can have the material freedom we were ‘deprived’ of.  For me, it was unlimited chocolate candy bars.  I’ll never forget the day of awareness, recognizing that time had come and gone without my recognition of it.  I’ve since had days where I’ve eaten harmful quantities of candy, only to feel guilty and sick at the conclusion.  When it comes to giving to others, it feels better.  The joy is longer lasting, and yet, I’ve not arrived to that place of unconditional giving, that place where I’m immune to being kicked in the teeth after giving.  I know the key is to trust the heart’s intention with the courage and strength to not take another’s response personally.

Yet, there is a better way, a way to maintain joy in a constantly changing universe, even in the midst of suffering.

“When we look at the ocean, we see that each wave has a beginning and an end.  A wave can be compared with other waves, and we can call it more or less beautiful, higher or lower, longer lasting or less long lasting.  But if we look more deeply, we see that a wave is made of water.  While living the life of a wave, it also lives the life of water.  It would be sad if the wave did not know that it is water.  It would think, “Some day, I will have to die.  This period of time is my life span, and when I arrive at the shore, I will return to nonbeing.”  These notions will cause the wave fear and anguish.  We have to help it remove the notions of self, person, living being and life span if we want the wave to be free and happy.  A wave can be recognized by signs–high or low, beginning or ending, beautiful or ugly.  But in the world of water, there are no signs.  In the world of relative truth, the wave feels happy as she swells, and she feels sad when she falls.  She my think, “I am high,” or “I am low,” and develop a superiority or inferiority complex.  But when the wave touches her true nature—which is water—all her complexes will cease, and she will transcend birth and death.”

“We need the relative world of the wave, but we also need to touch the water, the ground of our being, to have real peace and joy.  We shouldn’t allow relative truth to imprison us and keep us from touching the absolute truth.  Looking deeply into relative truth, we penetrate the absolute.  Relative and absolute truths inter-embrace.”

The Heart of Buddha’s Teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh

There’s lasting joy in deepening awareness to our non-separateness.  There’s no longer the illusion of trusting another since we are each other.  Expectation of others diminishes as we move to unconditional love, free from the binding of judgment.  For sure, I’m now in this body, as wave, dealing with the challenges of living and the suffering from desire and attachment.  Yet, my solidity and lasting joy comes from the ‘felt’ sense of always being water.  Isn’t it strange that our lasting joy in an ever changing, impermanent world, comes from touching the permanence of our interconnection?  Wave…just Be it.  Water…just Be it.  Change…just Be it.  Non-change…just Be aware of it. Joy…just Be it.

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