Life's Gom Jobar
Aug. 5th, 2011 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cedar_groveFrom The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
Enlightenment for a heart on Earth is the moment we accept that it is the loving that makes waves of us all, again and again.
I've always maintained that it is easy to hate, easy to feel bitter and angry and hurt and afraid… the challenge to being human and to endure as a human, is to love – no matter what happens, no matter how difficult things are and no matter who or what has hurt or is hurting you, approach life with love.
There's a wonderful part of a book of which I'm very fond in which this is illustrated. The book is Dune by Herbert, and the part to which I am referring is the testing of Paul by the Reverend Mother Mohaim with the gom jobar. The test itself is one of mastering and conquering his fears, his emotions and his pain… basically, the good RM tells Paul to put his hand in the box, and keep it there no matter what, if he takes it out, she'll prick him with the poisoned ring at his neck, and he'll die. With much effort he masters himself and passes the test. What struck me the first time I read the book (and when I saw the movie and TV series come to that), was the phrase, "take your hand out of the box… young human." (Paraphrasing here I'm sure as I don't have the book/movie/TV series with me for reference).
The difficulty, as always, is mastering yourself to give and to do as you must to remain… human.
Enlightenment for a wave is the moment the
wave realizes that it is water. At that moment,
all fear of death disappears.
--Thich Nhat Hanh
Enlightenment for a heart on Earth is the moment we accept that it is the loving that makes waves of us all, again and again.
I've always maintained that it is easy to hate, easy to feel bitter and angry and hurt and afraid… the challenge to being human and to endure as a human, is to love – no matter what happens, no matter how difficult things are and no matter who or what has hurt or is hurting you, approach life with love.
There's a wonderful part of a book of which I'm very fond in which this is illustrated. The book is Dune by Herbert, and the part to which I am referring is the testing of Paul by the Reverend Mother Mohaim with the gom jobar. The test itself is one of mastering and conquering his fears, his emotions and his pain… basically, the good RM tells Paul to put his hand in the box, and keep it there no matter what, if he takes it out, she'll prick him with the poisoned ring at his neck, and he'll die. With much effort he masters himself and passes the test. What struck me the first time I read the book (and when I saw the movie and TV series come to that), was the phrase, "take your hand out of the box… young human." (Paraphrasing here I'm sure as I don't have the book/movie/TV series with me for reference).
The difficulty, as always, is mastering yourself to give and to do as you must to remain… human.
