Life is about Pain

I recently attended a service where Brother Ishmael Tetteh was speaking, and he made this statement, he said "Life is all about pain. Do you agree?" Most people said no, life is not about pain...but he insisted that it was. He said, "The river never has a strait path to ocean...there are ups and downs, obstacles that it must go around. The rays of sun aren't there most spectacular, until the moment that the rain clouds come and then they pass through them, then they explode into a rainbow. Pain is the obstacle that you hit, that transforms you into your most amazing self."

I don't know if I agree with the statement that life is all about pain, but it is true, that struggle is an important part of the process. The butterfly must struggle out of its cocoon...there is fluid in the body of the butterfly, that while it is pushing out of the cocoon, spreads into its wings. The fluid would kill the butterfly if it stayed in the body, and the wings, without this fluid, would never be able to fly. And so, the butterfly must go through this tribulation, to be able to finish it's transformation.

Childbirth is no different, bringing life into this world is painful...the process of pushing a baby out is a struggle for the mother, and for the baby...but the process is put in place so that the mother and the baby benefit. All life, all transformation, comes out of some sort of struggle.

Now, I don't believe for a second, that there is a higher power putting these obstacles in our way. The obstacles are just there...things happen. The rain falls on the rich and the poor. It is what we do with those obstacles that shape us, that transform us. It is how we are changed that gives the experience value.

We could reach the boulder, and decide to stay...deciding not to go around, or up and over. Or we can even decide to turn back. We can stand at the boulder and yell, and scream and fight. We can blame everyone around us for the putting the boulder there...we can even yell at God..."How could you do this to me, how could you put this boulder in my path?" Or, we can see the boulder, realize that there is nothing that we can do about it, grieve for as long as we need to, and then make a path around it.

Our boulders can be many things, and some are much more painful than others...but that doesn't mean that we don't have a choice in how profound our transformation can be.

Namaste