Suffering Is Never Alone But Shared

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Hand-drawn art by Rupali Bhuva
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El sufrimiento nunca está solo, sino compartido
--por Richard Flyer

Siento y veo el fluir de la vida y la muerte dentro y fuera de mí. A veces me resisto con desesperación y digo: ¿A qué se debe toda esta tristeza sin sentido? Las lágrimas se desatan.

Torrentes de líquido fluyen desde mí, goteando sobre el suelo iluminado por el sol. Al principio era un charco, luego un enorme charco de lágrimas: un océano de tristeza por todo el sufrimiento.
Oh, la carne grita confusa. Mi pequeño ego se tambalea ante la impresionante vista, rasgando y desgarrando.

La vida debe ser más que la lucha del nacimiento, la enfermedad, el dolor, la vejez y el miedo a la muerte.

Algun@s ahogan el dolor en distracciones: para algun@s, son drogas, posesiones materiales o dinero; para otr@s más, es el poder, la fama, el sexo o el falso amor, y para quienes son, la religión, la política o los movimientos sociales.

Ninguno de estos me satisface ahora.

Desnudo, expongo mi cuerpo y mi mente. Abierto, no hay lugar donde esconderse. Crudo, me enfrento a las fuerzas elementales de la creación. Finalmente, hay una rendición gloriosa cuando atravieso el velo de oscuridad.

El espíritu del Gran Misterio obra a través de mí con más intensidad. Me siento conectado con todos los seres.
El sufrimiento nunca está solo sino compartido.

No carece de objetivo. Hay propósito y dirección. Empujad@s a dejar de lado nuestros juegos tontos, pretensiones, mentiras mezquinas y engaños hasta que contactemos la Verdad y la Realidad internas y recuperemos la memoria de nuestra naturaleza divina. Ver la belleza que es eterna, que continuamente trae creación y destrucción, vida y muerte, esforzándose eternamente por tener conciencia del Gran Misterio.

El sufrimiento y la paz suprema encajan como la mano y el guante.



Preguntas semilla para la reflexión: ¿Cómo te relacionas con la noción de que el sufrimiento nunca es solo sino compartido? ¿Puedes compartir una historia personal de una época en la que superaste las distracciones y te enfrentaste a las fuerzas elementales de la creación? ¿Qué te ayuda a dejar de lado las pretensiones y los engaños y recuperar la memoria de tu naturaleza?
Seed Questions for Reflection

How do you relate to the notion that suffering is never alone but shared? Can you share a personal story of a time you moved beyond distractions and faced the elemental forces of creation? What helps you let go of pretenses and deceits and regain memory of your nature?

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8 Past Reflections
BL
May 7, 2024
I asked myself, “How deep will this sorrow burrow into my joy of being?”

I am witness, I see.
I cannot judge my ignorance of complicity,
I am also perpetrator, the defence
the prosecutor, the victim and
the one who weeps.
I am one of babbling fools, but
I am witness in gratitude for my seeing.
In my seeing my tears are miracles,
my sadness is drought.

I am sorry for my life
I rejoice and praise my life
when I see that
My life is as all life:

A remarkable mystery of balance
The culmination in each second
of millions of unknown years.
In my moment, I am but
a mote in an inexorable flow of change.

I can see, I witness,
I weep, I exult
nothing is mine, but
I belong to all.
AR
May 7, 2024
Living is being in relationship with everything around us. So suffering can be dealt with movement of energy from support, hope and happiness... All these emotions being a part of universal collective consciousness or energy forms.... This helps to let go of my selfishness to some extent...
DD
May 3, 2024
We're not alone. We are thoroughly interrelated. Everything affects and is affected by everything, everything is shared, and that includes our pain and suffering. I think I felt close to elemental forces and mystery when with loved ones who were close to death, and also at times of reflection/meditation into all existence being an expression of elemental forces (to use the author's term). I think I do some letting go of pretenses and deceits, but who knows. I think of my nature as being an expression of Ultimate Being/Energy/Spirit -- I don't know if I regain memory of that nature -- I think of it more as an awareness I enjoy at times of being such an expression. To suffer means to carry. We humans suffer or carry our limited human perspective and awareness.
DE
May 2, 2024
If I feel empathy from a friend, a professional, a stranger, for my pain, it makes it lighter, magically, and less brutal. If a doctor is all business and no heart, I don't want them as my doctor. The fact of being seen, and acknowledged gives value to what can be a terribly difficult passage. Healing is a shared experience, as suffering can
be as well. Self pity is not a pretty thing. It takes courage to suffer, love and time to heal.
JP
May 2, 2024
I would like to begin my reflctions on suffering by quoting the last sentence of this awakening article written by Richard Flyer: Suffering and supreme peace fit together like hand and glove. There is no light without darkness and no darkness without light. They are twins, not opposing each other but by joing hands to gether, they create wholness and oneness. I am wrting this from my personal expereinces. Like others, I have had a belief that by denying my suffering I will be blissful and happy. It took time for me to come to relalize that suffering and peace are two wings of the bird of life. By acknowlodging and accepting my suffering without resistance I can create space within me to learn from my suffering, the cause of suffering, and how to be from suffering. I have learned to listen non-judgementally to my inner voice to understand the cause of my self-created suffering, the way of going though it and beyond it. In our weekly Mindfulness Meditation satsanga group we share our ... View full comment
AJ
AJ May 8, 2024
I like your, “there is no darkness without light …not opposing each other but joined … creating wholeness.” Amen to this one! Thank you for sharing!
ST
May 2, 2024
I find the "notion" of never being alone comforting, however I know that people who are suffering are often unable to experience that. One wound that many humans carry is "abandonment". When life gets tough the experience is, " No one loves me", " I have been abandoned by my family, friends, and God" . I move beyond that constantly by returning to my breath and choosing to see the best in the world and others. And loving myself.