Suffering

Be aware of your suffering May 19, 2014

What exactly does the word "suffering" point to in your actual experience? Observe the sensations and thoughts associated with this. Is suffering real or imagined?


suffering is real. when you experience it you will know. if you want to call suffering imagined, just ask anyone who has a serious illness or injury or is dying. ask anyone who is starving to death. ask anyone who is beaten tortured and killed by any number of ways, such as war, pure evilness, false religious ideals, control by fear and power, etc. if that is all imaginary then all of life is imaginary. suffering is a part of life on earth and it probably happens to some extent to all land animals and ocean creatures. I'm not so sure about plants and non mammalian and snake/lizard creatures like one celled or multicelled organisms, but I think I have read that studies show that plants react positively or negatively to surprising actions. suffering may not be how YOU would experience it as a human being, but i believe that it exists on all levels. most people know the yin yan thinking and for there to be one thing, there has to be another. it would be wonderful and a dream to think that there could be no suffering, but its never going to happen. the best that we can do is lessen it to the best of our abilities, but alas we are not even good at that. humans are good at making other humans, creatures of all sorts, even our entire planet earth, suffer. and I am all too aware of my own suffering, as I am being killed by cancer. I believe we would have come up with a fix for cancer already if it were not for some peoples' and or entities/institutions greed for the almighty dollar (or any other currency or form of financial wealth and power) . suffering is too real. it is too common. it is too sad. 

Trees

This is a short essay that I wrote on the life of trees.

I was not outside today but I love trees.

I love them in all their seasons.

in winter the majestic beauty of their outlines. no two the same, sort of
like snowflakes, yet each variety can have a similar pattern. this is my
favorite time, when they are getting ready for their "rebirth".

then comes spring, when their "blood" / sap starts coursing through
their "veins" / trunk and branches,  and tiny buds of spring green leaves
start bursting forth creating an impressionistic painting of a tree.

after spring is the dark deep adult green of the mighty tree fully dressed
in its finest glory. lush large perfect leaves providing shade and homes
and food for so many other living creatures.

then finally comes autumn. the end of the cycle but also the most colorful.
a dreamy earthy wonderland of color.  leaves of fiery red and orange and
yellow. leaves of dark yellow and light green. leaves falling off the life
providing and sustaining trees, creating a gorgeous and fantastic carpet
of color.

and finally losing their color and turning brown, the final leaves dropping
down and contributing to the nourishment of the surrounding earth.

to begin the cycle again.