“Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously.”
~ Hunter S. Thompson
I prefer not to take things too seriously for it bogs down the psyche and makes most experiences less fruitful, but there are times when we must consider what’s happening around us with deeper contemplation. This isn’t a bad thing; quite the contrary.
I deal with heavy issues in my sleep, and the past week has been fraught with one metaphorical dream after another, each pushing me closer to the heart of the matter. Before I started my Freudian-toss-and-turn last night, I learned of the suicide of an old schoolmate. During my contemplative hours today, of which there were many, I considered my schoolmate and what she must have suffered to reach such an irreversible moment. It was in this pondering that I found the root of my own struggle.
Buddhism teaches that attachment to things, people, ideas, what have you, creates suffering, and this suffering, this attachment, prevents inner peace. Yet suffering, physical and mental, is unavoidable. Therefore, we must accept suffering, and in this acceptance we move closer to peace. This is what ‘let it go’ is all about. My Christian belief knows it as ‘faith’. Let go of those attachments, and have faith that all shall be well, because it will.
I learned that my attachments lay with how I think things should be, and the control I need over my life 24/7. Still, for the relief this revelation brings – for now that I recognize the problem I can begin to fix it – I remain heartsick that my schoolmate could not find this sort of awareness in her life. My prayer tonight is that she finds peace in the next world, and that anyone suffering so deeply they would wish themselves dead speak up, get help, and live the life they were born to live. Peace be with us all.
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