Small doubt - small enlightenment
No doubt - no enlightenment
Zen belief
It's the simplest thoughts that carry the biggest punch.
The quote came to me in a newsletter article with the heading "And when we seem to fail?". It brought home that sometimes it is all right to feel no progress in any and every aspect of our lives. It isn't failure. It's looking deeper.
Here is real power in enjoying the fullness of nothing!
Feeling pleased with yourself about a breakthrough? Think about this quote.
Feeling at the end of your tether about a relationship? Look once more at this quote.
There are days when I am too smug and too comfortable about the search for meaning. "This trusting and having faith and being confident and positive is easy", a smart voice inside says. Then a whirlwind of new experience and testing shatters the comfort zone and I find myself blown from my safe mooring into a sea of doubt.
That's when I particularly appreciate the first line" "Great doubt - great enlightenment". Whatsmore, it is true! On those days when I feel annoyed with myself I feel I have moved one step forward and two steps back. Keeping this line in mind allows me to look deeper. It actually provides a light at the end of a tunnel. I ask myself "So what are the lessons from this?"
This explanation by the Zen masters is a comfort and at the same time, it is provocative. It is an attack on ego.
Only by being tested do we examine our focus on life, its meaning, our purpose and our happiness. Only by reassessing, do we grow.
When we fall into ego driven patterns, we need to bring reality into our lives by again contemplating this Zen wisdom.
I was over at Joseph's place on Wednesday and this Cockatoo came for a chat and posed for many photos. I managed to get a few photos of Joseph as well, although he is getting more reluctant these days to have his photo taken.
