Thursday, October 14, 2010

The hidden gift of impermanence and instability

"The great story of awakening is not about loss or pain but about finding the harmony of our own song within the great song.  We can find peace and freedom in the face of the mystery of life.  In awakening to this harmony, we discover a treasure hidden in each difficulty.  

Hidden in the inevitable impermanence and loss of life, its very instability, is the enormous power of creativity.  In the process of change, there arises an abundance of new forms, new births, new possibilities, new expressions of art, music, and life-forms by the millions.  It is only because everything is changing that such bountiful and boundless creativity exists."
-- Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart

This picture would not exist if the lagoon did not empty and fill again; the heron can only find the fish when the water is shallow and flowing.  This picture would not exist if the sun did not set every night to rise again in the morning.  Those mountains would not exist if the earth had not decided to stretch and reform herself; these houses would not exist if people hadn't decided to move from their safe homes in the hills to the color and occasional terror of the waterfront.  Change is filled with blessings; allow it to fuel new hopes and dreams, new music and art, new forms, new births, and new possibilities for you.

3 comments:

Maureen said...

I just listened to a three-minute TED Talk whose speaker talked about "the gift of brain cancer" (her own). She spoke of all the ways it had changed her life for the better. Talk about "new births". And listening to her, I believed her.

Unknown said...

I like this idea in theory, not so much when the way the tide rushes back in means I am roiled by the water and not sure which way is air.

Louise Gallagher said...

Nice. Very nice.