Enlightenment is like a nuclear explosion of the soul. The pressure builds from every angle and there is no relief. At the moment it seems it will be annihilated, it goes incandescent.
The atom discovers that it was a universe all along.
We should in some part of ourselves accept the difficult situations in our lives, those things that apply the pressure.
This is not easy, but there is a part of us that knows it is precious. In fact, we usually have a certain attachment to our discontent. Why is that? We don’t want to dispose of it until it is really, true addressed, until it has done its work.
For this reason Swami Venkatesananda says that while we may sometimes need to relieve physical suffering, we should not relieve psychological suffering.
In the same sense, Pema Chodron entitled her book “The Wisdom of No Escape”.
Honest suffering is valuable. It is the imperishable seed of Truth.
Thich Nah Hanh writes often of suffering as the source of compassion.
This is not to deny the agony of suffering. It’s just to continually point to what goes beyond pain, encompassing it.
There is something indestructible within you. This is the essence which transforms even sorrow into joy.
Nothing is in vain.
