Loving Each Other -- and Life, as Is.

"I am a passionate seeker after truth, which is but another name for God."

--Ghandi

More than anything else, I want myself. I want to live with integrity and truth. I’m not going to hide the jewel of who I am, nor will I mask my imperfections. No bargains, no avoiding reality, no conning myself, no lies.

I strive daily to make my life center around compassion, kindness, truth, awareness, and clear perception of reality -- yes, life, as is. When I find I am busy with words, images, and fantasies of what I think I must have, I end up frustrated, disappointed, and unable to live in the moment and appreciate life, as is. I try to make a point of simply “being.” I strive daily to cease any demands and accept life, as is. When I see through all these superficial desires to the essence of all that is, I feel peace and love.

We can make an important distinction between pain and suffering. Pain is not a choice but suffering is. While painful situations are inherent in life—loss, death, hurt, illness—if we accept them as part of life, we do not suffer so much. To a large degree, suffering results from our demands that that life be “fair” and not include obstacles, challenges, or illness. Once we accept these aspects of life, as is we can more easily cope with them or seek solutions.

I aspire to understand, to choose my words with care, to do the right thing and to cause no harm to myself, or others. In focusing on my moment-to-moment of every aspect of life, as is, I become mindful of my attachments or demands. I consciously try to loosen the grip and learn to let go – the most difficult lesson of all in accepting life, as is. Whenever I am frustrated, irritated, or demanding, I am attached to someone or something being different than life, as is. When I try to mold someone into what I want rather than getting to know and appreciate that person as is, I create a distance, a chasm, a gap, a separateness, a frustration, a loneliness. As I become mindful of my demands and less insistent on having things my way, I feel increasingly peaceful and in touch with God and my compassion and tenderness, my spirit or God-within. I have the ultimate responsibility -- and accountability -- for my behavior.

We should all take refuge in ourselves and in our spiritual community. We must make make ourselves, not anyone else, our refuge. We can find refuge within ourselves through mindfulness. This is not to be confused with being selfish or self-centered; rather, it means self-knowing and self-loving, which takes the shape of knowing and loving life, as is. This frees us to connect with our true essence and that of another, as is.

We should notice our judgments and our attachments or demands that situations or people be different from what they are. Too often, we try to mold someone into what we want that person to be rather than honoring that person, as is. 

Things are always changing -- our thoughts, hormones, consciousness, relationships, and the world around us. Instead of trying to freeze the present moment and hang onto it, we need to remember that life is a process of constantly letting go. The ego wants dependable rituals and people who stay the same. But to be free means to acknowledge, to enjoy, to be grateful, then to let go -- appreciating life, as is.

We must develop a fearless, an unbounded compassion for our own suffering, and that of others. We must make peace with all of who we are as is because life, as is is sacred -- our fear, our sadness, our anger, our confusion, our peace, our happiness, our beauty, our love. As we get to know and accept these parts of ourselves, they no longer have power over us. We realize they are the same in others and are simply, life as is.

Daily, I strive to stop identifying with the thoughts that parade through my mind -- and there are many. I try to realize that I am not my mind, my words, my thoughts, my looks, or my personality. I am simply the essence of a spirit (God-within) seeking to connect with the spirit in others -- and God, the Creator, the Source of life, as is.

Have you reached into the depths of yourself to truly understand life, as is?

Are you able to recognize the spiritually immature notion of control? 

Can you openly and readily recognize the spirit in you and its likeness to the spirit in others in this life, as is?

If we are in fact different at the core, then how? What makes us so?

Thoughts?