Dear Common Ground Friends,
Wishing everyone tender ease at this time of year. For those celebrating the holidays may your time with family and friends be wholesome and joyful. It seems an appropriate time to reflect on how our hearts relate to both the joys and sorrows of life. Ignorance, our not seeing and feeling things deeply and clearly, is a darkness and due to this darkness our hearts get entangled with the heaviness of greed, hatred, and delusion. Suffering is not the sum total of our lives, but it is an undeniable part of our human experience. So what is the skillful way to relate to ignorance, our own and the ignorance we sense around us? The Buddha taught it is our not clearly understanding suffering that is the cause of suffering. Maybe this can be seen as a hopeful message. Perhaps what is difficult in our lives can be a cause for deepening insight. Although difficulty may be inevitable, the suffering of greed, hatred, and delusion in response to difficulty can be avoided. The Buddha describes an empowering faith or confidence that arises out of this experience and naturally leads onwards to more joy, tranquility, and freedom in our lives. In other words, we are not destined to keep reacting to the painful challenges we face in ways that feed suffering in our hearts and in our world. Instead, let’s align with our deepest aspiration to use any moment, whether joyful or sorrowful, to set in motion liberating wisdom and love. May this goodness continue, may it increase, and may it never end.
Wishes for Peace and Love All Around,
Mark Nunberg
Co-Guiding Teacher