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When Things Fall Apart
Apr. 3rd, 2025 07:33 amReading Pema Chodron, I am struck by how her style is so very different than that of Thich Nhat Hanh. He seems in many ways like he’s trying to send you calm and peace, where she is trying to shake you up.
A couple quotes from the chapter entitled “when things fall apart “
“when things fall apart, and we’re on the verge of what we know not what, the test for each of us is to stay on that break and not concretize. The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that’s really swell. In fact, that way of looking at things is what keeps us miserable. Thinking that we can find some lasting pleasure and avoid pain is what in Buddhism is called samsara, a hopeless cycle that goes round and round endlessly and causes us to suffer greatly. The very first noble truth of the Buddha points out that suffering is inevitable for human beings, as long as we believe that things last-that they don’t disintegrate. That they can be counted onto to satisfy our hunger for security. From this point of view, the only time we ever know what’s really going on is when the rugs been pulled out and we can’t find anywhere to land. We use these situations either to wake ourselves up or to put ourselves to sleep. Right now, in the very instant of groundlessness-is the seed of taking care of those who need our care and of discovering our goodness. “
“Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sounds itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off center, in between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught, and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It’s a very tender, non-aggressive, open ended state of affairs.
To stay with that shaking us-to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge-that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path. Getting the knack of catching ourselves, of gently and compassionately, catching ourselves, is the path of the warrior. We catch ourselves, one zillion times as once again, whether we like it or not, we harden into resentment, bitterness, righteousness, indignation-harden in anyway, even into a sense of relief, a sense of inspiration.
Every day we could think about the aggression in the world, in New York, Los Angeles, Halifax, Taiwan, Beirut, Kuwait, Somalia, Iraq, everywhere. All over the world, everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever. Every day we could reflect and ask ourselves, am I going to add the aggression in the world? Every day, at the moment when things get edgy, we can just ask ourselves, and am I going to practice peace or am I going to war?
A couple quotes from the chapter entitled “when things fall apart “
“when things fall apart, and we’re on the verge of what we know not what, the test for each of us is to stay on that break and not concretize. The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that’s really swell. In fact, that way of looking at things is what keeps us miserable. Thinking that we can find some lasting pleasure and avoid pain is what in Buddhism is called samsara, a hopeless cycle that goes round and round endlessly and causes us to suffer greatly. The very first noble truth of the Buddha points out that suffering is inevitable for human beings, as long as we believe that things last-that they don’t disintegrate. That they can be counted onto to satisfy our hunger for security. From this point of view, the only time we ever know what’s really going on is when the rugs been pulled out and we can’t find anywhere to land. We use these situations either to wake ourselves up or to put ourselves to sleep. Right now, in the very instant of groundlessness-is the seed of taking care of those who need our care and of discovering our goodness. “
“Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sounds itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off center, in between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught, and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It’s a very tender, non-aggressive, open ended state of affairs.
To stay with that shaking us-to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge-that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic-this is the spiritual path. Getting the knack of catching ourselves, of gently and compassionately, catching ourselves, is the path of the warrior. We catch ourselves, one zillion times as once again, whether we like it or not, we harden into resentment, bitterness, righteousness, indignation-harden in anyway, even into a sense of relief, a sense of inspiration.
Every day we could think about the aggression in the world, in New York, Los Angeles, Halifax, Taiwan, Beirut, Kuwait, Somalia, Iraq, everywhere. All over the world, everybody always strikes out at the enemy, and the pain escalates forever. Every day we could reflect and ask ourselves, am I going to add the aggression in the world? Every day, at the moment when things get edgy, we can just ask ourselves, and am I going to practice peace or am I going to war?
