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Today's
quotation:
One
has to abandon altogether the search for security, and
reach
out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to embrace the
world
like a lover. One has to accept pain as a condition of
existence.
One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of
knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt
always
to total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying.
Morris
L. West
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Today's
Meditation:
Morris
tells us something very important for our lives:
that we have to stop trying to avoid pain and
unpleasantness if we're going to get the most out of
life. Freud claimed that the avoidance of pain was
one of our greatest motivational forces (along with
seeking pleasure), and that we spend much of our time
doing our best to avoid the "negative" things
that life can bring our way.
If
we follow this path, though, we can say good-bye to
learning. We can count on not growing any longer,
not changing, not becoming better people than we were
yesterday. Our best and deepest learning takes place
as a result of the difficult moments and periods that we
make our way through. Our next relationship will be
stronger because of what we've learned from the failure of
this one. My next attempt to start a business will
be more successful because of the mistakes I've made this
time. I took a great risk and it came up short, but
I least I didn't just sit around doing nothing, waiting
for life to bring success to me.
"Total
acceptance of every consequence." Boy, does
that sound difficult. I know that he doesn't mean
acceptance to include the concept of approval, but just an
acknowledgement that this consequence has happened, and
that fact can't be changed. If we can act this way, then
nothing in life can broadside us unexpectedly and take
away our will to live and learn and continue--we'll know
that doubt and darkness are just as much a part of our
lives as anything else, and our lives will reflect that
knowledge in the way that we respond to the risks and the
setbacks with acceptance and a willingness to continue
reaching out to embrace life.
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