Even though I put a ton of work into being tranquil, peaceful, present, grounded, wise… I must admit it sometimes doesn’t take much to knock me off track.
The past several weeks have been very difficult for me.
I lost my centre.
What initiated it was Trump’s threats to annex Canada. Like Putin did with Crimea and is trying with Ukraine. China with Tibet. Etc. Some people said it was a joke. But I don’t trust Trump’s jokes. And it deeply, deeply worried me.
Personally, I’m very happy Carney won the Canadian election, and now I feel like I can relax a bit.
But I ask myself: Why did it take this to bring you peace? Is your spirituality so shallow that a politician, bad or good, can disrupt or fix it? Where is your poise? Why is it so dependent on what’s happening? I thought true spirituality is resilient, no matter what happens around it.
Pretty judgmental with myself!
Then I remembered a story of an 11th-century Tibetan monk, Marpa. Marpa's son, Darma Dode, tragically dies. Marpa, despite his deep understanding of the illusory nature of reality — a central tenet in Mahayana Buddhism — grieves profoundly. When his disciples, puzzled by his sorrow, remind him of his teachings that all phenomena are illusions, Marpa responds:
“Yes, death is an illusion. And the death of one's child is an even greater illusion.”
I have found the past few months a great illusion. And I have to admit it has been difficult for me. Honestly, I think I’ve let this leak out in my letters to you, my creations and posts across social media.
But that’s okay. Because NakedPastor is about me being transparent with my journey. That includes my good, my bad, my ugly.
My life is a paradox. So is yours.
Does that make us a pair of paradoxes?
