Grief and loss and suffering, even depression and spiritual crisis, the dark nights of the soul only worsen when we try to ignore or deny or avoid them. The healing journey begins when we turn toward them and learn how to work with them. When we stop fighting against our difficulties and find the strength to meet our demons and difficulties head-on, we often find that we emerge from our difficulties stronger and humbler and more grounded than we were before we experienced them. To survive our difficulties is to become initiated into the fraternity of wisdom.
The real tragedy is when we refuse to acknowledge and respect our own suffering, and instead spread it unconsciously to others. As the Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel has written, “Suffering confers neither privileges nor rights. It all depends on how one uses it. If you use it to increase the anguish of others or yourself, you are degrading, even betraying it. And yet the day will come when we shall understand that suffering can elevate human beings. God helps us to bear our suffering well.”
~Jack Kornfield
wise. forgetful. understanding.
inquiry for today~ who is your God? your source of Love?
Spirituality is awakening to that non-dual reality “in whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) and living as “a blessing to all the families of the earth” (Genesis 12:3). Religions are institutions devoted to specific ideologies and power structures. While fewer and fewer people are enamored with religion, fewer still are seriously committed to spirituality. Most people want a guilt-free, feel-good, no-obligation relationship with a Cosmic Concierge who bends the universe to their will. Neither religion nor spirituality can do that.
~Rabbi Rami Shapiro
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